Excel Saga Volume 14

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By Rikdo Koshi. Released in Japan by Shonen Gahosha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young King OURS. Released in North America by Viz.

Excel Saga has had increasing fanservice for a while now, but 14 is really where Rikdo goes whole hog and reminds you of his hentai roots. Between Excel and Elgala wrestling in a sewer drain to get a 100 yen coin, to the public baths scene, to their frantic escape and Elgala exposing herself to most of the neighborhood, this volume comes very close to smashing its T rating throughout. (My favorite exchange from this, as Excel puts band-aids across Elgala’s (hidden from us) nipples and crotch: “Learn to be frugal, El. As long as those three points are covered, what more do you need?” “CONSIDERABLY MORE!”)

In fact, Excel’s frugality is really hammered home here, as she chooses to wash up at one point in a public fountain. This causes Elgala to break down into a sobbing heap, crying out, “In the name of humanity!” Excel, seeing neighborhood children pointing at the wet crazy lady, decides for once to go wild and spend money for… a public bath! And more fanservice, of course.

And that’s not getting into the gore, which is almost standard now. After all, this is a manga with Hyatt in it. Their stove explodes, and the hideous blood-soaked walls and floor would make for grim viewing if we didn’t know Hyatt would turn up fine later on. (This is lampshaded later on, where Excel and Elgala wonder what’s happened to the missing Hyatt. El wonders if she’s dead, to which Excel responds, “How can she be killed?”)

Il Palazzo is entirely absent from this volume, but we do get one major plot point, as when the girls are separated at the public baths after being attacked/interrogated by Kabapu’s team (Misaki is trying to get serious answers out of them, rather than arrest them; Iwata just wants naked girls), somehow they end up with Hyatt captured by the other side. This is especially amusing as she’s now living at Watanabe’s apartment, posing as his wife. Naturally, Watanabe is torn between pure joy and horrific angst that he is thinking perverse thoughts about his beloved (Sumiyoshi and Misaki both note he should grow up).

This does, however, lead to the most intriguing part of the entire volume, with Kabapu and Momochi discussing their captured prisoner. They note that she has memory blocks that have made it impossible to get any information from her head, which is interesting. Far more interesting is Momochi noting that “except for the memory loss, she appears to be a completely healthy woman.” Wait, WHAT? This is HYATT they’re talking about. She was just bleeding out heavily 50 pages ago! Something highly intriguing is going on here, although don’t expect answers soon – Rikdo likes to throw these at us, then move on. Puzzle pieces that don’t fit anywhere else.

In the meantime, Kabapu goes to a hot spring and gets caught up in a murder mystery. This is easily the weakest part of the book, serving only to show that he still has lots of influence over the city (and law enforcement in particular), and that he’s also brusque, uncaring, and a bit crazy. The chapter seems to be parodying several types of detective series, but I didn’t recognize anything but Columbo (and even that may have been adapted to Western by Carl Horn). I do note the ‘treasure hunter’ pictured reminded me a bit of Geobreeders.

Finally, we have Excel and Elgala on board the battleship. Yes, it’s the return of Mr. Owner and Ms. Manager, everyone’s favorite Matsumoto parodies, who are determined to turn this enormous instrument of death into a classy 5-star hotel. This is easily the funniest part of the entire volume, with Excel in particular boggling at Mr. Owner’s hideously flawed logic. (For once, Elgala gets to play the snarky commentator, and notes how amusing it is to see Excel freaking out and trying to make people see reason.) Naturally, the boat ends up sinking, and Excel and Elgala are (again) captured by the JSDF.

This was a fun, action-packed volume of Excel Saga, but did not really do much to advance the main plot beyond Hyatt’s capture. Presumably we’ll see her rescue in Volume 15… and perhaps some other major changes as well.

The Color of Earth

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By Kim Dong Hwa. Released in North America by First Second.

I admit I don’t read a lot of Korean manwha. The decision is mostly financial; I spend far too much money on manga as it is, and wanted to draw a line somewhere. I also rarely review things I don’t have a pre-opinion on, as I don’t get reviewer’s copies, so am relying on things I’ve gotten myself. If I didn’t at least like the premise, I wouldn’t have gotten it. But it’s roundtable time, and so I picked up the first volume of Color of Earth, a series I’d seen at bookstores but never really paid attention to.

It’s certainly a handsome and well-presented volume, and I’ve no issues with the translation. The art is gorgeous, and one of the main reasons to pick it up. As the entire book seems to be made up of similes comparing men and women (and their body parts) to various plants and flowers, it’s appropriate that the backgrounds should be overflowing with blossoming and flowering trees, shrubs, and bushes. Our two heroines are also quite pretty, although I think that the artist overdoes Ehwa’s ‘demure blush’ looks a bit.

Likewise, much of the dialogue is poetic, and it’s worth reading aloud at times to get into the flowing lyricism of the words. Ehwa’s mother in particular is fond of teaching Ehwa like this, almost via parable. This can also be frustrating – there are many times when I wish Ehwa’s mom would simply set her down and be blunt, rather than another elliptical speech about gourds. Most of the time, though, it helps to add to the mood of the book, which is relaxed and nostalgic.

Perhaps a bit too relaxed. It took me forever to finish this volume, mostly as there was little sense of urgency to it. Even in the climax, which Ehwa running for the train and then being spotted by her unfortunate first crush, it’s almost like we’re seeing the whole thing through a filter of gauze. I have similar problems with Mushishi, which I noted in an earlier roundtable review. This manwha meanders, and while this too helps to evoke the mood, it can also put me to sleep when there’s nothing going on but Ehwa mooning around and thinking about her loves.

I can’t really go on about the sexual politics too much, of course, as this is meant to be a historical book, and this is pretty much what Korean women were supposed to be like at the time, I’m led to understand. I will note I was irritated at the character of Bongsoon, who seemed to be there merely to show how much more demure and maidenly our heroine is.

Lastly, an irritation that is not the author’s fault. In famous works of the past – say, a collection of Little Orphan Annie cartoons, or an early Tezuka collection – I don’t mind an afterward with someone else providing context and showing how influential the work is. However, the afterword here grated on me, as it seemed to be trying to convince me after I’d read the book that this manwha that came out only a few years ago was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I didn’t really like it in Pluto either, although that one was less self-serving. But come on, I’ve already got the book and read it – don’t sell it to me again. Let the work speak for itself.

This is a very pretty book, both in terms of its prose and its art. But its pacing didn’t really grab me, and I don’t think I care enough about what happens to Ehwa to get the other two. I’m guessing she ends up happily married in the end.

Zaregoto Book 2: The Kubishime Romanticist

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By NISIOISIN. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by Del Rey.

The concept of the ‘unreliable narrator’ has been around for ages. Arabian Knights uses it, and Agatha Christie made it famous. But NISIOISIN, the author of the Zaregoto series, really does try to take it to a whole new level. Usually the author sets rules when using such a thing, such as never actually lying to the reader, but merely omitting things that would make the deceit too obvious. Not here. Ii-chan, the narrator of this series of ‘mysteries’, outright lies to us several times throughout the book.

I put the word mysteries in quotes because not only are the mysteries in this book fairly easy to solve, they’re never the point. You’re not trying to figure out who the murderer of the cute girl here is – it’s fairly obvious early on. Likewise, the serial killer going around at the same time is introduced on Page 1. And unlike the first book in this series, The Kubikiri Cycle, Ii-chan himself is not the entire mystery – we already think we know what to expect from him.

We get it, to a certain degree. Once again, whenever talking with Ii-chan, every other character spends pages and pages talking about what a horrible person he is. Since the narrator is compared throughout the book to a mirror, the deeper thematic meaning is clear, but his willingness to accept any insult, analysis, and one-liner thrown back at him can get very annoying. Ii-chan is meant to be frustrating, and I suspect the point of the entire series is getting him to actually be proactive, but I wouldn’t blame people who can’t stand listening to monotonous philosophy and dialogues to get there.

There is a certain ponderous nature to the book, partly because Ii-chan is that kind of person, but it extends to everyone else. There’s no urgency anywhere in the book, with two exceptions which I’ll get to in a minute. The narrator walks around a lot, has conversations with people (that go on and on, usually about what humanity is and why Ii-chan is so far away from the ideal of it), and tries to exist on the periphery. There are several people (including Aikawa Jun, from the first book) who are noted as being far more interesting and ‘lead character-ish’, but we barely get glimpses of what they’re doing. Indeed, Ii-chan notes that he’s not even a sidekick, just the comic relief. He said similar things in the first book.

This is total garbage, of course. The star of these books is definitely him, something that Aikawa points out when they have their ‘if I could just clarify one more thing’ conversation at the end of the book. Nowhere is this more evident than in the scene at the ‘prison-themed’ restaurant with Mikoko, and in Muimi’s apartment. Ii-chan, in his narration, tries to make the reader think he is the ultimate in ambivalence (sometimes it works – he can be very boring). But here he can’t keep up the pretense. Seeing his anger in these two scenes is startling – he’s almost completely out of control, even though he’s speaking the same as he always does. They’re the best two scenes in the book, as you really sit up and take notice of just what kind of person Ii-chan is. Or at least you think you’ve gotten closer to finding it out.

This book is hard to recommend. It consists almost entirely of characters talking at each other, it’s filled with ponderous philosophizing, and the narrator can make a man want to throw the book against the wall at times. But I still found it very difficult to put down, and some of the sequences were simply brilliant. The first book was put out by Del Rey two years ago (I may have to go re-read it now), and there’s no sign of the 3rd – Japanese novels have tremendous difficulty selling here. Still, I’m pleased that Del Rey took a chance with this series. As an unreliable narrator, Ii-chan leaves Kyon in the dust.