One Piece Volume 49

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By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz.

For a volume that is, once again, an entire volume of fights, there’s a lot going on here. Let’s bullet point (or at least emdash) this volume:

— At last, Nami is awake and doing things again. Thankfully, once she wakes up, the whole distressed damsel plot gets kicked in the teeth, and she and the Zombie Lola end up kicking Absalom’s ass. One Piece may not be a feminist manga by any stretch, but it’s a damn sight better than 99% of what’s out there.
— And then, my friends… we get what may be my favorite funny One Piece moment ever. In the anime it’s even better, with the full blown music and effects, but Pirates Docking Six Giant Robot Warrior Big Emperor is damn near perfect. From Zoro and Sanji’s blank stares to Franky, Chopper and Usopp’s looks of betrayal, topped off by Robin’s “I find it embarrassing as a human being”, this is Oda at his best, using the personality of the crew perfectly.
— Speaking of which, it’s nice to see the entire Straw Hat crew on the cover again. I’d missed Robin at first, but there she is, down by the number 49, wishing with all her heart that she was somewhere else.
— Perona tries to escape on the Sunny, figuring out that things are going to hell. Unfortunately, this is stopped by the arrival of ANOTHER Warlord of the Sea, Bartholomew Kuma. Who proves to almost be a game breaker with his powers, as he sends Perona vanishing off to who knows where, and then proceeds to track down Moria and let him know that failure will be unacceptable. Also, intriguingly, he asks about Ace.
— The main thrust of this volume is seeing how well the Straw Hats work as a team. Most of the previous arcs have featured them either in one-on-one battles, or teaming into small groups. Here, especially once Nami joins them again, they show off their strength, brains and courage. Their plans are really quite clever! It’s just that they’re up against a nigh-immortal Zombie controlled by a Warlord with shadow powers.
— So, inevitably, they get to be strong-willed and clever, then go down. We see them reason about Oars’ weak point, and then peck away at it till it does some good. And, having been knocked down, they keep getting up again (sadly, no one drinks a whiskey drink here). I’m reminded again how tough this crew is. Usually it’s Usopp who gets to show off the endurance, but all of them are knocked out multiple times in this volume and get back up and fighting.
— And here comes Luffy, and thanks to some allies, he is essentially SUPERLUFFY, with 100 shadows inside him, making him look akin to The Incredible Hulk. (He’s colored blue on the cover, likely for very good legal reasons.) And Superluffy is not going to let some huge invincible zombie stop him! Oars gets his ass kicked from hell to back.
— Sadly, Oars is not the final boss of this arc, Moria is. And Moria pulls out all the stops, drawing in every single shadow of all his zombies, including Cindry and Lola, who we briefly see fall over dead (well, they were already dead), and becoming his own superhuman. Everyone flees in sheer terror… except the Straw Hats, that is, who are ready to stand up to anything! (I do love Usopp’s scream even as he stands with his comrades. Almost pure Don Martin…)

And so, as the volume ends, Luffy is ready to bust out his final moves. Can we possibly stand the suspense? Well, no, but luckily Vol. 50 is already out.

Manga the week of 6/9

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A much quieter 2nd week at your local Comick Shoppe, which is good, as I still have a backlog to get from last week.

Dark Horse’s agreement with CLAMP not only allows them to release things like Kobato, and re-release things like Chobits, but also allows for the more obscure side of CLAMP to shine through. This week it’s Okimono Kimono, which is where Mokona (the CLAMP artist, not the cute-yet-annoying mascot) shows us her utter obsession with kimonos. I really have no idea what this will be like, but certainly the fact that Dark Horse is releasing it at all is praiseworthy.

Viz has its usual 2nd week line. (In case you hadn’t figured out the way Viz typically releases things every month, the first week is Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat titles, the 2nd week is Shonen Sunday and ‘miscellaneous publishers’ (such as Square Enix, Shonen Gahosha, and Hakusensha’s seinen stuff), and the 3rd week is the Signature and more upscale titles.)

Oh, but wait? How did Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo 4 escape to Week 2? And hey, Hayate 15 and Gestalt got moved to Week 3! Sure, Viz, make me look like the bad guy now… (pouts) In any case, Bobobo will be enjoyed by the 2 or so people who buy it. There’s also a new Battle Angel Alita, a title I never did catch up with after it rebooted, but I know has many fans. Who no doubt argue it should be called Gunnm, just like in Japan. :) I’ve also gotten behind on Detroit Metal City, whose sadistic humor is beloved by many.

And Yen has a huge pile of stuff. Darker Than Black is complete in one volume, and is yet another “wait, this is shoujo?” title from our friends at Asuka magazine. I love Bamboo Blade a lot, and am pleased to see a new volume come so soon after 4 came out. The Haruhi manga is the least compelling of the 3 released Haruhi versions, but is still worth a look, mostly as when the artist is allowed to stray from the book plots the manga becomes far more interesting. And Soul Eater 3 is a MUST READ for art and architecture students, as its backgrounds are like the Bauhaus on crack.

Library Wars: Love & War Volume 1

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By Kiiro Yumi, based on the novel by Hiro Arikawa. Released in Japan as “Toshokan Sensou: Love & War” by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine LaLa. Released in North America by Viz.

A lot of the titles coming out here these days are part of what I term ‘franchise’ titles. They’re based off of either a novel or a game. Then comes the manga, then the anime, then games based off the anime, then a 2nd manga… you know what I mean. Sometimes the influence can even go in the other direction. The anime ‘Durarara!!’ had a minor anime-only character who the novel’s author liked, so he wrote her into a later book.

Library Wars is a light novel series that ASCII Media Works released in their Dengeki Bunko line (where it won a Seiun Award, the Japanese equivalent of a Hugo). You’d expect that the manga would be released as a guy’s title in one of their media manga magazines, such as Dengeki Daioh. And you’d be right: there was a manga that ran in Dengeki Daioh for 2 volumes, called Library Wars: Spitfire!. It’s more of a guy’s take on the book. However, they also decided to cultivate a female audience by licensing a shoujo version of the series, to be put in Hakusensha’s LaLa, home of Vampire Knight and Ouran High School Host Club. This one is 4 volumes and counting, and still running today.

I’m reviewing Love & War, of course. And it’s excellent. I have not read the original novel that this is based on, though I imagine that early chapters are quite similar. But it’s well-paced, well-plotted, and with likeable yet flawed characters. The premise is that in the near future, Japan is attempting to censor anything considered offensive. To defend against these new laws, librarians have banded together to form a Defense Force, protecting books and saving them from the government. Given Japan is currently arguing about bans on ‘non-existent youth’ and sexualized art, this is not exactly an unimaginable premise.

Our heroine, Iku, is a spunky yet dense sort, who rushes ahead without thinking. Her immediate superior, Dojo, treats her like crap (something she notes over and over again). And we later meet another recruit who is perfect in every way, and treats Iku like crap as well. What makes this different from, say, Black Bird or Hit Gimmick? Well, for one, the premise, while serious, allows for more comedic situations. I know it’s a bit hypocritical, but I find jerk guys in shoujo far more tolerable if they’re funny. Second, the girl is strong and fights back. I had mentioned this in my review of Portrait of M&N;, but watching meek and shy girls get abused is far less fun then watching loud and violent girls get abused.

However, most importantly, the characters learn and change almost immediately. This is partly due to the fact that the plot is not seeing Iku and Dojo hook up, but rather seeing Iku become a good librarian soldier. Towards that end, we totally understand Dojo’s utter frustration with her, as she starts off as a horrible soldier, refusing orders and not thinking anything through. In the last chapter, though, we see her get humiliated enough to buckle down and try hard, and it shows.

Dojo too changes. It’s not mentioned in this volume, but it would appear that he notices that he’s been too hard on her in the first couple of chapters, not so much trying to correct her mistakes as crushing her spirits. Once she’s actually in the Defense Force, he’s much easier to deal with, offering just as much help and praise as critique. And her partner Tezuka, who is the ‘ideal soldier’ and wonders what on Earth Iku is even doing there, clearly needs to learn a few lessons about teamwork, as Dojo explains to him at the end.

There is a bit of romance here, but it’s actually secondary for once. Iku has a crush on her fantasy prince who rescued a book for her when she was younger. It’s pretty clear that was Dojo, and he blushes every time he thinks of it. She also starts to open up to him once he stops being the hardass drill sergeant, and I suspect her roommate from training will be playing matchmaker a bit. They’re a cute couple that don’t overwhelm the premise.

Really, this is simply an excellent first volume. Balancing character, futuristic plot, comedy (love that bear), and romance, it’s a perfect new series for Viz’s Shojo Beat line. Highly recommended, can’t wait for more.