Portrait of M & N Volume 2

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By Tachibana Higuchi. Released in Japan as “M to N no Shouzou” by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Tokyopop.

I’d noted when reviewing Volume 1 of M&N; that I felt it had a big problem, which was its premise. That has not changed. Hoerver, the focus is now firmly on love comedy, with the masochistic and narcissistic qualities being an afterthought. Strangely enough, this makes it work better.

The lead couple are still painfully earnest, even when going through comedic situations. Mitsuru is still shy and meek, blithely accepting all the bullying from the other girls that’s coming her way. (Speaking of which, what is it with Tachibana and bullying? I know it features in a lot of shoujo titles, but both of her larger series have it in spades, and with Gakuen Alice it’s almost the main plotline.) Natsuhiko, meanwhile, works best when he’s freaking out and being overprotective, as when he’s repressing everything, he just comes off as dull.

Even Hijiri turns out to be your typical rival guy, though at least by poking at the main couple he is doing something to make them move closer, as it’s very clear that this couple needs help. Neither of them would dare make a move on their own, being tormented by crippling self-doubt. This is where their peccadilloes come into play, with Mitsuru fighting against her masochism whenever she trips and falls, and Natsuhiko trying to avoid self-absorption (though he’s really too nice a guy for that).

On the other hand, I really enjoyed the one-shot at the end of this volume, written two years before Tachibana began M&N.; It’s about a school that’s a way station for ghosts, who have to have someone realize they’re dead and mourn before they can pass on. This can be tricky – one girl was killed in a bombing raid during WWII, and was listed as ‘missing’, so is still there. It’s a pretty fine premise, and the first few pages have some nice comedy that tends to be missing from the main M&N; series. It also has heartwarming moments (Yurie finally being reunited with her mother) and ends in a sweet, yet also dark scene where the hero promises to love a ghost the rest of his life. (Tachibana says the audience wrote in to ask if it was a happy ending or not.) Good stuff.

The concerns I had with Volume 1 have not really gone away. This series is far too serious for its premise. Even the cover art is sedate and mature. However, that’s actually less of a problem in this volume, as the focus is far less on the masochism and narcissism and more on the two shy leads crawling slowly towards each other as a couple. Which is sweet, but I have to wonder about a series whose weak point is still its basic premise.

Rin-Ne Volume 3

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By Rumiko Takahashi. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz.

Once again, we get another cute, fun volume of the manga where everyone is interesting except our two leads. I’m still not quite sure why that is. Certainly we know that Takahashi can create memorable females – this is the creator of Lum, after all – but Sakura is just so even-tempered and sweet that you wonder what on Earth she’s doing starring in this. Rinne too tends to be a lot less jerk-like and shallow than her previous male leads.

Do you think Takahashi has been reading her own negative press? Perhaps someone translated TV Tropes for her, and she decided to stop working with the violent short-tempered girl and the unthinking jerk with a heart of gold guy. It’s good to see her stepping out of the boxes, I suppose, but it’s kind of like a world-class curry chef deciding his next world-class meal will avoid curry. Sometimes people should stick with what they do best.

That’s not to say Rin-Ne Volume 3 is bad in any way. Any Takahashi manga is at least readable, and this goes way above that, mostly due to the fact that, aside from the two leads, everyone in it is a fun goof. We get a new rival introduced, this one a romantic rival (not that there’s been much romance so far), who has loved Sakura since they were kids. Naturally, she doesn’t recall him at all. He’s also an exorcist, and (surprise) his methods clash with Rinne’s.

The best chapters are the silliest, showing things such as the ever-popular Toilet Hanako (here a young girl) being manipulated by an evil spirit (which splits into balls much like an old console game), or the chapter with the Damashigami, who lures all the females of Sakura’s class into an underworld trap. There’s the occasional dollop of plot and foreshadowing as well, as Rinne clearly despises Damashigamis for reasons yet unstated, and is starting to note that Sakura is cute.

This is decent Takahashi, and no one will regret purchasing it. But it still feels like she’s running in neutral, and I’d really like the story to amp up into something bigger, soon. A personality for Sakura would be nice, too.

License requests: The Taiyosha Bestsellers

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I was glancing at Taiyosha’s bestseller lists this afternoon, helpfully divided by genre (more on that later). The genres in question are Kodomo (childrens), Shonen, Shoujo, Seinen, Josei, Adult, and ‘Other’. I’m going to stick with the Big 4 here, though the others are not without their fascination.

Shonen comics unlicensed, their publisher/magazine, and why they’re likely unlicensed:
1) Houkago Play 2. ASCII Mediaworks, Dengeki Playstation. It’s a 4-koma about a tsundere. That tends to sell better in Japan than it does here. Maybe Yen might bite. It’s also too new.
2) To Aru Majutsu no Index 6. Square Enix, Shonen Gangan. If Yen doesn’t license this either at AX or NYAF, I’ll be stunned. Science, magic, and religion in a novel/manga/anime trifecta of marketing.
3) Break Blade 8. Softbank Creative, Flex Comix Blood. This *was* licensed, by CMX Manga, but obviously isn’t anymore. Likely will be hard to get a hold of, as no CMX titles did all that well.
4) Bamboo Blade B 3. Square Enix, Shonen Gangan. A younger-audience oriented spinoff of Bamboo Blade, with a different cast. I suspect Yen is happy with just regular BB at the moment.
5) History’s Strongest Disciple Kenichi 38. Shogakukan, Shonen Sunday. Too damn long for Viz, most likely. Also a bit more boob-obsessed than they like. Plus Sunday titles sell poorer here than Jump ones do, Inu Yasha excepted.

Shoujo has a few more:
1) Koibana! – Koiseyo Hanabi 8. Shueisha, Margaret. Guy-hating heroine goes to mostly boys school, jerk-like guy helps her get over her phobia through systematic emotional abuse. Sounds like a Shojo Beat winner to me!
2) Switch Girl!! 12. Shueisha, Margaret. The premise of this sounds almost exactly like Kare Kano, but this series tends to emphasize the humor of the ‘popular queen of school is a slob at home’ rather than the angst and drama. This might be a good one for Viz in an unsarcastic way, as opposed to my sarcastic recomendation of Koibama.
3) Shitsuji-sama no Okiniiri 8. Hakusensha, Betsuhana. If the popularity of Black Butler were all about the hot prettyboy butlers, I’d say this was a shoo-in license. Sadly, this series lacks the supernatural, and doesn’t have yaoi tease, so less so. Tokyopop might try it.
4) Bokura wa Itsumo 5. Shueisha, Margaret. (Notice a pattern?) Standard high school shoujo, with the quirk that it has 4 different perspectives, 2 boys and 2 girls. Seems inoffensive.
5) Hoshi Wa Utau 8. Hakusensha, Hana to Yume. I suspect this one may still be in a ‘Viz vs. Tokyopop’ licensing argument. It’s also not as popular as Fruits Basket, the author’s previous series.
6) Love So Life 4. Hakusensha, Hana to Yume. Heartwarming family shoujo, perfect for fans of Baby & Me. Likely would sell about as well as Baby & Me did.
7) Berry Dynamite 3. Shueisha, Betsuma. A short series (this is the final volume) by the author of Love Com. Highly likely to be licensed in the future.
8) Usagi Otoko Tora Otoko 2. Shinkosha, not certain which magazine. Yaoi manga featuring a doctor and his pet yakuza. All the author’s other works were licensed by Dramaqueen. Perhaps this can be as well? Or maybe DMP?

Moving on to Seinen… (remember I’m leaving out licensed titles)
1) Saint Young Men 5. Kodansha, Morning 2. Going into why this isn’t licensed is a post in itself. Suffice to say, the publishers know about our love for this Jesus and Buddha share an apartment comedy.
2) Nana to Kaoru 4. Hakusensha, Young Animal. A tale of two teenagers and their wacky misadventures in S&M; and bondage, this is far too explicit to be licensed over here.
3) Moteki 4. Kodansha, Evening. Story of a guy who turns 30 and suddenly finds girls interested in him. Won an award, only 4 volumes… but it’s a romance geared towards adults, from Kodansha. Sadly, unlikely to be licensed, though I suppose I can throw another ‘nag Ed Chavez’ log on the fire…
4) Rakka Ryuusui 5. Houbunsha, Manga Time Kirara Max. 4-koma school antics with tinges of yuri, but I suspect Yen, who drowned the market in 4koma last year, is waiting on sales for K-On! before licensing more.
5) Giant Killing 15. Kodansha, Morning. A sports manga geared for adults, from Kodansha? Wow, 3 hard to license things that taste great together. I suppose if the anime does REALLY well, but didn’t Big Windup fail? And Viz is already triple-releasing Cross Game to get it out faster… sports manga may need to be a post for another day.

And Josei, where I wonder if ANYTHING is licensed. Oh right, Nodame Cantabile is.
1) Elysion 2. Gentosha, Web Spica. Not sure what it is, but the author’s been around forever, and Yuri fans might have seen her Yajikita Gakuen Douchuuki. Looks historical from the cover.
2) 888 Eight Three 5. Gentosha, Comic Birz. Slice of life detective agency antics. Comic Birz rides a genre line – I’ve heard it called seinen as well – but is filled with intriguing titles. The 5 in the title is the volume number. :)
3) Madame Joker 8. Futabasha, don’t know the magazine. I know nothing about this, and it’s 8 volumes and running. Surely that’s a reason to license it?
4) Nichiyoubi wa Marche de Bonbon 1. Shueisha, Cookie. HAH! See, Cookie is josei! I think this might be a gag comic series. Tokyopop put out the author’s Galaxy Girl, Panda Boy a while back. Sadly, Shueisha series, so hey.
5) Koshou no Oshigoto Returns! 2. Gentosha, Spica. Calling DMP, come in DMP. Surely this series is for you… as well as its prequel.
6) Ichiraci (Ichi＊Raci) July 2010. Tosuisha. Yes, a magazine made the top 10 sales list. Anyone license anything from this?
7) Akachan no Dorei 6. Kodansha, Kiss. Josei from Kodansha is EVEN MORE licensable than seinen from Kodansha! It has a cute baby on the cover, though. Who doesn’t love babies?
8) Mama wa Tenparist 3. Shueisha, Chorus. What is a Tenparist? In any case, I’d rather see Viz license Gokusen if they do decide to license nontraditional josei.

I think what this list shows is that a) there’s a lot of interesting stuff coming out over in Japan that’s hitting bestselling lists, and b) for most of them, there’s really genuine reasons why they aren’t out over here. Also, man, when did Gentosha get so popular?