One Piece Volume 45

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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.

Technically, this is supposed to be a cooldown volume after the previous epic chapters of fighting. The crew is back at Water Seven, they’ve rescued Robin, and now we have some wacky shenanigans before they set sail once again. The trouble is, Oda being Oda, that this volume also casually drops in hints of the plot for the next 20 or so volumes.

First off, we have the revelation of Luffy’s family. It’s not really something that’s come up before, and even Luffy hasn’t thought much about it “I have a dad?” he says. But in a nice bit of juxtaposition, his grandfather is a Marine, his father is a terrorist – sorry, Revolutionary – and Luffy is a pirate. There’s a great bit where Luffy tries to warn everyone off of attacking his grandpa, and some of his childhood training is revealed. Training from Hell.

Then we have Coby and Helmeppo showing up, taking the series right back to Volume 1. Those who follow the cover arcs knew that the two were under Garp, so it’s not as much of a surprise as Luffy’s parentage was, but it’s still great to see. Coby tells Luffy about the second half of the Grand Line – called “The New World” – and indeed, the manga seems to feel as if it may have reached a halfway point here, 10 years into it.

The last of the callbacks we have are in the final two chapters, where Oda just goes all out in a giant “Where are they now?” reunion chapter. What I like best is it not only catches up with old characters, but tosses in tidbits we’d been wondering about. So yes, Vivi knows that Robin is a crewmember, and is OK with it. We see the mayor of Luffy’s hometown, upset about Luffy’s criminal activities, wondering if “Dadan” knows about this. (Who?) And we see Kaya, immediately rushing back to her studies so she can tend Usopp’s wounds when he returns (if you know what I mean).

Of course, it’s not just nostalgia. Mixed in with this are the new plot points that will carry the series forward. First off, the crew gets a new ship, courtesy Franky, and a new shipwright, also Franky. His joining the crew is not exactly a stunning revelation – after all, he had the multi-chapter tragic past flashback that is a prerequisite – but is welcome, as it had been 222 chapters since Robin joined. Franky will prove a SUPAA addition. We also get the new ship, which is twice the size of Merry, and has a lot of cool things.

Meanwhile, we catch up with Shanks, who has gone through several blockades to meet up with his fellow warlord, Whitebeard. Shanks being one of the 4 most powerful pirates in the world is not a surprise either – after all, Luffy will have to beat him to become the Pirate King – but seeing Whitebeard is a treat. He’s huge, not in the way the Giants are, just in a “I am the largest human around” sort of way. He and Shanks have a disagreement regarding Ace’s mission to kill Blackbeard, with Shanks noting that it could have repercussions that would be felt the world over. Ow! Sorry, the foreshadowing got in my eye! MY EEEEYYYYEEEE!

Surprisingly, our regulars are the ones with the least to do in this volume, with one or two exceptions. The biggest is Usopp, in a plot twist that is in-character but came as a big surprise to me. We were meant to sympathize mightily with Usopp throughout Water Seven, so seeing Zoro convince the crew that unless he apologized they would abandon him is a shock. However, Zoro’s reasoning is dead on, and reminds us that Usopp’s argument with Luffy was INITIALLY just his stubbornness and denial. The big reunion scene has a bit too many ugly tears for my taste (Oda draws tears and snot very realistically, but that doesn’t make for attractive art), but is welcome nevertheless.

Likewise, Robin runs into Aokiji, and we get a confirmation that he’s sort of in the Smoker category of Marines rather than the Spandam category. I was rather startled at his frank admission that he had assumed Robin to be suicidal. Actually, looking back, he was likely correct. Still, his comment that as long as she keeps moving forward, Ohara will live on is touching. In fact, it’s about the last bit of touching we get from the Marines for some time. By the way, I note on the Bounty Posters that Robin’s went up only a tiny amount. I suspect this is less from her being the victim and more that they’re now giving her an actual bounty, as opposed to the fake “she sank six warships at the age of 8” one she had before.

And as the volume ends, Ace does indeed catch up with Blackbeard, and we find out he’s eaten a Devil Fruit – one that grants darkness. How that battle ends will wait till next time. But man, what a packed volume. So much to take in. Awesome stuff.

Oh yes, because I got annoyed with Del Rey for it earlier, I feel I should get annoyed with Viz too. Previous volumes showed Tom’s expression as “With a boom!”. This volume has it as “With a bang!” Unless Viz is F-Troop, they should stick to one or the other. Continuity, people! Tsk tsk to Alexis Kirsch, Viz’s credited editor of this volume! Yay to Viz for crediting the editor!

Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei Volume 6

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By Koji Kumeta. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Del Rey.

First off, lest this review turn into another giant rant, let me point you to my review of Volume 5, here. Pretty much everything I said there still applies to this volume, which looks badly edited and slapdash. The contents page still lists the stories as coming from the chapters from Vol. 4 (and no, it’s not a gag, the original Japanese has the correct listing), the continuity is still different from 1-4 (I’ve lost all faith vs. I’m in despair, etc.), and the endnotes, while more accurate this time, are chosen almost at random, with many, many references left simply unexplained. Del Rey, you knew it was going to be a hard manga to translate when you licensed it. Stop cutting corners. And list your editors, dammit!

Now that that’s over with, let me sing in praise of this volume of Zetsubou, which is excellent and defies all attempts to mess it up. In particular, there’s fewer chapters that require immersion in Japanese culture to understand them, and a lot more things that are universal.

Kumeta has found a basic template he uses for each chapter (excusable as this is at heart a gag comic, and plot and characterization are irrelevant): start with the class doing some activity, Zetsubou-sensei comes in to rant about the Topic Of The Chapter, and provide examples of it, culminating in a long list. There then proceeds a discussion among the class, usually giving some examples among themselves. Kafuka then comes in and twists or reverses the topic, which leads to a second set of examples and list on the reversal. And then things spiral into a chaotic ending, usually finishing with a quick one-liner by Maria. It works.

There’s not quite as much of the character’s quirks in this volume as compared to others, with the exception, of course, of Matoi, who is still visible behind Zetsubou-sensei in at least one panel per chapter. (Later volumes will show Kumeta tiring of this, and she’ll become a more developed character. But for now, it’s fun to try to track her down.) Nami only says “Don’t call me ordinary!” once, and even Chiri only goes insane and murderous twice here. With one exception, the chapters focus on the cultural gags rather than the people in the cast.

That one exception is Chapter 55, which introduces one of my favorite characters, Ai Kaga. Unlike Mayo from Volume 5, who is fun but will remain a minor one-note character, Ai becomes a regular pretty quickly. Her quirk is also both very Japanese and yet also easily understandable elsewhere: she thinks everything is her fault, and is constantly apologizing. She even notes that she hasn’t appeared in the manga before now as she knew if she did readers would lose interest. (She’s right, she wasn’t even in the background before, unlike characters such as Mayo or Manami.) In among all the class’s attention hogs and egotists, she’s very refreshing. And of course, matches up well with Zetsubou-sensei, who’s also very negative about himself.

The main reason to read the manga, of course, is the humor. Not only are the observations dead-on, but there are little throw-away gags that also work great. When Zetsubou “dies” at the end of Chapter 55, we see him in his coffin, and note that Matoi is lying in state right next to him. The exam results that we see in Chapter 56’s title page are actually in character, with Meru at the very bottom as she tried to text her answers, and Maria and Matoi right above her as they both “cheated” by leaving their seats (no doubt Maria was hanging on the ceiling and Matoi was under her teacher’s podium).

And, to give Del Rey some credit, the dialogue that doesn’t depend on references to 1980s video games or Japanese idol singers is rendered very well. It’s a very smooth translation. The one thing that made me raise an eyebrow is in Chapter 54, where the original Japanese pun is untranslatable. The joke is that one girl’s name is Kanako, and Nami jokes that if she married a man named Oba she’d be “Oba Kanako”, which can be read as “big idiot.” Del Rey give an endnote explaining this, which is awesome. But in the joke they used instead, Nami says if she married a man named “Lingus”, she’d be “Kana Lingus”. Now, I know this is rated for Older Teen, but seriously.

I do still recommend this manga as being a great example of what makes Japanese gag manga fun, as it’s insane but not totally Bobobo-esque obnoxious. The characters are silly, the art is striking and gives you some great expressions (particularly Chiri’s), and if you don’t mind looking a lot of things up on Wikipedia as they aren’t in the endnotes, it’s a great example of Japan circa 2006. Watch for a lot of World Cup references.

Some thoughts on fandom and shipping

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I had an interesting discovery on Twitter the other day, after I posed a question regarding how many anime and manga bloggers were hardcore fans of different series. Not as in ‘I really like this series’, but as in the fandom: fanfics, fanart, music videos, forum debates, and of course shipping.

The discovery was that there really aren’t too many. I’m pretty much a blogger-come-lately when it comes to manga reviews, but I’ve been in anime and manga fandom for 15 years now, and wrote my first fanfics 14 years ago. (No, I won’t give a link. They aren’t exactly hard to find.)

Generally speaking, when I review something, I try to remain fandom-neutral, even when I adore a series. Oh, I’ll occasionally mention that this volume of Negima has some great KonoSetsu moments, but for the most parts these posts are here to a) tell you if I like a manga or not (I generally do), and b) point out bits I found of interest. Fandom is a dangerous thing to have in a general review blog, as it invites strong opinions. Loud strong opinions.

With that introduction in mind, let me mention a couple of my fandom opinions:

1) You can ship a couple – ship them really hard – without ever wanting to see it get anywhere near canon. In fact, you’d hate it if it was canon. Not because ‘they’d ruin it’, necessarily, but because you KNOW it’s not actually a romantic pairing – but you like to play what if. This is where I am with almost every single One Piece pairing I like, for example. I’m with Oda – they’re all in love with Adventure. The only thing I ever want to see canonically in One Piece is Usopp/Kaya. And even then, only in the final chapter. But Luffy/Nami, Luffy/Robin, Franky/Robin, Zoro/Tashigi… sure, I love reading about it or seeing it drawn. But I don’t want or need it in canon.

2) You can ship more than one contrasting couple at the same time, and not be betraying anyone. Let’s take as an example Hayate the Combat Butler. It’s recently had a rather nasty ship-related flamewar going on for months, due to events that the North American Market won’t get for another year or so. I’ve stayed right out of it. Why? Because I like Hayate/Athena. And Hayate/Hinagiku. And Hayate/Ayumu. And yes, even Hayate/Nagi, though you’re hitting the ‘when she grows up’ that one has to throw in. And no, I don’t really want a ‘Hayate gets all the girls in a giant pile o’ sexings’ ending. I just can contain multiple realities in my head at once. It’s not that hard, honest.

3) You will never agree with anyone 100%. Even if (and this is rare) you agree with someone on every single ship in one particular fandom, they will violently disagree with you on some other anime/TV show/children’s book. You can find someone who writes the bestest Ichigo/Orihime fics evar, and you rush off to their Fanfiction.Net profile to see what other fandoms they write, and… wait, they ship Zutara? Noooooo! What are they thinking?!?! Now I hate them forever!

4) It’s not worth getting angry. I get that fandom involves strong emotions. You love your series. You love your characters. And yes, you love your pairing. And sure, I enjoy a good debate… for about 5 minutes. But if you’re in Hour Two of trying to tell me why Naru’s hitting Keitaro is criminal abuse whereas Motoko’s is just her being tsun-tsun… I’m going to walk away. In the end, it’s the thing you love, but it’s a cartoon. Or a comic. Or a TV show. It’s not worth any increase in blood pressure.

5) It’s fun. I wouldn’t have written fanfics on and off for 14 years if I didn’t like thinking up cool things, and getting reactions from fans, and having them inspire more cool things. Sure, there’s lots that I’ve written in the past that I consider to be amateurish or questionable today (hi, Ranma 1/2!), but it’s also introduced me to most of my best friends. Fandom is, in the end, social. In fact, it can be a lot more social than a review blog. I love you all, of course, like brothers; but sometimes I need to just go off and ponder which girl Negi *is* going to end up with once he stops being 10 years old. All great stories inspire the imagination… and fandom is the outlet.

6) It’s also insane and terrifying. I almost typed in a Harry Potter example above till I thought better of it. Phew! Bullet dodged!