Dorohedoro Volume 1

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By Q Hayashida. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Ikki. Released in North America by Viz.

This is one of the SigIkki titles that doesn’t seem to get as much chatter. Children of the Sea has the beautiful landscapes, Afterschool Charisma, has the celebrity clones, Kingyo Used Books has the manga meta-love, and I’ll Give It My All… Tomorrow has the indie-comic lovable loser thing going for it. Really, Dorohedoro probably compares best to Bokurano: Ours, as they both depict what appear to be soul-crushing dystopias.

However, Dorohedoro has a healthy dose of humor, and some really likeable anti-heroes, so it didn’t really crush my soul at all. World-building manga, where you spend the first few volumes finding out about the city/state our heroes work in, is difficult to carry off, and you have to create interesting lead characters or else it will simply read like a travelogue. Hayashida does that here.

Not that the two leads are particularly likeable. There’s no real good guys and bad guys in this story yet. We root for Caiman and Nikaido because, well, we met them first, and they seem to be the viewpoint characters. But the ‘villains’ we’re introduced to later, Shin and Noi, seem equally likeable in a different way (I loved the reveal on Noi, which was done quite well.) In a crapsack world where everyone’s a killer, you take what you can get.

Like many of the series I’ve seen from Ikki, Dorohedoro seems to pride itself on striking and grotesque images – the manga opens with a man’s face between the jaws of a giant lizard creature – and I enjoyed Hayashida’s art, which conveyed a sketchy, indie feeling without being difficult to understand. I can’t help but be reminded of the similar Dogs: Bullets & Carnage, which has similar stylings (and plots). The action is quick and violent, and the girls are cute even as they’re catching brains in baseball caps.

I didn’t think this would be my thing at all – the gore can be a bit much, frankly, and the words ‘sorcery’ almost always put me to sleep – but it ended up being a quick, riveting read. I want to see Caiman and Nikaido face off against Shin and Noi, and wonder who I’ll root for. I’d like to see more of the weird skull-mask soreceror girl. And who wouldn’t want to see more of Fujita getting humiliated? I’ll definitely be getting the next volume.

Fullmetal Alchemist Volumes 1 & 2

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By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan by Square Enix, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Gangan. Released in North America by Viz.

Sometimes, you just get behind, and have to play catch up. Maybe other series hold your purse more. Maybe you got sick of the ship wars and take a break from fandom for a while. Or maybe you read something that freaked you out, and you just couldn’t go on as you kept thinking about THE SCARY THING.

But, time passes, and your tastes change. And so you go back to remember what it was you first loved. And that’s what I’m doing now with Fullmetal Alchemist, one of the best shonen titles currently being published, and which I accidentally kinda got 21 volumes behind on, and I fell behind on the anime as well (like 7 years behind – I keep meaning to watch Brotherhood). However, I’ve remained active in the fandom, and the chatter has gotten big enough that I wanted to go back and do some mass reading.

(If you don’t know how you can be active in a fandom without actually reading or watching any of the source material, boy, are *you* new to the Internet.)

So, for the uninitiated, Fullmetal Alchemist, or FMA, is a fantasy action series about two young teenage boys searching for the Philosopher’s Stone. Due to an alchemy experiment gone horribly wrong (get used to that phrase throughout this series), the younger brother, Alphonse, is merely a living suit of armor with a soul, and the older brother, Edward, is short. Oh yeah, and he’s missing an arm and a leg as well, replacing them with robotic ‘automail’. They travel around, trying to track down leads, occasionally righting wrongs, and taking a lot of umbrage at having his size made fun of. (OK, that last one is just Ed.)

Volume 1 start off with what appear to be a few stand-alone chapters, with Ed and Al battling corrupt priests, corrupt military officers, and normal boring old train robbers. We do meet two of the series’ villains, Lust and Gluttony, and aren’t they just creepy as heck. Most importantly, this series lets you know right off the bat that it is not Shonen Jump – there will be death, and blood, and so you’d better get used to it. Shonen Gangan is for the *older* boy. We also meet, at the end, the goofy Colonel that Ed reports to, Roy Mustang, and his stoic Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye. Far more on them later.

Volume 2 gives us another running plot, as a man is running around killing State Alchemists. To be fair, the Alchemist we see him kill here really was an utter scumbag, but still, vigilantes are bad! Chapter 5, by the way, is the series’ first really nightmarish one, and was the main reason I paused in both the manga and the anime. Those who’ve read it will know exactly what I mean. The vigilante, Scar, then goes after Ed, and manages to utterly annihilate his automail arm before the cavalry arrives. We also meet more of the military, including one of the most ludicrously silly men in the entire series, Alex Armstrong, and another, as yet unnamed villain. (Given his cohorts are Lust and Gluttony, I think I can take a few guesses at what he might be called.)

FMA has a very good balance between action, drama, exposition, and humor. And there’s several bits in the two volumes that are really rather scary – I wouldn’t show this to anyone under 12, that’s for sure. Oh yes, and since the manga is drawn by a woman, I am pleased to see several strong female characters in here – both good (Hawkeye) and bad (Lust). An excellent series for those who like thrills and fights with a good dose of backstory intrigue.

Excel Saga Volume 6

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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.

We pick up on this volume of Excel Saga where the last one left off, with Excel and Hyatt going back to base to apologize for screwing up the package delivery. Unfortunately, when they get there, they find base isn’t there anymore – there’s just a blank wall. Excel goes to search for alternate entrances, while Hyatt just sits there… luckily for Hyatt, as a secret entrance soon makes itself known. Hyatt finally goes to get Excel, and all seems to be back to normal, though notably Il Palazzo is no longer wearing his long white robe, but simply a black military uniform. It’s implied here that the suppressed alternate personality that’s been talking to him in his head may have emerged to take over.

Meanwhile, Ropponmatsu (loli version) moves into the apartments, much to the horror of Iwata, who starts trying to drive her off almost immediately. (As a side note, this volume came out right about as the anime was finishing, and there are several anime in-jokes in it, notably seeing Excel (voice actress: Kotono Mitsuishi) trying to dress as Sailor Moon, with mosaicing over the costume to avoid lawsuits from nice Kodansha peoples.)

The next chapter is pure wacky, as Ropponmatsu invites her fellow employees out to lunch (at their cost) to celebrate her joining the agency. Sadly, they end up lunching at the same restaurant Excel and Hyatt are working at, a restaurant that misordered and thus needs to get rid of a lot of chicken fast (dangerous for a steakhouse), and having a problem with roaches. The highlight of the chapter is the owner telling Excel to be sure to call any roach she sees Taro-san, so as not to alert the customers. Having been unable to push the chicken on beef-loving Iwata, Excel is forced to go out and butcher a bull four times her size. Naturally, the bull goes on a rampage and destroys the restaurant. (Nice bit where Misaki, who had been in the bathroom and thus avoided the carnage, admits her luck is a bit scary. She managed to avoid the snowstorm in the previous volume as well.)

The next chapter is mostly a day in the life chapter, dealing with Ropponmatsu trying to sneak into Misaki’s room (and getting it wrong twice), Excel and Hyatt’s general poverty, and Kabapu showing us all the joy of a good workout. The most notable thing here is the beginning of the chapter, which begins with Il Palazzo ranting about nuclear power. This is a hot-button issue in Japan, and after Il Palazzo says that he feels nuclear accidents are irrelevant, The Will Of The Universe appears to reset the chapter and turn it into the slice-of-life we get. This is Will Of The Universe’s only manga appearance, also here as a shout out to the anime.

After Excel is almost hit by ANOTHER car (that makes 3 in 3 volumes, for those counting), and a title page shot of her dressed once more as Maki Umezaki from Geobreeders, we see them trying to rescue a young, airheaded girl from some shady yakuza types. Naturally, the shady yakuza types are actually her servants, trying to locate the lost girl, and Excel and Hyatt are now kidnappers. It all works out well in the end, however, and we get the glorious image of Excel hurling Hyatt off the edge of a high-rise and then following her down, as well as creepy Dr. Shiouji showing his love for 6-year-olds once again.

The next chapter takes us once again, deep into Excel’s insecurities. She accidentally eats some of Hyatt’s food at breakfast, and winds up in a drug-induced series of hallucinations. Hyatt gets replaced with an infinite number of robot doubles (which end up coughing up oil, collapsing, and exploding – no change there), and Il Palazzo says that it’s time for ACROSS to gain another member. Excel is horrified over this, and we note once more her absolute paranoia at other people horning in on her Il Palazzo. Her combination of utter devotion and repressed self-hatred can be difficult to watch at times. This turned out to just be a dream, but the need for a new member of ACROSS will come up again in Volume 7.

Meanwhile, Ropponmatsu (loli version) is having a few bugs, and thus has to go back to Shiouji’s lab for a bit. So we welcome back Ropponmatsu (adult version), much to Iwata’s delight. She doesn’t last long, though, as when they walk out of the building they are interrupted by Excel and Hyatt, who had been window cleaning about 25 stories up, plummeting to Earth after their platform snapped. Ropponmatsu catches both of them in her arms and then flip-kicks the platform out of harm’s way. It’s pretty badass, though she notes that it has affected her legs a bit, so she’s not indestructible. She then notices that Hyatt has fallen over dead, and bugs Excel to start resuscitating her.

This leads to the most interesting part of the volume. Excel reaches out to indicate that Hyatt being dead is nothing to worry about, and grabs Ropponmatsu’s shoulder as their eyes meet. There’s a crackle, and we then get a 2-page spread of Il Palazzo and Kabapu, in their respective home bases, looking at the city. Il Palazzo notes that it’s “the counterfeit” from last time… and then Ropponmatsu falls over, totally deactivated. Aside from confirming that Kabapu and Il Palazzo basically monitor their minions constantly, this also shows that Excel is somehow connected to Ropponmatsu, and apparently has the ability to deactivate her. This becomes far more important in Volume 14 and later.

However, back to reality… Excel now has a dead partner *and* a dead robot to worry about. Hyatt wakes up easily enough, but getting Ropponmatsu back online proves to be more than the two of them can bear. (I note that neither one are aware Ropponmatsu is a robot – they just think she’s a really heavy girl.) They put her in the wheelbarrow to cart off to the hospital… but the barrow ends up getting loose and colliding with a tanker truck. Whoops. Excel and Hyatt flee the ensuing explosion, but fear not – A fiery death was just what was needed to revive Ropponmatsu, who stands in the middle of the conflagration, mostly unharmed. (I say mostly as when she appears the following day, she accidentally shifts into the personality of her loli self, something that’s so disturbing that Misaki smashes her head deep into a cement wall to snap her out of it.)

This is a good but not fantastic volume of Excel Saga, notable for Il Palazzo’s personality change (though, his two personas being almost exactly the same, you won’t really notice it as much), and for Excel’s connection to Ropponmatsu. It does have one flaw – there are no notes from Carl Horn this volume, only the sound effects and a brief letter column. This was apparently a last-minute error, but they are dearly missed.