Cactus’s Secret Volume 1

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By Nana Haruta. Released in Japan as “Saboten no Himitsu” by Shueisha, serialized in the magazine Ribon. Released in North America by Viz.

Ah, another new shoujo manga from Viz. Let’s see, what have we here? It takes place in high school… girl has fallen for a guy who’s very popular… can’t make her feelings understood. Hrm, I wonder if we’ll see an old girlf—yup, there she is. Ah, and will they bring in the smirky guy with a thing for the heroi—yeah, like clockwork.

To a degree, the North American manga market is beginning to suffer from what has affected Japan for some time – publishers do not want originality. Originality, for the most part, does not sell. Publishers want variations on a theme. Cute girl, cute guy, miscommunication, a few rivals, tie it up in a bow and sell it to Ribon, or Nakayoshi, or Ciao. It’s gonna run 3-4 volumes, then you take a short vacation and start again with a different couple. If it becomes a really big hit, you may be able to get an anime out of it. And as you get older, you can either retire or move up to drawing for You, Be Love, and Petit Comic – where you can either write the high school plot with more smut, or make your heroes office workers.

There is nothing, therefore, intrinsically wrong with Cactus’s Secret. The girl, Miku, is spunky, likeable, yet stubborn. The hero, Kyohei, is in the ‘clueless’ vein rather than the ‘jerk’ vein, so you can actually see what she might see in him. The confession is not dragged on for volumes and volumes, but happens towards the end of Volume 1 – and I really enjoyed the honesty of Kyohei’s response.

There’s even some implied backstory, and for once it’s backstory that the heroine knows some of but we don’t. Kyohei was a ‘bad boy’ in junior high, which is when Miku first fell for him, but we don’t really get much explanation here for what brought that on, or what changed him. Of course, this doesn’t help her out, as it turns out that she may have knew about him, but didn’t ‘know’ about him – discovering your love is not who you thought he was being another standard shoujo plot.

There’s nothing really bad here. The art is cute and uncomplicated, there are a refreshing lack of jerks (though that may change with the intro of rival guy at the end of this volume), and the plot is well-handled and, for once, well-timed. But there is absolutely nothing original here at all. You can pick up 10 other Viz or Tokyopop or CMX manga and get something very similar to this. If you don’t mind manga not blowing you away, but just being pretty good, then this is a good example.

Excel Saga Volume 3

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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.

There’s not as much revelation in this volume of Excel Saga, Rikdo-san preferring to riff on his basic themes for a bit, having introduced most of the main cast. We do get another suggestion that Il Palazzo’s memory has huge gaps in it, and that he may even have some sort of split-personality problem, but it’s merely a tease here. We do get a nice surprise at the end, though…

However, the predominant theme is satirical humor. Excel Saga was originally created, Rikdo once said, to riff on the Japanese economy and the collapse of the bubble boom back in the mid to late 90s. Hence Excel and Hyatt’s desperate attempts to ward off poverty, and their endless string of part-time jobs. Note Excel moaning about the lack of stores willing to give out daily wages (which would make stealing from them and then vanishing a lot easier…)

Of note, by the way, is that this is where the adaptation really starts to come into its own. Carl Horn and Dan Kanemitsu, the translators and adaptors of these early volumes, make no bones about the fact that they are dedicated to making this as funny as the original, not necessarily as accurate as the original. So we have Excel quoting the Geto Boys here, something that is not from the Japanese, but still manages to get the point across. They also give you the original jokes in the copious endnotes.

There’s a chapter looking in on everyone’s dreams, where we see the little subconscious fears and hopes that most of them have. Excel’s self-confidence, or rather the lack thereof, is a plot point that will be touched on through the entire manga, but Hyatt’s dream is perhaps the only time we ever see her yearn to be a normal healthy and athletic young girl. And we get some lovely foreshadowing at the end of the chapter, showing Il Palazzo and Kabapu, in their respective lairs, plotting and scheming instead of sleeping.

Having introduced most of the regulars, Rikdo begins to get into a pattern he would continue for most of the early part of the run, which is cutting back and forth between Excel and Hyatt’s missions/part-time work and Iwata & Co. attempting to figure out what their government jobs *are*. We also find (and really, they look so alike that we should have guessed) that Iwata and the insane Black Jack parody doctor are cousins.

All of this is setup for the big event in this volume, the sewer infiltration. The anime actually used the basic plot behind this in one of the episodes, but as usual added even more craziness (you’ll note that the manga features no Puchuus). Kabapu sends his crack security team to investigate the suspiciously clean and wide sewers under the city, and Il Palazzo sends Excel and Hyatt to the security room to stop them. The security system, of course, being filled with unlabeled ropes and pullies (some of which actually set off traps within the room itself), and the team being led by Iwata, with a dangerous prototype laser gun. Chaos ensues.

In the end, the base’s secrecy is safe for another day, though Excel and Hyatt almost drown, and then find themselves falling unconscious when they enter a suspicious room… a room that Il Palazzo is very surprised to find that Excel can even open. Excel Saga’s myth arc doesn’t so much get exposition as much as Chinese Exposition Torture, with perhaps a tiny hint per volume that there’s more going on here than meets the eye.

Of course, that will change with Volume 4, where Rikdo really turns on the mysterious. But that’s for another review. The main reason to read this volume is, of course, the biting satire and nonstop gags. Oh, and the North American-only cover has Excel in a hat that looks remarkably like the hat I was wearing when this volume first came out in 2003. So for that, it gets extra points.

One Piece Volume 34

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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.

First of all, a brief note regarding scanlations. As has become apparently to anyone reading these reviews, there are certain titles that I review with a little bit of ironic foreshadowing, knowing what will come after. The primary suspects being One Piece, Negima, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Skip Beat. Do I read the scanlations the week they come out, you ask?

Yep. I do. There’s no way I’m waiting a year and a half for Del Rey to catch up with Negima in Japan, especially when it’s at such an exciting point in the story. However, I buy them the moment they’re available in North America too. There’s not one scanlated series I follow regularly here that I don’t also buy if it becomes available in North America. And what’s more, I’ll never link to a scanlation site, even if I’m discussing something that’s not currently licensed.

I bring all this up merely to note that it’s very hard to read One Piece 34 fresh, without all my foreknowledge of what’s going to come. So, even though my reviews tend to spoil anyway (you should know this already), I will do my best to avoid giving away the major plot twists coming up in this, One Piece’s longest arc to date: Water Seven.

Well, first we have to finish up the Davy Back Fight. Luffy wins. Luffy actually wins in a very clever way (clever for Oda and for Luffy), using the silly afro as a plot point. And, having briefly humiliated the Foxy Pirates, our crew are on their way to more merry adventures! …Well, except they have to deal with a tall, eccentric Navy Admiral first, who’s interested in Nico Robin. Aokiji’s first appearance is a startling combination of laughable humor and terrifying threat, and it’s notable that he gets a reaction of pure fear from Robin, of all people.

After Aokiji curb stomps Luffy (well, maybe he was still tired after the Davy Back Fight…), the crew recover and head off to Water 7, where they plan to find a shipwright. As with the start of Skypeia, this means quite a lot of worldbuilding, as we meet the new island’s denizens and see how they’re wacky and lovable and yet still fighting for their dreams. Highlights include Luffy and Nami’s negotiations to tuirn Skypeian gold into actual cash, Iceberg’s hot secretary (who apparently regards simple welshing as sexual harrassment), and the cool yet goofy shipwrights, one of whom has a nose that rivals Usopp’s, and another of whom communicates through the pigeon on his shoulder.

However, we definitely get a sense that this arc is not going to be all fun and games. There’s implications that the Government has a base very close to here. And Robin is blindsided by someone muttering “I’m with CP9” to her. It’s notable throughout the volume that Robin is incredibly worried and stressed, as personified by the fake smiles she puts on when everyone asks if she’s all right. And we still don’t know about her past…

A good setup volume, and Oda’s habit of putting little name placards next to important new characters helps the reader to keep track of people they need to. (For example, Kaku, Lucci, and Paulie get placards, so are more important than the rest of the shipwrights.) In a series this big, that’s a good thing.

Action, humor, and a hint of intrigue – along with a rare example of Luffy getting utterly crushed. That’s what you get in this One Piece. Recommended.