Gin Tama Volume 16

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

There are series that it’s very easy to define in a sentence or two. There are series where you find yourself taking days to try to tell everyone the huge plot twists within. And then there’s series like Gin Tama, where you try to describe it and then constantly backtrack to clarify.

“So Gin Tama is about swordsmen in the Edo period. With aliens.” “Are the swordsmen handsome bishies?” “Yes, yes they are.” “Awesome! I love serious badass swordsmen!” “Well, they *can* be serious. When they aren’t sitting on a toilet trying to find a way to get toilet paper.” “Wait, what?” “Over half the series, you see, is gag comedy. With swordsmen.” “Oh, so it’s like Bobobobo-bobobo?” “Not quite that much gag comedy. Also, it has serious bits that are very serious.” “So, it’s a gag comedy with serious bits set in Samurai Edo with aliens.” “And the lead obsesses about reading Weekly Shonen Jump.” “What the hell do you call that?” “I call it Gin Tama.”

I’m a big Gin Tama fan, and the more I read it the more impressed I am. The newest volume to come out here in North American is a good case in point. The first two chapters wrap up the Mitsuba arc from Volume 15, and are a very good example of how serious and dark this series can get. When focused on the backstory and baggage that the leads have, it doesn’t stint on showing the trauma. There’s awesome fights with swords and guns, and a car is cut in half and explodes, mostly through sheer willpower. The ending, with one of the more deadpan characters of the series sobbing in grief, will leave a tear in your eye.

The next two chapters are about the town growing eyebrows exactly like Ryotsu from KochiKame and becoming “down and out old men”. It has Gintoki and Katsura arguing about whether to call the possessed people “Zombrows” or “Ka-Fool-As”, the climax takes place in a pachinko parlor, and the chief of police says “KochiKame’s 30th anniversary? This will be completely out of date when the graphic novel comes out!”.

You can sort of see what I’m getting at.

The thing is, the author skillfully handles the comedy and drama. The Shinsengumi get the majority of the trauma in the early arc, and so are not seen again for the rest of the volume. It would jar to have them recover so quickly from a tragedy, and Gin Tama certainly has enough characters to carry things along. (And yes, some characters do die in this series, making it different from, say, Bleach or One Piece.)

More to the point, the comedy is FUNNY. Not funny in a typical Jump gag series way, where you throw zany things at the wall and see what people laugh at. The characters don’t necessarily have designated funny roles like many comedies. Gintoki, Shinpachi, and Kagura can all play the straight man, sarcastic bastard, or incredibly stupid overreactor alternately as the situation permits. This enables a very broad range. Likewise, it’s not just crass humor, or puns, or shout-out references to other manga, or character-based humor, it’s a mix of all of those.

For another example, later in Volume 16 they run up against a parody of a “hard-boiled” detective. Who speaks only in narration. After slicing his head open with his own narration text bubble (Gin Tama pretty much uses the 4th wall for kindling), they go with him to help him try to capture “The Fox”. The Fox used to be a gentleman thief, but lately has been killing people left and right. The resolution of this comprises genuine serious revelations about what actually happened and many manly “You are the only one I will allow to defeat me” moments. It also has Kagura on a Harley (pardon me, an “Arley”) smashing through walls randomly, a death trap that tries to trick our heroes by sending elderly relatives and babies to their doom with them, and of course a staircase that turns into a slide of oil and hot burning grease.

And I still haven’t mentioned the most hysterical gag in the volume, which is in the “speed dating” arc and involves Katsura and the Joi Movement.

Now, as for weaknesses… well, each volume tends to end in the middle of a story (and begin where the last left off), so it can be very hard to pick up mid-series. And it’s up to 32 volumes in Japan, so you know you’re in for a heavy investment. Also, you need to be able to accept that the humor can be crass. Very crass. A few volumes ago, Kagura ate some bad curry and much was made of the fact that she’d be the only Jump heroine to have diarrhea in its weekly pages. The author’s ‘side notes’ can also get pretty gross. And if you can’t accept the Mood Whiplash of going from broad comedy to gripping drama at the whim of the author, this series might irritate you.

The author once noted that he set the series in the Edo period, and then added aliens and “modern” things, so that he essentially had the license to do anything. He’s pretty much achieved that. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised at anything that would happen here, as nothing by now jars and makes you say “Hey, that doesn’t make any sense!”. The preview for Volume 17 seems to imply we’ll be seeing a bunch of robot maids on the rampage. Can’t wait.

Natsume’s Book Of Friends Volume 1

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By Yuki Midorikawa. Released in Japan as “Natsume Yuujinchou” by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine LaLa. Released in North America by Viz.

I tend to follow Hakusensha’s serializations more than other publishers, mostly due to my obsession with many of their authors. Seeing the huge popularity of Viz’s releases of Vampire Knight and Ouran High School Host Club, I knew that they (and others) would be scouring LaLa looking for the next big hit.

This one was it, surprisingly. Or perhaps not that surprisingly. Japan loves its yokai. Ghost and spirit folklore pervade Japanese culture and Japanese manga, from GeGeGe No Kitarou to Yu Yu Hakusho to xxxHOLIC. And though the series may theoretically star its title character, so far it’s all about the yokai.

In fact, its star may be one of the weaker aspects. Natsume is not exactly a passive hero. We certainly see him doing a lot, and his desire to give the names in the Book Of Friends back to their original owners is both noble and mature of him. And we get a sense that he feels alone and apart from everyone. But those same qualities make him seem a very insular character. I hope that future volumes devote themselves more to bringing him out of his shell. And an outgoing side character would help, too – the only other potential semi-regular we meet is just as quiet and insular.

The manga itself is a very refreshing change for the Shojo Beat line from Viz, as it’s not focused on a typical girl meets boy romance. In fact, the author has said in the side notes that she wrote this title to be able to write a ghost story, not a romance story. This allows us to focus on the yokai themselves and their struggles. Natsume’s grandmother, Reiko, has trapped them to a certain extent, and you feel bad for them even as you worry, as many of them are attempting to kill Natsume.

The plot seems episodic, which makes sense for a series where the goal is to find each ‘name’ in the book. Each chapter brings a new yokai with issues. Helping him along on each mission is Nyanko, a yokai who usually takes the form of a ‘lucky cat’ statue. He’s an amusing combination of mascot, mentor, and jerkass. My favorites this volume were the temple spirit whose one lone worshipper is passing away, and the swallow yokai who has fallen in love with a human.

The manga can be very heart-breaking, but manages to balance the line between sympathetic and mawkish very nicely. The end of the last chapter here will probably bring a tear to your eye.

It’s a refreshing change of pace manga, especially in a Shojo Beat sense. I look forward to future volumes, and seeing if Natsume can get more characterization so that he properly shares the title with his Book Of Friends.

One Piece Volume 28

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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.

Well, it was bound to happen eventually. Having finished the setup, and gotten as much mileage out of wacky things happening and occasional dollops of exposition as is possible, we’re now into shonen fight mode. One Piece may be a cut above, but it’s still a Jump manga. Which means fights, fights, fights.

One Piece has never quite done what is termed a “tournament” arc, where various badasses fight each other and are picked off till only the hero and rival/villain are left. We’ll see an attempt at one after this arc, with Foxy the Silver Fox and his crew, but Skypeia also comes vaguely near this. Eneru basically states there’s 81 people battling in the forest, and by the end of 3 hours 5 will be left. So it’s a classic ‘see who dies’ plot. Or, this being One Piece, ‘see who gets knocked unconscious but is later fine’.

We do get some very interesting fights. Impact dials are explained here, and Nami gets a wonderful moment using them (whenever Nami sticks her tongue out at you, and you’re an enemy, watch out). Comedy comes to the fore with Chopper’s fight, with Gedatsu being one of Oda’s classic insanely stupid villains. The man is almost perfect: He has silly hair, he thinks his speeches rather than saying them out loud, he rolls his eyes so far up into his head that he can’t see… a minion made for One Piece, really. And it’s nice to see Chopper gain some confidence by beating a goon.

Of the other fights, Luffy’s gets cut off before it really gets going, as he falls into what appears to be a mysterious hole filled with treasure. Robin is rather annoyed to be facing a bunch of destructive jerks who have no issues with smashing the ancient ruins around them. Zoro, being Zoro, gets the “I respect you as an enemy but must fight you now” duel. And Sanji and Usopp get curb stomped by Eneru, in the standard ‘show how powerful our villain is’ moment. It serves to absolutely terrify Nami, something that will come up a little later on. Note also that Eneru can survive a spear right through his head. Yikes.

Oh yes, and the Wapol cover arc finishes. Who would have thought that he’d end up like that? Then again, this is a shonen manga, so anyone can be redeemed, theoretically.

So it’s 2 hours after Eneru made his prediction, and the 81 people is winnowed down to 25. What can possibly happen next? Well, we’ll have to wait till February, when the Skypeia arc will wrap up with the next 5 volumes.