One Piece, Vol. 87

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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. Translated by Stephen Paul.

Ah, it’s another of those “200 pages of fighting” One Piece volumes. It’s quite enjoyable, but as always somewhat hard to squeeze out 500+ words on it. But let’s do our best. First of all, the cover lies a bit. Looking at Bib Mom there, you’d think that she was in full control of her faculties as she’s attacking everyone else. Nothing could be further from the truth. Luffy and company have come up against some tough ruthless villains in the past, but I don’t think any have quite felt like a giant Force Of Nature as much as Big Mom here once her cake is destroyed. And, as we’ve seen from the flashbacks before, she also has no qualms about completely devouring any allies that happen to be in front of her, either. It’s no surprise that everyone’s immediate goal at the start of this book is “run away”, and for once Luffy even agrees with them – for a while.

We should probably address the other big thing that happens in this book. The old “nobody dies in One Piece” credo has been a bit on the decline since the events of Marineford, but it does merit saying that MOSTLY nobody dies in One Piece. So seeing what happens towards the end of the book here still manages to be a surprise – indeed, there’s a bit after the event when Nami thinks that we’ve somehow managed to have a last-minute escape… but no. Fortunately, Jimbei is with them now and is able to inject a bit of “yes, we’re all grieving, but may I remind you of the fact that we’re about to die?” into the proceedings. As deaths go, it’s not quite up there with the Big One from many volumes ago, but it is pretty sad.

Let’s also talk Charlotte Pudding. Well… I dunno. She seems to be swinging back and forth between a Charlotte who loves Sanji and wants to save him and a Charlotte who wants to see Sanji and everyone else fall to Big Mom’s Pirates. Sometimes she’s swinging back and forth between the two by the second. I’m not sure if this is meant to be Dissociative Personality Disorder, but I rather doubt it – I suspect it might be Oda simply having fun with the “tsundere” archetype. It’s honestly not a very good character twist. Much better handled is Nami, who I always love seeing brutally manipulate people to get what she wants. The Straw Hats are not true-blue Shonen Jump heroes, but all have major flaws and foibles, and I enjoy seeing Nami’s intelligence come to the fore whenever she does this. Also, nice lightning.

With Luffy going back into the mirrir to have a huge battle with Katakuri, it doesn’t look as if we’ll be escaping Big Mom anytime soon. But that’s fine, this arc is already better than the Dressrosa arc, and I look forward to seeing how Luffy gets out of this one, because I’m fairly certain Katakuri is about to hand his ass to him.

WorldEnd: What Do You Do at the End of the World? Are You Busy? Will You Save Us?, Vol. 1

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By Akira Kareno and ue. Released in Japan as “Shumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii desu ka? Sukutte Morate Ii desu ka?” by Kadokawa Shoten. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jasmine Bernhardt.

There are probably a few people, familiar with my reviews, who are surprised I even picked up this title at all. And it’s true, these days when I see a girl on the cover who, let’s be honest, looks sort of like a magical girl and is crying while staring at the reader, my initial though is to run away. But unlike Magical Girl _________ (please fill in the blank with the Madoka Magica clone of your choice), the essential premise of WorldEnd does not seem to be “let’s torture and kill off these empowered girls one by one for the delight of the audience”. Instead this is a much quieter, softer series, at least so far, that shows us the consequences of surviving the apocalypse, and what happens to kids who spend their lives treated as a living weapon when they find out they’ve been doing the weapon thing incorrectly. It’s not for me, but it’s very, very well done.

After a brief prologue where a young man and his not-quite-girlfriend (who calls him Daddy for reasons that make sense in-story but still makes me uncomfortable) debate the cliches of the soldier going out to face their final battle, we get to the meat of the book. Far in the future, humanity is extinct thanks to an attack by some sort of race. In the process, the other races on the planet (elves, dragons, etc.) all became far less powerful, and we’re now at the point where they can’t even live on the surface anymore. So they build a large number of floating islands, and everyone lives up there, dodging (mostly) any attacks by the Beasts living on the surface. Here those with no distinguishing features (like scales, fox ears, etc.) are treated poorly as they remind the others of humanity. Our hero is Willem, one of those people, who is hired to be the overseer of a bunch of kids at a facility on the outskirts of the islands. Then we find out who the kids actually are and what they’re supposed to do. Then we find out (though we probably guessed) who Willem really is.

For a series that is not my thing, I have to say that I found this book extremely readable. The prose is well-written and translated, and has some excellent turns of phrase. There is an aura of melancholy over the entire book, but that doesn’t stop it from having moments of humor. The kids are cute, and I really like the troll who is their other overseer/team mom. Willem himself is that sort of “deliberately oblivious to others’ feelings” sort, but this is called out right away – in fact, the book deconstructs a lot of the wartime cliches that you’ve read about before. And I liked Chthollly’s journey as well, as she is taught for the first time to NOT WANT TO FIGHT, but goes to fight anyway. The result of the battle is unknown at the end of the first book, but the result is not the point.

It wasn’t really till the epilogue that I realized that, despite how well-written the book was, I was not going to read more. It’s just not my kind of series. But if you don’t mind a book that screams “I will be beautifully tragic”, then I absolutely recommend WorldEnd, which has good depth of characterization and a nice style. You want to see these broken girls and their broken caretaker succeed.

Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General, Vol. 1

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By jin. Released in Japan as “Zannen Onna-Kanbu Black General-san” by Fujimi Shobo, serialization ongoing in the magazine Dragon Age. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Timothy MacKenzie. Adapted by T Campbell.

Sometimes, when reading a manga title, you’re looking for something well-crafted, with gorgeous art, sophistication, and character development. Something that will not only entertain you but make you think. And then there are those other times. Times when you look at the reading pile and say “I need something obnoxiously loud and over the top”. If it’s the latter you’re after, I’m pleased to tell you that Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General is right up your alley. Another in a current trend of Western Superheroes done in a Japanese manga way titles, Miss Black General will not win any points for subtlety, and you need to be prepared for a lot of sexual innuendo. But I found myself laughing far more than I expected throughout this tale of a desperate young fangirl who has joined the side of the villains so that she can have the hero she idolizes force her to submit.

Our “heroine’, who I don’t think is ever actually named, is part of a rather pathetic organization of evil, headed up by a masked leader and his Riza-Hawkeye-esque assistant. She also has three interchangeably faceless minions to help with her schemes, and later on they pick up an eccentric mad scientist who you can tell is eccentric as she has those thick spiral glasses that manga artists love to give “nerd” characters. Together, they are there to take over the world! Sort of. In fact, most of Miss Black General’s plans seem to involve confronting the local hero, Braveman, and embarrassing the hell out of him. She’s his biggest fan (indeed, at the end of the book we see her bedroom and the narrative calls her a “shameless otaku”, and seems to be doing this half-hoping he’ll end up doing something inappropriate. He never does, despite her informing Braveman that she’s a virgin and despite her impressive figure. But that’s OK, there are still battles to win and evil to spread! Except the problem is that even without Braveman around to leer over, she’s still a bad villain.

It should not be particularly surprising that I enjoyed this, given its similarity to another series I adore, Excel Saga. I doubt that Miss Black General will ever get the depth that Excel had at her best moments, but that’s fine. The way she acts and reacts to things is funny. There’s also Braveman, who is absolutely nothing like a certain DC Comics-copyrighted character, thank you very much. Supposedly a stolid hero of justice, you get the feeling he started to dress as a hero so he could stop being arrested by police – he has the face of a thug, and whenever he’s out of uniform he ends up in trouble. There’s no real plot development to speak of aside from the organization recruiting the mad scientist midway through the book. We do see Braveman and Miss Black General meet each other out of uniform, but neither recognizes the other. But that’s fine, we’re here for gags.

This isn’t exactly Hamlet, as I indicated above. But god, it’s big dumb fun, and I want to read more volumes of the ludicrous Black General and her attempts to defeat/woo the stiff, long-suffering Braveman. Recommended.