Lord Marksman and Vanadis, Vol. 1

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By Tsukasa Kawaguchi and Nobuhiko Yanai. Released in Japan by Media Factory, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Flapper. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Elina Ishikawa. Adapted by Rebecca Schneider.

I’ve mentioned before that Media Factory publishes both my nemesis and my weakness. They put out two magazines for young men, basically sister publications. Comic Alive and Comic Flapper. Comic Alive tends to produce series, usually based on a popular franchise, that I can’t abide, with the worst otaku pandering, fanservice-laden drivel. Comic Flapper also, of course, publishes series based on popular franchises, but it tends to skew a bit weirder and less mainstream than Alive. And as a result, despite some problematic things, I usually find myself enjoying a Flapper series. Lord Marksman and Vanadis is a fantasy series based on a light novel with a cool hero and a bunch of girls, so I admit I was a bit wary. But sure enough, Flapper wins again. This was a good start, and I want to see more of it.

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Now don’t get me wrong, there is service here. We get not one but two ‘walk in on someone bathing’ scenes, a ‘we are fighting and I accidentally grope your boob’ scene, and another nude scene when the childhood friend of the hero cleanses herself to go to the temple and pray for him. But the series, at heart, is grounded in its plot and worldbuilding, which is always the way to win me over and get me to read your harem series starring your really cool guy. Tigre is a young Count called on to fight in a territorial war for his lord against a rival kingdom who have a Vanadis with them – who are apparently young women who can fight with amazing weapons. We find out how amazing when Tigre’s group is almost completely wiped out (honestly, I thought it was a complete massacre bar him, but a couple of the named characters show up later). He’s subsequently captured and brought to the Vanadis, who wants to test his skills, given his archery actually caused her to make an effort in the battle.

Our heroes are types that you will see in most fantasy manga and light novels, but they hew towards the ‘sensible’ end of the spectrum. (The exception is the bodyguard, Lim, who is allowed to be the tsundere hair-triggered temper girl that Elen herself cannot be because she is the Vanadis. Also, we need SOME comedy in here.) Tigre’s capture, as well as the death of his lord in the battle, leads to real consequences as various territories vie to see who can gain the most power, and decide that Tigre’s village is the perfect one to raze off the map to do so. I knew he was going to have to escape to deal with that, and also knew that he would be stopped. I’m impressed that he actually asked his captors to help him defend his village, though – it’s the sort of ballsy decision that makes you see why Elen likes him so much.

So there’s not much original here, but it’s well told, and avoids most of the wretched cliches of such genres while skating past the ones it can’t quite avoid. Our hero is cool and amazing in archery, but is shown to be useless in most other forms of combat. As for Elen, well, it’s only the first book, I’m sure we’ll find out her weaknesses later. If you enjoy this genre, it’s a very good start.

Emma, Vol. 5

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By Kaoru Mori. Released in Japan in two separate volumes by Enterbrain, serialized in the magazine Comic Beam. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Sheldon Drzka.

The final omnibus of Emma picks up where the last one left off, and is mostly a collection of side-stories, some of which are only vaguely related to the actual Emma series. Mori tries to explain why she did various stories in the afterwords, but it’s not hard to see that she’s simply getting bored, and using the excuse of a popular series as a way of testing her abilities and letting herself draw whatever she wants. Sometimes this is excellent. The scene with the Molders in their bed, and the flashbacks to how they met, is amazingly sexy, as the author herself tells us, and you really see how much the two adore each other, even if Wilhelm remains as stoic as ever. On the flip side, Teo’s Amazing Adventures in the Wild is a nice excuse to draw a wordless animal story plot, but the resolution hangs disbelief by the neck till it’s dead.

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This volume is at its best when it’s dealing with the murky world of Victorian emotions – or, as the series ends, Edwardian emotions, as we move into a new century for Emma’s wedding. The three-part story of a troupe of opera singers and a love triangle is well-done if melancholy, and as ever benefits from multiple minor plot points flittering throughout the main one. Eleanor meets her college student again, and this time it’s more romantic than the last volume – indeed, Mori seems to revel this time around in seeing how many people she can try to hook up, and even the kids seem to have chemistry with each other. There’s even a series of Emma 4-komas in one chapter, mostly following the other characters, as we learn Grace is cute when she’s embarrassed, Hans has no weaknesses (except when he does), and that the butler is just a big softie.

Of course, it all eventually DOES come back to Emma, as her marriage to William is the last quarter of the book. It’s mostly a very good time, but there are reminders that this is still a bit of a status thing – Grace is still upset with William for breaking up with Eleanor, and even though she realizes it’s not Emma’s fault she’s still awkward around her and has to excuse herself. And the Campbells are, of course, not there. But for the most part it’s a glorious event and a party, and there’s a wonderful heartwarming moment where Emma has to write her name and is almost forced to admit she doesn’t have a last name, till William tells her to use Mrs. Stowner’s. Wedding, saved, everyone dances, bride gets completely smashed (in a genteel, repressed way – this is still Emma).

Despite dragging things out a bit with the side stories, Emma is still a wonderful series, and I’m very happy that Yen gave it this deluxe hardcover re-release. It may have some historical inaccuracies and unbelievability, but it’s so emotionally moving that you don’t really care. It’s also a series with a huge cast where, by the end, I was almost able to name everyone without resorting to the internet, which is am impressive feat. Very happy to have read this.

Ranma 1/2, Vols. 31-32

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By Rumiko Takahashi. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz. Translated by Kaori Inoue, Adapted by Gerard Jones.

The mid to late 1990s was a very strange time for anime fandom on the internet. Information was scarce and fleeting, and most fans relied on hearsay and textual spoilers. We’re a long ways before the era of scanlations and raws being available on all good pirate sites. As a result, Ranma fans who wanted more information (since the anime wasn’t adapting the final volumes, clearly) had synopses and that’s about it. this did not, of course, stop them from using said characters in fanfics, particularly if they helped pair up someone who didn’t really pair up easily before.

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For example, we meet Rouge here, a Chinese girl (you can tell she’s Chinese as Takahashi names her after a beauty product, even though she’s not from Shampoo’s village) who ends up in a cursed spring thanks to Pantyhose Taro, and is now determined to have her revenge – most of which involves destroying the Tendo home. It’s an amusing story, relying on her falling in the spring of drowned ASURA, which is drawn with as much ridiculousness as it is possible to have. The denoument, where we see what she’s been fighting to retrieve all this time, is also funny in that Takahashi “so it was all completely pointless” way. Now, Rouge never shows up in the manga again, but several fanfic writers decided she made a good pair with Pantyhose (why they didn’t not write Pantyhose is beyond me, but hey) and thus she had a larger effect on the fandom than she did on the manga itself.

The same goes for Asuka the White Lily, who if she’d appeared ten years later would absolutely have been shipped with Kodachi – even leaving aside the Lily nickname, she’s a ojousama from a private school with a hate on for her childhood friend. But this is 1996, not 2006, and thus the battle between them over who has the best boyfriend (the joke being that because they’re both so horrible neither one has ever found a boyfriend) is taken by fandom somewhat at face value. Don’t worry, Asuka, someone will write a tortured yuri scene with you and Kodachi one day. Oh yes, and Akari shows up again, the only one of these girls who is making repeat appearances, as she visits Ryouga’s home (where, for once, he actually is) and gets caught up in a drawing room farce so broad I was expecting a plate of sardines.

For those who want ship tease with the regulars, well, there’s the hilarious Umbrella of Love story, which features the only known Kuno and Nabiki tease in the entire manga (even under the power of a mind-controlling umbrella, she’s still taking his money), but this is all about Ranma and Akane. As if knowing the end of the series is near, we get a truly incredible amount of moments between them. The umbrella is mostly played for laughs, but shows their feelings for what they are. The story with the Cursed Doll is almost horror, as Akane tries desperately to regain her body before Ranma is either dead or seduced. And most of all we have the arc where Akane gains a possessed armor with a mind of its own, one that makes her stronger than Ranma, and can only be removed if the wearer loses their heart to another. This should be the cue for more hijinks, but it’s played more seriously than I expected, with Ranma realizing how beautiful Akane really is, and trying to defend his true feelings even as she thinks he’s being like this to deceive her (as, to be fair, he has done over and over again).

Ranma never ends with any canon ships, though some are so close that you’d have to be a 1990s Ranma fan in order to deny them. Putting that aside, though, this is a particularly strong volume, one where even the Happosai story made me smile (not because I sympathized with him, it was simply ridiculous). Classic manga comedy at its finest.