Rip-Off Theatre presents: Special Guest Star: Enjoyment of manga apparently runs in the family

I always enjoy when bloggers interview people who either don't normally read comics or aren't really into the blogging and the criticism and the hey hey. So here's my stab at it.

The test subject: My brother Noah Brady, a teenager from the wilds of Oregon.

The review material: My stack of manga volumes that I've received for review (including a few other books from my shelf), many of which I haven't had a chance to read yet.

MJB: What's your experience with manga and anime? Have you read/watched much of it? What are your favorite series?

Noah: I wouldn't say I've read/watched a lot, but I have read a fair amount, and I'd have to say I guess some of my favorites would be anything by Osamu Tezuka.

MJB: How much of Tezuka's work have you read or are familiar with?

Noah: I've read some of Dororo as well as the first two volumes of Black Jack, and I've seen a fair deal of Astro Boy episodes.

MJB: And those would be the black and white cartoon from back in the 60s (I think)?

Noah: No. It was colored and animated and happy and joyful. [Editor's Note: It appears to be the 1980 remake]

MJB: So it seems to mostly be the stuff I've given you to read.

Noah: Yeah.

MJB: Cool, I love that stuff. Tezuka is one of my favorites as well. Let's talk about Black Jack. I've read a little bit of the series, but not these two volumes yet. What would you say you like about them so much?

Noah: Well, I'd have to say that I like the character Tezuka created; he's very mysterious, and he doesn't reveal al lot about his feelings, but thorugh the course of the volumes, you kind of see his character come out and develop, and a lot of different things happen and it just shows you a depth to his character.

MJB: Yeah, Tezuka is good at defining characters through their actions. And he also comes up with some really off-the-wall stories. There are some pretty goofy examples of crazy medicine and surgery here, wouldn't you say?

Noah: Yeah.

MJB: Any that you liked in particular?

Noah: I lked a certains tory about how he operated on a killer whale multiple times, and they became friends, because it seemed kind of really random.

MJB: In what way? Because he just randomly happened upon a whale that needed surgery, or because it's weird that he became friends with a whale?

Noah: Well, it was kjust kind of odd because you have a bunch of stories about him saving rich people who gave him a bunch of money and then out of the blue it's like, "Oh, look, it's a whale, and I'll save his life, and we'll become friends, yay!"

MJB: So it was kind of an odd departure from the formula of the other stories.

Noah: Yeah.

MJB: So, how about the artwork? I like the way Tezuka uses a really cartoony style, but manages to do some serious stuff with it. And he's pretty dynamic too, coming up with really cool action, don't you think? [Editor's Note: This was a poor question. Objection, Your Honor, the interviewer is leading the witness!]

Noah: Yes, I would have to agree with that.

MJB: Did you see any examples of that sort of thing in this series?

Noah: Multiple times. In fact, all the time. I mean, for every one frame of peaceful, not-action-intense situations, he has about 32 frames of dramatic action-packed, um, drama.

MJB: Yeah, I love that sort of thing. How about the surgery scenes? Did you find them suitably grotesque?

Noah: Yes, in fact there's quite a few moments of intense gut-ripping found throughout.

MJB: What did you think about the sidekick/wife character? Was she a good addition, or just an annoyance?

Noah: Well, she was kind of pointless, because every once in a while she would come in and actually be part of the story, but for the most part it was, Black Jack, go save somebody; Black Jack, go defuse this bomb; Black Jack, go stop the army of invading aliens, and then she would show up and it was like, "Oh, hey, let's talk about me going to school!"

MJB: So you thought she detracted from the action?

Noah: Pretty much.

MJB: Do you think she helped develop his character, since you mentioned that he was kind of mysterious?

Noah: She did a little bit, because multiple stories that she's in she'll ask a simple question that leads to a humongous story about his past, and it'll be like oh, geez, she's actually worth something! Good thing she asks questions.

MJB: What about her origin story? That was pretty weird, right?

Noah: Yeah, it was.

MJB: But the series might have been better without her?

Noah: It probably could have been.

MJB: Anything else you want to mention about Black Jack before we move on?

Noah: Not really.

MJB: Okay, how about Dororo? I myself really like the series, but what did you think about the volume that you read?

Noah: I thought it was good.

MJB: Compared to Black Jack, did you like the action and adventure?

Noah: Yeah, I did. Where Black Jack offers kind of a suspenseful, "oh my god, what's going to happen?" outlook, Dororo puts more of a, I don't know, I just feel it's more fun to kill people with swords than scalpels (although Black Jack doesn't really kill anybody, but whatever).

MJB: Yeah, swords are cool. Speaking of weird origin stories, what did you think about Hyakkimaru's? [Editor's Note: See more about said origin here]

Noah: Craziness.

MJB: Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Tezuka was great at coming up with insane ideas and making them work to tell cool stories. Did you like the idea of the guy hunting demons to regain his body parts?

Noah: Yeah, it was pretty cool.

MJB: And how about the goofy prosthetics that he had?

Noah: They were pretty goofy, but there's nothing much cooler than watching a guy throw off his arms to reveal swords and slash people. I mean, come on, how's that not fun?

MJB: I certainly agree. And on another similar note to Black Jack, how did you like the sidekick in this series?

Noah: Um, he was much more helpful, instead of being just the character that kind of just illuminated the past of the main character. Even thosugh he did that as well, he added his own conflict into the story and gave it some depth, while the sideckik in Black Jack was just "Oh well, my background's pretty lame."

MJB: I liked the relationship between Hyakkimaru and Dororo as well, the way they were kind of antaogonistic, but still seemed to like having each other around.

Noah: Yeah. They seemed to be like foils for each other.

MJB: And how about the action in this one? Even cooler, right?

Noah: Yeah, definitely. Demons are much more fun to kill than tumors.

MJB: And the demons were all weird and strange too.

Noah: Yep.

MJB: One thing I like about Tezuka is the way he puts some goofy jokes and gags into the manga, like having characters make funny faces, or talk to the reader, or make anachronistic references. Did you like that sort of thing, or did you think that it detracted from the story?

Noah: I enjoy when he does that kind of thing. For example, in the front couple pages of the second volume of Dororo, they encounter a mysterious wall, and the sideckik is like, "It's the back side of a medicine billboard", and the main guy says "What?!", and he responds, "I'm just kidding, it's blank."

MJB: Maybe you have a similar sense of humor to mine, because I love that sort of thing, but I've read reviews where people complain about it. I think it's a good way to balance out the heavy drama. Plus, it's just something Tezuka liked to do, and it makes his personality shine through.

Noah: Yeah, it'd have to agree with you; I can see where some people would be more into the book for the action and would want to read it for the samurai, not for the jokes and fun. Some of us just need a little comic relief once in a while.

MJB: Well said. Anything else you want to mention about Dororo?

Noah: Not so much.

MJB: Okay, I saw that you read volumes 33 and 34 of Naruto. How familiar are you with the series?

Noah: I haven't read very much of the manga series, but I've watched a crap ton of the anime. I mean, I've watched the whole thing and all the filler season, and I started watching the new series and got bored with it, and I noticed that you had these two that seemed to jump in right were I left off, so I thought, what the hell, might as well.

MJB: Now, I have very little experience with the series, having read only the first chapter of the manga and watched a couple episodes of the anime. Would I have any idea what is going on in these if I tried to read them?

Noah: Only barely. The common premise of these two is that the main group of characters are trying to rescue their friend, who doesn't really want to be rescued from the bad guys, having gone to join them. That's basically been the premise for a lot of the series.

MJB: But given a brief summary, like the two-paragraph one that is on an early page of volume 33, would I be able to jump in and give it a go? Or would it be better to go to Wikipedia and read the entire plotline up to this point?

Noah: You probably could get by from where it's at reading just the summary, but if you really want to know what's happened, you should probably wiki it.

MJB: All right, I was curious if I should try it out. But how about you, did you dig the story here?

Noah: It's a pretty all right story. It's just it seems kind of repetitive after a while. The first 100 or so chapters do show character developments as all the people learn new skills and become stronger, but by the time you've gone through all of them they just seem to do the same thing over and over, but the main character never changes, and he always seems to do the same things, and it's like come on, really?

MJB: So the series seems to have stretched past the breaking point. That seems to happen with some of the really successful series, since the creators (or editors) try to keep them going. Do you think this series could have ended at some point, or should it have gone onto a different type of storyline or something?

Noah: I think that there wasn't really much of a point in the story where you could have just cut it off and be done, but I feel that the way that they've taken it is just boring. They don't add much new content. They add new characters every once in w a while, but once they do their new stuff, they all just pull the same moves over and over again, and it gets old.

MJB: Is the action still dynamic and exciting, or is it just more of what you've seen before?

Noah: It can be pretty deynamic and exciting, some of the time. Other times, it's just, once again, he seems to follow the same sequence of events.

MJB: So it sounds like the earlier volumes of the series (or anime) might be worth checking out, but it does suffer a drop-off in quality.

Noah: Yeah.

MJB: Anything else to add about Naruto?

Noah: No.

MJB: I guess I shouldn't bother asking that question. Here's one that I haven't read, although I did read the first chapter at some point: Heaven's Will. Can you explain what that one's about?

Noah: It's about a girl who can see ghosts, and she's afraid of everything that she doesn't understand, so she freaks out and runs away, and she meets this cross-dresser guy who can exorcise ghosts, and they go on adventures, and she finds out that he cross-dresses so his sister's spirit can come back and enter his body, because she died because of him and he feels really bad about it.

MJB: Weird. So was it worth reading?

Noah: I didn't really think so.

MJB: This is in the shojo genre, aimed at girls. Do you think that's why you didn't like it that much?

Noah: Probably.

MJB: Shojo is usually about drama and emotion, with lots of panels of characters faces and less in the way of dynamic action. Would you say that description fits this volume?

Noah: Yeah, pretty much.

MJB: It's only one volume long; do you think it could have lasted longer, or did it tell it's story and end at the right time?

Noah: It didn't tell it's story. It had a letter from the author saying, "Sorry I couldn't finish this, nothing I really wanted to happen happened, my bad." It kind of dropped off in the middle of the story.

MJB: Oh, huh. I was going to ask if you thought girls might like it, but given an ending like that, it might not be worth recommending to anyone. Do you think the sudden ending was the major fault, or did you just not like the story anyway?

Noah: I think the sudden ending was the major fault. There was a lot of character development that needed doing.

MJB: Okay, well that's probably all we needed to know about that one. Next : Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom. This one might be more up your alley. Is it any good?

Noah: It's all right. I mean, it's kind of dorky. It's about this demon guy who ends up being forced into a contract with a human guy, and they have to fight off rebel demons and outcast demons, and all this stuff.

MJB: It looks like an action series; is that the case?

Noah: Yeah.

MJB: Cool action?

Noah: Kind of cool action.

MJB: So what's the dorky part?

Noah: It's just, I don't know, I suppose it kind of reminds me of Inuyasha, just lamer.

MJB: What's lame about it?

Noah: Well, where Inuyasha was kind of, the character developed along the line and became stronger and more powerful, and over time he grew, this one just seems like, Mr. Demon Guy says I want to get into a fight, now I'll just turn into a humongous monster and just kill everybody, yeah, that was really hard.

MJB: So it starts out at too high a level, and there's probably no room to develop.

Noah: Yeah, pretty much.

MJB: Is it funny, or are the characters interesting? Or is it just kind of bland?

Noah: Kind of bland.

MJB: I see that the rating is "Older Teen". Do you think that's because it's violent, or is there some naughtiness or something?

Noah: Probably violence. There's a supreme lack of naughtiness.

MJB: Maybe some panty shots would have livened it up or something.

Noah: Perhaps.

MJB: So it sounds kind of generic, at least judging by this first volume.

Noah: Yeah, pretty much.

MJB: Okay, I guess that's enough for that one. One final book: Death Note. How did you like this one?

Noah: I enjoyed this.

MJB: It's a series that I really dig, although it reaches a peak around volume 7, and the rest of the series is only okay. Did the first volume make you want to read more?

Noah: Yeah, it did.

MJB: What did you like about it?

Noah: Um, I liked that it made you think. It wasn't just, here, let's go bash everything in sight.

MJB: So the plot conflict was interesting and unique. How did you like the characters?

Noah: They're pretty cool. Everyone seems to be slightly eccentric. And by eccentric I mean crazy.

MJB: So do you mean just Light, or other characters too?

Noah: No, pretty much all of the main characters. For example, Light is crazy, Ryuk is crazy, L is crazy. Most of the other charaecters are not as crazy, but everyone seems to have delusions of righteousness. Well, almost everybody.

MJB: Who doesn't?

Noah: Ryuk is crazy in that instead of trying to be righteous, he's causing chaos for the hell of it.

MJB: I like that the plots and schemes are so dense and convoluted, even in this first volume.

Noah: Yep.

MJB: Just wait until you read more of the series. I also thought that it was exciting, even though so much of it was just characters talking or thinking to themselves. Do you think that was mostly due to the art?

Noah: No, I think I was more interested in the plot itself than the art. I'm trying to think of a movie that would be similar, but I can't think of anything. The manga is just so unique.

MJB: Yeah, it is. Me, I think the art helps, and the panel-to-panel pacing really amps up the tension.

Noah: [nods]

MJB: So, yeah, it's pretty cool. Anything else you liked about it?

Noah: The artwork was good.

MJB: Okay, I guess that's the last book. Any other comments on manga, or comics in general, or what you want to read next?

Noah: I think I want to read the rest of the Dororo series next.

MJB: All right, I'll let you get to it. Enjoy.

Get your manga online, straight from the source

Hey, check this out: it's the website for the Japanese Weekly Shonen Jump, in English, and it's got manga that you can view online (although you have to download a browser to read it).  The key series seems to be a soccer manga called Meister by Kimiya Kaji, and it's a hoot.  I'm amazed at how effective the storytelling is in these shonen manga; this one has all the stereotypical characters, including an impossibly cheerful kid who motivates his teammates, a pompadoured punk who likes to fight, and an emo kid who is a dead ringer for Death Note's L.  And even though we only see an introductory practice game in this first chapter, it's exciting and fun, with some great visuals (which I would have excerpted here, but the reader won't allow me to capture images.  Bummer).  I might just have to keep checking back and reading chapters each week.

There's also a series called Bakuman, which appears to be about two characters creating a manga series; it's by Death Note creators Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, which makes it worth checking out, even if the only chapter currently available is the twelfth one.

And while I can't seem to get either one to download, I'm quite intrigued by a pair of chapters in which creators illustrate each other's series: Takeshi Obata takes on Yoshio Sawai's BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo (read my review of that series here), and Sawai reciprocates, offering his version of Death Note (and why not read my take on volumes of that series here?).  Sounds awesome; I think I'll scour the internets to try to track those down.

So, yeah, online manga: wave of the future.  Like I didn't have too little free time already.

Death Note volume 12: Underwhelming?

I kind of have to talk about this, since I always go on about how much I like it, and it's the end. Not sure how coherent it will be though...

Death Note volume 12
Written by Tsugumi Ohba
Art by Takeshi Obata



So we finally get to the much-disputed end of the series. From what I've read around the web-o-blog-o-comics-sphere-tubes, many were disappointed with this volume, and the series in general after volume 7, the culmination of the Light/L rivalry which had pretty much defined the series up to that point. As I mentioned in my look at volume 8 (and all the previous volumes, sort of), I thought the choice to kill off L so abruptly was bold, and I was curious as to where the series would go after that point. Now that we've reached the end, I find that there have been some excellent scenes and tense moments, but the series never really returned to the highs of those first seven volumes. But I'm glad it ended; I'm sure Ohba and Obata could have dragged it on for much longer. They probably realized that it needed to be finished, and they wrapped it up about as satisfyingly as they could.

Really, there were only two ways the series could end: Light wins and takes over the world, or he loses. Of course, if he lost, there might be some ambiguity about the future of the Death Note and whether Near or somebody else would step in to become Kira, but since the series ends with this volume, those would just be ending beats rather than true plot developments. So the real question is whether Light wins or not. To tell the truth, I probably would have been satisfied with either ending, since while it is fun to watch the "bad guy" get his comeuppance, it can also be enjoyable to see him win. And even that distinction depends on whether you consider Light to be the villain (which I think he is, but he's pretty charismatic and certainly the main character of the series). So what happens? Well, I'm not going to spoil it for those who haven't read the volume, but this picture gives a clue:



I love his expression. The volume consists almost entirely of a face-to-face confrontation between Light (with his team from the Japanese police force) and Near (with the American anti-Kira brigade). It seems they both have plans within plans within other plans to trap and defeat each other, and it gets very tense. Unfortunately, much of the tension is defused by the opponents endlessly explaining their plans to each other (or to the reader, really). Of course, this isn't exactly a new development for the series; Light has always taken great pains to crow about his detailed schemes; I eventually stopped trying to wrap my head around all the mechanics of his plans and just assumed they worked. So it gets a bit tiresome to spend so much time detailing the multiple maneuvers here. But as I said, it ends up with a pretty satisfying resolution (and a fairly violent one at that).

So is the series worth reading? Well, the first seven volumes are quite excellent. After that, it's still a fun ride, but not quite as brilliant. I would still recommend the series to someone who was interested, just not as wholeheartedly as I once would have.

Death Note: This series will be listed in the notebook soon

Not because I'm dropping it, but because the next volume is the final one. Anyway:

Death Note, volume 11
Written by Tsugumi Ohba
Art by Takeshi Obata



So we're getting to the endgame here. One volume to go, and it's mostly taken up by Light and Near plotting against each other. Seriously, it's almost ten solid chapters of each of them planning, consulting with their underlings, and thinking things like "Very well, Near. If you're coming out, I'll come out too. If that's your wish, bring it on. And when we meet, we'll see who is more prepared, and who is better. When that happens, this battle will be over and I will begin my reign at the top." That's an actual quote (by Light), if you couldn't tell. Here he is in mid-thought:



That's a fairly standard view in this series:



You see that a lot, with characters thinking about what they know and how they should use that information. It's a testament to Takeshi Obata's skill that he can make scenes of characters talking (or just thinking) so intense and gripping. I also love the little details that he throws in to show Near's weirdness, how he's always playing with toys, and mostly using Lego-type figures and finger puppets that represent the various characters:





But the art is mostly characters glowering as they engage in one-upmanship while speaking to each other on the phone. Still, fun stuff.

So that's almost this whole volume: Near and Light testing theories, confirming information, and making plans for their big showdown, which won't happen until the next volume. Of course, you've also got Mello waiting in the wings to mess things up; who knows what he has planned. And I don't know how Mikami (Light's surrogate Kira) and Takada (Kira's link in the media and Light's secret affair) will throw a wrench in the works. Not to mention Misa, who has been wiped of her memory of Kira but is as obnoxious and needy as ever. We get a bit of a cliffhanger at the end, so it'll be an annoying wait until the final volume shows. I for one can't wait.

By the way, if you have no idea what I'm talking about here, click the "death note" tag at the bottom of the post to read my previous entries on the series, including the first one, which has a basic summary of the series up through volume 7 or so. Enjoy!
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Okay, that's it for tonight, but I expect to be back tomorrow with more content. I anxiously await my return.

Catching up on the notation of deaths

I'm late getting to this, since the next volume comes out this week. But here it is anyway:

Death Note, volume 10
Written by Tsugumi Ohba
Art by Takeshi Obata



There's some pretty enjoyable stuff in this volume, but it seems like mostly setup for the next volume, and the end of the series, I guess. We've got Light handing off the Death Note to a Kira "worshipper", the continued distrust of Light's crew, and Near and Mello getting closer to the truth about Light and Kira (and L). Of course, this probably doesn't make any sense if you haven't read any of the series, in which case you can check out my other reviews by clicking the "Death Note" label at the bottom of this post.

Anyway (SPOILERS for this volume from here on out, by the way), there's some good moments, including Night callously throwing away Misa's sacrifice in order to give the Death Note to somebody else. I'll laugh if he gets her to make the trade for the shinigami eyes again, only to drop dead soon after that from bargaining half her lifespan away too many times. This is how obsessive this manga makes me: I started calculating what Misa's remaining lifespan might be at this point, since she's traded half her lifespan away twice now. For instance, if she made the first trade at age 18, and she was supposed to live to be 70, she would then lose 26 years of her life, making her die at 44. Then, if she made the second trade three years later, she would lose 11.5 years, making her die at 33 (or thereabouts). So if she does it a third time, she'll lose six years, dieing at 27. I don't know if that would make a difference, unless we get another jump forward in time. However, let's consider if she was only supposed to live to be 50. That would make her die at 34 after the first trade, and 28 (or so) after the second trade. A third trade would make her die at 23 or 24, which is not too far off. Of course, I'm estimating ages and everything here, and it probably doesn't matter. But it's a good example of where my mind goes after reading this series.

Another good part of this volume: the religious fervor of Kira's supporters. They crack me up, going on TV and doing crazy dances to get his attention. Hilarious. I especially liked when Near threw money off the roof of his building to distract them, and it worked, of course. Schmucks. We've also got the introduction of the new guy that Light is using as a Kira surrogate. He's an interesting personality, especially in the flashback giving his "origin". I'm sure he'll complicate things nicely. And finally, we have Light callously going after Kira's new spokesperson (who has been retconned into his past) romantically, even though he's engaged to Misa. That cad!

So, good times. It's definitely ramping up for big confrontations in the final two (or is it three?) volumes. I can't wait to read the rest of it and find out what happens. Of course, I'll be disappointed when it ends, but it can't go on forever. I can always check out the anime or live action movie versions though...

Get ready for the upcoming scandal

Via commenter hcduvall's blog, I found this article about Death Notes in China. Wow, I can't wait to see people freak out if somebody does this in the United States. Here's the gist of the article: somebody released a normal notebook of lined paper that looks like the notebook from the manga Death Note (a series I love, by the way. Click the "Death Note" label at the bottom of this post to see my reviews). Kids realize that these are not actual demonic notebooks that will kill somebody if their name is written in it, but when schools found out that kids were using notebooks that are supposed to kill people, they banned them. Ah, the overblown reaction to something kids like. It's a classic. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before something like this comes to the U.S., even if it's not official licensed merchandise. I can't wait to see the media fallout. Katie Couric should be shocked (shocked!) at the way children are willing to kill people. People are always willing (even eager) to be offended. It should be fun to watch.

Snowbound reading

Wow, it is hella cold today. Plus, it's snowing like crazy. The upside of this is that my office closed early, so I got to come home ahead of time. Nice! Then, I figured I would have to shovel my driveway, but I found that a neighbor had already gone over it with a snowblower! What a swell guy (or girl)! Anyway, the extra time means I'm finally going to get to some reviews I've been meaning to do. So here we go!

Manga update (sort of):

East Coast Rising volume 1
by Becky Cloonan



I'd been wanting to get this ever since I saw it; I've liked Cloonan's art everywhere I've seen it. Plus, it's a post-apocolyptic pirate story! With sea monsters! Looks awesome, right? Well, luckily it lives up to its premise, with a hip cast of young, punk-styled pirates and seafarers struggling for a treasure map in the deadly seas of New Jersey. This being after an apocalypse (of unspecified nature), most of the east coast of the United States seems to be underwater. The book starts off with a bang (literally!), when some pirates sink a ship to get the treasure map that a young man has. They're riding on these giant prehistoric-looking turtles:



That's pretty awesome. The leader of the pirates, Lee, steals the map, which is in a bottle on the kid's (we find out later that his name is Archer) belt. But then he's saved in the nick of time by the intrepid crew of La Revancha, a trading ship. These are the good guys of the story, led by Cannonball Joe, the peg-legged captain (He's on the cover up there, with the dreadlocks). Archer is taken on board as one of the crew until they can drop him off, but the action starts again soon, when they decide to get the treasure map from the pirates. I won't give away the rest of the story, but it's pretty damn action-packed, with a large portion of the book dedicated to their fight with a giant octopus with a skull for a head. Cloonan's art is incredible here, with expressive characters and imaginative, dynamic panel layouts. There were one or two instances where I had a little trouble figuring out what was supposed to be happening, but that was pretty rare. Usually the action is very clear and easy to follow. This being in the category of "OEL (original English language) manga" and published by Tokyopop, it takes a few of manga's visual idioms, like super-deformed characters, those little veins that pop out of character's heads when they're irritated, the "starry-eyed" look, and angular panels rather than the usual rectangular layout that American books normally employ. It's pretty effective, and I commend Cloonan for her excellent use of these stylings. I can't wait for future volumes to come out!
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Death Note volume 9
Written by Tsugumi Ohba
Art by Takeshi Obata



Man, this series just keeps getting better. I kind of went over the story of the series in my review of volume 8, so read that if you want a series recap. In this volume, Light sends his crew up against Mello's men to get the Death Note back (one of them, anyway). Then he starts to take over the world, as world leaders, fearful of being executed by Kira, start to kowtow to him. Of course, nobody knows Light is Kira, but Near suspects it. More battles of wills! And I totally want this playhouse that Near has:



The "next volume" blurb says that Light is going to give up the Death Note again and start working through some follower of Kira. I hope they don't go the route of having him lose his memory as part of a serpentine plan again. We'll see. I'll definitely read it. This series is great!
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Sgt. Frog volume 12
by Mine Yoshizaki



I've been following this series since the first volume, but I think this one will be my last. It's a fun series (I'll have to do a series recap or something sometime), but I think it's run out of steam. The premise is that Keroro, a froglike alien, and his crew are on Earth (or Pokopen, as they call it), planning to invade and conquer the planet. However, Keroro was "captured" early on by the Hinata family, so now he lives with them, doing chores to cover his room and board. He was eventually joined by four other aliens, and they often hatch crazy invasion schemes that are usually foiled by the Hinatas. It's been pretty enjoyable, with much of the humor coming from Keroro's lazy nature; he'd rather sit around reading manga and building Gundam models than do the work of invading. The problem is, 12 volumes into the series, I think Yoshizaki has run out of ideas. In this volume, the cast deals with a big typhoon that's approaching Japan, grows a large watermelon, takes a bath together (?!), takes care of Keroro when he's sick, and has a jump rope competition. Not a lot of invading going on. There's a two-part story in which a weird shapeshifting alien shows up and attacks the cast, but is eventually defeated. It turns out to be way to bring in a new addition to the cast, an alien girl who will go to school with the Hinata kids. The stories just don't seem especially inspired, or as funny as they once did. So, unless I hear that the next volume is the best one yet or something, I don't think I'll be buying it. It was fun while it lasted.
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By the way, I've watched some of the anime version of Sgt. Frog by downloading fansubbed episodes, and it's hilarious. I think it's being released on DVD in the US, so I recommend it whenever it does come out.

In which deaths are noted

Death Note, volume 8



Somehow, Death Note keeps going strong, eight volumes into the story. It seems like something that could play itself out quickly, but writer Tsugumi Ohba manages to keeps the crazy plot twists flowing and changing up the conflicts regularly. For the uninitiated, here's the basic premise: Shinigami, the Japanese gods of death, regularly kill humans with the use of a notebook called a death note. Whomever's name is written in the notebook dies. On a lark, a Shinigami named Ryuk drops one of these death notes in the human world to see what a human would do with it. The notebook he drops is found by a high school student named Light Yagami, who proceeds to test the capabilities of the death note, then decides that he will use it to rid the earth of all crime, with the added benefit of eventually ruling the world. At least, that's his goal. As you can imagine, complications ensue. That's all you really need to know if you haven't read any of the series; it's much of the setup at the beginning of the first volume. So, if you want to go into the series fresh, watch out for SPOILERS throughout the rest of the review. However, I'll try not to spoil any of volume 8, so don't go away if you have yet to read that one.

After the setup, the series picks up speed and starts up with its trademark quality: crazy plot twists. Light quickly reveals himself to be quite the budding sociopath; he starts regularly killing criminals of all sorts, all around the globe; he quickly kills anybody who gets in his way, including policemen and FBI agents; and he uses his father's position in the Japanese police force to gain information and evade his pursuers. Soon a sort of cult springs up around the world, dedicated to Kira, the nickname given to the person or entity who is supernaturally executing criminals. The authorities bring in a detective named L, who turns out to present a great challenge to Light; the two are very closely matched in intellect and are equally crafty. Then Light's father asks him to join the investigation, which means Light and L will be working together directly, with Light obfuscating any police findings and L trying to pin evidence on Light, his prime suspect. It's crazily tense, and the struggle between them lasts for at least three volumes. There are some great scenes, such as when Light and L have a tennis match while trying to size each other up. Their struggle is complicated when another death note holder enters the game: Misa Amane, a young model/actress who idolizes Kira because he killed the criminal who murdered her parents. She does everything she can to find the identity of Kira, messing up Light's plans considerably. Eventually her bumbling leads to Light's downfall, and he takes a huge gamble by giving up ownership of the death note, which causes him to lose his memory of the entire experience. He ends up joining L, as they are tracking a third Kira, who appears to be killing people in order to further the financial interests of a large Japanese corporation. They spend the better part of three volumes of the series working together like this, until it is revealed that Light had set the whole memory loss thing up as part of an elaborate plan; he regains ownership of the death note, gets his memory back, and kills L, just like that. I'm amazed that the primary struggle in the series, between Light and L, ended so quickly; it's almost an afterthought. Maybe I'm too used to American superhero comics, in which Batman continually fights the likes of the Joker and keeps sending him back to Arkham Asylum, even after the Joker has murdered thousands. I guess when the prospect of open-ended storytelling is removed, writers can make huge changes to the status quo much more easily and with more finality. Anyway, after L is dispatched, Light pretty much goes on unopposed in his plans to take over the world. We get a brief glimpse of two kids named Mello and Near at a private academy (by the way, I should mention that Ohba seems to have trouble coming up with Western-sounding names, leading to humorous titles like Aiber and Wedy, and the aforementioned Wammy Academy. It's no big detriment to the book, but it amuses me whenever some American or European character pops up with an improbable moniker), but then the story jumps forward several years, and we see that Light is now working full time for the police, although (for some reason) they haven't made much progress in capturing Kira, and the world is really starting to change after several years of Kira's reign as executioner. However, Mello and Near show up again, and it turns out the academy they were attending was grooming possible replacements for L, in the event of his death. Mello is a rebellious sort, and he leaves the academy to pursue Kira by his own means. Near graduates and begins working with the FBI. The seventh volume ends when Mello's group (mostly mafia types) kidnaps Light's younger sister to try to get Light's father to give up the death note that is in possession of the Japanese police.

The action starts to ramp up again in the eighth volume, as Light tries to lead the Japanese police in recovering his younger sister. Light is also acting as L, since nobody outside of his group knows L is dead. He ends up trying to work with Near, who has convinced the President of the United States to form a group dedicated to stopping Kira. Near immediately figures out that Light is not L, and that Mello is behind the kidnapping. I won't give away how the kidnapping is resolved, but it's a pretty crazy scheme. Soon enough, the characters are locked in a three-way struggle, with Light, Near, and Mello each trying to outsmart each other and influence global affairs to bring down the others, even as a new Shinigami enters the scene to try to recover his lost notebook, which happens to be one of the notebooks the human characters are screwing around with. It's more of the old plot twists and struggles, and you get the sense that Light had gotten kind of bored without anybody to match wits with. He starts to really rise to the occasion and come up with imaginative uses of the death note to foil the others' plans, and he continues to go especially psychotic when dealing with Misa, who is still hanging on his every word and striving to get him to pay attention to her. Luckily, she has made a trade with the Shinigami: she gave up half her lifespan to get Shinigami eyes that will tell her someone's name and remaining lifespan upon looking at them. This makes her useful to Light, so he keeps her around, throwing a modicum of attention (but not really any affection) her way in return for the use of her abilities. At one point he even proposes to her (in the "sure, I'll marry you, now get me that information I asked for!" type of way) just to make sure she'll quit her acting job so she won't be an easy target for assassination, depriving him of her eyes. It's a highly exciting turn to the story, with the various struggles taking on more international consequences (at one point, the US President's life is threatened by at least one of the three factions). I can't wait to see where it goes and how Ohba will up the ante when this particular struggle is played out. I believe the series has gone on to at least 12 volumes in Japan; it might even still be ongoing. I do know that I'll be devouring each volume as it is made available in the US; volume 9 is scheduled to arrive in January.

I should also mention the art by Takeshi Obata, who also illustrates the popular Hikaru No Go. It's beautiful stuff, with great character design. I love how he demonstrates the eccentricities of L and his "heirs": L and Near sit in introverted, hunched over positions and arrange the things around them, like coffee creamers or dice, in elaborate patterns and towers. Near, being younger, seems to spend his deduction time playing with toys and throwing darts. Mello, on the other hand, is arrogant, sitting confidently upright, but still demonstrating weirdness by always eating chocolate bars, often leaving them hanging out of his mouth. Light is another great design, always confident, while the other detectives around him (including his father) often stare agape at the crazy plot twists or Light's amazing deductive powers. Light also does this hilarious pose where his face is lit from below as he contemplates his grand scheme for world domination (I call it the Kubrick look, since it's the type of stare that Malcolm McDowell or Jack Nicholson would give in Stanley Kubrick movies). And Misa is uniquely designed in that silly Japanese schoolgirl/gothic lolita style (never mind that she has to be about 22 or so by the time of this volume). Her facial expressions are priceless, especially the way she is so eager to please Light, but so disappointed when he ignores her.

So, it's a great series, and unless it takes a drastic turn for the worse, I'll be following it for as long as it continues. Please let me know if you agree/disagree, or have any thoughts to add.