Ranma 1/2 vs Usagi Yojimbo

I am pretty sure that before this week I had never read any Ranma 1/2, or any Usagi Yojimbo. These 2 series are unrelated except for the facts that 1. I picked up 2 volumes each at my local library, 2. I just read 2 volumes of each of them, 3. I am talking about them now (or' talkin' 'bout' them, as it were).

Usagi Yojimbo - Stan Sakai - This is a pretty straight forward lovingly done tribute to a genre. It also uses anthropomorphic animals to tell its stories. I am a big fan of Kurosawa's samurai era films. I also bought a lot of Lone Wolf and Cub when First Comics put out the English language editions with the Frank Miller covers in the late 80's. Usagi Yojimbo started around the same time I think, and I have been aware of it, and thought it was cool, but never read it because sometimes(most times) I am slow to pick up on things.

The volumes I got from the library are numbered 2 and 3, and are put out by Fantagraphics. In this case I don't think starting with volume 2 was bad because it contains what was the first 6 volumes of the Usagi Yojimbo comic, and starts right off with a very nice origin story retelling by the main character himself.

You should know by now that I tend to like nearly everything I read on some level or another. Even I have a ha

rd time believing me when I re-read my reviews. That being said, and unnecessarily apologized for... I really love this series so far, and can't believe it has taken me this long to actually break into it.

The really great thing about this, is that the art is fantastic. It's dynamic and expressive (I think those are important things for art in a comic like this), and allows you to distance this work from its 'source' material. It makes this telling of things completely its own. I don't feel like the use of Animals here is completely allegorical in nature. I don't feel that every animal represented is directly representative of some characteristic of the specific character. Some are, but I don't think it is trying to be that deep all the time. I consider that a very good thing. The way it is done is light, has a good bit of humor, but also comes across as having more depth than just that. Usagi is a real character and we are on his journey with him. He is very much cut from the same cloth as the heroes of the genre I mentioned earlier, and his story is expertly told. Plus... You have to admit that a kick butt samurai rabbit is an extremely cool character design.

This is well written and well drawn. If you like the stories of Zatoichi or Miyamoto Musashi, or any of the others I mentioned, you should give this a shot. If you aren't sure about those things, give this a shot anyway. I think this is a pretty accessible window into the genre.

Ranma 1/2 - Rumiko Takahashi - I am not a big consumer of manga. I have read a number of titles, but nowhere near the hundreds that my daughters have read. I have seen Ranma 1/2 for a LONG time, my library has a ton of it, but I have never tried to read it, and never really understood what it was about. I decided on my last trip or 2 to the library that i would specifically pick up some things I had sort of avoided reading for a long time, and make an effort to read them.

Ranma 1/2 is the story of a father and his daughters who run a martial arts school. He has arranged with an old friend that one of his daughters will become engaged to the friend's son, sight unseen. When the friend and his son show up, it becomes clear pretty quickly that something strange has happened to them. Ultimately it boils down to the fact that they had gone to China and chose to train in an area covered with cursed springs. Anyone falling into one of the springs comes out of it oddly and mostly comically transformed. The transformations are triggered by hot and cold water. The father turns into a giant panda when he is splashed with cold water. The son turns into a girl. To change them back they need to be doused with hot water.

Ranma Saotome is the boy in question. He is an expert martial artist. Akane Tendo is the daughter that ends up engaged to him. Her sisters decided that since Akane seems to hate all the boys she has met, that a boy who is also a girl would be ideal for her. There isn't a ton of depth here, but there is a lot of action, and even more humor. There are also a lot of boobs. lots and lots, but no sexual situations. I will probably let my 10 year old read this. As far as nudity goes, it is about as inoffensive as you can get, and is generally used for humor one way or another.

Akane is also extremely skilled in martial arts. Prior to Ranma showing up, she was able to beat up all the boys in her area. She is not keen on being anyone's fiance at the moment, especially not someone she didn't choose. She is hard-headed and has a quick temper, but she is not without her endearing qualities as well.

In addition to Ranma and his father, we get another character that has had misfortune at the cursed springs. He blames Ranma for it, and is intent upon destroying him. Unfortunately for him, his changed form is that of the cutest little black pig you will ever see.

Obviously this is filled with improbable situations where the changing characters are doused with water far more than anyone should ever expect to be doused with water. I laughed out loud constantly as I was reading this. The second volume moves into the realm of odd specialty fights that Ranma must be a girl to help out in. First it is a Martial Rhythmic Gymnastics battle, and then it is a Martial Figure Skating battle. I admit that those things seem kind of dumb to me, but they are really pretty funny, and very smartly executed. Again, there isn't a ton of depth, but there is a lot of action and cuteness and humor.

Apollo's Song - Review

Apparently it's Manga week at TBC... After I read Osamu Tezuka's 8 Volume Buddha (borrowed it from the library, although I hope to own the whole thing some day) I bought Apollo's Song. I have had it for quite some time, and have been keeping it near my computer for a month or two with the intention of reading it. After reading A Drifting Life, I decided it was a perfect time to tackle the other giant book 541 pages of Tezuka goodness.

This is a strange book. I found it to be brilliant, but still kind of strange. There is a lot of moralizing in it, and it comes across in a way as a sort of... environmentalist / anti-technology, I am the Lorax I speak for the trees sort of statement. That isn't the main focus of the book, but the theme of the evil men do to the planet and each other and nature, resonates in each of the sort of dream sequence stories that make up a good portion of the book.

Our young 'protagonist' Shogo has all the makings of a sociopath. He cruelly kills animals, he attacks couples, etc. His primary reason for killing the animals he does is that they are showing attraction for each other or tenderness toward each other (yes, he kills animal couples, or animal babies, etc.)

He is hospitalized, and during a course of electro-shock therapy, he sees a giant statue of a goddess that condemns him to fall in love with one woman and then be separated by death from them over and over again. We see this happen in sub-stories that happen when he is rendered unconscious. The stories vary from his being a german soldier and falling in love with a condemned Jewish girl, to his being a human in love with a synthetic being in a future where synthetic beings rule the world. In addition to these 'dreams' , his story continues to play out in the 'present' It's really well done. Tezuka really did some comics ways that I just don't see being done very often. The medium is used perfectly, it's funny and silly and profound and preachy. It's a crazy story premise, but works. It didn't even scare me off with it's half representational and half realistic lesson on where babies come from (that it opens and closes with.

It isn't a flawless piece, but I enjoyed it and it made me think about what was being said (regardless of my agreeing with it or not). This is a good book and I recommend it if you like this sort of thing.

A Drifting Life - Review

It has been pretty hard this year to not get at least a bit curious about a book that has gotten as much buzz as this one. I am not a voracious Manga reader by any means. I have read some, and enjoyed much of what I have read. My oldest daughter is certainly more into manga than I am. I have read Tezuka's Buddha, and was pretty much awed by how good it was on so many levels.

I am not a history buff for the most part either. I like knowing where things came from, and how they came about, etc. but I am lazy about it and don't seek it out very much. When it comes to comics, I am generally happy to stay well on this side of the 1950's or 60's.

I have read Scott McCloud's Understanding, Reinventing, and Making, Comics. I think pretty highly of McCloud's work for a lot of reasons, and will say that I sort of put him in the same category that I put Alton Brown with regard to food, or the Mythbusters with regard to weird stuff I'm curious about that can only be explained by blowing things up. They all show and explain things that I am extremely interested in, in a fun and accessible way that shows me the science behind it, without diminishing the joy of it in any way. I would assert that their treatment of their subject matter greatly increases my understanding and enjoyment of it.

I say these things up front because they relate directly to what I felt when reading this 800+ page memoir that takes place during the strange and wonderful early days of post-war manga in Japan. It focuses on the period between the Japanese surrender in World War II and 1960. This was a wild roller coaster ride for the country of Japan, as well as the manga publishing and 'rental book' industry. It is window into the culture of the industry and the spirit and drive of the artists that shaped it. Yoshihiro was no Tezuka, and he knew it. Tezuka was his idol and his example. Striving to be like him seemed to go hand in hand with striving to be something different and new.

In this memoir, Yoshihoro uses a detached storytelling style. The protagonist is his analog Hiroshi Katsumi. We are given a lot of insight, but it is always a third person narrative. When we read that 'later he will come to regret his decision' or something like that, it has a sense of removal from the emotion about it. It is not the same impact as if the protagonist was telling us his own feelings, even though that is the reality of it. I am not criticising this method, as it creates a definite feel of it's own by doing so. There is bit of a feel that you are watching a documentary, rather than living the story of someone's life. This works for me, as it makes the other aspects of the story stand out equally.

This is a memoir of a person, an industry, a movement and a country. You get a real sense of all of those things as you read it. The Author's life is shown, the state of manga is shown, the publishing business(specifically manga) is shown, The alternative manga movement is shown, styles are discussed, the creative process is discussed, the nature of influences on an artist are shown, it really is like you are living inside of Scott McCloud's books. Much of the sorts of things he shows in his works are served here in context. This was a large part of my enjoyment of this work (I know one has nothing to do with the other in regard to their creation, etc. but that doesn't mean we the readers can't draw from both.

The detached style kind of rounded down the emotional experience for me. The highs weren't so high, and the lows weren't so low due to the two steps back manner of story telling, but it didn't diminish my enjoyment of the thing. I was thoroughly drawn in, and eager to get to the next page throughout the entire thing. You can learn an awful lot by reading this. It is valuable to see the nature of business, it is valuable to see the nature of inspiration and influence, and so much more.

I highly recommend this book. I am also now extremely interested in seeing more of Tatsumi's work.

Comics in the moving pictures

Within the past several months I have wached several things based on comic books. I want to briefly cover them here, and if anyone has any thoughts on them, please chime in as always.

Wanted - I read Mark Millar's 'Wanted' and liked it, but didn't love just how ugly it was. I commented on this before, and will only partially cover here. I thought the negativity was overdone and I thought it was heavy handed in unnecessary ways. Yes, I think it IS possible to have lots of gun play and even lots of killing without having everything just feel ugly and overwrought.

I thought the movie was pretty brilliant. It took some core themes, twisted them around perhaps a lot, and made a movie that was many times more enjoyable than the comic book. They kept some of the 'big twist' mechanics in place and created whole levels that didn't exist at all in the original. I would say the movie is more than a few steps removed from being 'based on the title of a Mark Millar comic' but it isn't an adaptation of that book either. It is a different thing, and I thought it worked really well (I went in thinking I would love the book and hate the movie).

Amazing Screw-On Head - This is a perfect comic made into a perfect pilot for a tv series based on a comic which I assume will never be made. The voice acting is great, the script is hilarious. The whole thing builds upon the basic idea of the comic and changes just enough stuff to make it go from being a one-shot to being something that shows even more potential for as a show. There were ideas and effects that were fleshed out on screen in ways that couldn't have been done as effectively in print, such as a portrait of lincoln that uses the old style digital mechanism to make his mouth appear to move when he is communicating with Mr. Head. The extra bits about his butlers adds depth, and the lost love interest works, It is just awesome. The art is the same as the comic, the tone is the same, but a greater potential is shown. I nearly cried when I realized that all I would be able to see was one 22 minute episode. It has been shown on Sci-Fi network, and I know it is available through netflix as well. You really should see it.

Death Note (Live Action) - I probably won't review a lot of manga related stuff here, but that is not because I have anything inherently against comic books that are called manga or anything. Death Note happens to be a series that I have read the bulk of the manga(but not all of it) and really liked. It's good twisted stuff with a lot of out-thinking and out-foxing going on in it. My favorite character is Ryuk the Shinigami, and he is my favorite in the manga as well as the film. The premise is that there is a notebook out there that belongs to a death god(shinigami) if a person touches it they can see the shinigami whose book it is. If they write a persons name in the book while having their image in their mind, that person will die. The notebook is found by a genius kid who is a bit bored with life and finds a way to really put excitement back into the world while exploring his inner megalomaniac. The live action movie is basically a 'part one' , part two is supposed to be making it's way here to the states sometime after October of this year. It picks a good place to end, and although unresolved, could be enjoyed without seeing the second part.