50books_poc | Entries tagged with manga

My 11yo bought this on the strength of a blurb from Alison Bechdel (we all loved Fun Home.) After she finished it, she insisted that I read it. Kid knows the kind of thing I like. Tagame is known for his extremely kinky gay manga, but this is family fare: the tender story of a Canadian who visits his dead husband's brother and niece in Japan.

The point of view is that of the brother, Yaichi, who is burdened with a lot of unexamined homophobia. While a lot of the critical response to My Brother's Husband approaches this as a text that will help people unfamiliar with LGBTQ+ issues, it worked equally well to give my San Francisco-raised kid an insight into people whose daily lives aren't suffused with the gay! Tagame gives Yaichi space to wrestle with his preconceptions and doesn't judge him for his missteps. It's a sweetly sympathetic portrait that didn't raise my queer hackles: not an easy feat.

The art is my favorite aspect of this book. Mike, the Canadian widower, is a big beardie hairy man, and his body is presented as straightforwardly attractive. His growing rapport with his niece Kana and his kindness towards another young character are beautifully and movingly rendered. I can't wait for Volume 2.

kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com

I don't usually post manga reviews here because I don't count manga towards my goal as I read so much of it. But this is a special case. I really want to get the word out about this story.

I have been translating Nakamura Ching's Gunjo for the scanlation group Kotonoha for a while now and just last week finished the final chapter of the first volume (the series is still running, but it will be three vols. total, and the first vol. is more than double the length of a regular manga, so it's longer than it seems) and while the scanlations are only up through chapter five (plus a special unnumbered backstory chapter), I really, really recommend it.

When I first heard the summary, that it was about a lesbian who kills the husband of the woman she loves (who doesn't love her back, and in fact treats her like shit), and the two go on the run together, I was dubious. It sounded like it could be really skeevy, but omg it is so, so good.

When I say this woman is a lesbian, she really is. This is no "gay for you" story. She has been a lesbian since high school, dates other women besides the woman whose husband she kills, and there are other lesbian characters as well. And as the story goes on, you find out that things are a lot more complicated than they seem. This is not a story about evil lesbians. It is not a story about evil women of any sexual orientation. There is a reason for everything, and you will sympathise with both main characters (as well as the many minor characters who get their turn (all women, all of whom are more complicated than they seem on the surface)). It's a manga that really critiques society.

And while I can't see a very happy ending for two women on the run from the law, if they do end up dead at the end or something, it won't feel like a Dead Lesbian story because they are not the only queer people in it. They are dysfunctional, but there are other queer people living their lives and being happy (I won't give spoilers, but the final chapter of vol. 1 focuses on one of the minor characters and is awesome in that regard).

I really can't say enough good about it, and I don't want to get into particulars too much because I think it's really best read without spoilers (though it is definitely not a pleasant story and there is domestic abuse as well as sexual assault). It's also really well drawn. The art has this visceral, raw quality that is just perfect for the story it's telling.

Also, I wondered due to the content of the story if the author was queer herself, and according to this interview (in English), she is indeed:

Q5: What were your motivations for creating Gunjo?

I wanted to draw the keen loneliness of a lonely person. I wanted to turn our kindness and cruelty (the kinds of emotions that we can't control with our own wills) into a manga. And also, because I am gay. Living a life of hiding I was gay was unpleasant, so I wanted to give myself the chance to admit I was gay.

I would recommend it even to people who are not that into manga, because it is just an awesome story and a smart story. You can read in English online or download the first six chapters on Kotonoha's website.

You can also buy volume one and volume two (just released last month) off Amazon Japan.

sanguinity

Noted briefly:

18, 19. Ai Yazawa, Nana, Volumes 11-12.

(Yes, I count manga.)

20. Robert Morales and Kyle Baker, Truth: Red, White & Black.

In which the history of the super-serum that transformed Captain America into Captain America is revealed: in keeping with so much medical testing of the era, it was unethically developed on black test subjects.

I loved the first half of the series, but around the ~~midpoint~~ two-thirds mark it suddenly went off the rails and stopped being about Isaiah Bradley (the black Captain America), and started being all about Steve Rogers (the white Captain America). And not just about Steve Rogers, investing a serious chunk of time in making sure that the readers know that Steve Rogers is in no way responsible for the history of the super-serum, and that he really does not approve of the history of the super-serum, and that if he had only known he would never have been a part of it. Also, that Steve Rogers thinks it's a shame, a crying shame what happened to Isaiah Bradley, and that Steve Rogers is a good, good guy, who's willing to give proper credit to Isaiah Bradley.

I dunno, maybe I'm reading too much into those last, Rogers-centric issues. But apparently Truth began as a parallel history, officially outside of the continuity of Captain America, and then halfway through they decided to bring it into the main storyline? And given that, I do wonder at how the last two issues are devoted almost completely to making sure that white Captain America remains completely untarnished by this backstory.

Anyway, I very much liked the premise, very much liked the first part, and was very eyerolly about the latter part.

One of the things that is very cool about Truth, in addition to the premise, is that it is a veritable festival of historical and literary allusions (OMG, Pinkwater's Wingman!). And in case you do not know these allusions, there is a handy issue-by-issue listing of the allusions in the appendix, including a reading and sources list. Which is very satisfying for a references-junkie like myself. Yay - I like clues about interesting things to go look up next!

21. Joann Sfar, The Rabbi's Cat 2.

(Sfar is Ashkenazi and Sephardic; Rabbi's Cat implies that Sephardic Jews are not considered white in France, which is where Sfar lives. If anyone has better information than I do about how race works in France and in Judaism, and consequently feels that Sfar shouldn't be counted as POC, please let me know.)

A continuation of the previous volume, which was a collection of stories about an Algerian rabbi, his daughter, and her cat. Two more stories appear in this volume: "Heaven on Earth" (in which the Rabbi and his cat visits with Malka and his lion, and there is much, much storytelling all around) and "Africa's Jerusalem" (in which the rabbi meets a Russian Jew who is headed for Ethiopia in search of the true Jerusalem -- a Jerusalem where, yes, all the Jews are black Africans, much to the rabbi's disbelief).

Of the latter story, Sfar says:

For a long time I thought there was no point in doing a graphic novel against racism. That stance seemed so totally redundant that there was no need to flog a dying horse. Times are changing, apparently. Chances are, everything's already been said, but since no one is paying attention you have to start all over again.

meganbmoore.livejournal.com

I may have Nisioisin’s name wrong. I’ve seen it several ways, but this is how the footnotes and “about the author” in the book present it.

Anotherholic is three novellas based on the popular manga by Clamp. It relies on only the simplest understanding of the manga’s plot-a high school student named Watanuki sees and is harassed by ghosts, and makes a deal with the dimension witch, Yuuko, that she will eventually free him of this if he works in her shop, which is dedicated to granting wishes for a price, only to find himself frequently involved with her clients and other supernatural events-and contains no spoilers for the manga. Yuuko and Watanuki are the only manga characters to appear in the novellas, though series regulars Doumeki and Himawari are mentioned.

Two of the novellas are pretty normal “customer” plots-a girl who receives text messages from her dead friend every day, at the exact time of day that her friend died, and a woman obsessed with breaking social taboos, to her own detriment-and the third is something of a “why things happen and the nature of this supernatural element” plot. As plots, there good, but Nisioisin tries to mimic the manga’s style and capture the otherworldly feel, rather than writing it his (?) own way. Unfortunately, much of what makes xxxHolic work the way it does is Clamp’s layouts and imagery, and that can’t really be duplicated in prose. Speaking of the art, there are several stunning spreads as chapter pages. Including one of Watanuki in a dramatic, somewhat gothic pose. Holding an eyeball.

rachelmanija.livejournal.com

A classic epic fantasy with some excellent worldbuilding, striking art, and even more excellent cracktasticness, but characters whom I never quite warmed up to.

What was once one united vaguely medievaloid fantasy European kingdom split into three warring kingdoms long ago. In yet another war, both king and crown prince of one kingdom were killed, leaving no one to rule but bookish, war-hating, 13-year-old Prince Asta. Since he doesn’t want to rule and nobody else wants him to rule either, a contest is held to find the possibly mythical Key To The Kingdom.

Asta is one of the contenders. I forget why exactly. He’s accompanied by warrior “Badd” Baddorius, a heroic lecher. Leticia, an aristocrat girl Asta’s age, also sets out, as do Prince Fairheart (yes, really) and several people who will later prove unimportant.

It becomes apparent by the end of the first volume that the true history of the land, which involves dragons and dragon-tamers, is both key to the quest and much more complicated than everyone thinks. The unraveling of this is by far the most interesting part of the story, and one I won’t spoil here.

My big problem with the manga was that I didn’t much like or care about any of the characters. I kept reading because the plot was compelling, but I’m more of a character reader than a plot reader. Though I did enjoy the sorcerer who, since his lower body was burned off by dragons, surgically joined his upper body to an entire giant lizard. He later shows up, after his lizard drops dead, with dog AND dinosaur grafts. There was also this classic speech:

“Look at this... It's [Spoiler A’s] left arm. He cut off his own arm and gave it to me. [Spoiler B]... You have to eat it."

And so the two manga classic tokens of affection, the gift of a body part and “I love you! Here, feast upon my flesh!” are combined.

Key to the Kingdom, The - Volume 1

rachelmanija.livejournal.com

This manga is an adaptation of the very long children’s fantasy of the same name by adult mystery author Miyabe. Her dark, psychological mysteries are well worth reading, but if this manga is representative of the novel, she’s yet another adult writer who fell on her face when she tried a children’s book.

Average junior high school boy Wataru loves video games. Other than that, he has no personality, and neither does anyone else. When he crosses paths with a mysterious transfer student, he is popped into a world which is a cross between a clichéd video game and a clichéd fantasy novel, full of clichéd monsters that he can kill and guarded by a clichéd bearded and robed wizard. The art is a cross between clichéd shounen and clichéd fantasy D&D illustration. The translation is annoyingly slangy.

I did not like this one little bit… until toward the end, when it took a sudden left turn into dark adult Miyabe territory, and introduced a possibly promising plot twist. I don’t think I’ll continue the manga in any event, but has anyone read the novel? Is it better?

View manga on Amazon: Brave Story Volume 1

View novel on Amazon: Brave Story

Some of Miyabe’s excellent mysteries: Shadow Family, All She Was Worth

rachelmanija.livejournal.com

Popular schoolgirl Chiko finds a lost cell phone in a subway station, and answers it when it begins to ring. A mysterious voice tells her that someone is going to die in ten minutes in front of the train station, but if she can get there in time, she can save the person. Run!

Soon Chiko is tearing all over Tokyo, accompanied by her jaded classmate Bando, desperate to save even one person before their time runs out. But, like the somewhat similar and also very good X-Day, by Setona Mizushiro, what seems like the set-up for straight-up horror is actually a story about loneliness, connection, and community.

Despite some rather implausible moments, and I mean even given the premise, this manga tells a compelling and affecting story. The understatedly romantic nature of the connection between the two girls is enhanced with sensual pin-ups of the two of them between each chapter.

Complete in one volume. By the creator of Anne Freaks, which I haven’t read.

View on Amazon: Line

X-Day (Volumes 1 & 2)

Anne Freaks Volume 1 (v. 1)

rosehiptea.livejournal.com

I'm not officially doing the 50 books challenge, but I thought I'd share a few that I read in the past few months.

( The Color Purple by Alice Walker )

( Little Scarlet by Walter Mosley )

( Ode to Kirihito by Osamu Tezuka )

sweet-adelheid.livejournal.com

Quick-version reviews:

#22 - Infidel: My Life by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Hirsi Ali grew up in Somalia, Saudi Arabia and Kenya. Her experiences of Islam cross a spectrum from her (mostly-absent) father's approach, which in some ways allowed interpretation and debate but in other ways was highly traditional, through to devotion to the calls for the renewal of Islam by the Muslim Brotherhood. She's now become in/famous for her calls to consider ways in which Islam may be problematic.

#23 - The Dreaming, Vol 1-3 by Queenie Chan
Although manga is enough of a departure from my regular type of reading that I feel justified in posting it here, I couldn't count the three volumes as separate books. Only the third volume took more than an afternoon/evening to read. In the end, I can't recommend this book, because of what I (ymmv) see as a very problematic treatment of Indigenous Australian cultures and traditions. More info at my LJ.

#24 - Inside Black Australia: An Anthology of Aboriginal Poetry, edited by Kevin Gilbert.
Published in 1988 as a "Bicentennial" year protest, this collection is full of anger, and I found most of it very hard to cope with. I did persevere through to the end though, and I'm glad I did, as Gilbert's own poetry is last in the collection, and despite the fact that his introductions both to other poets and himself had angered and alienated me, I found that some of his poems were *beautiful*, and that they portrayed their anger in a way that allowed me to process it, rather than just putting up a wall. Note: many readers of this comm may find my review difficult or potentially offensive, particularly on "tone argument" grounds.

#25 - The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
I started reading this before the election, but only just finished it, for the simple reason that I own it, and thus it wasn't subject to library due dates. It is a great book, and I'll have to boost Dreams from my Father further up my To Read list.

kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com

I don't usually review manga here, because I don't count it as books, but I really wanted to share these two series.

IS~Otoko Demo Onna Demo Nai Sei~ (IS~Neither Male Nor Female~) by Rokuhana Chiyo is a story about intersex people. The first couple chapters are stand-alones, but the bulk of the manga (15+ volumes ongoing) is about a boy named Haru.

I really love this series because while it does have its flaws, it's the first series I've ever seen that deals realistically with intersexuality. The author has worked closely with an online intersex group to make sure she has her facts straight and isn't getting offensive or appropriative, which shouldn't impress me as much as it does, because it should be how everyone approaches fiction, but we all know that's not how it works, so I do admire her for how respectful she's been with this topic, especially considering the fact that her original idea was for a generic fantasy story that had a "hermaphrodite" hero/ine and it was only when she started poking around online for research that she realised, hey, this could be offensive, and then trashed that idea and wrote this story instead.

I made a long, rambling post here the other day with a longer summary, as well as what I love and don't love about it (long story short: it's wonderful in so many ways, but disappointing heteronormative). Despite my reservations, I highly, highly recommend it.

The first eight volumes have been scanlated and can be found online in English here. Unfortunately there is no official English translation. If you read Japanese, there are 15 volumes out so far, with vol. 16 due to come out next month. You can order them on Amazon Japan.

Hourou Musuko (Wandering Son) by Shimura Takako is about trans kids. The main characters are Nitori Shuuichi (aka Nitorin) and Takatsuki Yoshino. Takatsuki is ftm and Nitorin is mtf. There is also Ariga Makoto (Mako), another mtf kid in their year at school, and Yuki, a trans woman they meet and become friends with. The story starts when the kids are in 5th grade and they are currently in 8th.

I love this story so, so much. Unlike with IS, I really have no reservations about this and love it wholeheartedly. (I mean, I could wish for it to be more queer, yes, but I'm not afraid the eventual ending might disappoint me, the way I am with IS.) I have never read another manga like this. Japanese media often features okamas (a term that can be applied to trans women, drag queens, or just (usually effeminate) gay men), but they're usually comic relief or bad guys. Even when they are sympathetic, they're likely to be very minor characters, and like in western media, it's much, much harder to find representations of trans guys.

This is your basic slice of life manga, just following the characters as they grow up. There are so many little things that ring true. I think one of my favorite bits has been Chii-chan, a new girl they meet in 7th grade, who occasionally comes to school in a boys' uniform, or wearing a tie with her girls' uniform instead of the ribbon she's supposed to. She's not trans or genderqueer, just likes doing what she wants to do, and I love how Takatsuki envies her, because for Takatsuki it's not that easy because it actually means something to wear boys' clothes.

This one also has no official translation, but has been completely scanlated, to the most recent chapter available in Japan (download here or read online here). If you read Japanese, you can order from Amazon Japan or download the first eight volumes here. There are currently 8+ volumes, with vol. 9 scheduled to come out this autumn (sadly, this one is released only one volume per year).

Oh, and for both of these, I read them in Japanese, so I have no idea whether the translations are any good or not. :-/

kate_nepveu

I'd heard people speak highly of Neil deGrasse Tyson's science writing previously, but it wasn't until his Daily Show appearance (and sequel) that I made reading something by him a priority. Death By Black Hole: and Other Cosmic Quandaries seemed like the best place to start.

( cut for length )

The ninth and tenth volumes of Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist continue to be excellent. These contain an arc of consequences from volume 4 (the Lab 5 arc and associated developments), which are exciting, emotional, and surprising. And, to my joy, include much more in the way of characters acting collaboratively, which was a thing that annoyed me about the original anime. I only disliked one thing, where I felt that drama overrode logic in the timing of a revelation, but it was minor. Read them together, as volume nine ends on a cliffhanger, but definitely read them.

Originally posted to my booklog.

* * *

Not for the challenge, but possibly also of interest: The Rabbi's Cat 2, by Joann Sfar, set in 1930s Africa, graphic novel collection of two stories, the second of which the author states was deliberately written as an anti-racism story. I didn't like this as well as the first, but I still enjoyed quite a lot of it.

vash137.livejournal.com

I was recommended to this community by a friend, and I'm very excited to enjoy such a wealth of recommendations of books by people of color as well as share about the books I'm reading. Though I'm excited to read 50 more books by people of color, I'll probably also share some reviews of previous books that I've read and loved.

Currently, I'm in the middle of The Brief And Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. It was recommended to me by a number of friends and I'm really enjoying it. The book employs a lovely mix of comic tone and seriousness, and I feel as though I am being given a glimpse into Dominican culture that is both new to me and wildly interesting. I also love the high degree of nerdiness that permeates the book (as someone who is highly nerdy myself)

I'm also reading a manga called Nana by Ai Yazawa. (do we talk about manga here?) It's entertaining in a highly girly way. I'm usually not really into shoujo (for girls in Japanese) but I wanted to try something new and it looked interesting.

I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone and participating in this community.

Love and hugs :-)
Vash

Current Music: Vienna Tieng, "Kansas"

kate_nepveu

I finally went back to reading Fullmetal Alchemist, by Hiromu Arakawa, when I heard that a new anime was on the way. Enough time had finally passed from my watching the original anime that I could enjoy this on its own merits, which are considerable. (The new anime appears to be much more closely based on the manga, so it was read it now or not for a long time.)

I started by reading the new-to-me volumes that I had on hand, volumes three through eight. I enjoyed these so much I went back to the beginning and re-read all eight straight through. Like the anime, the manga of Fullmetal Alchemist has great characters, fascinating worldbuilding, and gripping angst and action. (I talked about the basic premise in the entry for the first volume.) It eventually develops some pretty significant differences from the anime, but at this point these may also be strengths: certain aspects of the underlying plot seem to remove some logistical questions I had, and the worldbuilding and range of characters are wider and more diverse [*]. I'm not sure how I'll feel about their relative strengths when it comes to themes and philosophical musings, but the manga certainly has its eye on the questions. Finally, it may just be the difference between screen and page, but the manga doesn't feel as unsubtle about emotional matters.

[*] There are a couple of isolated instances in which this isn't a good thing. The series is set in a European-equivalent country, and a handful of characters are obviously meant to have African-equivalent ancestry; they're not characterized in a stereotypical way, but they do tend to have balloon-like lips, which is unfortunate. And the sole homosexual to date is extremely effeminate and has a thing for underage boys.

Roughly speaking, volumes three and four are the Lab 5 arc, which is where the anime began to diverge—well, rather, there were small hints of divergence from the very beginning, but the different outcomes of this arc start pointing toward the significant changes to come. Volume four is also a convenient point for comparing the overall progression of the two story lines: its end corresponds to episode twenty-five, that is, halfway through the anime, while the manga currently stands at ninety-three chapters, four chapters to a volume.

Volumes five and six take the Elric brothers to Rush Valley and into an extended flashback of their childhood and training. Volumes seven and eight play out the Devil's Nest arc, and then introduce manga-only characters from the adjacent empire of Xing. The divergences become very apparent and quite fascinating here, and it took a fair effort of will to write these volumes up first instead of diving into the ones that had arrived from Amazon.

Some other comments: the art is generally clear and fairly detailed. Over these volumes, I found myself noticing it more, in a good way, during emotionally-intense sequences. The fight scenes are usually not difficult to follow and not too prolonged, though I tend to skim them anyway—hey, I like stuff with dialogue. And I'm not crazy about the publisher's decision to overwrite the Japanese sound effects with English translations; I find it distracting when enormous "BOOM"s and such integrated into the artwork, and prefer the original Japanese with translations outside the panels where the meaning isn't obvious.

( Spoilers for these volumes and, implicitly, for the entire original anime: )

Crossposted from my booklog: non-spoiler post, spoiler post.

coffeeandink.livejournal.com

I'm behind in writing things up and posting here, but here's what I've written up for January so far:

1/(Inwa) Nu Nu Yi: Smile As They Bow (trans. Alfred Birnbaum & Thi Thi Aye)
Burmese novel.
Beautifully written but ultimately shallow short novel about the love affairs of U Ba Si aka Daisy Bond, a gay transgender spirit medium in Burma. Longer review.

2/Jones, Edward P.: All Aunt Hagar's Children
African-American short stories.
Edward P. Jones first reached popular notice with his novel The Known World, but I love his short fiction best. Like his first collection, Lost in the City, All Aunt Hagar's Children largely takes place in and around Washington, D.C., although the newer collection focuses more on African American migration northward and covers a great historical timespan. Longer review.

3/Ghata, Yasmine: The Calligrapher's Night
French-Lebanese novel, magic realism. The ghost of Rikkat Kunt relates her life and her vocation as a calligrapher in Turkey during a period in which Arabic script and Islam fell under government-sanctioned disrepute; she gathers information while acting as a servant in the half-abandoned academy of half-dead calligraphers and is tutored by the ghosts of great calligraphers past. Longer review.

[I don't count manga towards my 50books_poc total. Personal decision, not community rules. Also, unless otherwise noted, these will have SPOILERS for the current and previous volumes and will be briefer and more focused on emotional reactions than plot description than my book posts.]

Takeuchi, Mick: Her Majesty's Dog 11
The conclusion of Her Majesty's Dog mostly delivered what I expected, in good ways and bad ways. There were a few plot twists which surprised me, but I am not invested in this series for its plot twists; I'm invested in it for the relationship between Hyoue and Amane and for Amane's character arc, both of which received loving attention.

Minekura, Kazuya: Saiyuki Reload 9
There is a page in here that just plain took my breath away, I mean literally, looking at it was like being struck and there I was, breathless; a man and a boy and black trees full of birds under a grey moon beneath a white sky left me breathless; and there is another page that made me grin so wide my face hurt, grin because oh, you, you, YOU.

Mizushiro, Setona: After School Nightmare 10
Reaction post, discussion in comments.

Conami, Shoko: Shinobi Life 1
Beni is a poor little rich girl about to commit suicide to gain revenge on her indifferent father. Kagetora is a time-displaced ninja who thinks she's the princess he's sworn to protect. Together, they ~~fight crime~~ misunderstand each other adorably.

rachelmanija.livejournal.com

I don't normally post manga reviews here, since I already read enough manga that it's not a challenge. But I'm making an exception for this one because I think it might be a good first manga for someone who's never read any before. And because it's just so amazing.

I can't imagine this not being one of the best things I read all year. Click here to buy it from Amazon: Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys, Volume 1: The Prophet

Half the fun of reading this is the intricate, fractured way that the story jumps from past to present to uncertain times and possibly stories-with-the-story, letting the reader try to assemble the pieces. And another quarter or so is the way that I had no idea whatsoever where it all was going. So I won't reveal too much.

A group of Japanese boys form a secret club in the sixties. These scenes are suffused with a nostalgia that's both bright and dark, like a Ray Bradbury story: children and childhood can be cruel, but it was a time when anything seemed possible, everything was new, and friends were forever.

Years later, one of the boys has died mysteriously. Is it connected to a bizarre cult? Why is the club's secret symbol turning up everywhere? And what do rock music and giant robots have to do with it all?

I have no idea, but this is the most compelling, weird, and evocative thing I've read in ages. The weaving together of the American modern myths of salvation through rock music and the Japanese modern myths of giant robots, plus cross-cultural iconic themes like apocalyptic cults, is brilliant. Though most of the story is very male-centered, a woman shows up at the end, in a hilariously memorable scene, whom I suspect is one of the main characters, and I love her already.

The art is somewhat similar to Urasawa's moral thriller Monster, but a little more realistic and less cartoony: the characters are very expressive, but (deliberately) not pretty.

Spoil me for further events and be squashed by a giant robot. But feel free to discuss volume one in spoilery detail in the comments.