Short Manga Reviews

Here's a number of reviews I've been meaning to write, but haven't had the time till now.

Parasyte Vol. 3

The core of Hitoshi Iwaaki's engrossing body horror series is fairly simple, if not particularly original. Teenage protagonist Shinichi Izumi forms an alliance of convenience with an alien parasite who has replaced his right hand, in order to defend against other hostile parasites. However some parasites are interested in observing this alliance. In this volume Shinichi and his parasite Migi encounter Hideo Shimada, a parasite who enrolls at Shinichi's school. He expresses a desire to integrate into human society. Meanwhile the Japanese government has become aware of the alien attacks, but has little to go on until they can capture a specimen.

Iwaaki's art isn't particularly polished. His backgrounds are perfunctory, and his figures are a bit stiff. Most characters' facial expressions don't stretch beyond surprise, fear, and anger. Not that they were written with any particular depth in the first place. Ironically the parasites that have taken over a human host develop far more interesting personalities, and their motives drive the conflict of the story. There's something a little off about the symmetry in the faces that Iwaaki renders. Intentional or not, this weakness actually helps make the parasites and Shinichi look far more malevolent. But while humanity may not be Iwaaki's forte, the depictions of unleashed parasites going on a killing spree are where he truly excels. The bloody confrontation at the end of this volume is a real visual feast and not for the easily upset.

Pretty Face Vol. 6

The final volume of this series brings the story to a very sudden end. The premise (which I discussed in my vol. 1 review) exemplifies shonen manga's ability to both titillate and thoroughly creep out the target audience - the fan service, while no more egregious than any other manga, involves gender-bending male hero Rando Masashi either staring at his unsuspecting female classmates, or the reader witnessing the androgynous Rando coming close to being exposed in front of said classmates.

The series has put Rando in most of the typical situations readers have to expect of the genre: The beach, gym class, hot springs, sports fests, sleepovers etc. Several supporting characters have been introduced, but dropped instead of being developed. Midway through the series, there was an attempt to get the whole 'find the missing sister Yuna' plot thread moving. But after running into a dead end, it reverted to the usual episodic format. This inability to follow-up on this plot thread may be the reason why Yasuhiro Kano ended Pretty Face. Instead Yuna Kurimi unexpectedly shows-up two-thirds into vol. 6, and the story rushes to its conclusion, leaving a few plot holes along the way, and not quiet resolving every issue.

Ultimately, whether readers will find Pretty Face endearing or disturbing depends on how far they can buy into the idea of a virginal teenage boy swearing undying devotion to a girl who barely knows him and thinks he's dead. Admittedly the sheer weirdness of the premise and the slickness of Yasuhiro Kano's art kept me from dropping it.

Rosario + Vampire Vol. 1
Rosario + Vampire Vol. 2

This is a by-the-numbers male fantasy. Shonen nonentity Tsukune Aono, by some twist of fate, enrolls in a school for monsters. He only figures this out after attending his first homeroom class. Naturally desiring to preserve his life, he decides to withdraw. But Moka Akashiya, the popular girl he has a meet cute with, becomes predictably attached to him, and convinces him to stay. Moka is an extremely powerful vampire, but her true abilities are suppressed by a crucifix she wears on her neck (Every student is required to remain in human form when on campus). Tsukune discovers that under duress he is the only one who can remove the cross, which is a good thing as he's in constant danger of being torn apart by his unsuspecting classmates, and sometimes by the faculty. For her part the lonely Moka considers Tsukune her first true friend. But as they settle into their daily routines, a circle of rivals/friends develops into the usual web of possible romantic entanglements; The twist being that most of the cast are supernatural monsters.

Author Akihisa Ikeda isn't the best artist I've seen, but he's skilled enough to draw the attractive female-centric cast and the requisite up-skirt panty shots. The manga is literally a monster-of-the-week series. Tsukune and Moka get involved in a certain school activity, which puts them into conflict with an antagonist. Said antagonist turns into a monster, and Tsukune is forced to unleash Moka's vampiric powers. I should point out that Moka goes through a Jekyll and Hyde personal transformation when she morphs into a full vampire. She also doesn't actually bite any of her opponents, but beats them into submission with roundhouse kicks. The 'necking' she reserves for Tsukune.

While Rosario + Vampire is a competent manga, it doesn't particularly stand-out. At least not yet.

Pretty Face Volume One

Cross-dressing is one of those familiar romantic comedy conventions that goes in and out of style, but will probably never completely vanish. The protagonist gains access to, and is allowed to remain close with a love interest by being disguised as the opposite gender. She won't reveal her true identity for fear of being rejected. But if the relationship is to proceed beyond the platonic level, the disguise has to be discarded. There's the rub, and the catalyst for all kinds of situational humor. Think of Viola in Twelfth Night, or Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Some Like it Hot.

While cross-dressing characters continue to show-up in mainstream entertainment, their traditional comic role has been transplanted into Japanese manga. Sometimes it's a case of playing with the appearance of androgynous-looking bishonen and bishojo: Haruhi Fujioka of Ouran High School Host Club, or the princesses of Princess Princess. But in the short-lived series Pretty Face, creator Yasuhiro Kano comes-up with a most unlikely premise for a romantic story, and proceeds to milk it for all its comic worth. High school bully and karate fighter Masashi Rando is involved in a school bus accident that leaves him horribly disfigured and in a coma for a year. When he finally recovers, he discovers that his parents think he's dead and have moved away leaving no forwarding address. Even more upsetting is that he now wears the face of Rina Kurimi, a girl he secretly likes, because Dr. Manabe, the surgeon who fixed him up, used a photo of her found amongst Rando's personal belongings to reconstruct his face. This gross incompetence progresses into criminal misconduct when he decides to perform a sex change operation on the comatose Rando, who fortunately at that moment regains consciousness. After fleeing from Manabe's clinic, he runs into Rina, who mistakes him for her missing twin sister Yuna Kurimi. Overjoyed by the sudden reunion, she drags him home where he is welcomed back into the family with open arms and no questions asked. Rando's first instinct is to run away, but decides to stay in order not to hurt Rina's feelings. He resolves to track down the true Yuna while continuing to masquerade as her.

Still with me? The real fun begins when Rando/Yuna enrolls at his old school and settles-in with Rina and her friends. He forgets to use the women's toilets, gets involved in the old rivalry between the karate and judo clubs, fends off the advances of a lecherous male teacher, makes excuses to avoid the annual medical exams, all the while dealing with Dr. Manabe's constant suggestions to get rid of that "unnecessary appendage." He initially tries to solve these problems by exploiting his newly acquired good looks and "feminine" charms, but can't help falling back on his old habits of resorting to physical violence. Ironically his actions, which branded him as a delinquent as a boy, now draw so much unwanted attention that an instant fan club is formed by his horde of male admirers. There's nothing subtle about Rando. He's the typical shonen roughneck with a heart of gold. While he acts like a jerk, he's completely devoted to, and highly protective of Rina, happy to be at her side. Rina is herself a rather bland character and no less a manga cliche. Generically quiet, sweet-natured, and smart, she was already conveniently crushing on Rando before his supposed demise.

Yasuhiro Kano has a strong proclivity for drawing cute high school girls. He gets rid of the dorky-looking male Rando in the first half dozen pages of the story. After his transformation, Rando/Yuna is shown in a number of compromising poses that emphasize his attractiveness while threatening to expose his masculinity. Look at the volume #1 cover for example. Would the uninformed person seeing it on a shelf at Borders think that was a boy? At one point he dons a pair of large fake breasts at Manabe's insistence, which convincingly makes him more effeminate than any live actor could by wearing makeup and prosthetics. Unfortunately he can't remove them for the next 24 hours, so he tries to hide them by wrapping them tightly in bandages, with predictably disastrous results. Only with pictures can characters be designed to provide fan service that simultaneously titillates and flummoxes the reader. Kano is also pretty adept at rendering comically exaggerated expressions and cartoon violence, which he uses to good effect to illustrate Rando's gender confusion and ferocious outbursts.

I don't know if it was a lack of commercial success or a decision on Kano's part to end the series, but Pretty Face reached only six volumes in Japan. Weirder manga have lasted longer than that. It's a fairly innocuous product despite Viz giving it a mature content rating. Just lots of goofy fun for young readers.