Sean Gaffney, the affable host of A Case Suitable for Treatment, just posted his review of Kaoru Mori’s A Bride’s Story. Though he acknowledges Mori’s superb artistic skills, Gaffney is less enthusiastic about the title than many of the other folks — myself included — who blog about manga. “If there’s anything wrong with the series, it’s that things seem just a little too polished,” he argues. “I can’t help but feel that I’m looking at a painting in a museum rather than reading a modern manga. There is a coolness to Amir that doesn’t really allow you to get closer to her, even when she’s being nice and friendly. It makes me feel as if I can’t really love the manga as much as I want to.” As a female reader, I found Amir a more compelling character than he did, but I understand where Gaffney is coming from; I never warmed to such critically regarded titles as Red-Colored Elegy, Travel, or A Single Match, even though I could appreciate their creators’ artistry. Even though I didn’t agree with his assessment, I thought it was a great, thought-provoking review, and encourage you to go read it, even if you haven’t had a chance to look at A Bride’s Story yet.
Anime | Blade, the latest Marvel franchise to get an anime makeover, debuts on July 1st in Japan; Comics Alliance has the trailer. [Comics Alliance]
Anime | The Times-Picayune is reporting that a Louisiana man is facing fifteen counts of possessing child pornography after his wife discovered him watching X-rated anime on his laptop. [Anime News Network]
Books & Light Novels | The editors at Haikasoru post a brief excerpt from Miyuki Miyabe’s latest novel, Ico: Castle in the Mist, which arrives in stores on August 18th. [Haikasoru]
Comics | For her latest Comic Adventures in Academia column, librarian Karen Green examines four graphic novels about the Louvre. [ComiXology]
Comics | Erica Friedman uses Judo Master, a 1967 comic about a white martial artist, as a jumping-off point for discussing racism in comics. “If comics are indeed an a form of serious artistic expression, then we have to stop dismissing the bits of it we don’t like, the parts that make us squirmy and uncomfortable,” she argues. “If it’s just entertainment, then let’s stop pretending it’s anything other than pubescent fantasies and utterly banal writing.” [The Hooded Utilitarian]
Comics | Adele Melander-Dayton explains how Daniel Clowes’ Ghost World helped her cope with a personal crisis. [Salon]
Manga | In case you missed it: Brigid Alverson has the scoop on est em’s forthcoming series, Golondrina, which will make its IKKI debut in July. [MTV Geek]
Manga | Fantagraphics offers readers a first look at the Wandering Son manga. [Fantagraphics]
Manga | Dog toy or Moyashimon plushie? You make the call. [The Manga Critic Con't]
Manga | Planning to download the VIZ app for your iPhone? Brigid Alverson has a review. [MTV Geek]
Manga | May was a good month for Yen Press: they had six titles on ICv2′s Top 20 Graphic Novel Bestseller List, including the latest volumes of Maximum Ride: The Manga, Black Butler, and Highschool of the Dead. Also making a good showing was VIZ Media; the eighth volume of Black Bird was the top seller on ICv2′s list, outperforming such comic-book perennials as Batman, Y: The Last Man, and Watchmen. N.B. ICv2′s list is based on bookstore sales, not direct market sales. [ICv2]
Movies | Mark your calendar: on July 7th and July 10th, the Japan Society will screen Buddha: The Great Departure, an animated adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s critically regarded manga. The film will be shown as part of Japan Cuts 2011: The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema. Other entries include Battle Royale, Gantz (parts one and two), and Ninja Kids, the latest film from Takashi Miike, director of 13 Assassins. [Japan Society]
Hm, reading Sean Gaffney’s take on A Bride’s Story was interesting. I don’t currently agree with his assessment of Amir, although I may change my mind if, in future volumes, Mori doesn’t show that she has the layers I feel are there. Which I guess is a bias on my part – I can’t imagine that Mori /won’t/ do that. The thing that really grabbed me about Emma was that, sometimes, the only clue you had about what a character might really be feeling was a slight detail in their expression in a particular panel – it was frustrating, but I loved it at the same time. So, I’m predisposed to think the same thing will happen with A Bride’s Story.
I’m very interested to find out what Amir’s life was like with her old family. I have a feeling that a lot of Amir’s “almost too good to be true” qualities are a result of how she grew up. From what we’ve seen so far, her old family doesn’t exactly seem to be full of warm fuzzy family feelings – Amir’s a political tool for them, and they weren’t exactly in tears over the death of that girl they decided Amir could replace. With her new family, Amir tries very hard to fit in, freaks out when she thinks someone is trying to tell her that her clothes are dirty, and freaks out again when Karluk gets sick. Perfection may have been expected of her in her old tribe, and maybe she didn’t quite measure up there.
And maybe I’m just reading too much into everything. It’s going to be painful, waiting for the next volume.
I thought Amir was a more layered character, too. Her behavior struck me as a sincere and conscious effort to ingratiate herself to her family, which is a little different than being the Kathy Lee Gifford of Khazakhstan, you know?
I also think the complexity of the artwork and the pacing invite readers to project themselves into the story a little more than they might with other authors. I’ve sometimes wondered if I was reading too much into my favorite passages in Emma and Shirley, conflating visual richness with narrative sophistication. At the end of the day, however, Mori’s work just makes me happy, so it’s probably best not to overthink it too much!
Geez Fantagraphics, book porn much? Although I have to admit I want the first volume of Wandering Son even more now.
No kidding! You could waste days watching all the biblioporn on their Tumblr site.
Hmm, I wonder why the website doesn’t mention that ICO was a critically successful PlayStation 2 game with amazing graphics a few years ago – which was released in the west, too… Are they afraid it will put people off? They do use the imagery on the cover, though…
Sorry your comment got caught in spam-filter purgatory, Estara! The Amazon blurb makes it clear that Ico is based on the game, so my guess is that Haikasoru just wanted to reassure people that Ico had genuine literary merit.
Cool cover, BTW; it reminds me of a de Chirico painting!
I did put in two links after all, so I should have expected that ^^.
Interesting that Amazon does make the connection. I like your interpretation of Haikasoru’s reasoning.
I really liked the art, too – I’m just not coordinated enough to play a jump-and-run like that, though. The developers went on to do the hugely popular Shadow of the Colossus as well, from what I saw.
I think what I’ve been trying to get at with Tenjo Tenge and Railgun sort of echoes Erica’s point there especially further down in the comments where she talks about Black Lagoon. When a book like Qwaser no Stigmata tells me it’s packed full of boobs, yeah, ok, good for you, book. I may not dig it, but at least it’s not trying to misrepresent itself as anything resembling reality. When Tnejo Tenga tells me it’s actually all about empowering women, I call BS and depending on how far someone is willing to go to try and justify that idea, they may be creating some pretty harmful misconceptions about reality or at best, making an ass of themselves.
That’s definitely an important distinction. I may loathe Qwaser, but it’s totally unapologetic about what it’s trying to be; there are a lot of other books, however, that totally undercut their female characters by treating them primarily as sex objects who fight, rather than fighters who happen to be sexy.
Right, I think the problem goes a little further when you get into that Joss Whedon syndrome where a creator says, ‘I am a lesbian trapped in a man’s body, thus everything I touch turns into feminine empowerment and enlightened gender politics.’ That’s where I think we get most of the worst stuff masquerading as empowerment or cultural awareness or turning flips to justify entitlement against all those unseen PC enemies.
I dunno, generally I figure as long as the characters are human first and everything else second, all the ducks get in line. It’s really not that hard.