Short Takes: Deka Kyoshi, Domo: The Manga, and St. Dragon Girl

As 2009 demonstrated, publishers are recognizing the need for kid- and tween-friendly manga, offering a greater variety of titles for younger readers that are lighter on the profanity, sexual content, and violence that can make a series like Bleach or Naruto inappropriate for fourth-graders. While many of these manga have extensive merchandising tie-ins, publishers are also making an effort to license original material as well; gone are the days when the only manga in the kids’ section was Pokemon and, well, Pokemon. Today’s column offers proof of such diversity, examining  titles that run the gamut from horror — volume one of Deka Kyoshi (CMX) — to slapstick comedy — Domo: The Manga (Tokyopop) — to romantic adventure — volumes four and five of St. Dragon Girl (VIZ). N.B. I’m using the term “kid” loosely here to mean “manga for grade- and middle-school readers.” I address the issue of audience in each review.

DEKA KYOSHI, VOL. 1

BY TAMIO BABA • CMX • RATING: TEEN PLUS (16+) • 164 pp.

I’m not the first reviewer to compare Deka Kyoshi with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Kindergarten Cop, and I won’t be the last, thanks to the handy summary provided on the back of the book:

Toyama, a tall and beefy detective, goes undercover as a fifth-grade teacher. The previous teacher was discovered on the ground outside her condo and rumors say she jumped… or was she pushed? Toyama is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, but it seems like he has a more pressing task at hand: his rowdy students.

Lest you think that Deka Kyoshi will be a wacky mixture of police procedural and classroom comedy, however, manga-ka Tamio Baba quickly throws a novel twist into the mix: Makoto Miyara, a shy boy who’s the frequent target of bullies, thanks to his bizarre, unsettling behavior. Miyara suffers from a unique form of synesthesia that allows him to see his classmates’ darker emotions as monsters and thorny plants, making his everyday existence a vivid horror show. Once Toyama discovers Miyara’s abilities, he puts his murder investigation on hold and teams up with Miyara to identify at-risk students: Watanabe, a shoplifter who just wants to fit in with his peers; Manami, an early bloomer whose physical maturity attracts unwanted attention from classmates; and Aya, a talented student who cuts herself.

The dark themes and occasionally intense monster imagery (or “synthes,” in the series’ parlance) earns Deka Kyoshi a Teen Plus rating, though the scripts and cartoonish artwork seem pitched to much younger readers. Each story is presented in a neat, three-part structure: we meet the troubled student and get a glimpse of her life; Miyara then notices the synthe attached to his classmate and notifies Toyama; and Toyama takes action, helping the student find a solution to her problem. Toyama and Narita, the female teacher assigned to mentor him, are presented as benign authority figures, wise and quick to find just the right course of action — though Toyama tends to cause property damage in the process. (Shades of Kindergarten Cop, no?) It’s too bad the result is a tonal mish-mash of comedy, Afterschool Special, and Tales of the Crypt, as the synthe idea has potential. Unfortunately, the stories are too pat and didactic for teens, and too dark for really young readers, making it hard to recommend Deka Kyoshi for either audience.

Recommended Age: Deka Kyoshi is probably best for the ten-to-twelve set, though sensitive readers may find a few of the synthes disturbing.

DOMO: THE MANGA

STORIES BY CLINT BICKHAM; ART BY REM, SONIA LEONG, LINDSAY CHIBOS, AND JARED HODGES; CREATED BY TSUNEO GODA • TOKYOPOP • RATING: ALL AGES • 98 pp.

Domo, the toothy mascot of the NHK, was first introduced to viewers in a series of thirty-second spots promoting the station. The quirky, stop-motion shorts caught on with audiences in both Japan and the West, inspiring boatloads of Domo merchandise, promotions, a Nickelodeon show, and, most recently, Domo: The Manga.

With a script by Clint Beckham and art by Rising Stars of Manga winners REM, Lindsay Chibos, Sonia Leong, and Jared Hodges, Domo sticks closely to the formula that made the original NHK spots so popular: Domo sees something that excites him — say, a fighting beetle or a video game — reacts with an excess of enthusiasm, and then smashes everything in sight, prompting a firm but kindly remonstrance from his friends. Each of the six stories are short, just ten to twenty pages, which seems like the right length for young attention spans and the right length for the stories’ very slender premises. (Older readers, however, may find the stories tedious even at twenty pages.) Editor Hope Donovan did a good job working with the team of artists to ensure visual consistency; not only do the characters resemble their stop-motion counterparts, their appearance remains virtually unchanged from story to story despite the myriad artists involved. I’d be the first to admit that Domo is a one-trick pony, but the book is short enough that the little fellow doesn’t overstay his welcome.

Readers should note that the book has a Western orientation (left-to-right) and full-color pages, giving the finished product a more thoroughly Americanized look than the title might suggest.

Recommended Age: These short stories seem best for the seven-to-ten-year-old crowd. The stories draw but don’t depend on readers’ previous knowledge of Domo; readers unfamiliar with Domo’s friends may want to know a little more about them, but can still enjoy the slapstick humor.

ST. DRAGON GIRL, VOLS. 4-5

BY NATSUMI MATSUMOTO • VIZ • RATING: TEEN

At first glance, Momoko Sendou seems like an average high school student who loves panda bears, practices kenpo (a form of karate), and has a crush on her hunky childhood friend Ryuga. But Momoka has a secret: she plays host to a powerful dragon that can be unleashed whenever she faces grave danger, a frequent occurrence in her line of work as a bodyguard for her best friend Shunran. (Shunran is Ryuga’s cousin, and a psychic in her own right.) Though Momoka is tenacious, dishing out high kicks and right hooks, she frequently finds herself in need of backup, a role all-too-happily played by Ryuga, who, as it just so happens, is a “magic master” capable of summoning the dragon.

The latest volumes of St. Dragon Girl pit Momoka and Ryuga against a colorful assortment of foes, from an angry merman who falsely believes that Ryuga’s clan kidnapped his wife to a band of evil panda poachers. Interspersed with the martial arts and magical intrigue are scenes of romantic comedy, with Momoka publicly denying her feelings for Ryuga and Ryuga testing her composure with provocative comments. Complicating their not-quite-romance is Akira, a quiet, moody onmyouji who isn’t above using her powers to compete for Ryuga’s affections.

If I’m making St. Dragon Girl sound risque, rest assured it’s not; it’s easily one of the tamest, tween-friendliest titles in the Shojo Beat line. Momoka and Ryuga’s banter is strictly PG, as are their chaste kisses. Even Akira is given a chance to demonstrate her fundamental decency, as she uses her magical gift to save Momoka from a possessed group of kenpo practitioners (no, really!) and retrieve a bento box that Momoka prepared for Ryuga. The artwork, like the script, is aimed at tweens, and bears a striking similarity to the ornate style that Arina Tanemura popularized with Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne and Full Moon, filled with flowery backdrops, sparkly-eyed characters, and chibis galore. My only beef with St. Dragon Girl is that Momoka never really gets to save the day, as Ryuga always shows up in the nick of time to rescue her; I could recommend this title more enthusiastically if the author allowed Momoka to be a little more resourceful.

Recommended Age: St. Dragon Girl is best for girls in the nine-to-twelve age group, as it offers them a fun, fast-paced adventure with a lot of grrrrl power and a hint of romance.

Review copies provided by VIZ Media, LLC.