The Shipping News, 6/23/10

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, VIZ is releasing the third installment of Daisuke Igarashi’s Children of the Sea, a coming-of-age story about a twelve-year-old who discovers she has a special connection with the ocean that goes well beyond an affinity for collecting seashells. This beautiful series was my top pick for Best New Manga of 2009:

Children of the Sea defies easy categorization; it’s a high-seas adventure, an exploration of pan-Asian mythology, a cautionary tale about the environment, and a meditation on the ocean as a life-giving force. Though Children of the Sea could easily devolve into mystical hoo-ha — two of its characters were raised by dugongs, for Pete’s sake — Igarashi embeds a coming-of-age story within the main narrative that grounds Children of the Sea in everyday experience, even as the plot takes a turn for the fantastic. (See “raised by dugongs,” above.) Igarashi’s naturalistic art captures the beauty and strangeness of the ocean settings, as well as the sheer diversity of undersea life; you won’t soon forget the site of a sea turtle leaving a starry trail in its wake or the image of a young boy hitching a ride on a humpback whale. Eerie and poetic.

But don’t just take my word for it — my favorite critics are also raving about Children of the Sea. In her review of volume one, Melinda Beasi (Manga Bookshelf) praised Igarashi for skillfully blending the supernatural and the mundane:

What is most compelling about Children of the Sea, though, is the mystery of the ocean itself. Though the story is supernatural in nature, there is a sense that the real world of the sea is stranger than any supernatural fiction ever could be, and it is up to Umi and Sora to introduce Ruka (and us) to this alien world… Despite the grander supernatural drama, the story is well-written on a human level as well. Underneath the surface runs the conflict between Ruka and her parents (and perhaps the rest of the world), and her struggle to find out who she really is.

It’s a sentiment echoed by Deb Aoki (About Manga), who views Children of the Sea as a welcome departure from the “generic, androgynous and interchangeable characters and predictable, derivative plots” characteristic of so many licensed manga:

The trouble with reading a lot of comics is that after a while, you get these flashes of deja vu. “Didn’t I read something similar to this a little while ago?” or “This character reminds me of… [insert other series here].” …[B]ut that’s exactly why Children of the Sea by Daisuke Igarashi is so refreshing and rave-worthy. Instead of mimicking other manga artists, Igarashi-sensei takes a different approach: he draws real people, real animals and real places and weaves in magically surreal circumstances. The result is an uncommonly mesmerizing and memorable manga that rises above the rest.

Also praising Children of the Sea: Chris Mautner (Robot 6), who describes volume one as “a lovely book that suggests much more than a mere adventure story”; Danielle Leigh (Comics Should Be Good), who characterizes the series as “a mysterious and beautiful tale about the earth’s own undiscovered country”; Johanna Draper Carlson (Manga Worth Reading), who likens it to “a folktale, something hand-crafted”; and David Welsh (The Manga Curmudgeon), who argues that “the characters and the events they drive provide a solid skeleton, but the flesh and blood of the book are its vivid, almost living pictures.”

But wait — there’s more! Also arriving in stores this week are two other VIZ Signature titles: the first volume of Afterschool Charisma, a sci-fi thriller that reads like the offspring of The X-Men and The Boys from Brazil (though it has yet to achieve the awesomeness of either parent), and the ninth volume of 20th Century Boys, Naoki Urasawa’s paean to childhood friendship, individual responsibility, and giant robots. You’ll also find the latest volume of Gantz (Dark Horse), and the final batch of new CMX releases: volume 17 of Musashi #9, volume one of Polyphonica: Cardinal Crimson, volume six of Two Flowers for the Dragon, and volume four of Venus Capriccio.

What else will you find in stores this week? Below is the full list of what’s arriving at Midtown Comics on Wednesday; for an alternative list of this week’s new arrivals, visit the ComiXology website. A reminder for Boston-area readers: be sure to visit Examiner.com, where Melinda Beasi is posting a weekly run-down of what’s new at Kenmore Square retailer Comicopia. Click here for the inaugural column; click here to subscribe to her Examiner feed.