It feels like 2012 took me in like a tornado. I spent the first week thrown into the fray of work and my lungs were hacking a lot more than what I inhale. That said, the year has started to calm down and I am more than pleased to see the nominees for Manga Taishou this year.

Last year, it felt like there were clear winners among the nominees. While I felt that the horse-riding bride of Otoyomegatari (A Bride’s Story) will be shooting straight for the coveted prize, Sangatsu no Lion seemed to have played the right pieces last year and took the prize home.

This year’s nominees is quite an interesting set. For one, I can’t seem to distinguish who will take the Manga Taishou home. More so, it seems that there are brave soldiers who are still fighting for this prestigious prize.

The Repeaters

I was surprised that among the said 216 titles reviewed for the prize, there were some who managed to make it again in the list. It’s as if these titles are brave fighters who keep on pushing their story forward just to win the Manga Taishou. I think these brave titles have a good shot at winning. After all, one of them has been nominated thrice.

I am a Hero by Kengo Hanazawa
I actually read this title this year and I was particularly impressed with the amazing detail of the artist and the growing complexity of this zombie apocalypse. I will confess that I haven’t read far and I haven’t read what makes this manga deserving of this third nomination. I do understand why this title makes manga gold.

Drifters by Kouta Hirano
Most of us probably remember Kouta Hirano for Hellsing. Drifters might just be his next international fandom hit. As a story that taps historical heroes and misfits being sent to another world to save it from destruction, this story is a beautiful execution of those crossovers and AUs that have been sprawling in fandom’s imagination. For a man who understands what fans love (Hirano’s quite active in doujin projects), this is a story that we can’t miss again.

The New Blood

And like every year, there are new titles that appear among the nominees. I’m not saying they are new titles. More like, we haven’t seen them in the list before and they’re making enough waves among manga readers that they probably deserve a shot in winning the prize. Without thinking of the prize, I still think they’re good additions for one’s manga reading list! Among the nominees, here are my picks.

Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu by Haruko Kumota
I just love it when BL mangaka get acclaim for their non-BL work. I think I’ve shared with the world this excitement with my spotlights on Fumi, Ono, and Asumiko, thus this nomination for Haruko Kumota is something that makes me giggle. I will confess that I have not read it. In saying that, I will say that I trust Haruko Kumota as a writer and as such, I believe this story will be quite a fascinating read. It involves an ex-prisoner who tries his shot in performing rakugo under a difficult master. Rakugo is a lot more than just being a comic story teller. I can trust in Kumota to portray this comedic trade with the same elegance and flair that it really has in real life.

Takasugi-sanchi no Obento by Nozomi Yanahara
My professor actually recommended this to me saying that this was our life captured in a manga. It speaks of this professor who is buried under piles of work only to find himself taking care of his cousin. As a dude, his bento skills are pathetic but his cousin somehow manages to find some ways to make a pleasant bento for both of them. While I do make bento with my professor, I still don’t understand what he meant and I am rather amused that I haven’t made a hijiki bento. This manga is a heartwarming story though. And I’m hoping it doesn’t make the Usagi Drop twist towards the end.

Aku no Hana by Oshimi Shuuzo
I know nothing of this title apart from it being licensed by Vertical. That said, it appears to be a dark story of a girl blackmailing a guy for stealing a girl’s trainers. Because it was handpicked by Vertical, I can trust in them that their selection will be quite a treat and will probably impress us. Also, I wonder if they’re keeping these odd covers. I was quite surprised by them. Like a strange yet honest confessional. Looking at images online remind me that it’s similar to Nana to Kaoru, but it actually looks better executed.

Getenrou by Ishiguro Masakazu
This manga’s summary reminds me of Tatami Galaxy where a particular apartment contains a twisted mystery. It isn’t one of those strange tales that might or might not be endearing. I haven’t read this but the summary is good enough to lure me in. With one volume, I’m not risking a lot.

Silver Spoon by Hiromu Arakawa
This is probably the most familiar title among fans simply because this was written by the girl who did FMA. While I do understand that she has a knack for story, I’m hoping that it isn’t because of her skills that she’s been nominated for a Taishou as well. Silver Spoon is an interesting story about a city boy turned farm boy. It reminds me a little like Moyashimon but with a bit of city arrogance and idiocy that sometimes makes me raise an eyebrow. But it seems these farming antics illicit the spirit of “youth” that fans adore it like it’s the best food manga ever created… right. As long as they don’t hear the vegetables singing, I think it won’t be the best food manga for me. But it does have its merit… just not as good as what the others have to offer.

Tonari no Seki-kun by Takuma Morishige
This has been in my manga radar but I’ve never had the chance to buy it. From what I’ve seen people talk about it online, it’s about this girl and her strange seatmate who seems to be either a genius or a savant, playing games on his desk the entire day. It looks funny and if it’s in the list, then this romantic comedy is something worth looking at.

Nobunaga Kyousoukyoku by Ayumi Ishii
When a teenage boy timeslips and becomes Oda Nobunaga and becomes aware of what he should do to keep history yet is conflicted by what he should be doing as a person makes a great alternate historical story for me. I haven’t read this, but I’d love to get my hands on this. It’s one of those “What If?” moments where will we change history or will we change our destiny stories. Brilliant story and I want this in my life right now.

I will confess that I hardly know a good percent of these stories and I am more drawn by the covers of those that may look interesting such as Dai Tokyo Toy Box, Hibi Rock, and 25ji no Vacance.

15 titles out of 216 is quite a feat and thank god I’m not in the screening committee of the Manga Taishou because if I had to choose one out of all of these, I might break my heart. That said, I wouldn’t mind reading 216 titles to cross 15 great mangas like this.

I have been more excited about this than the Kingdom of Characters display (I had tons of things to complain about that one!) and more so, when I saw this in the Japan Foundation Magazine, back then, they only hide five series on display.

And now they have more!

The Japan Foundation will be holding an exhibit on the art of Japanese comics called “Manga Realities: The Art of Japanese Comics Today.” I am particularly excited about this exhibit as it contains some of my favorite mangaka and more. In Japan Foundation’s July Newsletter, the curator of this exhibit, Takahashi Mizuki of the
Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito, noted that the exhibit intends to “recreate, in installation, sound and video, the same feeling of entering a “manga world” that you get when you read in manga…. Manga is experienced in private but this style of exhibition makes it possible to share the experience of manga with family and friends.”

I’m quite excited to see this exhibit and I hope manga fans will enjoy this as well!

Manga Realities Exhibit

Manga Realities: The Art of Japanese Comics Today
Ayala Museum, August 16-October 2

The Japan Foundation and the Ayala Museum in cooperation with the Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito in Japan, will bring to Manila the traveling exhibition, “Manga Realities: Exploring the Art of Japanese Comics Today”.

Ayala Museum is located at Makati Avenue corner de la Rosa St. Greenbelt Park, Makati City. The museum is open from Tuesday to Friday (9:00 am to 6:00 pm) and Saturday to Sunday (10:00 am to 7:00 pm). For more information, please call Ayala Museum at telephone numbers 757.7117 to 21 or visit www.ayalamuseum.org.

I wish I had a reason for my delinquency, but work and research is no excuse for my great delay in terms of handling my spotlight. While I promised to do this every month, sickness and sudden workload kept me from opening my manga for months. Then again, I tasked myself in putting down gargantuan authors for those months and perhaps I’ll just make it up to all of you when I make up for those lost spotlights by the end of the year.

But for now, before everyone thinks I just spotlight BL authors, I present to you the man who captured my heart with an eggplant, Iou Kuroda.

I love eggplants

I’m quite sure that most readers would not associate Iou Kuroda with food or an eggplant for that matter. His only English release is Sexy Voice and Robo and that hardly has any eggplants in it. Truth be told, I didn’t see a glimpse of Iou Kuroda in a manga first. I first saw it through an anime called Nasu: Summer in Andalusia.

From Nasu: Summer in Andalusia

The story was about a man going through the Spanish leg of a biking circuit and at most it captured the pains that came with cycling especially the sacrifices he made to join the circuit. My world stopped and moved with Andalusia. The film made me experience those strange moments of intense concentration like as if I was Pepe pushing himself down the last mile. I forget everything that surrounded me and my mind was focused on the goal. I felt satisfaction in eating that delicious eggplant at the end, and then I wondered, “What was that all about?”

It was a surreal moment of attachment and detachment and eventually I found myself researching on the movie before finally finding myself a copy of the manga. I had thought that I will be reading four volumes about cyclists. As it turned out, Nasu was all about eggplants and more.

Eggplants are the center of the universe

Nasu turned out to be a perfect appetizer for Iou Kuroda. I realize later, of course, that Iou Kuroda’s best at samplers than grand main courses. The manga was a collection of shorts where the humble eggplant stands for a lot of things other than just a vegetable.

In Nasu we see the eggplant shared, invade cities, and come alive. And while we’d like to think that the manga is just about eggplants, Kuroda’s brilliance shone in his ability to make the eggplant the center of the universe. You will read the manga and realize that it’s hardly about the eggplants itself but what they symbolize to us. They can remind us of our home, love, happiness, fears, and dangers. And while it is but an eggplant, Kuroda showed that it could be THE eggplant that can change our lives.

Reading through Nasu opened a new world of manga for me, one that was not bound by cohesive plot but by relationships, symbols, and banality that we often forget. It was through Kuroda that I felt that if I only paid attention, then maybe the eggplant I love consuming can mean so much for me.

From Nasu

And the universe is filled with people

After Nasu, I find myself stumbling through his other works such as Dai-Nippon Tengu-to Ekotoba, Sexy Voice and Robo and a series of other shorts. While the stories contain almost mythical if not curious assumptions about life, his stories revolved around observations of people and one’s own will in responding to it.

He captures these relationships well and while I’m not a gekiga expert, I can see a bit of gekiga in the way he chose images for his panels. It’s almost cinematic in a very rough and sketchy way. At the same time, I see a bit of guro in him, although not exactly as grotesque as Suehiro Maruo. His style has a sense of darkness in him in a way that when I see those wavy lines that illustrate the walls and even the characters, you can sense their own unease, their own imperfections even. He may not win a drawing award in terms of details but he wins in capturing the heat of the moment and the reality of his story. And if it’s about people, then he captured them well. There are no polished curves or straight lines when it comes to representing people. There’s a bit of dirt in all of us and while we’d like to think we’re pure, even the purest of us aren’t.

I wonder if he had that intention in writing down a junior high school girl for Niko in Sexy Voice and Robo. It may be a loli complex at work, but at the same time, I’d like to think that this was just how Kuroda views the world. The world is steeped in complicated symbols and meanings no matter how simple or pure we present it to be. There’s good and bad in everyone and happy endings can also turn into bad endings.

His rugged cartoon style leaves his art open to interpretation. In fact it reminds me of those lovely monochrome cartoon prints of old. His art makes his story seem like a classic and yet the freshness of the story puts it in a contemporary age. I’ve seen tons of mangaka who tried this art style but failed to meld their story with their style. This makes Kuroda one of the few talented mangaka who knew how to express their thoughts well with his art.

And the universe seems to be related to Osamu Tezuka

Some endless research on Iou Kuroda eventually landed me on a short story of Metropolis. I would assume that this was in Comic Cue’s tribute to the celebration of the 50 years of Tezuka’s Metropolis.

While I haven’t read Tezuka’s Metropolis nor do I have a good memory of the film, Kuroda’s take on the plot of Metropolis was comedic, sarcastic, and meaningful. It was a young man’s take on the story and you can see the youth in Kuroda’s art but at the same understand where his story is heading. I realized that early on, Kuroda was a sentimental man and that he writes stories to remind us of things that we forget so that we can start paying attention to the people that surrounds us.

I wish I have the chance to read more of Iou Kuroda’s works. If I have only read a few and got affected by him this much, then I long to read the rest of his works and see how those can change my life.

The Reading List

Sexy Voice and Robo: The only work of Iou Kuroda that is legally available in English. Great story about a girl changing people’s lives one call at a time… among other things.

If you have a chance (with enough google-fu and Japanese skills), do try to read on his other titles as well: Nasu, Daioh, Kurofune (where Metropolis can be read), Daikinboshi, Dai-Nippon Tengu-to Ekotoba (Japan Tengu Party Illustrated).

With the Toronto Comic Arts Festival coming up, I felt it best to tell the world more about Natsume Ono. She’s been getting much acclaim among manga critics however, the truth of the matter is — the English-speaking world has only grazed half of her works. Natsume Ono still has lots to offer.

There’s more to Natsume Ono than Italian restaurants and kidnappers. In fact, doing this spotlight for Natsume Ono requires a journey for my readers. If you would allow me, I’d like to take you to a journey down to Ono’s lane because knowing her works takes more than just looking at her pictures. You’ve got to immerse yourself and experience her works to understand how Natsume Ono is definitely not simple.

An immersion?

It must be strange to ask readers to take some time and immerse in Natsume Ono’s work. However, I think that skimming through her works doesn’t give her justice.

If we try to read her works quickly, we could get bored by her pace. Ono loves to take her time in her stories. She also loves to use close-ups and ‘empty’ stares and her art style as Natsume Ono makes it difficult to connect the face to the emotion, especially with her sketchy cartoon-like faces. We either get lost by going too quickly or we might just miss the point. Hence, if you’re in a rush for some quick entertainment, don’t grab her manga because it won’t give you a quick fix. If you’ve got time to spare, then we can start our immersion and really understand the story she’s telling.

Her earlier works, Not Simple, La Quinta Camera, and Tesoro, are beautiful introductions to who Natsume Ono is and what her works are all about. She was an Italian language student in Italy for ten months hence her stories often involve journeys, discoveries and possibilities. Not only do we discover more about the world, people, and places through her works, but we also learn the difficulties of the past, the complexity of the now and the uncertainty of tomorrow.

Now, isn’t that quite an intimidating read? We’ve seen Osamu Tezuka pull it off but it took him years of work to capture the same thing that Ono’s been doing for only seven years. She only started writing manga in 2003 hence it makes one curious on how she manages pull it off.

The thing with Ono is that she started drawing professionally at such a late age that I could only assume that she has achieved a certain maturity as a person by the time that she was publishing her works. Hence, she has a very different perspective — one that’s complex, refined, and infinite. Her manga, while drawn quite loosely, can be very intense. She’s the kind of mangaka who would dedicate panels to capture ‘a moment’ that has great emotional weight. The danger with this is if you don’t step into her character’s shoes and feel what they feel and think what they think, those moments could either be the most boring panels you have ever read or they could be the most emotionally charged ‘moment’ that you have ever seen.

It is in understanding this intensity that we begin her spotlight. Without immersing through her works, we’ll never capture these ‘moments.’

Choose your own adventure

If I was in TCAF and had a chance to ask a question to Natsume Ono, I’d like to ask her how much her travels changed her life and how it influenced her works.

Travelling is a common theme in her works. In Not Simple we have Ian searching for his sister. In La Quinta Camera, a girl travels to Italy and meets an interesting set of men. Ristorante Paradiso is about a girl in search of her mother only to find herself caught in a small yet beautiful restaurant. Masa of House of Five Leaves is on a journey for a job. Tsuratsurawaraji is about a daimyo going through his sankin koutai.

There’s a sense of journey, more so, a personal and intimate journey that the Japanese call “jibun sagashi no tabi.” This phrase is deep with meaning and you can probably use the term “soul searching” to interpret it. But it’s not quite “soul searching” because in Ono’s world, her characters are not really looking for a grand purpose or their “soul” for that matter. Rather, her characters simply walk their own path and end up learning something along the way. And fate (in this case Ono) throws them various circumstances and it becomes an interesting adventure, one that pushes them to change their beliefs or set their own personal convictions in life. I think she probably knows how much journeys are important to people considering this cover of Morning 2 with Tsuratsurawaraji.

A scene from La Quinta Camera

And while seeing personal journeys is nothing new in any story in this world, what makes Ono unique is how she manages to capture the pivotal points in their lives with poignant, intense panels that are open to interpretation. Her art is expressive in a way that it is inexpressive. A girl in La Quinta Camera may be just walking towards door but it could mean her hesitation in taking a step forward but at the same time it could also simply be just her waiting for something to happen, or her thinking of what could happen next.

It is in this manner that reading Ono’s works could be a different experience from time to time. And just like the characters in her stories, you also go on a “jibun sagashi no tabi,” learning something new about people and the world through her world.

No country for old men?

While I’ve shared some poignant reflections about Natsume Ono, my personal reason on why I became her fan is shallower than just curiosity. I got into her because I have a bad moe for old men. I am the fujoshi who dig old classy elegant men and Ristorante Paradiso and Gente tapped my old man fantasies.  I think they can give the staff of Antique a run for their money.

The men of Casette dell’orso are hot. Reading Ristorante and Gente brought me back to those trattorias and osterias in Italy where old men stood by the bar with their ironed white shirts, cleaning glasses and smiling at you in the most seductive fashion as you walk through the door. Their grace is effortless and you’re drawn to their charm without them even trying. Trust me. Those men in Casetta dell’orso exist. There’s a great chance you’ll cross the likes of them in Italy. Resisting them is also futile.

From Gente

At times I feel like a guest in Casetta dell’orso. I can see myself dining and watching the waiters shuffle around, hoping I could catch a glimpse of their smile or even a gentle nudge of their glasses. What I didn’t know about them only fueled me to dig deeper into their stories. What I found instead was a treasure trove of amazing old men: a country of sexy old men.

The politics of gelaterias, tattoo parlors, and basso’s imagination

Unlike Ono’s cartoonish trademark, her alter-ego fujoshi named basso draws different animal. Like in Gente, basso’s world is tucked in the dark cobbled alleyways of Italy… and some gelaterias.

The world of Kuma to Interi, Amato Amaro, Gad Sfortunato, and Al to Neri to Shuuhen is filled with Italian men, old men, muscular men, elegant men, playful men, tattooed men, men who love gelato, men who love intellectuals, men who love politics, and men who understand the politics of love. Ono’s trademark squiggles are traded in for some thick luscious lines that draw the most rugged chests and the most seductive eyes. Some might see a little bit of est em in Basso’s art however her brand of seduction is different compared to est em’s.

est em likes her men lean and muscly. basso is not bound by that particular aesthetic. She doesn’t mind drawing bears¹ nor is she strict with a particular bishounen aesthetic.  est em is a romantic where basso is not. Not to say that basso can’t make our hearts flutter but she doesn’t restrict herself to romances. It’s as if saying that relationships need not revolve around love or sex.² Passion, seduction, loyalty, generosity, and at times, selfishness and stupidity are at the heart of her BL. Her mature perspective shines through, making her BL deliciously complex.  It’s a very rugged affair: unapologetic, at times mysterious, and quite masculine… in a fujoshi way. It is sexy in its intelligence and just like Neri, one of her characters in Kuma to Interi and Al to Neri, you’ll be drawn to this cleverness.

From Kuma to Interi by Basso

Unlike Ono, basso is more upfront, direct, and the flows of her stories are clearer and tighter with every chapter. Strangely, there’s no real need for immersion with basso (although some moments of reflections can be helpful in Gad Sfortunato). I find her works more cohesive than her non-BL titles. It’s such a shame that basso’s works have not yet been licensed and I hope that someone in Toronto ask her publishers why basso is not yet making a mark in our BL bookracks. I’ve been pimping Basso long enough to David Welsh and I’m totally with him in requesting for these licenses. I long to squee with him once this license request has been fulfilled.

Perhaps the closest that we could get with this style is with Ristorante Paradiso, Gente, and House of Five Leaves, especially with the way Masa’s drawn. However, as seductive as it looks, the pace of House of Five Leaves just don’t compare with Basso’s pace.

Down the police block

I’m not exactly sure if people know that she’s also written a series of stories that depict the life of New York’s police department. I’m not exactly sure what triggered her to write this but in her early days, she wrote a doujin called I’ve a rich understanding of my finest defenses. The story centered on an NYPD swat team and their rescue efforts to save people’s lives. The Japanese wiki has an elaborate description on it and I was surprised myself that this doujin effort would eventually lead to two manga dedicated towards the police force: Danza and Coppers.

Danza and Coppers were Ono’s venture towards Kodansha’s shores, making her as one of Morning 2’s staple set of authors. Danza is a collection of stories although she eventually focused on two NYPD detectives before eventually dedicating Coppers to an entire squad. Her venture into this copland ain’t no NYPD blues. It’s simpler, if not, less dramatic than that. I would have to admit that these two are the weakest of her works as her brand of storytelling kills the excitement in police stories. It’s still a good read. Just not as great as the others. If you sincerely love her sense of melodrama, then you might find some fun in Danza and Coppers

A long journey ahead

Unlike Fumi and Asumiko, Natsume Ono did the reverse and began her journey with seinen manga before making a name as basso in BL. While it appeared that she had sought refuge in Italy, her works like House of Five Leaves and Tsuratsurawaraji only proves that she is the master of her story and she can take her characters anyway. It’s quite an odd direction but it only proves to show her versatility as an author. Until now, she actively writes for Ikki, Morning Two, Erotics F, and Opera. Soon, she will be writing for Gekkan Manga Life with her new 4-panel comic: GB Park.

While some artists are stunted by their style and their genre, it seems that Ono is one of those courageous artists who braves on every shore. To me, her age also becomes her ally as her maturity appropriately hits the target market of her works. I am not afraid to see her disappear from manga-dom. I believe she’ll become an influential and powerful mangaka in years to come.

This spotlight became a very enjoyable journey in discovering the beauty of reading Ono’s works. Perhaps this will encourage you to book your own manga journey with Natsume Ono³ and begin your “jibun sagashi no tabi.”

The Reading List

The Ono Journey (For those who would like to read her English-published seinen works, as published by Viz): Not Simple, La Quinta Camera (coming soon), Tesoro (coming soon),  House of Five Leaves, Ristorante Paradiso, Gente

The rest of the Ono Journey (For those who could read some Japanese and would like to see her other works: Danza, Coppers, Tsuratsurawaraji, Nigeru Otoko

The basso Journey (For those who’d like to see her wild side): Orso e Intellectuale (Kuma to Interi), Amato Amaro, Gad Sfortunato, and Al to Neri to Shuuhen

Extra! Extra!

For those who can read some Japanese, Morning had this lovely column between Nakamura Hikaru and Natsume Ono. It’s basically a column where they go around different dessert shops and try out their treats (among other things that mangaka do in cafes).  You practically ‘see’ them but you don’t know who is who. :3

Another fun fact is that she used to write Naruto doujinshi for Kakashi and Gai! This came to as a surprise when I was in Osaka last year where I crossed this said doujin being sold for 3,500 yen. Pricey stuff for a doujin but since it’s Basso it’s definitely worth its price.

1. not actual bears but men with a larger physique, like she did in Kuma to Interi
2. There’s hardly any sex in a basso manga
3. especially now that those who are going to Toronto Comic Arts Festival have a chance to meet her!

The spirit of giving hasn’t disappeared in Japan and now Nakamura Hikaru’s is putting up five St. Oniisan (Saint Young Men) postcards for auction.

She’s giving away postcards of Buddha, Jesus, Brahma, Lucifer, the Archangels, and the first disciples. I find this offer rather nice and the artwork are quite encouraging. I do wonder if Nakamura Hikaru will be placing the earthquake in her manga although I’m not exactly sure if it’s appropriate to mention it in manga.

What I do know is that her Buddha, Jesus, and the rest of the crew mean well. I wish I can purchase these auctions and help more but unfortunately I’m strapped for cash and I can only imagine how expensive these postcards can get. If you are interested in buying the postcards, head towards the auction page at 18:00 p.m., Japan time.

Edit: I just checked the auctions again and now the Buddha and Jesus postcards you see illustrated below has been raised to 93,000 yen individually(around $930)!  The Lucifer and Archangel illustrations are now up to 81,000 yen!  One wouldn’t think miracles could happen, but I suppose if it means helping those who were brought down by the quake, these postcards are worth every yen.