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.

No Longer Human vol. 1 by Usamaru Furuya
Serialized in Shukan Comic Bunch
Published by Shinchosha Publishing and Vertical Inc.

“I found a word to express my feelings. Right now… I feel forlorn.” – Yozo Oba, No Longer Human. 

When I first wrote about my personal excitement over Vertical’s licenses early this year,  of the lot, No Longer Human was closer to a curious acquisition rather than a something that I was truly excited for. Blame it all on my Japanese literature teacher who loved Sonezaki suicides and Haruki Murakami more than this work of Osamu Dazai. Prior to this, I had not heard of Ningen Shikaku. When Ed Chavez told me about how this was one pivotal title that should be read in Japanese literature (and was his personal favorite), I didn’t understand the gravity or the weight of those words but only knew that if this was a manga adaptation of my master’s favorite novel, then it’s definitely something worth looking at.

I was very fortunate that when I reserved the book the other day in our local bookstore, the book was immediately sent to me yesterday. I don’t know if I was fortunate, or unfortunate, to have received this book so soon. In fact, since I read the book during my cigarette break, I’ve been feeling emotionally catatonic. Not even the cheeriest BL, shoujo, or shounen manga could stir my emotions. Even Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s A Drifting Life, which I read after, was pale in comparison to the emotional weight of this manga.

Never have I read a manga who made me understand and feel what it meant to be no longer human.

Itai Hito

Furuya’s No Longer Human is an adaptation of Osamu Dazai’s classic of the same title. I feel ashamed that I really haven’t read much of the book and was midway through it when I started reading the manga, but perhaps it was a good thing that I have started reading the novel because I probably wouldn’t appreciate the masterful adaptation of the novel in the modern world.

The anonymous narrator in the start novel has now transformed to Usamaru Furuya who was probably browsing through 2ch or some Japanese board and saw a link to what has been translated as “Ouch Blog.¹” This probably comes from the word itai blog which literally does mean “ouch” blog but the word itai  has been transformed in 2ch lingo as a word for someone who is a headache, an annoyance, a pain in the neck. It has also been used to refer to people who tend to self-deprecate online through blogs. They’re often referred to as itai hito (痛い人). These people and their blogs eventually become the center of scrutiny or humor from various internet folks.

I suppose the line “I got depressed reading it. But I can’t stop reading it” was irresistable to Furuya. His masochistic curiosity eventually showed him three pictures of Yozo Oba, the itai otoko. The first was in his youth where he smiled like a creepy child in those horror flicks. The second photo showed a cunning young man, sitting quite charmingly in a wicker chair. The last is the face of a tired person and even with a caption of “Age 25,” Furuya called him an old man. The first line of his story was “I’ve lived a life full of shame.” And much like that poster in 2ch, Furuya couldn’t stop reading.

Yozo Oba turns out to be this fascinating young man who pretty much had everything in his life but somehow felt that his life was not his own and the world that he lived in felt unreal. This is probably not the first time we have encountered such a character and in shounen manga, this would have been the start of the protagonist’s search for his identity and his bright future.

But things were not bright and unlike others, Oba had no intention of making things any brighter for them. He put on a cheerful face but it was merely a mask of his own fear of people. He turned to cigarettes, smokes, alcohol, and prostitutes to feel at ease with his suffering yet even then, he still felt afraid. The strange thing was as a reader, personally, I have this notion of judging delinquents with little or absolutely no sympathy for them. There’s little left to be desired of Oba but what was strange was that you actually understand what he was going through. When Furuya changes his style from his clear vivid lines to his charcoal images, you begin to see Oba’s world and you come to understand the darkness he sees. The questions he raised on the meaning of ordinary, proper, more were things that all of us have personally debated with. What did best entail? What is past ‘more happy’? You learn to sympathize with Oba’s struggles with the standards that society has placed — on how these were not truly liberating but one that can constrict those who find it hard to understand what it meant to be a human being. As the pages blur to illustrate Oba’s emotions, you also feel your world blur, as if doubting in the same way that he’s doubting. The world becomes a terrifying place.

Furuya and the world of Yozo Oba

I rarely write a review of a manga without having read the entirety of the set. This is, perhaps, one of the few exceptions I’m making because I believe, while it’s still fresh off the printers, this is a manga that is definitely worth having in your shelves. I have read Furuya before with Jisatsu Circle (Suicide Circle).  That too was a story of great emotional weight with some twist and turns in between but it didn’t have the same impact as this. I believe the years in between Jisatsu Circle and No Longer Human, Furuya’s style has managed to capture the meaning of darkness and how it translates to reality.

What I feared with No Longer Human was that it would be like Genkaku Picasso or Lychee Light Club where Furuya dabbled heavily with grotesque images. I’m not completely against that. In fact, I believe, that Furuya’s one of the few mangaka who probably manages to translate grotesque in the same brilliant manner as Umezu did in his day. But Furuya didn’t exactly follow after that style with No Longer Human. Not with this volume at least. There may be some who might find some of the blurred images quite frightening but I personally feel that the shifts Furuya used in his style, the lightness of his regular style to the blurred darkness of his charoal sketches, heightened the polarity of Oba’s world view. It was beautiful and frightening in it’s organic inconsistency. I personally loved how the softness of the charcoal sketches draws you in flawlessly, like as if sinking into Oba’s dark sea. It makes his paranoia real and natural. It’s only in this style that I believe that rather than lighting the subject, darkening Oba was the best way to highlight his story.

For a first volume, it was beautiful and I loved it dearly to feel the need to write this. And how I wished it had garnered enough attention in Japan for it to merit some kind of award because personally, I felt Furuya deserved it. But I would probably have to wait for the next few volumes to really understand the entirety of Oba’s world and Furuya’s storytelling. Until then, I am mesmerized by his darkness.

A man in twitter had said to me that if I was expecting a bottom, I’ll probably fall into the darkness with No Longer Human. If darkness made me understand the other side of humanity, then I don’t mind sinking deeper.

1. Not exactly a big fan of this translation.

Ohta Shuppan, publishers of magazine Manga Erotics F has launched their online manga portal called Pocopoco. It’s an interesting website that allows you to preview some of the published Ohta Shuppan Manga titles (mostly from Manga Erotics F) and at the same time read some fantastic one-shots from their authors.

It was launched yesterday and I had almost forgotten about it if not for the announcements over at twitter. Currently, they’re uploading previews of their manga so if you’ve got some Japanese skills and would like to read some titles before they even get on English shores, this is probably the best place to see them.

Ohta Shuppan’s quite a hot publishing firm now in terms of manga. They’re a small publishing company however they have an array of fantastic titles to offer. Some of the interesting titles featured in Pocopoco already are Utsubora by Nakamura Asumiko, Lychee Light Club by Usamaru Furuya¹, and Ristorante Paradiso by Natsume Ono.

What I love about this website though is the regular releases of special one-shots. Currently online now is a Lychee Light Club one-shot set some years before the current timeline. It’s called Bokura no Hikaru Club (Our Light Club) and it’s quite an interesting read. Now I wish I had the rest of Lychee Light Club with me to know what’s going on.

Nakamura Asumiko’s Adolte to Adarte should be published today and I’m just waiting for them to basically upload the one shot.

I personally love this effort in making  Ohta Shuppan’s manga accessible. I’m happy they’re embracing this digital access without having to install a gajillions of programs just to view the comics. The quality is pale in comparison to print, but that’s expected. The works are still readable and is enough to at least whet one’s appetite for manga.

Wandering Son’s author, Shimura Takako will also be posting her one-shot Awashima Hyakkei in the website soon!

EDIT: I noticed one interesting thing at the bottom of the pages and I think it’s quite genius on their end. At the bottom of the page, they have links directing people to e-mail them if they’re interested for licensing. Sweet.

EDIT 2: NAKAMURA ASUMIKO’S COMIC IS IN FULL COLOR!! sdakfsgasgsaghsagja!! *A*) HOW BEAUTIFUL! READ IT HERE NOW!

EDIT 3: Took out Opera as suggested. I often mistake Opera and Manga Erotics F under the same publishers as most authors from Manga Erotics F write for Opera (and vice versa). OTL. For reference to those who are interested, Opera is under Akaneshinsha.

1. Although, this preview is no different than Vertical’s page 1 preview, so read that instead

I’m stoked.

This entry would have been written a lot early if I didn’t have my tabletop game last night. Ed Chavez of Vertical really shook the American manga scene by storm by announcing Vertical’s acquisitions by bringing in manga classic Princess Knight (リボンの騎士), No Longer Human (人間失格), and the wine journey Drops of God (神の雫).

I believe the manga scene has been in want of the lovely gender-bender Tezuka title which pretty much changed and shaped manga today, for many critical reasons. For people to finally have access to this once elusive title is something to be joyous for. And what a great and lovely title to add to Vertical’s line of Tezuka titles. I think this just truly caps it off, but of course, there’s still quite a lot of Tezuka for us to enjoy.

No Longer Human is also quite a title in their roster. I’m not exactly sure what the story of this manga is, but I can trust in Ed’s choices that it’s a title that would blow us away. What I do know though is that Usamaru Furuya is the kind of author how knows how to exploit human emotions in his panels. I have read his work Suicide Club (自殺サークル) and that was a strong provocative title not only because of its theme but also because of Furuya’s own storytelling.

Perhaps what I am most excited about is Drops of God. France and even Indonesia is way ahead of US in terms of discovering the passion that comes with every page of this comic. Sure, it’s a manga about wine but the imagination that comes with every sip are not limited to a bouquet of rosemary or almonds. We’re talking about wine tastings that take you to the fields of Bourdeaux and eventually up the Mattenhorn. It’s bloody amazing and is actually one of my favorite mangas outside of BL and to see it out in English means that more of my friends will finally see why I have an obsession with Tomine and Shizuku.¹

These three titles all deserve the attention and it’s great that Vertical is bringing them out in english. Collectively though, I’m excited with one more thing: the covers. I’m quite sure you guys are familiar with my obsession for Vertical’s beautiful covers and I am excited on how they will spin and repackage these comics particularly Drops of God who particularly has lovely covers already.

Yesterday was a great day for manga and I heard that Ed still has more up his sleeves. Is he going to sweep my Morning titles and grab curious fan favorite St. Oniisan? Maybe something unknown but great like Himawari Legend? Will they shock Urasawa followers with Billy Bat? God knows really, but for sure, Vertical will not disappoint.

1. In the end, this fujoshi cannot help but ship this pair so bad

I have something to confess. I rarely buy English mangas. Don’t be hatin’. I have my reasons.

I rarely buy English mangas because they’re expensive in the Philippines. What would cost $8 in the U.S. might cost $15 in our bookstores. If I order Japanese mangas, it would cost me around $5 for shounen titles or $8 if they’re seinen, bl, or josei. Cost wise, I would sooner run to a Japanese online bookstore to get my stuff than go to Amazon where our customs will sniff the damn book and tax me heavily. The cost for getting my manga in English is a hassle. But there are exceptions. Vertical’s Tezuka line is always worth the hassle.

Love at First Sight of the Cover

I’ve always been in love with Vertical’s covers for their Osamu Tezuka titles. I remember being smitten by seeing a hardbound copy of Buddha when it first came out in our bookstores and the powerful image of an eclipse and green strip below. It was striking and almost made me shell out almost $40 just to buy the damn manga if only to realize that I haven’t even read volume one. Shame. It was really pretty. Too bad I can’t find it in our bookstores now.

Nonetheless, that book left an impression on me that every time I raid our bookstores, I check the manga section to see if they’ve updated Buddha. One time, to my luck, they almost had the entire set and I was caught by the really lovely art on the spine of the series:  the image of a young to an enlightened mature Buddha. I was completely mesmerized even if I’ve only seen the cover of a book. Seriously, I fell in love with the cover of Buddha. Don’t you guys also have ‘love at first sight’ moments with manga covers?

Before I knew it, I was already heading towards the cashier and buying the manga even if it wasn’t in my budget. Naturally, the manga didn’t disappoint. The cover was merely an extension of what was already brilliant. As I discovered later, Chip Kidd was in charge of designing this manga cover and I think his design genius just gave the series a new life. The same love affair continued with Ode to Kirihito, MW, and now Dororo and Black Jack (both designed by Peter Mendelsund).  Black Jack has yet to come to our shores but from what I’ve seen from people, the covers are still stunning, enough to capture your attention and give Osamu Tezuka a shot.

Repackaging Genius

I personally think that what Vertical did to the line of Osamu Tezuka manga is a repackaging and marketing genius. No matter how much people say that they wished manga publishers would keep the old covers etc. etc. I still believe that when it’s done right, no one’s going to complain whether the cover is close to the original or not.

And it shows in our bookshelves how well Vertical’s redesign of Tezuka’s works is because it is harder to procure an Osamu Tezuka Vertical release compared to other releases. Until now, one could still see Astroboy occupy the bookshelves. On the other hand, someone always beats me to the 1^st volume of Dororo. Both are brilliant manga I must say, but in the end it shows how the packaging of a comic makes a difference in making a sale and it is just as important as its content. No matter how amazing the manga is, when the cover doesn’t give the same impression, the manga won’t sell at all.

The new covers of the Tezuka titles really give life to his works. For those unfamiliar with manga, they might think it’s a new title because of its minimalist design. It’s only until they have read the manga that they realize that it’s written back in the 1960s or 70s.  What amazes me is how the new covers show the timelessness of manga. The designers manage to highlight Tezuka’s art and incorporate it in new design principles that the readers don’t feel that they’re reading old titles. We got to admit it; we’re always fascinated by the new shiny stuff.

The designers in Vertical have really pushed their imaginations in order to capture the beauty of Tezuka’s art while spinning it with their own twist. These are not your usual bright eyed Tezuka titles and to capture an audience unfamiliar to this aspect of his work with their design takes a whole lot of love and respect for the titles they’re designing for. And it shows in the designs of the covers. Vertical’s designers didn’t simply throw an image and stamped a title on top. They really made an effort to capture the essence of the book in their covers. You have simplicity in Buddha, duality in Ode to Kirihito, the interplay of light and shade in MW, the torn images in Dororo, and the careful incision in Black Jack. All these could have simply followed the Japanese covers but I just adore how the Vertical covers said more about the book than the flap.

I’m sure that had this been in lesser hands it would have been difficult titles to sell.

But must they really redesign?

Is it necessary to redesign the covers? Shoujo manga like those released by Hakusensha under Hana to Yume have the same cover styles. Artists are given that white box at the center to try to make a cover for their titles. They didn’t need Chip Kidd or Takashi Murakami to sell their manga so why should the American industry (at least the English speaking industry) invest on kick-ass designers?

We must understand that unlike the Japanese, the international audience doesn’t have a monthly or a weekly magazine to feature these titles. Many of these titles are already past their publishing time in Japan and have already been compiled in volumes. Word of mouth hardly makes a difference. Translation might make the book different from the Japanese and with scanlations popping out left and right, the quality of people’s understanding of the comic might be marred by mistranslations especially with those speed scanlations coming out. In the end, I believe, it’s the publisher’s responsibility of thinking how they should market and present their mangas. They’ve got to have the right covers that lure the attention of a reader. And this reader need not be a manga reader but any reader who’s looking for something to read for the weekend. Of course, some companies (like Viz) have launched websites like sig-ikki.com to promote their upcoming titles but in the end, the battle field is in the bookshelves.

With the right cover, I’m sure mangas will start selling, and I think this would work best for titles that are for adults. Perhaps the redesigned covers might serve as the bridge needed to tap the curious ‘totally not a comic reader’ market¹. These Vertical Tezuka titles are a great start. Viz’s Urasawa series uses the original covers but those cover itself are beautifully designed as well (although I’m not exactly sure if they kept the texture of Pluto’s cover. I always love those matte covers). Hopefully, other titles would follow after Vertical’s genius and soon we’ll have more pieces of artwork as covers for our manga.

P.S. If I may just complain a little, another reason why I don’t buy English manga is how big these books are. I love how the Japanese sizes fit idly in my hand and I can easily tuck it in my small bag. The same cannot be said for the English ones unless I have a larger bag. I do wonder why the size for English mangas are so big. Paperback novels are quite small so… why? Is it because of the images? Is it harder to read if it’s smaller? Won’t they be cheaper if they’re the same size as the Japanese?

1. for lack of a better term really, but you guys know what I mean