Review: Ayako (Manga)

Medium: Manga (1 volume, 704 pages)
Genres: Drama, Historical, Suspense
Author: Osamu Tezuka
Publishers: Shueisha (JPN), Vertical Inc. (NA/UK)
Demographic: Seinen (ran in Big Comic)
Release Dates: Jan. 25, 1972 – Jun. 25, 1973 (JPN), Fall 2010 (NA/UK)
Age Rating: 16+

It's no secret at this point that Osamu Tezuka's reputation as the "Walt Disney of Japan" is fairly inaccurate. His corpus of English releases, which began with his more well-known children's works like Astro Boy (1952), has grown in years past to include a lot of the artist's more racy material, serving as a reminder that Tezuka was able to tackle a wide variety of styles. Ayako (1972), which came to American shores just last month in a new hardcover translation from Vertical, Inc., illustrates this better than nearly any other Tezuka manga I have read.

Gone are the science-fiction themes of most of Tezuka's other works. Even in his darkest of moments, such as the gripping Ode to Kirihito (1970), there are twinges of the fantastic that betray Tezuka's love for science fiction. In Ayako, Tezuka focuses on the harshness of a historical reality in which there are no robots or aliens or mysterious diseases — only humans are to blame for our misfortunes, and only we can pull ourselves out of them.

The Tenge family is reeling in the wake of the post-war American occupation. As they watch their lands in the Japanese countryside get sold off to tenant farmers, the once-rich clan sees the return of P.O.W. son Jiro, who is now working undercover for the American occupation forces. He comes home to find a family rife with sin and dark secrets. His brother Ichiro is letting his own father sleep with his wife in return for the family fortune, resulting in Jiro's new four-year-old sister/niece Ayako. After Jiro is implicated in a high-profile murder case, with Ayako’s testimony serving as the only evidence toward his indictment, the family decides to preserve their honor by locking her away in the storehouse cellar, to be kept there until she dies.

It is a testament to Tezuka's tight cast and vibrant characterization that he manages to keep the story interesting despite its frequent jumps in both time and place. The Tenges eventually spread out into different places and careers, but the connection to the original reasons for Ayako's imprisonment remain a burden upon all of their consciences, thus keeping everything centered around the title character. The small cast helps you create a deeper connection with them, as their relationships and feelings are all easily understood within the structure of their acutely dysfunctional family.

Ironically, though, Ayako herself is little more than a caricature. She emerges from her 23-year imprisonment as an emotionally stunted young woman, completely ignorant of many customs and ideas that come naturally to most people. This simplistic personality can get a little grating after a while, and it certainly makes her character hard to connect with, but Tezuka makes it clear that he intends her odd behavior as an expression of her tragic upbringing.

Speaking of tragedy, Ayako is horrifically sad beyond any other Tezuka manga I have ever read, and in fact beyond most other manga, period. With murder, rape, and incest throughout, this is not a book for the faint of heart. Sometimes it feels like Tezuka is just throwing in more tragedy for the sake of making you sadder, but it all ends up serving the author's ultimate message: a condemnation of secrecy and hidden sin. In the end, what destroys the characters is a compounding of everything they have ever done (and not done) to other people. As the vessel for the Tenge family's sins, Ayako gets the brunt of their love, hate, compassion, and anger, making its conclusion all the more impactful.

Throughout Ayako, Tezuka revels in the vastness of the Japanese countryside, providing beautiful full-page drawings of hills and fields alongside meticulously drawn cityscapes. Additionally, he tries his hand at recreations of photographic images, a technique that accentuates the historical relevance granted by his frequent references to real events during the Japanese reconstruction. It's also worth noting that only a single character from Tezuka's Star System (the detective Geta) shows up in Ayako, a very deliberate choice that serves to detach the characters and their predicaments from the sometimes whimsical worlds of Tezuka's other works.

Vertical's translation is great as always, but this time they've brought on Mari Morimoto, well-known translator of manga like Dragon Ball (1984) and Naruto (1997). The one notable facet of the translation, which may be credited to either Morimoto or the editors in charge of revising her translation, is the depiction of the characters' country accents. All of the Tenges speak in a Southern American accent, depicted phonetically in what I can best describe as the manga equivalent of a Mark Twain novel. I find that it adds a welcome sense of place to the work that manga often don't have, but some might find that they can only read "Naw!" so many times before it gets a little grating.

EDIT: Naturally, no review of Ayako can go without mentioning that it is flipped (i.e. reads left to right) and features beautiful art direction — from Peter Mendelsund — both inside and on its striking hard cover. Clearly Vertical did both of these things in order to promote it among literati types (as opposed to your average teenage manga fan in Barnes & Noble) as they did with Buddha (1972), and it does a great job. The flipping is an unfortunate consequence of this, but it should hopefully help the book find an audience outside of the manga crowd.

Ayako isn't quite perfect, mostly due to Tezuka's over-reliance on tragic twists and the title character's flat characterization, but as an examination of sin and long-term guilt, it is a powerful story, almost Shakespearean in its penchant for melodrama. Fans of Ode to Kirihito will find much to love here; in fact, its dedication to only a few locations and a centrally connected cast of characters makes it a little more accessible than the sprawling epic that is Kirihito. Be warned, however: Ayako is manga at its most tragic — in this seemingly endless bout of sin and suffering, no one is safe from the taint of evil, and no one is spared its consequences.

[Highly Recommended]

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This review is based on a complimentary review copy, graciously provided by Vertical, Inc. (and given away to an Ani-Gamers reader after this review was written).

Reminder: Ani-Gamers is giving away copies of Ayako to two lucky readers. Check out the contest rules to enter!

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Holiday Giveaway: Ayako by Osamu Tezuka

The holiday season is upon us, so in keeping with the spirit of this time of year, we want to give away some gifts to our wonderful readers. Thanks to the folks at Vertical, Inc., I've got two copies of Osamu Tezuka's manga Ayako (1972) sitting right next to me, and I need to select two lucky winners to receive this brand-new, hardcover English release from the "god of manga." (Note that one of these is the review copy that I read in order to write my upcoming review of the book. It is still in near-perfect condition.)

How can you win one of these fabulous prizes, you ask? Well, just leave us a comment below this post telling us about the best geek-related gift you've ever received (or given to someone else) for any occasion — not just the holidays. Extra points for anime, manga, or game-related ones, but you can stray outside of that if you want. Make sure to leave some form of contact information, because we'll be picking our two favorite entries from the comments section and sending those people copies of Ayako!

The deadline for this contest is 11:59 PM on December 30, 2010, so you've got time to report back about any gifts you might receive this year. Best of luck! Oh, and before I forget: all of us at Ani-Gamers would like to wish our readers a happy and healthy holiday season. We hope you'll keep reading for the next two weeks as we roll out our Anime Secret Santa reviews and 2010 Staff Picks.

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Review: Apollo's Song (Manga)

Medium: Manga (1 volume)
Genres: Drama, Romance
Author: Osamu Tezuka
Publishers: Shōnen Gahōsha (JPN), Vertical Inc. (NA/UK)
Release Dates: 1970 (JPN), 2007, re-release in 2010 (NA/UK)
Age Rating: 16+

Given that the main focus of Apollo's Song is love and all the strife that results, I could get away with writing a "Love is a crazy thing, isn't it?" type of intro for this review. But I won't, because the manga does a much better job of doing that in its own introduction, which shows anthropomorphized sperm in a marathon race to reach the egg. That probably sounds absurd, but the reverence shown to love and procreation comes through the page, letting you know you are reading something rather special.

The main character of Apollo's Song is Shogo Chikaishi, a teenage boy who is brought in to a psychiatric hospital with a rather bizarre malady that is the focus of much of the story. You see, Shogo hates the concept of love. He is incapable of feeling it himself, and the mere sight of love or affection of any kind disgusts him so thoroughly that he feels an unstoppable urge to kill those involved, be they human or animal.

The doctor who takes Shogo on as a patient is rather troubled by this and so decides that a suite of tests and treatments are in order, including a terrifying session of electroconvulsive therapy. It is during this therapy that Apollo's Song introduces it's key element that sets it far apart — the Goddess. Taking the form of a massive female statue she scolds Shogo for his hatred of love and forces him to confront the root of his problem. Then, as a punishment for his transgressions against the sanctity of love, Shogo is condemned to a never-ending series of trials — over and over he must come to know love, but every time it is within his grasp it will be snatched away from him. The more cynical among those reading probably just laughed and yelled “Oh, just like real life then!” out loud.

What follows this proclamation is a series of discrete tales that follow the template that the goddess outlines — each time, Shogo comes close to being cured but is ultimately thwarted, usually in a harrowing fashion. You would think this pattern would get dull, but there is another facet to the story; you are never fully sure what is “real”, or what is a dream, a hypnotic suggestion, or even if Shogo is actually dead or alive for the majority of the manga. The different trials Shogo experiences also have their own back-story and love stories within them, further muddying the waters about what is taking place in reality and what is confined to his imagination. Even the ending of the story is wonderfully ambiguous and ends on a rather depressing note for Shogo, but leaves it up to the reader to decide what the ending entails.

I am a massive fan of this sort of reality-bending fiction and so Apollo’s Song scores lots of points with me, enough to make me overlook some of its nagging flaws. The biggest among these is the repetition of the individual stories within the overall plot arc — as mentioned before, they all follow the exact pattern that the Goddess outlines. In addition, some of the stories are instantly forgettable, and even on my fifth reading I am confronted with entire chapters I had completely forgotten and am beginning to forget even as I write this review. Another, more egregious issue is that Shogo himself is an unpleasant dick who keeps undoing his own character development. While this can be seen as a normal human character flaw, especially for someone as seriously ill as he is, it can become exasperating after he fails to even attempt to reform himself for the umpteenth time in the face of great pressure to do so.

This frustration with Shogo is eased by getting know him through the art, with all emotions laid bare on the page for you to see and feel as you read. Simply put, the facial expressions and body language in the manga are among the best I have seen. At one key moment in the story an entire page is set aside at time for a single facial expression of sorrow — a powerful moment hammered home by a very simply presented image. The rest of the art (especially the layout) is equally superb, with many nice touches and unique pages added to keep you interested. The emotional highs and lows (mostly lows, in this case) are wonderfully captured on the page, with each moment given time to breathe over multiple pages and clear layouts to heighten the impact. The main triumph of the art is that each separate story told within the overarching plot looks and feels like its own separate series. You can tell from a glance what the setting feels like and how it differs from every other story presented in the manga.

While I pointed out some flaws earlier in this review that may sound like deal-breakers to some, I am still a fan of Apollo's Song due to how much it rewards revisiting. While not a short book by any stretch of the imagination, the story is just the right size to pick up and read for the hell of it without without the investment of time that MW or Ode to Kirihito demand. Due to its very powerful message and reality-bending storyline, each reading can give you something new to chew on.

I have read this story in a multitude of personal states and attitudes towards love — while happily in a relationship, in a failing relationship, and shortly after a break-up, and each time it has given me something new to think about and an uplifting feeling despite its grim storyline.

[Recommended]

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This review is based on a retail copy purchased by the reviewer.

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Vertical Claims No Longer Human License Was "Premature"

According to a statement released yesterday from Vertical, Inc., No Longer Human, the manga title announced recently at the New York Comic Con alongside The Book of Human Insects, has not actually been acquired for North American distribution. The statement, quoted in full below, claims that rights negotiations are still ongoing, but a "communication error" caused the announcement of the acquisition of Usamaru Furuya's manga before negotiations were complete.

Luckily, it would seem that the series is still well on its way to American release, but cancelled licensing deals are a consistent fear whenever the anime or manga industries see a premature leak or announcement of a rights acquisition.

“No Longer Human” Announcement Premature

Thursday, October 14, 2010

At their Saturday October 9th panel at New York Comic-Con, Vertical, Inc. announced to great fanfare a number of license acquisitions scheduled for 2011 release. Regretfully, one property, No Longer Human by Usamaru Furuya, was prematurely disclosed to the public.

Due to a communication error between the company’s New York and Tokyo offices, the property was falsely presented as slated for publication. While the licensors for this series and Vertical are currently actively in contract negotiations, the North American rights have not been secured. Vertical, Inc. will continue to work with the rights holders for No Longer Human with hopes to properly acquire the license, and it apologizes to all parties involved in this unfortunate and unintentional error.

[via Japanator]

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NYCC 2010: Vertical licenses Tezuka's The Book of Human Insects, Furuya's No Longer Human

At New York Comic Con yesterday, manga and translated Japanese book publisher Vertical, Inc. announced two brand new manga licenses. The first is The Book of Human Insects (also known as "Human Metamorphosis"), a 1970 manga by "god of manga" Osamu Tezuka. The 360-page one-volume manga will ship in a hardcover edition on July 26, 2011 for $22.99.

Additionally, Vertical Marketing Director Ed Chavez announced a license for the first volume of No Longer Human, Usamaru Furuya's manga adaptation of Osamu Dazai's original novel. Volume 1 of the three-volume series will ship on September 13, 2011 in a 208-page paperback edition for $12.95. Furuya manga is a recent trend at Vertical, as the publisher picked up his one-shot Lychee Light Club manga in July.

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Raised by a Computer: To Terra and Childhood

Note: This article assumes that you have already read To Terra, or at the very least have an understanding of the main characters within the story. If you go to Kate Dacey's compilation page for the To Terra edition of the Manga Moveable Feast you will find a wealth of reviews and other articles about To Terra that you can sink your teeth into.

While re-reading and chewing over To Terra for the now-passed Manga Moveable Feast, I found myself drawn to something I had not considered in such a concentrated manner previously: the upbringing of the characters and how this drove their actions in very different ways.

The majority of the characters are raised under the Superior Domination (SD) system, a computer-moderated society put in place to produce pure, productive members of humanity. With echoes of Brave New World, To Terra quickly introduces its chilling, dystopian social environment where children are planned and conceived by computer before being passed to foster parents and raised without knowing their true origin.

Once the children reach their 14th birthday they are taken unawares for a "Maturity Check", administered by a central computer. The Maturity Check functions as testing and preparation for the child's adult life, with some of the intricacies left unexplained to preserve the mystery of it. Sounds an awful lot like puberty, doesn't it? The main difference is that the Maturity Check doesn't cause hair to suddenly appear in new places, and if anything it makes the characters immaculately drawn hair even more lush. During this enforced coming-of-age the child is told that their childhood was a fabrication produced for the sole purpose of providing them with a healthy emotional background and that their early memories are to be wiped.

This forces an identify crisis onto the children, one which is intended to clear the way for training that will form them into pure subjects willing to work for and perpetuate the Superior Domination Order, with the aim of restoring the now-ravaged planet Earth under the guidance of the Mother Computer.

It is worth noting here that the phrase "Mother Computer" would, at the time that To Terra was written, have sounded utterly outlandish and more than a little disturbing. While computers these days are benign things you have on your desk, in 1977 the microprocessor had only recently been produced, ARPANET was new, and the CRAY-1 supercomputer was the machine to beat. This new technology would surely have had a vague air of magic and threat, and to hand over the most basic of human interactions — the creation and care of children — to such constructs would feel abhorrent.

Firstly, I want to focus on those characters in the story who I believe most closely mirror how "normal" people such as you or I would react in the SD system: Seki and Sam. Both undergo the typical SD upbringing and we meet them early on in the story as classmates of Keith Anyan on a educational station having recently undergone the Maturity Check.

Seki is an intelligent child, though he is earmarked for greatness and is prideful and arrogant as a result. He is emotionally sensitive and coupled with his outspoken distaste of the SD order he is considered a troublemaker and, even worse, a potential telepath. The source of his discontent is very basic and understandable; Seki resents the SD system for stripping him of his childhood, clinging onto the angelic memory of his mother despite knowing it was a fabrication. This grief accelerates Seki's frustration with his situation playing second fiddle to Keith and causes him to act in an increasingly impulsive manner to try and assert himself as an individual and to validate his upbringing. These actions spiral out of control, eventually leading to his death. For being intelligent and sensitive, the SD order drove Seki to self-destruction, wasting a potentially world-altering person due to its deception.

On the other end of the spectrum, Sam is dead average. He squeaks passes in his exams, neither dissents or swears by the regime that produced him, and doesn't sweat the small stuff. His main responsibility is to his friends, and sticks by Keith through thick and thin. An upstanding citizen, he graduates with average grades and takes a job as a space trucker, something that sounds even more boring than normal truck driving. Through this job he comes to meet the Mu and in particular the main protagonist Jomy, who he was childhood friends with. Faced with a filthy telepath, Sam acts upon the information that the computer education has drilled into him and freaks the hell out, attacking Jomy in a fit of primal fear. Jomy is horrified how his old friend has been warped and over-reacts, causing a massive explosion and injuring Sam.

We are later re-introduced to Sam and find out that this encounter has left him crippled at a mental age of 14. All the ingrained fear is gone, replaced by a much more carefree outlook. While this may be a bit of a stretch, I believe that this shows that the overbearing influence of the Maturity Check, illustrating that the computer education had left Sam without the mental tools to cope with adult life. The shock encounter caused him to revert to a simpler time without the choking influence that had warped him into a form so horrifying to Jomy.

Jomy, the main protagonist of the story, also goes through the normal SD upbringing experienced by Sam and Seki, and like them he is abducted at 14 to undergo the Maturity Check. For him, however, things change when he is rescued by the leader of the Mu and made their new leader. Faced with so much responsibility and hostility from both the SD order and from his own people, it would make sense for Jomy to seek a return to the halcyon days of his youth, even while knowing that it was a fabrication. For the majority of the story he tries to bring happiness to the Mu by creating a stable home for them, free from the overbearing computerized system that hunts them.

Following a major tragedy Jomy finally heeds his predecessors’ imperative to bring the Mu to their homeland of Terra and to destroy the computer system that is warping humanity.

The first step on this journey is for Jomy to put his own past to rest by attacking his old childhood world and destroying the computer that oversees the Maturity Checks there. It it only with the destruction of that machine that Jomy matures both as a person and a leader, shouldering his burdens and doing what must be done to save. Not just his own people from the oppressive Mother Computer, but humanity as a whole as well.

One of those burdens is Tony, who is the product of the first natural birth among the Mu, and an exceptionally powerful telepath. Brought up with utmost love and care by his mother Carina, he is overcome with grief when she dies. The resulting shock causes him to overreact and accelerate his physical growth in order to be of greater use to Jomy, the young leader who encouraged his birth and whom he now regards as his family. This change makes him as an abrasive, irritable person who is still very much a child emotionally, traits exaggerated by being the cornerstone of the Mu military due to his immense psychic power. This combination of personality and ability causes Tony and the few others like him in the Mu population to be treated as outcasts. They eventually leave the Mu to begin a dreamlike existence among the stars, having grown up too fast without the grounding to cope with the harsh reality they live in.

Finally, there is Keith Anyan, who is perhaps the most interesting of all of the characters in To Terra. Keith is the result of a more advanced version of the SD program — he is engineered to have a theoretically perfect genome and grown in a tank until 16 under the direct care and attention of the educational computer. He cannot recall his childhood, something which sets him apart from his school friends, and when he discovers the truth there is an initial shock at the confirmation but no great change or revelation takes place. This is, in my mind, because there is no subterfuge involved. Instead of having an illusionary childhood life stripped from him, Keith is left to ponder his existence as someone created for the express purpose of leading the SD order. While he does follow orders of the computer, Keith develops throughout adulthood, free of any anxiety or doubts lingering in his mind about his origins. In the end, it could be argued that Keith has the fewest issues with his childhood, primarily because he did not have one in the strict sense, and he had no other alternative but to adjust to his circumstances. He spends a large amount of time reflecting on the people he has met throughout his life, allowing these events to affect him rather than being a prisoner to his childhood and the computer overlords that he starts to question as time carries on.

With all this out of the way, what was Keiko Takamiya trying to say? I submit that the message is that there should be no lies in childhood, as this only causes mal-adjustment and traps people in a cycle of trying to reconcile reality with what they experienced and viewed as fact, thus stunting their development. In this story the computers are one thing used to provide and enforce this lie, but they could be swapped out for any real-life examples that you care to produce, such as an overbearing Nationalistic agenda. Even now, many years after publication, this message feels very relevant and lacking in due consideration, making the series all the more important to read and reflect on.

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Review: Chi's Sweet Home, vol. 1 (Manga)

Medium: Manga (7+ volumes in JP, 1+ in US/UK)
Author: Konami Kanata
Genre: Comedy, Pet, Slice-of-life
Publishers: Weekly Morning – Kodansha (JPN), Vertical, Inc. (NA/UK)
Release Dates: November 22, 2004-present (JP), June 29, 2010 (US/UK)
Age Rating: Appropriate for all ages

I know, I know: The last thing you'd expect me to be reviewing is a manga about a kitten, but here I am, talking about the brand-new Vertical, Inc. release of Chi's Sweet Home by Konami Kanata. What may surprise you even more is that I actually like it!

The entire plot of Chi's Sweet Home can probably be summed up by simply reading down its table of contents, which contains chapters like "A cat is lost," "A cat is found," "A cat forgets," and "A cat understands." In fact, the comically straightforward nature of the titles underscores simplicity as the fundamental attribute of this manga story of a stray cat named Chi and the Japanese family that takes her in.

It's actually rather surprising to see such simplicity in a manga serialized in a seinen (men's) magazine, Weekly Morning, but as with many cutesy seinen titles such as Yotsuba&!, the manga is actually much more attractive to American children than it is to American men. Pursuant to this, Vertical's translation keeps the dialogue brief and easily comprehensible, while the intentional lack of detail in the art breaks with seinen's American reputation as being (sometimes indecipherably) detail-heavy. What's more, the book has only full-color pages, painted in beautiful, subdued pastel colors, which are sure to entice young readers looking for something more flashy than the typical black-and-white manga aesthetic.

On that note, Chi's design is easily the most important piece of art in the entire book, and it certainly gets the job done — and then some. Her saucer plate eyes and giant triangular mouth express a childlike excitement over even the simplest of everyday delights, and it can be hard to not imagine her screaming at the top of her lungs and smiling every time she gets excited. (By the way, this is coming from someone who has never seen the anime and thus doesn't have a preconceived voice for Chi.) Believe me, I didn't think that I would enjoy it, but I really took to Chi and the rest of the family after a few chapters.

Still, I feel like the comedy — if you can even call it comedy per se — might wear a little thin if the later volumes don't introduce any major new developments. After all, I don't really think that a picture of a cute kitten getting excited can remain very interesting for very long.

The chapters range in length, though they are typically much shorter than the average manga chapter, and some even come in at around five or six pages. Given such brevity of storytelling, it would almost seem like the story is built for the 4-koma (four-panel) format, but Kanata manages to tell a short, charming story in every chapter while maintaining the flow of a full-page manga layout.

As I mentioned before, Chi's Sweet Home doesn't really feel like a men's title in an American context, but it's actually a genuinely fun little book for children or cat lovers of all ages. Of course, I wasn't satisfied with simply guessing at the right audience for the book, so I let my 12-year-old sister read it to get a feel for what she thought of it. Within an hour she had read the entire thing, and claimed that she would actually buy the second volume if she saw it in a store (even after I informed her of the slightly high $13.95 price point).

To be clear, Chi's Sweet Home is not for everyone, but when put in front of the right eyes, it's an absolute joy. Kanata has crafted a simple yet charming mix of visual comedy, cute animal shenanigans, and great art that can manage to evoke quite a few chuckles, even from this jaded manga reader.

[Recommended]

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This review is based on a promotional copy of the graphic novel, kindly provided by the publisher, Vertical, Inc.

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Review: Black Jack, vols.1-9 (Manga)

Medium: Manga (17 volumes total, 9 released in US/UK at the time of writing)
Genres: Drama, Medical
Author: Osamu Tezuka
Publishers: Shōnen Champion (JPN), Vertical Inc. (NA/UK)
Release Dates: 1973 – 1983 (JPN), Sept 2008 – ongoing (NA/UK)
Age Rating: Unknown

Sometimes, when I have a spare moment, I wonder what would have been if I had followed a different path in life. Maybe I could have become a concert pianist, or a doctor. The thing is, even if I had trained to be a doctor, I would certainly have turned nowhere near as awesome as Black Jack is.

Black Jack, the titular character of Osamu Tezuka's manga, is a roguish, outcast surgeon who scorns the medical establishment and instead follows his own personal code of honor as he goes around fixing people up and then charging outrageous sums of money for his services. Black Jack is, like his scarred body, a patchwork character with many interesting facets to his personality — he can be comfortably introduced as a rude, blunt dick but is set apart by his endless drive to preserve life. Thankfully his character is free from many dull tropes; he does not have a "Heart of Gold" by any stretch of the imagination, nor does he neatly fit into the mold of a typical "anti-hero".

You may remember Ani-Gamers Podcast #016, in which we discussed Black Jack and talked quite a bit about how we disliked Pinoko, the other main character in the series who for some will be an absolute turn-off. To give you a brief introduction, Pinoko is a girl "born" of a Teratoid Cystoma who believes she is Black Jack's wife. She is generally very immature, speaks a lot of garbage with a comedic lisp and is very disruptive when involved with the story. While I am still not her greatest fan by any stretch of the imagination, I have warmed to the character with her repeated appearances, as she is a genuinely interesting character.

The art leaps seamlessly from clean character art and background to hyper-detailed shots of surgery — Tezuka's own medical training no doubt shining though. I am rather squeamish to be quite honest, and thankfully any internal body shots or injuries are shown very matter-of-factly.

One of the wonderful things about Black Jack, at least for me, is that almost every story is completely self-contained, even those that reference older events.

This length is a major strength of the series — each self-contained chapter is only around 20-25 pages all told. Should you find yourself disliking a story for whatever reason, in a few pages you can simply move on to the next. This also allows each tale to have it's own individual impact, with brevity bringing the best out of the storytelling. The individual tales waste no time in getting to the point and setting things out — sadly this can lead to very abrupt endings, but this pace is a nice way to present the story. Most importantly, it prevents the story from getting bogged down in details, hanging plot threads, or an overarching plot. There are distinct themes throughout the manga, which are usually tied to supporting characters, but these are used sparingly and are a treat when they appear. This short format also helps out with the dialogue — no one ever minces words and everything said is important to your enjoyment of the story.

Overall the stories have a great mix of tone; the subject is grave, life-or-death indeed, but it retains a playful air. The use of lighthearted elements is especially effective at helping to maintain suspension of disbelief for the more outlandish or flat-out crazy situations. (Like the time Black Jack operated on a supercomputer! Or the time he had to excise a talking facial deformity! Or when he had to hunt down and operate on a super-intelligent stag!)

Normally in reviews you would now expect the line of "Oh, one of those is fake, but I bet you can’t guess which one!" No, all of the above happen at some point in Black Jack.

Some of my personal favorite stories are, quite simply, ones where the ending is a downer. Sometimes a case is beyond even Black Jack, or external pressures interfere, and so for whatever reason things don't turn out for the best. It’s honestly great that not every chapter ends positively — it keeps you on your toes while reading. These conclusions are often quite arresting — more than once I found myself putting the volume down to process what had just happened because it had emotionally effected me.

Meanwhile, the main thrust of the manga's varied messages deal with the sanctity and importance of preserving life above all else as well as scorning the established medical community (one of the reasons Tezuka himself never applied his medical training directly) and other confounding variables that can get in the way of saving life.

One of the facets of this overarching philosophy is in regards to euthanasia, and is one of my personal issues with the series. Without getting too political or turning this review into a soapbox, I am a personal proponent of euthanasia and assisted suicide, whereas Tezuka (via Black Jack) is dead set against the idea in any form. One of my favorite characters, Dr. Kiriko, assists those who wish to die and has his own back-story and issues to grapple with as he does his grisly duty. Sadly all the stories that involve him end up becoming one-sided lectures with those who suggest euthanasia coming off as straw men whom Black Jack successfully discredits by the end. After a while this begins to feel rather immature as the larger issue is stunted by the short format of the series.

To be frank, the first volume is probably the most uneven out of the volumes released thus far. The selection varies wildly between some great stories, most of which are vital in filling in back-story or introducing the few principal cast members, and other lesser chapters that left me skimming the page waiting for the story to end. As the series has continued, and I have become more familiar with the cast, the overall quality of the stories (and perhaps my appreciation for them) has definitely increased. The last two volumes I purchased I read voraciously over the course of a single weekend.

Despite its (admittedly few) flaws, I would not hesitate to recommend Black Jack to almost anyone. Not just those who like manga, but anyone who wants to read a succinct, clear, medically themed drama and isn't afraid of having it displayed pictorially. In order to write this review I had to recall some volumes that I had lent to various friends I was trying to introduce to the series — a task more difficult than it sounds as some did not wish to return the books.

[Highly Recommended]

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This review is based on Vertical, Inc. graphic novels purchased by the reviewer.

Check out more articles about Osamu Tezuka in our March 2010 Tezuka Theme Month!

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Vertical, Inc. confirms Ayako license [EDIT]

At last, the veil of the embargo has been lifted, and I have been given the OK to confirm what most readers have likely already suspected: Vertical, Inc. Marketing Director Ed Chavez did indeed reveal to the press one week ago today at a "Vertical Vednesday" event that Vertical was in the process of acquiring publish rights for the manga Ayako. The series, which appeared on Amazon last week before Mr. Chavez had even gotten a chance to announce it, is a historical drama from the "god of manga," Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy, Black Jack, Buddha).

Despite Vertical's clear interest in the title, some in the manga world feared that the leak, which shattered the company's plan for a more controlled promotional roll-out, would jeopardize the license itself, and might cause Vertical to be unable to release Ayako in the United States. Thankfully, though, Mr. Chavez confirmed to Ani-Gamers in a Twitter message that Ayako is "locked up ... for the most part." Assuming that Chavez's original release date still stands, we will see Ayako on store shelves on October 19, 2010.

EDIT: By the way, this means that my prediction was totally right. Score!

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Amazon listing reveals Ayako as potential Vertical license

An Amazon listing that appeared this past Tuesday shows the Osamu Tezuka manga Ayako, apparently published by manga and Japanese prose publisher Vertical, Inc. The manga is a three-volume historical series by the "god of manga" that examines the breakdown of Japanese society in the post-war occupation. It was created around the same time as MW and Ode to Kirihito, two dark Tezuka tales that have sold quite well for Vertical.

Vertical's Marketing Director Ed Chavez also announced a new Tezuka title for the publisher at a recent "Vertical Vednesday" event in New York City, and while I attended the event, the name of the Tezuka manga is under embargo for the time being, and Mr. Chavez has refused to comment on the presumed Ayako leak. Please note that Ani-Gamers is not at the liberty of confirming if Ayako was announced at the event or if it was another title.

However, if Vertical is indeed looking into licensing Ayako, it is important to note that the book might never see the light of day in America because of this Amazon debacle. The title being listed on Amazon does not necessarily mean that licensing deals are complete, so a major hiccup such as this could break down any talks that might be going on between Vertical and Japanese licensor Shogakukan.

I predicted that Ayako would be Vertical's newest Tezuka license earlier this week, and this listing certainly lends some validity to my prediction. Mr. Chavez also hinted at a few new licenses during yesterday's Vednesday event, which I have already begun mulling over. I'll be sure to write up a post if I come up with a prediction for those.

[via Kuriousity]

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Prediction: Vertical's new Tezuka title will be Ayako

If you're addicted to the Twitter you might already know this, but Vertical, Inc. has got more Tezuka in the pipeline. Marketing Director Ed Chavez recently announced that the publisher, known for their growing catalog of classic manga by the likes of Osamu Tezuka and Keiko Takemiya, is in the process of licensing yet another manga by the "god of manga" himself, Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy, Black Jack, Buddha). Mr. Chavez did not name the title, but he did post a tweet listing some of the details of the release, letting slip, "It's gonna be a whopper! 704 pages. Great female lead. Cover design by P Mendelsund!!" (Mendelsund designed the striking, if a little confusing, Black Jack covers.) The manga is also "tentatively" set for an October 19, 2010 release.

So, it seems that Mr. Chavez has given us enough clues to piece together the identity of our mystery series. I've got two possible guesses that have prominent female leads and page counts of approximately 700 when compiled. The first is Princess Knight, the famous shōjo manga that inspired later series such as Rose of Versailles and Revolutionary Girl Utena. The other guess is Ayako, a darker drama from later in Tezuka's life. Princess Knight is obviously more influential and well-recognized than Ayako, but it's an earlier Tezuka series that doesn't really fit in with the rest of Vertical's catalog. Ayako, on the other hand, is a dark, politically minded drama published around the same time as MW, one of Vertical's most popular Tezuka releases.

Thus, my prediction goes with Ayako, and we'll find out if that's right when Vertical officially announces the title next week. But for now, what about you guys? Any other predictions? Do you think Princess Knight has a better shot than Ayako? Sound off in the comments.

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NYCC09: Vertical to partner with unnamed Japanese publisher

Earlier tonight, I sat in on the panel for manga/Japanese book publisher Vertical, Inc. (MW, Black Jack, To Terra...), hosted by Vertical's Executive Editor Ioannis Mentzas. He was pretty much just going over the company's latest releases, so there were no new titles announced, but there was also a juicy bit of industry news:

Vertical is in the process of solidifying "a new investment, and an alliance with a Japanese publisher." According to Ioannis, who did his best to beat around the proverbial bush, the new deal is all about "acquiring rights" - Vertical will remain an "independent company" rather than a subsidiary of their partner. In these tough economic times, Vertical is having trouble with their previous investors (almost all banks), so a new investment from a Japanese publisher will give them a renewed source of cash that will help them stay afloat. More important to the average reader is the impact that this will have on Vertical's ability to publish manga. An agreement with a publisher means guaranteed titles, without all of the haggling (and hence added costs) of getting a title from a greedy Japanese manga company.

Who is the mystery publisher? All of the big three (Kodansha, Shueisha, and Shogakukan) are already taken, and even Yen Press has scooped up a valuable asset in Square Enix. Could Vertical be securing more retro manga? Or will they instead be trying out new titles? I can't see Vertical moving that far into the mainstream, so I'll take a bet that they're going for a publisher that will net them some seinen and josei stuff. Check out the full list of possible publishers (via Wikipedia) after the break, and let us know who you think it's gonna be.

• Akita Publishing Co., Ltd.
• Chuokoron Shinsha
• Enterbrain
• Fujimi Shobo
• Fusosha
• Futabasha
• Gentosha
• Hakusensha
• Hayakawa Publishing
• Kadokawa Shoten
• Kobunsha
• Mag Garden
• MediaWorks
• Shinchosha
• Shinshokan
• Shodensha
• Shonen Gahosha
• Tokuma Shoten
• Wani Books

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Review: Black Jack vol.1 (Manga)

Medium: Manga
Genres: Drama, Medical
Author: Osamu Tezuka
Number of Volumes: 17 in Japan
Licensed: Yes (Vertical, Inc.)

Three decades is a long time to wait, but Doctor Black Jack has finally reached the shores of North America. Osamu Tezuka's most popular adult manga, and his second most popular manga ever (behind Astro Boy) has for a long time been missing from the shelves of American bookstores. In 2008, manga fans here in North America could finally feast their eyes on the timeless masterpiece that is Black Jack.

As with most Tezuka comics, the story of Black Jack is quite simple. Doctor Black Jack is an enigmatic surgeon-for-hire, a man without a medical license who charges exorbitant prices for his work. The price is worth it, however, since Black Jack also happens to be the greatest surgeon the world has ever known. He wanders the world taking any job that comes his way, with only his assistant Pinoko at his side.

In Black Jack, Tezuka – known by most fans for his "childish" manga Astro Boy – does a seinen manga just right. These stories are definitely not for children or the faint of heart, as they contain detailed depictions of surgery and various references to violence and depravity. Still, they are so much more than just examples of gruesome situations and the crazy solutions to said situations. Black Jack is a complex character, and while his face may seem cold and immovable, he is far more expressive than the seinen posterboy Golgo 13.

Therein lies Tezuka's most resounding success in Black Jack. The title character wears all black and has a scarred face, but he is not a jaded man who has turned his back on the world. At times he will take jobs without payment, risk his life for the sake of a patient, or even fall in love. The dichotomy between Black Jack's image as a heartless mercenary and his true identity as a caring, thoughtful person forms the backbone of each of his stories.

And what stories they are! In one, a man is diagnosed with a face-sore with its own personality that seems to quell his own murderous addiction. In another a painter is caught in a nuclear blast, and calls on Black Jack to keep him alive so that he can finish his masterpiece. In one of the most important stories of all, Black Jack is tasked with removing a "teratoid cystoma" (a sort of internal Siamese twin) from an eighteen-year-old-woman. Despite the protests of his clients, the doctor saves the jumbled mass of organs and constructs a living girl out of them: his assistant Pinoko, who must live in the six-year-old's body that Black Jack has constructed for her.

The artwork is pure Tezuka – stark, simple, and very reminiscent of the Fleischer Brothers and Walt Disney. Sometimes (especially when showing natural backgrounds or medical scenes), the versatile artist will lapse into the beautiful, dense artwork that readers might recognize from his masterwork Buddha. Of course, Tezuka's simplistic character designs have always been the groundwork upon which all of manga is built, and the incredibly expressive characters of Black Jack are no exception.

Despite Vertical's ugly, difficult-to-read cover design for the first volume of this series, Black Jack is a fantastic read, perhaps the best one manga fans have gotten in 2008. Tezuka's classic should have been here a long, long time ago, but that takes nothing away from the magnificent yet subtle power of this enduring work.

excellent.

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NYAF08: Vertical, Inc. panel report

When I tell you about a manga company that starts with the letter V, I'm sure your mind will jump to a certain Naruto-carrying, Shonen Jump-ing publisher by the name of Viz. It seems like that mindset was in full force at the New York Anime Festival, where the showing for a panel run by Vertical, Inc. was dwarfed by every single other industry panel of the day.

The panel, run by Marketing Manager Stephen Vrattos and Editorial Director/Executive Vice President Ioannis Mentzas of Vertical, consisted nearly exclusively of old information. Even so, the guys didn't miss a chance to promote Black Jack, their newest manga from the gilded archives of Osamu Tezuka.

At the very beginning of the panel they announced a mini-contest, wherein everyone in the room gave their name for a chance to win a copy of volume one of Vertical's new special edition "Diamond Hardcover Edition" of Black Jack. On that note, the only new announcement made at the panel was that the second volume of this limited-print three volume series will be the Japanese story "The One That Remains."

The rest of the panel mostly involved Stephen and Ioannis going over Vertical's new manga, fiction, and non-fiction titles, including the cutesy series The Complete Aranzi Hour, some dark horror stuff (Biogenesis, The Summer of the Ubume), historical fiction (The Blade of the Courtesans), and a range of non-fiction (Sayonara, Mr. Fatty! A Geek's Diet Memoir, North Korea Kidnapped My Daughter).

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