Book Review: Core Scramble

Title: Core Scramble

Author/Artist: Euho Jun

Rating: ☕ ☕  (2)

First let me preface this by saying I read a lot of BL manga/manhwa, so I am well aware of the common tropes and story lines in this genre. Some I can tolerate and still enjoy the story, but then there are the tropes that grind on my nerves so much I have to restrain myself from throwing the tablet across the room. This story was the latter.

The initial premise is confusing at first because the reader is dropped into the middle of a battle with no background information as to why this battle is happening. We meet the soldier, Chaeun, as he is forced to fight the mass of bugs alone after his commander abandons him to meet his girlfriend and the rest of his team are pulled from the fight due to injuries. After 7 hours he finally manages to eliminate all of them, but what he didn’t know was that he was being watched by the mysterious Moonhoo, who then shows his appreciation for the exciting battle by giving him a drink of water – using his own mouth.

At first Chaeun seems like a smart, honest guy. He cares about his colleagues and takes his job very seriously. His major flaw is his steadfast loyalty to his violent and reckless commander Gayoon. I understand why he stays with him initially, but as Gayoon’s violent attacks on Chaeun increase in number and severity, I have to wonder why he continues to stay on his team when there are other teams who are ready to take him. Basically, he is conforming to one of the most common BL tropes – staying with the violent, possible romantic lead because of some twisted form of admiration and love. The only trope more common than this one is the “Love Triangle” – which surprise, surprise is also hinted at. About halfway through this volume I was ready to call it quits, but I somehow managed to struggle on and finish it. I just didn’t like it. I’ve read too many stories like it in the past to find it interesting, and I can already predict what is going to happen in the following volumes.

The one redeeming feature in the entire volume was the art. The art was clean and the characters were handsome. The reference panels were also well executed. I just wish the story was tighter and original. Unless you are a huge fan and feel the need to read every BL story out there, I suggest you pass on this one and read something else.

Book Review: Eden Volume 1

Title: Eden: Volume 1

Author/Artist: BASH

Publish Date: June 2, 2015

Rating: ☕ ☕ (2)

Let me be blunt. This was a mess. There are so many things wrong with this manga that I don’t even know where to start. The biggest problem is that the entire project is disjointed and lacks focus. I’m not even entirely sure what the premise is supposed to be.   

The story begins with a boy named Touru wandering the forest. Monster-like creatures called Red Crosses are watching him and trying to prevent him from finding the village of Jinrou. Which would be bad, according to an angel named Vanguard. After that, I’m not 100% sure what’s going on. There is too much happening and there is no explanation as to who anyone is or why things are happening. I get that the mangaka is trying to project an element of mystery around Touru and the people in Jinrou, but that only works if you give the reader a clue to the bigger picture. He tries to do this toward the end of the book when Touru is led to an epitaph that tells the story of Jinrou, yet even that serves to confuse the reader further. 

The art was the only thing about this book that kept it from getting a 1. The art isn’t spectacular, and it doesn’t really stand out from artists working in similar genres, but it wasn’t bad. The artist might benefit from working with a circle where someone else is creating the plot and doing the writing.

In manga the point of the first chapter, the first volume, is to hook the reader and make them interested in what is about to happen. That didn’t happen here. I didn’t connect with any of the characters enough to care about what happens to them, and I was so relieved when I finished reading this. I have no desire to read volume 2 when it is released in July. 

**NetGalley provided me with an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

Book Review: Manga Classics: The Scarlet Letter

Title: Manga Classics: The Scarlet Letter

Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Art: SunNeko Lee

Adapted By: Crystal S. Chan      English Translation: Stacy King

Publish Date: March 10, 2015

Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ (4)

Manga Classics is at it again, and this time they are releasing a manga version of The Scarlet Letter. I almost passed on this because The Scarlet Letter and I have a long and tortuous history dating back to high school. I spent many hours buried in this book, picking apart sentences, analyzing everything, and basically learning the entire book by heart (Thanks Mrs. Bookwalter…). For a book that I didn't even like the first time I read it, I was relieved when I could place my well-worn copy on my bookshelf with all the other classics that I had no intention of reading ever again. As the years have passed, I slowly began to forgive Hawthorne and acknowledged that, while The Scarlet Letter will never be one of my favorite classics, I have a great respect for it and its place in history and literature.

My standard procedure before I read something from Manga Classics is to go back and read the original material. It’s been many years since I've read The Scarlet Letter, but since I am already biased toward the original material I wanted to try and minimize that bias when I read the manga version.  This is why I decided not to reread the original text before reading the manga. I wanted to go into this with a fresh perspective.

I have to give credit to Crystal Chan, she did a remarkable job with the adaptation. There is so much symbolism in the original text that it would be difficult for anyone to decide what stays and what goes, but she struck the right balance. The amazing thing about manga and graphic novels is that the symbolism becomes visual. The casual reader may not catch all of the symbolic references and how they play a role in the story, or how they enhance the theme of the story. But with manga, the artist can put it right in front of your face, you still might miss the meaning behind it, but it’s still there to discover later.

This is where the talents of artist SunNeko Lee come into play. The backgrounds are detailed, although Boston is not quite historically accurate (but that’s just me nitpicking), but on the whole it looks beautiful and doesn't detract from the main characters. I love the way the artist chose to draw the four main characters. They have a distinct style that separates them from everyone else, drawing the focus on them. It also makes a visual statement about each individual’s personality and motivation. One example is the design for Reverend Dimmesdale; he looks timid and weak from the beginning. As the story continues, he becomes more and more haggard as the weight of his conscience presses down on him.

Roger Chillingworth is another example, when he openly displays his feelings of hatred and revenge, the artist includes a cobra in the panel with him. Using animals as part of the character is a common technique used in manga to emphasize emotion, and while it might not have been necessary, it worked well.

Of course we can’t talk about a manga adaptation of The Scarlet Letter and not talk about the aforementioned letter. The most important symbol in the story is the scarlet “A” embroidered on Hester’s chest. The “A” is almost a character in its own right and SunNeko Lee and Crystal Chan make sure the “A” is seen every time you see Hester. How did they accomplish this? Well the beautifully embroidered “A” is the only part in the entire manga that is in color, and it is a bright scarlet red throughout the entire book. You can’t miss it, you can’t forget it’s there, it becomes one with Hester.

The thought both SunNeko and Crystal put into this is astounding. They even included the prologue chapter where Hawthorne gives a fictionalized account of how the narrator (Hawthorne) discovers Hester’s story while working in a customs house. There are also little items here and there that were included in the background because the original scene was cut. These and other symbols and metaphors are mentioned in the adapter's notes at the end.

I thought this adaptation was nicely done. I felt like the goal of the piece was to give the reader a taste of the story and encourage them to seek out the original text, and I think that was accomplished. For me it was nice to have the opportunity to enjoy the book and erase some of the negative emotions this story stirs in me. For the serious classics reader, this may be a disappointing read because there was quite a bit left out or left unexplored. But for a reader who doesn't usually seek out the classics, it may be a starting point.

**NetGalley provided me with an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

Book Review: CLAMP's Legal Drug and Drug & Drop

Title: Legal Drug                                                                Title: Drug & Drop

Author: CLAMP                                                                Author: CLAMP

Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ (5)                                                   Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ (5)

If I could post a recording of the squeal I made when I heard Dark Horse acquired the English rights to my favorite CLAMP series, you might wonder if I was a teenage girl instead of a grown woman with children. To say I was excited was probably the understatement of the year – well one of them.
 A little back story, CLAMP is an all-female manga group that currently includes Nanase Ohkawa, Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi. The English rights to several of CLAMP’s series had been licensed to TokyoPop, which closed their US publishing operations in 2011, thus leaving many titles unfinished and in copyright limbo. At that time the CLAMP series Legal Drug had been on a semi-permanent hiatus since 2003 and all three volumes had been released in English by TokyoPop. It wasn't long after TokyoPop closed its doors that CLAMP announced they were reviving the series under the new title Drug & Drop. Leaving fans to wonder if the series would be made available in the US, and if so, who would secure the English rights.  Fast forward to 2014, Dark Horse announced that they had acquired the English rights for both Legal Drug and Drug & Drop, and announced that Legal Drug would be retranslated and all 3 volumes would be compiled into an omnibus.

Since Legal Drug is my favorite CLAMP series, I already own the original English volumes published by TokyoPop, but that didn't stop me from buying the newly released omnibus. You might ask why I would buy the same manga twice; well, my husband asked me the same question. Since the beginning I've had some, let’s call them concerns, with TokyoPop’s translations. Translating from one language into another is difficult, especially when you compare the subtlety of the Japanese language to the bluntness of American English, but I personally felt that TokyoPop made unnecessary, and at times illogical, changes to many of the titles under their control. I haven’t had those same concerns with titles that have been translated by Dark Horse.

Since I have both versions I had to compare them. While the core dialogue is the same, there are noticeable differences in flow, and Dark Horse didn't ignore the “mini-bubbles” that were ignored by TokyoPop. The fonts were also different and the overall cleaning quality was better in the Dark Horse version – although that probably has more to do with advances in editing technology.

Like many of their titles, Legal Drug fits into the larger CLAMP Universe. And like all CLAMP series, there is more to the story than meets the eye. The main characters are Kudo Kazahaya and Himuro Rikuo (*). They are employed by Kakei, the mysterious owner of the Green Drugstore. In addition to their day job at the drugstore they are often asked by Kakei, or his equally mysterious partner Saiga, to perform “other” jobs that are often supernatural in nature and require both young men to use their own supernatural abilities.

Several layers and crossing storylines are present, but in Legal Drug they are subtle enough that they don’t confuse readers who are new to CLAMP. The majority of the book focuses on the “other” jobs with Kazahaya and Rikuo learning to trust and depend on each other. It also briefly touches on Rikuo’s past. But as the chapters play out, the larger story arc begins to materialize and we get closer to finding out why these four people were drawn to the Green Drugstore.

Drug & Drop picks up where Legal Drug left off when it went on hiatus in 2003. The boys are still working for Kakei at the Green Drugstore, but as their powers grow their “other” jobs become more difficult. The larger story arc begins to take center stage. We start to learn more about Kazahaya’s past and why he needed to run away. And we also learn a bit more about Rikuo’s reasons for staying at the Drugstore. And who shows up to prod the boys in the right direction? The shopkeeper from xxxHolic, Watanuki Kimihiro! This volume is more for the fans and has some obvious crossover characters and storylines that could be confusing to new readers. To be honest it can be confusing for CLAMP fans too since there are conflicting timelines and worlds within the CLAMP Universe, but it’s so fun to try to untangle everything.

The lead artist for Legal Drug and Drug & Drop is Tsubaki Nekoi, who (sorry Mokona!) is my favorite artist of the group. Her art is so beautiful and dramatic, and the way she uses negative space and minimal shading make her work stand out from other shoujo mangakas. CLAMP is known for drawing detailed clothing and hair, and these volumes are no different. Since it has been nearly 10 years between the last volume of Legal Drug and the first volume of Drug & Drop, there are some differences in the art style. Probably the most noticeable is Kakei’s and Kazahaya’s hair – as in you can tell the difference between them without relying on Kakei’s glasses. The shading has also changed a little and the overall look is cleaner and more modern, but still recognizable.

I love this series and I can’t wait to see where it is going to go and how it will tie into the other related CLAMP series. Unfortunately, after volume 2 of Drug & Drop was released in Japan, the series once again went on temporary hiatus. But this time a short one, while CLAMP catches up on the other series they are working on. But don’t let that stop you from reading both series. The Legal Drug/Drug & Drop series are a good introduction to the CLAMP Universe.  

*Japanese style name placement: Family Name, Given Name.

Book Review: Sorako

Title: Sorako

Mangaka (Author/Artist): Takayuki Fujimura

Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ (4)

Yay! It’s been awhile since I've had a manga to review! This is a bit different from the mangas I normally read for review because before Sorako was licensed with an English language publisher, it began as a doujinshi. Simply put, doujinshi are independent books created and distributed by the managka at doujinshi conventions and other anime/manga fan events. Artists use this method as a way to share their hobby, create fan fiction, get noticed in the industry, and build their brand. Since doujinshi is often overlooked by Western readers (although this is not the case with BL readers), I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered Gen Manga Entertainment – a publishing company devoted to bringing independent manga to English readers.

Sorako is comprised of a series of one-shots, all of which feature young women who have left high school behind and have joined the adult world. While all of the stories have a slice of life flavor to them, the main characters give off an aimless feeling – they have vague goals, no goals, missed opportunities, and are uncertain about the future before them.

The title story is about a young woman named Sorako who is fresh out of high school and looking for a job. She dislikes her town and lacks enthusiasm toward anything – except her dog Toma. She seems content to just live her life day by day without putting too much effort into anything.

Probably my favorite story from the book is “A Boring Breakfast”. It’s about a young married woman who befriends a boy she meets at the library. She is dissatisfied with her mundane life and the separate lives she and her husband are leading. The boy is shy and self-conscious but manages to open up to this young woman. It’s a lovely platonic relationship between two awkward people who encourage each other to make changes in their lives.

You can’t talk about manga without saying something about the art. Well, Fujimura’s art is beautiful. The lines and panels are clean and simple. The backgrounds add to the atmosphere but don’t distract the eye. Because this is a doujinshi, some panels have a rough, almost pencil drawn look to them, which can sometimes be a little distracting but overall it adds to the slice of life vibe.

I really wish I could do half cups because I feel this is a solid 3.5 but I rounded up to a 4 for simplicity's sake. Ultimately what prevented me from giving this a solid 4 was the length of the stories. This is an issue I have with a lot of one shots. I feel like the main idea of each story would be clearer if there was another 2-3 pages between the climax and the end. Overall Sorako was a quick and enjoyable read. Fujimura is a very talented artist and promising storyteller and I hope to see more of their work in the future – independent and mainstream. 

**NetGalley provided me with an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

***Note: Japanese manga is read right to left***

Book Review: Pride and Prejudice Manga

Title: Pride and Prejudice

Author: Jane Austen

Adapted by: Stacy King

Art: Po Tse

Release Date: August 12, 2014

Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕

My Thoughts:

I love Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”. Love it. Which is why I unconsciously cringe every time I hear of a new adaptation, sequel, or inspired by… version of one of my favorite books. I tried to keep an open mind but time and again I've been disappointed, so now I go in expecting the worst. Miraculously I have read two really good adaptations this month. (see this post) One of them was the new manga adaptation from Udon Entertainment.

Adapting any book for manga is difficult and this was no different. Obviously certain scenes and characters were altered or removed in order to keep the flow of the manga. Editor Stacy King did a fairly good job picking the best parts to keep and made an effort to use as much original dialogue as possible. There were only a few panels that I felt were not true to the spirit of the original text, but they didn’t affect the rest of the story so I was able to overlook it. Of course this wouldn't be a manga without the stunning artwork by mangaka Po Tse. Everything was beautifully done, from the characters to the background, even the SD panels were well thought out. The lines were clean and there was lots of detail, which is remarkable considering the volume is nearly 400 pages. You can tell Po Tse did a lot of research and put a lot of time and effort into every panel. Although most of the outfits were accurate of the Regency period (but the Bennet family was dressed a bit too nicely for their station in society) there were some outfits (mostly outerwear and accessories) that had a Victorian look to them. That is just the history major in me being nit-picky.

However there was one issue I had with the text that bothered me, lack of consistency with names and prefixes. Ladies would never refer to a gentleman by their last name only, but Elizabeth frequently says ‘Darcy’ instead of ‘Mr. Darcy’. The other glaring example was Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Sometimes she was referred to as Lady Catherine and other times she was called Mrs. de Bourgh. I know it sounds like a minor issue but it sticks out like a sore thumb when the editor put so much effort into everything else.

While the die-hard Jane Austen fan may not enjoy it as much as I did, just for the art alone it is worth reading. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys Jane Austen, manga, or romance novels. 

**A copy of this manga was provided by Udon Entertainment through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Book Review: One is Enough

Title: One is Enough

Author: Love, Julianne Neville (Translator)

Publish Date: August 12, 2014

Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕

My Thoughts:

Let me start by saying I read a lot of BL. I’m familiar with all the common tropes and clichés. Unfortunately, Love’s “One is Enough” just doesn't stand out from the many BL manga available. The story begins with 16 year old Matsumoto Yuu stumbling into a dark room where he meets bleeding upperclassman Mizushima Shizuku. From there on the story moves at a fast pace hitting trope after trope – love at first sight, tsundere seme, annoying uke, non-con situations, love triangle, etc…. The heart of the story had potential but everything moved too fast and the story telling suffered for it. Both main characters are emotionally fragile but the story only briefly touches on why and then moves on without a real resolution.

 I had a difficult time sympathizing with Mizushima and Matsumoto, I just didn't like them. The character I did like however was Matsumoto’s friend Sora. He was strong and unlike Matsumoto, he was able to pick himself up and move on. Yes, he did let Matsumoto take advantage of him. And yes, to some extent he took advantage of Matsumoto, but in the end he still behaved as his friend and helped him, even at the cost of his own happiness.

Sometimes I’m willing to overlook some story flaws if the art is good. But art, like the story was rushed and inconsistent. Some pages would have clean lines and nice paneling and then two pages later the art looked like a rough draft or incomplete. I think that if the mangaka could have expanded the story into two volumes the art would be more consistent, the story would have flowed better and the reader would have a better idea about Mizushima’s back story and Matsumoto’s struggles as he discovers his sexuality.

Overall “One is Enough” is not bad, but it’s not good either. For someone who is new to BL this might satisfy them, but for those who read BL on a regular basis, the story feels rushed, incomplete, and unsatisfying.

I received this ebook for free in exchange for an honest review.