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recentanimenews · 4 years

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Bookshelf Briefs 9/30/20

Accomplishments of the Duke’s Daughter, Vol. 6 | By Reai and Suki Umemiya | Seven Seas – Another series down to “once a year” release—I had to jog my memory at the start to recall what had been happening. Many things are going wrong for our heroine, who is trying to be strong and tough but is also starting to break down, and I felt that the scenes with her and Dean struck just the right balance of comforting and letting the heroine cry without making her seem weaker. This sets the stage for her comeback, which is extraordinary. (And also has a corrupt Church, a constant in Japanese light novels, though at least here there are also honest and good religious people in it.) That said, eventually Dean’s identity will come out, and I do wonder how this very good “villainess” isekai will handle it. – Sean Gaffney

The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Jack Flash and the Faerie Case Files, Vol. 1 | By Yu Godai, Mako Oikawa, and Kore Yamazaki | Seven Seas – A faerie switched at birth for a human child, Jack never fit in in either world. Only in the mortal realm could she earn money for anime collectibles, however, so she decided to make herself into a tough, capable woman like her literary heroes and set up shop as a detective. Together with her fellow changeling, Larry the werewolf, Jack takes on supernatural cases in New York City. In this volume, Lindel tasks them with tracking down a missing dragon egg. I liked the resources Jack uses to obtain information, which include a dapper theatre ghost and a spell with components of rat whiskers and taxi tires because “Nobody out there knows this city better than them.” I still found this a bit hard to get into, though, especially the parts involving a perpetually tearful off-off-off-off-Broadway actress and her pickpocket boyfriend. Still, I will check out volume two! – Michelle Smith

Black Clover, Vol. 22 | By Yuki Tabata | Viz Media – At long last, this interminable arc comes to an end. I enjoyed a lot of it, but I cannot deny it should have been about two volumes shorter. Most of the book is taken up by shonen battles, with the villain being nigh unkillable, the heroes almost breaking themselves to stop him, etc. Fortunately, the day is saved, and even the Wizard King turns out to be… sort of alive again? Shota fans should be happy. Asta fans perhaps less so—the sheer amount of damage done to the kingdom in this arc means someone has to be blamed, and give Asta has the “dark evil magic” it’s gonna be him, especially when he takes the incredibly obvious bait they use to get him to fight. Oh well, if Asta were smart, this wouldn’t be Black Clover. – Sean Gaffney

Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, Vol. 3 | By Nanashi | Vertical Comics – Part of the problem with titles like this and the other teasing works (Takagi-san less so as Nishikata doesn’t fall into the category) is that they are, at heart, the classic “extroverted girl acts overtly extroverted to bring introverted guy out of their shell,” and that’s not really a plot that feels comfortable in the Gen Z days, where you’re more likely to say “why doesn’t she just let him be in his quiet, safe space?” And by she I mean they, as Nagatoro’s two friends appear far more often here, which offers some good two-way teasing action, as they clearly see her crush on him, if not why. It’s still sort of hard to read, but if you pretend he’s more OK with it than he actually is, this is cute. – Sean Gaffney

Failed Princesses, Vol. 1 | By Ajiichi | Seven Seas – The concept of “popular girl meets unpopular girl” is a common one in yuri manga, and we do indeed hit several of its tropes in this first volume. The amusing thing is that Kanade, the shy outcast girl, is perfectly aware of how things are supposed to go, and keeps pulling back a bit to try to save Nanaki from, well, making herself an outcast by associating with the wrong people. The best part of the volume is that Nanaki really doesn’t give two shits about any of that, and seems set on making Kanade her best friend… and also making her over, which backfires a bit as Kanade cleans up nicely. I hear this gets a bit dramatic later, but for the moment it’s a cute and fluffy proto-yuri story. – Sean Gaffney

In/Spectre, Vol. 12 | By Kyo Shirodaira and Chashiba Katase | Kodansha Comics – The first story in this volume is another “Rikka tries to make people understand Kotoko is an evil Machiavellian schemer,” this time with one of her ex-classmates, but again the response seems to be “we know she’s a manipulative bitch, but she’s a good person anyway.” The larger story, which will continue into the next book, seems to be a chance to write Kuro and Kotoko as an actual romance, as the man we meet here and his relationship with a yuki-onna… as well as his penchant for attracting misfortune… very much parallel them. That said, they’re very cute together, which is why I hope he avoids the murder charge he’s now being investigated for. Still a favorite. – Sean Gaffney

Interviews with Monster Girls, Vol. 8 | By Petos | Kodansha Comics – The author knows what people want to see, but also knows that the best way to get readers is to drive them crazy by not showing it. We finally get what we’ve been begging for here, as Tetsuo asks Sakie out on a date. (This is after rejecting Kyouko’s love confession, both because she’s his student and also, as he is forced to admit, as he likes Sakie.) The stage is set for the date… and the rest of the book is thus spent with the three main student girls going to Kyouko’s for a fireworks viewing and meeting her family. They’re good chapters, and I really liked showing how difficult Kyouko has it as a dullahan in terms of everyday life, but GOD, please get back to the teachers, I beg you! – Sean Gaffney

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 16 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – The series has gotten to the point where the more rewarding chapters are the ones as part of a larger arc. Not that the one-shot chapters are bad—though Maki’s journey to India may be the most pointless thing in this entire series to date, we do get Chika’s iconic “shut up or I’ll kill you” here. But the larger arcs, featuring Miyuki and Kaguya attempting to date without interruptions, and setting up Ishigami and Iino for a romance—though given the number of limbs broken in this book, and Iino’s own horrible lack of self-awareness, it may be a ways out—are better. This series is still hilarious, but we’ve come to read it more for the heartwarming moments. Heck, there’s even some serious drama here. Very good. – Sean Gaffney

Nineteen | By Ancco | Drawn & Quarterly – Although it was translated and released second in English, Nineteen is a precursor to Ancco’s internationally award-winning manhwa Bad Friends. The volume collects thirteen short comics originally published in Korea over a decade ago which absolutely remain relevant to today’s world. While understandably not as polished as some of Ancco’s later work—one can observe her style evolving and growing over the course of the collection (which is fascinating)—the comics still carry significant emotional weight and impact. Nineteen includes diary comics, which tend to be more lighthearted, as well as harder-hitting fictional stories, many of which also have autobiographical inspiration. As a whole, the collection explores themes of young adulthood, growing up, and complicated family relationships. In particular, there is a compelling focus on the relationships among daughters, mothers, and grandmothers. Some of the narratives can be rather bleak, but a resigned sense of humor threads through Nineteen, too. – Ash Brown

Ran the Peerless Beauty, Vol. 8 | By Ammitsu | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Shoujo manga that has couples getting together BEFORE the end of the series is inevitably going to have an arc dealing with how far the lead couple should go now that they’re dating, and this is Ran’s turn, as she and Akira and their friends go to a beach house Ran’s family owns and have some beach fun. Unfortunately, the cast gets winnowed down one by one until it’s just the two of them… and her overprotective father, who arrives in time to provide the cliffhanger and no doubt ensure that nookie does not ensue. Not that I think it should—these two kids are even purer than the couple from Kimi ni Todoke, and I think they should mature a bit more before going further. Plus, watching them blush and kiss is wonderful. – Sean Gaffney

Spy x Family, Vol. 2 | By Tatsuya Endo | Viz Media – Having spent our first volume establishing that our found family can really come to love each other deep down, this volume shows off how they are also, at heart, fundamentally awkward and unable to socialize normally. This is unsurprising—hints of Loid’s life we’ve seen show him as a war orphan, Yor is a contract killer, and Anya basically grew up being experimented on by bad guys. As the school soon finds, this leads to issues. The second half of the book introduces Yor’s sister-obsessed little brother Yuri, who turns out to be a torture expert for Loid’s enemies. As always, half the fun is that everyone except Anya has no idea who their real selves are, and the cliffhanger tells us we’re in for some hilarious family fun. I love this. – Sean Gaffney

Spy x Family, Vol. 2 | By Tatsuya Endo | VIZ Media – After a brief spell atop the waiting list, Anya officially makes it into Eden Academy. Loid is anxious to progress to the next stage of his mission and, believing there’s not much chance in turning Anya into an elite scholar like his agency wants, focuses instead on having her befriend the younger son of his target. It does not go to plan, of course. Anya is very cute in this volume, and I also really appreciated how Loid genuinely listens to Yor and values her input. The arrival of Yor’s brother, a member of the secret police, is going to be a fun complication, and another cast member with a secret, but my favorite part of this series is probably always going to be how much love these three are already feeling for each other. So unique and good! – Michelle Smith

Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization, Vol. 6 | By Tomo Hirokawa, based on the story by Reki Kawahara | Yen Press – The weakness of this manga is the same as always—it’s written to tie into the games, and features several characters I just don’t recognize, which can be a problem given this is the big final let’s-save-the-world ending. That said, this is still a decent SAO title. Kirito gets to be cool and badass, but because this isn’t written just by Kawahara others do as well, and it’s a nice balanced effort that focuses on heroine Premiere. I also really liked the point where all the NPCs are worried when everyone has to log out for several days for maintenance. While I’ll still remember this as the “SAO only everyone is alive” manga, I enjoyed reading it, when I wasn’t confused. – Sean Gaffney

By: Ash Brown

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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secretgamergirl · 6 years

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Let’s talk about how Ranma is trans, part 3

Continued from Part 2.

The main thing going on in Volume 21 is Ranma getting drawn into a cheerleading contest. I’m only bringing this up because my gut says there’s going to be a while because I have something to talk about, and it’s a good reminder that stuff like this is absurdly common in this series, and I’m not desperate enough for examples to need to grasp at straws like this:

Ranma’s compulsive competitive streak rationalizes everything going on this page, and doesn’t particularly provide any evidence of her actually being a girl, beyond her prioritizing this victory over the humiliation and dysphoria a boy would be subjecting himself to in going down this road (which includes spending a week dating Kuno on the next page).

Now, the fact that this arc ends with Akane giving a heavy sigh at how this was Ranma’s plan A, personally going the direct route of just throwing on some kendo gear and participating in the actual martial arts competition Ranma felt compelled to cheerlead for, inspiring Ranma to cheer for her instead, and confess her love for the mysterious stranger she thinks is some mystery guy before she’s unmasked, that’s pretty telling.

Like, I don’t actually see a longterm relationship between the two of them ultimately working out, but it’s not hard to imagine this series ending with them getting married, and I can only picture that wedding ceremony with Akane in a suit and Ranma in a big poofy bridal gown. I mean, I’ve read the actual ending, and that’s still the only way I can picture it, you know?

... oh and Volume 22 picks up from here, with the gasping crowd pondering if Ranma is in girl mode when they have sex. This is relevant here as a reminder that at this point Ranma is totally out of the closet. Everyone knows about the whole curse thing, and it’s been like 18 volumes since she last attempted to pretend she was some mysterious stranger when publicly in girl mode. Also while totally off the mark of how physically intimate these two are, I appreciate that this random guy in the crowd has my back on how obviously Akane would top. That’s generally the rule of thumb when trans women date cis women by the way. There’s obviously exceptions, and I don’t want to get too sidetracked here, but, random crowd guy’s imagination is much closer to reality than most people’s.

V22C2 however is very, very significant to my whole thesis here, being the introduction of Ranma’s mother, seen here fishing Ranma out of the river after she “accidentall” falls in by walking on a faulty chain link fence:

I already got into things with Nodoka here in part 1 of this series, but seriously, this whole arc here is hard for me to get through now. A mother who is outwardly incredibly sweet and kind, especially towards total strangers, while quietly deeply conservative about traditional gender roles, and who threatens to kill her own trans daughter if she deviates from the “manly man” role she envisions for her hits entirely too close to home for me today.

Also for some reason, since starting this series, like a dozen people have gotten upset with me for referring to Genma being abusive in the same fashion, but aside from the general abusive nature of that relationship, no, the suicide pact of manliness was totally his idea. People just edit their memories because we’re all conditioned to blame women for everything.

So now we’ve got this flashback to having an infant Ranma “sign a contract” by pouring ink on her hand and letting her slap a piece of paper as Nodaka reminds everyone how seriously she’s taking this. Ranma blurts out “Ranko” as a cover name to avoid being outed to her. Real trans people almost never go that route, but it took me years to work out what I wanted to change mine name to officially. You take your time and keep thinking about it girl.

Ranma’s reaction to this information is getting, justifiably, quite angry at Genma for making this agreement, as she is now forced to deceive her mother, instead of immediately coming out to her. By the way, here’s Ranma getting mad at Akane for referring to her as manly and handsome in boy mode. Like, yeah, mitigating factor that you’re lying to prevent her from getting murdered, but it is incredibly painful to hear that sort of misgendering crap from people you care about in any circumstances.

... OK I don’t want to waste my whole scan pasting budget on this book when there’s still so many to go in this batch, but I could paste in every page. Nabiki of all people (Akane’s sister, sells candid nudes of Ranma to dudes who have crushes on her) refuses to go along with the lie here. When asked how Ranma spends all her spare time fighting (which is technically true), she corrects that to spending all her time running around in increasingly feminine costumes. Some “they were saying Boo-urns” later, Ranma asks her what the hell, and turns out she isn’t just trying to be a jerk. Her mom’s long dead, and the thought of Ranma missing out on a serious emotional reconnection to her mother because she’s scared of how she’ll react to her “son” being a girl. On the one hand, that is a surprisingly sincere and real feeling bit of character development for an otherwise largely one-dimensional character who normally comes across as a heartless jerk. On the other hand, SCREW YOU NABIKI! YOU DO NOT OUT TRANS PEOPLE TO THEIR ABUSIVE FAMILY LIKE THAT! IT CAN GET PEOPLE KILLED, AND YOU ACTUALLY KNOW THAT!

Soun encourages her to stay closeted around her, but try and form as much of a positive connection as she can otherwise, which is a much healthier approach. Mostly this means hanging out with her in girl mode hoping she doesn’t catch on. She tries actually approaching him in boy mode, usually thwarted by shenanigans because this is a comedy. The one time she actually reaches her though, just before introducing herself as her “son,” she hears her speculating that maybe Ranma is avoiding her because Ranma really isn’t manly.

... OK I could stop this whole analysis on that first panel there. This isn’t subtext at this point. That’s not performative dialog. That’s Ranma talking to herself about how she feels better embracing her femininity, as she voluntarily activates her “curse,” having realized that she is so undeniably, fundamentally female that she can no longer convincingly pull off pretending to be a boy.At this point in the series, she’s clearly no longer an egg in heavy denial. She has had that contemplative moment every trans woman goes through eventually where we break through every lie we told ourselves about who we really are growing up, accepted who she really is, and knows you can’t ever go back at that point. Good for you Ranma, I know how hard pushing past that emotional wall can be, especially when it means alienating family like this.

The rest of that volume is light gag stuff, although there is a bit where Ranma ponders if she’s changed in some fundamental way where girls no longer like her. Volume 23 brings Pantyhose Taro back He’s still an openly transphobic creep, I still hate him. Ranma still glares at him over the slurs, but notably never tries to defend herself by claiming to be a guy. Oh and Nodoka shows up again, to teach the girls to cook. Complex feelings from Ranma there, obviously.

Also, I’m not going to throw up a scan for this one, because I’m trying to avoid pages with topless girls, but a good chunk of this volume involves Ryoga accidentally hitting Ranma with this magical Cupid’s Arrow type fishing rod, causing her to fall in love with him, and... yeah it’s made pretty clear that she prefers to be in girl mode if she’s going to sleep with someone.

Volume 24 introduces Herb, the final curse victim in the series, having fallen into the same spring Ranma did. Herb however is clearly a guy. He’s actually doubly cursed, having been hit with a magic ladle that locks people in curse forms unless hit with a matching unlocking artifact (which Ranma is also hit with, and a couple others as this arc goes on), but rather than going “Welp, I guess I’ll start wearing cute dresses and dating guys! every time I can rationalize it even a little!“ he... wears really form-concealing clothes and does his best to not even let his own underlings know he’s cursed.

That arc stretches into Volume 25, followed by a really arbitrary fight against a new teacher, with a goal of sealing away her terrifying fighting technique, just because, which everyone gives up on after a final gag. Writing gets kinda sloppy in some of these later story arcs, motivation wise. I was going to say the Herb arc makes a really strong case for genderfluid vs. female for Ranma (and again, we can totally share representation here), because other than fixing that curse freeeze, there is literally no motive for them to fight, but... that’s pretty common in the back half of the series. Fighting for fighting’s sake is Ranma’s overriding motivation in general, which is why I keep passing on using most fights as evidence.

Volume 26 is about fighting a hydra and centers characters who aren’t characters. Akane looks good in drag. See again my wedding outfit thoughts.

Volume 27 is also a lot of wacky gag stuff not really focused on Ranma. I need to break all this text up though so, Ranma buys a new bathing suit for every beach trip.

Volume 28 is 100% about some random one off villain showing up in town, pretending to be Ranma, to steal something from Nodoka. You’d think I’d have more to talk about, considering, but it doesn’t really move the plot forward at all.

Volume 29 is all throwing stories to neglected side characters.

Volume 30 starts off by giving Ryoga a new love interest, in the hopes of being able to maybe pair people off in actually healthy ways, but THE HEART WANTS WHAT IT WANTS.

Yeah that’s just a random gag to hit the reset button (Ranma helped him avoid another girlfriend-doesn’t-know-the-cute-pig-is-you thing, see) but I’m coming in way under budget on images and way too serious on tone so the shipping will continue. But seriously she misconstrues that and leaves and he can’t find her again because of the easily lost thing.

Not a whole lot more to say here. Hinako, the teacher Ranma arbitrarily fights actually comes back a LOT for a character I forgot even existed, introduced this late in the series. Nodoka shows up again towards the end here, and they go all “5 second rule!” with it but she’s kinda putting the pieces together here:

This look at the original manga run concludes next time. I mean, in the sense that I’m going to run out of manga to reread. In the sense of proving my overall point, that happened the second I hit this panel:

#trans reading #ranma 1/2 #ranma #trans

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patrickmmeaney · 7 years

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Buffy at 20

The past twenty years have seen a succession of amazing TV shows, with the biggest and most acclaimed actors in the world starring in series with effects more dazzling than anything you can see at the movies. But, despite all of that, there’s no show in that time that’s quite matched what Buffy the Vampire Slayer did. There’s been all kinds of retrospectives on the show for its twentieth anniversary, and it’s great to see that the show continues to draw acclaim in spite of questionable fashions, dated effects and varying quality during the series’ run.

I’ve seen a lot of people say that the show would be better if it was made today with a 13 episode per season format that trims out the “filler,” and keeps us focused on the big stories. No one’s going to deny that Buffy lacks the consistency of a show like Game of Thrones or The Wire, where you know every episode’s going to be good.

But, I think so much of the show’s charm lies in the fact that the seasons are so long, and that there’s ups and downs in episode quality along the way. The thing that makes Buffy special is that you love the characters and enjoy spending time with them no matter what. So, I’d rather watch even the worst episode of Buffy (”Beer Bad” if you’re wondering) than the best episode of most shows.

TV has moved towards more of a “ten hour movie” format, a way to view that is reinforced by binge watching and dropping a whole season at once. That fits for shows that are ultimately telling one story. But, Buffy was not about story as much as it was about the characters’ lives. Watching a 22 episode season you get the sense of time passing, and feel like these characters have lives outside of just what we see on screen, and you form a bond with them.

Buffy took chances. The cast changed, and the later seasons took Buffy and the other characters down a dark and winding path. I like the early high school seasons of the show quite a bit, but it’s season 5 and 6 that stick in my mind. Six in particular was an incredible deconstruction of the concept of hero and villain, and consistently shocking throughout.

So, if you haven’t ever watched Buffy, it might look a bit dated on the surface, but it’s still one of the absolute best shows of all time, and twenty years later, feels as relevant and urgent as ever.

#buffy the vampire slayer #buffy

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