Special Others - Light

Yes, I'm still alive! Sorry for the lack of updates, I moved back to Australia recently, so there was a lot of down time and general house moving business.

There has been a lot happening in the last few months. I'm excited by the new Special Others album that's coming out October 8th. It's an all acoustic album called Light, and features 6 new tracks as well as 4 classic SPA tracks including Waiting for the Sun, and BEN. If you get in quick it comes with a DVD.

Also, I have a big backlog of manga titles to get through. I've been really enjoying Matsumoto Taiyo's Sunny. Volume 5 came out back in May, but I'm still on volume 3. Inoue Takehiko's Vagabond (37) was out back in July, and it won't be long until the release of Real (14). Space Brothers (24) and Billy Bat (15) were out this week. And best of all, next week sees the long awaited release of Asano Inio's new one, Dead Dead Demons D-D-D-D-Destruction. Crazy title and all.

Real #13

Takehiko Inoue's (井上雄彦) Real (リアル) is always my most anticipated manga release of the year. I wait all year, spend an hour or two devouring it, and then begins the next year long wait for next November.

Volume 13 takes a break from the regular story line of wheelchair basketball, and focuses on one of the secondary characters, professional wrestler 'Scorpion' Shiratori (スコーピオン白鳥). Through a serious of flashbacks we are shown Scorpion's background, wrestling history, and what drives him to keep pushing himself even in the face of a debilitating spinal injury.

This is why I am drawn to Inoue's Real, I have no interest in basketball, or professional wrestling, but the depth of Inoue's characters is something that keeps me enthralled, a depth that I've rarely seen in another manga series. Inoue's passion for the people and their lives is shown through his involvement and promotion of the related sporting communities in real life.

For those who can't wait, you could always pick it up episodically in Young Jump starting with chapter 79 on November 28th.

Check out the Real webpage: http://youngjump.jp/real/
Takehiko Inoue online: http://www.itplanning.co.jp/
And on Twitter: https://twitter.com/inouetake

Vagabond #36

It's a bit intimidating picking up and start reading a series on the 36th volume, but I'm a huge fan of the work of Takehiko Inoue (井上雄彦) so I thought it was time to jump into the long running saga of Vagabond (バガボンド).

Although Inoue is most well known for the basketball classic Slam Dunk (スラムダンク), it was the annual wheelchair basketball series Real (リアル) that brought his work to my attention. All of Inoue's work shares a common theme, from Basketball to Bushido, they focus on artistic movement of the human body, and Inoue's amazing ability as an artist is shown in the care taken with the facial emotion of his characters.

Vagabond tells the story of Musashi Miyamoto (宮本武蔵), a ronin (masterless samurai), from the 16th-17th century. Inoue draws on the historical fiction of Eiji Yoshikawa (吉川英治), which has been translated in English by Charles Terry. Musashi himself was also an artist and author, his most famous work is the guide on strategy and tactics, The Book of Five Rings (五輪の書).

One of the most celebrated swordsman in Japanese history, there have been multiple film and TV adaptations of Mushashi's story. The most highly acclaimed being the 1955 Academy Award winning Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto directed by Hiroshi Inagaki (稲垣浩), and featuring samurai screen legend Mifune Toshiro (敏郎三舟).

Morning Comics: http://morning.moae.jp/lineup/15

Takehiko Inoue: http://www.itplanning.co.jp/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/inouetake

April Round-Up

I hope everyone enjoyed their spring break. It's been a busy April, and I've been side tracked by work and spring break. But there were some notable releases in the past few weeks.

Haruki Murakami's latest book, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (色彩を持たない田崎つくると、彼の巡礼の年) has stormed up the best seller list. I haven't picked up a copy yet, but the books release highlights the reluctance of the Japanese publishing industry to move to digital distribution, as I haven't been able to find it in epub format.

Kentaro Miura's Berserk volume 37 was released. I'm still back in volume 11, but slowly catching up when I have some spare time.

And Takehiko Inoue's samurai masterpiece Vagabond is up to volume 35, which is a series that is on my to-read list. I'm a huge fan of the annually released wheelchair basketball series, Real.

Real #12

There is always the argument in western media about the artistic value of comics and video games. And while The Watchmen and no The Walking Dead have pushed comic into a more mainstream awareness, and given some legitimacy to the claim for the comic as an art form  Ico, Limbo, and Braid similarly making the claim for video games. Both forms of entertainment have taken great strides toward becoming accepted as a popular art form.

If I had to nominated a series and artists that are similarly elevating manga, I would choose Tekehiko Inoue's Real. After achieving fame with the Shonen series, Slam Dunk, Real avoids all the common manga tropes to tell a story of depth and character.

With a new volume only being released every November, it is a bit difficult to remember where the story is up to, but included with volume 12 is an 80 page re-cap of the previous 11 volumes, along with character profiles of the 3 main characters and their relationships.

Volume 12 focuses on 19 year old Kiyogawa Togawa, the very driven and proud wheel chair basketball player, who is always pushing himself to be the best he can be, but often finds himself alienating his teammates with his individuality. Tomomi Nomiya makes a brief appearance toward the end, and I'm looking forward to finding out how his trial with the professional team, Tokyo Lightnings, went. I'm not sure I can wait a whole year to find out, I may have to start picking up Weekly Jump when ever Real makes an appearance.

More Info:
Real 12: http://real-12.com
Takehiko Inoue's twitter: https://twitter.com/inouetake
Takehiko Inoue's homepage: http://www.itplanning.co.jp

Manga Artists on Twitter

With Twitter being one of the more popular social networks in Japan, it's a good way to keep up with your favourite mangaka. Some recommendations:

Kengo Hanazawa (https://twitter.com/hanamanko)
The newest artists to pop up on my radar, I wrote about I Am A Hero the other day. And his previous manga, Boys On The Run, received a bit of attention and a movie adaptation.

Takehiko Inoue (https://twitter.com/inouetake)
Definitely one of the highest profile mangaka on Twitter. His art is amazing, and he always has so many different projects on the go. Vagabond is a behemoth that I would love to start reading, but with 34 volumes and counting, it's not going to happen soon. Also popular for his basketball themed Slam Dunk and Real. Real is probably my favourite manga series of all time, and I'm not even interested in basketball.

Inio Asano (https://twitter.com/asano_inio)
Asano is my favourite mangaka. His art is amazing, characters are so well drawn, against some breathtaking inner city backdrops. He writes a lot of small 1-2 volume stories. Solanin was turned into a movie a few years ago. I'm not sure how to describe his current series, Oyasumi Pun Pun. I was very enchanted by the story, setting, and characters when I started, but when you are dealing honestly, bluntly with the topic of awkward teenage boy sexual maturity, things can get... awkward, especially when the main character is also a bird in a human world.