This week's question comes from Hiroshima and asks "What's something you decorate your home or workplace with?"
Tonikaku Cawaii (Kenjiro Hata): iPhone.
Fire Rabbit!! (Aya Hirakawa): The birthday presents I get from my family!
Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid (Koharu Inoue): Volume six is out in stores. Please enjoy it.
MAO (Rumiko Takahashi): Reprints of "Ashita no Joe" artwork.
Ponkotsu-chan kenshochuu (Tsubasa Fukuchi): Pictures of cats.
Be Blues! (Motoyuki Tanaka): I'd say I display trophies in my place but it's more like I just sorta toss around them and leave them where they lay...
Maiko-san chi no Makanai-san (Aiko Koyama): Adachi (Mitsuru)'s autographed cigarettes.
Daiku no Hatou (Michiteru Kusaba): Gifts I've received --like stuff I've had signed.
Yuko sae tatakaeba (Sei Fukui): (It's less that I decorate with them and more like I just kind of have them in storage) ...but letters from the fans!
Detective Conan (Gosho Aoyama): A picture of Minami-chan signed by Adachi-sensei. (Lol)
Komi-san wa Komyusho desu (Tomohito Oda): Test prints of Komi-san's logo!
Kimi wa 008 (Syun Matsuena): A poster of "Lord of the Rings" I got ten years ago...but it doesn't hold any specific importance to me. ^^;;
Souboutei Kowasubeshi (Kazuhiro Fujita): You're talking to a maniac collector here. I have the Zat Rabbit Panda model. (Lol) (TN- This is a vehicle from Ultraman.)
Amano Megumi Suki darake! (Nekoguchi): I've got autographs from various creators.
Aozakura Bouei daigakkou monogatari (Hikaru Nikaido): A G pen pentip that Rumiko Takahashi gave me.
switch (Atsushi Namikiri) Empty PET bottles. (TN- these are easy to recycle bottles made from lower grade materials.)
Maojo de Oyasumi (Kagiji Kumanomata): I've got lots of jewelry because I love it, but if an alien saw my collection they'd wonder why I have so many rocks.
Chrono Magia: Infinity Gear (Hikaru Muno): A signed illustration from Gosho Aoyama.
Zettai Karen Children (Takashi Shiina): Unopened plastic models that I've treasured for years, or at this point should I say have stockpiled?
Hoankan Evans no Uso ~Dead or Love~ (Mizuki Kuriyama): An unused KSM X KSG Cap hangs from my wall.
Birdmen (Yellow Tanabe): I'm not sure if I treasure it or not, but a bust of Nike I bought when I first got serialized.
Sokyuu no Ariadne (Norihiro Yagi): An actual Claymore. (TN- Pretty sure he means from his previous serialization "Claymore" and not a bomb, hah.)
Undine wa Kyou mo Koi wo suru ka? (Shinya Misu): I've always had a stuffed Owl doll hanging around.
RYOKO (Kaito Mitsuhashi): Autographs from my masters, teachers and assistants. A mysterious lease.
Tantei Xeno to Nanatsu no Satsujin Misshitsu (Kyouichi Nanatsuki): "Cyborg Warrior Vega" and "Jabberwock".
Gofun go no Sekai (Hiroshi Fukuda): An autographed picture that Aoyama-sensei drew for me!!
Anonatsu 1959 (Ashibi Fukui): A picture of Bishamonten that my grandfather drew. (TN- Also known as Vaisravana, a guardian god of Buddhism.)
Youkai Giga (Satsuki Satou): Akina Nakamori's tears. (TN- Nakamori is a singer, and Satou is probably referencing one of her singles "I'm not made of tears" released in 1984. There's a whole long pun going on here that I really don't have to space to explain, heh...)
Tokaichi Hitoribocchi Nouen (Yuuji Yokoyama): Reproduced artwork from "Touch" and "Buddha". (TN- The first is a series by Mitsuru Adachi, and the second is a series by Osamu Tezuka).
A lot of autographs going on here! Though really if I could get Fukuchi, Mitsuhashi and Fujita to sign something for me I'd probably hang it up for everyone to see too. I like that some were just like. "Well, it's not really that I 'decorate' with this thing as much as it exists in my house for reasons I don't quite remember." Manga artists are people too after all, haha. I'm not sure what "Nike" Tanabe means....the one that comes to mind is the protagonist from Hiroyuki Eto's series "Mahoujin Guruguru". Though I can't tell if that's who she means or if there's something else I'm missing. My favorite of the week would have to be Hata's --pure, simple, relatable. (Plus easy to translate.)
Fukuchi's...mild ride? It seems like a misnomer to call this a "wild ride" since it's not moving very fast or in a particularly raucous manner, but "mild ride" seems kind of, well, mean. Ah, let me not get caught up on particulars. Ponkotsu is moving in directions, and I'm all for it. The power this week is rife for romantic shenanigans, (when Yumesaki sneezes, whatever she's holding gets stuck to her) which surprisingly Fukuchi plays pretty well...mildly. (I'm sorry). I feel like in another author's hands this would have been embarrassing for Mito and Yumesaki (and quite frankly embarrassing to read), but Fukuchi plays it mostly straight --they get stuck to each other and holding hands have no choice but to walk through public with people assuming they're a cute couple. I have to give it to Fukuchi, he managed, no, manages to take the romantic tropes, strip them of their sensationalism but yet keep things cute and fluffy. It's almost quaint in an old fashioned way --but his heavy dose of weirdness keeps it from being boring. I still think Fukuchi is best when he's doing battle manga, but I admit --he might just be cut out for romantic comedies as well if he can keep this delicate balance going. Though the real kicker is at the end of the chapter where Yumesaki gets a text from god saying that tomorrow they'll be going on a "mission". I doubt this will suddenly turn into one of Fukuchi's strange ability manga like the ones that preceded this, but you better bet that I'm excited to see if he'll add at least some of those elements to this rom-com.
Souboutei continues it's lull in activities again this week too. I still think this is entertaining stuff, but I'd totally understand other more action starved fans clamoring for the plot to get moving. Although I personally like reading manga as they're released as opposed to binging it all at once, this is a case where perhaps reading several chapters together would be a preferable alternative. It does all come off as an attempt on Fujita's part to give background on these characters before launching into the final battle(s) (Similar to how Saike handled it's final arc), and on a baser level I appreciate it. That being said, it does come off as "too little too late", or rather as bad timing since the plot just now seems to have sorted itself out and is advancing. Still, background information on some of our heroes isn't a bad thing right? Like Zanka and Makoto actually having a conversation not as commander and minion, but as two people about the situation they've found themselves in as refugees of the time flow, and Yadorigi sharing her grandfather's (drunken) war stories, it's all very...Sunday for lack of better words. Admittedly I find myself wondering if Yadorigi's story really needed to take up as much of the chapter as it does since it doesn't really seem to tie into the main plot at all, but I'm down with Fujita surprising me as the story unfolds.
That's not to say nothing happens --perish the thought! With GPS imaging of the Souboutei from above, Dr. Auguste is able to pinpoint where everyone is. Though that being said --where will they find Sakamaki himself? Turns out the sisters who have their eyes back can answer that question, and they do in a specifically eerie way. Now with the target's location identified, is the group ready to take on this possibly final confrontation?
We've seen Evans at his best, so now we gander at him at his most pathetic. I'm not being rude! Take a gander at that frontispiece --sure it looks like he took a nasty fall but the only thing that's actually injured is his finger --Evans is looking for cred! Having his arm slung up like that --if he's still able to work then it's likely ladies will swoon over how tough he is. Luckily Ted and Pheebs buy this hook line and sinker --and it's perhaps maybe a little too effective. See because of Evans' reputation, Pheebs immediately assumes that whomever did this to him must be one bad dude, and not a miscalculation that had him slam his finger on a table. Thus is our premise for this week. Kuriyama using Evans' reputation against him isn't a new concept, but the way in which this story progresses at least provides for new laughs. Especially when a lady doctor turns up and says she saw Evans in pain and offered her services, but he turned her down as he didn't want this to be a "big deal". --Says the guy totally making it a big deal. Unfortunately for him, Ms. Palmer the doctor won't take no for an answer and demands to treat him. Whoops.
In essence this chapter was all about how Evans' reputation both makes things harder and easier for him to a ridiculous degree. He manages to worm his way from the doctor, but when he encounters a gang doing nefarious deeds, the mere knowledge of his existence causes everyone to run for it before he can show how cool he is even with an injury. Evans even had it planned where he'd use his left hand to fire, but Pheebs figures it out unknowingly that he couldn't possibly fire that way. (She simply attributes it to him bluffing his way through.) Evans isn't found out of course, but reputation really can go a long way huh? I've said it before but part of what makes Evans (the series) work so well is that he actually is capable at his job and not just faking for popularity --most of the time. Though when you've got a rep as the toughest guy in the west then proving it becomes paradoxically harder and easier.
After a week off RYOKO returns with some surprising content...and news? I've got it on good authority that the series is set to end next week....which after this chapter is extremely odd. Like I could imagine these events slowly setting up to the final arc --sadly RYOKO hasn't sold too well, and as you can see from the TOC above hasn't necessarily ranked very well either. My feelings of woe aside, I have to wonder if something else is going on behind the scenes to suddenly pull the plug on the series without warning if the rumor is true. Could it be that Mitsuhashi might have needed another long break, but rather than risk a hiatus it was decided that the series should end instead? I haven't got the foggiest idea (and right now it very well may be that this is untrue), but for now it does seem that this is the penultimate chapter of the series.
Digging right in --Ryoko's master is back, and he has a name! Daitousai --and a past relation with Zen. In fact, he's the one who gave Zen his name and iconic school uniform. Beyond that he's also the same as Zen --a germ that can rot away foodstuffs with nothing more than a single touch. If you're thinking this is a lot of information to process at once, then yeah I agree with you. It reeks of a series headed toward cancellation, though it's still hard to imagine that there's only one more chapter after this. Still, Mitsuhashi makes the best of it, and Daitousai and Zen's relationship is depicted with enough detail that it's easy to feel for them. Zen was being experimented on in regard to his powers, which left him with memory loss each day. Daitousai being of the same breed would hang out with him each day until they realized the experiments were leading to the foodstuffs we know and the two tried to escape, but Daitousai was left behind and Zen met his buddies leading into the story of the present. I am impressed with how coherent the story was in the mere 18 pages it was told in, but it really would have benefited from having a few weeks to unfold rather than a single chapter.Especially if this truly is the last one before the end. I wish I could dig deeper into the ramifications of this but until it's confirmed that RYOKO's time at the table is through next week I want to save most of my judgement till then.
Xeno on the other hand while not exactly moseying along also doesn't seem to be in any hurry to conclude it's ultimate showdown. To no one's surprise, this chapter does lead us back through the other six murder rooms that brought us here. Not only that but Himemiya's boss is on the scene, providing a new character this close to the end. Bold move on Sugiyama and Nanatsuki's part, I'd say. Himemiya despite his animosity toward Xeno actually defends him, claiming to his supervisor that if there's anyone who can solve this mystery it's Xeno.
The paths leading to Kinoo are perilous, and six in number. (Way to make it super obvious guys, hah.) I gotta say the angelic metaphors in this arc are also pretty telling of the kind of writer Nanatsuki is --we had something like this back on the island of God arc, and now here we are again with mentions of the angel Seraphiel and Michael. Though before Xeno can really get to the significance of such relations, the cops sent ahead to find more clues against Himemiya's advice find themselves the victims of the soundwaves that were the culprits of murder room 2 and the floods of murder room 3. Another group is flattened by the stone pillars of murder room four, and it's getting clear that this isn't someone with passing knowlege of the murder rooms. No, this is an individual with intimate know how and a malice unseen before in this series.
There can only be one person, one man behind this....but he's dead! Right? Till next week.
This week's Youkai Giga features the Abura sumashi or "Oil Presser" which is a Youkai from Kumamoto prefecture. It is said this creature might be the ghost of a human who stole oil and it's current depiction is inspired by the late (and great) youkai artist Shigeru Mizuki (the man behind Gegege Kitaro!)
As for the chapter itself, it follows a girl who's tired of working long into the night and getting home late, so tired that she can barely even change out of he clothes before falling asleep. Luckily for her the Abura sumashi is around to prepare her bed and keep her from sleeping out in the open where she might catch cold. Though in return for it's hospitality (in her house) it'd like to know....just what is a abura sumashi? Satou has definetly played around with the idea that Youkai just do things because, well, it's tradition to do so and in reality there's no reason to keep tradition as is, but it's probably never been quite this overt, hah. This Abura sumashi is mostly hung up on the "sumashi" (presser) part of it's name. Like...what are they pressing exactly? In an effort to find out it pressed the human girl's body and that had the effect of taking away her ailments and fatigue. Celebrations are cut short however when a human eating youkai appears and attacks....just to get pressed into pieces by the abura sumashi. Even after this it wonders why it's called that, and the girl thinks to herself how it'd be best if it just went along with it. Haha, it's almost like a parable with the lesson or point not to think too hard about why you're good at something if you are. I like that, so I won't think too hard about why it is.
And that's it for issue #29's writeup! I'm considering making a change to the format of these soon, and will announce my decision in issue #30's editorial. This blog is keeping on the cutting edge as much as possible, and I'd like to thank you for being patient with all the changes! Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to wait impatiently for issue #30 so I can find out RYOKO's fate. Until then, take care.
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