Hear that sound? It's the sign that when Sunday comes a knockin' you should be rockin. The second of the new spring Sunday serials is Yuzuo Bato's Rock a Rock and like Konoshima-sensei before them, they've been around these parts before. Let's dig into the second of five new serials with this musically themed series.
The Artist
Yuzuo Bato
While I couldn't find too much in regard to Bato's background, I did manage to dig up a few of their previous oneshots where they went under the name Yuzuo Murakoshi, and it turns out we've indeed covered two of their previous works in our weekly threads! I'll just link those for brevity's sake and give a quick summary of the plots here, as you can read my thoughts on the threads themselves.
Left: Kanojo no yubi wa aoi, Right: Kimi no oto wo kikasete.
Sotegai!
Two of Bato's oneshots were in WSS's 2022 fiscal year, though technically the top left one, Kanojo no yubi wa aoi or Her fingertips are blue came out in issue #1 of 2022 which was released in November 2021. It's a bit confusing admittedly, but the street date of the issue is different from the print date, and it gets more weird toward the end of the year when magazines take breaks for new years. Though, for the sake of this review, let's just say both came out in 2022. The other oneshot, Kimi no oto wo kikasete came out in issue 42 which was around September of the same year. So Bato --or Murakoshi at the time had a few months between both of their short stories, and then a year to develop Rock A Rock (and change their name, apparently.) Meanwhile, Soteigai which in this case literally means "book cover guy" but it's likely a pun on the word souteigai (想定外) which means "Beyond expectations." I'm not sure when Soteigai was published, but I do know it was in Weekly Shonen Sunday's sister magazine Sunday Super. For this review, I'll be using the upload on Sunday webry here.
What these stories have in common with their serialized sibling is the performing arts. In a land where the shonen magazine is mostly known for stories about slaying demons or battling foes with super natural abilities, I find it refreshing when an author goes for something rooted in everyday life. The first oneshot takes on painting (specifically dyeing), and the other, music.
Bato's artwork is fairly straightforward too, with character designs not being overly flashy, and paneling/composition not particularly standing out except for key moments like above where the students in Mihatanda's class peruse their completed work. It compliments the story and the characters in this laid back setting. In a way it's partially an instructional piece on how dyeing cloths works and why it's cool, as by the end of the story, Baizen is convinced he wants to go into this as a career, and is trying it out for himself, much to Mihatanda's delight, though she's the first to give him a hard time after his first attempt doesn't meet her lofty standards. Everyone's a critic.
Bato's other work, Kimi no oto o kikasete has a bit more of a traditional story structure with a sprinkle of drama and character development. Our thread on it is here but the gist of the story is a boy has been secretly practicing the trumpet for 4 years, and thinks that he's hit a wall as far as his abilities, but he encounters a girl who practices her skill --ice skating in secret despite being a well known athlete in the sport.
Whereas the boy feels like it's a shame she practices despite being praised for her ability, she regards his passion for music as something to be celebrated rather than hidden away. She believes in him even if he doesn't believe in himself, and it's through her encouragement that he begins to come out of his shell and realize that putting in the time is important for the talented and those who want to be talented alike. She eventually has to leave due to her taking her ice skating talents to greater heights beyond their town in Japan, and he repays her with a public concert as she departs.
A sweet gesture --and more importantly the proof that her efforts have reached him and in turn he wants his sound to reach her no matter where she goes. Okay, maybe I exaggerated a bit with calling this "drama" but, unlike Kanojo no yubi wa aoi there is a central conflict within the main character that he eventually overcomes. The message here is again fairly straightforward but no less resonant --that one's interest can be shared. Bato's artwork has also taken a step-up with them attempting dual page spreads and more unique layouts, though their clean and simple character designs remain.
Last is Sotegai which lands back with Bato pursuing a very specific niche interest --book binding. The main character in this one is obsessed with it, and ropes in a few classmates in his hobby of examining and eventually designing their own book binding.
In this case, a young manga making prodigy asks for a design for her books, and the protag is more than happy to walk her through the process. Again, there isn't a sense of drama or conflict, just Bato nerding out about how cool book binding is, and why it's important. After all, to an uninitiated reader, the first contact they have with a prospective favorite read is the cover and binding, right? Bato's niche passions and their choice to share them via manga parallels the characters in the stories themselves and furthers the overall ideal they purport --which is if you like something, share it! This transitions nicely into their first serialized work, Rock a Rock.
The Serial
Rock a Rock
Starting in WSS issue #19 is Yuzuo Bato's first long term serial Rock A Rock. The blurb describes it as a "Dramatic adolescent Rock and Roll story." The subject is more mainstream than Bato's other works, without straying too far from the arts.
The Premise
Yukimaru Sera is a music loving 15-year-old who lives out in the country. His favorite music in particular is Rock and Roll. Why? Even he doesn't really know, as he says himself. He just knows his heart is full of rock and he wants to share it with the world, despite being a one-man band at the moment. (He starts off the serialization naming each member of his band --as himself.)
From the get go, Yukimaru is different from two of Bato's protagonists, as he's already committed to what he wants to do --what makes his heart move. It gives this serial the vibe of a shonen manga due to the protagonist being a gung-ho middle school student who has one thing on their mind, and that's to shoot for their dreams. The first chapter of the serial is interestingly low-key in comparison, almost coming off like another one shot. Yukimaru is about to graduate from middle school, and puts together a performance that his class will never forget with a few other classmates who find him amusing and figure "why not?"
So far it has the hallmarks of a Bato story --a low stakes character driven passion piece. If this were another one shot it'd have been a very good one as Yukimaru's energy is infectious and Bato's artwork has taken another leap up with more emphasis on scenes like the one above and the utilization of dual page spreads to ensure that every twang of the guitar has hits as hard as it can. Except of course a serial has to have a hook --a reason for the readers to flip to the series again after the dust of that conceptualization stage has settled. Rock a Rock delivers on this in a very unusual way, however.
Unseen before in any of Bato's oneshots is a hint of the supernatural. While Yukimaru is rocking out he swears he hears something calling to him, and when he looks up to respond he's met with the eyes of a strange cat and even stranger symbols. It's the right hook in this song, but does it lead into a rocking chorus?
As of current writing, the answer to that is no. That hint of the supernatural is left as just that, a hint. After Yukimaru graduates, he goes to another school and is up to his antics again in trying to start another band, except this time around the bandmates aren't nearly as willing to rock with him as they were in middle school. In fact, it feels very similar to One Piece 's early stages, where the great lot of Luffy's crew wanted nothing to do with him despite his insistence they join his crew. Much of the conflict in Rock a Rock comes from Yukimaru knowing who he wants on his band, but their hang-ups or general disinterest in Rock and Roll quashing the inner talent he can see in them.
For example, one boy he has his eye on has talent for sound, but is obsessed with money and the desire to win to the point that he wants nothing to do with Yukimaru even when it's clear due to his obsession with a specific cassette tape (to the point that he jumps into a river to get it back when it drops into the water!!) that he's also got a big love of rock and roll music. Though that leads into the two having a competition where he makes a band out of people he just met and to Yukimaru (and my) great surprise he nails his very first live simply because he wants to win.
It's amazing how hard Bato's dual page spreads go in this series!
Even after that showing however, Yukimaru is impressed and doesn't consider it a loss. Though the problem is now, even with this guy joining the band, they've got two singers, no base, and no drums. Not much of a band, no? Thus the search continues until the English teacher who heard them on stage remarks that they're good but not reaching their full potential --implying that she too knows a thing about rock and roll despite her mild mannered current career as an instructor.
The Verdict
Rock a Rock leaves me in a contentious place. I can tell Bato has thought out what they want to do so it doesn't feel like a dart board where they're tossing things out to see what'll stick --the English teaher for example appeared in the second chapter foreshadowing her importance early on --and as of chapter seven, the most recent chapter out of the series there's still a sense of deliberation in the pacing in that Yukimaru is still gathering his crew together, but I'm finding it hard to say whether I think the series is onto something or not. Perhaps --or very likely because the taste of the supernatural will change the trajectory of this manga to a point that I feel it's disengenuous comment on what is going on so far. Will Bato utilize that element in the future at all? Will the series have enough of a future for them to use it? I'm not sure. Instead, I'll comment on the series through the lens Bato's works thus far, in that I think the idea of a story not using drama as a crutch or clutch to grip readers and instead focuses on the details, the passion of the characters is a rare specimine --and it's there Bato thrives. Sure conflict is what keeps people gripped to a story, and Rock a Rock isn't completely without it, but I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing if the music remains the mainstay of the series and the only source of drama is Yukimaru convincing others to join his band. In that way, I think we're in good hands with Bato, who's artwork only continues to impress. Most importantly Yukimaru's the type of lead who's easy to cheer for in his straightforward pursuit of his dream of rocking the world and continuing Bato's ideal that a talent is something to be shared.
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