Shojō Titles, Takano Ichigo and Orange

As most of you know, I don't usually write about manga that has not finished serialization. But I just cannot help up write about Takano Ichigo's newest manga Orange. Some of you may have seen her other successful shojō title, Yume Miru Taiyou (though it has yet to be finished scanlated), but it is Orange that I predict will be called her masterpiece. I can quite honestly say, I think it is the best shojō manga I have ever read. And it's not even 10 chapters in!

I've previously posted about other shojō titles such as, Strobe Edge, Kare Kano, Bokura Ga Ita, and 7 Seeds among others, but I am much more of an adamant fan of shōnen titles. As you can see from the other articles I've written, the shōnen titles overpower the shojō titles by a solid 2/3 to 1/3. Part of this might be because of that mini Jump marathon I did, but I would mostly blame it on my personal tastes. So, I am going to focus on some shojō titles to give this blog, and my brain, a little balance.

While I will be the first to tell you that I don't and haven't read many "classic" shojō titles, I can tell you that I have heard of them and usually know the general plot lines and tropes that they carry. I haven't read Nana and I've actually never read Hana Yori Dango, but I know almost everything about them because they are so popular and I just cannot stop hearing about them. Not even those, I can probably go into detail on the different tropes that shojō manga relies on. For example, Kimi ni Todoke, Suki itte Ii na Yo, and Hiyokoi all have the same trope of the popular guy in class, who is usually very "refreshing" and nice to everyone, getting together with the shy outsider. Of course, the trope is used differently between all three of them based on the intended readership. Kimi ni Todoke, which captured national attention with not only a 2 season anime, but also a live action adaptation, is easily one of Betsuma's most popular manga and the one aimed at the widest audience. Whereas Suki is aimed at mature audiences, as it is a josei title and Hiyokoi, published in Ribon, is for the middle school crowd.

So, without further ado, I shall get started on what my thoughts and feelings are on Takano Ichigo's manga Orange.

Ookiku Furikabutte and Why it Might be the Best Baseball Manga

For those of you who don't know, baseball might actually be the all Japanese sport.

Let me explain that statement a little bit. If you have ever lived or traveled in Japan, you would be very aware of how popular baseball is in this country. Every major city has a major league team and with those teams come HUGE cheering sections who have songs for each player on the team. Indeed, in the last several years Japanese baseball players have been infiltrating the American Baseball League ranks and receiving MVP trophies; which was huge in Japan. Ask a young kid in Japan who their favorite baseball player is and they are very likely to tell you Matsui or Yuu Darvish, who both endorse everything from baseball equipment to socks. Those who make it into the MBL are huge stars in Japan and they are the players who legitimize Japanese success in the sport.

Now you might be asking yourself, 'Why is baseball so popular in Japan?' and the answer to that question would fall to the strategy, team yet individual play, and manga. Yeah, you read that right. I said manga is probably a major reason why boys want to play baseball and girls want to be managers. You only have to look so far as to Adachi Mitsuru and his baseball manga to understand this statement. Touch was a phenomena in Japan, and it still plays a part in Japanese high schools. The opening theme song for the Touch anime is still played at koshien (the baseball stadium that holds the high school baseball tournament) every year and all brass bands can play that song. There were even news segments that were titled, 'Looking for the Real Minami' because her character became the scale for the female ideal in this country. There is not a single person over the age of 30 who did not read the manga or watch the anime. Now that Adachi has serialized a semi-sequel to Touch, the manga is being republished with original covers and is undergoing a revival of sorts.

Contrary to what you might be thinking, this post is not about Adachi Mitsuru and how he can be claimed by some to be the best baseball mangaka. In fact, it is about and completely different type of baseball manga and my argument that it is the best baseball manga that has been produced in the last 20 years.

Ookiku Furikabutte.

The Decline of Straight Battle Manga?

Has the end come for Jump battle manga? Or a better question, have the Jump battle mangas become too long? Have they been turned into cash cows for a publishing company that is first a business and second a gateway to one of, if not the, most influential and successful manga magazine? When has a manga gone on for too long for the backlash to set in?

These are all questions that I have seen floating around on the net and thought about personally from time to time when I contemplate what remains popular in certain manga magazines and why. Within Jump alone there has been a shift in what genres are gaining attention and popularity. Kuroko no Basuke, the relatively new Haikyuu and one of the latest manga that started serialization, Cross Manage, all indicate that sports manga are back on the raise. Where as the pushing of Nurarihyon no Mago and Bleach to finish indicates, to me, that the straight battle manga are losing popularity and fans are responding accordingly.


Of course, the continued success of Naruto and One Piece would lead others to believe that straight battle manga are still popular. While I would agree that they are still popular, we have finally reached market saturation. Very similar to the vampire boom in American pop culture, I think that Jump has seen that the straight battle manga are finally seeing a decline and a slight backlash. Just look through tumblr and twitter to see the mountainous amounts of negative comments each week for Naruto. Without fail I see a comment from a loyal reader that left the story because it was just getting nowhere and they felt slightly betrayed by Kishimoto for ruining a good plot/series.

The main reason why I started to feel this way was because of the recent addition of Cross Manage to the Jump magazine. Looking at the list of manga that has come out this year in Jump:

• Haikyuu!!
• Kurogane
• Ansatsu Kyoshitsu
• Takamagahara
• Retsu Date Senpai
• Cross Manage
• Koisome Momiji
• Sensei no Bulge
• Nisekoi

Out of these titles, there are only 3 that I would name a straight battle manga and 1 of them has already been cancelled and the other 2 I haven't really seen much buzz about. This could also be do to the fact that they are all so very new and they have not gained a larger following at the moment. Yet there are 2-3 sports manga that have been serialized in this last year along with a surreal classroom fight and a romantic comedy. Haikyuu!! seems to be doing well as Jump is pushing it not only in the magazine but on it's website as well. With the recent addition of Cross Manage that semi subverts the standard female-manager theme, I would say that Jump themselves might be seeing less battle manga submissions, or they are being much more careful in what battle manga they find compatible with their audience. I believe this is Jump/Shueisha jumping on the rising success of Kuroko no Basuke; which just ended a very successful anime season. 

All of this being said, I know that battle manga are still going to rule the shōnen manga world. Shogakukan has Magi coming out this next week as an anime Conan still has a huge fan following. Kodansha has Fairy Tail and Code:Breaker, but Baby Steps, Area no Kishi, and Hajime no Ippo have a huge presence in their Shonen Magazine. I have seen a subtly growing shift in the amount of battle manga that is coming out. For example, Shogakukan jumped on Arakawa Hiromu's slice of life Silver Spoon for weekly publication to huge success. 

As you have probably been able to deduce from reading so far, I am extremely happy about this shift. As exciting and engaging as straight battle manga can be, there is just a point where they become redundant and too much. I have long been of the opinion that the big 4 (Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Reborn) have gone on for a little too long. After so many years, it becomes an issue of continued quality for me. The mangaka is allowed to throw anything that they want into the story (i.e. Prince of Tennis) and the whole story starts to deteriorate into a giant mess of characters, unfinished plot points, and fighting. In fact, I use Prince of Tennis as the measuring stick for when a manga has gone on for too long. 

And yet, there is now a Shin Prince of Tennis where the mangaka is again allowed to do whatever he wants, but now it's in Jump Square. Animate stores and the online shop are overflowing with merchandise girl fans can buy of their favorite character without really caring about the story that goes into it. This is when a great manga has been turned into a Shueisha cash-cow. 

Have the big 4 turned into cash-cows? I would have to say yes for Naruto and Once Piece. We could even add Gin Tama into this mix because it just never seems to end either. Walk into any souvenir shop in Japan and you will find city themed cell phone charmes with all of Naruto, Luffy, and Gintoki playing with deer in Nara, eating takoyaki in Osaka, and climbing the Tokyo Tower. One Piece has so much stuff that they have opened a whole store completely dedicated to it. Again, another cash-cow.

I have always been of the opinion of quality or quantity. I want my manga to be the best that it can be without any artificial flavors, colors, or dyes making the product less organic. Give me Death Note and Bakuman quality plot, drawings, and pacing over open-ended manga that take up more time than they should. I cannot be the only reader who feels this way. 

Review! Comment! I would love some discussion on this issue! 

Thoughts and Ideas on Kubo Tite's Bleach Manga

It has been well over 2 years since I last read this manga. I remember eagerly awaiting each chapter and marathoning the anime when I was a senior in college. I loved it. The characters, music, plot, designs, everything about this manga appealed to me and I just could not get enough of it. Of course, I am not a very patient person, so I marathoned the anime, streak read the manga, and then got tired of waiting for the next chapter to be released. It would slip out of my mind for a while, pop up, and then I would repeat the same process all over again.

And yet it still lives. Go to any anime convention in the US, and probably anywhere, and you will find a group of Bleach cosplayers who either planned it, or all came separately and found each other. The designs are simple, yet detailed enough that a good cosplayer can truly recreate that character. In a lot of ways, that reminds me of Kuroko no Basuke. Both Kubo and Fujimaki design their characters the same way; which denotes that Fujimaki was influenced by Kubo in some way. Though that is just conjecture and has no hard evidence behind it. 

The further into this JUMP manga marathon I get, the more I enjoy it. When you read a book or series that you liked when you were younger it usually makes you a little horrified at the person you used to be. Surprisingly, I've really enjoyed rereading this manga. It never made me feel nostalgic or shake my head at my past self and start questioning why I liked it. I was able to easily reenter that world and laugh at areas I had forgotten or hadn't read yet. 

Bakuman - The Non-Mainstream, Mainstream Battle Manga

I was living in Japan during the height of the Death Note boom. My students would come in imitating L in their seats during class and would pull out their copies of the manga in the lobby as they were waiting for class to start. A bilingual student and I often talked about manga, anime, and light novels in class because I openly talked about how I liked them to get my students to talk to me. One of the best decisions I ever made because the students didn't feel embarrassed telling me their favorite series and characters. Since most of their favorites were mainstream hits like Naruto, One Piece, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Bleach it was easy for me to jump, pun unintended, into a conversation with them. So when I confessed to never having read Death Note I got gasps and numerous remarks about how I HAD to read it. Needless to say I did, and that was where I was introduced to the glory that is the Obata-Oba mangaka duo.

It is always the sophomore effort that gets the most scrutiny from fans and critics. People can pull out an amazing work and get lucky with the popularity, but it actually takes skill to pull out that same popularity with a different idea and setting without failing to the hype and the inevitable comparison. Bakuman is a one series wonderland. I'm not sure how else to describe how amazingly wonderful and enjoyable this manga is. Not only was it a genius move by the veteran manga duo of Obata and Oba, it celebrates everything that fans enjoy about manga. This manga is compelling, funny, relatable, and with a large cast of entertaining and wonderful characters. A plot filled with suspense, comedy, tension, intrigue, and romance brings all of those characters and that world to life in a way that I have yet to see in a Weekly Jump manga series.

Eyeshield 21 - Shōnen Jump Manga Marathon #2

To continue with my Shōnen Jump Manga Marathon, I picked an older manga that is also related to the post that I made last week about Kuroko no Basuke when I quoted a forum post comparing the characters and their "super skills". Even before I made the last post, I knew that Eyeshield 21 was going to be the next Jump manga I read specifically because I wanted to weigh in on the comparison. The Eyeshield 21 anime came out while I was in college and the manga was serialized from 2002 - 2009 in Weekly Shōnen Jump. Spaning 37 volumes and 333 chapters all together, the manga focuses on Sena and how he becomes involved with his schools American Football Club; which consists of 3 members including himself. The manga-time for this story is only a year, or a little less than.

As an American, I was tickled pink by the fact that there was a manga that dealt with American Football. From what I understood American Football is like Aussie Rules Football, way more popular in their home countries and generally ignored by the rest of the sports loving world. Was I wrong about that? Soccer is still king my friends.

Shonen Sports Manga and Kuroko no Basuke

As you all saw for my last post, I read the Kenshin manga in anticipation for the live action Rurouni Kenshin movie coming out at the end of this month.  While I was reading the manga, I got to thinking, 'How long has it been since I read any Jump manga?' I stopped reading and thought about it for a while and I decided that it had been a solid couple of years since I had put Naruto on hold because I had caught up with all the scanlations I could get my eyes on. 

Then when I thought about it a little harder, I admitted to myself that I really hadn't read other Weekly Jump manga besides Naruto. Case and point is that it took me many years to actually read Rurouni Kenshin or Shaman King, I gave up on Prince of Tennis when I was in college, I never read Eyeshield 21, and when the anime for Nurarihyon no Mago was a flop I stopped reading. These titles are really the only Weekly Jump manga I've ever read. Prince of Tennis was probably the first one I got into and then Naruto followed, but I started those back in high school and that was almost 10 years ago now. 

Being a self-proclaimed manga scholar, I am actually a little disappointed in my own readership. A couple years ago, I was talking with a friend about how we both knew and could recognize One Piece cosplayers and knew of the manga, but we had no idea what it was about. Later that same friend told me she was going to watch the anime since, 'It's so popular that I feel I need to watch it to really understand why and have an opinion on it'. Weekly Jump manga have the most readership and usually the largest audience. Look at how Naruto and One Piece are all over Japan. Not just in manga and book stores, but there are Naruto, Gintama and One Piece goods in souvenir shops, Uniqlo makes branding deals and sells special graphic t-shirts, and travel agents book trips for families on a replica Lufy ship. They have become a central point in Japanese popular culture and not only for the original manga readers. 

Now that I have opened my eyes to this error in my read habits, I have decided that a marathon of Weekly Jump manga was in order. I will be looking at manga that has been or is currently being serialized in the Weekly Jump magazine. I will mostly be looking at the manga that is currently being serialized and also has scanlations out on the Internet. So, I started with the manga that had the most recent anime, Kuroko no Basuke.