Long Distance Call - 25 Hours a Day Remix

Phoenix

Originally posted on doorknobdude.vox.com

I sold a batch of manga to Book-off over the weekend, and this title was among the books in the ‘maybe’ batch. I remember liking the first chapter of this series, and had bought both volumes in Japanese to see what happened, but somehow, I must’ve forgotten to actually look at the books since one was still shrink-wrapped when I looked it over.

Star Blacks comes from Yoko MAKI, the creator of Aishiteruze Baby. It ran for 2 volumes in Ribon magazine. As much as I appreciate short-running manga, the fact that something only ran for 8 chapters should’ve been a sign about its quality.

The story actually starts out quite nicely: Kisaki is a seventeen-year old girl who finds herself becoming the unlikely master of the sword that can cut down demons. Her father, who owns a sword shop, realizes that Kisaki is the only one who can wield the Katana of Oni, which proves that she is the reincarnation of their ancestor who also fought the demons in the past.

So, yes, the premise sounds great: girl with sword, fighting demons, reincarnation… Trouble is, the mangaka didn’t seem to know where she was going with the story. Many times, it felt like an odd mash-up between a monster-of-the-week shonen series with a dash of boring school romance. Though the concept of a Ribon series dipping its toes in shonen-like fights, if the story isn’t up to par to the art, then readers aren’t going to stick around. And additionally, Japan’s fascination with Catholicism cracks me up. The first chapter features a nun whom Kisaki has considered as a second mother, but then, of course, the first demon that Kisaki fights emerges from the nun’s despair and weakness. Kisaki dons the nun’s rosary as a necklace, but it ends up getting wrecked in a subsequent fight anyway. Huh? Okaaay.

I really hope Yoko MAKI has better luck with her later series. Obviously, these books are going to be sold to Book-off. No sense having them take up valuable shelf space in my apartment.

Originally published at 2 screenshot limit. You can comment here or there.

If you had come up to me and told me a few years ago that cooking manga would actually be accepted and enjoyed here in the U.S., I would’ve figured you to be the most optimistic idealist. Manga about ninja, samurai, cute girls — sure, that’d work. But food? Good luck selling that.

But hey, I guess I underestimated the power of food AND manga. Oishinbo, one of the bestselling series in Japan, is being published in English and this volume, Oishinbo A La Carte: Japanese Cuisine, is the first one out.

Just a small note before I move on — Oishinbo has been running since 1983 and has been collected in 100+ tankoubon volumes. Viz has decided that its English release (the A La Carte volumes) compile the books thematically. This first volume covers the basics of Japanese cuisine (like dashi, tea, sashimi) and later volumes will cover sake, ramen & gyoza, etc. If you’re an experienced (or picky) manga reader, you’ll notice how the story seems to jump around all over the place, but otherwise, I think this was a good editorial decision on Viz’s part.

Why? Because in this manga, the plot is secondary. Shiro Yamaoka is a journalist who has to write about the “Ultimate Menu” for the newspaper’s anniversary. He’s extremely knowledgeable about food, but his greatest adversary is his father, Kaibara Yuzan, an acclaimed potter and the founder of the Gourmet Club, which is Japan’s foremost gourmet society. Even though they hate each other’s guts, their shared interest to food often finds them crossing paths and cross words with each other.

So, after multiple chapters where Shiro and Kaibara are just comparing their foodie skills/knowledge, I realize that what’s important to this manga are the expansive explanations of various food, notably Japanese cuisine.

I won’t lie to you; this manga’s talky. There’s a lot of explanations about even concepts that I would’ve thought would be common knowledge to an average Japanese reader. What sets it apart from other cooking manga that’s already out there (e.g. Yakitate Japan!!, Antique Bakery, etc.) is that the explanations seem to be more grounded in reality and in fact than the others. I wouldn’t rely on the information in the manga as encyclopedic fact, but it’s a good starting point for layman explanations of food and cuisine.

Also, this series goes to prove that a good number of Japanese were foodies, even before the word made its way into the public lexicon…

Originally published at 2 screenshot limit. You can comment here or there.

There are certain ailments like AIDS and the Flu that don't kill people. It's the complications that result from having such ailments that kill people. In the example of AIDS and the flu, people usually die from pneumonia. AIDS and the flu don't kill you, pneumonia does.

Love is the same way I guess. People don't get love sick. They get desperate. People don't miss being in love, they're lonely.

I don't understand people sometimes. I mean I understand loneliness. But I don't understand how people literally freak out over the idea of it. They'd much rather make themselves the fool than even have to remotely face the idea of being lonely. Change loneliness to solace. There is a beauty to solitude.

I don't want to sit here and say it's all in their heads, but I think if people embraced all that life had to offer they'd be so much better off in life than result themselves to tolerable company just to appease a little darkness in their hearts.

If it makes you happy fine. But a lot of you? I see your faces. You're faking it.

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