Hey everyone. Kenn here with part 2 of my top 10 Manga list. For those of you who didn't read the first part, go on and check it out! I know you're not here to read pointless intro statements, so let's just get on with it.
#5
Rookies by Masanori Morita
Rookies follows newbie teacher Koichi Kowato, an idealistic man who teaches his students to "follow their dreams" and "glitter into tomorrow." After losing his first teaching job for assaulting a student, Kowato is hired by the principal of Futakotamagawa high school to deal with their rowdy baseball team, a crowd of brutal delinquents. The principal's hopes of Kowato's relation with the team degrading into physical violence are squashed, as Kowato recognizes these punks as merely directionless youth with nothing to strive for. He works to break down their tough guy defenses to turn them into a baseball team united under a common dream: going to the Koshien, Japan's biggest high school baseball tournament.
Yeah, the story may sound lame and cheesy, and Kowato definitely is, but it's the character's sincerity that eventually wins you over. He truly does believe that these delinquents are just directionless youth, and that it's his job to give them something to strive for. In spite of the coach's talk, the comic and characters are all true tough guys. They work for personal honor and put their pride on the line, playing baseball from the heart. Morita's realistic art style really works with the story, helping make the characters emotions pack a greater force. Rookies is simply the best that sports manga has to offer.
Rookies has been released in Italy and France, but has no American release or license. Fan translations can be read on Mangafox.
#4
Planetes by Makoto Yukimura
Planetes is a hard science fiction manga written and drawn by Makoto Yukimura. It follows the crew of "Toy Box" a space debris collection ship, whose job it is to pick up the debris from old satellites and rockets. Were nobody to pick up this debris, it would eventually crash with other satellites and rockets, creating more debris and making space travel impossible. The job is risky, but the crew does it for the pay, and to get their space legs. Hashitora Hoshino, or Hachi, is a young man who has always dreamed of owning his own space ship, but private space travel is still years away, and Hachi lacks the experience to become an astronaut. His struggle is a long one, but it's not without its rewards.
The series' characters are all amazingly fleshed out and interesting. Hachi is a brash young man looking to make a name for himself, with conflicting feelings about space. He sees it as the last great frontier, but the emptiness and isolation wear him down. The portions of the story where he struggles to overcome this are particularly striking. The manga's central themes are about man's relation to space and the environment. It's an emotionally stirring manga with a lot to say, and something that you shouldn't pass up if you get the chance to read it.
Planetes is published in the US by Tokyopop, and is currently out of print. It can be found in some bookstores and through online sellers.
#3
Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer by Mizukami Satoshi
The world is about to be destroyed by unseen forces. Animus, an evil psychic, is engaged in a battle through time with his sister, Anima. His weapons? A giant invisible biscuit hammer that will descend from the heavens to crush the earth, and an army of twelve golems. Her weapons? Twelve beast knights with rings that grant psychic powers, and one princess. The story centers around Samidere, the princess, a terminally ill girl whose powers of extreme speed and strength are granted by her bond to anima, and Amiha Yuuhi, the lizard knight, a loner who lost his parents at a young age and was abused by his grandfather. The series opens with Yuuhi being approached by Sir Noi Crezant, a talking lizard who gives him his powers. When Noi explains to Yuuhi that he must save the world, Yuuhi initially turns him down, saying he wants no part in it, and is unwilling to believe in his outlandish claims besides. Then he meets Samidere, who reveals that she only wants to save the world so that she can use her newly-found powers to destroy it. Yuuhi pledges himself to her as a knight, and promises that he will help her in whatever way he can.
The series is dark, but still light-hearted and funny as well. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and I appreciate that, but at the same time it doesn't flinch away from discussing serious subject matter. The story is about dealing with sickness, coming of age, and breaking out of your shell, all common subjects but they've never been done like this. The thing I appreciate most about the series is that its cast is so large, but each character is fleshed-out and important, even the ones that get very little screen time. For example, there are twelve beast knights, each one having a human partner. In addition there's Animus, Anima, and Samidere, Samidere's sister, and a number of other supporting cast members. Each one is important to the story, and is a complex, fully-realized character with their own backstory, goals, and motivation. You'd think that a story with this many characters would succumb to "Naruto syndrome" and would leave certain characters lost in the shuffle, but in a story that's already tight on space each character gets to experience a full and satisfying arc. The manga's story is well-served by Mizukami Satohi's unique art-style. It's heavy on outlines and uses a lot of ink, with a lot of attention paid to making the faces expressive. Overall, the series is really incredible.
Lucifer and The Biscuit Hammer is sometimes better known as Wasukei No Samidere. It currently is not licensed by any US manga company, but fan translations can be read at Mangafox.com
#2
Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa
Barefoot Gen is a semi-autobiographical story about the bombing of Hiroshima, which begins shortly before the bombing and ends several years later after several of the main characters have died. It begin by introducing us to Gen and his family, a family of wheat farmers who live in Hiroshima. The first volume of the manga spends most of its time showing Gen working to improve his family's life, by buying his brother a toy boat, helping his mother get food, and working in the field. It plays out like a hartwarming family comedy up until the point when the bomb drops. What follows are some of the most gruesome depictions of the results of nuclear war ever put to paper. Much of Gen's family dies in the explosion, and the rest of the ten-volume series follows Gen and his surviving family members as they fight against prejudice and poverty.
It's hard to talk about Barefoot Gen. The tragedy of nuclear war is something that can't be summed up in a few paragraphs in a little mini-review, or in casual conversation. The series' goal is to try to make that tragedy something accessible to people in the goal of stopping it from ever occurring again. This anti-war message is one of the series central themes. Another recurring motif is one of the teachings of Gen's father, that people must be strong like wheat, which sends down roots when it's trampled to the ground, only to grow up taller and stronger. The innocent, idealized art is a major part of what gives this story its power. One moment, you're looking at a cute, cartoon family, and the next you see a character whose face is melting off, or one of them is beginning to cough up blood due to radiation sickness. These transitions keep the story and characters relate-able without trying to sugarcoat or hide any of the horror of the bomb.
Barefoot Gen was originally released and translated by Project Gen, a multinational movement attempting to bring this comic to a wider audience. The entire series has been released by Last Gasp, and is available in comic book stores and online.
#1
Solanin by Inio Asano
Solanin is a one-volume manga by Inio Asano that is simply a must-read. Taneda and Meiko are two college graduates who are uncertain about what they want to do with their lives. Meiko has been working as an office lady, but after being sexually harassed by her boss she quits and tries to find something else to do with her life. Her live-in boyfriend, Taneda, works at a graphic design firm doing advertising, and isn't certain that he can put up with his job any longer. He wants to focus on his rock band, who are still trying to make it big. Taneda eventually quits his job as well, and the two subsist on savings. The two eventually have an argument, and the aftermath changes their lives forever.
There's a lot to say about this manga, which is good, because I plan to talk about it in a review sometime soon. For now I'll just talk about its central themes of coming of age, coping with loss, and finding a place in the world. The story is essentially about a group of twenty nothings in a band who are holding on to the last vestiges of their youth, trying to avoid becoming respectable adults as hard as they can. In the end, the characters reach a sort of compromise, choosing the path of adulthood, but not giving up on their childish dreams.
Solanin is published in the US by Viz manga, and is available in bookstores and comic book shops across the country.
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