Sigh. I’m used to emotional highs and lows in manga by Yu Watase, but few things have bummed me quite as much as her offhand announcement that the fifth volume of Imadoki! would be the last. I would complain bitterly, but it would make me look like a total hypocrite. Crippling depression aside, volume four was tremendous, just as I expected it would be, and just as I expect volume five will be, and volumes six through ten would be if they were ever going to happen.
Heh… sorry about that.
Viz was kind enough to send me the second and third volumes of Whistle!, the appealing soccer manga by Daisuke Higuchi. It builds on the strengths of the first, while managing to keep me involved in a soccer game that spans both volumes and still isn’t finished. Higuchi manages this by blending tons of character development into the soccer scenes, rounding out the supporting characters and opposing team into distinct, engaging individuals. There’s plenty of fun sideline kibitzing from grizzled stall chef Oyassan and Kō, male escort and brother of series star Shô. I liked these characters individually, and they make a fun comedy team; the only thing they have in common is their fondness for Shô, but that goes a long way. And that’s because Shô is just an awesome kid, not because he’s a soccer genius but because he’s kind, optimistic, hard-working, and brave. I still don’t love soccer, but I understand why these characters do, and I couldn’t resist rooting for this team of underdogs.
I really ought to get around to writing a full review of Othello, and I will now that I’ve read the second volume. For two fairly divergent opinions, go read Johanna’s review at Comics Worth Reading or Greg’s at iComics.com. (I made some quick comments on the first volume in last week’s column.)
Has anyone out there read Until the Full Moon? It’s more shonen-ai from Sanami Matoh, who’s responsible for one of my favorite titles, Fake. She’s left cops behind for the supernatural, and it sounds like a lot of fun.
I was at the Big Chain Bookstore today buying some manga (Maison Ikkoku, which is like crack, and the first volume of xxxHOLiC, because I felt compelled to try more of CLAMP’s output). The cashier asked if I was manga-only or if I liked anime, too. She’s a fan of both, though I generally find the voiceover acting matches poorly with the voices I heard in my head while I was reading the manga. (Example: One Piece.) (Insert “voices David hears in his head” joke here.) Always nice to run into another comics fan outside of a comic book shop, though, and this is the second time that’s happened at that store. The first time, another cashier told me he and his wife had actually named their child after a manga character, which struck me as maybe going a tiny bit too far.