Eyes on Nurse Hitomi

For the first time in a long time today, I stopped off at my local B&N (that's "Barnes and Noble" for the non-texting crowd).  There wasn't a lot of new stuff there, but I did pick up the first volume of a very strange new series.  It's called Nurse Hitomi's Monster Infirmary.

Our protagonist is the clumsy cyclops prominently pictured above, the titular Nurse Hitomi.  In a world that starts out looking an awful lot like ours, several students at a local high school have been going through strange new changes as a result of puberty.  Our first story introduces us to a girl whose tongue has grown to, like, three feet long.

And it only gets weirder from there.

In the first volume alone, we are introduced to Tongue Girl, an immortal zombie, two girls who are alternately growing and shrinking respectively (dramatically reversing their former size dynamic) and one girl who is turning invisible.

As the story moves onward, we gradually see that there are more and more monster-like girls in this world, walking the streets just like ordinary people like you and me.  (Apparently, they are just accepted and everyone lives in peace.  No fantastic racism here...yet.)  That makes this series a lot like A Centaur's Life or Monster Musume.

The former was a mite bit boring for my tastes, the latter too heavy on fanservice at the expense of the plot.  Thankfully, Nurse Hitomi's Monster Infirmary suffers from neither of these problems.  (Although they do mention that the growing and shrinking friends are both growing and shrinking out of their clothes, so the potential for future fanservice is definitely there.  And the other girl's invisibility is pretty sporadic, so she sometimes only makes her clothes invisible.  But all this is nowhere near enough to derail or detract from the plot.)

That being said, the art style is a little on the weird side, and the fall-apart zombie girl's body separation is a very odd mix of the comical and the surreal, maybe a hair or two creepier than the separation powers of Trafalgar Law or Buggy the Clown from One Piece.

I'm not really one for monster girls, or girls with monstrous bodies or abilities.  Some green chicks like Gamora or Elphaba from Wicked aren't bad, but that's about it.  Wings, hooves, tails...all of them instantly kill any sexual interest I might have had.  That's why I never got into Leela from Futurama.

The stories it tells aren't bad, though: friends dealing with a bizarre new inverted size relationship, learning about self-confidence after turning invisible, dealing with recklessness, learning to love oneself warts and all.  Basic school guidance counselor stuff, but with monster girls.

It's a weird series with weird art, long story short.  But we shall see if it gets any easier or any more interesting as the series goes on.  I'm not against it, not by a long shot.  Go pick up a copy and decide for yourself if it's worth it.

Wild Wild West!

From the mind that brought you Rurouni Kenshin and the later series Buso Renkin comes the three-volume Western "Gun Blaze West"!

In the American 1800's, a young boy named Viu Bannes lives with his older sister after their parents are killed by gunslingers.  One day, a man named Marcus Homer comes along and inspires young Viu to become stronger.  He tells him of a mysterious places off in the far West where the best and the strongest go.  The name of the place is Gun Blaze West.

Tragically, Marcus is seemingly killed in a gunfight right before Viu's eyes (thankfully, Viu defeats the bad guy soon after).  Years pass, and soon Viu starts off on his own journey to master the ways of the gun and discover the promised land of Gun Blaze West.  He is joined by the smart guy rope master Will Johnston and the lady immigrant samurai Colice.

Now, I'm not much of a Western kind of person.  It just seems to me like all the basic traits have been done to death: guns, horses, bathing in barrels, saloon brawls.  But Gun Blaze West takes some of the original tropes and then throws in some more wild-style crazy action elements.

For example, Viu learns a special skill called Concentration One later on, learning how to exercise extreme focus for one second at a time.  There's a freakin' armored giant with an army of knights and a freakin' super-soldier, for cryin' out loud!  This ain't yer Daddy's Western, son!

My little brother probably said it best when he called it "One Piece with cowboys instead of pirates".  Sadly, the series only lasted for three volumes.  Nobuhiro Watsuki wasn't exactly too enthused about it and it got cancelled relatively quickly.

But it tells a good story, and the action elements are relatively unique.  If you can find this series anywhere, I would strongly advise you to pick it up.  It's a good way to kill a little time (in a good way).

No Game No Life, No Good

Oftentimes, even if I wasn't interested when I saw it at the bookstore, I will pick up a graphic novel at the library simply because it was something new on the shelves.

Sometimes they turn out to be mildly good (Attack on Titan) and sometimes they turn out to be mildly unpleasant (case in point here).

The story begins with a group of high level gamers, going off to challenge a mysterious urban legend known as Blank (who, for some reason, is not outright written as "Blank" but visually represented by an empty space).  Even though they've stacked the deck in their favor, they are all still wiped out, to a man.

When we cut away back to the real world, we see lazy and overconfident brother/sister duo Sora and Shiro.  The two of them make up Blank.

Now, Sora is stated to be a NEET (slacker with no job and no life, sponging off of his unseen parents like a parasite).  Shiro is only eleven years old, yet still, for whatever reason, speaks in a weird-cute Hulk Speak thing where she's, like, missing verbs and such.  "Brother is a NEET", for example.  She is also stated, paradoxically, to have a genius intellect, able to see all 10,000 or so possible moves in chess right out of the gate, as well as learn an entire language in one day.

Both of them are lazy and greedy, having no jobs and no friends.  They are also cheaters and scammers, seeing the world around them as a boring, rotten mess.

So, luckily for them, a mysterious email comes up and invites them into another world after beating a chess game.

Now, I know what you're thinking: .Hack and Sword Art Online, right?  Wrong!  Shiro and Sora are entirely different.  They just want to keep surviving in a fantasy world that is way more fun than our current one.  They literally have no interest in going home.

That's unexpected, to be sure, but it's not how things work.  People can't just run away to a better world when life gets hard.  People have spent your entire life teaching you how to live in the real world, and you can't just throw that away.  You have to dig in your heels and fight to prove that you can survive on your own.

Anyway, this new world is your typical sword and sorcery stuff, where all issues, large and small, are decided by games.  It is, almost literally, the perfect world for our "heroes" (and I use the term loosely).  Therein, they meet an alleged princess of that world, who is naive and bad at gaming.

And, perhaps thankfully, that is where the first volume ends.

I personally would not advise wasting your time on this series.  There is no action, little comedy, no real likeable characters, and a small amount of bathtime fanservice thrown in simply to get the pervert fans hooked.

These people have so much potential (such as it is), yet they waste their lives alone in their room, no one else around but each other.  And then they get thrown into a world that is practically just sitting there and waiting for them to manipulate it.  They seem to care about each other, but that's it.

I can only hope that these two good-for-nothing jerks get themselves a good old-fashioned wake up call, and quick.  Now I understand how my brother doesn't like people like Soma Yukihira from Food Wars, although he may be slightly better than these two.

Going to the "Manga Dogs"!

Welcome back toYaruki-Man-Manga!  Today I will be reviewing one of master manga-ka Ema Toyama's sillier works, Manga Dogs.

I picked up the first volume just because it was new at the bookstore, and now we're into Vol. 2.  It's not a great series, but not a bad one, either.

Think Ouran High School Host Club, dipping an occasional toe into Bakuman territory.

Our heroine is the published and serialized manga artist Kanna Tezuka, who joins a new manga class at her school in order to improve her quality of work.  (One of the big things in this story is that her bizarre Buddhist statuary-inspired romantic comedy manga always has one foot out the door of cancellation.)

Kanna is a standard professional, "only sane man" type of heroine, a la Haruhi Fujioka and such like.  This provides nearly all of the story's comedy, as she is constantly faced with the ridiculous actions of the three boys in her class (who are also the only other students).  None of them have ever even written a manga before, yet they continue to make wild, totally unrealistic claims of reaching the top in Jump.

It doesn't hurt that all three of them are marginally average-looking boys, but Kanna is not interested in a 3D romance.

The story is very slow to move anywhere and there's no real drama a la her previous works (I Am Here and Missions of Love), but the comedy works a little bit to make up for it.  It's a gag manga, pure and simple.  Some of the references are a little on the esoteric side (such as all the main characters being named after or having names similar to favorite manga artists of yesteryear), but that only adds to its niche appeal.

I can only hope that there is more serious talk about manga creation moving on, as it would really help sell things as being a bit more realistic, working to create a nice contrast between the out-and-out silliness that we see on nearly every page.

Long story short-looking for manga-themed comedy and brainless beauty boys, look here.  Want an actual story that moves ahead, try one of Toyama's other works.  This is good for killing 30 minutes or so, but I for one can't really see myself buying it at this point.

"No. 6 Post" (Not Actually Post #6)

Hello again, manga fans.  I was just down at my local bookstore again yesterday, and I saw that the final volume of No. 6 (or, as I like to call it, 200 pages of Ho-Yay) had released, so I thought I'd blog about it.

In the seemingly Utopian city of No. 6 (implying that there are at least five others out there), everyone follows the rules, everyone is happy, and there is no strife that anyone can see.  Of course, us being as genre savvy as we are, we just know that this is not the case.

Four years before our story starts, a young boy named Shion (which is apparently now a unisex name) meets a mysterious outlaw named Rat.  (Now, I know what you're thinking, and it used to confuse me too: his name in the original Japanese is Nezumi, which means "rat".  A possible reason why they romanized it as Rat is that he is almost bonded with a series of small mice who do his bidding and send messages.) 

In a sudden and blatant violation of the rules, Shion decides to harbor Rat by letting him in through the window.  In the end, the jaded Rat leaves Shion with a few words to try and make him question his life before escaping.

Four years later, Shion encounters Rat again after he is blamed for a death involving a mysterious Progeria-like disease attack.  And just when he had been named among the chosen future elites, too!  It is soon revealed to us that the leaders of No. 6 are testing the disease by using a certain strain of bee to deliver it.  Unfortunately, the bees cannot be used to target anything in particular.

(Also, these same bees are apparently injected into the heads of certain citizens early on as a sort of experiment in mind control.  These bees seem to be what keeps most of the populace so docile.  One diseased bee stings Shion, nearly costing him his life and changing his hair to the white that you see in the picture.)

Rat leads Shion to the outside world, where all citizens who live outside No. 6's walls are lying in squalor.  When No. 6's officials can't find Shion, they take his childhood friend Safu (another weirdo name) as a captive.  Shion and Rat, along with friends Dogkeeper, Rikiga and the city-bound rebel Yomin (they just keep coming) break into the high security prison (which is, for some reason, the true brain of the No. 6 system) to try and save her, but they are too late.

In the end, their resulting destruction of the prison not only permanently takes down the crooked No. 6 system, but also releases the "Spirit of the Forest" Elyurias, which No. 6 has apparently taken captive to try and control the aforementioned bees, who then proceeds to wreak havoc.  Rat, being both an excellent singer and the last remaining survivor of Elyurias' "Forest People" who were slaughtered in her taking, is then conscripted to sing her a song of peace and save the day.

This series had a few holes in it and it took kind of a long time (relatively speaking), but it wasn't so bad.  The dystopian atmosphere was a little cliched, but thankfully nowhere near as dark and sinister and monstrous as some others (The Capitol).  It was more like The Giver, also in the fact that Shion and Rat's conflicting personality types place us heavily on the scale of optimism vs. pessimism, a thing you don't usually find in the kind of manga I read.

The manga's biggest draw was probably the amount of pure emotion and outright Ho Yay between Rat and Shion.  They're both relatively attractive, they both care about each other yet aren't afraid to say what they really think, and they're complimentary in that "opposites attract" way.  They even share a few kisses over the course of the story, although their is no out-and-out (if you'll pardon my unintentional pun) mention of their actually being gay for each other.

Although there is one scene early on where Safu asks Shion if he wants to try sexual intercourse, but he reacts like a typical nerdy boy who is just simply overwhelmed by her sudden statement.  He doesn't exactly say no, but he doesn't say yes, either.

All in all, this manga wasn't too bad of a way to kill time, but there are many better works out there.  I certainly couldn't see myself buying it, and I don't think I'll read it again any time soon. 

Maybe once so much time has passed that I've forgotten how the story goes.

Three Little Words: "Magical...Girl...Apocalypse!"

Is it just me, or does she really look like The Creepy Girl from "Frankenweenie"?

 Anyway, this entry's focus is another new book that I just picked up at the bookstore today: "Magical Girl Apocalypse".  The title itself is a perfect example of mood whiplash, and the cover, if I recall correctly, prominently features our little friend here.  (So right away we know it's gonna be good.)

Like Light Yagami, Takao Kasuga and Kyon before him, protagonist Kii soon learns to be careful what he wishes for when he complains that his world is boring.  All of a sudden, he and his classmates are sent into a Bizzarro World alternate version of Deadman Wonderland where nearly everyone is massacred by the titular Magical Girl.

(Mind you, the girl herself is never given a name.  I only call her that because it is not only eponymous, but the only thing we ever hear her say is "magical".)

What follows is a bizarre cross between a zombie movie and an alien invasion, like an episode of Puella Magi Madoka Magica gone horribly, horribly wrong.  Not only do the people killed by the magical girl come back as psychotic zombies with her body and mannerisms but their own faces, but...she isn't the only one!  From a magical circle floating in the sky above town, hundreds of other zombie-like magical girl creatures fall to Earth and begin killing and infecting every human in sight.

Kii survives with an ever-dwindling cast of classmates who are gradually picked off one by one.  Early on in the story, he declines to save the adorable Tsukune from their high school bullies, only to find himself ironically traveling with all three girls as the situation deteriorates.  This serves to add heart to the story, a la Cage of Eden and Deadman Wonderland.

The concept is certainly unique, as are the different varieties of the deadly magical girls.  The action sequences where our heroes club to death (?) or run over the zombie hordes are simplistic and easy to follow, so I don't have to find myself mentally telegraphing how a certain move was pulled off, so that's a plus.

With Attack on Titan, we don't know what the Titans are or where they came from-all we know is that they want to eat humans.  The magical girls are similar, but different in the fact that we don't even know what they want.  That gives them a creepy mystery feel, without the unexplained aspect/feeling that we get from the Titans.  Their more human appearance also works in this regard.

My brother has followed the series chapter by chapter online, and he says that even up to then, he has no idea where exactly the writers are going.  But I'm feeling like I'll take my chances!

(Let's just hope it doesn't get all political and talky like Attack on Titan did.)

Pick up a copy today!

Review: "Food Wars"

I make no secret of it: I really love "Toriko".

It's a series about cooking and preparing new and fantastic foods, but also doing lots of butt-kicking and teaching science, too.  And it's full of really deep and interesting characters.  All it's really missing is a few more hot chicks, but I guess we can't have everything.

Now, you may be wondering-Why is Flatware Moth going on about Toriko when this is supposed to be a review of Food Wars?  Well, to tell you the truth, going by what I've read, the two series aren't that incredibly far apart.

(Okay, granted, there's no real butt-kicking going on in Food Wars, but, again, I guess we can't have everything.  It at least sort of makes up for it by pouring on the hot fanservice from our main female antagonist.)

Soma Yukihira (another weird name, am I right?) is the son of a high-class master chef who spends his days running a small family-style restaurant.  Combining the right mix of serious and oddball, he is a blunt and funny character who fluctuates between serious about his cooking and being silly enough to repeatedly combine fishy ingredients and sweet ingredients into dishes that he knows will taste bad, just for laughs.

Anyway, his father has been called away to prepare meals for major hotels in major cities all around the world.  To light a fire under his son Soma, he enrolls the boy in the prestigious (and snobby) Totsugeki Saryo Culinary School, which spartanly pushes its students until only the best of the best are left standing.

Enter our heroine Erina, a refined palate who is apparently near-impossible to please and always demands the very finest foods and ingredients.  And guess what Soma likes to use?  (Big hint: not that!)  As he continues in his adventures at the school, Soma's cooking and his cooking philosophy continue to worm their way into both her heart and her mind.  (Only the first volume, and even I can see that!)

This manga taught me what the heck an aspic is, as well as how to jerry-rig a pork roast with nothing but potatoes, mushrooms and thick-cut bacon.

That being said, there is a major flaw in the storyline, as a bitter friend of mine pointed out upon reading it: Soma's father is actually a world-renowned chef.  Doubtlessly, then, people would recognize his son's name and not treat him as the common peasant that they do.  From my friend's point of view, Soma Yukihira apparently has everything, and people like my friend always want to see that kind of "spoiled hero" character go down hard, crashing and burning.

But I admire people like Soma, people who strive hard to achieve their dreams and continue to show up those who insult them or stand in their way.  It makes me want to try harder, as well as to actually find myself something to try at.

(Once again, I only picked this series up because it was new at the library.  Back when I first saw it at the bookstore, I didn't really think too much of it, just going by the blurb on the back.  Perhaps there's a lesson there.)