In Love With "Koisuru One Piece"

 

I love One Piece, and I have even since the 4Kids era, because then at least we got to see it in English, crappy and childish and doctored as it was.  (Would it surprise any of you to know that I also enjoy all-you-can-eat buffets?)  The characters, the world-building, the battles…

 

And, apparently, I’m not alone.

 

(I mean, I know I’m not; it’s a multi-million dollar international smash, but I needed a good segue.)

 

You see, one Daiki Ihara has been putting out a certain gag manga for years now, based on One Piece, and that’s what I’m going to talk about today.

 

Ordinary Japanese high schooler Nami Koyama silently pines away for her childhood friend Luffy Yamamoto.  (Are you sensing the theme yet?)  Due to their shared love of One Piece, Nami and Luffy decide to establish a Pirate Club for fans of the series.  This would all be going well if not for the eccentric Usopp Nakatsugawa.

 

This one man turns out to be the cause of most of the problems throughout this series, and I have to say that I don’t like him very much.  He seems to be completely insane, believing  himself to be the actual Usopp, Luffy Yamamoto to be the actual Luffy, and so forth.  Every interaction with him is him either forcing the rules of the One Piece world onto their own real world, or else pulling out some insane new technology in order to make their real world more like that of One Piece.

 

I hate chuunibyo, let me just say that right now.  There are rules and societal norms to this world we live in, and, if you don’t follow them, you can easily risk being locked up or ostracized as a weirdo.  If a normal man were to randomly break into a musical number in the middle of downtown or jump into the zoo enclosure to try to ride the rhino because he thinks it’s a dragon, he would instantly be rounded up by the police and hauled off to a padded cell somewhere.  This world of ours is what it is, and, while it does need changing, one can do that without disturbing the peace or trying to force your own bizarre worldview/delusions upon others.

 

And I know that’s what makes shows like Bob’s Burgers funny, but no one would actually put up with people that backwards and silly in real life.

 

More Japanese-style humor abounds in Koisuru One Piece (or "One Piece in Love"), as more and more characters appear and get involved in the Pirate Club’s shenanigans, including at least two rivals for the affections of “Captain” Luffy.

 

This series is available through the Shonen Jump+ app, and only in the original Japanese.  I myself found a reputable site that sells Japanese books direct from Japan within the last few years, and so I purchased the first four volumes through them.  (Thank goodness I can actually read the language.)

 

I did once find the first volume fan-translated in English somewhere online, but I never actually looked at the name of the site or the URL, so it has escaped me.

 

If you can find this series anywhere (and are able to read it), I would highly recommend picking it up.  There’s something for everyone (aside from fanservice), whether you be a fan of One Piece or just a fan of romantic comedy gag manga.

"Boys Run The Riot" Review

 

In light of the current brou-ha-ha over Dave Chapelle and Netflix and trans rights, let me just say right now that I am a trans ally.  True, I may not know many actual trans people myself, so I fear I still may mess up their pronouns every now and again, but I figure all I can do is ask politely, apologize if I’m wrong and try to remember for next time.

 

It probably doesn’t help that there are relatively few media out there with positive trans representation.  But, thankfully, this series Boys Run The Riot is there to at least give us one media outlet.

 

Ryoko Watari is a high school boy (inasmuch as they are a biological female who wishes to gender themselves a male and be treated as such).  He isn’t out yet, however, and feels every day as if he must carry this heavy secret within himself.  We as readers really get to see a lot of the depression, frustration and self-loathing that is sadly all too common among the LGBTQ community. 

 

He feels like he can’t bring up his insecurities and issues with anyone, for fear of their not understanding him and judging him for it.  He feels as if he can’t risk bringing any undue attention to himself at all, for fear of people getting too close and discovering his uncomfortable secret.

 

(And it helps that the creator Keito Gaku is himself a trans man, as well.  Apparently, a lot of Ryoko’s situation is taken right from his own real life.)

 

But one day the dumb but lovable delinquent Jin Sato transfers into Ryoko’s (or “Ryo’s”, as he prefers to be called) school and the two wind up bonding outside of class over their love of street fashion.  Jin, in sharp contrast to Ryoko, can’t help but stand out because of his massive size, delinquent looks and over-the-top directness and friendliness.

 

(If you’re smelling a sitcom here, then you’re half-right; it is, but it’s not so much “ha-ha” as it is a slice of life.)

 

And so begins Ryo and Jin’s quest to start their own clothing brand together.

 

Along the way, they meet up with Itsuka, the sole member of their school’s photography club, whose father was once a photographer, but quit in disgrace when said job failed to pay the bills.

 

This series is very gritty and realistic (not that that’s a bad thing), and I love the inclusion of a trans character to help enlighten the world.  Even more out of the ordinary is that Ryoko is a trans man, where many other trans character stories are involving trans women.  Not only that, but Ryo also appears to be sapphic, going by her reactions to classmate Chika.

 

And along the way, we learn valuable lessons about finding people who get you and standing up for yourself and sharing your truth.  And, as the cherry on top of the cake, we even get to learn a few things here and there about photography with an actual camera and all the steps that go into the creation of a clothing brand.

 

Granted, this series is entirely grounded in reality, but the story itself is so outside of my own straight, cisgender humdrum Midwestern life that I think I will hold onto it for a little while.

 

Definitely recommend.

 

I Came, I Chain-Saw, I Conquered

 

 

Quite a while aback, I heard wind of this series’ existence in the same video I talked about where I’d learned of Spy X Family.  The story itself appears simple enough on the outside, but, as with most fine nuts, the real meat of the item itself lies just below the surface.

 

Ever since his father’s suicide, young boy Denji and his pet devil, the chainsaw dog Pochita, have been laboring, doing any jobs they can in order to pay off the old man’s debt to the mafia.  Thankfully for us readers, the meat of this work is done by killing off other devils and selling their corpses.  This leaves little, if any money, for Denji and Pochita’s living expenses, so they content themselves with eating single slices of bread for their daily meals and living in squalor.

 

But, one day, the yakuza bosses turn to another devil for more power and the deal, needless to say, goes badly.  This new Zombie Devil promptly kills them all and uses their deceased corpses to kill Denji and Pochita.  But, somewhere between this world and the next, the two share their remaining life essences, healing Denji’s wounds and fusing him and Pochita together, turning him into…the Chainsaw Man!

 

From there, Denji is found by the gorgeous Makima and conscripted into a government devil-fighting force, with the promise of decent food if he stays.

 

The manga itself is pretty hardboiled, with its sharp lines and bloody violence.  It all feels very film noir meets horror movie, especially since the various devils are all thoroughly monstrous and often filled with body horror.  But there’s also a running theme of pets, loyalty and control running throughout.

 

Denji is worked like a dog and treated like a dog by the yakuza.  Pochita literally is a dog…ish…Even Makima compares Denji and his new coworker Power the female devil to new, trainable dogs she’s taken in.  And Denji, having lived the life he’s led, seems perfectly okay with merely keeping himself alive and clean and comfortable i.e. one could say that he’s mostly living for the “creature comforts”.

 

But this isn’t always a negative theme.  Denji and Pochita were both, one way or another, strays when they first met, and they took each other in.  The kindnesses they showed each other grew into a deep relationship of love.  The master protects the dog, and the dog protects the master.  Undoubtedly, this trend will also continue with Makima and Denji’s relationship.

 

Even Power becomes more sympathetic when she says her only real friend is a stray cat she took in, and (Spoiler Alert), she winds up betraying Denji to the Bat Devil near the end of Vol. 1 in exchange for the safety of her beloved cat.

 

I will admit that I have never actively owned a pet for myself that has ever survived for an extended length of time.  My frogs escaped and all my fish died.  My brother and I have even failed to take proper care of a plant if it wasn’t already in the ground.

 

Maybe we’re both way too up ourselves.

 

But my point is that I fully understand and can both empathize with and romanticize it.  There’s something about pet animals that you just can’t get with your fellow humans.  You feel like an animal will always listen to you and not judge, even if it’s just you anthropomorphizing them and they can’t actually understand a word you’re saying.  Animals are much more likely than people to repay the kindnesses you show to them, and less likely to do the opposite i.e. less likely to attack you in revenge for the abuses you put them through.  An animal will accept you just the way you are, never offering you any unwanted advice or ordering you to change, and all they ask for in exchange is for food, love and kindness…

 

I’m sorry…I’m getting all choked up here, just writing this…

 

P-Pick up a copy of Chainsaw Man today!

 

(sniff)

Don't Bother Toying With Miss Nagatoro

 

Long ago, I picked up the first volume of this manga at my local bookstore simply because it was new and the girl on the cover is cute.

 

Long story short, an unnamed shy and nerdy boy who’s grown used to being bullied one day becomes the target of the cute and sadistic Nagatoro.  What follows are several short “comedy” chapters where she mercilessly insults him, belittles him and dangles pleasant things in front of him, only to cruelly rip them away and laugh at him for thinking he could actually get them in the first place.  I liked the first volume well enough, to the point where I actually made purchase of it on Amazon Kindle, although strictly because I liked the unique dynamic.  It was a kind of relationship I had never seen before.  And, again, Nagatoro is cute.  Plus we got a ton of fanservice.

 

But, even if all of this is meant to be “encouragement” for our male protag to change his life and become stronger and more confident, the way Nagatoro goes about it is almost guaranteed to only make him feel worse.  Sometimes people need to hear some harsh truths in order to improve themselves, but Nagatoro is simply taking the piss.  The best relationships have a good give-and-take between the two parties, where they make up for each other’s weaknesses and help each other grow.   

 

But, having recently read Volume 2 on my last trip to the bookstore, there is still no sign that either one is maturing or growing as one would ideally want them to.  Nagatoro just gets to have her fun abusing our poor hero and he, for one, just barely seems to grow a spine by the end of Volume 2.   

 

The series has recently gotten an anime adaptation, which I suppose is good for them, but I will not watch it, other than the occasional clip on Youtube, just to see what Nagatoro’s voice sounds like.  Call me self-delusional, but I would never allow myself to get into an abusive relationship like this one and, if I had a Nagatoro in real life, I would run away as soon as I saw her and tearfully yell at her to leave me alone.  I have no time for negativity.  Negativity is not productive.

 

But at least Nagatoro is cute…

Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun Review

 

Find the answers to the school’s seven mysteries and something will happen.  That is the legend at this currently unnamed high school.  One of these mysteries is the wish-granting ghost, Hanako of the Toilet.  They say she will grant your wish, but you must give up something precious in return.  Heroine Nene Yashiro enters the haunted girls’ bathroom and summons Hanako, only to discover that he’s actually a boy.  But, thankfully, everything else is true.  The boy-crazy Nene states her wish to have her latest crush Minamoto fall in love with her.

 

The duo’s initial love plans all fail because Hanako is new at this and very straightforward, seemingly preferring not to use supernatural means to grant such minor wishes.  But then Nene finds a magic mermaid scale of Hanako’s that will bind together whatever couple eats it in two halves.  She eagerly eats her own half, but then unfortunately discovers that Minamoto loves someone else and then she transforms into a fish.  Then, because apparently fish are the servants of mermaids, a demonic one appears to come take her away.

 

Hanako turns out to be surprisingly strong, especially for a recent legend and manages to drive the mermaid off.  He grants Nene her wish to be human again, but at the cost of her becoming his servant when he eats the other half of the mermaid scale.  This binds the two of them together and makes her the half of a couple that she’s always wanted to be.  It also leaves Nene going through an H2O Just Add Water situation where she grows fish scales whenever she gets wet.

 

Hanako acts as a local sheriff and diplomat for the supernaturals of the school, being that he is one of the Seven Mysteries alluded to in the intro.  He and Nene work to not only keep the peace between the school’s students and supernaturals to make sure neither side winds up hurting the other, but also make sure that the rumors that the monsters must follow never dip into dangerous territory.

 

For, you see, supernaturals are bound to follow and act out the stories that people tell about them and, if they don’t, they will begin to lose their connection to this world and return completely to their own, never to return.

 

I follow Yen Press on Twitter, and it often seems that they’re shouting some news about the latest volume of this series (and possibly the anime, but don’t quote me), so I figured I’d see why.

 

That plus the fact that this is the first new manga series that my local library has gotten in months.

 

But, frankly, I don’t see why the series is so popular.  The characters are all stock and the story doesn’t really seem to be going anywhere.  The tone of it all is very XXXHolic, which I did enjoy up until it started trying to have a story and to link up with Tsubasa Chronicles wherever it could, when it used to be just fine as a collection of short, spooky horror stories.  (There’s an irony there, for sure.)  But Hanako-Kun is neither spooky nor deep, at least not to such a degree as XXXHolic was.

 

(sigh) I miss that series, back in its glory days.

 

The one thing I can say about Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun is that the art style is also very XXXHolic, but in a good way, with lots of darkness and fine details and shadows and occasionally smoke or otherworldly designs whenever something supernatural shows up.

 

That being said, I, for one, would consider giving this series a hard pass.

 

Maybe next time I post, the library will have gotten something better.  Or who knows-Maybe by then the pandemic will be over and I can fulfill my year-long dream of spending an entire day at the bookstore again!