So I FINALLY finished all bajillion chapters of Bakuman...And I enjoyed it a lot. I think it gave me a unique perspective into the whole world of manga, its fans, how mangakas work and the whole creative process unfolding...Very neat- it finishes up as expected, but nevertheless triumphantly.
But I'm done!
So I caught up with fluffier stuff I like to read...and while exploring, discovered, via Baka-Updates Manga, a new series I am really getting sucked into.
Chihayafuru is the story of Chihaya Ayase, a beautiful girl who instead of capitalizing on her good looks is out to become the ultimate champion in the game of karuta.
What is karuta? you ask.
Allow me to explain: Karuta is a card game that challenges your speed, reflexes, and memory. You basically play with a set of cards that contains traditional poems and you need to grab the right cards when read by the caller before your opponent does.
With the school year starting up again, life is hectic. I have been reading a very long manga. Very long. Oh. Man. It's called Bakuman and it is about...Manga. A manga about manga? Yeah. If you like manga and often find yourself wondering what a mangaka's life is like, then Bakuman might be for you. I haven't finished it yet, so I am not going to review it here now, but I encourage manga fans to check it out. I like the characters a lot and enjoy their brainstorming to face different writing and drawing challenges. And Eiji Niizuma, the mad, creative mangaka prodigy, bedecked in feathers and swooping between the stories in his head and real life conversations, has to be one of the best manga characters out there.
Eiji Niizuma- I wish I had half his energy...and joy for what he is doing.
Anyway, Bakuman has taken all the (almost nonexistent) manga-reading time slot. Most of the time I am so tired I just want to be passive and watch something.
I came across this fantastic anime called Samurai Champloo. I did not know if it would be to my taste, since I'm not huge into Hip Hop music and so many descriptions of this anime reference the connection.
Let me just say that the first episode hooked me in and I was done for. It's not too long a series and the premise is lovely: a young woman basically "hires" two ronin to help her find "the samurai who smells of sunflowers." The characters are Fuu (she is named after a bird, which makes some of Mugen's dreams more poignant), Mugen, a brash and impulsive swordsman who is unconventional and unpredictable, and Jin, the slightly older, more serious, introverted, and insanely skilled swordsman. Together they undertake a voyage through Japan in the 1800s running across all kinds of strange scenarios and situations. Van Gogh, baseball, outlawed Christian sects, and pirates all fit in the narrative of this anime.
The art is very good. Understatement. Sometimes I was simply reminded of Yakuza tattoos: colorful, bold, mythic and modern at the same time, and containing a certain urban grittiness. Urban grittiness, by the way, is very much a backdrop to the story as little anachronisms and nods to Hip Hop culture abound (see the episode with the spray paint rival artists or the beatbox competition, for example). It would be very easy to imagine Mugen walking the streets of some big city, despite his steel-lined geta. His despondent attitude camouflages his depths.
Without much explanation or huge digressions, except where strictly necessary (Mugen's whole backstory), the characters develop gracefully and you begin to piece together who they are, where they come from, and begin to grasp their complexities. By the end of the series, I loved all three characters: Fuu is feisty and stubborn, but kind and sympathetic. And she can kick butt at all-you-can eat restaurants... Mugen is volatile, prone to lash out without much warning and is filled with good old-fashioned trash talk. But he is also fair, and even loyal. Jin is the quiet one: stoic, reserved, holding on to a past way of life that is no longer honored...or practical. He is heart and soul, idealistic to the core, kind and selfless. But this isn't suddenly revealed; you catch glimmers of it and have to build your own opinion and make your own conclusions. It's wonderful!
There is plenty of humor, such as the meeting with "Musashi," or my favorite episode, Artistic Anarchy, which introduces the daffy inspector character who tries to solve certain disappearances. There is also so much heartache, such as when Jin falls in love (in Gamblers and Gallantry) or when Mugen crosses paths with people from his past (Misguided Miscreants). The narrative even shifts to different storytellers as it does in Beatbox Bandits, making each episode interesting and fresh.
And the music works beautifully. I don't know if I would like the music as a stand-alone as many of the fans of the series do, but together with the images, the effect is awesome: you feel immersed in that world.
The series can be viewed on YouTube under the Funimation channel.
So I've been kind of on an InuYasha hiatus since a friend of mine with whom I watch movies on aweekly basis expressed interest in watching it with me. We're currently watching Spice and Wolf, which I need to dedicate a post (or several) to because it really is wonderful and very unique.
One manga I came across lately, based on a friend's recommendation, is the stunning A Bride's Story- or Otoyomegatari, by Kaoru Mori, a mangaka known for her passion for stories developing in different times and places. Her research and artistic accuracy in portraying Victorian dress and culture in the manga Emma was highly praised. That same meticulousness and attention to detail is evident in this newer manga, which takes place along the "nineteenth-century Silk Road" (near the Caspian Sea).
It's the story of a woman called Amira Halgal. She is 20 years old, part of a semi-nomadic tribe, an expert hunter, equestrian, leather worker, and wild game cook. She is just beautiful. But despite all of this, Amira is considered, in that culture, an old maid, and quite unmarriable. The perception is that too much time has gone by and her chances of being able to provide a husband with many children are highly diminished. She does, however, get married off, and is sent with her dowry, including her horse, over the hills, to travel for four or five days to her groom and his family.
Here's the interesting part. Her husband is Karluk Eihon, the heir apparent to his clan. He is a gentle, quiet, insightful, and brave person. He is also 12 years old. (This immediately reminded me of Ghengis Khan and his first wife Borte. Borte was betrothed to Khan at a very young age...and she was older than he.)
