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Friday, September 3, 2010
What's in a Name?
Pumpkin Scissors and Venus in Love
Sometimes all a manga has going for it is a sliver of spine peeking out from the bookstore shelf. A title and a head shot can be the only things standing between BookScan glory and the valley of the remaindered. Sometimes, the manga-ka has put publishers at a particular disadvantage.
Because who would ever suspect that a pretty terrific manga lurks under the name Pumpkin Scissors (Del Rey)? It sounds like a rival fashion house for Happy Berry in Paradise Kiss. It’s actually the nickname of the military unit at the story’s center, a rather marginal group of soldiers dedicated to post-war recovery in the ravaged Empire.
The nickname has yet to be explained in the narrative, though I did track the rationale down via a quick web search. I’m still unconvinced, and I’ve decided to ignore it, because Ryotaro Iwanaga is spinning out a compelling yarn, stupid title aside.
In this day and age, you don’t need a manga to tell you that the end of hostilities doesn’t mean the fighting is over, and that’s the central theme here. The war may be over, but people are still suffering. Some are being bullied by rogue bands of soldiers. Others are under the thumb of sadistic, perverse aristocrats who are thriving as their subjects starve. Everyone’s hungry, broke and shell-shocked, and it’s up to the titular unit to help where they can.
And what a unit they are. They’re led by Lt. Alice Malvin, an aristocrat with a good heart and a passion for military order. She’s a winning blend of naïve optimism and can-do attitude. Sly Oreldo and nerdy Machs provide reluctant backup to this loose cannon, and canine Corporal Mercury sends messages from the front (when he isn’t tormenting tight-assed higher-ups).
They’re joined by Cpl. Randel Oland, a former special-forces type who finds new purpose when he meets the relief-and-recovery team. The war took its toll on Oland, and he’s revived by the opportunity to help people. (He’s also a big lunk, one of my favorite categories of manga character, like Chad in Bleach or Jumbo in Yotsuba@!) Oland’s specialty is taking out tanks, and his method is insanely up-close and personal. Fortunately, he’s difficult to kill, which promises lots of future man-on-tank action.
It reads rather like a spin-off of Hiromu Arakawa’s excellent Fullmetal Alchemist. Decent people with good intentions do the best they can within an iffy military structure. It’s solid high adventure with a good heart and more on its mind than explosions and showdowns, though it renders those awfully well. Iwanaga’s style of illustration even resembles Arakawa’s, with clean lines and kinetic action.
So if you see Pumpkin Scissors on the shelf and think to yourself, as I did, that it has maybe the stupidest title you’ve ever seen, don’t let that keep you from giving it a look. You won’t regret it.
Aside from being just inane, a manga title can also fail by being too generic. Take Yuki Nakaji’s Venus in Love (CMX). The name is so bland it could almost cause narcolepsy, but the book itself is charming and unexpected.
After six years in an all-girls school in the country, perky Suzuna is excited to enroll in Kyoto University. She’s got her own apartment and has already made her first friend, confident classmate Hinako. There are classes to schedule, clubs to join and, fate willing, a boyfriend to find. (After some initial irritation at Suzuna’s prioritizing interpersonal goals over academic ones, I had to admit to myself that finding decent male companionship was pretty high on my campus to-do list as well.)
Hinako went to KU’s associate high school, so she knows the lay of the land and can introduce Suzuna around. They quickly connect with Fukumi and Eichi, a pair of goofball best buddies who provide good company and, in Fukumi’s case, eye candy. Eichi also happens to be Suzuna’s next-door neighbor, and he can’t help teasing her.
In an average shôjo manga, Suzuna would be positioned to have to choose between dreamy, athletic Hinako and smart-aleck Eichi. Nakaji has other plans, and it quickly becomes clear that Eichi shares Suzuna’s crush on Fukumi. It’s a nice twist, and Nakaji handles it with warmth and tact.
In an even nicer twist, Suzuna and Eichi actually become closer when they realize they’re rivals. I haven’t seen many comics that delve into the possibilities of the straight-girl/gay-guy dynamic, much less one that does it quite as well as Venus. Suzuna and Eichi are competitors, obviously, but they have a teasing, brother-sister dynamic that’s really charming. Suzuna takes Eichi seriously as a rival, but she respects his feelings for Fukumi as well.
The focus points of these kinds of romantic triangles don’t always seem to merit the admiration, but Fukumi pulls it off. He’s friendly, sensitive, funny and handsome, just on the right side of too perfect to believe. Hinako makes a nice fourth, facilitating the friendships while maintaining her own budding subplot.
Lest you think it’s all romantic maneuvering, Venus is as much a slice of life as it is a romantic comedy. I’ve read roughly a hundred shôjo stories set in high school, and I would happily read hundreds more, but the university milieu is a welcome change. Nakaji folds in little milestones of independence, like fighting the freshman ten, managing money, heading out of town for a long weekend, and that standby, underage drinking. It’s closer to standard shôjo than Chica Umino’s off-the-wall, adorable Honey and Clover (currently being serialized in Viz’s Shojo Beat), but it makes good use of campus life.
Visually, the book is just a bit off the standard shôjo track as well. Nakaji’s cast tends to chatter rather than ponder, so there are lots of pages with smaller panels. The illustrations are perfectly competent, though the backgrounds are a little generic and sparse.
And really, it’s the characters that sell Venus. They’re a charming, sympathetic group, and if the story they’re enacting isn’t exactly driving, they’re excellent company all the same.
(Reviews are based on complimentary copies provided by the publishers. CMX has teamed up with Tokyopop to give poetically inclined readers a chance to sample Nakaji’s Venus in Love and Zig*Zag with a haiku contest.)
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April 22, 2008:
February 4, 2008:
November 20, 2006:
A Comic-Con without the Captain
