MW: develishly clever

I know I have reviewed many of Tezuka’s works before, but few of them can compare in oddity to the story of MW. It has a knack being more disturbing then even Apallo’s Song, though it clearly his brand of oddity. Despite being very disturbing this manga is like a thrill ride full of savage twists and turns that is not only shocking, but also gripping. This manga definitely deserve it’s reputation of be nothing like any other manga by Tezuka and is definitely not for the weak of stomach or for those who dislike the all out bizarre.

One thing you notice right away with this manga is Tezuka’s use of perspective. It feels as though your reading a complex storyboard for a film put together into a book (amazingly in 2009 there is expected to be a release of a live action film in Japan based on the book). Another thing that is obvious right away is that this work carries less of a cartoon like style then Tezuka’s other works. MW has a much more serious tone because of this then other works by Tezuka.  Despite this it still contains Tezuka’s own brand of humor at times, though this humor is more stubble then in his other works. Tezuka clearly takes advantage in this manga of his ability to use characters facial expressions to increase the moods of the work. It is especially clear that Tezuka’s art style is one of a kind and is highly developed as well as versatile, allowing him to breath life into this manga.

MW is a deeply disturbing not so much for the physical violence, but the psychological cruelty much like what is found in works such as Battle Royal. The story features father Garai a ex-gang member who attempts to save the man Michio Yuki after being partly responsible for the mans madness and feeling guilt for Yuki’s actions. Garia before joining the church later in life was a gang member that traveled to Vietnam during the war; in Vietnam he rapes Yuki who is only a child.  As he does this a nerve gas more powerful then an atomic is released killing everyone else on the island beside the two. Yuki is revealed to be the son of a famous Kabuki actor and has very feminine features, which are the cause of the Garia attraction. It is unclear whether it is the gas or the trauma of the rape, but Yuki ends up going insane and begins to string of murders disguising himself as office worker for a bank responsible for funding the development of the gas. The father’s attempts to dissuade him from continuing to murder and suffer continuously as Yuki ignores him and states that their destiny is linked and ignoring the father’s words. Garia constantly blames himself for Yuki’s actions (and perhaps even for a time is still in love with Yuki) and refuses to turn him or stop him in any way, though there are times where his rage makes him willing to kill Yuki. Yuki meanwhile uses his appearance to disguise and appear to be his boss’s daughter and robs the company his bosses company so as to disgrace his boss. Then after his boss resigns from all the pressures Yuki kills him revealing the truth of his betray, before his boss falls off a construction sight that he led to by Yuki and is killed. An inspector attempts many times question Yuki and the father and pressure them into giving evidence to arrest Yuki. However these attempts are of no avail as both Yuki and the father refuse to give him the evidence he needs to convict.

Yuki and Garia kidnap the mover of the in hopes of finding the location of the gas, they are attack and the mover is killed only for them to find the gas was moved to Toyko air base. After Yuki reveals to Garai that he is in search of the gas to kill everyone in the world, the father finally realizes he must act and meets with a journalist to expose the truth in hopes that the gas will be destroys. Meanwhile Yuki gets close to the prime minister becoming a cabinet member, helping him ward of the rumor about gas and eventually marrying the prime ministers daughter. He threatens Garai and attempts tries to silence the truth about the MW gas in other ways, while at the same time attempting to discover it’s exact location.

Yuki then hires a safe breaker to help him in his plan and kills the minister’s daughter after the investigator reveals to her the truth about Yuki. He then breaks into the air base and forces the safe breaker, general, Garai and the bases commanders children to be hostages using the gas to threaten the soldiers to supply him with a small aircraft. After running out of fuel Yuki quickly switches air planes, unaware that his identical twin brother has come aboard the new craft. Soon after Garia appears to kill Yuki finally by forcing him and his gas pouch into the ocean killing both of them. However, in the end of the manga you discover that the Garai killed his brother and, with a quick flash of Yuki’s insane smile the manga ends. The stories greatest disappointment is that it lack the self-parody found in other Tezuka manga, though it might not be appropriate in this work it would lightened up some of the depressing nature of the story. This creates a grim and remorseless mood without any real breaks from the hopeless nature of the plot.

The story may be crazy and disturbing, but it would be nothing without the great characterization. Tezuka’s use of conflict in personality traits makes his characters complex and interesting. Examples of this include, Yuki being both a madman and a cunning genius, Garai both wishing to save Yuki out of guilt and at the same time be rid of him and avoid the damnation of his soul. Garai struggles throughout the manga with his feels of hate toward Yuki and his guilt for his actions that helped caused Yuki’s madness. He is just as insane and messed up as Yuki is, unable to stop or stand up to Yuki and take the responsibility for stopping Yuki until the very end. Another thing fascinating and morbid about Tezuka’s manga is Yuki’s entire lack of morals. He feels no remorse for his morbid and elaborate killings; his goals are simply to bring suffering upon those related to MW and then to take the world with him. He is totally fixated on tormenting and loving Garai at the same time. My only big complaint with this work is the actions of investigator, which doesn’t make complete sense. The investigator despite knowing about Yuki’s murders refuses to stop him at all cost until the world itself is in danger and even then he helps only indirectly. You’d think that he would be eager to kill Yuki, but instead he is content to search for more evidence and allow further killings.

Despite this the tune of this manga is overall unnerving realistic for a manga, the story retains a dark, dramatic and realistic tune despite the outlandish plot. Through the personality of the characters he only increases the intense and immense drama of this work. Although, this story lacks the comedy and up beat feel of adventure that Tezuka’s works carry it is very interesting (though creepy) work. If you stomach reading this work and are interested an intensely realistic and gritty works (like Battle Royal) then this manga is for you.

Sound of past and future: The Akira soundtrack

Since this week is the Mikomi Con (at CSUN) I decided to once again to review an anime based sound track. There is no movie nor sound track quiet like that of Akira’s, both the movie and the soundtrack were far ahead of their time. Recorded in 1988 based on the hit manga, Akira changed the process of the art of film making drastically including the recording sound tracks. Using computer programming a new sound was developed that was previous impossible to create. The album showed that the use of past methods of composition could be adapted to modern equipment and technique to create an amazing blend. This album was ahead of its time in so many and helped influenced the direction of a wide variety modern of soundtracks.

It’s hard to come up with stylistic description of the album as a whole. What can be said for it is that it had an entrancing effect on me and each piece is the type of work that requires long periods to complete the big picture. Many songs have a mix of ancient Buddhist and Noh chant to modern computer sounds creating a sound that is impossible to explain properly. This sound track is just as surreal is the actual story of Akira with it’s strange patch work of style and sound that seemed forced together to create something almost un believably strange, yet enthralling.

To create this mix of traditional sound and writing with a computer was a complex process that I cannot even full understand. To begin to understand how this sound came to be it is important to understand that this work not only piece of musical genius, it was created using a complex system of mathematical patterns. Each specialized piece is split up into patterns and with the use of special instrumentation it allowed the work to expand beyond the use of a modern temperament. This system allowed the instruments to overlap and the use of variety of techniques to create contrast of sound, while making it easy to perform and put together. The music because of this method has a clear pulse and at the same time carries a very chaotic nature that gives it improvised feeling. The eclectic mixing of this sound track is perfect for the movie strange and original nature, which relies heavily on the music to create mood.

To create this eclectic mix sound many instrumental sounds, much of the sound comes from the group Geinoh Yamashirogumi. This group helped create the style of composition with its mix of Indonesian chromatic percussion, synthesizers and, tradition Japanese religious and theatric music. This mix of gives the music a very strong pulse from the percussion section while creating a free form feel from vocals, while synthesizers creates the feel of movement and allow the chords of the music to be unrestrained. The must notable contribution outside this group comes from the many Noh chanters gives the music a further chaotic and mystical feel. This mixing of instruments and styles create the sound of this album and give it an intense and moving feeling.

This albums sound is fantastic mix of the old and new, creating an ethereal sound. The moods this album can bring variety from peaceful lovely feelings of rest to violent feelings of movement. This music just simply belongs with the film and I couldn’t image the film without this music. This album is probably like nothing you’ve heard before, so open your mind and pick it up, and let you mind soar.

Boogiepop Doesn’t Laugh: The lost plot

The Boogiepop series has a number of incarnations, each have a one of a kind eerie feel and Boogiepop Doesn’t laugh is no exception to this pattern. Though this series only last two books, but there is a lot to say about it despite it’s short length. It is definitely a great case study in what to do to keep characters interesting, as well as the important to make all elements strong. In the end it focuses so much energy into characterization that it loses sight of the overall plot and character role within in leaving the reader with a empty feeling.

Its art is unlike that of other manga, which works both to credit, but it is also to it’s fault. Characters have small thinker eyes, small mouths and fairly large noses unlike the typical anime character, which is strangely very interesting to look at. It’s feel is light, it seems like it was drawn with watercolors or a brush type of feel and the backgrounds and character appearance have flowing feeling. This also though can make the art on the other hand seem sketchy and poor of quality to some readers. Expression is much stronger then movement, this is forgivable however because of the amount of dialogue in the story. However what isn’t is that the characters are difficult to tell from one another because of a very similar design and can end up becoming confusing. The art style is kind of new and fairly good looking, but it’s really a love hate type of thing either the light dream light drawing holds your interest or leaves you feeling flat and bored.

Luckily for the art style the story tune matches up very well with the brush like art, though the story again either captures the reader with it’s dialogue or leaves them unimpressed with it’s style. The introduction is most well written revolving around the high school student Takeda Keiji, who appears to have been shown up by his girlfriend Miyatashita as he waits for her to arrive. Suddenly an injured man stumbles into sight follow shortly after by a mysterious cloaked male with a pipe hate and his girlfriends face who is later revealed to be Boogiepop. His friend Kamikishiro teases him about his problems with his girlfriend and is confused when he begins to describe the man. He later speaks to Miyatashita discovering she can’t even remember having missed their date. Later he runs into the cloaked figure again on the roof of the school where the figure explains that he is a split personality of Miyatashita and that she forgets about things when he is around avoid guilt and that something is threatening mankind within the school. Miyatashita is torn between friendship with Boogiepop and fear for his girlfriend’s safety. He speaks often to Boogiepop about himself and Boogiepop speaks about Miyatashita’s feelings allowing him to unload his personal stress and creating a close friendship with Boogiepop. Kamikishiro then vanishes and Boogiepop appears one last time without the costume to inform Takeda that the danger is over and that danger is over and that he will disappear. Takeda feels alone and begs Boogiepop to stay, only to have him vanish returning his girlfriend to herself and life to normal. Yet it is clear he still longs to meet Boogiepop again.

The rest of the story involves the various characters, but the major ones are Suema Kazuko, and Kirma Nagi who are hunting down the Manitcore a evil clone of the Echoes a supernatural being that can’t speak and can take form. On the other side their Saotome Masami and the monstrous being in the shape of girl. Both plot to drug students making them mind slaves and using them to spread their drug. The main drive of both introduction and the rest of the story are the characters themselves and dialogue as oppose to action. The story at times is interesting, but overall it is the characters and the elements of the story that work while the actual plot is weak and at times even silly. The only element of the actual plot that is powerful is the eerie feel of the story line and the mystery surrounding characters. Characters disappear suddenly, plot points are revealed through the characters personalities and the emotions are tested throughout the work.

Beyond that the end makes the many stories about the many different cast member pointless. The story end in rushed showdown with the pitting the heroes and a few friends against the manticore and Saotome, this showdown brings the story a quick and somewhat neat, but predictable manor. The story is hard follow and many times ends up as confusing with little ability to transition from one characters story to anothers. The worst element is the fact that the many characters and their stories on their own seem to fit on their own, however in the overall plot the their story seem to be weaved haphazardly. Each characters story doesn’t seem to fit with the story overall well besides Saotome filling the story with a needlessly large cast. Characters that have little to do with the plot as a whole many times also get focused on in detail, where as characters that end up important to the plot have little detail around them. Overall the plot is where this Manga suffers the do to the lack of connection of connection between the characters and the actual story.

Where this story excels is the characters and the personalities. Each character has a very complex personality and smart dialogue similar Death Note. Characters are inquisitive, thoughtful and torn between by their feels constant. A prime example of this is the cunning Saotome, a disturbing character who hides his wicked nature and helps the Manitcore kill and drug girls gleefully. On the other hand he has strong feelings secretly for Negimi because of he relates to her nature as an outcaste. Negimi herself is also an interesting as scarred character, her hunt for the Manitcore resigns to be branded an outcaste among her classmates. She forced herself to except being without love or need friendship and unlike mostcharacters is a independent character who avoids company. Negimi is obsessed with a desire to destroy the Manticore and goes as far as to hack computers late into the night forcing her to sleep in class or to get herself suspended purposely so that she can continue her search.

The most interesting character though is Takeda who is torn between his love for his girlfriend and a need for someone at his own intellectual level to befriend him. Having a job already set up for him after leaving school leaving his class mates are of him jealous because of their college test. He also has to watch as his friend Niitoki confesses her love for him knowing he will turn her away. He relies on Boogiepop to help him get over his lonely feelings and yet Boogiepop at the same time possesses the girl he loves and who comforts him. In the end it is heart breaking for him to lose Boogiepop while at the same time he discovers that he is not alone in the world.  His personal uneasy is present in all the characters in the story connecting them together in a way the plot fails to accomplish.

Overall the strong characterization can not nearly make up for the weak plot, which a shame because with a better plot this manga could be something special. If this manga had been allowed to move at a slower pace and to slowly build up throughout many volume then the plot holes would have been less noticeable and be more fixed. The rushed ending and lack of connection between character and the plot destroy what could have been a great manga. Overall even though this manga lacks in storyline it is a very interesting manga and even features a guide dealing with the rest of the series, which is helpful to fans of the Boogiepop series. If your fan of the Boogiepop series then it might be worth picking up other wise stick to something like Death note, Mermaid Saga or Lament of the Lamb instead.

Robert Johnson review part 2: The music

Of the many blues albums there are is none quiet like that of Robert Johnson The Complete Recordings. Robert Johnson is one of the most mysterious and little known blues musicians and yet at the same time he is accredited with being one of the most important contributors to development of Blues and Rock and Roll. His music has not only inspired some of the greatest rock and blues musicians, it on it’s own is some greatest blues ever. Despite the obscurity of his music it is truly a one of a kind that comes from legendary performers such as Luis Armstrong. The story behind his works is just as fascinating as the works themselves and helps bring more meaning to his work as well.

Johns medium is a moanin’ sad folk/delta blues typically with themes of sorrow. His songs carry a variety of different themes that seems to be close to the traveling Johnson including loneliness, death and traveling. Despite the fact that the recordings include only Johnson and his gutair and considering the age of recordings the sound quality is surpisingly clean. There is full sound in this CD format that is a lot clearer then a lot of modern quality recording. This quality allows every note to ring out and be heard allowing the genius of the music to ring through.

Johns sings with two very important voices (metaphorically), one voice is his mouth; his other is the singing guitar. His voice has a wide variety of range and expression allowing each song to take on very different feelings and meanings. This is apparent within the two very different takes of the songs like  “Come on in my Kitchen.” Each take of a song is also significantly different from the last take due to his constant ability to change the interpretation of the voice. His voice however, always carries a powerful moan and many times it bend like the notes on his guitar. What sells his music the most has got be his complex guitar playing though. He not only uses the guitar to drive forward the rhythms, but he also uses it frequently as another voice. Unlike most guitar parts that play a back up role his guitar is used like another voice and many times even takes on a leading role in the song. The combination two voices of Johnson and his guitar create a unique and wonderfully sad sound that fits theme of the music perfectly.

To truly understand Johnson’s music to the fullest understanding the legend behind his music is essential. Johnson was supposedly a young plantation worker who loved the Blues and desired to be a great blues musician. Legends has it that Johnson went to the cross roads near Dockery’s plantation, their he was met by a large Black man. Many believe that the man in this legend was a form of Satan, the man tuned Johnson’s guitar giving him the ability to master it in return for his soul. Another legend says that Johnson took the guitar to a cemetery and played among the tome stones to acquire his skills. Johnson then began traveled singing his blues and beyond the two session he recorded there is very little know about his where abouts at this time beyond that he would move place to place. His death is just as famous as the legend regarding how he acquired his skills. Though the there are many accounts to cause of his death it is most widely believed that he was poisoned at a juke by a jealous husband, who suspected Johnson had been secretly seeing his wife. The man offered Johnson poisoned whiskey-laced strychnine and despite the warning of a friend Sonny Boy Williamson he drank it and died soon after at the age of twenty-seven. No one is quiet sure where he is buried and there are now three different head stones marking his burial site.

The legends surrounding Johnson are important despite the lack of proof or evidence behind them. The theme of the devil, death and the crossroads frequently appear in Johnson’s music in songs such as the “Preaching Blues (up jumped the Devil),” “Cross Road blues,” and, “Me and the Devil Blues.” These themes weigh heavily Johnson’s music though it is still a mystery exactly, how many and how much of the influence of these themes were drawn out of Johnson actual life. What is clear is that his guitar was tuned in a way that had never been done before and created a sound that was ideal for Johnson melodic playing. Even to this day experts are baffled by how Johnson played many of passages in his songs, which remain as mysterious as his life.

Johnson is a fascinating and mystery musician, despite the fact that little is known about his life his legacy will live on in his music. It’s not surprising that his music has influenced some of the greatest blues and rock musicians of all time. His music despite being very old it has qualities that allow the listener to relate to it and reinterpret it, making his music timeless. His melodic moaning voice and slide guitar is truly brilliant and it is essential for blues fans to hear this collect of his brilliant works.

Rumic world and Theater: Takahashi’s great act

Rumiko Takahashi is known most notably in America for her series Ranma ½, Inuyasha, and Urusei Yatsura, however some of must important work is over look such as Mermaid Saga and one of her most revealing and important series Rumic Theater and Rumic World. These series show a lot about her work, they reveal her flaws and even more so her many strengths. Both the series also encompasses a wide variety of the different genera’s and various styles of drawing she has used throughout her career. Many of the stories in this collection point to her later direction within her other series, but also are clearly unique works of their own making them interesting reads.

One thing that is very important in judging any manga is the style of artwork and whether it works with the story or doesn’t flow right. It is clear from this series that Takahashi understands this concept and makes sure to carefully create a tone that matches her writing. This series is most notably because it shows the progress and changing style of her work, but however the many art style of the work are clearly hers despite the differences in artwork. This series successfully shows off that she has the ability to draw in a variety of genera’s. All of the artwork has a one of a kind quality and is fun to look at, however it is the drawings found in her comedy stories that pop out the most with their zany style of character design.  Such a example of this can be found in the story “Face pack,” where characters are constant dawning many strange masks. One thing that is always true about the art style is that it is highly detailed in facial features and very consistently well drawn.

Overall the story telling in this is the best overall quality of any of the Takahashi works due to the length of the stories. The abrupt endings she uses to complete her stories are much more expectable in these smaller works then in her bigger stories. Another thing the short stories make clear is that she does much better with a short concept then a longer more drawn out one. Many of her later works such as Inuyasha go on far beyond the point where she can come up with a consistently interesting concept and many times leave the reader bored waiting for the next bout of quality. With the use of short stories it allows her to never get bored and to constantly create new stories. The wide variety of genera shows off her skills in the genera’s just as well in as she does in her manga series in many cases, there is plenty of slapstick comedy like that of Urusei Yatsura or Ranma ½, supernatural horror like that found in Mermaid Saga, historic adventure like that found Inuyasha, daily life comedy like that found in Maison Ikkoku and sports based comedy such as in One Pound gospel.

Rumic world and theater clearly not only show her influences for her series in genera, they also show what her process of characterization. Her character’s tends to have simple with very clear personality traits and rarely develop or change much. Despite this the characters unchanging personalities up match well with the short story genera’s and format of her work, which typically revolves around the situation or setting instead of the characters. This is most truthful when genre of comedy where the main character typically has a obsessive personality and ends up learning nothing such as in “Face pack.” This also has an advantage when writing horror manga where the main characters must retain his bravery despite the mass horrors that they encounter that would shock a normal person. Overall despite the lack of depth in emotional personality the simple but unique personality traits of her characters work well for in her short story format and typically the lack of personality depth is not an issue (unlike in longer works such as Inuyasha).

Overall Rumic world and theater are some of the most consistent works of Takahashi because of the short story format, which the stories are best suited for. The variety of genera and theme are all at a high quality and allow Takahashi to be free to use new and fresh characters for each story. This freedom of the short story makes this work at a level equal to her other works at their best and allowed her later to reuse many of concepts to create her hit series. If you are a new to her work then this is the best work to get to know her work better. If you’re a fan you of Takahashi’s work it is also worth getting due to the great quality of the work.