Things No One Cares About: Futatabi

Every time Kentaro Miura shows up here I end up making fun of the man's work. To be honest I feel bad for doing it because I really love Berserk. It is to me a modern classic in the making and I refuse to believe he just got lucky. I know he didn't do the stories for Japan and King of Wolves but the art wasn't that stellar either. He had some success as an ammeter manga-ka and it's clear he knows what he's doing. You know what maybe he just sort of got dragged into the Buroson team-ups to build his reputation. He's defiantly not a bad writer so maybe if he has full control like he does for Berserk maybe things will turn out for the best. Enough speculating on the past,lets move on to Futatabi.

Futatabi was Miura's first public release that wasn't a doujinshi. Released in 1985,it was a hit and won him a best new authors award .This would be four years before the first ill fated team-up with Buroson and Berserk Prototype .After this he would end up in a rut with the falling out of his next manga Noa but for now he had a great victory. So has this little one shot stood the test of time or is it another work that makes Berserk look like even more of a miracle. Well enough speculating...for real this time.

The plot is a rather simple animal, though I 'm not sure if can be sterilized by alcohol . The twists outside of one clever one are pretty easy to guess. It follows a auto mechanic named Rick in a futuristic/totalitarian city and his chance meeting with a mysterious girl named Venus. The plot heavily relies on a series of twists that actually sets up a very interesting premise(which I'm not spoiling). The problem is that once it sets up said premise,it doesn't do much with it. Instead opting to go with a weak theme of hope. So weak that it has to be explained in a short paragraph that also reveals where the story takes place. There is also a revelation near the end that answers question that no one was asking and raises some new ones. The ending itself is lacking with that ridiculous paragraph that just seems to scream “I ran out of ink and I'm on a deadline.” It is a real gut punch as the story had manged to draw me in and just having it end abruptly with that is silly.

Rick and Venus are by no means bad characters,their interactions do reveal more about the world in which they live in. However,Rick is your stock good guy and Venus is the mysterious girl. There are no real slants to their characters that make them stand out from anyone else That being said,they still do play off each other very well. The conversations they have between themselves and with other characters really do build up this world that I actually want to see more off but you know one shot.

The art is pretty great and actually does help the above mentioned clever twist. It does seems to draw from other sci-fi anime and manga without really anything to set it apart. However it still looks very nice for an early Miura work and shows that yes this man has a sense of perspective. Something he seemed to forget in King of Wolves. It is also nice to see him draw something besides barren wastelands so I actually have sights to see.

Weirdly enough reading this reminded me of Sweet Rein of all things. Mind you,Not so much for the art or anything but the squandered premise. Both had so much potential to be something great but instead went in an okay albeit less intrenching direction. This is a book worth checking out but like Sweet Rein you'll probably forget about it in a weeks time.

Things No One Cares About:King of Wolves

Last year I looked at the team-up train wreak that was Japan and realized I wasted like five dollars and a few hours on writing more unsubtle than mine. While looking up some info for it I did come across it's big brother King of Wolves. I decided to read that and then didn't so that's why I'm just now talking about it. Relevancy is clearly not my strong suit,anyway lets get on with King of Wolves.

As mentioned above this is the big brother of the red-headed step child that is Japan. Published in 1989, a year after Buroson's Fist of the North Star had completed it's run and a year before Miura's Berserk would begin it's own . It is paced better with a stronger story but  lacks the fangs that Japan had. Not to say it was really that bad either it's just insubstantial.As before Buroson is on story duty while Miura is doing the art Anyway, I like talking about plots so lets do that.

The story follows Iba and his girlfriend Kyoko as they both get pulled into a never explained portal of sorts that takes them back to the thirteenth century Mongol Empire. Her entrance to this realm happens a year later and is used as a way to introduce everything. It follows their efforts to one return home and two keep history flowing as it should. History having a very loose definition here,in that Genghis Khan was apparently a Japanese hero that fled his homeland to start anew in mainland Asia. The book tries to use actual dates to explain it away and I can not tell if it's being serious or not. The plot is driven by a string of wholly uninteresting fights that Iba wins using his kendo techniques and his odd sword that he just seems to have. It does make sense that no one would really be used to his style of fighting so they do lose easily. It doesn't make them any less boring though.

The time line that Iba and Kyoko try to protect seems pretty lax about events. As long as Genghis lives to his recorded death it doesn't seem to matter who has his name. Because I'm pretty sure that Iba's fighting style and sword may cause some things to change but nope it's fine. The whole idea of it is more Stein's Gate and less Sound of Thunder.

Speaking of lax the tone and message are not sure of themselves. The aforementioned origins of Genghis Khan are ridiculous but again I do not know if it is be serious or not. There is a almost bro like relationship between Iba,Genghis and his general but it still plays Genghis as a bit loony and blood thirsty. His desire to have a pure Japaneses baby comes the hell out of no where and pushes him into cartoon villain territory with his attempt to steal it from Iba and Kyoko. It is hard to discern if this is some tragic love story or a zany gorefest.

The characters themselves they are all bland and uninteresting. Iba has no personality outside of we must preserve history. I guess him and Kyoko bond over there lack of personality because they have the chemistry of wet paper bags. Kyoko stops doing anything remotely interesting once she reunites with Iba. Her only real contribution to the plot is having a baby,because that's all we ladies are good for I guess. Everyone else is just a jerk,that wants to murder and /or rule the land. Yes I realize that the period of time was fairly violent but just because it was doesn't mean everyone was a blood thirsty lunatic.

Lets give Buronson a break and start talking about the art,it is okay. I don't know if Miura just really like drawing Casca or what but Kyoko is basically her without her likability. The Mongol empire was apparently a precursor to the bad future of Japan everything is barren taking place primarily in deserts and on plateaus. I realize that those places would be kind of sparse but you could still make them look interesting. However if barren was the intention then they did hit it right on the nose. Genghis's right hand man is a giant in his first appearance then normal the rest of the time,go go action perceptive. I don't mean to bash Miura but this wasn't his first dog and pony show,he should know better.

When I first read this manga I was pretty okay with it I figured it's better than Japan but now that I've had time to think about it,it is almost worse than Japan. It has a better structure and is not as ham-handed as Japan but that's all it really has going for it. Japan had some train wreak qualities that made it somewhat memorable but this is the Seinen equivalent of shojo fluff. Nothing really wrong with it but completely forgettable.

Till next time Stay Positive

Things No one Cares About:Japan

Originally Published:April 10th,2013

It's been a while since I've talked about things no one cares about which has given people plenty of time to not particular care about me coming back . So in a way I'm creating an apathetic cycle that's too lazy to break out of it self. It's like a perpetual motion machine except  it isn't and I seem to have lost what I was trying to say so here's a picture of the cover of the book I'm reviewing today

So I guess you can tell that I'm reviewing Japan,the unholy baby of the authors of Fist of The North Star and Berserk.  I found this in a used bookstore and seeing the names I decided that this seems like a winner. I've since learned to ignore my inner voice,the bastard. So with out further monkeyshines let's look at  Japan.

This is the part here I get to beat up on Buroson because he's taking credit for this heavy handed tripe and it means I get to let Kentaro Miura off the hook for now. The story is fairly simple in it's set up and does a good job of characterizing the main cast...to an extent. The basic plot follows a love struck Yakuza member,his brother, his love interest and a group of wimpy college kids and their journey through the wastelands. They are forcibly sent there to learn about how economic weight throwing and too much national pride is awful and will cause terrible things. That right there is why the story really does fall short it's very unsubtle. Every thing that the characters say is so heavy handed that I'm surprised  they can lift said hands to punch. So while I do admire that it is uncompromising on it's views, many of it's views are just stupid.

That being said, the issues being brought up are fairly relevant and I actually do agree with a few of them: Don't forget the past, being pro active,don't let nationalism over take things,and what is a man.But it's presented in such a stupid way that I feel embarrassed to agree with it.  There's also this undertone of sexism used against the main female leads. Yes they are not really suited for combat being in decidedly less fighting heavy roles in normal life. However neither are the boys who are just college students with no real experience in fighting. Yet they are expected to man up and protect the girls. It just adds to some of the more unsubtleness that the book loves.

Now for a short part on the characters: they are not good,moving on.

Ok I'll say some things about them: they are generic,have very un-inspired  characters arcs,and their relationships are standard. The college boy trio predictably go from wimps to brave like every story that does this. For some reason the collage girl falls in love with the younger Yakuza member and both have no arc to speak of. The rebel leader is a meat head with out any personality beyond bruiser. The TV reporter love interest is a bland damsel for most of it before gaining some guts to try and save her man. Even then all she does is drive the car, the boys who just completed their growth do the leg work.

Oddly enough I do enjoy the main character somewhat. Yeah he's a very simplistic mouth piece for the author but he's a little likable. His single mindedness  is admirable in a stupid way however he still punches anyone who doesn't agree with his way completely. He gets the most characterization but is still playing the thug with a heart of gold archetype. So he's fairly balanced in a weird way.

Now that I've done yapping about themes and characters I do want to mention a minor thing that bugs  me. The very beginning has it seem like this world is some sort of illusion or test  but never really addresses it after it happens. No one talks about trying to get home or wondering what the hell the crypt keeper was. They just sort of go along with it and start a revolution. Which is weird because this was a one shot so having them being sent back after learning what they needed to learn would have wrapped up nicely. Instead it's just a vaguely heroic declaration to reclaim the land. Maybe they meant to go further but weren't able to. 

So the story and characters are heavy handed and weak respectively but that's just one part of this super star tag team. What about Miura's contributions, well good news the art is great. First thing to realize that unlike Buroson who had quite few works under his belt before Japan, Miura did not. This came out in 1992 about 3 years after Berserk had started so the art is very reminiscent of the Golden Age arc. His designs do bleed though here and that works for the most part. The main leads look like Guts and Caska expies ,if Guts decided to ingest a fridge. Every one else looks like his standard  character designs and the landscapes are bleak. The man knows how to make things look like nasty places and it shows.It's typical Miura,which is fine just no real stand out designs or landscapes. 


In summary: poor story,poor characters,great art. Sadly great art can not save this mess and it's defiantly a pass. As always criticisms and death threats are welcome.

Next time: Slayers Premium(maybe)