Getting into One Piece

In the run-up to the next Manga Moveable Feast, it occurs to me (mostly thanks to Johanna Draper Carlson of Manga Worth Reading) that people who aren’t familiar with Eichiro Oda’s One Piece (Viz) might appreciate some suggested entry points to the very long series. (The 55th volume came out in early October.)

Viz has released the first twelve volumes in less expensive omnibus editions, with three paperbacks collected in each book. The first two omnibuses contain fun material and introduce the story’s core characters, and they’re certainly worth reading.

If you want to see what Oda is really capable of achieving, however, I’d recommend you go for the third and fourth omnibus collections, which contain all of the chapters comprising what some call the “Arlong Arc.” While the story arcs prior to that are certainly accomplished in terms of their ability to combine adventure and comedy, the Arlong Arc represents Oda’s most successful addition of dramatic material into the mix. If you’d rather buy or borrow individual volumes, I believe the Arlong Arc is contained in volumes eight, nine, ten and eleven. Even if you buy individual volumes, there’s going to be some overlap with previous and subsequent arcs, but it will be a “cleaner” read if you only want to sample one relatively contained story arc. I don’t think reading the material that runs up to the Arlong Arc is strictly necessary, but there’s some fun stuff in those volumes.

On its dedicated One Piece site, Viz lists the various sagas of the series, which is less useful than you might expect, especially in the early going. The “East Blue” saga actually consists of about four discrete individual arcs, with Arlong being the strongest. I believe “Baroque Works” is also more a collection of loosely related arcs than a single narrative, though I’m not entirely sure. I’m approaching One Piece from two directions, using the omnibus editions to catch up on older volumes while picking up recent individual volumes from the 29th forward. Prior to reading the 29th, I’d only read a few of the earliest volumes and liked them well enough but was not yet fully converted to the cult of Oda.

I’m hoping that Viz continues with the omnibus collections of the earlier volumes, though there doesn’t seem to be one on the schedule any time soon. It does seem to be one of those series where all of the volumes are readily available at your average chain bookstore. I’m not sure how much of a presence they have in libraries, and I’m sure that partly depends on how interested your local library system is in manga and graphic novels.

Does anyone else have any suggestions on entry points for the series? I would think that the most recent volumes to be made available in English would be kind of impenetrable, or at least you wouldn’t be able to fully appreciate what’s going on except in the sense that it’s an accomplished adventure story. And that might be plenty for some readers to enjoy it just fine.

Random weekend question: guilt trips

Melinda (Manga Bookshelf) asked folks to confess to their guilty graphic pleasures, so I thought I’d approach the question from the other direction. What comics or graphic novels, if any, do you feel guilty about having not read? Are there any much-loved classics or high-tone titles that you just can’t be bothered to read?

Open portal thread

Brigid (MangaBlog) Alverson points to this report at Anime News Network, announcing that “37 Japanese publishers are collaborating to set up a joint portal site” for their manga. It seems like the kind of thing that could be so monumental as to drive me to use otherwise loathed phrases like “game changer” and “paradigm shift.”

So instead of the usual Friday license request, I thought I’d throw open a discussion of what kinds of comics you’d like to see included in the initiative, which publishers you’re most eager to see participate, and whatever other responses you have to this news.

Quick context

In case you’re wondering about the context of that quote in today’s Journalista, it came in response to a tweeted question from Ed Sizemore (Manga Worth Reading, Manga Out Loud), which led to a lively discussion on the difference between a reviewer and a critic. A number of folks offered their thoughts on the subject, as did Dirk Deppey, so that’s where that was spawned. (Sometimes you don’t know you need a hash-tag until it’s too late to use one.) For the record, I don’t find I value either criticism or review over the other as a reader, though I do tend to enjoy writing reviews more.

And speaking of reviewers, Melinda (Manga Bookshelf) Beasi lists some of those she finds most reliable, and I’m flattered to be among them.

Announcing the next Manga Moveable Feast

Anime News Network notes that the 60th volume of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece (published by Shueisha in Japan, Viz in the United States) has sold over 2,000,000 copies in four days. This seems like as good a reason as any to announce that the next installment of the Manga Moveable Feast will focus on Oda’s blockbuster pirate adventure. This edition of the Feast will run from Sunday, Nov. 28, to Saturday, Dec. 4.

Anyone needing a refresher on what the Manga Moveable Feast is all about can take a look at Matt (Rocket Bomber) Blind’s handy introduction to the project. If you’d like to participate but don’t have a blog or don’t think the subject is right for the blog you already have, I’d be happy to host guest pieces during the Feast. Just email me at davidpwelsh at yahoo dot com.

Here are links to the Feasts that have taken place thus far:

After School Nightmare (Go! Comi), hosted by Sean (A Case Suitable for Treatment) Gaffney

Paradise Kiss (Tokyopop), hosted by Michelle (Soliloquy in Blue) Smith

The Color Trilogy (First Second), hosted by Melinda (Manga Bookshelf) Beasi

To Terra… (Vertical), hosted by Kate (The Manga Critic) Dacey

Mushishi (Del Rey), hosted by Ed (Manga Worth Reading) Sizemore

Emma (CMX), hosted by Matt (Rocket Bomber) Blind

Sexy Voice and Robo (Viz), hosted by me

One Piece is serialized in Viz’s Shonen Jump magazine here in the United States. Deb (About.Com) Aoki just happens to have an interview with editor Joel Enos on recent and upcoming changes to the long-running periodical.

Bullies for you

Last night saw the broadcast of Glee’s much-anticipated episode about bullying, “Never Been Kissed.” I could go on at length about it, but I think I’ll confine my remarks to about a paragraph. I didn’t find it dramatically or musically successful or useful in a sociological sense. In fact, at a time when a show of Glee’s profile and audience demographic could really have modeled some behaviors that would be useful to kids who are at risk and the classmates who might be persuaded to stand up for them (Glee’s precise demographic, for all intents and purposes), it seemed to choose instead to write for the nostalgia of people who’ve come through those kinds of bullying crises, which is not useful at all to kids who are actually being bullied. Now, you may argue that Glee is under no obligation to model positive behaviors, but I would counter that the show’s creators are more than willing to accept praise for the show’s inclusive, empowering message, so, yes, there’s a certain onus in place for them to actually craft those messages with care. Also, Mr. Schue is an idiot.

I agree with this spoiler-filled review by Monkey See’s Linda Holmes in most particulars, if you want to see a more detailed examination of the episode.

The Seinen Alphabet: P

“P” is for…

Hitoshi Iwaaki’s Parasyte, originally published by Tokyopop, then published again by Del Rey, because it’s just that good. It’s about a teen whose hand is taken over by a creature that would normally take over the kid’s whole body by replacing his head. Other members of the creature’s invading species are not amused. It originally ran in Kodansha’s Afternoon.

For some classic, high-end ninja action, there’s Path of the Assassin (Dark Horse), written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Goseki Kojima. The 15-volume series was originally published by Kodansha.

Felipe Smith’s Peepo Choo (Vertical), which offers brutal satire of cross-cultural misconceptions and fetishes. Smith started his career with MBQ for Tokyopop, then hit the big time by creating Peepo Choo for Kodansha’s Morning 2.

Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto (Viz), which re-imagines a classic tale from Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy (Dark Horse) in an introspective, adult way, which kind of makes it Japan’s answer to Watchmen (Vertigo), I guess. It originally ran in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Original.

Speaking of Urasawa, I think Pineapple Army, written by Kazuya Kudo, was one of his first works. It originally ran in Big Comic Original.

Makoto Yukimura’s Planetes (Tokyopop), a generally magnificent look at the people who keep Earth’s orbit safe by picking up trash. I’m not going to claim that this book is perfect, but it really is one of my favorite science-fiction series. It originally ran in Kodansha’s Morning.

Did Media Blasters ever publish all of Pilgrim Jäger? I don’t think so. It’s a six-volume series, written by Tō Ubukata and illustrated by Mami Itō, originally serialized in Shōnen Gahousha’s Young King Ours.

I’m guessing on this one, or at least relying on possible questionable sources, but I think Hideji Oda’s A Patch of Dreams (Fanfare/Ponent Mon) originally ran in Kodansha’s Afternoon. But even if it isn’t seinen, it’s an attractive and interesting book.

It’s technically gekiga, and I’ve never really heard anyone say outright that gekiga is a subset of seinen, but I’d feel remiss if I didn’t include The Push Man and Other Stories, an amazingly bleak collection of the work of Yoshihiro Tatsumi from Drawn & Quarterly.

I’ve liked everything I’ve read that was created by Taiyo Matsumoto, so I see no reason why I wouldn’t also enjoy Ping Pong, which originally ran in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Spirits Special.

On the publisher front, the only Japanese one that comes to mind is the defunct Penguin Shoubou.

So what starts with “P” in your seinen alphabet?

Update:

A couple of glaring omissions for the week:

Upcoming 11/10/2010

It’s one of those neat ComicList weeks where all kinds of interesting comics from throughout the space-time continuum are due to land.

Sean (A Case Suitable for Treatment) Gaffney tweeted about this book, and it has a definite allure for me as a person who read a lot of Archie comics in the back seat of the station wagon on long drives to various vacation destinations during his childhood. It’s Dark Horse’s Archie Firsts collection, which promises “first issues, first appearances, and other milestones, collected for the first time in one hardcover volume!”

I was a huge fan of Scott Chantler’s Northwest Passage (Oni Press), so it would stand to reason that I should pick up a copy of his Two Generals (McClelland and Stewart), which promises “poignant graphic memoir that tells the story of World War II from an Everyman’s perspective.” I’m not a history buff, per se, but Chantler is phenomenally talented.

The first volume of Lars Martinson’s Tōnoharu (Top Shelf) was very intriguing, so I’m looking forward to Martinson’s second look at a fish out of water teaching English in rural Japan.

Erica (Okazu) Friedman is crazy about Hayate X Blade (Seven Seas), written and illustrated by Shizuru Hayashiya, and that’s reason enough to seriously consider the purchase of the first omnibus collection of the series.

And I am crazy about Kou Yaginuma’s Twin Spica (Vertical), and I would never consider delaying in the purchase of the fourth volume. This is easily one of the great series debuts of 2010.

What looks good to you?

Early voting

In last week’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, NPR’s Monkey See crew discussed (among other things) the advent of “Best of” season and greeted it with the weary resignation of people who will be writing and editing at least a few before December comes to a close. And, as if they uttered “Candyman” three times as they faced the mirror, the first few graphic novel lists have arrived:

Amazon’s manga-free Best Books of 2010: Comics

Publishers Weekly‘s Best Comics List

Like Christmas advertising, these things seem to arrive earlier and earlier each year. I’d guess this means we’ll probably see the companion Best Manga list in this week’s edition of Publishers Weekly Comics List.

I was chatting with people about these lists on Twitter, and some trends emerged:

Moto Hagio’s A Drunken Dream and Other Stories (Fantagraphics) didn’t seem to make much of an impression outside of dedicated manga readers, which is disappointing to me as a dedicated manga reader.

While many fine comics from established talents arrived in 2010 (or at least in the ten months of the year so far), there were fewer big, splashy debuts or career-redefining turns by known quantities than there were in 2009.

Your thoughts? Any particular Japanese comics you would have liked to see on these more general lists?

From the stack: Cross Game vols. 1-3

There’s a conversation that almost always starts when someone mentions a sports manga like Mitsuru Adachi’s Cross Game (from Viz’s Shônen Sunday imprint). Those among us who left athletic pursuits behind as soon as society permitted it (basically, once we had completed our high-school physical education requirements) ask if the comic is about sports or about people who play sports. Will we, as conscientious objectors to competitive athletics, be asked to care about the minutiae of some particular sport, an interest many of us cannot be bothered to fake even for loved ones, or do we just need to like the characters and let the details wash over us?

While the details of baseball matter to a certain extent in Cross Game, they’re easy enough to ignore in the wake of the characters, a complex and sympathetic group who also manage to be idiosyncratic and funny a lot of the time. In other words, Cross Game is undeniably about baseball, but it’s not so much about baseball that people who don’t give a fig about the sport won’t find their price of admission paid in a variety of other ways.

One of those ways is Adachi’s own idiosyncratic nature as a creator. The tone of the three-volume introduction to Cross Game shifts a great deal from chapter to chapter, sometimes page to page, but the shifts work. Low comedy sits comfortably next to innocent romance, just as sly slice-of-life isn’t out of place near unexpected tragedy. It really is marvelous to watch Adachi mix and match but still make all of these disparate bits seem like they’re part of the same whole.

Part of that has to be due to his fluid art style. It’s got innocence to it and simplicity of line, but that doesn’t keep it from exhibiting strength and wonder. I sometimes think that’s one of Tezuka’s greatest contributions to cartooning – abundant evidence that something can be simultaneously cute and forceful, goofy and moving, delicate and muscular. Adachi lives up to Tezuka’s example nicely, even throwing in some of the master’s bits of fourth-wall breakage. He also does a nice job with the small modulations of a cast that ages about five years over the book’s three volumes.

Another part is that he writes well, particularly in terms of creating engaging, root-worthy characters with a few simple strokes. We meet average kid Ko Kitamura, son of the local sporting goods franchise and an indifferent athlete, and we’re introduced to the four Tsukishima sisters, heirs to the local batting cage and café. It’s clear that Ko is our core protagonist, but it’s equally clear that the manga isn’t really about people standing around and admiring him. It feels like an ensemble piece, even if it isn’t in its secret heart, but it’s always nice when a creator goes to the effort of camouflaging the obvious conclusion.

The first collection reads in a breeze, and I’m fairly sure that the only reasonable response when setting it down is, “That was really, really nice.” The rather odd back-cover text suggests that Cross Game “will change your perception of what shônen manga can be,” which might be asking too much of it, but it’s got an off-kilter quality – a willingness to give its subject a sidelong glance rather than charge at it — that certainly helps it stand out from the pack. It’s unusual and, partly because of that, kind of lovely.

(This review is based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher. You can read the first chapter on Viz’s Shônen Sunday site.)