‘Kagijin’ ch. 1, by Yasuki Tanaka

So we meet again, Mr. Tanaka. I have not been kind on you in the past. I did not have a lot of nice things to say about ‘Jamais Vu’. The biggest problem seems to be that you tend towards the ordinary, the clichés, the been-there-done-that. ‘Jamais Vu’ started out with a bizarre and intriguing science-fiction idea, only to revert to “good humans VS. evil aliens” after just a few pages. It was the kind of story that Baka Ouji-sama would not stand for. (One of these days, I should review ‘Level E’…) And you gave the aliens a weak spot that only M. Night Shyamalan would consider a good idea.

Anyway! ‘Kagijin’ is based on a oneshot by the same name, and is Yasuki Tanaka’s second series in Weekly Jump after the shortlived ‘Hitomi no Catoblepas’.

‘Genkaku Picasso’ ch. 1-2, by Usamaru Furuya

No, no excuses or promises. I’ve been both busy and lazy, and have not read much new manga. Phases like that happen. It’s really a sad state of affairs, because two days ago I walked into the comic section of a store and spent a lot of time staring at the manga shelves, trying to locate something that interests me. Oh, nothing. Is it me, or is it Germany’s saccharine manga market?

OK, what have I read? ‘Genkaku Picasso’, a manga running in Jump SQ. This one’s quite interesting and based on a very neat concept. Sadly, I find the execution a bit lacking, and considering that Usamaru Furuya has quite a bunch of manga onhis resumé (different genres and styles; can’t say he isn’t versatile and creative) there’s no reason to go easy on him.

Let’s just call it Freedom Manga!

Regarding Tokyopop’s Manga Pilot contract:

I’m not an artist, so sadly I can’t say “That’s it, I’ll never work for Tokyopop”, but I’m a potential customer, and I can say: “I’ll never buy their manga again”.

What really gets to me is the gratuitous French-bashing in the contract. A lame attempt to be cool and edgy? It kind of seems like they assume this is the general opinion -  everybody hates the French, every potential signer is racist.
But insulting France like that seems to be a typically American thing, and one I expect to find on teenager parties, in bad movies and on internet message boards – not in legal documents.

A legal document containing xenophobic speech, while the program is meant to appeal to non-US citizens as well – give me a break!

The language of the contract is obviously geared towards American kids, and not the intelligent, open-minded kind, but the lowest common denominator. And if this is the kind of artist Tokyopop wants, this is the kind of content they want to produce, and this means I’m not wanted as a customer either. Good riddance then.

Next month’s Jump SQ oneshots!

The month of April is going to give us some potentially interesting manga oneshots, in Jump SQ and in its spin-off special, Jump SQ II (which will go on sale in mid April, sporting a collaboration between Hiroyuki Takei of Shaman King fame, and Stan Lee. The Stan Lee!).

But first the Jump SQ oneshots.

‘Sachie-chan Guu!!’ by Akira Toriyama (story) and Masakazu Katsura (artwork).

Aaand…

There’s nothing here yet.

Hello! This is only the first post, and it isn’t very interesting at all.