Two-in-One Review: Viz Publications Part Three Don and Randy finish their most recent look through some of recent offerings from Viz Comics. Randy: When we got our first package of manga from Viz, I introduced Don to the word "shojo" which I have always heard used as a shortcut for "girl's manga." We close out our three-day review of Viz graphic novels with three books that I would put squarely into the same "shojo" category, although that doesn't mean I found the quality on all three of them to be the same. Don: There was a time when I was completely dismissive of manga, but Viz has helped to open my eyes to the strength of the form. Mind you, some of their publications also serve to remind me what put me off of it early on as well. El-Hazard Volume 1 by Hidetomo Tsubura Don: A teenage boy finds himself transported to the other-dimensional world of El-Hazard, where he quickly becomes wrapped up in a conflict between a peace-loving race of humans and a warring faction of cockroach people called the Bugrom. There, he meets up with a trio of warrior priestesses, a beautiful young princess and even some of his friends (and an enemy) from back home, all of whom were also transported to the unusual world. Randy: El-Hazard fits into the "wish fulfillment" subgenre that I've noticed in manga, where an average teenager discovers an alternate fantasy world, accidentally calls a Goddess into their lives, learns of their alien royalty heritage or any number of other things. In this respect, El-Hazard is like a teenaged Harry Potter story, letting the reader imagine that their mundane lives are only temporary, that any day now something amazing could happen to them. It has a universal appeal, and unlike some of the other creations in this vein, it has an accessibility that matches that appeal. Of course, the fact that this is one of the first "volume ones" that Don and I have been able to review probably doesn't hurt. Don: Yes, it was a pleasure to start off on the ground floor with one of these ongoing series of graphic novels. But what I really enjoyed about this book was the lighter personality it boasts as a whole. It's got a wonderful personality to it. With some occasional bawdy humor, there's also a lot of slapstick that makes for some fun reading. The characters and concepts are completely over the top, and the lack of logic that jumps out at you at first is quickly forgotten as the more irreverent side of the storytelling takes over. Randy: As with so much of the manga I've read, the protagonists are teenagers, and they have a remarkably active sex life for being teenagers. Tsubura does present these characters as 15 and older, and the most mature relationship does belong to the teacher, who is considerably older, so it's less unsettling here than I've found it to be in other manga. Tsubura has actually created quite an interesting cast of characters in El-Hazard, from the somewhat shy and quiet "straight man" for all this weirdness that is Makoto to the fiery Shayla Shayla (who reminds me of Clover from Blue Monday) to the cartoonishly vapid Jinnai. Though these characters and their reactions fit into the stock archetypes that I'm beginning to pick up on in a lot of manga, I find Tsubura's versions of them to be more entertaining on the whole. The plot, a mixture of teen comedy and fantasy, also has me intrigued, and the promise of an epic fantasy plot has me rather intrigued to see what happens next. I was also fairly impressed with the artwork here, as Tsubura combines a clarity of storytelling with some exaggerated artwork. More than anything, I'm reminded of Chynna Clugston-Major's work, with the same wonderful facial expressions and use of super-deformed characters for humorous moments, but the action recalls the work of Dragonball's Toriyama as well. Tsubura also puts a fair amount of detail into costumes and character designs, and the result is a cast that has distinctive likenesses to match their distinctive characterizations, dodging one of the problems I've had with a lot of this "shojo" style manga. Don: Randy mentioned the strong degree of accessibility that's to be found here, but it's not just due to the fact that this is the beginning of the ongoing saga of goofiness. Plenty of credit is due to the art, and specifically the character designs. We're introduced a quite a few characters one after the other, but they all have their own distinct looks. It's easy to follow the players, and therefore, easy to follow the story. Inu-Yasha Volume 11 by Rumiko Takahashi Don: A young girl -- the reincarnation of an ancient princess -- has been whisked back hundreds of years into the past, where she and a reluctant half-human/half-demon warrior named Inu-Yasha to retrieve the scattered shards of a powerful jewel. But along the way, they and their allies encounter bizarre creatures, like a snake-like demon posing as a water god and the spirit whose power he usurped. Randy: Though I've read Ranma 1/2 and knew of Takahashi's predilection for funny animals and bizarre occurrences, Inu-Yasha is more pure fantasy than even Ranma 1/2. Like El-Hazard, this is epic fantasy at work, and at the center of the story is a normal girl with special powers and a special lineage, and within the group there are budding romances and hidden feelings. Despite this being volume 11 of the series, I found the characters to generally stand out, although I did lose track of most of the supporting cast entirely. Still, the characters who get the focus this issue, namely Inu-Yasha, Kagome, Sango and Miroku all stand out. Don: We're not on the same page this time around. I found it extremely hard to keep track of all of these characters and their motivations, even with the benefit of a "story thus far" blurb at the beginning of the book. As a result, I found it extremely difficult to even care about them. The one character who stands out visually and in personality was the title character, and he's loathsome. Randy: Inu-Yasha has less of a humor-bent than Ranma 1/2 or El-Hazard, or in fact most of the otherworldly fantasy manga that I've read. To be sure, there are still elements of farce in the sexual politics between the characters, but for the most part the book is played straight, and to some extents as a tragedy. Miroku and Sango both have tragic elements in their past that lead them to make hard choices in this chapter, and there's a sadness in Inu-Yasha's doomed love for the woman he killed as well. Don: As far as I can tell, the plot serves only to steer these characters toward gruesome monsters that can be killed in graphic detail. Hey, I can deal with a book about monster-slaying, but all of the other elements are glossed over so quickly that the violence comes off as gratuitous and ultimately uninteresting. Randy may see some humanity in the characters and circumstances, but I found nothing to really grab onto when it came to characterization. Randy: Takahashi's work is clearer and easier to read here than I found it in Ranma 1/2, but I still found the characters to have all-too-similar designs, and the action storytelling is often simply a blur. However, the focus on people instead of anthropomorphic animals and some strong costume and weapon associations with the characters made this easier to follow visually, and some of Takahashi's designs for the demons are beautifully done. No Need for Tenchi! Volume 12 by Hitoshi Okuda Don: Prince Garyu, the ruler of a doomed planet, has decided that when he and his world die, he wants the woman he has obsessed over for centuries to be by his side. The woman: Ayeka, one of Tenchi Masaki's alien gal pals. He brainwashes and kidnaps Sasami as well. As Tenchi and the others rush off to rescue their friends, Garyu has managed to manipulate Ayeka so completely that her new mission is to kill Tenchi. Randy: This is my third dose of No Need for Tenchi!, and I find that I haven't grown any fonder of it since my first exposure to it. A vast cast of characters, some truly bizarre intergalactic politics and an art style that is very hard to follow make it a chore to read. This is the final volume of the series, as Okuda starts over with All-New Tenchi Muyo, and I can't say that I'm sorry to see it go. Don: Okuda clearly assumes that only those who have been following No Need from the start are on board for this final volume. There's no exposition, no "story thus far" blurb, which are customary in these Viz graphic novels. Randy's right... the book is almost impossible to follow, but the fault lies with the character designs. The various female characters all look rather similar, and without any color cues, they difficult to distinguish. Randy: There are two main stories at the center of this issue. One is the continuing love triangle (quadrangle?) of Tenchi and the various women who love him, and the love triangle between Tenchi, Akeya and Garyu as well. The other is a series of earthquakes being caused by something Garyu has done, and the result is that Tenchi and friends must battle Garyu, not just for the safe return of one of their friends but for the safety of the entire planet. It sounds like exciting stuff, but Okuda never really brings it home. The earthquakes and potential dangers are given a scant few pages with no indication of the real danger they present, and Tenchi is so detached from everyone that I can't really care about his romantic happiness one way or the other. Basically, I feel like I'm viewing all of this from a distance, and it doesn't help that I can't suss out the various characters and motivations very easily. Don: It doesn't help that Tenchi's appeal is never really made clear. These various female characters are in love with him not because of the kind of person he is, but because the story demands it of them. At least Garyu's obsession with Ayeka is explained, though not really his nihilism. Randy: And the artwork isn't much help either. Okuda's fight scenes are crowded and cramped and focus almost entirely on speedlines and giant sound effects. There often seem to be panels missing that would have helped transition from one thing to the next, and there's no sense of place to where these epic power battles are taking place. We see the power in the abstract, but we never see any of its effects, and so it's pretty hard to really get drawn into the book. For more information on Viz Comics, visit www.viz.com. Email Randy and Don comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.