From the beginning, Koko has clearly seen Spirit Circle as a kind of revenge narrative. She must get her revenge on Fuuta, and hopefully break the cycle in the process, but the revenge part at least is paramount. Of course, simply punishing this boy who doesn’t even know what he’s done wouldn’t be particularly satisfying – so first, she must make him understand the weight of all the suffering he’s caused her. It’s an instinct almost anyone can relate to; revenge is in large part about wanting someone else to understand and pay back the pain they inflicted on you, and if we could simply share our pain directly, then we might not lash out through other means.
Tag Archives: Manga
The Great and Terrible Cycle: Mizukami’s Spirit Circle (Volume One)
Satoshi Mizukami has weathered a long and circuitous road on his way to western acclaim. Though his Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer has long been lauded as a unique, ambitious, and heartfelt twist on the shonen formula, it only received an official translation long after its release, and never received an anime adaptation. Most recently, his Planet With demonstrated both the power and limitations of translating Mizukami’s work to animation, but without that translating into anything approaching wide appeal (in spite of my best efforts). And nestled between those two works, we find the brief, beautiful, and utterly characteristic Spirit Circle.
One Piece – Volume 18
There are scattered moments within One Piece that seem to embody the romance of the high seas; the mysteries of the ocean, the scale of its vast movements, the ways we can come to understand it so well it feels like an old friend. Nami excels at facilitating these moments, as her navigator’s knowledge and generally contemplative personality tend to make her most attuned to the ocean’s sway. The scene early in chapter eighteen, where Nami muses on the nature of underwater vents, doesn’t impact our ongoing narrative in any way, and would be skipped in a point-to-point summary of this arc’s events. Nonetheless, it’s a beautiful moment that naturally embodies the wonder of the ocean, and highlights how One Piece is far more than a straightforward action tableau. I appreciate that Oda consistently offers these little tonal oases, these beautiful moments that are only their own reward.
My Hero Academia, Volume 15 – Review
My reviews of the My Hero Academia manga continue today, as I explore a volume that was unfortunately one of the messiest in the story’s run. It currently feels like Horikoshi is attempting some Hunter x Hunter-tier narrative cross-threading, but the world only has one Togashi, and Horikoshi isn’t him. Heavy exposition and a fundamentally drama-averse power in Nighteye’s vision made for an awkward volume on the whole, but I’m still excited to see where this all goes. With a full volume of preamble on the books, I have to imagine the yakuza raid is going to be a sight to see.
You can check out my full review over at ANN.
One Piece – Volume 17
As always, Eiichiro Oda opens One Piece’s seventeenth volume with a brief personal anecdote, one of the many ways this manga creates a personal relationship between reader and storyteller. Oda mentions how he and his assistants often visit a raucous family restaurant, full of loud children and their parents. However, if you visit on Sunday at 7:30, the restaurant is quiet. All children are turned to the television, all eyes on Oda’s One Piece. Oda understands the responsibility inherent in that – that he has an opportunity to teach and inspire, and that few possess the platform he does for reaching young people. There are few jobs more noble or significant than inspiring the next generation’s dreams, and Oda’s understanding of that responsibility is clear in his every page.
Dead Dead Demon’s DeDeDeDe Destruction, Volume 1 – Review
Today I reviewed the first volume of Inio Asano’s latest, which is so far looking to be another genuine masterpiece. Not only is Dead Dead Demon’s an incredibly well-observed and poignant character drama, it also feels like one of the most searingly accurate articulations of growing up in the current era that I’ve seen. Kadode and Ontan’s combination of societal fatalism and fierce personal loyalty is an attitude I’ve seen again and again among my peers, and certainly sympathize with. This book really spoke to me, and I hope I captured that in my review.
Dead Dead Demon’s DeDeDeDe Destruction
The Promised Neverland, Volume 2 – Review
Today I’ve got a review of the second Promised Neverland, which dispenses somewhat with the thematic ambitions of the first volume to focus more closely on the tactical mechanics of the kids’ escape. It’s a fine enough volume, but its narrative ambitions make for a somewhat messy union with the shonen formula, as I discuss in my piece. Still very much enjoying the manga, though!
The Promised Neverland, Volume 2
Hunter x Hunter – Volume 36
I wonder how Togashi himself feels, moving around his hundreds of chess pieces on his massive, three-dimensional chessboard. Surely he himself has a clear ending in mind, right? How could anyone possibly have the confidence to throw this many balls into the air and start juggling, with no idea how the performance will end? Any other author would leave me certain that the Dark Continent, or at least the Succession Arc in particular, will end in unfocused, shambling tears – but this is Togashi, and he pulled off Chimera Ant, so I’ll give him as much rope as he needs. As for this volume in particular, Togashi works very hard to simplify the sprawling madness of the boat setup into three core, parallel conflicts, each of them intersecting, each of them containing within them a variety of sub-conflicts. Let’s start where the volume itself starts, and dig right in!
Vinland Saga – Volume 1
I’ll admit, looking at the color cover of Vinland Saga’s first volume did not inspire much confidence. The character art’s thick black lines, largely realistic proportions, and very stiff posing all brought to mind some kind of western comic anthology, or perhaps one of those “bringing history to life” educational comics designed to Make Learning Fun. The digital shading was just plain hideous, and there’s what, an actual lens flair pasted onto the subject’s dagger? All in all, the cover included enough misguided visual decisions that I was deeply uncertain whether I’d get much out of this volume at all.
The Promised Neverland – Volume 1
Even from the cover of the first volume, it’s clear that The Promised Neverland isn’t your standard Shonen Jump property. The base art style favors delicate, almost wobbly linework and evocative scribbles over the bold splashes of black and white favored by, say, My Hero Academia or Bleach. The cover is confident in this fraying delicacy, happy to let a clearly defined spiraling staircase fade into half-imagined detail, and in doing so evoking the visual style of something like a children’s picture book. This doesn’t feel like the steady work of a Jump veteran; this feels like the first manga of a dedicated illustrator, perfectly suiting its fairy tale storytelling.