Onani Master Kurosawa - Ise Katsura/Yoko

Onani Master Kurosawa - Ise Katsura/Yoko

...

 There. I needed a little deep breath before doing this. To take the bad taste that Blue Ant left in my mouth.

OK... As we discussed in the Nozoki Ana review, Japan is very particular in its views on sex. On the other hand, public displays of affection is not well viewed.

Another big point in Japanese culture is shame. Shame is a HUGE deal in Japanese culture. How bad it is? Well... have you heard of the term hikikomori? Basically it's people that were considered inept to the real world or that simply closed themselves into their rooms. Mostly by shame. I recommend the documentary Hikikomori, for a better understanding of it.

What does it have to do with Onani Master Kurosawa? Well it start with shame & blackmail. Oh, and public masturbation. Let's get it straight: the problem is not that he is masturbating. It's where he's doing it. He's doing it on the girls bathroom. That in itself is enough for a guaranteed expel. And in Japan, your school info is always available. Where you study, grades, clubs & activities are all recorded & handed from school to school. Sometimes, universities & companies also get a hold on those files. So... imagine the harm it can do to anyone if you are caught masturbating in the girls bathroom. Well, guess what happens in the first pages of the manga? Yup, he got caught by what he calls a aloof student, the same as him. 

More accurate, it starts with him shooting a load at the wall of the female bathroom. Them he cleans it up, explain his ritual for doing this and then getting caught. He already had an excuse, which the girl seems to accept. It's a weird bathroom after all, distant from the clubs & overall out of the way. He's not that wrong of choosing it as his place. One detail that I would like to point it out is that he looks like a fucking maniac sometimes. The art is not all that good, I had read much worse crap, so... I don't mind. 

This guy... Oh my. I love him. He's an outcast, don't participate in any club, judges people around him, usually mocking them in his mind, arrogant as hell. And he has some pretty weird fantasies when masturbating, usually with his female classmates. I like when those kind of weirdos are well presented in any art form. I was one of them, but was very popular. Anyway, I always walked with weirdos and I can guarantee you: no better people to hang out with. 

Since it's the last day before spring break, he went for his last load, out of his usual time. Then some girls enter. They tried to call him, but he ignores. He was about to judge them as trash, when they start to smoke. He see the similarities between them & stops. As he's leaving, they tell him to not try to report them. He smiles & go. He thinks of stopping doing it, but laugh it off. It's the thrill of getting caught what excite him. He goes, but this manga is a past narration from his own memories, so this first chapter ends with him stating that things will take a turn from now on... 

Back in class, he's analyzing his future "victims". Then, the squirrel girl, the aloof student is the one sitting in front of him... They are using one of the classes to present themselves. Kurosawa did a pretty mediocre presentation of himself, because he has a pretty nihilistic view of the world. The other person of interest, the Cauliflower guy that always tries to get close to him is the only one really paying attention. After him, it's Squirrel girl time. And she made a bizarre presentation. Why? Because she's being bullied by those smoking bitches. Kurosawa, that had decided on her for his first "course" is one of the few people aware of the situation. 

Since she sits right in front of him, he could see how bad the bullying is. As a matter of fact, bullying in Japan is a huge deal. Really huge, almost part of the culture. It's common to be bullied in schools, universities, work... even home, as you can see as some families treat their own hikikomoris. It's harsh. Being part Japanese gives me a great insight on this. My mom used to bully me, at least what is know as bullying in the West. She would made me climb on high unprotected areas for me to lose my fear of highs. Also for eating. For almost everything. She beat me constantly, for my... Fierce nature, let's say. Didn't changed me. But with others, it could have destroyed some people. I also know a lot of Asian friends. Usually it's way more harsh than other families. 

And that's why Kurosawa don't mind it all that much. After all, he has his eyes on his next prey: the beauty of the class. She's always high & mighty, so it's no surprise his fantasies involves humiliation & submission. After he did it, he meets the Squirrel,trying to get her gym clothes back from a tree. She's hurt & he tries to help, but she promptly refuses him.

Next day, things go as usual, (including guys ogling Naito's boobs), but as PE ends, they find a broken window & the clothes from a fat guy was stolen & found in the bag of Squirrel. She is the one to give it back, but the bullying bitches stops her. They start to accuse her of stealing it because she likes the fat guy. At this point, human nature prevails.Humiliation of others is always something that people are into. You may say it's not your case... but think deeply & you'll have done it at some point. The class starts to get into the play & chants of confess starts. Squirrel gives in to the pressure & confess, which made the whole class laugh. She then collapses crying, but the bitches made it funny. At this point, our cruel & apathetic Kurosawa felt his blood boiling. It bothers him. He decides to do something about it... and went to a real dark rape/abuse masturbation session. It may looks silly. But this is only the beginning. He went into class late & the bitches are going insane. Someone stole their uniforms. Yeah, it was him, but he has an alibi. And then... the uniforms are found & returned.But there's a addition to them: he unloaded into both of them. The shame is huge on them. They left, nobody mentioned it & so far, looks like a perfect crime. Soon they return to class & subdue the bullying, not stopping it.

Then, the usual & traditional excursion happens. It's a tradition on Japan to do a field trip to some historical place in the summer. It soon generate a commotion in class: create groups of 5. Since most cliques have more than 5, things get hectic. Kurosawa & Squirrel don't give a shit. Cauliflower then choose to left his own clique & band with Kurosawa & Squirrel, to the horror of Kurosawa... he went to his daily, but is approached by Squirrel, which called him by name, making him panic. As he starts to calm down, she asks a favour: make Naito suffers the same fate as the bitches. WTF? Before anything else, he demands how she found out. She explains & it became clear that he was busted. But she didn't report him... She intended to blackmail him into doing her bindings. Obviously, he accepts. But he wants to know why Naito? She explains: Naito is the mastermind behind the most complex plans, like the uniform stealing, or so she suspects. Kurosawa struggles with the idea. It's a rainy day, so the school is packed. As he's getting annoyed in the library, Takagawa, one of the hotties from his classes approaches him. She notices him & start some small talk. Since he's always reading, they talk about it a little. When the rain stops, she leaves & he made his decision: he will do the deed.

Obviously she reports the incident. To no avail. She doesn't even looked bothered by the ordeal. No one is caught & it seems like that's it. Squirrel & him talk a little. Kurosawa give her some advice & she asks if he will help her if needed. He assures he will. It's raining again & he meets Takagawa again. They talk & bond, discussing books. Then, it's getting late & she leaves. He don't feel compelled to do his daily & remembering the next day is the excursion, he wishes that it would rain. Yes, this bonding will haunt him in the future. Yes, this contact changed a few things inside him. It's a common trope. But very well made. During the trip, it's all gloomy. Cauliflower is bothering everyone with his usual excited character. Then... Takagawa approaches the group & Kurosawa is more open. And he starts to bond better with her. Then, Squirrel attacks again. She has two victims: the fatso that she was forced to confess, which take it seriously, to her disgust. She wants that he make him get away from her. He agrees. Then the second victim, is one that was part of the smoking bitches. She stopped the bullying because she's dating a guy. Squirrel saw then & can't stand to see her smiling. So... he agrees. But different from before, they had no plan. Either way, he will do something about it. His plan is to put a bottle full of jizzed tissues with a love letter. Since their latest talk, he starts to disagree with Squirrel ideologies, but has to keep on with it. His plan is not good, but leaves the chance of not dirtying his hands, which is his intention.

During the day, Squirrel holds hands with him, which is a big deal in Japan, so fatso gets sad. Then, Takagawa appears & he refuses to continue with the play. He don't want to have a misunderstanding. The day went by, Takagawa went away & Squirrel is pushing him to do the deed. At the last, he couldn't do it. Somehow, the happiness of the couple stopped him. On the way back, both had a open & frank conversation, where Kurosawa tells her that this stupid things won't change anything, nor would it heal her wounds. Even if she continues to blackmail him, at some point, things will have to stop. She agrees, but for now, it will continue.

Back to school, things are different. The group & Takagawa are much closer. And she's a nice girl, she doesn't care that they are outcasts. She cares for them. This touches him. Deep. Their meetings in the library became more frequent. At the same time Cauliflower gets more insistent on his invite to karaoke & at some point Kurosawa accepts. During the karaoke, he flees for a drink & meet Takagawa. They run away to see a movie. Then dinner. And lots of talk. As they depart, Kurosawa felt a strange feeling. His dick is so hard it hurts. He understands its because of her & violate their memories together by jacking off to then, but as soon as he finishes, he vomits.He spends a long time thinking about it, then concludes that yes, she is love with her.

They meet again at the library & during their conversation, she admits that she used to be an outcast, but when changed schools, decided to try to renew herself. And it worked. But her memories of being an outcast remains, making her very different from the other pretty girls. He makes a good analyze of the situation, and she laugh it off. His feelings overflow as she explains that she had never had this kind of talks with a boy. He goes to masturbate to calm himself. He states the obvious: he can't soil her beauty with his lust. And then... Squirrel attacks! She wants him to soil Takagawa.

Yup, it was pretty obvious that it would happen. I foreshadowed it, didn't I? So. It happened. Even full of tropes, this is clearly very well written. The introspective point of view from Kurosawa, how he thinks, feels, acts is very well designed. As it is with all characters. This manga is great because of that. Not the crappy art. The emotions are very well portrayed by the art.

Anyway, Kurosawa is not going easy on her. She won't admit why she wants it done. He keeps teasing her, pushing her. Then she says that she want Takagawa to be soiled in a way that she won't trust any men from this point on. That hits him hard. This is no ordinary request. It's way different from the usual. He refuses, but is threatened by her that he will regret it. It seems Squirrel has some interest on him, but he didn't even think about it. He went home, thinking that it was his victory. Suddenly he felt the urge to talk to Takagawa. She goes & find her... They talk & she looks really happy. Maybe it's him, maybe something else. She departs & Squirrel is there. She warns him again that he will regret. And next day... he does. She's going out with Cauliflower.  And they are serious.

Squirrel & Kurosawa meet in the bathroom again. They share the same feeling. She was after Cauliflower. Takagawa also changed, starting to be more carefree & enthusiastic. Kurosawa can't stand it. She's being defiled. He has to do something. He perceive why she has fallen for him. It's his carefree & enthusiastic way. She always wanted to be that way. He burst on Cauliflower during PE & from there on, he started to ignore him. And her. Distancing himself from everyone. She still goes after him, but he don't enjoy it anymore. Something is off. He caught they kissing & at that point, she's destroyed inside him. He goes to jack off to her,almost vomiting & then Squirrel came, greeted by him. They agree with the destruction.

During the sports festival, their plan is acted. When he goes to her desk, he fantasizes, way out of character for him. He confess to her & she accepts him. He knows it's a fantasy. He perceive that she looks unlike her, like a husk of a being. But he keeps going into it. Into one of the most dramatic scenes of this story, as soon as he is cumming, she started to melt into nothingness. She disappears from his inside world. As people come back, she notices something is weird. As she was trying to hide it, Kurosawa ask for some notes & then she touches her books, all jizzed. She screams & everyone finds out. Cauliflower tries to hold her, but as he touches her, she vomits. At this point Kurosawa notices that he doesn't feel anything. The school goes into uproar. She keeps feeling nauseated when men approaches her. She take a few days off, but came back the same. Scarred for life. But Kurosawa? He is also on the same page.He's being incapable of feeling anything. So when Squirrel came and ask for one more attack,he accepts. He doesn't give a fuck anymore. So does Squirrel. As he himself put: their brakes are broken. And more & more attacks keep happening.

The weird thing? Even if Cauliflower is more popular than ever, he keeps going after Kurosawa. But he keeps getting pushed away, further & further. During one of the attacks, he go thru the art stuff of Takagawa. And find a painting of them all together: Squirrel, Fatso, Cauliflower, her & Kurosawa. It hits hard. It's her most treasured experience from middle school. Even after everything, she holds that time dearly. And it really destroys Kurosawa. He don't go on with the plan. When Squirrel confronts him, he says their pact is terminated. And in the next day... he confess everything in front of the class.

And from that point on, he's invisible. No one acknowledges him anymore. The smoking bitches came after him, with some tugs & beat the shit out of him. As he comes back the next day, his desk is vandalized. One stand out: Onani Master Kurosawa. He liked it. Even Cauliflower looks away from him. The teachers called him for a meeting. The teacher tries to comfort him, and inform that the family of one of his victims wants an apology from him & family. Kurosawa agrees. His bravery in facing his own acts touched his teacher. It seems Kurosawa is on a different mindset now. Even with it all going, he keeps his daily. Squirrel goes to confront him, and he admits that the bullying is getting to him. That he previous "I don't care what people think about me" were just words. He cares. He suffers. But he will endure. He will prevail. He will keep going till someone acknowledges him again. He's doing it for both of them. And his daily, ends today.

A few days latter, yes. Cauliflower went after him & he accepts. Gladly. And thanks him. He would not relinquish this friendship again. But the bullying doesn't stop. No one even reacts to his pain. And it keeps getting worse. But Cauli is there to help. Always. But for Squirrel, there's no one. She talks to him, that she's not like him. She's not strong. And she wants to get back to being strangers. But he won't accept it. On that she bursts. She screams that she's dirty, that she won't change. She is incapable of changing. After everything, he keeps saying that they are not strangers. And if she needs help, call out for him. He went to the library... and yes, she goes there. She starts to explain how she saw the facts. She understand something was strange. That he wouldn't do it. That she forgives him. But she found herself incapable of even talking to him. When he was being beat up, she tried to help. One of the bitches asks if she wants to hit him, but she doesn't. The bitch explain that she's not doing anything that he wouldn't want. His confession would generate all this. But they both doesn't understand why.

She keeps struggling, thinking of how she didn't changed from that shy girl she were. Until the day she saw Cauli helping him. They are still together and Cauli explains a few things for her. In particular that he see that Kurosawa is trying to change. And then she understands. And that is why she's there. Kurosawa apologizes for hurting her. And she accepts. As he's suffering & crying, she revokes her pardon. And says that she would only forgive him if he keeps the promise they made. He will go to a high end university & became a writer. He goes to a cram school, where he meets with one girl from his class, Sugawa. She's one of the girls that bullied Squirrel. He found that she's shy with men, even if she puts a tough act. And even if she's very aggressive with him, she still asks him for help in studying. They get close. He starts to get interested. All seems well till an incident occurs.

Squirrel was in an Arts & Crafts class, being bullied. Then she snaps, grab one of the wood carvers & stomped it into her own hands. She smiles & as she was going to do something, Kurosawa stops her. And she disappears. She won't appear even in the graduation, where Kurosawa meet one guy from class and he asks him to go to the meeting of the class.

Time skip. He's hunting Squirrel. He finds her home & goes there. Remember hikiomori? She's one now. She tried to commit suicide on a fairly firm basis, always saved by her mom. He tries to talk to er to no avail. Sugawa & him are apparently together, but not confirmed. He likes her. Wouldn't even fap to her. He keeps going to Squirrel home, till the day of the class reunion. As he arrives there, he can't go in. He got into a bike & went to try to get Squirrel to come. Everyone is shocked. Arriving, they talk & in the end. He convinces her & off they go. They talk a bit more, then he opens up: isn't it better to try than to keep hiding your own feelings? It sunk into her. They go to the class reunion.
A few days latter, on a train with Sugawa, she catch a glimpse of her on the station. She's out.She's living once again.
This is the official ending. But fans demanded a bit more. And they receive Kurosawa & Sugawa finally being together. It's cute, but nothing much.

Well, I personally have a problem with the fan base of this manga. Most people didn't like the ending. To me, they don't understand Japanese culture. This is a heavy psychological drama, with some pretty dark & mature themes, BUT let's not forget: they are early teens. It's a comming of age drama. Yes, it's harsh, but at the same time, you are almost constantly reminded that it's a class of children. And I truly believe this is not a bad thing. Specially the ending. He overcame. Overcame what he did, the consequences, the fear, hatred, disgust. In the end, he even changed himself, like he intended to.
Go read it. Take your own conclusions.

Real talk: first I want to thank you for reading this. As the number of hits grew, the more I want to present a good point of reference with my reviews. I search for interesting books to review, from authors that I love or things that caught my attention. But sometimes, I need a little space for breathing. My routine changed  a lot from when I started this blog. I'm working in a produce plant, which made me go back to do yoga, which made with less time. When I started, I was usually one week ahead, sometimes two from the actual reviews. Now, I'm getting behind the schedule. 

So, I'll take a week off.

I'll find more interesting stuff for me to review, get a little ahead of the schedule & provide you with interesting stuff. I'll go to analyze a few comics, (maybe, maybe, I'll review one HUGE series that I love called Cerebus the Aardvark, but maybe I won't, since it run from 1977 to 2004. It's something for a future, since it's 16 books! I would be talking about it for around 4 months! Are you up to it?), review a few different manga & some good books.
I'm also thinking about posting an schedule here, for you to see what to look forward & maybe read together. Who knows? I'll await your comments on the subject. 

Seriously, I'm waiting...

Someone.

Anyone...

We will come back with a review of an good old classic: Strange in a strange land!

See ya

Nozoki Ana (ノ・ゾ・キ・ア・ナ) - Honna Wakou

Nozoki Ana (ノ・ゾ・キ・ア・ナ) - Honna Wakou

So... you're here. It seems the cliffhanger from last review, the hint of sex, privacy violation, peeping & japanese kinkiness has caught your eye, eh? Well, let's dive in it then!

First off, a common guideline for your better understanding: Japan does NOT value chastity. Different from the Western culture, heavily dominated by Christianity, or by the Confucian doctrine which also values chastity, largely prevalent in China & Korea, Japan is way cooler with premarital sex. As a matter of fact, Japan view sex as a common thing in life, as eating or other bodily functions. Sex is normal & nothing to be ashamed of. Even going to the insanity of the 60's where "evening entertainment", aka prostitution, were tax-deductible. Yeah... Which goes on the other tangent: prostitution in Japan is a very old & legal business. Even today, brothels are in existence and not seem as a immoral place. It's view the same as a massage parlour. Japan is OK with sex, talking about sex and sexuality. Even if you are gay, it's ok. The only have problems with "okama", effeminate men in drag. And even that is changing over time.

So yes, it IS common to read a hentai magazine on the train (you know hentai. I'm pretty sure of it. No need for explanations). What is not common in public demonstrations of affect. Yeah. It's pretty weird. You can go insane in the bedroom, do all kind of kinky shit, from S&M to scatology, but what the hell are you doing kissing in public? Are you insane? Yeah... It is a weird place. But hey, at least you can bang at will, without no one giving you an evil eye...

Now, Nozoki Ana is what is usually called Smut. Let's explain it: there is porn, which is mostly... well... porn. You go to xvideos or pornhub, pick an interesting movie, clip or compilation, do your business, close it and, in some cases, feel ashamed. Or look at what you were masturbating at and question your choices in life. Common, we ALL have been there. If not, I recommend it. And that's what porn is: you do you business, close it and never think about it again. Smut on the other hand, is very different. It usually has those parts you are looking for. But it also has a story, characters, intelligent dialogues and/or plot, developments. In fact, it's porn that you pay attention. And maybe, even think about it after. It is a very interesting genre with amazing stories... and REALLY crappy ones.

Exhibit 1: this kind of crap

Nozoki Ana is a good example of a good story in this genre.
We start with Kido, a good guy, as he is commemorating his entrance in the Arts University with a friend, drinking in his apartment. He discovers a hole and they both peep on it, but no one is there. Latter, Kido wakes up and see lights coming from the hole. He takes a look and sees his neighbour masturbating in plain view of the peeping hole. He goes over to inform her of it, ashamed of what he did (privacy is a great taboo in Japan. What is done indoors should never be commented outdoors. Yes, unfortunately, lots of domestic violence goes under the radar because of this. Even nowadays, Japan is not a good place to be a woman). She acts very shy & don't want to talk to him. He tries to barge in and fall over her. She takes a picture of what looks like a rape attempt. And then we are introduced to Emiru kinkiness: she planned it all. She tells him: "let's 'show each other'". What does she means? That they both must peep on each other. She even has a schedule. She really want to see him in action and is very open for him to peep. He burst home, angry & vexed by the experience. As time pass by, he is taken by curiosity & peep... to find Emiru, once again, masturbating in plain sight. And when I say plain sight... well...

Exhibit #2: REAL plain sight.

OK, this is not the scene in particular, but you get the gist. Kido gets angry, because all he wanted was peace. Now, every time he's at home he's on edge. And yes, as all men in this situation, his first & biggest problem is: when will he masturbate?

Time out.

Let's address the elephant in the room: most men would love this situation and would enjoy the hell out of it. Some, would try to get some action with her. Others, as Kido, would react as he does. By the end of the manga, we will discover that Kido being one of the good guys is exactly why Emiru did what she did. The usual men, is also portrayed in the manga, with a very weird situation. The real catch in this manga is exactly that: no super powers, no bullshit. This manga is very, very realistic. No big eyes/Moe, nothing out of the ordinary, except the characters, that are a different brand of people, a little different from the norm. This is what make this amazing.

Back.

Kido went to college the day after, to find that Emiru also study there. They even have some acquaintances in common. Kido get really nervous, but Emiru act normally. Their secret is safe. A little more relaxed, both ended going to a mixer party, where Kido caught the attention of Yuri. Yuri & Kido ended together and Yuri wanted to have a little "fun", if you know what I mean. She cooks for him, while he tries to talk to Emiru to end this madness. Obviously she don't answer & Kido has to go back. Yuri takes advantage of the situation, wanting to go all the way, while Kido tries to defuse the situation... till he gave in & started to enjoy the situation.

Emiru also enjoyed the situation

Suddenly, Yuri cellphone started to ring, she answered & it's her dad. She says that he's very strict and came to get her home. Not unusual, if you ask me. Kido goes to Emiru, which smiles & admits that she peeped, masturbated & enjoyed the hell out of it. He can't stand to look at her and goes away.
His relationship keeps going, till he catch the attention of a scumbag: womanizer/rapist/gang member. Incredible enough, this kind of trash is still in vogue over there. He tries to get into Emiru pants, with some lies about Kido, which make Emiru laugh. He tries to rape her, with Kido struggling to not get involved, but almost doing it. But our girl Emiru is savvy on her stuff and make the creep go away. Kido then goes there, but Emiru is alright and even give him a pussy shot...

Next day, it's as if nothing happened. Once again they go to a mixer, where Kido & Emiru were kinda forced to exchange numbers, since both are living alone, different from the others. After the mixer, Yuri grabs him & give him head in an alleyway. They ended in a lovers hotel and while Yuri is taking a shower (yes, it's weird. Even if you're going to fuck, they usually don't bath together. Bath sex is not a thing in Japan), he's thinking why he's not as happy as he should be. He keeps going back to Emiru, worries about her, think of her safety & why she is the way she is. She called & first of all, thanks him for checking her out & telling her to call him if the scumbag goes back. She also says that if it was him, she would bang his brains out. And that she cum 3 times while entertaining that idea. Kido gets angry & asks Yuri officially as his girlfriend. She accepts & they bang.

For a while we get what is usually called "slice of life",a very common type of manga, where we follow the life of normal people & their normal problems. The only difference is the lots of sex these stories go on about. Some are touching, some are not. It's great, since there's a lot of character development, also a lot of the way Kido keeps going back to thinking about Emiru, while having a surprisingly good relationship with Yuri. Things go like this for a while, till Emiru caught the feeling that something is not right. She discovers that in fact, Yuri is cheating on Kido. Not exactly, more like Kido is the other, but wasn't informed. Yuri's boyfriend doesn't give a shit to what she does, only that she spends the weekends with him. But the lack of affection made her seek comfort in Kido, which is a good & honest guy. (Not like the guys that says they are nice guys... those are usually ass holes). We got a very touching & sad scene. Yuri commented that she always wanted a music box. Emiru acted strange & Kido decides to check if she's ok, but ended stalking her. In the middle of it, he finds the music box & buy it. Back to trailing her, he goes into a club. She finds him & sends him away, but suddenly she grabs him and tries to hide something. He goes to look... and find Yuri fucking hard with the other guy. He keeps staring at it, peeping, furious, but when he decides to barge in... he has a boner. Since he's so used to peeping by now, it happened. He crashes the present, probably on his own dick (ouch!) and leaves. The couple hears him & stop. The guy go check & find the box. Then it hits Yuri who it was... Kido is destroyed, but Emiru comforts him. Then.. Yuri came by. Kido grabs her and they bang. Then after, she shows the music box & confess everything... and they broke up. She says lots but to no avail. After she leaves, it really hits him, specially that he couldn't confess his own doings as well. Emiru comforts him & thy sleep together. No sex. Just then, Kido smiling till he falls asleep on the naked body of hers. If the manga ended there, it would be an amazing story. But it goes on. And get even better.

He wakes up, they talk a little and he left.On the following days, peeping her is his comfort. He's not alone. He starts to really like her & go for it. All end wells, right? NO.
Even almost having sex, she says that the peeping rule will continue, that she's filming it, just to see him lusting after her body. Our little devil smiles in crooked way, while Kido gets furious. She IS a broken one. And as another broken one, I kinda understand her. It's hard to let go of yours habits. Of your ways. And with that, their first year in college ended.

The second year begins, and obviously, the mixers starts again. In one of these mixers, Kido knows Madoka, a shy girls without much experience with men, since she spend most of her time in a female-only school. Kido & her starts to fell for each other & ended together. Madoka is also a virgin & one of the most touching characters. Her purity, insecurities about her body & lots more are all addressed in the story, and it's a very charming way of showing something that we all been thru: first loves, first intercourse, insecurities. At the same time, different from Yuri, we see that our girl is suffering on this relationship. Kido is a lot colder to her, understandably, and his relationship with Madoka grows a lot. One beautiful scene is when Madoka went to his apartment & Emiru is peeping & Kido make an speech, that trows Emiru out of her ways, even stop peeping for a while. In that moment we see that she's suffering, believing that the only true connection she has is with Kido & thru the peeping. It's more sad than disturbing, at least to me. Things went like this for a while, with some minor occurrences, that kinda bring them together & Madoka kinda discovers that they had a past, which made her jealous. Then Emiru "older sister" appears.

In a very strange confrontation, Emiru is sick & her sister starts to torture her. This time Kido intervene. Emiru collapses & her sister goes away. Kido take care of her & during his care, starts to recognize some things about Emiru. He undresses her to take the sweat away, waking her in the process. Emiru admit that this woman is not her sister, she's seeking vengeance since Emiru killed her lover. She don't talk anything more on the subject. Meeting Madoka, Kido doesn't lie like with Yuri. He tells her, making her more jealous. They are interrupted by a friend of Madoka, that likes her & tries to scare Kido. It's kinda cute the way this guy tries to do that. While going back home, Kido thinks about Yuri, Madoka & her friend, and Emiru. The sister came back, he invited her in & she drugs him, undresses & go for it, just to hurt Emiru. But Kido knew of her coming & Emiru is there! She confronts the woman & tells that she won't let her hurt Kido. They argue & she leaves, leaving Kido drugged & Emiru, who still are sick. Either way, Emiru breaks down about how that woman soiled & dirtied Kido. And she decides to clean it up, by licking biting & rubbing herself on him. Still drugged, Kido opens up with her, complaining of the unreality of the situation, how he had fears of being discovered and the discomfort of the whole situation. Emiru apologizes, but before collapsing, Kido admits that it wasn't all that bad, in fact, it was not bad at all. Emiru starts to talk about how she feels about the situation, getting excited & masturbating over the collapsed Kido, till she climaxes. Then she went to his dick, to make it clean again. Kido climaxes on her mouth, she swallows it, and then she says this is the last time.

The following day, he wakes up & discovers that nothing was a dream & hurries to see where Emiru is. She's right there. They talk a little & Emiru says that she was empty for a long time, but their connection made her full again, to the point of overflowing. Graduation is around the corner & Kido go back inside. We cut to Madoka, she & Kido are on a break & she's masturbating thinking of him. Sad, but I've been there. Going back to classes, they meet & she runs away. Kido tries to pursue, but her friend interrupts & they argue. He says that he is making Madoka sad & should just dump her, since he's not suited to her. This hits Kido hard & he went home. The peeping rule is kinda over and reminiscing on it, he discovers that the peeping hole is closed. He tries to get inside, but the landlady won't have none of this. An old friend shows up & they get inside. Kido is thinking a lot of all the things that happened between then in this room. Opening the peep hole again, they find a letter. A letter from Emiru to Kido.

The letter is very strong both on him & us. Finally our girl is being totally honest with us. She confess that before they meet, she was dead inside. Then he moved in, she discovered the hole & started peeping. She is comforted by his presence & while he is masturbating there, she masturbates while watching him. As she climaxes, she finds out that this made her feel alive for the first time in a long time & she decided to make a move to what is the beginning of this story. She tells that till the moment that he discovered about Yuri, she was fine being only an observer. But that changed everything. She wanted to hold & protect him. When he approached her, she panicked. She has nothing to offer being broken as she was & pushed him back. She wanted to watch his happiness from afar, believing that she couldn't make him happy by herself. And she concludes that his happiness & kindness made her better, even a little kinder. She reminisces of the "last session" of peeping & says what she always said to him: I love you. This is a farewell. She is going away. Which made Kido realizes that he, also, had always loved Emiru. That he always put her as a strong & tough woman, when in fact, she was a very fragile one.
Sorry... this part always made me a little mellow & sad.

Kido goes back home, thinking of what to do. If he really wants to continue with Madoka. He's interrupted by a ghost from the past: Yuri. She asks him to drink together & he goes. They talk a lot & Kido show us why he's truly one the good guys: he interrupts Yuri, tell her that she doesn't have nothing to apologize. They just met at the wrong time & that past is past. This meeting also triggers Kido's decision: he wants Emiru. As Yuri leaves, Madoka calls him. Yes, this last part of the manga is practically a Deus Ex Machina. He goes to her apartment, she's naked & wanting. But he talks. He tell her everything, including that he loves Emiru. It's a very sad break up, but... Madoka accepts it & didn't even get angry at him. As he leaves, he finds her friend. He tells him they broke up & the guy says that he will go after her. He has only one thing to ask: if he can punch Kido once. Kido accepts, get punched & the guy fells disgusted. "Don't look so relieved after getting punched". Kido goes home & meets his friend. She found out a friend from Emiru that may help him find her! Kido goes after this girl immediately.

We find this girl has a guest. Two guests: her client & Emiru. Yes, she's a prostitute. And a long time friend of Emiru. Kido calls & Emiru told her to make him go away. We see Emiru arriving home. Her dad comforts her, her mom looks like she hates her & the woman/sister is there also. Emiru goes to a part of the house & undresses. She came to peep at her own past. And we discover that the lover that died & who she's showing herself to is a shrine for her dead brother!!
Kido arrives & Emiru's friend tries her best to make him go away. But Kido is changed. He would do anything to see Emiru again. This... broke the girl resolution. They start to talk & we discover what exactly broke Emiru.

We're show our Emiru as a teen, living happily in her home. All is good. All is love. Her brother is alive & that woman is there. She's Emiru's sister in law. One day, Emiru find them making sex & peep a little. Her first peeping. She is fascinated by sex & starts to explore her body. We all been there. Her brother is... strange. And then... one day he makes a hole on the wall between then & starts to peep on her. Yeah...it's disgusting. One day, Emiru discovers the hole. She confronts her brother about his wicked feelings & she barges from the house. He keeps close & calls her, pushes her away from a truck & is run over. In his funeral, her mom made it clear: she preferred that Emiru was the one to die. Emiru talks to her sister in law & shows the hole, which was probably the worse thing she could do. This is what made that woman so angry & vengeful on her. That's the point of when & how Emiru starts. Kido goes there, with all this in mind & meets the sister. They talk about Emiru & how they both tried to hate her, but in fact, loves her. The woman is touched & points to where Emiru is. Kido runs for it & yes. There she is. They both confess a lot & in the end, Kido turns her around & tell her that he truly loves her. At this time, something broke in Emiru. Her mask, her armour, breaks & she trows herself into his arms & they finally kiss. They go to a lovers hotel & yes, finally make love. It's very touching, specially the conversations they had. And they fuck & foreplay a lot.

Next day, they wake up & go to pay respects to her brother, meeting her sister. All is forgiven & they went on good terms. Emiru asks that they be together in front of her brother grave, to say goodbye to him once and for all. They went for a walk, where Emiru disappears for a while. Sensing something amiss, he tries to find her, only to get a call from her. And yes. As a broken one, I get what she does. She was broken, empty & going thru life as if nothing matters. Till Kido shows up & kinda healed her. Now... she has to get thing together & she don't want to be a bother to him. Then... Kido gives her one year. He will wait for her, for a year. And then she departs.

In the last chapter, we find Kido living alone. In a post-work mixer, we find that Yuri is ok. Going home, he passes thru Madoka and her friend, now boyfriend. Finally, Kido goes back to his old apartment. He sees a light thru the hole, goes for the door & yes. She's there. They talk, kiss & it's the end.

Damn this manga. I'm really moved by it. It's such a great love story. It even made me shed a few tears. It's a great work & yes, you should read it. Oh boy. Such a good ending...

Next week: I really wanted to skip it: Zero History from William Gibson. Let's finish the Blue Ant trilogy, and if it goes as it was last time, never talk about it again... seriously not looking for it.

See ya

Glaucos - Akio Tanaka

Glaucos - Akio Tanaka

It's the bane of our society: how many show you love that has been destroyed?

Be it by dragging it for too long, like in Dexter, X Files, Will & Grace, Weeds. Strong start but as it went on & on & on... it lost all interest, story lines get dragged for too long, or they simply don't know what else to do.

Or could be by cancellations. SO. MANY. SHOWS!!! Dead like me, Do Over, Firefly, Arrested Development (the last season, made by Netflix was good...but not as good as it was) and John Doe... HOW DO YOU CANCEL A SHOW THAT ENDED WITH A CLIFFHANGER??? Lots of series are cancelled and leaves us sad and/or angry.

There are shows based on existing materials, that destroy themselves by going against the original material (Game of Thrones anyone? The shitty 6th season? Worse season ever? Anyone? No? Then fuck you), be it by stretching WAY over the point of interest (Smallvile and the case of the Superman that's not Superman for 10 fucking seasons) that even tho are destroying/damaging the original material are still... palatable. DC in particular like this trend, like we are seeing with Arrow and  Flash. Oh boy... how I want to watch Arrow without my love for Ollie. Probably I would enjoy it like other seems to.

Or simply by changing the tone of the show... Oh, that's not that common here in the West. Well... int he manga world, that's something that happens. A LOT. One good example of that is Katekyo Hitman Reborn or Reborn! It started as a gag manga (genre exclusively for gags and comic relief) and then, by some editor idea, it became a Shonen (genre of manga aimed at young audiences, focused on combat. The most notorious one is Dragon Ball). It generates a lot of problems, since the author wasn't all that keen of going in that direction. And oh boy, it started to show very quickly. I'll review it sometime in the future.

It's also very common in the manga world the cancellation of a manga. At least they treat their fans with honesty & respect: they usually just cut it short and finish it. Very rarely they just cancel it without an ending. Japanese people have a lot of problems, but at least respect is a very ingrained tradition. If a manga is cancelled, they inform the author so that he/she can wrap it all up. Sometimes, they achieve it. Other times, they just finish the main story line and leaves the rest unsolved or ignored. And sometimes... it's done in a really shitty way.
Like Glaucos.

Okay. I admit: I started to read it because the art is fantastic. Also, the premise of the manga is curious: a manga about free/skin diving. Yeah, diving in great profundity without the use of accessories. Strange right? Specially since it doesn't follow the traditional pattern of Sports Manga, but went into seinen territory. It started in a beautiful water colour depicting the born of Cisse in the ocean, as his mother dies. What happened? Who cares. That's no the point of the manga. Cisse born in the sea & was carried to safety by dolphins. He's delivered to a fisherman, that was terrified, and as soon as he looked at Cisse, he thinks he is the kid from a legend...
OK, let's clarify: not the weirdest opening for a manga that I have read. Maybe to you, but as the great Sage said: One you go to Violence Jack territory, nothing can shock you for real. If you don't have the guts to watch/read Violence Jack, which I strongly recommend some thinking about before you do, let's say that in the manga world, this is not a shocking opening. Yeah, seriously.

Violence Jack definitely is not for the faint of heart

Time skip. We met Claude, a legend on the skin diving community, the man that kept the record for deepest dive for the longest time. He's broken inside, drinking a lot and reminiscing of his past glory. Yeah, it follows the pattern: he met Cisse, saw his amazing diving capabilities and goes after him. Cisse's father is against it: the legend says that Cisse would die if the world knows of his abilities. But Cisse press on and goes with Claude. He starts to learn the real techniques of skin diving and discovered that his spleen is not an useless thing like inmost of us, it evolved/mutated by his birth in the sea and he can store blood on it, which in cases of high stress, can release blood full of oxygen, like a reserve battery. Of course it opens huge possibilities. There's also a doctor to study it: Haruka, a woman. Yeah, your first guess is right. She will fall for Cisse. But in a hurried & horrible development. Oh! And I almost forget: when Cisse is in a deep state of oxygen deprivation, he has some strange hallucinations/visions. The deeper he goes into oxygen deprivation, the more he unveils of this mystery.

It goes the long way, in a very delicate setting with only this three characters for a bit, while Cisse is learning to skin dive& about how to use his ability. On the way, we see that Haruka, a traditional cold-heart scientist, you know the type, is starting to mellow with Cisse's naivety & Claude's drunkard philosophy. Cisse also start to learn a little bit of zen from Claude. The pace of this manga is slow, focusing on the characters, his iterations & conflicts.

It keeps going, slow & steady, going thru the traditional competition, Cisse's failure that lead to a better understanding of his abilities and all that traditional sports representation.  All is good till the meeting with an old disciple of Claude: Petite. Yes, he overthrown Claude's record & is now the biggest one in the world, with various contracts with sports brands. Cisse, with his obsession of going deeper & deeper to understand his visions, became enthralled by Petite. Obsessed. Then he goes on more training, more iterations between the cast and finally the meeting with Petite, which defied Cisse to a diving competition.
Pause.
Till now, it looks like a traditional sports manga, but there are differences. First is the small cast and the focus on their relationship.It's way unusual in the genre. Second, is the way and the maturity of the discussions. Third, it has a very science-based theme, of studying why Cisse's body is different & the health problems that occurs from the practice of skin diving. It takes pains to show that it really studied this effects and what transpires from it. It really is different from the norm.

Ok. So he met Petite and they compete. Petite wins, but has problems after, suffering a embolism. And that's the point when the shit hits the fan. First: the sports company discovered Cisse & decided that he's perfect to be exploited by then. Second: the editors informed that Glaucos wasn't doing good on the popularity pools and was to be cancelled.

And it's all downhill from this point on. We have a tie skip. Haruka finished & presented her thesis, with good results. Claude simply went insane. And Cisse is bat shit insane from deep diving after his visions. He met Haruka & out of nowhere remembers a bit of her & they have sex. Don't get me wrong: it was predictable that it would happens. But Haruko was a good character, very well represented. There were signs that she fell for Cisse, but the way the manga went after the information of cancellation simply destroyed all the character development from before. Claude stopped drinking, but why? Because he lost Cisse?
All in all, what I get from this ending is that it was all planned, probably in a longer run (Glaucos only get 4 tomes. I guess it would be around 6 or 7 by the way it was going. And you can feel it), the way Haruka & Cisse feel in love would be better. What we get is the shitty "I love you 'coz I do!" like in Jurassic World. It contributes nothing to the plot. Or does it?

We go for the deep dive that Cisse has been preparing himself for: going to where no man has gone before without equipment. And obviously Cisse is draw by his visions and disappears, as the man from the legends. Nobody knows where he went, no body washed ashore. Cisse is gone.
We cut back to the island Cisse is from. Haruka is talking to Cisse's father, since she is pregnant from Cisse. The manga ended with she reading the legend and the new part a boy discovered: the legendary man left progeny and that progeny went to the world bringing new light...

Yeah. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth. A manga with a slow pace but good dynamic was simply destroyed by the lack of interest from the readers. It is something that A LOT of manga suffers. I could list here a bunch of interesting manga that went downhill by the pressure of editors, fans and etc. It is something that, together with other aspects, is heavily damaging the world of manga. Which is bad on one side, but good on other: nowadays people that used to read manga, is reading manhua (from Korea) or chinese manga, or even going to wuxia and light novels. I can't condemn. The internet let authors go free from editorial & fandom influences and create webcomics or light novels pure to his ideas & intents. It's great!
Glaucos is a great manga. Unfortunately, was destroyed by the lack of interest. Not a shame, but kinda sad.
Give it a read. It's really short. Just be warned that the ending was very badly done.

Next week: as a fan of George R. R. Martin. I felt compelled to analyze what he thinks as one of the best sci-fi novels of all time: The Lord of Light. I really hope to be on time with this one.

See ya

Battle Angel Alita - Kishiro Yukito

Battle Angel Alita - Kishiro Yukito

Let's talk of one of my favourite manga of all time! Hyper Future Vision Gunnm! Oops, er... Battle Angel Alita! Oops... GUNNM! Yeah, this one has a lot of problems with the translation.
I really don't know why, but the first time this came out, there was a mess in the translation. The original japanese title is Hyper Future Vision Gunnm. Then it was translated as Battle Angel Alita. Why Alita? Oh, because they changed the name of the protagonist from Gally to Alita. And no, there's no explanation for that. There were even worse translation problems, that I'll address as it goes.

Nowadays, since the manga is still going, in the third instalment of a very long series, it's usually called GUNNM. 

So, lets start with this Gunnm stuff.

Gunnm, as Mr. Kishiro stated, means 'gun dream'. Strange, huh?

Remember that I said that I love cyberpunk? Yeah, it still stands and always will. I cannot get enough of a good old dystopian future. And this one takes the top in terms of dystopia.

Did you love the bleak streets of Neuromancer? This is better. Do you love the concept of 'street samurai' from all these games in a cyberpunk setting? This is WAY better. Do you like moral, philosophical and emotional construction of an amazing character? I present you Alita/Gally.

This little and beautiful cyborg is the deadliest cyborg you'll ever know! But not right away.

She's found in a junkyard, on standby for who knows how long. (later, way later, we find out she's there for probably over 300 years!!) The guy that found her, Daisuke Ido, appears to be a good doctor that treats cyborgs in a humane and decent way. The opposite of the street doctors, that would find a man/woman injured on the streets and operate then without authorization till he/she became a cyborg and then charge the costs for the operation. And that is a good prospect. Sometimes they create an opportunity for someone to get hurt and became indebted to them. Since they are doctors registered with the government (which is operated by androids and follow the law strictly) you can't even complain... (Bleak enough for you? Believe me, it'll get worse as it goes.)

In particular I really have to congrats Mr. Kishiro. The world of Gally (I'll call her that from now on. I hate most of the translation alterations), is amazingly detailed. It always feel very real, very tangible. It's a really well-constructed world, with it's own culture, sports and media. In a world full of cyborgs, and where life is really cheap, the violence levels are off the charts. And at the same time, feel very, very familiar...

Well, Ido finds Gally, and without any knowledge of who she is or why she was there, decided to restore her. After all she's so cute with those permanent puckered lips...what harm could she do? 

Is she always puckering or are they really that tick?

Well, soon we discover that the answer to that question is A LOT of damage... but first, we are showed a cyborg prostitute (or should it be a prostitute cyborg?) being brutally murdered. And the next day... Gally has a new pair of arms that looks really familiar. Is Ido the killer? Obviously not. But it sets the theme very well & very early in the story: no one is 100% reliable, no one is totally trustworthy in this world. This is one of the most beautiful things in this series: not even Gally is trustworthy. That's another thing I love about this manga: it breaks tropes. Usually, manga is associated with heroes, that even if they fail, they would get stronger and beat the enemies. Here... Gally fails. And even when she wins, sometimes those victories leave scars worse than a defeat. 

Gally confronts Ido, asking him to not kill anymore. But what she didn't know was that Ido was, in fact, a hunter warrior, or in layman terms: a bounty hunter. World explanation: to make things even darker, there's no police (but as we will see, there is still The Police) and since the governmental droids are stuck with paperwork, justice is done by bounties. And Ido is one of then. In the middle of the conflict between Gally and Ido, the bounty he was chasing attacks. And Gally shows one of the first truly amazing things of this universe: Panzer Kunst or Armoured Arts. Panzer Kunst is a martial arts developed exclusively for cyborgs. In the link you can get a profound view of this art. Basically it is developed in zero gravity and are focused against human & cyborg, armed or disarmed, hand-to-hand or against guns. It relies on the fact that they are cyborgs and take martial arts to a whole new level. Amazing, huh? The downside? If used with weak parts, the power generated may destroy those parts...

Gally decides that she wants to fight and became a bounty hunter. Ido is against it, since it goes against his ideals for Gally. And they fight. Yeah, the father-daughter conflict is explored in this. Gally goes and became a registered hunter warrior. Why she wants to fight? Because it's the only moment she feels alive and that's something that connects her to the past she doesn't remember.

We are introduced to a monstrosity called Makaku, an addicted to endorphin, with a preference for 'drinking it' directly from the brains of his victims. We go for Ido and how he copes with his dreams for his daughter being destroyed. We see that he is not a good guy, since he hunts for the thrill of the hunt. And then... the first amazing battle of Gunnm: Gally vs Makaku. Oh boy! It's fucking amazing!

As soon as it starts, Gally chops Makaku in half. In exchange, he torn Gally apart, leaving her with only one arm. It usually would end there... but no! They keep going! And it is amazing. The sense of movement, despair and violence is incredible! Gally spinning with her arm elbow deep in Makaku's eye is chocking. Unfortunately, her arm couldn't handle the centrifugal force and snaps and Ido came to the rescue. Makaku's body is destroyed, but low and behold! He's actually a worm-like cyborg that infects the body of those he consider strong, and the capabilities of his mind are linked to the body he infects. He goes away, casually quoting Nietzsche & swearing revenge...

Well, his daughter has a death sentence. What is the solution that Ido choose? Give her a military-grade body called berserker, of course! It may seems strange, but in the future, when we discover who exactly Ido is, it would make sense. Now, Gally has a body on par with her skills, but she's still haunted by the memory of Makaku. Meanwhile, Makaku invades the coliseum of the city to take the body of the current coliseum champion. Now, he believes, he can finish what he started with Gally.

One mention, now that it became a little relevant, the city they live is called Salem in the original and was translated as Tiphares, based on the sphere Tiferet of the Kabbalah. It is the supporting base for the floating city of Keter, Jeru in the original. As someone that understand a little of kabbalah, I found it stupid. In particular knowing the other instalments of Gunnm. There is something above Keter in the tower, so the naming is stupid, as the Keter sephirah is the ultimate point in the kabbalah. The JeruSalem thing was mostly a wink, not something to push so much symbolism on. But I digress.

With the new body, both Gally and Makaku went hunting. She, for allies, since Ido is injured, and he for her. This marks the first encounter with Zapan. He will be important. They find each other in the Kansas bar and start the fight right there. They seems pretty matched, till Makaku stole a baby, Koyomi, and threatens to eat her. He destroy the floor and take the fight to the sewers/subterranean area of Salem. Ido pleads to Gally to let it go, but she decides to go anyway. Gally is afraid, but must go on. There are very subtle notes on Gally's feelings and what she's thinking. She goes after the cries of Koyomi and met Makaku. They discuss and we discover the backstory for Makaku: he was literally flushed away as soon as he was born. Gally trowing his life in line to save the baby is a personal offence for him. He attacks and she responds instinctively.

The art is simply beautiful

Now we get two points: Gally's fighting abilities are part of her 'muscular memory', part of who she was. It is a very instinct-based reflex. One of these is the costume of passing something on her face, like a mask, in this case, she used tar. This look is very emblematic for Gally, basically her usual look. At this point, she don't understand fully the techniques she's using. She will understand it, but one step at a time.
Second: she understands the functionalities of her new berserker body and start to use it more fully, plasma included. The fight goes on, beautifully as all of them are in this manga. And the dialogue is incredibly deep. One example: "I walk in faith! The faith that we choose who we want to be... and grow into that identity, ugly or beautiful!" This. This is what stand out in this manga. The art is excellent and the dialogue is on par.


Gally wins, but Makaku, mortally wounded, tries to take her with him. An explosion occurs, but since it's fire, the electromagnetic capabilities of her new body protects then. They talk, before his death. And, even if he was a monster, you sympathize with him.
His life was worth of nightmares, suffering beyond limit. His only wish was that someone, anyone, took notice of him. And Gally did. Oh, he wasn't always like this. He was made into this worm-like android. By someone that bears the same forehead sign as Ido... Makaku dies happy. He and Gally knows that he would never be forgotten by her. And then, time passes.

What is very interesting in this early part of the manga, is how this horrible city creates people like this. And the next part is a very, very sad story. Gally meets a boy. Hugo. He's a street urchin, good natured and obviously she falls for him. Oh, remember Zapan? He tries to warn Hugo that Gally is more than meets the eyes... But remember what I said? No one in this city is reliable. Hugo doesn't kill people like Gally. He just maims them in order to stole their backbones and spinal cord. Why? Because he wants to go to Jeru, and is in league with a underworld lord that has ties with the floating city.
I'll cut it short, since it's a pretty tragic and overused story: Gally discover his dream, they work together, she's unaware of his crimes, (which is punishable by death), he's found out, by Zapan, she bands with Hugo, they go to the underworld lord and... yes, it was a false promise. Hugo loses it and decide to climb the cables that connect Salem to Jeru. It is also punishable with death, and dies in the arms of Gally... It's a very traditional story, a very predictable and overused pattern in all media. But it's very well told, at least. There's the twist where Hugo was almost killed, but was kept on stasis by Gally's body. Zapan notices, tries to go for the kill, but one of the governmental droid warns him that stealing a bounty is a crime and Gally cuts out his fucking face off. After Hugo's death, it's time skip time.

We met Ido wandering the streets looking for Gally and we found that she's a runner on the most famous sport of this new Earth: motor ball. This point of the manga is very long, deep and meaningful. Oh, and full of bad ass fights on the motor ball circuit. In this part, we go deep in Gally's search for what it means to be strong, in a very philosophical way. It's also where she finds her 'soulmate': a Damascus blade. With the blade and lots of life-or-death situations, she starts to understand the techniques she posses and to truly make then hers.

I won't cover this part in deep for two motives: first, it's very graphical. Second, it's a very traditional trope in the manga universe. We even get teammates that are basically past enemies that she won over with her charisma & skills. Very traditional pattern.
In the final confrontation with Jashugan, the 'emperor of motor ball', she has a small flashback of her past and we find out her real name: Yoko. And that's it. Back to the fight, in a very deep battle of techniques, Gally loses to Jashugan. She's delighted by this incredible fight and wants to keep battling him, but Jashugan died as he transcended his own limitations. Which makes Gally the victor, but an empty victory that will, literally, forever haunts her. Way in the future, in a galactic fighting tournament, she will remember this fight over and over...

More time skip, and we found that Zapan, without his face, became very unstable. In one of his fits about his face, he kills a woman that he was involved. Cuts to Gally singing The Police in the New Kansas Bar. She is leaving a normal life, reading a lot of philosophy and high literature, playing music for a living and keeping it cool while teaching people how to defend themselves. Zapan is trying to get revenge on Gally, while being hunted by the father of the woman she killed. Ido was informed that the berserker body was bought by someone and goes to buy it back. And he finds the man that has the same forehead mark as he: Desty Nova. We get a glimpse that both of then came from Jeru. Shocking..? Not to me. Obviously that some one that acts with such noble intentions and with dark desires wouldn't be from Salem. Ido has all the signs of someone that sacrifice his life for the sake of others...

Nova is one of the most interesting characters in this series. He was expelled from Jeru because of his bizarre experiences and for his understanding of what exactly is Jeru, but at the same time, they want him back. Even if we see him as a monster, the more you see him, listen to him, you start to sympathize. He is not an enemy per se. He just want to understand the forces of fate and destiny: karma. And he does some real gruesome experiments with his genius-grade understanding of nanotechnology. He picked the brain of Zapan (scooped was the better term) and gives him the berserker body. Chaos ensues... Ido dies in the process, but Nova says that he can bring Ido back and that is only a minor inconvenience. What is really important is the conflict of Gally and Zapan. She kills Nova, which is immediately bring back to life due to his nanobots. Meanwhile, Zapan destroys the New Kansas Bar (poor owner... and it's not even the last time) and goes berserker in the city, looking for her. Gally decides to go confront him, with a nice biblical passage to capture the moment and obviously they fight. In a, once again, very deep and philosophical battle, she destroys Zapan and the berserker body, at the same time that one of his memories invades her mind. A memory of Zapan and the woman he killed, the woman he loved. Gally understands that she must take it all, accept strength & weakness, good & evil. She must accept that life is full of tribulations and that mercy is the basis of all... but she can't. As she says, her heart is not big enough... and with it, we go to the last part of this series.
She is manipulated to become an agent for Jeru, handling earthbound problems and, supposedly, hunting for Nova. She accepts and another time skip ensues.

This time, the time skip consists of many years, and we find a Gally very different from last time: she has given up his humanity, focusing on the thrills of combat. She has no more ties and the only human interaction she has is her 'operator'. Meanwhile, we are presented to the most amazing guy ever: Figure Four. He's fully human and master of a fighting style that makes him able to fight cyborgs on par. He's amazingly cheesy, socially clumsy, funny & charming.

But has some serious fashion problems

He meets Gally as a mercenary and they went into a mission together. Lots of Mad Max battles goes on and we basically see Figure trying to impress Gally. And in a way, he succeeds. His fighting abilities impress her, as his goofy personality. At the same time, her missions catch on with they and more creative ideas are presented. Oh, her mission is to discover the position of the leader of a rebellion against Jeru: Barjack.

All in all, what I wanna focus is the relationships she has now. Figure would become the man Gally loves and ends with. It's very nice, since his main theme is freedom. Freedom of being, of ties. This ideal, obviously attracts her, since it is something that she never could attain: she's always bounded. Be it her relationship with others, her duties, Gally is always restricted. And the only way for her to be free, is this bad ass goofy fighter. His personality is very simple, as his ideas and decisions.

On the other spectrum, there is the son of Nova: Kaos. He is the opposite of Figure, since he is very duty bounded. And way immature. I could say lots of Figure, but he is a man. Kaos, even after all the events in this series, is not. At maximum, he is a young adult trying to impress the world. Kaos is also only part of a man, since Barjack/Den is part of him.
Being the son of Nova, obviously would give some psychological scars. Kaos is mute, only able to project his voice thru radio waves. He also has psychometry, which helps a lot in a world half destroyed. One of the most beautiful passages of the manga is the relationship of Nova & Kaos and a little bird Nova gives him. Read it, it'll be worth your time.

Kaos is unaware that Den is part of him. The discovery that all his hatred and anger against the injustice of the world created what he considers a monster gives birth to his understanding that the circle of violence can only be overcome by reconciliation and creation... yeah. Cheesy as hell.
That's the main point of Kaos/Den. They are out of place here. As Kaos, he's too immature to handle and truly understand the world, his powers are a crutch to his emotional evolution. As Den, he is immature in his understanding of how the world works, assuming that destroying Jeru & Salem, the world would become a better place. The inner fight of then, to me, is a natural fight every teenager has to come to terms with: fight the system or try to change the system. Kaos intentions of 'putting himself to use' thru his powers is a good initiative, but totally unrealistic in the long term. But this unrealistic settings on manga are very common.

In general, there is what is called the Jump Code, based on the most famous publisher ideal: hard work, friendship and honour. Usually in manga, there's a main group/character that solves all the problems thru this: battle, friends and honour. In comics, is usually the same thing, but with a focus on the moderator: someone that solves the problems by discussing or making agreements. I'll explain those patterns in future reviews. But mainly is the following: the Western Lands fiction tries to solve things on a political level, since, in fact, we usually fight wars to solve our conflicts. The Eastern Lands fiction tries to solve things thru combat, but in the real life it's always on a political solution. It's very interesting to observe this pattern. Specially when we compare the most famous examples: Superman/Batman never kill. Goku on the other hand, has a huge body count...

Remember that Ido was a father to her? And that Nova told her that he would bring him back? Yes, he did. Gally found him, but he doesn't remember her. Why? He discovered the secret of Jeru and couldn't handle it, erasing all his memories. With that, we came full circle: Gally has to come to terms with the suicide of her father and the loss. It is a very short chapter, but it's very touching. With that, we can say that Gally is finally a full mature woman. And it reflects on the attitudes she takes in the end.

An interesting comeback is Koyomi. Yes, the baby she saves in the first arc. She's a teen now, almost a grow woman, which gave you a nice nod to how much time Gally spent on her battlefield and gives weight to the changes we saw in her. Koyomi bands together with Barjack, registering all the events of the war. In the end, she's a curious and interesting perspective of the good that Salem was capable of creating: she's pure, immature, but at the same time, a representation of the hope in the future.

I won't spoil the ending. I will just say that it is beautiful.
As I said, this is my favourite manga. There are others that I really like, but this one stays with me.
It has deepness, beauty, sadness. To me it is the epitome of cyberpunk: change the system, fight it even if you don't know how. Even if you have to became a cog in the machine. But keep your head high, maintain your standards and push forward. The world is a bleak place, but you can still find love, friendship and even redemption if you push hard enough. It won't be easy, it will be painful, full of despair and challenges.
But when you succeed... there's nothing like it.

Read it.
Anyway you can.
The sequels are more focused on combat, but still has a great deal of philosophy, in particular zen and transcendence.
Gunnm is still going on. Twenty and six years at the moment. And it's still interesting. Lately the release are not fixed and the story is a little bit strange & vague... but I gotta go till the end.
Hope to have some company.

Phew. That one was huge. That's what you get when you try to explain something you love.
The worse part? There will be others that will be even bigger. Specially with what I have in mind for the future. I briefly touched on the differences between the East & West. Next week I will go a little deeper on this topic. But for now, that's it.

Next week: back to the Blue Ant Trilogy, lets discuss Spook Country! Hit or miss for Mr. Gibson?

See ya

Uzumaki - Ito Junji

Uzumaki - Ito Junji

Oh boy. This one...
Do you think manga is for children? That they are predictable? That it's all about fighting and superpowers?
Oh boy. This will blow your mind.

I won't preach to you about manga. I was going to, but I decided against it. Let's blow your mind first.

It starts very traditionally. A girl is introduced going to school, Kirie. She meets a strange man starring a snail shell with an spiral. He doesn't even acknowledge her presence. She goes away and meet her friend, Shuichi. Oh, he's the son of the strange man... And he claims that this city is strange and want to run away with her from there.

Overall, it looks like a 'coming of age' story, right? They will go away, thru pains and hardship to realize that 'there's no place like home', right?
No.
Oh hell no!
They would wish very hard that they could...

The story proceeds and Shuichi's father is obsessing more and more over spirals. And then it starts. Mr. Junji is a very important horror writer and I understand why he didn't became 'only' a writer. Understand: the writing business in Japan, like everything else over there, is a Business, capital B. They devour books over there. People are always reading. But he became a mangaka (manga author/artist). Why? Because he loves a specific type of horror: body horror. And boy, it's disgusting. The way he draws body horror is one of the best things in horror. It makes The Thing looks nice in comparison.

Let's continue. Shuichi's father goes insane and start experimenting with his body. He's aiming to become one with the spiral. And he finally succeeds. He dies in a bizarre spiral that he made contorting his own body. It's gross as hell. And it's only the beginning.

Kawaii!!!

The spiral theme goes on. In some way, spirals are haunting this city, and the door that Shuichi's father opened cannot be closed. First his mom goes insane, traumatized by what happened to his father. Then a friend of then became possessed by the spiral, and devouring her own body in the process.

Sugoi!!!!

 

Then it's Kirie's father time to goes insane. And a subtle note is delivered: it seems that the spirals are holding the souls of the departed, and it sediments on the clay that her father makes pottery (a very traditional and profitable profession in Japan). And by burning this clay, the tormented souls creates spirals in the pottery. They destroy the oven but by now, there's a hint it may be out of control.

Cut to the slums, where two lovers are being separated by their families, very Romeo and Juliet. In the end, they start contorting, like a spiral, fusing together and jumping in to the ocean. Focus on those slums, they are homes constructed long time ago and are important.

Kirie's hair start spiralling, and became an entity, bewitching those who looks at it. Another girl, that always seek attention, start to do the same. Kirie is saved in a confrontation with this girl by Shuichi and the girl dies with her hair consuming her energy and body fluids while trying to get more attention. As you can see, the influence of the spirals are getting stronger.

A few more chapters showing the increasingly number of people being affected. Then comes the lighthouse story, in which the lighthouse are emitting light in a spiral-like way. And by consequence, affecting much more people. The spirals are affecting objects AND people now. Oh, and don't skip the pregnant women. It's one of the highlights of body horror in this manga.

The beauty of a pregnant woman

Then things get even more crazy. It's typhoon season. And guess what a typhoon is? A spiral. The typhoon became enthralled with Kirie and start to stalk her. Shuichi understand it and tries to save her, with lots of people being killed by the crazy typhoon. Then, the typhoon wins and get her. Or did he? The city lake absorbs the typhoon before he can get away. If you are observant you get the feeling of "don't mess with my stuff" from this scene. And your guess is as good as mine. Yeah. This city is sentient. Or something in there is...

Typhoon season continues and the people that lost their homes, obviously our main characters included, are redirected to some temporary shelter: the slums... remember it? Yeah. These old houses are all over the city, and by some weird reason, were never destroyed. And into it, the spirals powers are stronger. People start to become possessed by it, and like the pregnant women, becoming monsters.

And here's the moment you all were waiting for: shit hits the fan. The typhoons are circulating the city, blocking any tentative of escape. People are getting powers, like the kids that generates tornadoes with their bodies. The population seeks refuge in the old slums, the only buildings that weren't destroyed. It's cramped and more and more people are coming.

The city decent into madness. Some are using the new powers of controlling tornadoes to fly around causing mayhem, some are becoming a type of human-snail hybrid, a nice look back to one of the early chapters, and most are hiding into the slums. It goes a little Lord of the Flies for a bit, with the discovery that some are eating the snail people. Then it all end with, once again, the lake inhaling people causing to much trouble and letting the rest go.

It goes on, now with the protagonists expelled from the slum houses and walking around meeting other survivors. They meet a group and band together. They try to invade one of the slums, to discover that those people inside became a tangling mess, all stretched and bundled together. As soon as they see that, destroying some walls in the process, the slum people starts to build an expansion of the slums, to cover their disfigured bodies. It will be important soon.

The group decided to try to run away from the city, one of which is becoming a snail person and the others waiting for it to eat him. It ended very weirdly. They decided to eat him raw, going inside the snail shell. The protagonists run away, since a friend of theirs has a small brother that's becoming a snail person. He finally became one and they let him escape. The others reach then, and as they starts to remember the inside of the shell, they... Stretch and start spiralling. The group decide to go back to the city, seeing no way out.

When they arrive, the city is a spiral maze. All the people constructing extensions? It all meets and it is became a giant spiral. The group decide to investigate it. There's people alive, but they are spiralling and stretching. They thrown their dead outside and a man is collecting then. Apparently,  time is different inside this walls. They go deeper and deeper, trying to find the centre of it all.

They are still constructing, and trying to go deeper, one of the group is stuck inside a constructing gap and assimilated. As soon as it occurs, there are screams of "we are all connected" and a strange sounds is heard. Suddenly, all houses are vacant, nothing inside their walls. They follow the inside and find an strange spiral stair going down and decide to follow it. During it, Kirie is attacked and Shuichi defends her, falling into the space below. Kirie proceeds and finally discover something: all the spiral people are there and there's an ancient ruin there. She finds Shuichi there, hurt and paralyzed. They analyze the building, it has a kind of conscience and from time to time, it woke up and attract people. With nowhere to run, Shuichi tell Kirie to run away, but she won't leave him behind. They spiral together and then, with the final piece of the city there, the ruins close. Time stand still. Till the next time.

Wow. That's a lot to swallow.
What can we say about it? It's a plain lovecraftian story. Beautifully crafted and with a beautiful ending. It has all the right points, it has all the horror, in particular body horror, that you can ask for. The art is good, the writing is marvellous. So why is it not more famous?

Because people don't understand manga.

Ok. Lecture time: manga is a genre, like comics. But different from comics, that has became an art form thanks to lots of great artists, manga in the Occident is still saw as a "for kids" stuff.
What they don't understand is that manga is an art form. And has it's own genres and branches. This one is what is called Seinen. This kind is more focused for adults, more deep stories, great character development (there are ones, that I will review later on, that are solely based on character development). Ito is one of the greatest of this genre. He's also considered a genius in the horror genre in general, at least for those that know him.

I definitely urge you to read more stuff from him. I won't review all his work, since most of his work is fragmented in short stories and I prefer to analyze more complete works. But seriously, go read it. If you love horror, you would be satisfied.

And yeah, maybe on some manga & comics, it'll be heavy on images. After all, what can be more effective on showing you art, in a visual art genre? If you don't like it, I'm sorry. Skip it.

Next week: we go East to meet a different brand of literature. Terror Infinity!

See ya.