Manga Reviews: Uzumaki, MW, Dororo, The Princess Knight, and Others
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Uzumaki Manga Review
This is one of the most disturbing mangas I have ever read. It follows in the strange tradition of bizarre Japanese horror movies, like the Grudge. This one is about a town that was cursed by the spiral or Uzumaki.
It may sound a bit lame; however, it was handled brilliantly thematically. Most of the time, I had no idea what the hell was going on.
Some of the chapters are too disturbing for me to go into. Still, if you like horror movie skits this is a good graphic novel to read. The manga has about three volumes. It is relatively old, written in 1999.
The mangaka artist who drew it is extremely talented. Even when the scenes creep you out, one has to admire the talent.
The writer was Junji Ito. He has written a few other horror mangas. This manga has often been praised for being akin to a HP Lovecraft novel. The main character is unreliable, and the ending is a bit of a bummer. The buildup to the ending was interesting.
MW Manga Review
This is one messed up piece of fiction. It is disturbing even by graphic novel standards. The funny thing is that Osamu Tezuka draws all the disturbing scenes in his cute style.
The manga is about a serial killer and his priest, who is also his lover. Their lives were changed when they visited Okinawa as children. Yuki became exposed to a toxic gas kept in a lab in the US base.
Even though they were not exposed to the gas directly, they still saw the effects on the people. They each became traumatized by the event in their own way.
Yuki became a psychopath, serial killer. Garia became a priest. The problem is that he likes Yuki and he covers for his lover all the time. He knows that Yuki is a really, really bad person, but he still loves him.
It is one of those depressing, messed up stories that do not have a happy ending. The manga was also made into a live action movie. Most of Tezuka’s works have been adapted to film.
Dororo Manga Review
Dororo is yet another popular Osamu Tezuka manga. Most people these days are not familiar with the comic. It was made into a live action movie roughly a decade ago.
The manga is about this father who made a pack with 48 demons. In exchange, he promised a body part of his first-born son to the demons. As such, the son was born a freak. His mother is forced to abandon him.
The child is eventually discovered by an alchemist that makes for him prosthetics. With his artificial body, and his extra sensory perception Hyakkimaru sets out to kill the demons to recover his body parts.
Along his journey, he meets a little thief named Dororo. The two end up traveling together through medieval Japan looking for demons and getting into all sorts of strange adventures.
I liked the manga a lot. It is a one volume manga. Then again, Tezuka’s one volume mangas have at least 500 pages.
The Princess Knight Manga Review
The Princess Knight is a revolutionary manga. It was the first feminist theme manga of its time. The manga is about a girl born with two “hearts”. When she was reincarnating, one of the angels made a mistake and gave her the heart of a boy.
He thought she looked like a boy, so he gave her that heart. Then, God gave the princess her true heart and then she reincarnated.
At the time of her birth, her kingdom was having problems because the King needed an heir. In order to preserve the kingdom, she was raised as a prince.
She lived a duel life. When she was with her mother, she was a feminine princess. When she was with her father, she was a masculine, aggressive prince.
The angel who botched her up, has been stalking her for quite some time to reclaim her male heart. It was an interesting story considering the time it was made.
During Osamu Tezuka’s age, there weren’t any inteligent dialogues about gender identities.
The Color of Earth Manga Review
This is yet another coming of age comic. This manga was written by Kim Dong Hwa. This Korean author has several mangas about this subject.
It takes place in roughly 19th century Korea. Ehwa is the main character. She lives with her widowed mother. They run a local tavern.
The story shows Ehwa growing up and coming to terms with her womanhood. She also meets her first love as well, and the second one too.
The manga has some scenes that westerners would consider somewhat disturbing. That point aside, it is nice to see Ehwa realistically growing up. Aging a character is rarely done correctly.
The drawings of this comic are all pretty neat. The actions occurring in the manga are pretty realistic. Still, the romanticism of Ehwa’s mother is adorable. She planted certain flowers to lure the guy she likes to her home.
The story is also about Ehwa’s mother meeting someone new. I have only read the first volume. It has other colors as well. As such, I cannot spoil the ending.
Pink Manga Review
Pink is another controversial manga made by Kyoko Okazaki. She is famous for making comics about subjects’ matters that are rarely addressed.
In this case, her comic is about a lady of the evening named Yumi. In the morning, she works as an office lady. At night, she takes costumers.
She needs two jobs because she needs to feed her fully grown crocodile pet. It is rare for crocs to be kept as pets for so long.
Her unusual life starts causing problems when she gets herself a real boyfriend. She also has problems with her stepmother and half-sister.
In a sense, the crocodile is the only thing that she cares about. For people who live alone, a pet can become more than just a companion.
This comic is only a volume long. The ending is a bit depressing. I also did not like the whole croc thing. Though, I liked the way she draws women. They all tend to look like models.
Vagabond Manga Review
This manga glorifies turning into a homeless. Then again, it was a lucrative interesting “career” during the warring states period. The main character defects from the army to become a Vagabond.
He travels from town to town dueling people. Each of the volumes is pretty long and nicely drawn. It has a great crudeness about everything that is simply adorable.
It got really boring around volume two. It felt like it was the same story told over and over again. Also, the characters would not shut up during the fights.
People should shut up in battles. I never see any Olympians speaking in battle. Well, if you do like more samurai nonsense this is a good comic worth reading.
Wandering Son Manga Review
Wandering Son is a pretty cute manga about a kid who likes to dress up as a girl. It was made into an anime show. I only read the first volume, but it managed to keep me awake for more than an hour or so.
I don’t know if it is a good manga or not. It was nicely drawn, however. It got pretty boring, pretty quickly. Drama comic books are not my usual cup of tea. They have to have an interesting plot for me to bother to pay attention.
