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Jun 2, 2024
Art and Composition: 8/10
Story and Themes: 5/10
Characters: 4/10
Overall: 7/10
Art and Composition:
Kazuo Umezu once again knocks it out of the park in the art department, delivering a unique, detailed style that (in my opinion) surpasses his work on Snake Woman. The faces of characters and the backgrounds of scenes are two aspects that I find particularly impressive, and it’s clear to see the effect that his work would have on future mangaka such as Junji Ito.
Story and Themes:
Orochi is an anthology of stories all connected by the immortal and supernatural narrator, Orochi, and her hobby of watching people (especially boys) grow up into adults. It’s
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surprisingly not as creepy as it sounds. Like many anthology series, the stories in Orochi differ in quality from quite good to not very good, although the good most certainly outweighs the bad (The only story I did not care for was “Key”). Each individual story has a different theme or philosophical question (although some overlap thematically with others), ranging from what makes a person “good” to how parental pressure can negatively influence a child. They are all quite interesting, and they are nice to think over as Kazuo slowly increases the terror.
Characters:
The characters in Orochi are passable, with as much depth as one could probably accomplish in an anthology. No characters are particularly offensive, but not many stand out as particularly good either. They exist to facilitate the story, and they do a good job at doing so.
Orochi is pretty good! If you like Junji Ito’s work (or just psychological horror in general) or just want to see where horror manga got its roots, I’d say that Orochi is worth a read. It’s pretty spooky at times, and I’d argue that makes it worth reading all by itself. :p
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 4, 2024
Art and Composition: 8/10
Story and Themes: 9/10
Characters: 8/10
Overall: 9/10
Art and Composition:
The art in Ashita no Joe art is really quite good, with impressive fluidity to the fight scenes that convey the impact of each punch through the page, although I feel that his art never truly reaches the potential that it could have. This isn't to say it doesn't have it's moments, of course - the reveal of the boxer with the dislocated jaw on pages 33-35 of volume 7 genuinely surprised me with their implied graphic nature despite not a whole lot actually being shown. The boxing itself (the main visual spectacle of the
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manga) is drawn to be fast and punchy, with each fight feeling unique in its presentation and how the encounters are drawn. Something that is consistently drawn rather well is Joe's “no-guard stance”, with its resemblance to a zombie's gait perhaps serving as foreshadowing to his inevitable fate. Another standout example of the art is the way that Chiba expertly conveys Rikiishi Tōru's physical transformation as he works to lower himself to the Bantamweight class; he truly does look like a dead man walking. He's very proficient at drawing all of the character's bodies, actually, with dynamic poses that show his clear understanding of the human form. The way background characters are drawn reminds me a lot of Osamu Tezuka's style, although it is certainly more grounded and less fantastical. The backgrounds are decent, but it is clear that they often take a back seat to the combat.
Story and Themes:
Ashita no Joe was my first sports manga ever, and the story I found within its pages was rather astounding. I find it hard to put into words what makes Ashita no Joe work so well as a story—and I really do recommend you read it to see what I mean—so I think I'll just write out some thoughts I have about the story and its meaning. The usage of boxing not only as a sport but as a method of storytelling is fascinating in its power to convey feelings. The world of boxing is also metaphorical, with Yabuki Joe's distaste for the corruption in the boxing world mirroring the attitude of many adolescents and young adults in Japan's New Left at the time. The story Takamori pens is an incredibly grounded one that only occasionally delves into the unrealistic and fantastical in its boxing scenes. I find these “played up” elements in the boxing matches bring a lot of entertainment value to the boxing scenes that might otherwise be dull, while also allowing each fight to feel unique in its presentation and how it is fought. The story somehow seems to convince me that Joe has a real possibility of losing a match yet while also making his subsequent victory feel earned. The ending of Ashita no Joe is iconic, and I won't directly spoil it here... but holy shit. There is foreshadowing pointing to it for a large majority of the story, and it's really the only true ending I could see for the character of Yabuki Joe. The only main criticism I'll give the story is that the way that the characters and the narrative treat Harimau is pretty shitty, with the usage of... offensive terms concerning his ethnicity. (This isn't the only time that characters use offensive racial language, and it makes sense given the time period, but it goes pretty much entirely unchallenged and it makes that part of the story a bit hard to read.)
Characters:
Yabuki Joe is easily the best character in this story. (He is the protagonist, after all.) He is a very relatable person who is discontent with much of the world and people he finds around him, only finding purpose in boxing (although not without initial resistance on his part). He is a deeply flawed person—crude, insensitive, loud-mouthed, hot-headed, stubborn—but these flaws never detract from his likability. Quite the contrary, actually! He is likable because of how he can handle situations in improper ways or can have his ego cloud his judgement. The way he pushes Noriko away to pursue his passion is sad but ultimately a realistic outcome of his dedication to the sport of boxing. It's rather unfortunate, then, that it's all of these flaws that lead to his undoing. Leading up to his final fight, it's really difficult to see him dealing with the effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, becoming more and more aggressive and impulsive. Despite all of his bravado, though, I think his desire to spend time with the kids that look up to him shows his true colours as a good man. His dynamic with Rikiishi Tōru and the subsequent trauma stemming from his untimely death is just so well done that I still can't believe it even happened. The rest of the characters are well done as well, for the most part, with Danpei Tange being my second favourite. There's something about his attachment to Yabuki Joe that is wholesome while also being unhealthy in many ways. Yōko Shiraki is also a very well-written character, being a woman participating in a male-dominated sport that must contend with the misogyny of said sporting world. She's hard to read at times, but she always wants what's best for Yabuki Joe, even if he doesn't realize it. As for secondary characters, I think my favourite has to be Carlos Rivera. He's funny with his acting but serious in the ring (when he's up against good opponents, that is) and I find that difference in personality to be really intriguing. The character of José Mendoza is a really interesting mirror of Yabuki Joe, valuing his safety above winning... which Yabuki Joe does not learn the value of, even in his final moments.
Read Ashita no Joe. Even if you’ve been spoiled by my review (although I certainly hope you’ve already read it!), you should still read Ashita no Joe. Even if you have little interest in sports, you should at least give Ashita no Joe a chance. It is not surprising that this manga turned out to be so influential on the manga scene (and Japan as a whole) - it is just that good.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jan 2, 2024
Art and Composition: 8/10
Story and Themes: 8.5/10
Characters: 7/10
Overall: 8.5/10
Art and Composition:
The art in Phoenix is an improvement compared to Tezuka’s Mighty Atom. This is, perhaps, unsurprising due to the time constraints placed on him during the production of that manga. It retains the goofy Tezuka charm of exaggerated body features and facial expressions while having more visually stunning moments that reminds one of Tezuka’s immense artistic talent and abilities. especially in setting tone through his backgrounds. Some highlights for me were page 178 of Resurrection, pages 348-349 of Karma/Hō-ō, and pages 83-84 of Dawn. Stories like Civil War/Turbulent Times are also quite more gruesome than
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Mighty Atom, which I find cements the stakes of the story even further. The reuse of character designs from story to story is no longer simply recycling of assets but instead an important part of the story, which I found rather interesting as a concept. The design of the titular Phoenix is, of course, iconic, with her symbology covering almost all of the manga’s covers. I’m not such a big fan of her humanoid form, but nobody’s perfect.
Story and Themes:
This is the section of Phoenix that truly shocked me - I didn’t think that Tezuka had it in him to write something this good. Granted, the only other work of his I had read was Mighty Atom, but still! I knew him to be a talented artist, but I had thought that simplistic plots were simply what he preferred to write. I was very wrong. Phoenix is divided into many different stories, each connected by the presence of a few recurring characters as well as the Phoenix herself. These stories range from okay to masterful, with a whole bunch of varying concepts like life and death, religion and government, the purpose of living and the interconnectedness of all life… it’s all in here, and it has a shocking amount of depth, too. Never did I think that this manga would contain sincere commentary on Buddhism and its relation to the government of ancient (and by extension, modern) Japan, but it did - it did, and I enjoyed it!
Characters:
The characters of Phoenix are, for the most part, serviceable. That is, except for the juggernauts that made me raise this section from a 5 to a 7 - I’m talking about characters like Gao and Ushiwaka. Once again, Tezuka surpassed my expectations by writing characters that are sufficiently well-written to match the stories they’re in. The development of Gao from a cold-hearted murderer to someone who understands the value of life and the regression of Ushiwaka from a rebellious child into a genocidal warmonger are both done so well despite being exact opposites in terms of character direction. The writing’s not perfect, of course - women are written a little… strangely, but it doesn’t detract too much, especially since relatively good female characters like Kajika do exist in the story.
Phoenix is a classic for a reason - it's really good! If all of the stories were as good as the best parts, then this would be an easy 9/10 or 10/10 - unfortunately, I'm not a huge fan of ancient history for the most part (outside of the religious angle) so a lot of the stories set in the past drag on for me. That's just my personal feelings, though, and I can safely recommend this manga to pretty much anyone who wants to read a good story.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Nov 14, 2023
Art and Composition: 7/10
Story and Themes: 3/10
Characters: 3/10
Overall: 6/10
Art and Composition:
The art is absolutely the greatest aspect of Snake Woman - as a matter of fact, it’s the aspect that has clearly had the most effort put into it. That’s (presumably) on purpose, as the focus on the visual element really stands out from the manga that was being published at the time. The heavy usage of darkness and shading makes the entire story feel dingy (although it is occasionally difficult to discern what’s actually happening) and the drawings of the titular snake woman are very good, capturing a creepy in-between of a human and
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a snake (although the fact that she has a nose is a little strange). The artwork of Kazuo Umezu combines the more traditional manga style with horrific events and visuals splendidly and the way he draws facial expressions just… works for me.
Story and Themes:
The plot is very simple - there is a woman who thinks she is a snake so she becomes like a snake. A little girl, her family, and the wider community are tormented by the snake woman in various ways. The events near the midway point of The Spotted Girl really kicked the story up a notch and actually managed to unnerve me, which surprised me as I had thought I knew where the story was going by that point.
Characters:
Almost all of the characters exist solely to interact with (and potentially get attacked/killed by) the snake woman, with only a small handful of main characters even getting names. This makes sense, as there is little time to develop the characters (as the entire focus is on the antagonist) but I can’t in good conscience give the characters anything more than a three. It was originally a two, but the snake woman alone brought it up a level.
If one has interest in historical manga, horror that is mainly visual, or snake women, then this is absolutely worth checking out. It's not a large time investment and it managed to make me genuinely unnerved at a few points.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Nov 13, 2023
Art and Composition: 7/10
Story and Themes: 3/10
Characters: 3/10
Overall: 5/10
Art and Composition:
Tezuka's style and Disney's influence on said style are rather well known, and for good reason. His light and cartoony characters fit very well into the futuristic Japan (as well as the many other places that Atom visits) and his reusing of minor characters such as Lamp Acetylene and Duke Red helps to connect what are otherwise unconnected stories, even if only slightly. The simplistic charm of Atom and his friends helps even the most underwhelming Mighty Atom story feel like a real adventure. The art does what it needs to do and does it
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well, but it's only rarely that Tezuka produces a page or double-spread that I find genuinely great - this sucks, since there are indeed a few instances where Tezuka's art genuinely astonished me. Unfortunately, every artist has their limitations and weaknesses - Tezuka's is undoubtedly drawing people with dark skin. Drawing inspiration from common depictions at the time (which themselves drew inspiration from American minstrel shows), Tezuka depicts black (and various other dark-skinned) people in a racist manner that makes several chapters very difficult to read. Additionally—although this is far more of a design complaint than an ethical one—he tends to depict women (especially ‘pretty’ women) nearly identically to one another. This is a problem also shared by some of his ‘attractive’ male heroes as well, but it's much more prominent with his female ones. It's rather annoying for all of the main male characters to have unique, distinctive, exaggerated designs while the women look about the same sans a different hairstyle. Overall, Mighty Atom's art was highly influential but nothing exceptional outside of a few outliers.
Story and Themes:
Mighty Atom was for elementary school aged children in 1950's (and subsequently 1960's) post-war Japan - this is something that cannot be understated. This makes it rather difficult to accurately and fairly judge the plot and themes of Mighty Atom, since I am decidedly not the kind of person Tezuka was writing for. That being said, it would feel dishonest to say that Mighty Atom's stories are anything more than underwhelming a majority of the time. Yes, there are a few stories that I would classify as “okay” to “good”, but it's rather lacklustre for the most part. After a while the plots begin to feel repetitive and the only thing that keeps you going is the artwork. In addition, the story attempts to tackle some rather heavy themes such as racism, segregation, and discrimination (which is rather admirable and stands out from the contemporary manga being published at the time), but fails to really say much of anything outside of “treating people different from you poorly is wrong” and “everyone deserves rights”. These are fundamentally true statements, and I commend Tezuka for trying to include such heavy topics in his story, but... their inclusion is restricted rather heavily by the story they reside in. A manga for young boys with a focus on action and fighting that also attempts to tackle race relations can often feel like it's being stretched thin, with little time for any actual discussion on the themes. Did I expect Mighty Atom to contain deep and nuanced portrayals of hatred and violence? No, of course not. I wouldn't mind the shallowness of Mighty Atom's take on discrimination and related things if it wasn't also filled with confusing contradictions on what is or isn't right or wrong. In the story, Atom possesses the ability to innately judge whether a person is a good person or a bad person - this concept alone illustrates how the story might not give the proper respect to the real world themes that they deserve. It's difficult to say how much should or not be shown in media for children, but for me. Mighty Atom firmly lands in the area of “doesn't say enough on the themes to justify their inclusion”. Also, some random notes: there's a story with a robot Holocaust and a character talks about creating an Israel for robots and this is given serious narrative weight. Also, sometimes there's alien locust cuckoldry. I didn't know where else to include that.
Characters:
Practically all of the characters in Mighty Atom are flat, with little to no personal, moral, or narrative depth ascribed to them. This is to be expected for a series targeted at very young children, but it can make the story somewhat difficult to become invested in as an adult. Atom is a fun protagonist with the most amount of development out of any of the cast (although that isn’t exactly saying much), with Dr. Tenma being a close second despite his relative lack of appearances compared to some other secondary characters. If you want a character driven story, look elsewhere. That isn’t the story that Tezuka is telling here and it isn’t the story you’ll get.
Mighty Atom is an incredibly important piece of manga history, but an “okay” piece of media that may not have much of value for the modern day adult reader outside of its historical value. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's important to keep in mind before jumping in.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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