#kiniro mosaic render

[prof-kenny]

[recentanimenews]

The Manga Revue, 5/14/18

Hey, y’all… apologies for the radio silence last week! I was knee-deep in term papers and final exams, but I submitted my course grades yesterday and am back in the manga-reviewing saddle. As penance for skipping a week, today’s column is super-sized, with review links galore and the low down on Cutie Honey a Go Go!, Seven Seas’ newest Go Nagai offering.

Cutie Honey a Go Go! Original Story by Go Nagai; Story & Art by Shimpei Itoh; Planning Cooperation by Hideaki Anno Translated by Zack Davisson an Adrienne Beck Seven Seas, 400 pp. Rated T, for Teen (Nudity and bloodless violence)

Cutie Honey a Go Go! is not a conventionally good manga. Its plot is riddled with holes, its characters are two-dimensional, and its artwork is an unholy marriage of Nixon-era character designs and Photoshopped backgrounds. Yet for all its obvious limitations, Cutie Honey a Go-Go! is cheeky fun in the manner of an Austin Powers movie; it’s a cartoon of a cartoon, an irreverent send-up of the original source material that simultaneously captures the original manga’s naughty tone while updating the plot and characters for contemporary readers.

The source material is a mixture of Hideaki Anno’s 2004 film and Go Nagai’s original 1973 manga, plucking characters and storylines from both and combining them into something new. Per Anno’s film, the story’s characters are primarily adults, not teenagers, and the Catholic overtones of the original series are muted. Per Nagai’s original Weekly Shonen Champion series, the final act of Cutie Honey unfolds at the Saint Chapel School for Girls, where the transforming android and her human pal Aki Natsuko square off with the lethal beauties of the Panther Claw organization.

Shimpei Itoh’s greatest skill as an adaptor is his comic chops. In Cutie Honey a Go Go!, Aki Natsuko is no longer a blushing school girl with a crush on the titular android; she’s a hard-charging inspector who supervises a bureau of men and faces down danger with the brash confidence of a Harrison Ford character. Most of the manga’s best gags involve Aki and her hapless subordinate Todoroki, who plays Hildy Johnson to her Walter Burns. Itoh also has a flare for introducing the Panther Claw ladies, all of whom look like Betty Paige cosplayers wearing outlandish animal print bathing suits; their entrances are choreographed like musical theater numbers, complete with synchronized minions dancing, prancing, and throwing lethal objects with consummate precision. The sheer exuberance of these sequences helps distract from the clunky artwork and cheesy dialogue, goosing the proceedings with an infectious energy that’s impossible to resist.

As for the fan service, it’s there — Itoh serves up plenty of gratuitous nudity, just as Nagai did in the original. (Cutie Honey’s clothing dissolves to tatters whenever she transforms.) Yet for all the T&A, Cute Honey looks more like a 1962 issue of Playboy magazine rather than a contemporary manga; there’s a pin-up coyness about the cheesecake that renders these images benign. And c’mon… how can you not cheer on a heroine who’s rocking a half pair of assless chaps while saving the world? I rest my case. Recommended.

Must-Read Reviews

Siddarth Gupta pores over last week’s Weekly Shonen Jump Bonus Issue. Over at Hakutaku, Alana posts a thoughtful introduction to Leiji Matsumoto’s Captain Harlock, tracing the character across the creator’s entire oeuvre. And while you’re there, take a minute to appreciate her review of Hello Baby, a one-shot title from Takeshi Obata (Death Note, Platinum End) and Masanori Morita (Rookies, Shiba Inu) that focuses on “wannabe gangster” who “plots to murder a high-ranking yakuza boss.” Further afield, Kelly Chiu explains why every series manga fan should read Fullmetal Alchemist.

New and Noteworthy

Again!!, Vol. 1 (Helen, The OASG)

The Bride Was a Boy (Evan Bourgault, Boston Bastard Brigade)

The Bride Was a Boy (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

The Bride Was a Boy (Maxy Barnard, Friendship! Effort! Victory!)

The Bride Was a Boy (Morgana Santilli, The Manga Maven)

The Bride Was a Boy (Publisher’s Weekly)

Captain Harlock: Dimensional Voyage, Vol. 1 (Evan Bourgault, Boston Bastard Brigade)

Chi’s Sweet Adventures, Vol. 1 (Sarah, Anime UK News)

CITY, Vol. 1 (Tobias, Third Impact Anime)

Claudine (Erica Friedman, Okazu)

Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction, Vol. 1 (Jordan Richardson, AiPT!)

Devilman vs. Hades, Vol. 1 (Evan Bourgault, Boston Bastard Brigade)

Dragon Half Omnibus Collection, Vol. 1 (T. Shapira, Multiversity Comics)

Everyone’s Getting Married, Vol. 1 (Allison Ziebka, Bloom Reviews)

Fullmetal Alchemist: Fullmetal Edition, Vol. 1 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)

I Give to You (Eric Cline, AiPT!)

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures, Part 3: Stardust Crusaders, Vols. 1-6 (Matt Brady, Warren Peace Sings the Blues)

Kenka Bancho Otome: Love’s Battle Royale, Vol. 1 (Leroy Douresseaux, Comic Book Bin)

Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight, Vol. 1 (Faith Orcino, Anime Ushi)

Monoke Sharing, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

Monster Tamer Girls, Vol. 1 (Jordan Richardson (AiPT!)

Monster Tamer Girls, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

Moteki: Love Strikes!, Vol. 1 (Evan Bourgault, Boston Bastard Brigade)

Moteki: Love Strikes!, Vol. 1 (Manjiorin, The OASG)

Perfect World, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)*

The Promised Neverland, Vol. 1 (Faith Orcino, Anime Ushi)

Silver Spoon, Vol. 1 (Maxy Barnard, Friendship! Effort! Victory!)

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, Vol. 1 (Thea Srinivasan, Comic Bastards)

Tales of Wedding Rings, Vol. 1 (Keith Hendricks, NerdSpan)

That Wolf-Boy Is Mine! (Marion, Otaku She Wrote)

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 1 (David Brooke, AiPT!)

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 1 (Katherine Dacey, The Manga Critic)

The Young Master’s Revenge, Vol. 1 (Rebecca Silverman, Anime News Network)

The Young Master’s Revenge, Vol. 1 (Allison Ziebka, Bloom Reviews)

Yuuna and the Haunted Springs, Vol. 1 (Sean Gaffney, A Case Suitable for Treatment)

Ongoing Series

Again!!, Vol. 2 (Alisha Taran, Reality’s a Bore)

Black Clover, Vol. 11 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)

Bleach, Vol. 72 (Cold Cobra, Anime UK News)

A Bride’s Story, Vol. 2 (Allison Ziebka, Bloom Reviews)

Complex Age, Vol. 2 (Ken H., Sequential Ink)

Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, Vol. 5 (Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading)

Everyone’s Getting Married, Vol. 8 (Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading)

Food Wars!! Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 23 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)

Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 3 (Krystallina, The OASG)

Haikyu!!, Vol. 19 (Donovan Bertch, LRM)

The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Vol. 8 (Alisha Taran, Reality’s a Bore)

Imperfect Girl, Vol. 3 (Eva Bourgault, Boston Bastard Brigade)

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures, Part 3: Stardust Crusaders, Vol. 6 (Kyle Lesniewicz, LRM)

Kakeguri: Compulsive Gambler, Vol. 4 (Matthew Alexander, The Fandom Post)

Kiniro Mosaic, Vol. 6 (Krystallina, The OASG)

Log Horizon: The West Wind Brigade, Vol. 8 (Kate O’Neil, The Fandom Post)

Love at Fourteen, Vol. 7 (Krystallina, The OASG)

My Hero Academia, Vol. 6 (Eric Cline, AiPT!)

Nameless Asterism, Vol. 2 (Evan Bourgault, Boston Bastard Brigade)

One Week Friends, Vol. 2 (Justin, The OASG)

Silver Spoon, Vol. 2 (Krystallina, The OASG)

Silver Spoon, Vol. 2 (Josh Piedra, The Outerhaven)

Skip Beat!!, Vols. 4-6 (Allison Ziebka, Bloom Reviews)

Yowamushi Pedal, Vol. 8 (Krystallina, The OASG)

From the Vault

Angel’s Coffin (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Appleseed Alpha (Ken H., Sequential Ink)

Himeyuki & Rozione’s Story (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Mr. Mini Mart (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Once Upon a Glashma (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Present for Me (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Queen Emeraldas, Vol. 2 (Ken H., Sequential Ink)

SP Baby, Vol. 2 (Thea Srinivasan, Comic Bastards)

Tokyo Mew Mew, Vol. 1 (SKJAM, SKJAM! Reviews)

Tropic of the Sea (Megan R., The Manga Test Drive)

Uncomfortably Happily (Dani Shuping, No Flying No Tights)

Yukarism, Vol. 4 (LG, A Library Girl’s Familiar Diversions)

* Denotes a digital-first or digital-only release

By: Katherine Dacey

[prof-kenny]

[prof-kenny]

[prof-kenny]

[prof-kenny]

[prof-kenny]

[prof-kenny]

[prof-kenny]

[prof-kenny]

[prof-kenny]

[prof-kenny]

[prof-kenny]

[prof-kenny]

[prof-kenny]

[prof-kenny]