Scanlation Get: Devilman vs Getter Robo

Devilman vs Getter Robo is mostly a generic team up title.  This is a pretty recent title as it was done in 2010, but uses the classic Getter Robo backgroud story of an evil Dinosaur Empire as the villains. For reason never explained Akira and Miki from Devilman show up at the Getter Robo base for an overnight stay. Silene has her own planes, she joins up with the Dinosaur Empire to try and take out both Devilman and Getter Robo.

The most interesting part of this manga is the final battle which include Miki and Michiru getting their own Getter to pilot.  Though in the end it doesn't do much, but at least the gave the ladies something to do, other than being damsels in distress. The best part is when the demons merge with the mechasaurus, which leads to some really cool looking designs.

Also, while in the information I could find for this lists Go Nagai as the author and mentions Dynamic Pro (Nagai's studio) as the artist. I find it odd that Ken Ishikawa isn't mentioned at all since Getter Robo was really his baby. The art is Nagai style but looks to be that yes it was probably done by someone other then him.  The faces and a few other things are just kind of off.

I can't say to much about this title.  It was short, only one volume. But it was a fun quick read, though pretty insubstantial. It pretty much is a by the books team up title, checking off all the tropes as it goes along.

Scanlation Get: Guerrilla High/Gakuen Taikutsu Otoko

At one point in time there was basically almost no Go Nagai manga in English.  Through the hard work of a lot of scanlators it seems like a mountain of his work is now available. Considering that the likelihood of his work actually getting published in U.S. is low, I really appreciate their efforts.  At first it was jut the big stuff but now we are seeing more and more of his lesser known works like today's title Guerrilla High.

In the late 1960s there was a rise of violent student movements in Universities.  This trickled down even to the lowest kindergarten class.  To a point where no teacher was safe. It was then decided teachers could carry weapons and even have a license to kill.  The students more oppressed then ever start guerrilla movements to bring down this tyranny. Only it seems the guerrilla's themselves are vicious maniacs.

Are heroes (anti-heroes?!) are Saotome Mondo and Midou Tatsuma.  At first it seems they really want to help the students but in truth Mondo just wants to incite violence and murder.  He ends up indirectly killing many of the students on his rampage through the school.  Midou seems like the reasonable one but when it comes down to it Midou can go off the edge just as bad.

The first volume ends with Midou just disappearing. The second volume introduces us to a new character Nishikiori Tsubasa.  The leader of an all female guerrilla group that goes around in bikinis and go go boots.  She is super strong and not afraid to fight sadly even though she seems like a pretty cool female character she ends up just being most a plot device (also she spends much of the second and third volumes with no pants or underwear on).  As she gets kidnapped and captured by our new villain Midoro Toranosuke, bandaged man, and Principal of an elite school.

At this point I guess his evil plan is to have Mondo rescue her?!  I'm not sure Mondo has no connection to her at this point and going goes to rescue her because she is hot and has nice boobs.  Truly, we stand at the peak of truly great motivation in stories.

After this point I don't want to say to much about the plot. The second half is full of strange twists and I wouldn't want to ruin them.  Though I will have to say this story just kind of ends on a "eh, what?" note.  A bunch of stuff happen and then then go for what seems to be the final fight. Only it's "The End" and not an actual final fight.

Other then the ending kind of leaving a bad taste in my mouth I enjoy this manga lot.  It runs at breakneck speed.  Something is always happening and there are tons of great fight scenes.  This is one of Go Nagai's hyper violent titles.  Whole mobs of people die in this.  While Nishikiori runs around with out much on there isn't nearly as much on the sex side.  It is certainly far more subdued then Cutey Honey in that aspect.

I want to say the plot is a mess (which it kind of it) but to me the big problem was Saotome Mondo's character.  Was he supposed to be a guerrilla for the people, a redemptionless murderer, someone who at least cares about his friends, or someone who cares about no one?  The character was kind of all over the place. Though, even with those problems it was still a really fun read.

The art in this is actually very nice.  I mean if you already don't like Go Nagai art, this isn't going to change your mind.  But this is some of the best I've seen from him.  Nothing to wacky or wonky looking.  Strong lines, some really great one page spreads, in that really scribblely style he does.  Also of note, huge chunks of this manga are in color.  Not just a page here or there but like 20 pages at a time or more.  For a color comic from the 1970s it is really nice color.  Much better then most American comics comparable in age.  It really makes me wish the whole manga was in color.

If you are looking for something over the top and don't want to think to hard, this is certainly a great red.  Guerrilla High even though it has problems was still a very fun read worth checking out.

Scanlation Get: Dororon Enma-kun

This one is a weird one to talk about and I may be skewed from watching Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera before finishing the manga. I’d pretty much sum up the manga as interesting ideas, lackluster execution.

Are heroes are the titular Enma-kun (nephew of Hell’s Great King Enma), Yukihime (an ice princess), Kapperu (a cute looking kappa), and Chapeauji (literally a sentient old man hat).  Enma-kun and friends are sent to Earth to (ostensibly) capture demons that have escaped from hell.  Expect Enma-kun kills them pretty much every time.

While there are some longer story arcs most of the stories are short one chapter affairs.  I think that is part of the problem the manga seems to be going somewhere at first and then just trails off into nowhere.  Part way through I was pretty sad because I came to the realization that the ending was going to be lame and I was pretty right.

It is supposed to be a horror/comedy but comes out more like light horror/juvenile sex comedy.  Which is a little strange when all of the characters look to be about eight.  Also there are only so many jokes about getting to seeing Yukihime’s vag I can take before it has worn out its welcome.  I also think a lot of the jokes almost work but don’t seem to follow through and they just fall kind of flat.

So here comes a left turn, while I personally would tell most people to skip this manga, I highly suggest checking out two anime based on it.  

One is Kikoushi Enma (Demon Prince Enma) this came out a few years ago in the US on DVD. While it is out of print and can be purchased used pretty easily online.  Kikoushi Enma re-imagines the characters as grownups and goes for a dark and moody atmosphere.  It reminded me a lot of Hell Girl but a bit more mature.  Also it was animated by Brains Base.  So the animation is pretty nice, some of it is a little dated by 3d effects but it doesn’t hamper the anime any.

The other is the more recent Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera.  This was also animated by Brains Base. For a TV series this show looks freaking good.  Really clean, sharp animation with lots of detail, way more then I would have expected for a show like this.  Also it is what the manga basically should have been.  It still has some of strangeness of eight year olds in a sex comedy but it goes way sillier than the manga and cuts out some of the strangeness of the manga (Like why is Enma-kun always in some underwear-diaper thing?).  NIS recently announced it for a U.S. release September 2012.  I have to say it is really great it manages to build off the content of the manga, it builds up to something, and take what was a kind of out of context lame ending to manga and turn it into something cool and funny.

Scanlation Get: Mazinger Z

So, this year at Otakon I ran a panel on the man himself Go Nagai. In doing so, I wanted to catch up on some of his anime and manga works. I managed to watch a ton of (pretty terrible) anime adaptations of his work, but didn’t get around to much manga. I started and recently finished Mazinger Z though. This ending up being pretty interesting because while I had known of Mazinger Z the only related series I had seen was Mazinkaiser and Mazinkaiser SKL. So, I went into this title pretty fresh.

Kouji Kabuto and his younger brother are living with their genius scientist Grandfather after their parents died in a lab accident. Over all they are still an upbeat family living a good simple life. One day Kouji on the way to school experiences a major earthquake. He hurries home to see if his elderly Grandfather is alright. What he finds is a giant hole in the garden which has opened up a path to his Grandfather’s secret lab. Here he finds is the giant robot Mazinger Z and his dying Grandfather after some rubble crushed him. Right before he dies Gramps lays some heavy shit on Kouji that Mazinger is his and can be use to “save the earth or destroy it” it’s up to Kouji to decide.

Shortly there afterwards Kouji takes Mazinger Z out, only to find he can’t control it and it goes on a rampage. During this he has a run in with another piloted robot, Aphrodite A, created by Professor Yumi and piloted by his daughter Sayaka. After a short fight Kouji gets things under control and just in time when a third robot shows up and starts attacking the city. Kouji and Sayaka join forces to fight the evil Dr. Hell and his mechanical beasts.

Mazinger Z moves at a breakneck speed. Events tend to just roll right into another. I really enjoyed that aspect even if it just seems that sometimes I just had to accept stuff. Boss has a robot now? Sure why not?

The villains in this were a lot of fun too. Dr. Hell himself comes off kind of generic, but his henchmen are all kinds of crazy. Baron Ashura is (in the most literal sense) half man and half woman. There was back and forth panels as the female and male side exchanged dialogue. It’s a lot of fun, though I could have passed on the bizarro shower scene at one point. Was that supposed to be sexy or funny (either way let me stab myself in the eyes)? Count Brocken is also another winner. A headless man in Germen military gear who often carries around his head (but it can float too!) often flies in on some sort of hover pad and threatens Kouji. The levels of ridiculousness of this can be mind blowing, watch out!

This title was just a lot of fun to read. It was said Go Nagai wrote this to blow off some steam after working on Devilman and you can tell he is writing to have a good time. I really liked that, I could just feel fun coming off of the pages. I also enjoyed a lot of small things like the fact Kouji and Sayaka just like each other and there isn’t any tsundere bull. I also like that Sayaka is a strong brave female character, it was a shame though that she ended up being mostly useless.

My only complaint really is after what is the “ending” to the series there is a number of short one off stories. The ending has been a really intense point. I think leaving off with these short stories really hurt the impact of the ending.

In terms of fan service and gore Mazinger Z comes out like a baby kitten compared to a lot of other Go Nagai works. There are bits where Kouji or Boss get a look at a naked woman but it never really goes past that to the whole other level some of his titles go (I’m looking at you Cutey Honey and that statue licking scene!). There is some violence but for the most part it’s pretty mild and doesn’t focus much on it.

As in my past reviews on Go Nagai the art is well very Go Nagai. I’m starting to not notice how awkward the art is any more. Though man, the pilot outfits sure are freaking goofy looking. Over all, I’d say the art was better than Cutey Honey’s but had less interesting panel layout then Devilman.

This is a summer popcorn flick of manga, it’s a lot of fun and full of action but, nothing to deep going on. I do recommend it though if you like Go Nagai’s other works, or if you are just looking for something fun to read.

Scanlation Get: Cutie Honey

Continuing on the Go Nagai theme I figured I would talk about Cutie Honey (sometimes spelled Cutey Honey) this week. Now, I love Cutie Honey my first look into the series was the OVA Re: Cutie Honey. I really love this anime and have gone on to watch some of the 70’s series, some of the 90’s OVA and TV series, the live-action movie, and the live action TV show. I’ve enjoyed each in their own way (Ok the 90’s OVA is kind of boring) but I still really like Re: Cutie Honey the best out of all of them. Though, with so many adaptations I was really interesting in seeing the source material that has spun off so much entertainment. When the Cutie Honey manga finally got a fan translation, I was very excited. Sadly, I was left a bit disappointed.

The original manga seems like it can’t make up its mind if it wants to be a full on parody or not. Honey goes to an all girls school where the teachers are creepy looking, mean, and lesbians who are hot for their students. The students don’t fare much better. Some of the girls look like they beat the ugly into the ugly stick. One even looks like a hulking man. Ideally this would be hilarious given the trope of the girl’s school with all the pretty girls who are evil conniving bitches. Here they are all ugly, delinquent, bitches. Just hilarious...oh wait no...it's not at all, not at all. Moving on…

The main story element seen in all the adaptions is Honey’s father is a scientist who is murdered by a mysterious organization known as Panther Claw. It also turns out Honey is an android and can change into different forms for fighting. Now she is out to get Panther Claw who are creating all sorts of havoc.

I did like in manga she only had several forms, over the years it’s just come down to Honey can change into pretty much anything. We also meet a few of the re-occurring characters in the series like her friend Aki, sometimes love interest Seiji, and a few others. It was interesting to see that in this version Honey needs a lot of help from her friends to fight off Panther Claw. In some ways I like this but it also makes here seem so much less of a strong female character. Which is what I liked about Honey so much.

My main complaint of the is with the evil group Panther Claw. They are evil for evil’s sake and I’m fine with that but they just seem so stupid. They killed Honey’s father and want Honey herself because she has a device (which has a different name for every translation out there) that can turn air into pretty much anything. So what do they want to do with it? Make diamonds…yeah really. I know they are a group of female criminals. but that is so lame. At the level of over the top this manga has you need bigger goals. Also, as with villains who want to make tons of gold all you do is make it worthless and destroy the world economy. Now, if destroying the world economy was the goal, or to make an über death ray, I could get behind it. The, I just want to make diamonds and that is why I am doing horrible things and murdering people, just isn’t reason enough for me. Now, even though this manga is full over violence and titties it was done for young boys so I can be a bit forgiving but I don’t think it would have taken much more to make the villains’ reasons less dumb.

I was also disappointed with the art and panel layouts. I thought the art wasn’t the same quality as Devilman which was a year earlier (and which is saying a lot). The panels and layout are much more generic and nowhere as interesting from what I have seen in other Go Nagai titles.

I didn’t hate Cutie Honey but I think I had built it up so much over the years I was expecting great things, which I did not get. It is worth a read to see the origins of a character that has had a lot of evolution in 30 plus years. I was expecting Devilman caliber of work and what I got was interesting fluff. There are a number of different manga series for Cutie Honey that take place after this one. I would really like to check those out someday and see how they compare.

Scanlation Get: Shin Devilman

So, this week is another Go Nagai title, Shin Devilman! (It was what I was “feeling” the most this week). So Shin Devilman is like Doctor Who if the Doctor and his companion where both male, and kind of gay. Say, if Captain Jack and Ten went on adventures without any female companions (I know there are fan girls shipping that!). Also if everything that went wrong in history was because of demons instead of aliens.

This is a odd-ball volume from all angles. First of all this came out after the original Devilman was done, so you would think it to be a sequel. But no, it is a story that gets retconned (long before there was even a term for it) into the original series. Oddly, though this volume would not only ruin the pacing in the original but also the ending. This title really kind of awkward and where I thought the original Devilman series was kind of a pulp masterpiece this is just kind of crap. Really amusing crap, but crap none the less.

Akria and Ryo manage to some how to travel back in time (really it's not explained) it just happens. Each chapter focuses on someone famous from a different time period. In one it's a young Hitler; another it's Joan of Arc on trial by demons; and in yet another it's George Armstrong Custer just being a bastard. There is a chapter devoted to Versailles and Marie Antoinette which seems like it must have been done only because Rose of Versailles was popular at the time. This title is almost like those PSA's at the end of G.I. Joe. We showed you something violent so here is something educational to make up for it!

As I mentioned this volume is pretty...uh gay. I love my yaoi but Devilman is not where I am expecting any “extra special” boy bonding. It never goes “there” but there are a few scenes which have the boys in oddly suggestive positions. If this were done today I would say it was done for utter fan girl fodder. This is from the 70's though, so I am left really scratching my head. I know part of this volume is to have a chance to expand the boys friendship and have them bond more. (In the original series you don't know all the much about their friendship before story starts.) Expanding their friendship would ideally give the ending more impact, but really it just makes this volume oddly uncomfortable.

The art is on par with the original Devilman so if you hated that, you are going to hate this also. Everyone is still drawn very awkwardly in typical Go Nagai fashion (which I kind of love). I think it has a lot of great and well design page layouts with panels that are very dynamic and more avant-garde then you see in titles today.

This is such a peculiar title, it's like a good bad movie. You know what you are watching is bad but you can't help but be entertained by it. As with anything Go Nagai it isn't for everyone but if you like his stuff it is worth checking out.

Scanlation Get: Devilman

Somehow up until this point I haven't written anything about Go Nagai. I must rectify this issue. If you don't know who Go Nagai he is a mangaka known for Getter Robo, Cutie Honey, Mazinger Z, and a ton of other titles including today's Deviman. He is also responsible for a lot of violence and boobies in anime an manga.

Devilman is considered one of his really enduring classic titles. There have been several anime adaptations, a (terrible) live-action movie, even his own re-imagining in Devilman Lady (which somehow went on way longer then the original Devilman manga did). Devilman is a pretty simple story that is wonderfully creepy and cracktastic at the same time. It's also full of important moral lessons and WTF?! plot twists.

Our hero is Akria a normal dude who is kind of a pussy so much so that when he and his pseudo-girlfriend Miki are corner by bullies all he tries to do is walk away. Miki ends up getting in a fight with them! Only they get a hold of her with the intent to rape her! Akria poorly tries to talk his way out of it but it isn't until his friend Ryo shows up with a shotgun do the bullies leave.

Then Ryo briskly rushes off with Akria to his home telling him his life maybe in danger and that his father has been taken over by demons. Ryo then tells him about an ancient and frighting race of demons that have come back from pre-history to destroy humanity. Only one thing can stop it, Devilman! A man and a demon combined but still retaining the human heart. Ryo chooses Akria for this, but of course Akria refuses being a chicken. It is only after they are attacked by demons that Akria goes for it and apparently the only way to do this is to have an orgy?! Sure, why not. During which most of the participants get killed and Akria joins with a demon to become Devilman (and much less of a pussy, for realz).

From here the story takes a lot of interesting twist and turns as demons start to outright attack humanity and we fine there are others who ended up like Akria as Devilmen. It also has a twist ended that could give CLAMP and M. Knight Shyamalan explosive diarrhea. Honestly I can't decide if the twist ending is genius or terribly stupid. I do remember it getting an audible reaction out of me though, which I give any manga points for.

Now, I really love the art in this title. I did from the first moment I saw it. For most though the super seventies, and really wonky human forms are going to be a turn off. Someone once described Go Nagai's art like fan art, which I can see. It has a very rough sketchy line look, plus all the humans have really odd proportions that just don't seem right. For those who give it a chance though, it can really grow on you, and has a lot of charm.

What I do think is great about the art in Devilman (even over a lot of other Go Nagai titles) is the panel work. It's fucking fabulous and moody. When everyday things are going on the panels are very normal. When stranger and weirder things go on the panels getting stranger and weirder. Lots of black negative space is used, extreme close ups of eyes (ha, take that Lost!), and really cinematic spreads. In terms of layout and panel design this is one of my favorite titles. I think it does a really interesting job.

Overall Devilman is a really interesting title for several reasons, as a very influence title that is still popular in Japan today, as one of great works of Go Nagai, as a title that deals with moral dilemmas as an integral part of the plot, and it is a damn fun title to read. My advice, give it a try, it's a fun ride.