Hello again, and welcome back to another VIZ Media Pubwatch! Last month I was traveling and then recovering from COVID picked up while traveling, but I’m glad to be back in time to tell you all about these VIZ news and reviews! This month we’re revisiting some series and creators mentioned in earlier pubwatches and taking a look at volume 1 of one of my favorite Shonen Jump ongoing series, Akane-banashi. But first, the news!
VIZ Media at San Diego Comic-Con 2023
Ah, SDCC. Would love to go there someday. As usual, the VIZ booth appeared to be very impressive, and as has been usual for the past few years, their marketing efforts were focused entirely on Junji Ito (who made an appearance in person! Wow! That I wish I could’ve seen), and Zom 100. They’re going really hard for Zom 100, which I do not understand because I’ve watched an episode and read the first volume and it’s honestly, like, fine, but nothing about it stood out to me. But the SDCC booth looked really cool, with a Zom 100 photo op and a Junji Ito Horror Experience.
And speaking of Zom 100…
Zom 100 Scavenger Hunt Sweepstakes Happens
Unfortunately entries closed July 24, but one lucky winner got the chance to take an all-inclusive 4-night stay at Falcon’s Resort in Punta Cana! Maybe they go there later in the manga, I haven’t read that far. Runner-up prizes included signed copies of the first volume. There’s also an anime. VIZ really, really wants you to watch this anime. They made a whole blog post with a comprehensive list of all the places where you can watch this anime. Even before the anime dropped they were promoting this series pretty hard— I remember getting a Zom 100 themed mask at a NYC-based convention a few years ago. I think it is: fine.
Okay, we get it about Zom 100, but what else is there to read out there?
“Read Different.” Promotion Continues
I’ve actually been enjoying this push for classic shoujo romance series and less appreciated shonens. In addition to the recommendations from a few months back, Kimi ni Todoke and Vampire Knight were added to the list with the tagline “A good love story is forever,” while Dr. Stone and Blue Exorcist joined the roster as “Manga of Champions.” It’s a good way to drive traffic towards the new VIZ app, which I have been getting a lot of use out of. Currently making my way through the shoujo back catalogs: I finished both Love Me, Love Me Not and Ao Haru Ride and am now on Lovely Complex. They’re so right. A good love story IS forever.
And speaking of good love stories, let’s take a look at…
What I’m Reading
My Special One, Volume 3
Momoko Koda
August 1, 2023
We looked at volume 2 of this series in May, and now we’re catching up to Kouta and Sahoko once again! In volume 3, the special couple finally begins dating, and Sahoko has to deal with all the challenges that come with dating a popular idol, including his friends and potential love rivals. New characters are introduced, misunderstandings arise and are cleared up before I have to throw the book across the room from secondhand embarrassment, and the happy couple is very cute. This shoujo is extremely fluffy: I’m reminded of A Condition Called Love, but even more soft and cute. I still think the characters are drawn too childishly to be convincing teenagers/early twenties young adults. Still, cute stuff!
Akane-banashi, Volume 1
Story by Yuki Suenaga, Art by Takamasa Moue
August 8, 2023
I was really excited for this one: I’ve been keeping up with the weekly chapter releases of this comic on VIZ’s Shonen Jump app, so I’m thrilled to see it get a print release that’ll introduce more readers to the world of Akane’s rakugo. The collected chapters also include bonus doodles, short strips, and an explanatory note at the end about how rakugo works. Anyway, in case you missed it, Akane-banashi is a shonen manga about a girl who decides to become a professional rakugoka (person who performs rakugo, a traditional Japanese form of humorous storytelling) to avenge her father, who was expelled from the Arakawa school of rakugo instead of being promoted to the highest rank when she was a kid. It’s a really unusual setup and premise for a shonen, and I’m honestly surprised it hasn’t been shelved for something more conventional yet but also very relieved it has not gone the way of many other recent series I’ve enjoyed. Akane’s a fun protagonist. She’s plucky, determined, and genuinely very skilled, having gotten into rakugo early by watching her father and imitating his performances. The side characters are all a little wacky, but realistically so, and the way the rakugo tales are rendered really brings the stories to life. Don’t miss out on Akane-banashi!
Cat-Eyed Boy: The Perfect Edition, Vol. 1
Kazuo Umezz
August 22, 2023
Having enjoyed two volumes of Umezz’s Orochi: The Perfect Edition well enough, I was looking forward to diving back into his work with Cat-Eyed Boy. It’s surprisingly similar to Orochi in the basic set-up of “supernatural youth wanders Japan and observes/gets involved with creepy happenings in the lives of random humans they encounter”, except where Orochi was kind, compassionate, and beautiful, Cat-Eyed Boy is a hideous little gremlin of a child. Too monstrous for humans, too human for the yokai that birthed him, doomed to never belong anywhere, it’s honestly pretty tragic if you think about it. He copes by hiding in people’s attics, stealing their food, and pulling pranks on them. Sometimes he helps out, sometimes he just watches, sometimes he helps the monsters instead. He’s a rascal! A scamp! A morally grey little creature! I was also reminded of Shigeru Mizuki’s GeGeGe no Kitaro, even though Kitaro is a much nicer little monster boy generally. I felt like the art was sometimes too stylized to be really properly scary, but at other times it was very disgusting. This volume collected four and a half separate stories (part two of “The Band of One Hundred Monsters” will be in volume 2), and though they were all different, themes of beauty and ugliness, cruelty and kindness popped up in all of them. “The Tsunami Summoners” was a fun look at a more heroic Cat-Eyed Boy, and “The One-Legged Monster of Oudai” is not recommended if you have a phobia of insects. Overall, pretty enjoyable! I feel like this might appeal more to younger readers, though. Also, really wish the Perfect Editions came with explanatory backmatter, like Drawn and Quarterly’s edition of Talk to My Back. What if I didn’t know who Kitaro was when the Cat-Eyed Boy mentioned him in one of the chapters?
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for you this month! Tune in next month for more VIZ news and reviews!
