~Manga Reviews~

Contents:
-001 HELLO BABY - Lokita
-002 7 Seeds - Moose17
-003 Mr. Fredward's Duck -Lokita








001
~Lokita



Early in November a new manga magazine debuted called Jump Square and is set to take the place of the immensely popular Shounen Jump. Although the publication includes well-known series such as Claymore and Rosario+Vampire, one title in particular has garnered quite a bit of attention: HELLO BABY.

HELLO BABY is a special one-shot written specifically for the magazine’s premiere. The author, Morita Masanori, has been a mangaka since the 80s; however, the few series he has written haven’t acquired large fanbases (as far as I can tell). Personally, I think this one-shot will not only become one of his most popular works but also has a good possibility of being the series that opens the doors for him, so to speak. It’s already evident that, due to this one-shot, people have taken an interest in him: BakaUpdate’s stats show that every single one of his series have shot up the charts. Each one has moved up over 100 spots in just a week.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that the sole reason this one-shot has caught the eye of so many people is because of the artist: Obata Takeshi. What’s going to attract someone’s attention more: a virtually unknown author or the man who’s behind the art for series with massive fanbases such as Death Note and Hikaru no Go? To be quite honest, the only reason I decided to check out this one-shot was because of his art. Unfortunately, that was also part of the reason I wasn’t too thrilled with HELLO BABY: I kept seeing Near, Misa, and a cross between L and the original Ryuk as the main characters.

I understand that writing one-shots is difficult since the author has a limited amount of pages in which to tell a decent story. However, the writing in HELLO BABY was very sloppy and rushed, as though Morita was trying to explain everything as quickly as possible and completely ended up missing the mark. (Perhaps he’s simply not adapted to one-shots - one of his series finished with 24 volumes while another ended with 42). There were many, many things left unexplained and it became really confusing.

From what I was able to understand, two of the main characters (the Near and L/original!Ryuk look-alikes) are hit men/gangsters and have been enlisted to kill the head of the Yakuza. L/original!Ryuk’s girlfriend is pregnant. For some reason L/original!Ryuk (I believe his name was mentioned once in the story, but I’ll be damned if I can remember it. Kai? Aki? Something with the letters a, i, & k in it I believe) attempts to cut off his own finger in the very beginning of the story, but it’s never explained why. Also, it’s never explained why they’re being chased by the Yakuza nor are we told why the main characters were hired (or who they were hired by).

The story spirals completely out of control from there. Suddenly the girlfriend’s water breaks and the Yakuza find them. The Near look-alike (he was never given a name) says that he’s the father and then, out of nowhere, L/original!Ryuk shoots himself. Immediately afterwards the baby is born and we see that it has black hair…meaning that it was indeed L/original!Ryuk’s baby.

This was such an odd - not to mention confusing - story. As mentioned earlier, I think it’s due to the fact that Morita tends to produce series that run for 20+ volumes. Also, this story is drastically different than his other works. His other series tend to be sports, school life, and comedy series whereas HELLO BABY is much darker and ends with the main character committing suicide.

I apologize for having referring to the characters as characters from Death Note, but it’s extremely hard not to - particularly when said characters weren’t given names and considering the fact that all of Obata’s characters look alike.

I would definitely not recommend HELLO BABY to anyone for the story, which was all over the place and leaves you with no answers other than letting us know who the baby’s daddy is. I would, however, highly recommend this one-shot to others for the art. Obata’s art is always stunning and HELLO BABY is no different. Unfortunately, the art is the only thing it has going for it. If the art is good, but the story falls short, it’ll be extremely difficult to gain new readers (and keep the older ones).

I don’t feel as though I have been robbed of time due to HELLO BABY, however I doubt I will be going back and re-reading it any time soon and I certainly don’t feel that it has lived up to all the hype surrounding it. In my opinion, HELLO BABY is nothing more than eye candy. If you’re looking for something with a great story, this isn’t the series for you.

~Lokita








002

~Moose17



What if the world ended? What if you're left alone, deserted, and surrounded by people you didn't know? What if everyone is gone except you, and there is no sign of civilization anywhere? Five groups of people named after the seasons (there are two teams for summer) find themselves in a situation very much like this. They wake up remembering that they went to bed, only to find themselves somewhere completely different. Each team has their own travels, and unique story, as they search for any sort of comfort or sign of life that they recognize. Some people can't handle the truth–everyone they knew is dead, but they can't let go. Others want to find more survivors, but everyone definitely wants to keep living.

The art work is beautiful in its own unique way, as we follow the teams wake up from their long slumber, and wonder what on Earth they are doing there–instead of their comfy homes. We follow each team learning the truth as they go through the struggles and hardships they have to face from necessities for life, such as food and water, to running for their lives. There's many monsters in the world they have to face such as carnivorous man-eating insects that swarm upon them, to dinosaurs that slumber in the dry season. Each team struggles to survive against the odds.

I won't lie, I was captivated as soon I read the mini summarization, even if you're not a fan of 'The End of the World' type of stories, you're sure to love this one. Every character feels real and you somehow always seem to care about them even if they seem like a villain at first, after all everyone reacts differently when faced with odds such as these.

After reading "7 Seeds", I know this manga is something that most avid manga lovers will like. With a great plot line and in depth characters, this manga won't disappoint you. Though it isn't completely scanlated or finished for our online viewers, I strongly suggest purchasing the manga after checking it out if you're interested. It helps support our authors like the one who wrote it, Tamura Yum! Besides, you can read it with great ease whenever you want and take it with you everywhere. :]







003

~Lokita



On numerous occasions I've chosen to read certain series simply because of the title. A manga with a creative, interesting, original title is much more capable of luring me in than a manga with a boring, average title. In extreme cases, I've even been known to become so captivated by a title that I read it regardless of genre.

Mr. Fredward's Duck immediately caught my eye. The artwork is typical to that of early 1990s shoujo works (which wasn't exactly my favorite time period for manga art); however, I was easily able to ignore my aversion to the illustrations given the name of the series: Mr. Fredward's Duck. I couldn't possibly let it slip by unnoticed. As with the aforementioned 'extreme cases', I bypassed reading the summary, eager to discover what the series had to offer.

For the first few pages it reads like a regular, everyday manga: an author (who goes by the penname Elyod Nanoc) receives a call from his publisher regarding a novel he's currently working on. Said novel is one of many in the 'Pussy Cat' series, which features hearty doses of sex and murder. However, almost immediately the manga completely changes course–Elyod receives a knock on the door and, upon answering it, discovers a duck who promptly announces that her name is Rosemary and she will be the new housekeeper.

The pair hit it off splendidly: Rosemary is an expert housekeeper as well as a fantastic cook and Elyod couldn't be happier. Unfortunately, the merriment careens to a halt one night when Rosemary brings up the subject of Elyod's penname. She asks what his real name is and he responds by saying he's thrown it away. The world-renowned author then proceeds to tell his new housekeeper that people have come to refer to him as 'the Grim Reaper.' Two months prior a seven year old boy had shot a classmate. Upon interrogation the boy stated that he was simply acting out a scene in one of Elyod's novels and was scared when his classmate didn't immediately die, since the character in the novel had instantly died after being shot.

After telling this to Rosemary, Elyod retreats to his bedroom, which is where the manga loses me slightly. The fact that a little boy killed a classmate due to a scene out of one of Eloyd's novels would definitely prove to be tragic and would deem a plausible cause of his misery. When it comes to shoujo series, mangaka are always looking for ways to drive their young, wealthy, lonely, gorgeous main characters into despair and this would have been a perfect choice. However, Elyod broods over the fact that if he didn't have his writing career he would end up dying of starvation and wouldn't be able to live in his mansion anymore. He explicitly states that his suffering isn't because of the fact that one of his novels led to murder, but that he wouldn't be able to continue with his current lifestyle if he stopped writing.

The next morning at breakfast Elyod provides Rosemary with some insight as to his life before he became a writer (he ran away from home, stole, fought, and was even arrested) as well as the fact that Elyod Nanoc is Conan Doyle backwards (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is his favorite author).

There's a random scene in the volume where Nina, a friend of Rosemary (also a duck) stops by to complain about worms on a rosebush. After this, Rosemary drags Elyod around town in an attempt to get him to understand the language of animals. Somehow this causes Elyod to remember things from his past that he had forgotten long ago as well as vow never to write suspense novels ever again. It was at that moment that he decided to start writing children's books under his real name - Kevin Fredward.

Kevin complains that there's no money to be made as a children's writer and this apparently makes him an expert in gang violence. The manga, once again, takes a rather random turn–Kevin accidentally befriends a small boy named Cliff. Cliff becomes obsessed with Kevin, spending each and every day at the mansion. Cliff doesn't have the best home life: he can't read or write and his mother is a prostitute. It seems as though as soon as he was introduced he ends up moving away.

Another scene deals with a nun. Rosemary forces Kevin to go outside and get some fresh air, and when he does, he happens upon a girl. She had been singing, but stops when she sees Kevin and asks him to dance with her. There's some idle chitchat, then Kevin leaves. As he turns away, the girl tells him to meet her in the same spot the following day. The next day the two come across a boat and proceed to go for a ride. The girl tells Kevin about a girl who had drowned in the lake years ago. She also shares a story of a nun who also took her life by drowning. She had fallen in love with a man and her love went unrequited. Some townspeople call out to Kevin and ask him why he's out on the water by himself. Confused, he turns his attention back to the girl and discovers she's no longer there; she was the nun that had drowned.

The volume comes to a close with a chapter about a puppy. One of Kevin's neighbors has a dog that just gave birth. Kevin reluctantly becomes the owner of one after it refuses to leave him alone. He names it Cliff, after the boy from an earlier chapter. One night Cliff comes down with pneumonia and it's then that the manga goes back to the darker theme it had in the beginning: Kevin is haunted by nightmares and various shadows that look like demons. Rosemary states that the Grim Reaper is targeting Kevin and the pair start to do a cleansing ritual. In the meantime Cliff has lost consciousness; however, by the end of the manga, he has overcome the illness.

This volume is the first of nine. I felt a bit disappointed with it–I had been looking forward to the more psychological aspects and instead ended up with a manga about the crazy antics that come with having a duck as a housekeeper. From the looks of things the rest of the series proceeds to get darker and deals with overcoming Kevin's past.

As far as I can tell, this is the only series the mangaka, Ushijima Keiko, has written.
-Lokita
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