A Case Suitable for Treatment

Manga the week of 7/22

2009-07-16T22:50:51Z

Are you ready for some post-Otakon manga? (But pre-SDCC.)

BANDAI:
Code Geass: Lelouch Of The Rebellion Vol. 4. Shoujo. Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in Asuka since 2006.

DARK HORSE:
Berserk Vol. 30. Seinen. Hakusensha, serialized in Young Animal since 1989.

DC/CMX:
Orfina Vol. 6. Shonen. Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in Dragon Age since 1992.

ICARUS:
Scarlet Desire. Hentai. No idea whatsoever.

VIZ:
Vagabond VIZBIG Edition Vol. 4. Seinen. Kodansha, serialized in Weekly Morning since 1998.
Real Vol. 5. Seinen. Shueisha, serialized in Weekly Young Jump since 1999.
Oishinbo (Viz Edition) Vol. 4. Seinen. Shogakukan, serialized in Big Comic Spirits since 1984.
Inubaka Crazy for Dogs Vol. 13. Seinen. Shueisha, serialized in Weekly Young Jump since 2004.
Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 19. Shonen. Square Enix, serialized in Shonen GanGan since 2001.
Children of the Sea Vol. 1. Seinen. Shogakukan, serialized in Ikki since 2007.
Case Closed Vol. 30. Shonen. Shogakukan, serialized in Shonen Sunday since 1994.

That's it. Recs? Oishinbo, for the awesome foodie in us all. And Children of the Sea, because we need to support Viz putting out Ikki stuff, and it's fan-damn-tastic if you haven't been reading it online.

New license from Yen

2009-07-12T09:47:22Z

Kuroshitsuji. 7+ volumes, shonen. Square Enix, serialized in GFantasy, 2006.

Enter a Messenger, with two heads and a hand

2009-07-11T00:02:46Z

That stage direction alone should tell you what I'm talking about today. Yes, it's Shakespeare's first tragedy, Titus Andronicus.

I wasn't looking forward to this one. It's despised by critics, who regard it as beneath Shakespeare to write such gory trash. Many in the past have tried to indicate that either a) it was the first thing he ever wrote, and thus immature (likely untrue), or b) that he never wrote it. As always, if critics (especially Victorian critics) didn't like a Shakespeare play, they tried to prove it wasn't his, as Shakespeare must be PERFECT.

And yet? The play was a HUGE hit in Shakespeare's time, right from the start. Audiences adored it, and it was staged again and again after its debut. And indeed, whenever people in the twentieth century have tried to stage it, they've found a very appreciative audience, ready to come in and watch the madness.

When I started to read it, I assumed that the reason for the popularity was simply because of the violence and bloodshed. No play of Shakespeare's is gorier than this one, not even the histories with all their battles come close. The daughter of the main character is raped, then has her tongue cut out and her hands cut off. And yet? She continues to be a major character even after this.

As you can imagine, this is sometimes difficult to perform. There comes a time, usually about when Lavinia takes stick in mouth to write out the names of her attackers, that you risk the audience laughing at the sheer OTT-ness. One scene in particular, which features the stage direction I have in my header, has Titus suddenly start to laugh. It's even written out, "Ha, ha, ha!" A short bark of a laugh. And yet, its tragedy is that it signifies that Titus has finally slipped from grief into insane revenge.

This is, by the way, the play that features our tragic hero as master chef, serving up his daughter's rapists to their mother in pies. Eat your heart out was never so literal. And then come the deaths, and the other deaths, and still more deaths. It's rather odd that one of the most well-rounded subtle characters is the main villain, Aaron.

Who, by the way, is black. Something that proved very interesting to many who rewrote this play for Restoration and Victorian times. Naturally, the violence and rapes had to go. So they were left to insert other things. And black actors of the time (and there were a few) rewrote Aaron to be the tragic equal of Titus, almost an Othello character. In the original, Aaron's son is murdered and Aaron himself is buried up to his neck in the ground to die of thirst and starvation. Yeah, bit of a difference between that and the rewrite.

This is not a great play. It is, as you have no doubt noticed, about as subtle as a truck. But it's a fascinating play, and one of Shakespeare's most theatrical. In addition, its themes of big-R REVENGE would be re-examined in his greatest tragedy, Hamlet.

Manga the week of 7/15

2009-07-09T23:27:01Z

A more mild Week 2.

BLU:
Loudest Whisper Vol. 1. Yaoi. Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in Ciel since 2004.

DC/CMX:
March on Earth Vol. 2 (Final Volume). Shoujo. Hakusensha, serialized in LaLa DX since 2004.
From Eroica With Love Vol. 14. Shoujo. Akita Shoten, serialized in Princess since 1976.

DMP:
Train Train Vol. 2. Whatever Wings is. Shinshokan, serialized in Wings since 2002.
Shining Moon. Yaoi. Houbunsha, serialization unknown, 2003.
Millennium Prime Minister Vol. 1. Shoujo. Shinshokan, serialization unknown, 1998.
Ludwig II Vol. 1. Shoujo. Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in Asuka since 1996.
Love Control Vol. 2. Yaoi. Libre Shuppan, serialized in Magazine Be x Boy since 2006.
Il Gatto Sul G Vol. 3 (Final Volume). Yaoi. Taiyo Tosho, serialized in Craft since 2002.
Angelic Runes Vol. 1. Josei. Shodensha, serialization unknown, 2007.

SEVEN SEAS:
Dance in the Vampire Bund Vol. 4. Seinen. Media Factory, serialized in Comic Flapper since 2006.

TOKYOPOP:
Pet Shop Of Horrors Tokyo Vol. 5. Josei. Asahi Shinbunsha, serialized in Mugenkan since 2004.
Fate/Stay Night Vol. 4. Shonen. Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in Shonen Ace since 2007.

VIZ:
Yakitate Japan Vol. 18. Shonen. Shogakukan, serialized in Shonen Sunday since 2002.
Switch Vol. 9. Shonen. Square Enix, serialized in GFantasy since 2002.
Shakugan no Shana Vol. 4. Seinen. Mediaworks, serialized in Dengeki Daioh since 2005.
SA Vol. 11. Shoujo. Hakusensha, serialized in Hana to Yume since 2003.
Red River Vol. 26. Shoujo. Shogakukan, serialized in Shoujo Comic since 1995.
Inu Yasha Vol. 38. Shonen. Shogakukan, serialized in Shonen Sunday since 1996.

YEN PRESS:
Yen Plus.

Recs? I still enjoy Special A, which actually shipped to me already. Odd seeing Diamond be early. From Eroica With Love is good for those who don't mind some yaoi with their shoujo.

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him...

2009-07-07T10:05:35Z

Julius Caesar is one of those Shakespeare plays I will always associate with school more than with the stage. It's a very popular high school play, being a tragedy that also straddles the bounds of history. It's absolutely filled with familiar quotes, so students can go into it knowing that Friends, Romans, Countrymen is coming. And it's also very good.

No, scratch that, it's excellent. This was only Shakespeare's third tragedy. His first, Titus Andronicus, I'll get to soon, but suffice to say it's nowhere near as well-written as this. And Romeo and Juliet was very good, but has a totally different non-historical feel. Caesar is especially good considering how unconventional it is. For a tragedy called Julius Caesar, the audience must have been startled when the title character was killed with half a play still to go. Brutus is the tragic hero here.

Speaking of which, yet again we have another Shakespeare play that can be difficult to perform, in that you need to find the right balance between Caesar and Brutus. During the 17th-19th century, most of the great actors took on Brutus, and played up the evil tyrantness of Caesar (everyone hates Shakespeare's ambiguity, and tries to write it out). But around the turn of the 20th century, Caesar emerged in prominence once more, and became more sympathetic, leading to Brutus looking less tragic hero and more tragic jerk.

Shakespeare does love making these characters likeable, even as they're discussing killing Caesar. (Oh yes, remember the double time I talked about in Othello? It's here too, as the plotting and murder of Caesar takes place over a few weeks and over one or two nights at the same time.) And the scene in Act 4 with Brutus and Cassius getting angry with each other, then making up is an actor's dream (plus has the very odd mention of Portia's death, offscreen).

And then there's Marc Antony, who barely shows up until after Caesar's death, but once he does, hoo boy. Shakespeare has never written a better example of why mob politics are reprehensible than Antony's famous speech, where he turns the mob into dogs hungering for the conspirator's blood in just a few short minutes. (Note that, in an 1864 production where Brutus was Edwin Booth, his brother played Antony. That'd be John Wilkes Booth. Later famous for other things.)

Julius Caesar makes people think about the basic question: did Caesar have to die? Was his rule tyrannic? Was he a despot? Were Brutus, Cassius and the others merely trying to save the state they loved? Shakespeare presents both sides equally (likely to the annoyance of Queen Elizabeth, who was not fond of plays about overthrowing the current ruler, especially through violent murder). 1599 again, a very busy year for Shakespeare.

As for what happens after, well, I'll be getting to Antony and Cleopatra down the road. But for now, just enjoy Julius Caesar, a highly underrated tragedy that prepared everyone for his fourth and most famous one in the following year, Hamlet. Hamlet asks many of the same questions, with Hamlet taking the role of Brutus and Claudius of Caesar. And again, we're never quite sure if there *is* a correct answer.

New Tokyopop licenses

2009-07-05T19:46:04Z

As usual these days, announced via Amazon listing rather than a con.

Kokaku Torimonochou. 5+ volumes, shonen. Kodokawa Shoten, serialized in Beans Ace, 2004.
Shiawase Kissa Sanchoume. 15 volumes, shoujo. Hakusensa, serialized in Hana to Yume, 2005.
Hanako to Guuwa no Tera. 4 volumes, shonen. Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in Shonen Ace, 2004.
.hack//CELL. Whatever.
Deadman Wonderland. 5+ volumes, shonen. Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in Shonen Ace, 2007.

What timing, licensing SKS as it ends in Japan. :) TP will call it Happy Cafe, which works.

Hana To Yume 2009-15

2009-07-05T16:59:38Z

Cover goes to Oresama Teacher.

Color pages for Shiawase Kissa Sanchoume (2), Seiyuu Kaa!, Jiu Jiu and Issho Ni Neyou Yo.

Apparently it's confirmed in this issue that Shiawase Kissa Sanchoume will end soon.

Breakdown:
Shiawase Kissa Sanchoume 79
Gakuen Alice 116
Seiyuu Kaa! 2
Monochrome Kids 9
Hana To Akuma 34
月刊なかとば (gag comic)
Love So Life 12
Jiu Jiu 6
Oresama Teacher 35
Hoshi Wa Utau 38
Issho Ni Neyou Yo 9
Kyou Mo Ashita Mo 25
Senzoku 3
鎌田ギュウ乳販売店 (gag comic)

Skip Beat!, Kamisama Hajimemashita, and Love Sick are on break this week. Senzoku is irregular.

Manga the week of 7/8

2009-07-05T14:56:27Z

Whoops. I had Thursday off, and totally forgot to do this.

BLU:
Junjo Romantica Vol. 10. Yaoi. Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in Ciel since 2002.

DARK HORSE:
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Shinji Ikari Raising Project Vol. 1. Shonen. Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in Shonen Ace since 2005.

DC/CMX:
Go West Vol. 3. Shonen. Mediaworks, serialized in Dengeki GAO! since 2003.

DEL REY:
The Wallflower Vol. 20. Shoujo. Kodansha, serialized in Bessatsu Friend since 2000.
Shiki Tsukai Vol. 5. Shonen. Kodansha, serialized in Shonen Sirius since 2005.
Samurai 7 Vol. 2 (Final Volume). Shonen. Kodansha, serialized in Magazine Great since 2006.
Negima!? Neo Vol. 2. Shonen. Kodansha, serialized in Magazine Special since 2007.
Gakuen Prince Vol. 2. Shoujo. Kodansha, serialized in Bessatsu Friend since 2006.
Amefurashi Vol. 1. Shonen. Kodansha, serialized in Shonen Sirius since 2006.

DIGITAL MANGA PUBLISHING:
Swallowing The Earth. Seinen. Shogakukan, serialized in Big Comic since 1968.
Color. Yaoi. Shinshokan, serialized in Dear+ since 1999.

ICARUS:
Girl With A Thousand Curses. Hentai. Akane Shinsha, serialization unknown, 2006.

TOKYOPOP:
NG Life Vol. 2. Shoujo. Hakusensha, serialized in Hana to Yume since 2006.
KimiKiss Vol. 1. Seinen. Hakusensha, serialized in Young Animal since 2007.
Guardian Hearts Vol. 2. Shonen. Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in Shonen Ace since 2001.
Game x Rush Vol. 1. Shoujo. Hakusensha, serialized in Hana to Yume since 2005.
Gakuen Alice Vol. 8. Shoujo. Hakusensha, serialized in Hana to Yume since 2003.
Fruits Basket Vol. 23 (Final Volume). Shoujo. Hakusensha, serialized in Hana to Yume since 1998.

VIZ:
We Were There Vol. 5. Shoujo. Shogakukan, serialized in Bessatsu Comic since 2002.
Ultimate Muscle Vol. 23. Shonen. Shueisha, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since 1979.
Strawberry 100% Vol. 9. Shonen. Shueisha, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since 2002.
Shonen Jump.
Shaman King Vol. 23. Shonen. Shueisha, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since 1998.
Reborn Vol. 12. Shonen. Shueisha, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since 2004.
Prince of Tennis Vol. 32. Shonen. Shueisha, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since 1999.
Naruto Vol. 45. Shonen. Shueisha, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since 1999.
Nana Vol. 17. Shoujo/Josei. Shueisha, serialized in Cookie since 2000.
Love Com Vol. 13. Shoujo. Shueisha, serialized in Bessatsu Margaret since 2001.
Leave It to PET! Vol. 2. Kodomo. Poplar, serialized in Comic BunBun since 2005.
Kurohime Vol. 12. Shonen. Shueisha, serialized in Monthly Shonen Jump and Jump Square since 2000.
Honey Hunt Vol. 2. Shoujo/Josei. Shogakukan, serialized in Cheese! since 2007.
High School Debut Vol. 10. Shoujo. Shueisha, serialized in Bessatsu Margaret since 2003.
Gin Tama Vol. 13. Shonen. Shueisha, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since 2004.
ChocoMimi Vol. 1. Shoujo. Shueisha, serialized in Ribon since 2005.
Captive Hearts Vol. 5 (Final Volume). Shoujo. Hakusensha, serialized in LaLa since 1999.

YEN:
Sundome Vol. 5. Seinen. Akita Shoten, serialized in Young Champion since 2006.
Cat Paradise Vol. 1. Shonen. Akita Shoten, serialized in Champion Red since 2006.

That's pretty damn big. Some notes: I mark Cookie and Cheese as shoujo and josei. I tend to think they're solely josei by now, but Japanese sales figures group them in the former. Tween girls should not be reading magazines as sordid as these, let's say that. Captive Hearts ends this week, as does Samurai 7. And contrary to popular belief, Tokyopop is not annnouncing closure now that their cash cow is over. :)

Recs? From Viz, there's Gintama and Love Com. From Tokyopop there's Gakuen Alice and the final Fruits Basket. DMP has the magnificent Swallowing the Earth in one giant volume, Tezuka and highly recommended. And for those who liked the stupid harem comedy of Evangelion Episode 26, well, here's another spinoff based around that sort of thing from Dark Horse.

Viz manga news

2009-07-03T23:18:13Z

The big news - 30 volumes of One Piece in 6 months. From Jan 2010 to June, 5 vols. per month.

Shonen Jump will jump to the Impel Down arc in Jan. 2010.

Yes, I think this is stupid. I also doubt Viz has a choice in the matter. Shueisha owns them.

Renai Crown. 4 volumes, Josei. Shueisha, serialized in Comic Crimson, 1998. From the author of Earthian.
Saboten no Himitsu. 4 volumes, shoujo. Shueisha, serialized in Ribon, 2004.
Hadashi de Bara wo Fume. 4+ volumes, shoujo. Shueisha, serialized in Margaret since 2008. From the Tail of the Moon creator.
Hana Ni Arashi. 2 volumes, shoujo. Hakusensha, serialized in LaLa, 2006.
BioMega. 6 volumes, seinen. Shueisha, serialized in Ultra Jump, 2004. Sequel to BLAME!, licensed by Tokyopop.

New CMX licenses (that aren't Softbank/Flex things)

2009-07-03T18:43:48Z

Tokage Ouji. 2 volumes, shoujo. Hakusensha, serialized in LaLa, 2003. Artist did Ballad of a Shinigami, also from CMX.
Ah! Itoshi no Banchousama. 5+ volumes, shoujo. Hakusensha, serialized in LaLa, 2006. Very surprised Viz let them get this. Only girl at guy's school.
Nadeshiko Club. 7 volumes, shoujo. Hakusensha, serialized in Hana to Yume, 2000. CMX also picked up the same author's Towaware Gokko recently.

Right Stuf at AX

2009-07-03T00:44:37Z

No manga, obviously.

Anime:
Maria-sama Ga Miteru, Season 4
Aria the OAV and Aria the Origination
Junjo Romantica, Season 1 and 2
Antique Bakery

Nicely divided; half yuri series, half yaoi. :)

Various things

2009-07-02T11:38:58Z

Sorry about the lack of Shakespeare. I'll try to post about Caesar soon.

Catching up on DVD releases, Warner Bros. is releasing the first 6 Peanuts specials in a box called 'The '60s Collection'. If you get it on Amazon, it's under 20 bucks. It's mostly a re-release of stuff what's been out already, but hey, we loves the chronological. They're all unedited (bar the Coca-Cola sponsor refs in A Charlie Brown Christmas, which are cut for obvious reasons). You get A Charlie Brown Christmas; Charlie Brown's All-Stars; It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown; You're In Love, Charlie Brown; He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown (New to DVD); and It Was A Short Summer, Charlie Brown (new to DVD). As an added extra, you get a documentary on the late Vince Guaraldi, creator of the timeless jazz music that backs up Peanuts.

A reminder to MST3K fans that Vol. 15 is out next week, with The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy; The Girl In Lover's Lane; Zombie Nightmare; and Racket Girls. (Racket Girls is in my top 5 MST3Ks, I adore it). There's also tons of extras.

And in August, Daffy Duck's Quackbusters gets a release from WB. It'll be great to see this movie again.

Now, AX is this weekend. There will likely be a few new manga licenses, and I'll try to note them here. Here's a panel schedule for manga and anime publishers, all times Eastern Standard):

Today:
Digital Manga Publishing (1pm)
Right Stuf (8pm)
EigoManga (10:30pm)

Friday:
Bandai (noon)
CMX (2pm)
Viz (6:30pm)

Saturday:
Yaoi Press (2pm)
Funimation (3:30pm)

Nothing on Sunday. Tokyopop isn't going this year, as they're still restructuring. Del Rey traditionally does its big licensing at NYAF; so does Yen. Wait for September on those.

Steven Wells

2009-06-29T23:48:31Z

I was saddened this morning to learn of the death of probably my favorite music journalist, Steven Wells.

He hadn't been a music journalist for a while, of course. He left the NME about 1998 or so, ironically right after all the fuss with Daphne and Celeste, a band he championed. He ended up writing his own book, the hilariously over the top Tits-Out Teenage Terror Totty, a book I heartily recommend to absolutely no one on my friends list, as it's so incredibly mind-numbingly in your face offensive it almost transcends offense.

He also wrote a sports column for the Guardian, and after marrying and moving to the US, started a column on anything and everything in Philadelphia Weekly in 2004. The column, of course, included his battle with cancer over the last year.

It's been said by some people I've read comments from today that Swells was a one-note writer, which is arguably true. But goddamn, it was the BEST note. For years, he littered the NME with a hyper-kinetic righteous anger that left the hair on your neck standing up. Emphasis on the righteous. Steven wasn't just angry, he was ANGRY AT HOW YOU COULD POSSIBLY BE SO WRONG, YOU FUCKING TWATS. Oh yes, he swore too, and much more lyrically than I do. :)

After he left the NME, I really stopped looking to see who wrote any of the interviews or articles. What was the point? He was the mad voice in the wilderness, and while the paper still builds em up and knocks em down with the best of them, and can still be a place where I can learn about Los Campesinos (who Steven hated, btw) and see Morrissey mocked, it's just not the same.

But Steven could WRITE. He took that one note and he hammered it into gold. Everyone's quoting this, but I will too: Steven Wells on the band Belle & Sebastian in 1997:

"...self-loving, knock-kneed, passive aggressive, dressed-up-in-kiddy-clothes, mock-pop-creepiness peddling, smug, underachieving, real-pop-hating no-talents celebrating their own inadequacy with music so white it’s translucent."

God speed, Swells. RIP.

Manga the week of 7/1

2009-06-25T23:14:04Z

Not the first week of the month, as it's the 1st. A Wednesday 1st is never the first week of the month.

801 MEDIA:
On Bended Knee. Yaoi. Oakla Shuppan, serialization unknown, 2007.

BANDAI:
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Shonen. Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in Shonen Ace since 2006.

DARK HORSE:
Oh My Goddess Vol. 12. Seinen. Kodansha, serialized in Afternoon since 1988.

DC/CMX:
Emma Vol. 9. Seinen. Enterbrain, serialized in Comic Beam since 2002.
Broken Blade Vol. 1. A Flex title.

DEL REY:
Yagyu Ninja Scrolls Vol. 6. Seinen. Kodansha, serialized in Young Magazine since 2005.
My Heavenly Hockey Club Vol. 8. Shoujo. Kodansha, serialized in Bessatsu Friend since 2005.
Faust Vol. 2. Kodansha, short story/manga collection.

ICARUS:
Their porn anthology.

Rec this week is Faust, whose first volume was flawed but fascinating.

LaLa 2009 August

2009-06-25T21:53:32Z

Cover goes to Maid-sama!

Color pages for Ouran High School Host Club (2), Faster Than A Kiss, Chotto Edo Made, and アレゴリアのライオン.

Breakdown:
Ouran HSHC 72
Natsume's Book of Friends 33
Vampire Knight 51
Faster Than A Kiss 26
４ジゲン/ (gag comic)
Maid-sama! 39
Chotto Edo Made 12
La Corda D'Oro Special Chapter (half size)
Bozurabu!!! 4
アレゴリアのライオン (from the Haruka Beyond the Stream of Time author)
Toshokan Sensou LOVE & WAR 19
Junai Labyrinth 3
嫁姑教室 (gag comic)
Shonen Dolls 7
Mishonen Produce 4

As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods...

2009-06-25T09:23:26Z

King Lear is perhaps the most grandiose of all Shakespeare's tragedies. Hamlet may be more interesting, Othello may have better characters, but nothing can match Lear for pure, hellish SCOPE of tragedy.

I recognize its worthiness, but don't really like it that much. It took me a long time to get to reading it, even though I had bought it fairly early. Lear is depressing. There's no getting around it. If Much Ado is the tragedy that's a comedy because everything gets saved in the end, Lear makes you *think* that you might be able to stop the bleeding, and then just punches you in the face.

I've mentioned before, and will again, that Shakespeare was frequently rewritten, changed, edited, censored, and just messed around with in the Restoration period, and Lear is the best example of that. For years, the original was thought 'unproduceable'. (It doesn't help that it's his 2nd longest play after Hamlet). The ending was changed so that there is a reprieve, Cordelia marries Edgar, and those who aren't already dead live happily ever after. No, it doesn't quite work, does it?

Lear is hard to sympathize with, like many of Shakespeare's tragic heroes. He's really quite a dick in the first act (though I admit it can depend on how Cordelia is played as well - many productions that don't take the 'she is the perfect saint' route get a more developed Lear in the bargain). Oh yes, and speaking of unsympathetic, or at least weird, there's Edgar, the 'good' son, who pretends to be someone else in front of his blinded father for... no real good reason that we can tell. The whole you've fallen off a cliff to your death scene is highly disturbing.

We also get another great fool character, albeit one who vanishes once Shakespeare doesn't know what to do with him anymore. Shakespeare wrote some terrific jesters, and though this one won't top Feste or Touchstone, he's still pretty awesome, doing what fools should do, which is to say he calls Lear an idiot frequently. Shame Lear doesn't listen.

There's lots of very difficult to play characters in this. I'd mentioned Cordelia earlier, who can be boring if she's the perfect woman she's frequently played as. Likewise, too many productions try to play Goneril and Regan as if they're simply Cinderella's wicked stepsisters, rather than trying to find actual motivation. Edmund at least gets some great speeches where we can see his motivation, even if there is a touch of 'I am illegitimate and therefore evil' to it. (And yes, Edmund Blackadder likely came from here, at least the original one.)

So, I admire Lear, but find it hard to like. Much like Troilus and Cressida, and I'll probably get back to this when I discuss The Merchant of Venice as well. Next up is Titus Andronicus, though.

Some more Arden Shakespeare meanderings

2009-06-20T18:08:32Z

As I suspected, the listings for The Taming of the Shrew and Romeo and Juliet were on Amazon in error. The Arden 2009 catalogue says that their only 3rd Edition Shakespeare scheduled for this year is Richard III, which will be out in September.

However, they are announcing some non-Shakespeare titles, in a new Modern Drama edition, which will also begin in September 2009. The first 3 titles will be the horrific and tragic The Duchess of Malfi (approx. 1612), by John Webster (hard to take, but really well done); two early morality plays from the late 15th century, Everyman and Mankind; and Philaster, a tragicomedy by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, written about 1610, which should appeal to fans of Shakespeare's late plays such as The Winter's Tale. I'll be talking more about Fletcher when I get to The Two Noble Kinsmen.

The Arden Edition of TNK rocked, btw. One of my favorites so far, even if the play itself is... well, a problem play.

Reduced Shakespeare had a very funny joke about the Problem Plays being called 'the bad plays', and there is a kernel of truth in there, but the original reason for calling them Problem Plays was that they did not fit the definitions of Tragedy, Comedy, or History like, say, Macbeth or The Comedy of Errors do. The problem plays include All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida (which I have blogged about before), Timon of Athens (which is my current reading), Pericles Prince of Tyre, The Winter's Tale, and The Two Noble Kinsmen. For comedies, they aren't all that funny. For tragedies, they're awfully humorous. And they all have a LOT more satire in them than early Shakespeare. One can argue Pericles and Winter's Tale are romances like The Tempest, but they both have lots of problems that The Tempest avoids.

Truth to tell, some aren't that great (Timon of Athens may not actually have been finished, and was likely never staged). But even the worst Shakespeare is fascinating in any number of ways, so they're all worth studying. (We have thankfully grown out of the age of criticism which tried to argue that if a play wasn't brilliant, it wasn't Shakespeare; I'll get into that more when I talk about Titus Andronicus).

Oh yes, I also realized that I forgot about Shakespeare's poetry. What a fool I was! I'll be discussing Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece, and The Passionate Pilgrim a little later on, and the Sonnets a lot later on.

Next up, though, will (finally) be King Lear.

Hana To Yume 2009-14

2009-06-20T13:08:54Z

Cover goes to Seiyuu Kaa!

Color pages for Seiyuu Kaa!(2), Love So Life, Oresama Teacher, and Kyou Mo Ashita Mo.

Seiyuu Kaa! is a new series by Minami Maki, the author of Special A. The debut is double-sized, 66 pages.

Breakdown:
Seiyuu Kaa! 1
Skip Beat! 142
Love So Life 11
Hana To Akuma 33
Monochrome Kids 8
Oresama Teacher 34
月刊なかとば (gag comic)
Hoshi Wa Utau 37
Dancing Girl! 2
Kyou Mo Ashita Mo 24
Lovesick 12
ジェントル磯田 (one-shot)
鎌田ギュウ乳販売店 (gag comic)

Gakuen Alice, Kamisama Hajimemashita, Issho Ni Neyou Yo, and Shiawase Kissa Sanchoume are on break this issue. Dancing Girl! was a one-shot a few issues ago that's getting a part 2.

Manga the week of 6/24

2009-06-18T22:03:55Z

It's barely worth commenting.

DARK HORSE:
Gantz Vol. 5. Seinen. Shueisha, serialized in Young Jump since 2000.

DC/CMX:
Kiichi and the Magic Books Vol. 5 (Final Volume). Flex title.

That's it. Hooray for saving money!

All the world's a stage...

2009-06-18T09:27:00Z

Shakespeare's tragedies tended to be named after their heroes. Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, etc. And obviously his histories were named after the King who was the ruler at the time. But his comedies tended to avoid that, for the most part. They're either descriptive or elliptical, with only Two Noble Kinsmen and Two Gentlemen of Verona coming close to being title plays. (Well, and Pericles, but that's a 'problem play'.)

If ever there was a candidate for a titled comedy, though, this is it. As You Like It has its main plot 'borrowed' from Thomas Lodge's Rosalynde, and really Shakespeare's Rosalind is so all-encompassing in this play that you could have named it Rosalind and no one would have batted an eye.

It's very popular to perform these days, being one of his best comedies, and lacking the issues that Merchant, Shrew, Much Ado, or even Twelfth Night have. Despite this, though, it can be very difficult to perform. Mostly as it's so easy to unbalance. The play has 3 'star' parts, each of which can steal things so much that the rest of the players get left in the dust; Rosalind, Jaques, and Touchstone. When performing, one must be careful to ensure the audience cares about everyone else too.

Speaking of Touchstone, he's another classic Shakespeare Fool. As always, the fool needs to be rather clever and crafty so that he knows when to mock and when to stop (indeed, Rosalind notes he crosses the line once or twice here). A bit more jaded than Twelfth Night's Feste, but makes up for it by being part of the pairings off in the end.

The play is apparently about the Earl of Essex, but I'm so tired of talking about him. Just assume everything Shakespeare wrote from 1598-1600 was about him. I'll bring him up again when I get to Henry V, when it's pretty hard to avoid.

It's also a 'pastoral', meaning it has a tendency to celebrate the simple outdoors life. Indeed, the entire play is about a court being exiled (either by choice or no) to the woods, and finding they quite like it there. There are awkward plot bits (the bad guys seem to repent awfully fast, with the notable exception of Jaques, who is as misanthropic as ever by the end), but the comedy, cross-dressing, and romance tend to keep audiences very happy.

Rosalind is perhaps Shakespeare's best 'woman decides to dress as boy' role, and she really gets into it, far more than Viola or Julia in other Shakespeare plays. Remembering that the role was written for a young boy to play, as all female roles were played by young boys in those times, makes it all the more head-twisting. Oh yes, and she takes the pseudonym 'Ganymede' when courting Orlando. She really gets into it, with Celia chiding her for being too male. No homoeroticism here, none at all. >_> And that's not to mention the very close friendship between Rosalind and Celia, for you fans of making up lesbians in your head. (Yes, yes, pot, kettle, black.)

The role is so all-encompassing that he actually has the 'Epilogue', a traditional motif where one of the players comes out to talk to the audience, to the actor playing Rosalind, still dressed as a boy, and implying the whole boy-playing-girl-playing-boy thing, giving advice to the ladies and gentlemen in the audience. It's rather sexually advanced for 1598.

New CMX license

2009-06-17T07:42:15Z

Toraware Gokko. Shoujo, 3+ volumes. Hakusensha, serialized in The Hana to Yume since 2006.

Author is best known for Nadeshiko Club, which ran in HtY in the early part of the decade, and for Ai no Moto ni Tsudoe, currently running in Betsuhana.

New Del Rey licenses

2009-06-12T23:37:51Z

Well, "new" is relative.

Samurai Deeper Kyo. Shonen, 38 volumes. License Rescue from Tokyopop. Kodansha, serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine since 1999.

Del Rey will issue the final 4 volumes in 2 wideban compilations.

And one new shoujo title:

Wild Damon. Shoujo, 3 volumes. Kodansha, serialized in Nakayoshi since 2003.

Artist is known for Kitchen Princess and Zodiac P.I. I think Kitchen Princess' surprising blog popularity may be why this was grabbed. For the tween readers.

The green-eyed monster

2009-06-12T09:12:39Z

So, you have the Shakespearean couple. Totally in love, but also really naive. And then there's the jealous guy. Oh, he's a bastard all right - for pretty much no real reason other than he's the BAD GUY. He plays the hero like a fiddle, convincing him of infidelity when there clearly isn't any. The hero, devastated, decides he will show that treacherous woman what for!

Oh wait, I already talked about Much Ado About Nothing. This is Othello.

Othello is rather odd among Shakespeare's tragedies in that the basic setup is for a wacky domestic comedy, one that just happens to feature an interracial couple. I'd said earlier that Much Ado was a tragedy where everything is averted at the end to make a happy ending; well, Othello is what happens when the averting doesn't happen.

It's one of Shakespeare's best plays. When mentioning his best tragedies, it can get overshadowed by Hamlet and King Lear (and sometimes even Macbeth), but with Othello you get two absolutely amazing creations in Othello and Iago. I think a lot of people get frustrated by how utterly easy it is to dupe Othello, but hey, tragic flaw and all.

Speaking of easy duping, there's a curious time sense in this play, which Shakespeare has used before (see Julius Caesar), but it's even more noticeable here if you analyze it. For Iago's plot to work, everything has to take place over a very short period of time, barely a day. And it does, as we see from bits of dialogue. However, it's also clear that the play takes place over at least a month or more - from other bits of dialogue.

Welcome to the wonderful world of 'double time'. Shakespeare realized that, if you're an audience watching a play, you don't have time to think too hard on these things. And at the time, no one was running out to buy the printed editions and pore over them. Well, OK, a few people were, but still... In any event, double time means that he can simultaneously have something take months and hours, and get away with it. It's quite clever, and gives scholars giant headaches.

Othello also, like several Shakespeare plays produced today, suffers from its female lead. I think that you can do a very strong, non-annoying Desdemona and still get her basic naivete, but it isn't easy, and most directors have not really done a very good job of this. So you get people watching Desdemona sitting there while her husband strangles her and going "What the hell, woman?".

And then there's Iago. Oh, Iago. You so evil. The culmination of all of Shakespeare's 'I am the bad guy for no reason other than I AM THE BAD GUY' roles, and the best of them too. Richard III, Aaron, Don John... they have nothing on Iago. Oh yes, and Iago also has the second filthiest mind in all of Shakespeare, seeing sex in everything - and saying so. The beast with two backs comes from this play. (The filthiest mind is Hamlet; see review earlier.)

Awesome play, and still a bit underrated, I feel. I'd rate it as tied for the best tragedy, with Hamlet and Lear.

Manga the week of 6/17

2009-06-11T22:27:09Z

Quick And Dirty:

BANDAI:
Lucky Star Vol. 1. Shonen. Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in Comptiq since 2004.

BLU:
Gakuen Heaven Nakajima. Yaoi. Libre Shuppan, serialized in Magazine Be x Boy since 2006.

DC/CMX:
The Flat Earth Exchange Vol. 4. Flex title.
Dorothea Vol. 5. Shonen. Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in Dragon Age since 2006.

DEL REY:
Yokai Doctor Vol. 1. Shonen. Kodansha, serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine since 2007.
Toto! Vol. 5 (Final Volume). Shonen. Kodansha, serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine since 2005.
Sayonara Zetsubo-Sensei Vol. 2. Shonen. Kodansha, serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine since 2005.
Psycho Busters Vol. 5. Shonen. Kodansha, serialized in Magazine Special since 2006.
Princess Resurrection Vol. 6. Shonen. Kodansha, serialized in Shonen Sirius since 2006.
Papillon Vol. 3. Shoujo. Kodansha, serialized in Bessatsu Friend since 2006.

TOKYOPOP:
Peace Maker Kurogane Vol. 2. Shonen. Mag Garden, serialized in Comic Blade since 2002.
Mamotte Shugogetten Vol. 5 (Final Volume). Shonen. Square Enix, serialized in Shonen Gangan since 1996.
Gravitation Vol. 1 + 2. Yaoi. Gentosha, serialized in Kimi to Boku since 1996.

VIZ:
Shojo Beat.
Rurouni Kenshin VIZBIG Edition Vol. 6. Shonen. Shueisha, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since 1994.
20th Century Boys Vol. 3. Seinen. Shogakukan, serialized in Big Comic Spirits since 1999.
Gestalt Vol. 1. Shonen. Square Enix, serialized in GFantasy since 1995.
Fushigi Yuugi VIZBIG Edition Vol. 2. Shoujo. Shogakukan, serialized in Shoujo Comic since 1992.
Dragon Ball Z VIZBIG Edition Vol. 4. Shonen. Shonen. Shueisha, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since 1984.

Recs for this week? 20th Century Boys is awesome. I really liked Toto, which ends with this volume. Zetsubo-Sensei is very silly. And Lucky Star is very 4-koma.

For Aria fans

2009-06-09T21:24:35Z

Tokyopop has announced Vol. 5 will be out in November. :D

Tactics is back from the abyss too, but I don't read that.