rainsometimes | Manga Alphabet: O is for One Piece, Onmyoji, more (Reply)

Oh My Goddess!

This will be a fairly lukewarm recommendation, I'm afraid, as this long-running seinen about a college student who acquires a goddess as a live-in girlfriends by happenstance never entirely clicked with me. I find it both a little too sugary and a little too male-oriented to be among my main manga fare. However, it's still quite entertaining stuff, and I do enjoy a dose of it every now and then, with its blend of cuteness, humour, fluff and weird tech references, all with rather eye-pleasing art. Good for relaxing in the comfy chair with a cup of hot chocolate with.

One Piece by Eiichiro Oda

Anyone who's followed my journal for a brief while would know that this is the manga I'm currently the most fannish about in general, and have so been for a good long time now. Also certainly the one where I've done the most fandom activity. (Indeed, what made me get an LJ account in the first place was so I could interact with the LJ One Piece fandom.)

One Piece is like a quintessential action/adventure shonen of the Shonen Jump variety: friendship, determination, fight scenes, big dreams, power-ups and so on all in centre stage, and for OP there's no romance at all for the main characters. They're powerful themes, and Oda is one of those who can make them work in a way that feels way more heartfelt and genuine more than calculated, even though you're still aware it's a blockbuster series that follows editorial guidelines with a great deal of commercial success. Yet those things alone don't fully account for its allure, IMO.

Perhaps what separates One Piece from many sister manga with similar themes and heart lies partly in the impression you get that Oda has planned the structure of the story firmly from the start, putting things in place hundreds of chapters before they get to make their entry in to the story proper, revealing new things about the world. And the other reason may lie in the setting itself - a world of oceans and islands in an "Era of Piracy". There is an air of exploration and discoveries; an infectious delight in learning new things, finding new horizons that few canons can match.

Naturally, I could go on for a long time about this series, like for instance its themes of history and remembrance, or of the strength of adopted/chosen families equal or even stronger than biological ones (for instance, there are so far three prominent groups or pairs of siblings in the story, only one of which consists of biological siblings). But I need to get the rest of the post done - and besides, most people who read this likely know all that already.

Onmyōji by Reiko Okano (after the original novel by Baku Yumemakura)

As noted above, this is an adaptation of a historical novel by the same name (which was also made into a couple of movies, I believe). I've only read 5 volumes of this series (in French translation) and I'm unsure as to how long it is, so keep that in mind.

The manga is set in the Heian period and is centred on the legendary historical figure Abe no Seimei, who was an onmyōji, a practitioner of onmyōdō, in the old imperial capital of Heian. Onmyōdō was "the art of yin and yang", to paraphrase Wikipedia, a system based on Chinese philosophies (but influenced by Shintoism) that blends occultism and magical science in an attempt to explain and manipulate the world. In the manga, it means Seimei is frequently consulted when demons/spirits show up in order to figure out why they're there and get rid of them. Seimei is himself not too easy to get a grip on, often smiling mysteriously and given to mock and tease others - particularly his good friend Minamoto no Hiromasa, a kind-hearted, earnest and rather goofy fellow.

The pace is slow, the panels often very wordy, but the atmosphere is thrilling and the drawings just beautiful (the ones with demons recall old Japanese prints or ink drawings). Really wish it would be translated into English giving more people the opportunity to discover it easily.

Ooku by Fumi Yoshinaga

A historical manga focusing on court intrigue and romance within the secluded world of the shogun's harem - the ooku - during the Edo era, but with a twist. A plague that primarily affects men has decimated the male half of the population of Japan and then becomes an endemic disease affecting subsequent generations as well, so now the country is overwhelmingly female. Women do all sorts of work while men are shut away and pampered so they'll stay healthy and be able to father children. The shogun is female too (initially only in secret, and still kept a secret from foreign powers), so are all her advisers, and her harem is all male - which is a show of the shogun's might and power, to so ostentatiously reserve that many men for herself. The society stays as hierarchic as before, though: this is very much no feminist utopia! But it does make for a fascinating story of human relationships and the toll that the pursuit and exercise of great power has not only on the subjects but on the wielder as well. Yoshinaga's refined art is a treat to behold, particularly in the period setting. The faux-"old timey" English translation isn't so hot (I don't mind some "thous" or "haths", but it's laid on a bit thick); but that didn't really stop me from getting into the story.

Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori

Less a romantic comedy than a comedy manga that parodies shojo romantic tropes but still has romance of its own, Ouran High School Host Club is another title where I don't feel compelled to hunt down each and every volume. (Though by now I think I've read almost all of them, chiefly though library copies.) But once I do sit down and read it, it's pretty much always fun and enjoyable - and it also has real pathos: the IMO funniest character, Tamaki, also seems to be the one who gets the biggest share of angsty moments. The series has moved into its endgame now, and the last few volumes I read pretty much had to be seen in order. I'm looking forward to reading the conclusion!

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Creators

Eiichiro Oda
Reiko Okano
Mari Okazaki (Suppli)
Natsume Ono

Favourite characters

Osaka a.k.a Ayumu Kasuga (Azumanga Daioh!)
Otcho a.k.a Choji Ochiai (20th Century Boys)

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Anime corner

Only Yesterday - Lovely movie by Isao Takahata that lingers for a long time. Office worker Taeko, 27-year-old woman in the "now" of the story (which is actually the early 1980s), goes to the countryside on her vacation to help her brother-in-law's family gather sunflowers. On the journey and after arriving, she finds herself thinking back to when she was 10 years old, in 1966. Nothing big happened, it's just various days that come back to her. Most of the manga is episodic and slice-of-life, with the "past" era of 1966 in soft pastels to contrast with the "present". Towards the end of the film things get more dramatic as Taeko faces an inner crises and turning point. Though relatively gentle, this is still one of the most real-feeling animated movies I know of, and very convincing in its presentation. If My Neighbour Totoro evokes the experiences and imaginations of young children remarkably well, Only Yesterday is closer to older children and to adults, thus feeling more mundane to adult viewers - but still, I would say, full of wonder.

What are your manga or anime recs for O?