BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad (volume 7)

BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad (volume 7)

Author: Harold Sakuishi

Publisher: Tokyopop 

Three months after the last volume and a month after I finished the first 20 volumes of the scanlations, Tokyopop finally decides to release the 7th volume of BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad.  For the uninitiated, BECK is the story of an underground rock band in Japan that is desperately trying to break out of the scene and get signed.  In this volume they get one step closer to success, not in Japan, but America.

After performing as an opening act, a man from a small indie label based in Chicago gives Ryusuke, BECK’s guitarist, his business card.  Willing to get the band’s name out in any country, Ryusuke agrees to let this indie label distribute their first single in the states.  After achieving moderate success and a second printing, Ryusuke’s discovers that he should have probably discussed royalties.  But that’s not the biggest problem, the American CD has Ryusuke playing the infamous guitar, Lucille, on the cover!  Knowing that there is very dangerous people after this guitar, Ryusuke has to decide on his next plan of action.  Meanwhile, Koyuki, our main character finally saves up enough money to buy his Telecaster.  With his new guitar, Koyuki puts new energy into his live performances.  He even starts recording some of his own material and passes it off to Ryusuke to comment on.  Koyuki and Maho’s relationship seems to develop more in this volume as her TV star friend tries to end their friendship.  Another BECK fan is introduced as Hiromi, Saku and Koyuki’s classmate, who turns out to be the girl from the donut shop across the street from the Chinese restaurant Koyuki works in.  In between gymnastic lessons, Koyuki gives Hiromi guitar lessons.  Late one night, Ryusuke is awakened by the sound of a helicopter, has Malcolm come back to claim Lucille again?

If you couldn’t tell already, I’m extremely disappointed at how slow this series is being released in America.  This series easily became one of my favorites before I even finished the first volume.  Hopefully with the anime airing in Canada, BECK will receive some sort of recognition in the manga charts.  One of the best features of BECK is trying to figure out all the band references/parodies buried within the pages.  For example, this volume opens with a parody of a famous Aerosmith album cover. Also, a lot of the poses the band takes in their performances are ripped from bands such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers (which Harold Sakuishi openly admits in a review at Tokyopop.com).  There are your average shonen style elements in this series, such as the obvious “I want to play better!” “I want to get signed!” but they all add to the comedic element of the series.  My favorite joke in this volume is the TV drama Yoshito stars in: Loneliness of the Short Distance Runner.

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Rating: 4.5/5

Unbalance Unbalance (volume 1)

Unbalance Unbalance (volume 1)

Story: Dall-Young Lim

Art: Soo-Hyon Lee

Publisher: Infinity Studios

Don’t tell me, “with a slutty body like yours, are you telling me you’ve never watched a real porno before?” Hae-Young has had it in for boys ever since her movie making father left her family. One day she bumps into Jin-Ho, a good looking boy who returns Hae-Young’s missing wallet and phone but keeps 7 dollars as reward! Furious she forces him to repay the money as soon as possible. Happy to know he would probably never see her again, Jin-Ho attends his first day of his senior year of school the next day, little did he know who would be his new homeroom teacher, Hae-Young! Thus begins this odd couple’s frustrations. Jin-Ho repays his new homeroom teacher as quickly as he can to settle his debt but this is only the start of his problems. After a massive case of diahreia, Jin-Ho finds his teacher in a very compromising position. Frustrated, Hae-Young takes her frustrations out on Jin-Ho in the classroom, ridiculing him in front of his classmates. Asking him math problems he has no idea how to calculate. His friends Young-Ghi and Ji-Sue (who has a secret crush on Jin-Ho) have no idea why their homeroom teacher has it in for their friend. Soon after Hae-Young finds a risque French film in the clubroom of Jin-Ho’s own movie production club and immediately dissolves it. Calling Jin-Ho into her office, she smacks him in the face over and over again and he doesn’t even budge. She breaks down crying claiming herself a weak and miserable women. After a drinking party, Jin-Ho takes her to her own apartment where he finds out her estranged father’s profession.

Okay, big titted teacher on cover, main reason I picked this up. This is easily one of the best manga productions in the store right now. Dust jacket, color pages, nice clear paper with no printing imperfections at all, this will look great on your shelf. Although the spine is a little stiff, there really isn’t anything to complain about this release. This story really does bring up the question as to why a smoking hot woman like Hae-Young would waste her body and enter the teaching profession. It’s clear that she is an emotionally unstable woman, due to her father leaving her family. This has affected her ability to trust men and ultimately blame men for her problems, at this point in her life, Jin-Ho. She finds it hard to let others tell their side of the story. Throughout this entire volume, Hae-Young takes everything Jin-Ho does as offense to her even if it was just a mistake. This sets up a rather repetitive storyline that is at times quite predictable to guess Hae-Young’s reactions. With a potential love triangle coming up, this series could get more interesting in the next volume. Will something happen between Jin-Ho and Hae-Young while she is passed out in her apartment?

Rating: 3.5/5

read a preview here.

BECK:Mongolian Chop Squad dvd release!

Volume 1 of BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad comes out July 19th, 2007. The dvd will contain the first 5 episodes and is also available with art box (extras unannounced). FUNimation has a trailer of the first disc on their website. Music is played but not the vocal parts which is what I’m most interested in, are they going to redub the music? Another point of interest is how they’re going to deal with the mass amount of Engrish, especially in the first episode.

note: I bought the new BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad manga today. Review tomorrow?

Rod Espinosa’s New Alice in Wonderland

New Alice in Wonderland

by Rod Espinosa

Publisher: Antarctic Press

When I was a young lad, Alice in Wonderland always terrified me.  I don’t know if it was the huge purple cheshire cat, the talking poker cards, or that wretched queen.  It was the one Disney film that I didn’t ask my mom to rewind.  Now that I’m older I’ve been wanting to return to it.  Why not check out this new “manga?”  Rod Espinosa is a critically acclaimed graphic novel author, let’s take a look at his take on Lewis Carroll’s classic novel.

New Alice in Wonderland is a full color graphic novel and is the first volume in the series. This story starts with Alice’s mom reading to her.  All of a sudden she sees a big fat rabbit running around in the yard and decides to chase after him.  She follows him into the woods and of course, down the rabbit hole.  Here she encounters a door that’s just a little too small for her.  But no worry she finds a drinking potion that shrinks her down to the right size.  Once in Wonderland she meets many new animal creatures who not only talk, but assault her for liking cats!  Running further into Wonderland she again meets the rabbit and a giant caterpillar.  Alas, Alice has no idea where she is going.  Wondering down the path farther she meets the Mad Hatter and Hare.  Unfortunately they insult her by asking her riddles they don’t have the answer to.  Infuriated she follows the path farther and meets a deck of cards painting roses red the queen.  The queen puts Alice on trial for “eating” a pie but she escapes by growing into a giant and…waking up.

Rod Espinosa’s artwork on Alice closely resembles the manga style but generally only the facial expressions of Alice. The queen was turned into a white faced geisha which I thought was an interesting take.  Although this is only supposed to be the first volume, I thought there should be a little more time taken on developing Alice.  All she ever does is eat cakes to grow smaller or bigger and we find out it’s a dream way too early.  Rod Espinosa wrote in the introduction that one of the main reasons that he started this story was that David Hutchison was doing a “manga” on the Wizard of Oz.  Personally, I think I would’ve rather read that.

Rating: 3/5

Read a preview of New Alice in Wonderland here.