Manga Village

Message to Adolf is a title I have heard a lot about, but never had a chance to read since it was first released in English by Viz back in the mid nineties, and volumes are difficult to come by. But Vertical has solved that problem by re-releasing the series in a 2 volume omnibus set in hardback. Finally being given the chance to read this, I had to take it and see what everyone was talking about. Like so many of Tezuka’s other thrillers, Message to Adolf is a provocative and compelling read, but like the subject matter, not for the faint of heart. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical, Inc. Age Rating: Teen Genre: Thriller Price: $26.95 Message to Adolf is about three men named Adolf; Kamil, a Jew who lives in Kobe, Japan, Kaufman, the son of a German Consulate father and Japanese mother who also lives in Kobe, and of course, Hitler. At the heart of the story is some secret information about Hitler, that if is got out, could bring down Hitler and the Nazi party. Both of the boys as well as a Japanese reporter named Sohei Toge become involved in the search for the…

Black Jack’s three year journey ends finally comes to an end with these last two volumes. Unfortunately, the good doctor doesn’t go out with a bang, but more of a fizzle, as these last two volumes are the weakest of them all. The stories aren’t bad. They’re just not as engaging.

The exploits of Black Jack, the world’s greatest black market surgeon continue in these 28 stories. The themes turn again to Black Jack’s pride and his not-so-well-known generous side. But in quality of stories overall, volume 14 definitely outshines volume 15.

Black Jack is back with a wide array of new challenges. An animator with cancer want to see his work move as he envisioned it just once. A fading actress wants to take the stage one last time. A modern-day Cyrano goes to Black Jack for help with his Roxanne, and Black Jack helps some young people determined to commit suicide that there is something in life worth living for. These are just a few of the cases Black Jack takes on in this volume. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Medical Drama Price: $16.95 Each time I read a new volume of Black Jack, I keep an eye out for several stories that I can relate as a theme. This volume comes out swinging with a strong sports theme. The first two chapters are about athletes, the first is a swimmer who loses the use of his legs, and the other is a boy that does well in gymnastics but loses his arm. Both suffer from losing their abilities to play their selected sport, but both are also redeemed by girls, though their paths to it couldn’t be more different. A third chapter is about…

Russian student Raskolnikov is so fed up and desperate for cash that he resorts to pawning his possessions to a stingy old woman.  When she cheats him out of money again and again, Raskolnikov decides that she doesn’t deserve to live and murders her with an axe.  He gets away with the crime, but is so wracked with guilt that his manner and outlook on life change, though he never admits to his guilt even when questioned several times by Judge Porfiry.  He winds up entangled with his sister’s evil fiancée and the wife and daughter of a poor alcoholic man who dies the same day he met him.  By the end of the book, he also finds himself on the wrong side of a revolution, and his guilt has still not left him. Manga by Osamu Tezuka, adapted from the novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Publisher: The Japan Times Age Rating: n/a Genre: drama Price: 1,000 yen While many fans of Tezuka are familiar with the 6-volume bilingual edition of Princess Knight, I have almost never seen this book discussed.  I was worried that the translation would be a little spotty, as it was in Princess Knight, and that a…

Amidst the chaos of World War II, two Japanese soldiers hear of Zephyrus, an utterly captivating woman rumored to exist on an island in the South Pacific. The tales of this bold enchantress seducing men to their dooms are both chilling and fascinating. Over twenty years pass, and Zephyrus resurfaces in Japan, seemingly unchanged, to wield her mysterious power over men once more. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Digital Manga Publishing Age Rating: Teen+ (16+) Genre: Action/Mystery Price: $24.95 The one man immune to Zephyrus’ charms is simple drunkard, Gohonmatsu Seki, son of one of the wartime soldiers. Employed to spy on Zephyrus, what will Gohonmatsu uncover about her ultimate plot to create international discord and consume the world of men? What brought this woman to conspire for decades against patriarchal society-against an entire gender-and can anything be done to stop her plans? Swallowing the Earth is a strange tale of revenge as a few women start a war against the entire male gender for the wrongs done to the female gender. It takes a long and meandering path to come to a simple conclusion; true happiness is only attainable if one is free of lust, power and greed. Or, as…

If you knew a person that reacted to love with violence and hatred, what would you do? Enter Shogo, a young man whose childhood has caused him to react violently to any display of affection, be it from man or beast. His hatred is not unnoticed, though. As punishment for his aggression against love, a goddess appears before him and relates to him that he is to be punished by the gods to find the love he was never given as a child, and then have it snatched away violently from him over and over again. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical, Inc. Age Rating: 16+ Genre: Drama Price: $19.95 Often claimed to be one of Tezuka’s most erotic and dark stories, Apollo’s Song is not the Astro Boy and Black Jack you’ve been used to. There is little cheer or happiness in Apollo’s Song. Vertical Inc. has released this comic to mixed appeal from many reviewers, and for good enough reason – its age. Apollo’s Song was written in 1970, a much less progressive time, especially in Japan. With each passage, we see characters and ideas rooted in that time. Women are treated more like objects and less like characters,…

Black Jack is a shonen manga created by Osamu Tezuka. It’s about an unlicensed doctor what lives and works in the underworld. A “scalpel for hire”, he will take on any surgery, anytime, anywhere, for anyone that is willing to pay his price. It’s an episodic series, with each chapter being a self-contained story about some situation Black Jack gets involved in. Much like most TV shows, there’s no origin story or over-arching plot to follow. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical, Inc. Age Rating: Teen+ Genre: Medical Drama Price: $16.95 Black Jack’s background itself is a mystery. Though, throughout these volumes, we meet people from his past that lets us start to piece his story together. The Doctor that saved him and became his inspiration to become a doctor himself. The boy that reminds him of his own rehabilitation. The boyhood friend that donated skin to Jack that gave him his distinctive facial coloring. The stories are scattered, so that in order to get the whole story on Black Jack you have to read them all. The stories aren’t linear either, as some chapters in volume 2 have Pinoko being able to cook properly, while other stories in volume 3…

A Samurai during Japan’s Warring States period (1467-1573), Daigo Kagemitsu wants complete control over Japan.  He promises his unborn son’s 48 body parts to demons in exchange for that control.  When the baby is born deformed, Daigo throws the newborn into the river to die, but it is miraculaously found by a doctor, Jukai, who makes prosthetics for the child and adopts him as his own.  When the boy Hyakkimaru is grown, he leaves home and begins a journey to recover his body parts.  Along the way he runs into a brash young thief, Dororo, whom he teams up with; together they battle demon and monster on their adventure to reclaim Hyakkimaru’s wholeness. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical Inc. Age Rating: Teen Genre: Action/Adventure Price: $13.95 Dororo, first serialized in 1967, can be seen as a proto-shonen story.  It has many of the elements we now see in shonen titles today, though these were new at the time. Tezuka spins a memorable supernatural action/adventure tale and characters that really draw you in, and only disappoints at the very end, though not in story, but lack of it. The first volume of this title is the introduction. Tezuka jumps from past…

Michio Yuki has it all: looks, intelligence, a pedigree as the scion of a famous kabuki family, a promising career at a major bank, legions of female admirers. But underneath the sheen of perfection lurks a secret with the power to shake the world to its foundations. By Osamu Tezuka Published: Vertical, Inc. Genre: Political Thriller Rating: 16+ Price: $24.95 ISBN: 1-932234-83-7 I wasn’t sure what to make of MW (pronounced Moo) when I received it. I’d never read any Tezuka before and my only real exposure to his work was the TV series Kimba, so I really didn’t know what to expect. But I really wasn’t expecting what I got! The stark reality of kidnapping, murder, and man love in just the first few chapters was a shock. But after a steady diet of shonen and shojo manga, a strong dose of realism can be a shock, but in a good way. One the surface, MW is a political crime thriller. Sixteen years ago, a poisonous gas was accidentally released on the small island of Okinawa Mafune, killing all the residents, but unknowingly, two people survived; Michio Yuki and Iwano Garai. The whole incident was covered up by the…