If you’ve been reading this site for a while, you know I’ve often been critical of Shonen Jump. Its bombastic covers which spare no exclamation point and propensity of overexposed franchises like Dragonball and Yu-Gi-Oh have never appealed to me. However, seeing as how it is soon to be the only monthly telephone book of comics still left standing, and in the spirit of not knocking something until you’ve tried it, I figured I’d give it a try; I’d venture into that wild and crazy world of Jump and report back my findings to those of you who have also never before tried it. So these past few months, I’ve purchased the May, June and July issues of Jump. Here’s my thoughts.

First off: Yes, they’re thin, compared to Yen Plus. If I stack two Jumps and put them next to a Yen Plus issue, the Jumps are taller, but only by about an eighth of an inch. That skimpiness is not just an optical illusion, as you’ll see later. You’ll also see that there is no “A side” cover for left-to-right reading as there is with Yen Plus; as all of Jump’s comics are Japanese in origin, the whole thing reads right-to-left.

After opening the cover, you’ll see the graphic design of the cover pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the book; noisy and loud, with little negative space, and so much of the magazine’s non-comic content, highlighting upcoming video games and anime releases and such, feels even more ad-like than the actual ads (though Jump would hardly be the only magazine guilty of that). M much of this content centers around current and former Shonen Jump properties like Dragonball and Yu-Gi-Oh — two of the issues came with Yu-Gi-Oh cards glued inside, and I have absolutely no idea what I’m supposed to do with them. To be fair, all this noise and fluff both on the cover and inside matches the presentation of Jump’s Japanese counterparts, but I think only the most obnoxious of purists would think this is a good thing. The comics are little oases of peace and quiet in comparison.

Ah, the comics. Jump currently has four regular comics. What?! Four?! Yes, definitely anemic compared to the ten to twelve in any given issue of Yen Press. Though, to be fair, all three of these issues featured part of a three-part preview of a series called Bakuman。(which will be referred to without the obnoxious punctuation henceforth), and two of the three previewed two other comics. All four of those regulars are in the middle of their bajillion-issue run, so keeping in mind that I’m jumping into the middle of all of these, here’s my perspectives.

Bleach: In these three issues, main character Ichigo (who I guess is supposed to be all bad-ass, but his name means “strawberry,” for Pete’s sake) is caught up in a battle with a baddie named Grimmjow, and it is of course very epic. Ichigo is getting his butt handed to him because he’s using his body to shield obvious love interest Orihime’s massive sweater hogans from Grimmjow’s attacks. But I’m sure some time in the next couple of issues he’ll find some deus ex machina-ish way to gain the upper hand. Yeah, as you can probably guess, I didn’t think too highly of Bleach. The characters don’t strike me as all that interesting, and the fight scenes are indecipherable; it’s like you have to wade through an indistinguishable mess of speed lines and then hope whatever just happened is explained by dialogue at some point. Lame.

Ultimo: Uh, this is some really, really strange stuff. Apparently this scientist named Duncan has created the embodiments of pure good and pure evil and made them fight to see which one is stronger, but then there’s also characters that embody the six great virtues and the seven deadly sins — I’m not clear on whether those were made by Duncan as well. All of these embodiments are paired with humans, so I guess it’s kind of like spiritual Pokémon or something. The good and evil embodiments are having their epic battle or something, and it somehow brings about the end of the world, but then in the next issue, time has reverted a couple of days and now the humans are trying to avoid causing the end of the world again…? So many characters — most of them appearing briefly and seemingly not affecting anything after their introduction — and such a mess of a plot. I didn’t like this at all. I wonder how Stan Lee’s name got attached to it…

**One Piece:*** Okay, now we’re talking. This is about a kid named Luffy who is apparently the leader of a cartoonish gang of pirates. They’re breaking out of an underwater prison called Impel Down in order to interrupt the execution of Luffy’s brother. The fact that I can explain this much more clearly and succinctly than I can explain Ultimo’s plot, despite each having the same amount of time to explain themselves to me, should tell you something; the plot here is simple and straightforward, but not in a bad way. The wacky characters and action are a lot of fun. I really had a lot of fun with the oddly-named One Piece (the term refers to a woman’s long dress in Japanese).

Naruto: Ahh, the original teen ninja comic. Think Nabari no Ou, but more cartoony and with a larger action-to-melodrama ratio… actually, teenage ninja aside, it’s not really like Nabari no Ou at all, but anyway. As with Bleach, despite being a huge franchise, I had never read Naruto before (or seen its animated version), so I was looking forward to an explanation of how a kid in an orange jumpsuit with a shiny thing on his head (“aim weapons here, please”) could be a ninja of any substance. Alas, I’d be frustrated, as the titular character doesn’t actually have any action scenes in these three chapters; what little page time he has in the first, he spends pretty much acting like a jerk, though it’s sort of hamfistedly explained away in the third. But not that there’s not action going on; the main plot thread seems to be the battle of this dude named Bee and this shark-man badnik named Kisame whose sword can steal spiritual energy and he can merge with it to become his ultimate form and blah blah blah. Your standard fighting manga stuff, though much easier to follow than Bleach - and with more interesting characters, seemingly. I gotta say, though, that I was kind of surprised by the relatively low quality of art on display here; it definitely looked like something that would appear in a bored middle schooler’s notebook at times.

Bakuman: Not one of the regulars, but since it appeared in the three issues I looked at, I’ll give it a write-up as if it were anyway. Akito and Moritaka are two classmates who decide to team up to create their own manga, despite the fact that Moritaka’s uncle was a manga artist who met some success but ended up working himself to an early death in poverty. Akito’s enthusiastic about it, but for Moritaka, it’s just a step in a convoluted plan to win the heart of his crush. Silly as it seems, the presentation of Bakuman isn’t too terrible, though the plot is typically brushed aside for the sake of giving behind-the-scenes looks at how manga are produced; a trip to Moritaka’s uncle’s apartment for inspiration (inexplicably it’s still in the same shape it was in when he died) becomes an explanation of how pages and pages of crude storyboards become the final product after the meddling of an editor. It didn’t entirely hook me, but it may be of interest to those who aspire to be in the comic industry themselves.

So that’s Jump. On the whole, it definitely feels like there’s both less quality and less variety compared to what Yen Plus has given us these last two years. And yet… It wasn’t entirely unenjoyable. I definitely had more fun reading these issues than I thought I would, and that especially goes for One Piece. Will I subscribe or continue to buy them? Well… No, probably not with any regularity. But that’s me. I can now see someone being able to derive some enjoyment from this magazine and not be a complete immature weirdo (no more than other people who read comic books, anyway). Perhaps you too, fellow skeptical Yen Plus fan, should also give Jump a try and see if you dig it. You’re not going to have much of a choice in the near future anyway…

In the United States, today is Memorial Day, a day to mourn and honor those who selflessly joined the military to defend the interests of this bizarre abstract idea we call the United States and end up paying the ultimate price for doing so. Take a moment to ponder the enormity of that idea.

And then look at this.

Anyway, seeing as how I got my June issue on time (the May one never did come…), I’ve updated the site with the content therefrom. (Hey, the OS X spellchecker isn’t flagging “therefrom,” so it must be a word, right?)

Also, I’ve never featured any advertising or referral links or donation begging on this site… but I’m kinda sorta gonna start now. Long story short, possible adventures later this year will necessitate a bit more money than I have now. Fortunately, I’ve got the skills to pay the bills; now I just need some clients. I’m a web developer; I build web sites, primarily with the Drupal content management system. This site itself was built using Drupal (but don’t hold that against Drupal, please). I already make semi-decent money building sites as my eight-to-five day job, but I’d like to make a little more, so I’m hoping to start some freelance moonlighting. Though I’m primarily focused on theming at this point - taking an artist’s site mock-up in Photoshop and the like and turning it into a functional Drupal theme - I’m experienced in all aspects of site construction, from server configuration and administration to module programming and everything in between. So if you or anyone you know is in need of a sweet content-managed web site, let’s talk! Check out my new site, DThemer, for my credentials and portfolio. Thanks for your consideration!

Confused by the confectionary in June’s One FIne Day? Me too. Answer my questions, internet!

It turns out this is dalgona. Basically peanut brittle sans peanuts. Be sure to read the comments for a little more insight.

Kinda surprised they didn’t have a translation note of some sort for this, but oh well.

It’s that time of the month again… Time for another Manga Movable Feast! The treat this month is To Terra… by Keiko Takemiya, published in English by Vertical. Our host this moth is Kate Dacey of The Manga Critic; head to the hub page for this month’s feast for more reviews and perspectives on To Terra… and Takemiya’s other works.

Okay, so tell me if you’ve heard this story: There’s a computer which exercises complete control over humanity; however, a small group of people with seemingly magical powers rebels against the machine, even though it means fighting against humans who have willingly, perhaps even subconsciously, accepted the machine’s dominance over their life. Yeah? Or how about this one: A new post-human race of mutants with superhuman powers is developing, and many normal humans, frightened of the unfamiliar and the obsolescence of their species, meet them with heavy persecution. The mutants debate amongst themselves how best to manage their relationship with the weaker humans: Assimilation? Segregation? Domination? Elimination?

While there’s a good chance that Keiko Takemiya had never heard of the X-Men when she started writing To Terra… in 1977, and obviously The Matrix wouldn’t come until decades later, her space opera in graphic novel form nonetheless tends to tread familiar ground, at least from a modern perspective. It’s… the future! and humans now live… in space! after the ecological devastation of Earth (though later parts in this series, which spans three beefy volumes, hint that it wasn’t entirely humanity’s fault this time, thankfully). Convinced that humanity was no longer capable of taking care of itself, humans in centuries prior built a massive computer named Mother to regulate every aspect of their lives; disobeying Mother is tantamount to badmouthing the leader of your standard totalitarian state.

Natural childbirth is a thing of the past (and a crime against Mother, presumably); all children are now conceived in test tubes and born from vats of amniotic fluid. However, for some reason, some children show evidence of telepathic powers endemic in an outlaw race of mutant humans called the Mu. Mother’s doctrine includes strict ESP tests for children in the midst of puberty; if they show evidence of telekinetic powers or mind-reading, they are promptly executed. However, a number of Mu have managed to escape the system, and are living on their own away from the long arm of Mother and her mindless followers. Where they really want to go, though, is back to Earth - to Terra. However, seeing as how the planet is already populated by the most elite humans intent on repairing the planet for human use again, the two sides are on an inescapable collision course. Specifically, we follow Jomy Marcus Shin, the initially reluctant new leader of the Mu, and Keith Anyan, a soldier created by Mother’s own cybertronic hand to be the perfect human, as they grow, fight their respective struggles, and have their fates intertwine in the end.

Despite feeling a bit like it has nothing new to offer from a contemporary perspective, To Terra… is nonetheless a complex, evocative story that can give you a whole lot to think about, if you want it to. Perhaps it’s a stretch, but observing the news of the the two Koreas once again skittering along the brink of war puts a real-life perspective on just how dangerous these sorts of fundamental ideological differences can be. Like all the best sci-fi, To Terra… brings a strong human story to the table, even though it’s told in the framework of the fantastic, such as interstellar space travel and telekinesis. The ending is tight, if perhaps a bit too sudden, and does a satisfying job of tying together plot threads and answering unanswered questions to a degree we often don’t see in manga. Does it have a happy ending? Well… I personally think it’s ultimately optimistic, in the long term… let’s leave it at that.

To Terra… is a product of the late ’70s, and looks it, art-wise. Though Takemiya, as it turns out, is considered one of the grandmothers of what we now think of as shoujo-style art in comics, the character designs will be quite different from what you’re used to if you’ve previously avoided manga made before the late ’90s. Some will love this style; some will hate it. Personally, as I stated in my look at Swallowing the Earth I really like these older character designs. It turns out Takemiya is also almost solely responsible for creating the shounen-ai manga trope - stories about romance and rutting between two beautiful young men, written for an audience of young women. So now we know who’s to blame… And this sort of thing does seem to pop up a bit in To Terra… too, with a suspicious number of scenes where one male character gazes at another longingly while the gazee is asleep - that sort of thing. At first, I thought it was just something which could be misinterpreted by those inclined to do so, but since I learned about Takemiya’s kink, I now figure it was probably on purpose… Well, all that aside aside, the mechanical design will be a little more familiar - the woman draws a mean space battleship and computer mainframe, and the crowded cityscapes that go on forever…

Publisher Vertical made an interesting decision in the localization; none of the sound effects are translated. Not replaced or subtitled with English equivalents as most other publishers do; there’s no translation for them at all. I wonder why they did this - I think it was a poor decision, because we do lose a good deal of context that way. I personally can read katakana, but that didn’t always help me; two characters are fighting hand-to-hand and “dosun!” is scrawled across the panel. What just happened? I don’t know, and no Japanese dictionary I’ve tried has a definition for “dosun.” (Not entirely true, but you get the point.)

So can I recommend To Terra… to others? Yes… with reservations. Though the story has potential to appeal to a wide range of audiences, I’m sure that many may see the similarities in story I highlighted above and grow bored with it if they’re unable to appreciate the time in which it was written. The art may be a turn-off for some, as well, for similar reasons. However, I think those who can dedicate the time and attention to make it to the end will be rewarded with a very serious, thought-provoking human story which ages well. Give To Terra… a look.