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These are important questions.

Be honest, did you notice that Kiku's hair went from being down in 1153, to being in a ponytail after that?

Did Cho put her hair up for her or is Kiku just that skilled and put her own hair up with one hand?

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we saw you across the oort cloud and we really dig your vibe

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First off, I'm not talking anything like Shakky/Tritoma is secretly Kiku's mom like every theory right now. If it's that direct of a connection, which is a big if, I'd look more at Kiku as a dark horse for Mosa. There's a few things that really make me wonder and it is feasible but you'd have to follow a very specific timeline. The end result is honestly the least important part to me but if you want my best idea now...it's still Izo left a kid or Momo wanted a diplomat or you just felt like running off for a little while and you're the last piece for that background subplot with Weevil/Stussy/Marco. In the process the lil sweetie who doesn't like too much attention becomes a global sensation and we play with the idea you're already a waitress who surprisingly knew a lot of big names.

I just want to get that out of the way because we have two weeks to ponder and 1157 fired Hibari's flower buckshot straight into my brain. Kiku's segment did end up reserved for the end of Yamato's cover serial, in Ringo after the pilgrimage has concluded. She gets to break the established norm right away. Everywhere else Yamato did stuff and the new Daimyo caught up to him but Ringo he goes straight to Kiku. Who also breaks the norms getting Cho to hide behind not to mention it is weird Kiku already had the same new cloak Page One/Ulti were rocking. Three scenes in and we've settled into a meandering pace that complements starting alongside Elbaph's big flashback well. I'm not going to complain if Ringo takes 10-12 installments to pan out, would still be less than Udon.

Now this is unfolding over a flashback that seems to be pivoting around the sudden inclusion of Shakuyaku. Specifically opening up the bar at the tender age of 22, already world weary enough to need a break from your fame and you are potentially doing this in hostile territory for deliberate reasons like Okobore. It's all happening the year Kiku is born too. Other core characters to this big thread we've pondered for years now like Stussy and Katakuri are here, even Otsuru in her own way! And that's my real point, don't mistake tangents about weird ideas. It's that we're still early in this flashback and should consider that Shakky's turn is bringing something to the forefront Luffy has already experienced. Kiku @ Tsuru's Teahouse is just one example. Makino of course and meeting Shakky directly are relevant here.

The lynchpin to me though is Tritoma. Another name for Kniphofia or Red-Hot Poker pictured above. Interesting flower choice, a little weird but I dig em. We'd have them in the greenhouse I worked at. I'll take it as a hint she's feistier than she looks. It can also be a type of beetle which is cute. See...we know Shakky's story. It ends with the Rip-Off Bar even if we have trouble getting there. That presents an immediate point of contrast with Kiku. They're both 22 when it happens. They've both been through a lot and are wise beyond their years at peak years for beauty. The key difference is that's just the start of Kiku's story. Playing the poster girl for a month was exactly what she needed. But it wasn't your end like Shakky or Zala. My whole interpretation is that Kiku's story is trying to find the balance, and in seeking that we get a lot of hints that girl who's always in someone else's shadow in Wano would be a star in the wider world.

That's important, there were concerns but a combination of Wano culture, time, and the mask allowed Kiku to actually step away from her fame and start over. She was able to openly scalp Urashima on stage in front of a crowd and people weren't asking about the legendary samurai. Shakky...well, it seems like you might end up playing into God Valley and seeing her here, it's kinda sad the Rip-Off Bar probably has to be in a dank backwater of Sabaody to keep from being a magnet for more trouble than it's worth.

Some of these known facts allow us to fill in gaps about Tritoma right away. We know she'll grow into her looks from here but seems content as a plucky deputy to Gloriosa and Shakky. We know she'll have a reign from here of 29 years, which is long given the other Kuja we've seen, and she will ultimately die of love sickness 13 years before present day. Leaving Boa Hancock to succeed her. This will be contemporaneous with the entire run of Oden's tale. Based on what we've seen here and knowing she pardoned Gloriosa later in life, we can assume she's one of the more down-to-Earth of the Kuja Empresses we've seen. I'll buy that Gloriosa was as much of a terror as Hancock when she was younger. That's why I don't think this is really about her either, especially when Kiku's actively closer to the story. And Shakky just didn't care enough, making Tritoma likely the great queen. Which is cool.

Other things. If she died of love sickness 11 years before the story started she's probably not Luffy's mom. She'd be somewhere in the ballpark of 45 when she died and Luffy'd be about six. My hunch is she'll be the workaholic. Not a bad contrast to Oden and Harald if Tritoma's tragedy was never taking time for herself. Which is a bad path I could certainly see Daimyo Kiku taking. All of this goes double if we see any of how Tritoma went from this lil dork to the beauty up top.

In essence, these Kuja girlies are spelling out the subtleties. Wano's undertone is becoming a major overtone just in time for the girl who made that to come back around in the cover serial. And there's been a nod to Kiku from the first time we went to Amazon Lily. Here we go.

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Center Stage

As much as I love the bit about giving more attention to the cover page this time things are a little different. There's uh...too much harmony. There's so much I have to skip some great stuff like Rocks & Co. robbing Grand Line Kars4Kids complete with Shiki hucking bombs on Whitebeard/Kaido. This chapter has more catty relationship drama than the entire series to date almost, Linlin "cranking kids out like popcorn" is soooo not One Piece. And it is awesome. Throw a martini in Gloriosa's face! This is the power of restraint, none of this stuff would have felt out of place if we had it in One Piece the entire time but when it's rare it has a lot of punch. The high-angle perspective cover kicks off a very, very classic "cool" chapter.

Which gets me to my favorite moment. Ida dropping a line that sure feels like arc words. Am I the only one getting the vibe from that face she absolutely hates Rocks? Sick bastard broke Article 18, who does that?* Choose your friends wisely. Harald and Rocks are two sides of this. Luffy and Loki and Hajrudin in the present matter. Oden was the opposite, he realized too late the value of the people he attracted. I've only been made great. I haven't changed a bit. Seeing Mato in this scene is excellent too because we're going to do that again with these iconic barmaids. There are two legendary bars in this chapter. One may have moved but both still exist today.

Great example of that theme of controlling your story. Harald jeopardized his fledgling relations with the World Government because they were taking slaves from an unaffiliated Elbaph ally. The implication we got at Sabaody was that bounty hunters could haul in pirates or noncitizens with an understanding that yeah, they probably don't always bring in just those for real. Doflamingo seemed like he at least gave some level of plausible deniability. It is possible the World Government has dialed back operations in recent years but this is a darker version of slavery than we've seen so far. Or maybe the Great Age of Piracy gives less need to so brazenly do this. Either way, it's a tough decision for Harald and the tragedy is how easily the story is re-written.

It's the duality of what Ida said. Choose your friends wisely for Rocks means he should consider the infighting he's so cavalier about will be his undoing. But for Harald it's this idea he's playing such a high stakes game. Otohime got the easy version of this, where you got to be noble and do the clearly right thing and it gave you enormous leverage. It'd suck, monumentally, but I could at least have some sympathy if Harald decided turning a blind eye was for the greater good. Since we use game boards a lot, so much of this shows how he just doesn't have any good moves to make so many times. Oden was the story of how we make a giant out of a man, Harald is a giant who struggles with the same things as any man.

Hey! We even have Otsuru getting in here. But seriously, think about that. Ida has Mato hanging around her scene. Shakky has a subtle big moment for Tritoma. The other Otsuru & Kiku showed us this dynamic intersecting with Luffy's story already. Right after clashing with a baby boy we see in this chapter and on the way to beating up a guy featured within. And oh my god Baby Katakuri was lovely. There was just so much competition for good panels in this chapter. I need a break week to figure out how I feel about all this flowing together so well. To the point I care more about the ride than I do what it leads to.

Thank you Rocks, I agree. What the hell is this? I was saving that "Flower Blooming in the Waste" line for when I got to write the last word on Kiku's story, give it back! But I'll forgive you because...she is beautiful. So the little magic Bagdad Cafe-type place opened up by a woman who wants a fresh start can be the treasure of the world? Sway the course of history? And that's happening in a neighboring country right around the time the girl we've been talking about all that was born? When Shakky is the same age here she is now. There's no two ways about it, Shakuyaku is swinging this flashback wildly around her setting up the exact circumstance we build Act 1 of Wano around. That's happening hand-in-hand with Kiku's part of this cover serial settling into a more measured, meandering pace.

What really does it for me is the subtlety that Tritoma's reign begins off the back of this too. And we know that'll be a long one. We'll talk more about her tomorrow but that generational element is just something core to Okobore Town as well. Which is why it matters to me that the cover serial is slowing down. Remember, there's been a lot of breaks but we're still early in this flashback. This is still the back context that sets up what really matters for the parts of Loki/Harald's story. For comparison, Shakky's entry into this flashback is comparable to about how long it took for Roger to work his way into Oden's. There's likely still a lot left here.

*(I am claiming pre-emptive clemency for this awesome joke if Article 18 of International Law ends up being like, World Government's Fugitive Slave Act.)

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants

Let's play a while, Do you have somewhere to be? Enjoy these first blooms.

How about this shot composition? One Piece doesn't do ambitious perspectives like this a lot, my brain keeps wanting to associate the vibe with Trainspotting and its contemporaries. We have a great "line" with that nice up/down drop between the flanking foils, bonus points for kinda cordoning Kiku off again. All leading to the hilarious scene below in the top corner. The scale, the depth...subtle but cool aesthetic choice to kick off a very cool chapter. One that goes hard on a lot of things we don't usually see in One Piece. Please, please, please give me any of the three up top comically smashing SnoDo next time. That's the only way to top his existence.

This doesn't look like the same grave from last time. That was a dilapidated shrine not a relatively new freestanding marker. No flowers last time either. Hellebore, if I had to guess. Even considering perspective this looks like a much bigger hill. This isn't the West Blue hero. It's probably just some young punk with a good heart snuffed out because his island was dominated by Kaido instead of Bluejam. The type of thing that's new to Kiku as much as it is Yamato, but if it's something humble like that there's also an element that makes this feel like visiting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Would it make sense if I said this doesn't seem like something we'd see if we were about to move on quickly? I hope I run out of my theme for the titles.

I would have had plenty to say if we saw Ryuma's grave, established him as born abroad, then pivoted to Izo's. That's a conventional setup to a final point that illustrates Wano's big foil pair and you can do it as a tidy 4-koma. This is different for one of the most nonconventional pairs in the series, and I do think the way the perspective makes them look normal-sized for a chance enhances the effect. Even letting this hero tower over Kaido. It could be the cover serial doing something weird and nontraditional. A tour of Ringo's graves and Wano history is oddly in line with a flashback Luffy's hearing out in the snowy underworld. Cho's probably giving the kids some kind of context between points of interest so are they just having a jumpy, all-over-the-place flashback too? One grave is a destination. Two graves? That's an intermission.

What do you want me to say about the chapter underneath? This is the panel that makes me feel like Kiku's taking her sweet time and then...we'll get to the rest tomorrow. Enjoy the snow day today.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

The best part about Elbaph is Ulti being happy and relaxed. And also Page One being a supportive little brother and carrying all the bags.

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Me, ten minutes ago: Man, I'm looking for a couple of specific Kiku reference images for a drawing I want to try. It'd be really awesome if there were like, a repository of every panel she was in somewhere I could scroll through...

I'm never beating the dumb blonde jokes...

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And last but well...kinda least tbh we have Uta. I dunno, Film Red was alright and Uta as a concept is cool. I like the songs. The usual tie-in episodes were nice. But I don't like you being on such a special pedestal for movie characters. Especially so heavily tied to Shanks, the biggest consistent enigma in the series. It's such a bizarre way to break into fleshing him out.

Though, as you can see here it is a story that pertains to young Uta and her time with Shanks. Through the lens of Uta writing "Where the Wind Blows." Like...c'mon guys give us the backstory to "Backlight" where she's wrecking shit and raging against the machine. Sorry. The story is very cute. When Uta's a toddler she can't sleep while the ship's in port so Shanks takes her around a night market. She talks about where the wind comes from ("The sea, like us") and hears a mother singing a lullaby to her baby. Which snowballs into Uta taking an interest in music. It is a cute story, just fluff about a character I think was the weakest choice of the eight.

That's it for this volume. Uta's story is still good, but Tashigi's was my favorite. Reiju's was full of surprises, and Hancock's had the fun structure and hilarity of well, Boa Hancock declaring she's pregnant. I want another one now. It is contractually obligated to give me Kiku & Tsuru at the teahouse. I snuck it into Oda's contract with a sharpie.

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Oh...Reiju's story is quite sad after being very funny. There's a very clear point in time this occurs, while Judge is looking for Sanji and the boys are preparing for the assault we introduce them in. So right before Whole Cake. Germa's screwing around, they commandeer a merchant ship, get hungry, and decide that cooking can't be too hard to figure out. So it makes it kinda like, trigger memories of Sanji for them. This story really does clarify Reiju is different from her brothers, she has a lot more capacity for emotion. But then all trying to cook is adorable. Niji has a glorious rant about why it's totally pointless to have baking chocolate if you're just making chocolate. Yonji can't knead bread because his metal hands are too cold to activate the yeast. Reiju decides to keep it simple and remembers a silly story about a penguin making an omelette. At least we had something to compete with Perona's sangria.

But it does take a touching turn when they get back home. Reiju shows a little more appreciation for the kitchen staff and the quality of the meals they make. She has a nice vision in the picture of Sora, her, and Sanji baking cookies with Mama like normal kids. The jump from silly fun to emotional gut punch is really well done here. I bet having this in mind will make the next Whole Cake rewatch a lot better.

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#2 is our second-favorite deputy Tashigi, and I say that because of an effect you can pretty much dub The Tashigi Effect. In a massive ensemble cast, sometimes you'll get a character who's perfectly fine, good even...but just plain outclassed at anything you do. I love Tashigi, always have. But first check the blog name, Kiku runs laps around you as the plucky deputy and the silent but powerful move of sorta undercutting any nitpicks about considering her in the Kuina bucket through the Minks/Kawamatsu as little brothers? Sorry, that's just more interesting than Tashigi griping at Zoro about it. Hina's a cooler lady marine and now add the SWORD girlies. We're at a point we've got renowned blacksmiths like Sukiyaki to drop sword lore, even Smoker's long outclassed. It is what it is.

I bring it up because this short story uses that context well. Simple enough idea. Smoker & Tashigi & Co. pull into a backwater island to make repairs. There's some small-time pirates flying under the Navy's radar. These are our good guy Marines so they're already on it but it compounds with Tashigi already stumbling when giving sword lessons to a local girl. When asked if she's strong, Tashigi's just being humble but the girl takes it the wrong way. Leads to her rushing off to deal with the pirates when the Navy was just waiting until morning for them to all be together. Then naturally, Tashigi solves it by reminding you she's still a Captain in the Marines and only "weak" in comparison to the monsters of the world she's been around.

There's a huge gap between backwater pirates and standing even with Roronoa Zoro in this world. Tashigi's way closer to him than they are to her. It's easy to forget that when she has a humble personality and can be a little spacey. Making this story a clever defense of Tashigi as a character in addition to being a good story about her. You watch, the chuds are gonna have a big moment of revelation about her when the episode drops.

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First up is the Pirate Empress, the Snake Princess, Boa Hancock herself. Who can be a bit of a contentious character but...I love her. In the purest "I support women's wrongs" kind of way. Content-wise, her story isn't quite as strong as the others. We have a new Kuja Dahlia, banger flower. She was swept overboard and came back with a child after a tryst with a man on a trading vessel. Hancock calls Dahlia in, and we go hard on the joke Hancock knows nothing about love, sex, anything. One big string of comical misunderstandings from Dahlia's perspective.

What's cool about this one is how we flip it. After that scene you see the same story again from Hancock's perspective. And...thank you for any extended look into that woman's thought process. She straight-up twists Dahlia's story into thinking she is already pregnant with Luffy's child. It's magical. Never change, Hebihime.

(You also get some nice world building about Kuja society, how they collectively raise children, and it was nice seeing Marguerite/Aphelhandra again!)

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Ahh! The ending is so cute! I love that York is included too, with her laser bazooka! I miss her! She's def my favorite Vegapunk, my smart and silly, misguided, freedom seeking daughter.

The insistence from parts of the fandom that she deserves to suffer awful things is so tired and off, given she's still basically a child.

This ending has me wondering if she also looks up to Nika, and wants to be free to be more than just another Vegapunk. I hope she gets a redemption arc.

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Finally got into this beauty! Just in time for the anime announcement and that will be a hoot I am certain. These short stories are fun and about the right length for an episode each. This time around we get Boa Hancock and a funny conversation with a Kuja who came back pregnant, Tashigi dealing with some backwater pirates, Reiju sorta being like Perona last time and a backdoor to include a bit about Sanji, then Uta rounding out the collection. I've already said from the last one I like these, a lot, and we'll take on each short story with it's own post like the first volume. But for today, since it doesn't have as much meat anyways...

We get another bonus Nami/Robin story! And unlike the first one, I can talk about this one without really screwing up the appeal. Nami has a freckle! Like, I have really fair skin too and it's just a thing that makes sense. If you get a lot of sun you'll freckle a bit, usually temporarily. It's a bigger deal in Japan, akin to spotting a pimple. Most of her overreaction was cute. Usopp being the honorary one of the girlies who's examining it, Sanji saying he doesn't care, and Zoro's exact reaction you'd expect are all good.

Leads to Nami rushing out to Grand Line Sephora and buying all the skincare stuff. Which is one of the most relatable Nami moments for me. Where the story gets cute is when she gets back to Robin and her safe space for all this in the girls' cabin. Complete with a reminder some of the guys aren't terrible here when Brook hooks them up with the good shit hair oil. It's cute, it's silly, I like Nami being a total girly girl so it's a good story for me. Especially with the group we get for the main short stories. This is definitely the volume that gets into more varied stories.

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And now we have our second issue that I was able to pick up. This is November 2008, so a year from our last one and there won't be a Nov. 2009 issue. I'd have been a high school senior when this came out, getting ready for my last play on our Drama Club's main stage and my little garage band's first show. Both around Christmas. Maybe anime is less important when you're living one. I know I wouldn't come back from that last Winter break the same...if you've been there you know how the veil kinda slips away in the final stretch.

You can already see up at the top too, if you were here yesterday I already said my piece about this era of anime fandom. I respect certain aspects of it, but I just wasn't clicking with banner series like Ouran High School Host Club. The vampire fad annoyed me because I got called a nerd for reading the original Dracula novel like, a year before everyone started obsessing about Twilight. But oh no, Ouran is much more than a banner. Prepare yourself...

They are absolutely plugging this upcoming release! And fair, Shojo Beat's imprint was covering the manga volumes. Probably gave them a last little boost to stay afloat as the 2008 Financial Crash unfolded. Which, doing some homework on the magazine for these posts yeah that was cited as a reason. If nothing else, they had a staff of around 45-50 people on this magazine. It had a stable, loyal subscriber base but didn't really grow a lot over it's four years. If Tokyopop couldn't survive that downturn, Shojo Beat wasn't. Especially when we're talking the golden age of media piracy kicking off and the years where social media felt useful.

This is the lineup and the six consistent series are the ones the magazine would end with. Most of them are the same as last year's issue from yesterday. Crimson Hero was the one to go the distance. Honey & Clover was a solid get midway through. Double honey power with Honey Hunt as our new addition. I probably would have liked this one a lot given the personal backstory I gave. Girl trying to make it as an actress to step out of the shadows cast by famous parents. Haruka, Sand Chronicle, and Vampire Knight are still here as well.

Here's our new feature! St. Dragon Girl. Example panel on the left, looks a little younger than Shojo Beat tended to go for. But there's a fun energy to the chapter. Martial arts romcom with some dragon stuff thrown in. Neat.

Wanted to squeeze one in for Crimson Hero because that's one I think I will go back and give a proper read. At least for a little bit. Proud tradition of girls' volleyball being punk rock as hell in Japan. Oyabun Ayuhara would be proud.

And finally some cool stuff in the back! Last one had horoscopes too but the lil panda guy mascot. This ad...so 2008. On the right is a cool feature that'd pop up from time to time. Even if Absolute Boyfriend wasn't in the magazine anymore we still had some content from Yuu Watase. She really did a lot to help this magazine flourish so that's pretty cool. I have my gripes about Nuriko in Fushigi Yuugi but like, it's always been one of the cases that makes me wonder if we didn't have some editorial meddling. And I feel that way because of how well the story started.

Anyways, that was Shojo Beat! I hope you enjoyed it. I'm glad to have these alongside my manga collection and will grab em if they pop up elsewhere. It's sad to me magazines just aren't really a thing anymore. Never would have guessed that in 2008. Something about the intent of being temporary makes it so nostalgic to look back on. There was a day one Summer my anticipation paid off, and I got the first issue of this new magazine and the first DVD of Kodocha in the mailbox. A day all my troubles got to sit on the backburner and both of those items would be shared liberally with friends when school came back in session. I like this era where a huge library of anime is always at your fingertips.

But you do lose some of the community element when there's less of a curated bottleneck like this magazine or Adult Swim's Saturday night bloc. And I don't think that's just a "getting older" thing either. I do think it is a legitimate downside of the streaming era and I've heard others echo the sentiment. I don't want to confuse it for gatekeeping in the sense of fans being jerks and policing spaces, but like...that little natural barrier to entry feels like it helped shape things. Getting everything the same season as Japan spoils the mystery, it's just another type of TV that has plenty of schlock. It was cool as hell back then partially because the fledgling companies bringing it over had the advantage of being able to only port over the cream of the crop (or cheap and weird) with decades to draw from. But also because it was rare enough you'd put up with something like a Pilot Candidate or a Reign: the Conqueror.

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Let's crack one of these open, the story of the magazine itself isn't as fun as what's inside. This is the November 2007 issue, so about as close as you can get to the midpoint of Shojo Beat's run. Good mix of content the magazine started with but we get to see some of the evolution as well. This would have come out about a year after my subscription lapsed, I think I sprung for an 18-month deal because they pushed this heavily in anime circles early 2005. 11/2007 would be around the point my junior year of high school was in full swing. Definitely not as into anime at the time, but I probably would be if I knew One Piece snapped out of "peak shonen" to kick off it's Scooby Doo arc complete with singing afro skeleton this year.

We'll talk about this as we wind through the magazine. We're not quite there yet, Ouran Host Club would need about another year to become the phenomenon it was in Western fandoms, but the winds were shifting that way. A lot of anime fandom was also trying to chase the vampire craze because this is big Twilight era. Naruto was a more gradual step up from Pokemon for kids just a little younger. So anime circles were rapidly shifting; what was a hobby I was mostly sharing with college kids was shifting to something bigger for the classes a few years down from mine. And it made it hard to keep up.

Less sifting for hidden gems together, more marketing making it easy to find anime that fit the "lol so random" style of the times. The sunset of the first wave of anime fans who were able to keep pace with what was trendy in Japan. I'm not complaining mind you. It was cool to see anime becoming more popular and it meant we had an explosion of niche stuff not just getting fan translations...but getting licensed! This was also the golden age for cons. But that era of like, Ouran, Hetalia, and Lucky Star being the hot new anime? Just one that never clicked for me. The 90s were truly dead and so were the up-their-ass early 00s imitators. Okay that's enough setting, let's get to the magazine!

So first here's our table of contents. And don't you just love the weird era you could have a print magazine ad for a website? There's so many of those in here. But here are our seven series for this month's issue. So what are we reading taking a trip up to grandma's for Thanksgiving?

Wild Ones is the one we're pushing as a new addition. The magazine was really tinkering with its lineup here. They actually used the same type of mail-in reader surveys Japanese magazines did. Yakuza series and so the issue will have some content about that.

Crimson Hero is up there on the top-right. This was a series I mentioned yesterday but it is the only one to go the distance for Shojo Beat's run. Pretty good little volleyball series with a very brash, butch protagonist. Good to have one in the mix, I like sports manga so I remember it fondly.

Sand Chronicles was on the cover. Don't know as much about this one, but it's a romance and it seems like we're getting to a hot moment in it! From the summary it kinda sounds like a reverse Skip & Loafer, city girl going out to the boonies.

Absolute Boyfriend was another one from the first issue. Yuu Watase, who gave us Fushigi Yuugi which I so desperately want to like but you did Nuriko so dirty I can't. This one is funny though, I always liked it. Sorta like a gender-flipped Chobits.

Third row we have a big one in Honey & Clover. Old fans would remember how hot this college slice-of-life was. I need to go back and check it out. Pretty new to the magazine at this point. They even run two chapters. But a banger pickup for the magazine because it had great buzz in anime circles. Closest thing this issue has to a "best of" like the American Shonen Jump would do. Shojo Beat always tried to stay current, but I think getting a good legacy anchor series like a Rumiko Takahashi work would have helped. Maison Ikkoku would have fit the tone and reeled in Inuyasha fans.

Vampire Knight is next to it. Like I said, this is the big era for Twilight. You couldn't get away from vampire anime & manga. Because there were a ton of them. I don't really know what distinguishes this one from the rest because it's a genre I avoid like well...a vampire would garlic or a cross. But I bet these types don't.

Last but not least is Haruka. Your classic shoujo isekai series. Because that used to be one of the girliest things you could do in manga. Inuyasha had borderline mainstream appeal, most anime fans at the time knew about Fushigi Yuugi. This was a good genre to include a fresh example of. Also very new to the magazine, having made its debut in the previous issue.

And that's our lineup! Good mix of series, always liked that. I'd read Nana, Absolute Boyfriend, and Crimson Hero out of the subscription I got and that plus the articles felt like a good deal. Two of those are still here and there's two I feel like checking out. Like I said, feel like a good legacy series was a missed opportunity. Especially when you have a team that's clearly made up of anime fans that want to curate a good experience. I think this is the type of production you could even get away with something like a Rose of Versailles and present it as a manga history lesson. You'll notice this is a pretty mature bent too. This was an era where people cared less about teens taking in R-rated material already, but it is advertised for older teens. Clearly intended for girls who were already anime fans. Which I respect. We don't always have to be beginner-friendly.

Here's Wild Ones. I don't want to focus too much on the manga itself because you can read those if they sound interesting. But I did want to show this off because I didn't remember they did it either. Japanese magazines will do this, Shojo Beat didn't initially but they eventually switched to printing manga in cyan or magenta. Which is pretty cool if you ask me. I dig it at least. So yeah, we have a good yakuza series. This one caught my eye and I kinda want to follow up. There's also a big yakuza feature in the back that talks about some cultural norms, some of the editors give a few movie recs. Pretty cool.

Excellent color page for Honey & Clover! Like I said, this one was a pretty smart get for the magazine. When I was really getting into anime fandoms mid-00s, Full Moon Wo Sagashite which we'll get to was one of the biggest current things coming out. But as that was winding down Honey & Clover was the next big hit. It was kinda over my head at the time but like I said...might actually go back and read this one. The chapters here were quite fun. This one actually ran as a josei in Japan but it fits this magazine. College kids, the little blonde has some shades of what we'd go on to call a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, or maybe a precursor to the Moe Boom is more apt. Kinda both. But not quite to that being a big deal yet which means it felt cool and new at the time. Two chapters in this issue so that's a plus.

I don't know if I like the Peach Girl ad or the DIY guide more. The latter is something Shojo Beat would typically include. Something for the crafty girlies. Which has always been a stalwart side of anime fandoms.

Oh but you gotta love the 2007 alt fashions! I didn't wear anything like this at the time. Very not my style, I was much more into the later trend of business casual at the club. Because I look good in a blazer. But damn...those fingerless gloves. I don't think you could get more 2007.

Now this was easily the coolest part! Arina Tanemura was the author behind Full Moon wo Sagashite. Which like I said was very popular to torrent 2004-2005 as it aired in Japan. I was committed enough to stick with the slow dial-up download. Took about 2 weeks of letting it run overnight to get a four episode batch but hey...when you're used to maybe getting a chance every two months to pick up that many episodes of something on a $20-$30 DVD not a bad deal.

The interview focuses a lot more on her current series, should track down this Gentleman's Alliance because it sounds fun. It's just really cool she took the time to sit down with the magazine for a three-page interview. Sounds like a sweet lady happy to have success and that's great for her. Viz definitely gave it a fair shot by making Full Moon the banner for the volume releases and anime DVDs under the Shojo Beat branding. Cute but solid drama about a young singer with some fantasy/magical girl elements. Music was really good too. I tracked down the soundtrack on eBay back in the day. Listened to that shit on a Discman. It was awesome.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

My teenage heart leapt when I saw these sitting on the used manga shelf at the local store. Oh how I wish I still had the entire first year's run. I could get by so, so much with anime stuff because my mom thought it was all Pokemon but these were a little too girly she started to catch on. So most of us know Shonen Jump had it's own English-language release, did you know about it's sister that Viz cranked out? Started in 2005 with Nana as a flagship series alongside some I remember like Yuu Watase's Absolute Boyfriend and Crimson Hero, a pretty fun volleyball series. "Manga from the heart" is such a cute slogan.

Honestly, it's impressive this made it four years. Alright subscriber base from the jump and it had the secondary benefit of promoting Viz manga volumes under the same SB branding, but if I had to guess like anything good smothered at the end of the 00s the financial crash had something to do with it. I wish I could show teens today the anime & manga culture we had that decade. This was a banger of a magazine to get in the mail every month. Good smattering of different shoujo manga. As you can see from one of these interviews with authors were common alongside articles about fashion, Japanese culture, etc. that were always a treat.

I know they're inefficient. I know they're out of style. But man...I miss magazines. There was a time when even for something niche like this I could find (growing up in a very small town) this, Shonen Jump, Newtype, and Animerica. Four, count em, four magazines with that much reach about a super niche hobby at the time. Not to mention the heyday of Adult Swim's anime block and people forget a lot of channels tried something like that. Especially if you had satellite TV and could probe the obscure channels in the high numbers. Anime fandom was just cool in that decade, all the access but it still felt like a cool underground thing. Still had that little bit of social cohesion, a short list of series pretty much everyone would see...

Sorry, I'm being old and nostalgic. Come back tomorrow and the day after, we'll crack these issues open in full. Really excited for that Arina Tanemura interview. Full Moon wo Sagashite was a big seasonal hit mid-decade the Shojo Beat imprint really tried to push as an anime/tankobon release.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

I still think that last panel's line from Kaido says more about him than another two chapters of flashbacks could have. It is my favorite bit of characterization for him. Because it's so weirdly self-centered. He recognized Luffy was working with the retainers but somehow can't grok the idea Luffy might have just legitimately cared enough to learn their story. Even though one of the few things Kaido shares with Yamato is an obsession with myths and legends.

It's such a subtle moment, but one of Kaido's best.

I was thinking about Wano, Whitebeard, Roger, Oden and Kaido again and got carried away haha.

Kaido values commitment to a cause, though doesn't grasp the reasons that Oden, Whitebeard, and Roger all died the ways they did, that they did it for those who will follow in their footsteps. He doesn't understand that Oden's retainers will still respect him after he's gone and devalues such bonds as being weaknesses.

He believes that Oden having lost should mean that his life no longer has value and the connections he made in life lost their meaning. Kaido thinks that only Oden's death is what matters.

As Oden is about to die, I think that's when Kaido begins believing that Oden's life no longer has meaning, stating that Oden's death will be remembered as great but then doesn't mention anything else. Any of Oden's other achievements… gathering followers, becoming a Daimyo, reaching Laughtale etc. all become worthless in Kaido's eyes.

Kaido doesn't grasp that Oden's followers will still believe in the dream Oden had but they do. Where as Ulti and Page One no longer believe in Kaido after he's gone, and become allies with Yamato and Kiku, enemies of Kaido, because he never encouraged that belief in a cause is deserved after the death of the person who stood for that cause.

This short exchange says so much about him too. The fact that Kaido is considering the possibility that Luffy was fighting him purely for the glory of it, where Luffy knows nothing of the plight of Oden and his followers.