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On today’s stream: An adorable (but emotional) wrap-up to the 2022 Halloween Month Reviews, looking at Episode 12 of How to Keep a Mummy. Plus, a live-reaction to Chapter 75 of Blue Box! Watch along today at 11 AM EDT on Twitch and YouTube.

And read along as well: an initial script for today’s stream is below.

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Video Description

On today’s stream: An adorable (but emotional) wrap-up to the 2022 Halloween Month Reviews, looking at Episode 12 of How to Keep a Mummy. Plus, a live-reaction to Chapter 75 of Blue Box!

Read “Blue Box”: https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/chapters/blue-box

Watch “How to Keep a Mummy” on Crunchyroll (#JustAMeeting): https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GRDQPN8KY/how-to-keep-a-mummy

A transcript and links to content discussed are available at http://www.dereksmcgrath.wordpress.com.

Support this livestream at http://ko-fi.com/dereksmcgrath (and get access to my Discord, too!)

Promotions:

Support Jeff Harris: http://paypal.me/nemalki https://twitter.com/nemalki

Professional Left Podcast: https://professionalleft.blogspot.com/

Black Comics Chat: https://www.twitch.tv/blackcomicschat

Commission artwork from GoldenSunDeer: https://twitter.com/GoldenSunDeer

Pop Arena on “Noozles”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvMcx-r5OJQ

Irregulars Productions “Soul Eater” content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbepqcHtthJnp2uTriH8wIw

Join more ethical social media platforms

Music:

“Los Angeles” by Muzaproduction: https://pixabay.com/music/motown-old-school-rnb-los-angeles-20922/

“Let the Mystery Unfold” by Geoff Harvey: https://pixabay.com/users/geoffharvey-9096471

“Sunshine” by lemonmusicstudio: https://pixabay.com/users/lemonmusicstudio-14942887 https://open.spotify.com/artist/4XWZhZ32YrVV5lvpF7cr1E?si=tnbSklR7SJyPNKiHP4MbHA

Intro

Let’s get started. Today is October 30, 2022. Happy early Halloween! Mask up and be safe this week. This is Sunday Morning Manga. I am Derek S. McGrath, my pronouns are he/him/his. I’m here every Sunday, 11 AM on Twitch and YouTube. You can read my writing on Tumblr and WordPress, @dereksmcgrath, and email me at [email protected].

If you like what you’re hearing, consider a monetary contribution. Putting together this stream takes a bit of work, and your tips help pay down costs for setup and subscriptions. You can tip me Ko-Fi, ko-fi.com/dereksmcgrath. Thank you for your consideration.

Accessibility and Links

Links to this chapter and other content from today’s stream are available on my web site, dereksmcgrath.wordpress.com. There’s also a script for today’s stream and all images for greater accessibility.

Vote for Democrats by Nov 8

The final day to vote is coming up on November 8–so check your voter registration and where to vote at vote.org, vote down-ballot for Democrats to oppose the rise of American fascism, rightwing violence, anti-trans bullshit, racist and antisemitic bullshit, and all the other environmental damage, gun violence, and more that Democrats are fighting against–and need you to fight against with your vote for Democrats! Again, vote.org, vote before November 8, and thank you for your consideration in the fight against fascism, bigotry, and utter dumb-fuckery.

Today’s Halloween Month Review

With that serious stuff out of the way for a moment, onto the livestream!

We are at the end of October, so this is the final 2022 Halloween month review. And we are wrapping up–no pun intended–with a story about a tiny baby mummy. We’re going to look at How to Keep a Mummy Episode 12, “Always Together,” which you can watch on Crunchyroll (#JustAMeeting). But to talk about Episode 12, we’ll also have to talk about Episode 11, titled “I Want to Be with You Forever and Ever.”

Promotion: Soul Eater Content from Irregulars Productions

And if I may interrupt with a promotion a bit early, yeah, I admit, there is one glaring oversight for Halloween animation content, that being the 2008-2009 anime Soul Eater from Studio BONES. It’s pretty much the anime that everyone always cites every Halloween, given it’s Nightmare Before Christmas vibes. And I didn’t get around to delving into any of it this October. But if you’re interested, I recommend checking out some Soul Eater content, both original and abridged, from YouTube channel Irregulars Productions. Check out Irregulars Productions on YouTube for your Soul Eater Halloween needs–link is in the video description.

Today’s Live Reaction: Blue Box

But first, as with every Sunday, there is a live-reaction to a new manga chapter released this morning, this time looking at Chapter 75 of Blue Box. The series is written and illustrated by Kouji Miura, with translation by Christine Dashiell and lettering by Mark McMurray. Blue Box is distributed in English in the United States by Viz; you can read at their web site. You can read along at the Viz web site–link is in the video description and on screen, or go to viz.com/shonenjump/chapters/blue-box.

Previously in Blue Box

The last time we did a live-reaction to Blue Box was back on August 21, 2022, looking at Chapter 65. What happened in that chapter? The school play wrapped up with a performance of Snow White, with Taiki as Prince Charming and Hina as Snow White. And one trip by Taiki onto Hina made the audience assume the two did indeed kiss on stage, surprising Taiki’s crush Chinatsu.

And, honestly, I’m getting tired of this love triangle.

One detail I appreciated about Blue Box was how well it let the main developing couple, Taiki and Chinatsu, get to know each other and slowly build any relationship between them. But then Hina, who has been in the series since the first chapters, revealed almost 50 chapters later that she too has a crush on Taiki–and maybe that should have been obvious to me, and maybe I was holding onto a preference for having a girl-boy platonic friendship without forcing it into romance. And as chapters keep going, Taiki is more and more confused whether he sees Hina as a platonic friend or a potential girlfriend. All of this is fine when it comes to acknowledging that emotions are difficult, relationships are difficult–even after high school.

And I really hope I’m not Team Taiki x Chinatsu just because that is how this manga started–but when a love triangle plot makes Taiki look like he just can’t commit, rather than that he actually is processing his feelings, it is hard to sit through.

Or, maybe this is my fault–where I, as the reader, am coercing Taiki into a position he doesn’t want to be in, and I’m expecting him to have all of this figured out and inadvertently telling him to, forgive the phrase, “man up” and as I said “commit,” rather than acknowledging that I am holding Taiki to a toxic masculine expectation. What do you think? How am I misreading this? I would appreciate your feedback in the comments section.

But that’s the plot so far when it comes to the romance side–what about the sports side? The various sports teams were taken together on the same field trip for training, and it just happens that the badminton, basketball, and rhythmic gymnastic teams are all at the same training camp. And it lends to more awkwardness for Taiki, as he is now at the same camp as Chinatsu and Hina–and he is still worried about whether he is attracted to both Chinatsu and Hina. And, yes, that love triangle remains annoying.

But if there is one advantage this arc has had when it comes to the love triangle, it was in Chapter 73, where Taiki gets a bit more stubborn, but not necessarily in a bad way. After all of his anxiety about whether he actually is attracted to Chinatsu or that he just admires her. In other words, he is more familiar with Hina, and knows her personally, whereas with Chinatsu, there is still mystery and another athlete he admires for her hard work and athletic success. But is that “love”? Chapter 73 ends in an odd way, and I don’t know what to do with it: Taiki admits that while he doesn’t quite know how he feels about Hina and Chinatsu, he does know what he knows: he knows his favorite beverage, he knows his favorite color, so even if he doesn’t know how he feels about Hina and Chinatsu, he can plant his feet firmly into some reality and hold onto that reality to keep persisting with his athletic ambitions and whatever comes next with Hina and Chinatsu.

Too bad the next chapter has him doubting himself again. But that is believable. Again, he can plant himself into a reality–but that doesn’t mean he knows everything he wants just yet.

Oh, and there is one new addition to the manga since I talked about Chapter 65 on August 21, 2022: the manga has added a new character, the badminton team manager, Ayame, who is friends with Hina and trying to push Taiki into dating her. And…yeah, again, love triangle stuff is annoying. But, lowered expectations, I appreciate that the manga hasn’t (so far) made Ayame another one of Taiki’s potential love interests, because a harem structure is so not needed for this series.

But enough of that context: let’s get going and jump into today’s live-reaction to Chapter 75 of Blue Box! You can read along at the Viz web site: Google “Blue Box Viz” to pull up the new chapter and read along.

Live-Reaction: Blue Box Chapter 75

And that’s where we are. So let’s get started with Page 1 of Chapter 75 of Blue Box! Read along at viz.com/shonenjump/chapters/blue-box–link is in the video description and on screen.

[Transcript of the live-reaction to be included later]

Halloween Month Review: How to Keep a Mummy

Now let’s wrap up today’s livestream with the last Halloween month review for 2022!

I’ll ask at the end of the livestream, but have you enjoyed these reviews? Would you like more of them around various holidays? Let me know in the comments section, and if you really liked these and want to hear more, send me a one-dollar contribution at ko-fi.com/dereksmcgrath with your recommended comic, TV show, movie, video game, whatever, that you would like to hear me review.

So, we are wrapping up Halloween month with what I thought was going to be lighter, less-spooky fare–that only hid a melancholic and traumatizing core. Yay. Today we’re looking at the final episode (so far) of the anime How to Keep a Mummy, available to stream in Japanese with English subtitles at Crunchyroll (#JustAMeeting).

But there is a slight change of plans: I didn’t realize the final episode was part two of a two-parter, so we’ll also cover Episode 11 as well.

The Spooky (and the Cutesy)

Why did I pick this anime for the final Halloween month review? I should start with a disclaimer: this is a series that is more about fantastic creatures than necessarily spooky creatures, and I have to eat crow after how I criticized Ray Bradbury’s The Halloween Tree for conflating and flattening various holidays as just being the foreign equivalent to Halloween. On the one hand, that’s not my intent–but on the other hand, I can’t ignore that I am doing what Bradbury did with the mummies, and what even this anime we’re talking about today does, which is the uncomfortable exoticizing, orientalizing, and arabesque-ing of Egyptian culture. At best, I can say I’m not trying to take the Japanese elements of yokai from this series to turn that into something for Halloween–but when this anime itself is about a mummy, and what that says about how we still exoticize Egyptian history and culture, it’s hard not to transition into all of this during Halloween month.

But that still doesn’t answer why I picked this anime for the final Halloween month review. My choice was out of an attempt to fill in holes that I tend to see this time of year, where people want really frightening Halloween content–rather than just something cute and only a little spooky.

When people think of Halloween, I think we can overly simplify what they expect to two categories: kiddie fare and adult fare. You have the cartoony content with ghosts, ghouls, vampires, Frankenstein monsters, and so on–it’s dressing up and going door to door for trick or treating. Then there is the adult fare: blood, gore, violence, torture, horror, death. While I am not unfamiliar with this grimmer content in my fiction–I teach Edgar Allan Poe, for crying out loud–I really do not like such content. When it’s Halloween, I want goofy silly fun. And if it’s cute, that helps too.

How to Keep a Mummy is definitely adorable–at the visual level. And the human characters are initially scared out of their wits by what they encounter–before quickly getting used to things, not only out of the cuteness but because, well, you see something enough, you get used to it and stop being afraid, not the worst lesson to get from a story. And I hinted at this a moment ago, but this anime is not all sunshine and gumdrops, and the anime has melancholy and trauma at its core–but we’ll get to that. Let’s focus on just the cute stuff first before moving into the grim stuff.

The Plot

How to Keep a Mummy is about Sora, a high school student who has received a gift in the mail from his globe-trotting father: a tiny mummy! Adopting the supernatural being like a pet, Sora names him Mii-kun. But Sora isn’t the only one encountering tiny adorable supernatural entities: so are his friends!

And…that’s pretty much the plot. Kind of underwhelming, actually.

I’ll get to this more when talking about the bad of the series, but the setup is rather flimsy and simple. While this is a slice-of-life narrative, the core component to it is that the series is about humans finding cute supernatural creatures and adopting them as pets. It’s like Digimon–only without the action, although about as much angst and trauma. Or, it’s like Magu-chan–only without the comedic bite.

Production

The anime is based on an ongoing webcomic by Kakeru Utsgui. It was adapted into a 12-episode anime at the beginning of 2018, produced by animation studio Eight Bit (known for the anime That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime and now Blue Lock) and directed by Kaori, known for the anime Encouragement of Climb, and…yeah, I can see some that in the visual DNA of Mummy: inconsistent lines around characters–not out of laziness but deliberate effect to lend a sketchy, incomplete quality to make the artwork look more like something off of the comics page; round characters; obvious facial reactions and body language.

Episodic Storytelling

I started watching the anime I think a year ago. I had done the Episode 7 Rule on that–if you don’t know what that is, check the link in the video description, but it’s a guideline to try to get a feel for the tone and style of a TV show before committing to it, and to jump into the story when the plot really gets going. Unfortunately, How to Keep a Mummy is very episodic, so while that rule helps know the tone and humor of the show, you don’t really get a sense of the characters–at least, not as complex as they can be. If there is any good news, the main characters are all pretty well defined, so you won’t be too lost getting a sense of their personalities and how they stick close to and defy expectations for the archetype they embody.

The Good

That seems as good a transition as to talk about the good of the series, and since I brought up the character archetypes, let’s talk about how they are presented.

The main four human characters’ personalities and designs stand out and make them easily identifiable–and work in terms of dividing them up in various ways. What do I mean by that? It’s a quadrant effect, in which you can take two out of the four characters and position them on the same side in most issues, so that no one character ever feels like they are completely on their own at any time.

For example, Sora and Tazuki have known about the supernatural since childhood–while Asa and Daichi are out of their depth, having just first encountered these new beings, so, those pairs get along well in those regards. But Sora and Asa tend to be bubbly and optimistic–while Tazuki and Daichi have past traumas that make them initially grumpy and even antagonistic. This means you can have a plot where Sora and Tazuki have to work together given their common knowledge of the supernatural–but, as apparent in this two-part finale to the series, their excited and antagonistic reactions to the supernatural creates tension in the plot itself.

As seen on screen, the teenagers’ designs do make them stand out, whether subtle changes in their faces or the more obvious versions of anime hair to the characters. (And, yes, I have held back on remarking that of course the main character named Sora has hair just like Sora from Kingdom Hearts.)

This variety of character designs also applies to most of the humans’ tiny supernatural pets. We have Mii-kun the tiny mummy, Conny the baby oni, Isaso the small dragon, and Mukumuku the baku (that’s a tapir-like creature that can eat bad dreams).

I’ll get back to the characters in a moment, but let’s talk about what else is good about this series.

The acting is solid. Mutsumi Tamura (known as Koybayashi of Dragon Maid fame) as the main character Sora does great bouncing between Sora at his most pleasant, calm, and flexible–and then his freak-outs when things just get too much even for someone as patient as him.

Reaction animation is more limited, if only because Mii-kun is mostly verbally silent and can communicate only by their eyes, body language, and some emotional icons around their head, like sweat for scared or sad, flowers when happy, or shivering when sick. We do get some sign language and subtitles from another demon oni in Episode 8, though–which leads to miscommunication for some funny effect. This is a rare anime where I think you can enjoy it without subtitles or audio on, given that most characters are mute or differently intelligible.

Other than that, I can’t say as much good about the animation, and we’ll get to its flaws once the action kicks in when talking about Episode 12. But, in terms of visuals, the background art is gorgeous, especially the outdoor scenes in Episodes 8, 11, and 12. It is stunning, really, especially when we get a segment of just Mii and a new oni friend exploring a mushroom forest at night.

If there is any flaw to the supernatural characters’ designs, it’s that they are kind of typical–which is the point: they are supposed to embody all popular imagination of said creatures, down to their essence, so they need to be recognizable. And that means the kid characters are also going to be typical designs so that they suit certain archetypes: Tazuki is edgy, Asa is bubbly, Sora is optimistic. And at least among the supernatural critters’ designs, Isao the dragon is a great design, just in terms of being a chubby boy.

The Bad

Now, if the series stuck to just the misadventures of these main four characters and their supernatural sidekicks, I think this anime would be pretty good. But the intervention of other characters can get in the way. That was a hang-up I had with Episodes 11 and 12, where we are thrust into the kids accidentally arriving at a yokai summer solstice festival, and now you’re having to keep track of some new characters. There are also some late additions to the cast, but they are mostly fun, whether a god literally named Kami who becomes the equivalent of a preschool teacher to the tiny creatures so that their human friends don’t have to keep hiding them when they bring them to school, or, probably the best addition to the cast, Aayan, who is supposed to be this annoying Anubis talking statue–but instead is actually hilarious, if just because of how desperately he is trying to be liked, and he’s voiced by Ryusei Nakao. So, if you wanted to hear Freeza from Dragon Ball or Caesar from One Piece just screaming at you that he just wants attention and friendship, you’re in the right place for probably the best performance in the series.

Now, that all sounds good: Kami is fun as the preschool teacher, Aayan is fun as the new last-minute character added towards the end of the series. So why am I bringing them up in “The Bad” category for this series? Because for all the other characters you add, there remains that awkwardness around one other character included, and that is Sora’s guardian, his aunt Kaede.

As I mentioned, Sora’s father is globetrotting, so Sora lives with his aunt–and is taking care of a lot of the housework, because she works multiple jobs. That’s all good. And her design is memorable, especially the hair. But then the series adds this weird twist where, whenever she puts on her glasses, she acts kind of drunk and flirty? Is it that her glasses are cursed? I mean, we’ll get to the other flaw in this series, where everything and anything seems to be magic, but the series never outright spells that out. And I wouldn’t mind Kaede having another personality when she has on the glasses–if it was presented as her just gaining more confidence or, dare I say, just less inhibitions and more courage without a drunk subtext to it. And I really can’t stand it because, at least one time when she puts on the glasses, she starts flirting with one of Sora’s high school classmates and even Sora, her own nephew. That’s just gross. It’s such a needless detail to this series.

The Confusing

But then there is the stuff that I can’t quite call good, but I can’t call bad–because it all seems to be content that defies expectations to the entire series.

I hinted at this a moment ago with Kaede’s glasses, but the series has a weird regard for the supernatural. On the one hand, the human characters are believably shocked and even disturbed whenever first encountering supernatural content. On the other hand, though, from Episode 1 moving forward, this series spells it out that the supernatural exists, there are enough people who know that–and they are already used to it. I’m not suggesting that’s a flaw to this series; rather, I appreciate a story that has the characters already knowing the supernatural exists and just roll with it. It’s not common knowledge around the world, but given how much traveling Sora’s father has done, and how many magic and cursed objects he sends home to his son, Sora is incredibly well adjusted to learning that the supernatural is real and simply accepts it.

The problem is that, when you introduce a sense that there is a degree or normalcy, only to then defy that normalcy, it is hard to know what is and isn’t accepted as normal. Let me try to rephrase all of this: when you have a series that is about typical human teenagers going to school every day, but then you add the tiny baby supernatural creatures, and the humans have to keep that secret, it’s hard to see that as bizarre, or something that needs to be hidden. This two-parter that ends the anime does specify why the yokai and other supernatural beings want to stay hidden: they have a very angry god willing to torture humans that get in their way, and there are humans willing to capture supernatural creatures and throw them into captivity to make a buck.

And if there is another detail that confuses me, it’s the tone. Aside from the weird moments with Kaede, this is a series that I could see as preschool fare, which makes sense, as the tiny chibi supernatural creatures are pretty much preschool kids, even going to preschool and having their own adventures away from the older characters. But then you get some scary imagery, not just Mii-kun getting lost on his own but captured, squeezed by the human who captures him, and see trauma felt by Sora and Tazuki from bad encounters they have had before with yokai and humans who would harm yokai.

But if I could make sense of that tonal problem, here is how best I would describe the vibe of How to Keep a Mummy: imagine Natsume’s Book of Friends, but for a younger audience–or, imagine that 1980s Nickelodeon preschool anime, Noozles, only for a slightly older audience.

…

I can hear half of you asking “What is Natsume’s Book of Friends?” and the other half asking “What the hell is Noozles?” And to that I can only say: jeez, go watch more TV. Seriously, Crunchyroll finally dubbed Natsume’s Book of Friends (#JustAMeeting), and Pop Arena on YouTube covered Noozles as part of their Nickelodeon documentary series. And it fits! You get various supernatural beings that alternate between friendly and antagonist to the humans in both Natsume and Mummy, and you get globe-trotting fathers who can’t be at home with their kids and instead mail home magical creatures to them in both Noozles and Mummy.

(Also, I now fully believe all three of these anime exist in the same universe. Prove me wrong, Internet!)

Episode 11

But that’s enough context out of the way. Let’s get on with it already and talk about the final episodes of How to Keep a Mummy, Episode 11, “I Want to Be with You Forever and Ever,” and Episode 12, “Always Together.”

And I have to apologize again for promoting Episode 12 as today’s review, when really you need to watch Episode 11 as well. So please forgive me as I go backwards to address stuff that came up in the previous episode. And spoiler warnings for the entire series, actually: I have to bring up context from other episodes to clarify what happens in this one.

Last time in Episode 11 of How to Keep a Mummy, Sora and Tazuki learned from a classmate that there was an injured dog up in the mountains–only the classmate who saw it said it looked just like an inugami, a dog spirit. Sora is surprised to find Tazuki is adamant about finding the spirit to help it–and this should surprise the audience as well.

See, Tazuki is a bit sadistic when it comes to these tiny supernaturals: he already tried to unravel Mii-kun to see what is under the tiny mummy’s bandages, and it took him eight or so episodes to finally treat his baby oni Conny with any respect. And that’s because Tazuki suffers from that anime problem of trauma–which, yeah, join the club. As children Sora and Tazuki have had numerous encounters with the supernatural–but while Sora was excited about all he learned, Tazuki was traumatized, after a bad experience as a child where he tried to save a baby dragon, only for a human to beat up Tazuki in an abandoned building and steal the dragon to put into captivity.

…Yeah, I told you the tone to this adorable series is all over the place.

A trip to the mountains by our main four characters doesn’t turn up one inugami, and the group is about to go home. That is, until Sora realizes today’s date: the summer solstice. And that means these mountains are starting the yokai summer solstice festival!

…If this was telegraphed in earlier episodes, I am certain I missed an episode, because even my summary is not making clear just how we were to know this was coming.

The yokai don’t recognize Sora and Tazuki and are about to kill them for intruding. Sora begs that his friends be freed and that he will take their punishment–which shocks Tazuki. Thanks to a deus ex mummy, Mii-kun shows that Sora does have invitations to this festival. (How does he have them? He got those tickets as a kid, wanted to take Tazuki, Tazuki refused, and Sora kept them. Convenient.)

So, all’s good right? Well, no. See, earlier that day, Tazuki was his grim self. And Sora had said, in slight jest, that he and Tazuki better get used to this high school life, because they won’t get to go on trips and hang out like this after graduation. Tazuki is already traumatized; hearing his friend say this was not what he wanted. And while he kept that anger under wraps (...yes, mummy joke…) with some dark humor, now, he explodes and decks Sora for scaring him.

I’m going to skip ahead in Episode 11 so we can get to Episode 12, but basically what happens is that Sora and Tazuki make up when they run into the inugami–or, rather, two of them, twin dogs named Au and Uu–basically, if you had to take a lot of liberties with the translation, their names are the equivalent of Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. (Kind of appropriate that our final episodes are invoking the beginning and end of all things, huh? Also kind of appropriate that is their names invoke what Tazuki fears is coming for him, the end of his friendship.)

While our characters are distracted by Au and Uu, a human has snuck into the festival–and kidnapped Mii-kun! Episode 12 picks up with Sora now getting in on some of that trauma as he panics over Mii-kun disappearing and learning about another human breaking into the festival.

Episode 12

So let’s move on to Episode 12 of How to Keep a Mummy!

After Sora’s panic, he is reassured by Yamada, a demon friend of his, that the land god will make sure one human thief can’t escape with Mii-kun. That is, until they all hear an alarm from the guards that the human thief can’t be found. That’s when their friend Daichi reminds them about something I didn’t mention–when the god Kami put a shikigami tag onto Mii-kun in Episode 11, something that Mii can release to show the others their location. As soon as Mii hears the others calling to them, they release the shikigami, which flies up like a kite at their location, right up the waterfalls.

Tazuki is the first to spot the shikigami with some supernatural vision–a hint at more to them than we thought? Well, too bad, it’s the last episode. So that’s where Sora is going: up those waterfalls. But it’s so slippery. Tazuki may have argued with Sora earlier, but he agrees, telling Sora to take the spots with less moss, so they should be less slippery. Their friend Asa gives him a leg up, literally tossing him up there with her superhuman strength–again, watch earlier episodes to see that established, because Asa is monstrously strong. But after Sora gets up a few rocks, he falls, then is caught by the dogs Au and Uu, with one dog running up first to take the brunt of the waterfall, while the other dog pulls Sora up through the now cleared waterfall. The animation isn’t great here to cover all of this action beat, and it’s a quick fix, but whatever.

Let’s move on to see Sora smackdown the human thief and rescue Mii-kun, just knocking the thief down with a punch. Sora says Mii-kun is family–and the land god agrees, tying up the thief in tree roots before freaking electrocuting him with lightning. You know, a kid’s show. After the yokai guards tie up the thief, they ask the land god what to do with the thief, and the thief sentences him to be lashed and burnt. You know, a kid’s show. And that’s the last we see of this thief, who is taken away to be tortured. Yay, kid’s show.

The yokai approach Sora and his friends to give them gifts for saving the festival and capturing the thief. There are two boxes, a small one and a large one, so Sora gives Mii-kun the small one, which has a tiny bell inside.

At sunset, the humans pick up their tiny friends at supernatural preschool before heading home to meet up with Sora’s aunt and the talking Anubis statue Aayan. But the supernatural creatures look upset. Aayan explains that they want to know why they took Mii-kun to the festival and not them. Sora apologizes before revealing what the land god gave them: their own outdoor festival! An entire festival, that fits inside a pretty small box. We now get the characters suddenly in yukata–because Sora’s aunt happened to have them from one of her other jobs–and we get some cute scenes of the characters playing carnival games. It’s all adorable, not a ton of animation, just good fun after the trauma from earlier.

During their at-home festival, Sora admires how much fun everyone has and thinks about what he said earlier that day, in Episode 11, that this could be the last time they have this fun together before graduation. Sora says he wants to do more activities with their friends this summer–and the summer after that, and after that, and into infinity. Tazuki is taken aback by this–and thus that needless bit of drama has been solved by characters just talking it out and sharing their feelings with each other. Imagine that.

We wrap up the entire series with Sora and Mii working around the house to clean up and finish chores, because even with this series ending, life for the characters is going to continue on as is, forever and ever. Not the most shocking ending, but a comforting one.

Final Thoughts

I know I’m hyper-critical of this anime after praising how cute it is–but that’s as much pointing out what could have gone better, what is still fun about it, and why I would like more of it. Not every anime has to be some tense emotionally wrought narrative, as sometimes you just like a cute story about cute creatures and their human friends having fun. And sometimes you want your Halloween stuff to be cutesy, too.

Contact Info and Credits

I’ll wrap up there. Thanks for listening to this week’s stream of Sunday Morning Manga! What do you think: is How to Keep a Mummy a fun, adorable series, or is it kind of falling apart once you try to watch it for the plot? And did you enjoy this new chapter of Blue Box? Please share your remarks in the comments section or send me an email: [email protected].

Music today included the tracks titled “Los Angeles” by Muzaproduction, “Let the Mystery Unfold” by Geoff Harvey, and “Sunshine” by lemonmusicstudio. These songs are royalty free and available at Pixabay–links are in the video description.

And if you thought anything in today’s livestream would suit your web site needs–such as news, commentary, or analysis of comics, anime, or larger pop culture, please reach out to me via email, [email protected], and I can adapt remarks from today’s livestream into an article for your site! Additional job leads in writing, commentary, and online broadcasting are welcome: please email them to [email protected].

Other People’s Awesome Stuff

And if you like what you heard–or didn’t like what you heard–check out other people’s awesome stuff! There’s the Black Comics Chat on Twitch, there is the writing of Jeff Harris (please support his work in media criticism on Paypal), and there are illustrations by the talented GoldenSunDeer (please commission them: their rates are listed on their social media).

Promotion: Soul Eater Content from Irregulars Productions

And as I said earlier, if you want more Halloween anime stuff, check out Irregulars Productions for some Soul Eater original content. YouTube link is in the video description.

Vote for Democrats by Nov 8

And remember: if you can legally vote in the United States, check your voter registration at vote.org, check where and how to vote at vote.org, and go vote for Democrats up and down the ballot! Fascism is rising; your civil rights are on the ballot; your livelihood and longevity are on the ballot–and you can oppose fascism, protect civil rights, and protect your livelihood and longevity by voting for the Democratic Party and voting against the fascist party that encouraged an insurrection on the Capitol Building! (And that’s not even getting into all the other cases of voter intimidation and violence this past week.)

Again, vote.org, vote for Democrats before November 8, and thank you for your consideration in the fight against fascism, bigotry, and utter dumb-fuckery.

Next Time

Thanks again for watching the livestream. Did you enjoy all Halloween content? Would you like a similar setup around various holidays, such as Christmas anime in December? Or should I stick to the previous structure? Let me know in the comments.

Next Sunday we’ll have the time change, so update your clocks to be here at 11 AM EST, when the structure to this livestream is back to “normal,” more or less–with updates in all things having to do with reading, appreciating, and adapting manga. And that includes a live-reaction, this time heading back to reading a new chapter of Mashle: Muscles and Magic!

You have a good afternoon, a safe Halloween–and make sure to mask up. Until next Sunday, I’ve been Derek S. McGrath. Bye.

Links from Today’s Stream

Check Your Voter Information at vote.org

My Links

Twitch

YouTube

Tumblr

WordPress

Ko-fi

Series and Films Discussed

Blue Box

How to Keep a Mummy Episode 11 and Episode 12

Natsume’s Book of Friends

Mashle

Music

“Los Angeles” by Muzaproduction

“Let the Mystery Unfold” by Geoff Harvey

“Sunshine” by lemonmusicstudio

Other People’s Awesome Stuff

Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal

Black Comics Chat

Support Jeff Harris (Paypal / Social Media )

Commission artwork from GoldenSunDeer

Pop Arena’s Nick Knacks on Noozles

Irregulars Productions Soul Eater fan content

#how to keep a mummy #blue box #livestream #sunday morning manga #Youtube

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dereksmcgrath · 2 years

Text

On today’s stream: matter of life and death with the Halloween Month Review of Space Dandy Episode 21. Plus, a live-reaction to Chapter 35 of Akane-banashi! Watch along today at 11 AM EDT on Twitch and YouTube.

And read along as well: an initial script for today’s stream is below.

youtube

Video Description

On today’s stream: matter of life and death with the Halloween Month Review of “Space Dandy” Episode 21. Plus, a live-reaction to Chapter 35 of “Akane-banashi”!

Read “Akane-banashi”: https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/chapters/akane-banashi

Watch “Space Dandy” on Crunchyroll (#JustAMeeting): https://beta.crunchyroll.com/watch/GWDU85NPN/a-world-with-no-sadness-baby

A transcript and links to content discussed are available at http://www.dereksmcgrath.wordpress.com.

Support this livestream at http://ko-fi.com/dereksmcgrath (and get access to my Discord, too!)

Promotions:

Support Jeff Harris: http://paypal.me/nemalki https://twitter.com/nemalki

Professional Left Podcast: https://professionalleft.blogspot.com/

Black Comics Chat: https://www.twitch.tv/blackcomicschat

Commission artwork from GoldenSunDeer: https://twitter.com/GoldenSunDeer

Music:

“Los Angeles” by Muzaproduction: https://pixabay.com/music/motown-old-school-rnb-los-angeles-20922/

“Let the Mystery Unfold” by Geoff Harvey: https://pixabay.com/users/geoffharvey-9096471

“Sunshine” by lemonmusicstudio: https://pixabay.com/users/lemonmusicstudio-14942887 https://open.spotify.com/artist/4XWZhZ32YrVV5lvpF7cr1E?si=tnbSklR7SJyPNKiHP4MbHA

Intro

Let’s get started. Today is October 23, 2022. This is Sunday Morning Manga. I am Derek S. McGrath, my pronouns are he/him/his. I’m here every Sunday, 11 AM EDT on Twitch and YouTube. You can read my writing on Tumblr and WordPress, @dereksmcgrath, and email me at [email protected].

Accessibility and Links

Vote for Democrats by Nov 8

And before we get into today’s stream–and I’ll mention this at the end of the stream: if you can legally vote where you live, then check your voter registration information and where to vote at vote.org, and make sure to vote down ballot for Democrats! More of this rant at the end of the livestream, but I didn’t want to disrupt the flow too much, what with the rise of American fascism, the anti-trans bullshit, the racist and antisemitic bullshit, and all the other environmental damage, gun violence, and more that Democrats are fighting–and need to fight with your vote for Democrats! Again, vote.org, vote before November 8, and thank you for your consideration in the fight against fascism, bigotry, and utter dumb-fuckery.

Today’s Halloween Month Review

With that serious stuff out of the way for a moment, onto the livestream!

For all of October, the month of Halloween, I have been looking through works in comics and animation that fit the spooky season. Today, we look at a comedy series–that gets pretty dark and depressing when it comes to matters of life and death. We’re looking Space Dandy, Episode 21, “A World with No Sadness, Baby,” which you can watch on Crunchyroll (#JustAMeeting), as well as on Hulu and for free with English subtitles on Tubi.

Today’s Live Reaction: Akane-banashi

But first, as with every Sunday, there is a live-reaction to a new manga chapter released this morning, this time looking at Chapter 35 of Akane-banashi by Yuki Suenaga and Takamasa Moue. You can read along at the Viz web site–link is in the video description.

What’s It About?

As a refresher, if you haven’t heard me talk about Akane-banashi before: this manga is about Akane, who wants to become a famous rakugo performer–a spoken word comedic performer–so she can be like her dad, who was drummed out of the profession by one of the most famous rakugo performers, named Issho. It is written by Yuki Suenaga, illustrated by Takamasa Moue, with rakugo supervision by Keiki Hayashiya. It is translated by Stephen Paul with lettering by Snir Aharon for Viz.

Previously in the Stream

The last time I did a live-reaction to Akane-banashi was Chapter 24. When talking about that chapter, I went through my personal connection to it, in terms of the struggle of a dad trying to name a child.

Previously in Akane-banashi

Since that chapter, Akane won a rakugo tournament–and the prize was an interview with Issho, the man who got her father, for lack of a better phrase, fired as a rakugo performer.

But Akane didn’t get the best answer from Issho as to why her father was expelled. The gist is that Issho thinks that a half-good rakugo performer is not sufficient. And as rakugo is less popular than it used to be, only the best of the best should remain in the profession to keep it thriving. And a mediocre performer like Akane’s father is not going to keep that profession alive.

But weirdly, Akane and Issho both leave the meeting with the same conclusion: both really hope that Akane proves Issho wrong.

This tournament arc was ambiguous with regard to Issho. We don’t learn a ton more about him, but we get more complexity. Akane ends up speaking to us when she says she is grateful Issho expelled her father for a good reason, not just out of pettiness but an actual conviction. He is still presented as an overbearing traditionalist–but he shows he can be personable, friendly, and does have motivations that are believable, even sympathetic, when it comes to preparing students to be at their best. But his standards also are in defense of an artform over the dreams of his students and their need to support themselves financially. I’m not saying that is enough to justify us having Akane’s back as protagonist, but at least his presence clarifies that, yeah, Akane can’t just coast on having a dream–not that she is coasting–and that she will have to work even harder to be a better performer.

And of course that’s what she does: she gets back to training. And she intends to use that training to show that Issho disregarded just how good her father was, and that expelling him was a mistake.

The Current Arc

This current arc has Akane working backstage as a zenza–the lowest rank in rakugo. She has been assisting the headliner performers by prepping their seats, making them tea–but the point is not just to do busy office work, it’s supposed to be her opportunity to listen from backstage and hear how the headliners do what a good rakugo performer should do. This is the challenge in front of Akane right now: how do you do menial labor, while also engaging in so-called “background listening,” to notice how your mentors are doing what you want to do, without you failing your obligations to perform that menial labor?

And, man, if this arc isn’t speaking to me in terms of multitasking and being able to listen while working.

This speaks to me on at least two levels.

First, I have struggled with this kind of multitasking–apparent even in this livestream. It is challenging to keep an eye on the screen, on my script, on the manga, and any distractions around me. It’s also a challenge for teaching: listen to the student speaking, pay attention to other hands up, make mental notes about what a student said to build from their idea to connect to something we already discussed or something I have coming up in the next step for that day’s class discussion. Or, it is as one of Akane’s peers says, it’s like playing a video game in class while listening to the teacher’s lecture. So, that’s the first point, that I have struggled with this kind of multitasking.

And now onto the second point: the challenge of doing menial work, but using that to learn more about the profession you are in. And this is where I get into some heavy personal stuff.

About a year ago I came off of a job in administrative support, and while I appreciate what I learned from the job, I also acknowledge that it was not a position that I felt like I was making best use of my skills. I entered this position not only to better understand the college environment in which I was teaching but to make in-roads, to gain mentorship in being a better teacher. Unfortunately, my employer was not providing professional development. And towards the end, especially in the COVID environment, the work environment turned hostile and abusive–and to some extent Akane is in a toxic environment. That job prompted a question: you have to ask how you rise above petty behavior by a supervisor, and how you can seize the opportunity to see how people in that field progress and improve. I wanted my former job to be an opportunity to develop as a teacher; I came out of that experience seeing some disappointing behavior in academic circles.At least Akane is working for people who are talented at what they do–and that she can learn from their example, in their teaching and public speaking, and how they engage with their audience–and are willing to foster professional development in the next generation.

But enough of me getting into my own experiences–we’re here to discuss Akane-banashi, so let’s jump into Chapter 35! You can read along at the Viz web site–just search “Akane-banashi Viz.”

Live-Reaction: Akane-banashi Chapter 34

Before we get into the new chapter, a quick refresher. In the previous chapter, Chapter 34, Akane suffered the put-down of Rien Konjakuan, the “rookie-crusher,” who berated her for being just an “amateur student champion,” now trying to be amongst actual professionals. Akane’s mentor, Asago, has had a bad interaction with Rien before–and as much as Asago doesn’t like Akane much either, he can’t wait to see her headline the rakugo stage just to shut Rien up.

And that’s where we are. So let’s get started with Page 1 of Chapter 35.

[Transcript of the live-reaction to be included later]

Halloween Month Review: Space Dandy

That takes care of Akane-banashi. Let’s turn now to today’s Halloween month review–which comes in a potentially unexpected place. This is the 2013-2014 two-season anime, Space Dandy!

What’s It About?

Space Dandy should not be a series I enjoy. The lead, the titular Dandy, is a bounty hunter, capturing new aliens never seen before, to make money to afford going out to eat at the intergalactic version of Hooters.

While he doesn’t quite–emphasis on “quite”--go so far as to grope, he is still a horndog, and that can wear thin after a while.

The Bad

It doesn’t help that the first half of the very first episode takes so much time to emphasize the boobs and butts of various women characters. True, some of them have very un-human designs to emphasize the comedic potential, as well as to emphasize that, for all his gaze, Dandy is someone who sees beauty in just about anyone.

I have railed against fanservice for so long–not because you can’t have sex in your content, not just because of the cliches, but because there are only those few rare opportunities that actually use fanservice to offer something new, to deconstruct and respond against the toxic elements, to make the real-life experiences of sex and its aftermath relevant to the story and to people’s lives. I don’t say any of this to be puritanical: there is content that has sex as part of the story that works, not just to titillate–which is subjective–but is responding to the lives of its characters and what comes after for them. When we have a hyper-puritanical contingent in the United States that wants to divorce sex from pleasure, and present it as only for procreation; when have the United States banning abortion and birth control, restricting bodily autonomy and civil rights, especially for cis women, trans men, people who can become pregnant, but also for all of us whose bodily autonomy and choices about having children are being compromised–I can’t look at that and blame sex, when the problem are the people with a problem with sex.

That is why my first encounter with Space Dandy, in its first episode, was so infuriating. “But isn’t the artwork visually pleasing?” We’ll get to that, not only because I still think that’s a weak reason to enjoy an animated narrative–emphasis on the word “narrative”--but because Space Dandy changes directors and visual style so often that it’s a non-starter. Episode 1 had primarily three things going for it: good animation, a good English dub, and a good English adaptation.

The Production

Let’s talk about those last two parts: the English dub and adaptation. If for no other reason, Space Dandy is historically groundbreaking for being one of the first prominent simul-releases, in this case having its English dub premiere on Cartoon Network’s Toonami even before the Japanese-language release came out in Japan. And, if I recall correctly, the vast majority of the series was dubbed simultaneously with the Japanese release, I think the first simuldub that Funimation produced and what helped Crunchyroll, HiDive, and other anime distributors set up the structure that has allowed for simultaneous or near-simultaneous English-language releases. Maybe that is less shocking nowadays when many of us are used to this, but back in the early to mid 2010s, if you wanted an English dub, you typically waited for an entire season before it was dubbed and released all at once or weekly months after the initial Japanese premiere.

So, in that regard, Space Dandy is at least a footnote in the history of anime production in the United States.

(And there is considerable discussion we need here, regarding how, while groundbreaking, Space Dandy also opened up problems we are confronting with fairness in anime production. We have lost actors, writers, and directors who can’t commit to a weekly or neary-weekly schedule for dubbing and localization. We are not paying actors, writers, subtitlers, and directors fairly while decreasing the amount of time they have to create quality product. But that is a long discussion for another time–for every time we talk about dubbing and subbing anime–that can be best summarized by Kyle McCarley’s hashtag: #JustAMeeting, Crunchyroll–that’s all many anime dub actors are asking for, to start a conversation–and that’s a conversation I’m sure the directors, engineers, translators, and subtitlers would also like, too, Crunchyroll.)

So, Space Dandy is groundbreaking. But if you stuck to just Episode 1, the characters were hardly that engaging. It takes a long time for Space Dandy to get to the point where I can call it, with full belief in what I have to say, the best thing Toonami may have ever aired.

I mean that. I don’t just mean because it was groundbreaking in getting a faster assembly-line for anime dub production–which, as I said, still has in it underpaying actors and staff. Rather, Space Dandy was a series that took its time to get to that point of excellence.

The Good (Spoilers)

And that time also owes to when this anime came out–and some spoilers to get into.

What happens at the end of Episode 1? All the main characters die. What happens at the beginning of Episode 2? They are alive again. What happens at the end of Episode 3? Dandy’s crewmate, the catlike Meow, dies. Episode 4? Everyone plus Meow dies, again: zombie apocalypse, where everyone in the galaxy dies and becomes a zombie. And on and on, bouncing back and forth between characters who are alive, then dead, then alive again.

Is this negative continuity? Yes and no.

By the time Space Dandy got to the zombie episode, I was hooked–not because of any mystery, but because I realized what the show was doing: genre parodies. Zombie story, gruff adult taking of a little kid, dying dog story, even an entire high school musical story, with well produced songs in both the Japanese and English dubs. This is Night of the Living Dead, Paper Moon, Old Yeller, and literally High School Musical.

Space Dandy came out around the same time as the NBC sitcom Community by Dan Harmon. This is essentially the same structure, only in anime format.

And by the time Community has variant timelines, and you get to the Season 2 opener and confirm, yes, Dandy is part of a multiverse, it all adds up. These are negative continuity stand-alone stories–_and_ they are all instances of various iterations of Dandy from throughout the multiverse…but with a twist, as is revealed in his spooky episode, where we learn that, while these are different Dandy’s, this is the same Dandy we have followed all along, as he Quantum Leaps into different bodies each time he dies. And Season 2 unpacks all of that for an incredible journey, an excellent finale, and a fun commentary on circular storytelling.

And it all started with an anime that I could not stand.

Add to it the production value, with almost every episode having its own special guest director, across some of the most popular anime out there–Sayo Yamamoto of Yuri!!! on Ice, Goro Taniguchi of Code Geass, Masaaki Yuasa of Ping Pong–and you’re not only getting a cross-dimensional romp but each episode bringing in a slightly different look to Dandy, with no two episodes looking exactly the same. And that variation in design also means more dimensionality to the trans-dimensional Dandy, sometimes emphasizing his wacky cartoony side, other times revealing pathos and a philosophical mindset that reduces complex problems like life and death to a simpler notion.

So the end of this anime, we understand Dandy is far more complicated than his Episode 1 characterization suggested. And it all comes to a head with today’s episode.

The Episode Itself

So let’s jump into it and talk about Episode 21, “A World With No Sadness, Baby.” I’ll be using the English dub for today’s review, with minimal references to the original Japanese with subtitles.

The English adaptation was written by John Burgmeier and ubiquitous voice actor Patrick Seitz, Japanese translation by Steve Simmons and Nita Lieu, ADR direction by Zach Bolton, ADR supervision by Gino Palencia, and ADR engineering by Cris George, to name a few of the staff members at Funimation. This episode was directed for Studio BONES and Bandai Namco by Yasuhiro Nakura of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars fame, and written by the chief animation director, Shinichiro Watanabe of Cowboy Bebop fame. Some of the featured actors include, in the English dub, Ian Sinclair as Dandy, Kyle Hebert as Ferdinand, and Elizabeth Maxwell as Poe, and in the Japanese dub, Jun’ichi Suwabe as Dandy, Kenjiro Tsuda as Ferdinand, and Kaori Nazuka as Poe.

You can watch this episode on Crunchyroll (#JustAMeeting), as well as for free in Japanese with English subtitles on Tubi and on other legal sources for your anime needs.

Unlike other episodes of Dandy, this one can stand on its own for the Halloween season–but it is also enriched if you know the major spoiler of the end of this series, and you will rewarded if you re-watch this episode again after you finish the entire series.

We start Episode 21 with an unusual beginning–which, given the wackiness of this series is saying something. But that wackiness is usually humorous. Here, we aren’t laughing. We don’t get to the funky opening title sequence until after a somber setting. Dandy’s spaceship, the Aloha Oe, is grounded and covered in vegetation and fungus, as if it has been here a long time. Dandy’s body–his hair down, un-gelled–lies in a rowboat along a river approaching a waterfall–only, it’s not a water_fall_, it’s a water_up_, it’s a river whose gravity is leading upward. This is not a normal planet. But the setting reinforces one word: death. A spaceship dead on the ground. Vegetation and fungus growing out of that corpse of a ship. And Dandy looking like a corpse.

We are then interrupted by the voice of a young woman, or maybe a girl, talking about isolation and loneliness, as she floats in a black void, potentially separated from this dead planet, or maybe separated entirely from our plane of existence.

To spoil a bit, this is all the markings of an Edgar Allan Poe story, but in space: vegetation, things dead, the River Styx but in space, and a young woman talking about loneliness. We have the death of a beautiful woman, a man usually full of hubris and now dead, and corpses used like fertilizer for decay. No wonder, again, to spoil things, that young woman is named Poe. But we’ll get to that.

Once Dandy awakens, we start to notice that the art style in this episode has shifted in one way that I don’t think ones previously had: no black lineart. Or, rather, limited use of black for the lineart–it’s opting for more muted colors to outline Dandy’s face and attire. This should make the choice of Yasuhiro Nakura as this episode’s director more obvious: the outlines are more similar to the in-video game world of the 2009 film Summer Wars, which Nakura worked on.

Anyway, back to the episode: Dandy awakens when something drips onto his face, before he sees gigantic hermit crabs–on loan from Magu-chan: God of Destruction–and finds he is wearing Pascal’s seashell necklace from Animal Crossing. Here is where the water motif is more prominent here than in most gothic works I can pull from. I obviously am biased towards Edgar Allan Poe’s conceptions of the gothic, emphasized by the episode itself name-dropping Poe–but I am scratching my head to determine why the ocean is in this episode that already alluded to Poe. Is it hinting at Poe’s fascination with the ocean, as with his only published novel Pym, or his pseudo-scientific book on philosophy titled Eureka (a word itself that owes to water displacement)? Or is it referencing Poe’s poem “City in the Sea,” or his other poem “Annabel Lee” and its refrain about “this kingdom by the sea”? What do you think? Share your remarks in the chat.

Continuing with the plot: Dandy tries to call up his crew, only to get no signal–and to find that his boat is no longer floating on a river but, like one of many around him, abandoned on planks and ready to fall apart. Dandy then notices two things: he is holding a dark cube covered in runes, and there are some biblically-correct vaginal angels flying over him. I can’t pinpoint anything of greater symbolism to that black cube, and we will learn more about it–but this is one detail to the story that just seems to be there, rather than something that I think you can pull more symbolic value out of.

Cut to the title card, “A World With No Sadness, Baby,” and Dandy has walked to another part of this plane of existence, what looks to be a city of half-completed houses–looking more like sets to a TV sitcom. There are chandeliers hanging up in the sky above. There is at least one resident, an older woman dressed like an Italian clown from opera. She’s holding in her lap a black cat–so, mark that on your Poe bingo card. Dandy asks where they are–only for the cat to answer that they are on the corner of anywhere and nowhere. We now see the cat is fused with the woman, poking out of her abdomen and back.

Dandy panics and runs out of town–which is saying something for him, given the body horrors he usually finds each week. (Granted, Dandy is usually turned on by those body horrors, so I guess we know where he draws the line…) Dandy tries to remember how he got here, as we cut away to what seems to be a memory of Dandy’s spaceship entering an energy field. He turns to find that young woman from the black void that we saw earlier. She turns to run away; Dandy trips before he can catch her, finding he has fallen over a moped-shaped alien. He asks this alien for a ride to the nearest town–which is also nearly deserted. That is, until they almost hit a giant standing in the middle of the road. (And here is where I will start gendering characters, so I apologize if I misgender any character.) This person introduces himself as a medium named Ferdinand, who can lead Dandy to a restaurant where he can get something to feed his hungry body.

We cut to one such restaurant, yet another building incomplete, some walls missing. Two regal but bizarre alien-like creatures are in a tense but polite debate over glasses of wine, trying to determine the meaning of life. The more masculine-coded one argues life is merely a respite from death, that death is all that matters due to its inevitably. The more feminine-coded one starts to shatter like glass, as they explain that you only think death is inevitable, because your naked eye cannot see what may persist outside of limited notions of life and death. (Again, this is starting to sound like Poe’s book Eureka more and more.) The more feminine-coded one concludes, “Go die, if life without reason is so loathsome to you.”

Meanwhile, Ferdinand brings Dandy up to that same restaurant, to another table near that bickering couple. Ferdinand presents his “feast” to Dandy: a monstrous mix of alien creatures. Dandy finds this appetitizing–again, because by this point we know this is an alien setting, so don’t be so shocked. To the credit of this episode, it depends on you already knowing the setting and characters to start establishing what would have to happen to upset the status quo and make someone as easy-going as Dandy start to freak out.

But then another memory appears to the audience, of Dandy’s spaceship again in that cosmic energy, causing Dandy to fall back and cough, as if choking–only, he’s not choking, he’s still talking. He says he felt like he was going to die, which only prompts Ferdinand to posit that there is hardly any difference between life and death.

(And I have to pause here and compliment the writing by Watanabe and the English localization by John Burgmeier and Patrick Seitz. Not only did the two of them retain so much regalness to Kyle Hebert’s lines as Ferdinand, as well as to the bickering layabouts over matters of life and death, but their writing is so much better at establishing transitions between these details than I can muster–I’m just summarizing the plot, they had to figure out the dialogue to make these disconnected philosophical points and accompanying narrative-based actions actually coincide and reinforce each other, rather than coming across, as it could have so easily, as just pseudo-intellectual garbage. And since I invoked Hebert a moment ago: I didn’t get to sit through enough of the Japanese version of this episode, and while Ian Sinclair is phenomenal with how much panic and suaveness he has to give to Dandy, Hebert as Ferdinand is shockingly good at just how disturbingly polite he is, and Elizabeth Maxwell is effective with Poe, a character who so easily could have just been a creepy dead monotone voice but retains this innocence and calmness.)

Back to the plot: Ferdinand suggests sleep, hardly that different from dying–confusing Dandy. Now the biblically-correct vaginal angels return–and Ferdinand’s abdomen breaks open, pulling in Dandy. Ferdinand assures this is to hide Dandy from those angels, what he calls Night Porters. Watching all of this from a nearby staircase is that same young woman from the black void.

And if I may pause here: my words can’t do enough to address how excellent are the alien designs by director Yasuhiro Nakura–it lends just the right amount of otherworldliness and etherealness to imagine this is indeed an outer space version of Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory.

Cut to some time later, and Ferdinand leads Dandy through some catacombs–not to any cask of Amontillado but to find more information about how Dandy got here.

In these catacombs is what looks like a food court, or maybe a metro station, with cylinder balloony creatures swaying like in a gentle wind. Oh, and these balloon creatures have disembodied hands. In this metro is the off-color version of the one-eye Yellow Devil from Mega Man, enjoying drinks with these balloon creatures. And yet, here again we have two sides in an argument about the meanings of life and death. The one-eye creature sips a drink as he discusses how fear of dying is pointless and that obsessing over death is to hardly live at all. But the balloon creatures sing in unison, like a choir–and without subtitles on the English dub, this was really hard to make out, but I think they were saying that asking about dying and living are the same thing, that entropy and the end of all things is part of the natural order, so thinking about death is hardly pointless but necessary–and it is death that lets you take pleasure in life at all.

After we hear this dialogue between eyeball monster and choir balloon people, Dandy is served Dandy’s favorite dish–ramen–only for it to evaporate, whether that is due to it being really old ramen that has turned into dust, or the alien next to him sucking up that dust.

Ferdinand carries Dandy away. And it is only now that Dandy starts to notice how weird things are. Again, there is both comedy and characterization in this. On the one hand, Dandy is not the brightest bulb. On the other hand, he is familiar enough with enough alien planets–and dimensions, and even timelines (hint, hint)--that when he says something is weird, you are to realize, “Oh, this stuff is weird to us Earthlings in the 2010s–but we should see that, if Dandy, who is usually used to such things, says it’s weird, then it is even weirder than we thought.” Ferdinand stops to pick some candy off of the bushes–but the candy talks back at Dandy. Again, Poe is observing Dandy.

We cut to a new scene, as a winged harpy-like creature is atop of what look like powerlines, strumming a guitar. Dandy complicates the woman-coded creature. But she replies in echoes, asking whether Dandy can really hear her. And I have to pause again and lapse into a bit of Edgar Allan Poe stuff and some other philosophical content: we have here, with this harpy-like creature speaking in echoes, the problem of dopplegangers and being out of phase. Spoiler, but Dandy is himself someone who exists simultaneously in different timelines, and when he dies he ends up coming to exist in another timeline, in the body of another version of himself. So, that he cannot hear this person who speaks in an echo, a sound repeated but hence delayed, is probably hinting at something about how he too is not able to exist in one space at any one time: he is in too many places at once. (Keep that in mind when looking at Akane-banashi when it comes to trying to multitask.) But, even if you don’t know Dandy’s existence across multiple timelines, you just accept, “Oh, she speaks in an echo, this is a realm of death, of course she is echoing whether by how cavernous this place is, or because a death realm would just be wacky and weird.”

In any case, this lullaby puts Dandy to sleep–before he is jolted awake again, both by memories of his spaceship now further entangled in the cosmic energy, and the return of the Night Porters. Now the harpy plays at a faster pace–and I haven’t said enough about how good that music is, and I obviously can’t play it here, so go pull up the episode on Tubi, jump to about 11 minutes, and go listen to it. And we have to thank for that music–let’s check the credits…”Ogre You Asshole.” …Ogre…You Asshole…You know what, that checks out. Musicians Taro Umebayashi and Koichiro Tashiro have that sense of humor to name something like that.

The harpy sits passively as Dandy tries to evade the Night Porters, but they corner him at a building of broken stain glass. One Night Porter approaches, with an eyeball on one hand and a mouth on another hand, like someone out of Pan’s Labyrinth. The Night Porter says they have never seen someone like Dandy before–and Dandy replies in kind. (Keep in mind, Dandy is a bounty hunter who captures rare aliens, he has seen many, so, again, if he says he hasn’t seen something before, he really hasn’t–he may suck at a lot of things, but he does remember what he has and hasn’t encountered before.) The Night Porter says an abomination like Dandy cannot remain here and must be eliminated. Dandy refuses.

But before Dandy is destroyed, he distracts the Night Porter by pointing to the fountain below them: Dandy appears in the reflection, the Night Porters do not. That is when he finally realizes they are dead. And yet Dandy’s reflection appears…until Dandy looks away, at which point his reflection also fades away. And from afar, Ferdinand watches, saying Dandy is their “new addition” and is “unhinged.”

Cut to later. Now an order of creatures, dressed like monks, carry Dandy in that rowboat again, this time carrying his boat for him across a desert. Ferdinand accompanies and is surprised Dandy hasn’t figured out what is happening: this is Dandy’s funeral. Dandy accepts this–before doing a double take at what he just heard. Ferdinand asks whether Dandy is hungry. He is not. Has Dandy slept? Is he tired? No, and no. Dandy has not realized he is not enjoying any biological desires: he is just dead. At least Dandy has figured this out–others take centuries or die in denial. Ferdinand says Dandy will accept his fate soon enough.

But Dandy pulls out that cube again–and it shines a light into him. He remembers his ship approaching a planet called Limbo. His robot assistant QT says there is a rare alien nearby–but nothing should be alive there. Dandy and their cat crewmate Meow doubt QT is accurate. But then that cosmic storm appears. And Dandy knocks his head into the console, apparently dying.

Back on Limbo, Dandy asks what this black box he is holding is? Ferdinand says it is just that: a black box of his journey, of his life, of his death. Limbo is this planet. He is dead. Ferdinand tells Dandy to enjoy this decadent life on this planet where there is no sadness, just eternal partying. But Dandy debates this point: you can’t have fun if it is not to get you out of sadness, so if you can’t be sad, how can any of this be fun?

Dandy runs away from his own funeral. He is almost hit by a skyline gondola, piloted by the young girl Poe. She asks which way to go. He says up to Heaven. But all the gondola does is give them a view of the rock down below. Dandy says he wants to be alive again. Poe is confused. She shows him a butterfly–again, another bit of Edgar Allan Poe here, given how his contemporaries like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Margaret Fuller were tapping into the butterfly as that already ancient symbol of death, whether because the butterfly feeds on blood, or represents transformation and hence change from life to death. Poe explains Limbo is a resting place for the dead–but not here, as she is the only one still alive. Dandy asks if she’s a god. She says no; rather, she is the embodiment of this planet itself, while the Night Porters act on their own.

She remembers that this planet used to be a peaceful one, before a war broke out, killing all. We see the remains of the dead feeding the butterfly. The souls of these dead attract more of the dead, like bringing spirits to this heaven. Poe says Dandy is the only one who is unlike others–he is “the one,” someone that we see with a beating heart, as he appears not as one person, but echoing like that harpy. Poe says this Dandy is dead in this dimension–but Dandy has a quality in him that can be sent to another dimension, to take on the life of another Dandy who didn’t die in the cosmic storm. Dandy doesn’t understand. Poe says to send back Dandy to life, she would have to sacrifice this planet. And Dandy is shocked that she does so without him asking. Poe asks why she is doing this. She says she had to–out of her love for him. Dandy just rolls with this, calling her “the prettiest planet ever.” And here is the Poe stuff again: the death of a beautiful woman, or girl in this case. Dandy concludes that no matter whether he lives or dies, he is still Dandy.

We conclude this episode with the original dimension. Dandy is now dead here. HIs crew doesn’t know that. That’s…pretty sad, actually. Not even darkly funny–just sad.

We cut to Limbo again. Is this the past? The Space Dandy Wiki seems to think so. But I thought this was the present–because Dandy descends on the gondola, in a sharp suit, and seems to recognize Poe. He gestures to her, and she smiles, as the gondola stops at her platform. Because if I have to read this as the planet is gone and Poe is dead, that is just sad rather than a sign of things getting better. If this was a flashback, why wouldn’t she remember Dandy later? But if this is the future, how did Limbo come back? … *shrug* I don’t know. And I don’t care–a happy ending, even one that makes zero sense, is at least a happy ending. And after all the sadness of death and Poe and the gothic, a little bit of optimism and hope is appreciated. As Dandy said, if you don’t have sadness, how can you have something happy? Well, by that same token, after all the sadness we had, how can you have sadness without having something happy?

Contact Info and Credits

I’ll wrap up there. Thanks for listening to this week’s stream of Sunday Morning Manga! What do you think: was that last scene an epilogue or a prologue, something that happened after the episode or before it? And did you enjoy this new chapter of Akane-banashi? Please share your remarks in the comments section or send me an email: [email protected].

Music today included the tracks titled “Los Angeles” by Muzaproduction and “Let the Mystery Unfold” by Geoff Harvey. These songs are royalty free and available at Pixabay–links are in the video description.

And if you did like what you heard, let me know! Contributions at ko-fi-com/dereksmcgrath are appreciated: please include a note to let me know what you liked in the livestream and what you would like to hear more of. And if you thought anything in today’s livestream would suit your web site needs–such as news, commentary, or analysis of comics, anime, or larger pop culture, please reach out to me via email, [email protected], and I can adapt remarks from today’s livestream into an article for your site! Additional job leads in writing, commentary, and online broadcasting are welcome: please email them to [email protected].

Other People’s Awesome Stuff

Vote for Democrats by Nov 8

And back to the more serious note:

I started today’s livestream emphasizing that, if you can legally vote where you live, then check your voter registration information and where to vote at vote.org, and make sure to vote down ballot for Democrats!

We are facing a rightwing movement in this country that led an armed insurrection on the Capitol, that is banning abortion and denying bodily autonomy–something that is going to affect all of us, regardless our gender, so long as our rights to privacy, to reproductive health, to our choices about whether and how we want to have a family remain. This rightwing movement says it wants to protect children’s bodily autonomy–while saying a 10-year-old should carry a rapist’s child. This rightwing movement says laws won’t protect you against gun violence–while legislating against your right to an abortion and your right to vote. This rightwing movement will crash the economy by decimating social programs, from food stamps to Social Security and Medicare–while jackasses in focus groups and on cable TV insist that somehow the party destroying those social programs is actually better for the economy, when they are trying to tank that economy.

By contrast, you have a Democratic Party that not only wants to protect your right to an abortion, your privacy, your bodily autonomy, your trans children and gay children and other LGBTQ children, your neighbors regardless their race, religion, or nation of origin. And to top it off, the Democratic Party will expand Medicaid in your state, cap the price of insulin, will improve the economy by making access to health care more affordable. And, bonus, the Democratic Party is for clean air, clean water, and a longer life.

As I said, with the rise of American fascism, the anti-trans bullshit, the racist and antisemitic bullshit, and all the other environmental damage, gun violence, and more that Democrats are fighting–and need to fight with your vote for Democrats! Again, vote.org, vote before November 8, and thank you for your consideration in the fight against fascism, bigotry, and utter dumb-fuckery.

Next Time: Halloween Month Review

But for next time, hopefully some better news, not just in politics but in this livestream. Next time, we’ll wrap up Halloween month, looking at another anime–but I promise, this will not be as depressing, and it will be a lot more adorable. And it’ll be the final episode of the anime, so far: How to Keep a Mummy, Episode 12, “Always Together,” which you can watch on Crunchyroll (#JustAMeeting).

Next Time: Live-Reaction

In addition to looking at How to Keep a Mummy, there will be a live-reaction to a new manga chapter–but what should it be? How about we go back to Blue Box and read Chapter 74?

Until next Sunday, I’ve been Derek S. McGrath. You have a good afternoon. Bye.

Links from Today’s Stream

Check Your Voter Information at vote.org

My Links

Twitch

YouTube

Tumblr

WordPress

Ko-fi

Series and Films Discussed

Akane-banashi

Space Dandy Episode 21 (#JustAMeeting)

Ping Pong

Code Geass

Yuri!!! On Ice

Summer Wars

Blue Box

How to Keep a Mummy Episode 12

Music

“Los Angeles” by Muzaproduction

“Let the Mystery Unfold” by Geoff Harvey

“Sunshine” by lemonmusicstudio

Other People’s Awesome Stuff

Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal

Black Comics Chat

Support Jeff Harris (Paypal / Twitter )

Commission artwork from GoldenSunDeer

#akane banashi #space dandy #livestream #sunday morning manga #Youtube

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dereksmcgrath · 2 years

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youtube

On today’s stream, a live-reading of Chapter 3 of the new manga series Ginka and Glüna–or, is the title Ginka and Luna? We’ll get to that…

A recording from YouTube is above. Read along as well: an initial script for today’s stream is below.

An updated transcript will be shared later.

Intro

Let’s get started. Today is September 25, 2022. This is Sunday Morning Manga. I am Derek S. McGrath, my pronouns are he/him/his. I’m here every Sunday, 11 AM EDT on Twitch and YouTube. You can read my writing on Tumblr and WordPress, @dereksmcgrath, and email me at [email protected].

Today’s Manga

On today’s stream, a live-reading of Chapter 3 of the new manga series Ginka and Glüna–or, is the title Ginka and Luna? We’ll get to that point in a little bit–so if you would like to read along, open up the chapter on the Viz web site.

Accessibility and Links

Links to this chapter and other content from today’s stream are available on my web site, dereksmcgrath.wordpress.com. There’s also a script for today’s stream and all images–without a transcript to the live-react, because it’s live and it’s not transcribed yet. If you have recommendations for how I can add live-captions to these livestreams and more quickly add captions to the YouTube recordings, please email me at [email protected].

#JustAMeeting

With that out of the way, let’s start with a postscript, continuing conversations that started on this livestream in previous weeks.

And we’re back to my Labor Day weekend discussion–the one that only partially recorded. If you would like to read my earlier thoughts on why unions are necessary in both education and the animation industry, you can find the script to that incomplete livestream on my WordPress, dereksmcgrath.wordpress.com.

As I have said about the value of unions in education and animation already, I’ll try not to repeat myself–and turn to recent developments.

As many of you anime fans know, the final season of Mob Psycho 100 and its English-language localization and dub from Crunchyroll has hit a major roadblock. I’ll try to summarize this as concisely as possible, so please forgive me if anything I say is not as accurate as it should be–you can read more about this situation at Kotaku.

But what happened is this: Kyle McCarley, the English actor who provides the voice of the titular Mob, put out a YouTube video announcing he probably wasn’t going to be brought into the final season, due to a proposal he made to Crunchyroll. At this time, the Mob Psycho 100 dub is not a union dub; McCarley is doing union work. He was willing to do this non-union work if Crunchyroll would agree to a meeting to discuss the potential of someday making their dubs union work. That’s a whole lot of caveats there–”agree to a meeting to discuss.” It was just to have a meeting to discuss the idea. It’s the difference between committing to eating at a certain restaurant and actually eating at that restaurant: you’re not agreeing to anything, you are just discussing the option. Crunchyroll refused but, according to McCarley’s video, had not said they were not casting him again.

That is, until much later in the day when Crunchyroll put out their statement, announcing that, to proceed with near-same day premieres of the original Japanese and the dubbed English releases, they would coordinate work out of their Dallas (Funimation) branch–which would require re-casting of some roles–not naming McCarley’s role as Mob, but now making that plural as opposed to one role.

Look, full disclosure, it’s not like I don’t have criticisms of Crunchyroll.

I think the merger with Funimation is not helping customers, after the merger Crunchyroll put more content that was typically free with commercials now behind paywalls.

And, sour grapes on my part, I’ve reached out twice for positions at Crunchyroll–one time reaching out to someone who was actively looking for people like me, and they never replied back despite, I think, my suitability for the position, and the second time a formal application to their job site, where they couldn’t bother to reply that I didn’t get the job, leaving it to me to find out with a random tweet by the new hiree announcing they got the job–which, honestly, looking at their resume, they were so better suited for the position than I would have been.

And extrapolating from my personal experience applying at Crunchyroll anything about what the actors are going through is silly: I wasn’t auditioning for an acting role, it would be like comparing how a candidate for a position on the board of directors at a fast food chain is treated compared to someone who is applying to be the cashier–and not to disparage cashiers, but I’m the cashier in this equation compared to the voice actor.

But even as it’s silly for me to extrapolate from my personal experience to remark about McCarley’s treatment–sorry, I do see a connection. And it goes back to what I wrote during Labor Day weekend earlier this month: you can’t sit here acting like unionization within animation is not important, just as, for my main line of work, unionization in education is just as important. And it’s my experiences seeing how poorly people working in education get treated that has me cheering on McCarley.

Let me explain where I’m coming from. I teach rhetoric. I have worked in marketing. I have been a social media manager. And all of those give me a mostly unique combination of skills to evaluate how Crunchyroll is screwing this up, and how McCarley is a master class in rhetoric that is going to appeal to fans like me who, sorry, have gotten screwed over by corporations and bosses who refuse to just be honest and direct with employees, especially in academia. I would say more about all of that, as pertains to why McCarley’s situation and my own situation should reinforce why you should support unions not only in animation and acting but also in education–but this is a livestream primarily about Japanese comics and related content, so I’ll tell my “why you should support unions over universities and academic corporations” another time.

Let’s go through those three job titles I just said–I teach rhetoric, I have worked in marketing, I have been a social media manager. Let’s go through these three jobs as pertains to this McCarley/Crunchyroll/Mob fiasco.

Job one, rhetoric: McCarley is giving a masterclass on the three main aspects of rhetoric: logos, ethos, and pathos–in other words, logic, ethics, and appeals to emotion. Go watch his video again. He lays out the logic–it’s just a meeting, if you do the meeting, then you get to keep this actor popular with the fans who are used to his voice in this role, the meeting has no promise attached to form a union it’s just a meeting. And that phrase, “Just a meeting,” got trending on social media. McCarley and the fans are killing it at getting the appeal of the fans on their side. That is tapping into the ethics: you owe people a fair wage, and the trade-off is just a meeting–it would be unethical to refuse the meeting. And it’s appealing to fans’ emotions: they love Mob, and McCarley is tapping into that love to appeal to their good feelings around that show: you like Mob, you like what is familiar, you want to keep the people in those roles being paid fairly with union benefits and protections, so you should want just a meeting. Whether that will matter, when people are going to turn to Crunchyroll for legal access to anime, that is dubbed and subbed well, remains to be seen.

But, onto jobs two and three, marketing and social media manager…Oh, boy, Crunchyroll stepped in it here. How do you announce your decision to potentially recast characters so soon after McCarley put out his video? I know waiting until the episode premieres to reveal a new voice would also be a problem, and you’re hoping people will just forget that happened between now and the new episode premiere–but I would argue that, as unethical and cynical as this is, I would keep up the mystery to the last minute, about whether McCarley is back in the role or not, because either way, Crunchyroll would win at this.

Let’s say you keep McCarley–you say nothing about that, let people watch the new episode, boom, you hear him, the fans cheer, all is good.

Or, you re-cast Mob, don’t rehire McCarley, people don’t know this. This hinged on whether McCarley comes out and says he’s not playing Mob, that it’s official–but, maybe people still doubt that’s really true, maybe he can’t tell the truth, maybe there’s a last-minute surprise. Crunchyroll stays quiet, they put out no English-language trailer, they are forcing people to tune in for the premiere. People tune in for the premiere–and are surprised to hear the new actor, they try not to get upset with the scab, they get upset with Crunchyroll instead–but hey, Crunchyroll, people already paid their subscriptions to hear this, they are talking about you and your show, it’s publicity, you don’t care, you got their subscriptions, you got their money, you aren’t giving it back, yay capitalism. I mean, come on, this is basic marketing: “there’s no such thing as bad publicity,” especially when the yearly subscriptions are non-refundable.

I’ll wrap up this topic with this point. As I said, I have a long story about my own involvement with certain universities and academic corporations that were just being trashy. Not every corporation is trash. But my experiences working for them almost always have me sympathizing with the labor more than the bosses. So, it is really hard for me not to look at what Kyle McCarley and numerous actors in animation and especially anime dubbing go through and not take their side on this issue. I say this loudly: it’s just a meeting Crunchyroll–so schedule one.

But that doesn’t address what you can do. Should you stop subscribing to Crunchyroll? If you think that will help, I bet seeing their subscription numbers nosedive would help–if and only if you included a politely but sternly worded message why you are unsubscribing, that you want actors paid well, and that you will pay those actors directly in their autographs, Cameo accounts, convention appearances, and s on. I have seen people advocate for filing troubleshooting complaints and replies to social media accounts–which, I understand that inclination, but that seems like a gut reaction with little benefit: the reports will be read by staff and social media managers, not Crunchyroll decision makers, not if those employees don’t complain up the chain of command to their bosses.

What do I think you should do? Crunchyroll has email addresses for information about press, company information, and partnerships: write to [email protected] and [email protected], explain that you are a subscriber–and that you want your money going to companies that are pro-union, pro-actors, pro-safe remote recording options, pro-benefits, pro-royalties, pro-reasonable pay for reasonable hours, and that you will consider what Crunchyroll does next before you ever consider renewing with them, watching with them, reading their site, or buying from them. Be polite, be steadfast–and for the love of God, do not send threats, for Christ’s sake, you know that shit doesn’t work and just puts you in trouble, get your head out of your ass.

Again, #JustAMeeting.

About Today’s Manga

With that serious stuff out of the way, time to take a manga seriously. This is the live-reaction to Chapter 3 of the new manga, Ginka and Glüna–which, yeah, last week, I mispronounced it.

So much for reading comprehension on my part: the translation note said how to pronounce it: it’s “Luna,” with a silent “G.” I admit I am not familiar enough with the original Japanese, which in Roman lettering spells her name as “Ryuna,” so I imagine there is both a pun I’m missing (seeing as the Moon is prominent when we first meet Glüna), and a desire to create near-alliteration or near-identical characters in Ginka and Glüna’s names.

But for now, why don’t you pull up the new chapter now at the Viz web site, viz.com/shonenjump/chapters/ginka-and-gluna–that’s “G-L-U-N-A.”

So, what is this series about? The summary on the Viz web site is as follows:

“A wannabe magician meets a magical snowman that changes her life!”

…I think she’s pretty adept with magic for a wannabe, but what do I know.

Let’s go into more detail about the plot and who are main characters are:

We are first introduced to Glüna, a young orphaned girl, living alone on a frozen mountain-top. Her only companion: a magic spell book that she is reading. Her evening reading is interrupted by someone breaking into her cabin: it’s a walking, talking snowman! This is Ginka, a powerful magician who lost his body and has put his soul inside the body of the snowman that Glüna built outside–and now he’s eating her food and has broken down her door. To pay her back for her kindness–and the lost food and door–Ginka offers to train her in magic so that she can escape this frozen mountain, see the world–and maybe help Ginka reclaim his lost body and get out of this walking melting snow body.

The series is written and illustrated by Shinpei Watanabe. The Unofficial Weekly Shonen Jump Twitter account says that Watanabe has published other works under other names: these works include Fumetsu Reikon Honebi-chan and Tsugimagi no Makkai, both for Jump Giga. They also wrote Peko Peko no Yamai in Jump. And–this really surprised me–they were an assistant to Kei Kamiki on Magu-chan: God of Destruction, which…God, that is a good series to work on. I loved reading Magu-chan, I already thoroughly enjoyed Ginka and Glüna after just its first chapter, I saw similarities to Magu-chan early on–more on that in a moment. So, learning they were Kamiki’s assistant just makes me more enthusiastic about this series!

I had only read Chapter 1 before I announced last weekend that this series would be the next manga chapter live-reaction–because the first chapter was just that good. At 50-plus pages, it accomplishes what I love in a good pilot chapter, had the kind of character archetypes that I find appealing, reinforced how you can’t keep ignoring girl and women characters despite preconceptions about gender in the shonen genre–and it used one of the plot devices I hate the most, and it used it in a way that makes this story better!

I already summarized the plot that Chapter 1 covers–but it is those minor details that make the character archetypes so appealing. I already said that Watanabe was an assistant on Magu-chan, and, yeah, even before I knew that, it was hard not to see similarities between the series–not in artwork, but in the plot and the characters.

Both series are about young girls who encounter otherworldly creatures–and, hardly shocked by what they find, take it in stride, to the point that you wonder whether these characters are aware how bizarre this all is. The difference is that the world of Ginka and Glüna is a fantasy world, full of talking animals, souls inhabiting inanimate snowmen and dead dragons, spell books, and magicians.

And another difference owes to the personalities of our main heroines. Magu-chan featured Ruru, who was, not exactly passive, but someone who goes with the flow. In contrast, Glüna is an absolute maniac, full of potential contradictions that, hardly making for a poorly defined character, use those contrasts to enhance her character, and allow more opportunities to give her different types of stories. Glüna is a quick study when it comes to reading spell books and performing magic–but she’s also stubborn and headstrong. She doesn’t take no for an answer, but once someone explains where they are coming from, she is inclined to help them out while still holding onto her own set of ethics. She is as much a bookworm as she is someone willing to slice someone in the head with an axe. Basically, she’s Maka Albarn from Soul Eater–which, if there’s a character in shonen that you want your new shonen protagonist to be, it’s not a bad character model to use as inspiration. That’s not at all to say that Glüna is as nerdy as Maka–if anything, she’s more a Leroy Jenkins kind of a character–but that combination of smarts and combat skill helps satisfy readers wanting a character who is just as intellectual as she is willing to throw hands.

Let me give an example from Chapter 1 to show just how stubborn and smart Glüna is, and how this helps develop the rather two-dimensional Ginka more. In Chapter 1, we get a timeskip–

I know, I’ve said a million times that I despise timeskips in storytelling: they are typically a lazy way for an author to skip past a twist, then put that twist into a flashback, by which point your audience guessed the twist, which, if it’s underwhelming, is going to dull the audience, or is so obvious that you might as well have just told the story in chronological order and let the surprise of that twist shock your audience all at once rather than draining it of its potential energy over chapter upon chapter without just revealing it (see also how long it took to reveal Dabi’s secret in My Hero Academia).

This timeskip just works. We don’t want to sit through Glüna’s five years of training under Ginka: we want them to head out on their adventure! Second, Watanabe is able to have the best of all options with this choice. First, it’s in the first chapter, so we haven’t gotten so used to Glüna that having her transform from a little girl to a young woman isn’t as jarring–even though I do miss the adorable design to young Glüna, although young adult Glüna has a cool costume at least. Second, as the first chapter, even with 50 pages, we do need to pick up the pace, and chapter after chapter of Glüna learning all the basics of magic would get boring. Finally, as is more apparent in Chapter 2, it’s not as if Glüna doesn’t have more magic to learn, and nothing stops Watanabe from giving us flashbacks to younger Glüna learning magic under Ginka so that we see those first times she learned it, and how that magic actually tied into some deeper lesson she learned as a child, that then we see her putting into practice as an adult. (If only Naruto took more of this approach–because that timeskip was still annoying. If anything, the timeskip here is more like One Piece: we just want the character to be more powerful when they show up again, so just do that.)

But there’s another reason we get this timeskip–and it’s to develop the other titular character, Ginka–which, Lordy, he needs that that development. Whereas Glüna has personality in speech, action, and design as soon as she shows up, Ginka is harder to make work. Glüna starts as this pint-sized girl who still can swing an axe and conjure magic: her small frame and youthfulness belies her combat potential and advanced training in magic.

Ginka, however, just looks like Bayman from Big Hero 6, and the humor to his personality and design are harder to pull off in visual images, not without some added audio to it.

Ginka inhabits the body of a snowman. The comedic potential is that he is going to have a voice and mannerism of an old man despite this cutesy design. That gag can work–but, again, it is harder in a silent medium like a comic, and it is hard when Ginka, while capable of mobility, doesn’t really get to do much physical acting panel to panel.

Watanabe made a design choice that is a challenge to pull off, and it’s a little frustrating given where they previously worked. As I said, they were an assistant on Magu-chan–which has a similar conceit, where the big bad god Magu-chan is stuck in this tiny shriveled body, Yes, the later visual comics on YouTube gave him a very deep voice, but just his one eyeball was enough to demonstrate his anger at not being taken seriously, his lofty words but small size communicated the humor of contrasts that this little guy was so Napoleonic in his goals, and his immense godly power despite his small size made him a threat you risk underestimating.

If anything, it would be easier to get the gag to work if it was like, say, Alphonse in Fullmetal Alchemist, who is this big suit of armor but acts like a little kid because he is physically still young, or Guildenstern in Servamp, who is in a cute whale mascot costume–but swears like a sailor and is ready to throw down against other vampires. And even then, both of those characters were still limited in the comics: I only get so much joy out of Alphonse and Guildenstern because I listened to the Funimation/Crunchyroll dubs (#JUSTAMEETING, CRUNCHYROLL…) where you get to hear Aaron Dismuke, Maxey Whitehead, and Sonny Strait sounding so unlike what you see on screen as Alphonse and Guildenstern. Hell, I just brought up Sonny Strait–that voice should not come out of a tiny chibi creature like Ragnarok in Soul Eater–and yet, here we are.

But I got off-topic. The point is, Ginka is not working by his design alone in Chapter 1. So, Watanabe has to add some pathos to him. In Chapter 1, we get the five-year timeskip. Ginka says he has taught all he can to Glüna, she is now a full-fledged magician–and since she wanted to leave this mountain, she better go ahead and do so, as he turns his back on her and walks back to the snow. She’s confused. For how smart Glüna is with magic, we see that she is not good at understanding Ginka’s feelings–and not just because he is an unmovable smiley snowman face. And it leads to this hilarious seen where, so mortified by Ginka’s refusal to travel with her, she sulks…by drowning herself upside down in a ice hole in the frozen lake. (She’s magic, she’s fine, she’s not trying to kill herself.)

It takes one of the talking reindeer in the mountains to explain–and here we get exposition, which, yeah, if we’re going to sit through this, Chapter 1 is a good enough spot. (How does this reindeer know all of this? …I don’t care, that’s how well this works, it’s a magic reindeer telling her, you just go with this.) The reindeer takes Glüna to a cave, where she can sense so much magic coming off of it. Inside the cave is an entire other world, a warped space of time and physical material–you can even see the remnants of a modern airplane in it. (YOU SEE THAT, FIRE FORCE, THIS IS HOW YOU DO YOUR RIDICULOUS POST-APOCALYPTIC TWIST, NOT WAITING 200+ WEEKLY CHAPTERS FOR A SURPRISE ENDING THAT IS JUST, WHOOPS, SOUL EATER PREQUEL, YOU NUTS.) In this cave, the reindeer explains, Ginka was in mortal combat with another magician. The cave itself contains memories of that battle, which Glüna re-experiences–which, I got to hand it to Watanabe, they know how to use a visual medium to justify how a character would have a flashback to something they themselves would not have seen, so Glüna just witnessing that fight through the magic in the cave’s memories–that works great. Glüna sees Ginka’s soul leave his body–and his opponent shatter his body, scattering its pieces.

The reindeer concludes that Ginka lacks enough magic to hold his soul to anything but this snowman, the snow of these mountains retaining enough residual magic, which will melt if he leaves.

That is great. We see Glüna processing all of this, too stunned to know what to do…

…until she knows what to do. Like, we flip from one page to the next, and she is suddenly bright eyes, a big smile, and a loud voice, shouting, “Oh, I know how to fix this–I’m a freaking magician!”

So, here, the timeskip works, because it is Chapter 1, and we want to get on with the pace of the story. In any other story, I would be furious. This is such trolling. But it’s Chapter 1. This is your pilot. You can do this! And it works! And it’s hilarious! We go from this super-schmaltzy discussion that, yeah, it works, it is compelling, it is emotional without being baseless–you can think through this logically and realize, yeah, that sucks for Ginka, and now Glüna has this difficult choice to make. But Glüna reminds you what kind of story you are reading: she’s a freaking magician, she knows this stuff frontwards and backwards, she can just make it so that Ginka won’t melt! That is incredible!

With that, she dashes, barefoot over snow–so powerful that Watanabe draws her with sketchy cross-thatching to indicate her speed, little craters forming where she leaps, hair blown back, white demonic eyes before she bounds up the mountain to where Ginka is–and leaps from the mountaintop to the top of the sky, before spiking Ginka down into the ground like a football, demolishing his snowman body.

…Whatever you are visualizing from what I’m describing, is probably not good enough. Seriously, pick up Chapter 1. Look at that art. Look at the angles, the mix of “above it all” and “worm’s all view” angles deployed, the ability to represent the toss, the impact, the running, the spiking.

The sun comes up. Ginka melts–and with a Jack Frost blow of cold air, Glüna reforms Ginka into his snowman form, as Ginka even does a flip forward and a one-fist into the air motion like he’s Super Mario. This artwork–man, it is just so good. How was Glüna even able to reform him? She says she understands the winter weather up here, so she just re-created the atmospheric conditions with magic. Like…she’s smart. I know this sounds like lowering expectations for a shonen protagonist, but do you understand how important it is to see a character actually being smart about something, and then making that character a young girl, a young woman, in that role? And it’s all from her training and observation that she saved Ginka. That works.

And with that, Ginka and Glüna begin their exploration of the world, to reclaim Ginka’s lost body.

Live-Reaction

Chapter 1 introduces all you need to know with a pretty brisk pace for 50+ pages, and it had me excited to check out what was coming up next. So, let’s stop holding off for so long and get to it: this is Chapter 3 of Ginka and Glüna. Read along to my live-reaction by visiting the Viz web site, viz.com/shonenjump/chapters/ginka-and-gluna–that’s “G-L-U-N-A.”

[A TRANSCRIPT OF THE LIVE-REACTION WILL BE PROVIDED HERE]

Contact (and Hire) Me!

Thanks for listening to this week’s stream of Sunday Morning Manga! Did you enjoy this new chapter of Ginka and Glüna? Please share your remarks in the comments section–I will respond to whichever ones I can.

And if you did like what you heard, then all I can say is: hire me! Borrowing a line from The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal, this is not only something I want to do, I consider it a job. I work in education: I run the American Literature I livestream Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11 AM EDT on YouTube and Twitch, I’ve organized conferences, I’ve published on literature, films, and comics. I am currently seeking work in teaching, copyediting, research assistance, writing, or conference organizing. Job leads are welcome: please email them to [email protected].

And Ko-Fi tips are appreciated: feel free to kick in a few bucks at my Ko-Fi–the web address is ko-fi.com/dereksmcgrath–no spaces or periods or underscores in my name.

Next Time: Halloween Month!

And thanks again for joining this stream, and if all works on my end, I will now direct you to another stream, the Black Comics Chat on Twitch.

I’ll be back next Sunday for another Morning Manga edition, where we enter October–and some special editions of the livestream. All through October, in addition to the live-reaction to a new manga chapter, I will talk about spooky works in comics and animation, not just out of Japan but from around the world.

One of these spooky works is a request from a contributor to my Ko-fi account, Ellak Roach, who asked me to talk about the American/European-produced animated film compilation about the works of Edgar Allan Poe: this is Extraordinary Tales--which you can watch free and legally online at Amazon Freevee (formerly known as IMDB TV).

If you have a request of something for me to talk about in the Sunday livestream, drop me a contribution in the Ko-fi tip jar–$1 minimum–and if it’s something I’m comfortable covering here and is pretty much the same kind of content warnings as anything else I cover here, I’ll consider it or talk with you until we find something I’m up for talking about. Halloween-themed suggestions are strongly encouraged–so make sure to get your $1 contributions in before next week if you want your Halloween content included in the livestream.

Next Live-Reaction: Witch Watch!

In addition to looking at the Edgar Allan Poe Extraordinary Tales film, there will be a live-reaction to a new manga chapter–and this one is also appropriately Halloween-esque, at least, if the name is anything to go by. I’ll be talking about Chapter 79 of Kenta Shinohara's Witch Watch!

Until next Sunday, I’ve been Derek S. McGrath. You have a good afternoon. Bye.

Links from Today’s Stream

My Links

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YouTube

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Series and Films Discussed

Ginka & Glüna

Mob Psycho 100 (#JustAMeeting)

Magu-chan: God of Destruction

Naruto

One Piece

Fullmetal Alchemist (Manga Digital, Manga Physical, and Brotherhood Anime)

Servamp (Manga and Anime)

Soul Eater (Manga and Anime)

Extraordinary Tales

Witch Watch

My Shameless Plugs

The Importance of Unions, in Animation, Acting, and Education

#JustAMeeting

Kyle McCarley’s request for a meeting about a union at Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll’s response

Crunchyroll content behind paywalls

Write to [email protected] and [email protected]

Other People’s Awesome Stuff

Unofficial Weekly Shonen Jump on Twitter: 1, 2

Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal

Black Comics Chat

#ginka and gluna #mob psycho 100 #crunchyroll #just a meeting #Youtube

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