Maris the Wondergirl- Cult Manga Review

June 1, 2024

I do love the works of Rumiko Takahashi and her Rumik World anthology series. Her Fire Tripper run in Manga Mania was the first complete manga series I read and I purchased quite a few of the OAV adaptations including Fire Tripper and Laughing Target. One of the OAVs I had not seen was Maris the Wondergirl so, with 50 minutes to spare, I sat down and watched this short film.

Maris is a super strong lieutenant in the Intergalactic Space Patrol but when she damages her third ship through her super Thanatosian strength, she has to take on part time jobs to pay the organisation back. When the playboy son of a billionaire is kidnapped Maris dreams of romance as well as a big payday. The only thing standing her way is fellow super strong warrior Sue, who defeated Maris in a wrestling match once by cheating. As Maris makes her way to the fortress where the hier is kept all is not what it seems in the final showdown.

This is a cute and disposable OAV. It doesn't really stay long in the memory but is fun with good animation and great 80s hair rock music complementing the fight scenes. The opening two minutes are impressive as the Maris is involved in a dramatic dogfight. Maris is a goofy and flawed character and the moral of 'money doesn't buy happiness but it does make life easier' is a message I can get behind in this humorous 50 minute diversion. This is a great slice of mid 80s animation and is well worth a watch.

LINK: Fire Tripper- Cult Manga Review

LINK- Akira Soundtrack Vinyl Review

LINK- Monster City- Cult Manga Review

LINK: Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK- The Offworld Collection- Book Review

LINK: Manga Exhibition at the British Museum

LINK- The Midnight Library and the Idea That You Can’t Go Home Again

LINK- The Transportive Nature of Objects (And the Power of Mini Consoles)

Mermaid's Scar- Cult Manga Review

May 13, 2024

Rumiko Takahashi might be better known for her quirky comedies and romance tales but her Rumik World series showed her sharper, horror tinged edge. Her Fire Tripper run in Manga Mania was the first complete manga series I read and I purchased quite a few of the OAV adaptations from the Rumik World anthology series including Fire Tripper, Laughing Target and Maris the Wonder Girl.
One of the Rumik World films I had not seen but had read a bit of was Mermaid's Scar. I had picked up a grab bag from my local comic shop and it contained an issue of Mermaid's Scar comic in it but this was not the whole run. I'd only read this one comic and wanted to read more but never found any other issues. Also, I don't think the film was released in the UK. Setting out to right this wrong (and to gain closure after nearly 30 years), I sat down to watch it alongside it's companion piece Mermaid Forest. This is my review for Mermaid's Scar as I have already reviewed Mermaid Forest before.

Whilst doing some research about the film, I found that Mermaid's Scar is one of the many tales that makes up the Mermaid Saga. The series apparently ran sporadically in Japan and the premise is based on the Yao Bikuni, or Happyaku Bikuni legend, where eating the flesh of a mermaid will grant immortality or turn you into a terrible monster called a 'lost soul'.

The series follows Yuta, a young man of about 18 years old, who eats the flesh and is thus immortal. He seeks a way to gain his mortality whilst undergoing The Littlest Hobo or The Incredible Hulk TV show style adventures where he helps people before moving on in his quest.

In Mermaid's Scar, Yuta is joined by Mana, a young woman of similar age and affliction. In this OAV, we are not told how they met but they pass each other off as siblings and travel together.
They meet a young boy, Masato, who is travelling alone to meet up with his mother who lives in a mansion on top of some dramatic cliffs overlooking the ocean. The pair find work at a local building site nearby and see that the relationship between the boy and his mother is terse and abusive. Is there more to this ralationship than meets the eye? Well, when a Lost Soul turns up I'd say yup!

This is a darkly violent OAV with its fair share of blood including someone being shot, piano wired, tied in barbed wire, stabbed with scissors, strangled and then potentially beheaded with an axe. So yes, this isn't (or rather IS) very much your grandpa's Takahashi. The tale is about the perils of losing your humanity when you live forever and Masato comes across as a real price if work, selfish and self-centred, like any 800 year old 10 year old would be.

This OAV is well animated and the music really sells the mood. It's a shame we didn't get more of this series in the West as I would definitely have invested in it. If you have a spare 50 minutes, this manga is well worth your time of you like twisted little horror films.

I'm now hoping to watch the 2003 Mermaid's Scar series and see if that is a more complete offering of the saga.

LINK: Fire Tripper- Cult Manga Review

LINK- Akira Soundtrack Vinyl Review

LINK- Monster City- Cult Manga Review

LINK: Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK- The Offworld Collection- Book Review

LINK: Manga Exhibition at the British Museum

LINK- The Midnight Library and the Idea That You Can’t Go Home Again

LINK- The Transportive Nature of Objects (And the Power of Mini Consoles)

Mermaid Forest- Cult Manga Review

April 21, 2024

One of the Rumik World films I had not seen but had read a bit of was Mermaid's Scar. I had picked up a grab bag from my local comic shop and it contained an issue of Mermaid's Scar comic in it but this was not the whole run. I'd only read this one comic and wanted to read more but never found any other issues.

I found this comic in a grab bag and it was the only one in the series which I had.

Doing some research, I found that Mermaid's Scar was one of the many tales that made up the Mermaid Saga. The series apparently ran sporadically in Japan and the premise is based on the Yao Bikuni, or Happyaku Bikuni legend, where eating the flesh of a mermaid will grant immortality or turn you into a terrible monster called a 'lost soul'.

I saw this on shelves bu never got around to buying it or watching it at the time.

In Mermaid Forest, the prequel, Yuta and Mana, who are of a similar age and suffer the same affliction of immortality, are drawn into a terrible situation when their power is sought by an evil woman named Towa. She was half-turned into a 'Lost Soul' by her sister many years ago. Mana's life is in danger as Towa wants to know why the mermaid's fleshes power doesn't work for everyone and wants a head transplant!

This is a very effective story as we get the back story of Yuta and see how he became immortal with a flashback, taking in the horrific situation of his fishermen friends all dying. Throughout there is extreme violence as Takahashi is not squeamish at all with liberal use of gore.

This OAV is well animated and is very evocative if the era with quality framing and artistry throughout. The music is dramatic and complements the scenes well but it's the foley work, with all the squelching, slopping about of blood and slapping that really sells the horror.

The tale of revenge is well done and it's a shame we didn't get more of this series in the West as I would definitely have invested in it. If you have a spare 50 minutes, this manga is well worth your time of you like twisted little horror films.

LINK- Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK- Fire Tripper: Cult Manga Review

LINK- Akira Soundtrack Vinyl Review

LINK- Manga Exhibition at the British Museum

LINK- The Transportive Nature of Objects (And the Power of Mini Consoles)

LINK- My One True Gaming Constant in Life- Nintendo

LINK- Ulysses 31 Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Mysterious Cities of Gold Season 3 (English Dub) - Complete Series Review

The Laughing Target- Cult Manga Review

April 14, 2024

I do love the works of Rumiko Takahashi and her Rumik World anthology series. Her Fire Tripper run in Manga Mania was the first complete manga series I read and I purchased quite a few of the OAV adaptations including Fire Tripper but also the adaptation of a curious one shot comic adaptation called Laughing Target. The cover was suitably sinister in this short horror tale and back then I had no idea what it would entail.

The cover of the film is quite dramatic.

This OAV holds a special place in my heart, even if it isn't even close to being creator Takahashi's best work. It is arguable what is but it's probably a toss up between Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkokou, Ranma 1/2 or Inuyasha but back then I didn't know any of that. All I knew was that this was an edgy horror anime featuring a fight to the death with bows and arrows. Looking back now, I can see that it is about trauma and how we process it.

The story outline is pretty straightforward: During her childhood, a young girl named Azusa goes missing. She encounters something sinister in the woods and comes back different- changeling style. When she turns 6, Azusa is betrothed to her cousin Yuzuru and they are set to marry when they are grown up. Fast forward 10 years and Yuzuru is a confident archer with groupies and a girlfriend, Satomi. When Azusa arrives, keen to keep to the promise, Yuzuru's world is turned upside down as malevolent forces seek to ensure Satomi's end and the union of Yuzuru to Azusa.

Laughing Target is an effective short horror film.

Laughing Target is well worth a watch as it stands the test of time as an intriguing horror OAV with enough chills to still genuinely unsettle. Rather than just a stereotypical evil shrew, the film elicits sympathy for Azusa, a survivor of abuse at the hand of three boys as well as an isolated girl by her eccentric and overbearing mother. The latent powers of summoning the ghosts of death when she is angry or scared seems understandable under these circumstances! The promise to her betrothed kept her anchored but when she sees that he has given his heart to another, and assaulted her in defence of his love Satomi , it triggers memories of past abuses and untethers her. It is quite powerful but I hadn't read it like that 30 or so years ago.

Rumiko Takahashi might be better known for her quirky comedies and romance tales but her Rumik World series shows her sharper edge. Laughing Target is a well done story, presenting difficult concepts at a time when they were often poorly represented.

The film is well worth 50 minutes if your time. Also, stay for the credits as it ends on a downbeat note that will linger long in the mind.

LINK- Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK- Akira Soundtrack Vinyl Review

LINK- Monster City- Cult Manga Review

LINK- Manga Exhibition at the British Museum

LINK- The Transportive Nature of Objects (And the Power of Mini Consoles)

LINK- My One True Gaming Constant in Life- Nintendo

LINK- Ulysses 31 Retro Soundtrack Review

LINK- Mysterious Cities of Gold Season 3 (English Dub) - Complete Series Review

Manga Exhibition at the British Museum: Review

June 5, 2019

In Japan, manga has been a part of the culture for a long time. The origins of manga are debated and The Handscroll of Frolicking Animals by Kitazawa Rakuten is considered a major influence, but generally it gained prominence in the post World War 2 era where artists such as Osamu Tezuka brought some levity and lightness to proceedings with Mighty Atom or Astro Boy as he's known in the West. Tezuka was to manga what Will Eisner was to American comics; the medium existed before their arrival but they brought it to the fore and forever changed it.

Astro Boy is iconic and will feature heavily in the 2020 Olympics, which will be held in Japan.

As a young boy growing up in east London, England, I didn't know anything about manga or anime but I was consuming it unknowingly through shows such as The Mysterious Cities of Gold and Ulysses 31.
One Saturday I went into my local WH Smith and saw issue 22 of a magazine called Manga Mania and was taken by the big eyes, spiky hair style and tiny mouth and nose of the cover star that reminded me so much of the animation style I liked. When I picked it up, from the top shelf next to the more salacious magazines, I felt a bit of a rebel but upon opening it the kinetic imagery and artistry blew me away. Flicking through it I saw a mention of The Mysterious Cities of Gold in the letter pages and knew I had found something special. From then on I would buy Manga Mania monthly and purchased graphic novels, VHS films, soundtracks and even anime cels. The shop Forbidden Planet became nerd nirvana for me and I'd visit it monthly. Manga was one of my first true loves and one that has survived to this day, at least to some lesser extent. Manga is in my lifeblood and even though it doesn't feature as prominently in my daily life as it once did for me, it was formative in my youth and for that I am still grateful.

I loved getting my monthly Manga Mania fix.

Since those heady underground days in the early 90s, manga has grown and thrived and its influence is spreading across the world. So, when I heard that the British Museum was hosting the largest manga exhibition outside of Japan I wasn't surprised and knew that I had to go. The British Museum has dipped its toes into the manga and anime pool before over the years but these have been smaller, more focused exhibition. This promised to be a much larger, grander affair as manga is still developing and evolving, the form has and is still contributed rather uniquely to modern culture and I'm glad that a venerable institution as the British Museum is recognising this. I visited the Kyoto International Manga Museum several years ago, which is the largest repository of manga in the world, and wanted to see how this exhibition would compare.

So the question is, is the exhibition worth visiting? In a word, yes.... but this comes heavily loaded with a proviso, which I'll go into later.

The whole show feels less like a staid exhibition but more like something you'd see at more immersive and engaging galleries, no surprise as manga means 'irresponsible pictures' and what is on show is a riotous walk-through of the medium. Being a family oriented exhibition the more controversial elements have been excised but that doesn't diminish what's on show, rather it still offers a smorgasbord of artists and genres that covers the art-form well without excluding younger generations or upsetting some sensibilities.

The exhibition starts with an introduction about the origins of manga and provides a guide on how to read it, from left to right. Then there is a section on the manga-ka, the artists who produce the manga, and the tools of their trade.

On an impressive display of collected comics are a few televisions with the chiefs and editors of the weekly manga collections which are published weekly and sell in the millions. They offer their insight into the creative, production and distribution process.

Around the corner, there is a brief look at the influence of woodblock and scroll works on the medium. There are a few stunning pieces on show but a couple stood out to me, the one where a recent piece of work by artist Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, Domu and Memories) was compared to his woodblock forebear. The current breed of artists have built on the shoulders of giants and their influence is appreciated here.

After that, the bulk of the exhibition is split into little islands where different themes of manga and artists are explored like Love, Sports, Horror etc. This is all quite dynamic and exciting as there are banners and posters hanging from the ceiling and giant murals and original art pieces stuck on the gallery walls.

In the middle of the exhibition, there is an impressive library of manga on offer and many soft seats in which to read at your own pace.

The last section of the exhibition has a couple of art installations. Kawanabe Kyosai’s theatre curtain from 1880 was painted in just four hours after the artist had imbibed several bottles of rice wine. He painted the 17 metres by five metres high piece using a huge brush and it was done in such a rush of inspiration that you can still see his footmarks on it!. It really is an impressive achievement and whilst not manga, it shows the kinetic frenetic art style that would feature in so much manga years down the line.

Kawanabe Kyosai’s theatre curtain certainly is an impressive piece of work. — *Kawanabe Kyosai*’s theatre curtain certainly is an impressive piece of work.

Near the exit, a large projected montage of Studio Ghibli films at the end is a fitting bookend to an impressive exhibition.

The exhibition is a great primer for the common manga fan or someone with a cursory interest in the medium but someone looking for a deeper look into the minutiae of manga, this is not that. In my opinion the exhibition, whilst well organised and curated, had some glaring omissions in manga-ka such as Rumiko Takahashi (Mermaid Saga, Urusei Yatsura and Inuyasha) and Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell, Aplleseed and Dominion Tank Police), but on a personal level I'd have loved to have seen some works by Yoshitoshi Abe (Serial Experiment Lain, Haibane Renmei) and Yukito Kishiro (Battle Angel Alita). I understand that with such a large number of artists it is not possible to get everything in the exhibition but Takahashi and Shirow are titans of the medium and needed some mention or recognition. It’s like having an exhibition on Italian masters and forgetting to mention any of the Turtles; Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo, it just wouldn’t seem complete. However, as the first real look at manga outside of Japan this is an excellent exhibition and well worth the 90 or so minutes of your time. It is an amuse-bouche to the promise of something more and for that I’m excited.