WHO FIGHTER and Heart of Darkness

by Seiho Takizawa

As a young boy, I remember the great pleasure I got out of reading U.F.O. comics of the day. Sold as true tales of alien invasions, the classic comics were as much about the “top-secret” government cover-ups as they were about the bizarre experiences of the military men who encountered the other-worldly visitors. I hadn’t been reminded of those fantastic tales in years until I read the first story in Seiho Takizawa’s first English title, WHO FIGHTER.

WHO FIGHTER is a WWII manga, with two complete stories and one short vignette. The title story tells the experience of a Japanese fighter pilot who shoots down a strange fireball over Japan during WWII. What follows is a strange and twisty tale, and the only thing more odd than the suspicious G-men investigating the incident is the fireball itself. Are the bizarre events that follow the result of this alien phenomenon, or are they all in the pilot’s head. There is strong evidence to suggest both, which makes WHO FIGHTER an exciting and unique story, right up through the final frame.

The second complete story is Takizawa’s version of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (which will also be recognizable to readers as the story Francis Ford Coppola’s film “Apocalypse Now” was based on.) A Special Ops soldier is sent on a secret mission to find and “remove from command” a Colonel who has deserted his post and taken his men into the jungles of Burma to build a utopian society. The story is as much about the journey into the jungle to find Colonel Kurutsu as it is about the struggle the Special Forces soldier has with the mission. “This time…my target is Japanese,” he reminds himself as he drinks sake with a geisha in an attempt to relax before the mission starts. This is a thinking person’s war story, and the tone and delivery make it a very worthy rendition of Conrad’s classic. In the Afterward Takizawa makes some interesting comments on adapting Heart of Darkness, and on the writing process in general.

One cannot get more than a few frames into WHO FIGHTER without being struck by the artwork they hold in their hands. The distinguished and precise drawings are very realistic when it comes to machinery, vehicles and buildings. Whether you are a World War II buff or not, the attention to detail is clear. The characters have a distinct look, and the thin-line shading is done to perfection.

Although almost all the characters are soldiers, and the stories are set during wars, these tales are hard to call simply “war stories”. These stories are on the edge of war, and the edge of reality. Now we can only hope and wait to see more of Takizawa’s work in the near future.

Scary Book 3: Faces

By Kazuo Umezu

Each installment of the Scary Book series explores the horror in its title theme. The first book, Reflections, explored what happens on the other side of the looking glass, and what happens when a young girl’s reflection breaks into our world. The second book, Insects, dug into a girl’s irrational fear of butterflies, and revealed a twisted tale of abuse and murder. This is the third installment in the Scary Book series and the title theme is Faces.

Two full-length stories are included in this volume, and both explore society’s attitudes about physical beauty. “Fear” is the first story and opens with the tale of two sisters. Momoko is worshipped as a natural cutie by anyone who lays eyes on her. Her plainer younger sister, Aiko, is summarily ignored into almost non-existence as they grew up. (Though, in fact, it’s hard to distinguish much difference in the two, besides hair-styles, thanks to Umezu’s art work. All his female leads tend to look alike, which adds an interesting twist to this story.) Just as the sisters enter high school and Momoko starts a relationship with the dreamy Takaya, Momoko trips and falls down the stairs, scarring her perfect face to an unrecognizable state. How the story plays out is shocking and sad, and it shows a richer exploration of the societal pressures (both real and created in Momoko’s head) than we have seen in earlier volumes. The extremes the sisters go to fix Momoko’s mangled mug are horrifying, but the ending is the most unsettling.

The second story, which takes up about 2/3 of the volume, is titled “The Coincidental Letter”. This story opens with the story of another young girl, Yoko, waking up late to school. (Does Umezu ever have boys as the lead characters?) This leads to a downward spiral of a terrible day for Yoko, and she proceeds to air all her frustrations in a letter addressed to the target of frustration, her teacher. She writes things like “A woman like you will never get married…”, “Your legs are crippled…”, and “You’ll fall off a cliff…” among other comments of her ugliness and lack of popularity. But instead of sending the letter to the teacher, she makes up a random address in Hokkaido and tosses it in the mailbox. This leads to a series of coincidences, as the address was a real address, and the recipient, Suzuko Yamada, was actually crippled, but about to be married. The letter throws Yamada into a suicidal depression, and her sudden disappearance becomes a national news item. The country wants to know where Suzuko Yamada is, and who wrote that horrible letter. “The Coincidental Letter” has elements of horror, but isn’t a horror story in the same way as the earlier Umezu stories are. Like “Fear” it explores elements of the human condition we don’t often see in horror manga.

Umezu goes in a slightly different direction with Scary Book: Faces, and I think it is to the reader’s benefit. The artwork maintains Umezu’s distinctive style. He has a way of turning the cute into the grotesque with a few pen strokes, and the distinct faces of the main characters are kept under wraps for just the right amount of time, so that turn of the page will elicit a gasp as big as if each girl were standing right in front of you.

This is the third book in the Scary Book series, and, at this point, there are no future volumes scheduled to publish. We do enjoy this series, and hope Dark Horse continues bring us Umezu in English, even if just as a yearly Halloween treat.

Plastic Culture: How Japanese Toys Conquered the World

by Woodrow Phoenix



Why does growing up mean you have to grow out of your favorite toys? According to author Woodrow Phoenix, you don’t have to. Plastic Culture: How Japanese Toys Conquered the World is a colorful exploration in the world of plastic toys in both the US and in Japan.

Now that those lovers of the very first plastic toys are all grown-up there is a new breed of designers, artists, and fans on both sides of the Pacific. Plastic Culture opens with a brief history of American and Japanese plastic playthings from post-WWII to the present day. How both toy cultures influenced each other through cartoons, movies, and comic books is reflected on the toys created. For example, we can see how not only Godzilla had an impact on the west, but how American army shows, like “Combat!” influenced the modeling business in Japan.

Plastic Culture is divided into short chapters, each featuring an influential force on the culture of toys. Godzilla, Fast-Food Toys, Event Promotions…all these cultural influences lead to the meat of the book – the modern phenomenon of Urban Vinyl Toys.

Urban vinyl is the natural evolution of toys, as the adults who played with plastic toys in their youth want to recreate the experience, but from a grown-up angle. Several influences and artists are featured. More modern roots are explored, like the explosion of the toy industry with the introduction of Kenner’s Star Wars line in 1978, and Pee-Wee Herman in the mid-80s. We meet artists from the US, Japan and other parts of Asia and can see how this history of trans-Pacific borrowing and expanding hasn’t stopped.

As interesting as Phoenix’s introductions are, the real excitement of Plastic Culture comes from the large, beautiful pictures he has assembled. Urban vinyl is the fusing with toys and art, and it comes through clearly in the photographs. However, putting the older toys under the same lens we can see the classic Godzilla, Hello Kitty! and Planet of the Apes figures as more than just toys, but also as pieces of art. This is the real intention of the urban vinyl artists, and it also seems to be the intention of Plastic Culture author, Woodrow Phoenix.

YouTube dumping Japanese clips in droves

This is from is CNN:

YouTube deletes clips on Japanese
media demands

The online
video site removed 29,549 video files after receiving a demand from a group of
Japanese media companies over copyright infringement.

October 20 2006: 6:48 AM EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) -- Google Inc.'s YouTube.com removed
29,549 video files from its popular Web site after receiving a demand from a
group of Japanese media companies over copyright infringement, an industry group
said Friday.

Complete article here

I know a lot of Japanese in the US that use YouTube as a source of news and entertainment to keep up with what's going on the the Japanese media. Naturally copyright infringement is copyright infringement, but I wonder what the damages are? Is there not a benefit to having bands and comedians from Japan exposed to a world market? Can people not see an artist on YouTube, then make the effort to track down a CD or higher quality video? It's a philosophical question I won't try to answer here, but I am not sure what the TV studios in Japan are trying to protect. It isn't like the variety shows are released on DVD, (I can understand the issue with the "home dramas").

School Zone 1

by Kanako Inuki

More than in the US, in Japan, schools are often the source of a variety of ghost stories and horrific tales. Japanese public schools tend to be large concrete prison-like structures, with lots of wood doors and creaky windows that seem to squeak and rattle from the moment they are installed. Because of clubs, sports, and other after-school activities students are often in the industrial-type buildings after most teachers and other students have gone home. Older kids tell younger kids ghost stories about their school as a light form of hazing, and stories grow from rumors to legend quickly. It isn’t so hard to see how the Japanese school can be the home to as many demons as the American graveyard or abandoned house.

In the first volume of this elementary school horror series, School Zone, writer Kanako Inuki takes advantage of all these factors to create a multi-layered, progressively spooky story. The School Zone itself is the safety zone around the school before the start and after the end of classes each day. This is for kids to walk together to and from school (Japanese schools generally don’t use school buses). Ironically this safe area for the elementary school students is almost as scary as the school itself.

The book is broken into five parts, yet the stories involving a handful of different students overlap and intertwine with each other. The foundation of the story begins with the lore of 13 ghost stories about the school. Supposedly, once you learn all 13 stories, you will begin to see ghosts in the school. A girl named Kimi has supposedly learned all 13 stories, and is now afraid of going to school (and has also been singled-out by her classmates). Kimi is one member of the School Zone group, (a group of neighboring kids who walk together to school), led by the 6th grader, Nanka. The stories in Volume 1 revolve mostly about the members of this small group, and each story sounds like the typical ghost stories young Japanese students might pass along to each other: Nanka finds himself trapped inside a giant mirror (which might remind the reader of Scary Book 1), a young boy is chased by a confiscated doll, a shadow lures a young student away from her School Zone group, a ghost roams the halls, creepy twin girls play kokkuri-san (Japanese Ouija board), and the like.

The stories in School Zone zig-zag from place and theme, with familiar characters (like Nanka, Kami and the twin girls) popping in here and there. It’s not always clear if time is linear and the frantic nature of the story-telling seems to be told from the perspective of an elementary school student. What does advance logically is the level of spookiness as the reader progresses deeper in. What begins as rumors and finger-pointing leads to “Did I just see what I thought I saw?” There is a terrific “Where’s Waldo?”-type display of the ghost of Reiko, who may be a dead teacher looking for her class. By the end we can be well assured that these ghost stories are not simply figments of the students’ collective imaginations.

One interesting touch about School Zone is that because this is an elementary school, the students still have faith in the adults. Some still think that as long as an adult is around, nothing can go wrong. This is the case for a while, but eventually the adults succumb to the spirits in the school as well, in some fantastic and frightening ways, but the addition of this child-like tendency added a tender, if not sad touch to the story.

School Zone falls somewhere between the Scary Book series and Hino’s Lullabies from Hell in terms of style, scares and gore. Any fan of the recent horror manga coming to us from Dark Horse will want to make room on their shelf for School Zone. Volumes 2 and 3 are available now.

Train Man 電車男

This is in Portland this week. I haven't seen it, but it seems to be less about trains, and more about an introverted internet junkie who falls in love. More information here...

Reiko the Zombie Shop: 3

by Rie Mikamoto

One thing we can't say about Rei Mikamoto is that he is a predictable writer. Volume 1 was a series of short stories centering on Reiko, a “Zombie Shop” who can reanimate dead bodies, for brief periods, so that any lingering revenge can be executed. Volume 2 was the first part of an epic tale between Reiko and her evil twin sister, Riruka. Alliances are forged on both sides with other necromancers, and both human and zombie blood spills in buckets. In Volume 3 the war between the sisters is concluded in the first half of the book, and then we are treated to a series of short stories.

The first 100 pages or so of Volume 3 bring us the final battles between Reiko and her allies versus Riruka and her cohorts. The body count is high, and in the end there are few left standing. Mikamoto continues to excite the reader with both epic-sized and face-to-face battles scattered with flying limbs and translated with its wry sense of humor intact. The conclusion of this 300 page story (beginning in Volume 2) is both exhausting and satisfying, and made me want to light up a Mild Seven in celebration.

After this battle we are treated to a short story of Reiko visiting an isolated boarding school in Hungary after a series of bloody animal attacks have left the student body in a panic. Reiko is hired as an undercover gumshoe to try to find out what really happened to the slaughtered students. Some nice twists give this short story a sound balance between detective thriller and dormitory horror.

What follows in this volume is a trilogy of Reiko-free short stories written by Rei Mikamoto. According to the Afterward by Mikamoto, at least one of these, “The Hair-Check Massacre”, was written while he was still had a day job in his early 20’s (but in no way does the style or quality suffer).

The opening frame of "The Hair-Check Massacre” is a little like a M.C. Escher drawing, but once the reader gets the angle in focus, it’s quite a frightening scene. Three female high-school students fail their school’s hair check, and their psychopathic teacher tries to teach them the ultimate lesson about respect and fear. (Some schools in Japan have rules about hair-length and dye which elicits the occasional all-school hair check.) The “Tales from the Crypt”-like twist at the end sets the stage for the last two stories.

“Elder Sister’s Face” tells the cringe-inducing tale of a twin sister relationship too horrific, thankfully, ever actually come true. The next short, “God Town”, could have just as easily have been written by Rod Serling. This final vignette is not as gory as the others, but is still a simple and satisfying tale.

One can only wonder what direction the next volume of Reiko the Zombie Shop will go. With its diverse style of (INSERT GENRE HERE)/Horror, it seems like this manga can really go anywhere. Mikamoto seems to have a geyser’s supply of ideas, and being able to mix and match 10-page stories with 300-page stories keeps the readers on their toes. Volume 4 is available now, and Volume 5 is released on December 6.

Twinkle Twinkle

by Kaori Ekuni


Twinkle Twinkle is the charming first book by the award-winning novelist Kaori Ekuni. Between its covers are both a very modern Japanese tale and a story that crosses cultural boundaries with issues that are human, not exclusively Japanese.

Shoko and Mutsuki were victims of ambitious parents looking to make an arranged marriage for their respective children. Neither Shoko nor Mutsuki had an interest in marriage, and once they realized that, they realized they would be perfect for each other. Or so it would seem. Mutsuki is a gay doctor and Shoko is emotionally unstable and has a fancy for the liquid pleasures in life. By satisfying their parents’ desire to see them married they can “get them off their backs” and live their lives how they desire.

The fact is that the respective parents knew of their own child’s hurdles to marriage, but not of the other child's. This leads to more instability in the virtual fort Shoko and Mutsuki have built for themselves. Another source of both pleasure and strife in is Mutsuki’s lifetime lover, Kon. Although Shoko and Mutsuki live a “sexless" marriage (a popular English term in Japan), the only one without sexual desires is Shoko. Their “business relationship” grows into one of mutual dependence as Shoko and Mutsuki’s secrets start to leak out. More is complicated as Shoko develops a friendship with her husband’s lover at the same time her own father learns of his existence. Keeping the parents happy, a desire for children, alcohol, love, and a husband who tries to set up his wife… all enough to drive anyone over the edge.

Twinkle Twinkle is written from both the husband’s and the wife’s perspectives, alternating voices each chapter. What is revealed is less differing views, and more a mutual desire to support their struggling partners, however they can. The book is written with a real sense of honesty and realism. Some aspects of the story are very obviously Japanese, as in the idea of an arranged marriage, but there are also some more deep rooted Japanese themes. The idea of modern Tokyoites having to create elaborate lies just to fulfill their own personal desires, when honesty is obviously the faster, but more embarrassing path, has a certain Japanese charm to it.
Certain other aspects have more internationally recognizable themes. Themes of honesty and betrayal run throughout. Being gay, and fitting into society is certainly an issue people deal with all around the world. Also, where there is alcohol there is alcoholism. However, Ekuni gives us her characters without judgment or opinion. In one scene Shoko thinks to herself, "Before I got married I used to often soak in the tub with a glass of whiskey. It’s a great feeling. The alcohol goes straight to your head…I could feel all the blood in my body fizzing like soda water…” (p60). Ekuni never tries to lead the reader’s opinion, and, in turn, the idea of judgment never calls into play for the audience.

Twinkle Twinkle is a quick read and a satisfying book. It shows the struggles of two unique individuals, but the themes addressed apply to all of us. It’s hard not to feel like you are a close part of Shoko and Mutuski’s lives, maybe even sleeping between them on their steam-ironed sheets.

Welcome the the N.H.K. 1

by Tatsuhiko Takimoto and Kendi Oiwa



There is a small, odd media subgenre of self-reflective/self-deprecating media which allows a heavy metal mockumentary like “This is...Spinal Tap” to lead to actual album sales, rock videos and tour dates. This same phenomenon can be seen in the Japanese release “Otaku no Video”. This was movie by anime makers about anime superfans (or “otaku”) which both celebrated and made fun of their fanaticism. It was a huge hit among otaku, and at nearly 25 years old is still popular today.

On a similar scale is the TOKYOPOP manga release, Welcome to the N.H.K.: 01. This book tells the tale of Satou, a college drop-out and “hikikomori”. A hikikomori is someone who drops out of society and has little or no social contact with other people. Modern technology has made it possible for more of these people to exist in Japan (text messaging, online ordering, staffless video/DVD rental stores, etc.). Of course Satou doesn’t want to admit to himself, or the cute girl he likes, Misaki, that he is a hikikomori, but all signs point to “DEFINITELY”. All efforts to prove otherwise only force him to look worse and worse. He employs help from his kohai (younger in school) neighbor. His neighbor is an anime and loli-con addict, and thinks the two of them should make a hentai PC game together. At the same time Misaki wants Satou to join her “project” (for hikikomori and otaku). Satou wants to get to know Misaki, but can’t admit he is the weirdo that he clearly is.

What follows is an odd adventure jumping from here to there deeper and more far-out into otaku heaven. From hentai shops to Akihabara maid cafes, this comedic mish-mash of misunderstandings and panty shots is vibrant, energized and very weird.

If all the above italicized terms are a mystery to you, and you don’t know where (or what) Akihabara is, then Welcome to the N.H.K. probably won’t be for you. It is essentially an otaku subculture inside joke. Japan has no shortage of otaku, and there are gigantic manga, cos-play, game shops all over the country. This is a sub-culture with many branches of sub-sub-cultures. As more and more aspects of Japanese youth culture travel west and are picked up by American fans, we are going so see more books like Welcome to the N.H.K. It would be hard to imagine just a few years ago manga translated into English which talked about doujinshi (Japanese for fan-fic and art) and manga cafés even being comprehensible to an American audience. But, thanks to the increased internet usage (on both sides of the Pacific), greater interest in Japanese language study, and just the natural progression of pop-culture evolution, these same sub-cultures are spawning from natural blondes and brunettes over here, and the American manga publishers are responding, as should be expected.

A non-manga or anime fan will probably be a little confused and shocked by the images between these covers, and it wouldn’t be fair not to mention that although the erotic images aren’t particularly titillating (nor are they meant to be), some are more extreme than American audiences might be used to. Attitudes about pornography are different between the two countries. In the US pornography viewing is a more shameful act than it is in Japan, especially some of the fetish types that show up here. The reality is that Welcome to the N.H.K. is laughing at, and laughing with, a very real slice of Japanese society.

This is what makes Welcome to the N.H.K. such an interesting cultural phenomenon. It is otaku material about otaku, which shows us the reality of the hikikomori, but at the same time is a fantasy (the love interest, Misaki), which will keep the otaku reading. One nice feature of this title is the glossary which gives explanations to all the bizarre references which appear in the book. Whether you are an American otaku looking for a story about your Japanese heritage or a curious newcomer who wants to know what the buzz is about, or simply interested in Japanese sub-cultures such as this, then Welcome to the N.H.K. may be what you are looking for. Be warned, it’s not always PC and not always pretty. Volume 2 is released in February, 2007. There is also an animated series broadcast in Japan.

Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service 1

by Eiji Otsuka and Housui Yamazaki

Every so often a new book comes around that is so different and unique that it really makes you excited about the whole genre again. Our most recent addition, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service is that book for us, and we are happy to introduce this new title to you.

Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service is a series of short stories about a small group of students attending a Buddhist university in Tokyo. What these students discover is that their skills (both the learned and the extraordinary) don’t translate well into the modern business world, but as a team, they can create a unique, and possibly lucrative, business opportunity. This is the Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service.

One member of the student team is a girl who studied embalming in the West. Another has the ability to dowse for corpses, their leader is also a computer hacker, another can hear messages left by the dead, and then there is the guy with the puppet possessed by aliens. Together they can find corpses, sometimes murdered, sometimes dumped, sometimes suicides, and deliver them to their proper resting places. The real trick is figuring out how to get paid by the dead.

Some have compared Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service to “Scooby-Doo”, but this is a rather inaccurate comparison. It is more like “Scooby-Doo” meets “Zombie Holocaust”, or maybe an even closer comparison would be “Ghostbusters” meets Reiko the Zombie Shop. In reality there is no good comparison, as Kurosagi delivers uniquely entertaining and funny elements with genuinely gory scenes in a bizarrely perfect balance. Kurosagi isn't as “scary” as some of the horror titles we have read recently, mostly because the main characters approach the corpses (who sometimes are reanimated through a yet-to-be-explained power), as a source of income, not fear.

Yamazaki’s art is very clean and meticulous. Whether it is a garbage dump, a wheat field, or a city street, the details are not glossed over, yet the look is never too busy. Much time is also spent on the title corpses. From a mummified old woman to a fresh suicide, the bodies are detailed and appropriately set the mood. This is a business, but these are still dead bodies we are dealing with here, and Yamazaki’s art doesn’t let us forget it. This is a mature title, mostly because of the elements of gore, and rare is the clothed female corpse.

A unique addition to this title is also the post-script “Disjecta Membra”, (or “scattered fragments”). Instead of overwriting translations on the SFX, the translator, Toshifumi Yoshida, and editor, Carl Gustav Horn, added this section to not only translate the SFX, but also explain them, along with other culturally unique situations. Although the information is useful and thorough, the R to L orientation in English takes a little getting used to. (The rest of the book is oriented as the original Japanese, R to L, which thankfully has become the standard.) A concise explanation of Japanese writing makes this addition a real treat for those interested in more than just manga, but Japanese language and culture as well.

This book is very competently translated, not only giving each character its own voice and personality, but also the humor remains mature and not dumbed down for the easy laugh, or show up at inappropriate times.

Overall, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service 1 is a terrific read for those who like their bodies with a pinch of humor. Otsuka and Yamazaki paint the broad horror genre in a brand-new color. Volume 2 is released on November 29, 2006, and Volume 3 is released in 2007.

Arm of Kannon: Volume 1

by Masakazu Yamaguchi

Arm of Kannon is a horror/sci-fi title from TOKYOPOP, and our first TOKYOPOP title at PDI's bookstore. And what a title to begin with! Arm of Kannon opens with a two-punch bang of erotica and horror, and sets the stage for the surprising and mature story to follow.

The series starts out as the tale of a high school-aged brother and sister whose father has gone missing while searching for a historical artifact, The Arm of Kannon. An attempted mugging of the siblings leads the arrival of a mysterious sword-wielding bodyguard who deters the attack, but then talks to Mao and Mayo in an odd vernacular, talking about human obligations and little brother Mao’s taste for violence. The mystery man’s musings make more sense when we see the return of Mao and Mayo’s father -- or at least what seems to be their father. Would their real father really cut their mother into pieces and stick her into the refrigerator?

Arm of Kannon is a multi-layered mystery with elements of a military conspiracy (the government wants to use the artifact to make genetically mutated super-soldiers), as well as the classic battle of good vs. evil (in this case, literally, light vs. shadows). Full of bloody battles and humans transforming into monsters, Arm of Kannon has been compared to Legends of the Overfiend, but Arm of Kannon doesn't have nearly as much gratuitous sex scenes, and is overall a more mature and intelligent story.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t some very electric battle scenes. Yamaguchi’s art really grabs the reader's attention, and some surprising full-page frames make for shocking page turns which really add to the horror element of the story.

Arm of Kannon will not appeal to all readers. It is directed towards a mature reader who enjoys the dark-side of manga with elements of horror and sci-fi. Volumes 1 through 8 are available now. Check here for more reviews of the Arm of Kannon series.

Kozyndan

Here's a site we've been enjoying exploring recently. And the prices for the prints are INCREDIBLY reasonable.

Juror 13

by D.J. Milky
Art by Makoto Nakatsuka
This is our first exploration of a manga not translated from Japanese, but written in English for an English speaking audience. Published by TokyoPop, Juror 13 is a stand-alone book, a complete story in one volume. Writer D.J. Milky has authored several manga-style books for TokyoPop from his homebase in Tokyo.

In the story a struggling insurance claims investigator, Jeremy, finds himself called for jury duty. It doesn't help that his boss is giving him rough time at work, and he can't quite accept that his girlfriend is really through with him. The easy-going guys at the office try to keep Jeremy's spirits up, but they also seem more concerned with their own needs, especially the office playboy, Jake. Jeremy's problems escalate, and it appears his friend Jake may be more than he appears... and does this have anything to do with the unusual look on the courthouse receptionist's face when he showed up for jury-duty?

Juror 13 is rated for OT (Older Teens) mostly because of intense language, and the depth of the story is directed to that level as well. As Jeremy's paranoia mirrors the size of his growing problems, the reader feels the tension that Jeremey does. The unexpected twist at the reveals all, and it is a very satisfying finish.

Reading an American manga was a different experience. In some ways it was nice to have the sound-FX and building names in English, and a Western orientation (L to R), but those interested in Japanese culture and language might feel something is missing.

Juror 13 is a fast read, and is coupled with a 20+ page preview of another American manga coming out, Riding Shotgun. The artwork isn't particularly unique for this genre, though there are some nice intense scenes near the end. The story relies a lot on a sense of danger and impending doom, and although Nakatsuka's art is very clean, it does deliver in unpredictable layouts that are visually pleasing.

Overall Juror 13 is a good read, but not as deep as some of the titles we have looked at recently. For those just getting into manga, it may be a good place to start. Juror 13 would also be a worthy recommendation for a mature teen interested in manga or comics.