The problem with OEL (original English-language) manga is simple: most of them stink. Red String and In Odd We Trust were both awful by any standards, and the worst part is that I didn’t want them to be that lousy. We deserve good graphic novels no matter what the source.
So, now the good news: Nina Matsumoto’s Yokaiden doesn’t stink. In fact, it may be the best OEL manga I’ve read thus far, not only because it taps into the usual trove of visual tropes from manga but also a whole cache of concepts from Japanese mythology. Such things have typically been explored only by Japanese creators themselves, but here and there non-Japanese authors and artists are venturing into that territory (me included). I figure if Hideyuki Kikuchi can combine tropes from all around–from Hammer horror productions to gunslinger Westerns and Chinese mythology–and create something like Vampire Hunter D, why can’t we do the same in return?
Yokaiden gets its title from two words: yokai — the spirits and creatures of Japanese myth and legend — and the suffix –den, meaning “stories” or “tales”. The hero of the story, Hamachi, is a youngster who’s developed a fascination with the yokai: he’s read every scrap of literature he can find on them, and wants more than anything else to meet one for real.
The other kappa learn about Madkap’s injury and decide to visit a little vengeance on Grandma. When Hamachi returns home the next day, he finds her in a state of deathly catatonia. Her soul’s been stolen away by another yokai. Seeing no reason to stay in the human world, he arms himself with provisions and gear (and his own self-penned yokai guidebook, which forms the art for the inter-chapter illustrations), and sets off to enter the world of the yokai to find her — and to look for his one-legged friend.
Getting into the yokai realm isn’t as difficult as he imagined, but he has competition of a sort. Before he sets off, he bumps into a ronin — a long-haired, dour type very much in the Ryunosuke of Sword of Doom mold — whose self-appointed mission is to find and slay yokai. Hamachi’s appalled. Yokai and humans should be friends! (Never mind that neither side seems to find this much of a priority.) And while the yokai he meets generally want to have little to do with him, he ends up making a few companions: a down-and-out lantern yokai, who talks like Tom Waits and is about as cynical in his worldview; and an umbrella yokai, who’s only too happy to be Hamachi’s buddy … except that Hamachi insists on “setting him free” instead.
This is all very funny, in a way that’s also fresh and unforced. The laughs come naturally out of the material, even if they’re often done in a let’s-break-the-fourth-wall-shall-we? sort of way (not that I mind). Most of the humor revolves around Hamachi’s perennial optimism: he’s determined to make friends out of everyone he meets, even if they hate his guts on general principles. Yes, he’s even willing to try and make friends with the nué, an amalgam of three monsters in one who bears a disturbing resemblance to … well, I’ll just quote one of the jokes in the bonus panels in the back: “Eyes of Christopher Walken! Receding hairline of John Lithgow! Voice of Kelsey Grammer!” Yes, I laughed.
What I like best about Yokaiden is how it takes its Eastern concepts — the yokai and the mythology surrounding them — and presents them in a way that’s immediate and accessible to people who know nothing about this stuff. It’s not just for manga fans, and really, it shouldn’t be.
Art: Here’s where I feel obliged to give a mixed review. As much as I enjoyed the story, there were things about Nina Matsumoto’s artwork that I both liked and didn’t like. If the name rings a bell, there’s a good chance you’ve run into her manga-fied Simpsons drawing courtesy of DeviantArt. Her artwork has spirit and spunk — the layouts of panels and the way she frames the action is all fine — but the designs themselves have a heavily sketchy quality that borders on the amateurish. That said, I look at the cover art and some of the interstitials, and I get the impression at least some of that roughness is deliberate — it’s a way to give us a world of silk and straw, as someone else once put it — and that while this first volume may be a bit shaky, so are many others I’ve seen. I suspect it’ll improve, in much the same way the first installments of Real/Fake Princess were rough-looking but quickly turned into remarkable pieces of work.
The Bottom Line: Despite the roughness of the art — which I’m willing to forgive further down the line, especially if the story holds up — what we have here is a real gem, an OEL manga that stands up nicely against its imported counterparts. And it does so in the most important respect: the story.
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I wonder what you'll think of my OEL, whether I can get it published For Real or if it becomes a webcomic. *is kinda nervous about your opinion*
For the record, I've read four OELs: DramaCon (loved it), Midnight Opera (started off good but petered down to mediocre), Fool's Gold (fun but definitely for tween girls), and My Cat Loki (thin excuse for catboys and gratuitous bishounen. Congrats to the author for pulling it off, but deep it is not.) I'm glad I read them all, especially DramaCon. It's interesting to see what others are doing with the genre.
Thanks for the rec! I'll check it out. ^^V
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I'd be really curious to see it when it's done. I'll even swap you -- my stuff for yours -- if you're up for that. Let's chat more about that at your leisure!
On a similar note, I've been told by a couple of people that my book Four-Day Weekend strongly resembled Dramacon. I checked it out and while the resemblances are there, they're actually quite different. Probably for the best -- the last thing I wanted to do was unintentionally copy someone else's work, especially a work I hadn't even read at the time I'd created my own! And in the same way, I think of Summerworld and Tokyo Inferno as "literary OEL" -- not the greatest definition, but there you go!
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I would have to disagree on the notion that most OEL manga stink. Admittedly, you touched upon one of my favorites - namely Red String. In terms of the manner in which the author ties underlying elements of Japanese Society and use of concepts not readily known to others, such as the red string of fate, I find that the writing is fairly decent.
The artist's artwork is forever improving, and as it is admittedly published as a webcomic in addition to manga, I would have to say that it stands well enough on its own. If you're looking for a sappy teen aged romance, it's a good start. Reasonable, not utterly lost in the depths of jumping the shark, it provides those who prefer their melodrama in comic form the perfect sense of setting combined with characterization. I.E. If you would prefer to read something not to have your mind titillated but instead to lose yourself elsewhere for a while, it accomplishes the task quite well. :)
I will certainly have to check in on this one though, and give it a perusal myself. :)
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I think a big part of the reason Red String bugged me was because it was, like you said, a sappy teen romance under it all, and my taste for that sort of thing evaporated a long time ago (if it was ever there, really). But Dramacon is good stuff, and if Yokaiden is any sign of things to come the whole OEL niche is shaping up quite well. It's just that I've seen so much absolute dross in this category that it's left a bad taste in my mouth, although a few more titles like this one and that taste ought to be rinsed out!
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A book named Fairy Tale about a boy named Yellowtail? Cute. ^*^ Sounds like it could be fun.
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Yokaiden sounds like a fun read! I'll have to see if I can track it down and satisfy my curiosity. ::chuckles::
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I've read a few OEL myself, regular and adult titles. There ARE actually a few good ones out there... the only downside is that most of those good ones are written or drawn by people who are at least half-asian or have asian names, like the OEL Yokaiden--written by someone named Matsumoto? yeah I would trust it, because the author is Asian if nothing else. That's sad and subtly a racist way to see things, but its generally a good instinct, from what I have read and heard about titles I haven't read.
But my favorite OEL title is actually NOT by an Asian! It's called Ravenskull, and is a sequel to Ivanhoe, of all things, following what becomes of the main young antagonist (whose name has escaped me) after he is whacked--his spirit doesn't pass on, and he becomes this kind of death knight character with a special mission, to be accompanied by one of the female characters in Ivanhoe. The art was not usual Japanese style, but it was close enough that I liked it, and I found the characters very artistically appealing and attractive. Whats more, the writing and dialogue were excellent, and I got sucked into the story.
The only bad part is, Ravenskull was discontinued by 7 Seas after ONE stinking volume. ONE. Both me and my friend, who also loved the story, are still sore about that. We've been wondering why the creator, Christopher Vogler I think his name was, didn't push for a continuation. Maybe the book didn't sell well? Well it should have, dammit, and we are pissed at 7 Seas because I would have loved to follow that story. I hope the author picks it up again someday :(
Anyone else ever heard of this title? Or hate 7 Seas for dropping good titles?
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I've not heard of this one myself, so I might want to peek around and see if I can pick up a copy used. 7 Seas appears to have a very scattershot policy of what they keep and delete, if only because they're such a tiny company. Which might end up being, as weird as this sounds, an argument in favor of the big outfits like Viz and Dark Horse snapping up as much stuff as they can.
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