There are two universal truths in today’s rapidly changing comics industry. The first is that Dog Man is the defining comic of our era. The second is that more people are reading manga and Webtoons (aka vertical scroll comics) than ever before. Therefore we at The Comics Beat have chosen to embark on a new venture: Beat’s Bizarre Adventure. Every week we’ll have three writers recommend some of their favorite books and series from Japan, Korea and elsewhere. This week we have a forgotten magical girl classic, an adult drama about toxic female friendship, and, of course, [The original editor of this introduction was killed by the Death Note. We apologize for any inconvenience. — Management]
Gakuen Alice
Writer/Artist: Tachibana Higuchi
Translator: Haruko Furukawa
Adaptation: Jennifer Keating
Editor: Lillian Diaz-Przybyl
Publisher: Tokyopop
I’m not usually a reader of magical girl comics. So when a friend recommended that I read Gakuen Alice, I was reluctant to give it a chance. To my surprise, though, I really enjoyed it. It remains one of my favorite manga published in the early 2000s.
Gakuen Alice tells the tale of ten-year-old Mikan Sakura, who follows her best friend Hotaru Imai to a school for geniuses. It turns out that these “geniuses” are in fact people with Alices, abilities unique to each individual. Mikan too has a rare Alice of her own. What begins as a light-hearted story about elementary schoolers soon deepens as Alice Academy’s dark secrets are revealed.
Mikan is initially optimistic, clumsy and airheaded, qualities that others might find annoying. But without losing her optimism, these qualities evolve into bravery, selflessness and a mature kind of love for those she cares about. Every one of Gakuen Alice’s many characters exhibits just as much growth. They are all children forced to deal with adult issues.
Tokyopop was only able to license 16 volumes of Gakuen Alice before it was shut down. The series has remained dormant since then despite its publisher’s 2012 relaunch. 16 volumes is just under half of the story, and it’s heartbreaking that fans that have followed the series since 2007 won’t be able to see what happens next.
This is my plea to any publishers reading: for the love of God, please license Gakuen Alice! — Hilary Leung
Between the Sheets
Writer/Artist: Erica Sakurazawa
Translator: Yukiko Nakimura
English Adaptation: Marion Brown
Editor: Julie Taylor
Retouch & Lettering: Monalisa De Asis
Publisher: Tokyopop
Two young women, one blonde and the other brunette, sit in a Tokyo bar. A guy approaches them, clearly wanting to pick one of them up. He offers to buy a drink. The blonde turns him down. When he protests, she says that she and the brunette are a couple. They provocatively kiss in front of him.
Thus begins Between the Sheets, a one volume manga written and drawn by Erica Sakurazawa. The story chronicles two hip, club-hopping young women: Saki, an outgoing blonde, and Minako, her quiet dark-haired other half. They are inseparable friends who prowl clubs teasing men or in Saki’s case, hoping to pick up a one night stand. Their kissing of course is meant to throw off any would be suitors.
But then Minako realizes that her feelings for her friend may be deeper. She sees her best friend go through a string of boyfriends and wishes she could be them. Why can’t Saki see her for who she is and how she truly feels?
Sakurazawa’s book, first published in 1996 in Japan, takes a hard look at unrequited feelings. What Minako sees as love is clearly an obsession. Saki’s string of boyfriends are never good enough for Minako. Sakurazawa captures the vast gulf between Minako’s interior world and the reality that surrounds her. She draws her at a distance from other characters as well as almost always shorter than her crush. This is someone who truly believes she is the only person who loves Saki even as she destroys her friend’s life.
Conversely, Saki sees Minako as non-threatening. It never occurs to her that the boyfriend Minako talks about doesn’t exist. What really makes this different from other obsessive romances is that Saki knows about her friend’s feelings. She tells her that she only wants to be friends. This of course doesn’t stop Minako from trying to convince her otherwise.
The book never goes as dark as it could (spoiler, it doesn’t end in murder) but there’s complicated emotions and complicated actions aplenty here. This is an adult manga in both senses of that word. Sakurazawa has no problem depicting two adults engaging in consensual sex. She also has no problem creating believable young adults whose impulses and attractions destroy each other’s bonds rather than bringing them closer. — D. Morris
Death Note
Writer: Tsugumi Ohba
Artist: Takeshi Obata
Translator: Pookie Rolf
Consultant: Alexis Kirsch
Publisher: VIZ
I wondered how long it would take for me to discuss Death Note. Not long, apparently. Death Note follows high school student Light Yagami, who finds the titular notebook that was dropped by the Shinigami Ryuk. Light uses it to kill various people by writing their name in the notebook. Eventually, the detective L gets on the case and the series becomes a long cat and mouse game between the two. At least at first. I won’t spoil what happens next.
I know that people have their reasons for disliking this manga, from its slog of a middle section to its controversial ending. Some of this criticism is definitely valid; Death Note is by no means a perfect series. In fact, my best friend and I had opposing opinions on the ending back when it came out. I loved it, he hated it. I think that’s a sign of a story worth merit.
But I want to talk more about why I love this series. Death Note was an important work for young me. It came out at the peak of my manga and comics reading, just as I was discovering my love for writing. I found Death Note riveting, intellectual and something vastly different from the battle manga I was reading. It was one of the first manga where I bought every new volume on release. I still own all of those original books to this day.
For a long time I considered it my favorite manga series. I won’t ever deny that it had a profound impact on me and my friends growing up. But I think I’ve moved on from holding it in such reverence. Such is growing up and being exposed to more art.
Takeshi Obata’s artwork for this series, though, remains incredible. His sense of detail, style and use of Christian imagery captivated me from the beginning. Having read Obata’s other series including Hikaru no Go and Bakuman, I still proudly proclaim him as my favorite manga artist. He’s just incredible.
Everyone getting into manga should read Death Note at least once in their life. You may love it, you may hate it, you may think it’s simply “meh.” But there’s a reason people still talk about it to this day. — Derrick Crow
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