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Time-lost Warriors

Drifters Volume 1

I haven’t read Hirano’s Hellsing, so I don’t know how this series compares, but I thought “Drifters” was a fun mix of historical characters and fantasy, with some great over-the-top moments stitched together by a solid story idea.

The Drifters of the title refers to a group of time-lost warriors who entered through some sort of portal to a magical realm. They appear to have brought through some sort of library, guarded by a modern looking office worker acting as the gatekeeper. In this magical realm–filled with elves, dwarves, goblins, and your standard fantasy faire–there is a Black King working to annihilate the world. Not to be outdone, the Black King has also assembled an army of time warriors called the Ends, who lay siege on the Drifter’s fortress.

Our three main Drifters are Toyohisa, a frenzied killing machine pulled from the Battle of Sakigahara, Nasusuketaka Yoichi, rescued from the Genpei wars, and Lord Oda Nobunaga who needs no introduction. Because they are all Japanese speakers, they form an uneasy band there Yoichi, who has been in the fantasy kingdom for 400 years, takes the leadership role.

We follow these three for about half this first volume as they get used to their new world and status, and then some of the other time-lost figures appear on the sides of both the Drifters and the Ends. Fighting for the Drifters are the Carthagian Hannibal and the Roman Scipio, who form another language-based duo. Two unnamed cowboys, one of who I think is Billy the Kid, man a Gatling gun.

Fighting on the side of the Ends are Hijikata Toshizo, leader of the Shinsengumi, Joan of Arc, and–for reasons I entirely fail to understand–the vanished Russian princess Anastasia Romanov. I get the rest of them. Famous warriors from history. But Anastasia was practically a baby when her family was assassinated and she disappeared, yet she is revealed as some mighty battle queen. I guess Kohta is hoping his readers don’t know much about history.

Not too much is explained in this first volume. The warriors are gathered and it is pretty much all-out action from then on out. And some pretty wild action. Air dragon cavalry. Goblin reavers. The mad all-out attacks of Toyoshisa who only knows one way to fight. For some reason the Ends have magical powers that the Drifters don’t, which are related to their history. Joan of Arc can summon fire, for example.

I wasn’t really thrilled with the art in Drifters. I know that Hellsing has a large following, but this was my first time reading Kohta Hirano and I wasn’t impressed. The actions scenes are well enough done, but the character’s faces seemed off. There mouths are too wide, and in several scenes they look like Japanese Muppets. The backgrounds and scenery is perfect though, so maybe Kohta’s skills just don’t lie with the human figure.

“Drifters Volume 1″ comes with a little mini-comic at the end that mainly is just a chance to make jokes about Joan of Arcs breasts. You don’t want to laugh, but then you do.

Magical Kyoto

Gate 7 Volume 1

Are you the kind of person who likes comics for the art, or are you the kind of person who likes comics for the stories? That is a question you are going to have to ask yourself before diving into “Gate 7”, the newest manga series from CLAMP. Because while the art is beautiful—fine and delicate line work with luscious blacks and whites—the story is just not there.

High schooler Chikahito Takamoto has always wanted to go to Kyoto. Since he was a boy he loved anything ancient and historical, and so has felt an irresistible urge to visit Kyoto and its famous temples, shrines, and castles. He makes his way to the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine where—no more than six pages into the comic—he finds himself in a magical realm with Tachibana, the element of light, Sakura, the element of shadow, and the mysterious boy/girl Hana who instantly falls in love with Chikahito. There are barely time for introductions before the four are attacked by kuchinawa serpents. Swords come out. Powers are brought to play. And Chikahito’s trip to Kyoto is just a little bit more historical and authentic than he had originally hoped.

Aside from “Cardcaptor Sakura” and “Chobits,” I’m not a huge CLAMP fan and I haven’t read too many of their titles, so I don’t know how typical “Gate 7” is compared to the rest of their series. The art in “Gate 7” is fantastic. The artist is innovative with panel-size and the considered use of full-page splashpages. I love the transition scenes between the spirit realm and the real world, where everyone is standing likes drops of water into a still pond. The character designs are somewhat stereotypical but work well. Hana is particular is darling. Too darling, actually, and the whole “Is she a boy or a girl?” thing is really odd as I don’t see how anyone could mistake her for a boy.

As for the story, things just jumble together to quickly without rhyme or reason. Chikahito has some mysterious ability that makes him immune to magic, which is how he stumbled onto Tachibana, Sakura, and Hana in the first place. He is whisked into this magical world and soon enough he is living with the three of them and communing with mystical beings on the spiritual plane. His life is split between equal parts learning the secret history of Kyoto and hunting out noodle joints to keep Hana’s bottomless stomach full.

It was all too rapid-fire, and I couldn’t get a feel for any of the characters or the story they were inhabiting. When writing this review I had to go back and check on the character’s names because they made so little impact and even after reading the comic twice I would have a difficult time telling you what it is about.

I have read enough manga to know that it often takes several volumes for a story to really start unfolding. Japanese writers don’t count on that initial hook right at the beginning as much as Western writers do. I am willing to give “Gate 7” a shot and keep reading it to see if it picks up, but aside from the brilliant art there isn’t much in this first volume to get me really excited about the series.

A Brief Guide to Gandhi

Gandhi: A Manga Biography

I picked up this book without a lot of anticipation. It’s a comic about Gandhi, right? And we all know about Gandhi. But artist Kazuki Ebine did an interesting little twist with “Gandhi: A Manga Bibliography”. He decided to depict Gandhi not as a symbol, not as the great-souled leader of a nation, but as a human being. And it turns out that I knew less about Gandhi than I thought.

Born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in Porbandar, British India, Gandhi was born into the upper middle class, and had enough money to study in London from age 18. He tried to fit into English society, adopting English dress and manners, but began to delve into studies of philosophy and the Hindu religion when he realized how completely he had turned his back on his Indian home. That was where the true path of his life began.

I didn’t know that. I didn’t know he met his future wife at age thirteen, or was thrown off a train into South Africa just because he was Indian. I didn’t know his career as an activist began in South Africa fighting for the rights of migrant Indian workers. Reading this comic, I found out I didn’t know much about Gandhi. I thought that he had been born a sixty-year old man, leading people on a salt march.

Kazuki Ebine’s comic certainly isn’t long enough to serve as any sort of complete biography of Gandhi. Ebine touches on the major milestones of Gandhi’s life: the move to South Africa, the beginning of the non-violence philosophy, the jail time and success, returning to India to confront colonialism, and the schism between Muslim and Hindus that was never quite resolved and continues to this day.

In the art, Ebine always keeps the focus on Gandhi as a man. He is never a symbol, never larger-than-life. Ebine’s Gandhi is a fragile human being, able to be beaten but not broken. His Gandhi laughs and cries, and does his best to lead by example rather than by force, to “be the change you wish to see in others.”

“Gandhi: A Manga Bibliography” would be a great book for kids learning about Gandhi in school, or for people like me who think they know Gandhi but are really quite ignorant other than the name and the image. The comic serves as a sort of Gandhi-primer. It is almost impossible to just stop with this comic, and I found myself doing further research on this fascinating human being. I checked to see how authentic this comic is (very), and to see further details behind episodes briefly touched on.

All in all a very cool little comic that I am glad I read. I realize that we sometimes take familiarity of a name with knowledge of that person, but just knowing the name of someone is not the same thing as knowing about him. I am glad to know a little bit more about Gandhi thanks to “Gandhi: A Manga Bibliography.”