Manga Realness: "Eerie Queerie!" by Shuri Shiozu

Hi, everyone.  For those who are new to my blog, welcome.  For those returning, welcome back and thanks.  Should I tone down all the colors? (^_^)  

I made the--now titled--Comic Towel to create a space where I can promote my Zazzle store/drawings and my interest in literature, manga, and philosophies (some personal).  Sounds like a lot, but as I find myself delving into the materials that I love in each category, I can’t help but want to share and create conversations about them and how they relate to my life.  A side objective to that is to help motivate and inspire others by finding inspiration in all mediums.

With that said, I would like to find some of that inspiration in

Awkwardness of Mitsuo Shiozu

Manga Realness Number 3: Shuri Shiozu’s Eerie Queerie (the original Japanese title is Gosuto!, or Ghost!).  The English adaptation title of Eerie Queerie is more or less a play on the fact that this manga series is within the shonen-ai genre, or "Boy’s Love".  That’s Boy’s Love in the sense that it features gay characters/themes.  See, the story is about a cumbersome high school teen name Mitsuo Shiozu [uke].  His cumbersomeness isn’t pressed upon him simply because of the awkward stage we all face in high school.  No, Mitsuo just happens to be a spirit medium, meaning he communicates with the dead.  Therefore, he has every reason to be weird, soft, and many times over dramatic   He has a lot to deal with besides crushing over boys--or hiding it, rather.  Undoubtedly, the paranormal aspect drew me into the four-volume series as it appease to my love of Japanese kwaidan stories.  Of course in a severely cutesy, melodramatic manga-style fashion.  Naturally, there are better manga featuring stories of the occult and paranormal, but Eerie Queerie! ranks a little differently with its shonen-ai elements.

The Handsomely Dedicated, Hasunuma

The problem Mitsuo finds himself in lies in his ability to become possessed by the ghost that he runs across.  Usually, they are female.  And usually, they uphold a somewhat unrequited love of a certain male classmate.  Tucked within Mitsuo’s body, these ghost seek the returning affection of those who’ve obtained their attention in life.  This leads to further awkwardness and a pattern of misunderstandings that creates a love triangle between Mitsuo and the popular boy in school, Hasunuma [seme].  The third piece of the triangle belongs to the neatly handsome, Ichi.  With the romantic stage set, the battle for Mitsuo’s affections commences through this winding series of miscommunication, bad intentions, hidden secrets, and desperate apparitions.  The crux of much of Hasunuma and Ichi’s intent is to both love and protect Mitsuo.  Which also fuels Mitsuo’s desire to strengthen himself from the weedy boy he started as?  

So will Mitsuo allow one of the boys in?  Will he gain the change that

The Competition, Ichi

he seeks in himself?  It’s all whimsical, comedic entertainment at its best.  However, the magnetism of watching your archetypal bad boy (in this case, Hasunuma) fall for the likes of Mitsuo is just too sweet to turn away.  Mainly because we see it all the time in conventional romance stories where the bad boy is reformed through the admiration of the good girl.  In essence, there isn't much differences in any budding relationships, despite the sex of the partners.  This, and the slow pace of love taken in this series, is the reason I loved Eerie Queerie!

Small Japanese vocabulary lesson in concerns to shonen-ai/yaoi genres...

The Uke and the Seme.  Guess who is which?

A uke character is normally described as the fail, feminine character in the dynamics of the male-male relationship.  The seme character is the opposite.  He is the moody, brawny character that often is overprotective of his uke.

Manga Realness: "Doubt!!" by Kaneyoshi Izumi

Here we are guys; readers and friends of Comic Towel.  Manga enthusiasts and those curious enough to take my loved titles as recommendations, I present to you Manga Realness Number Two: Kaneyoshi Izumi’s Doubt!!.  But first, this is not based on Yoshiki Tonogai's manga series with the same name.  

The New Ai Maekawa

Coming from my loathsome sessions plodding through the Peach Girl manga series (which I bailed out on), Doubt!! did a good job dissolving the growing weariness I gathered from reading about Japanese schoolgirls who allowed her peers to run over her.  Translated as “bullying”, the Japanese term ijime describes this type of behavior seen in many school-based manga stories.  Now that’s not to say there wasn’t a supply of this in the five volumes that make up the complete series of Doubt!!.  After all, it wouldn’t be a shojo manga series without melodrama, plaid skirts, sharp-jawed boys, love triangles, depraved ijime, and the misunderstood tanned student with duck lips.  Nevertheless, the more or less distinct difference is that the protagonist in Doubt!! was (or at least started out) a little more on my temperamental level when it comes to not accepting crap from others.

Will So's past break his relationship with Ai?

A six volume shojo series crossing Romance and Slice of Life, Doubt!! tells the school life story of Ai Maekawa, an overlooked junior high teen who turns her image around to begin an acknowledged, new life in high school.  Armed with a new haircut and pimple cream, this transformation jumps off the series after a small prologue recounts her last embarrassing moment in junior high.  Feeling a lot more confident in her looks, Ai enters high school with the admiring eyes of her peers.  In turn, she suddenly finds herself in the mix of two of the school’s popular boys, So Ichinose and Yuichiro Kato.  A seemingly over flirtive (another word I made up) womanizer with a sketchy background related to his childhood, So Ichinose literally scoops Ai up and hangs off her backside during the first chapter of their meeting.  Why?  Because she is new, cute, and prospective-looking to his limbido.  Alternatively, his best friend, Yuichiro Kato, hangs back to admire Ai from afar, while berating So for his overzealous flirting.  The boys are two sides of the same coin, and as the placidly cool Yuichiro grows feelings for Ai, and Ai grows feelings for So, So tackles the difficult task of keeping his checkered past out of sight and from drawing a line between him and Ai.  Meanwhile, Ai has to battle her own past, as figures from then emerge to wreck her sudden popularity and budding relationship with the boys.  This all befits the web of drama that makes up Doubt!!.  And it only gets juicier as each of their secrets are revealed.

Now, what hooked me to this series…

Does Yuichiro stand a chance with Ai?

Some can say that the determination for Ai’s transformation reinforces how girls cater to a cultural obsession with looks and social popularity.  However, to me, Ai changing her looks installed in her that she is worth more than she believed before.  She didn’t think she was cute.  She didn’t think she would ever get a boyfriend.  She didn’t think too much of herself.  Then she decided to move away from that frame of thinking and make a change.  Granted, it can appear shallow for her to believe that looks is the beginning of this inner and outer transformation; nonetheless, her doing so sparked a fighting spirit inside of her.  I don't know about you, but I've always admired individuals who can make a change and take charge of their lives.  Seriously, how many people can wake up and decide to do battle with their issues instead of feeling sorry for themselves?  That's why I liked Ai and dedicated myself to reading her story. 

Still, her story doesn't stop there because soon she has to defend her new attitude--which kept me further invested in her story. 

Ai's ijime became jealousy-driven once she reached high school.  The girls who did not know of Ai’s past chose to bully her because she was pretty and gained the attention of the most popular boys in school.  However, driven by the torture she experienced in junior high, as well as her will to remain consistent in separating herself from those experiences emotionally, Ai did not back down from this new misconception that her bullies formed about her.  After all, the fight from her previous slew of misconceptions built enough character to combat the other.

At one point a student expressed: “Pretty girls get everything handed to them.  You don’t know what life is really like.”  Instead of succumbing like during her past insecurities, Ai chooses to stand up (quite violently I must add) for herself under the realization that the ijime she faced in junior high has only changed.  While she is somewhat thankful to be labeled "pretty", it did not come easy.  Therefore, she sure as hell wasn't willing to let someone taunt her about something they knew nothing about in regards to her emotional struggles.  So the best thing for her to do was to shut it down before it started.  And that's what she did when she fought back for her respect.  

This resonated with my experience adjusting from junior high to high school.  Like Ai, it was this adjustment that let me know that I didn’t have to take crap from anyone else anymore, and that I wasn‘t so unattractive that I needed to lay in my own darkness.  What I believed for myself was exactly what I had a right to pursue.  I didn’t have to lie in my shell any longer because there was nothing wrong with being confident, loud, and even obnoxiously cheerful.  So take control of your life when you find it necessary.  You’re going to come across opposition of some sort any way.  Might as well attempt to make the best of yourself in the process.  Feed confidence into your emotional diet even if that means changing your looks.  And most of all, stop feeling sorry for yourself.  Give yourself some credit for moving through life itself.

If you could go back to junior high or high school, what would you do differently?

Manga Realness: "Absolute Boyfriend" by Yuu Watase

I have a humble collection of manga, so this will be a modest series of posts (not really).  Nevertheless, my manga library was a lot larger in the past, but many of the titles that I decided not to venture pass book one (unless it was a one-shot) did not make it during years of moving and rearranging cluttered bookshelves.  In retrospect, I wish I kept many of them because I fume silently at the absence of my copy of Antique Bakery Volume 1.  Did I give it away?  Or did I misplace it in my mess?  It always seems to work that way: you grow out of certain phases then you tumble your way back in.  One year my manga library grows, the next year it’s stagnate, the following year it’s dwindled.  And on it goes.

Nonetheless, there are a few manga series and one-shots that I refuse to separate from.  Some of them I’ve completed and some of them I hold on to in the hopes of one day picking back up to complete.  Naturally, the other singular element that assists with my decision to hold on to a title is the artwork.  

So with all of that said, let’s get into Manga Realness Number One.  By the way these are not ranked; alphabetically arranged with each category, though.  With Sailor Moon completely out of the way (what manga series can beat that?), my first favorite completed manga series is Yuu Watase’s Absolute Boyfriend.

Absolute Boyfriend is about a withdrawn Japanese high school girl (she happens to live alone while her parts work overseas) named, Riiko Izawa, and like many shojo genre girls, Riiko is having romantic problems.  Well, Riiko’s problem is that she can’t seem to have a romantic problem.  Guys that she's interested in are never receptive to her.  When it finally appears that she will remain loveless throughout her school years, a strange set of circumstances, involving her returning a missing cell phone, sets Riiko on the path to finding love.  Or does it?  It is nowhere near as easy to determine.  The missing cell phone belongs to a mysterious stranger who, after listening to Riiko’s romantic woes, offers her a card and CD-ROM that directs her to a website called Kronos Heaven.  It is here that Riiko spends a late school night customizing what appears to be her perfect boyfriend, offered for order by Kronos Heaven.  While she approached much of this as a joke, the next day Riiko receives her wish in the form of the perfect, robotic boyfriend named, Night (he is part of the Nightly Lover android series).  Per the instructions, a kiss is required to activate Night.  With Riiko ready to comply, this is where the fun of the 6 volume manga series begins!

Riiko Izawa

Night is given to Riiko on a trial basis; he must be returned three days after purchase.  The mysterious cell phone stranger reveals this to Riiko during his service-appreciated visit.  The problem is that Riiko wasn’t aware of the statement, and is therefore stuck with Night and a one million dollar (or yen) bill.  With her first payment only days away, Riiko and Night quickly devise ways to earn money, including working in a hostess bar.  Night even disguises himself as a woman to assist Riiko; such a dedicated fellow him be.  Until Riiko is groped by a drunk patron does Night come out of his wig to protect her, subsequently leading to both of their terminations from the bar.  Leaving the bar broke, they run into the mysterious cell phone stranger.  Realizing her struggles, he offers Riiko a deal: the organization will waive her fee if she provides them with data concerning her relationship with Night.  This will assist the company in creating even better boyfriend models for future customers.  Gladly, Riiko agrees.  She is determined to teach Night everything about women.

It all makes for a great set-up, especially when you factor in the antics the two go through to keep their secret, as well as their comedic dialogue.  Other elements that unfold within the series includes the crush Riiko’s neighbor, Soshi, has on her.  This eventually forms a love triangle between the three where Night and Soshi battle it out for Riiko’s attention and affection.  Other characters join in on the adventures, including a miniature version of Night who assists Riiko during a time when Night requires repairs to his cyborg body.  Nevertheless, the main focus of the series revolves around Riiko’s maturity and choice.  With a sudden brew of romantic options, will she choose the robotic boyfriend, Night?  Or will she choose the moody and flawed human character, Soshi?

Night.  The robot mate.

Without a doubt, this manga series contains many of the elements that I love in manga.  That's one reason I loved it so much (other than the hilarious plot).  I read the volumes as each English adaptation was released (2006-2007), so it came along as a positive distraction from the mundane life I faced working my ass off to keep up with bills and rent in a city three hours away from home.  I can distinctly remember reading volume three while gassing up my car for a trip to Six Flags (needed that break).  So why was I so invested in the series?  Because Riiko was so terribly unsound when it came to figuring out her love life, and for good reason when you consider she resorted to a robot to try to fulfill that void.  I could relate to her in that aspect--not the robot nonsense.  I knew what it was like to wonder why certain tingling elements revolving around relationships and finding love did not seem to operate correctly in my own life.  I, too, like Riiko, spent a lot of time swallowing down the interest in place of accepting my solidarity.  But at the same time I longed for companionship.  You begin to adapt this armor where you stress to others that connections and relationships are not needed in your life, meanwhile you watch the relationships of others blossom and secretly ask yourself what is so wrong with you.  Now, I wouldn’t dare pay someone to be the “absolute mate”, but I know what it’s like to struggle in finding answers to your questions without endangering the integrity and self-respect that makes up yourself.  Even if those two things are the very things that get in your way.

Check out Absolute Boyfriend Volume 1 on Amazon.com and look out for Doubt!! by Kaneyoshi Izumi.

Manga Realness: Introduction

The reason I read manga... why of course her.

Manga.  Who does not love them?  Well, let’s be honest – many do not.  It gets its share of criticism, that‘s for sure.  Some may consider it senseless reading, much in the vein of criticism that Western comics sometimes receive.  Though I would wager much less brutally delivered when you consider how the label “graphic novel” provides an opportunity to garner a little more respect.  In any regard, manga is sometimes brushed off as immature reading material; cartoony and childish.  However, like any other form of creative entertainment, that may be true in some small part, but certainly not as a whole.  Then there is that stigma that those who read manga are automatically classified as a "weeaboo", or those obsessed with Japanese/Asian culture, particularly through the lens of an anime and manga obsession.  That is a whole different kettle of fish, though.  One that I don’t care to tread on, really.   

Nonetheless, many of the negative attitudes manga  inspires are culturally based in my opinion.  In the East it is not unusual or strange for an individual--other than a child--to become engagedin reading manga.  Besides, certain manga series span over ten years, maintaining the loyalty of its readers as they grow with the material.  Furthermore, authors/artists and publishers are aware of the demographics that read manga, allowing them to hit their receptive targets.  With that said, manga is various and vastly produced to support all types of readerships in whichever flavor he or she enjoys.  I would even say that reading manga in the East is a lifestyle.  Entire cafes in Japan (and I believe a few in America) are dedicated to supplying coffee alongside a library of free manga titles for public reading.  Sounds good for those days when a person wants to wind down after school or work.     I love manga, and have most certainly been reading them for years.  

However, I don’t consider myself super knowledgeable about the variety of titles, or the industry itself.  I've slacked somewhere between high school and now, missing all those friends who I used to share my excitement about them for.  Speaking of which, back then you had to order manga through Viz and The Right Stuf catalogs.  

But in terms of the enthusiast scale, I'm probably a solid 6.  And I'll share why.     

One: I read them moderately or in bursts; some years my spending is slow, and some are fast.  Depends on how behind I am after discovering a series, or what new release I'm waiting on.      

Two: I am extremely particular about what I want to read.  I need certain ingredients.  Usually involving a female lead who kicks some kind of ass.      

Three: The industry is so rapid-growing and expansive that I can’talways keep up with releases and development news.  And I no longer have a tight circle of like-minded friends to keep me aware.  I go to Barnes & Nobles and walk out empty-handed because there is too much to choose from.      

Four: I sometimes hate spending money on them and speeding right through the book in one afternoon; must control my reading pace.     

Five: I’m not one to dilly-dally between which is superior between the English and Japanese.  Of course the Japanese is superior, but because I can’tread Japanese fluently, I don’t want to go to forums (for discussion purposes) and be discouraged by readers downplaying a particular manga’s English counterpart.  Translation discrepancies will always apply.  The same goes for anime.  With the exception of Linda Ballantye (Sailor Moon’s English voice actress from episodes 83-159) and Emilie-Claire Barlow (Sailor Mars and Venus’ second English voice actress), will I ever argue English voice actors.  Aside from those two, I hardly muse over English anime voice actors' performances.  But yes, they were that terrible to me!    

Moving back to the subject of manga…    

Neither of my “shortcomings“ to reading manga changes my love of the artwork, cultural portholes they provide, and entertaining drama found in each serialized volume.  Oh, and the comedy and magic.  So here--in a series of posts--I want to take the time to reveal my favorite mangas that I’ve read in the past twelve years.  Separated into four parts, I want to discuss the finished series, unfinished series, one-shots and what I am currently invested in reading.    

First I should make everyone aware of the genres I read in and why.    

Shoujo is the manga genre targeted toward girls, but of course I don’t care.  I read this genre because I want it all in my manga experience.  I want the romance, the school crushes, and the torrent melodrama--to a degree.  I tagged this genre next to the Magical Girl subgenre.  Should her magic and transformation costume be super fierce, I am down for whatever consists of a plot.    

Then there is the Slice of Life genre.  I didn’t know this genre had a name until I tried to explain to an ex-coworker what I liked to read as I searched for new titles.  Slice of Life usually contains exactly what it sounds--a slice of life.  This genre of manga features stories surrounding a character’s everyday life in Japan.  Her woes and triumphs.  Her achievements and failures.  Nothing supernatural or paranormal.  Just… life…    

Lastly, I do like Yaoi.  However, I like the tasteful Yaoi.  Yaoi is another name for “Boys Love” manga.  Perhaps a peek into some gratuitous Yaoi is okay, but I usually only complete manga in this genre if there is a strong love story involve.  It is such a strong requirement.  So in essence, I skip the strictly Romance genre to get my romantic fix in this genre.  Necessary to explain why?   

Like anyone else, I also like to mix and match genres.  Therefore, I like a little horror, paranormal, supernatural, and mystery.  I would probably stay away from sci-fi and mecha, though.  They both give me headaches.   Finally, I must get this out of the way…

With that said,be on the lookout for post one of my favorite finished manga series.  All recommendations from here on out are so welcomed so that I can get back up to speed! 

Multicultural'ing Through Manga

Okay, so there are a multitude of avenues people can explore to bond themselves with members of different cultures/ethnicities. I am one of those people who wish he could take them all. I mean, everyday we see people finding ways to learn from other people with all discrepancies aside. So I write this in the wake of watching cultural expressions/performances via foreign television shows, wishing for the opportunity to once again trade ideas with someone foreign to my cultural background. I am almost anxious for the opportunity.  Seeking a fresh connection outside of my past memories.


I suppose food is an obvious choice for cultural exploration because it allows easy access for people to share and discuss the variety in their taste.  It also enables a glimpse into cultural traditions and unique dish-making techniques. Sharing literature is another tool of cultural discovery.  It opens the doors of communication, comprehension, and acknowledgement of differences that could equate to similarities. A given to sharing cultures is building relationships and connections.  Healthy relationships with people can transcendent just about any barrier when we put work into it. So to do so with someone of another culture not only awakens awareness in each person involved, but it also builds community. And I don’t know about you, but I’ve always wanted to live next to people who have something external to teach the internalness of me.

When I was in high school I learned much of this firsthand from a girl who became a good friend of mine for a short period. She was a foreign student from China named, Amy. Now, I had many American friends from Asianic backgrounds, so there never was a blockage of language. Despite the thick language barrier I had with Amy, I learned to connect with her through books and comics. While she was not necessarily shy, she was not forward in seeking friendships either. In other words she would smile at you, but you would have to come to her. 

When I found her reading a manga (though manga is Japanese for “comic“, her version was translated to Chinese which would be better defined as manhua), I was generally curious about the writing, pictures, and content. She shared them with me.  I found myself intimated by the Chinese characters, regardless of being moderately proficient at reading Japanese Hiragana and Katakana. Chinese characters just seemed too compound; difficult and hard. The strokes appeared far more bulky and indecipherable in print than the Japanese I was familiar with, which mainly came out of children's books should that count for something. Nevertheless, Amy and I found ourselves friends as she best explained Chinese characters to me, while I shared my longhand short stories tucked within my binder in return. 

We saw each other in home economics, which almost always offered us free time. So each day became a matter of me explaining some of the intricacies behind the English alphabet system, and its grammatical structure, as an extra help to her schoolwork concerns. Meanwhile, Amy taught me about Chinese language (or Mandarin) in the most basic, simplified way that she could for my thick skull to register. She opened me up to researching the four pitch tones associated with her language as part of our dialect exchanges.

Our friendship continued to grow through the exchanging of language. She would hastily “read” my Japanese-language books (as well as my English-written short stories) that I received from the public library, and I would borrow her manhua and Chinese-language novels. We became good friends, her sharing doughnut with red bean paste snacks while I shared with her my less than exotic Doritos. When our classes changed the following year we met at the school library to continue our friendship, but we slowly lost touch as our high school years progressed.  Then at some point, she graduated before my class.  Her memories and little lessons still stay inside of me. I mean, this was the girl who introduced me to the manhua version of Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor Moon.

There were many factors that played into my friendship with Amy, the foreigner student. Despite our cultural and ethnic differences, one of those factors was a conscious decision to explore our differences through our common interests. We removed any set of bias thoughts to do so, aware that there is something to be learned from both ends.  Call me exhausted or jaded with my present environment, but nothing would give me more pleasure than to experience something as special as that again.  Which is reason number 107 as to why I wanted to start a blog.  Much love, people.

Book/Manga Chat 1

Why of course Towel & Cornbread is a blog about books, manga, and the various methods I like to share concerning self-help.  So to tie those in, I’ve posted my recent book chat video.  Inside I discuss books by Gloria Naylor and Laurell K Hamilton (who I should do a blog post on because of my love-hate relationship for her Anita Blake series).  I touch a little on Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor Moon English reissue of volume 12, as well as some bonus material from the depths of my general interest.

The Men of Brewster Place - Gloria Naylor
Linden Hills - Gloria Naylor
Mama Day - Gloria Naylor
Bailey’s Café - Gloria Naylor
Affliction - Laurell K. Hamilton
Sailor Moon 12 - Naoko Takeuchi
Time and Eternity - NIS America
Songversation - India.Arie