Historie © Iwaaki Hitoshi/Kodansha (Serialized in Afternoon)
Published in Indonesia by Elex Media/Level Comics
[Artwork provided by Level Comics]
Contains [SPOILERS!] and flippant (TV) Trope Identification, The Sequel
Ikki and Team Kogarasumaru challenge lower-seed Potemkin to a duel in volume 11 of Art Major Physics Air Gear, but leveling up in rank might just be thornier than they thought. Potemkin refuses to fight, forcing Ikki to up the stakes by wagering the Fang Regalia.
(In contrast, Del Rey's Air Gear 11 blurb takes a different tack, pointing out how constant fawning has made Air Treck Idol
Ikki forget his awesomeness debt to Team Kogarasumaru and asks if loyal, Can Not Spit it Out friend Ringo can save Ikki from himself.
)
Bambino! 3 by Sekiya Tetsuji
To reach his Michelin-starred dream, chef wannabe Ban leaves hometown (Fukuoka) and loved ones (girlfriend Eri) for Teh Center of the World: Tokyo in Sekiya Tetsuji's cooking manga Bambino!. But forget a date with Ultimate Showdown Of Ultimate Destiny; Ban currently pays his dues wait-staffing at a posh Roppongi trattoria, downgraded for the meantime to slicing (non-wondrous) bread.
Can Ban last long enough to get back on the chef fast track (and later, probably star in his own cooking show, if not in a manga *COUGH*Bambino! Secondo*COUGH* sequel)? Well, from the Bambino! 3 cover, Ban right now is giving it his I will do my best!
isshokenmei all slinging the pasta at the clientele.
Name-dropping exercise: Bambino! editor Tika-san confesses that the high point of working on this volume was the food-delishus!-food.
NEW LEVEL COMICS TITLES
Historie 1 by Iwaaki Hitoshi
We finally get to post lead Historie, the first of Level's premieres for this sked. Iwaaki Hitoshi's historical manga, an Osamu Tezuka Culture Award finalist, continues its serial run in Kodansha's largely SF/fantasy/horror-skewed Afternoon seinen mangazine.
Historie follows the story of Eumenes of Cardia who would later become secretary to Alexander III of Macedon, more famously known as Alexander The Great, propagator of the hybrid culture Hellenism and changer of the fate (not to mention, the face) of the ancient world.
Level introduces Manga!Eumenes as an intelligent boy, disturbed by a recurring dream about a mysterious woman. The back cover blurb thus asks: Who is she?
, a guarenteed curiosity piquer. (Wiki's Historie manga article only hints at the subject of Eumenes' dream.) Tika-san who also edits Historie recommends the series for its unique, Eumenes-perspectived take on Greek politics.
Nik's near-useless addendum: Biography? Alternate history? Historie appears to be not-so subtly underpinned by belief in the Great Man theory, or the Thomas Carlyle view that the history of the world is but the biography of great men.
I say this because of its ancient Greek and Persian personages ensemble; aside from Eumenes and Alexander The Great, there's Alexander's tutor Aristotle, father Philip II of Macedon, and Aristotle's father-in-law, Hermias of Atarneus. What's the point of this digression? No point, except I come from the people's history or history from below school of thought, which Wiki describes as:
...the story of mass movements and of the outsiders. Individuals not included in the past in other type of writing about history are part of this theory's primary focus, which includes the disenfranchised, the oppressed, the poor, the nonconformists, and the otherwise forgotten people. This theory also usually focuses on events occurring in the fullness of time, or when an overwhelming wave of smaller events cause certain developments to occur.
I call this rambling useless or near to because I don't have the first volume yet, thus reducing all this to mere speculation.
Dolls of God (Kamisama Dolls) 1 by Yamamura Hajime
Kuga Kyohei is a normal college student whose transplanted, I like it meh life in Weirdness Magnet Tokyo drastically changes when childhood friend Aki and younger sister Utao come to visit. The pair brings in their wake memories of a past best forgotten.
Scanlator Fate (via Baka-Updates Manga) adds that protagonist Kyohei finds himself standing on the corner of Bizarro and Eerie after discovering a corpse propped in an elevator — which has to be Bummer MAX!, especially at the heels of a goukon-responsible alcohol buzz.
It's originally titled Kamisama Dolls, so in addition to dead bodies, Kyohei contends with the eponyms, which like others of their unblinking, glassy-eyed doll ilk prolly promises Creepy Extraordinaire.
Level Comics manga (2010.05.19)
Release links are hide/unhide. Click for more details and cover scans.
- Air Gear 11 of 28+ by Oh! great
- Bambino! 3 of 15 by Sekiya Tetsuji
- Blade of Immortal (Mugen no Juunin) 7 of 26+ by Samura Hiroaki
- [Premiere] Dolls of God (Kamisama Dolls) 1 of 6+ by Yamamura Hajime
- Gun Smith Cats 5 of 9 by Sonoda Kenichi
- [Premiere] Historie 1 of 6+ by Iwaaki Hitoshi
- 001. The Globe
- 002. Hometown Cardia (Part 1)
- 003. Hometown Cardia (Part 2)
- 004. Hometown Cardia (Part 3)
- 005. Library (Part 1)
- 006. Library (Part 2)
- 007. The Same Deam
- 008. The Scythian Way
- 009. Physical Training
- Nurse Aoi (Ns' Aoi) 12 of 30+ by Koshino Ryo
- Shattered Knife (Oboreru Knife) 3 of 10+ by George Asakura
 | Bambino! 「 バンビ～ノ！ 」 by Sekiya Tetsuji |
AWARDS: Best seinen/general manga in the 53rd Shogakukan Manga Awards (tied with Kuromaru- and Natsuhara Takeshi's The Black Swindler/Kurosagi)
Related series: Bambino! Secondo (sequel; four volumes as at 2010.06.30)
An 11-episode live-action adaptation starring Matsumoto Jun as Shogo Ban and Kitamura Kazuki as Yonamine Tsukasa/Yona-san aired on NTV from April to June 2007. The TV series reaped four awards at the 53rd Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Actor (Matsumoto Jun), Supporting Actor (Kazuki Kitamura), Best Director, and a Special Award.
 | Mugen no Juunin 「 無限の住人 」 by Samura Hiroaki |
AWARDS: 1997 Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Prize recipient
Blade of the Immortal is published in English by Dark Horse Comics (Volume 22: Footsteps released 2010.02.03)
A 13-episode anime adaptation by Bee Train starring seiyuu Seki Tomokazu as Manji and Satou Rina as Asano Rin aired in Japan on AT-X from July to December 2008.
 | Kamisama Dolls 「 神様ドォルズ 」 |
 | Gun Smith Cats 「 ＧＵＮ ＳＭＩＴＨ ＣＡＴＳ 」 |
Gunsmith Cats was published in English by Dark Horse Comics (nine volumes and four volumes revised/omnibus editions)
Related: Gun Smith Cats Burst (sequel, 5 of 5 volumes)
Oriental Light and Magic animated three Gunsmith Cats anime OAV episodes, released between November 1995 and September 1996: Neutral Zone,
Swing High!,
and High Speed Edge.
Seiyuu Neya Michiko and Araki Kae starred as Rally Vincent and Minnie May Hopkins. The OAV was repackaged into one movie—Bulletproof
—in 1997.
 | Historie 「 ヒストリエ 」 by Iwaaki Hitoshi |
Volume 1 contains chapters:
AWARDS: Finalist, 10th Osamu Tezuka Culture Award
 | Ns' Aoi 「 Ｎｓ’あおい 」 by Koshino Ryo |
Adapted into an 11-episode live-action renzoku that aired on Fuji TV from January to March 2006 (a special aired in September of the same year). Ishihara Satomi starred as Misora Aoi.
 | Oboreru Knife 「 溺れるナイフ 」 by George Asakura |
Level Comics reissues (2010.05.19)
- [RE-STO] Stray Chat by Yoshimura Akemi
- [RE-STO] Harlequin: Knight to the Rescue by Miranda Lee
- [RE-STO] Harlequin: Dark Heritage by Emma Darcy, Ohsawa Maki
NOTE
(1) Sources: Elex Media STO 19 May 2010 (release schedule) and Komikologi (synopses, except where noted)
(2) Listed manga are priced at IDR 17,000 each, except Blade of Immortal 7 and Gun Smith Cats 5 (SRP: IDR 18,000) and the reissued Stray Chat (IDR 13,500), Harlequin: Knight to the Rescue (IDR 15,000), and Harlequin: Dark Heritage (IDR 13,800)
(3) Links like this are Amazon.com (or other online merchants) search and/or product links (commercial), in case you're interested in another language version.
Volume Previews continued...
Blade of Immortal 7 by Samura Hiroaki
Driven by the desire to avenge her parents' deaths, the sole survivor of an Itto-Ryu massacre, Asano Rin, attempts to track down the murderous Anotsu Kagehisa, accompanied by immortal samurai Manji. But the leader of the renegade Itto-Ryu swordschool continues to elude them.
Fortunately, a shred of hope remains; the not-quite cold trail leads the pair to female assassin Hyakurin who just might know of Anotsu's whereabouts. Hyakurin, however, refuses to share information with Mugai-ryu outsiders Rin and Manji.
Faced with another seeming dead end, what will Rin and Manji do next?
Level's and Dark Horse Comics's Blade of the Immortal: Heart of Darkness Volume 7 descriptions both took the Very Serious road in blurbing this tankou, making me leery of cheek in my summary adaptation. But not so leery that I wouldn't include a handful of tropes TV Tropes identified with this supernatural chanbara series: Who Wants to Live Forever with an a*rse-kicking Anti-Hero Infested with Awesome (kessen-chu; Manji) and an Affably Evil bishounen Anti-Villain (Anotsu).
Gun Smith Cats 5 by Sonoda Kenichi
Action Girl gunsmith/bounty hunter Rally tries to stop Bad Ass pro wheelman Bean from transporting the designer drug Kerasine to New York. En route, they meet double-dipped in [the] '80s
courier driver Riff-Raff. We subvert Rally's original mission momentarily, to give way to the trio's playing tag in fast cars detour.
Shattered Knife 3 by George Asakura
Natsume gives in to Ko's resolve and becomes his girlfriend, but not long after, one of Natsume's fans kidnap her while Ko is attending a festival.
Whichever way you look at the blurb: Ko is #Fail in the boyfriend department.
~niki DBA huamulan03 (花木蘭03) who thanks Level editor Lenny-san for the artwork, blurbs, and interview of fellow editor Tika-san
UP NEXT: More 19 May 2010 manga
m&c!: Bleach 25 · C-blossom 2 of 2 · Fu & Dragon 1-2 of 2 by Li Zhi Qing/Zhuang Han Bo · Happy Café 13 · Innocent Dragon 5 · The Impeccable Twins Final Chapters 8 · Long Hu Men 167 · School Hotel 2 of 2 · White Paper Ark 6 · · Monika 134 · Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures 5 · Komik Malaysia: Dari Alam Angker Histeria by Oga · Komik Malaysia: Call from The Grave by Kash · Komik Malaysia: Illusive by Oga · Komik Malaysia: Eli by Zint · Komik Malaysia: Punch by Aliow
disclaimer
Cover images and source summaries used here for reference are © their respective intellectual rights holders. No infringement intended.
manga currently available (12 May 2010 street date)
- 3L: Hori High School 2 · Love Trauma 2 of 2
- Elex Media: Burning Pen by Shimamoto Kazuhiko · Cross Game 16 · Eyeshield 21 V37 of 37 · Fantastic Tales 2 · The Fifth Columnist 2 of 2 · K-ON! 1 by Kakifly · Kuro Memanggul Peti Mati 1 by Kiyuduki Satoko · Pangeran Kacamata 3 · School Rumble 10 · Shugo Chara! 9 Tokkyu! 11 · V.B. Rose 1 by Hidaka Banri · Vitamin Cat 1 by Sugiyama Ryoko · Wazabo 3 · Nakayoshi 80/2010
- Level Comics: Diamond Life 2 · Go Go Hanasaki Detective Office 2 · Nanase Fire Investigator 3 · Ole! 4 · Officer Monju 5 · Priest 5 · The Ravages of Time 2 · Tomo'o 8 · Under The Rose 4 · Spirou: Air Keabadian · Spirou: Penyihir di Champignac
- m&c!: Beauty Pop 6 · Bleach 24 · Blizzard Axel 9 · Goong [Palace Story] 20 · Innocent Revenge by Hazuki Rei · Nekomachi Shop Guide 1 by Sakamoto Miku · Princess Bouquet 1 by Aomata Pink · Shanimuni GO 29 · Shanaou Yoshitsune volumes 18-22 box set
next available manga (19 May 2010 street date)
Elex Media: BECK 17 · Godhand Teru 23 · Katsu! 4 · The Moon & Lake by Ashihara Hinako · Pangeran Kacamata 4 · The Puppet Master Lin 7 · Spiral: The Bonds of Reason 3 · Summer Storm! 1 by Kobayashi Jin · V.B. Rose 2 · HanaLaLa 50/2010
related monthly schedules
Level Comics May 2010 manga
Premiering Dolls of God by Yamamura Hajime, Oh Butterfly Oh Flower by Yoshihara Yuki · Second Engage by Aikawa Momoko (standalone)
Level Comics April 2010 manga
Premiering Historie by Iwaaki Hitoshi and Pandemic by Kakizaki Masasumi (standalone)
other invaluable resources
7net Shopping · Baka-Updates Manga · Wikipedia · TV Tropes (special mentions: Air Gear, Blade of the Immortal, Gunsmith Cats)
Technorati tags
manga · Level Comics · seinen · shoujo · shounen · AirGear · Bambino! · Blade of the Immortal · Dolls of God · Gun Smith Cats · Historie · Nurse Aoi · Shattered Knife
AirGear 「 エア・ギア 」 by Oh! great
Kodansha Shuukan Shounen Magazine, shounen
Volume 11 (Tricks 87-95) first published in Japan 2005.08
AWARDS: Best shounen manga, 2006 Kodansha Manga Awards
AirGear is published in English by Del Rey (volume 14 released 2009.10.27 • volumes 15-17 street date: 2010.08.31)
A 25-episode anime adaptation produced by Toei Animation and starring Kamakari Kenta as Ikki aired in Japan from April to September 2006. Kamakari Kenta also reprised his role in the musical adaptation of Air Gear (2007.01), but due to illness was absent from the rerun Musical Air Gear vs. Bacchus Super Range Remix (2007.05). A new musical was expected to premiere April 2010.