License Wishlist Wednesday! Future Retro Hero Story

Today I'll be talking about late-80's sci fi manga!! Future Retro Hero Story, by Takehiko Ito (Outlaw Star...more on that later), started in 1988 and ran in Ultra Jump.

Space adventurer Roger Fortune was in the midst of a space battle to save a space princess when his enemies banished him to a far off world (our Earth). Fast forward several years later to modern day Japan(...well, 80's Japan), to his grandson, Juji Godoh, who is, what else, a high school transfer student. On an ordinary day, Fortune's enemies come to earth, and Juji ends up inheriting Fortune's ship and having to pick up where his grandfather (now just a brain/robot thing) left off.

When this manga first came out, the titled referred to it being an homage/spoof of old school science fiction from the 50's and so on. Now, the "Retro" part of the title actually refers to the style of the manga itself, which is now 21 years old and unmistakably drawn two decades ago. There are also multiple references to sci-fi stories such as Lensman.

One thing I really like about this series is how tongue-in-cheek it is. Though it's not a full on comedy, it doesn't take itself seriously at all. Take a look at these pages. The dialogue of the kids on the bus made me chuckle quite a bit. And check out our hero's supreme modesty, along with the innocent prayers of a Catholic school girl!

Also full of hilarity is his teacher, who is drawn in completely exaggerated poses in just about every action he does.

There's a certain universal charm to the typical 80's manga art style, and that's definitely present here. I'd really like to see more 80's manga released here (and several more of these will probably be about older manga), and this is one that's really high on my list. By the way, the images here are from scanlations, but the group behind it dismantled, and only did a few chapters of this series.

That's about it. Here's some nice action shots. There are some dynamic drawings here (like Juji summoning his ship), and the characters are all pretty cool looking. The whole thing is really energetic and cartoony.


Oh yea, I said I'd mention Outlaw Star. Outlaw Star is actually a spin off this series (the manga also ran in Ultra Jump), and by extension, so is Angel Links. I don't know how strongly they're connected beyond taking place in the same universe, but there is a definite similarity between the two. Both main characters are redheads, and have similar guns, and both series have a mix of science fiction and magic.

Who: Viz. Maybe CMX.
Likelihood: I say Viz because it's Shueisha and Ultra Jump, and I say maybe CMX, because they just seem like a wild card to me. They've released some older shojo, so why not some older seinen/shonen? But either way, the chances are probably pretty low. Manga this old doesn't get licensed, and when it does, it's because it already has some sort of following or big name attached to it (Takahashi, for instance). So I'd say the chances are lower than 10%...like 5%!!
It should also be noted that at one point in time Viz did have the license for Outlaw Star. I might be crazy, but I distinctly remember the announcement, and possibly even seeing it listed on their site at one point several years ago. Nothing ever came of it, but if they ever do decide to release Outlaw Star, then I could see a release of Future Retro Hero Story possibly going along with it. I'm still hopeful for both of them.

License Wishlist Wednesday! Giant Killing

This week, Giant Killing!!! It's published in Kodansha's Morning, written by Masaya Tsunamoto and drawn by Tsujitomo.

It's not about Shadow of the Colossus, or mass murder, it's about soccer. Specifically, about a professional soccer team, East Tokyo United, on it's last legs and the coach (Tatsumi) who's determined to bring them out of their rut. From what I've heard about it, it differs from most sports manga in that it focuses more on the coach than the team, and that's what interests me about this series. Underdog sports stories are nothing new, but this story's angle, as well as the art, make it seem pretty nifty. The series is currently at 11 volumes and still going.

I'm not a sports guy at all (who has time for sports when there's manga to be read!), but this seems to have the Eyeshield 21 factor, where the art is solid enough to attract me to the story regardless of its subject matter. Admittedly, I haven't read Eyeshield 21 since volume 10, but super kudos for keeping my interest as long as it did despite being about something I'd normally not care for.
Anyways, take a peek at the goods:



I really like Tsujitomo's art style. It has enough energy to make an otherwise boring (to me) sport look damn exciting. There's a shift in panel layout whenever there's "action." Any non-game scenes play out in mostly square and rectangular panels, but once the games start, it's crazy quadrilaterals and parallelograms aplenty! The sequence in the fourth page above is pretty boss. Check out the way he draws knees, too. I guess in most manga, you wouldn't notice them, but here they'd be important, so it's fitting that they have a distinct look. They look unusual, but appropriately muscular in a boxy, Dragonball Z way.
Also, Coach Tatsumi looks so cool!


Who: Del Rey
Likelihood: The way I see it, this has several knocks against it. One, it's a sports manga. We have a few sports manga in the US, but I wouldn't call it a popular genre. Two, it's soccer. It might be the world's game, but it certainly isn't America's game. I say Del Rey because it's published in Morning, and Kodansha seems to be their buddy, but while they have released some seinen (from Morning as well as others), they don't do it quite as often as other companies. Even if they were to release more Morning manga, I'm not sure this would be high on their list. Maybe when the World Cup comes around and everyone pretends to care about soccer for a few weeks, Del Rey might find it an opportune time to release and market the series. For now, I'll say a 20% chance.

License Wishlist Wednesday! Kidou Ryodan Hachifukijin!

When I first started LWW, I said there would be some manga I wouldn't know much about beyond their looks, and dang it, I'm a man of my word. This week it's Kidou Ryodan Hachifukujin, or Mechanized Infantries 8 Fukujin, or MI-8 Fukujin (French version), a seinen manga from Comic Beam by Satoshi Fukushima.

Notice I mentioned the French version? That's because I had to look up that version to find some sort of plot summary that could be easily translated. Even then, the summary was pretty vague. The world is at war, and the story follows 8 young soldiers involved in the fight with an emphasis on character drama as well. From what I can tell, the tone of the series is more on the serious side. Oh, and the war is fought with these:

Last week I talked about Rideback, which involved some unusual mecha, and this is yet another such series. The robots really caught my eye, and are my main draw to this series. The idea of a war being fought in amphibious, kinda goofy mechas with bellies is amusing to me.
The rest of the art seems promising as well. I haven't seen much of what's inside, but the covers are rather nice, and I like the looks of the characters, especially the slightly nerdy main character. You can also check out more of his (or maybe her) art at his website.

If anyone knows anything about this series, let me know!!!!

Who: CMX, maybe?
Likelihood: I say CMX because they've release Comic Beam stuff before, like Emma and Astral Project. They tend to prefer shorter series, and this is 9 volumes, so that's shortish. Otherwise, there isn't all that much Beam manga available here. Maybe a 45% chance?

License Wishlist Wednesday! Rideback

In honor of the full launch of Ikki Comix, this week is about an Ikki title that ended not too long ago: Rideback by Kasahara Tetsuro

This series takes place in 2020, where college student Rin Ogata comes into possession of a motorcycle-like mecha called a Rideback. Rin, a former ballerina, finds some common ground between dancing and riding the Rideback, and thus is something of a natural. I honestly don't know too much about this series, but I do know that there is some sort of political unrest that plays a large role in the story. So if your thing just so happens to be unusual mechas and political stories, then this for you!

The character designs have a simple, almost cutesy look(I don't wanna say moe, but...), and the art is otherwise nicely detailed and Kasahara provides some really great action shots.

The idea behind the robots is pretty cool and unique for this type of series . I'd really like one of my own.

Check out the mangaka's website here.
There was an anime not too long ago. I never watched it, but I heard it deviated from the manga quite a bit.

Who: Viz
Likelihood: This series isn't old at all, in fact it ended this year. With Viz pushing Ikki and seinen in general, this seems a likely choice for licensing. I'll go ahead and say there's a 90% chance. Maybe Viz will even announce it at Comic-Con this week.

License Wishlist Wednesday! Cloth Road

This week, it's Cloth Road, written by Kurata Hideyuki and drawn by Okama, published in Ultra Jump.

What's it about? Let's let the Engrish do the talking: Minimization of the computer proceeds more and a base becomes thinner than paper with a cable like a thread. Computers becomes "the clothes" spun in the terminal of the thread, and it became the existence which was necessary for the human life.

Get it? To put it in regular terms, Cloth Road takes place in a future where clothes are computers, basically like nano-technology. Fashion designers and computer programmers are now one and the same. Such clothes aren't shown off on a runway, though, they're exhibited in a game known as War-King, where "models" fight each other with the abilities from their outfits. Fergus is an apprentice tailor trying to improve his skill, and through a twist of fate he gets reunited with Jennifer, the sister he never knew he had. With Fergus as designer and Jennifer as his model, they'll enter War King and fashionable combat shall ensue!

Let's talk art. Okama's drawings are amazing. You may have seen his work for some anime, like the Gunbuster 2 ending, or the Glass Fleet cover art. He's also done some work for the Robot anthology, and a handful of doujin-type works. His style is immediately recognizable, and all the outfit designs are nicely detailed, which is important given the story's subject. The way the combat plays out is kind of fascinating with the clothes morphing and shifting from blades to fists to just about anything. The outfits themselves range from straight-up oddities to regular clothes like kimonos and business suits. As you can see in the pictures below, he gives the action scenes quite a bit of flair.

The writer seems to like using unlikely everyday objects as weapons (he also wrote Read or Die). I've only read the first few chapters, so I'm not 100% sure where the series goes, but it seems pretty clear that it will be a tournament based series. Usually, I don't quite like it when a series is entirely tournament based, but in this case the concept and the world are quirky enough and the art gorgeous enough to carry it.

Edit: Forgot to mention, check these links from Shueisha's site for previews of volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Who: Viz
Likelihood: Not so sure about this one. Viz has released some Ultra Jump stuff before, they recently started Dogs and announced Biomega at AX, but there are other Ultra Jump series that have been around much longer that they haven't licensed. If they start to bring over more Ultra Jump series, which could be the case, than this has a decent chance of making it. I'll say 75%.

License Wishlist Wednesday! Billy Bat!

On this week's Wishlist: Naoki Urasawa's Billy Bat


If you read manga at all, you've no doubt heard of Naoki Urasawa, Japan's current king of suspense. Monster, 20th Century Boys, and Pluto have been released in the US, all to critical acclaim, so Billy Bat being at least halfway decent is pretty much a given at this point. Urasawa can't seem to do one series at once. He started Happy! while he was still working on Master Keaton, started Monster while he was still working on Happy!, started 20th Centurys Boys while he was still working on Monster, started Pluto while he was still working on 20th Century Boys, and he started Billy Bat while he was still working on Pluto!

If 20th Century Boys was his nostalgia trip to the 60s and 70s, and Pluto was his look to the future, then Billy Bat is his history lesson on Japan (early post WWII, to be exact). Urasawa kind of tricked readers when the series first started. Before the first chapter, the promos for it would only say it's about a long lost hero from the golden age of comics known as Billy Bat. And in the first chapter, that's exactly what we got, but it was not typical Urasawa. An anthropomorphic detective Bat helping out a pink poodle? Huh? Most of the first chapter is a story involving these two cartoony characters, until the last few pages, the art all of a sudden looks rough and unfinished, then the final page pulls back to reveal a man drawing this comic at his desk. Good one, Urasawa! The next chapter gets the real story going, with the artist behind Billy Bat, Kevin Yamagata, a Japanese American living in the US who once translated for the Allies, being the main character. While working on one of his comics, two police officers enter his apartment in order to get a better view of another building where they believe a Russian spy might be hiding out. On their way out, one of the officers notices Kevin's drawing and say's that he's seen this character before, but not in any of his comics. He saw the exact same character in a Japanese comic. The mysteries start here, when Kevin says that's impossible as Billy Bat is his own creation.

From there, Kevin heads to Japan to find out what's what, and possibly to find out if he also saw this character and unknowingly copied him. The truth might be slightly bigger than that, as the Billy Bat symbol appears over and over again and is possibly at the center of a cult of worshipers (sounds a bit like the eye symbol in 20th CB). He'll also have to deal with hallucinations of Billy Bat, himself! Kevin will most likely get wrapped up in a juicy mystery the likes of which only Naoki Urasawa can deliver, all mixed in with some Japanese history and unsolved mysteries. I haven't read past the second chapter, first, because the scanlations for it are a little scattered, second, I know this will be good and I also know it will most likely be licensed, so I rather wait for that. 20th Century Boys and Pluto are keeping me more than satisfied until then.

Who: This is a tricky one. All of Urasawa's work that has been released here so far, has been released by Viz. But this one could be DelRey. You see, all of his other works were done with Shogakukan (who Viz is in cahoots with), but for Billy Bat, Urasawa is working with Kodansha (in their Morning anthology, I believe). Del Rey usually handles Kodansha titles, so Del Rey could very well get it if Viz somehow can't.
Likelihood: 100%. Absolutely. All of his previous series have received a lot of critical praise, so neither Viz nor Del Rey would skip this one for anything.