From the back cover:
Kyoko’s perfect chance to wreak her revenge on Sho isn’t going as well as she’d hoped. In fact, her rage is so consuming that she forgets she’s supposed to be acting and tries to throttle Sho for real. That’s not her only problem. Sho still thinks he owns Kyoko body and soul, but his manager is worried that Kyoko might be stealing his heart!

Review:
One of the things I like best about Skip Beat! is its originality in dealing with obstacles and twists in relationships. Ren can grow angry about a work-related action of Kyoko’s and it makes perfect sense in the context of the story without seeming like some artifically-induced plot point like the appearance of some random girl who used to fancy him in middle school or something like that.

Likewise, Kyoko’s friendship with Moko has interesting conflicts—this time Kyoko feels hurt that Moko won’t share her successes and woes, when Kyoko is very open in that regard. I haven’t seen the process of developing and maintaining a good friendship ever really explored in a manga before.

As much as I like those elements, my favorite part of the volume actually is the culmination of Kyoko’s job working with Sho. After her actor spirit finally wins against her hate and she completes the job, they have another run-in where she brings up more points regarding his treatment of her. Sho gains a little more depth as a character, and I find I actually kind of want to see more of him now. His reactions to her progress and criticisms are strangely gratifying.

From the back cover:
All Kyoko’s dreams are coming true! She’s got a best friend (okay, so Moko still needs to come to terms with their bosom-buddyhood, but she’s learning). She’s finally going to high school (so what if a mean girl is picking on her—Kyoko knows how to deal with bullies). And she’s landed a spot in Sho’s new video (Yes! Revenge! Bwa ha ha ha!). Life doesn’t get any better than this.

Review:
Man, this series is so good. There are some very important things that happen in this volume, and two are centered around Kyoko saying things that need saying. In the first chapter, finishing up her day working as Ren’s substitute manager, she finally explains her motivations for studying acting and he realizes he’s misunderstood her. This prompts some tenderness in his manner towards her that his manager picks up on but to which Ren is oblivious. For the first time (due to character development) I really see their potential as a romantic couple. The best thing about their slowly-evolving relationship is that it’s based on respect.

The other instance of Kyoko saying what needs to be said occurs when her cover is finally blown and she chastises Sho for all the wrongs he committed against her. I honestly thought this confrontation would occur later on in the series, but it’s good to see something like this here, so perhaps she can rise above concern for Sho and not have besting him be her ultimate goal. His flummoxed reaction to her poise and skill is great, and it’s good to see her triumph over him in some degree.

I can’t wait for the next volume to see how she totally manipulates Sho with her acting (a trick she learned from Ren) and succeeds in using him as a stepping stone on her own path to success.

From the back cover:
While Buffy is busy trying to uncover the mysterious new Big Bad known only as “Twilight,” Giles takes on a mission of his own that will require a Slayer who can handle a little dirty work. He recruits the notoriously rebellious Faith for an undercover job that demands her well-known penchant for violence. She must infiltrate the estate of a rogue Slayer and put a stop to this girl’s evil deeds no matter the cost.

Review:
This collection includes issues 6-10 of the series. The first four comprise Vaughan’s Faith arc that lends its name to this volume as subtitle—”No Future For You.” The last issue is a stand-alone written by Joss himself.

I’m current with the monthly issues of this series (up to 14 now), and I have to say that “No Future For You” is definitely my favorite arc thus far, which is a little weird since Vaughan was never a writer for the show. He really nails Faith, though, and all of her dialogue and inner thoughts ring true. I especially like her perspective on the conflicts she’s had with Buffy and her relationship with Mayor Wilkins. Here’s an excerpt:

Evil scumbag. That’s what most people think of the last guy who put me in a dress. But I don’t know. Dude may have been a bit of a snake… but he wasn’t a dog. Everybody thinks he was, like, exploiting me or whatever, but that’s not how it felt. So I totally get how chicks can get mixed up in the wrong crap. Even today, it’s still hard to look back at my time with that guy…and feel anything but loved.

Pretty awesome stuff. Vaughan also does well with the other characters, who both speak and act perfectly in character. I’m fascinated by the dynamic between Faith and Giles, especially in the scene where he mentions his own youthful rebellion and how they’re not so unalike, but the best is probably Buffy jumping to the absolute worst conclusion about Faith’s involvement with the rogue Slayer. It’s not only a very Buffy thing to do, but it also cuts Faith deeply to see that she will probably never really be trusted by Buffy, despite her various attempts at redemption.

Not so awesome, alas, is Georges Jeanty’s art. I’m not so miffed about it as this guy, but Faith really does look pretty awful in some panels. I realize that spot-on likenesses are not necessarily the artist’s goal, but she often looks like several different people per page, and each only marginally reminiscent of Eliza Dushku. I will, however, say that in more recent issues, Jeanty has drawn some truly exceptional panels of Willow.

Issue 10, “Anywhere But Here,” is important in its own right, featuring Buffy and Willow on a mission together and providing many answers, including where the funding for the Slayers came from and the current state of Willow’s relationship with Kennedy. Back at home, Dawn also finally discloses (to Xander) how she ended up gigantified. This is the kind of significant personal interaction I was missing in the first Buffy-centric arc, so I’m very pleased to get such a nice chunk of it here.

I really hope Vaughan writes an arc again soon or, even better, starts up a spin-off starring Faith and Giles. Sad to say, I would actually prefer that to the current arc that’s underway at present.

Book description:
Dororo is Tezuka’s classic thriller manga featuring a youth who has been robbed of 48 body parts by devils, and his epic struggle against a host of demons to get them back.

Daigo Kagemitsu, who works for a samurai general in Japan’s Warring States period, promises to offer body parts of his unborn baby to 48 devils in exchange for complete domination of the country. Knowing the child to be deficient, Kagemitsu orders the newborn thrown into the river.

The baby survives. Callling himself Hyakkimaru, he searches the world for the 48 demons. Each time he eliminates one, he retrieves one of his missing parts. Hyakkimaru meets a boy thief named Dororo, and together they travel the countryside, confronting mosters and ghosts again and again.

Review:
This was my first time reading Tezuka. Although I have a couple of other things by him, the shounen adventure qualities of Dororo made it seem a more accessible starting point.

While I enjoyed the volume overall, I ended up liking the beginning more than the middle or the end. The setting for Daigo’s bargain was immediately atmospheric and interesting. The second chapter recounted how baby Hyakkimaru (who looked kind of like Jack Skellington) was found by a doctor who raised him and fitted him with snazzy prosthetics.

From that point on, things were a bit more episodic, with varying degrees of success. It was interesting to see how Dororo probably influenced shounen tales to come. For example, a skilled swordsman and his companion(s) must wander around, collecting bits of something from a whole bunch of demons. These demons enjoy terrorizing innocent villagers. Hmm, what does that remind me of? One difference I appreciated was that the villagers in this series actually take part in fighting off the monsters, and they’re also not particularly welcoming of the freakish Hyakkimaru and the thieving Dororo after the battle’s been won.

Much suspension of disbelief is required for this series, and it was kind of weird which things I just accepted and which bugged me. For instance—a baby born missing 48 body parts not only survives but somehow possesses special sensory abilities enabling him to see, hear, and speak telepathically. Okay, fine. His foster dad is able to perform surgery on him and fit weaponry inside his prosthetic limbs (swords in his arms and poison spritzer thingies in his legs). Sure, why not? But then when Hyakkimaru is somehow able to bend the arms with swords inside, my illogic detector went, “Hang on just a minute!”

I’ll definitely be reading the rest of this series; there are only 2 more volumes, anyway. Now that flashbacks and such are out of the way, I hope that we’ll see more of the collection of Hyakkimaru’s missing bits, though I still have no idea what to expect when he’s succeeded in getting them all. He doesn’t seem to have a goal beyond that at this point.

From the inside flap:
This is the story of a working-class guy from Ohio with little real knowledge of Ambidextrous Presidents, Things Made of Rubber, and hundreds of other categories, but who nonetheless plunges so far into cramming for Jeopardy! that it changes his relationships, bends his worldview, and literally leads him to the ends of the earth, trying to understand it all.

Review:
Prisoner of Trebekistan is more than just a memoir of some guy who played on Jeopardy! It’s a book about memory, and what is required for loads of random information to become stuck in one’s brain. It’s about how to and also how not to prepare for the game, and how the relationships around one might suffer if one dwells too long in “Trebekistan,” the realm of learning where the myriad connections between seemingly random things suddenly come into focus. And it’s also a pretty sweet love story.

Harris’ writing is generally amusing and he uses lots of colorful examples to demonstrate how the brain prioritizes memories. My only gripe about this is that when, in the first real biographical chapter, he mentions a mystery receipt he found and begans to insert all the random items he could’ve bought into his tale, I thought it was a memory exercise and tried to remember them all. I also disliked that he implied that his girlfriend (the awesome Jane) had died of cancer, when I know she hasn’t. He later explained he’d done this so the reader would experience jubilation equal to his own at learning she’d be fine. It still annoyed me.

Details of Harris’ games and strategy are included, and he’s candid about admitting his mistakes. One could read the book purely as a how-to guide and come away with valuable insight. There’s also an appendix of recommended reading for anyone who might be considering giving it a go. This book itself, however, isn’t where one should go to find a list of stuff to memorize, though I did pick up a few random bits of trivia along the way.

As Harris learns to relax more and simply have fun playing the game, he makes many good friends as he keeps getting asked back to play in various tournaments. One of these friendships results in Harris officiating at a marriage ceremony held on the Jeopardy! set. It’s completely awesome. Alex Trebek signed off on the marriage certificate as the official witness and everything.

I was initially interested in this book because of the Buffy connection, and it’s actually pretty neat. Harris is a friend of Danny Strong, who played the character of Jonathan. When the episode “Superstar,” which focused on Jonathan, aired, Strong invited friends over to watch it. Harris, who had gone through a series of chicks who assuaged his insecurities but weren’t a good match, admired the writer’s cleverness, and was soon set up on a blind date with her. Jane, as described in the book, sounds every bit as goofy and wonderful as she’s seemed to me in episode commentary or on her website. Their love story is a great (if sometimes a little skittish) one, and provides an excellent ending, as well. She totally needs to show up on my doorstep so we can hang out. Maybe go bowling or something.

I recommend Prisoner of Trebekistan on several fronts, therefore. Harris has another book out now about world conflicts that I hope to be reading eventually, as well.

From the back cover:
In this special collection of side stories, join Sarasa and Shuri after the war, as they rebuild Japan and travel the world together. In the distant Huang Empire, Sarasa is infected with a fatal disease—but will Shuri betray the Huang Emperor to save her? And when the new Japanese government is beset with turmoil, it’s up to two children to convince a reclusive hermit named Hayato to lead his country.

Finally, Yumi Tamura offers a glimpse of life before the apocalypse… before the ruined world Sarasa knows… before the beginning of Basara!

Review:
What I like about how Tamura envisioned these appendices is that they feel like natural extentions of the main story. She didn’t have to manufacture some conflict for Shuri and Sarasa that was insulting to them, like inserting some new vixen who’s a threat to their relationship. Instead, it’s a story about guilt and atonement, adjusting to the needs of another person, and making amends by doing something with one’s life.

The tale with Hayato also isn’t useless fluff, since he’s dealing with anger towards Tatara who seemingly deserted them all and whose absence led to the creation of a government that didn’t fit the revolutionaries’ ideals. Shuri and Sarasa’s kids make an appearance, and they’re cute enough, but the best is Motomichi, all growed up and looking incredibly like his dad. I especially like the panels where Hayato looks into the young man’s eyes and thinks “I killed your father.”

The rest of the stories are really, really short and don’t contribute a great deal to my enjoyment of the book either way. The last one, though brief, does end on a good note for the series, however.

Now Basara is really over. Sniff.

Book description:
One of the travelers is about to die, and the only way to keep that from happening is to make a deal with Yuuko the witch. The price has lasting repercussions for the others—one must be responsible for the saved life while another is sent out into the inhospitable ruins of Tokyo on a quest… alone.

Review:
It’s not a surprise that when CLAMP does shounen, they don’t do it like everyone else. In most shounen series I’ve read, characters aren’t allowed to undergo such fundamental changes as have occurred in these last couple of volumes of Tsubasa. There’s also lots of rather subtle character growth and interaction, too, especially between Fai and Kurogane. I love every scene where these two are together—okay, part of it may be “squee, they’re so in love!” but there’s a lot more to it than that. Fai’s struggle to stay remote and unconnected is particularly fascinating to me.

There’s not a whole lot of focus on what’s going on with Syaoran, since there were more immediate things to deal with, like wishes and their prices. Sakura, however, gets a lot of attention. Upset by how often people are getting hurt on her account, she decides to pay the price of one of the wishes on her own, and exhibits some surprising toughness. I’m a little unsure of where this grit came from, honestly, but the chapters focusing on her quest are pretty neat. I’m impressed by how well the story was conveyed in a 99% nonverbal fashion.

The ending is super sweet, and ties back in to Fai’s issues in an understated way. Again, I urge people not to judge this series based on its early volumes—I think it’s starting to become one of my favorites by CLAMP.

From the back cover:
Rich boy Tsukasa returns to Japan after he discovers the true identity of Tsukushi’s “Kinsan.” Tsukushi herself is having trouble accepting his identity. Then Kinsan invites Tsukushi to a swank party where they bump into Tsukasa, who causes a major scene when Kinsan declares his intentions toward Tsukushi! Still desperate for money, Tsukushi goes to Tsukasa who comes up with a plan that everyone can benefit from. That is, if Tsukushi can win a beauty contest…!

Review:
Even though it’s obvious that Tsukushi should not go out with Kinsan (and I hope she doesn’t, ‘cos that would annoy me), this arc with him is still really fun because it prompts all sorts of great scenes between Tsukushi and Tsukasa. I can’t help but love when Kinsan tells those gathered at a party he’ll introduce them to the girl he wants to marry and Tsukasa goes “Tell me that’s not you!” I also love that Rui seems to be helping the two of them now.

And, as silly as the beauty contest is, it’s actually shaping up to look quite fun. After Tsukushi’s dad borrows from loan sharks and loses all the money at the track, she has to go and ask Tsukasa for the loan, which is a pretty big deal. Then he broaches the topic of the contest and, having been challenged by some Kinsan-lovers previously regarding it, she gets fired up enough to enter it. Tsubaki actually comes to good use here by offering to tutor her, Princess Diaries style.

So, yeah, it’s all kind of crazy, but it’s back to the kind of crazy that I like.

From the back cover:
Tsukasa is headed for New York to break away from his Tokyo life, but just before leaving Rui whispers something to him. When this news finally sinks in Tsukasa goes into another one of his frenzies. Financial troubles weigh heavy on the Makino family as Tsukushi’s father is out of a job. It becomes clear that they are completely dependent on her marrying a rich boy from Eitoku Academy. A new boy enters the scene! He is a bit of a nut, but is determined to help Tsukushi.

Review:
This volume was better than the last, since it had no wacky basketball hijinks, and was evenly enjoyable throughout, but nothing really stood out as special. The best bits were, of course, the scenes between Tsukushi and Tsukasa, particularly when she found out he was intending to leave the country. I also liked that she realized that he was partly responsible for helping her get over Eitoku’s weird atmosphere and be herself again.

The plot where Tsukushi meets another boy who helped her find a part-time job was okay, but I was annoyed he turned out to be yet another rich kid. Thinking Tsukushi was getting duped by this guy, Tsukasa also returned. This was way too soon, in my opinion. I would’ve liked to see her miss him at least a little more. But then I guess that might prompt her to decide on her feelings, and there are 27 more volumes so you know she can’t be doing that now!

A few odd things in the text also caught my attention. I can’t compare it to the original, but one scene where Rui discussed his intentions regarding Tsukushi didn’t seem to jive with his later actions. There were also a few typos. My favorite was where some creepy dudes locked a door as a “precatution.”

From the back cover:
Murder strikes too close to home! Lord Peter, noted detective, scholar, and bon vivant, is summoned to the Wimsey family retreat, which offers country pleasures and the thrill of the hunt. But when the prey turns out to be human and quite dead, wearing slippers and a dinner jacket, the thrill wanes. The victim is the fiancé of Lord Peter’s sister. And the accused? None other than Lord Peter’s own brother, the Duke of Denver. Despite overwhelming circumstantial evidence, Lord Peter is certain his brother is innocent and launches his own investigation. Can he find the truth in time to save the family name and spare his brother the gallows?

Review:
Clouds of Witness is a decent enough mystery, I suppose, but it won’t rank as one of my favorites.

I find it difficult to nail down a precise flaw that prompts my lack of enthusiasm, but I think it’s personal drama for the investigators (as in P. D. James or Elizabeth George) that I am missing, and I know I oughtn’t expect that from Sayers. The investigation is very clue-driven, and includes a few lucky coincidences. They didn’t bother me as much as in Tey’s books, but I do wonder whether Whose Body? was similar and I just didn’t notice it.

The best part about Sayers is that it’s often quite amusing, not just the little remarks that people make but also the way Peter’s quirks are dealt with. I especially appreciated a scene where he punctuates his words with little digs into his pipe, and the drunken epilogue was also cute. Less cute was Peter’s miraculous recovery from a gunshot wound to the shoulder that’s never mentioned again, even when he is hauled bodily out of a bog by a rope under his armpits a mere four days later. Oopsies.