This is another Epinions foundling. I did a lot of BL manga at Epinions; I imagine most of it will be showing up here.
The first volume of Togainu no Chi by Suguro Chayamachi and Nitro+ CHiRAL looks like the beginning to a very good action/adventure series with BL overtones, set in a near-future dystopia that provides an appropriate background to the story.
The apocalypse has come, and Japan is now divided into two nations, Nikkoren and the CFC. In between lies the city of Toshima, more ruins than anything else, home to the Igura, a battle game that's too real for comfort: you can lose everything in this one. Akira, an undefeated champion at another battle game, Bl@ster (in which you are not allowed to kill your opponent), is convicted of murder and given a choice: die in jail or try to survive the Igura. He also has a mission, but that's a secret.
Toshima is run by the underworld bosses and ruled by Arbitro, "Il Re." The winner of the Igura gets to fight the King and take his place -- if he wins. No one has yet. Arbitro has a side business that is the real reason for the Igura: line, a ferociously addictive drug that the crime cartel has now started marketing outside Toshima. That's the real goal: a lucrative business in drugs that doesn't depend on the denizens of Toshima.
We first meet Rin and Motomi, whom Rin calls "Old Man" (he must be all of 30) and who is a non-player -- he makes a living as an informer. Neither is reticent about his preferences in regard to romantic involvements, and it's Rin who first makes the acquaintance of Akira and Keisuke, Akira's friend who followed him into Toshima. In fact, Rin propositions Akira, whose main concern is getting Keisuke to safety, preferably out of the city -- Keisuke is not a fighter. There is also another fighter of whom we only catch glimpses at this point, Shiki, who is somewhat more than deadly and whose purposes are unknown.
The story line here is complex and multifaceted, and this could easily be the beginning of a lengthy series. The setting is rich and coherent and the characters are vividly drawn, both graphically and in their dialogue. Relationships are somewhat ambivalent, particularly that between Rin and Motomi. That between Akira and Keisuke also leaves much unsaid. To be honest, I was somewhat surprised to see the BL elements here -- Togainu no Chi is published by Tokyopop, which normally publishes BL manga under the BLU imprint. But those elements are undeniably there; whether they actually develop into anything is anyone's guess at this point.
Visually, this one is dense, almost tactile. Although the basic format follows shounen conventions, it's not all that strict. The settings are dark, in keeping with the mood of the story, and the visual contrasts are arresting. Characterizations are very well done, and follow a bishounen aesthetic -- men are slender and androgynous, although quite muscular; there are no women (well, one in a flashback). The characters display a lot of individuality.
My one complaint is that the drawing suffers from the format: it's a standard Tokyopop edition, slightly larger than an American mass-market paperback, and the compression of the images to fit the page sometimes leads to them being illegible, or nearly so, especially in action sequences, of which there are many. On the whole, though, the graphics are very strong and quite beautiful.
There's no sex, but a lot of death, little of it pretty. In spite of that, I think it's worth following, at least for adults -- it's gritty enough that I'd hesitate to recommend it for any but older teens. (The publisher rates it at 16+, but I don't know that I'm perfectly comfortable with that.)
(Tokyopop, 2008)
The apocalypse has come, and Japan is now divided into two nations, Nikkoren and the CFC. In between lies the city of Toshima, more ruins than anything else, home to the Igura, a battle game that's too real for comfort: you can lose everything in this one. Akira, an undefeated champion at another battle game, Bl@ster (in which you are not allowed to kill your opponent), is convicted of murder and given a choice: die in jail or try to survive the Igura. He also has a mission, but that's a secret.
Toshima is run by the underworld bosses and ruled by Arbitro, "Il Re." The winner of the Igura gets to fight the King and take his place -- if he wins. No one has yet. Arbitro has a side business that is the real reason for the Igura: line, a ferociously addictive drug that the crime cartel has now started marketing outside Toshima. That's the real goal: a lucrative business in drugs that doesn't depend on the denizens of Toshima.
We first meet Rin and Motomi, whom Rin calls "Old Man" (he must be all of 30) and who is a non-player -- he makes a living as an informer. Neither is reticent about his preferences in regard to romantic involvements, and it's Rin who first makes the acquaintance of Akira and Keisuke, Akira's friend who followed him into Toshima. In fact, Rin propositions Akira, whose main concern is getting Keisuke to safety, preferably out of the city -- Keisuke is not a fighter. There is also another fighter of whom we only catch glimpses at this point, Shiki, who is somewhat more than deadly and whose purposes are unknown.
The story line here is complex and multifaceted, and this could easily be the beginning of a lengthy series. The setting is rich and coherent and the characters are vividly drawn, both graphically and in their dialogue. Relationships are somewhat ambivalent, particularly that between Rin and Motomi. That between Akira and Keisuke also leaves much unsaid. To be honest, I was somewhat surprised to see the BL elements here -- Togainu no Chi is published by Tokyopop, which normally publishes BL manga under the BLU imprint. But those elements are undeniably there; whether they actually develop into anything is anyone's guess at this point.
Visually, this one is dense, almost tactile. Although the basic format follows shounen conventions, it's not all that strict. The settings are dark, in keeping with the mood of the story, and the visual contrasts are arresting. Characterizations are very well done, and follow a bishounen aesthetic -- men are slender and androgynous, although quite muscular; there are no women (well, one in a flashback). The characters display a lot of individuality.
My one complaint is that the drawing suffers from the format: it's a standard Tokyopop edition, slightly larger than an American mass-market paperback, and the compression of the images to fit the page sometimes leads to them being illegible, or nearly so, especially in action sequences, of which there are many. On the whole, though, the graphics are very strong and quite beautiful.
There's no sex, but a lot of death, little of it pretty. In spite of that, I think it's worth following, at least for adults -- it's gritty enough that I'd hesitate to recommend it for any but older teens. (The publisher rates it at 16+, but I don't know that I'm perfectly comfortable with that.)
(Tokyopop, 2008)
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