Kobato is something between a slice-of-life and a mystery series, with a touch of fantasy (more along the lines of xxxHolic, where the story is set in current Japan with supernatural events occurring, rather than Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, where supernatural events occur in strange worlds). On the surface it's the story of a girl named Kobato Hanato who gets a job working at a kindergarten plagued by money troubles; but below that is the mystery of why the yakuza threatening to close the kindergarten is married to the woman running it, and who Kobato really is.
Because Kobato has a wish: she wants to go somewhere. And in order to do so, she has to fill a magic bottle with the fragments of injured hearts that she has healed. I'd almost say this series has a magical girl angle, except Kobato (so far) doesn't transform and hasn't fought anyone. But the reason she asked for her job at the kindergarten was to try and help the owner of it with her problems, thereby healing her heart and making Kobato one step closer to her wish.
In addition, there's another story going on: Kobato has some kind of spirit guide (this is the best term I can think of to explain the abusive, animate stuffed animal who is helping her on her quest--think Cerberus with a lot of rage), Ioryogi, who has his own motives for wanting to see her wish come true. He has no chance of being freed from the form he's currently in unless Kobato succeeds. And Ioryogi isn't the only supernatural creature stuck in a body that isn't his own; there are other creatures, too, and it's been implied that Kobato herself isn't human (or at least, sure isn't a normal one). There's clearly something going on in the spiritual world, and Kobato is involved, regardless of whether she knows it or not.
Kobato seems like a sweet, fun read; but if you're like me and you've read a lot of CLAMP's works, a warning light probably went off as soon as I mentioned that she had a wish. The series is cute and sweet; but there's a darker undercurrent to it that has me counting pages until we learn that one character is blind in their right eye. After all, it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye: then it's CLAMP.
Kobato is translated by Yen Press, which is something of a newcomer in the field of manga, but which is a company I've always admired for both their diverse titles and their translations. The series was put on hiatus by CLAMP in 2005, and then was not so much resumed as restarted (opening at an earlier point in the timeline) in 2007. There are 5 volumes so far; 3 have been translated into English, with volume 4 coming out in May. There is also an anime of the series that ran for 24 episodes from 2009-2010, but so far it has not been brought over in subtitled or dubbed form.
January 31, 2011
January 17, 2011
Tokyo Vice, by Jake Adelstein
While this isn't quite manga, it goes into so much depth about Tokyo, Japan, and Japanese culture that I have to recommend it.
Jake Adelstein is an American who went to college in Japan and then became a reporter for the Yomiuri Shinbun, one of Japan's largest newspapers (one chapter gives a great description of the entrance exams and training that he went through to do it). There, he went into the Vice Beat area, and began covering the seedy aspects of Tokyo and nearby Saitama, including yakuza (the Japanese mafia) activities, murders, host club scams, and a group of robbers who once stole an entire ATM machine using a forklift.
In the process, Adelstein learns a lot about the workings of the police, the give and take between police and reporters, and especially about yakuza-related crime (this is because one of his stories gets his life threatened by the head of one of the biggest yakuza groups--in fact, it's the reason Adelstein and his family are currently living back in the United States). He also writes a lot about Japan, including real-life examples of sempai-kohai relationships, host clubs (most are not, in fact, run like Ouran's), and basic details about Japan that are really interesting: I've been reading manga for nearly 11 years, and I was well aware of the public bathhouse system in Japan, but I had no idea that there are also coin-operated showers! (At the time of Adelstein's writing, 100 yen would get you five minutes of hot water.)
Since one of my favorite manga, Sanctuary (by Sho Fumimura and Ryoichi Ikegami) is about yakuza and politicians, I had to pick this up. And I definitely learned a lot about yakuza from it, and even some about Japanese politics: I had no idea that the reigning party in Japan, the (quite misnamed and very conservative) Liberal Democratic Party, was founded by yakuza money given to the creator of the LDP--apparently this is an open secret in the country! The things you learn.
What fascinated me the most, however, was Adelstein's breakdown of the different districts within Tokyo. I knew the main names--Shibuya, Shinjuku, Roppongi, Akibahara--but I didn't know much about the different aspects of them. The one I knew most about was Akibahara, and that's because any otaku worth their salt has to know the electronics/manga/doujinshi/otaku playground. (Plus, a good chunk of Genshiken takes place there, so.) But Adelstein goes a lot more in-depth about the areas, including what businesses (mainly shady) tend to be where and what each district is most famous for (for Roppongi, it's apparently catering to foreigners. No wonder I never see that place much in manga).
Tokyo Vice contains a ton of information about Japan, including a whole lot about the side that you don't see much in manga (at least, outside of seinen, or manga geared toward adult men), on top of all the vice beat stories. If you're interested in more details of Japan and Japanese culture to better understand the background behind your favorite manga, this book is a great place to start.
Jake Adelstein is an American who went to college in Japan and then became a reporter for the Yomiuri Shinbun, one of Japan's largest newspapers (one chapter gives a great description of the entrance exams and training that he went through to do it). There, he went into the Vice Beat area, and began covering the seedy aspects of Tokyo and nearby Saitama, including yakuza (the Japanese mafia) activities, murders, host club scams, and a group of robbers who once stole an entire ATM machine using a forklift.
In the process, Adelstein learns a lot about the workings of the police, the give and take between police and reporters, and especially about yakuza-related crime (this is because one of his stories gets his life threatened by the head of one of the biggest yakuza groups--in fact, it's the reason Adelstein and his family are currently living back in the United States). He also writes a lot about Japan, including real-life examples of sempai-kohai relationships, host clubs (most are not, in fact, run like Ouran's), and basic details about Japan that are really interesting: I've been reading manga for nearly 11 years, and I was well aware of the public bathhouse system in Japan, but I had no idea that there are also coin-operated showers! (At the time of Adelstein's writing, 100 yen would get you five minutes of hot water.)
Since one of my favorite manga, Sanctuary (by Sho Fumimura and Ryoichi Ikegami) is about yakuza and politicians, I had to pick this up. And I definitely learned a lot about yakuza from it, and even some about Japanese politics: I had no idea that the reigning party in Japan, the (quite misnamed and very conservative) Liberal Democratic Party, was founded by yakuza money given to the creator of the LDP--apparently this is an open secret in the country! The things you learn.
What fascinated me the most, however, was Adelstein's breakdown of the different districts within Tokyo. I knew the main names--Shibuya, Shinjuku, Roppongi, Akibahara--but I didn't know much about the different aspects of them. The one I knew most about was Akibahara, and that's because any otaku worth their salt has to know the electronics/manga/doujinshi/otaku playground. (Plus, a good chunk of Genshiken takes place there, so.) But Adelstein goes a lot more in-depth about the areas, including what businesses (mainly shady) tend to be where and what each district is most famous for (for Roppongi, it's apparently catering to foreigners. No wonder I never see that place much in manga).
Tokyo Vice contains a ton of information about Japan, including a whole lot about the side that you don't see much in manga (at least, outside of seinen, or manga geared toward adult men), on top of all the vice beat stories. If you're interested in more details of Japan and Japanese culture to better understand the background behind your favorite manga, this book is a great place to start.
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