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Cel Shaded
Jason Yadao
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Viz rolls out more manga from Urasawa
Naoki Urasawa is one of those manga artists who, if you don't know about the manga series he's worked on, you should get to know as soon as possible. His series "Monster," being released stateside by Viz, is a complex psychological thriller pitting a doctor who sacrifices his reputation to save the life of a young boy ... a boy who grows up to be a terrifying, manipulative serial killer.
It's also the only manga series of any significance by Urasawa to be released in the U.S. Sure, there was "Pineapple Army," from Viz, but that was canceled after 1990 with only one of the eight Japanese volumes translated.
Which brings me to my continuing look at the news that caught my eye from the three biggest summer conventions for anime and manga news: Anime Expo in Los Angeles, Comic-Con International in San Diego and Otakon in Baltimore. In this case, Comic-Con was the site of Viz's announcement that two more Urasawa series will see the light of day in America: "20th Century Boys" and "Pluto."
Technically speaking, this is the second time "20th Century Boys" has been linked with Viz. The first time was back in 2005, when Diamond Comics' Previews catalog revealed Viz's plan to release it that May, concurrently with "Monster." Urasawa reportedly put the kibosh on the idea, though, saying doing so would be a disservice to his art, which he felt had evolved from "Monster" to "20th Century Boys."
An eerie sense of deja vu is at the center of the events of "20th Century Boys." A cult leader known only as "Friend" is wreaking havoc on the world and is predicting doom for the turn of the century, but the way he's going about it intrigues Kenji, who finds it all oddly familiar. It turns out Kenji and his friends made similar plans as an idle pastime when they were younger ... and now he could be the last, best hope for saving the world.
"Pluto," Urasawa's latest series, is a darker, more mature spin on one of Osamu Tezuka's "Astro Boy" stories, "The Greatest Robot on Earth." Tezuka's version featured seven of the world's most powerful robots forced to fight one another as a result of their programming and humanity's whims. Urasawa tells this story from a different perspective -- the robot detective Gesicht, rather than Astro -- and deepens the exploration of the psychological and societal aspects of a world shared by robots and humans.
Expect to see "Pluto" and "20th Century Boys" at your favorite manga retailer in February ...
Nozomi adds 2 anime
Nozomi Entertainment, the anime publishing branch of online retailer Right Stuf, announced at Anime Expo that it will release "Gakuen Alice," about girls at a magical school, and a remastered version of the original "Toward the Terra" movie.
Try not to confuse the movie, which is from 1980, with the "Toward the Terra" TV series from 2007, currently being released by Bandai. The source material, however, is the same: Keiko Takemiya's manga about humanity set adrift in space and longing to return to Earth.
More news next week ...
Cel Shaded, a look at the world of Japanese anime and manga, appears every Monday. Reach
Jason S. Yadao at
jyadao@starbulletin.com