When I first posted a “Manga Minis” column in March 2007, I envisioned it as a kind of dead letter office where older titles and later volumes of previously reviewed manga would see the light in the form of brief reviews. As the column has evolved, however, it’s become something altogether different: a showcase for the talented and ever-growing Manga Recon crew. I confess that I like the newer incarnation of the column better than the older, as it allows our readers to enjoy a variety of writing styles and critical perspectives in a sitting—not unlike a Whitman’s sampler, or a Kellogg’s Variety Pak. To celebrate the column’s one-year anniversary, Chloe, Isaac, Ken, and I look at four very different titles: volume four of Vampire Knight (Viz ), volume one of Fever (Tokyopop), volume thirteen of Black Cat (Viz), and volume one of Crayon Shinchan (CMX).

Black Cat, Vol. 13

By Kentaro Yabuki
Viz, 200 pp.
Rating: Older Teen

I seem to be lucking out with Shonen Jump mangas lately. Volume twenty-eight of Naruto was a fairly good jumping on-point for that long-running series, and that seems to be the case with this volume of Black Cat as well. Most of the volume is a flashback explaining the events that led to the titular character’s decision to leave the criminal organization Chronos and become a bounty hunter. The rest of the volume is spent kicking off what seems to be a new arc with Train Heartnet and his allies preparing to track down Creed Diskenth, a man with whom Train has a long history. Their preparations range from information gathering to dodging cannonballs for practice. Despite the contemporary feel of the setting, the guns, and Heartnet’s former career as an assassin, Black Cat is still a Shonen Jump title, so these kind of over-the-top training sessions are to be expected. On the upside, there’s a fairly cool sequence towards the end where a new character punches a bullet out of the air.

The art didn’t really blow me away, but it got the job done. The character designs are a mixed bag, but none of them jumped out at me as being amazingly cool or eye-catching, though Train’s design left me wondering why he has four doughnuts attached to his shirt. The action scenes are slick and easy to follow, and full of characters demonstrating some crazy abilities or skills. Writing and characterization-wise, well, it’s more or less your standard shonen fare: the heroes are shocked at how cruel and heartless villains can be, people have dark pasts they must overcome, duels are fought in exchange for information simply because one person wants to test himself against the other. Nothing really new here. At any rate, I wasn’t really in love with the title, but at the same time I’d have a hard time saying anything particularly negative about it. The contemporary setting is a nice change of pace from the fantasy worlds that many shonen series take place in, so that earned it a few points and helped make it a bit more palatable. Overall, it’s a decent shonen title and is worth a look for, well, fans of shonen books.

–Reviewed by Ken Haley

Crayon Shinchan, Vol. 1

By Yoshito Usui
CMX, 122 pp.
Rating: Mature

Move over, Eric Cartman—there’s a ruder, cruder, more poorly drawn little boy vying for our attention: Shinnosuke Nohara, a.k.a. Crayon Shinchan. Like South Park’s flatulent, foul-mouthed connoisseur of Cheezy Poofs, Shinchan craves junk food (his preferred treat: Chocobees), obsesses over bodily functions, and treats his mother with complete disdain, making her life a living hell with his destructive antics, inappropriate comments, and penchant for dropping trou at the slightest provocation. His offenses run the gamut from the innocent—trying to pay for a hamburger with play money—to the obscene—peeking up his mother’s skirt in public.

Whether or not you find Crayon Shinchan funny depends on where your sympathy lies. My inner feminist pitied Shinchan’s long-suffering mom too much to find humor in most of these scenarios, which usually result in Mitzi’s abject humiliation. I also found the jokes too repetitive; almost every gag felt like a variation on the same basic gross-out theme. A few chapters, however, stood out for their sheer inventiveness. Early in the volume, for example, Shinchan visits the adult magazine section of a book store, prompting a hilarious “conversation” in hand signals between the manager and a clerk that wouldn’t be out of place at a major league baseball game. And there are a few inspired scenes towards the end of the volume, when Shinchan finally meets a sparring partner equal to the task: the principal of his kindergarten, a kindly man with a face so terrifying everyone assumes he’s a reformed yakuza. Adaptor Sheldon Drzka made the wise decision to substitute American cultural references for Japanese, resulting in a script that’s fluid and funny, and avoids sending readers scrambling to an appendix for a gloss on the jokes. All in all, a mixed bag—not unlike the very first season of South Park.

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey

Fever, Vol. 1

By Hee Jung Park
Tokyopop, 192 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

After reading about Hee Jung Park’s Hotel Africa, and now actually reading her newly released in the US manhwa Fever, I totally understand why Tokyopop is trying to turn her into a name brand (though why they tout it as “from the creator of Hotel Africa, a not-yet published title, I don’t quite understand). Admittedly, that didn’t work to well with the Erica Sakurazawa manga, which I liked, but it looks like Tokyopop is ready to push the fold again with Hee Jung Park. With the vast quantity of “safe” and relatively tame shojo manga coming out of every pore of the manga industry right now, it’s awesome to see a title like Fever that reminds me why the Tokyopop logo still gives me the warm fuzzies.

In its first volume we are introduced to two concurrent and ultimately intersecting storylines. In the first arc we meet Hyung-In, a high school girl torn apart by her friend’s recent suicide. Racked with guilt and seeking direction in her now lonely life, Hyung-In meets a stranger on the bus, Kang-Dae who comforts who and directs her to a mysterious place known only as “Fever.” At an another high school, orphan Ji-Jun never seems to have any luck with the ladies, though not due to lack of trying. His best friend Ah-In supports him through each foolhardy romantic enterprise, even though it hurts him more and more each time. Throughout this section we are supplied with hints that Ah-In’s feelings for Ji-Jun , and I’m pleased to say that this is the classiest and most believable homosexual tension I’ve seen in comics in a long time. When Ah-In’s sister, Ah-Rip gets involved, the potential for disaster is palpable, and begins to loom over the scene like a cloud. Eventually, the stories converge as Hyung-In seeks out Fever and reunites with Kang-Dae, who is connected to Ji-Jun through the still mysterious entity of Fever.

The art is enjoyable, and a clean break from stereotypical manhwa stylization. The landscapes are beautiful, and the character designs for Hyung-In and Ji-Jun are particularly attractive. The only thing that would make me drop this series like a rock is if Ah-Hin “sees the light” and just lets go of his attraction to Ji-Jun. Happens way too often in shojo (ahem, Please Save My Earth). All in all, I’m stoked to get my greedy paws on more Hee Jung Park ASAP, and urge you to do the same! Highly recommended.

–Reviewed by Isaac Hale

Vampire Knight, Vol. 4

By Matsuri Hino
Viz, 200 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

The mysterious maneuverings of transfer student Maria Kurenai has set the scene abuzz as Vampire Knight plods onward into fourth volume territory. This volume is primarily Zero’s scene, as the complicated bit of angsty backstory leading up to his present day status is explained through flashbacks and healthy doses of monologuing-in-empty-rooms. Character development is measured at best; Yuki and Zero descend deeper into their strange little symbiotic relationship while Kaname remains an unlikable block of ice, albeit with Anton Chigurh-esque inclinations to show up, moralize a bit and then kill. It all feels a bit over the top, with everything from memory loss to long-lost brothers to body swapping, all coated with plenty of blood and angst. (Matsuri Hino, just a hint: chess metaphors automatically lend an air of cheese to supposedly serious scenes.) The art, however, remains as sharp as ever, and it’s hard to argue with Hino’s striking gothic-shojo sensibilities. Her side characters could use a bit of differentiation though; with a crew as big as Vampire Knight’s, it’s hard to keep things straight if every member of the Night Dorm is the obligatory tall, attractive light haired bishonen. The teenage girl crowd will love it; others may find themselves looking for a little less melodrama and a little more grounding.

–Reviewed by Chloe Ferguson