Musashi #9 Book 8

I continue to enjoy this series because of the variations the author rings on the structure while maintaining the basics of character and premise. Last time I talked about Book 4, which added teen soap opera elements. This time, it’s almost a horror movie.

The lead character is still one of the world’s top secret agents, code-named Musashi. While fleeing through the woods, she’s almost run over by four friends on a vacation. They’re individually consumed by their own problems, but they all wind up in a deserted cottage being shot at by the bad guys. If they can survive until dawn, they’ll be rescued, and the physical danger will put their emotional trauma into perspective.

The way the stories are narrated by floating characters, observing our lead but never getting inside her head, keeps her mysterious. She floats in and out of their lives, radically changing them but always moving on, in the style of a 70s road drama. She often teaches responsibility through her own example.

The second story in the book focuses on a part-white, part-Japanese boy with artistic talent. He’s an outcast at summer camp because he doesn’t share the interests of the other kids. That chapter leads into the next lengthy story, where Musashi follows the boy back to his school to obtain lost evidence. It’s similar to the earlier interaction with Shingo, complicated by the presence of gangsters.

The delicate art counterpoints the grim material. The characters are distinctively attractive but strong and determined. They talk about Musashi’s mystique, a firm presence, and it comes through the images. They’re often unusual themselves, or at least feel that they don’t fit in, and Musashi gives them inspiration.

Review Manga : Musashi #9 Book 4

While the first books of the series were action movie-like, Book 4 adds soap opera elements to the mix.

Musashi has been guarding Shingo, a student who wound up with incriminating photographs that caused gun smugglers to try to assassinate him. Shingo develops a crush on the powerful and mysterious superspy, which complicates his protection. Musashi, meanwhile, has been given another mission, so when she’s otherwise occupied, the organization sends a duplicate who looks just like her to attend school and watch Shingo in her place. Only the double is really a guy instead of just looking like one, which adds to Shingo’s confusion.

Those readers familiar with Silver Age superhero stories will find some of this sounds a little familiar, although with reversed genders. Manga fans, meanwhile, will recognize some key elements of shôjo stories, such as gender swapping. The result is an exciting action/adventure/romantic comedy, with something for everyone and beautiful delineated art.

Shingo is constantly reminded, through both lecture and actions, that Musashi is a world-class agent with life-changing responsibilities. He has no hope for her attention, let alone anything more. His bad attitude is a result of having his crush denied, multiplied by his issues over having a girl (no matter how skilled, experienced, and talented) protect him. She’s so unusual that she’s simultaneously a source of attraction and frustration.

It’s rare to see a male Lois Lane type in American comics. There have been superhero boyfriends, but they’re shown as much more competent than Shingo is, and usually there’s a subtext that the female should settle down with him eventually. That’s not the case here. It’s clear that his love is impossible, so the story is more about making him realize it than in winning her heart.

In the new mission, Musashi is going undercover as a high school girl to obtain missile launch codes that accidentally wound up in the purse of a teenager. That girl, the daughter of a politician, has a bad attitude because her boyfriend just dumped her.

Along the way, she learns a new way to be female from Musashi. I really appreciated the way Musashi’s shown as a kind of role model, demonstrating that women don’t have to be traditionally retiring and weak. As a trade, Musashi learns that there are other ways to get what you want beyond demanding it — she helps the girl score reputation points on her ex in return for the information she needs. Musashi’s gorgeous as either boy or girl, by the way.

One of the key characters in this story masquerades as an American naval officer, so there’s an explanatory chart of officer rankings at the beginning of the book. That’s a nice plus, but in an unfortunate oversight, the character is a Commodore, and that rank isn’t included on the chart. Book 4 also includes a short story in which a young Musashi and two other kid agents save a hijacked plane. The main story from Book 4 concludes in the next volume.

Musashi #9 Books 1 & 2

Musashi #9 is a teenage secret agent, sent to rescue often clueless kids from danger. The back cover gives away the surprise, such as it is — although everyone thinks Musashi is male when first seen or talked about, she’s really female, making her talents and impressive skills even more unusual. In short, this is a set of adventures featuring a teenaged female James Bond.

The character’s got presence. Within the story one student thinks, upon first seeing the agent but without knowing who s/he is, “He’s not doing anything. And yet, everyone is sort of blown away by him. He seems so … heavy.” The same feeling of significance extends to the reader through the art, with panels revolving around the quiet, stone-faced Musashi.

In the first story, a spoiled schoolgirl with airs above herself becomes an assassination target. Although she’s used to being the center of attention in class, acting out to make sure she draws everyone’s eye, once she finds out she’s really important, enough to kill over, she collapses. The kids’ behavior is realistic, and the art is nicely detailed, capturing their attitudes.

I didn’t like Miss Priss, but I wanted to keep reading about her to find out what happened. It was also nicely different to see that she was a target simply because of genetic lottery. I found that reflective of the randomness inherent in today’s violent events.

Musashi is drawn with all of the aloof competence and accomplished superiority that a superspy requires. She’s always the center of attention and always draws the eye from elsewhere on the page. I found myself frequently stopping to admire the beauty and elegance of the linework, which made this a denser read than the plot description might suggest.

In other chapters, a girl looking forward to welcoming her older brother home finds their reunion marred by a downtown explosion and two kidnappings; a scientist’s son becomes a pawn under governmental pressure; and two gun-obsessed boys learn what weapons can really do. For being ten years old, they’re still timely stories, looking at the meaning and effects of violence during a time of life change.

Book 2 plays more with the gender-bending expectations of a teen girl super-agent. In the first story, she’s sent to infiltrate and rescue a group of basketball players being held hostage. After her co-workers laugh at the idea of her needing to act to successfully complete the mission (her lack of emotion has been noticed by others, it seems), it’s enlightening to note how quickly the team, even under the threat of automatic weapons, turn from compatriots sharing danger into boys, determined to protect her regardless of how foolhardy their actions might be.

Next, teen beauty Serika wanders into one of Musashi’s missions. She’s used to every boy around falling for her, but she’s bored with it all. When she sees Musashi protecting an old man, she develops a crush on “him” for being different and exciting. Of course, it can’t work out, but her involvement teaches her something about the world being bigger than just her interests and perceptions.

This series is a “what if”, exploring how normal people — schoolkids, mostly — would honestly react to being placed into an action movie. It’s not exciting and glamorous; it’s pretty darn scary, and only the insertion of a larger-than-life character, someone firmly in the mold of the classic outsider savior (think Westerns), can protect them.

More information is available at the publisher’s website.

Yukiko’s Spinach

The protagonist is infatuated with both Japan and Yukiko, the woman modeling for his story. The photorealistic art, reminiscent of Strangehaven, can be stiff but also beautiful. The title, which comes from a Japanese pun for navel, show how the lead is obsessing over parts of Yukiko’s body — her navel, a scar on her forehead. (There’s nudity in the art and explicit sexual scenes.) She’s not a real person either to him or to us, since we only see through his limited eyes.

From the beginning, the protagonist comes off as needy and a bit obsessive, so I’m not surprised Yukiko doesn’t want to get involved with him permanently. He’s the one that proposes a brief interlude before another man returns to her, even though he knows going in that he’s not going to be satisfied, so I have little sympathy for him trying to settle for less. He commits the classic mistake when it comes to relationships like these. When you have limited time together, for whatever reason, you need to focus on the time you have. However, he’s already looking ahead to when she’s no longer there, and ignoring their good times together to focus on when she’ll be gone.

The artist is fond of montage techniques, where unconnected images follow each other to establish a setting. It sets up a first person perspective where the viewpoint can’t stay fixed on anything, a nervous person with eyes constantly darting. The book is mostly a sequence of images, not a flowing story. The obvious reason to read this is if you’d like to look at a lot of pretty pictures of a Japanese girl. Anything beyond that isn’t as well-developed as I’d hoped.

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