Hiwatari Saki - Please Save My Earth, vol. 05-21

So, coffeeandink pointed me to her first entry on PSME: "I think there was a day today but I was reading through twenty volumes of Saki Hiwatari's Please Save My Earth as quickly as humanly possible and I missed it."

That basically sums up my weekend so far, with "a lot of random manga in addition to PSME" standing in for "PSME."

I also discovered that the first four vols. I read were not in fact the first four of the translated edition, but of some bulk compiled edition. Oh well. Am not bothering to change the first entry, as it is spoiler free.

( Spoilers )

Also, PSME has a scene that has surpassed "Please eat a hunk of my flesh" as the expression of ultimate devotion: "Sister! Here, throw up in my hands so you won't get your futon dirty!" (definitely not as romantic, but that is devotion for you!)

Mizuki Hakase - Asian Beat and Baku (Eng. trans.)

Asian Beat comprises of two short stories, remarkable in their ordinariness and the complete lack of angels, demons, and supernatural monsters. Baku is much more typically Mizuki, as it does not have angels, but definitely has demons and supernatural monsters. Both collections feature what I suspect Mizuki loves above all else: broken, demonic people (often literally demonic, though not necessarily literally broken) repenting, retreating from their demonic ways, and forming broken families. Usually these families consist of one broken, ex-demonic person, one rescued guy who could be demonic, and a loligoth girl.

I didn't like Asian Beat nearly as much; while the panel layouts are gorgeously stark, they're also really confusing. Well, at least I had problems figuring out who was who and who was saying what, particularly in the second story (stop with the similar hairstyles!). The first story, on two broken-hearted people who fail to comfort each other, is nicer, but I feel like I've read it before several times, and the art isn't nice enough for me to love it.

Mizuki Hakase's style is incredibly stylized, but it feels like she toned it down a little for Asian Beat, possibly to keep with the realism. I don't think that was the right choice, though that could just be me.

Baku, on the other hand, is incredibly stylized. I am strangely fond of it.

The title story of the piece is about Takeshi, who has psychic powers, is being hunted down by odd beings, and has two more odd beings following him around, claiming he's their family. Basically, it took most of what I liked about The Demon Ororon and focused on that instead of incomprehensible action and blood and gore -- family, broken people, demons who decide to stop being demons.

The other story in the volume is "Mephisto," which is basically on this guy with psychic powers who seems to go around laying ghosts to rest. He has a strange family of goth sisters who dress like maids, a tiny girl robot doll thing who lives in a chest (this is actually incredibly sweet and not at all creepy like it sounds), and a sort of brother. It's pretty much the standard Mizuki Hakase set of characters, only oddly cute and sweet and not emo. I particularly like Mephisto, who goes around with doll curls and giraffe-print clothes, and him and Nana-chan, which should be really icky but is instead incredibly cute.

I'm not sure if people who don't share my buttons for patched-together families, goth aesthetic, broken people, demons, and incredibly stylized art would like this, but if you've got the same buttons, try Baku. I think it's her best work so far, though I'm waiting to see how Demon Flowers goes.

Mizuki Hakase - Demon Flowers, vol. 01 (Eng. trans.)

And the frightening thing is, I still haven't written up everything I read this weekend...

Ushitora is a demon assassin who hunts down "kuruizaki no hana," or the offspring of gods and humans; he kills them, and then members of his clan eat them to gain strength. One day, he decides he hates it and runs off with Masato, a young boy he spares. Years later, Ushitora, Masato, and Nao (another orphan Ushitora's picked up) are living together, albeit on the run. Masato and Nao know nothing about Ushitora and what he used to be, and Ushitora would like to keep things that way. But, of course, his past starts to catch up with him.

I know I sound like a broken record, but this is yet another Mizuki Hakase work that focuses on demons undemonifying, broken people making families, and a whole lot of goth. I'm hoping this one doesn't go as rapidly down the drain as The Demon Ororon did. Also, it helps that the paneling has improved somewhat, though I'm still having a pretty hard time following the action and who says what. On the other hand, it completely doesn't help that in close ups, Masato and Ushitora look identical.

My favorite parts so far have been the ones from Nao's POV; she's got a neat outlook, probably because she's seven or so. And I am a sucker for siblings protecting younger sisters!

Anyway, not recommended or unrecommended yet; I'm still waiting to see how further volumes go.