Iwanaga Ryotaro - Pumpkin Scissors, vol. 01 (Eng. trans.)

The Empire and the Republic of Frost have been waging war for a long time, but the series actually begins when the two nations agree to a cease-fire. As a caption says, "There is no war, yet peace has not graced the land... This is the story about the stage in between..." Second Lieutenant Alice Malvin is the commanding field officer of Imperial Army State Section III, also known as Pumpkin Scissors (yeah, I have no idea either). Her unit is dedicated to peace building, though it's difficult given how much looting, corruption, and general lawlessness there is following the war. And then, they come across a mysterious, scarred stranger named Randel Oland, who is a veteran of the war, but not a particularly happy one.

I can see now why people compare this to Fullmetal Alchemist, although the first few pages looked like they were straight out of Gundam Wing. I love the premise of the series, especially since most series tend to focus on the war and winning the war, as opposed to the process of rebuilding, which I think is much more complex and interesting. So far, I'm not quite sure just how political this series will get, since it does feel like the focus will be on Randel's mysterious past, old war crimes, and conspiracies. On the other hand, even if it doesn't get into politicking, it'll still be interesting going around with the cast seeing the effects of the war.

I'm a bit leery of the class issues, particularly in the chapter focusing on Alice and her status as an aristocrat, which is largely on her guilty feelings and on her role being justified by other people, as opposed to actually concentrating on the lower class.

Still, this is a promising beginning, and I'll be looking for more.

Shimizu Reiko - Moon Child, vol. 01-07 (Eng. trans.)

I realized I should have written this up while rachelmanija was still here so I could pull direct quotes from the manga!

So. The planet Earth is the spawning ground for mermaids, who swim through space for light-years and only have a short span of time on Earth to birth their eggs, after which they turn into sea foam. Unfortunately, Seira, the Little Mermaid, screwed things up big time for the mermaids by falling for a human instead of the merman, and now there's a prophecy that her child Benjamin (female) must mate with merman Shonach to prevent Earth from being destroyed by ecological catastrophes.

Alas, Benjamin is still immature, meaning that she's currently walking around Earth as a twelve-year-old boy named Jimmy. Jimmy also has amnesia, thanks to a car accident, and the man who was driving the car, Art Gile, has currently taken Jimmy under his wing.

I am not even getting to most of the plot and how the mermaids are asexual and only the strongest mermaid gets to become a female and birth eggs and the dark side of the moon being inhabited by fish and lace flowers and the creepy twins Seth and Teruto and and and...

If you couldn't tell, the plotting is cracktastic and yet, strangely compelling. This is unfortunate because everyone is basically going after twelve-year-old Jimmy and mate with him! I am actually less creeped out by this than I am by Jimmy's relationship with Art. At least the other mermaids are operating with the knowledge of mermaid biology, whereas Art the human is just skeevy for being attracted to his twelve-year-old foster kid.

Also, he hits Jimmy! I suspect the mangaka was trying to go for a Sanzo-Goku vibe, but it does not work when one of the people in question is a young child!

The manga also has an incredibly offensive portrayal of a black woman, poor taste in using real-life tragedies, gorgeously surreal art, completely messed up gender politics, and fascinating world-building. I am not sure what to think.