Soryo Fuyumi - Eternal Sabbath, vol. 03-04 (Eng. trans.)

[oyceter]

Totally random note -- I can't seem to save and compile my custom layers; is anyone else having this problem? It's not my internet, because I've tested on a few computers, both on Firefox 2 and IE 6.

The plot thickens! The entire scenario with Mine and her friend creeped me out. I can't quite figure out what message I get out of Soryo's portrayal of their friendship; she seems to be critiquing the fact that Mine's friend must be jealous of her and that they must be jealous of each other. But I'm just very tired of the many fictional portrayals of jealous female friends. Particularly when one ends up dead as a way for a ruthless boy serial killer to toy with the other.

On the other hand -- man, that was creepy. Isaac staring at her, the knife, the scene afterward with the blood.

It's interesting how all the characters in this manga are dysfunctional; Mine seems sort of normal compared to Shuro/Akiba and Isaac, but really, she's not very equipped to navigate the social landscape either. And Isaac imprinting on Shuro and not learning love -- ouch.

I'm not quite sure where the series is going, but I love the questions that it's asking about learning to be human, learning to be social, learning to not be an asocial killer. It feels a lot like Urasawa's Monster to me, only Mosnter is a little more thriller and this is a little more of an exploration. The art works well for the series; stark whites and blacks, giant agoraphobic wide spaces, heavy shadows.

Comments

[justinelavaworm.livejournal.com]

The jealous female friends thing normally bugs me a tonne, but I didn't have that reaction to ES at all. And I suspect it's because---as you say---everyone is so fucked up. It's one of the creepiest things I've read in ages. (Except for Anne Freaks.) Loved it!

Have you read Anne Freaks? What did you think?

[oyceter]

Yeah, I couldn't decide if it bugged me because they were so fucked up anyway! And of course, it could have been slightly less psychotic jealousy, were Isaac not around to inflame everyone's fears.

Anne Freaks? What is that? Tell, tell!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I had the impression that there were undercurrents of tension in the relationship, but that Isaac could take anyone's tiniest negative impulses to make them crazy. Like the cop who killed the murderer, then committed suicide-- those feelings weren't created out of thin air, but without Isaac's interference, they would have been just normal emotional background noise.

[justinelavaworm.livejournal.com]

Zackly. That's what's so very very very very creepy about it. Any of us could be made into murderers.

Btw I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying being able to talk about manga with you two. You guys are always a million volumes ahead of me. Or talking about stuff I haven't heard of until you mention it. I'm almost one of the cool kids!

[oyceter]

Hi cool kid! That's so funny, because I always feel like that with rilina. Probably because she reads things and then sics them on me, so I'm perpetually behind ;).

Speaking of siccing stuff... have you discovered the wonder that is www.mangatraders.com? I am trying to get more people to read 20th Century Boys now that my brain got sucked in.

[oyceter]

*nods* Me too. I guess it's hard for me to decide if I'm thinking of it as yet another non-functional female friendship or not, particularly given the general lack of functional ones in manga (le sigh...).

It'd be interesting to see if Soryo throws in anything as a comparison, sort of like Kira's friend in Mars!

[justinelavaworm.livejournal.com]

Anne Freaks by Yua Kotegawa. It's dark and violent and gory. Starts with a boy who's killed his mother and this gorgeous girl turns up to help him dispose of the body. There are four volumes. So it actually ends. Yay!

How spoilery do you want me to be? I found it compulsively readable and strange and I'm not sure how I feel about it. The femme fatale thing was flatout bizarre.

[oyceter]

Ohhh, interesting! Scans, I'm guessing? I don't remember seeing that title, but then, I always miss stuff.

Hrm, maybe don't be too spoilery, since I may pick that one up. Except -- just to double check, you didn't want to spork your eyes out because of the femme fatale thing, right? I figure not, since you are reccing it, but it never hurts to ask!

[justinelavaworm.livejournal.com]

No, no scans. I got the first (http://www.amazon.com/Anne-Freaks-1/dp/1413903193) as a freebie at some book fair thingie and then had to race off to Forbidden Planet and St Mark's to get the rest.

It's very boy. You never really figure out entirely where Anne is coming from. But you do into the head of these two women cops. They were the main cops and I found their relationship fascinating.

Yeah, I'm totally recommending it. But don't forget I'm a novice! And what's surprising and new and cool to me might not be to you.

[oyceter]

Awesome! Widely accessible is of the good!