Mizuki Hakase - Asian Beat and Baku (Eng. trans.)
Sat, Dec. 8th, 2007 09:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterAsian 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.
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.
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Sun, Dec. 9th, 2007 04:02 pm (UTC)---L.
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Tue, Dec. 11th, 2007 12:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Sun, Dec. 9th, 2007 04:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Tue, Dec. 11th, 2007 12:08 am (UTC)