Welcome to the annual set of brief writeups on all the media I experienced this year!
Rules for inclusion in the list:
I have to have FINISHED the piece of media during 2023.
That means that it isn’t limited to media that was released in 2023, nor to only media I liked, but it does exclude things I did not finish due to lack of interest or active revulsion. (Though, to be frank, it takes quite a bit to drive me off as I can be rather stubborn.
The List is divided between “The Interesting Ones” and “Everything Else”. That is not “Good” and “Bad” but “Things I think do something really unique” versus “Things easily explained and with clear existing analogues for a general audience”.
Recommended reads are marked with a 🖌️.
Note: This post includes spoilers or allusions to plot details critical to the stories of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (volume 2) and America Chavez: Made in the USA. Unfortunately, Substack doesn’t currently have spoiler tags to wrap them in.
The Interesting Ones
X-Gender Vol.1 by Asuka Miyazaki, translated by Kathryn Henzler & Cae Hawksmoor🖌️
It's easy to project my own views, shaped as they are by American culture, on what queerness looks like in other countries, so learning more about things like the "X" gender (analogous to non-binary, but seems to be slightly more of a "third" gender) through auto-bio work like this is great. It helps that while this is informative, it’s also cute and easy to read.
Witch Hat Atelier, Vols. 1, 2 by Kamone Shirahama, translated by Stephen Kohler🖌️
The art in this manga is sometimes charming and often just jaw-dropping. It's beautiful, evocative, packed with flair and imagination. The characters are easy to bond with and compelling to see interact with the unique magical world they were born into. The story is about a young girl who inadvertently harms her family using magic beyond her ken, and her subsequent time being trained by a mage in his atelier1. I really really should keep reading—it’s really good.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky & Osamu Tezuka, translated by Greg Baker🖌️
Tezuka2's trademark style seems an odd fit for a Russian classic—like if Mickey Mouse did Les Misérables. It’s almost irreverent in its stylization, but it still somehow works. Likely the secret is that while yes, everyone is adorable, the material is still faithful to the events and more importantly, the emotions of the original. It doesn’t have space to wax as philosophically as the novel does—that kind of thought is easier to portray in prose—but it doesn’t hurt for it. This is more of a companion piece, or a “young readers”-esque experience as opposed to a replacement, and in that role it works well.
Everything Else
Sherlock Bones #1 by Yuma Ando & Yuki Sato, translated by Alethea Nibley & Athena Nibley
Sherlock Holmes is reincarnated as a dog that pals around with a Japanese schoolkid. Cute, though not exactly deep, but not all things need to be. Also, a Bonus Fun Fact!: Sherlock Bones is not the same story as Sherlock Hound.
Alice Cooper #1 by Eman Casallos & Joe Harris
Competently enough made, but I don’t have any nostalgia or affection for the mythos of Alice Cooper, so just isn’t for me. Seemed like a pretty standard “sold soul to the devil” story, except the devil is Cooper himself. I read the first issue and bounced.
The Cosmic Ballad of Layla and Airy by Mira Ong Chua🖌️
After a use of a wish-granting artifact goes awry, treasure hunter Layla(she/her) is turned into a knock-off of richer-than-most countries Airy(he/him) and meets up with him in her quest to get her body back. It’s a fun and fast little gender-bending/falling in love with “yourself” romp.
We Dragged Our Manager Into Our Girl Group: Rose/Briar by Mira Ong Chua🖌️
Cute little comic that does exactly what it says on the tin. Mira Ong Chua is pretty good at giving just some cozy comics.
Josie and the Pussycats Vol.2 by Cameron DeOrdio, Marguerite Bennett & Audrey Mok
A pretty fun international romp; the second volume resonated much more with me than the first, where I had found the central character hard to root for in a boring way. This volume is still hampered by some segments being overly reliant on reference humor, the lack of clarity of where things are when they are in Tokyo, and the weird, blob-like, “off-model” art that starts to crop up towards the end; but none of these should be deal-breakers if you’re interested in the Pussycats already. Plus Archie shows up! I’m sure that matters to some people.
That Time I Got Reincarnated (Again!) as a Workaholic Slime, Vols. 1, 2 by Fuze & Shizuku Akechi, character designs by Mitz Vah
The concept of taking all the monsters from the main series and making them office workers is cute and all, but it just isn't particularly funny nor is it otherwise a compelling narrative. They all work for a black company3, which is mostly amusing for being more casually evil than the monster kingdom from the main series. For my money, I would have had this be a 4koma4 bonus in the standard books, as opposed to stretching it out into a separate product.
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, Vols. 1, 2 by Kieron Gillen, Kev Walker & Marc Laming🖌️
Great little space romp; having a brilliant fuckup for a main character is just a great way to go, and it's nice to see the seedier sides of Star Wars without that being just Sith or the same couple bounty hunters again. The comic focuses on the titular Aphra, who is a female Indiana Jones expy5 that turned to crime instead of wasting away in pursuit of tenure. The art is clear and lively, and the characters are witty and fun to watch in the way that the crew of a heist movie can be. It’s worth a look.
Clockwork Planet, Vols. 1-5 by Tsubaki Himana, Yuu Kamiya & Kuro, character designs by Shino and translated by Daniel Komen
There's a lot of potential in the clockwork mechanisms that make up all the tech in this setting. Some of the set pieces and character designs indeed work well within that, but it's a very unfinished story...and more obnoxiously, it has too lewd of a gaze for the less adult-seeming characters. That said, it’s well-paced and I enjoyed at least some of the character interactions—enough to read the volumes I had access to. It gets a little better as it goes, as the two pairs of characters established in the first volume meet up and get to interact with some reasonably fun hi-jinks and adventure. The battles aren't especially easy to follow at times (which is typical for me with fights in manga) but the plotting had good momentum, and the "let's go save the world by being international terrorists" shtick that cements in the end of the second volume is predictably joyful. There are more volumes I could look for, but with the original novels on hiatus since 2015, I’m not particularly motivated to.
Girlfriend, Girlfriend Vols. 1-15 by Hiroyuki, translated by Jacqueline Fung
I want to love this series. So many moments just work so well for me: I love the main trio, their flaws, their boundless capability to push themselves to extreme places out of love, and their desire to secure that love. The dialogue isn't as tight as in the anime, and it lacks the anime's fantastic voice acting work of course, but the bones are all still here. On those bones there's fat they chose not to adapt for the anime that's quite good, and some that...I'm less sure about. One chapter that seems to have no bearing on the actual continuity has the entire crew of roughly 16 year-olds get drunk on boozy chocolate and act like horn-dogs, which my brain wanted to viscerally reject at the time. As I alluded to the entry on the manga’s anime—this story gives me a lot to think about and process in regards to art and my own tolerance for some ideas being depicted.6
They are still very adorable though.
Dungeon People Vol. 2 by Sui Hutami, translated by Deniz Amasya🖌️
We’ve officially gone so far into the meta of stories about video game-style dungeons that we have reached an inevitable conclusion: a workplace comedy about running the dungeon. The adventurer-turned junior administrator Clay continues learning the ropes in this volume, while also taking some time for herself to continue her own combat training. The entire thing continues to be rather precious.
Louie the Rune Soldier Vols.1-4 by Ryo Mizuno & Jun Sasameyuki, character design by Mamoru Yokota, translated by Brendan Frayne
A warrior, a thief, and a cleric search for a magic-user to round out their party for dangerous missions and end up with…Louie. Louie, who can barely cast magic, who tends towards brawling over study, and who has eyes for every lady he comes across. The inter-party conflicts go on to drive most of the page-to-page plot, with the over-plot being very “Saturday morning cartoon” with low stakes and short, loosely connected events. It’s all set in the same universe as the Record of Lodoss War7 stories, but on a different continent. It lacks those stories’ gravitas and atmosphere, but it’s fine enough as a product.
Samurai 7, Vol. 1 by Akira Kurosawa & Mizutaka Suhou, translated by Yoko Kubo
I quite like the Samurai 7 anime, which is an odd, steampunk and mecha reinterpretation of Kurosawa's classic film that I first saw in high school. This manga adapting it pretty terrible, unfortunately. The pacing is just so blisteringly fast it's hard to care about anything (it covers roughly half the 26 episode show in one volume), and the solid character designs I love from the show and the fascinating bits of world-building sprinkled in just can't compensate.
The League of Extraordinary Gentleman Vols. 1-2 by Alan Moore & Kevin O’Neill
I'm fond of the admittedly not great film adaptation of The League, so I had wanted to eventually read the comics. Like in said film, it follows a set of “heroes” of British literature who must work together to fight some other evil, in this case starting with the racist caricature that is Fu Manchu8. The end result is so nakedly cynical that it's hard to find things to like about it. Everyone's terrible, evil always wins, lives aren’t saved, cynical. There are more specific bits I dislike (the racism, the love story between Quartermain and Mina that just...never felt right, etc), but there were also a few parts that were striking in a good way, particularly when Hyde kills the Invisible Man. The rest of the team, arriving after the fact, watch in slow horror as the blood still on Hyde’s skin and clothes, still all over the furnishings, slowly turns red as the man finishes dying and his power fades, leaving Hyde, in a mockery of propriety, eating a meal at a table covered in blood. It also does have the interesting premise of being during War of the Worlds in the second volume, but the pacing drags for most of the book despite that ever-present danger. I think I get why these comics were an influence on the industry, but they just aren’t for me.
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore & David Lloyd
Another Moore work where I saw the movie adaptation years before reading the comic, and another where I felt the film was better.9 The movie softened V himself in a few ways, though most notably the charisma of the actor is what really carried the part (and the film as a whole). The comic still depicts a believable dystopia and in doing so is an utterly depressing read. The heart of it is just this angry cry of vengeance and an overflowing desire to tear down the current structures. It’s brutal, hopeless, and left me wondering what Moore wanted me to take away from it. I think it might be “don’t let things get this far, or violence becomes the only solution”, but that violence isn’t truly a solution. He kills his targets and it does not “save” the country. V for Vendetta feels like a story with an intent! a point! but I just found it painful. Maybe that pain is the point; I’ll have to look for any interviews Moore may have done about it.
School Zone Girls Vol. 1 by Ningiyau, translated by Thomas Zimmerman & Jamal Joseph Jr.🖌️
I read this because of Hazel's video on it, and it does not disappoint. I love a good short form comedy thing; this is very Nichijou, or Daily Lives of High School Boys, just gayer. It can take a few chapters to be able to tell all the girls apart, but other than the literal identical twins that shakes itself out pretty quick, specially with how recognizably animated all the girls act.
Crossplay Love: Otaku X Punk Vol. 1 by Toru, translated by Kat Skarbinec & Benjamin Wilgus
Two different boys cross-dress as gals and have a meet cute, not knowing the other is a cross-dresser. Silly and cute so far, though not much of the story has developed, so hard to recommend it or deride it.
America Chavez: Made in the USA by Kalinda Vázquez, Carlos Gómez & Sara Pichelli
There's nothing wrong with the minute to minute writing, and the art is solid and the characters resonate and yet I have soured on this comic more and more over time. It alters America's origin story in a way I assume was to make her more relatable, or maybe to fit in with current Marvel patterns. In so many ways doing so just dragged a Superman analogue (in terms of power, charisma, and especially origin) down to the dirt of a lab rat. I really enjoyed earlier stories involving America (Young Avengers, West Coast Avengers, an earlier run of her own, etc) and this retcon10 reducing her fantastical nature to trauma-induced childhood delusions just sucked to read.
Legenderry #1 by Bill WIllingham & Sergio Fernandez Dávila
It's some sort of cross comic alternate universe for characters owned by the company and I don't really know who any of them are so it isn't much for me. The author clearly cares about their little AU and the basic interactions of the inciting incident where a clearly supernatural woman throws thugs out of her establishment works, but it’s like reading a fanfic for a media property you haven’t touched—you’re missing character context.
And that’s all of them! Bit of a bumpy ride across the panels this year, but still a lot I enjoyed. Next up is going to be films!
Not a particularly common word, but it is English; defined as “an artist's or designer's studio or workroom.”
Osamu Tezuka is known for such works as Astro Boy and is one of the most influential figures on the development of anime in Japan.
Black companies are a (translated to English) Japanese term for businesses that heavily exploit their workers—sweatshops but for office work typically.
4koma is a standard comic format in Japan, with koma meaning “panel.” It’s similar to the sort of comics you can find in some newspapers that lack strong continuity, and are instead built around quick gags.
Expy is slang for exported character—used here to indicate that Aphra is basically Indiana Jones with a few changes for the setting.
This is not a “art shouldn’t talk about or show x”, but a “do I want to personally experience art that does x”, to be clear.
An epic fantasy franchise that started as a “replay”—a serialized transcript of the events of a tabletop game. It now has books, manga, several games, and multiple animated adaptations.
I don’t believe he is named as such within the comic, but he is clearly that character. Like most characters in the comic, he is taken from existing works of British literature.
I know, I know, I clearly have “bad taste” or some such, but posts like this are always going to be subjective.
Retcon roughly stands for retroactive continuity—changing events that were already shown in a prior work or or earlier within the same work. It’s not changing your interpretation or adding context, but literally rewriting history.