Spirited Away, Vol. 2

Rating:
Summary: "Aren't you even going to knock?"
Review: Having little or no will power, I have succumbed to the temptation to pick up more of these little specialty manga created from the cells of Hayao Miyazaki's latest anime creation, 'Spirited Away.' This film has been a runaway bestseller in Japan, and is due for release in the US shortly. When I bought the first volume as a novelty, my greatest concern was that the books would 'spoil' the plot. However, after reading two volumes, I find I'm even more interested in seeing the film, which looks every bit as remarkable as 'Princess Mononoke,' another Miyazaki hit.

These are the story of Chihiro Ogino, a young girl whose parents have inadvertently wandered into a bathhouse for spirits and been turned into pigs. Chihiro is determined to rescue them and discovers that she must find a job in the bathhouse or suffer the same fate of her parents. This volume is the story of her quest for employment, starting with the spider-like Kamaji who runs the hot water system to the giant Yubaba who is the matron of the resort. One has to admire Chihiro's determination, even though she is actually a bit irritating in a little girl way. Of course, I might be a bit self-centered and panicky if I found myself in the comic version of Motel Hell.

The styling is classic Miyazaki, with great work on the expressions of both the human and non-human characters. These last come in every shape and type imaginable. The dialog is minimalist. Often, the plot is moved forward by the visual story, full of both menace and sight gags. Another thing I like is, since the sound effects are in Japanese, someone has gone to the immense trouble of providing a frame-by-frame translation of them. Just the thing for an adult who wants to read these aloud to a child.

One warning. These manga done in Japanese order [right to left, top to bottom]. At first, this is a bit confusing, but after a while, it gets to be fun. In addition, it preserves the effect of the original manga page layouts, which really is the best way to present them. If these manga aren't over-distributed, then they may very well be eminently collectable.

Rating:
Summary: "Aren't you even going to knock?"
Review: Having little or no will power, I have succumbed to the temptation to pick up more of these little specialty manga created from the cells of Hayao Miyazaki's latest anime creation, 'Spirited Away.' This film has been a runaway bestseller in Japan, and is due for release in the US shortly. When I bought the first volume as a novelty, my greatest concern was that the books would 'spoil' the plot. However, after reading two volumes, I find I'm even more interested in seeing the film, which looks every bit as remarkable as 'Princess Mononoke,' another Miyazaki hit.

These are the story of Chihiro Ogino, a young girl whose parents have inadvertently wandered into a bathhouse for spirits and been turned into pigs. Chihiro is determined to rescue them and discovers that she must find a job in the bathhouse or suffer the same fate of her parents. This volume is the story of her quest for employment, starting with the spider-like Kamaji who runs the hot water system to the giant Yubaba who is the matron of the resort. One has to admire Chihiro's determination, even though she is actually a bit irritating in a little girl way. Of course, I might be a bit self-centered and panicky if I found myself in the comic version of Motel Hell.

The styling is classic Miyazaki, with great work on the expressions of both the human and non-human characters. These last come in every shape and type imaginable. The dialog is minimalist. Often, the plot is moved forward by the visual story, full of both menace and sight gags. Another thing I like is, since the sound effects are in Japanese, someone has gone to the immense trouble of providing a frame-by-frame translation of them. Just the thing for an adult who wants to read these aloud to a child.

One warning. These manga done in Japanese order [right to left, top to bottom]. At first, this is a bit confusing, but after a while, it gets to be fun. In addition, it preserves the effect of the original manga page layouts, which really is the best way to present them. If these manga aren't over-distributed, then they may very well be eminently collectable.