Bakune Young

Rating:
Summary: Too bad this took so long to come out.......
Review: ....but great comix come to those who wait! Bakune Young has become (at least in my mind) a essential funnybook for the discerning otaku. Now, for those who don't know, Bakune Young is "manga" (japanese comix). However, IT'S NOT FOR KIDS!!! It's quite violent, with lots of black humor, and character designs that seem to have been penned by a talented mental patient. It also seems to be a satire of "ultra-violent" manga that Japan is infamous for. However, I could be wrong about that, and probably am........it reads like a surrealist Japanese "Die Hard". Still with me (again)? Okie-dokie, here goes..............

In this volume, everything promptly goes straight to hell. Bakune goes on live TV to request "retainers" for his cause, offering steady pay. The cops manage to slip in their own men, and hilarity ensues. Meanwhile, we are introduced to Renge, the Don of Nippon's daughter, and Purima, her faithful (and tubby) servant. Renge was locked away after she got out of school by her father, because she wanted to take over the XXX clan straightaway. She gets out of her prison by being (seemingly willingly) kidnapped by Shiroyama, who wants access to the XXX clans arsenal so he can kill Bakune Young. (complicated...)
Also, Renge is (A)the new messiah, the reincarnation of Cleopatra and others, with unearthly powers, and determined to save the world (and rule it)......(B) A prize faker with delusions of grandeur....(C) Possibly both.
Anyway, lots of action and plot advancement in this volume, so if you liked the first volume, this one is a must. This is alternative manga (straight from the pages of PULP) at its best!

LONG LIVE BAKUNE YOUNG!!!

Rating:
Summary: Too bad this took so long to come out.......
Review: ....but great comix come to those who wait! Bakune Young has become (at least in my mind) a essential funnybook for the discerning otaku. Now, for those who don't know, Bakune Young is "manga" (japanese comix). However, IT'S NOT FOR KIDS!!! It's quite violent, with lots of black humor, and character designs that seem to have been penned by a talented mental patient. It also seems to be a satire of "ultra-violent" manga that Japan is infamous for. However, I could be wrong about that, and probably am........it reads like a surrealist Japanese "Die Hard". Still with me (again)? Okie-dokie, here goes..............

In this volume, everything promptly goes straight to hell. Bakune goes on live TV to request "retainers" for his cause, offering steady pay. The cops manage to slip in their own men, and hilarity ensues. Meanwhile, we are introduced to Renge, the Don of Nippon's daughter, and Purima, her faithful (and tubby) servant. Renge was locked away after she got out of school by her father, because she wanted to take over the XXX clan straightaway. She gets out of her prison by being (seemingly willingly) kidnapped by Shiroyama, who wants access to the XXX clans arsenal so he can kill Bakune Young. (complicated...)
Also, Renge is (A)the new messiah, the reincarnation of Cleopatra and others, with unearthly powers, and determined to save the world (and rule it)......(B) A prize faker with delusions of grandeur....(C) Possibly both.
Anyway, lots of action and plot advancement in this volume, so if you liked the first volume, this one is a must. This is alternative manga (straight from the pages of PULP) at its best!

LONG LIVE BAKUNE YOUNG!!!

Rating:
Summary: A great manga satire, worthy of Yasuji Tanioka!
Review: For those of you who don't know, Bakune Young is a Manga. (Japanese comic.) If you don't like comix, or are easily offended, turn away NOW! Still with me? Okay, here we go.

"Bakune Young" is, (I hope) a satire of ultraviolent manga. (You know, the ones with fists flying and heads exploding, the kind that tend to make most people ill when you show it to them.) It's the story of of high-school dropout Bakune Shoichi, who wants to rule the world. Unfotunately, Bakune is very ugly, so he can't be a politician. And he's not very smart, so he can't think up a plan to conquer the planet. But Bakune was 6"4" in junior high, and the one thing Bakune can do is fight. Still, what's a foulmouthed malcontent to do? Well, one day the opportunity drops in his lap, when he's "bothered" while he's in a pachinko parlor, by a yakuza. Bakune proceeds to beat the yakuza half to death. Now the Japanese Mob is after his hide, so what does Bakune do? Why, kidnap the "Don of Nippon", the head of all the Japanese Mafia, for a 100 TRILLION yen ransom, of course. Things start to get a little hot however, so Bakune holes up with his hostage in Osaka Castle. Along the way, police, yakuza, ninjas, a sorta-terrifying psyhic detective, and Bakunes' former gym teacher, whose face is "deformed by his anger", collide! Savage satire where the violence never stops, "Bakune Young" is the best manga in years! (If Kurt Vonnegut was a Japanese comic artist, he would have written something like this.)

Move over, everybody! The toughest man in Japan is BAKUNE YOUNG!

Rating:
Summary: A great manga satire, worthy of Yasuji Tanioka!
Review: For those of you who don't know, Bakune Young is a Manga. (Japanese comic.) If you don't like comix, or are easily offended, turn away NOW! Still with me? Okay, here we go.

"Bakune Young" is, (I hope) a satire of ultraviolent manga. (You know, the ones with fists flying and heads exploding, the kind that tend to make most people ill when you show it to them.) It's the story of of high-school dropout Bakune Shoichi, who wants to rule the world. Unfotunately, Bakune is very ugly, so he can't be a politician. And he's not very smart, so he can't think up a plan to conquer the planet. But Bakune was 6"4" in junior high, and the one thing Bakune can do is fight. Still, what's a foulmouthed malcontent to do? Well, one day the opportunity drops in his lap, when he's "bothered" while he's in a pachinko parlor, by a yakuza. Bakune proceeds to beat the yakuza half to death. Now the Japanese Mob is after his hide, so what does Bakune do? Why, kidnap the "Don of Nippon", the head of all the Japanese Mafia, for a 100 TRILLION yen ransom, of course. Things start to get a little hot however, so Bakune holes up with his hostage in Osaka Castle. Along the way, police, yakuza, ninjas, a sorta-terrifying psyhic detective, and Bakunes' former gym teacher, whose face is "deformed by his anger", collide! Savage satire where the violence never stops, "Bakune Young" is the best manga in years! (If Kurt Vonnegut was a Japanese comic artist, he would have written something like this.)

Move over, everybody! The toughest man in Japan is BAKUNE YOUNG!

Rating:
Summary: Volume 1
Review: I stopped reading comics years ago, but there's still something interesting about Japanese manga. Maybe because they're generally better "movies" than actual Japanese cinema. Whereas Western comics are meant to be read, manga is meant to be looked at, with cinematic, wordless sequences that come off more like "movies on paper" than comics like "Spider-Man" ever could. And I've yet to see a Japanese live-action movie that comes close to capturing the freneticism of a manga (yes, I've seen Miike's movies, too. The closest Japanese movies I've seen would be "Versus" and "Shark Skin Man & Peach Hip Girl").

Film adaptations are regularly made of manga in Japan; it would be nice to see one for Bakune Young. It could provide the jolt that most other Japanese films lack. A surreal, over-the-top, blackly humorous and violent saga, Bakune Young is far removed from any other manga I've read. Unlike boy-fantasies like "Guyver" or "Fist of the North Star," Bakune Young doesn't have any heroic characters, it represents life as a slap to the face, and generally the worst things that can happen normally do. It also has a hectic, blood-spattered pace.

Bakune's an ox of a character, with the brain to match. He stomps through this volume like an unstoppable monster, oblivious and uncaring of the damage he causes. First beating a yakuza thug senseless, Bakune proceeds to wage a war on the mafia, taking the Don of Nippon hostage and holing himself up in the Osaka Castle. A colorful group of characters try to stop him, including a goofy pair of cops, a multitude of the Don's henchmen, and Bakune's former gym coach, whose face is "deformed with anger" at the memory of the humiliation Bakune put him through.

My favorite character is probably Johnson Membodeath, a French (?) ninja who appears in the succeeding volumes, as well. Johnson has a knack for going buck-wild and attacking anyone in his way, at any given moment. A fearsome character, but still no match for the Hulk-like Bakune.

The artwork is a match for Bakune's mentality. It's harsh and jagged, the work of a deranged child. Like something Bakune himself would draw. Generally I like crisp and detailed art, but here the rough penciling only adds to the book's charm. (I should mention that the artwork gets better with each volume, with volume 3 being exceptionally good.)

Highly recommended for fans of Japanese/Hong Kong cinema, Quentin Tarantino's movies, dark humor, and the violently absurd. And it just gets better with the next two volumes.

Rating:
Summary: Volume 1
Review: I stopped reading comics years ago, but there's still something interesting about Japanese manga. Maybe because they're generally better "movies" than actual Japanese cinema. Whereas Western comics are meant to be read, manga is meant to be looked at, with cinematic, wordless sequences that come off more like "movies on paper" than comics like "Spider-Man" ever could. And I've yet to see a Japanese live-action movie that comes close to capturing the freneticism of a manga (yes, I've seen Miike's movies, too. The closest Japanese movies I've seen would be "Versus" and "Shark Skin Man & Peach Hip Girl").

Film adaptations are regularly made of manga in Japan; it would be nice to see one for Bakune Young. It could provide the jolt that most other Japanese films lack. A surreal, over-the-top, blackly humorous and violent saga, Bakune Young is far removed from any other manga I've read. Unlike boy-fantasies like "Guyver" or "Fist of the North Star," Bakune Young doesn't have any heroic characters, it represents life as a slap to the face, and generally the worst things that can happen normally do. It also has a hectic, blood-spattered pace.

Bakune's an ox of a character, with the brain to match. He stomps through this volume like an unstoppable monster, oblivious and uncaring of the damage he causes. First beating a yakuza thug senseless, Bakune proceeds to wage a war on the mafia, taking the Don of Nippon hostage and holing himself up in the Osaka Castle. A colorful group of characters try to stop him, including a goofy pair of cops, a multitude of the Don's henchmen, and Bakune's former gym coach, whose face is "deformed with anger" at the memory of the humiliation Bakune put him through.

My favorite character is probably Johnson Membodeath, a French (?) ninja who appears in the succeeding volumes, as well. Johnson has a knack for going buck-wild and attacking anyone in his way, at any given moment. A fearsome character, but still no match for the Hulk-like Bakune.

The artwork is a match for Bakune's mentality. It's harsh and jagged, the work of a deranged child. Like something Bakune himself would draw. Generally I like crisp and detailed art, but here the rough penciling only adds to the book's charm. (I should mention that the artwork gets better with each volume, with volume 3 being exceptionally good.)

Highly recommended for fans of Japanese/Hong Kong cinema, Quentin Tarantino's movies, dark humor, and the violently absurd. And it just gets better with the next two volumes.