Frontier Line Volume 1

Rating:
Summary: Tagami has done better, but Frontier Line is still okay.
Review: I have been a big fan of Yoshihisa Tagami ever since he did Grey and Horobi. But that was ten years ago, and he dropped off the manga scene (at least stateside) in the mean time. When I saw he had a new perfect collection of another series out it was something I could hardly wait to get. Frontier Line is the latest translated manga from Tagami and while it has some of the messages seen in Grey, it lacks a cohesive feel that his other works portray.

The plot of Frontier Line is simple enough, there is a colonized planet and civil war erupts. It is difficult to say what the particulars of each side are other than the north seems to have an edge on technology. The south seems to have a fighting spirit and is quickly catching up with the north. While there are manga devoid of mecha, this book is not one of them. Apparently an ancient alien race left mecha on the planet (dubbed Mustangs) and humanity has rounded them up and begun to improve on the technology. The overall premise of Frontier Line is not earth shatteringly good or bad, it is serviceable.

Within this collection ar7 seven vignettes, including the prologue and epilog. The stories are sequential in regards to the overall plot, but other than a few references they have little to do with one another. Part of the problem with this is Tagami is squeezing an entire plot into what is essentially one issue. There are certainly short-cuts taken to accelerate the plot and insert the reader into the action. Unfortunately this is very muddled and causes the reader to get a little lost. A little of this I think can be blamed on the translation of Frontier Line, which seems a little shaky and a little unprofessional. Had there been tighter translations of the plot, especially in the set up of each chapter, it might have been a much easier and enjoyable read.

Tagami has a very unique sense of artistry in all his books. It probably leans more towards an old school style of manga, which I enjoy. His technical drawing is very good, though he confesses that his drawing of mecha in action leaves a little to be desired. I would tend to agree with this as some of the mecha action seems a little wooden and hard to follow. None of this is a deal breaker from the art side of Frontier Line, Tagami has a style of his own and readers will like it or not depending on what type of manga they enjoy.

The characters in each vignette are probably what are best about Tagami's writing. He manages to give very human qualities to his characters, which is one of the reasons why I have been a big fan of his earlier works. I think this is one of the hardest things to do in the comic/manga format because it relies so much on a good artistic and writing abilities. If either one is missing the characters will always wind up not being very compelling.

If you have followed Tagami's other works, this is a book worth picking up. His good qualities as a writer and artist do shine through despite a few problems. If you are not familiar with him, I suggest picking up Grey and then finding Horobi. Both are much better examples of his work and a better place to start.

Rating:
Summary: Tagami has done better, but Frontier Line is still okay.
Review: I have been a big fan of Yoshihisa Tagami ever since he did Grey and Horobi. But that was ten years ago, and he dropped off the manga scene (at least stateside) in the mean time. When I saw he had a new perfect collection of another series out it was something I could hardly wait to get. Frontier Line is the latest translated manga from Tagami and while it has some of the messages seen in Grey, it lacks a cohesive feel that his other works portray.

The plot of Frontier Line is simple enough, there is a colonized planet and civil war erupts. It is difficult to say what the particulars of each side are other than the north seems to have an edge on technology. The south seems to have a fighting spirit and is quickly catching up with the north. While there are manga devoid of mecha, this book is not one of them. Apparently an ancient alien race left mecha on the planet (dubbed Mustangs) and humanity has rounded them up and begun to improve on the technology. The overall premise of Frontier Line is not earth shatteringly good or bad, it is serviceable.

Within this collection ar7 seven vignettes, including the prologue and epilog. The stories are sequential in regards to the overall plot, but other than a few references they have little to do with one another. Part of the problem with this is Tagami is squeezing an entire plot into what is essentially one issue. There are certainly short-cuts taken to accelerate the plot and insert the reader into the action. Unfortunately this is very muddled and causes the reader to get a little lost. A little of this I think can be blamed on the translation of Frontier Line, which seems a little shaky and a little unprofessional. Had there been tighter translations of the plot, especially in the set up of each chapter, it might have been a much easier and enjoyable read.

Tagami has a very unique sense of artistry in all his books. It probably leans more towards an old school style of manga, which I enjoy. His technical drawing is very good, though he confesses that his drawing of mecha in action leaves a little to be desired. I would tend to agree with this as some of the mecha action seems a little wooden and hard to follow. None of this is a deal breaker from the art side of Frontier Line, Tagami has a style of his own and readers will like it or not depending on what type of manga they enjoy.

The characters in each vignette are probably what are best about Tagami's writing. He manages to give very human qualities to his characters, which is one of the reasons why I have been a big fan of his earlier works. I think this is one of the hardest things to do in the comic/manga format because it relies so much on a good artistic and writing abilities. If either one is missing the characters will always wind up not being very compelling.

If you have followed Tagami's other works, this is a book worth picking up. His good qualities as a writer and artist do shine through despite a few problems. If you are not familiar with him, I suggest picking up Grey and then finding Horobi. Both are much better examples of his work and a better place to start.

Rating:
Summary: Not ready to publish
Review: This graphic novel is a series of short stories set on a colonist planet during a global civil war (North vs South), sometime in the far future. Most of the stories have an ironic twist, which reminded me of the old "Weird War Tales" of the American comic genre of the 60's-70's. However, that element is probably the best thing going for the publication.

The manga art was sketchy and often difficult to tell what exactly was going on. The storylines tried to encompass too much and left the reader relying on narration to explain in long winded detail, what was happening. The characters were... just there. I wasn't able to get emotionally involved wth any of the characters because it seemed almost as if they were there only to break up the narration of the war updates.

I think this would be an excellent publication if the authors devoted an entire graphic novel to each of the stories presented, and spent time developing the characters and plots.