Vertical_Ed
11-01-2003, 06:39 PM
Howdy friends,
Osaka Edo again and today I will start off by taking a look at the third volume of The First President of Japan.
English Title: The First President of Japan
Japanese Title: Nipponkoku Shodai-daitouryou
Author/Artist: Tsugihara Ryuji/Hidaka Yoshiki
Publisher: Gustoon! Entertainment
Translator: N/A (editor Sam Kondo)
Price: $9.99
Pages: 193
Vol. # 3 of 4
Release Date: 10/15/03
Review Date: 11/02/03
Grading~
Story: B+
Art: B
Exterior Presentation: B
Interior Presentation: B+
What They Say:
The new Prime Minister of Japan must beat back the flames of war and save a failing economy. Is one strong leader enough to bring the nation back from the brink of chaos?
Publication Notes~
Orientation: Right to Left
Size: Tall B6 (7 3/8h by 5w)
ISBN: 1-932454-08-X
eccetera~
originally published by: Shueisha (Playboy Comics)
Mangaka and author profiles.
SFX translation is limited.
FotNS: Masters Edition Ad, Raijin Magazine and Graphic Novel Ads
Review
.
.
.
(Watch out potential spoilers ahead)
.
.
.
In volume 2 Sakuragi started making moves as chaos is happening all over east Asia. Add to that the death of one of his closest allies and things were looking bad for the new Prime Minister.
But as readers know by now, Sakuragi is someone who feels freedom and peace is earned and not entirely a right. Now volume later, a new cabinet is worked on through some extreme tactics. While abroad, Sakuragi tries to gain the support of his neighbors (and former classmates at Stanford) to create a defense treaty. None of this comes easy but once the wheels start turning its pretty hard to stop someone of his personality.
Once again, Hidaka-sensei fills these six chapters with a lot of drama, suspense and the occasional twist here and there. I still feel as if some of his ideas are leaning a little heavy on the fantastic but enjoying politics and fiction I find an appreciation for this that I can only compare to good satire. While the situations potientially are possible the results are typically asking for a reaction from its readers. It works to a degree but what it really does is set a mood and pace that makes typically slow reading (political drama) something a little more exciting.
My previous issue with time has been fixed here. Only a few days go by in this volume and they are paced out pretty well. This really gave a sense of urgency but at the same time I felt that Sakuragi was doing something so extreme it felt almost illegal. Taking advantage of chaos he calls for elections within a week and thus gives his opposition little time for building a campaign (kinda reminds me of what happened in Kalifornia.)
Character developement that was so crucial in the last volume slows down here. We start to see Sakuragi's leadership come through but you pretty much expected most of that. Where he surprises is his trust. Its almost arrogant. Standing before his elite military squad he appears without guards while terrorists have taken control of a nueclear reactor and have been plucking off people left and right. Sure the president needs to show his trust but that was almost asking for trouble.
Hikada really presented this series in a nice way. Backgrounds are very detailed and the occasional use of news photographs really gives the realism a step up. Personally i do not like the character designs too much (the slightly real style doesnt really work for me especially with the extra large foreheads Hikada is known for.) His sense of style is pretty good, though so its not all bad on the eyes.
Layouts are pretty amazing for a drama. And while there is a good amount of action in this series the layout gives a sense of tension and a fast pace through even the most dialogue filled pages. Action pages are also well done but stylized. So while the action is okay its not as detailed as say City Hunter.
Gustoon! has done a nice job on this. They do something unique with this series by presenting the manga in B6 form despite the fact that the actual pages are in a Tall B6, so every page is sitting under a header of "First President of Japan". The front cover is all new art featuring Sakuragi in front of a large metal globe. Its pretty nice but I still think that the logo is too large (in this case its so large Sakuragi's head covers part of it.)
............
Three down and one more to go. And while I have read this already in the pages of Raijin Magazine reading the GNs is still just as fun. I think I would have liked Gustoon! to go with 3 GNs instead of 4 (like Shueisha did) just because I am always left wanting more.
For those looking for seinen manga that could make you think this might be one of the few. As i have said before, the best of manga is in the jyosei and salaryman phonebooks. Yeah this graced the pages of Playboy with Kinniku-man (Ultimate Muscle) but both of these titles are great, each expressing the ends of the spectrum to an adults sensebilities. Politcal manga is something we need more of and its
something I wish more people would try.
For those looking for something with less dialogue, something a little more etchi or just something with less honor and more action pass on this. This series has bits of all that but don't forget Sakuragi is the new President, so if thats happening he's keeping it on the down-low.
Me, you know I am counting the days to volume 4 (December 10th, i believe) and once thats come and gone I'll be writing JakeT for some
"President of Japan" goodness.
Recommended
Osaka Edo again and today I will start off by taking a look at the third volume of The First President of Japan.
English Title: The First President of Japan
Japanese Title: Nipponkoku Shodai-daitouryou
Author/Artist: Tsugihara Ryuji/Hidaka Yoshiki
Publisher: Gustoon! Entertainment
Translator: N/A (editor Sam Kondo)
Price: $9.99
Pages: 193
Vol. # 3 of 4
Release Date: 10/15/03
Review Date: 11/02/03
Grading~
Story: B+
Art: B
Exterior Presentation: B
Interior Presentation: B+
What They Say:
The new Prime Minister of Japan must beat back the flames of war and save a failing economy. Is one strong leader enough to bring the nation back from the brink of chaos?
Publication Notes~
Orientation: Right to Left
Size: Tall B6 (7 3/8h by 5w)
ISBN: 1-932454-08-X
eccetera~
originally published by: Shueisha (Playboy Comics)
Mangaka and author profiles.
SFX translation is limited.
FotNS: Masters Edition Ad, Raijin Magazine and Graphic Novel Ads
Review
.
.
.
(Watch out potential spoilers ahead)
.
.
.
In volume 2 Sakuragi started making moves as chaos is happening all over east Asia. Add to that the death of one of his closest allies and things were looking bad for the new Prime Minister.
But as readers know by now, Sakuragi is someone who feels freedom and peace is earned and not entirely a right. Now volume later, a new cabinet is worked on through some extreme tactics. While abroad, Sakuragi tries to gain the support of his neighbors (and former classmates at Stanford) to create a defense treaty. None of this comes easy but once the wheels start turning its pretty hard to stop someone of his personality.
Once again, Hidaka-sensei fills these six chapters with a lot of drama, suspense and the occasional twist here and there. I still feel as if some of his ideas are leaning a little heavy on the fantastic but enjoying politics and fiction I find an appreciation for this that I can only compare to good satire. While the situations potientially are possible the results are typically asking for a reaction from its readers. It works to a degree but what it really does is set a mood and pace that makes typically slow reading (political drama) something a little more exciting.
My previous issue with time has been fixed here. Only a few days go by in this volume and they are paced out pretty well. This really gave a sense of urgency but at the same time I felt that Sakuragi was doing something so extreme it felt almost illegal. Taking advantage of chaos he calls for elections within a week and thus gives his opposition little time for building a campaign (kinda reminds me of what happened in Kalifornia.)
Character developement that was so crucial in the last volume slows down here. We start to see Sakuragi's leadership come through but you pretty much expected most of that. Where he surprises is his trust. Its almost arrogant. Standing before his elite military squad he appears without guards while terrorists have taken control of a nueclear reactor and have been plucking off people left and right. Sure the president needs to show his trust but that was almost asking for trouble.
Hikada really presented this series in a nice way. Backgrounds are very detailed and the occasional use of news photographs really gives the realism a step up. Personally i do not like the character designs too much (the slightly real style doesnt really work for me especially with the extra large foreheads Hikada is known for.) His sense of style is pretty good, though so its not all bad on the eyes.
Layouts are pretty amazing for a drama. And while there is a good amount of action in this series the layout gives a sense of tension and a fast pace through even the most dialogue filled pages. Action pages are also well done but stylized. So while the action is okay its not as detailed as say City Hunter.
Gustoon! has done a nice job on this. They do something unique with this series by presenting the manga in B6 form despite the fact that the actual pages are in a Tall B6, so every page is sitting under a header of "First President of Japan". The front cover is all new art featuring Sakuragi in front of a large metal globe. Its pretty nice but I still think that the logo is too large (in this case its so large Sakuragi's head covers part of it.)
............
Three down and one more to go. And while I have read this already in the pages of Raijin Magazine reading the GNs is still just as fun. I think I would have liked Gustoon! to go with 3 GNs instead of 4 (like Shueisha did) just because I am always left wanting more.
For those looking for seinen manga that could make you think this might be one of the few. As i have said before, the best of manga is in the jyosei and salaryman phonebooks. Yeah this graced the pages of Playboy with Kinniku-man (Ultimate Muscle) but both of these titles are great, each expressing the ends of the spectrum to an adults sensebilities. Politcal manga is something we need more of and its
something I wish more people would try.
For those looking for something with less dialogue, something a little more etchi or just something with less honor and more action pass on this. This series has bits of all that but don't forget Sakuragi is the new President, so if thats happening he's keeping it on the down-low.
Me, you know I am counting the days to volume 4 (December 10th, i believe) and once thats come and gone I'll be writing JakeT for some
"President of Japan" goodness.
Recommended