Junk Force Vol. #03

By Eduardo M. Chavez     December 27, 2004
Release Date: July 01, 2004



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Kakinuma Hideki (DARTS)/Tsurugi Yusuke (Mechanical Design: Matsukawa Kenichi; Character Design: Komato Eiji)
Translated by:Toshi Hosaka
Adapted by:

What They Say
In this final installment of Junk Force, Wooty, Mill, Liza, Louis and the robotic Mamet traverse the last few miles to their destination - the Z.P.T. stronghold. But on their journey, Mamet wonders off and is separated from her "family". While lost she helps out another Martian bent on bringing the Z.P.T. to their knees. But where does this new character's true allegiances lay and how will it affect their mission to crush the Z.P.T.?

The Review
Packaging:
Once again ComicsOne decided to go back to Komatsu Eiji's original cover designs after a brief hiatus. This cover has an image of Mamet and Mill hanging out. The image is full of blues and greens and is a major contrast to the previous etchi covers Media Works used for this series. The original logo is used here, retaining everything including the series subtitle "Leave the planet and don't look back!"

Inside, ComicsOne crammed the color foldout onto a two-page spread in black and white. I was pleased to see they presented both sides of the foldout but because of the size differential there is a little bit of art lost from the top and bottom of each piece.

C1 keeps all of the original character and mecha data files that are full of specs for all sorts of machines featured in this volume nicely translated with specs in metric measurements. They also included the two-page long afterward at the end of the GN. Unfortunately, they once again incorrectly translate the artist's family name "Ken" instead of "Tsurugi." Sigh, typical ComicsOne! The printing has improved as the series progressed. In the first volume this manga looked really dark, blurring out camel toes and some mechanical detailing but by volume 3 the printing was much cleaner.

Artwork:
Character designs by Komato Eiji are very cute and Tsurugi Yusuke does them justice by keeping them shapely and keeping the costumes tiny. Female characters are often well endowed and they all have a unique look to them. Seeing Wooty in her bathing suit while wearing oversized camouflage print pants is a stark contrast to the dainty dresses that Mill wears. Bad guys have a good mix of freakish cyborg-olf and techno-slob. Nice! Matsukawa's mechanical designs are functional and etchi (piloting positions are noted in detail in the mecha files). The detail on most the mechs are few levels above that of the character designs.

Backgrounds are often sterile which is a shame. Ken-sensei usually presents a creative looking town or landmark but usually does not carry that throughout the rest of the chapter's panels. The layout and the action scenes often make up for the dull backgrounds with nice panel progression and good use of perspective.

Fan service is pretty high. There are a few pages of frontal nudity in this volume but after a while areole are covered with soap bubbles or not drawn in at all. Shucks!

Text/SFX:
ComicsOne is still one of the best in the business in regards to how they deal with SFX. They have tastefully translated SFX close to the original SFX. By using small subs, they do not compromise Tsurugi’s art.

Hosaka's translation is pretty good. While I have to say there are few situations where the context is a little off there were only a few moments where things were completely off. A few grammatical errors are here and there which is annoying because this has been consistent since I started reading C1 titles more than a year ago.

Contents: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
In the Earth of the future everyday is a struggle. The Earth is a wasteland, covered by deserts, where machines run rampant destroying the living organisms that are using the planet's resources. There are people that have mechanized there bodies to survive amongst the ZPT (a Martian funded fully automated environmental purification system). Some people have decided to completely accept their fate, waiting out the rest of their days watching their family die from the lack of primary needs. A group of young Earthlings has decided to fight back. Using the scrap and junk, they find on their journeys from ghost town to ghost town, they have re-built a small but powerful weapon force that could topple the ZPT. If they stick together, they might succeed. With the way life is on Earth now, that is much harder than it sounds.

The closer they get to the ZPT the greater the risk. Up to this point they have experienced systems like the scavengers, moving fortresses and the sand-rooter each one almost impossible to defeat and each capable to causing widespread damage. They have even run into bandits and vigilante groups that have turned their backs against hope of defeating the ZPT. People like this would rather support their immediate needs than aide their struggling communities. Add all of this to the harsh environment and the odds for success is almost none. That will not stop the crew, but it will be a factor into their actions when they come to see how much damage they as parts of the human race have done to the Earth. It was their pollution, their wars, and their uncontrolled expansion that created problems that would take generations if not centuries to fix. What they want to do now might help things out in the short-term but they have plenty of responsibility to follow up on if they really want to save the Earth.

Their first step was the ZPT. This program was set to purge the planet of everything that could harm the environment. There are machines that destroy high polluting machines. Systems set to farm wildlife essential to sustaining life. There are other systems set to destroy large communities of polluters. Together they are trying to recreate an ideal Earth; one thought up by those created the ZPT system when war was destroying the planet.

Second, they will have to survive the oncoming Martian invasion. Mars has been waiting for years to return to a hospitable Earth. Now that they know that will not be possible anytime soon, they are willing to compromise with an Earth that is still much better than Mars... just as long as the remaining Earthlings have been wiped out.

If Louie, Liza, Mill, Wooty and Mamet survive, they will be the key to the future. They will have to take advantage of their youth to nurture the planet back to the beautiful green and blue planet it used to be.

Comments
As fun as Junk Force is it suffers from some poor planning. Going into this volume, I was expecting a lot more to develop. Actually, when I finished volume two I wondered how Kakinuma would be able to wrap it up in one volume. Therefore, when this volume started with another random encounter I wondered how long until Louis, Liza and crew find the ZPT. Wasn't that the objective? Moreover, there were only a few chapters left. Then the story started to tie into the novel series (Junk Force ~FROM MARS~) by introducing Illian to the story. The idea would have benefited the plot better if it came earlier in the series but at this point, it is the beginning of a rush to the finish. Kakinuma then moves to presenting the positive qualities of the Earth purification system and finally to the ZPT, a fierce violent battle, and the mandatory happy ending. There is no logic or explanation as to why some characters were suddenly able to do what they did... they just did. There were relationships that were established, but those threads were left open. Furthermore, while the unbelievable force at the end of the manga was defeated by a weapon introduced at the start of the series the whole thing seemed too convenient. So many systems were destroyed so easily before, why such an obvious threat would be ignored. For all that was done through the first 2.5 volumes the final two chapters just felt like a big letdown.

Looking back at the entire series Junk Force had one of the better concepts I have read in a while. There was plenty to draw from in this telling of environmental apocalypse. Kakinuma and Tsurugi initially developed a story where the struggle of humanity in this horrible future was the focus. Occasionally it was told with slice of life comedy or with high-paced action against the systems created to cleanse the Earth of its biggest polluters. The introduction of Mamet brought the idea of another threat to Earth, and that was really done nicely when more Mamet-bots were popping up in the second volume. Even the difference of opinion between civilians and vigilante groups gave me the impression that the world created by Kakinuma was complex but in a way that readers could follow along with ease. The main cast added an element of fun and etchi-ness and the mechanical designs wrapped it all up nicely. I do not know why things fell apart. Maybe the manga did not do well, so they had to rush the ending (just speculation on my part). In the end, this good idea became a disappointment. When there appeared to be a plot forming, the series died and well all that was left was pieces of a story that were not properly answered.

It is hard to recommend a title like this even with all the good qualities. The short length makes it even harder to support, as it is hard to get over the negatives with so few completed positives to enjoy. Still if fan service mecha fun is what you want, I guess this series fills those needs. I just hope the novel series does not fall short as well.