Volcano High Origin Vol.#01

By: Eduardo M. Chavez
Review Date: Friday, June 17, 2005
Release Date: Wednesday, March 16, 2005



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Ahn Chul Jung/Hwan Kim
Translated by:Chan Bak
Adapted by:

What They Say
TEACHERS WHO ARE ABOUT TO FALL, GAZES FULL OF MUDEROUS INTENT, A PLACE WHERE FORCE CLASH, VOLCANO HIGH... THE CHAOS HAS ALREADY BEGUN!

The one who possesses the Teacher's Memorandum shall bring peace to the World of Martial Arts academies... but what exactly is the Teacher's Memorandum? The story before the hit MTV Original movie! Volcano High pushes the limits of imagination as super-powered martial arts students for supremacy and the possession of the ultimate prize - The Teacher's Memorandum!

The Review
Packaging:
The presentation for this Tokyo Shock imprint title is superb. First it is printed left to right in a tall A5 sized GN. The cover features blonde and I guess buff, Gyung Soo Kim in his school uniform in front of an Asian dragon. The logo, a large red V, is placed over the piece and the title sits at the bottom of the matted cover. Fancy! The color selection for the cover was not great, as I had a hard time making out some of what was on the cover but it still looks good. The opposite cover has three characters (I can only recognize Chei Yu) posturing under a loud tag line. This side made for better looking cover, as it made good use of blues and violets on a black background.

The printing is very clean. So far, Kim-sensei uses a lot of ton and inking for shading and it looks very crisp and clear in this print. My copy does suffer a bit from alignment problems. Pages are cut off slightly on the outside, sometimes almost cutting text in dialogue bubbles. Media Blasters keeps all of the bumper art, the volume and chapter headers and even included notes on the making of Volcano High the movie, character bios, interview with the director Tae Gyun Kim, staff notes and a glossary. Wow!

Artwork:
First, don't be fooled by the character designs on the cover. These are the exception in this manga. For most of this GN, at least, the cast is usually in SD. Why is an action manga in SD more often than not? Don't ask me, but I will say it is annoying. Actually, it is distracting, illogical and straight up ugly! As a reader, I don't know what most of these characters look like when they are not super deformed. When they are not I am lost and I don't want to be lost when the art is half-decent.

SFX/Text:

I am not sure if this was done purposely, but the localization for this title is really clunky. Maybe it is the genre or maybe I am missing something cultural, but Volcano High is not a dialogue heavy title yet it reads very slowly. My main issues are with names and nicknames/aliases. It might be the source material, but having to read full names every time someone talks about someone is frustrating. On top of that, there are nicknames that can be tossed on top of that. “Heartless Demonic Blade” Jang Ryang alone can take up a whole text bubble. In addition, sometimes the nicks are not even consistent. Ryang is “Soulless” and then he is “Heartless.” Shim Ma is aka “Shim Ma” and at other times “Master Scout.”

The other thing I noticed was the use of Korean terms in the translation. I actually liked this, especially since I see this done with more frequency in Japanese manga as well. This technique does slow down the flow a bit as well, but it also gives readers a chance to get to experience the culture in a different way. Add to this, Media Blasters has a glossary of terms and notes at the back of the GN and readers are able to find out more about the world of Volcano High.

SFX are not translated. This is definitely surprising in this age, when fans have voiced their displeasure over the lack SFX translations from a few publishers in the past few years. This manga does not have a lot of SFX, but I really wish they could have been translated in some way.


Contents: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Enough was enough! The students of Volcano High School have decided to take their school back. They have been denied proper education and they see no respect from the teaching staff. It is a rebellion that has brought chaos to the administration.

To combat the fear and violence, teachers take to their lesson plans and begin to re-evaluate where their ideas on teaching should be going. While one teacher believes education should be about oppression, another would believe that liberty would lead through expression and hunger for knowledge. It is entirely about the perspective that teachers see their students from.

What is disappointing about either view is no one has actually consulted he students and they are pissed! The kids want complete control. They do not want it in name only; for, they know the new principal is still in charge. They want to purge the teachers and staff and finally gain complete control of their own education. They want to be in complete control of their future; to be in control of themselves. The kids of Volcano High believe they can judge amongst themselves what is right or wrong (mainly what they as individuals consider is right). No one else can change that, but they know there are some who think they can. In the end, they want to prevent them from trying.

Comments
The martial arts academy manga is pretty old, if you think about it. It has its history in the old yanki manga of the early 80's and it has continued to this day evolving into much something where the academy and the school structure is no longer as important as the martial arts. In some ways, it is currently experiencing a renaissance of sorts. Some might remember where this surge started in the States - Real Bout High School. Martial arts action fantasy with comedic elements around a vibrant energetic cast created a small but vocal base that would lead to the release of titles like Battle Vixens, Tenjo Tenge and to an extent Worst. Each title mentioned uses concepts initially used by Real Bout. Capturing action is key and sensationalizing the art in martial is critical. Now Volcano High tried to take these ideas and expand on them...

But it has failed. Wait maybe the movie did not, but the manhwa has.

The best in this genre exploit at least one of the concepts I mentioned before. Volcano High has a hard time making a case for anyone of these. First, the action is rare and not very detailed. There are some throws, some horribly arranged kicks (more on the arrangement later), many super-sonic farts and so much posturing one would think these guys are in staring contests instead of fistfights. I am not sure why, but Kim-sensei just cannot present an action scene. Instead of focusing on the technique and the actual fight, we are treated to results and tension lines. We could get prolonged battles where readers cling to every kick and punch; instead we get one or two panel scenes that are confusing and pointless.

Because of the SD art, there is no sex appeal. All of these characters are pretty hideous. In addition, while there is an effort to get some humor in this series, fart jokes, go jokes and SD character designs don't cut it.

Maybe, Jung and Kim wanted something else from Volcano High? Well it is not in the writing, because that is confusing and poorly paced. With so many characters, a couple timelines to follow and no real plot to follow, there really is nothing this series can offer right now. Honestly, that is a shame. The presentation is great. The write up about the movie has me curious. But this has nothing - no flash, no action, no nothing. Man, if my high school was like Volcano High I would be pissed too. I would be frustrated with how shallow and meaningless it is.