On board the factory ship, the motto is simple: fish or die. In a distant future where the oceans have evaporated, this flying craft cuts through the clouds to track down giant creatures whose flesh has become precious. An extremely perilous mission faced by a crew of workers exploited by a company with no pity for its employees. Among them, two orphans walk to raise enough funds to repay their debts, enduring the gratuitous cruelty of their hierarchy. Anger rises; the revolt is brewing. Loosely inspired by Kani Kōsen, a Japanese proletarian novel from the interwar period, this manga offers a veneer of science fiction, which sets it apart from the previous adaptation in this form. The dark drawing and the caricatured characters give a second wind to the work, and even if it deviates from it, it presents some original variations. Atmosphere of oppression and breathtaking action scenes constitute its spinal cord, mixing a seinen story (for adults) with a shonen side (for teenagers), which results in a funny beast.
While volume 105 (Luffy’s Dream) of one of the biggest bookstore successes in the manga department hits Quebec, Glénat continues to ride the One Piece wave by offering this parallel accompaniment to complete the new release. Its name: Sanji’s Food Wars!, featuring the valiant cook of Luffy’s crew, through six independent adventures and inserted between various episodes of the main series. In fact, it is as much a title derived from One Piece as it is from Food Wars, another popular manga where gastronomy takes pride of place. Honestly, the mayonnaise takes: the drawing is very successful and plunges us into the same atmosphere as the main series, where we find with appetite the horrors of Sanji placed in the spotlight. Fans of One Piece and Food Wars will be able to carve out a slice without batting an eyelid.
Let’s say it bluntly, works focusing on a fantasy-type universe often suffer from a lack of originality, relying on mechanics and archetypes that have been proven many times. This new series translated into French does not break new ground, but manages to stand out thanks to its approach. Wandering through a world decimated by meteorites that have sowed death and madness, Meteor and Youthanasia have discovered a common destiny. Both have undergone bodily mutations and now find themselves prisoners of the gift of eternal life, from which they will try to free themselves at all costs. Vacillating between comedy, poetry, drama and adventure, the series breathes a breath of fresh air into the genre, supported by contrasting graphics that stand out a little from the crowd. Imomushi Narita, who signed the convincing shonen It’s My Life, this time offers a manga aimed at an older audience, without claiming to revolutionize everything, but still with his signature.
Quirky drawing and mysterious story: the very first baby in the publisher’s Alpha collection, which aims to highlight “more artistic projects which free themselves from the traditional codes of manga both in terms of format and in terms of content”, announces the color (here, in black and white). A priori, the beginning of the story vaguely evokes Far Neighborhood, in a more surreal atmosphere. There we find Yôsuke, a young employee in Tokyo, who has dozed off on a bus. When he wakes up, he is stranded in a village by the sea, and welcomed by a child fascinated by city life, who takes him to the family inn. Resigned to staying put for a while, Yôsuke rediscovers the tranquility of everyday life, but finds himself assailed by distorted memories drawn from his youth – unless it is his imagination? The ambiguous atmosphere and the very personal drawing sketched in broad strokes make Kurage a beast a little apart, and which will not necessarily be unanimously unanimous, but well served by the large format and the printing quality (with an impact on the sale price).
