(no subject)

[skygiants]

Recently I've been wanting to reread 20th Century Boys, and I still may, but first I decided it was probably time to read Billy Bat, which I thought of in my head as 'Naoki Urasawa's new manga.'

This, for the record, is absolutely not correct. Billy Bat started in 2008 and wrapped in 2016.

Anyway, in the course of attempting to read Billy Bat, I learned the following facts:

1. Billy Bat has never been licensed in the US so if I want to read it I will have to do it using Other Methods
2. However, Urasawa has another, actually new(ish) manga that I had never heard of in my life, called Asadora!, the first five volumes of which are not only licensed at the U.S. but available at my local library!

So now instead of rereading 20th Century Boys OR reading Billy Bat I have now read the first five volumes of Asadora!, which begins during the 1959 typhoon, when preteen Asa gets accidentally kidnapped by an out-of-work veteran who has mistaken her for the daughter of a wealthy family, which she emphatically isn't.

Once the typhoon hits, Asa and her kidnapper must work together to help out in the disaster! by stealing and flying an airplane and becoming heroes of the skies! which kindles in Asa an obsession with a.) piloting airplanes and b.) the BIG MONSTER that's hidden in the middle of the typhoon and forms the focus of the rest of the plot!

Ongoing B-plots introduced to keep Asa extra busy on top of this initial drama include:

- Asa's younger siblings keep getting into fights!
- Asa's best friends are having teen drama about wanting to become popstars!
- there's a distressed and discredited scientist scientist with his own messy mentor problems!
- almost everyone in Japan is still dealing in one way or another with the various generational traumas of WWII!
- THE OLYMPICS IS HAPPENING!

So far this is gearing up to be my favorite Urasawa series after 20th Century Boys; I love obsessive teen girl pilots, I love messy mentorships, and I love Urasawa's incredibly distinctive side character faces. And it is so pleasant to start out an Urasawa book and immediately multiple distinctive women side character faces, rather than having to wait twelve volumes for them to build up! Look at the face of this grumpy diner owner who loves Asa very much! I get to look at this face every chapter!

And now I probably need to wait a year or two to let some more volumes build up, which of course is the problem with picking up Urasawa's new manga.

Comments

[chestnut_pod]

Distressed AND discredited! The Olympics!

[skygiants]

We have to fight the big monster, but not TOO much, because otherwise it might ruin the Olympics and nothing can ruin the Olympics!

[passingbuzzards]

I found and read the first 8 chapters of this and they were DELIGHTFUL, what a leading duo, very rude of Viz not to carry digital volumes of this series!! The faces really are AMAZING.

[torachan]

He actually just recently (like last year) allowed his stuff to be published digitally even in Japan for the first time, so hopefully that means his stuff can be put out digitally in other languages as well soon.

[passingbuzzards]

Back to add that I was compelled to finish the rest of the 37 chapters that are currently available online and this was just SO GOOD, thanks so much for posting about it. :,D What an excellent story (and fantastic art)! The understated visual comedy is superb (somebody help poor Long-Suffering ATC Guy,) and also every government mook is my favorite government mook, the government mooks collectively being forced to babysit was too funny. <3 Also the narrative is just! So well-done! I so appreciate it when the B-plots fit neatly into the main plot.

And KINUYO!! The ultimate mom power, LOVE her, no notes.

(P.S. It is absolutely killing me that Miyako is drawn exactly like every caricature ever made of Beatlemania-era Paul McCartney, the resemblance is uncanny and I just can't tell whether this was intentional dfghk)

[skygiants]

ahhhh yes I'm so glad, this is the greatest gratification I can possibly have after posting about a media >:DD It's so good! I love every character including every mook! I LOVE WHEN THE MOOK GETS HIS CAR TOWED

(asjdfkl;dsj I'd not caught this before but you're SO RIGHT and I wouldn't be surprised if it was intentional -- Yone with her glasses could easily be the Lennon to Miyako's Paul???)

[passingbuzzards]

MOOK GETTING HIS CAR TOWED WAS OUTSTANDING, the sheer dejection, comedy gold <3

(and god you're right, and Yone is the one trying to abandon their partnership, HMM)

[torachan]

I'm enjoying Asadora a lot but you should definitely read Billy Bat, too! It's perhaps the most crazy of all, with the clear Billy Bat = Mickey Mouse parallels and the whole Lee Harvey Oswald subplot. Honestly, I think there is no way this would get published in the US because of all that.

My recent exciting discovery about Urasawa (recent meaning like last year) is that he finally caved and allowed his stuff to be released digitally! Apparently Asadora has been published in a magazine that has a digital version from the start, but even then he was still against it or his older manga being released digitally because he felt that it compromised the two-page spreads. Which I understand, but I'm glad he came around because getting stuff in print outside of Japan is expensive. The digital versions come with a note at the beginning saying that it's recommended to read them as two-page spreads rather than each page individually, which I don't think I've ever seen on any other digital manga.

[skygiants]

I definitely should, I am for sure craving more Urasawa now that I've got all the Asadora I can get! I am delighted to hear that he's letting his stuff go out digitally for more access, too.

[sovay]

- there's a distressed and discredited scientist scientist with his own messy mentor problems!

Okay, fine.

[skygiants]

When Asa first meets him he's getting kicked out of a museum with all his research!

[sovay]

When Asa first meets him he's getting kicked out of a museum with all his research!

FINE.

[cyphomandra]

omg I did not know about Asadora! Will track down forthwith. I did know Billy Bat was not officially available, I grumpily bought the first volume in Italian but maybe I would get further via unofficial means.

[skygiants]

I'm genuinely shocked by how much I didn't know about Asadora! I literally had to find out about it by typing 'Naoki Urasawa' into my library search field! Only one other person appears to have posted about it on all of DW!

[starlady]

I own like half of Billy Bat but I haven't read it. For that matter I never finished 20th Century Boys…and I know for a fact that half of it is in storage in New Jersey.

I meant to try to pick up some of Asadora! when I was in Japan but failed. I should add it to my list for my next Mandarake order.

[skygiants]

I'd definitely recommend it! I'd also recommend finishing 20th Century Boys, for that matter.

[starlady]

I meant to finish 20th Century Boys! But then I moved to Japan and Europe for a year and a half and half of the manga ended up on the other side of the country. Next time I'm back I need to try to pull it out. I know I have the 21st Century Boys follow-up too.

I do love Urasawa though. Pluto is the only manga of his that I've finished, but it's great, and I loved the Monster anime back in the day.

[dimestore_romeo]

Have you seen Urasawa's interview series with iconic mangaka, Urasawa Naoki no Manben? It is SO much fun and fascinating to learn more about his own writing and drawing process: https://www.naokiurasawa.com/

[skygiants]

I have not seen nor heard about it, thanks so much for linking!

[sholio]

Oh no I may have to read this.

[skygiants]

I was thinking while reading that I absolutely had to make a priority of writing it up if only to make sure that the Biggles corner of DW knew about it ...

[sholio]

I appreciate that we now have a Reputation as the people who need to know about all the Airplane Canons (and accurate too). <3

[passingbuzzards]

(I can confirm that how Asa feels about flying is very Biggles-relevant! The answer to “how many times have I thought about this girl meeting Biggles since inhaling this series last night” is perhaps Not Zero. :,D)

[rachelmanija]

I guess I must read this.

[hokuton_punch]

Oh no, I think I need this series in my eyes IMMEDIATELY. (I don't think I finished Billy Bat but I did read an enormous chunk of it, and I feel like choosing Asadora instead was clearly a wise choice! I mean, I didn't dislike Billy Bat, but it is - very weird.)

[rachelmanija]

What is Billy Bat about?

[hokuton_punch]

What isn't it about?! Good!Mickey Mouse (= Billy Bat) vs. Evil!Mickey Mouse, the assassination of JFK with woobie Lee Harvey Oswald, the Civil Rights movement, there's a bit with a Christian priest in Tokugawa shogunate Japan, the moon landing is faked but only because when we actually went to the moon there was a giant Mickey Mouse symbol already drawn on it... It's a very weird series, it's been long enough that I really don't remember it very well but the weirder bits have stuck with me.

[dhampyresa]

Billy Bat, which I thought of in my head as 'Naoki Urasawa's new manga.'
This, for the record, is absolutely not correct. Billy Bat started in 2008 and wrapped in 2016.

WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME