AmeriManga from Heaven?

By David Rasmussen
14th Jan 07

Now there’s a weird concept, to say the least considering that the Religious Right has a burning cross up their butts at times about the more adult aspect of the Manga industry, but to prove they are either truly the turn the cheek types (or just spiteful) they have gone and taken to the AmeriManga battlefield with Realbuzz Studios. Right out of the starting gate in 2007 they launch a small batch of titles, of which I promise there will be reviews in the near future… I did contact them, by the way, about review material copies and interviews but just in case that doesn’t work I am going to go through my new source of review materials (Barnes and Noble) to get you the reviews. So either way? We’re golden here… as golden as haloes… the heavenly kind, not the game franchise from Xbox… I’m personally a Killzone fan myself.

Now the starting line-up…

Serenity
NOT a tie in to that series done by Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s creator that had one theatrical movie, Serenity is the story about “an unhappy girl who finds a happy ending”. To the world at large Serenity Harper is a bundle of obnoxious attitude, anger mis-management and animosity. However she is at heart a cowardly lion of a girl, abit lonely yet not quite able to shed her outward tough girl image to allow someone close to her… until something happens which changes everything.

From this intro I’m going to take it that, though I could be wrong, one girl is going to find that she doesn’t need to be the Lion (sometimes known as Aslan who is supposed to be the world of Narnia’s incarnation of Jesus) to let her inner sheep out. And on the plus side she doesn’t need to gnaw off the face of any evil freeze people into party quality ice sculptors witch, which is a good thing.
Promoted as a “inspirational comedic teen soap opera” I’m looking to see how it manages Serenity’s life and her ups and downs without being too preachy or cliché while they’re at it.

(NOTE - One of the selling points of the franchise is the use of the Chibi-effect (I.e. Super Deformed character images). Uh? Don’t need to tell us about it, people, just do it. But thanks for full disclosure all the same).

Life! Camera! Action! Starring Serenity
Barely out of the starting gate and already we have a spin-off? Weird!
In Life! Camera! Action! Starring Serenity we have not one but two stories in one. Taking the Serenity series and pushing it forward one step further, we not only tune in on Serenity but expand on the secondary cast of the title for further indepth stories as they take on a variety of “off-beat” roles in a series of independent amateur films that they’re making which expands their characters, and perhaps (maybe) even touches into plotpoints of the main title that there wasn ‘t enough time to cover in the main title.

In “Life”, friendships from Serenity grow, we see a more indepth family interaction between family units of Serenity that apparently isn’t touched on enough in the main title, a more indepth school structure is viewed, and mainly Life is the place where all the intricate details of the series that really isn’t gone into are touched on (which may go to the point of explaining plot points from the main series in more depth that wasn’t touched into much in the title itself).

Through the decision to the cast filming their own amateur film, the cast expresses more through the constant sub-plot of the amateur film making effort.

While “Life” covers the midpoints in the main series, and touches on the amatuer filming aspect, “Camera” is the final product of their work (the films). Here’s where you see their efforts come to fruitation, and (sadly) here’s where the expected biblical shilling comes in. Now while I do expect some of it, I hope they keep a balance and not overdo it… we got enough of the overachieving biblical vision out of Mel Gibson, we need no more thanks.

Sci-Fi, Biblical epics (which I do hope end up having a bit of a self humorous aspect as if to prove they are not afraid to poke fun at themselves ), disaster movies… goddess no, I can’t stomach another disaster movie… thrillers, etc. Hopefully Halloween spawns a horror movie parody, Christmas a parody of A Christmas Carol or that movie about the kid who wanted the air rifle who’d everyone proclaimed he’d shoot his eye out, and so on.

These are stand alone stories, no doubt expressing each volume’s movie that they are working on (and the final results of their work). Amongst the project they start is…

“Terror From the Tarantula Nebula”… somebody seems to have a fear of spiders, or just the urge to fondly remember 50’s Sci-Fi/Red Scare Sci-Fi movies (where alien threats were thinly veiled references to the now defunct Soviet Union).
“Crawling From The Wreckage”… Biblical epic or disaster flick? The title could go either way actually because I’ve seen a few indy flicks with this kind of name that was actually a religiously themed title.
Esther, Queen of Persia… no, it’s not the prequel to Prince of Persia the Movie… or is it? No. It’s Biblical.
“Fraulein Stein’s Monster”… horror parody or religious topic on cloning or resurrecting the dead… or someone in the cast is becoming obsessed with science in school and they’re trying to point out how scary she’s becoming… take your pick.

Buy one Serenity title, get the other while you‘re at it. How interesting!

Hits and Misses
“You win a few, you lose a few, a few get rained out -- but ya gotta suit up for every game!”
Quote from Hit and Misses

Remember that title about the female baseball team struggling to find their place in the male dominated baseball hierarchy of Japanese b-ball (aka Princess Nine)? Well the creators of that title should be tickled pink to see somebody has picked up the torch of female dominated baseball by creating the next title that might catch your attention, Hits and Misses.

Yes, technically it’s not the same as Princess Nine (it’s softball instead of baseball), but this four parter (of which I already logged plans to start my reviews on) will focus on the team dynamics of one group of girls known as the Periwinkle Penguins. Join this “March of the Periwinkle Penguins” as they head for a possible championship spot in women’s softball, and how the girls work together, overcome internal frictions, and use teamwork to rock the world of softball (and achieve common goals). Of course winning just doesn’t mean they will win every game, but it’s the way they can overcome adversity (and the occasional lost) which will show the true merits of these young ladies and how they can manage their dreams when the occasional rock in the road stumbles them up.

But it’s not just about the sports, oh no, because like their major league counterparts they too will be offered occasionally the “easy” way out of problems. Will they cop out, or will they rise up to the challenge like those members of MLBaseball who still earn people’s praise for being the best at what they do both on and off the field? Only time, and these four volumes, will tell.

Yes, softball (or baseball in general) is an analogy to real life… and that’s not just a sales pitch either! Take a diverse “community” of girls and set them into a “family” of a group team and watch how they cope with life with a little help from one’s “family” (both real and teamwise). True heroism is not just found at the spur of the moment, where one man’s heroic deed can make him a Subway Superman (but dammit he is one brave brave soul) but it can also be found in the daily grind of the trenches of everyday existence, where you hold true to yourself and what you believe in regardless of those values and beliefs may be.

Goofyfoot Gurl
Now as shameful as this may be… I really know nothing about surfing, nor do I have interest in surfing.
Somewhere on Oahu somebody is spitting at my article and crossing themselves, calling me the Anti-Hawaiian or something… gee, thanks.

You’d think that, well, considering that I do live in Hawaii and all I’d be more into surfing… yet I’m not. So, in that context, am I really the right person to review a comic about the surfing set over in Orange County California? Sure I am… nobody in Orange County, California is going to fly all the way to Hawaii to hunt me down if I insult them during the review.

During the “Endless Summer” (as in the surfing movie and not the hentai anime of the same name) the eternal now of good waves and good vibes set the stage for one young woman’s life admist the waves and waveriders. Suki Leiber is an 18 year old girl who subtly and obliquely exerts a powerful influence for good in the lives of those around her… I.e. she’s the heroine of this title. Still, despite the fact she has the power to do good she doesn’t herself seem all that aware of the positive influence she has on others, as it seems to come out of her as a second nature thing that she does without thinking about. She’s trusting and likes everyone, which may be her undoing at times but more often than not she manages to bring out the better judgment of people when the chips are down.

With her two girlfriends Chardonnay and Pooja (please tell me that’s a nickname), as well as Scott and Joplin and the mysterious romantic young man named The GOTH (Beauty and the Beast slash Phantom of the Opera meets the Surf Set) Suki is going to be facing a lot of pressure and difficulties (not all of which are spawned by the ever rolling waves of the Pacific Ocean).
One downer? Suki is so divine she has a dolphin friend who interacts with her Flipper style while surfing named “Delphine”… let’s hope this doesn’t get too out of hand, by the way, as while it’s nice to have a good solid heroine who is a bright shining star for the undertrodden maybe it’s abit much that she excels to the point of having her own dolphin sidekick as well as a community singing her praises.
Still, as my first surfing title on my review list I am looking forward to this as I haven’t done anything like this before, so I’m expecting something epic to talk about in the coming week’s review-wise.

Interesting note.
My first surfing factoid… how special!
According to the people at Real Buzz Studios, Suki’s nickname (which is also the title of the series (Goofyfoot Gurl)) notes her particular style of waveriding, in that she typically rides the waves “goofyfoot” style (or in the manner perfered by many left handed people who surf).

I’ve dropped my greetings to Real Buzz Studios, made my first interview slash review material request, and now waiting for word on it. Hope I hear from them soon, and should have an update on that next week as we possibly add Real Buzz to the AmeriManga Times line-up. Maybe.

-- David Rasmussen 14th Jan 07