Juniper Berries, vol. III

Yesterday at Amai Manga Café, I was shown the 006th volume of "Black Lagoon" by Rei Hiroe, just out in Finnish. W00t! Plus I want to mention that they are importing various dōjin comics straight from Japan, and apparently these are selling well. A nice addition to the local manga scene.

We also discussed the first volume of "Spice and Wolf" by Isuna Hasekura and Keito Koume (ISBN 978-0-316-07339-4). I had read all of that one on the 11th of August, and it is unbelievable I forgot to mention the comic in my last blog entry. S&W has been one of the most positive surprises during this summer -- a mixture of most typical shōnen gimmicks, a more mature and serene atmosphere, and... other interesting content, which I do not have the time to review now.

Today I finished reading the 003rd volume of the Finnish edition of "Black Lagoon" (ISBN 987-952-16-1233-6). Intuitively I would state it was roughly as good as 001, possibly a bit better. Most of the credit goes to the "Bloodsport Fairy Tale" story arc, some of the most disturbing shit I have ever read in comic format. What I especially liked was that Hiroe made Benny, the underused sidekick, discuss some (sadly very true) realities with Rock, who clearly has a long way to go before he can discover a meaningful way of living the underworld life. Or life in general. The Jihad story arc, then, despite its certain deeper aspects, is basically about taking the action-oriented side of BL to a new level and introducing a few more ruffnecks to remember. It works yet does not feel special. I am already looking forward to the following arc, which will hopefully begin in BL 004.