Jack Fletcher is shipwrecked off the coast of Japan — his beloved father and the crew lie slaughtered by ninja pirates.
Rescued by the legendary sword master Masamoto Takeshi, Jack’s only hope is to become a samurai warrior. And so his training begins…
But life at the samurai school is a constant fight for survival. Even with his friend Akiko by his side, Jack is singled out by bullies and treated as an outcast.
With courage in his heart and his sword held high, can Jack prove himself and face his deadliest rival yet?
Review
Last year, when Young Samurai hit the bookshelves, I passed a cursory look over the book, read the back, looked at the one-line reviews and was all-together unimpressed. I didn’t bother seeking the book out or adding it to my review list and basically I ignored its existance.
Last week, I saw book two coming down the line and the first book fell neatly into my lap. Again, I was unimpressed with the synopsis or the reviews. However, I became intrigued by the look of The Way of the Sword so I decided to check out the The Way of the Warrior first.
I have been interested in the Japanese language and current culture for only a short period of time, however I have a past in Japanese Karate (shourin-ryuu), Shinkendo and had a fantastic sensei (teacher) or two who tried to impart the ways of Bushido (Way of the Warrior) and encourage a path to modern samurai. Because of my history, I started reading this book with a basic knowledge of some swordsmanship, martial arts and Japanese historical culture. Chris Bradford’s mini-glossary at the back of the book, minor notes on Japanese culture and full quotes with references started to make me a bit more excited to begin reading.
Twelve-year-old rigging monkey Jack Fletcher’s story didn’t pull me in right away, and it took a couple chapters to capture my undivided attention. When it did, I was helpless until I set it down at the end.
Everyone is sleeping uneasily in their dark ship, keeping a watchful eye out for pirates after the final repairs are made, dark shadows begin flowing silently throughout the ship. Soon our little hero comes face to face with what he later learns is a ninja. A ninja with a single bright green eye. Dragon Eye demands the rutter, a tome of sailing knowledge and secrets, from Jack’s father. Jack’s father gives the invader the wrong information and lurches to protect his son from the knife the ninja is bringing to bear on Jack. Dragon Eye in swiftly kills the man and runs off to find the prize. Soon Jack rescues his father’s secrets from the correct location and escapes the ship as the gunpowder is ignited by a dying bosun.
Jack was rescued by Masamoto Takeshi and brought to heal at his sister’s house. Here, during his recovery, the richness of ‘the Japans’ is introduced to the boy little by little. Jack learns the strange language and customs of the house in his frustration to communicate with the strange people. After a meeting with a Portuguese priest and Masamoto-sama, Jack is left at the house for the winter to learn how to speak Japanese, to use hashi (chopsticks), table etiquette, minor social etiquette and even some light swordsmanship. He entices Masamoto Yamato, Masamoto-sama’s only son, to teach him the basics of using a bokken and the two end up having randori (free sparring) all about the beautiful garden.
After Dragon Eye attacks the house he is staying in, Jack and his new friends—Yamato and his cousin beautiful Akiko—who stood against and repelled the invaders, are moved to Masamoto’s samurai school in Kyoto, Niten Ichi Ryu, where they are to become samurai warriors and study techniques and bushido.
Once the children entered the school, the story becomes almost typical. As one would expect, the children meet teachers, take their first classes, learn new techniques, and of course gain enemies from day one. What good school setting doesn’t have enemies? Since Jack is a gaijin—an outsider/foreigner—he is immediately set upon by those who hate outsiders and he must prove himself worthy of samurai training in the eyes of his fellow students, despite being vouched for by the school’s master.
As I was following the children through their day, I was reminded of my days as a student in the various classes. From seiza to sensei rei and through sword forms and meditation, it made me want to return to my classes and seek out my old instructors.
I was amazed by how Chris Bradford pulled me in little by little until by the end of the story I found myself a fan and wanting the next book. I closed the book when I finished and looked again at the back of the book and at the reviews. Even though I had just finished the book and knew the story for what it was, I was still unimpressed. Don’t judge this book by its cover. Ignore the eye rolling reviews of “…this book gets a black belt…” These do not do the story the justice it deserves.
This book was not only an ultimately fun read, but it was also informative. The story was backed with research and history that was fun to explore later, such as information on women samurai. I had no idea there were women samurai, it was quite a shock and found myself enjoying the research.
The book is recommended for ages 10 and up. I do recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in karate, swords, Japan or any looking to expand their knowledge. I also recommend it to anyone who likes Ranger’s Apprentice or Harry Potter. The worlds may be different, but the feeling is about the same: friendly companions in a school setting battling school rivals and occasional outsiders.
Posted by niaskywalk on Mar 11, 2010 in Media, Movies
I saw Alice in Wonderland over the weekend. I am not reading anyone else’s reviews before I am typing this entry.
My history of Alice in Wonderland isn’t very big or atypical. I have seen the Disney version and few TV Miniseries. I must’ve seen a few other places as well, but one thing is definite: I have never read the books. I once tried and I even bought the book in French. For whatever reason the result is I have read a few of the poems and I know most of the storylines, but that is all.
Armed with this lifetime of information about the story, I walked into the theatre to view the 3D version at an IMAX. I was feeling a little trepidatious. I have a weak eye that has a history of getting a bit sore watching 3D shows, resulting in a headache halfway through the movie and forcing me to remove my glasses and close my eyes. I was worried this would be a factor, but I didn’t want to view this flat either. I bravely took my glasses and made my way into the theatre. To my immense relief, this is the second 3D movie in a row that hasn’t set off my weak eye. The first was Avatar. The 3D effects were all subtle and simply present, very few, if any, deliberately broke the fourth wall. I simply felt as though I was walking through the scenes next to Alice.
The coloring in the movie intrigued me, it was the first thing to strike me. It was as if the world was sort of dipped into a sepia solution. The colors were there, and they were brilliant, but not the brilliance of technicolor, it was more billiant in contrast to the sepia overall.
Before long, I learned the reason for the ‘old’ feel. This story wasn’t the story I was expecting. All the favorite characters existed and even the story to the rabbit hole was pretty typical, but in this story Alice is nearly 20 years old and apparently they all believe someone named Alice had visited long before that time. The world is at war and most likely dying, the dead trees, the feel of being burnt out and seer, barren.
As the story progressed, I realised this wasn’t actually Alice in Wonderland, it may have been more like Through the Looking Glass, but since I never read the books so I don’t know for sure.
With certainty I can say, I loved Johnny Depp’s portrayal of the Mad Hatter. When I answered the question a friend asked about the madness of said hatter, my response along the lines of: He wasn’t as mad as Captain Jack Sparrow nor as intelligently mad as Willy Wonka, however he was definitely mad as a hatter. In my opinion, I believe Johnny Depp pulled off yet another amazing role. I was rarely reminded of the actor as I watched the movie. Only small bits and parts, reminded me this hatter wasn’t a real person. I do love actors who get consumed by the character. It makes for a much more interesting story.
The graphics were beautiful. There was amazing detail in every corner and it seemed like a world I could walk through. The Cheshire Cat has to be my favorite bit of art. I have always liked the cat, but in this story he was more cuddle-worthy than typical.
Although I enjoyed the movie, I have to admit the storyline was simple and straight-forward with few points to detour from, almost bland and typical in make-up. While it was all these things, it also gave a chance for every actor to shine brilliantly in their roles. Without extraordinary actors, this movie would fall flat in spite of the art direction, filmography, special effects and costuming.
On the whole, I was extremely satisfied with the experience and I eagerly await the opportunity to own it on DVD.
Posted by niaskywalk on Feb 27, 2010 in Comics, Media
Shiawase Kissa 3-Choume (幸福喫茶3丁目) by Kou Matsuzuki
US Title: Happy Cafe
Published by Hakusensha/Hana to Yume
English version TokyoPop
Serialized in Hana to Yume
[Years unavailable, first book pubbed 2005]; 15 books complete
Demographic: Shojo
Genre: Romance
Uru Takamura is a 16 year old High School student whose mother recently remarried. Feeling like a burden on her younger new father, she asks to move out on her own. As she is moving in, she notices people coming out of a nearby cafe talking excitedly and looking completely happy. “If only I could make someone happy…”, she thinks to herself. She spies a flier asking for help on the door and decides to start working there the next day.
Cafe Bonheur, though appearing to be a normal cafe, has rather unique employees. Ichiro-kun falls asleep when he is hungry and must be awakened by putting food in his mouth. While awake, he is a slacker and a bit intimidating. Shindo-kun, wearing only dour expressions, is very scary and has a curt attitude even with customers. Uru is confused how these two could have produced the incredible happiness she had witnessed in the departing customers, until she witnesses an act of kindness from Shindo and spies on him while he makes his cakes and pastries. Uru, too, is unique. She looks like a middle-schooler and possesses herculean strength, which also causes havoc with breakable things like dishes, cups, glasses and doors.
She doesn’t know if she will be able to survive her slightly scary co-workers, friendly customers and her own strength, but she is giving it her all. Perhaps she can succeed in making someone happy, but right now she has her doubts.
When I glanced at Happy Cafe when it fell into my hands, I recognised the cover from a series of books I would pick up and put back down at the Japanese bookstore. Curious, I read the first couple pages. Before I was really aware of it, I had fallen easily into the story.
As others have pointed out on other websites, the story is rather simple and without the interesting points of a grumpy, dour, scary pastry chef, a narcoleptic-ish, lazy, slightly scary alternate employee, and a strange little girl with super strength, it might even be average and boring.
However these unique characteristics make it a story I can and do enjoy. I was beginning to feel my former statements regarding liking only unique shojo was starting to become false, so as a check I read a ‘regular’ romantic shojo manga and became bored and just put the manga down. When I picked this one up a while later, I was immediately pulled in. I think I will continue to claim only unique shojo.
The first book contain five chapters, each one a new adventure as is common in episodic series. Through each story we learn more about our heroine, and I think I am not giving much away when I say we also learn more about her mysteriously scary co-workers as well. She gets the job, how else can we talk about the cafe? The fun part is HOW she keeps it.
I have to admit, I don’t really see a romance yet. There is a super hot guy and blushing and moments of weakness, but it feels more like the beginning of friendship. I can’t wait to see how the series evolves these characters and I look forward to the English translations.
In the meantime, I think I will run off to my local Japanese bookstore and grab a couple issues in Japanese and see what I can read.
Recommendations: Its a fun read. I think that it would be good for people who have problems reading as the wording is easy and the story flows well with the art. If I was stocking this in my bookstore, it would be labeled in that mysterious area between pre-teen and teen. I might’ve actually read this when I was in grade school had it existed at that time. It is fluff. Better readers out there might like it for its fast read and open art. If you are serious about your romance and your artwork, you may not be so entertained.
I am a fan of some fictional characters on Facebook. Its quite fun and occasionally something interesting is encountered. This time it is a customizable movie… talking about a hero.
Well…. I had to make my own customization, say hello to the hero of our world: Light Yagami
I wanted to write a few random things, so I just collected them and put them in this one post…. maybe it would be better to separate the topics, but they kinda flow, ya know? Anyhow, enjoy!
What do you think of this Cuppa Cocoa? I am planning on adding it to my blog theme. There are a few good ‘Desktop’ themes and I do enjoy them for a quick change and post, but I am not completely satisfied. I decided to do my own objects and then make my own desktop, at the very least to skin an already made theme. This was my first project. I wanted to make it coffee, but someone said it looked more like chocolate, so I added marshmallows. It tuened out really fun. You can see details at the deviantArt page.
Recently Google BUZZ is buzzing. A friend of mine, actually you might know her, Enna Stein. Recently self-published an hilarious book called “The Shallow Girl’s Guide to Reheating Leftovers” and continually promises to do a guest post on my blog (Hi Enna!). Anyhow, Enna is following me on HER buzz and she notices my most recent Flickr upload: Balloon Flower Corsage. She immediately IMs me that she totally wants one. Of course, I tell her Read more…
Posted by niaskywalk on Jan 25, 2010 in Comics, Media
Otomen by Aya Kanno
Published by Hakusensha/Hana to Yume
Serialized in Betsuhana
2006- Present, up to 9 volumes with new chapters every month
Demographic: Shojo
I am not a fan of Shojo, I don’t run out to buy the next newest romance as they are published and I certainly don’t go for the typical stories. When I get my shojo, there is something unique about it. Before this particular manga, you might not have heard me admit to reading shojo, with the exception of Fruits Basket. Why is this manga different from the other shojo? It isn’t typical drama.
Asuka Masamune is the greatest jock at his school. Every sport he participates in he excels, he is a manly man and the apple of every girl’s eye, the hero glint in every guy’s fervor…What would they all think if they discovered that he liked shojo (manga geared toward young ladies), cleaning, cooking, arts/crafts and was afraid of scary places and the dark?
When Asuka was young, his father ran away from home because he wanted to become a woman. His mother, afraid Asuka would do the same thing, began coming down hard on his girly ways. Asuka packed up his stuffed animals and cute things and began becoming a manly man. While in High School, while his mother is away, he cooks and cleans for himself and makes sure everything is spotless. When he discovers his mother is coming home, he quickly roughs up the place and creates an artistic manly mess… which reassures his mother.
One day, Asuka is confronted by Juto, a classmate. He claims he’s been watching Asuka for a while now and promises not to tell if he lets him hang around. When Asuka falls for Ryo, a girl who is oddly masculine in demeanor, Juta enthusiastically encourages the romance. Meanwhile, Juta is secretly taking all the scenes and writing his wildly popular new manga–Love Chick–under a well-known nom-de-plume. As it so happens, Asuka is a huge fan of Love Chick… who’s main character is a girl named Asuka who wants to have a romance with a guy named Ryo. .. and he remains clueless.
Hilarity and obfuscation ensues. As Asuka gets more comfortable around Juta and Ryo, he begins to slip and soon his secret is slowing being revealed….
Ok, do you see why I find it interesting? Well, mebbe not. This could be construed as a ‘typical shojo’, but there is enough goofiness, silliness, and just randomness to keep it fun. Every few chapters Asuka lets his girly nature loose at an odd time, depressing himself and someone who depends on him, only to redeem himself with his manly reflexes or abilities.
Here’s an example: Ryo asks Asuka to help at a daycare where she volunteers. He comes in and plays ‘manly’ games with all the children, who end up getting bored, until he takes the eggs Ryo was serving as the snack and makes a lovely board for the children. When they all leaves, one boy remains behind who has ruined a doll display. Asuka shows the boy how to make new dolls with the egg shells and they enjoy their time, but the boy insists that Asuka isn’t a man. The next day the boy has a fit when the other kids go to play with egg dolls, as he is having his fit, he accidentally throws a doll out the window then jumps after it to save it. Without a thought Asuka jumps out after him, rescuing him in a ‘manly’ style. It is amusing, the boy later calls Ryo his papa and Asuka his mama.
I am half reading the stories in Japanese and half in scanlation… though the first volume I read was in English. I ran across the series after I was introduced to Vampire Knight via a cosplay performance by Alone Together at a Kinokuniya Bryant Park event. I was deciding that perhaps I would give shojo a try and this one seems to shown me that all shojo isn’t just drama and soap.
I picked up a magazine this weekend and found that there was an announcement for a live-action drama based on this series that was to begin in August 2009. That would be interesting to watch! I’d love to see how they portray the characters.
This week I’ve been watching Last Exile. Originally, I ran across it via an AMV I saw at NYAF 2008 and finally I got around to raising it in my Netflix queue.
In my opinion, the story started out slow. It’s about two vanship partners. A vanship is a sort of airplane. Claus is the pilot and Lavie, his best friend from forever, is the navigator. We follow them around learning about the world they live in. It is science fiction fantasy and steampunk-ish. The art is beautiful, but the story doesn’t really pick up until the team encounters the Silvana, a non-Guild ship roaming the skies, and its Captain, Alex Rowe. The two get pulled in the war that is happening in the skies.
After a while it feels like a World War II anime, though it is obviously not. If the fuel called “Claudia” didn’t give it away, or the fact that there are no props on the ‘planes’ didn’t hint at it, they are in fact on a different planet than the one we know. Where our heroes have been living, they have to live on filthy water and any amount of clean water is extremely valuable. As a matter of fact, at one point they go to a floating tavern at one point and try to buy a pint of water and nearly fall over at the cost of the freshest and cleanest in the world.
Lady Delphine, the Maestro of the Guild, the people who control almost all flight in the world, lowers herself to chase down her brother, who all this time has been hiding on the Silvana because of his obsession with Claus’ flying ability. By the time we are finally brought into Lady Delphine’s world, we are well aware of the difficulties of being a land dweller, and the unique problems of being land dwellers who desire to fly. When she brings her brother ‘home’, she invites Claus and he learns how she and the Guild live.
I have been thinking about it and the theme song keeps playing in my head, so I thought I would share. For those who can’t or won’t play the widget, one of the first things you hear on this is the sound of bagpipes, and then it goes into song, mostly Japanese but with English thrown in off course. The TV version is shorter, but I think I like this version better.
I am learning Japanese at the moment. Japanese has a lot of formalities and politeness. It’s true that other languages also have formal or polite forms, but it seems like it is very easy to offend in Japanese. I was listening to a lesson on polite Japanese and I remembered an encounter I had this week when I was talking with another teacher at the Japanese Language Center. I was offering him New Year’s Greetings, which I had learned only an hour before. “Agemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu! Kotoshi yoroshiku onegaishimasu!”
あげまして おめでとう ございます！ことし よろしく おねがいします！
I was being formal-ish in speech so he indicated I should say the whole greeting… which I really mangled and skewed. A classmate hit me and told me to try it again. When I finally finished the phrase, this time correctly, we laughed and joked about it.
While I was listening to the lesson, I realised only a teacher or a classmate or a close friend would excuse such mistakes. In Japan, first impressions are everything, so if you want to make good first impressions, practice with a teacher who can correct you before you offend accidentally.
All right, I have heard that people didn’t like the Metallica Guitar Hero, but I was making a concerted effort to try as many Guitar Hero games as possible while I was with GameFly. I have discovered a few things: Guitar Hero improved considerably since its first inception, I really like GH2 and 80s as well as GH3, Guitar Hero Metallica is AWESOME!
Yes, you heard me. I really like Guitar Hero Metallica for PS2…. except the fact that it doesn’t recognise my songstar microphones.
Posted by niaskywalk on Dec 28, 2009 in Books, Media
I was going through some notes and thought I would take the time to note the books I have bought to learn Japanese over the last couple years. My official Japanese school books at the point are the Minna no Nihongo series released by 3A Corporation, but they aren’t the only books helping me to learn:
Writing Hiragana: An Introductory Japanese Language Workbook by Jim Gleeson (Tuttle) ~ Excellent for repetition of the Hiragana plus some words, sentences and phrases.
Writing Katakana: An Introductory Japanese Language Workbook by Jim Gleeson (Tuttle) ~ Katakana is the script used for foreign words and emphasis. This is also a great book for repetition of the characters. Plus words, phrases and locations.
The First 100 Japanese Kanji: The quick and easy way to learn the basic Japanese Kanji by Eriko Sato Ph.D. (Tuttle) ~ I am currently using this to supplement the assigned Kanji in class. This is not as great as the kana books, but still awesome for the repetitiveness.
Minna no Nihongo book 1 (3A Corporation) ~ School Books, very conversational, some translations leave a little to be desired, but overall a fun and informative series in the classroom.
Minna no Nihongo book 2 (3A Corporation) ~ School Books, see above.
Write Now! Kanji for Beginners (3A Corporation) ~ From the company the does my schoolbooks. It doesn’t coincide with the lessons, but it is a nice book. It lists a certain amount of kanji in each lesson and by the end of the chapter you are that many more kanji richer in knowledge. As the name suggests, it gets you writing and reading kanji immediately.
Kana de Manga by Glenn Kardy and Chihiro Hattori (Manga University) ~ a simple book, fun, but essentially I found it useless. The book comes with the kana, Hiragana on one page, Katakana for the same sound on the other, a little bit of information and a pronounciation guide plus a few squares for practice. the back of the small book has more blank pages. For someone who learns well and quickly this is great, for me not so much.
Kanji de Manga vol. 1 by Glenn Kardy and Chihiro Hattori (Manga University) ~ I like the book, it has some cute scenes and explanations in it, but until I was actually taking a class, listening to a podcast and playing a video game all teaching me, I couldn’t understand what it was telling me. Again if you learn quickly and well, a quick explanation that is not in the book would make this series awesome for you.
Title: The Way of the Warrior
Dairy Dreamer
Kosherporkchops
MediumAtLarge.net