One nice thing about the cold and rain (at least here in Portland) is that it gives you a great excuse to stay in and read, watch movies and play video games.

Right now I am handcuffed to my computer as part of a very exciting project (at least to me, and I hope to you) which I can and will give more details about when it is complete in complete. It'll be a few weeks, but I think you'll enjoy it.

But I have gotten to enjoy a few things here and there...

It isn't new, but the very first book in the Hino Horror collection, The Red Snake, is a horrific tale. I like Hideshi Hino because his horror hits at so many levels. From the gory to the psychological to the just plain icky, Hino's work cuts the genre laterally and I would dare anyone who doesn't have a reaction to these seemingly semi-autobiographical works to check for a pulse. Don't let the art-deco cover fool you, this is coming from a criminal mind.

I have just started reading The Hunter by Asa Nonami, which is the first in a series of Kay Scarpetta style female detective novels, and the first translated into English. I am only about 50 pages in, and don't usually beam about books I haven't finished yet, but this is a great read, at least so far. With a compelling murder (hint: the murder weapon is... oh I can't say, it's too good to reveal) on top of a fascinating main character in Takako Otomichi the formula for a great crime drama is set. On top of that, this is a female detective in Tokyo, and for this high-profile crime she is teamed up with a Japanese good-old-boy who sees female detectives more as decoration than anything else. This is very different than an American crime novel in that respect, as how Takako approaches her dilemma is very Japanese... but will it be successful?

I'll have the Feb. column up when the March issue comes out... should be in about 10 days.

All Aboard This Special Train

TRAIN+TRAIN: Volume 1
Story by Hideyuki Kurata
Art by Tomomasa Takuma

There is something exciting about cracking open a first volume of a new series. It's a clean slate with new characters to meet, new art to enjoy, and a new story to get sucked into.

With the nature of these books, often a collection of serialized chapters that appeared over a certain number of weeks or months in manga magazines like Shonen Jump, authors take different approaches in kick starting the story. Some introduce a wealth of background info, character profiles, and the information necessary to get the story rolling. However, sometimes the author takes the opposite approach, and uses the opening chapters to just kind of show off (maybe the artist has a hand in that). Like the pre-title scene in sci-fi movies, what not take your time to have fun with the opening, before you get bogged down with story and plot progression? (The opening chapter of Banya: The Explosive Delivery Man is a great example of this.)

TRAIN+TRAIN does this as well, and meets with great success. Like Penguin Revolutions, I didn't really expect to like this title, but I am starting to learn not to judge a book by its title, much less cover. TRAIN+TRAIN is a well-conceived story is a universe that feels complex and complete.

We begin by meeting Reiichi and Liae, two new high school students on a ship scheduled to land on the planet of Deloca so they can board their school train. Deloca hosts the school trains, which travel the world giving an education to their young passengers over the course of a year. At the crowded Central Station they see a real live Winzbeel, a kind of cross between a human and wolf race. The attention these "country bumpkins" bring to the large and intimidating creature is insulting, and an argument and fight ensues. Enter Arena, a young runaway, willing to fight for food, also on course to ride the school train. But Arena wants to ride the Special Train, not the Normal Train that Liae and Reiichi plan on boarding.

This first several chapters read almost in real time, and are fast-paced and rather funny. Arena and Liae are almost polar opposites, and jealous Liae does not like the attention Reiichi gets from Arena, especially after a funny twist of fate forces them to be handcuffed together for a period of time. It's only near the end of the book that the train is boarded, and the real kooks reveal themselves.

TRAIN+TRAIN is drawn dynamically by Tomomasa Takuma (who also does anime and video game work), and he creates a nicely detailed world for our characters to run around in.

Now that the train is out of the station, only time will tell if its worth the trip, but if this first volume is any indication, I'd get a reservation for this ride.

Hello all!

The Feruary issue of The Yuuyake Shimbun just came out, so for Northwest residents, try and hunt it down (Japanese restaurants, bookstores, markets, etc. tend to be good places to look).

I'll have some more updates for you in the next couple days, including a Train+Train review and some other treats.

In the meantime, here is last month's column...