Mitsuhisa Tamura

Originally posted here at Anime Radius.

This just might be the best volume of Bakegyamon to date. Sure, it opens as a typical volume of the manga - cryptic comments from Neid about the games, then another fluff match between a character we already know and a character we haven't met yet, usually to show us more about why the former character is in the backwards games in the first place. But then we reach the match between Sanshiro and Yukinoshin in the semi-finals, and the entire formula goes out the window. The arrival of geki fu monster, Enzan, shakes up most preconceived notions of what geki fu monsters are; he is a god of the earth and sun trapped in a card, distrustful of all humans for what they've done to the planet during their life spans. He forms an unlikely alliance with Sanshiro over the fact that both of them want the backwards games to end because of what they do to innocent monsters. And then, when Sanshiro fights the Bronze Demon Mask, is when the proverbial mess hits the fan, and everything you ever wanted to know about the backwards games spills out into the open: why they were formed; who started them; why it involves trapping monsters into playing cards - and more.

Other than the revealing info-dump spread out over half the book, another thing volume four of Bakegyamon has going for it is the action. From cover to cover, it barely takes a break. Even the conversation between Sanshiro and Enzan over his origins feels dramatic without actually going anywhere. Which is not to say the entire book is a giant battle royal; some of Tamura's screwball comedic style manages to slip in between the more exciting moments, aided by Sanshiro's typically goofy facial expressions. But overall, Bakegyamon volume four is a slam dunk of a volume - and considering it's also the second-to-last in the series, it promises that the series finale will be just as explosive (if not more) than all the volumes before it. Sure, at its heart, Bakegyamon is a children's manga about young people playing games using monsters inside playing cards, but for those readers who have followed the series up until its very end and have seen Tamura slowly strip away the adolescent wrappings of the original story to reveal the flawed heart of the game itself know better. It's an all ages manga that has the power to satisfy readers young and old, and that is something not a lot of series can attest to doing - but Bakegyamon can.
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Originally posted here at Anime Radius.

It’s hard to believe that Bakegyamon is over, but it is, and fans of the series will not be disappointed at its conclusion. It has everything that made the series so remarkable and so enjoyable since it started, that gallimaufry of vibrantly laid out action scenes and dramatic tension alongside moments of humor and warmth illustrated through Mitsuhisa Tamura's vividly classic shonen art style. Every page leading up to the main finale is not wasted. Some might call putting the Great Escape challenge in the middle of the volume a misstep, but it's actually quite a good move on Tamura's part, a big reminder that while Sanshiro was away, the backwards games were still going on, and that despite his return nothing has changed. A little depressing if you think about it, but that's how it is.

The best thing about the series finale of Bakegyamon is that no one is forgotten. All of the players alongside Sanshiro come back in some part, and although everyone might not play as big a part as characters like London or Sayaka, the fact that the manga-ka even remembered to bring them back in any capacity given the size of the cast is pretty admirable of him. Of course, the main star of the series is Sanshiro, and it is in this volume that he officially becomes the shonen hero of the series by making all the tough decisions and putting everything on the line to do the right thing: saving his friends and releasing the monsters captured and turned into cards by Neid and Demon Mask. In turn, Demon Mask's own character is put on the line, as we get some vital looks into his own aspirations for being the Bakegyamon champion forever. His inner motivations may seem a bit saccharine in flavor, but set against the rest of the series it makes so much sense. After all, Bakegyamon is about figuring out who you are through your own adventures in the outside world. As Sanshiro gets away from his isolated island background and meets more and more people, the true selves of all the competitors come to light in ways that never would have happened in isolation. Demon Mask, as the villain, is the figure in isolation that doesn't grow as a person because he refuses to interact with others except to fight them. In the end, everyone wants to not be alone, but they all go about it in different ways and it is Sanshiro's way that wins over Demon Mask's: greeting each day with an open heart and each person as a potential friend. For a manga targeted at young children, that's not a bad message to end on.

At the end of the day, Bakegyamon is the kind of shonen manga I'd give to anyone and expect them to enjoy it: the shonen fan; the non-shonen fan; the hesitant reader; the young manga reader; the older manga reader; anyone. Everyone can read this series and get something out of it; it just so happens that something is really awesome. In five volumes, Tamura created a world of puzzles and mischief, and then slowly pulled the kiddy veneer off to reveal its true nature, one with a slightly sinister edge. She gave us a hero in the form of Sanshiro, a hero that contained spirit and bravery and some naivety who wasn't afraid to fight for what he believed in or to make friends with total strangers. His innocence about the backwards games became our innocence; his shock over the real reason for the geki fu cards became our own shock. And let's be honest, if you were walking along a park path and Kimidori and Sanshiro came along and invited you to play games with them, who wouldn't go with them? I certainly would. If that is not a testament to how wonderful Bakegyamon is.

(Now Viz, how about licensing Mitsuhisa Tamura's other work, Yellow Dragon ga Arawareta? It's only two volumes and I'd buy both no matter what. Just saying!)
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Originally posted here at Anime Radius.

Ah, volume three. The smack-dab-in-the-middle volume for Bakegyamon (you can read the reviews of previous volumes here and here) and the games are really ramping up for Sanshiro and his fellow contestants. The pushing bun games, which at first glance seemed awfully silly even for this manga, has taken on some seriously sinister hues; the stakes have been raised and from now on, being pushed out of the arena literally means death for both the contestant and his geki fu partner. One thing is for sure: this is definitely not a children's game anymore. As the games get more serious, so do the players, and they start taking desperate measures to advance above the others and reach the top. All the while, our personal moral barometer Sanshiro struggles to both advance through the Tokyo Tower battlefield of Backwards Japan while keeping his fellow contestants and geki fu monsters from being knocked out.

One of the driving forces so far in Bakegyamon is one that has separated Sanshiro from a lot of other protagonists in the same genre: he cares about the monsters he has to use to play the games. In effect, this puts Sanshiro against the entire backwards game system, which only regards the geki fu as tools in the games and not living creatures with feelings and agendas. Sanshiro is part of the small percentage of players who care about their geki fu partners; the others just use them at will and don't think too much about them. This is illustrated in the match between Sanshiro and Toru, who clearly and callously uses his geki fu monster to its breaking point without a single care for its safety. As the games progress, we can see the geki fu monsters slowly form personalities through their matches. We met Sanshiro's dorokozo friends already and they were friendly and excitable and extremely loyal. Now we meet Inoshiji, the boar monster who is super strong and has super hearing - and is also terribly afraid of heights, our first monster with a clear set of fears. We also meet in this volume the geki fu monster Hitosuki, who still holds a grudge against Mick from a previous fight and scares him into surrendering his match. The more geki fu monsters we meet, the more we see they are more than just monsters - they are creatures with distinct personalities slowly emerging with each match, which only proves Sanshiro's point that they should be treated with respect. Hopefully, they will take up a greater role in the next two volumes, especially as Sanshiro progresses through the tournament.

Another thing that is progressing nicely is the art; Mitsuhisa Tamura's artwork is improving with each volume, and it becomes much more notable in volume three, especially during the more action-orientated scenes. I particularly love how expressive Sanshiro has become in the series so far - he makes the best faces of surprise and shock, especially in the face of Mick's devious antics (who has taken to disguising himself with a ridiculous hat, cape, and moustache combo). Along with better art, there are also better battle scenes; the fights between contestants have become more and more intense and the perils for Sanshiro and his friend has gone from bad to life-threatening, especially after the fights move to the Tokyo Tower, where a fall from any of the platforms can kill a person. Consequently, as the fights become more intense the contestants get more desperate to win - from the odd (Rick greasing up the platform) to the dangerous (Toru attacking Sanshiro directly with his geki fu partner). The fight scenes which were once much more comedic in nature have become more shonen-flavored and much more interesting to read - and there's no sign of these scenes slowing down or decreasing in appearance any time soon.

Right now, the Bakegyamon series has been focused on the action as well as the parallels between the humans and the geki fu monsters; the mystery of the game itself has been quietly building up in the background waiting for some decent exposure. As Sanshiro advances through the stages of the Tokyo Tower tournament, it's clear that we'll see more and more of how the game works and more importantly why the game exists in the first place. What is the trickster host Neid's master plan? What does his devious servant Fue have to do with Sanshiro's being in the backwards game? I'm certainly looking forward to how the games play out - and more of Sanshiro's bright-eyed energetic antics, of course!
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Originally posted here at Anime Radius.

The shonen series Bakegyamon has entered its second volume and as the games get weirder and trickier, we see more and more of the people that have been pulled into the backwards games as well as the behind the scenes happenings on what made the backwards games possible. The emphasis is kept mostly on the games, but the deeper Sanshiro gets into Backwards Japan, the more he learns about his fellow competitors and how everything started in the first place. It is also a very pivotal volume as this is the book where Sanshiro gets a purpose: to save the monsters of the geki fu cards that have become his friends over the previous games. Up until that point, Sanshiro had been a very unconventional shonen hero compared to his contemporaries because he did not have a clear cut mission except to go on adventures. Compare that to either Naruto or One Piece, in which from day one we as an audience knew what the main protagonist's intentions were, whether they be to become the king of the pirates or become Hokage (which eventually shifted into saving Sasuke and stopping war from breaking out between nations). Now that Sanshiro has a solid goal, Bakegyamon now has an actual narrative path that isn't just reaching the end of the backwards games - it will be up to the following volumes to illustrate Sanshiro's newest resolve.

Sanshiro's newfound goal comes at a heavy price; he learns the truth about the geki fu cards and this revelation obviously weighs heavily on his heart as he decides what his wish will be when he wins. Suddenly, the backwards games don't seem as cute and silly as they do before, and the trickster Neid seems more sinister than before. For a children's manga, this is an unexpected turn in plot development; you have to wonder what would happen if similarly designed series like Pokemon took the same turn on the true nature of its numerous creature-filled cast. By showing that the monsters of the geki fu cards certainly did not come into the backwards game by choice, and that these actions helped draw in vulnerable children into the games, Bakegyamon's world seems more shadowier and suspect than before. How this will ultimately play out is not clear but it is obvious that Sanshiro will not give up on his promise to the geki fu creatures or to the young girl who lost her best friend to the backwards game.

As the games of Bakegyamon continue, readers get a more in-depth look into the children who have been gathered to participate in the backward games, from the monster-friendly Sayaka to the sneaky weasel Mick among others. In the chapter before the traffic game begins, we see glimpses of why these children were chosen in the first place; most of them are clever and talented in their own way which makes them likely candidates to win the final game. We know already why Sanshiro was chosen, although the specifics of why and what people like Neid and Fue have for him are unclear at the moment, but now we can see into the mindset of the people taken from their homes and put into the backward world. Not only does this illustrate the qualities of the children chosen to play, it also illustrates Sanshiro's own personal view of the world. For someone who has lived on a remote island all of his life, Sanshiro has only known the same people up until the appearance of Fue, in which he met the other children from all over the world. As the scope of the series expands, so does Sanshiro's own views of the world that he hasn't been able to see until now.

This series so far has put the emphasis on the children and the backwards games, although the focus is slowly shifting to the geki fu cards they use to play Neid's games. Even so, Bakegyamon succeeds at being a fast-paced and interesting manga of the shonen genre, defying the usual expectations of a children's series by being consistently entertaining and a delight to read. Considering its rise in storytelling quality, I expect the third book of this series will be just as good if not better.
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