“Chrono Crusade” (Vol. 1–8), written and illustrated by Daisuke Moriyama

172–231 pages, ADV Manga, ISBN-13: 978-1413900842 (Volume 1); ISBN-13: 978-1413901047 (Volume 2); ISBN-13: 978-1413900453 (Volume 3); ISBN-13: 978-1413902396 (Volume 4); ISBN-13: 978-1413902730 (Volume 5); ISBN-13: 978-1413903096 (Volume 6); ISBN-13: 978-1413903393 (Volume 7); ISBN-13: 978-1413903430 (Volume 8)

When people think of Shōnen manga they will undoubtedly think of stories that follow the typical format of Never Give Up! and Believe In Your Friends! with the main characters in these tales perhaps gaining various abilities along the way that make them stronger or more powerful, or gathering a bevy of beauties, each of whom have some illogical desire to be with the dweeb-of-a-main-character. There are, however, a few titles that attempt to do something a little different, such as this one: Chrono Crusade, an eight-volume series written and illustrated by Daisuke Moriyama that, at first glance, may appear to be nothing more than just another super-powered feature for teen girls…but looks can be deceiving...

One of the biggest criticisms that I have read is that there is simply too much going on, a not unfair argument as the tale does indeed pack a lot into its 57 chapters. The series incorporates a lot of religious symbolism and mixes it with action, demons, romance, some science fiction, magic and…aliens. You read that correctly; for some reason Moriyama included aliens, but with all that said the disparate threads actually work rather well together. While there really is a lot going on, each aspect of the plot plays a role within the story and nothing feels like it was simply tacked on because the author ran out of ideas. Even the aliens are nothing more than an explanatory note rather than the main focus of the story, which brings up a rather interesting point: if anything, Chrono Crusade is something of a triumph for Moriyama as very few Shōnen tales are able to move the plot forward during action sequences. While there is plenty of combat throughout the story, there is always the feeling that the characters are unwilling participants at best, and it’s because of this slightly off-kilter approach that Moriyama is able to progress with the story even while the characters are fighting, and without resorting to long winded diatribes.

The artwork throughout the manga is pretty good on the whole, with nicely detailed settings and many signs of 1920s America (clothing, cars, buildings, etc) on display; however, there is a certain generic quality to the character design which is reflective of the Shōnen nature of the story. One of the problems with this is that it may dissuade potential readers who are looking for something a little different to the norm, however it should be pointed out that while the characters themselves may not look like anything particularly fresh or different, they do display a good degree of visual expression, which one could argue that this is much the same for almost every Shōnen story. Probably the biggest surprise in Chrono Crusade is the depth of the two lead characters: both Rosette and Chrono have justified reasons for the paths they follow throughout the story, but this is further supported by the other characters as well. In addition to this, the pair share a history that predates the manga’s storyline, and their close relationship is apparent from the very first chapter. What is surprising is that both characters don’t really develop in the normal sense, but instead seem to extend their characterizations, with each becoming more defined as the plot develops.

Yes, there’s plenty of action, and the story plays fast and loose with religious symbols at times, but in amongst all of the hijinks lies a strangely captivating tale that has a heart. It drives many of the characters and it’s surprising to find the theme works extremely well in what is effectively a super powered Shōnen tale. No matter what one thinks of the story itself, Moriyama deserves praise for trying to do something different from the norm, especially at a time when the industry was very resistant to new ideas and approaches, and even now there are few Shōnen anime and manga that try to go off the beaten track.

“Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers of Imperial China”, by Ann Paludan

224 pages, Thames & Hudson, ISBN-13: 978-0500050903

I must really have a thing for these “Chronicle” books, seeing as Ann Paludan’s Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers of Imperial China is the fourth of these things that I have done so for (the others being Chronicle of the Roman Republic, Chronicle of the Roman Emperors and Chronicle of the Russian Tsars…in case you were wondering, as you no doubt were). Perhaps it is for that reason that I find myself somewhat disappointed by this entry in the series. Perhaps it has to do with the complexity of the subject matter and the politics of the Chinese Imperial Court itself, but I found the book jumping from reign to reign describing many of the emperors with only a sentence or two. Furthermore, it seemed like the book spent more time talking about the other players in court life rather than the emperor himself. Ah, well: given the dearth of good English language books on Chinese history that are meant for the general public, it is refreshing to find a book tackling this area; however, it is all but impossible to cover all of the emperors of China in her 3,000 years of history in just over 200 pages, so this book is really only suitable as an introduction, as are all of these “Chronicle” books.

My final complaint with the book is that it would talk about other players in court life or politics without introducing them or putting their role in context: for example, the book often says something such as “following the death of Emperor X, Mr. Y was able to place the infant son of so-and-so on the throne where thereafter Mr. Y dominated Chinese government for the next 50 years”, but then say nothing more about the emperor or Mr. Y and the book would just jump to the next emperor. I can understand that it is beyond the scope of the book, but over and over the author points out that often the power behind the throne was a woman but then never really describes the woman or how she came to exert such influence. Overall I enjoyed the book very much, but the text seemed to raise many questions and skip around. As a result, after I finished the book I felt I knew less about the Chinese Emperors than I did the Roman Emperors or Russian Tsars after reading those books. In spite of the faults I found with the book, it was still an enjoyable book to read and the pictures were interesting.

“Tales of the Old World”, edited by Marc Gascoigne and Christian Dunn

768 pages, The Black Library, ISBN-13: 978-1844164523

Tales of the Old World, edited by Marc Gascoigne and Christian Dunn, is a collection of thirty-six short stories set in Games Workshops’ Fantasy Warhammer setting. While I really dig the Warhammer 40K universe, the original Warhammer thing just doesn’t move me as much. It could be that I’m still enamored of the old D&D franchise from eons back (I still remember the old starter set my brother Rob bought for my brother Tom ages ago…now THAT’S fantasy wargaming, damint!). Perhaps it is also because my expectations of Black Library fantasy publications are not great: the stories vary widely in quality, ranging from badly written hack’n’slash cliché stuff, to some nice tales of mystery, horror, and adventure. The purpose of these stories is to expand the background and nuance of the Warhammer world, but they are also to entertain and, as far as I’m concerned, they’ve mostly succeeded. For that, and for the fact it’s set in a fantasy world many of us have come to know and love, Tales of the Old World on the whole is worth reading. That being said, this collection really contains only two top-tier stories – “Who Mourns a Necromancer” and “Totentanz” – both of which have to them far more philosophical depth than one could expect in a Black Library publication or, indeed, in many highbrow books we see nowadays, dealing as they do with the way life and death interact and in unique manners that leaves the reader with a lot of food for thought (“Totentanz” in particular begins as a humorous satire of fantasy clichés but ends like a black comedy, leaving the reader depressed and bewildered). You should read these two stories, even if you have no interest in the rest of the collection.