6 Manga that Twist Western Culture in Strange Ways

Alice in the Country of Hearts, by QuinRose
A reverse-harem remix of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Alice in the Country of Hearts could as easily have been titled Alice in the Country of Hot Guys, or, more accurately, Alice in the Country of Hot, Vaguely Creepy Guys Who Are Armed to the Teeth. The story kicks off with the White Rabbit, now a bespectacled young man, kidnapping Alice and bringing her to Wonderland, which consists of three warring territories: the Queen of Hearts’ castle, an amusement park, and an area controlled by organized crime. To escape, Alice must replenish the liquid in a crystal vial by interacting with the natives. The story originated with a dating-sim game in which a female protagonist is surrounded by men vying for her affections. That can be boring in the wrong hands (I once read a manga that devoted an entire chapter to hot guys stapling papers for a high school project), but Alice in the Country of Hearts does it right, with memorable characters and a decent plot. In fact, the franchise is so popular that it has spun off numerous side stories, including Alice in the Country of Clover: The March Hare’s Revolution, out next month.

Emma, by Kaoru Mori
With its extremes of wealth and squalor, its genteel drawing rooms and reeking slums, Victorian England has been popular setting for manga, from Mizue Tani’s charming The Earl and the Fairy to Kaori Yuki’s Godchild. Kaoru Mori’s Emma isn’t just set in Victorian England, it’s about Victorian England. Her tale of the romance between Emma, a quiet maid, and William, the scion of a wealthy merchant family, takes place in a richly detailed world that includes trips to the opera and the Crystal Palace, tea parties in the garden, carriage and train rides, and stark contrasts between lives lived upstairs and down. At times it borders on haberdashery porn, as Mori lingers lovingly on the details of cufflinks and desk accessories, but she also depicts the social life and mores of the time. Originally published by D.C.’s manga imprint CMX in 2007, Yen Press is bringing it back in a new edition starting in May.

Batmanga, by Jiro Kuwata
Jiro Kuwata’s Batmanga is a trip through the Uncanny Valley for old-school Batman fans. It’s similar to American Batman comics from the 1960s (when it was published), but like clans that grow up on neighboring islands, the American and Japanese versions evolved in different directions. Kuwata’s Batman and Robin look pretty much like their American counterparts, except that they have long, tapered limbs and move more gracefully, but everyone else is distinctly off-model. The villains are similar in spirit to those in classic Batman, but they aren’t as campy as the Joker and the Penguin. Instead, we have the Human Ball, who has developed a special suit that allows him to bounce off anything; a scar-faced criminal on a seemingly mad quest to destroy beauty everywhere; and a scientist who has developed a machine that allows him to absorb a gorilla’s strength—but also transfers his intelligence to the gorilla, which proceeds to go on a revenge-based animal-rights campaign. What really makes this manga sing are the action scenes, drawn with lines and curves that elegantly describe the characters’ trajectories through space. There’s a beautiful simplicity to Kuwata’s art, and he composes each page carefully, so the eye flows easily from frame to frame. (For more on the history of this manga, and a look at some of the contemporary licensed products, check out Chip Kidd’s Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan.)

Thermae Romae, by Mari Yamazaki
Mari Yamazaki is crazy about public baths and ancient Rome, and she combines her two obsessions in this time-travel comedy about a Roman bath designer, Lucius, who keeps getting whisked away to bathhouses in present-day Japan. Each time he returns to the past, he tries to replicate what he has seen, from broad concepts like outdoor bathing areas to minutiae like those rings that keep water from getting in your eyes when you wash your hair. Yamazaki mixes real historical figures into her story (Lucius is buddies with the Emperor Hadrian) and draws in an unusual, quasi-classical style that looks like something from a 19th-century book about ancient Rome. For the non-Japanese reader, this is also a fascinating peek into Japanese bathrooms and bathing customs.

Drops of God, by Tadashi Agi
Is this manga from the north side of the bookstore? Drops of God is basically a battle manga in which the skill being tested is wine tasting: instead of mechs, swords, or fists of death, we get subtle flavor notes and discussions of terroir. The setup is very manga: Famed wine critic Yutaka Kanzaki dies, leaving his valuable collection of wines to his estranged son Shizuku. But there’s a catch—in order keep it, Shizuku must track down and describe 13 specific wines: the “Twelve Apostles” plus the extra-special “Drops of God.” This is a stretch, because not only does Shizuku not drink wine, he has never even tasted it. To make things more interesting, he is competing against his father’s protege, wine critic Issei Tomine, whom Yutaka adopted shortly before his death. The manga is a stylishly drawn soap opera that pauses periodically for earnest descriptions of French and American wines, and it has been cited for contributing to the popularity of certain wines in Japan and South Korea.

Midnight Secretary, by Tomu Ohmi
Most manga vampires are obvious descendants of Bram Stoker’s Dracula: dark, vaguely aristocratic guys who feed on blood and can’t handle sunlight. Some are tortured souls; others kick ass. Tomu Ohmi’s Midnight Secretary moves the vampire-romance genre into a corporate setting: Kaya Satozuka takes her job as a secretary for a large company seriously. She’s all business, pulling her hair into a tight bun and wearing glasses she doesn’t need to make herself look older. She’s also very good at what she does, and when she’s assigned to serve as secretary to the womanizing company director, Kyohei Tohma, it’s great fun to watch her quickly learn the ropes of the new position— especially once she figures out he’s a vampire, and her duties expand to providing the occasional meal. There’s a saucy adult twist to the tale—a woman’s blood tastes best when she is, er, in ecstasy, and the biting helps to bring that on. Kaya tries to keep the meal service strictly business, but we know that ain’t gonna last.