Category: doubletake

Rurouni Kenshin 1-6 by Nobuhiro Watsuki: B+

It feels like I last read Rurouni Kenshin eons ago, even though it’s only been five years since the US edition came to an end. The siren call of a potential reread has been increasing in volume lately and finally, I could take it no more. Joined by my friend and fellow Kenshin fan, K, I’m yielding to temptation and diving back in! Over the course of the next month or so, I’ll be reviewing the entire series, starting with the individual volumes and finishing up with the final VIZBIG edition, which contains some bonus material not included in the series’ original run. You can find an archive of both K’s and my Kenshin posts at Triple Take.

To summarize the general premise, during the Bakumatsu era a skilled young swordsman named Himura Kenshin fought on the side of the ishin shishi (pro-Emperor) patriots and earned the nickname hitokiri battōsai (essentially: a manslayer who has mastered the art of battōjutsu) before vanishing and becoming a figure of legend. While many of the ishin shishi eventually took up powerful positions in the new Meiji government, Kenshin was not interested in profiting thus from his actions, since he had fought only with the aim of providing a more peaceful future for Japan’s people. Instead, he becomes an unassuming rurouni (wandering samurai) and wields his sakabatō (a reverse-blade katana nearly incapable of killing) on behalf of those needing his help.

Before commencing this reread, my recollection was that Rurouni Kenshin gets good in volume seven, when one of Kenshin’s old enemies (the awesome Saitō Hajime from the pro-Shogunate Shinsengumi) pays him a visit. It turns out, though, that that’s not exactly true, since the first two volumes are very good.

The story begins in Tokyo during the eleventh year of the Meiji era (1879 or thereabouts). As he travels through the city, Kenshin is accosted by Kamiya Kaoru, the feisty instructor of Kamiya Kasshin-ryÅ« (a school of swordsmanship that emphasizes non-lethal techniques), who is searching for the murderer who has tarnished the name of her school (and driven away its students) by claiming to be one of its devotees. Kenshin helps out, since this fellow is also claiming to be the hitokiri battōsai, and during the course of events, Kaoru discovers some of his violent past. Still, she asks him to stay, saying, “I don’t care who you used to be!” He agrees to stay put a while and moves into the dojo.

Like any good shounen series, our hero needs a band of friends, so volume two sets about fulfilling that requirement. The first addition to the cast is Myōjin Yahiko, an orphaned boy of samurai lineage who has been forced to steal in order to survive. He becomes Kaoru’s first student, and though somewhat obnoxious at first, he matures a lot in a short time, especially after he gets confirmation that all the training is paying off. Next is Sagara Sanosuke, “the fight merchant,” who was once a member of a civilian army that was betrayed by the ishin shishi. He has been hired to fight Kenshin, but realizes the rurouni is different from the other, corrupt patriots and ends up becoming his right-hand man.

In addition, much is made during these first two volumes about the Meiji government not delivering on many of its promises. Watsuki also works on building the relationship between Kenshin and Kaoru, showing the former contentedly helping out with the chores and the latter putting herself at risk when Kenshin is challenged by another former hitokiri simply because she’d rather be in danger than be alone again. It’s significant that when the battle triggers Kenshin’s battōsai mode, Kaoru is the one who prevents him from killing his opponent, for which Kenshin is profoundly grateful.

Volumes three and four are not quite as good, but close. I just can’t summon much interest in Takani Megumi, a woman from a long line of doctors who was coerced into making opium for a greedy industrialist, and she frustrates me by attempting to take her own life after Kenshin and Sanosuke have weathered some tough fights attempting to rescue her. Still, the introduction of Shinomori Aoshi, a former guard of Edo castle who is bitter about not seeing any fighting during the war, is significant, and the fates of his less-able-to-move-on-with-their-lives companions are compelling.

Where the story really sags, though, is in volumes five and six. Watsuki’s sidebars are full of comments like he can’t believe the series is still ongoing, how much work it is, and how certain stories were written “during a period of extreme exhaustion.” I must say that it shows. First, Yahiko defends a young girl named Tsubame against some dudes who are making her an accomplice to a burglary. Then a swordsman tries to recruit Kenshin to the cause of reviving a more lethal version of “the Japanese art of swords.” Lastly, Sano encounters a former comrade from his army days and must decide whether to participate in his anti-government plans. Zzz. Volume six, in particular, was a bit of a slog to get through.

Artistically, Watsuki’s style is attractive, featuring quite a few bishounen characters (somewhat to his apparent dismay, this results in a lot of female fans) as well as bizarre-looking ones. It takes a few volumes for the characters’ looks to settle down, and sometimes the metamorphosis is even faster (Aoshi looks a good bit different even just two chapters after his original appearance, though he’s still immediately recognizable.) One thing I find slightly weird is how often Watsuki openly admits to borrowing character designs from other sources (though in at least one case he specifies that he had the original artist’s permission to do so). Tsubame, for example, appears to be an exact replica of Tomoe Hotaru from Sailor Moon.

So, to sum up… Kenshin starts strong, but gradually falters, culminating in the rather boring volumes five and six. Take heart, though, because if memory serves, volume seven is truly fabulous, and sets off the Kyoto arc, which most Kenshin fans will probably name as their favorite part of the series. I’ll be reviewing the first half of it next time, so watch this space!

Share

Doubletake: J on The Sky is Not the Limit

The Sky is Not the Limit Cover
All I really knew about Neil deGrasse Tyson going into this book is from his appearances on The Daily Show, his hosting of NOVA ScienceNOW (seriously, what is up with that capitalization?), and perhaps short appearances in documentaries about science. So I guess I knew him as an interesting, fun guy who is big on all that science stuff.

The Sky is Not the Limit is pretty much a memoir. He talks about his love of astrophysics and how it grew from childhood onward.

At first this book read like a love letter to the Hayden Planetarium! Which before reading this book, I could not have accurately placed in New York City. It’s the Hayden Planetarium that inspired him to become an astrophysicist, and the Hayden Planetarium that really educated and pushed him that way (more so than school). And eventually the Hayden Planetarium that he became director of.

But eventually he does talk about other things. You wouldn’t think a black kid in the city would be particularly privileged, but he was very lucky. The Hayden Planetarium led him to a connection to this guy who was in um.. some sort of Explorer’s Club. I forget the name of it. And that led to opportunities to take trips and things. While still only 14, he was on an eclipse cruise with Isaac Asimov! Of course it helped that he decided on a career path early and avidly pursued it.

His story is interesting, although the book certainly has its less than stellar (wait for it…) moments.

Typographically: He misspelled Stephen Hawking’s first name once, though he got it right subsequently. Also there were a number of sentences that just.. made me stop and reread them. They weren’t constructed quite.. right. Or quite clearly. I guess it’s not necessarily something a copyeditor would notice, but it would’ve been nice if someone did.

Thematically: The last two chapters are about the end of the world and about god and science. They didn’t seem to quite belong in this book. Or, if they were going to be there, they should not have been the concluding chapters. I would’ve preferred a final chapter talking about his daily life now (what do astrophysicists do all day?), the Hayden Planetarium, or science education in the US.

Pictures: In the copy I read, there were pictures. Although we had our hands on another edition and that one did not. Oversight! Though I hate that pictures are usually in the middle of a book. It’s probably for pure physical publishing reasons, but.. it means that you’re already chapters away from a person’s childhood before you see a picture of them as a kid. And then if you look at all of the pictures when you come to them, you’re spoiled for the rest of the book! I’d prefer the pictures either spread out or entirely at the back.

When I started reading this book, I could strongly hear his voice narrating it for me. But soon enough that dropped away and it was just my usual inner reading voice. (Which sounds like me, but much cooler.)

He said a couple of things in this book that I disagree with. First, he seems to go on this rant against good students. Straight-A students will be Straight-A students regardless of their teacher. People with high IQs aren’t successful. They aren’t out saving the world. And though I can understand if he’s trying to tell kids who don’t get high marks that that doesn’t mean they can’t be successful after high school and do great, amazing, awesome things.. it felt kind of insulting to me. And could read as an excuse to slack off in school and go play with your telescope. Which will not get you into a good school with a scholarship!

Though I do agree that the terms ‘gifted and talented’ are problematic. I’ve read Talent is Overrated. I know that hard work and just sitting down and doing it will take you further than anything you inherited genetically.

It was a bit amusing to hear him rant about the starscape in the movie “Titanic”. Apparently it was wrong. And it was our scientific illiteracy as a nation that made this okay. He said more critics should be alert to these things. I think maybe he hasn’t been reading the geeky reviews I generally do. Believe me, if people notice a problem, they’ll say so! See Exhibit J and Exhibit K. (Those were even about astronomy!)

He devotes a chapter called “Dark Matters” to discussing a bit of what it’s like to be a black man and an astrophysicist. From the cops who pull him over more often than if he were white to the person at a wedding who assumed he knew more than Tyson did about how popcorn falls out of plane. (How cool is that, by the way? If I get married, prepare to see popcorn dropped from a plane!!) He also talks about the pressure he felt to succeed in athletics and how he got told at one point that he shouldn’t be studying something so frivolous as astrophysics. And how he eventually got past that idea to the idea that being seen on television and other places as a scientist and (later) television personality who just happens to be black was pretty darned important itself.

Taken all together, this book is an interesting look into how Neil deGrasse Tyson views the world. His passion for science in general and astronomy in particular really shines through. Especially when he’s trying to convince us that mathematical equations are easy, interesting, and fun! And you know what? He kind of makes me regret not growing up in a big city.

I’m thinking this book might be a good gateway into reading his more astronomy topic-specific books. Especially for people, including kids, who might be more inclined to like a biography than a science book.

Now go add NOVA ScienceNOW to your Tivo season passes.

Share

The Sky is Not the Limit (Neil deGrasse Tyson)

The Plot
Neil deGrasse Tyson, noted astrophysicist, frequent television guest, and director of the Hayden Planetarium in NYC decided to become an astrophysicist at the age of nine after a visit to the planetarium. Here he muses on the experiences which brought him to his current life and position as a scientist and as a black man in the United States.

My Thoughts
Like many people, I first became aware of Dr. Tyson through his television work — specifically in my case, through his frequent visits to The Daily Show. I always enjoyed his discussions with Jon Stewart, but it wasn’t until they showed the following segment that I really became a huge fan.

It was here that I learned he wasn’t just a scientist. He’s also a dork and a geek, neither of which negates his coolness in any way. It made him more relatable — not just a random scientist, but someone I might enjoy having a conversation with.

Tyson has written several science books for the general audience, but this isn’t really one of them, though there is some scientific content. This is a memoir, specifically a memoir of his development into an astrophysicist. It begins with his visit to the planetarium at the age of nine, the visit which inspired him and fueled his desire to make that his field.

Though they comprised a pretty small portion of the book as a whole, it was his experiences as a teenager participating in non-school based science programs that I found the most fascinating. He seems to have been able to take part in some truly astonishing things, even as a very young kid. At the age of fourteen, he was able to take a star-studded cruise (Isaac Asimov! Neil Armstrong!) out into the Atlantic to view a solar eclipse, apparently with no other chaperone aside from himself. He attended a camp in the Mojave desert for astronomically inclined young people. He was invited to give guest lectures at the City College of New York’s Center for Open Education. And, of course, he was able to take classes offered at the Hayden Planetarium.

As a girl from NH who spent several years in high school trying to find myself astronomy-based programs to do in the summer (and with pretty much no money to use for said), I confess: I am sooo jealous! I don’t begrudge Tyson his good luck, because he surely earned it by being motivated and working hard, but I’m still very jealous, because the stuff he got to do is just So. Very. Cool.

Only the first third of the book is truly chonological; the remainder leapfrogs back and forth through time, each chapter made up of anecdotes loosely connected by their topic. The topics themselves are wide-ranging, from the scientific and mathematical illiteracy of the American public, to the issues he’s faced as a black male in our society. Several were thought provoking, such as his reaction to being asked to participate in a calendar of scientific studmuffins. Others were just darn interesting, like when he collaborated with a Chinese history scholar to try and pinpoint the exact nature of a celestial event referenced in the historical record.

It was after I finished reading this book that I realized that in addition to his hosting duties on PBS’s NovaScienceNOW, Tyson has also been hosting a radio program. Somehow I hadn’t connected the dots until I saw both him and John Hodgman tweeting about Hodgman’s visit to the show. Apparently Bill Nye is also a frequent guest! Worth checking out.

In Short
Neil deGrasse Tyson has proved in his multiple television appearances that he’s not just a scientist but a witty and amusing conversationalist. This talent translates very well into this memoir, and he fills the pages with fascinating bits from his life.

Share

The Laughing Cavalier by Baroness Orczy: B

From the back cover:
The year is 1623, the place Haarlem in the Netherlands. Diogenes—the first Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel’s ancestor—and his friends Pythagoras and Socrates defend justice and the royalist cause. The famous artist Frans Hals also makes an appearance in this historical adventure. Orczy maintains that Hals’ celebrated portrait of The Laughing Cavalier is actually a portrayal of the Scarlet Pimpernel’s ancestor.

Review:
What a perfectly abysmal blurb that is. Egads.

The Laughing Cavalier, one of two prequels to The Scarlet Pimpernel, tells the story of a penniless foreign adventurer who passed down his exceptional qualities—such as “careless insouciance”—to his descendant, Sir Percy Blakeney, the hero of the more famous work. This fellow, a half-English rogue enjoying the life of a vagabond in The Netherlands, goes by the name of Diogenes and has for companions/minions two fellows calling themselves Pythagorus and Socrates. When Gilda Beresteyn, sister of one man and former love of another who together conspire to kill the current ruler, overhears of these plans, Diogenes and his men are hired to spirit her away so that the assassination atttempt may proceed without her interference.
Continue reading “The Laughing Cavalier by Baroness Orczy: B”

Share

Doubletake: The Laughing Cavalier (Emmuska Orczy)


Sometimes there are books that two of us want to read, but one of us isn’t really interested in. In that case, instead of a triple take, we’ll do a doubletake instead.

The Plot
The year is 1624 and a plot has been hatched to kill the Prince of Orange. Gilda Beresteyn, the former fiancee of the lead plotter has inadvertently found out about their plans, and in order to prevent her alerting the authorities, the conspirators hatch a scheme to force her silence. Hired for the job: Diogenes, penniless mercenary, otherwise known as the Laughing Cavalier.

Continue reading “Doubletake: The Laughing Cavalier (Emmuska Orczy)”

Share