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Reviewed by Joy Kim Never trust a deal that's too good to be true. Three young men remember that truth a little too late in Kazuya Minekura's suspense manga, Bus Gamer. Lured by the promise of huge cash prizes, Toki Mishiba, Nobuto Nakajyo, and Kazuo Saitoh form Team AAA in the "biz" game, an underworld competition where large corporations gamble on their hired team's ability to defend or steal discs filled with company secrets. Before long Toki, Nobuto, and Kazuo discover that there's a lot more to the game's stakes than cash and information. Other players are beginning to turn up dead, and it's becoming clear that Team AAA is next on somebody's list. For fans of Minekura's other series, Saiyuki and Wild Adapter, Bus Gamer offers familiar pleasures. Although the art is not quite as polished as that seen in Wild Adapter and later volumes of Saiyuki, it is still very easy on the eyes. Minekura pays close attention to anatomy in her drawings; as a result, the characters' body language is always realistic and expressive. The main characters fall in line with other Minekura types. Toki, a reserved college student with a knack for martial arts, and Nobuto, a laid-back womanizer, supply Team AAA's muscle, while Kazuo, an energetic high school senior, offers technical expertise. All three protagonists have secret reasons for needing huge amounts of money, and throughout the chapters, Minekura offers tantalizing hints regarding their complicated motivations and hidden pasts. Though the story is often dark, it's leavened by a lot of humor, especially in the ongoing personality clashes of Team AAA's members. Kazuo is particularly appealing: his wide-eyed enthusiasm contrasts nicely with the story's setting in the shadows of Tokyo's corporate world but does not ever feel overly naive. A tiny cameo by characters of another Minekura series also provides some welcome comic relief. Reading Bus Gamer may be an exercise in reader frustration. The series has been on hiatus in Japan since 2002, and this "pilot edition" collects all the chapters of the series that have been released to date. The creator's note at the end of the volume does promise that the story will continue someday. "Rest assured that I have no intention of ending Bus Gamer here," Minekura writes. "No, I've made up my mind. This is merely the prologue. 'Cause I like these three." This is all well and good, but Minekura is still working slowly on two other ongoing series. It's very possible that this series may never be continued; whatever the case, it's not likely that more of the story will be available soon. Eleven chapters aren't quite enough to leave me heartbroken at the story's lack of resolution. At the end of the volume, I was interested in the characters, but I did not yet feel invested in them. Readers considering Bus Gamer should decide for themselves whether the possibility of never learning what happens next is enough to keep them from ever reading it. Interested in writing for MangaLife? We're always looking for talented reviewers and columnists, so drop us a line! Charles Webb Editor-in-Chief, MangaLife.com |
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