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Story and Art by Ito Akihiro
Copyright © Ito Akihiro
Young King Comics
3 volumes and continuing, sort of
¥520 per volume |
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—by Eric "Scanner" Luce
Some stories were written because the author had something
they felt they needed to say. Some comics are drawn because
the authors had something they had to draw. In Ito
Akihiro's case it is fairly obvious what he wants to draw:
cute females, frequently scantily clad. With that in mind it
is surprising that GEOBREEDERS has a
bit more to offer. The basic story is set within a pretty
run-of-the-mill plot.
These 'ghost cats' or
'monster cats' (depending on how one translates
bake-neko) run around causing various problems for
various people. "Kagura Sogo" is a "ghost sweeper" type
operation that gets rid of these ghost cats. The story
starts out with Taba Yoichi showing up for his first day of
work. Unfortunately for him, this is not your normal
salary-man type job. As he enters the company's empty office
the president, a rather short redhead named Kikushima Yuka,
comes crashing through the window. She is currently trying
to seal up a ghost cat who is disturbing the building. Taba
immediately decides that this is not the sort of job he is
looking for and tries to leave. However Yuka is not to be
deterred and she busily tries to set up the next trap while
latching on to Taba.
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The ghost cat reappears in
the middle of this and, amused by the whole situation, tells
Taba he will show him what he is dealing with. The whole
thing becomes a rather destructive race around the building
while the ghost cat kills people and Taba tries to stop him
or lure him to where Yuka can entrap him.
Here is our first twist: They
trap these ghost cats by surrounding them with four wards,
connecting one of the wards to a laptop computer and
shouting "Delete!" whilst they type a handful of keystrokes
on the computer followed by the return key in a dramatic
fashion.
During the course of the
first volume the heroes bumble through several adventures at
capturing these ghost cats. Although they seem competent
enough, there is significant collateral damage. In the third
episode Taba and Takami Sakuragi (a very cute,
roller-blading, butterfly knife and grenade-wielding girl)
ruin a good bit of an amusement park. It is amazing with the
amount of destruction that ensues after these battles that
they are still in business.
Taba and company have a rival
operation called "The Hounds" (part of the Welfare
Ministry.) The Hounds seem to be better equipped and at
least once fare better than the main characters. The rest of
the time they are subject to the same amount of collateral
damage.
With just those plot elements
the story still does not rival others in the same genre. The
second twist that captures reader's interest comes in the
story when we find there are at least two organizations
within the ghost cats. What is with the unnamed ghost cat's
attachment towards Taba? Who is the black cat and what is
his angle? Who is the sinister seeming Irie? What is his
relationship with the Hounds? Why is he interested in
Taba?
These extra plot elements
tantalize and give the story some meat to hang all the
action, cute females, and destruction upon. We are
immediately presented with a confusing jumble of sides and
goals that make us want to read more, with the hope of it
all being sorted out in the end.
The art is quite nice.
Akihiro has obviously spent a lot of time drawing cute
females, action scenes and mayhem. The line used is quite
fine and detailed. Although the scenes tend to be rather
busy, the characters are distinct from the background and
remain consistent in appearance. The backgrounds, while not
striking, are also well integrated. Scenes that setup a view
show a fairly detailed background. Action scenes show either
a lot of motion lines, or a much less detailed background.
Mood shots and those that emphasize a character's expression
will tend to have just a fade out in the background causing
the reader to focus more on the character.
The most frustrating thing
with GEOBREEDERS is that readers have
little idea where the author is going. After several years
there are only three volumes out. (Volume 4 was supposedly
released in Japan on 8 June 1997.) Ito has worked on a lot
of stories that involve some of the same characters but we
have to wonder if this story really is going somewhere or we
are just being fed convenient plot twists to keep us
interested.
The language is fairly easy
but the scant furigana make it easy for the novice reader to
miss plot details. If you are after something that is
entertaining and tantalizing but are willing to take the
risk that the story may not pan out, you will probably enjoy
this series. You may also want to see the OAV that was just
released as well. However, be warned, you may be in for
some serious frustration or
disappointment.  |
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