"Morning, papa." - the chapter right after the long hiatusFor manga, rare/hard-to-find/unheard of usually equates "terribly mediocre", but Acony is hardly the case here. In fact, it's better than 92% of the mainstream stuff out there.
First published in the monthly magazine 'Afternoon' back in 2005, it was placed on hiatus-after a mere 7 chapters-for so long that there still aren't enough chapters to date to form a 'tankoubon' (That's Japan speak for "single book/volume"). It was abandoned in favor of Toumei Kei's other series,
Hatsukanezumi no Jikan (The Hour of Mice), and only this August has Acony resumed its monthly publication in Afternoon. The Hour of Mice, while decent, was not all that memorable a series so I wasn't particularly glad to learn of the reason as to why I couldn't track down Acony volume 1 on Amazon Japan a few days ago. However, as there are 12-13 chapters released already (at this time of writing), I shouldn't have to wait too long.
Much of Acony's charm lies in the character Acony herself. At first glance, her eccentricity may draw instant comparisons to that of Wednesday from
the Addams Family; but it doesn't take long before Toumei Kei dispels this notion completely (Thankfully too, as Wednesday was a rather flat and boring character).
The series starts out with a Motomi Utsuki moving in with his grandfather-as a result of his mother working overseas-into a rather dilapidated and ancient apartment. The building itself has a lot of age and history behind it and-in true Japanese mythology fashion-has become more than just a building. It plays host to a wide variety of long-term residents, most of whom are of the non-human kind.
Being the first new resident in 10 years to be "accepted" by the building, Motomi naturally arouses Acony's curiosity. The two soon become acquainted and then Motomi fades into the night. What I mean is that even though Motomi's the male protagonist, he feels more like a sidekick character/lover than anything else. The majority of the manga is spent building Acony's character, and you rarely if ever learn anything new about Motomi (Which is perfectly fine I guess since the manga is called Acony and not Acony & Motomi). Don't get me wrong though: I like Motomi just fine. In fact, I think the two have good chemistry together.
Below you will see bits and pieces of the first 9 chapters of the manga. The scans were borrowed from a Chinese site so the translation may be off.
(The scans are in sequential order as they first appeared in the magazines, but I picked mostly lighthearted segments of the manga because a) I liked those parts best and b) They don't give too much plot away. It's like a manga trailer, if you will.)
Earlier on in the series, Acony spends much of her time torturing little animals and bugs. Well, as long as she doesn't try to cut her boyfriend every time he makes a move.
Despite the first 8 chapters taking a span of 3 years to draw, the art has stayed fairly consistent.
The funny thing is, there's also an Adams family in Massachusetts well-known for their involvement in politics. Don't know if this was intentional or not.
Acony comforting her father Hash Lanchester.
Acony terrorizes a bug, Motomi terrorizes Acony.
"Stop bothering [you]"? Oh Acony, you aren't fooling anyone.
Motomi just turned 14 by the way. Yeah I know it's kinda hard to tell sometimes with Toumei Kei.
Hash is a horror/fantasy novelist and he lives in a monster house. Can you dig it?
Patching up?
Acony makes the first move.
The last panel of Acony is pretty cute.
Motomi tries to make up, but alas.
Oh yeah, did I mention Acony's the undead?
Yeah.
It's not quite a spoiler as she mentions her being an undead in the first chapter. It's only brought up again and again because Motomi is a non-believer.
Is it wrong for a 23 year old man to "like" the fictional character of a 23 year old woman stuck inside the once-dead body of a 13 year old girl?
She's a wild stallion, that one.
A rare side of Motomi.
The plot thickens. Who *is* Acony's grandfather? :o
Golden walnut? Golden auburn? Golden dark Brown? This one was troubling to translate.
What *is* that research? :o
Mother-in-law issues.
Mother-in-law issues, continued.
Acony is always flustered and at a loss for words when she's angry, I've decided.
Motomi's grandfather. He draws WWII tanks for a living.
Hey it's that Rozen Maiden rabbit. Seriously, what's with people ripping off Alice? Is it a thing with female mangaka?
Misono, Hash's editor. She also lives in the building, so maybe that tells you a bit more about her.
Yeah apparently the building likes to screw around with the inhabitants every so often by shuffling the rooms around. It's one of those things that you totally think you want to experience, but when it actually happens you'll just bitch and moan about it.
Another rabbit hunt. Sigh.
Well just get it over with.
From this panel you can deduce that they were unsuccessful in catching him the last time (Above).
AHHHH? AIEEE? WAHHH? Just another one of those things that you lose when you translate from a translation.
I'd probably say "AHHHH".
It'd be totally funny if Motomi just dropped her. Making up would be kinda a problem after that though.
Anyways, that's pretty much the end of chapter 9. Let's just say the ending was happy.
Finally, Toumei Kei has a winning series on her hands. I hope she won't disappoint.
P.S.
Snoopycool still has the prologue of Acony up (Under "One-Shot"). Check it out.
Sources:
- http://blog.goo.ne.jp/occult00112233/s/acony
- http://www.tuku.cc/Comic/6719/
- http://www.speedylook.com/Acony.html
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