Faust Is Latin for Auspicious, A Lucky Review
Del Ray released, in the US, a collection of translated one-shots, essays and excerpts from the Japanese serial publication Faust, back in late August. It’s similarly named Faust. You can read a fairly brief overview at AoDVD/Mania which should equip you with the technical details to help you understand my incomprehensible mumbling. (Later on in this post I’m going to rip into some of the reviews I ran across from Google, because they are curious.)
I’m a newbie when it comes to light novels. I’ve only read maybe 10-15 of them, but with that said there aren’t a whole lot out there that have been commercially translated into English. I suppose I prefer an English version of these things nowadays, so that limits the intake.
Contrary to the nature of light novels, Faust reads much like a regular novel. One thing I realized over time is that a lot of these Japanese light novels are very pulp-y in its cheap and throw-away nature. It made sense to read them like one would devour a literary magazine or serialized manga…since many of them were serialized like so. It’s stuff you kill time with while riding the train from work. In fact that’s what I did. The Japanese publication of Faust is like such a book, one-shots and serialized light novel-type writing with some one-shot manga chapters, in a book-magazine (mook (think Robot)) format. The US version is similar. What sets Faust apart from the rest is that in Japan, it featured high profile guys and people who won awards. It is also (think Robot) always in print, and not serialized in the same way a monthly publication is. It kept, across volumes, as an anthology. This is all just to say that the thick, magazine-like quality to Faust didn’t translate to the dinky and small, throw-away nature of light novels in Japan.
The US adaptation, somehow, isn’t too far off from the Japanese in terms of the format. The main difference is the US version is just a typical paperback novel in terms of the format. The mook term seems to describe the Japanese release more so than the US (literal) book even if the word gets invoked several times within Faust’s several essays and intro pieces.
But then again, it’s priced like a mook at nearly $17 MSRP. You can buy a hard cover novel for that price. And Faust is just this paperback novel-size thing (albeit with colored prints at the end). I would’ve been slightly happier if it was a mook, but at least the typical paperback format made it easier to read on the go.
Despite the high costs, Faust provides very solid entertainment throughout the whole book. I have long since resigned to the fact that in a serialized manga collection, some of the selections just won’t do anything for me. Yen Plus is a good example of this; I liked maybe half of the series and can really care less about the other half. Not so with Del Ray’s Faust. In fact, save for one of the more esoteric essays and one of the one-shot manga (I didn’t buy a novel to read manga, I guess), I enjoyed just about everything in it.
As usual, it makes more sense if I talk about the stories to you as if you’ve read them. Much like how I presume reviewers should at least understand what the point is behind A Hole In My Brain, the story about a teenage boy’s hallucination when he got impaled by a screwdriver in the brain. When the review you read doesn’t get it, it is a bummer. It is definitely not my favorite piece in Faust, but it kept me laughing to the end, the whole way. While I was chuckling to myself, the story threw that teenage morality stuff down on the ground like a gangster-prostitute chucking a crack rock to the curb while running from the po-po’s. You can draw your own allegories about sex and puppy (or should we say, unicorn?) love and dealing with the Japanese id and ego on your own.
I normally don’t talk about people’s reviews but I think there’s a good selection of reviews out there to be a vehicle to introduce the different pieces in the anthology. I suppose that’s what happens when you get a bunch of people with different backgrounds and yet find themselves in a similar situation.
I like how this review (which is the most lucid one I’ve read out of the bunch) describes F-Sensei’s Pocket as a crowd pleaser. It really is. Otsuichi captured well why anime is fun to watch. Perhaps there’s a point to be made for length–I think since half of the impossible excess is made of cute, 4-th walled jabs at genre norms and Obata’s servitude. You’d think not only it accomplishes the difficult so quickly, but you want more fillers on top because it makes me giggle like someone who had read Doreamon and enjoy it. Like much of Japan. Oh right, the whole story is basically a Doreamon fan fiction of sorts.
A sense of juvenile entertainment sums up a lot of what the stories in Faust have going for them. At the same time, it is its sophisticated-but-not-quite imagination that lifts these short stories beyond the mundane, testosterone-pumped, Halo 3 worshiping adolescent crowd. For better or for worse. While one can talk about the central thrust of the collection of stories, most people care and get excited when the unicorn’s horn/a girl’s fist/etc thrusts into the soft, spongy tissue inside a superhero’s cranium/magical pocket. And sex. But there’s also a more gentle, subtle, and dare I say, emo side to it all. Perhaps the first of three parts of Outlandos d’Amour, by Boogiepop Phantom author Kadono, captures that well with a story about a weird couple. What I enjoyed was not so much the eccentric lives the characters lived in the story, but how they were described. There’s something to Kadono’s writing that I like that none of the reviews I read picked up. Pity.
On the flip side we have NISIOISIN’s excerpt from AnotherHolic and Kinoko Nasu’s Kara no Kyoukai - A View from Above. These two have brand recognition, and while I’m somewhat disappointed at NISIOISIN’s writing (probably due to my bias against xxxHolic’s sophomoric moral compassing and not really his fault), both works are solid and at least interesting enough. I really like the Kara no Kyoukai bit despite (maybe thanks to?) my expectation for the worst as Nasu’s writings get panned by a lot of people. Because I saw the anime first, the excerpt reads like a very good companion piece and the translation did a much better job explaining the mumbo jumbo that the fansubs failed to convey fully. It reminded me a lot of why I like the X-Files back in the day (I guess both that and A View from Above are roughly the same age). Still, most reviews cast the two franchised works aside in favor of unicorn sex. Some do so better than others.
It’s reasonable to expect that some things just don’t appeal to everyone. Given that Faust originally pitches towards the “GENSHIKEN” crowd in Japan, it’s not going to be what some people (this guy writes for Otaku USA? Oh, irony) are looking for. As you would expect, most people who reviewed Del Ray’s Faust are people who focus mostly on manga; it seems only 2-3 reviewers have even seen the ufotable adaptation of Kara no Kyoukai, and only a handful more have heard of it. While I can’t blame them, it’s just another bump most attachable merchandise have to overcome in oversea marketing. The question is valid, I suppose–just how big is the market for this kind of somewhat avant-garde, but somewhat unpolished, translated-from-Japanese fiction aimed at people who do all or most of it, and not just people stick by genres or media?
I mean, Rozen Aso reigns in his parliament, all’s right with the world? Just because you read manga it means very little these days for creds unless you’re running for public office. Faust is a much finer caliber than the 12-gauge+buckshot combo that characterizes the majority of manga on the market today and in the past 5 years, in the US. Faust almost speaks a different language at times. Heck, it doesn’t rely on pictures to do the talking.
Speaking of which, I suppose the language remains a barrier, and it comes out in full force for light novel translations comparatively speaking. At least Faust was translated relatively competently by Paul Johnson and Andrew Cunningham. Despite spots where the translation just doesn’t work due to the nature of the source material, the rest carried well. I’m not too worried about it.
Lastly, yea, there are pictures in the book. And they look much better in color to the extent that I don’t know why they reprinted the manga section of the collection in B&W. Just in case it goes into reprint or something? There are a handful of one-shots and they’re as you see them; some good some kind of just there. It’s nice to see a Yun Kouga thing without the shounen ai undertone. Pretty stuff. There’s also accompanying illustrations for the prose section as well. Yes, Obata drew a few sheets for F-Sensei.
As you can see I don’t really care for the illustrations in the book. It’s probably not what most would buy this book for.
In the end, it’s hard for me or most people to recommend Faust unconditionally. It just isn’t something that will appeal to everyone. But to me, the $17 is well worth the price of ownership because there are a lot of awesome stuff in the book. And if you’re like me, you might even find that every piece in the book is well worth reading, regardless of genre or just how cliche things can or cannot be. (Even including the bits about the Megatokyo kbox!) The whole concept is intriguing and definitely welcoming. I would do business again gladly. It’s a bold move by Del Rey, and something that I can’t help but applaud, and certainly one I hope to see continue.
BTW, you don’t have to link to AoD. Andrew Cunningham has an LJ, Translation’s Enemy. It’s mostly his raging at the life though, nothing for a weaboo like me to read. Maybe that’s why his forum persona is more relevant?
I am not entirely sure why I link to his AoD profile. It is probably where I read his writing the most, I think.
Would like to see something linked to Paul Johnson though. No luck coming across his personal stuff after a cursory search.
Perhaps slightly more relevant, though not recently updated, Andrew also has a Wiki where he reviews light novels and the like (including a bunch of articles on Japanese Faust).
As for Paul Johnson, I’ve been trying to confirm one way or another if he was that “Otaking” chap that caused a fuss over fansub translations a while back. I suspect it is, but whilst there’s stuff on the ‘net suggesting he’s translated novels, there’s no mention of exactly what they were.
I’m not sure about your xxxHolic bias effected your enjoyment of that story - I like xxxHolic, but I found it tedious as well. To be honest, it’s just not a very interesting story - the other NISIOISIN stuff published in English is far better, though Zaregoto does suffer some readability issues.
I really liked the Kadono story, actually. I think the thing a lot of the reviewers haven’t realised is that it’s actually the first instalment of three stories covering the same time period from differing perspectives - the second story, from the point of view of the protagonists wife, will probably appear in the second volume of Faust next year. It’ll probably clear up a lot of the complaints of it feeling incomplete as a work, at left.
You know, thanks for reminding us that Otaking stuff. It would make some sense.
The Kadono story is 3 parts? Ooops. And I think out of all the works, I was most impressed with the Kadono story. I liked Otsuichi’s story the best, but it’s just entertaining fluff that lacks Kadono’s artistry.
Woah, Woah, Woah! Stop the presses. I think I have been stabbed much like a rather surprised Caesar on the ides of March.
I understood the general themes and at least grasped some of the underlying motifs of the story. From what I saw the story was using classical single boy who can save the world structure and tropes. I saw how the author tires to show how we connect to others and how we balance the needs of others with our own needs and desires. I also saw a tale of isolation even in a sea other others. There is also the idea of how sexuality and love are often connected in our heads but not necessarily related to each other. I got it, I just did not care for the way he told it.
Imagine, if you will, someone talking about a being against racism. You would be agree with that person. Then image someone saying the same things while screaming at you and kicking you. You might still agree with that person but you are not going to want to listen to what they say because they are saying it in a manner that does not appeal to you. I feel Drill a Hole in my Head is the same way. The way that the message is presented to me is just as important as the message itself.
You are free to like Drill a Hole in My Head. Like I said I read many a review who found the work innovative and refreshing. However, I am just as free to dislike like it for all the same reasons you liked it. Not because I did not get it but because I was not a fan of its style. Both opinions are valid and informed.
PS Paul Johnson is indeed the Otaking.
No, you don’t get it. Think of it like a joke. If you get the joke then you can say it’s funny or it’s not funny. At this point I don’t think you even get the joke.
The point isn’t so much that he was able to convey some kind of theme behind the stream-of-thought presentation (actually, you realize that is part of the theme as well?). It’s being able to appreciate the presentation. The substance is there almost for the substance’s sake as it’s tough to build a narrative about nothing that people would like to read.
I should also add that there’s nothing wrong with not getting jokes. Some jokes are like that to some people, and everyone’s probably got their own blind spots.
God that is the cutest Rakkyo picture I’ve seen this year.
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