Blank Slate (manga)

Blank Slate (Japanese: 悪性 －アクサガ－, Hepburn: Akusaga) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Aya Kanno. It was serialized in Hakusensha's shōjo manga magazine Bessatsu Hana to Yume, ending in the March 2006 issue on January 26, 2006.[4][5] The individual chapters were collected into two bound volumes, which were published by Hakusensha on September 16, 2005, and June 19, 2006.[6][7] Blank Slate was licensed in English by Viz Media,[2][8] who released the manga's two volumes on October 7, 2008, and December 2, 2008, with the e-book versions released on January 29, 2013, and February 12, 2013, respectively.[9][10] The manga has also been localized in France by Delcourt and in Taiwan by Ever Glory Publishing.[11][12]

Blank Slate
Cover of the first English volume of Blank Slate, as published by Viz Media
悪性 －アクサガ－
(Akusaga)
GenreAdventure,[1] science fiction,[2] suspense[3]
Manga
Written byAya Kanno
Published byHakusensha
English publisher
ImprintHana to Yume Comics
MagazineBessatsu Hana to Yume
DemographicShōjo
Original run2005 – 2006
Volumes2

Reception

MangaLife's Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane notes that nothing about the manga portrays the Shojo Beat label on its front cover. She commends Kanno for being upfront about how "chapter 4 of the bonus episodes has been included as chapter 1", and the original first chapter is not in the book at all; she wasn't initially expecting the story to be serialized, and in retrospect felt that it didn't mesh well with the later material."[13] Graphic Novel Reporter's Casey Brienza commends Kanno's artwork, stating: "Kanno has tremendous range when it comes to her artwork. The soft, sanitized style found in Soul Rescue barely resembles the self-conscious satire of Otomen. Blank Slate sports yet a third look—bleak, brooding, and beautiful. She really takes the opportunity to strut her stuff here. The subtlety and dynamism of her layouts are top notch."[14] About.com's Deb Aoki commends the manga for its "stylish, contemporary artwork with lots of bishōnen (pretty boy) eye-candy", its "unconventional shojo story with more suspense, action and violence than romance", and its "tantalizing undercurrent of erotic tension". However, she criticizes the manga for its "cold, detached storytelling", wooden and unimaginative fight scenes, and a robotic main character.[15] Comic Book Bin's Leroy Douresseaux commends the manga for its "shooting, blood splatters, and a mysterious, remorseless, too-cool character", and further notes that the manga should be a Shonen Jump Advanced title rather than a Shojo Beat one.[16] Mania.com's Thomas Zoth comments on Kanno's use of "a much grittier, darker style for this neo-noir story" when compared to Otomen.[17] He condemns the massive plot in the second volume, "where the twist effectively negates the entire point of the first three-fourths of the narrative."[18] PopCultureShock's Michelle Smith pans the "very dull" first chapter in terms of characters and setting but notes an immediate improvement in the second chapter.[19] She admires "the economy of the storytelling—no extraneous information is offered nor is any essential detail lacking—as well as the way the series ends."[20] Jason Thompson, in the online appendix to Manga: The Complete Guide, commends "Aya Kanno's impressive artwork, which features sexy guys and more than adequate action scenes."[21] Conversely, Carlo Santos of Anime News Network criticizes the manga's first volume for its "lazy art, generic action-adventure plotting, and trying-to-sound-cool-and-angsty-but-failing-miserably dialogue". He notes, however, that "each story cleverly twists into the next, creating new experiences for our antihero, as well as fleshing out the details of the bitter world he lives in."[22]

References
  1. "The Official Website for Blank Slate". Viz Media. Retrieved October 28, 2017.
  2. Santos, Carlo (July 26, 2008). "San Diego Comic-Con 2008 – G4 Presents: Comic-Con '08 – Viz Media: Shojo Beat". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  3. "Honey Hunt Manga Debuts in Shojo Beat Magazine". Anime News Network. August 13, 2008. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  4. 仕事：2005年. Saraba Samurai: Aya Kanno's Official Website (in Japanese). Archived from the original on March 7, 2005. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  5. 雑誌予告 (別冊花とゆめ3月号) (in Japanese). Hakusensha. Archived from the original on December 11, 2005. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  6. "S-book.net Library Service" 悪性 －アクサガ－ 1 (in Japanese). Hakusensha. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
  7. "S-book.net Library Service" 悪性 －アクサガ－ 2 (in Japanese). Hakusensha. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
  8. Loo, Egan (February 18, 2008). "Viz to Offer Asano's Solanin, Obata's We Were There (Updated)". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  9. "Blank Slate, Volume 1". Viz Media. Archived from the original on January 21, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  10. "Blank Slate, Volume 2". Viz Media. Archived from the original on January 21, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  11. "L'empreinte du mal" (in French). Delcourt. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  12. 惡性1 (in Chinese). Books.com.tw. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  13. MacFarlane, Ysabet Reinhardt. "Blank Slate v1". MangaLife. Silver Bullet Comics. Archived from the original on September 18, 2008. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  14. Brienza, Casey. "Blank Slate". Graphic Novel Reporter. Archived from the original on November 23, 2010. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  15. Aoki, Deb. "Blank Slate Volume 1". About.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  16. Douresseaux, Leroy (September 11, 2008). "Aya Kanno's Blank Slate: Volume 1". Comic Book Bin. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  17. Zoth, Thomas (September 29, 2010). "Blank Slate Vol. #01". Mania.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  18. Zoth, Thomas (October 8, 2010). "Blank Slate Vol. #02". Mania.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  19. Smith, Michelle (October 17, 2008). "On the Shojo Beat: Blank Slate and Captive Hearts". PopCultureShock. Archived from the original on July 17, 2010. Retrieved January 19, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  20. Smith, Michelle (December 16, 2008). "On the Shojo Beat: Gaba Kawa, Skip Beat! and More". PopCultureShock. Archived from the original on May 1, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  21. Thompson, Jason (August 6, 2010). "365 Days of Manga, Day 320: Blank Slate". Random House. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
  22. Santos, Carlo (September 16, 2008). "RIGHT TURN ONLY!! – Go Speed Grapher Go!". Anime News Network. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
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