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Bizenghast

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Bizenghast
A book cover. At the top, there is text reading "Tokyopop presents" and then more text reading "M. Alice LeGrow". Under that is a large banner reading "Bizenghast". This is followed by a large-eyed black haired girl in an ornate outfit, who lifts strings connected to her outfit and a cello bow in the other hand.
Cover of the Finnish edition of Bizenghast vol. 1 (2005), art by M. Alice LeGrow
Genre
AuthorM. Alice LeGrow
PublisherUnited States Canada Tokyopop
Other publishers
Original run2005 – Present
Volumes6 (ongoing)

Bizenghast is an ongoing original English-language manga series written and illustrated by M. Alice LeGrow. It is currently being published in North America by Tokyopop, which has released six volumes as of August 2009. Set in haunted town of Bizenghast, the story follows an orphaned teenage girl who is tasked with returning each night to an ancient mausoleum to free the ghosts within the building.

Other adaptions based on Bizenghast have been released, including a novel by Shawn Thorgersen, and a tabletop roleplaying game. Critics praised the art of the series, but criticized the characterization and plot.

Plot

At the start of the series, a teenage schizophrenic orphan, Dinah Wherever, and her close friend Vincent Monroe sneak out of her aunt's house. They ride together on Vincent's bike, searching for materials for his garden. They stumble across an ancient mausoleum, where Dinah reads aloud from a plaque and discovers that her name is written on a contract. To win her freedom and a reward, she and Vincent travel to the mausoleum every night to free the ghosts.

For every ten ghosts appeased, Dinah and Vincent get a tower guard to help with their task; over the course of the series, they meet two of the guards: Edaniel, a grinning cat-like creature, and his brother Edrear. Vincent dies while in one of the vaults, causing Dinah to become depressed. Later, the hooded angel appears as two stones that speak to Dinah to help her overcome Vincent's death. Dinah continues with the vaults and discovers that Edaniel and Edrear's sister, Eniri, is missing while the other sister is dead. After Edaniel and Edrear lock down the mausoleum, they send Dinah home and she discovers that the townspeople are acting strangely and her aunt has disappeared. She also finds a hidden letter written by Addie Clark, a ghost that has remained a mystery throughout the series, which mentions the sickness of the town. The appeased ghosts return to Bizenghast with Dinah as their leader to eradicate this sickness.

Development

M. Alice LeGrow began Bizenghast when, for an art class assignment, she drew an open door and added the hooded angel statue in another class. LeGrow designed Dinah as having simplified features and short black hair, and Vincent as wearing a black feather shirt and as one of Dinah's friends. She later removed the other friends from the story.[1] Since LeGrow liked Lolita fashion, she lengthened Dinah's hair and depicted her wearing Lolita fashion. LeGrow considered other names for Dinah including Molly, Charlotte, Moira, Sally, and Diana.[1] LeGrow chose Edaniel's name by randomly picking the name Daniel from a middle school yearbook, and Edrear was originally named Mordred.[1] LeGrow later changed Dinah's hair from straight to curly and added an exoskeleton-like armour to Edrear.[1] Tired of thin female characters in comics, LeGrow designed Edaniel's girlfriend, Nareesha as "super full-figured".[2]

After the completion of the seventh Bizenghast volume, LeGrow is considering writing the scripts for a spinoff based on Bizenghast and having a guest artist draw the art, so she can focus on her other series. She commented that the spinoff would be "like a Lost Vaults of Bizenghast mini-series." After completing her other series, she would continue Bizenghast with a sequel.[3]

LeGrow cites Uzumaki, Spirit of Wonder, Thieves and Kings, Will Eisner, and the original Sherlock Holmes comics as influencing her as an author.[4] LeGrow lived in Germany and Connecticut and her work shows influences from "a combination of the German language, art and architecture, as well as the ghost stories and legends of New England".[5] LeGrow comments that Bizenghast is "about life, death and fabulous outfits (not in that order)" and notes that there are "a lot" of religious themes in the series.[4]

Media

Graphic novels

Written and illustrated by M. Alice LeGrow, Bizenghast is published in North America by Tokyopop. As of September 2009, six volumes have been released. The first was released on August 9, 2005; the most recent was published August 1, 2009.[6] The series is also licensed in New Zealand and Australia by Madman Entertainment,[7] in Hungary by Mangattack,[8] in Germany by Tokyopop Germany,[9] and in Russia by Comix-art.[10]

Volume list

No. North American release date North American ISBN
01 August 9, 2005[6]978-1-59532-743-7
  • Chapter 1: The Sickness
  • Chapter 2: The Gilded Cage
  • Chapter 3: The Stranglehold
  • Chapter 4: The Coming Storm
  • Chapter 5: The Fairywaters
  • Chapter 6: The Wild Beast
  • Chapter 7: The Angel in Disguise
02 June 13, 2006[6]978-1-59532-744-4
  • Chapter 1: Curiouser and Curiouser
  • Chapter 2: The Sickness
  • Chapter 3: The Quarrel
  • Chapter 4: The Plague-Bearer
  • Chapter 5: The Apple of Life
  • Chapter 6: The Lady of the Lake
03 August 14, 2007[6]978-1-59532-745-1
  • Chapter 1: The Pleasure Palace
  • Chapter 2: The Night Watch
  • Chapter 3: The Fly-Trap
  • Chapter 4: The Blind
  • Chapter 5: The Sinful Vanities
  • Chapter 6" The Unmasking
04 December 11, 2007[6]978-1-4278-0484-6
  • Chapter 1: The Perfect Woman
  • Chapter 2: The Pariah
  • Chapter 3: The Hidden Prophecy
  • Chapter 4: The Hunt
  • Chapter 5: The Hunted
  • Chapter 6: The Road Beyond
05 July 1, 2008[6]978-1-4278-0485-3
  • Chapter 1: The Family Shunned
  • Chapter 2: The Death Wish
  • Chapter 3: The Prince Returns
  • Chapter 4: The 13th Arcana
  • Chapter 5: The Angel Speaks
06 August 1, 2009[6]978-1-4278-1536-1
  • Chapter 1: The Modern Temple
  • Chapter 2: The Troubling Dream
  • Chapter 3: The Empty Nest
  • Chapter 4: The Madness
  • Chapter 5: The Hidden Nursery
  • Chapter 6: The Second Rising

Books

Three books based on Bizenghast have been released. On August 13, 2008, Tokyopop published a novel adaption, Bizenghast: The Novel (ISBN 978-1-4278-1030-4), written by Shawn Thorgersen and illustrated by M. Alice LeGrow.[6][11] On February 13, 2007, Tokyopop also released a 72-page limited edition artbook, Bizenghast: Falling into Fear (ISBN 978-1-59816-748-1), which included stickers and pinup pages.[6][12] Running Press published a coloring book based on the series, Color Me Manga: Bizenghast (ISBN 978-0762431311) on November 12, 2007.[13]

Other

In 2006, LeGrow also designed a plushie of Edaniel, for which she held a raffle at Connecticon in Hartford, Connecticut from July 7 to 9. She also raffled off Bizenghast postcards, a signed copy of the second Bizenghast volume, and a plushie keychain of Edaniel.[14] A tabletop roleplaying game based on the series was created by Clint Krause.[15] Other merchandise included posters,[16] playing cards,[17] and T-shirts.[18]

Tokyopop also offered multimedia movies four to six minutes long, based on Bizenghast with music by Divine Madness and Kissing Violet, on Verizon's V CAST.[19] Overall, LeGrow praised the adaption. She liked the "kooky" background effects and Edaniel's voice actor, but disliked Dinah's high-pitched voice. She commented that she imagined Dinah's voice as "deeper...with a slight edge to it. Sort of like Mandy from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, but without the sarcasm."[15]

Reception

Bizenghast generally received positive reviews. The September 2005 issue of Teen People listed Bizenghast as the Hot Book of the Month.[20] According to Johanna Draper Carlson of Comics Worth Reading, "The combination of exploring dreams and the afterlife with teens who act like teens, shopping and paying attention to clothes, makes this an updated gothic fantasy with particular appeal to younger readers who may be less familiar with the stock elements."[21] Publishers Weekly described the artwork as "a delectable visual treat", but disliked the writing and "unsatisfying ending".[22] KJB of IGN Comics praised the world of Bizenghast as "a winning blend of gothic fantasy mixed with just enough of the real world to give readers a point of reference." KJB liked the artwork and Dinah's "especially striking" character design, commenting that she "look[s] as though she could have come straight from Tim Burton's sketchpad."[23] Popculture Shock's Grant Goodman praised LeGrow's ability to create horror and stated: "While, from chapter to chapter and scene to scene, the quality is erratic, Bizenghast has a unique, compelling feel to it."[24] In writing for School Library Journal, Melissa T. Jenvey commented that "Dinah is an interesting character with a quirky sense of style that will appeal to followers of the burgeoning "gothic Lolita" look" and that the first volume "has a dreamlike quality" and was "chillingly spooky".[25] Manga Life's Jason Brice commented on that the "uneven pacing" but praised the plot formala and the "very atmospheric and expressive" artwork.[26] While commenting on the lack of character-driven action and characterization, Anime Jump's Chad Clayton described Bizenghast as "heavily steeped in the gothic tradition" and commented that the series "successfully develops an inventive visual style all its own. It seems to owe more to classical art, gothic comics, and even artists like Edward Gorey than it does to manga."[27] Conversely, Anime News Network's Zac Bertschy heavily criticized Bizenghast for the plot, one-dimensional characters, and art. Bertschy considered the plot a "slightly modified generic monster-of-the-week cliché, written specifically so it can run forever." While considering the chapter breaks "very well illustrated", he commented that the characters' appearances differed from page to page.[28]

In his review of the first Bizenghast novel adaption, Mania Entertainment's Greg Hackmann disliked the large amount of description, the "inconsistent" narration, and felt that the novel was more of a "novelization in the most literal sense of the word, reading much less like an adaptation in the spirit of LeGrow's work than a 1-to-1 copy of the source material."[29] Hackmann felt that there were several references to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland throughout Bizenghast, particularly that Dinah's name refers to Alice's pet cat, and he believed that LeGrow "does a very good job of capturing the basic spirit of John Tenniel's illustration style" with the interior artwork.[29]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Concept Art Slideshow". M. Alice LeGrow. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
  2. ^ M. Alice LeGrow. "Nareesha". Deviantart.com. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
  3. ^ M. Alice LeGrow (10 November 2009). "deviantART: sadwonderland's journal: Future Project Stuff!". Deviantart.com. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  4. ^ a b "Checking out Bizenghast". Newsarama. 6 June 2005. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
  5. ^ "Bizenghast Volume 1". Tokyopop. Retrieved 13 July 2009. Mary Alice LeGrow (aka Marty) spent much of her early childhood in Germany and other parts of Europe and later moved with her family to Connecticut. Much of her work is influenced by a combination of the German language, art and architecture, as well as the ghost stories and legends of New England.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Manga+Comics: Book Catalog". Tokyopop. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  7. ^ "Bizenghast (Manga)". Madman Entertainment. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  8. ^ "Mangattack" (in Hungarian). Mangattack. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
  9. ^ "Bücher: Manga: Bizenghast" (in German). Tokyopop. Retrieved 23 June 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Бизенгаст" (in Russian). Comix-art. Retrieved 4 August 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "Bizenghast: The Novel". Tokyopop. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
  12. ^ "Bizenghast: Falling into Fear Volume 1". Tokyopop. Retrieved 4 November 2009.
  13. ^ "Amazon.co.jp: Color Me Manga: Bizenghast: Running Press". Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  14. ^ M. Alice LeGrow (29 June 2006). "deviantART: sadwonderland's Journal: Edaniel Plushie Pics". Deviantart.com. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  15. ^ a b M. Alice LeGrow (22 February 2008). "deviantART: sadwonderland's journal: Bizenghast RPG Info!". Deviantart.com. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  16. ^ M. Alice LeGrow (2 May 2009). "deviantART: sadwonderland's journal: Bizenghast Posters Now on Sale! Also Goal". Deviantart.com. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
  17. ^ M. Alice LeGrow (5 September 2006). "deviantART: sadwonderland's journal: Bizenghast playing cards". Deviantart.com. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
  18. ^ M. Alice LeGrow (18 March 2009). "deviantART: sadwonderland's journal: Bizenghast Tees at Target!". Deviantart.com. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
  19. ^ Debi Aoki (9 January 2008). "Tokyopop, Verizon Announces New Mobile Manga, Anime". About.com. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  20. ^ "Tokyopop Gets More Coverage in Teen Mags". ICv2. 28 July 2005. Retrieved 13 December 2009.
  21. ^ Johanna Draper Carlson (30 August 2009). "Bizenghast Wins! Last OEL Manga Standing". Comics Worth Reading. Retrieved 30 November 2009.
  22. ^ "Bizenghast, Vol. 1.(Brief Article)(Book Review)". Publishers Weekly. Accessmylibrary. 15 August 2005. Retrieved 5 November 2009.
  23. ^ KJB (11 August 2005). "IGN: Bizenghast Vol. 1 Review". IGN. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  24. ^ Grant Goodman (20 August 2009). "Bizenghast, Vol. 6". Popculture Shock. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  25. ^ Jenvey, Melissa T. (1 September 2005). "Legrow, M. Alice. Bizenghast.(Brief Article)(Young Adult Review)(Book Review)". School Library Journal. Accessmylibrary. Retrieved 5 November 2009.
  26. ^ Jason Brice. "Bizenghast v1 Review". Manga Life. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  27. ^ Chad Clayton (8 August 2005). "Bizenghast vol. 1". Anime Jump. Retrieved 20 November 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  28. ^ Zac Bertschy (15 December 2005). "Bizenghast GN1 - Review -". Anime News Network. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  29. ^ a b Greg Hackmann (3 October 2008). "Bizenghast Novel Vol.#1". Mania Entertainment. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
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