Came home this weekend and was welcomed by a nice little package with KakaIru goodness inside. After two weeks of waiting I received my English translated KakaIru doujinshi. A print of the cover in color was also included (pictured above next to the book) as a sweet bonus to people who preordered. It's 44 pages long with three contributors: Comichub, Pandabaka, and Nanaya. There is also a delicous pic by Kuma Wind included.
The first comic, Task, is by Nanaya and is 4 pages long. It opens with Iruka yawning and stating how tired he is. We learn by the second panel that Naruto has tired him out (who doesn't Naruto tire out). He runs into Kakashi and they have a super short exchange. And then: the end! If anything, I like to look at this short comic as a sort of appetizer, just a small taste of what will follow. And what follows is awesomeness.
Pandabaka is the main reason why I purchased this doujin. I like her sleek art style and the way she draws faces (I especially like the eyes). The story for her comic, Life is simple: Iruka adheres to the old adage carpe diem. I do find the dialogue lacking, but I chop it up to the fact that English aren't these creators native tongue (excluding the guest artist, Kuma Wind). But, where dialogue fails the art excels. The composition of the first page is breathtaking. The contrast between the white and black help to set a melancholy mood for the beginning of the comic. What she succeeds at is the way she seamlessly transitions from one mood to the next. The story opens with an air of sadness but as we reach the middle it begins to morph and by the end she leaves us on an upbeat note. Most of this is done through the art.
The final contribution to this small work is a nameless comic by Comichub that has its beginnings in a AU but returns to Konoha. How she does this is one of the most cliched story techniques (Spoiler!!! It's a dream), however it works in this comic and I wouldn't want her to change it. My only real problem was the abruptness of the ending. I just felt there was no closure. I don't think things had to be tied up in a nice little package, but I do believe a few more panels were needed to make the ending feel complete. Although I wasn't a big fan of the art, I did enjoy her story the most. It would be great to see her write a script for Pandabaka to draw.
I do appreciate that this doujinshi is very well put together. In fact, the print value is 10x's better than the print release of Totally Captivated, and that says something if amateurs can out do the so called professionals. So, if you missed out on this lovely anthology, sucks for you, 'cause it was a nice treat to read a KakaIru doujin and not have my 100 pound kanji book at my side as a translated one panel at a time. I'm definitely going to keep an eye on Pandabaka's DA page because she occasionally opens up an online doujinshi market. Although she's currently into Bleach (noooooooo) I'd love to snag some more of her prints.
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