Rave Master Vol. 2, Chap. 13: It MUST be a Glass Ceiling...

This is it. We've finally come to the last chapter of the second volume of Rave Master, lucky number 13. It moves fast, and there's not a lot of plot to talk about here. The chapter begins with Musica #2 facing off against Lance.

Lance's sword is able to create illusions of beasts when he swings it. He uses the illusions to distract Musica, and then go in to attack. After his first attack, things get a little stupid.

First, Lance stops the battle because Elie's time is up. That is, the deadline for Haru to arrive with Rave is past. Wounded Musica doesn't try to stop him, other than yelling at him. Elie, doesn't move, even though she was cut loose and her legs function absolutely fine.

Seriously. She doesn't even attempt to escape. She doesn't get up, doesn't run, just sits there and screams Haru's name. I know that she's scared, and that Haru was supposed to save her, but I don't think my last word would be my rescuer's name, especially when that rescuer doesn't show up in time. My last words are much more likely to be "Fuck you!" or "This is a cool way to die!"

Fortunately, Haru comes bursting onto the scene...through the ceiling.

This is something I thought was awesome as a kid, and ridiculous as an adult. It just leaves me with so many questions:

• How did Haru get up to the roof in the first place?
• Musica already cleared the yard of guards, why didn't he just go through the front door?
• Lance essentially invited Haru to come and bring him Rave, so shouldn't the goons be expecting him and just let him through?
• How many floors does this place have?
• How thick is that roof, that a sixteen-year-old kid can break through?
• Shouldn't Haru have some kind of injury from falling through the ceiling?
• Why the ceiling?
• Should I give up trying to apply logic to this universe?

 Musica warns Haru about Lance's tactic, but Haru already knows. Musica the Blacksmith taught him secret of Lance's sword: that it can only make illusions when it does a full swing. By blocking his attack, Haru is able to prevent him from creating any distracting illusions. Just when it looks like Haru has the advantage, Lance creates another illusion, this time without swinging his sword...

And that's it. That's the end of volume 2.

Re-reading this, I remember why I loved the series when I was younger, but I also understand why my slightly older sister said that it was dumb. The Rave Master universe is a weird, goofy place, but it's also filled with villains that don't fit the light-heartedness in the background. One chapter is about saving dogs, another chapter is about a man's family getting massacred. I think the biggest problem I have is that the darker problems get solved too easily, like Musica the Blacksmith suddenly giving up alcohol after meeting Haru. This time around, I thought Haru was dumb, rather than heroic, but I think that idealism is a big part of his character. The villains weren't very interesting, and Georco was more annoying than threatening.

Even so, it was fun to read through again.

Final Verdict: For Sale

Even though I bought it more than ten years ago, the book itself is in pretty good shape. Rave Master is an entertaining series, and I'm sure some other young otaku will enjoy it.

Starting next Monday, I'll be reveiwing a high school favorite of mine: The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer. Stick around! 

Rave Master, Vol. 2, Chapter 12: Your Basic DID

Chapter 12 begins with Musica reforging the sword that once was broken, the Ten Power's sword. Here's where I start to get really incredulous. Haru has, at this point, less than two hours to save Elie; therefore, he needs his sword finished in time. Musica even tells him that in his prime, it took a day for him to make a sword. Now, I don't know much about metalwork, but I'm pretty sure it would be pretty damn hard, if not  impossible, to repair a sword in under two hours. Add on the fact that Musica's been drunk for the past 15 years, it seems to me this would be well out of the realm of possibility. But story trumps logic, and Musica is able to fix the sword in no time flat. Haru promises to destroy Lance's sword, and is off to save the girl.

Meanwhile, Elie is chained in Lance's place, and reminds me why I like her so much. Even though she's a damsel in distress and waiting for the guys to save her, she's still a fun and upbeat character. She's not panicking or crying or just saying Haru's name, like that will bring him faster. Maybe it's a bit ridiculous that she's doing this even when she's threatened with a sword, I appreciate that she brings some levity to her situation.

Musica the Gangster is waiting for Haru outside Lance's mansion, but decides to go in by himself as the clock winds down. He wastes no time in beating up the guards outside getting in. His next exchange will Elie represent a huge difference between the thirteen-year-old reading this manga and me, as an adult reading this manga.

If this was how GoT treated sexual abuse, I might actually watch it.

Maybe it's because I've finally read the first book of Game of Thrones, maybe it's because I'm more aware of sexual assault and rape now than I was, maybe it's just because I'm an adult and have learned that the world is dangerous, even moreso if you're a woman...I always get on edge when I hear about situations - fictional or not - like these.

Cute, young girl gets captured by a strong, powerful man with no morals, who has her chained up and could do anything he wanted to to her. If this were Game of Thrones, or a crime novel, maybe a TV drama with adults as a target audience, you know exactly where this is going to go.

But it doesn't. There's nothing sexual about this scene. Elie claims that Lance was trying to look down her shirt, but she says that it was a joke. I'm so glad that this scene didn't go anywhere near that. I remember that Rave Master gets dark in some places. There's death, suicide, and some reasonably adult themes in the series. But it never goes into sexual assault. There's a lot of reasons why this might be the case. It's an action manga, rather than a drama; the target audience is teenagers; it's too dark.

Whatever reasons Mashima decided not to use it, I'm glad.

I'm also glad that when I was reading this as a young adolescent, the idea that Elie might be raped never even crossed my mind.  It's a small piece of innocence, but innocence nonetheless. Sometimes I wonder if it would be better if I could still think like that.

Musica fights Lance's bodyguard, Bis, and there are more puns. When it becomes apparent that Musica is going to win,  Lance cuts down Bis, to prove just how evil he is. Evil, but not interesting. As Musica steps up to fight Lance, Musica the Blacksmith has just finished repairing Haru's sword. Haru learns that Musica the Blacksmith's family was murdered by Lance, and Haru vows to destroy Lance's sword, ending chapter 12.

Right now the story seems pretty generic. Girl gets kidnapped by bad guy, hero goes to save girl, bad guy has no real motivation to be so bad. It really bugs me that Lance is just evil for the sake of being evil. The best villains are the ones that do wrong for reasons they think are right. A good villain believes in something. Lance? He believes in hurting people, mainly for shits 'n' giggles. I don't know about you, but that's not a cause I can get behind.

Rave Master, Vol. 2 Chapter 10-11: In Your Eyes

Chapter 10 starts with Haru and Elie meeting up, both happy to tell the other that they've found Musica, which might have resulted in some kind of "Who's on first" comedy, if not for the fact that our heroes get interrupted by Demon Card goons. Haru, Hot-or-Not Musica and Elie start fighting with the mooks, though Elie is quickly rendered useless when her tonfa blasters stop working.

There are also puns.

I love a good pun (is that an oxymoron?), but this just made me groan, and I'm pretty sure the thirteen-year-old version of me was rolling her eyes as well. The trio seem to be in a tight spot, but are saved by a drunken Plue, stabbing his nose into their feet. Why no one thought to kick a small, uncoordinated animal is beyond me. Did their sisters also teach them you shouldn't be cruel to animals?

Once Haru, Elie, and Musica #2 are out of danger, Musica reveals that his family was killed in an accident years ago, and the blacksmith is clearly a fraud. I think this is supposed to build tension, but if you've ever watched an anime or read a manga, you already know that the two Musicas are going to be long-lost something or others, and probably have special powers because of that.

Anyway, it turns out Haru did leave the Rave stone with Musica the Blacksmith, because...

You met the guy twenty minutes ago, and he was horribly, horribly drunk. You've been attacked, and have been told that the country only gets more dangerous as you travel. WHY THE HELL DID YOU GIVE HIM THE RAVE STONE?!

I'll let Musica the Blacksmith sum up my thoughts on this chapter:

Moving on to chapter 11, we get our first glimpse of Lance. He wastes no time in kidnapping Elie, and this is where I realize that she'll probably be pretty useless for the rest of the series. From what I remember, another volume of Rave Master consists of almost nothing but Elie needing Haru to rescue her. I don't remember a lot of the series aside from some scenes that really stood out, but I really, really hope that she won't be the damsel in distress all time time. Lance gives Haru two hours to bring him the Rave stone, or he'll kill Elie. Because this is still early in the series, there's no real need to be original, right?

Haru goes back to Musica the Blacksmith to get his sword repaired, only to find Musica being attacked by mooks. Musica says that he's hidden the Rave somewhere they'll never find it. To me, that sounds like a secret hiding spot, maybe someplace in his disused forge, or underneath a floorboard, or maybe Musica has a secret room full of awesome swords that he's forged in the past. Or, you know, in a drawer in plain view of everyone.

The goons are cleared out with a couple punches and Haru explains the situation to Musica. Musica initially refuses to fix the Ten Powers sword, citing that he's old and washed up. That doesn't take a keen observer to see. Haru convinces Musica to forge a sword again, not by impressing upon him the need to have a weapon and save Elie's life--but because he believes in him. 

I've read a lot of manga in my time, and this is a medium that truly believes that eyes are the windows to the soul. "You still love him, I can see it in your eyes." Or, "You're strong, I see it in your eyes." Or, perhaps most shojo of all, "You've got fire in your eyes." It seems like a cool sentiment the first time you read it, but then you read it over, and over, and over again. It would seem that all you need to perform a small miracle in the face of insurmountable odds is to look deeply into someone's eyes and tell them what you see there. In this case, its "You're better than that. I can see it in your eyes."

Musica isn't so readily swayed by Haru's Peter Gabriel-esque charm, but decides to fix the sword when he learns that Haru will be fighting Lance. Lance, it turned out, killed Musica's entire family.

When I was a kid, I thought Lance was evil, evil, evil. He killed Musica's family for no reason! How much worse could you get?

And that's the problem with Lance that I see as a grown-up. He had no characteristics other than being a psychopath. He is evil for the sake of being evil. He reasons behind it, his motivations, are never further explored. The only backstory we have on this guy is that he killed Musica's family.

I'm not against fictional psychopathic characters, as long as they're interesting. There are plenty of well-written characters who are evil for shits 'n' giggles, the kind that give you chills when you think about how anyone could be that coldblooded. Not Lance. If we knew anything about him other than "I like to kill things", maybe he could have been a great villain. Instead, he just falls flat.

Rave Master Vol. 2, Chapters 7-8: My Sister Taught Me That!

Haru was mostly raised by his older sister, and he really took whatever she taught him to heart. I know this, because he's always talking about, "my sister taught me that!" I remember that he said something along those lines a lot early in the series, and I remember that it really annoyed me. Possibly because I was thirteen when I first read these books, and therefore my older sister - if you were to ask me - was an idiot. Re-reading these now, it still bugs me a little bit. Not because Haru's taking his older sister's advice, but because he mentions "my sister told me..." so often. The other reason is because everything that Haru's sister has taught him is completely obvious.

Take a drink every time Haru talks about what his sister taught him.

Really, Haru? Dogs are getting impaled on spikes and exploded, but you need your sister's advice to figure out that animal cruelty is bad?

Despite Elie's warnings, Haru interrupts the race again. This was Georco's plan all along, of course: to put Plue in the dangerous race and lure Haru out. Now, there is one thing, and one thing only I will applaud Georco on: he learned from his mistakes. Instead of fighting Haru out in the open, where another explosion could blow his gaseous form away, Georco traps him in a giant steel box with no way out - in other words, no fresh air for Haru to breathe. It kind of begs the question why Georco had a giant, ten foot tall box laying around in the first place, but I can forgive that, because the ridiculous trap was pretty effective. However, I cannot forgive Georco for constantly referring to it as the "Smoke Hiz-ouse". A part of me died every time I had to read that phrase.

 Without oxygen, Haru can't make explosions, and so it looks like he's screwed.

The day is saved by Elie, and I love that, purely because it's the girl saving the guy, and not the other way around. She uses her tonfa blasters (which are like side-arm cannons, I actually like them) to blow up the smoke house to let Haru escape. Plue manages to steal Georco's dark bring, so he can no longer turn himself into gas. Out in the open again, Haru delivers the final blow to Georco, thus finishing our first Monster of the Week.

With all the action, there wasn't a lot of plot in Chapter 7, so we'll move on to Chapter 8.

Now that Georco's been taken down, Haru and Elie take a minute to talk. Of course, this is after Elie nearly blows up half the stadium with her tonfa blasters.

That's actually good advice, Haru. Don't stick it in crazy.

It turns out the Elie knows where to find Musica, the blacksmith that can repair Haru's sword. She also reveals what little there is to reveal about her backstory: she has lost her memory. It's a tired trope at this point, but what I like about Elie is that she's not angsty about it. There's plenty of "waaah, I can't remember!" characters out there, but Elie is happy, excitable, and generally a fun character, rather than being mopey about it. She doesn't take up too much time feeling sorry for herself, which is nice to see. Yes, she would like her memory back, but she's also not going to let herself be miserable over it.

Haru and Elie decide to leave Hip Hop Town together. They say that Demon Card is out of commission, so they won't have to pay the fee to leave. But how does punching the daylights out of Georco take down an evil organization that's clearly taken over the town? I'm sure Georco has some underlings who would gladly take over his role as boss. Or maybe that's the end of dog racing in Hip Hop Town forever because Elie completely destroys the stadium. 

Seriously. She's so excited to be leaving town with Haru that she lets off another couple shots from her tonfa blaster and the stadium starts to collapse. Her reason: 

THAT IS A TERRIBLE WAY TO EXPRESS HAPPINESS.

The duo escape the stadium by...jumping on a chariot pulled by dogs. I'm not joking. This whole series is so goofy, though, that I think I've learned just to go with it by now.

We're nearly at the end of the chapter, but there's just one more thing I want to bring up. We get a brief cutaway to some of Demon Card's generals, hanging out in the fortress Rhapsodia. 

This is when it hit me.

Rhapsodia, like "rhapsody". Song continent. Hip Hop Town and Punk Street.

THE TOWNS ARE ALL NAMED AFTER MUSIC GENRES.

Ever since I was a kid I thought that all the town names in Rave Master were really dumb. And I never once thought there was a musical motif in the names. HOW THE HELL DID I MISS THAT?

It turns out the town names aren't dumb; I am.

Rave Master Vol. 2, Chapter 6: Down with the Kids Today

Chapter 6 starts with Haru facing off against Georco. And I hate Georco. There are plenty of reasons to dislike a villain, but I don't hate him because he's villainous and actively trying to kill our hero. That's just part of what villains do.

I hate him because of the way he talks.

Did you ever have a teacher who wanted to prove he could talk to kids by attempting to use their slang, but was a few years behind what everyone else was saying? Or see middle-class kids who listen to rap music and then decide they're "ghetto" too, and try to act like it? Has your mom ever tried to talk to you using words like "swag" or "fleek" or whatever the hell it is those darn kids are saying today?

Georco sounds like all those people.

#YOLO #BILBOSWAGGINS

I think that he's supposed to sound cool and "with it", or maybe it has something to do with the way the manga was translated. Maybe "I've peeped this cat before" sounds really cool in Japanese, instead of something ripped from a 1920s gangster movie.

An annoying and otherwise forgettable one-shot villain is made utterly detestable because of his dialogue, and for a twist, it's not what he says, it's how he says it.

Georco has a Dark Bring, which gives him the power to turn into carbon monoxide. That's...actually kind of cool, now that I think about it. The way Georco's attack names are translated, though, seem weird. The first attack Georco uses is called "Toxic Gas Blast", because when you live in a manga, you always need to announce exactly what you're doing to your enemy. However, a footnote lets us know that the original name of the attack is "CO Heaven". That sounds a lot more bad-ass, if you ask me. So why bother changing it? It would probably help me take the character more seriously.

Even though his sword is broken, Haru can still use the power of Rave to make explosions. He can't hit Georco directly, so instead he creates an explosion to blow smoky Georco away.

Hang on a second. A thought just occurred to me. Isn't carbon monoxide invisible? If Georco really turned into carbon monoxide, why can we still see him? Because it seems to me it would be a lot smarter for him to just disappear from view and asphyxiate Haru. The kid was having a hard enough time with the fight when he could see Georco.

Anyway, Haru manages to get away from Georco, but isn't in good shape after their fight. In fact, he completely forgets to rescue Plue as he makes his escape. You know, the thing that made him break up the race in the first place. Okay, he's in respiratory distress at the moment, so I'll handwave this one. For now. What I can't forgive is how easily the mooks chasing Haru overlook him.

He's RIGHT. FUCKING. THERE.

Haru hides under a desk where a girl named Elie is sitting.  Haru's foot is clearly visible as Mook #1 approaches. Surely, our hero will have to find a clever way to get out of this mess and hide himself, or...

Nope. The thug gets told to go away, and...he does. Even though it's obvious to everyone that Haru is hiding and Elie has the physique of a stick insect, and is in no way intimidating.

How did I let them get away with this when I was a kid?

With that potentially exciting scene squandered, Haru takes a minute to catch his breath, literally, and talks with Elie. It turns out that Demon Card has a lot of power in Hip Hop Town and anyone who wants to leave has to pay a huge fee to Demon Card. This kind of makes me wonder at the implications of this for Hip Hop Town's economy, but that's neither here nor there. Elie tells Haru her plan for getting out of Hip Hop Town: she's bet all her money on the dog race. This...is very poor financial planning. 

It turns out Elie's placed her bets on Plue to win the Battle Road race. Battle Road is essentially greyhound racing meets the Hunger Games. 

Am I a bad person because I think that sounds kind of awesome?

It is decidedly not awesome for the dogs participating, because along with them attacking each other, there's all sort of traps set around the race track, like spears that pop out of the ground and explosions. Even though Elie claims that no dog has ever died on Battle Road, I'm finding that a little hard to believe. 

Her reasoning for putting all her money on Plue? She's convinced that he's a bug who will fly at the end of the race. I know Elie's supposed to be a goofy character, but...really? He barely looks like a dog, how the hell did you look at Plue and decide he was a bug?

Haru wants to rescue Plue, but since Elie's bet everything she has on the race, she refuses to let Haru do so, and threatens to alert Demon Card thugs if he tries to stop the race. And so ends chapter 6.

I'm trying to remind myself of the MST3K Mantra: "Remind yourself it's just a show, I should really just try to relax". It's perfectly normal for goons to make bad choices and heroes to, likewise, make bad choices. It's what propels a story along. So I'll forgive the story for now, and try to enjoy its goofiness.