Phoenix Vol. 7 - Now Available!

[strobe_z]

I just picked up my copy of Phoenix Vol. 7, so here's some initial thoughts...

$15.99 USD / $21.99 CDN
319 Pages

I've been trying to figure out how many volumes the Viz phoenix series will turn out to be. Checking the Chinese language scans my best guess is that it'll look like this:

Vol. 7 - Civil War
Vol. 8 - Civil War/Robe of Feathers
Vol. 9 - Life/Strange Beings
Vol. 10 - Sun

I did happen to notice that Viz skipped a page in this volume. Unless they open Civil War part two with it, I'll be a tiny bit disappointed. I mean they could've done without repeating the same Afterword for the upteenth time and just included it. Oh well, for reference sake this page should come right between pages 318 and 319....

[cmoon]

Mine is preorderd from Amazon. I hope it will show up soon!

[putrocca]

Mine should be waiting in my comic store bin when I get back from AnimeNEXt this weekend.

It's sad to delay it, but it's worth it to get to meet Rintaro (Metropolis, Phoenix Ho-o, Tezuka Osamu Story: I am Son Goku) and Maruyama (Metropolis, New Kimba TV, Princess Knight TV). I'll be wearing my BJ costume, and have a Rock and a Pinoko with me. Who wants to bet I'll be the only one in the autograph line to have them sign the Rock encyclopedia and the Boku wa Goku movie dvd?

[mippa]

And there will be many pictures, yes?

[putrocca]

[strobe_z]

[strobe_z]

I just picked up (but haven't read) part two of Civil War. I did read through "Robe of Feathers" though. It's... interesting, but basically aside from a mention of the Phoenix, it's really not related.

All in all though, it's a neat read. Every frame is shot from the same perspective and it reads very much like a one act play. You can really see
Tezuka's theatrical sensibilities shining though.

[putrocca]

Yes, Robe of Feathers is so completely a Noh play, it's very interesting. But there are also strong elements of Noh in the Civil War chapter (such as the inclusion of particular sets, trees and costumes) so that really tied it together for me. If any of you have a chance you should try to get a hold of a video of a Noh play to see what I mean.

I finished Civil War vol. 2. It was worthy, as expected. I've also been watching more of the Phoenix anime - it's very good, even if they do have to leave things out.

[cmoon]

I enjoyed civil war but it seems phoenix keeps getting stranger. As much as you think the stories are about one thing, they ultimately end up being about something else. There is no real conclusion (at least not a happy one!) More a comment on karmic cycles than anything else.

Does anyone know if Phoenix was really completed?

[strobe_z]

Well... Phoenix is called "Tezuka's Unfinished Masterpeice" for a reason... he died before he actually could finish the overal arc. The theory was that the distant past/distant future stories would eventually meet in the middle ('modern day'). That never happened though, so we can only guess where Tezuka was ultimately planning on taking us.

Of course, each chapter of the story is finished, so despite the fact that we never really got the "middle part" of the overall story, there's no chapters that end on unresolved cliffhangers. You can still enjoy each story, but just shed a tear for what we all missed out on.