MJ Review: Hollow Fields Volume One

[Eric]

Title: Hollow Fields
Volume: One
Manga-ka: Madeleine Rosca
Genre: OEL, Steam-punk, Cuteness
Publisher: Seven Seas
Price: $9.99 (US)
Rating: All Ages

CUTE!

If I were given but one word to use in describing Hollow Fields, that would be the one I’d have no choice but to use. Now, had someone given me two words to use?

CUTELY MACABRE!

Better, but still not very telling is it? What kind of cute: cute like a pretty lass or cute like a puppy dog? Of course it could be a pretty lass making puppy dog eyes... anyways, what kind of macabre is it? Are we talking Addams or are we talking Gorey? Thankfully, while a witty dwarf once extolled the virtues of brevity by classifying it as the very soul of wit, we here at Manga Jouhou have no such need to be brief with our praise… or with our scorn. Luckily for all, Hollow Fields has earned much of the former and little of the latter.

Little Lucy Snow (no relation to Elijah, or Jon for that matter) is on her way to start classes at her new school, the prestigious Saint Galbat’s Academy for Young Ladies. The foolish girl gets lost in the woods while taking a shortcut but arrives at school just the same. One problem: it’s not the school she was looking for. No, no, no, little Lucy Snow has arrived at the doorsteps of the foreboding-in-appearance, "Hollow Fields". Lulled into a false sense of security by the positively posh bedroom given to her, to say nothing of the adjacent ensuite (that’s the bathroom, for you non-Francophones in the audience), Lucy happily signs the student contract.

Perhaps Lucy would have been more cautious had there been some Dante over the door to warn her, but no matter, Lucy Snow has just become the newest student at Hollow Fields: the world’s foremost academy for the study of forbidden science by the young kids of Mad Scientists worldwide. The classes are freaky, covering such topics as grave digging, cross-species transplantation and clockwork robotics. The price of failure is high: the lowest scoring student each week is sent to the “Old Windmill,” never to return!

Hollow Fields is a twisted take on a very old story: starting out at a new school. As such, all sorts of staples of these stories make their appearance: the stuck-up rich girl, the girl-hating boy that the main girl will fall for, alienation from the rest of the class, and, of course, getting lost on the way to your first class, to name a few. However, all these very normal characters, events, and themes are viewed through a lens darkly. In doing this, the incredibly talented Madeleine Rosca weaves a story that is at once very familiar and very refreshing at the same time.

I must admit to being a big fan of steampunk so I found the overlying theme of a steampunk school tale highly appealing, if more than a little worrisome. The artwork delivers though, giving us steam-powered robots and clockwork automatons, coupled with backgrounds littered with gears and chains, pipes and billowing smokestacks. The general feel of dystopia is very effectively conveyed, keeping the manga true to its roots.

In sharp contrast to all this dark, moody artwork are the characters themselves. They are, in a word –- yes, THAT word -– cute! Rosca employs some of the cutest character designs I have ever seen. Even the darkly disturbing, and disturbed, Engineers that run the dreaded academy are drawn in a way that’s more cute than terrifying, making their evil deeds that much more frightening. The kids themselves, boys and girls both, all have a cute, almost cherubic look to them. Lucy herself is so cute that you really want nothing more then to pick her up and hug her. If Seven Seas really wants to spread the series out beyond the printed medium, plushy dolls seem a good idea.

Speaking of Seven Seas, this is the first Seven Seas manga I have had a chance to look at. I’d already been impressed with their work on the Boogiepop novels, and I’m happy to say that the same high level of attention to detail employed there is present in full force here. Granted, the challenge level isn’t exactly the same as with most other manga given that Hollow Fields was created in English and not Japanese, but that doesn’t affect the very polished end result.

Hollow Fields also received high acclaim internationally when it was made a finalist in Japan’s International Manga Award contest. The International Manga Award was created by Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso to serve as a "Nobel Prize of Manga" and even being a finalist is an honor in itself. Apparently the series has received notice from readers at large also, as the first printing sold out in record time, leading to an immediately announced second printing.

Hmm… you know, if I had stuck to only one word, you could have gotten busy getting this book and started on with the reading. Maybe the good Pope was right after all. Ah well… go do it now!

Reviewer: Jason Punda
Proofer: Eduardo Menéndez
Editor: Lissa Pattillo