Welcome to the Planet Graceland.
Neither founded by, discovered by, nor sung about in a song by the King (Elvis), Planet Graceland used to be this beautiful serene paradise… then people moved in and things went downhill from there.
Almost the poster child of eco-knobbers reasonings about people being bad for nature, Planet Graceland has devolved into the butthole of the universe, a place where constant planetary civil war threatens to spill outwards into the very universe blighting world after world after world.
Well, at least that’s the byline the Milky Way Federation is going with when they first justify their halfarsed handling of the Graceland problem (if they even bothered to do anything about it), then to justify why an entire planet must die. Yes, apparently run by Bush 2175, the Milky Way Federation has deemed the planet Graceland must be vaporized by a Photon Bomb in 7 days (to keep the violence from spreading past the planetary atmosphere and all that). So then, problem solved right? Not so fast.
So what does the problems of universal order have to do with a felon named Mister, presently due for parole from prison in 10 days? Not much, except for the fact that 10 days is 3 days too late for Mister to handle certain business on the Planet Graceland. Business that, yes, doesn’t include attending the Elvis Film Festival or dressing up as Blue Hawaii Elvis at ElvisCon. It seems he has been left a ward in one young Franca (the daughter of Pirate King Blues). This “Pirate King” (isn’t that supposed to be “Space Pirate King”?) has (before his untimely “retirement”) stolen 10 billion space dollars and hid it on Planet Graceland. This is the “legacy” of the Pirate King to his daughter, and thus it falls on Mister’s hefty beefy shoulders to carry out the uncovering of the treasure for Franca. To this end his Coyotes have come to prison to break Mister out early… no problem, right?
Well besides the twin female detectives (one smart, one rookie) who will no doubt dog the group from prison to Graceland, there is also the wee matter of a certain person who has a major grudge with Mister. This woman, a member of the Criminal Guild named Madame Marciano, has sent her 12 Sisters (hot female botgirls named after the 12 months of the Gregorian calendar) to fetch Mister and bring him to her. Obviously, being on a deadline and all, he’s not the accommodating type which leads to a chase to Graceland (with the 12 Sisters hot on their trail). Why she is hellbent to get Mister? Only time (and more volumes) will tell, but she is apparently hellbent on it enough that she will even kill off her fellow Criminal Guild members in order to stop their nagging about her actions in regard to Mister. Sheesh.
Of course this isn’t enough problem for the title, oh no.
Apparently nobody bothered to tell Mister that Franca is not the happiest of campers with this idea of fetching the treasure, and thinks Mister is out to cut her out of her own “legacy” (more interested in the fortune than her). Maybe running away from the 12 Sisters and abit of time to brood things over will change her mind about it? Maybe. But even if she changes her mind and jumps in on the treasure hunting bandwagon there is still the matter about them having no idea where Blues hid the money.
Maybe an old right hand man of Blues knows… then again maybe that isn’t a good idea either.
Either way as the volume ends it’s a cliffhanger and we’re wondering what’s next for this little intrepid band with a soon to explode planet ahead and 12 hot robotic sisters (and 2 detectives of female persuasion) behind. Things are about to get hot on Graceland (and it’s not because they’re re-releasing the limited edition Peanut Butter Banana Bacon Griddle Sammich aka the good old PB3at McElvis).
Now before I am jointly attacked by Coyote Ragtime Show fans let me finish the whole sentence.
If I was just to judge the series by the manga I’d have to say that the series is… average.
It does it’s job, and if you are new to the franchise looking for a new sci-fi action drama to fill the gaps in your collection then Coyote Ragtime Show will fill that gap well in terms of the manga. I don’t know about the anime, but if critics are any indication it should be just as fulfilling as the manga.
That being said, however, there is nothing about the series (from what I read in the manga) that makes me jump up and down or get all excited over it. It’s average fare excitement, done well and drawn well, but the innovation factor of the title is… well… it’s not there. Meh.
Still it works, it fills the gap left behind by the end of other series of it’s genre, and if I had to list the titles I’d take with me to read while on the road this would be one of those going into my traveling bag to pass the time on (when I’m not reviewing PSP or Nintendo DS titles that is).
Let’s be positive and give this one 4 cute police detective couples out of 5, and look forward to what Volume 2 will bring in the near future.
No comments:
Post a Comment