by Miwa Shirow

I hate Vocaloid, and its many abnormal hair colored incarnations. I hate it so much that I could puke. So explain to me… why nearly eight gigabytes of my iPod is occupied by Hatsune Miku and her Nazi friends? Why more than 240$ of my hard-earned paychecks has gone to purchase of synthetic vocal collections? Why I waste many hours out of my week scanning Nico Nico Douga for new songs and videos of that little virtual cunt? But more importantly, why do I cry myself to sleep every night…?

I was a high schooler when I discovered Twin Spica on that floating consortium of manga called Amazon.co.jp. Since then, I occasionally noticed its reappearance from time to time during my perusal of the Internet and its subsidiary manga news outlets. I am not a big fan of the slice-of-life genre, but when I started my venture into manga scanlation my mind was set on getting this jewel of nostalgia onto the mainstream. Unfortunately, due to my abrupt spasms of eccentricity and no thanks to the idiots that worked with me in my scanlation group; I am sad to admit that no headway was made and the project disappeared into notoriety. I assume some other group attempted to translate it at some point. However, that’s irrelevant to me, since by that point I was losing interest in providing scanlation to ingrates. Fortunately, a rare foray into Kinokuniya after years of absence (due to my work) had me stumbling upon this title once more.

Vertical, Inc. acquired the rights to Twin Spica about a year ago; and I guess at some point this year the first volume was released. I of course, bought it with my pocket change and haven’t regretted it. I plan on purchasing all sixteen volumes as they come out, and helping out the dwindling manga companies still hanging on by loose threads here in America. In all honesty, Twin Spica is a perfect demonstration of good choice and foresight I never expected to see from a domestic publisher. If only Dark Horse and Viz could start making the same improvements.

The story for Twin Spica is simple, but like most simple manga, tends to become convoluted with complex emotional details and character ordeals. I usually become infuriated by such titles because story progression is marred by drawn-out conflicts, and usually with no significant actions to depict. Still, I must admit conjuring emotions out of me is a better alternative to feeling nothing at all. And in that respect, Twin Spica truly inspires a side of me that I thought died along with the rest of my childhood. I highly recommend this manga to just about anyone with a sweet tooth.

Summary? You want a summary? Okay fine, I’m not very good at that… but okay, here I’ll try it.

Asumi Kamogawa has dreamed of being a “rocket driver” since she was six-years-old. Now aged 14, she passes her entrance exam to Japan’s Tokyo Space School, being one of the few accepted into its Astronaut Training program. Countless trials and tribulations await her at this school for the gifted, and can little Asumi pull through them all? Her short stature fools most into thinking she doesn’t have what it takes, but just like a star needs a closer glance to display its size, she proves she’s much bigger and brighter than anyone could have imagined.

Ugh. I hate these things.