Rose Hip Zero
ROSE HIP ZERO (by Tohru Fujisawa)… I picked up issue one back in 2005 when my wife and I traveled to Japan for about a week. Having always been a fan of manga, I could resist at least one stop into the book store near the hotel. While there I grabbed several comic books, none of which I could read. Hell, I couldn’t even read the title, except for ROSE HIP ZERO… but that title was in english (I might go into the other comic books I picked up during another posting).
So, seeing as though I couldn’t read ROSE HIP ZERO, I relied on the artwork to tell me the story… and it did. There was something arrogant about the comic book. The gun fights are detailed like a John Woo film… the good John Woo films… you know, the one’s he made back in Hong Kong, like HARDBOILED.
Every character’s wardrobe is trendy, hip, and sexy. And that sex appeal carries over to the guns and cars; always very detailed, realistic, an expensive looking. Hell, they even book-end each chapter with a shot of the main character, Kasumi, barely dressed and wielding weapons… good stuff.
About a year after picking up this comic book in Japan, I ran across it here in the States… in english. So I started picking them up. And while the look, action and humor translated well, the story got sloppy by issue 4. In fact, it got bad enough that I never picked up the final issue 5, which I’ll probably remedy some day.
ROSE HIP ZERO is about a young girl named Kasumi; a mysterious girl with an insane ability to skillfully wield any weapon in combat. An ability that is explored throughout the series as she comes to terms with her past and those in it.
You should also keep in mind that ROSE HIP ZERO is a preequel to ROSE HIP ROSE, which (as far as I can tell) has never been translated… legally. You can download fan made translated versions, but I’m not a fan of reading comic books on a computer screen. I once read that it would be translated and sold by TOKYOPOP in 2008, but I haven’t ran across it.
Bottom line, if you love beautifully drawn action and beautifully drawn girls with guns, then you ABSOLUTELY have to pick up ROSE HIP ZERO. Just don’t fall too in love with the story, or you might be disappointed.
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