Why?

I saw this at Toys 'R' Us today and now I feel like crying. Is Captain Kirk suddenly Captain Kiroku? Who knows. I didn't feel like finding out. Personally, this feels dirty to me. Star Trek has a very strong American cultural identity, and has a connection to the old epics of Northern Europe in its storytelling. There are many, many parallels between it and European mythology in some places, and then the main bulk of it comes from "Horatio Hornblower".

Add to that, Star Trek was meant to be positive, optimistic. It's about overcoming the obstacles that stand in the way of all people, not just some over-powered hero character.

But most of all it feels dirty because... it does. That's really the only reason I need to not like this. The truth is I don't have to explain it to you, you don't deserve an explanation. If you're able to pick a reason out of all this, then good.

If not... too bad.

So, that said...

The artwork in it I guess isn't bad. The Enterprise is well-drawn. The equipment is well-done. The people leave quite a bit to be desired. The cover art is lovely, honestly. Very well-done caricatures of the actors. Inside is a different story. The characters lack detail, or even cues that set them apart. Bones looked like Captain Kirk. And since nobody bothered to color it, a lot is lost. 1960s Star Trek and color are inseparable. Trying to render TOS in nothing more than pencil feels like a hollow attempt. Uhura looked like she was 12, the Klingons looked like mustachioed women, and I swear that the Admiral in it was just some generic background character from like... Tenchi Muyo!

It looks like storyboards, really.

Some things that did look really nice... The Klingon bridge reminded me of the USS Kelvin in the new movie. Rugged and strong without simply being a re-use of the 1990s TNG sets. Thank you guys at least for not making it be more of that blandness.

The titles... okay, they actually annoy me. When I think of Star Trek titles I think of things like, "The Doomsday Machine", "City on the Edge of Forever" and "The Wrath of Khan". But "Kakan ni Shinkou" is in a different language.

I could go on all day about how annoying it is that when our entertainment goes to Japan it'll be translated to Japanese, but when their stuff gets brought over here it'll be left in their tongue. I could go on all day, but I won't. I'll simply say that peeves me.

So, the titles... because they're left needlessly in a different language, I have no idea what the story is, or even any clues at all as to what the devil this is. Why couldn't the title get translated? Laziness?

Who knows.

Anyway... I know that you want me to give it a chance, try it out, but I won't. Why should I bother when there's already so many more interesting things? IDW Publishing has been running excellent Trek comics for several years. They have things I like... such as color, recognizable characters, and titles I can read.

Star Trek manga?

Please go away.