スーパーマリオくん 11

Another pretty solid volume of Super Mario Kun, where the prior volume ended two separate arcs and set up the beginnings of Wario Land 1, Volume 11 gets into the full swing of the story and like the first Super Mario Land 2 volume it stays mostly focused on one game rather than bouncing around like later SML2 volumes did. The manga takes an interesting approach to the plot of Wario Land which is that Mario actually joins Wario and they're cooperating together on the adventure. In a more normal Mario universe, this could lead to an interesting "good cop/bad cop" dynamic, but since the Super Mario Kun version of Mario is already a brash, crude trickster hero they gel weirdly well together. Mario chides Wario for beating up on a crab enemy and at first you think Mario's going to take mercy, but then Mario goes "here's how ya really do it" and strangles the crab to an extent that actually frightens Wario. It's a bit surprising but a pretty funny bit of dark comedy that emphasizes the uniquely Mario-Kun attributes that this version of these characters have. The early issues had me worried that Wario would be a hanger-on in his own arc and let Mario do all the heavy lifting which would be in character for Wario, but Wario does get to step up and carry his (considerable) weight as the arc gets going, though I do still feel like it still leans more toward being Mario-centric. It's a tricky balance because this is Mario's manga, but they're adapting Wario's game. Captain Syrup also makes a brief, but funny appearance and she almost feels like Peach's Wario. She has a similar trollish personality, but where Peach messes with characters who generally deserve it, Syrup is more of an angry deranged character. It's different from her somewhat refined treasure hunter persona from the games, but I think it's fun and I hope well get to see more of her throughout the arc.

The humor is a lot less fecal and cursed than volume 10 and plays more off the characters and their dynamics. Since we're a good number of volumes in, there's room for callbacks and running gags, Birdo appears again and continues to be hilarious. In addition to Wario Land we get a fun one-off tying into Donkey Kong 94 that actually gives us the origin of DK's tie and the first appearance of Pauline in the manga (interestingly she recognizes Mario because Mario is famous, but Mario doesn't seem to recognize Pauline, which has me wondering if Peach was perhaps the damsel in the Manga-universe version of the original game's events). We also get the beginnings of the Wario's Woods arc which is an enjoyable follow-up to the Mario and Wario arc. Wanda shows up again, and actually more than in the arc for her own game since her own role was supplanted by Bowser in Mario and Wario (some people seem to think Wanda is in the Wario's Woods game but consensus seems to be that the game simply has another unrelated fairy who wears red, though Wanda takes that role in the manga). It is a bit weird to have one arc going where Mario and Wario cooperate, but another simultaneous arc going where Wario is once again the enemy and even a note from Sawada describes this narrative arrangement as "ややこしい", so it'll be interesting to see how the two stories contrast or if they end up overlapping.

Also weird is the final bonus chapter, which is called "Another Prologue" or "One More Prologue" (the Japanese they use is　もう一つ) for the Wario Land arc, and seems to contradict the setup in chapter 10. Since this is a bonus chapter made for the collected volume I don't know if this is necessarily canon or just a fun alternate since it's explicitly acknowledged that there's already been a prologue, but it is an interesting oddity. In Volume 10 they basically explained that the whole of Mario and Wario was basically Wario giving Mario a secret test of character because he wanted Mario to help out on the treasure hunt, whereas here both Mario and Wario are on Kitchen Island already when Wario tries to recruit Mario and Princess Peach happens to call Mario and mention that the local's golden statue has been stolen which motivates Mario to come along with Wario. Neither setup really gives that deep an explanation of why the two are working together though I do think this version is at least a bit more believable in terms of motivation. One thing's for sure: readers trying to follow this series on a weekly basis in CoroCoro Comic rather than reading the collected volumes must've had a minefield of a time keeping track of what story's what and which game things tie into. Skipping or missing a chapter could through you into a whole different plotline without warning.