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Story

Kurohime is the most beautiful and powerful witch in the world. She’s also a gunslinger that uses magic bullets. She’s also cursed and in the body of a little girl named Himeko.

The only way to break the curse is for Kurohime to fall in love. Unfortunately her love is fleeting, so the curse is never broken for long. Can she find someone other than herself that she can love for more than a few moments?

My Opinion

The art is pretty cool, and it has some pretty entertaining moments. Unfortunately Kurohime’s curse undermines almost all of the positive points. Yep, the curse is that bad. There are about 3 short story arcs in the first volume of Kurohime, and by the time I finished the book the curse was already making the stories repetitive and boring.

Repetitive and boring.

After 3 stories.

That’s pretty darn bad. To make things even worse it looks like the stories would have been pretty good if the curse had just been left out. Yeah, I know the curse is needed to turn Kurohime from a narcissistic bitch into a decent person, eventually. I think it could have been handled better. If the conditions for breaking the curse had been structured differently or if she slowly regained her powers as the story progresses instead of the instant transformations. The formula of the stories isn’t hard to figure out, so you have a pretty good idea about what’s going to happen.

Is it worth it?

Nope, not really. The art is cool and the story had potential, but the curse did more than turn Kurohime into Himeko. It also ruined the story.

Look somewhere else for your gunslinging babes.

Manga, Reviews, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural, Kurohime, Magic, Witch, Gunslinger, Shonen Jump, Shonen Jump Advanced

Story

Train Heartnet used to work for the secret organization Chronos as an assassin. He was known as the infamous “Black Cat”. When that life became too much for him he gave it all up. The Black Cat died and came back as a stray.

Now Train works with his partner Sven as a sweeper, a bounty hunter. In their latest job they’re working with a thief to find a dangerous weapons dealer before he can release the most dangerous weapon in his arsenal.

Will they make it in time? What’s up with their new ally?

My Opinion

Black Cat is pretty darn good. I wasn’t sure quite what to expect because there are some things about it that seem similar to other manga and anime. You got the whole bounty hunter thing going on, which seems to be a pretty popular career choice for manga characters. Then you got the whole secret, possibly criminal, organization that the main character used to work for. All you need is an ex-cop partner and you got Cowboy Bebop.

Wait… What was Sven’s old line of work? Hmmm…

Well, Black Cat isn’t Cowboy Bebop, but there are similarities. It doesn’t come across as a copy or a rip off though. Black Cat has it’s own thing going on, and it’s pretty darn good.

The art and story work well together. There’s a great balance of action, drama and humor. The characters are pretty likeable, even if they kind of remind you of someone else from time to time.

Is it worth it?

Yep, Black Cat is worth checking out. A the story is well balanced, the art works well and the characters are likeable. While it might seem like Cowboy Bebop without the spaceships at first, it’s own personality shines through.

Manga, Reviews, Action, Adventure, Shonen Jump, Black Cat, Kentaro Yabuki, Train Heartnet, Bounty Hunters, Cowboy Bebop

Story

After a few unfortunate events Mai Taniyama finds herself working for Shibuya Psychic Research. Specifically she’s an assistant to it’s 17 year old President, Kauya Shibuya. Shibuya Psychic Research is currently investigating Mai’s school, or at least the old school building on the property.

A lot of strange things have happened in the old building and even more rumors have been spread about it. What’s really going on with the old building? Could it really be haunted?

My Opinion

I like the Ghost Hunt anime, so I was expecting to enjoy the manga as well. I did notice a few differences, but they really do more to enhance the manga than detract from it.

There’s a bit more humor in the manga. That’s not a bad thing, suspense and humor work very well together if done properly. It worked for The X-Files. I think the mixture of humor is done very well in Ghost Hunt.

The pacing is also a bit different. No surprise there, there’s always a pacing difference between anime and manga because the two mediums just work differently. In the manga I could read the first story in one shot. The anime tends to break things up. I don’t think there’s a single story in the anime that doesn’t require multiple episodes. I could be wrong, I haven’t seen the whole thing.

Is it worth it?

Yep, it’s worth it. If you like supernatural suspense with a bit of humor to break the tension every so often, you won’t go wrong with Ghost Hunt. It’s a darn good manga.

Manga, Reviews, Horror, Romance, Supernatural, Humor, Mai Taniyama, Kauya Shibuya, X-Files

The news of the Tokyopop restructuring was a big surprise for me. From the outside looking in, everything seemed to be going great for the manga publisher. They release a tremendous about of titles and have a large and active website.

Digital or Dead Tree?

That seems to be how things are breaking down. The company is splitting into a manga publisher and an online publisher. That makes sense. Even if the dead trees stop selling, some part of Tokyopop may survive. It leaves me with a question though.

How closely will the 2 companies be working?

When it was one company it made sense that their own online community would be the place to find digital Tokyopop stuff. Will that be changing now? Will the online community start offering digital versions of titles that Tokyopop Inc, the dead tree publisher, doesn’t have? What about the other way around? Could we see digital versions of Tokyopop titles on other websites?

I’m rooting for Tokyopop, no matter how this shakes out.

Manga, News, Opinion, Tokyopop, Online, Community

Story

Itsuki “Babyface” Minami is the toughest guy in Higashi Junior High School. With that position comes respect and responsibility. He protects the school and they love him for it. yeah, things are pretty great for Itsuki.

Things can change. One of Itsuki’s defeated opponents calls in a favor from some real criminals, the Skull Saders. The Skull Saders are a group of Stormriders. Stormriders are gangs that use Air Treks, a kind of superpowered roller blade. When the Skull Saders defeat and humiliate Itsuki, he hits rock bottom.

When you’re at the bottom, there’s nowhere to go but up.

My Opinion

I really liked this manga. The humor, action and emotion are all done very well. The ar is great too. I would think it would be hard to draw a story where movement is so essential, but Oh!great does an excellent job. Oh, and don’t you just love that pen name?

Nudity and Violence

I found a few differences from the anime kinda surprising. The differences I noticed most were the nudity and violence. The nudity in the manga is covered up, but the anime doesn’t bother to cover anything. The violence goes in a different direction. In the anime the Skull Saders are stormriders that also happen to be a bunch of thugs. In the manga the Skull Saders are dangerous criminals. The manga Skull Saders would eat the anime Skull Saders for lunch, possibly even literally.

The manga seems to be for an older audience than the anime. The age rating on the back of the manga is 16+. That sounds about right. I wouldn’t argue if it was 18+.

Is it worth it?

Yep. Air Gear is just as good in manga form as it is in anime, maybe better. There are some trade offs though. More violence, fewer boobs. I’d recommend checking it out.

Manga, Review, Air Gear, Comedy, Sports, Underground, Extreme, Itsuki Minami, Babyface, Noyamano, Storm Riders, Skull Saders, Sleeping Forest

I thought I’d share this with you and get your opinions. I think this character from Wild Ones looks suspiciously like someone from a different series.

Just in case some of the regular readers would rather not see the pic, I’ll break the page here. It is kind of a spoiler, I guess.

(more…)

Story

After the death of her mother Sachi finds out that her grandfather is the head of a yakuza family. She moves in with him because he’s the only family she has left.

Sachi is still getting used to living in a house full of some really scary guys, but things are looking up. Her grandfather needs to visit an old friend and she get to come along… to the beach. Watermelon and a hot new guy named Azuma. It’s a trip to remember.

Fun in the sun isn’t all that Sachi is up to in volume 2. There’s also a school camping trip and a school festival, not to mention a love triangle between Sachi, Rakuto and Azuma. Things almost get out of hand, but Sachi has the help of Rakuto and her new family.

My Opinion

I may not have described the story in volume 2 very well. A lot happens, but I don’t want to give away too much. There’s a lot of story packed into Wild Ones volume 2, but the flow of the story never seems to be too fast. Kiyo Fujiwara is able to pack a lot of story into a little space.

Out of the story lines in the book, I think I like the school festival the best. Maybe it’s the idea of a Netherworld Cafe, a combination haunted house and cafe. Maybe it’s the connection between Sachi and Rakuto. Nah, I think it’s the head of the film club. She looks like someone, but I’m not sure who. Maybe another director. Possibly even an Ultra one.

Is it worth it?

Yep. Wild Ones volume 2 is worth it, even though I don’t think it’s quite as strong as the first volume. A lot seems to happen and the story progresses nicely. Plus there’s a cameo from Haruhi Suzumiya, even if it’s unintentional.

Manga, Reviews, Wild Ones, Kiyo Fujiwara, Sachi Wakamura, Rakuto Igarashi, Azuma Inui, Raizo Asagi, Yakuza, Shojo, Shojo Beat, Beach, School Festival, Haunted House, Netherworld Cafe, Ultra Director, Haruhi Suzumiya

Here it is folks. This is the first casting call post. If you missed the explanation of what’s going on here, then check out the previous post.

Everyone have fun with this one. I look forward to seeing your choices.

The anime to cast is…

Bleach

You can cast the role of any extra characters you want, but the characters I’m looking for are…

• Ichigo Kurosaki
• Rukia Kuchiki
• Orihime Inoue
• Sado “Chad” Yasutora
• Uryu Ishida

and because my g/f and I like him…

• Kenpachi Zaraki

These are the characters that you have to use if you want a shot at some free manga. If you don’t care about that, then ignore the list and cast your favorite characters.

Type of Casting

Serious: The actor that you think is best for the part.

Leave a comment with your dream cast for a big budget live action version of Bleach.

Anime, Opinions, Fun Stuff, Contests, Manga, Free Stuff, Free Manga, Free, Live Action Anime, Casting, Bleach, Ichigo Kurosaki, Rukia Kuchiki, Orihime Inoue, Sado “Chad” Yasutora, Uryu Ishida, Kenpachi Zaraki

Quite a few anime are being turned into live action movies, or have been recently. I thought it was about time I got your thoughts on the matter. I could do an opinion poll, but that discourages original answers. I could just ask you what you think, but you could do that on any post. I wanted to do something fun.

Time for a game.

How it works

I’ll select an anime. It may or may not have been made as a live action movie already.

Then I’ll ask you to cast the actors for the live action movie. Not the whole cast, just a few of the main characters. Though you can cast more characters from that anime if you’d like.

There are a couple of casting categories. Serious, Humorous, Hollywood and Anti-Casta

• Serious: The actor that you think is best for the part.
• Humorous: Joke casting, so go for the laughs.
• Hollywood: Who you think Hollywood would cast. This isn’t applicable if there has already been a Hollywood version, like Speed Racer.
• Anti-Casta: The actor that you think would be the worst possible choice.

I’ll let you know which casting category I’m looking for. You can do any of ‘em, but if you play along there might be something in it for you.

Why play along?

Free stuff.

I’ve got way too much manga sitting around that I’ll never read again. Stuff that I bought to review or just didn’t like. I’m not going to be reading it anymore, but you can.

I’ll pick a few of the comments I like best and they get free stuff. The free manga will be randomly selected. That means I just grab something. So don’t bother with “Can I have (random manga name) ?”, because it won’t work. Those clever or insightful enough to receive something will get whatever is on top of the pile.

What do you think?

I think this could be fun. Is there anything missing though? Should I make any changes before I post the first anime to cast?

Anime, Opinions, Fun Stuff, Contests, Manga, Free Stuff, Free Manga, Free, Live Action Anime, Speed Racer, Casting

D.Gray-Man is a good example of why I don’t like to give up on manga or anime. I’d tried to read it before but just couldn’t get into it. I don’t know what it was, but something put me off the first time. Since then I’ve read a couple of other manga that I’ve enjoyed. When I went back to D.Gray-Man this time it reminded me of some of those. Once I got into it, I didn’t want to stop reading.

Story

Innocence is rare, but in the world of D.Gray-Man it’s even more precious. In that world innocence is the name of a holy substance that allows exorcists to combat the evil akuma. Akuma are weapons created by the Millennium Earl to destroy humanity and the world.

Allen Walker is an exorcist. Allen is a human with the ability to use innocence as a weapon to fight the Millennium Earl and his army of akuma.

Can Allen and his friends survive long enough to defeat the Millennium Earl?

My Opinion

D.Gray-Man is a cool little horror comic with just a hint of steampunk. Some genuinely creepy moments are interspersed through a great action adventure story set in an alternate past. There are bits of humor here and there as well. There kinda has to be though, because the story would be a bit too sad otherwise.

The art does a good job telling the story. I really enjoyed the way it’s used to set the mood. The mood can change pretty quickly. If the art wasn’t used very carefully to convey those emotional cues, then the story would suffer. Katsura Hoshino has done a great job getting everything just right.

Is it worth it?

D.Gray-Man is worth picking up. Cool characters, action and a carefully constructed world make for a great story. I’d recommend giving this one a chance.

Manga, Reviews, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Horror, Supernatural, Viz Media, Shonen Jump, Katsura Hoshino, D.Gray-Man, D Gray Man, Allen Walker, Innocence, Exorcists, Akuma, Millennium Earl

I was just catching up on reading my Shonen Jump subscription and that started me thinking. I was taking in the art of this month’s installment of Bleach and I noticed how much better it looked. Why did it look so much better?

Size Matters

Because of the page size. I hadn’t noticed it before, though I really should have, but the larger pages just look better. You can see more detail and the artwork is better able to tell the story. The Shonen Jump sized pages are the way most if these manga were intended to be published, or at least a lot closer.

I don’t have anything against the trade paperback sized manga. I read ‘em all the time. They provide a great way to follow the stories I love. I have to wonder though, why aren’t more magazine sized manga published?

Is it more expensive to publish a monthly magazine like Shonen Jump or Shojo Beat than it is to stock the shelves at Barnes & Noble with paperback volumes? If so, then why does the monthly Shonen Jump cost $5 when a paperback manga volume costs $10?

Selling Point

Is Viz losing money on monthly Shonen Jump in an effort to promote their manga paperback volumes? If so, does it work? Why wouldn’t the other companies do the same thing? I’d love to see a monthly magazine from the other publishers.

TokyoPop has been doing a lot to build their online community. They even offer free online versions of their manga. Why couldn’t they bundle a few stories in a nice thick magazine every month? They’d be promoting their TPB manga and maybe making a couple of bucks in the process.

Manga, Opinion, Magazine, Paperback, TPB, Shonen Jump, Shojo Beat, Viz, Viz Media, Bleach, TokyoPop

Gin Tama is a bit odd. It does so many things at once that it’s sometimes hard to keep track. Alternate history, science fiction, comedy and even action get smashed together inside the cover of this book. The result is something that could only be done in comics.

Story

Gin Tama gives an alternate version of the Edo Period. In this version aliens settle in Edo, what we now call Tokyo. The aliens change everything. They bring tremendous progress in knowledge and science. They also outlaw swords, in effect outlawing samurai.

Gin Tama follows a former samurai as he tries to get by in this strange new world. Sakata Gintoki works as a freelancer and takes whatever jobs he can get.

My Opinion

I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating. Gin Tama is an odd little manga. It combines humor, action and science fiction to a look at a very interesting period in Japanese history from a different angle. The alternate history presented by Gin Tama, the arrival of extra terrestrial aliens, might not be that much different from the real history.

The art didn’t impress me that much. The visuals get the job done, but I don’t think they live up to the story. The art isn’t bad though. The action sequences, of which there are plenty, have a good sense of movement. The exaggerated reaction shots are also very well done. I guess my problem with the art is just that it’s inconsistent. After some great action panels, the more static panels just look bad.

Is it worth it?

I’d recommend checking out the first volume of Gin Tama and making up your own mind about this series. There’s so much going on that there is bound to be something you like. More than likely there is going to be something you don’t like as well.

For what it’s worth, I liked it.

Manga, Reviews, Comedy, Action, Adventure, History, Science Fiction, Sci Fi, Gin Tama, Hideaki Sorachi, Samurai, Japanese History, Edo Period

Ever wonder what One Piece would be like if the crew were wizards instead of pirates? Now you don’t have to, you can just read Fairy Tail.

Story

Lucy is a young mage that dreams of joining Fairy Tail, the legendary mage guild. A mage guild is a support structure for a mage. It helps them find work as well as letting them associate with other mages. Lucy gets lucky, sort of, and runs into a member of Fairy Tail that agrees to help her join.

Fairy Tail isn’t quite the way Lucy had imagined it. It’s full of dangerous mages doing dangerous work, and often for very little pay. Does she have what it takes to be a member of the most notorious guild there is?

My Opinion

I haven’t read Hiro Mashima’s previous works, such as Rave Master, so I can’t really compare Fairy Tail to his other work. The only thing Fairy Tail really reminds me of is One Piece. The problem there is that I’ve only seen the anime. I haven’t read any of the One Piece manga.

Well, now that we’ve covered what Fairy Tail isn’t, let’s talk about what it is. Fairy Tail is a very good adventure manga. It has great humor, likeable characters and good art, even if some of the character designs look familiar. The action is well done with some truly impressive fight scenes.

Is it worth it?

I think Fairy Tail is well worth picking up. It has a lot of strong points, even without the pirates.

Manga, Reviews, Action, Comedy, Adventure, Magic, Fantasy, Fairy Tail, Volume 1, Hiro Mashima, Rave Master, One Piece

Story

Yoshimori Sumimura is a Kekkaishi, a demon slayer that uses force fields. His family are guardians of a piece of very powerful sacred land. The land needs guardians because it can grant demons tremendous power.

Yoshimori doesn’t work alone though. His family isn’t the only one protecting the land. It seems there is a rival family of Kekkaishi, the Yukimura family. Yoshimori works together with Tokine Yukimura.

If all tha wasn’t hard enough, the land that Yoshimori protects has a school built on it, the same school that he and Tokine attend.

My Opinion

There’s quite a bit of stuff in Kekkaishi that we’ve all seen before. There are demons who want to be more powerful, guardians to stop them and rival families. Is that a bad thing? I don’t think so. It’s handled very well. All of the stuff we’ve seen before just makes it easier for us to get to know the characters and the story.

Yellow Tanabe takes all of these familiar elements and uses them to create a world of magical adventure that you’ll want to spend a lot of time exploring. The story, the characters and the art all work together to pull you in.

I liked the variety of monsters and spirits. The battles were pretty darn fun. I also enjoyed seeing what the characters were like at home. Just because they have a sacred duty doesn’t mean that they have no interests outside of that work.

I enjoyed Kekkaishi quite a bit. I’ll certainly be looking for more of this story.

Is it worth it?

Kekkaishi is worth checking out. If you like supernatural adventure and action I’d recommend picking up this manga.

Manga, Reviews, Shonen, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Supernatural, Kekkaishi, Yellow Tanabe

Story

Alice Seno’s life has gotten interesting lately. First she falls for the same guy her older sister is interested in. Then she finds a lost rabbit that’s really going to cause trouble. The poor little bunny is really a very powerful creature that wants Alice to become a “Lotis Master”.

How is a girl that has trouble expressing herself supposed to control reality with words? She’d better learn fast because her sister is missing and Alice will need help to defeat the demon that took her.

My Opinion

The story is ok, but it never really captured my interest. I don’t know why, it’s not like there was anything I disliked about it. There just wasn’t enough that I did like about it. The characters are the same way. I don’t dislike them, but there isn’t really anything that I do like about them.

The art is a different story. I really liked the art. There’s nothing revolutionary about it. It’s just your basic shojo fantasy art. It is very well done though. As much as I liked the art, it just didn’t fill the gaps left in the story.

Oh, I did think that this was interesting…

It’s pretty bad when a typographical error is the most interesting thing about your book.

Is it worth it?

Not really. If you’re a fan of Yu Watase or her other works, then it might be worth checking out. I can’t really recommend it to everyone. While I liked the art I thought the story and the characters were kind of boring.

Manga, Review, Shojo, Fantasy, Alice 19th, Volume 1, Yu Watase, Yuu Watase