Welcome to the NHK, v. 1

by Tatsuhiko Takimoto & Kendi Oiwa
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: Satou has a love-hate relationship with his otaku-hermit lifestyle.

A "hikikomori" is a college-age dropout, usually male, who goes into voluntary seclusion. Apparently it's a growing phenomenon (or is perceived to be -- sounds a lot like my brother for the last ten years) in Japan. Satou says he's been a shut-in for four years and he's starting to try to emerge from the solitary confinement.

This is, of course, easier said than done.

The story is rather disjointed, as Satou is prone to massive overreactions (in his own mind, at least) and is easily distracted. His internal self-flagellations are both amusing and sadly familiar to any shy person struggling to pry open their own shell. Safe to say that Satou's gone a bit stir crazy in his confinement, and the two friends he makes aren't terribly helpful.

One is Yamazaki, hentai collector, who is also a hikikomori and seeds a crazy idea in Satou's head to invent an erotic video game.

The other is Misaki, a pretty girl whose existence tortures Satou with visions of porn. She claims to have a sure-fire cure for hikikomori (I suspect it includes a job and a girlfriend) and she lures Satou out of his apartment for "sessions."

NHK is funny and fast-moving, but it's also guaranteed to be a long string of failures and humiliations for its hero. It has some raunchy moments and some predictable moments, and the characters aren't quite as unique as they sound. So I put it in the middle of the pack.



- Miranda

Octopus Girl, v.3

by Toru Yamazaki
Published in the U.S. by Dark Horse Manga



Slugline: If Madmagazine is too tame (or, possibly, too high-brow) for you these days, then suffer no more. Truly bizarre gross-out comedy has been brought to us by the good folks at Dark Horse.

This isn't a Dishonorable Mention, but I'll be brief because I'm not usually found hanging around the horror/comedy crossroads. I need to go bleach my eyeballs after reading this.

Octopus Girl is a semi-anthology of two girls who sometimes have the bodies of an octopus and an eel and who have strange, gory and sh*t-filled adventures. The art is hideous, but that's intentional. The dialog is flat, but that hardly matters. Believe it or not, I'm giving it two stars for inconsistency -- not all the stories are pointless or even sh*t-filled.

If you've got a friend who's into gross-out comedy and you're looking for a present for them, there's three volumes of this stuff for sale at Amazon.



- Miranda

Snow, v.1

Created by Morgan Luthi
Published by TokyoPop



Slugline: A fluffier, more easy going but still destructive Akira.

Morgan Luthi is another of the TokyoPop artists who were discovered through the Rising Stars of Manga contest. He actually has an interesting story about winning, in that he had been applying for several of the contests in a row, being turned down each time, but slowly gaining in skill until he finally was one of the winners published.

Snow is a story about the apparently identity-less newcomer to the Hub, the back end of the galaxy, a galaxy that seems to be under random assault by the Warmongers, a race of giant robots, whose greatest weapon is the Ghost, a psychic of unprecedented power. On the Hub, there is a gang that battles the other gangs to help the city function, called the Crows, led by Katarina. Needless to say the other gangs do not share the Crows' altruism, and the Warmongers are looking for the Ghost.

I wanted to like this, and to a certain extent I do, but when I start unpacking the story I keep on hitting on elements that just didn't seem to work. Katarina's unusual background comes up, but then doesn't really change anything. The reveal of the Ghost is handled casually, and the reveal at the end of the episode is anything but believable.

The art is very open and fluid, both futuristic and old at the same time. The story moves very fast, but there does not feel like that there is much story actually there. Part of that may be the panel layout, which is very open, which means that there are fewer panels per page. Luthi has a very good sense of design, with the title pages and other administrativa of the book seamlessly flowing in with the story pages.

I think this series still has potential, and these structural flaws can be fixed, so that is the sole reason I haven't given this manga a lower score.



- Ferdinand

Saihoshi the Guardian, v.1

by Kosen
Published by Yaoi Press



Slugline: Saihoshi agrees to bodyguard Prince Anel on the way to meet his arranged bride. Needless to say, things go wrong. Caution: softcore gay porn.

Yaoi Press has been boldly forging ahead with an all-OEL list of titles. This is the first story of theirs that I've read, and it was a pleasant surprise.

It's a fairly amusing story of a horny young prince trying to catch his bodyguard's eye and getting into trouble when his journey is interrupted by an ambush. It's a fantasy world stocked with gay boys (did I even see a single woman? will his "bride" be female?) who like a lot of leather straps. And get this, Saihoshi wields a giant pair of scissors for a weapon. He runs with scissors. It had to be done, I guess.

As noted, the porn is softcore -- no frontal nudity, just a lot of butt shots and convenient drapery. Not that there's anything wrong with nice butt shots.

The characters are solid and even have an occasional twist, the story is straightforward and the dialog got an occasional smile. I read a special edition handed out at a retailer convention which included a short, yaoi version of Gawain and the Green Knight that I'm less impressed by (I'm a little too fond of the original) and an snippet preview of a title called Stallion (which looks pretty formulaic.)

As yaoi goes, Saihoshi is light and angst-free and that's a nice change of pace once in a while. I am kind of curious to find out if his "bride" will turn out to be a boy in drag, or maybe a hermaphrodite (in the apparently-well-entrenched hentai style...)



- Miranda

Q-ko-chan, v. 2

by Ueda Hajime
Published in the U.S. by Del Rey Manga



Dishonorable Mention

Review of v.1

Since this was written by the creator of FLCL, I should've figured the second volume would resolve exactly nothing.

Amusingly, these two volumes comprise the entire story. I think the translator's note at the end says it best, and I quote, "So what happened? I wish I could tell you."

Thanks for killing tons of trees so we can all be confused together.

- Miranda

Peach Fuzz, v. 1

Created by Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges
Published by TokyoPop



Slugline: A pet primer and younger kids title, all in one.

Peach Fuzz is one of the first of the TokyoPop original creator titles, and is aimed at younger readers. Amusingly enough, I am pretty sure I remember its creators, Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges, for the adult work that they did beforehand.

Amanda wants a pet, and so at the pet store she chooses a ferret which she names Peach. However, Peach's apparently gentle nature at the pet store is mostly because she was napping, and once she awakes she is not happy. Peach saw herself as a princess, and now sees herself as a prisoner of a dungeon, under the sway of the evil Handra, which she has to fend off with bites. Amanda's mom doesn't want to keep an animal that will hurt her daughter, but Amanda wants to keep Peach.

What I like, in its humorous and roundabout way, is that this story points out that pets don't look at the world the same way that humans do. Peach Fuzz hides it under the idea that Peach sees the world as a medieval kingdom with as her as a princess, but when Amanda uses animal behaviors that Peach learned from her ferret-mommy, Peach and Amanda finally get to an accommodation, one that is limited by the fact that Peach will still on occasion nip just to make a point.

I actually would suggest giving a copy of this book to a kid who wants a pet, to help illustrate that what they think and what the pet thinks may be entirely different things. And the unmeaning and casual cruelty they may unknowingly visit upon the pet. As a story, the art is very good, very open, very friendly to non-comic-experienced readers. I do feel that while the story is more geared to younger readers, older readers will find some bits to entertain themselves with.



- Ferdinand

Kuro Gane, v.2

by Kei Toume
Published in the U.S. by Del Rey Manga



Slugline: Jintetsuo tries not to get involved with two old friends and the politics of revenge.

Volume 1 review

One gets the impression, from this volume, that Jintetsuo doesn't know what he wants -- other than to not get involved, which he doesn't do a very good job of. And I'm not sure what happened to the interesting ideas I saw in the first volume, because other than the hero waffling back and forth, the stories are retreads of standard Japanese-style revenge by underage, overenthusiastic orphans.

It seems, also, that Jintetsuo is less of a robot in this volume -- he eats, he drinks, he still doesn't talk but the talking sword now claims it can read his mind. Which may be more convenient for the writer, but it removes most of the mystery and another point of uniqueness. And if Jintetsuo's just another closed-lipped samurai watching others kill each other and feeling guilty, what's the point?

It may be that in v.3, he will find something to do that can carry the further volumes, but as sophomore slumps go this is a tough one and I don't know if I'll be there to find out about v.3. I've got a lot in my to-read pile.



- Miranda

Genju no Seiza, v.1

by Matsuri Akino
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: Fuuto Kamishina just might be the true reincarnation of the ruler of a small, Tibet-like country.

I reviewed Matsuri Akino's other new manga, Kamen Tantei, and I must say this one is better. Not that it does anything too surprising, but the dialog is a bit better, the characters are a bit more intriguing, and the writer obviously did more homework.

Fuuto's lifetime of trouble with visions and nightmares starts to make more senes when a guardian spirit of the reincarnated kings of Dhalashar finds him. He spends the rest of the volume alternately refusing to believe what he's told and conveniently manifesting the very powers that prove the guardian spirit right.

Like Pet Shop of Horrors (also by Akino-san,) there are some interesting story ideas and creatures, but also a certain lack of tension, risk, or surprises. Fuuto's refusals to believe are unoriginal and tiresome in the face of his abilities. He uses his powers for "evil" once, and quickly backs down and fixes it. An enemy sends agents to dispose of Fuuto, but they're converted to his cause by a display of mystical ability. The guardian spirit also displays tremendous powers (like turning back time) one moment and is on the defensive the next moment.

There are a few funny moments, but on the whole it's only a middling manga. We will see how things go in v.2.



- Miranda

Line

By Yua Kotegawa
Published in the U.S. by ADV Manga



Slugline: Sometimes you have to run for your life. Sometimes you have to run for others' lives.

This is an early review. I haven't mentioned it here, but I am enjoying another ADV Manga title, Anne Freaks. So when I saw this book, titled as from the same creator, I swiped it off the freebie table at a retailer convention I was attending.

It is a standalone volume, focusing on Chiko, the popular girl at school, and Bando, who is not. Chiko finds an abandoned cell phone, but before she can return it, it rings. The voice on the other end tells her that she has only minutes to reach someone before they commit suicide. Bando ends up following her, and they begin a run through the Tokyo night.

This is a fairly serious title, and other than a few moments of fan service, it is played straight. Chiko is fairly easy to understand, and even though she is popular, by the same token she is empathic, concerned how others feel. She thinks that the people that are committing suicide are idiots, but still feels driven to stop them. A bunch of contradictions are wrapped up in her, but still understandable. Bando on the other hand, seems a lot more opaque to me all through the volume, but she knows one thing: she wants to see it to the end. A very good read.

Sometimes the art seems posed, and the action shots feel more static than I think they should be. Most of the time it isn't noticeable, but there is a splash page toward the culmination of the book that was especially jarring for me. But other than that? Good.



Line is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Anne Freaks, v. 1 & 2

by Yua Kotegawa
Published in the U.S. by ADV Manga



Slugline: Anna and her allies are out to destroy a violent religious cult. Most of them are escapees from the cult's fold.

The first volume of Anne Freaks was deliciously twisted and evil. The second took a right turn into a cop drama -- a decent one, but not as unique as v.1.

Anna started out by recruiting two boys nearly as disturbed as she is, and the story could have been an interesting look at the group dynamics of sociopaths, but in v.2 a posse of other characters show up. Each has some connection to the violent religious cult (which is run, of course, by teenagers... sheesh) that Anna escaped and together they concoct a plan to infiltrate and destroy.

I meant to write a glowing review for v.1, but now that's tempered by v.2. Not to say that v.2 is bad -- it's not, and I say that as a long-term watcher of such venerable dinosaurs as Law & Order and CSI. (And the even more venerable Homicide, a must for cop drama fans.) Just that as the stage fills up with characters, Anna starts to fade into the background and that's a shame.



Anne Freaks, vol. 1 and vol. 2 are both available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

Gerard & Jacques, v. 1

by Fumi Yoshinaga
Published in the U.S. by Blu



Slugline: Poverty-stricken aristocrat boy becomes a servant of a gay bourgeois in pre-Revolution France. Caution: explicit gay porn.

Someone needs to mention to Asian writers that selling one's children has never been an acceptable way to pay debts in Europe. Maybe you'd send them away as apprentices, or let them take indentured servitude to pay for a boat ride to the Colonies -- and both of those may be a lot like slavery -- but in theory they'd get an education out of it and finish their service with a clean slate.

In any case, this is an okay yaoi romance of the we'll-fight-till-we're-crazy-about-each-other variety. These aren't my favorite -- I'm the sort who dislikes the people I fight with -- but it's a well established romance genre.

Gerard is, of course, well-read in Enlightenment philosophers under his gruff persona and has been burned by women in the past. Jacques rings a bit truer in personality to me: a sheltered kid thrown out in the real world, but he's making an honest effort to learn and adapt. Everyone else is a one-trick pony.

There is not actually very much porn in this volume, to the point that what scenes there are feel gratuitous. I'm sure this will change in further volumes.



- Miranda

Skip Beat, v. 1

By Yoshiko Nakamura
Published in the U.S. by Viz Shoujo Beat



Slugline: A shoujo heroine realizes that pining after the boy is stupid. At last, one of them gets a clue!

I have to admit up front, I am not a shoujo-loving sort of guy. Not because it is too girly or anything like that, but because it feels that so many of them use the same three plots, repeated in different backgrounds. I also like there to be not only interior challenges to the character, but exterior challenges, because I think that when a character is being tested in all ways that it is the best way to see what they are made of.

Kyoko starts the manga as one of those girls you have seen before in a shoujo manga, but rather than redoubling her efforts when the boy rejects her, she decides to kick his ass by becoming greater than him. No shrinking violet here. Now this is still a shoujo title, with convenient coincidences and so on, but it still has a harder and more modern edge than most others. I want to see her get to track down and beat her pseudo-ex's butt! And while there is a potential new love, her focus is on herself and on revenge.

The art is pretty good, but there were a couple times the panel layout didn't feel organic, especially in the first chapter, but other than that no major problems.



- Ferdinand

the dreaming, v. 1

by Queenie Chan
Published by TokyoPop



Slugline: Twin sisters realize that a private school deep the Australian outback has some drawbacks of the ghostly kind.

Another gothic tale, much more steeped in horror than my previous review of Bizenghast, the dreaming is focused on twin sisters Amber and Jeanie. After an undisclosed incident, they leave the city and move to a private school deep in the Australian bush with their aunt who, unhelpfully, immediately leaves on a long business trip. Attempts to fit into the school reveals that they should never mention they are twins, and they also discover a history of spookiness surrounding the school culminating in a tragedy that the reader could see coming.

While a ghost story doesn't need to give you all the answers, I feel that it was hard to pick out the story threads introduced and determine which ones were important. Either a lot is going to start tying together in the next volume, or there are going to be loose ends all over the place. There was a character introduced early in the volume, the only boy in the volume, who never appears again, but the way he was introduced made me feel that he was important in some way. So the story feels fractured.

The art is strong and well detailed, but since the main characters were twin sisters, I continually had to work to keep them separate. It was one of those no-win art challenges -- you need to keep them looking similar for story purposes, as twin sisters, but at the same time they need to look different so readers can tell them apart.

While enjoyable, I felt like I had to work to get that enjoyment, more than I should have to, but I was not put off enough to not at least want to check out the next volume.



- Ferdinand

Bizenghast, v. 2

by M. Alice LeGrow
Published by TokyoPop



Slugline: Dinah grows stronger while Vincent becomes more uncertain as they confront more of the tests of the Mausoleum.

This volume suffers from the problem of many middle parts of a story: after the introduction, you need to set the pieces in motion for the finale, and there some scenes in here that are basically for setting up later scenes, or that are left as open questions with the intent of being resolved later.

But there are some changes, mostly as the characters, especially Dinah, develop. Dinah seems to progress to being more assertive and stronger, putting more of her darkness behind her, though she does regress here and there in the story. Vincent doesn't change much in comparison, but since Dinah has, different aspects of his personality emerge. His protective urge, which Dinah appreciated and even needed in the first volume, has started to become a liability by the end of the second.

The art continues to be one of the strongest aspects of the title, capturing the gothic atmosphere, though I still wish at times the lines were a little stronger, so scenes seem more real, at least outside of the dream worlds that the characters visit.



- Ferdinand

Innocent W, v. 1

by Kei Kusunoki
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Dishonorable Mention

Oh, boy, teenagers being slaughtered in the woods! That's never been done before!

- Miranda

R.I.P. (Requiem in Phonybrian)

by Mitsukazu Mihara
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: A bored angel adopts a tainted soul as a pet, giving him a chance to redeem himself and other suicides.

Mihara is also the creator of the Doll series, (six volumes, all available now) which I enjoyed and recommend and would give four stars. Both Doll and RIP are studies in Gothic Lolita costuming, but they are also well written and thoughtful for those who are less interested in frills and platform shoes.

This is a one-shot story, so I will stick to the slugline and not give away too much of the plot. I will note, though, that despite being built on Christian ideas about angels and death, it does not take any painfully distracting liberties with them. (unlike, say, Angel Sanctuary - I still wince every time I think of Metatron as a whiny little boy in plaid.) There are some novel twists to what angels can and can't do, but I found them interesting.

RIP is an enjoyable read, with a good mix of character, worldbuilding and dialog, and I look forward to reading more of Mihara's work.



- Miranda

Jim Henson's Return to Labyrinth, v. 1

by Jake T. Forbes
Published by Tokyopop



Slugline: Toby's charmed life leads him back to the Labyrinth, where we meet new characters and familiar faces.

While reading this, I tried very hard to set aside my sentimental attachment to the original movie so as not to bring the Star Wars effect to bear. And I reminded myself that Jareth is not actually developed too much in Labyrinth, so some character flexibility must be allowed.

Even so, the story is about as elegant as the robot guard at the gates of the goblin city. Maybe the writer is inexperienced. Maybe the movie is a hard act to follow (well, David Bowie certainly is.) I'm willing to forgive the slashiness dripping off this Jareth and the illogic of things like inviting Ludo to a ball. The characters are simply predictable, the dialogue's clunky and, worse yet, the art isn't very interesting.

I didn't expect Terry Jones and Brian Froud, but... I'm disappointed.

Despite it all, I want to forgive this volume and hope that v.2 is better. I'm not saying this is a travesty like Star Wars Episode 1 -- it's not. But it's no Wrath of Khan. Maybe more like the second Matrix movie: has its good points, but lacks the soul of the original.

All will depend on whether the writer can give Toby some quirks of his own, lay off the cameos and generate some real tension in the story, whether plot-driven or character-driven I'm not fussy.



- Miranda

Apologies

Life has taken a turn for the crazier and necessitated a complete change of my daily schedule. Thus, the erratic posting. Hopefully things will settle down after Labor Day.

- Miranda

Suzuka, v. 1

By Kouji Seo
Published in the U.S. by Del Rey Manga



Slugline: What a surprise that another high school guy works in female-only bath. Is there a law or something about that? Caution: Mature Content

Del Rey seems to be putting out a lot of titles that are heavy in fan service. Not sure if that is a deliberate choice on their part or a coincidence due to their contacts in Japan, but they seem to be one of the few companies that are unworried about having their titles shrinkwrapped in the stores. Pastel, a series that I am enjoying despite my better instincts, is from Del Rey, and they continue this trend in Suzuka.

Of the two, I am enjoying Suzuka more. Let's get the setup out of the way; country boy goes to Tokyo to live with his aunt while going to high school, an aunt who runs a female-only apartment building with a spa/bath attached. So he is the only guy in a building full of single women. There's a girl the same age as him in the building, so it is almost a given that they will fall for each other. But they are actually attempting to forge a relationship, rather than just having them both like each other and not revealing it because of a series of unbelievable coincidences. Both characters are right now in that stage of quasi-friendship, with a bit of hormones thrown in, but that is something that is understandable and believable.

So I like it. Sure, it is set in a hothouse, and there is some partial nudity in it, but not all nudity means X-rated (so far), and not all stories in manga set in bathhouses have to stretch reality. Maybe just credulity.



- Ferdinand

Laya, the Witch of Red Pooh, v. 1

by Yo Yo
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Dishonorable Mention

Laya makes potions and lives with her friend Niky, a crow in human form called Snowy and a cat named Puss, who smokes. And wears boots.

Oh, and they have four-page, non-linear "adventures" in which everyone can show off their cuteness and attempts at witty dialogue.

If you need a massive dose of cuteness, this book is for you. Here, take it. Please.

- Miranda, the Grinch

Kamen Tantei, v. 1

by Matsuri Akino
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: Two high school students want to be mystery writers and try to solve mysterious deaths. Yup, just like Murder, She Wrote.

Matsuri Akino also wrote Pet Shop of Horrors, and like that, Kamen Tantei seems to be trying a bit too hard. Clues are tossed around, one or two reasonable questions are asked, the "mysterious" masked detective shows up to say something less than useful, and then the solution spontaneously appears. Only once in the four stories did Haruka get to point a finger at someone, and that time it was the most obvious answer.

I'm not a fan of murder mysteries, and stories like these are part of why. The characters have no stake in the story, no reason to solve the mystery but their own moral indignation or, maybe, bad weather trapping them in the house. The stories are more for showing off the writer's ability to manipulate facts than tell a story, and sadly Akino-san's stories were neither complicated nor original. I doubt a true fan of mysteries would find them interesting at all.

And aside from the lack of tension in the plot, the dialog and characters are flat and the worldbuilding effort amounts to "maybe ghosts are real" with way too many exclamation points.

Pick up Pet Shop of Horrors instead.



- Miranda

Eternal Sabbath, v. 2

by Fuyumi Soryu
Published in the U.S. by Del Rey Manga



Slugline: You have to get up pretty early in the morning to get the drop on a psychic psychopath.

Whereas Shuro was decanted and raised fairly normally, Isaac was kept in the artificial womb and slated for dissection. Being psychic, he found out about everything and doesn't have much of an opinion of people as a result.

The really dark side of psychic powers turns up every so often in thrillers -- I haven't seen much of it in manga since Akira -- but it's difficult to keep things from looking too hopeless in the face of an enemy that knows you're coming and can control almost anybody. In Eternal Sabbath, Shuro's equal psychic power and Mine's and Sakaki's immunity are their only aces. However, at this point in the series they aren't getting up early enough to get the drop on Isaac.

Volume 2 fills in more background and sets a dark stage of death and betrayal for the action to come. It will be interesting to see how the characters respond to their first run-in with the enemy, whether they take a conventional dark-thriller route or do something unexpected. I'm hoping for unexpected, of course.



- Miranda

Vampire Doll, v. 1

Created by Kari Erika
Published in the U.S. by TokyoPop



Slugline: Vampire lords need to be cute!

Vampire Doll is pretty, I will give it that. And the fact that I have started out the review with that should give you an idea of what I think about this title. Not that it is bad; it's just an assortment of elements that I have seen and read before.

There is a cute doll-girl that really has a vampire lord imprisoned within, whose powers are limited to cute ones simply because she/he is a cute girl. For once, I would like a cute girl with non-cute powers, like having blood erupt from the eyeballs or something. There is a kind-hearted sister that is so kind-hearted that she is virtual cipher. But I guess it is all part and parcel of shoujo brand EMP (Extruded Manga Product.)

Maybe I sound a little harsh in my assessment here. I do like the character designs and the costumes. It's just hard muster any enthusiasm for the title. It's not bad, it is done competently, it just has nothing to get me excited or interested in it beyond the most superficial details.



- Ferdinand

The Voices of a Distant Star

Created by Makoto Shinkai, adapted by Mizu Sahara
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: Relativistic space travel can break your heart.

There are some questionable practices in this story -- particularly the random selection of spacecraft crew from the general population -- but it's all to set up the separation that drives the drama. Mikako is tapped to be a mecha pilot (what else is a girl going to do on a spaceship?) and Noboru has to stay home in the aimless everyday of growing up.

The story illustrates very well the slow death that long distances can bring to a relationship, but in this case it's not life getting in the way but increasingly large lag times in communication. By the end of the book, Noboru is 25 and Mikako is still 16 because of the light-speed travelling she's done.

The science does get fudged here and there, but on the whole it's surprisingly hard science fiction for a romance.

This is a standalone story, and as such it works very well for me -- another volume of this level of anguish would burn me out fast. It leaves the future, and the consequences of Noboru's choice at the end, up in the air, which is good. You don't have to ride every emotional point to death in a story, but unfortunately that often happens in manga.



- Miranda

Fullmetal Alchemist, v. 2

Story and art by Hiromu Arakawa
Published in the U.S. by Viz Media



Slugline: Edward and Al begin a journey to heal themselves in more than the obvious way and find the philosopher's stone .

Fullmetal Alchemist is a title that needs little introduction thanks to its high profile. I have already reviewed the first volume over at the CBG website, with the link here. I've continued with the second volume to see how it followed up on the story presented in the first.

I liked the flow of this volume better, for while the first volume of FMA had a very episodic feel, with strong beginnings and ends of chapters, here the opponents and episodes flow together almost seamlessly. If the title pages were removed, it would be difficult to separate it back into chapters.

We see part of Edward's guilt over his brother's condition, the depth of it being rather surprising. He's willing to die for his brother in a manner very different from most heroes. Also, we fill out the supporting characters and the idea that there will be consequences to actions, for when Edward loses an arm, it is not easily or immediately replaced. The story arc continues and is strengthened, but not much light is shed on the story's opponents or its final direction.

No sophomore slump here, with the story only continuing to grow.



- Ferdinand

RavenSkull, v. 1

by Christopher Vogler & Elmer Damaso
Published by Seven Seas



Slugline: Ivanhoe's villan, Sir Brian, resurrected and re-cast as a cursed knight in love with the equally cursed Rebecca.

I've never read Ivanhoe (though I recommend Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court) and now that I've read a brief overvieww of the plot, I'm glad to feel less obliged to. Sir Brian was killed by Ivanhoe, in the book, and now he's resurrected by Rebecca and brings back hell's curse for both of them. The all-star cast also includes Richard the Lionheart, King John, and Robin Hood with Merry Men in tow.

The characters and plot are fairly standard for this kind of story, and nobody does anything really surprising aside from how Rebecca brings Sir Brian back from the dead -- that was a nice sequence. The action and artwork are solidly good to balance out the rather ordinary dialog and characters. And insulting well-known characters like Ivanhoe is always fun.

(For more interpretations of stock characters, check out Grendel by John Gardner and The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell)

There's potential for plot twists further down the road, since the cure for their curse isn't certain and its location is unknown, so we'll see where the writer leads us.



- Miranda

Assembly

By Sherard Jackson
Published by Antarctic Press



Slugline: Gritty mecha story set in a war-torn future, where a teenage girl tries to do the right thing.

A brief review, because this is a short story complete unto itself. On the one hand, it's a hard-hitting war story with mecha, pilots, and plenty of explosions. On the other hand, it illustrates how quickly the past can be forgotten in the face of immediate problems.

That's two downers with no up... well, it's on the dark side, yes, and it left me thinking about Starship Troopers (the book, not the movie) and how people try to do the right thing even when their choices are limited.

This seems to be a one-shot story, but it is well crafted and paced and definitely recommended. I'd like to see more of this world and Sherard Jackson's work, if anyone's listening...



- Miranda

Reminder

Tomorrow, Otakon begins so there will be no review posted. Tonight, we went to pick up our badges early and while I can understand putting on a pair of kitty ears to pick up your pre-reg (that's all that was going on, just picking up pre-reg badges), those of you who were already in full costume? In this heat? You're making me feel old. Thanks!

See you Monday.

- Miranda

Boogiepop Doesn't Laugh, v. 1

Story by Kouhei Kadono, Art by Kouji Ogata
Published in the U.S. by Seven Seas



Slugline: Boogiepop "manifests" from within an average schoolgirl to defeat a demonic presence feeding off the student population.

This manga is based on the original Boogiepop novel, as opposed to the many other forms that popped up in the course of Boogiepop's success. I find this one easier to follow than the Boogiepop Phantom anime, as it seems to cover the timeframe of the story completely before moving on to the next character viewpoint of the timeframe. It also helps that the first viewpoint allows for some explanations about Boogiepop himself, whereas in the anime he just came and went and it took much longer to get a grip on what was happening.

Volume 1 starts with missing girls and rumors about the local bad girl and a new drug on the scene. Then Keiji finds out his girlfriend is being "possessed" by a protective spirit and things get odder from there. Being far removed from the action, Keiji's viewpoint of the timeline sets out some structure and landmark events for later reference. When Keiji's side of the story is finished, we move on to Kazuko's view of the events.

Boogiepop Doesn't Laugh gets points for nice brush-and-ink artwork, general weirdness, and social/psychological commentary. Nudity, drugs and sexual situations mean it's probably going to be shrinkwrapped, too. The anime, if you're interested, was quite dark and gloomy and I recall liking the soundtrack quite a bit.



- Miranda

Polly and the Pirates, v. 1

by Ted Naifeh
Published by Oni Press



Slugline: Polly, the long lost daughter of the Pirate Queen, is far too prim and proper for the treacherous world of pirates -- or is she?

This one jumps high on my list of books I would hand to any kid, any where, any time, and tell them to read. It lands, in fact, right next to the Courtney Crumrin series, also by Ted Naifeh.

Both Polly and Courtney have excellent adventures, NOT oversimplified, NOT oversweetened, just the right mix of cleverness and honor and humor for all-ages readers.

Polly is whisked from her boarding school into the world of pirates and treasure maps and at first she wants nothing to do with it. She even betrays her mother's former crew before she comes around. But she does show her true colors and outfox the foxes, find the treasure and mend her mistakes.

Ted Naifeh is a San Francisco resident, so he works nice historical bits like the Emperor of the United States into the story (though it's not set in San Fran.) And the art is lovely and whimsical, but I could live without the written brogues a few characters speak in. It's a minor quibble, though, in an otherwise excellent read.



- Miranda

Pastel, v. 3

Created by Toshihiko Kobayashi
Released in the U.S. by Del Rey Manga



Slugline: For a traditional fan-service-filled relationship comedy, they manage to keep things surprising.

Every time this title is about to move into standard territory, it flirts with it, and then moves away. Quite frankly, while I can tell how any particular scene is going to go once we are in it, I can't really tell which scene will be next. Which, for this type of manga, is actually kind of interesting. But while I am entertained on the macro level, the individual scenes are less interesting simply because I have seen it all before, just not in this order. I usually find fan service amusing in small doses, but these fan service titles turn me off, and I would be rating them somewhere in the one or two star territory. So this is actually pretty good for this kind of title, for me at least.

The love triangle that was set up last volume? Broken before it had time to form once the old friend realized the main characters' attraction to each other. The standard cool guy trying to move in on the girl? The girl lets him take her to a movie, then goes off by herself back to her guy. Just when you think the male lead is spineless, he goes on a maniac trip to make sure the girl is all right, bullying his friends to go with him. It would be interesting to see if he could form a spine when talking to the girl, but then this would be a very short series.



- Ferdinand

Q-ko-chan, v. 1

by Ueda Hajime
Published in the U.S. by Del Rey Manga



Slugline: If the Powerpuff Girls were alien robots... looking for pilots... fighting alien octopi...

This series is from the creator of FLCL, so right off the bat you know that things like "sanity" and "explanations" are not real high on the priority list. However, v.1 does make more sense than any given episode of FLCL and there are interesting moments and situations... they just aren't the main focus of the story right now.

The main focus of the story is what failed to grab me. Our hero, Kirio, specializes in blasé, and it's contagious; I find myself very blasé about him. Thus, I don't much care why Q-ko-chan focuses on him or why more robots drop out of the sky for his friends to pilot. Or whether they're aliens or somebody's toys and what exactly Kirio's mom's role is. I can barely bring myself to write a whole review for this, I'm so blasé.

Yes, the robots are cute. Heck, the alien flying octopi are cute. But Q-ko-chan really does just remind me of Powerpuff Girls and makes me want to see the movie again. (Buttercup rules!) Maybe that will dispel the blasé.

So give the book a try... or don't... or just rent FLCL... or Powerpuff Girls...



- Miranda

Aoi House, v. 1

Written by Adam Arnold with art by Shiei
Published by Seven Seas



Harem titles. Some people like them, sane people don't. Urgh, sorry, my prejudices are showing, but I just find them, well, maybe on occasion amusing, but it just strains credulity to that so many women would find one guy, especially the dopey guys that they seem to find to be the male leads of harem comedies, so irresistible. I wish that being shy and studious was all that was necessary to draw to women to me. Then again, despite being surrounded by beautiful women, the insurance premiums must be murderously high due to the constant beatings they endure.

Thanks to Seven Seas we have the logical response to harem comedies, with two college guys surrounded by yaoi-obsessed fangirls. Ah, sweet justice. Thanks to a minor sign failure that turned Yaoi House into the more innocent sounding Aoi House, these two anime fans, Alex and Sandy, and their perverted hamster find themselves in Aoi House, filled with scantily clad women whose only interest is seeing how long the guys can keep their hands off each other.

Aoi House is a fast-paced fun little story that knows better than to take itself too seriously. And knows it should make the jokes that never seem to be made in the more traditional harem comedies. Strong recommendation and a reminder that Aoi House is the Seven Seas webmanga, so you can preview it at their website, www.gomanga.com.



- Ferdinand.

Airgear, v. 1

by Oh!great
Published in the U.S. by Del Rey



Slugline: Gangbanger Itsuki starts to discover the magic of Air Treck and his four female roomies as a way to beat the big, bad gang in town.

There are many sound, well-known laws of physics surrownding flight and human beings. This book ignores all of them. It's easier to think of the Air Treck rollerblades (yes, rollerblades) as magic flying talismans because no amount of mumbo jumbo is going to convince me that rollerblades can give you that kind of altitude without blowing out your knees and/or leaving you with serious road rash. I don't care if you weigh 50 pounds and are made of rubber, as Japanese teens seen to be.

That said, these kids live in a fantasy world of no grownups, no responsibilities and no reality checks. Itsuki's motivations are no deeper than a puddle of testosterone, with the occasional heroic moment, and his cronies are all too eager to adore him. The four girls, like most bestowers of power, aren't inclined to tell him much about the magic rollerblades in an attempt to make them more mysterious. And the bad guys all come out of a cookie cutter, your usual gang of terrorizing sexual molesters -- which is not why Itsuki wants to beat them, by the way. He just wants revenge for his own ass-kicking.

So it's hard to take this story seriously or sympathize with anybody. There's a grand total of three interesting moments that keep this from being a Dishonorable Mention blurb.



- Miranda

Our other manga reviews

Just a reminder, I also do manga reviews for the Comic Buyer's Guide, and just posted one on Fullmetal Alchemist at the Reviews and Retroviews forum over the Comic Buyers Guide website. This is in addition to my monthly column in the newstand edition of the Comic Buyers Guide, which this month is about how manga handles traditional European style fantasy. -Ferdinand

Her Majesty's Dog, vol. 1

Story and Art by Mick Takeuchi
Published in the U.S. by Go! Comi



Her Majesty's Dog, despite the rather provocative name, is not quite the fetish-laden story that the title would make it seem. Well, no more than most other manga titles. Still, there is little fear that it will be found shrink-wrapped or up on the top rack where you need a step stool to reach it.

Her Majesty's Dog is a cross between a horror and a shoujo title. While being set in a high school, and featuring a couple who are involved, it is more than the typical high school relationship. While Amane is distant from the rest of her classmates and often bullied, she has a good reason to be a little off. She grew up in an isolated village with the power to be a powerful priestess. Still, she wanted to experience the outside world a little, and thus went to high school. Her village, concerned about the risks, insisted on sending her guardian with her. Hyoue is a typical pretty boy who is always sneaking kisses from Amane, but he is also a spirit creature that needs the energy transferred by touch to him by her to function. The fact that he has managed to convince Amane that the energy needs to be transferred by a kiss is only a bonus from his viewpoint.

The early stories of this collection are more along the lines of straight horror, including some disturbing images of a dog, but as the book progresses more typical high school concerns emerge, though they never completely submerge the horror. From my understanding, the later issues of the series does trend more toward the typical high school stories.

And as for the title, since Hyoue is dependant on Amane, he's a bit of the underdog in the relationship.

(UnderDOG, get it? I crack me up.)




- Ferdinand

Old Boy, v. 1

by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi
Published in the U.S. by Dark Horse Manga



Slugline: After being mysteriously imprisoned for ten years, our hero is set free and starts looking for answers.

I saw the Korean-made movie version of Old Boy (it's out on DVD now) so I have the disadvantage of knowing how it ends (maybe/probably.) It's not a gory movie, but it's violent and mean-spirited. (Some people compare it to Pulp Fiction... which may be true in attitude, but not much else.)

That attitude is laid out in the manga, but more dilutely. In v.1, our nameless hero is released from his captivity and only just begins to start looking for answers. Meanwhile, the bad guys are keeping an eye on him.

The movie is tightly paced and efficient, in the tradition of revenge thrillers, but the manga shows every sign of moving at a distinctly more manga-ish pace. The art and writing are perfectly competent, but it lacks a sense of urgency, for me, and the novelty of the situation can't be re-created because I've seen the movie. So my rating may be biased, but this manga just doesn't stand out enough to be above average.

If you haven't seen the movie and you like dark thrillers, check Old Boy out in manga form and give it a chance. If you did catch the movie, get the DVD and enjoy it again, with extras.



DVD:


- Miranda

Bizenghast, Vol. 1

By M. Alice LeGrow
Published by TokyoPop



Slugline: Gothic-inspired dreams challenge two friends in an old New England town that's a perfect backdrop for their adventures.

Bizenghast is the story of Dinah and Vincent. Dinah's parents died when she was very young and she is in the care of her aunt, who lives in an old New England town called Bizenghast, in a former asylum/burned-out boy's school. Needless to say, the traumas make Dinah a bit "fragile" and make Vincent protective of her, which she resents and needs at the same time. When exploring the woods surrounding the town, they come across a mausoleum, and Dinah is forced into a contract to free the ghosts from their dreams by the caretakers of the mausoleum.

Bizenghast's art is very much in the gothic Lolita style, very pretty, with intricate designs that seem very fine and detailed. As if smearing the ink with your fingers would ruin the entire page rather just a few details. My concern is the story, because this graphic novel feels disjointed, cut up into episodes dealing with various ghosts. They skip some of the challenge scenes, and it seems otherwise disconnected. It may be the continuation of the dream logic of the story into other areas, but it still rough.

Also, the timing of story seems off. At the end of the book, there is an introduction to a new character who explains the story background. It is an weird place to end the book, on a distinctly low note, and feels like it should have been at the front of the next book rather than at the end of this one.

I like the story and love the art, but I can't shake the feeling that the story logic is a aching tooth in your jaw, nagging at you when you least expect it.



-Ferdinand

Pichi Pichi Pitch, v.2

by Pink Hanamori
Published in the U.S. by Del Rey



Dishonorable Mention

Just plain sloppy writing. All else aside, it's just plain sloppy.

A series of disjointed scenes, transparently convenient coincidences, and cookie-cutter pre-teen melodrama do not a story make. I can see how it might work -- barely -- in an animated show, but television shorthand does not work in printed media, especially not black-and-white.

- Miranda

Dokebi Bride, v.1

by Marley
Published in the U.S. by Netcomics



Slugline: Sunbi, who grew up in a small town with her shaman grandmother, has to move to Seoul to live with her estranged father and his new family.

The plot isn't yet clear, or this would've been a 4-star book. Volume 1 covers Sunbi's childhood in flashback and the problems of growing up with a shaman's ability to see the spirit world. And even though no goals are laid out -- her mother died because of spirit trouble, but Sunbi doesn't seem motivated by it, and the guardian spirits of the small town are leaving, but then again so is she -- I enjoyed the story very much.

Partly because of the dragon. I haven't seen many traditional Eastern dragons in manga, strangely enough, so it made me smile when a shaman from out of town accidentally summoned the town's guardian sea dragon. We also meet traditional Korean goblins called dokebi and learn a little about guardian spirits. Maybe this is all old hat in Korea, but it's the sort of thing that makes me devour a book even faster.

By the end of the flashback, we know a bit about why Sunbi has moved in with her father and stepfamily, but there isn't any conflict to speak of. Not yet. I expect this title will be climbing in the ratings as the story continues, because the writing and the art show a great deal of promise.



- Miranda

GTO The Early Years, v.1

by Tohru Fujisawa
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: Meet Eikichi Onizuka and his pal Ryuji Danma as teenage thugs desperate to get some tail. This is a prequel to Great Teacher Onizuka, but fandom of that is not a requirement.

I'll be honest -- I don't like this art style. Never have. And I'm not much for the toilet humor or the mindset that women are puzzles to be solved for a reward of hot monkey sex.

So it's a bit of a miracle that I didn't hate every page of this huge volume. (344 pages, Amazon says.)

Masturbation, diahrrea and STDs are played for laughs and there are plenty of street fights to go around. But Eikichi and Ryuji manage to do something resembling the right thing at the end of each of the storylines. Oddly, at 16 their biker days are already in their past -- they're making an attempt at finishing high school -- which makes me wonder how young biker gangs are in Japan. 15? 14? Don't you need a license to drive those gussied-up choppers?

(For a hilarious example of gussied-up motorcycles -- and a hilarious movie in general -- check out Kamikaze Girls, if you can find it.)

Eikichi and Ryuji's chances of getting laid are slightly worse than a snowball's chance in hell, but anyone who's seen GTO already knows that. It's not my cup of tea, but I'm still giving it three stars and I'll go so far as to say that the train scene after Eikichi gets a Buddha haircut was funny.



- Miranda

Summer vacation

No post tonight... it's a long holiday weekend, Ferdinand is at Anime Expo and I need a break.

There will also be no posts on July 21 and 24 because we will both be at the San Diego Comic Con (which I highly recommend if you can get to it, for both Western comics and manga, and scifi/fantasy/horror/niche genre movies too.)

No post August 4th as we will be at Otakon wallowing in manga and anime, and that will be the last scheduled day off until November.

Stay cool, everyone.

- Miranda