Good Luck, v.2

by E-Jin Kang
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: Not confused enough yet? Don't worry: at the end of v.2 we start throwing random passers-by into the mix.

I will admit that I have more trouble keeping Korean names straight than I do Japanese names. It does not help that "Shi" and "Hyun" both show up in more than one person's name. But I'm trying, because this series has gotten a few genuine lols out of me and that's worth fighting for when you're old and jaded.

Shi-Hyun both survives the betrayal of a friend and consents to a first date with the hot boy at school, which then turns into a tangled web of romantic interests including the hot girl at school and Shi-Hyun's adopted brother. And then she starts flirting with a guy on the train and it looks like he'll be sucked into all of this too. (Run! Run while you can!)

The art swings from fun to romantic at will, and the dialog drifts toward the melodramatic but still rings true. So it's still a thumbs-up and I'm glad to have finally found v.2 -- I was starting to worry they'd canceled it right out of the starting gate.

Check out our review for Good Luck, vol. 1.



Good Luck, vol. 2 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

Series Update: The Drifting Classroom, v. 4 - 6

SERIES UPDATE

The numbers are whittled further and further down, as tends to happen in horror stories, by increasingly strange, unlikely, and a situations that might be convincing if I didn't already know that bubonic plague is transmitted by fleas, not by touch. And believe me -- if you've got fleas, you know about it. Those kids should be itching up a storm if they've got fleas. And then there was the mummy, which starts out great, even funny, and devolves into a plot device.

But despite the occasional stretching of credulity, Umezu-sensei continues to present scathingly honest reactions to outrageous situations. We take a right turn at Lord of the Flies and head into pogrom territory -- all the more grimly realistic because history is littered with purges like this.

I thought volume 6 would be the end, but there's more to come. Our narrator is safe, we know, but will anybody else be left when it's all over?

The Drifting Classroom vol. 4, vol. 5 and vol. 6 are all available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

Alive, v.1

by Tadashi Kawashima, art by Adachitoka
Published in the U.S. by Del Rey Manga



Slugline: After a worldwide rash of suicides, things start getting wierder for Taisuke, Megu and Hirose.

This is an odd first volume. First, for a solid week thousands of people commit suicide, many of them publicly or in front of loved ones. Then, there seem to be strange new powers afoot and Hirose's got them. Taisuke may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he's loyal. Megu, so far, is just a skirt.

There's a faint Akira vibe to the story, since one friend has acquired a mysterious power -- I'll put even odds on it destroying him -- and the other friend may not be capable of helping him in any significant way. The art and characters are standard-issue at first glance, but there are a scattering of poignant moments that caught my eye.

This was not an instant-grab series, for me, and the rating reflects its lack of impact. But I'm just curious enough that I may seek out volume 2 on my own.



Alive, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.


- Miranda

Clubbing, vol. 1

By Andi Watson and Josh Taylor
Released by Minx, of DC Comics



Slugline: Why is it that goth girls have to face undying horrors from beyond who want to snack on the world? Why not wholesome Midwestern farm girls?

We are going to do something a little bit different here, we are going to talk about Clubbing, a title from DC Comics' Minx line that is aimed at girls. While not a manga, it is certainly trying to aim at the same demographic and there is some crossover potential, or at least DC Comics is hoping that there will be.

Charlotte Brook is a goth girl from the West End of London who has been banished from the city for trying to pass a fake ID. She has been sent off into the country to work at her grandparents' golf course and play as dumb as humanly possible in order to sneak out of said work as much as possible. But her hopes for a quickly passing summer are dashed when one of the neighborhood ladies is killed. Charlotte and the groundskeeper's son Howard, who is the only male in town under the age of 50, try to understand what is going on, what that strange symbol was on the murdered woman's neck, and what connection Charlotte's grandparents have to the whole mess.

Both Andi Watson and Josh Howard are well known US creators, with Josh Howard's Dead@17 title being one of the popular horror titles of recent memory, but here the story just does not jell together properly. It feels like there were several pages missing -- not that there were actual holes in the storyline, but instead moments when the whole ending seemed rushed and tacked on after a leisurely exploration of the world that Charlotte found herself in. The conclusion feels unsatisfying, as in afterwards I am still not sure what exactly Charlotte did in the book to be the protagonist. Was she just the observer of the action going on around her, or was she actually part of the story? I came away uncertain of that very basic fact.

Still, the art and dress style were fun, and the language, if not accurate, sounded right and seemed to fit the goth attitude better than most. There were a couple good character moments, especially over whether or not Charlotte was actually goth enough or a poseur when confronted by the countryside goths, and the use of British slang was enough to make you realize that you were actually in a different country without being so heavy that you had a hard time following it.




Clubbing, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

We are now ProsperosManga.com

We have been around long enough, and have enough of a readership that we decided to make it a little easier for people to reach us. Starting, well, today, you can simply just enter www.ProsperosManga.com and you will get here, without having to remember all that blogspot nonsense.

-Ferdinand

We Shadows, v. 1

By Sonny Strait
Released by TokyoPop



Slugline: An epic story manages to emerge from an confusing mess of a beginning.

We Shadows has a rather inauspicious, confusing beginning. As far as I can tell, there are several strands of storyline that eventually coalesce into a tapestry, though admittedly I am not sure where all the pieces go yet. There is a man that keeps on having blackouts, has a job that's driving him crazy, a psychologist who seems to know way too much of what is going on, and the annoying ability to snap and threaten everyone around him with a magical control over plants. That is the first section of the book -- just work past that and get to what ends up being the main meat of the book. A character, Puck, has been a mercenary away from Earth for a long time and ends his existence due to ennui. The queen of the Faeries -- and in this case the faeries are more like Tinkerbell -- Titania, has been napping, usually more asleep than awake, along with most of her subjects since the beginning of the age of industry. The Glamour Gloms, creatures that first appear to be faeries but are later revealed to be both more and less than just that, have been using glamour in all of its forms to stay awake and in power. Goat is a wingless faerie who has been kicked about by the Gloms, thinking that she is in training to be a faerie princess -- a belief that is fostered by a talking mushroom that no one else can hear. That being said, the mushroom has been misleading her, and that there is a fate both greater and lesser than what she is hoping for awaiting her.

If this synopsis is a little bit all over the place, that is partially an result of the story. The first half is slow going, and there are a lot of things going on that don't seem to hold together. By the end of the book, well, you are sure that Goat is the main character, and what the central story is, but there are some peices that still seem left over. Much like those Lego sets you would get in Christmas, there would always seem to be a few pieces left over that you had no idea where they went, but still you knew that they have to belong somewhere. I am betting that they will fit in the next volume, but at the moment they just lay there.

It may be just me, but I also sense an attempt to follow the Star Wars archetype of storytelling. The first story injects hope, the second volume despair, and the final volume triumph. Then again, I may have read more articles about myth structure than are good for me.

Sonny Strait also includes a lot of extras in the back, including his entry in the 24 hour comic, something that many manga fans may not be aware of: a challenge to create a 24-page comic in 24 hours. It is, in theory, a superhero comic, so that means at long last TokyoPop has finally published one.



We Shadows, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.


- Ferdinand

Series Update: Deathnote 7 - 10

SERIES UPDATE

Volume 7 wraps up the first story arc, and then we skip a few years to start round two with some new characters. How do you keep a story fresh and interesting, especially one so saddled with exposition and complexity?

Well, leather pants would not have been my first choice but it works. The Deathnote show moves to the U.S. for a little while and the portrayal of Americans, particularly the president, does not ring very true. (Particularly if you try placing Bush in the role.) On the other hand, the story does begin to branch in some new and complicated ways -- and the writer runs the risk of it all turning into deadwood now that the novelty of the series has worn off.

We'll see what happens.

Check out our review for Deathnote vols 1-6 also on Prospero's Manga.



Deathnote vol. 7, vol. 8, vol. 9 and vol. 10 are all available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

Me & My Brothers, v.1

by Hari Tokeino
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: After Grandma dies, Sakura comes home to find she has an assortment of stereotypical half-brothers.

This is almost exactly the same setup as Crossroad, but in a more typical, sitcom-ish vein. Nobody bothered to tell Sakura that her father had four sons by a previous wife, and so when Grandma dies (yes, her parents are dead too -- it's a deadly job, in Japan) it's a big surprise when they turn up instead of Child Protective Services (does Japan even have a CPS?)

Much is made of the fact that Sakura is not even her father's daughter, though I'm not clear on why that matters when you're building a family from scratch anyways. Sakura doesn't remember the brief time they all lived together when she was a baby, so it's a houseful of strangers and all the awkwardness that comes with.

The flashbacks are sweet without being too syrupy. However, the boys fall neatly into stereotype -- the angry one, the cross-dressing housekeeper, the responsible one, and the shy one -- and Sakura herself is a typical manga girl. So this is a competent, but not exceptional, first volume.

(Note that only in manga would "cross-dressing houskeeper" be a stereotype. Oh, how jaded I've become...)



Me and My Brothers, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

Kingdom Hearts II, v.1

By Shiro Amano
Released in the U.S. by TokyoPop



Slugline: Isn’t this supposed to have Disney characters? Or, you know, real characters rather than ciphers?

I understand that the Kingdom Hearts franchise has its fans and I don’t want to knock them, but I hope the video games are a lot better than the manga, since I understand that the videogames came first. This first volume of the new series doesn’t tell you what is going on, implies that nothing you see is real, and has discontinuities in storytelling that I hope are part of the plot -- but I have no idea of whether this is true or not. It is just all over the place, I have no idea what is going on with the characters, and except for a single panel there are no Disney characters that I recognize.

If you are going to have the main character driven by a mystery about what he is, you need to have some kind of payoff along the way rather than stringing things along hoping people will stick with you. That is what happened with the X-Files and after a while people stopped giving them the rope to hang themselves because there were never even any minor payoffs along the way to the big one. Maybe if I was willing to read every single Kingdom Hearts manga before this one, and the background for the videogame, I could appreciate what they were doing here, but if so, they should have labeled this part 7 of 20 or something along those lines, rather than #1.



Kingdom Heart II, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.


- Ferdinand

Sale on Icarus Publications at Right Stuf

There is a sale going on at Right Stuf International for the Icarus Publications titles. Since those titles are not usually available via amazon.com, I thought I would point them out here. Remember, all of the Icarus Publications are adult!

Check out all of the reviews from us for Icarus here!

-Ferdinand

Re: last night's lack of post

Last night fell into the "Too busy with paying work and oh no it's late already, I need to get to bed" category. Hopefully, next week won't be as crazy -- and we will be able to do all three days of Otakon, with any luck. Weekend after that, we are off to San Diego Comic Con, so no post on the 26th, and maybe-maybe-not on the 31st.

Stay cool,
Miranda

Million Tears, v.1

by Yuana Kazumi
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: Immortals wrestle with the meaning of existence, since they don't have much else to do.

Another reviewer compared this story to Anne Rice's work, which added tremendous depth and dramatic possibility to vampires. I don't think this is at all on par with Interview with the Vampire -- Lestat has more passion for life in his pinky finger than the three characters here have, combined.

And if you're going to live forever, being as dispassionate, petty and purely ornamental as possible is even more pointless than when mortals do it.

But about the story: starts out a bit interesting, falls into a standard-issue romance, then picks up a few more interesting elements which, unfortunately, seem to disagree with the beginning. This is supposed to be a two-volume series, so hopefully things will be explained in the next book. Our three immortals are bland, thus far, and the only character of any real interest -- or in any real danger -- is the "extra" girlfriend. The artwork is described on the back cover as "gorgeous" but I don't find it particularly noteworthy. The cover's nice, I'll give them that.

This is the kind of story that's bound to have its devoted fans and probably a slew of fanfic, but on the grand scale of things I can't say that it's dealing in any novel ideas or personalities.



Million Tears, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

Avalon High: Coronation, v. 1

Written by Meg Cabot, art by Jinky Coronado
Published by TokyoPop



Slugline: Meg Cabot is a great writer, but not a great scriptwriter.

I admit I have read some of Meg Cabot's books for teens, most of which are aimed at girls. Her most famous series is the Princess Diaries, which have very little to do with the movies. But I appreciate good writing no matter what the genre, and she is able to provide a view of teen life that at least seems real, if not exactly accurate. Avalon High: Coronation is a sequel to a previous work, where tomboy Ellie moves to a new town, ends up dating Will Wagner. Will's best friend Lance ends up dating Arthur's ex Jennifer, and helps Arthur survive a confrontation with his half brother Marco. If all this sounds familiar, there is a reason for it. An ancient society believes that Arthur is the reincarnation of King Arthur, and that many of the people in their shared lives are reincarnations of Arthurian legends, with Ellie herself the reincarnation of the Lady of the Lake.

For the actual story, not much actually happens here. Ellie, Jennifer and Jennifer's former best friend Morgan are all nominated for homecoming queen. Ellie has been having unnerving dreams about Marco, and there is an attempt to get Arthur to reconcile with his father, who expected him to go to the Naval Academy instead of aiming for a liberal arts education, and his mother, whom he had never known until recently was more than his step-mother. There is a lot of back story, presumably from the first book that was in prose, taking up what feels like the first third of the book. That is the downside of prose versus graphic novels -- you can cram a lot more story in just a few words than in graphic fiction, where each moment has to be its own panel. So this doesn't feel like its own story, merely a continuation of another, and one that ends definitely in the middle so that you just got the second act and nothing else. And some of the character moments, which Meg Cabot usually handles so deftly, come across like a sledgehammer, telegraphed both coming and going. I presume that is because of her unfamiliarity with the medium rather than anything else.

I wanted to like this a lot but I found it hard to do so, and this may only be worth your while once the additional volumes are out so you can go from the prose novel into a completed graphic fiction storyline.



Avalon High: Coronation, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.


- Ferdinand

Le Chevalier d'Eon, v.1

Story by Tou Ubukata, art by Kiriko Yumeji
Published in the U.S. by Del Rey Manga



Slugline: d'Eon, spy for Louis XV, lets his dead sister do the dirty work of cleaning up the mass murderers in Paris.

Apparently, horror can be spiced up with a few random Bible verses and throwing the name "Thoth" around. (Why would the Egyptian god of scribes patronize a sword?) And also by setting it in pre-Revolutionary France so we can enjoy the costuming even though it's terribly impractical for fighting in. Add yet another goofy action hero -- one who seems more inept than usual, even though he's supposedly the king's spy -- who's posessed by the vengeful spirit of his dead sister, the "Chevalier", crazed "poets" prone to turning into toothy snakes, and a big heaping pile of publisher's hype and here we are. Chevalier d'Eon.

The art reminds me of Priest, deliberately rough, reminiscent of woodcuts, and so busy in the details that I think clarity begins to suffer. Sadly, there's also a certain lack of imagination here. There's plenty of combat, but none of it particularly original. There are plenty of characters, none of them particularly innovative in their depiction or their actions within the story. Toward the end, a little effort is put into developing what may be a real character but by that time, I was thinking of the next manga I had to read.

And the most discouraging point is, I think, that anybody with the slightest observational powers ought to notice the rather distinctive cat who hangs out with both the Chevalier and d'Eon. Duh, people.

Maybe the anime kicks ass. I'll still give that the benefit of a doubt.



Le Chevalier d'Eon, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

War Angels, v.1

By Jae-Hwan Kim
Released in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: I may have paid attention in school more if we had nuns like these!

In 2504, mankind has been decimated by a nuclear apocalypse and the starvation that followed killed most of humanity. What remains lives in fear of the Beastmen, genetic amalgamations of man and beast that were created before the apocalypse to fight in wars, but now rule over the remainder of humanity. There is a hope that there will be a messiah born to free humanity, but the Mother of said messiah has been captured by powerful Beastman. Archangels, powerful agents of the Church who are dedicated to the Messiah, have been sent out to rescue her but they are just as evenly matched by the Beastmen, with superhuman abilities.

There is a nun with a big gun, a sword guy and a martial arts master for the Archangels team. Their names barely were noticed, because they fell so easily into stereotype, and to complete the typecasting, the villain muses philosophically as he brushes off martial arts attacks that compress stone. Jae-Hwan Kim does have a US fanbase because of his prior work on King of Hell and Warcraft, both from TokyoPop, so they will be attracted to this because it delivers what Jae-Hwan Kim's titles always promise: action that is so over the top that it needs an oxygen mask. It may also be of interest for Original Global Manga fans, since this was made for TokyoPop, rather than being licensed like the rest of Jae-Hwan Kim's work.



War Angels, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Battle of the Bands

by Steve Buccellato
Published by Tokyopop



Slugline: Lightweight, slapstick action. Please check your brain at the door to avoid damage.

This book caught me at the wrong time, and I'm trying not to blame it for that. It's a silly romp through a world where punk bands battle more literally, but despite the katanas and light anti-tank weapons, nobody really gets hurt. Unless it's useful to the plot, of course.

I do have to call the writer on a detail that I bet he thought nobody would be old enough to catch: the climactic battle between our heroines in Led Salad and their dastardly French enemies, the Whores d'Oeuvres, is a rip-off (or a homage) of the the classic Duran Duran "Wild Boys" video. Gotcha!

The story felt rushed, as there's a lot to cram in for one volume... and I'm not a fan of the dialog. It gave me whiplash going from heavy, intellectual Deathnote to this much lighter fare, and that put me in a bad mood. But slapstick has its place and it can be fun, so fill your flamethrower with tar and feathers, and have at it.



Battle of the Bands, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

Flashbang!

Flashbang! and all other explicit titles have been moved to Prospero’s Manga – Mature, a review blog for explicit manga titles. Please check there for reviews of such titles.

Deathnote, v. 1 - 6

Story by Tsugumi Ohba, art by Takeshi Obata
Published in the U.S. by Viz



Slugline: It's simple: write someone's name in the Deathnote and they die. Getting away with it is the tricky part.

I know, Deathnote is old news and everybody loves it already, but this review is for everybody who hasn't tried it yet. I only just started it, myself.

It took me five volumes to think to myself that normally, this amount of dense exposition would be godawfully boring to slog through. With how short my attention span has gotten from reviewing manga, that should tell you something right there. The dialog is packed with information. There's not a lot of action. The plot is Byzantine, to say the least. The artwork is good but not what I'd call fabulous. And it's got a few blazingly unique characters.

The only thing I can think of that might turn readers off is the complexity, in fact, but everybody's actions are well documented beforehand -- which in itself ought to be godawfully boring, too. How is the writer getting away with this?

I think I'll need to read all 83 (or whatever) volumes to get to the bottom of it.

Check out our review of Deathnote vols. 7-10 also on Prospero's Manga


Death Note vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 3, vol. 4, vol. 5 and vol. 6 are all available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

Time Guardian, v. 1

By Daimuro Kishi and Tamao Ichinose
Released in the U.S. by CMX

Slugline: There is no manga that could not improved by a monkey. A monkey’s paw, that is.

Miu, a girl who always seems to be late, by fiddling her watch while trying to get ahead of things manages to finds a curious little shop. The proprietor Kusaka calls it a pawnshop for time: by placing a precious memory as collateral, you can borrow time from your future in order to accomplish what needs to be done now. Though Miu has no need for it (despite appearances to the contrary) apparently one of the clocks of the pawnshop has selected her as the Go-Between, and her role is to guide the people who are borrowing time in a direction that is ‘just.’ Miu is one of those typical spunky girls, and has a mild infatuation with Kusaka, so she takes to the role, helping a sick girl have the perfect date, a pop idol reconcile with her father, and helping a fellow student confront his parents and tell them of his true love.

At first I was thinking that there was going to be a monkey’s paw aspect to this story, as in the gift that will turnaround and bite you. While Kusaka is very mercenary in his choices, he seems to be following both the letter and spirit of his agreements. At first I was little down on this story, for while it is okay it doesn’t exactly sizzle, and none of the characters exactly leap off the page and are immediately interesting.But then I saw that this is rated for E for Everyone, and got it.There is nothing here that is offensive, and the story is not too challenging but still has goals -- just not for Miu, at least not yet.It also explains the use of the talking frog Ginzo, whose purpose I didn’t immediately get but who serves as a foil to Kusaka to fully bring out his thinking.So I think this is a good intro-level or early reader manga title, while someone who has read a few, or is just more sardonic, may find it a little slow.

Time Guardian, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Right Stuf and referrals

We had one comment, and a couple emails about this, so I thought I would lay things out.

Yes, we do get referral fees from both Right Stuf and Amazon, along with all the Google Ads.

No, we have not become rich. I don't even think we have earned more than $20 from all sources of revenue from Prospero's Manga.

That being said, we are currently not thinking of shutting Prospero's Manga down, but I hope you can understand that the site can be time sink, and sometimes we have to prioritize our time with the stuff that pays.

Yes, Right Stuf does gives us a better referral fee than Amazon, and anything you find via both the links and our link to the search page (right column, just under the Pocky ads and above the ratings/genre listing) gets credited to our account.

That seem reasonable and fair?

Oh My Goddess!, v. 1

by Kosuke Fujishima
Released in the U.S. by Dark Horse



Slugline: If you haven't already heard about Oh My Goddess, reading a slugline isn't going to help.

Let me you tell you a tale. Way back in the year 1994, when there was nary a single manga in ye ole bookstore, back before people had the book larnin' to read right to left, there was a small little title called Oh My Goddess...

Sorry, I just can't keep that going and I suspect what I have already written is bad enough. Oh My Goddess is one of the grand dames of US manga publication, and here it is presented in its original format. Initial print runs of the title were flipped, but this reprint brings it back to its original orientation and includes several color pages that were left out of previous versions released in the US. The basic story is almost universally well known in anime/manga fandom: the lovable loser Keiichi dials the wrong phone number and the goddess Belldandy appears to make his wish come true. For the more experienced manga readers, reading the first volume may illuminate the roots of all harem comedies (except without the full harem as of yet) -- but that feeling comes not from copying the other comedies, but instead this being one of the parents of that genre.

That being said, how is it as itself, rather than as the vanguard of the entire manga boom? I have to admit, the first volume does show its age. The art style is starting to look old-fashioned (these pages were first drawn in the late 80s) so readers expecting something something else will be disappointed. These are mostly standalone stories that don't quite link together right and you can see the seams between them. That is the downside of its age -- most people have seen the other versions of the story in anime, so they were introduced to the stories in their most finished form, while here it is still raw. So while it is put together well, it is not up to the standards that many people are expecting out of more current titles that are being licensed, which I hope explains my less than stellar rating for the title.



- Ferdinand

Series Update: Kuro Gane 4 & 5

SERIES UPDATE

Volume 5 ends the series, and this is still a series of individual adventures with some recurring characters and a lot of recurring themes. I hadn't realized that yakuza, moneylenders and vengeance-driven youngsters were so thick on the ground in 19th-century Japan. Jintetsu doesn't seem to have made a dent in their numbers, despite his efforts.

I would average the series out at two and a half stars -- some interesting elements, more predictable elements, and characters who are not very unusual for this genre.

- Miranda

Right Stuf links

I originally added the Right Stuf sales links for items that were not sold through Amazon (mostly the adult titles) but then started adding them to all entries to give people more choice. However, so few people have used them I am thinking of no longer including them for all entries, and just put them as needed.

So do readers have any thoughts about this? Email or comment here if you want to keep the Right Stuf links around...

Gunsmith Cats Burst, v.1

by Kenichi Sonoda
Published in the U.S. by Dark Horse Manga

Slugline: A follow-up to the original Gunsmith Cats, this series puts the girls back in action.

This volume contains a few very short stories and a longer story that only gets more and more complicated as it goes. I'm not sure whether the author expects us to know the characters already (I managed to miss both the anime and manga Gunsmith Cats) or if he just has not burdened them with a lot of personality, but I didn't find Rally or Minnie May terribly interesting.

The short stories were light and amusing and even the detailed gun-describing episode was interesting (then again, I've been known to find Punisher's equipment issues "interesting" -- though I'm not a gun nut at all.) The longer story was, however, increasingly tedious though I will give points for a more accurate portrayal of America than I've seen in other manga. The gun-toting granny was fun and the story has its good points, but on the whole it failed to grab me.

Fans of the Cats shouldn't let me stop them from trying Burst, of course. But if you're new to it, like me, this isn't the best place to start... try to find the original anime instead, it has a good reputation from what I hear.

- Miranda

Eden: It's an Endless World, v. 1

By Hiroki Endo
Released in the U.S. by Dark Horse Manga

Slugline: Ho-hum, just another post-apocalyptic disease ridden future with killer robots. How sad is that?

Eden is a rarity nowadays: a post-apocalyptic future that was wiped out by a plague that did not turn everyone into zombies. Instead it is more about what the people that survive the aftermath of an apocalypse, admittedly one that leaves the survivors relatively intact (dying of radiation disease is not very conducive for anything but a story about a slow slide into death.) (Hey, On The Beach pulled it off -- Miranda) There is a lot of dime-store philosophy, but I am not sure if I buy it. Plus there seem to be two completely different stories going on here, centered on different children of the same man (I think.) However, the stories are told consecutively rather than being intermingled so that they could play off each other. But this jump between characters makes me wonder how much the stories are separated by time, because a robot is in both of them and I am not sure if it is the same robot or different ones. That uncertainty is not entertaining, actually, it's just confusing. Plus the big bad of the series is an organization that apparently is trying to take over the world -- what remains of it -- but for the moment it exists just as a name, nothing more. Mysterious, without having a point to it.

-Ferdinand

Trinity Blood, vol. 1

As some of you may know, I also do reviews for the Comic Buyer's Guide over on their own website. Their format is a little different from what we use here, they have a 4 star system as compared our five star system, and the focus is on titles that would appeal to the readers of traditional western comics, but I thought it would be easier if I just directly linked them from here.

First up, a review of Trinity Blood, vol. 1



Trinity Blood, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

The Twelve Kingdoms, Sea of Shadows

Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadow
Written by Fuyumi Ono
Released in the U.S. by TokyoPop



Slugline: Even in Japan, the books are better than movies/anime

Yoko was the stereotypical good girl, desperately working too hard just to be like everyone else in her high school and fulfill everyone else's expectations of her, but she is swept out of this world and into the Twelve Kingdoms, with demons, flying tigers (I wonder if that is some sort of joke on the WW2 US flying unit in China) and green monkey swords. This is what the anime is based on, and you can see the hasty joints of the work where it broken apart in order for it to work in the anime format.

Because the story is basically about Yoko's journey, a solitary one, in which she first discovers what it means to be alive rather than dead to the world, then what it means to be open to others and trust once you decide that what you are and what you do mean something. The novel expands the time experienced by the characters, so that weeks and months fly by and developments that felt odd and rushed in the anime are smoother here. In the anime the solitary nature of the journey had to be overcome because it wouldn't have been much fun to run episodes where the main character doesn't even talk, so they gave Yoko companions. However, that immediately and irrevocably changes the nature of her journey. While the anime was okay, this light novel is much stronger and still is a relatively quick read with a large type on small pages.

The Twelve Kingdoms, Sea of Shadows is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Site updates and other slowness

Hey there, sorry for the slowness in updating, both of us are working like madmen at our RL work, partly to catch up and pay for that vacation a few weeks ago, add in the typical couple miscommunication, and you get a little lagging in the posting.

But if you check out along the side, you will find that we were able to accomplish something. We now have links on the side for Pocky! Necessary fuel for when you are trying to read six different manga in a row.

More posting soon!

-Ferdinand

Dragon Eye, v. 1

By Kairi Fujiyama
Released in the U.S. by Del Rey Manga



Slugline: Is there much of a difference between Dragon Eyes and Nine Tailed Demon Foxes?

In the near future, a virus that acts like the ones in zombie movies but turns the victims into Dracules -- creatures that are transformed from into something large, nasty, immortal and crazed with a desire for killing and infecting humans -- has forced the survivors of humanity to live in protected cities. They are protected by the VIUS, those that have an immunity to the virus and also have kick ass mystical martial art skills. Leila is a new VIUS recruit, wanting to gain the Dragon Eye, a semi-mythical artifact that allows one to kick even more Dracule patootie, but discovers that her new superior has it/one, but it is a curse. Plus the same superior, Issa, has recruited another VIUS, one who hates his guts, thinking he is the one who killed his sister without reason years ago.

Okay, this looks and feels a lot like Naruto, with Issa being a very close stand-in for Naruto himself. But the missing element is that despite a similar mystery around both main characters -- who and what they are -- Issa by design is in on his secrets and is party to them, while Naruto is discovering what is going on with the readers. For with Naruto it is a joint journey of discovery. With Issa and Dragon Eye it is more like trying to worm information out of someone who takes far too much pleasure in hiding it from you. Maybe if there wasn't Naruto to be such a close comparison to I would be able to rank this title higher -- it does have nice art and a clearly written story -- but it still suffers in comparison.



Dragon Eye, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

Canon. v. 1

By Chika Shiomi
Published by in the U.S. CMX Manga



Slugline: A story about vampires that aren't vampires. You can sense my thrill through the computer screen, can't you?

Canon is requisite lucky student who survived a mysterious attack on her entire class by a vampire -- albeit a vampire who seems to operate under strange rules completely inconsistent with ones that we are familiar with, and whose minions can be cured of their vampire state with some willpower. Once cured, they are fortunately completely unaware of what they did while under the vampiric bloodlust. This is fairly episodic: the situation is set up, her sidekick is fleshed out (a vampiric crow!) and we meet the hot guy who will be a mysterious figure of assistance and hotness in the story glides through. I could go on describing it, but it is like so many other stories of its ilk.

I tried to find some aspect of originality or interest, but everything I found in this manga reminded me of at least a dozen other manga. The art is okay, and the story structure is functional, so it's not bad. It is just completely uninteresting and aspects of the vampire's nature that would normally create tension and danger are so waterd down that becoming a vampire is, well, like a headcold that can be easily cleared up. So there is not even the ambiguous moral choices of what to do with the innocent driven to bloodlust. Ho hum.

Though if someone can point toward any folklore references (Japanese or otherwise Asian, since these definitely aren't Western-style vampires) which explain these vampires, please do.



Canon, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Apothecarius Argentum, v.1

By Tomomi Yamashita
Published in the U.S. by CMX



Slugline: From enslaved food taster to free apothecary -- but things only get more complicated for Argent.

At last, an explanation for the hair color of "platinums" -- it's a side effect of being acclimated to poisons. Argent is a "basilisk", a slave raised on toxins until he's toxic himself (a story idea explored long ago by, believe it or not, Nathaniel Hawthorne in "Rappaccini's Daughter"), used as a food taster for a young princess, Primula, whose kingdom is under a great deal of pressure.

Escaped and/or freed by the princess (there's some difference of opinion), he returns as a healer to help rather than kill. But it's never that simple for a basilisk.

The art is fairly standard. The plot has some non-surprises but also some good, unpleasantly realistic moments. The same can be said of the characters. It's set in a generically European fantasy world and the violence is indeed mild as noted on the cover, so I'm interpreting their age rating as 13+.



Apothecarius Argentum, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

Brave Story, v.1

Story by Miyuki Miyabe and Art by Yoichiro Ono
Released in the U.S. by ToykoPop



Slugline: For once, a manga about a video game player whose game has not come to life (yet) .

It's a sad situation when I read the outline for the story on websites and they talk about this epic journey on the part of the main character Wataru, which I presume is the main thrust of the series? I say presume because there is not a single hint at the end of the first volume that Wataru is even thinking of, let alone packing for, an epic journey. I know manga takes some time to get going, but if that is going to be the main arc of the series, at least drop some hints by the end of the first volume. Yes, there is some need for setup, but by same token one of the tenets of writing is to start as close as possible to the main action of the story. Sure, there is action in this volume, but now I am not sure if it really was there for any particular reason other than that you need to beat something up in every episode of a shonen story.

The one bit of the story I found interesting was the conflict within Wataru about his parents' unfolding breakup, divorce, and his father's apparent abandonment of him. It is the process of currently trying to deal with those tragedies which is interesting, rather than it being some abstract tragedy in his past. Everyone has a tragic past in manga; it is watching the present that is engaging. Interesting contrast between the two main characters here: one has a father who can't let go and the other has one that can't hold on.

Maybe in the next volume things kick in and the 'real' story begins. You know, I have often found stories which go immediately into a lost world, so that the main character leaves his life, sort of annoying in that we don't see the character in his more normal state before he is thrown into the deep end and we don't have anything to compare his behavior to. Here, the fact that we get to see the character in his normal state makes it feel like a lie since we know (thanks to the outline) that it is soon going to all go out the window. If they had timed it better, maybe so it kicks in at the end of this volume so we are building up to it, I would be more forgiving. Despite this being a solid title with some interesting character bits, I am still pretty annoyed at it.



Brave Story, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

(That's too bad. I like the cover design. - Miranda)

Princess Resurrection, v.1

By Yasunori Mitsunaga
Published in the U.S. by Del Rey Manga



Slugline: The children of the night... they make such beautiful music... (chainsaw revving up).

The cover may be trying to pass this off as a horror, but it's a comedy. It's honest about the chainsaw, though; Hime ("Princess") does seem to favor the chainsaw over the rapier. She has recently added Hiro, a classically clueless abuse magnet, to her stable of servants, and keeps him alive and useful by feeding him her blood. We also have a classically clueless older sister to Hiro as a housemaid and a classic chibi sidekick/superstrong robot/only-says-one-word girl. Plus a half-werewolf angry-and-violent-stereotype girl who will be the backup asskicker for the series.

They're not the most original group of characters. And the storyline is not shaping up to be too unusual either - Hime and her siblings are trying to kill each other, and I'm sure we'll be regaled with stories of mutual trauma soon enough. And sadly, the artist had a lapse of physical plausibility when Hime delivered a strong upward slash to an enemy standing in front of her and the next frame depicted the rapier stuck through his forehead. Skewered upward through his chin, I would have bought, but I'm sorry. Yes, I am picky.

Still, it's got chainsaws, and that counts for something around here.



Princess Resurrection, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

Platina, v. 1

By Yeon Joo Kim
Published in the U.S. by CPM Manhwa



Slugline: I am not sure that there is a story here, but it is amusing to read.

Auna was a rich girl whose family lost everything, and was forced to work for the government and her kingdom's demanding princess to maintain the old family home which was foreclosed on. The Princess gives Auna a fox cub, who promptly turns into a boy thief with a mother complex that defies easy description. Needless to say, the transformations from fox cub to boy and back again, are half of the humor of the book. All of the characters have hidden depths, but it is hard to actually pick out a coherent storyline here. We have secret pasts, but also an awareness that they are in a manhwa since they reference things that they know will not happen until the next chapter. Evil background characters are evil because they are in the background, and they know it. But hidden in the midst of all this frivolity there are the character's secret pasts. And what the hell is the Princess up to? Is she supposed to be a sympathetic character or not?

So as long as you don't mind being purposefully confused and seeing the structure of the story laid bare to you, this is a pretty good read. I rank it above stories that are confused because the author thinks that is the best way to be mysterious, or the author just can't tell the story coherently, which are sins of commission, whereas I think the omissions here are very purposeful.



Platina, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Series Update: Basilisk 4 & 5

SERIES UPDATE

The series wraps up in volume 5, after much bloodshed, much anguish, and some really bizarre death scenes. I haven't mentioned Segawa-sama's lovely artwork, which makes his women look soft and lush even while they're dishing out the pain. Needless to say, this war of attrition between superpowered ninjas comes to a very Japanese ending (or Shakespearian tragedy, if you prefer) and in the end, despite some serious contenders, I have to give the award for Most Bizarre "Ninja Technique" to the superpowered nose hairs. Yes, you read that right.

Links to reviews of v. 1, v. 2 & 3

Basilisk vol. 4 and vol. 5 are both available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

King of Thorn, v. 1

Created by Yuji Iwahara
Published in the U.S. by TokyoPop



Slugline: A good zombie movie, probably because it has no zombies.

The Medusa virus is sweeping the world, painfully turning its victims into chalky statues after a incubation period of weeks. Without a cure, one sibling of a twin sister set, Kasumi, wins a lottery to be put into suspended animation until a cure is found. After an unknown amount of time, she along with a number of the other lottery winners awaken to discover that their animation center is now overgrown with vines, and there are unknown creatures right outside the chamber waiting to eat them. Kasumi, the shyer of the twins, is left wondering why she was spared, what happened to the world, and how long she has left until the Medusa virus claims her and the rest of the survivors. Tensions among the small group that manages to escape, for the time being, only rise.

This is a horror title that feels very reminiscent, but still different from, of the isolation and paranoia of the best zombie movies. But instead of the infected losing their identity to become just another zombie, here, the Medusa virus strips everything but their identity away, leaving a statue. The shy Kasumi has to find meaning in herself, no longer relying directly on her sister, to make her way in a strange world that is familiar like a badly remembered echo.

Not sure if the later volumes will keep up with this book's quality, but for setting up a situation and immediately placing characters into jeopardy, this book is very good. In addition, this is second book we have reviewed here on Prospero's Manga from Yuji Iwahara, the first being Chikyu Misaki released by CMX, but now I am going to look forward and for any other works by this creator.



King of Thorn, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Love Pistols, v.1

By Tarako Kotobuki
Published in the U.S. by Blu



Slugline: Monkeys and leopards and bears, oh my! Let's get it on!

Norio turns out to be a special critter in a previously unknown world of spirit-critters and he spends most of his time freaking out amusingly while various giant-shouldered guys hit on him. It comes down to two guys, quickly, and my one complaint is that the guy who's trying to be nice about seducing Norio is obviously losing out to the one who's being an ass about it. I've never bought the whole "jerks are sexier than nice guys" thing, personally.

But for a yaoi, this story contains an unusual amount of world-building to explain these alternatively evolved human-animal-spirit beings amung us -- which I like, because porn deserves just as much effort as any other story, in my opinion. It goes a long way toward making the "must breed! don't care if it's male!" situation feel less contrived. Plus, it's a good excuse for people to turn into animals.

There's a parallel story about another romance in development, one that will take more work and may be more interesting in the long run. In the meantime, everyone's fantasizing about hot, non-explicit monkey sex (kinda literally) and I'm sure we'll get around to the real thing eventually.



Love Pistols, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

My Heavenly Hockey Club, v. 1

Created by Ai Morinaga
Published in the U.S. by DelRey Manga



Slugline: For once, the boy and the girl are both incredibly ludicrous.

Hana has worked long and hard to get into a prestigious local school. But for once it was not to prove something to her parents or to meet up with a cute guy that she had a crush on ever since she was a small child. No, she wants to sleep in, and the closest school just happened to have the hardest standards. But on the way there, she is accidentally hit by the car of one of the most powerful students at the school, Izumi, who decides upon meeting her that her indestructibility would be useful to have around in the Hockey Club. A club of course, that doesn't know how to play hockey, but they do go very far during away games, stay at nice resorts and indulge in food. All of which seems to be ideal to Hana, but unfortunately the morning practices involve learning which end of the stick is up and mean that she has ended up not getting any extra sleep. And despite all of their practice they never actually get to play a game, despite their best efforts to at least end up on the field to play.

Do Izumi and Hana have something going on between them? Yes, but it's overshadowed by the fact that their obsessions blind them to, well, reality. Usually one of the main characters in a manga is the voice of sanity or reason, but fortunately here that character seems to be relegated to a minor supporting role so he is easily ignored. It is the story's fidelity in taking itself not very seriously, but never pushing the characters in areas of insanity, that walks a fine line. Why the characters do crazy things is never unbelievable, but what they do they is. Despite being over-the-top, I still felt that the characters were real. The subject of the story is fluff, nothing out of the ordinary and one may even say it is less important than most other such stories, but the writing is such that you never really notice that the story is really about nothing. Well, less than the nothing that most relationship manga seem to fall into.



My Heavenly Hockey Club, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Crossroad, v.1

by Shioko Mizuki
Published in the U.S. by Go!comi



Slugline: "Blended" families are unusual, in Japan, and here we see a little of why.

In the US, the scenario would be sad but not strange at all: three kids were dropped off at various times at Grandma's house after their footloose mom fell in and out with various men. They go their separate ways, but are drawn back together by Grandma's death -- including Mom, who ditches yet another child with them and takes off for parts unknown.

Ranging from the 20-year-old, delivery-man eldest brother to the newest, elementary schoolgirl sister, they decide to make a go at being a family. The standard-issue transfer-student dramas and the teens awkwardly attracted to each other are well and humerously written, but it's the mundane problems of getting a place to live, getting themselves into school at all, that make this title stand out. In many shojo, these things are glossed over or handled by grown-ups, if they are even mentioned at all. As a grown up who has to worry about these things, I find it fascinating to see how it's done in Japan. And since our heroine is just a teenager, she's learning the ropes right along with us.

This title was first published in the U.S. in 2003, but it's worth looking for.

We have also reviewed Crossroad vols. 2 & 3 and Crossroad vols. 4-7.



CrossRoad, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

May vacation, 2007

We will be away on vacation, so no posts on May 15th, 17th and probably not on the 22nd either. Enjoy!

Grand Theft Galaxy, v.1

Written by Tricia Riley Hale, Illustrated by Jim Roy N. Jimenez
Published by TokyoPop



Slugline: "Intergalactic gentleman thieves" is not a good thing to put down on your pre-law application undr "parents' occupation."

A college student (at last, a college student, as compared to a high school student) is finally the lead in an OEL. True, how it is treated in the manga is not much different from high school, but I will take my little victories where I can. Samantha is an exceedingly and proudly normal girl just trying to get into pre-law when she discovers that her parents are actually intergalactic thieves of the first order, and that some detectives with rather big, planet-busting weapons are going to blow up the planet Earth unless they get a cube that Samantha's parents can't remember stealing and don't know where it is. Samantha, if she wants her romantic date with her boyfriend to ever happen, needs to save the planet.

The is a nice action fluff. Even the destruction of the planet is treated rather lightly, with the sort of over-the-top humor and action that one would expect from a Teenagers From Outer Space story (a classic RPG.) Good art, fun action, but nothing that will probably stick out of my mind after a couple of days. Not saying it is bad, but it is not going to be in the same place in my library as Earthlight is, a title that I remember more of now than I do from Grand Theft Galaxy which I read just a couple hours ago.

And no, this has nothing to do with the Grand Theft Auto series.



Grand Theft Galaxy, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Lovers in the Night

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



Slugline: There's just something about frilly shirts and yaoi, isn't there...

Like Yoshinaga's Gerard & Jaques, this collection of short stories is set in Revolution-era France and involves a master and butler relationship. Of the two, I would say Lovers in the Night is more developed and rings true -- the repartee is wittier, there's good back story, and even if Antoine is sometimes clueless as only a pampered aristocrat can be, he isn't nasty.

Set partly in Versaille and partly in German exile, there is a slight attempt at tension over Antoine and Claude's feelings for each other, but it's not like there's any real doubt. As a slice of "upstairs-downstairs" life, it never really addresses the differences between server and served. The story glides mainly on dialog, character, and a bit of porn (which is much better integrated into the story here than it was in Gerard & Jaques.)



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

- Miranda

Warriors: The Lost Warrior, v. 1

Created by Erin Hunter, Written by Dan Jolley and art by James L. Barry
Published by TokyoPop



Slugline: When in doubt, assume your cat is plotting escape and your downfall, in that order.

I have heard that Warriors is a popular young adult series, with something like 12+ books released since 2003. But fortunately this book explains everything you need to know about the world of Warriors without having to read the whole series, and not in a boring, infodumpy way. Graystripe is a warrior of a clan of cats who, in the effort of freeing them, is captured himself and ends up in a human home. He suffers a crisis of faith, so to speak, but thanks to his dreams of the passed-on cats of his clan, and a local pet cat named Millie, he begins the trip that will hopefully reunite him with his clan.

This is a nice, solid piece of story. It is whole upon itself, it has both internal and external struggles, along with a love interest. It is nothing specutular, once you get it is about the story of a cat trapped in the world of man, but it works. I get the feeling that Graystripe is an older cat, almost world-weary but still willing to shoulder his burden of being a provider and defender of his extended family. There are some tantalizing hints about the rest of the world of Warriors, which I am sure will please fans of the series. I find myself particularly driven to find out more about them since we have three cats, so I'm feeling a need to understand what is going on in their minds and make sure that they don't kill me in my sleep. The art is okay, nothing too exicting, but I never got confused over which cat is which, which a nice touch.



Warriors: The Lost Warrior vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Series Update: OldBoy 2 & 3

SERIES UPDATE

In the original review, I mostly talked about the movie version of this story. To give the manga a fair shake, it's well written and drawn, but it's still slow-paced (even for a manga) and our hero's revenge still depends entirely on those he is pursuing. He hasn't become proactive, yet.

Goto, our hero, pursues his revenge with great deliberation, and it's only when the enemy reaches out to contact him that things start happening. The artist also spends a great deal of time -- too much, actually -- establishing the mood and the surroundings and how many cigarettes everyone is smoking. I think I'll stick with the movie, mean-spirited as it was.

OldBoy vol. 2 and vol. 3 are both available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda