Variante, vols. 1 + 2

Written and Illustrated by Iqura Sugimoto
Released in the US by CMX Manga


Slugline: Having your arm replaced with a metastasizing shape changing thing is one way to get out of piano lessons.

Aiko has had a really bad day. She has not been doing so well in her piano practices, because of them she never gets to play outside with her friends, she comes home late one day and her parents are dead, killed by something that is so horrible she has blocked out her memory. And to cap it off, somehow her arm has been replaced with some rapidly changing chimera, capable of expanding, shifting shape and slicing people to shreds. It seems to be mostly under her control, but it does some bad things, such as killing her best friend's dog. The organization that 'rescued' her and is trying to control, cover up and exploit the Chimeras has this idea that it might be a good idea to pack her off to a lab and cut her up a bit to determine what makes her tick. But despite being very depressed (incited by the additional murder of her best friend by another Chimera) she decides that she will continue to live, and to do so she has to agree to fight the Chimeras. The second volume is mainly about Aiko learning to deal with the fact she is used as a killing machine and the fact that she freaks out everyone around her. In addition, we learn a little about the background of Sudo, the homicide detective that is part of the organization and is Aiko's handler.

Body horror has this interesting tradition in manga. I suppose it is the ultimate expression of the confusion of adolescence, when your body changes and seems to have its own wants and desires, irrespective of your own feelings in the matter. I think that the first volume is stronger to the second, where it descends more into the monster of the week and the monster within, where the first volume dealt more strongly with the isolation and depression of such a radical reshaping of one's life. I am sad to say that the shocker of the first volume actually took me by surprise, where I thought a character was going to serve as a grounding force and doesn't (dancing around to maintain the spoiler aspect of it.) But the first volume works much better as a horror story, where the second volume starts going into the action aspects of it, which were less engaging for me. The story also has the hurt Rei aspect, that infatuation that came out of Neon Genesis Evangelion to see the character Rei hurt. I never understood it myself, but apparently that is a big thing, and that built that right into the character, the haphazard, hurt look she continually project whenever she meets a Chimera, because that is the best way to engage her arm's self-defense mechanisms. I am not sure to admire the creator's rationale or wince at the thought that people like that.



Variante, vol. 1 and vol. 2 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

CBG Review: Hellsing, vol. 1

As a reminder of why we are running so many links at the moment, I have a contract with TokyoPop to write a pilot manga for them, and while I am working on it I am trying to avoid reviewing their stuff. So of course I get nothing but TokyoPop titles to review.

I have written a review for Hellsing, vol. 1, available on The Comic Buyer's Guide website. Please remember that the CBG website uses a 4 star rating. Check it out!



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

- Ferdinand

Blue Eyes, vol. 1

Blue Eyes, vol. 1 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.

CBG Review: Agent Boo, vol. 1

I have written a review for Agent Boo, vol. 1, available on The Comic Buyer's Guide website. Please remember that the CBG website uses a 4 star rating. Check it out!



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

- Ferdinand

CBG Review: BoogiePop Doesn't Laugh, vols. 1 + 2

I have written a review for BoogiePop Doesn't Laugh, vols. 1 + 2, available on The Comic Buyer's Guide website. Please remember that the CBG website uses a 4 star rating. Check it out!

Miranda has previously written a review of BoogiePop Doesn't Laugh, vol. 1. Check it out and feel free to compare what she thought to what I wrote!



BoogiePop Doesn't Laugh, vol. 1 and vol. 2 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

Minima!, vol. 1

By Machiko Sakurai
Released in the US by Del Rey


Slugline: Cute dolls can lead to not-so cute situations.

Ame is schoolgirl who is actually depressed and knows that her friends don't really like her, rather than just being relentlessly upbeat about it. In a moment of despair, she buys a remaindered small stuffed toy, who is tired of being quiet and overlooked, and breaks the code of silence and speaks. Things spin out of control like you would and would not expect as Nicori tries to find his place in the world and with Ame.

First of all, Ame is portrayed as actually depressed rather than the fake depressed that seems to pervade manga. You don't stay upbeat, you just exist and hope that you will stop feeling. Then Nicori enters the picture and while things change under his influence, they are just the first steps of change, Ame does not discover that all of her problems are solved overnight. And she has been crafted by her problems so even if the problems disappeared she would still be the same person for a while until she adjusted to the changes. The fact that when Nicori was revealed to the world as a talking, moving plush animal that Ame was able to leave the amusement park without being chased or cornered by reporters and businessmen seeking to take advantage was something that I had a hard time believing. But that plot hole was soon plugged by the return of the reporters, a businessman seeking to take advantage of Nicori and a gang of street toughs kidnapping Ame hoping to also take advantage of Nicori. This injection of real world consequences of something that at first seems impossible grounds the piece and makes me eager to see more.



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

-Ferdinand

Manga Sutra, v. 1

By Futari H and Katsu Aki
Published in the US by Tokyopop


Slugline: A realistic story about figuring out how to enjoy sex.

It should be noted that pornography is not an accurate representation of people having sex – this is. And it’s not pornography, in that it’s more concerned about plot than gynecology.

The story centers on Makoto and Yuri, two virgins who meet through a matchmaker and get married. They are both willing and eager to enjoy sex, but reality keeps getting in the way. They both need practice, they’re both embarrassed by not getting it right the first time, and they both have siblings who try to educate them. No, there is no incest porn.

Factoids are sprinkled throughout the story along with a bit of explanation about various techniques. The central story is simple and straightforward and sweet in its way, but the obvious aim of the series is to educate. I think that’s a great idea, because sex requires practice and exploration and the fib that everyone’s automatically good at it really needs to be laid to rest.



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

- Miranda

Yozakura Quartet, vol. 1

By Suzuhito Yasuda
Released in the US by Del Rey Manga


Slugline: Superteens? I think they didn't know what else to tagline this with.

Four teens work to protect the town of Sakurashin from whatever arises to threaten it. There is something going on in the town, especially considering that the smokestacks on the town's skyline have blessing strips on them. But not to worry, the four teens all have abilities beyond that of normal men. Hime, despite being a teenager is the mayor of the town seems to have enhanced strength and speed. Ao, a cat-girl can read minds and Kotoha is a magician that can create things with just a word round out the superpowered part of the team. And then there is the guy, Akina, who will no doubtedly have to fend off the interest of the three girls.

I was thinking from the back ad copy that this would be more like a traditional superhero story. I mean, there is nothing wrong with super heroic stories, you can easily argue that Naruto is one. But this story didn't feel like one at all. It feels more like a civic class, with the characters all concerned about the town, but for some reason not seeming to have any of the apparatus of a town to draw upon. People must flock to live in this town, because the property taxes must be incredibly low if the town's mayor runs things with just the help of three friends. The fact that the three friends have wacky powers is just is, without any explanation. It just doesn't feel like it holds together, with the threats feeling fairly hollow.



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

-Ferdinand

CBG Review: Fruits Basket, vols. 1

We have also reviewed Fruits Baskets, vol. 13.

I have written a review for Fruits Basket, vols. 1, available on The Comic Buyer's Guide website. Please remember that the CBG website uses a 4 star rating. Check it out!



Fruits Basket, vols. 1 is available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

CBG Review: Megatokyo vols. 1-4

I have written a review for Megatokyo vols. 1-4, available on The Comic Buyer's Guide website. Please remember that the CBG website uses a 4 star rating. Check it out!



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

CBG Review: 0/6, vols. 1 + 2

As a way to get around the Conflict of Interest problem that I mentioned yesterday, I will be featuring (for a little while anyways) some of the my CBGXtra reviews that I have not previously linked to that date from before the conflict.

I have written a review for 0/6, vols. 1 + 2, available on The Comic Buyer's Guide website. Please remember that the CBG website uses a 4 star rating. Check it out!



0/6, vols. 1 and vol. 2 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

Blog Update

Ferdinand (me, in other words) has just now signed a contract with TokyoPop to provide a pilot manga for them. This presents a Conflict of Interest on my part with TokyoPop, but since TokyoPop puts out a sizeable chunk of the new titles, it will be hard to for me to stop reviewing all of them. I can tell you my reviewing style won't change, and I will try as much as possible to push reviewing TokyoPop titles off to Miranda. In the cases in which I can't, I will remind people in the review about my Conflict of Interest.

-Ferdinand

I Wish..., vol. 1

By Hyun-Joo Seo
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: The granting of wishes with no monkey paw in sight!

Jin Ryu was left behind when her parents and brother went on vacation, and in a moment of spite wished that their plane would crash. Of course, their plane really does crash and Jin, ridden with guilt, goes to a sorcerer K who will grant a wish in return of what is most precious of the wisher. Unfortunately, his rule is that he cannot bring the dead to life. And since Jin has seen him, he cannot let her go without her making a wish. So Jin ends up being K's assistant, and observes (and usually tries to help) the people who come to K looking for wishes to solve their problems.

Many of these sort of stories seem to revolve around the monkey paw type of a wish, a wish whose intentions rebound on the wisher so that he receives what he wants in the most horrible way possible. I Wish... is different, in that while there are consequences to the wish, and what is taken in payment is often unexpected, if the wish rebounds unexpectedly, so far it does so in a way that the wisher would actually prefer if he knew. There is also an unexpected relationship between K and Jin's dead brother, which implies that Jin herself is more than one would expect. Also of interest is that the chapters are of much longer than one would expect, with only three stories in this volume. I am not sure if the published format for this story is longer than normal or that several episodes have been edited together to form longer chapters. Either way, this is a different but still well done entry in the wish-fulfilling genre of stories.



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

SERIES UPDATE: Loveless, vols 4-7

Feel free to check out our previous reviews for Loveless, vol. 1 and Loveless, vol 2&3.

The story drifted a bit, introducing characters who may or may not become more interesting, some bits of intrigue and some ass-dragging on Ritsuka's part. But in vol. 6, he demands to visit this Septimal Moon that has been mentioned and lo, in vol. 7 we are making progress. A diversion of sorts is begun in vol. 7 with the likely goal of making a team of Ritsuka and Soubi. It's sure to have repercussions later, no mystery about that.

And the short stories at the end of some volumes are cute too.



Loveless vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 3 vol. 4, vol. 5, vol. 6 and vol. 7 are all available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

.hack//G.U.+, vol. 1

Story by Tatsuya Hamazaki with Art by Yuzuka Morita (corrected)
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Griefers can cause real grief over the fuzzy line of reality and the computer in the .hack world.

I may be one of the five people on the planet that doesn't know or apparently care that much about the .hack franchise. I do like the fact they are talking aboutgriefers AKA Player-Killers. Those are the folks whose game is to deny others the game. But many of the other elements of the story come from any one a half dozen cyberpunk, the computer is alive style games that date all the way back to TRON. Oh look, player's injuries affecting their real life status, the idea of rogue systems, missing mentors wandering back into people's life and so on. Add into it a heavy amount of the traditional fighting story elements, such as revenge and the desire for one to be stronger, as if you can suddenly add muscle mass just by yelling really loudly. Yet I am still giving this an average rating, despite those issues. Maybe I have been reading too muchshoujo and the like recently, but I do find most of the characters well done and they take full advantage of the possibility of the non-logical appearance in the computer world and run with it. If I had just read a bunch ofshonen I would have been less forgiving, but I find this okay, even if it does not make much of an impression.



.hack//G.U.+, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

CBG Review: Shin Megami Tensei KAHN, vol. 1

I have written a review for Shin Megami Tensei KAHN, vol. 1, available on The Comic Buyer's Guide website. Please remember that the CBG website uses a 4 star rating. Check it out!



Shin Megami Tensei KAHN, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

Doors of Chaos, vol. 1

By Kyoko Mitsuki
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Grotesque violence, gothic lolitas and bishi boys of bad-assery. All it needs is some boys kissing each other to be perfect.

Mizeria and Clarissa are sisters that have cloistered their whole life, training their mystical powers as harmonizers to serve their kingdom. But on the sixteenth birthday, Clarissa is stolen away by their trainer Rikhter who has raised the girls their entire lives. Worse yet, it turns out that the girls are keys that can open (in Clarissa's case) or close (in the case ofMizeria ) doors to evil dimensions, so to speak. Clarissa finds herself drafted by a secret organization dedicated to keeping the doors closed and tracking downRikhter and her sister, both of whom she still loves.

One of the keys of Gothic Lolita style titles is the art, and this title delivers. Other than some sequences early in the book, the art is relatively easy to follow despite thegothic and sometimes busy nature of it. No big surprises in the story, but Mizeria , our protagonist, despite being a touch naive, does have some gumption. But I want to see some of the supporting characters to get sketched in and some motivations forRikhter explained, but I am willing to give it a bit of time to do so.



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

-Ferdinand

A.I. Revolution, vol. 1

By Yuu Asami
Published in the US by GoComi


Slugline: In a world of robots, there does not seem to be very many of them.

Sui's father is the scientist-entrepreneur in a near-future world where household robots are commonplace, but has just finished a prototype of one that could pass for human. Sui is asked to help Vermillion adapt to interacting with humans. But Vermillion not only looks human, he also has advanced technology that allows him to interface with any computer. This ability attracts the wrong attention at times, putting Vermillion and Sui in danger even as they try to help each other.

Some bits of this near-future is already out of date, just another example that even a decade ago the consequences of WiFi and broadband was not really understood. Vermillion's technology that makes him a target is conceivably now within the grasp of anyone with a PDA (or considering the direction of technology, cell phones.) The art also shows, well not its age per se, but certainly the fact that it feels old, or more precisely out of fashion. But once you accept those limitations, the story is solid though treading over well-worn ground and the art itself is fine.



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

-Ferdinand

Viz Anime at Amazon Unbox

As you can see on Prospero's Manga, we do refer people to Amazon.com for merchendise, simply because everyone has used them at one time or another. When you go through those referrals, Prospero's Manga receives a small royalty, which is the only way the blog can help pay for itself.

I thought I would share with you something that just dropped into my inbox. Viz Anime making available downloaded episodes of BLEACH, Death Note and Naruto- Uncut over at Amazon, each with a free sample episode until the end of the month. Feel free to check it out via the previews below.

(And of course we have already reviewed the Death Note while I have reviewed BLEACH over at CBGXtra, and Naruto was reviewed in my very first column for Comic Buyer's Guide.)



-Ferdinand

SERIES UPDATE: The Drifting Classroom, v. 7 - 9

You can read our previous reviews of Drifting Classroom vol. 1, Vols. 2 & 3, and Vols. 4-6.

The kids continue to slog through their unfolding disaster, and now some gaps are starting to show in the manga-ka's apocalyptic future. The biology does not really work. Some scenes are blatant info-dumps that don't make a lot of sense in the context offered. The abilities of sixth graders are pushed to their believable limits. And the third descent into Lord of the Flies mode is not quite as interesting as the first two.

Still, there are a few character moments and interesting context in this mid-70s look at a post-apocalyptic world. In a time when Americans were worrying about nuclear war, at least one manga-ka saw climate change as a global threat.



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

- Miranda

Love Master A, vol. 1

By Kyoko Hashimoto
Released in the US by GoComi


Slugline: Sometimes adding conflict to a title adds nothing at all.

Aria has transferred to a new school in order to escape her reputation as a hard luck girl in love, but within moments of arriving at the school she is pressured into becoming her class's president with a bunch of other school oddballs that had been apparently been placed there for the rest of the class's safety. Her attempt to fit in is further derailed when Aria's old nickname given to her ironically, Love Master A, is misinterpreted to mean she is good at the romance rather than having constantly struck out with it. As in often the case, wackiness ensues. This title and review was heading towards being merely average, until we hit the last chapter. In order to create conflict, we introduce the class officers of another class, who are mean and really cross my sexual abuse squick line. And at the end of the chapter, all of the horrible plans seem to be just laughed off. Annoying at best and disrespectful to the characters at worst.



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

-Ferdinand

CBG Review: Dark Metro, vol. 1

I have written a review for Dark Metro, vol. 1, available on the Comic Buyer's Guide website. Please remember that the CBG website uses a 4 star rating. Check it out!



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

-Ferdinand

No posting Jan. 21-24th

Miranda and I will be traveling, visiting relatives and the like. As such, we may get in one or two reviews those days, but probably not. We will definitely return on Friday, Jan 25th!

-Ferdinand

King of the Lamp

By Takako Shigematsu
Published in the US by GoComi


Slugline: People who fall in love have sex?!?

This is a collection of shorts by Takako Shigematsu who has also done Tenshi Ja Nai!!, with three of the chapters linked together by the same premise and gives the collection its name. The King of the Lamp is about a King who took 1000 beautiful women to serve in his harem and is now forced to be a genie granting wishes to women who are already in love. He still makes out in this deal, because his magic requires kisses on the part of the wishees. What is interesting about this title is that it definitely was intended for an older audience than the typical shoujo, because with the woman's wish fulfilled and her boyfriend now acknowledging their feelings for each other, they fall into each arms and make love. Now, this series is not porn, it has what I would call soap opera sex, lots of sparkles, smooches, suggestive lighting and closing the curtain on the scene before they have to show anything. The same thing is portrayed in one of the other stories, so I would say this is among the first of the women's romance titles I have actually managed to read rather than just hear about. Just for that, King of the Lamp manages to eke out a 3 star rating despite the rather pedestrian storytelling because it is published a type of story that just hasn't been seen much in the US.

King of the Lamp is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and

-Ferdinand

CBG Review: Hell Girl, vol. 1

I have written a review for Hell Girl, vol. 1, available on the Comic Buyer's Guide website. Please remember that the CBG website uses a 4 star rating. Check it out!



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

-Ferdinand

Missing: Spirited Away

By Gakuto Coda
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: You'd better remember to be nice to your friends after they drag you back from another dimension.

Kyoichi has always been a bit strange ever since he and his brother were abducted at a early age, and he was the only one to return. One day, merely by the sense of smell he spots another human that has been captured by the other side, and gets her recognized by others. But the danger is that if others can see her, they too can be assimilated into the elsewhere. His friends have to drag him back to our world and deal with an Agency that has make its own hard decisions on how to save people.

Despite the back cover text, the book is only peripherally about Kyoichi but more about his four friends that risk their very existence in order to find and recover him from the elsewhere that seems to be drawn him in. There is a bit of needless exposition in the middle, as the two separate sets of characters get the same information from different sources, but I can see the use of it since it separates them and gives them separate pieces of the puzzle. And one is told when to feel dread and fear, rather than finding out for ourselves. So while this good horror, it doesn’t rise above that. It is my understanding that this is a multi-volume series, so I am interested in seeing what the blowback from this story would be, and how Kyoichi interacts with the other characters.



Missing: Spirited Away is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

Aria, vol. 1

By Kazue Amano
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Sometimes mellow flowing along can get a little bit repetitive

We have already reviewed Aria's prequel Aqua, and that review can be found here.

Akari Mizunashi is training to be an Undine, a gondolier of Neo Venezia, a reconstruction of Venice that was built on Mars, now named Aqua, after terraforming it covered with oceans. She has become a journeyman but is still in training to become an Undine, who also serves as a tour guide for the city. These are very much low key, slice of life stories, which are enjoyable with the sort of artwork that makes you want you join in with the characters in sitting back and appreciating it. I do think some bits of it are getting repetitive from Aqua, especially the fox wedding reminiscent of the congress of the cats from Aqua, but it is still a nice relaxing read. It probably should be savored, reading a volume every once in a while rather than tearing right the story.



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

-Ferdinand

SERIES UPDATE: Eternal Sabbath, v. 5 - 7

You can read our earlier reviews of Eternal Sabbath vol. 1 here, vol. 2 here and vols. 3-4 here.

Through these volumes, Shuro and Mine try to influence Isaac by way of his friend Yuri. Although they make careful moves, things take a turn for the worse. Isaac does show some signs of human emotion, but he doesn't know how to act on them correctly. In the process of erasing his "mistakes" he sets off another encounter with Shuro. When the scene escalates, Isaac actually seems off balance due to the emotional fallout from Yuri, and the plot begins to shift in a new direction.

Tough subjects are tackled in these three volumes -- child abuse, the stresses of parenting -- and this series will be staying on my short list!




ES vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 3 vol. 4, vol. 5, vol. 6 and vol. 7 are all available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

Rightstuf Sale on Viz Anime and Manga

Just letting people know that RightStuf.com, one of our sales affiliates, is running a sale on Viz Anime and Manga until 11:59 pm CST of January 20th, 2008, including preorders. The sale is 33% off retail for books and 40% off retail for DVDs just by entering the coupon code "takenote". For a list of Viz titles we have reviewed go here. In particular, we really enjoyed the titles Deathnote, The Drifting Classroom and Revolutionary Girl Utena.

Prospero's Manga does take time for us to run, and sales through this RightStuf.com link or through any of our other Rightstuf.com links kicks us a percentage, which helps pay for the site. So everyone wins!

-Ferdinand

CBG Review: The Manga Bible

I have written a review for The Manga Bible, available on the Comic Buyer's Guide website. Please remember that the CBG website uses a 4 star rating. Check it out!



-Ferdinand

V.B. Rose, vol. 1

By Banri Hidaka
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: I suspect I would find this title much more affecting if I wasn't cursed with the Y chromosome.

We have reviewed two other works by Banri Hidaka I Hate You More Than Anyone, and Tears of the Lamb.

Ageha is disheartened when her sister Hibari announces that she is pregnant and thus getting married. Not that Hibari wasn't planning on getting married, but this is moved up her plans. Ageha has an idealized view of Hibari which cannot reconcile itself with this. Not even her hobby of making handbags tempers her disappointment, but it is her handbags that draws the attention of a pair of professional designers. Who of course happen to be Hibari's wedding dress designers. In the midst of a disagreement over Ageha's belligerence of Hibari's wedding lone of the two guys' (who of course are stunningly attractive) hand is injured, leaving Ageha to volunteer to work in their shop to make up for it. In working on the dress Ageha comes to terms with her sister's marriage and goes one step beyond, impressing the shop owners.

This a competently done title about a subject that just doesn't move me. I like some of the character bits and sparse yet powerful art lines that convey the grace and beauty that is necessary for a title about fashion to be convincing, but the actual topic of the story itself is only ho-hum. As an aside, I am wondering when someone is going to write about someone who loathes and despises their older sibling and works to undercut them at all costs? Sorry, I have seen more dysfunctional or at least tense sibling relationships than adoring ones. As for the story, I want to see what happens after the sister's wedding, because that will be the real meat of the series, trying to figure out what happens after the tension of the wedding no longer to drives things. Maybe someone who loves weddings, cuteness and the sense of elegance around the dresses would rate this title higher than I do, but like the slugline said, my Y chromosome is a curse in this case.

And if you have no idea what I mean by Y chromosome, remember your basic biology and which gender solely has the Y chromosome...



V.B. Rose, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and

-Ferdinand

Harukaze Bitter Bop, vol. 1

By Court Betten
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Craziness that seems phony, but underneath the phoniness is a crazy truth

On the way to school Chiyoharu meets Souza of the North Wind, an amnesiac martial artist that seems indestructible and Kaede, a high school aged undercover detective, who decide to follow him. Chiyoharu has enough problems already in school, being considered a delinquent because he and his friends accidentally set a fire at the school that spread beyond their control. While his friends were caught, he wasn’t though it was suspected that he was involved, and so he continues to attend the school under a cloud of distrust. So Chiyoharu is left trying to put his life back together with the assistance of characters that seem to have to wandered in from another genre and what is worse, they start proving all their craziness seems to be true.

Not quite sure how to take the series, whether at it’s heart it is a serious or parody title, and for the moment it seems like a parody title’s set-up being taken seriously. That usually means things are going to go bad very quickly, because parodies are funny because they are extreme, and if you tried to live that way it would be dangerous. It is the combination of the pettiness of the extreme characters, parody and the attempt to deal with it that makes the story interesting. The art is nice and plain, and that is meant in the best way, because if you are going to convince readers of the intrusion of parody into reality, one has to believe the world is real. I like this title, but I am not sure whether or not they will be able to continue to balance the serious and the absurd.

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

-Ferdinand

The Knockout Makers, vol. 1

Created by Kyoko Hashimoto
Published in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: It is so easy to do a makeover when you can redraw your characters

I was all ready to hate it this with the hate of thousand burning stars. Large stars, not small ones like our Sun. But it wasn’t as bad as I feared. The Knockout Makers is about an elite team of makeover artists, who seem to solely help high school and college age women. Amazing coincidence that. I wonder how many Extreme Makeover episodes made it to Japan before someone had the brilliant idea to manga-ize it.

But beside that, this book isn’t about how a makeover will make your life all perfect and beautiful. It just says that by changing your outside you can let your inside come out. Still not the most progressive message, but at least only one story in the volume has the characters professing their love for each other and there is only one where the makeover to be about revenge over being dumped, and there wasn’t an attempt after said makeover to make the ex- regret his decision. I didn’t take a ruler out and measure the characters dimensions before and after a makeover, but in a drawn book makeovers can be a lot more successful than in real life. I don’t know, maybe it is my own biases showing through here, but I am never comfortable with these kinds of stories, that your life will change positively if you just were more attractive. I have tried to objectively read at this, but the characters and story, while competent, are just not engaging or believable to me, though I will say that this tried hard to avoid descending into cliché.



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

-Ferdinand

SERIES UPDATE: The Demon Ororon, vols. 3-4 of Ultimate Edition

To see our review of the first half of The Deomon Ororon, the Ultimate Edition, click here.

At the end of v. 2, Chiaki has an Akira moment and destroys most of town. For final two volumes, however, all she does is scream and cry, making no real attempts to do anything. Around her, various demons come and go, nameless flunkies get picked off, and general havok reigns.

The politics of deposing the King of Hell were more interesting to me than Chiaki's crying over Ororon's suffering, since they were more novel. However, wading through the usual philosophical monologues to get to the politics makes for slow going. As it drags to its end, this story becomes less a romance and more an exercise in masochism. And as Ororon lies bleeding, Chiaki's inability to even try to help becomes more and more annoying.



The Demon Ororon, Ultimate Edition is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

CBG Review: Monochrome Factor, vol. 1

I have written a review for Monochrome Factor, vol. 1, available on the Comic Buyer's Guide website. Please remember that the CBG website uses a 4 star rating. Check it out!



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

-Ferdinand

The Demon Ororon, vols 1-2 of Ultimate Edition

by Hakase Mizuki
Published in the US by Tokyopop as a Ultimate Edition


Slugline: The king of hell shacks up with an angel's child. Much violence ensues.

The Ultimate Edition is so thick I'm making two reviews out of it.

Ororon is the king of hell. Chiaki is the daughter of the archangel Michael, though she didn't know at first. She wants him to stay with her, which he does, and they start acting in the manner which in manga is referred to as "love." If you're new to manga, you might think that they're roommates who get along fairly well, but in manga this qualifies as being madly in love.

In the first two volumes, a short settling-in period punctuated by attacks by various predators leads to the start of a more serious assault on Ororon and the arrival of more interesting characters such as Ororon's brother Othello and Mitsume the one-armed assassin. Othello and Mitsume are responsible for most of the fun and emotional fireworks in the second half of the collection.

Due to the art style, everyone's limbs are a mile long, genders are indistinct and sometimes it's hard to tell people apart. I didn't find the first two volumes inspiring, though they were competent, but there's two more to come.

The Demon Ororon, Ultimate Edition is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

Short Sunzen!, vol. 1

By Susugi Sakurai
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Wow! I haven't read anything exactly like this for almost two whole weeks!

I'm sorry, maybe it is the flu I am fighting talking here, but Short Sunzen! read like a half dozen other manga about violent girls with a heart of gold, the boys they like, who secretly like them back, but because no one ever notices what is right in front of their face, or even tries to talk to their friends, they are kept apart. Like I said, I've read dozens of versions of this story. The art in this version of the story is a little too busy, making the reading more difficult to get through. So only bother with it unless you feel the need to prove my analysis wrong, or that you really really think the previous dozen or so versions of this kind of story just was not fulfilling.



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

-Ferdinand

Empowered, vol. 1

By Adam Warren
Published by Dark Horse


Slugline: A title that revels in its own absurdity.

Don't you wish that more people gave manga a try rather than just knee-jerking writing it off as something strange and foreign? I am going to give you the same challenge for Empowered, a title by the original OEL artist, Adam Warren. It is a title about superheroes. Yes, yes, I understand, superhero comics are the devil compared to the purity of the manga, but then you are just as guilty as the people that are decrying manga, right? And let's face it, are the ninja feats that Naruto pull off or badassitude of Rurouni Kenshin that far off superheroes like Batman?

And if you strip all that out, the genre trappings, this is ultimately a story about college aged people trying to figure out what to do with their lives. And screwing up, and wondering what the hell they are going to do to pay the bills until the stuff they really like doing starts paying off. With boyfriends, booty calls, going out with girlfriends until you come home more than a little tipsy. After reading probably hundreds of high school stories where everyone seems so prim and proper, even the hooligans following a constrained set of behaviors, it was great to finally read some truly bad and but also behavior that felt more real. And relationships that start with sex and hormones and evolve towards love and that other sort of stuff rather than vice versa.

Empowered is a superheroine with a name that was best she could come up with and a supersuit that nothing to hide her butt or any other embaressing body parts. Worse still, while bulletproof it tears easily, and until it regenerates most of her powers are gone, so she ends up tied up way too often. Fortunately she has her boyfriend Thug Boy and her girlfriend Ninjette to bolster her while Sistah Spooky and the rest of the Superhomies continually belittle her. As you can see, this is something of a parody, something of a slice of life and a whole lot of the funny.

And as for Adam Warren, his first OEL was the US version of Dirty Pair in 1989. He has the experience and style, learned through years of practice and experience, so that it comfortably straddles both US and Japanese art styles and so it has become its own. Read it and realize that OEL can be and is it's own thing, and should be judged for what it is, not what you think it should be.



-Ferdinand

CBG Review: Tanpenshu, vol. 1

I have written a review for Tanpenshu, vol. 1, available on the Comic Buyer's Guide website. Please remember that the CBG website uses a 4 star rating. Check it out!



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

-Ferdinand

20% off everything sale at Rightstuf.com

Just letting people know that RightStuf.com, one of our sales affiliates, is running a sale until 11:59 pm CST of January 6th, 2008 on all in-stock items. The sale is an additional 20% off retail by entering the coupon code newyear2008! Check out all of 4.5 star and 4 star reviews for some ideas!

Prospero's Manga does take time for us to run, and sales through this RightStuf.com link or any of our other Rightstuf.com links kicks us a percentage, which helps pay for the site. So everyone wins!

-Ferdinand

Hanami: International Love Story, vol. 1

Story by PLUS with Art by Sung-Jae Park
Released in the US by Dark Horse


Slugline: Is this story just about being stuck between two girls or stuck between Korea and Japan?

Joonho has finally had the courage to confess his love to Sae-un, the girl he has been attracted to in his Korean high school in and for once in these stories she actually reciprocates right there rather than refusing or running off. Unfortunately, as soon as he gets home from having his confession accepted, he find outs his family is moving Seoul that day. Once he complete the move he begins a long distance (well, medium distance) relationship with Sae-un, but his Japanese neighbor Hanami keeps on intruding on his thoughts and she keeps on finding herself thinking of him. But both of their lives in Seoul are complicated by cast of ludicrous characters.

I do find that there is an interesting subtext in the title. To say that there is an apathy between Japan and Korea on the cultural and historical level is to understate the case. Koreans who were relocated to Japan in World War 2, their grandchildren who remain in Japan are still not citizens. And let's not even bring up the issue of the comfort women (If you don't know what I am talking about, well, the wiki entry is here, and it is not pleasant.) So the fact that Hanami's grandfather actually married his Korean wife and then moved to Korea, well, just from that you can tell this is a manwha because the whole Korean issue is still very unspoken in Japan. That whole issue is something I hope that gets touched upon more seriously in later volumes.

Despite the cheese, cliche and chibi aspects of the story, the fundamental conflict that is driving Joonho and the story is handled well. Joonho is torn between Sae-un who he has been attracted to for a while before moving and the friendship and possibly something more he could have with Hanami. Sae-un is someone that he understands, liked for a while, but he is also separated from her, not by a great deal but still a distance. Meanwhile Hanami is right there, foreign and so exotic, yet needing him. But Joonho is right to wonder if she likes him on his own merits or because he is a substitute for the love she had previously lost. And while the issue of language/miscommunication is first played up for laughs it is then is played a little more straight. Joonho's sense of detachment and discomfort at the Japanese language study group feels right, and I think Hanami is purposely misunderstanding Joonho's explanation of his relationship with Sae-un. I wish that the early chibi /cliche aspects could just be forgotten, but if they continue to treat the love triangle as a real dilemma rather than an excuse for broad comedy, the series can only strengthen. If the story could perhaps begin to deal with Japanese/Korean issues, this could be an exceptional series.



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

- Ferdinand

Shaman Warrior, v.1

By Park Joon-Ki
Published in the US by Dark Horse


Slugline: We're introduced to the action-heavy world of shaman-based fighters. Sort of.

So much time is spent on the action, in fact, that almost nothing is said about what a "shaman warrior" actually is. Little is said about our apparent main character, Yarong, too -- but that doesn't matter because this first volume is something of a bait-and-switch.

The action is gritty and un-glamorous, which is fine, and a bit of back story is provided, but this is ultimately more of a prologue than a first volume. And as such, I don't know where the story will go from here except, probably, to more combat. Which is fine, too, but I have no reason to expect that there will be anything more than that.



Shaman Warrior, v.1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

Red Strings, vol. 1

Story and Art by Gina Biggs
Published by Dark Horse


Slugline: Do you choose your fate, or does your fate choose you?

This manga is the collection of webcomic. To read the webcomic, which includes the material in this volume, click here.

Miharu's parents have always been a little odd, but they have just dumped on her the biggest shocker, that they already have arranged for her marriage while she was still a baby with the son of a family friend. Needless to say, she does not take welll to this announcement and storms out. While out, she runs into an older boy that helps give her some perspective on the whole ordeal. And because this is a manga, that boy is Kazuo, the boy that is supposed to marry. Wackiness could ensue, but merely the mundane confusion as the series deals with these issues, along with the other problems of Miharu's friends and family.

I admit I do have a fondness for Red String, because I first discovered it a few years ago at SPX (read a report about the latest SPX here) and picked up an ashcan of the first chapter back then. But looking at the first volume as a whole, you can see the seams in it, for a webcomic flows differently in a published format. The chapters do not flow into each other easily and it feels like the overall story is moving in fits and starts. That being said, the art seems very old-school. As in the use of obvious tones and very sparse line art. It is the style that fans first imagined that American Manga would take back in the early 90s. Now that isn't a knock on the art style, but it is very realistic, refusing to fall into moments of kawaii and chibi art. For a realistic romance story, that is what you need. I am not sure how 'Japanese' it really is, but it has enough of those touches that it feels real. I took a look some of the later chapters that were available on the website, and it does seem to flow together better. There are no big flowery dramas, but Red String, despite it's talk of fate and the like, feels more real and grounded than most other shoujo.



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

-Ferdinand

Blog Maintenance: Holiday Postings

For Christmas and New Year's Day, we will not be posting. Instead we will be spending time with family and friends.

I know, I know, but they have pictures and other evidence, so we have no choice.

Happy Holidays!

From Ferdinand and Miranda