In the End

by Pink Psycho
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop


Slugline: A shallow tour of a teenage wasteland.

This is saved from getting a Dishonorable Mention by fairly good artwork.

Kaito has settled comfortably into the role of a whipping boy as a teenager, and apparently can't think of anything to do besides lay around the house provoking his father or lay around his favorite club looking for other people to emotionally abuse him. It's just a matter of time before easy meat like Kaito is picked up on by a more substantial predator like Ren, lured in with a bit of manipulation and stroking, and then it falls apart.

This could have been an ugly look at the real world of abuse, but instead the author wants the reader to feel some kind of sympathy for Ren without putting enough work into describing Ren's motivations. And Kaito's change of heart speaks more to his lack of self than any real change. Thus, the ending rings false after a string of predictable incidents that don't convey much in the way of "romance."

I was never a punk or a goth, but I also feel vaguely insulted on their behalf because this story will, in the eyes of a parent, reinforce the idea that punk/goth kids are lost and vulnerable and can be "saved" by getting them into a more normal wardrobe. Most of the people I knew who wore lots of black or dyed their hair were far more vibrant and stable than the go-with-the-crowd types.



In the End is available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

Please Miss Yuri

Please Miss Yuri and all other review of explicit titles have been moved to Prospero’s Manga – Mature, a review blog for specifically for those titles. Please check there for reviews.

Fever, vol. 1

by Hee Jung Park
Published in the US by Tokyopop


Slugline: Screw-ups and lovelorn of Korea, unite!

The structure of this volume is nice and tidy: we meet Hyung-In, we meet Ji-Jun, and Kang-Dae brings them all together for a first meeting. What happens next is anyone's guess, but if the dialogue maintains this quality and Bong-Nam the spaniel sticks around, I will too.

Hyung-In is wrestling with the consequences of her friendship with an unpopular girl. Ji-Jun is...unlucky, in more ways than one, and more or less adrift in life. And Kang-Dae is the sort of scattered oddball that could make things interesting. Bong-Nam brings the drool and a waggy tail.

4 stars, with a bullet.



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

-Miranda

CBG Review: Mail Order Ninja, vol. 1

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



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

-Ferdinand

Crayon Shinchan, vol. 1

By Yoshito Usui
Released in the US by CMX Manga


Slugline: Everyone loves a bad boy, even if he is in kindergarten

Shinchan is a five year old with an innocence of a two year old and the mind of a typical lecherous old man of anime. So needless to say he makes the lives of his family, friends, teachers and random passing strangers difficult and interesting all at the same time. This volume does not seem to have any continuing stories, sometimes more along the lines of situation or complications that have been added to the main characters lives, such as a principal with a face like a mobster and the addition of a dog to the household. These are short, brutal and funny. The volume itself is fairly small, but it works to the title's advantage, because if it was too long I think Shinchan would cease being funny at some point and just be annoying. As it is, I think some psychiatrist is going to make a lot of money from Shinchan's parents one of these days, that is if the pharmaceutical industry doesn't make him a poster boy for the need for more ADD drugs. The reason that this title is rated M for Mature has to do with Shinchan having the innocence of a two year old, in that random nudity seem perfectly acceptable to him.

And no, I have never watched the anime, the perils of living a cable free life. And writing all these review for you, my readers. I slave away, really.



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

-Ferdinand

SERIES UPDATE: Presents, vol. 2

You can check out our review of Presents, vol. 1.

Presents continues its approach of one-off horror stories, all centered around the idea of presents, how they help, hurt and curse people that accept them. In some ways, I think this volume is stronger then the first, because it starts out immediately with a vision of Santa Claus that I suspect only a culture that hadn't been steeped in Christmas and Santa Claus could produce. Santa Claus and Death are both recurring characters, talking and giving the main character Kurumi's perspective and some suggestions on how to deal with some gift givers. Not all of the stories devolved into horror filled tales of greed gone wrong over presents, several of them were rather touching. So while I could easily got bored at too many one-off tales, Presents, at least in this volume, varied their approach enough to continue to draw me in.



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

-Ferdinand

CBG Review: Star Trek, The Manga, vol. 1 Shinsei/Shinsei

We have already done a review of Star Trek, The Manga, vol. 2 Kakan ni Sjinkou.

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



Star Trek, The Manga, vol. 1 Shinsei/Shinsei, Star Trek, The Manga, vol. 1 Shinsei/Shinsei the alternate cover,
Star Trek: the Manga, vol. 2 Kakan ni Shinkou are all available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

Translucent, v.1

by Kazuhiro Okamoto
Published in the US by Dark Horse Manga


Slugline: Teenagers feel invisible. That much never changes.

Invisibility as a cycling, mysterious illness -- it's a reasonable enough story idea. Even when set in the mundane world of middle school. But volume 1 proceeds to introduce us to a group of familiar characters, all of whom are dead set on being as normal as possible. Here's a disease whose only physical effect is invisibility, and everyone's ignoring the obvious implications.

Furthermore, the storyline insinuates that the disease is partly psychological. Which could lead to interesting stories too, but there isn't much sign of anything interesting happening so far. I couldn't even guess what volume 2 would be about -- there's no apparent conflict or goal in mind. The girl suffering from this disease wants to be an actress, but the story of reaching that goal hardly needs an invented disease to be interesting. The added "problem" actually detracts from that, in my opinion.

You can also check out Ferdinand's review!



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

- Miranda

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