Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, vol. 1

Story and Art by Yoshio Sawai
Published in the US by Viz


Dishonorable mention
Slugline: There is no story here just a really long line of sight gags.

Okay, I admit failure here. I only managed to read about half of this, because there is no sense of logic, storytelling or even what the hell is going on other than an endless line of sight gags. It could be a parody of fight manga. Look, one of the biases we admitted, in the side column in fact, is that we are older readers. I do not require a story, I understand that there are valid experimental manga that are more abstract, but this is just a long line of bad and stupid jokes that would only appeal to a 10 year old. Think of the worse stupid/raunchy movie you've ever seen, and then using that same attitude to make a manga. If you like that, all the more power to you.



Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Black Lagoon 001

Story and Art by Rei Hiroe
Released in the US by Viz


Slugline: Nice explosions, bad panel to panel storytelling

Rokuro is having a bad day. Asked by his company to take a disk to Southeast Asia by a transport ship (what, suddenly there were no flights between Japan and Thailand? I thought there were Japanese businessman specials to there?) he ends up kidnapped mostly by accident when mercenary pirates in an World War 2 era PT Boat take his disk. Revy, a short tempered woman with a fondness for handguns and explosives decides to take him along, but it turns out that the information on the disk is more important to the company than Rokuro's survival, leaving him to join the mercenaries on the PT Boat including the crazy one Revy, and he now calls himself Rock. But you can take the salaryman out of the corporation, but you can't take the suit and tie away from the salaryman as Rock tries to find his place in the criminal and mercenary infested world of Southeast Asia.

First off, the manga is in a slightly larger format which is nice to show off the art. And the art is nice, but there are more than a few places where it is impossible to follow the action because the panel to panel transitions are just a mess and so are hard to follow. If I hadn't seen the anime episode based on a manga chapter, where Revy goes jumping amongst the pursuing boats, I would have had very little idea what was actually happening. The series is like an early 90s style action/shoot-em up, with Russian mafia and a love of random excessive and inappropriately used firepower (torpedoes that take out a helicopter!) that make my heart glad merely reading it. If only the mechanics of the storytelling were done better! Hopefully that will continue to improve, because I want to see if they can use a depth charge to take out a jet fighter in the next volume....



Black Lagoon 001 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Sugar Princess: Skating to Win, vol. 1

Story and Art by Hisaya Nakajo
Released in the US by Viz Shojo Beat


Slugline: How to make what is basically a sports manga a shoujo, make it about skating!

Maya is at the local skating rink with her younger brother after winning a free trip there when in a fit of energy she launches herself into a spinning jump, which she doesn't land but still manages to do well enough to attract the attention of a professional coach. He's hoping to train her and pair her with his star, Shun. Maya appreciates Shun's form and grace, but Shun has very little desire to do pairs skating anymore, after the loss of his last partner. Maya takes to training, under Shun's reluctant guidance and works hard to be his equal in grace and style, but the potential closing of the skating rink that they practice at throw a wrench into her plans.

This is like a lot of other sport stories, they tend to be either underdogs who manage to win, or newbies whom everyone underestimates and manage to succeed. Notice there is a very fine line between the two, but right now the story is about a newbie, though it looks like that it is all going to be about the underdog. But it is still very much a shoujo, with the blending of the sport/shoujo aspects working better than I thought. Shonen sports is sort of the default, but the inherent grace of ice skating and the shoujo pretty boy aspects work together. It still has all the shoujo genre trappings, but adding the sport elements makes it somewhat more interesting.



Sugar Princess: Skating to Win, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Time Stranger Kyoko, vol. 1

Story and Art by Arina Tanemura
Released in the US by Viz Shoujo Beat


Slugline: Have a sister who is annoying? Just timestop them for a decade or two.

We have previously reviewed another Arina Tanemura title, The Gentleman's Alliance Cross, vol. 1.

Have a twin sister that has been trapped in time since your birth that you desperately want to know, and whose father is the king of planet Earth? Well, you may as well wait to do anything until you have a desperate need for a stand-in so you can continue to go to high school without any realizing who you are. But wait, the moment you accept the mission to find the twelve mystical doohickies to release your sister (how did she get into the time trap in the first place? And if she is timestopped, why does she look the same age as her non-timestopped sister?) you still end up leaving the school? Never mind the two hunky guys who protect you are from a mysterious dragon clan, the best fighters evah, who were wiped out years ago but for some reason no one has ever bothered finding out who or why?

Your dad really needs to start paying attention to his kingdom, the whole planet Earth, a little bit more. Or at least let the bureaucracy do, umm, something useful. Like help you or something.

This story is a mess. You can tell that this is early Arina Tanemura, because while her magical girl stories have been a little bit flaky in my opinion, they have never been this flaky. The story is just all over the place, with rationalizations and takebacks all over the place. The only thing that is good about this is that Tanemura had already matured as an artist when she had done this, so the nice art is the only thing that is saving this from a lower ranking. But unless you are a die-hard Arina Tanemura fan, I find it hard to find any reason to give this title any attention.



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

- Ferdinand

Bratz: Super Bratz

Written by Christine Peymani and Art By Anthony Tan

Published by TokyoPop

Slugline: Why do I find their lack of noses the most disturbing thing about the Bratz?

The All-Ages rating for this title is a little misleading. The rating really should say "Aimed at Pre-Tween Girls, All Others May Suffer Saccharine Poisoning." Not because the title is particularly bad, but because the pre-tween target demographic is the only one that the book really cares about. If other types of readers happened to pick up the book, that is fine, but having something that could appeal outside of that narrow demographic seem unimportant. Which is a shame, for I can easily see that this title could have been a successful really All-Ages title, but because it is linked to the Bratz property, it is limited to a certain approach and attitude to fits within that.

The girls of Bratz learn that their special skills that have made each of them stand out before were only the beginning manifestations of their superpowers. The cheerleader that could do high leaps now flies, the athletic type is a speedster, the social butterfly is a mind reader, etc. The Bratz discover that there is local school that teaches people how to use their superpowers, which apparently means road trip! The Bratz decide to go to school there, but discover that other students have their own selfish plans. Which the Bratz, after one failed attempt, discover the ways to use their new abilities to uncover what the not-so-nice students are planning and present proof to the teachers, who take care of the problem.

So yeah, this is X-Men lite with a side of the Bratz brand. I assume what minor character touches there are is from whatever character bible the Bratz brand managers gives out. I also assume that is why there are so few character flourishes for each Bratz, so that the property can be extended into as many different venues and forms as possible, without having to worry about keeping track of multiple character facets that may not work in any particular media. The response to that challenge is to minimize the individual characters.

What was nice is all I know about the Bratz is what I learned from the trailer of their rather horrible movie I was unfortunate enough to see twice. I didn't even need to know that much to pick up the book and go right into it, because you could learn most of that in the first chapter, along with the fact that they enjoy all the normal tween activity even though one of them was old enough to drive a car. It took me a little longer to keep all the characters straight, and the fact that the characters didn't have noses threw me far more than I thought it would. The character's characteristics, such as they are, are hard to tell apart other than by their special ability, but the Bratz are not credulous and are willing to entertain the thought they are not trapped in a simple, straightforward plot (which they are, but at least they consider otherwise).

Ultimately, this is not a book about the characters, it is about making sure that the property of Bratz exists in manga form. Which is a shame, because I think without that intent, and inherent set of boundaries that purpose imposed on the title, the core concept and the creators could have done more with it. But that would require taking risks that one does not allow with a multi-million dollar brand, especially in a particularly low profile manga (in comparison to the rest of the brand). So it is what it aspires to be, competent, rather than anything more.

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

- Ferdinand

Goth (the Manga)

Story by Otsuichi with Art by Kendi Oiwa
Published in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: More Schizo than Goth

Yoru Morino is the stereotypically tortured high school student who has scars on her wrists showing how dangerously out of control she is, while Boku is that wonderfully nice neighbor boy next door that no one ever realizes ate a half dozen co-eds and did even worse things to their remains. But Boku has yet to descend truly that far into madness, and may never really do so, but he is still macabre to say the least, and fascinted by death and especially the pain of death. He seems to revel in Yoru almost becoming a victim in each chapter, but at the last moment something pulls him back. Maybe it is because he sees a chance for a better, darker experience, much like how some individuals would take torturing a puppy over pulling off a bug's wings. It is a dangerous relationship that Yoru and Boku both seem to actually need.

This is a dark series of stories, that isn't quite sure what kind of horror it truly is. Perhaps that is actually that is more of a strength than a weakness of the series, because some of the book feels like it is psychological horror, descent into one's own madness while other bits feels more supernatural. Still, Yoru's sense of victimhood is perhaps the most interesting part of the book, with the death of her sister giving her the chance to change roles, but still wanting to create sequences where she is the victim and the target. In that way, her wrist scarring was probably not an actual attempt to kill herself, but instead a way to mark herself further as a victim, so that others will see it and seek her out. Heck, it worked for the other character of the manga, Boku, his vulture like relationship with her beginning once he sees the scars and realizes how that would interact with his own interests and the hand taker's own ones. In a way, Yoru the victim is the true focus of the story, as what she does that attracts the attention of killers is the active role, while Boku merely circles, waiting for the right moment to absorb what he needs from the situation.

This story almost, almost manages to get four stars, but story construction messiness in a couple of the chapters was the only thing that holds it back, and even then it was a close call. Catch me on another day I may have easily given it four stars and debated going higher.



Goth (the Manga) is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Faust, vol. 1

Edited by Katsushi Ota
Published in the US by Del Rey


Slugline: Maybe it is Japanese language not the people that is in love with convoluted sentences and recursive thought processes

Faust is actually an prose fiction/manga anthology that is originally published in Japan as a mook (with magazine dimensions with book-like thickness) in a US format more akin to a traditional paperback. Faust has a reputation of a showcasing new voices and cutting edge fiction in Japan. For the most part the stories were in the modern magical vein, in which the stories happened in the here and now, but there is something just beyond the normal human sight going on.

Is this anthology good in the traditional sense, as in having engaging stories and characters? It is sort of hard to tell. I think that there must several inherent levels of the Japanese language that simply don't exist in English, perhaps how the kanji is written can affect it's meaning? And when you translate those texts into English, unpacking those concise kanji that can have multiple layers and meaning results in long sprawling English sentences that seem to wander about. This problem does not appear as strongly in manga, because at least part of the story is being carried by the art. In short stories, the English tradition has been towards efficiency of word and action, dating back to Edgar Allen Poe who created the western short story. Every word needed to have meaning and carry forward the story in his work, and his successors have followed in Poe's trail. Reading the stories in Faust in comparison, they all seemed very meandering. Unpacking the plot sometimes took work and in one particularly surreal example I gave up and just went along with the ride. The characters would think aloud so much it was hard to determine what if any internal lives that they had. Because that is another example of the difference between the languages, the Japanese language contains so many different meanings in the same words that English speakers just pick up the dictionary meaning and so miss the rest of what is 'said', which would be unspoken and part of the character's internal life in an English short story. But in translations all this has to be laid out otherwise the meaning of the text would be lost.

I think. One of these days I will sit down and have a long talk with translator about this process.

That being said, Faust is worth reading, even if it seems difficult and meandering. It is an attempt to do something different and new in the American manga industry, even more so than the other light fiction that have been published. Only one short seems directly connected to anything already in the US (an xxxHOLic short) while 'Drill Hole in My Brain' seems to ferociously cling to surreal jumps and ignoring the niceties of plot. But the rest of the stories can stand alone without too much work on the part of the reader. There are also some interesting behind the scenes shorts, talking to writers in an odd format. I don't understand why some of the manga is repeated in color and black+white, but the color versions drew a deeper emotional response from me, while the manga that was presented only in black+white showed the excessive talkiness that seems to be the hallmark of Japanese fiction. While the plots are hard to decipher, it is the characters that are the anthology's strength, even if the most interesting and revealing of them tend to be not the one that you expect.

I also feel like I need to bring this up. Putting age guidelines on books that are mostly prose offends me on a basic level. Reading and learning is perhaps a fundamental right, and one should read what interests them and what one has the capability to understand. By placing arbitrary age limits on a prose title, you are inherently limiting people to that arbitrary category. It is an accident of legal history that we can place age restrictions on images but not on words (free speech is free, but free expression through art is not) but even though there is some art here, the majority of the work is prose and should be treated like prose rather than the age-limited art. If you want to see the damage of what even well intentioned age rating can do to a comic industry, just look up the history of Frederic Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent and the Comics Code Authority.

And yes, this is a picayune infraction, but this is one of the areas that I care deeply about, about everyone's right to read and write what they wish, and even the best intentioned limits should be pushed back against.



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

- Ferdinand

Speed Grapher, vol. 1

Written and Illustrated by Tomozo and Yusuke Kozaki, Based on the story by GONZO
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Not about a guy who can draw real fast.

Speed Grapher is about war photographer Saiga's new job as a freelance political paparazzi in a near future Tokyo suffering from another major economic crash. After an injury forces him to take a less 'strenuous' job photographing corrupt politicians and dodging their security details, Saiga confronts one of the corrupt politicians that he had revealed as he is being killed by a man who literally stretches like rubber. Escaping through the use of his wits, Saiga traces the politician trail to an underground club that is using an unaware student named Kagura to grant some people strange abilities and to kill others. In the confusion of confronting them, Kagura gives Saiga the ability to destroy anything he takes a picture of, and they them flee as Kagura awakes, trying to avoid others that Kagura has given abilities to and trying to uncover what is going on.

The background of this manga feels a little odd, with the special abilities of the world relying on neither magic or science. The powers depend on the receiver's psychological state, where the power derives from the character much more than in other titles. The war photographer Saiga takes pictures of things and places in the process of being violently destroyed. But rather than capturing that moment in a photograph, Saiga now causes that moment to be forever lost, showing an internal conflict of Saiga. There is also the inherent subtext of Kagura, the overlooked and forgotten student, being able to give powers to people who want them, but the powers she grants are never exactly what the people need. But through it all Kagura is able to maintain her own detachment and 'innocence' from the consequences of the abilities she grants. Even though these subtexts are not fully explored in this volume, it does set up some interesting character bits to be followed up later. I have not seen the anime that the manga is based on so I do not know how closely the manga follows the anime's plot, but at least it seems implied that these points will be dealt with. Not only is there depth to the story and how the powers work and how they reflect the characters, Saiga shows cleverness in using his environment and his own abilities to even up the odds in otherwise difficult situations. The fact that the characters and story show such signs of thought and consideration, for the moment at least, gives me hope for the series and makes me half interested in seeing the anime.



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

- Ferdinand

Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, vol. 1

By Kou Saskura
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Another entry in the why did they bother? category

Hector and Isaac are both generals in Dracula's demoniacally enhance army. They are wiping out all resistance ahead of them until Hector disappears. Isaac is sent to retrieve or kill Hector, depending on what Hector has done. But Hector has just been sunken in depression in a church, doing nothing but still Isaac unleashes a werewolf to find him, uncaring of the consequences. One of those consequences is the murder of the father of Ted, a boy in the village where Hector is hiding, and it is he who drives Hector to do something about the danger that is coming, no matter what the price will be to Ted.

I do not play video games, so I have no idea how much fidelity that the manga has with the source material. The only thing I can tell you that two disciples of Dracula with uncertain powers seem to be heading toward a confrontation whose reasons I can barely understand. I mean, we need to have a fight, otherwise why bother, but the reason why they fight is a lot of hemming and hawing, along with Dracula standing next to a window for the entire manga looking dangerous. Supposedly the main character of the manga is someone for the time being just seems to be a supporting character, maybe as witness type character who is supposed to tell others of the action. But it is just such a half-assed way to tell a story. Even the church's nun Rosalee seems more important to the story, and we do a lot of character work on her, but then she just drops from the story. This seems to be something that only fans of the videogame would enjoy, but considering it's haphazard nature it is hard to tell whether or not even video game players would get it.



Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Burst Angel, vol. 1

Story and Art by Gonzo and Minoru Murao
Published in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: When is a sequel a prequel?

Jo and Meg are freelance troubleshooters in a near future Tokyo where violence is common. Even in Takeru's private school, far from the dangerous parts of Tokyo that Jo and Meg live, there is violence in the form of school bullying. The two types of violence converge as Jo and Meg's pursuers (who were trouble they had earlier shot at and now were interested in returning the favor.) discover them hiding in a randomly chosen apartment, which just happens to be Takeru's. Even after Jo and Meg leave Takeru's life (after causing a lot of property damage in the apartment's parking lot) he cannot forget them, and after some other cases manages to catch up to Jo and Meg, just as someone from Jo's past also catches up with them.

From some poking around online, it seems that this manga is a prequel to the animated series. It focuses on two characters from the anime, Jo and Meg, with a recurring role for Takeru, a student who is bullied often. Takeru seems to be counterpart of Kyohei in the anime, the ordinary guy drawn into the world of violence that Jo and Meg live in. Considering that later the threats that they face are more epic in scale, here the array of thugs and enforcers that are the majority of the opponents of the volume don't really seem like a threat. About half of the volume have chapters that Takeru appear in, as he tries to understand the world he has been drawn into while the episodes that feature Jo and Meg show off their relationship, dysfunction and all. Some of the fight scenes are a little muddy, especially the ones that feature opponents that Jo actually have trouble with, so it is hard to compare the intensity of the fights. Jo has the standard thousand yard stare/PTSD symptoms that so many of the 'tough' women in manga/anime have. Which makes me wonder what is/was the source of the yuri undertones between Jo and Meg, since I doubt Jo is mentally capable of reaching out to begin one. It is also sad the only way that I could determine that this was prequel was from wikipedia, not the actual book itself.



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

- Ferdinand

Update to Blog Frequency

As one can imagine, things are tough all over, and the number of review copies I have been receiving have been dipping. I cannot afford to purchase that much new manga out of pocket, so for the time being Prospero's Manga will be dropping to 2 reviews a week, posted on Tuesday and Thursday. Sorry about this!

-Ferdinand

Seduction more Beautiful than Love, vol. 1

Created by Lee Hyeon-Sook
Published in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Korean schools still have corporal punishment? Another important safety tip for manga fans who go abroad.

Daoun is a new teacher at a high school and temporarily takes over the homeroom of a class with one of those quietly tortured pretty boys the clutter up manga/manhwa, Ryumin. He barely pays any attention to schoolwork but enjoys twisting her head about over whether or not he is trying to seduce her, drawing her out emotionally then (apparently) feigning disinterest. But both have their own other romantic interests, Daoun has an old college friend Hyunwoo who never managed to tell her how he felt before and has become a new teacher at the same high school that Daoun teaches at and Ryumin has a girlfriend (of a sort) that seems to be able to manipulate everyone but him.

This is a fairly low key title, no big or broad character traits or actions. Daoun is a little clueless, which is best shown by how her mother manipulates her into a blind date but also because she can't seem to make head or tails of Ryumin or Hyunwoo . Why is it in real life (or at least western fiction) that it seems women can see right through guys (not that it is all that difficult) but in manga/manhwa/eastern fiction women never seem to have the first clue on what is going on men's minds, or even can decipher the most blatant of actions? I realize that the truth is probably more in the middle (and that fact would destroy whole buildings of the Library of Congress) but it just seems that Daoun would have at least some clue Hyunwoo likes-likes her, even if she doesn't acknowledge it out loud. Most of the other character's confusions are more or less believable but having the main character being so clueless is just annoying and let's you see the hand of the author pushing the characters around like chess pieces just so that he can have story that lasts longer than an episode. And more importantly make sure to have lots of moments filled with sexual tension. Nice art though, easy to recognize the characters and each is attractive in their own way.



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

- Ferdinand

The Mysterians, vol. 1

Created by Chuck Russel and Michael Uslan, Script by Jay Antani with Art by Matt Hentschel
Published in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Not related at all with the cult classic Japanese giant critter movie

Imagine a Earth where Dick Cheney and George Bush were considered environmental wussies. Yes, hard to imagine, but that is the near future of the Mysterians, where the environment is going to hell in a hand-basket, except that there are not enough reeds left growing to weave a hand-basket. But five teenagers whose parents died arguing that the environment and the political situation was deteriorating learn that they have been changed, partly through their own abilities and some of them by genetic/organic engineering derived from alien technology. Wait, alien technology, did I forgot to mention the aliens? Yep, you see the aliens are behind all of the trouble on Earth because they need to reduce the Earth to a polluted wasteland so they can get a decent breath of air. But not to worry, five teenagers who have never meet before will gain strange powers to save the Earth! The only thing that is missing is a few color pages so that we can tell which color each teen's organic bio-armor is, since biologically similar creatures still would never be as tacky to be all in the same color!

Heh, sorry. The environmental message here is a combination of Captain Planet and X-Files, and even some of the classic cult movie THEM. It is so blatant and over the top that it is hard to take seriously. At least from a storytelling perspective, truth always seems so much more illogical since it does not have make sense as a plot. Obviously there is also the sentai/Power Ranger influences on the story are just a little bit obvious. Still, the whole story seems very simplistic, but the creators seem to have decided to compensate for that by having just as much over the top goriness. The disguised aliens are unstoppable unless you pull out their power source, which gives one a lot of reason to rip their corpse apart looking for the important bit. So lots of exposed spines and intestines. Nothing too stomach turning, but it was actually surprising to see it shown. Not sure if the shock value is worth it though.



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

- Ferdinand

Jyu-Oh-Sei, vol. 1

By Natsumi Itsuki
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline:Classic sci-fi straight out of creature double feature era.

Thor and Rai are identical brothers with radically different personalities. Rai is the studious type wanting to be scientist while Thor wants to be a pilot, but since they are sons of one of the leaders of Earth colonized solar system, they are being pushed more towards leadership positions. But somethings happens, and their parents are killed with the brothers exiled to the secret prison planet Chimera, where the days are months long and the environments are so harsh that most die. Thor and Rai are separated, and Thor learns that his weaker brother has died. In order to get revenge for his family and to get the necessary treatment that all inhabitants of this solar system need to live into their twenties, Thor decides to become the Beast King, leader of Chimera and the sole person allowed off world. In this he assisted by Tiz , one of the few women on the planet that seems astonished by Thor's ability to resist her blunt demands and Third, a character that Thor is rightly suspicious of.

Before cable, you would be able to watch barely logical sci-fi pulp shows and movies on Saturday, dating back to the 50-60s. Popular sci-fi at that them was an uneasy mix of the big idea, the idea of planet's rotation being so slow that it the day/night would be seasons and other little twists on sci-fi tropes. But the big focus of the story would always be the pulp aspects with dramatic rescues, allies who seem to be villains (much like early portrayals of Flash Gordon allies Zarkov and Barin), treacherous environments, even more treacherous enemies and despite the presence of blasters most of the combat being hand to hand. So by the modern styles of sci-fi this is horribly dated, but it also fun and while I would trade my Phillip K. Dick novels for it, it is sci-fi story that many will be able to identify with.



Jyu-Oh-Sei, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Aspirin, vol. 1

By Eun-Jeung Kim
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Never has a title been such an accurate descriptor of the drugs I needed after reading it.

This is another one of those manga that thinks by being self-referential, they can get away with having a ridiculous plot and have random things happen. Why? Because the characters seem to know that they are in a manga and absurd plot contrivances and weird coincidences happen in manga all the time, so why bother stringing together the very basic plot structure. Or have characters be internally consistent or even have motivations beyond the most basic? Someone unleashes the four gods, but he really didn't and he was set up to take the fall, but he can do it because someone says he can, blah blah blah. Didn't care, the main lead is a cipher, the only person that that I felt the least amount of connection to was Samson, the nun who mom had relations with the Angel Samson, which is wrong on so many Biblical levels that I can't even begin to describe. The art is okay, the actual mechanics of storytelling is decent, it's just the story itself that is trying to be told makes very little sense and has even less desire to be so.



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

- Ferdinand

Vidia and the Fairy Crown

By Haruhi Kato
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: When did Disney add a whole colony of magical fairies to NeverLand?

Vidia is one of the fairies of Neverland, living in Pixie Hollow with the more famous TinkerBell. Unlike most of the other fairies she has seen way too many goth movies and is a bit dark and sarcastic. However, despite her joking on the matter, she insists she would have never stolen the fairy queen's crown the night before a party. Very few fairies believe her, since Vidia wears way too much black, but Prilla, one of the younger fairies believes in Vidia's inherent, well, not goodness but lack of cruelty and together Vidia and Prilla follow the chain of evidence that leads to the missing crown. Despite the temptations, Vidia does the right thing and returns the crown to the queen even as she disses going to the party to celebrate her successful return of the crown.

Silly Disney all ages manga, can't be as cruel to it as I want to, it's like kicking a kitten. And not one of those evil Llolcat kittens. The plot is very linear, which is my main problem with it. We go from scene A to scene B to scene C and there is very little real interpersonal conflict. Sure, no one really likes Vidia , but no one really interferes with her task or even tries to delay her. So yeah, that is about as realistic as most other children's fiction, but once you accept that, it's not that bad. There is only one place that the chain of logic really didn't follow, and Vidia does have a believable moment of weakness, the desire to pay back everyone that had accused her of something she didn't do. Trust me, every kid knows that feeling and the desire to get even. But anyone over the age of ten is just going to find overly linear and not very interesting, while younger readers may find it more engaging.




Vidia and the Fairy Crown is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Jade of Bango, vol. 1

Story by Ae-Ju Yim with Art by Jin-Ju Yim
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Despite Japan and Korea having a history of disliking each history, their manwha and manga is not that different.

Lin, is a cheerfully happy girl despite the fact that her mother was killed by a monster one night and lives with her forgetful father. Of course, she just accepts that monsters killed her mother in a world that seems otherwise exactly like our own. Despite the fact that she can see ghosts Lin doesn't think that there is anything wrong with her world until monsters start attacking her directly and night falls instantaneously around her. After a rescue she learns that she is the Jade of Bango, with a Phoenix related power that can destroy the world, so of course she gets a hot but emotionally distant protector (is this an attempt by get women to accept that emotionally distant men are cool, or that they need to settle for that?) Lin is also informed that he will be her husband. Of course she has no problem with that, or that her protector's rival arrives to take her away from him, but despite the whole kidnapping thing she thinks that they are friends. And yes, it is even sillier than this brief description of it.

Wow. Mystical girl with the power to destroy the world is given a hot but emotional distant protector. Never have read anything like that. This week, that is. As a manwha I was hoping to see some interesting spins on the standard manga genre conventions, but nothing of that was here. Sure, some of the iconic imagery was different (different portrayal of the ghosts) and the costumes seemed more Chinese based than usual, but otherwise is way too conventional. Even the two girl friends with one more mysterious one having lesbian overtones is right out of the manga playbook. The one thing that was forgivable was this appeared to be a double volume, so at least there was decent chunk of story to suffer through.



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

- Ferdinand

Blog update

Some stuff got delayed, and we're are going to be blogging daily for a little bit to catch up.

-Ferdinand

1520, vol. 1

Story and Art by KAI
Released in the US by UDON


Slugline: Is humorous transformation really a manga genre?

Zellos is the prince of a poor kingdom and has been told that he will marry the princess of rich neighboring kingdom. But by merely sneaking in to see his future bride, he is disgusted by her spendthrift ways, especially by her refusal to eat a rare delicacy that she was offered by her father's Prime Minister. Through a bit of silliness both Zellos and the princess's super-efficient maid Ana each take a bit of the cake with unusual consequences. Both characters are 15 years old but thanks to the magic of the cake their combined ages now cannot exceed 20 years. That means their default age is 10 years old each, but if one of them laughs/cries (depending on which one) they revert to their true age of 15 while the other is further regressed to the age of 5 but eventually revert back to their average of 10 years old. This is a problem because the Prime Minister is not happy his plan failed, the leadership of the neighboring kingdom is not happy with Zellos's wedding plans and there are some bandits out there that are far too interested in two 10 year old 'kids' wandering around unsupervised.

Magical aging/transformation manga seem to be numerous enough to form their own subgenre but this manga has some clever variations on the theme. The shared ages mechanism feels rather novel (it probably has been done before, but I don't recall any at the moment) and the characters, rather than being complete opposites Zellos and Ana have strong devotion to duty. The differences between them is how they express it and will undoubtedly be the source of their personal conflict. That still is a far more believable and sustainable for characters, rather than having opposites attract. Still too early to see how the series will turn out but I am interested in the journey so far.



1520, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Warcraft: Legends Vol. 1

Written and Art by Jolley, Kim, Knaak, Lewter, No, Olivares and Wellman
Published by TokyoPop


Slugline: A perfect fine anthology of Dungeons and Dragons...I mean Warcraft stories.

There are four short stories in this volume, the first being an side story of the Trag, the minotaur from the earlier Warcraft manga facing his own uncertain future. There is a story about about a farmer seeking to better his family through confrontation with zombies, a gnome making a name and legend for himself and a dwarf learning the meaning of family and responsibility. Only the first story really felt like Warcraft, the rest could of them could have been any fantasy world with the generic races that populate them. They are perfectly well crafted and put together stories, but you could have put any number of different titles to them and it would be hard pressed to tell these stories were not crafted with that world in mind.



Warcraft: Legends Vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Posting disruption

The entire comics and manga world has descended to San Diego for the ComicCon, so posting will be disrupted until next Wednesday.

-Ferdinand

Me and the Devil Blues, vol. 1

By Akira Hiramoto
Released in the US by Del Rey


Slugline: Don't base any school reports on Robert Johnson or the blues on this manga

This manga freely admits it is a dark reimagining of the early career of blues musician Robert Johnson known as RJ. In the rural south in 1930s America you can imagine life for blacks was not pleasant. But some made it less pleasant for themselves, since RJ had a tendency to oversleep and spend too much time at the local blues joint thinking he could one day master the blues. Local blues musicians tell him he is so bad he may as well sell his soul to the devil, since that will be the only way RJ he will gain any skill. RJ has a pregnant girlfriend and so he is reluctant to throw his soul away. One night after leaving the blues joint he finds a teacher who shows him how to play. RJ returns to the blues joint and tears the place with his guitar amazed at how much he has learned in just a few days. Too much to have actually been learned in just a few days, he has been gone for six months and his pregnant girlfriend and child died during childbirth. It is only through that tragedy does RJ becomes a true bluesman. And once he does, his travels get him mixed up with pre-Bonnie Clyde Barton and further aspects of his deal with the devil.

I looked up Robert Johnson on wikipedia, and surprisingly a lot of what is in the manga are already part of the Robert Johnson myth. The art is almost old school, far more seinan influenced than what is the norm in imported manga. It is not a true horror, nor J-pop influenced (though I understand that the blues is popular out of proportion in Japan) and not crime or slice of life. It does wander in amongst all of those genres, making it hard to categorize. But it does show a part of American life that is usually and purposefully forgotten, life in the American south in the Depression. This is a time when lynching may not have been open as is described in the book, but is still a fact of life and casual racism is part and parcel of human nature. There is also the desire to be meaningful and important that RJ is trying to work out through being a blues musician, which was perhaps was the only means a young black male at that time had to increase his importance and feelings of self worth in that environment. But the story also descends to genuine creepiness as RJ is confront by supernatural forces just as insidious as racism.



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

- Ferdinand

Silver Diamond vol. 1: Silver Seed

By Shiho Sugiura
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: A boy that well-behaved and polite has to come from another world.

Rakan and his now deceased mother were found without memory in a garden, and in the years since Rakan never really learned where they had come from, but did notice that the plants on his house's plot grew far more energetically than even his neighbors. The reason for that is discovered with an assassin from another world with gun that is also a plant,Rakan made it grow into a tree. Rakan came from another world and has the ability to make plants grow, an ability that especially coveted from the world that Chigusa has come from, due to the lack of sunlight and water. But Rakan also looks like the Prince that rules that other world, not a kindly man, which Chigusa is not especially fond of.

Okay, there is some stuff here that falls into the manga cliches. Identical transdimensional twins, yaoi undertones and students that are too pretty and universally loved to be true. But while it is there, it has a light touch. It is solidly constructed, but it is a solidly constructed glider, not having much weight or importance to it. While I am reading it I am too taken in with the story, but when it is over the realization is that not much story has actually happened in this volume.



Silver Diamond vol. 1: Silver Seed is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Kasumi, vol. 1

Story by Surt Lim and Art by Hirofumi Sugimoto
Released by Del Rey


Slugline: Finally, a superhero shoujo

Kasumi has to move another new school, following her botanist father around, but before she goes to her first day at a new school she is surrounded by mysterious lights while in the forest. Kasumi has her first day at a new school come off just like any other shoujo, hot yet distant guy, girls who want him that are jealous, otaku pal and a challenge. But in the course of handling the challenge Kasumi discovers things have changed, and she turns invisible whenever she holds her breath along with other undefined abilities, and the story starts to take a more scenic route through shoujoland.

Though from the basic description (especially on the back) Kasumi would seem to be a fairly run of mill shoujo with some odd bits. New transfer student, dead parent, aloof boy all that is right out of the shoujo rulebook. Even the invisible girl has been done before in manga, in the title Translucent (which has been reviewed here.) But despite appearing derivative, it is a melding of two very disparate genres that we don't normally see together. The first is the standard shoujo that we have seen hundreds of times before but here it is coupled with American superhero stories, like the X-Men, where a character discovers that they have a supernormal ability. Translucent was a slice of life title, where was taken as a matter of fact. Here it is an ability unknown to the rest of the world and this ability gives reason for other characters' strange behaviors. Sure, this is liable to be explained in terms of Japanese mysticism rather than mutation or a radioactive exposure, but the title itself wears its superhero influences proudly. The title's requisite otaku character is a Superman (analogue) fanboy rather than being a fan of Gundam or Ultraman (which makes me wish in a way that CMX had done this, because then they wouldn't have had to have a Superman analogue, they could have used the real thing.) Merely trying something different immediately puts this title ahead of most. It also helps that the art is such a good match with the story, open lines with a light touch and detailed work so that the unusual abilities are made more real because their effect are so clearly shown. The only problem of the volume is that it feels light. I am not sure why, it is a standard length but reading it almost seems like it is a chapter short. It ended at a good point, but it feels like we needed more time with Kasumi exploring her abilities before bringing the other characters back in. Still it is a very good beginning in a story bringing Eastern and Western comic traditions together.



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

- Ferdinand

Vasssalord, vol. 1

By Nanae Chrono
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: What is it about cyborg vampires that the Vatican has to keep on hiring them?

Charley is a priest wannabe who is also a cyborg vampire that hunts down vampires without drinking of humans. He keeps his vampire creator, JohnnyRayflo, around in order to drink his blood instead of humans, and also keep the yaoi tension ratcheted up. It is set in the present day or the near present day, so the world seems the same as ours, so that vampires are a secret and the fact that Charley is one is kept from his employers in the Vatican even as he strives to be worthy of becoming a priest.

I was prepared to be really annoyed at Vassalord. After all, you would think that creators would be bored with cyborg vampire assassins that work for the Vatican. Apparently, one more because Vassalord was pleasant surprise. Yes, it can't help but be somewhat derivative of other titles that use similar characters (reviews of Trinity Blood and Hellsing) but it does manage to carve out a separate identity for itself. Even the yaoi aspects are not too overwhelming of the rest of the story. It's not coyly implied by any means but neither is it dominating (but is probably the reason why the title is rated 16+.) There are some cliche story aspect I am not wild about (twins? why?) but there are no more jarring that most odd story elements you find in manga. I am not saying that this is the best thing since a staked vampire but it is an acceptable combination of characters and action.

Though if you are a Unitarian Universalist, you may learn a couple things that you didn't know about your church.



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

- Ferdinand

Kujibiki Unbalance, vol. 1

Story by Kio Shimoku and Art by Koume Keito
Released in the US by Del Rey


Slugline: So little to do with Genshiken, which is the reason people will pick this up in the first place.

The reason that so many people will be willing to pick up and check out Kujibiki Unbalance is due to its connection to Genshiken, a series that we have previously reviewed. Kujibiki Unbalance was the show within the show that the characters of Genshiken watched, collected the merchandise and doujinshi of, and argued over. That being said, this is not that version of Kujibiki Unbalance that was seen in the Genshiken series, but a standalone series that was broadcast after the Genshiken as a sort of unofficial sequel. That explains why the plot sounds different from any memories of the original Genshiken show.

But what made Kujibiki Unbalance special in the first place was not any intrinsic characteristic of the story itself, but how the characters in Genshiken reacted to it. They were a mirror of the reader's own fandom, and one could see one's own obsessions and behaviors in how the Genshiken loved, hated and just generally enjoyed Kujibiki Unbalance. So seeing it on it's own, doesn't have the same punch or meaning. It's just another, well, it may not technically be a harem comedy, but it sure acts like it. And while the story works and the art is fine, this isn't even in the same neighborhood as Genshiken. Maybe it would have been more interesting for me if I had seen the anime, and you can see some of the character work that Kio Shimoku had earlier lavished on Genshiken showing in the characters here, but the story is not deep enough to allow that many layers of characterization.

Needless to say, we have reviewed volumes of Genshiken here.



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

-Ferdinand

A non-review of King City, vol. 2

I have previous reviewed two titles from Brandon Graham, King City, vol. 1 and Multiple Warheadz. I enjoyed both titles and was saddened to hear that King City, vol. 2 may not be published. However, Brandon Graham has put up the first chapter of King City vol. 2 up on his blog, and I encourage people to check it out here. Just scroll down a little bit to find it.

-Ferdinand

Tokkô: Devil's Awaken, vol. 1

By Tohru Fujisawa
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Of course high velocity bullets fired a point blank do less damage than a sword...

This is another one of Tohru Fujisawa's titles, creator of the previously reviewed titles Rose Hip Rose, Rose Hip Zero and GTO: The Early Years along with the main GTO series.

In the near future, there has been repeated unsolved mass murder incidents in Tokyo. Oddly enough, the fact that sometimes several hundred people are found dead torn to pieces has gotten a lot of press attention, and the Tokyo police has formed a special division to help deal with the crisis. Ranmaru Shinda is graduating from the academy into these divisions, for he has a personal stake in the investigation into these mass murders, his parents was among the first killed in an incident were over 300 victims were found murdered 5 years ago.

Bwah? Sorry, even the US, over 300 killed in a single day without anyone apparently living long enough to call the police or anyone, would be mindboggling. And Japan, without a history of violent crime? I would expect that would tear the citizenry apart in fear and worry. But here it is just written off to possibly wild animals? In Tokyo? Tokyo has never looked very rural to me, and I don't think Japan is exactly brimming with large animals that can snack on humans. Later in the book when a police investigator tries to bring an odd theory to the attention of his superiors, he is written off as a kook. Look, by this time, after five years, I would think that the police leadership that still managed to keep their jobs would be willing to look into any explanation, no matter how kooky, simply because what is happening is so outside the norm. So the reality check here has bounced, and we can now sit back and enjoy this a pure fantasy.

Shinda has a sister that also survived the incident that killed their parents, mostly because they were both not home when it happened but discovered their parent's remains upon returning home. Their father was a policeman, so they both joined the police, but while his sister was satisfied on becoming a beat cop (and trying to set up her friends with her brother) Shinda wanted to find out what had really happened.

Not the least because he has been having dreams of a nude woman wielding a sword covered in blood, her image becoming ever clearer as time goes by. A dream that he tries to write off, of course, until he sees some of the special members of the Tokko, a special subdivision of their Riot Squad. One of them is way too young (well, 18 for a LT) and flirts with Shinda , which distracts him just for a moment, but he still manages to notice the flesh and blood version of his dream girl walk by. The fact that the Tokkko are a little bit unusual is revealed when checking out a crime scene, some loiterers attack the police, ignore bullet wounds and are basically unstoppable until the Tokko show up using bladed weapons to kill the attackers. One of them, the girl from his dreams, Sakura warn him that they are watching him because he is a survivor of the incident that killed his parents. And the spread of the zombie like creatures continues to spread.

Okay, this getting long here, but as you can you see from my earlier complaints, there is not much attention paid to internal logic here. Art-wise, it seems to me that the characters in this manga have more than a passing resemblance to other characters from previous Tohru Fujisawa titles, but despite those similarities, the art is effective and expressive. It does read very quickly, more quickly than I expected even an action heavy title with its big panels would read, but that is more a taste thing than anything else. The title is wrapped in plastic, because of the violence and naked dream girls, but as manga go there was nothing here that felt too shocking. It is an okay action title with a few, well, it feels like art and storytelling shortcuts taken that rob of the story of standing on its own two feet and really hitting home.



Tokkô: Devil's Awaken, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga

-Ferdinand

Yonen Buzz: Plastic Chew

Created by Christina Plaka
Published in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: A German manga with a Japanese setting translated into English. Globalization is fun!

The band Plastic Chew has lost their lead singer, much to the disturbance of Jun, the supporting singer and guitarist for the band. He has issues about abandonment since his parents died, so he is cautious when the band gets a new singer. Part of the reason for his caution is that the new singer Sayuri is a girl, and that to order to help band cohesion, all four of them need to live together. Of course Sayuri and Jun get close, but the fact that Sayuri ran away from her parents in order to dedicate herself to her music (and an ill-timed smooch from the lead of the competing all female band Orchid) drives them apart. Jun knows how important parents can be, and manages to encourage a reconciliation between them just in time for all of the band members to be focused on the battle of the bands that offers them 'the' big break. But for a chance of pace, Plastic Chew does not win the battle of the bands, but Jun is overwhelmed to see Masanori, the band member that was replaced by Sayuri.

From what I understand, this is one of Christina Plaka's early works and serves as a prequel to the main Yonen Buzz series. As she herself describes it in the volume, this book introduces the characters of that series. And while the characterization works, I can easily believe that this is an early work of the creator, because it doesn't quite jell properly. Everything revolves around Jun and Sayuri, so we don't really get to understand the other two members of the band, though we do get some personality ticks. And Masanori's return is a little too much of a emotionally distant event. His eyes are not drawn in, hidden by his hair, so he doesn't feel like a real person, making one wonder why Jun is drawn to him. The emotional beats of the characters are all on the surface, everything feels like it being told to you rather than having something being shown under the surface. But these are very nit-picky details in comparison to the strong story.

This was one of the titles that originally came out of TokyoPop Germany, though it is hard to tell that since the title falls into most of the idol story conventions

You may have heard of this title (and the band) previously called Yonen Buzz: Prussian Blue but the names were changed to Plastic Chew due the lack of desire to be confused with the rise of real musical duo in the US called Prussian Blue, who are white separatists.



Yonen Buzz: Plastic Chew is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga

-Ferdinand

Happy Fourth of July!

Taking the day off due to the US holiday. Reviews will return on the morning of Monday, July 7th!

-Ferdinand and Miranda

Guardian Hearts, vol. 1

Created by Sae Amatsu
Published in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: A harem comedy that doesn't even try to be funny or good for that matter

Kazuya has the devil's own luck. Alien guardians, miko's, magical girls etc., all accidentally reveal their extranormal natures within moments of meeting him and thus end up living in Kazuya's house with his really accommodating mother. Wait, that is not luck, but it is really annoying and slipshod story creation. Despite all of these women revealing their super secret natures to him within moments, somehow or another most of them manage to keep their various abilities secret from each other, to allow the maximum 'comedic' misunderstandings. All while doing the maximum fan service, or course. I try to restrain my natural incredulity at harem stories (not sure it is because the girls manage to mostly get along in them or the fact the guy never seems to abuse his position) but this one isn't even trying to be anything other than filler, it seems. Impossible things happen and the characters just nod along. Five female characters move into the house, one per chapter, with the first real chapter that actually has a story at the end of the volume. The characters are dumped on you so fast that collectively they mean nothing to the reader. The cat has more personality than most of the harem girls. So yeah, not wild about this, at all. At least the book delivers on its fan service, though that is about the only positive thing that can be said about it.



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

-Ferdinand

Professional Manga

By Steve Horton and Jeong Mo Yang
Published by Focal Press, an imprint of Elsevier


Slugline: Not just a software manual

The subtitle of the book is Digital Storytelling with Manga Studio EX, but despite the implication the subtitle gives, the book is more and less than just a manual on how to use the software. For the people that do not know, Manga Studio EX is graphic design/publishing program that has been optimized to work manga and comics publishing formats. About half of the book deals with the use of Manga Studio EX, such as laying out and toning art, with the other half dealing with non-art issues such as storytelling, panel selection and choice, and where to pitch the completed product.

It is more than just a computer manual in that it deals with some of the very real issues of storytelling that are necessary for creating a good story. These are issues that once they have been described, they make perfect sense and is stuff that the reader probably already knew but wasn't consciously aware of. But until they do, it is hard to create stories that include those elements. None of the hints and suggestions are particularly deep or stuff that you will not find elsewhere, but are still useful especially since the storytelling and writing aspects of manga creation tend to be overlooked. The section also includes information about pitching and publishing a manga, though considering the recent changes in TokyoPop some of the information is already out of date.

The art and computer manual information is the first half of the book, and while I am much more of a writer than an artist, there is some interesting stuff there. Details as the importance of line thickness and how it contributes to storytelling is nice, but the actual suggestions for the software seems rather threadbare. I have seen computer software manuals be far more in-depth than this for less complicated actions. I suspect that this falls more into suggestions and tips for using Manga Studio EX rather than a manual on how to use it per se.

It is nice that deals both with art and writing aspects of manga creation rather than just treating one or the other as the whole of manga creation. But while it does cover both, it does not feel that it covers either in an in-depth manner. Maybe this is more useful as the beginning point rather than a master class or in truly making the reader a professional. I don’t want to say it doesn’t have any use, and it does offer relevant and useful information, but this feels more like an introduction to manga creation.



-Ferdinand

Dragon Ball Z, Big Vol. 1

Story and Art by Akira Toriyama
Released in the US by Viz Shonen Jump


Slugline: Who needs plot when you deliver a kick to the head!

It's been five years since the previous volume of DragonBall, and Son Goku has married Chi Chi and has a son named Son Gohan after his dead grandfather, but Son Gohan has not undergone any martial arts training. That is problem, because it turns out that Son Goku is an alien, and the few remaining members of his race want to destroy all life on Earth. Son Goku’s brother shows up, kidnaps Son Gohan and recalls the other two survivors of his race to attack the Earth. Son Goku manages to defeat his brother, at the cost of his own life. While dead, he undergoes further training, and his son Son Gohan undergoes training under the hands of his worst enemy. It takes a year for the two alien Saiyans to reach Earth, and when they do they go through Son Goku's allies, killing several permanently beyond resurrection by the Dragon Balls. Even the Dragon Balls themselves are destroyed by the death of their creator. But SonGoku manages to defeat one of the Saiyans leaving the other, the Saiyan leader Vegeta, ready to rumble.

Thank goodness there are some limits from coming back from the dead, otherwise it would be hard to take any of this seriously. Though taking DragonBall Z seriously is probably something that ought to be discouraged. This is what I think of when I think of Dragon Ball Z. Over the top fighting manga, with ever increasing powerful techniques and secret moves, with stakes increasing until everything... that... we... know is at stake. This is PWP without the sex, just a bash to head, then training to bash the head even better next time. And in this case, the larger BIG format works better than the traditional sized manga volume, because the fight scenes use up pages very quickly, but with almost 600 pages the volume still takes a while to go through. Admittedly, stuff gets a little repetitive (kick to the head, rinse and repeat) but that is just the nature of the fighting manga. So as long as you are not expecting Shakespeare, this delivers (a kick to the head!)

Sorry, couldn't resist that last kick to the head.



Dragon Ball Z, Big Volume 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga

-Ferdinand