Good Witch of the West, vol. 1 (novel)

Written by Noriko Ogiwara
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: A version of the Cinderella story that I haven't seen before.

The manga has been previously reviewed here.

Firiel has lived with her father, an astronomer, at the very edge of her country for her entire life. But after begging to go to the annual ball, she is gifted with a piece of dead mother's jewelry by her father. At the ball she learns that the jewelry reveals that she is the daughter of an exiled queen to be, and upon returning home she discovers that her father has left. Quickly her life falls apart, and the only person that is left that she can rely on is Rune, her father's apprentice who was left behind, and even he is quickly kidnapped by people who want her father's knowledge of the stars. She is forced to turn to her recently discovered royal cousin Adale for assistance and in exchange for Rune's safety she must take her place in the intrigues of the nobles and the royal succession.

I was not impressed at all with the manga (I would have rated it lower than Miranda did, for instance) and was preparing myself for a slog through this, but I was pleasantly surprised on how quickly the pages flew by. It is a variation of the Cinderella story, but while some of the characters start out ignorant, they are not dumb and rapidly put together evidence about their own lives. And rather than Firiel immediately starting on the path of the throne, she is intelligent enough to not reach for that, and support someone who is better qualified. If anything Rune, the smarter of the two, does not have a surfeit of common sense considering their situation. There are fudges, people who are nice for no other reason that it makes it easier for the story to flow, but it is not presented out of nowhere or a radical change, merely the defaultpersonalities when characters are introduced. And wildly implausible and spur of the moment rescue plans are handled appropriately, and not everything goes according to plan, so that these small injections of reality help ground the story.



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

-Ferdinand

King of Cards, vol. 1

Written and illustrated by Makoto Tateno
Released in the US by CMX Manga


Slugline: You know that feeling when you get that you have a target on your back? Sometimes that is a really big target.

Disclaimer: I also work in the hobby gaming industry, so perhaps I have a little bit of a soft spot for this.

Manami has been convinced by her cousin to try out the card game Chaos, so she begins with a starter deck. She has the good and bad fortune of pulling the rarest card of the game, Sahgan the Sorcerer, in her starter deck. That immediately puts a target on her, since virtually no one has even seen the card, so people in the gaming community start offering to trade for the card and challenging her to games, with Sahgan as the prize. Some of her competitors become friends and some remain her enemies, but she manages to keep her card, for in her dreams she receives guidance from it.

I have some sympathy for the main character here. In another uncomfortable hint on just how old I am, back when Magic: the Gathering first came out, I bought a starter and some boosters. Played a couple times, then the Magic frenzy hit, and I put away my deck because no one would just play. Fast forward a few years and I take out my deck to play a couple friendly games, and everyone in the store wanted to start trading for my black-bordered Beta printing Magic cards. Those friendly games didn't stay friendly for long as everyone started to want playing me for ante. Of course, King of Cards ramps that up to the nth degree. There is the fudge factor that Manami is not naturally talented but rather relies on dreams that Sahgan sends here in order to win, but that is still better than the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX vol. 1 I reviewed a while back, where it seemed that main character's ability relied solely on his ability to draw the right card at the right time. As far as I know, there is no Chaos game, but the rules seem simple enough that one doesn't have to be a card game master to understand the various strategies. The concept of respecting your cards shows a little bit of naivety, because that sort of emotional connection to your deck very rarely happens. But with clean art style helps compensate for some the simplistic story elements, and while I don't find this title particularly awe-inspiring, it was an entertaining read.

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

-Ferdinand

SERIES UPDATE: Trinity Blood vol. 2 & 3

To check out our earlier reviews of Trinity Blood, you can click here for Miranda's review of vol. 1 and here for the link to Ferdinand's review at CBGXtra. Also, here is a review of Trinity Blood: Return on the Mars, vol. 1 The Star of Sorrow.

By the end of v.3, signs of the larger plot and the factions involved are emerging. Some are more interesting than others, but on the whole they are keeping me involved in the series. On the down side, the arrival of some visually complicated opponents means that the action sequences require careful reading. Also on the down side, all Sister Esther has to do to get called "exceptional" is not be totally useless. But still, Trinity Blood will stay on my short list for the time being.



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

- Miranda

Sgt. Frog, Ultimate Edition, vol. 1

By Mine Yoshizaki
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Amphibians make lousy invading hordes. Unless you live in Australia.

This Ultimate edition has the first three volumes of the original series packaged together.

The Hinata family has managed to accidentally capture an alien invader. Which wasn't too difficult, since they are two feet tall frogs with advanced technology and a love for Gundam action kits. Wackiness ensues.

If there was anything ever made to be turned into an anime, this was it. An episodic structure, simple clean lines, super competent kids with comically over the top impulse control issues, hapless aliens and random rich folks and evil geniuses to make any impossible situation or item possible. And while it is rated 13+, considering today's environment, it would not be jarring for most kids a few years younger. Though if Sgt. Keroro was among the best Sergeants that his world has to offer, well, I think they don't conquer that many planets. Or that his proclamation of being an alien invader is all in his own mind and that he and his platoon was left behind at the first sign of trouble, because who wouldn't want to find any excuse to leave these guys behind? It is competently written, but it is not very exciting, and it relies a lot on telling us stuff and using many of the cliches of manga and anime. And when that well runs dry, they start pulling MacGuffin plot devices, a 'magical' alien ray or device that is used once, never seen again and is mostly used for comic effect. I think I about hit my limit with this collection. I suspect that if I read much more of this, the rating will start dropping.



Sgt. Frog, Ultimate Edition, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

CBG Review: Key to the Kingdom, vol. 1

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



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

-Ferdinand

Gakuen Alice, vol. 1

By Tachibana Higuchi
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: A happy, fun-filled tale of an authoritarian government exploiting children for the good of the state and favored corporations.

Mikan's best friend Hotaru has been recruited for the government school for Alices, special geniuses who are educated separately from other students in Tokyo. Just as an aside, they call students Alices, even the boys. Why not call them Alans, let them retain their gender identity at least. Oh wait, I forgot, this is Japan. Never mind. Mikan is depressed and alone in her school, but when discovers that Hotaru went to the Alice school because the payment for her going to the school would keep her and Mikan's old school open. So yeah, the government is now buying kids, nice. Once Mikan learns that, she decides that she has to see Hotaru at the Alice school, and runs away from home to Tokyo to see Hotaru. Once there, one of the teacher's talks to her on the sidewalk outside of the vast walled compound where the Alice live and learn, and invite Mikan to join them. Once he prevents one of the Alices from escaping. Once inside Mikan learns that the Alices are not only geniuses, but many of them have extranormal abilities such as mind reading and pryokinesis. Mikan is normal, so she is mystified on why she was invited to join, but is happy to be reunited with Hotaru. Through a series of challenges laid out by pyrokinetic boy, a fellow student in her class, Mikan discovers that her ability is to be normal, as in to shut down other Alice's powers.

I snark, but there is a sad little subtext running through the title, of kids under the control of the government for their own good, and for the good of the nation. And its economy. I'm not sure what it reveals more of, I or the society of Japan. This title is fairly predictable, I could tell what Mikan's ability within a couple of her pages of her meeting the teacher that admits her. But it is a solid kid's tale, which makes me wonder why it is rated for 13+. No major plot holes that you could drive a bus through, though once again the fact that being a parent is one of the most dangerous jobs in Japan is proven here, because Mikan is living with her grandfather, who doesn't seem to panic too much that his pre-teen daughter has run off to the big city.



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

-Ferdinand

Magical JxR, vol. 1

By Lee Sun-Young
Published in the US by UDON


Slugline: It is not a good sign when I tell you to skip the first 70 or so pages.

I did for Publisher's Weekly a while back an article on UDON called UDON on the Upswing.

Jay and Aru begin the volume as two magic students in the second grade whose magical style clash wildly. After a bunch of adventures while in second grade that show that they care for each other despite not being very similar, we suddenly jump ahead at least five years, in which Jay andAru turn from chibi children to bishonen (pretty boy) adolescents. They have to complete a year long contract with Cho -Ah, a combative student whose plans to start her life over in a new school and attract a boyfriend is derailed by the appearance ofbishonen Jay and Aru.

As far as I can tell, the stories of Jay and Aru in the second grade doesn't really add anything to the rest of the story. Other than Jay and Aru, the characters in the first half of the book don't really appear in the second half of the book and the theme of Jay and Aru being mismatched does not seem to be touched upon again. In other words, the first half of the book is very skippable. Which was almost, almost a fatal flaw with this book. What pulled it back was some very attractive art spreads and a relatively solid story in the rest of the book, even if it was nothing out of the ordinary. And since I am reviewing this title based on a preview copy, I am not sure how the art will look in the final version (UDON's preview books are printed on 8.5 x 11 paper, so it is hard to judge how the page crease will affect the final version.) And I'd better end this review before I talk myself into lowering its rating even further.



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

-Ferdinand

Zombie Loan, vol. 1

By Peach-Pit
Released in the US by Yen Press


Slugline: Death has easy financing but the installment payments are a killer.

Michiru's parents have passed away and she lives with her aunt and uncle who barely tolerate her presence. If anything, she barely tolerates her own presence in the world. She allows herself to bullied around, by the girls in her school, and by Chika and Shito, two fellow students that miraculously survived overpass collapse. But Michiru has the ability to see rings around people's necks that show whether or not a person is going to die soon, and they both have solid black rings. It turns out that they are both dead but were allowed to bargain for their lives. They were given a chance to return to life, but to repay their debt they must recover zombies, people who had died but hadn't realized it yet and satisfy their hungers on human flesh. Despite using and bullying her, when Michiru is in danger of dying by a zombie attack, Chika and Shito take on more debt to save her. Bolstered with the knowledge that she didn't want to die, Michiru begins making changes to her life.

For once the timing of the episodes complements the volume, so that one complete story arc is completed in this book. And that makes the story more effective, because we can see the characters' progression without being immediately reminded of any backsliding. The first half of the book I wondering how I was going to make my way through it because Michiru was such a push over, but then she acknowledged that fact and was given a push. But it was merely a push, so the choice to change was still left up to her, which she did make. There is no doubt she is at the very beginning of a very long journey, but it is one that she is taking the very steps on her own. Chika and Shito remain mostly enigmas, but at the moment Michiru's journey is one that is interesting to me, which wasn't at all what I expected when I picked this up.

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

-Ferdinand

Gyo, vol.1, 2nd ed.

By Junji Ito
Published in the US by Viz


Slugline: A man-made horror story more in the vein of "Godzilla" than"Ringu."

This story starts out well enough, traditionally creepy, then bizarre, and then a good chase sequence. After that, things start to lose momentum a bit and an awkward scientific explanation retroactively drains the tension from the earlier chase scene. The story sticks to its guns, but by the end I was losing interest as the loose ends began to pile up. I was also starting to remember the “Land Shark” skit from SNL, which was distracting. (For people who are too young to remember, here is a Naruto AMV set to the original skit. There is a naughty word on the screen at the very end, so just close your eyes for that bit.)

The characters included a standard-issue girlfriend, a mildly crazy scientist and a guy. The funniest inadvertently funny line came when the girlfriend worried the guy would leave her, when she got sick with The Terrible Disease Humans Invented, because she wasn’t pretty anymore. Yes, dear, your being dead will have nothing to do with it, I’m sure.

Sea critters on legs swarming up the beach is a weird and potent image, but the lack of monster motivations and the sketchy scientific side don’t help at all. There were some good moments, but on the whole this was a mild disappointment. Maybe all will be better explained in the next volume.

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

-Miranda

CBG Review: Street Fighter II, vol. 1

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



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

-Ferdinand

30% off everything sale at Rightstuf.com

Just letting people know that RightStuf.com, one of our sales affiliates, is running a sale until 11:59 pm of December 2nd on virtually everything in their store. The sale is 30% off retail without any coupon codes, including preorders! Check out all of 4.5 star and 4 star reviews for some ideas!

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

-Ferdinand

Love Attack, vol. 1

By Shizuru Seino
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: It is so much harder to come with clever sluglines with competent manga than the sucky ones. I mean, what do you say, "Oh, great foreshadowing there, really. I am not being sarcastic at all....!"

Chiemi has the bad luck of continually getting fights at school, so often that the teacher has promised that Chiemi can only stay in school if she can convince the class hooligan, Hirata, to show up in school more often. After forcefully stating her case why he should attend more often, punctuated with a roundhouse kick, Hirata decides that he likes her, and wants to start dating. Needless to say, this starts a whole line of misunderstandings, but amazingly enough, they manage to settle it and try to start dating, despite the obstacles of needy cousins and Hirata's pressures due to his job.

Okay, I know I have been sorta tough on shoujo, but it feels to me that there is formula that has to be followed, and that in most cases if the couple just sat down and talked with each other for five minutes they would solve 99% of their problems, except for maybe what china patterns they want to receive at their wedding. Here, they at least try to talk about their issues, and don't let it linger too long. Maybe a chapter rather than several books worth. The fact that Chiemi is willing to dish out just as much hurt as Hirata does add a touch of danger to their arguments. It isn't great work, and I think I detect some backsliding in the last chapter, but this is something that I would like to see more of, to see if the title continues to avoid the common pitfalls. I do like the action and there are mostly nice clean action lines that illustrate rather than obfuscate, though I am left wondering why Chiemi needs to be dark haired in the chapter headings and on the cover, while in the rest of the book her hair is light-colored.



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

-Ferdinand

SERIES UPDATE: Saihoshi the Guardian: Omnibus ed.

Please check out our review for Saihoshi the Guardian, vol. 1.

If you missed picking up Saihoshi before it sold out, there’s good news – Yaoi Press is reprinting both volumes in one book, with the addition of some chibi strips and sketchbook art. I didn’t get to volume 2, so I’m glad I got a review copy of the combined volume. Despite Saihoshi’s silly giant scissors, this is easily one of the most entertaining yaoi stories I’ve read. I’m not saying it’s great literature, but considering the genre standard, it’s not to be missed.

Saihoshi will be available November 26 (2007) and it ought to sell briskly, so if you’re a yaoi fan keep your eyes peeled for it.

-Miranda

S.A., vol. 1

By Maki Minami
Released in the US by Viz Shojo Beat


Slugline: I haven't seen such a repetitive opening montage since the A-Team.

Hikari Honazono has problem. That problem is Kei Takishima, who has bedeviled her ever since they were little and he defeated her in a wrestling match. Worse yet, he humiliated her afterwards. Since then, she has followed him through school, trying to defeat in him any field that she can but has yet to succeed. But as the result of her hard work and dedication, she is always rated no. 2 in school activities, which has gotten her in the S. A. (or Special A, the top 7 students of the A group of her school, where students are rated into groups A through F) in a tough private school. She is the only middle class student in the S.A., which has been together for several years, so that the other six member of S.A. get to experience her world and she theirs. The volume is made of different episodes of Hikari trying to defeat Kei via various challenges, and the relationship based on respect that they have for each other.

I make the joke about the A-Team in the slugline, but the creator uses the same opening montage to describe the characters and their situation in every episode, so of course it is going to feel pretty episodic. Some of the members of the S.A. I feel aren't very distinct, making it easy for them to blur together, but for the moment the whole purpose of the story revolves around Hikari's competitive nature and her and Kei's relationship that is a minor concern. The fact that Hikari is shown working for her status, rather than the readers just being told that she is that good, and yet still show her weaknesses is interesting. Kei is sort of strawman in that regard since he appears to no. 1 without any effort on his part. Hopefully there is something more interesting ticking under the surface of Kei, otherwise this story is just not going to click together strongly.



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

-Ferdinand

No Posting on Thanksgiving

For the US holiday, Ferdinand and Miranda will be doing the traditional "how long does it take to cook this !*&#@! turkey" ritual and will not be posting. Hopefully, we will recover consciousness in time to post on Friday.

CBG Review: Portus

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



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

-Ferdinand

Star Project Chiro, vol. 1

By Baek Hye-Kyoung
Released in the US by UDON


Slugline: I think this is the fastest I have ever seen a manga (or manhwa) series fall apart.

Note: UDON seems to prefer using the term manhwa rather than the currently more popular term for manga from Korea, manwha. And this creator has also done the series Bring it On!

Eun-Yo Song has fashion designer brothers who make her fine clothes and the appreciation of most of the boys in school, but cannot make a move on the boy that she is really interested in, Chan-Kyung Woo. But after an accidental confrontation with the pop singer Nan Lee, Eun-Yo's life becomes more than a little crazy. She manages to get into a relationship with Chan-Kyung, but that is challenged when she gains a debt to Nan Lee for burning down his house, mostly by accident.

This started out as a nice little wacky comedy series, but then halfway through the volume things started falling apart. First of all there is a a jump forward in time of a year that I don't really think was necessary, and it jumpstarted some things I think we should have seen, such as the beginning of Eun-Yo's romantic relationship. Several characters seem to be needlessly cruel, and make demands that one would think that any reasonable person will refuse, but because this is a manga/manhwa they will be taken seriously by other characters, to those character's detriment. Plus the debt that makes characters dependent on each other? Hasn't anyone in Korea heard of homeowner's insurance? Or perhaps using banks to schedule payments over time? Sorry, one of these days I would like to see an approach of one of these massive debts in a somewhat reasonable fashion rather than just using them as a poor excuse to keep characters together when there is no other reason to. But there was a good beginning and some effective use ofchibi art throughout the book, so if the creator can resist the urge to go all cliche, she may still pull this off. (At least I believe it to be a woman, my grasp of Korean naming conventions is need of improvement.)



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

-Ferdinand

Sale on TokyoPop Books and Manga at Rightstuf.com

Just letting people know that RightStuf.com, one of our sales affiliates, is running a sale until 11:59 pm of Nov 18th on all TokyoPop manga and books. The sale is 33% off retail just by entering the coupon code "bookit". For a list of TokyoPop titles we have reviewed (just over a hundred!), go here. In particular, we really enjoyed the titles Poison Candy and King of Thorn or you can check out our review for Welcome to the NHK that we did earlier this week.

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

-Ferdinand

Uzumaki, vol. 1, 2nd ed.

By Junji Ito
Released in the US by Viz


Slugline: At what point do you stop saying it is a trick of the light and run for the hills?

Kurozo-cho is a cursed town, where there are spirals everywhere, attracting the inhabitant's fascination and leading to self-destructive behaviors. Kirie has lived in the town her whole life and has never noticed just how many dust devils and random whirlpools that exist in the water. But her boyfriend Shuichi has started to notice the differences since he started to go to school the next town over. Perhaps it is the awareness of the spirals that cause a rising spate of strangeness and death, each connected to the act or mesmerism of a spiral. Both of Shuichi's parents die haunted by it and Kirie's father, a potter, starts creating pottery that shows it. Spiral related mishaps start claiming Kirie's friends and classmates, culminating at the end of the volume of Kirie only barely escaping a fate that claims another classmate.

I haven't actually read any of the version of the Ring, only watched the original movie, so I do not know how this feels in comparison to it, which is a claim on the back cover blurb. However, at the moment it feels very episodic, much more so than the Ring. Which leads one to the question of the slugline, when do you realize everything you know has gone mad and you run for it? I would like to think the tipping point would have been episode five, when something simply impossible happens in broad daylight and with multiple witnesses. The art is both a strength and weakness, in which horrible things are simply and clearly drawn, with no speed lines or anything else to distract you from the concreteness of the events. But the characters, when they are not facing a horror, seem rather stiff and unresponsive. Still, it does do a good job of creeping you out.

This is the 2nd edition of the manga, and in this version the story has been presented in the original format, unflipped. The previous edition from 2001 seems to have been flipped. And though you can't see it here, there are ghostly images on the cover, in a contrasting shade of black.



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

-Ferdinand

Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation: BSI

Story and Art by Yoshiyuki Nishi
Released in the US by Viz


Slugline: I always knew lawyers could make a deal with the devil, but it is just not fair they can use him as an enforcer.

In modern Japan, the increase of supernatural incidents involving ghosts has lead to the creation of magic law, in which ghosts can be found guilty of various crimes and sentenced to ever more bizarre and creative sentences. Muhyo is an executor authorized to use magic law, and despite his small size he is far from being just competent with its use. Roji, on the other hand, is his second clerk (as in rank, not that there is another clerk around the office somewhere) who is far more empathetic with the plights of their clients. The volume is very episodic, each case its own episode, but in one episode showing just a hint of Muhyo's past and a possible long-term antagonist of the series.

The BSI part of the title, which I presume off a play off of CSI, is very apt. Like that series, while the stories here are not spectacular and the main characters are not very detailed, but the stories are still very solid. The main characters show enough depth that they are still interesting, their client's problems are suitably grotesque and the art is solid but also very evocative. My one concern is that the solution to the episode's horror may become a little too rote, that sometimes that there isn't enough of a challenge to it, but for the time being it is just a concern. While this does not aspire to great literature, it is still an entertaining read.



Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation: BSI is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand