Updates to the Blog

So soon after our last delay, now we are having computer problems. Add together a cat, a glass of water and a keyboard and you end with a keyboard with only half the keys working. Until we get a new keyboard updates may be a bit random as we wait for access to a public computer.

Amefurashi, vol. 1

By Atsushi Suzumi
Published in the US by Del Rey Manga


Slugline: More little kids who exist to force the plot along.

Gimmy is a mechanic of a desert village that depends on a nimbus tree, a giant magical tree that provides the village's water. In exchange for water, the tree's goddessAmefurashi asks for dolls. Gimmy as the village's handyman is asked to make the doll, but is so caught up in the details that he blows the deadline for the doll's delivery. Gimmy's younger siblings Mel and Mil run off and pretend to be dolls to appease the goddess, with Gimmy climbing the tree to recover them. On the way he finds an annoying young girl named Sora and discovers too late that she is actually the Amefurashi. Gimmy tries to make a deal to get his siblings back, but while working out the deal Ciel, another amerfurashi without a tree steals Sora's tree's heart. Without it, the village will no longer get water so Gimmy decides to help Sora get back her tree's heart.

For once none of the characters are stupid. While they make mistakes, there are mistakes that are believable and match their character traits. Gimmy is a little too perfectionist for his own good, Mel and Mil are impetuous and Sora has a hard time understanding what the heck the humans want or are even actually are saying. The only concern is with the plotting, with the story first looking like it will be about howGimmy is going to convince Sora to return his siblings and only later it being about Gimmy and Sora teaming up. Ordinarily it would be better if the story didn't feel the need to switch tracks, but this feels like a mostly organic change rather than desperate flailing around to find something to do.



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

- Ferdinand

The Loudest Whisper, vol. 1

By Temari Matsumoto
Published in the US by Blu


Slugline: Not much whispering or meaningful conversations here.

This is an anthology of yaoi romances that focuses on their start. There are two multipart stories, the first one showing two friends in school that are so close that rumors begin that they are dating. Apparently that is that is need to date and then quickly move into a physical relationship. The other story, which ends the volume, concerns with a young heir of a vast fortune and the bodyguard that has protected him since he was a boy, and their bond that turns into something more. In addition there are several single chapter stories sandwiched between the two longer stories in the volume.

In the first story of the manga there is about as much passion as one could find in a church bake sale. The characters begin a relationship simply because other people suggest it there is no drive on the part of the characters that suggest they find it good for anything other physical release. The final story has an unbalanced power relationships that just scream wrongness and exploitation to me. The relationships that seem somewhat balanced between the partners and have some emotion attached are the stand alone stories but it is not enough to overcome the damage that the two longer stories inflict on the volume.



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

- Ferdinand

Game X Rush, vol. 1

By Mizuho Kusanagi
Released in the US by TokyoPopo


Slugline: Isn't it supposed to be easy to tell a bodyguard and an assassin apart?

Memori may be one of Japan's best bodyguards but because he works for his brother's small agency he is chronically overworked and underpaid. Yuuki could be a new hire for the agency, taking some of Memori's workload though he is more than a little bit off by Yuuki's casual attitude. That casual attitude hides a core of competence that Memori starts to warm up to, only to have it revealed almost too late that Yuuki is an assassin that is after Memori's client. Though Yuuki does not succeed, Memori cannot just forgive or forget as they continue their relationship, as it becomes strained and strange with Yuuki eventually becoming a employee of a large rival agency.

The premise of the manga begins as an entertaining one, as an assassin and a bodyguard becomes friends and rivals, but once their roles are revealed to each other it is difficult to keep the premise believable. For a while it feels like the story is flailing about trying to keep Memori and Yuuki snarking but not getting any more aggressive at each other. While at the end of the volume the premise has been recast enough for them to be friendly rivals, it is now difficult to believe in the competence of either one of the main characters after the previous shenanigans. Realism is not be demanded in manga, but the characters need to at least act in ways that are consistent with who and what they are.



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

- Ferdinand

Updates to the Blog

Sorry that there has been a posting lag, but I was sick for a few days. We will get back to posting on a regular schedule along with making up our backlog.

-Ferdinand

KimiKiss, vol. 1

Art by Taro Shinonome with Story by Enterbrain, Inc
Published in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Why bother having doubt or suspense in a shoujo manga?

Kouchi begins the second semester wanting to have a girlfriend and start kissing. So far he has not had much luck but his childhood friend Mao takes him under her wing teaching him how to be the perfect boyfriend. While learning how to date Kouchi realizes that he wants to turn Mao's 'practice' dates into something more real.

KimiKiss is based on a popular virtual novel/dating sim (for a definition check this wikipedia entry.) Virtual novels often give you a selection of different several girls to date. It appears that this manga series will have each volume focus on a different female character from the virtual novel, with how each girl ends up with the boy. Mao, the girl from this volume, is one of the childhood friend that becomes the girlfriend archetype. All she needs to do is show up, makes herself available and be friendly, and before page 100 they are liplocking away. Kouchi is a blank slate with only a few details brushed in, with many of his character bits coming from Mao's revelations about herself. There are no real challenges or other challengers for Mao to overcome before starting a relationship with Kouchi beyond that he is a boy and they sometimes need to have things spelled out for them. The art is nice in fan servicey way, not that many panty shots and the like, but Mao's, umm, assets still get to ignore gravity.



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

- Ferdinand

the 9 Lives, vol. 1

Story by Bayou and Rachel Manija Brown with Art by Bayou
Published in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Why are cat-boys always effete?

Conri is an uncollared cat boy in a world like ours except that humans keep alien cat people as slaves and pets. Conri has no wish to be a pet but it is illegal to be uncollared so he has to dodge the authorities. After nearly being caught for stealing food he is rescued by the human Adrian. Curious why a human would help a cat person without demanding favorsConri follows Adrian back to his apartment. Conri later sneaks in, eating his food and sleeping on the bed, so when Adrian returns and sees the damage that Conri has done, Conri agrees to do housework to pay for the damage. Conri is wary around Adrian, causing several misunderstandings, as Conri expects that Adrian will eventually try to collar him. The reason why humans want collared cat-people is that they literally have nine lives and can share them to bring someone back from the brink of death.

What is it about cat-boys that make them androgynous and desperate to be featured in an yaoi like title? While this isn't a yaoi title per se, it certainly leans that way. Some sexual overtones are inevitable in any title that deals with a slave race (and is deftly handled early in the story) it just becomes gratuitous innuendo later. The idea of the nine lives that can be shared is revealed late in the book though the concept would suggested it ought to be a far more central part of the story for it makes believable the public acceptance of slavery. While issues of trust are brought up and explored,Conri is a juvenile so he handles them in a juvenile and superficial way. There is a lot of potential and a good foundation is laid, but using it is left for another volume.



the 9 Lives, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Cat Eyed Boy, vol. 1

Story and Art by Kazuo Umezu
Published in the US by Viz


Slugline: A horror manga that has gone horribly wrong.

Cat Eyed Boy is an abandoned monster that has been forced to live on his own, living in house's attics and observing the people live there. Either trouble follows him or he follows trouble, but either way the people he spies upon often have things go terribly wrong. Eventually he comes across a group of human freaks who are behaving as monsters to get revenge on humans that are monsters on the inside. This perversion of monsters (comparatively speaking) good name sets him in opposition to them.

Kazuo Umezu created The Drifting Classroom manga, so when this title come up for review the expectation was that it would be very good. Instead, The Cat Eyed Boy is more memorable for the lack of internal consistency and the meandering and purposeless main character. Sure, maybe that reflects the character's true nature as a cat rather than a human being, but it still makes for a very poor story. Even the opposition that makes their appearance in the last half of this super-sized volume doesn't make much sense, and because their victims deserve their fate it is hard to sympathize with them. Still you can't help but feel annoyed that the Cat Eyed Boy is completely incompetent in trying to stop them. As a result the art rather than conveying a horrific mood merely has a gross out factor.



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

- Ferdinand

Ballad of a Shinigami, vol. 1

By Asuka Izumi and Original Story by K-She Hasegawa
Published in the US by CMX Manga


Slugline: Featuring a death that never shows up

Momo is a shinigami, a reaper like spirit born from a suicide who takes on the the appearance of a young girl wearing white. Despite her supernatural connection to death she is not especially dangerous or even girl-like, but she does carry messages or other hints from the dead to the living. The living often need the help in order to deal with their own pasts and quite frankly to get the girl/boy.

White symbolizes death in many eastern cultures, so the fact that Momo is wears white is not as reassuring as one would first think when she is introduced. But it seems like that it is not very important who or what Momo looks like as long as she gets to say her one line per story that forces the potential couples to change and survive the fate that would otherwise lay in store for them. Momo barely more involved in the stories than the old Cryptkeeper character that once introduced horror stories, and in that sense the supposed main character does not feel very necessary to the stories. This is more like an anthology of tortured teen romance than actual supernatural stories or even a single continuing story, and while the individual stories are done well, there is nothing holding them together and making the title as a whole interesting enough to rise above average.



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

- Ferdinand

Blue Eyes, vol. 3

Blue Eyes, vol. 3 is an explicit manga title so the body of the review is on Prospero’s Manga – Mature, a review blog for adult manga titles. Please check there for the review.

-Ferdinand

Gravitation Collection, vols. 1 & 2

By Maki Murakami
Published in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Is love without meaning still love?

Shuichi wants to avoid school as much as possible and sing his songs but his life insists on throwing complications his way. After meeting Eiri and being insulted for his lack of song-making ability, Shuichi falls in love with the older man, despite the apparent disinterest. Shuichi's best friend wants to leave the band out of the desire to get a real life and stop disappointing his parents. Eiri has his own complicated life, with a sister who tries to manipulate him through Shuichi and a younger brother that is everything that their father wanted, never mind the betrothal that Eiri has been dodging. Through it all, Shuichi works harder to become a professional musician and keep Eiri's attention.

Is it too much to ask for romances, even the shonen-ai variety, to have some actual romancing going on? Shuichi sees Eiri and falls in love immediately and Eiri does little to return or even deserve it in this collection of the first two volumes. Yes, Gravitation is considered a classic of the genre, and quite frankly everything around Shuichi and Eiri's pairing is done well, but the actual relationship of the two is pretty unrealistic even by the loose standards of the genre. If you just skip a few pages, there is a half decent rock and roll story in here, but the romance at its center just seems unreal and more than a little creepy.

The sequel for this series, Gravitation EX, has been reviewed on Prospero's Manga here. Frankly, it sounds that it takes the silly aspects of this series and pushes further to be really funny.



Gravitation Collection, vols. 1 & 2 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Orange Planet, vol. 1

By Haruka Fukushima
Published in the US by Del Rey


Slugline: One of each shojo cliche

Rui has boy problems that many girls in junior high would love to have. There is the neighbor boy who has long liked her, the school's hottest boy who is returning her interest and a playboy student teacher that has invited himself to live in Rui's apartment. Rui is pushed and pulled between the boys and the young man through humorous and embarrassing situations. But Rui's childhood memory of a boy who comforted her after the death of her parents continues to haunt her.

Gah. This has all of the annoying shojo cliches concerning potential boyfriends wrapped together into a single manga. Childhood loves, lack of parents or any adult supervision and college students being friendly with junior high girls does not improve the final result. I like the fact that Rui is human enough to try weasel the answers for an exam from her live-in teacher, but other than that she acts like one of the saints that only exist in manga, setting completely unrealistic expectations of behavior for girls. Technically, the work is fine and the story holds together (such as it is) but it just jams together too many of the shojo cliches to put up with.



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

-Ferdinand

Yokai Doctor, vol. 1

By Yuki Sato
Published by Del Rey


Slugline: Even spirits need housecalls

Kutoko is the granddaughter of famous exorcist, but other than the ability to see spirits (called yokai) she has no other exorcist abilities. That doesn't prevent her from using what she does have to become accepted in her school by performing fake exorcisms. Kuro is an outsider in the school, believed to be a pervert but actually reacting to the spirits that only a few can see. Glad to see that someone else has her ability, Kutoko befriends Kuro but is surprised to learn that he is a yokai doctor, one who tries to treat and cure the yokai. From Kutoko's perspective yokai have always been hassle and harmful, but after Kuro rescues her from some trouble by helping not harming a yokai she decides to be his assistant, though not to wear any nurse's outfit. But she hasn't learned all of Kuro's secrets, he is not only a yokai doctor but a yokai himself.

This volume has an interesting beginning with the first two chapters being retold from the perspective of a different character before moving onto original material. This was the result of the first few chapters intending to be one-off story but being successful and the creator starting a series based on it. There are some minor changes to smooth things out for the continuing story, but it is interesting to look at things from another perspective, especially it is in the process we learn character traits. Other than that interesting opening, most of the characters and situations are unfortunately fairly standard and it remains to be seen whether the unusual opening was the result of more than just happy accident.



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

-Ferdinand

Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea

By Nakaba Higurashi and Seiichi Morimura
Published in the US by CMX Manga


Slugline: A historical epic without any actual epic story

Temujin is the son of a Mongol chieftain and despite questions about his parentage he rises to lead the Mongols, forging them into a nation. His main obstacle along the way is a blood brother he made while hunting as a youth. But as they both grow older, they become leaders with different motivations until their conflict is carried over to their children until only one family is left alive. Guess which one.

This is based on the same source material as the movie by the same name, but since virtually no one saw the movie and even fewer in the English speaking world have read the source material. Despite the scarcity of the material, the manga reads as if the readers can bridge the gaps on their own, presumably because they have seen or read one of the other versions of the story. There are a lot of gaps to bridge over as the story jumps around in time without warning and with a very generic facial and dressing style for the characters it takes a lot of work to figure who everyone is as eras change. Fortunes twist and turn off panel, so that leaders rise to the height of their power then become friendless with the transition of a single line of text. It comes across as a collection of scenes rather than a story or even a tale of a broken friendship.



Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga

-Ferdinand

Takeru: Opera Susanoh, Sword of the Devil, vol. 1

Story by Kazuki Nakashima and Art by Karakarakemuri
Published in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: So three fighters named Takeru walk into a bar...

Three fighters named Takeru meet in the island chain Oyashima that is being contested by the imperialist power Amamikado and being defended by the Amazon kingdom of Jagara. But the three Takerus are more interested in following the trail of clues that lead to the Susanoh, one of the swords of the gods. They believe that the trail will lead them to Jagara and the secret of how the kingdom has resisted being assimilated by the Amamikado, but the three sister Queens of Jagara recognize that the three could be the resolution of a prophecy.

This a perfectly fine and nice fantasy sword epic. The fight scenes are pretty well done though the choreography of them could be cleared up a bit and the characters, while not the most original of creations are not cookie cutter creations either. The main problem with the work seems to be pacing, with things unfolding at an odd pace. This is like a car engine with has an odd misfire every now and then, one that you can't trace back to a specific fault, but is there nonetheless and still niggles at you.



Takeru: Opera Susanoh, Sword of the Devil, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga

-Ferdinand

The Lapis Lazuli Crown, vol. 1

By Natsuna Kawase
Published in the US by CMX Manga


Slugline: Everyone prefers to go through school to be with the boy they like rather than simply dating them.

Miel is a child of a magical family in the Kingdom of Savarin but despite her family's history of magical prowess she is not interested in pursuing that. She wants to be considered cute and attractive so that she can hopefully marry well, which disgusts her more magically adept sisters. One day while in town she meets Radi , a visiting nobleman who bears a resemblance to the popular Prince Radian, but of course could never actually be him. If you really believe that, I also have this fine bridge in Brooklyn available for long-term lease. Through an amazing 'twist' Miel learns of Radi's true identity and gives up her aspirations of being a gold digger, deciding instead to practice her magic so that one day she will work at the palace helping the Prince.

Why yes, one afternoon is all that is need to change someone's goals from selfish to altruistic ones. Goals that are so so altruistic Miel doesn't even think romantic thoughts about Prince Radi, though he does think she is 'special.' While the storytelling and art are accomplished, at the same time the story itself is so mild that I think the manga's E for Everyone was not intended but merely a side-effect of the title's frantic inoffensiveness. The review rating is not the result of failure or inept execution, but instead as a result of the story not affecting the reader in any way and making one wonder with it in the first place.



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

-Ferdinand

Samurai Harem: Asu no Yoichi, vol. 1

By Yu Minamoto
Published in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: How modest! Four girls is barely a harem in most manga.

Yoichi is the young samurai in training deep in the mountains of Japan, who is told by his father that it is time to go to the city for the next step in his training. It is then revealed that despite the implications otherwise the story is set in modern Japan, which makes the story 'dangerous country bumpkin in the big city.' Fortunately what distracts him from turning this into a more destructive story is that his father sent him to a dojo run by four sisters. Now one of the sisters is too young (I hope she is considered too young) and one is not really interested in him other than for use as a research tool for her manga, but there is two sisters who unsurprisingly, are secretly attracted to him. For the fan-service needs Yoichi keeps on tripping, falling and bemoaning that gravity is a harsh mistress, forcing him to grab onto the sisters at very inappropriate places and times. But could the two girls on the last page of the volume bring actual danger, or just end up as two more girls for the harem? I suspect that will be an easy prediction for most readers.

People who have deep childhood or family connections seem to run into each other all the time on the street of Tokyo, so it must be a pretty small town, right? Sorry, I was just appreciating the foibles of manga storytelling. Despite several of the characters being highly trained martial artists, they all are very clumsy feeling the need to grab onto various naughty bits as they go down. Of course, none of the characters' subconscious are at all just very, very horny. It would be a lot more honest if the story went with that direction rather than having all of these teenagers' minds being as pure as driven snow, especially the girls. But that is just a general problem in many manga. The two main characters (Yoichi and the oldest sister) are too flawless to be more than two dimensional, but I found the sister who has given up because of the older sister's perfection to be the most interesting. I am glad to see that someone around those characters realizes just how unrealistic they are and has had the perfectly rational response of 'why bother?' because anything they do will simply be done better by someone who doesn't even realize they are crushing their hopes and dreams. But other than that, pretty standard harem comedy, not a lot of fighting, at least not yet, and the characters are rather standard. Pretty to look at it, nice if you like fan service or harem comedies, but not much of interest other than that.



Samurai Harem: Asu no Yoichi, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga

-Ferdinand

Dogs Prelude, vol. 0

Story and Art by Shirow Miwa
Published in the US by Viz


Slugline: Percussively putting the pieces into play.

Dogs Prelude introduces four loosely connected characters that live in a noirish near future city. Each has their own drives and personality, and we see three out of the four at emotional turning points in their lives. For the fourth one, well his emotional damage is that he likes to shoot things when he goes into nicotine withdrawal. There is no unifying story in the volume, but because this is a prelude it is possible that the subtext of the four character's stories might be woven into a single overarching one. While there is a bit of over thinking and melodrama, the characters are interesting on the individual level and even if their stories are needlessly confused in order to make them more 'noir,' they are still engaging enough that I care that the characters' care about what is happening to them. This is reminiscent of Cowboy Bebop in tone, though no of the characters seem like direct analogues yet, though that comparison might give you an idea of whether you will appreciate it or not.



Dogs Prelude, vol. 0 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga

-Ferdinand

Dinosaur Hour, vol. 1

Story and Art by Hitoshi Shioya
Published in the US by VizKids


Sluglines: Bad humor and hungry dinosaurs are a winning combination!

Dinosaur Hour is basically a collection of humorous short skits that feature dinosaurs making fun of and exploiting their own natures. There is some mild educational content here, but it certainly not a focus and it shares only the basics (how big a dinosaur is, what period it existed and whether it was a carnivore or herbivore seems to be most of it.) There are no continuing characters in the volume and most of the dinosaurs are identified by their species rather than having any specific name. The humor is pretty juvenile and transparent, so rather than being for all ages it is really more for young ages. Keeping in mind that many of the jokes revolve around whether or not the dinosaurs can manage to make each other dinner, it is much more a boy book. The art is not very good, but since that this volume is basically sketch comedy, the fact that the art itself is barely more than a sketch works, and it allows the readers to have enough distance from what is happening to be able to laugh when someone becomes lunch. Once you take those limitations into account, it is pretty funny for what it is and doesn't try to do too much with what little attention that the volume will probably get from the typical reader.



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

-Ferdinand

Honey Hunt, vol. 1

Story and Art by Miki Aihara
Published in the US by Viz Shojo Beat


Slugline: Parental abandonment issues galore!

Yura would seem to have a pretty good life since both of her parents rich and famous. But her parents treat her as an afterthought and at best treat her with a sense of benign neglect. Things finally come to a head when Yura's father's affair is discovered and her parent's divorce. At the same time, Yura discovers that her best friend Shin has been sleeping with her mom every since he went off to college. Lost, Yura goes off on her parents in front of the paparazzi. Her diatribe attracts the attention of one of her parent's agents, who offers Yura a chance to stand on her own two feet away from her parents and her old life. With that opportunity Yura begins a career in acting so to be independent and be able to get her parents to recognize her.

I disliked Hot Gimmick! (well, the novel version of it) a previous work by this creator. While I am not sure how much I buy into Yura having a special gift into acting, Yura's struggle for recognition from her parents is powerful and one I suspect many manga readers can emphasize. Having your family not only not understand who you are and what you do, but also being not even sure if it is worth trying to understand what you do is one of the universal adolescent anguishes. Unlike many stories where the parents are out of touch in order to give the main characters a free arena of action, the emotionally missing parents here are what drives Yura. While Yura herself is a little passive, but helps represents someone who has kept her head down most of her life and is only now learning how to do otherwise. The breaking of her old habits are more likely to be a gradual process than a sudden one, making this title feel very real.



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

-Ferdinand