'xxxHolic' #8 Review

Plot Summary


This volume is about Watanuki trying to get his right eye back. The Zashiki-Warashi has been abducted so Watanuki goes to a different realm with the pipe fox spirit to get her back. He finds the Matron of Spiders, who has the Zashiki-Warashi up in webs. She has his right eye and a battle ensues. Later, Domeki gives up half of his right eye for Watanuki. This opens a connection where Domeki can see certain things that Watanuki sees. INTENSE!

I don't have much to say in this review. I'm enjoying this manga very much. I was reading about the anime and came upon some disturbing information. The anime aired, had 24 episodes in all and ended.
Ended?
The manga is still currently running in Young Magazine. So...that's cool. Why was that made? I love it when anime does that.

I noticed that the library has Chobits as well...I'm really tempted to review it. SHOULD I?! SO MUCH CLAMP. I don't mean to have so much Clamp manga on here but...I love them >.<

xxxHolic #8: 7.2/10

Shonen Jump #89 Review

OK SO, I have a subscription to Shonen Jump. I get it monthly and this is the first issue I've gotten since I started this blog. I've made a lot of progress in a few weeks! I have a lot of opinions about Jump and the manga serialized in it so I thought it'd be cool to review it monthly. SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO...

I'll review issues of Jump by reviewing each series.

First thing I'd like to say is LUFFY IS ON THE COVER! YAY I LOVE ONE PIECE SO MUCH!! Currently, Shonen Jump only has four series running with two extra preview slots. I think this is pretty pathetic considering THAT IN JAPAN JUMP HAS OVER TWENTY SERIES RUNNING IN EACH ISSUE. Seriously. Alright, here we go. First series up is:

Bakuman - Holy shit, I love Bakuman so much. You may have noticed that there is a picture of Mashiro from Bakuman at the top of this blog! This is the first time Bakuman is in SJ. They're only doing a 3-issue preview which pisses me off. Why can't they just actually run it? Blah. So I discovered this series about a year ago. I downloaded a Jump manga reader thing from the Japanese site and they have random manga previews you can download. Bakuman had just been released in Japan a bit before and was now translated for the first time. I read it with glee. This series is, in a nutshell, about two guys trying to make it in life as manga ka. The story is by Tsugumi Ohba and art by Takeshi Obata, the same team that made Death Note (which I love). I WORSHIP TAKESHI OBATA. One of my heroes. He also did to art for Hikaru no Go. Amazing man. Bakuman is really amazing. Go read it right now.

5/5

Bleach - Oh boy. Bleach time. For the record, I really don't like Bleach. I've read so much and tried to get into it and I just find it incredibly corny. It's like Dragonball Z without the amazing humor and ridiculousness. I just don't like it. Sorry. So in this thrilling installment of Bleach, there were angry explosions and close ups of dramatic faces. Grantz was about to die and then he was like TIME TO EAT MY FRACCIONES WHATEVER THAT WORD IS! So then he was all healed and I was like HOLY SHIT, I AM SHOCKED, MORE BATTLE TIME. Then there was more talk like I'M GONNA KILL YOU. OH YEAH? NOT IF I KILL YOU FIRST. DOOOOOOOOOOOM. Then they didn't actually fight. Intense as hell. Then Ichigo was about to die and shockingly he somehow came through and survived. I didn't see it coming at all. Then there was some Orihime fan service. Then she healed Ichigo and Grimmjow was like TIME FOR A FAIR FIGHT CAUSE YOUR HEALED NOW! HOLY SHIT. Then they faced off for a battle of the century and I stared at the page in sheer amazement. Swords are so IN right now.

I would like to say though, despite my dislike for Bleach, I love Tite Kubo's art. He is amazingly talented. I really love his first series Zombie Powder. It had interesting characters that I cared about.

2/5 (just because he's a very talented artist)

Ultimo - I really like this series. At first, I thought it was a bit slow but it's really picking up now. The past few chapters have been amazing. It's turning into a really good giant fighting robot series. I was amused to learn that this manga takes place in the year 2012. I knew it was a few years in the future but it wasn't stated before. They've been talking a lot about the Hundred Machine Funeral and the end of the world in 2012. I love Hiroyuki Takei's (Shaman King) art style, it fits the story really well. Really good stuff.

4/5

Naruto - I really love Naruto. But lately...it just hasn't been the same. I'm pretty sick of Sasuke. I'm pretty sick of every word coming out of every person's mouth being SASUKE. Why isn't this series called Sasuke? I still enjoy reading it but all this Sasuke business needs to be resolved soon >.< And when is Naruto going to give up on Sasuke?! He doesn't care about you Naruto. Take a hint. Uchiha Madara is cool. I enjoy his evil monologues.

3/5

One Piece - OH MY GOD. THIS SERIES IS SO INCREDIBLE. I've come to the conclusion that One Piece is never bad. Ever. These past few chapters have been blowing my mind. Everything has been taking place in Impel Down for a while now, Luffy is trying to bust his brother, Ace, out of the prison. He's now teamed up with some amazing characters from the series, such as Crocodile, Buggy, and Bon Clay. A new character, Emporio Ivankov, is pretty much the coolest transgender of all time. His ultimate attack is the Death Wink. I love this series so much.

5/5



D. Gray Man - UM...WHY IS THIS HERE? I don't understand SJ anymore. Now they're just having random previews from random series at completely random parts far into the series. I've read the beginning of D. Gray Man and loved it. But this preview is from VOLUME SEVENTEEN. I have no idea who all these new people are, who they're fighting, what the conflict is, what the hell is going on? This new thing SJ is doing is called a SHOWCASE CHAPTER PREVIEW. Why? Previewing a series in the EARLY chapters make sense. But this? I didn't enjoy this very much considering I havn't read the previous fifteen volumes.

2/5

Overall, a good issue of SJ. Bakuman and One Piece win a gold star.

'Fullmetal Alchemist' #1 Review

So I have been wanting to read/watch this series for a very long time now. At least four years. Now I finally have! Woohoo! From what I hear, the anime and manga are very different. I decided to go with the manga because it looks much better. I'll have to watch the anime at some point. But I'm very opinionated and I think manga is almost always better.

Plot Summary

Do I really have to say it? I'm sure you know. Everyone loves this series, I swear. Two brothers tried to bring their mother back using alchemy but broke the rules and failed. It cost Edward an arm and a leg (LOLLLL) and cost Alphonse his entire body. So now they're trying to get back to normal and such.

What surprised me most about this series was that it's made by a woman. I know I'd heard this before but I guess I forgot and this really came as a surprise because the art looks completely like a normal male shonen artist. I enjoyed the mix of comedy/action in this and I definitely want to read more! The first half of the volume was a huge poke at religion which I really enjoyed.

My god, I hated Rose so much. I just despised her on so many levels while reading this. I'm sure she'll become awesome but...damn.

Fullmetal Alchemist #1: 7/10!

'xxxHolic' #7 Review

Plot Summary

In this volume, Watanuki gets his arm caught in a spider web and Domeki casually destroys the web. By doing this, he actually gets a spider curse put on him for destroying the spider's home. The next day, Domeki can't even open his right eye. All around his eye are spider web shaped patterns. Watanuki becomes very upset about this. Even though he claims to despise Domeki, he's grown less hostile towards him and doesn't want Domeki to suffer because of his carelessness.


I thought this had a lot to say about taking other perspectives into account, such as destroying a web from the spider's point of view. It may seem like no big deal to squash a bug but there are consequences to all actions. There was an amazing part in this volume about this woman who takes a photo someone she knew to Yuko, begging her to destroy the photo. I won't spoil anything, I thought it was really good though.

HIMAWARI CHAN!! GAH! It keeps being hinted that Himawari is bad luck for Watanuki, even though he's madly in love with her. The very end even suggested that Himawari might have been the cause of something that tried to attack Domeki and Watanuki. YOWZA!! I'm excited to see what happens next.

I've now gone through all the volumes I got at the library so I'll be going back tomorrow for more! I definitely want to read more so I'm going to keep with it until it gets lame. Which I don't think it will. So yay! Clamp knows how to make quality comics.

xxxHolic #7: 7.5/10

=D

'xxxHolic' #6 Review

Plot Summary

So in the beginning of this volume, Watanuki is dusting around the shop and notices a picture of a kimono-wearing cat holding a hozuki (chinese lantern plant). The cat erupts out of the picture and lands on Watanuki. Yuko greets the cat and they start to drink beer. The cat is from the spirit world and gives Watanuki the hozuki. Yuko gives him specific instruction on what to do with it. He and one other person (which turns out to be Domeki, durp!) must hold the top of the plant like a couple would hold a knife while cutting their wedding cake. They get sent to a mystical plane where demons are walking in a line all holding hozuki. At first the are like WTF but they decide to follow the line while holding their hozuki. They notice a massive spirit tree figure in the distance. Watanuki trips over a little fox like a clumsy douchebag. He loses his grip on the hozuki and as soon as he does, all the creatures notice that the two are humans. UH OH, GANG!! ARE THEY GOTTEN GET EATEN?!!

The next chapter was completely random and I thought it was amazing. It's just about Watanuki staying over at Yuko's shop and they get to talking about strange sayings such as 'never trim your nails at night.' Later, Watanuki decides to CUT HIS NAILS and a giant pair of blades appear and try to kill him which was hilarious and terrifying at the same time. The rest of the volume is about Watanuki meeting this woman who's son recently died. They become fast friends since he lost his parents long ago. Soon it's revealed that being with the woman is putting his life at risk!
Wah!


So something that happened at the end of this volume that BLEW MY MIND was Watanuki delivering this birdcage to this old guy. Once it's safely delivered, the birdcage is unraveled and there's nothing in it! The old man puts the cage on the window and the shadow of the birdcage also shows the shadows of two birds inside. THE AWESOME THING was the two birds totally looked just like animals from Clamp's manga, Clover (which I did a review of earlier in this blog). The birds had crazy mechanical wings and I swear the same birds were in Clover! I'm wondering if they'll appear again or if it was just a fun little reference.

xxxHolice #6: 7.3/10

INTRIGUING INDEED!

'xxxHolic' #5 Review

Plot Summary

This volume opens with Yuko screaming about not getting gifts for White Day (in return for the gifts she gave to Syaoran and the gang on Valentines Day). Watanuki runs into an Ame-Warashi, a rain maker. She demands that Watanuki and Domeki help her with a problem. They go to an area full of Hydrangeas and Watanuki is consumed by dark shadowy figures into the ground. He awakens in a pitch dark world and meets a little girl. It turns out the little girl is buried under the Hydrangeas and her body is disturbing the plants and turning them red. Watanuki helps free the girl's soul from the dark realm (with major aid from Domeki, which only angers Watanuki) and the Hydrangeas go back to normal, which is all the Ame-Warashi wanted in the first place. Later, Yuko reveals a pipe Kitsune spirit, which loves Watanuki. At school, Watanuki notices a girl who has tiny wings growing from her back. At first he thinks they might be some kind of fashion but later at a night festival sees the girl acting very hostile towards others. The more enraged she becomes, the bigger her wings grow on her back. The next day at school she confronts Watanuki, claiming that he was glaring at her, and orders him to apologize. She whips out a small blade and attacks them both. The wings from her back turn black and rip out of her. As they fly away, the little Kitsune spirit transforms into a massive nine-tailed beast and attacks. It's revealed that the evil wings poisoned the girl's heart, and she'll remain unresponsive for the rest of her life.


In the following chapter, Watanuki doesn't like the Kitsune spirit being massive and beastly and wants it changed back to normal pipe-size (which I don't understand at all, I'd love to have a massive nine-tailed beast for a friend). To do this, they require pure chi, using an urn, filling it with well water and putting crystals in it. Watanuki and the beast peak into the urn and it sucks them both inside. SNAP!! They find themselves in a strange flowery, river paradise place. The Kitsune turns back into pipe form. The flowers yell at Watanuki and he runs away. He meets up with the Zashiki-Warashi (the girl from the previous volume who gave him a valentines day chocolate from Domeki's stomach) and realizes there's another reason he's down here. THAT TRICKY YUKO SAN! He gives the girl her present for White Day and she tears up with joy. The angry little flying snowboard guys fly out of nowhere and attack Watanuki for making the girl cry again. JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME Yuko gets them both out of that world and into the well since the well water was their connection. YAY!

I'm going to be pretty pissed if Watanuki doesn't hook up with Himawari. She better not turn out to be a lesbian or something. There's been SO MUCH build up between them. It better happen! Himawari has really freaky hair though. Seriously. It's so massive.

xxxHolic #5: 7.3/10

:D

'xxxHolic' #4 Review

Plot Summary

This volume opens with Watanuki making valentines day chocolate. He makes some extra special for Himawari but she doesn't come to school on valentines day and Domeki eats them (lawls). A mysterious girl appears and takes the chocolate right back out of Domeki's stomach and he goes into a sleep. The girl flies away and Watanuki is forced to ride a massive death bird into the sky (complete with a Mokona pilot) to get the chocolate back and save Domeki. Later, two twin girls are introduced (their names were never stated which I thought was odd) and it's revealed they have a deeper connection. The words they speak can affect one another, such as one girl saying not to drop a plate of food and by doing so causes the other to drop it. The younger sister is often bound by her own words of discouragement. Watanuki tries his best to help her out and have her start saying 'I can' rather than 'I can't'. The final chapter involves flashbacks of Watanuki with an old friend of his. It's revealed that his friend was actually a spirit and had to leave the world and Watanuki's birthday. In current time, Watanuki starts to see random arms appearing in certain places, such as in a tree and coming out of the ground. He sees a group of kids playing near the arm. One of the children notices the arm sticking out of the ground but none of the other kids see it. This reminds Watanuki that fewer people have the ability to see spirits. Since he thinks of this ability as more of a curse, he decides this a good thing and walks away from the severed arm.


After all this reading of xxxHolic, I've come to the conclusion that Del Ray, the publisher, really kicks ass! In the back of every volume, they'll have lots of extras explaining things that people might not understand. For example, references to other Clamp series, random Japanese words that people might not understand, etc. I really like how they take the time to explain things that are strictly for Japanese audiences, rather than simply changing them in the translation to something more familiar for english readers. In situation is Yuko states that Watanuki has come crying to her, just like Nobita! In the back of the volume, they explain that Nobita is from the series Doraemon. They even take the time to explain all about the plot of Doraemon and how Nobita is a crybaby. Pretty awesome. Doraemon kicks ass.

From all the Tsubasa crossovers in the series, I definitely have to read that sometime! I have the first volume but that's as far as I've read, sadly =[
I'm also planning to start reading Clamp's X very soon! GAH, SO MUCH CLAMP!! I promise this entire blog won't be pure Clamp.

xxxHolic #4: 7.3/10

=]

'xxxHolic' #3 Review

Back to xxxHolic! Yay! I find this manga to be far more enjoyable than Saikano =D


Plot Summary

This volume opens with a Tsubasa crossover. Yuka receives a large staff from Syaoran and the gang and sends them back a cluster of spirits that Mokona swallowed in the previous volume. Himawari presents a problem going on at her school involving a game called 'Angel-san' and Yuko puts Watanuki and Domeki on the case. On this adventure, Yuko gives Watanuki a handy walkie talkie device. This device also happens to look exactly like the Persocom ears from Chobits! I thought this was AWESOME. Later, a woman comes to the shop and asks to take a little cylinder. Inside is a monkey's paw that can grant wishes. The monkey paw also comes with great risk to the one who grants wishes. She is incredibly arrogant and doesn't think anything bad can possibly happen to her (which does, durp). The final chapter is a short about Watanuki coming across a Kitsune fox spirit's eatery stall.

I would also like to state that Clamp is very good at drawing smoke. Whenever Watanuki sees spirits, there's smoky spirit mist stuff happening everywhere. It always looks so amazing. SO MUCH CLAMP GLORY ON THIS BLOG!


This manga never gets too serious which I enjoy. I'M EXCITED TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!

xxxHolic #3: 7.3/10

'Saikano' #2 Review

Well, I now have very mixed feelings about this series. I've gotten used to it's bizarre art but the story has just been bothering me. I respect this manga for the type of series that it is and I could see someone really enjoying it if they're into these kinds of dark, war-torn romance stories. But frankly, I'm just not. I really tried to get into this but I don't think I can.

Plot Summary

So this volume introduces Fuyumi, Shuji's ex girlfriend. Her and Shuji have a chance meeting and they get to talking. Her leg is injured from an accident caused by Chise shooting off into the sky. They had back to her place to fix up the leg, Fuyumi is a complete whore who wants to do Shuji. She's married and is upset at her husband for being in the army and leaving her all alone (?!!) So Shuji doesn't want to cheat on Chise because he actually has some decency. He leaves but forgets about his school bag. He goes back to get it later but promises himself he's just going to get his bag and leave FAST FORWARD Shuji and Fuyumi are laying in bed together. WHAT THE HELL?! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! I HAVE NO IDEA! So they're laying there and then Fuyumi decides to start making out with him and give him a blowjob. Alrighty then. Shuji breaks down and feels terrible about what happened. Later, there's a few chapters with Chise on the battlefield with the rest of the military guys. She goes into weapon mode and completely levels a city.


Anywayyyyyyyyy...
I like this manga. I really do. But honestly, I'm just not interested in reading anymore. Nothing is grabbing me about it and shaking me by the collar and screaming READ MORE DAMN YOU! I'd still suggest this manga to anyone. Hopefully if you give it a read, you'll get something more out of it than I could.

So yeah. Sorry, Saikano. You're cool but...you're just not my type-o-comic =/
Saikano #2: 6.4/10

'Saikano' #1 Review

So this manga, released by Viz, is in the category of EDITOR'S CHOICE! BOOOOOM!!
Very prestigious. I read a bit of this volume is a bookstore a few months back and liked it and now my friend is letting me borrow it so I should be reviewing the entire series! =D

Plot Summary

Two high school students, Shuji and Chise, start dating. They're both very nervous and shy so their relationship has a rocky start. Once they start getting more comfortable with each other, it's revealed that..............CHISE (the girl) IS A SUPER POWERFUL ULTIMATE WEAPON OF DESTRUCTION AND DEVASTATING DOOM!
HOLY SHIT!
Pretty random.
So they try to look past this and have a normal relationship but that doesn't work out very well.



The writer/artist (Shin Takahashi) has a very strange style. The art is very sketchbook-like and sometimes looks like it's done at very high speeds. The art takes two different styles in the manga: either the characters are fully drawn out in a typical manga-esque style or their drawn in chibi form. The chibis happen a LOT. Be prepared.

Even though I enjoyed this volume, the pacing was incredibly SLOW. It was over 200 pages and not very much happened. It was strange to me after reading The Umbrella Academy. So much can happen on one page in American comics and in manga, pacing is completely different. Even for manga pace, I thought this story moved pretty slowly. There was a lot of stuff (not trying to be rude) that I frankly, didn't care about. Events between Chise with her friends and Shuji with his friends just showing how nervous and clumsy and shy they can be. After a while it was like YES, I UNDERSTAND, LET'S MOVE ON PLEASE. Nevertheless, this manga is very interesting and I'll definitely be reviewing more.

Saikano #1: 6.9/10

'The Umbrella Academy - Apocalypse Suite' Review

Well, this comic completely surprised me. I picked this up at the library purely on the fact that it's written by Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance), whom I'm not a huge fan of. I figured it wouldn't be very good and thought it would be another reason to not care about Mr. Way. To say the least, this comic is very good. It's a modern superhero-esque story with a cast of super characters that all have personal issues.

Plot Summary

All over the world, forty-three children were simultaneously born by women who weren't pregnant. Rich inventor Reginald Hargreeves, The Monocle, tries to track down and adopt these children, only finding seven in the end. His answer for adopting these children is "To save the world". Ten years later, the children are now a super fighting force known as 'The Umbrella Academy'. Each of the seven children has extraordinary powers, except for Number 7, Vanya. The children save Paris from an evil doer but the Eiffel Tower goes flying into space. Fast forward twenty more years; each of the children has gone their separate ways to live their own life. Number 1, Spaceboy, is on the moon and gets a call that The Monocle is dead. All of the Umbrella Academy (save for one of them who has died) meet back at the old mansion for the funeral. The world is once again threatened by a villain, this time known as The Conductor, who has his own dark orchestra that is practicing to play the Apocalypse Suite. One of the children returns from the future, saying that the world will be destroyed and they have to stop this new threat before it's too late. The Umbrella Academy once again teams up for possibly another false alarm, or an actual threat to all of humanity.


This comic had some really fantastic characters. It had some intense battles, great humor, and a really awesome Chimp named Dr. Pogo. There was even a death scene that made me genuinely sad while reading it. Since this is a running series, I'm very interested in reading more. One thing that bothered me about the art was the artist contrast. The artist of the actual comic is Gabriel Ba but the cover art for each issue is James Jean. I think Gabriel's art fit the series well. It reminded of Mike Mignola's work on Hellboy. The only problem I had was that James Jean's cover art is fucking BEAUTIFUL. He creates these massive, gorgeous paintings for each cover. Frankly, I felt bad for Gabriel Ba. The reader sees James' insane cover art but then the actual comic art is a bit plain in comparison.

I HIGHLY suggest this to anyone that hates My Chemical Romance. I now see Gerard Way in an all new light. He's proven to me that he's a very skilled writer and I'm looking forward to more comics from him.

Umbrella Academy - Apocalypse Suite: 8/10

'xxxHolic' #2 Review

I like this manga! After reading the first two volumes, I definitely want to read more so I'll be going to the library very soon. This volume basically finishes up the scene of Syaoran, Sakura, Kurogane and Fai appearing. After they send them on their way, the little black Mokona is introduced to the cast. Yuko takes Watanuki to get his fortune told but finds out that her friend has been replaced with a new fortune teller who has no real abilities in divination. After the show, Yuko finds the real fortune teller woman who is an awesome old lady. Watanuki is constantly squealing about the girl he likes, Himawari. Yuko sets up an interesting '100 Ghost Story Ceremony' with her, Watanuki, Himawari and Domeki (a good-looking, archery skilled jock that Watanuki despises). They tell some pretty freaky ghost stories and a scene ensues of evil spirits trying to take away Watanuki and Domeki using his skills to exorcise them. It's revealed that Domeki's grandfather was a skilled exorcist and Domeki shares the same skills. Watanuki was meant to attract to spirits and Domeki to exorcise them. When questioning what part Himawari played in all this, Yuko is about to reveal something very important when SHE SENSES BEER CLOSE BY! The volume ends with everyone drinking beer and Yuko states that "I'm expecting fun times...from now on."


OH SNAP! FORESHADOWING!

I'm excited to see what adventures will ensue in the coming volumes. One recurring theme I really love about this manga is that if your knowledge of the world is small, then your world is small. But if you know many things about the world and even the universe, then your world is massive and unending. If you live in the same town in the same state your entire life, then that's all your world ever is. If you are a world traveler than you know how big the world really is. It seems apparent that Yuko knows not only many things about this world, but many other worlds. It's an interesting concept that I like a lot.

My rating for xxxHolic #2 is 7.1/10

I should have a review of volume 3 up soon!

=D

'xxxHolic' #1 Review

More Clamp! So I've been wanting to read xxxHolic for a long time now!! The day has finally arrived! My local library has quite a few volumes so I figured I'd start reviewing them. The first thing I want to say about this series is that you need to be familiar with Clamp's works before reading this. I mean, if you read this as your first Clamp series, it would still make sense overall but they reference their previous works all the time so it'll be far more enjoyable if you know what they're talking about.

Plot Summary

This kid Watanuki is cursed with having the ability to see spirits! Oh mah gah! So he stumbles upon this strange shop owned by Yuko THE TIME WITCH and her creepy/cute little henchmen Maru and Moro. Her shop is one that grants wishes and she strikes a deal with Watanuki to work for her and when he's done enough work, she'll grant his 'wish' to stop seeing spirits.



I'm surprised how funny this series is. There are no moments that are too serious before something humorous happens. I wouldn't call it a comedy but it has its share of tongue-in-cheek humor. The end of the volume has a direct crossover with Tsubasa #1 which was really neat. There's also references to Sakura's wand and Clow Reed (Cardcaptor Sakura), Subaru Sumeragi (Tokyo Babylon, X), and a cameo of Kazahaya and Rikuo (Legal Drug).



Since this is Clamp, we've established on this blog that the art is gorgeous. The style of art in this series is heavily influenced by ukiyo-e wood prints. I thoroughly enjoyed this volume and I'm currently reading #2! So as long as the library has them in stock, I'll keep reading and reviewing!
xxxHolic #1 gets 7.4/10!

'Tokyopop Sneaks 2005' Review

So I thought I'd review this sampler because it's got some Korean manhwa in it. This volume has 13 different series in it, each one having around 12 pages. Half of it is manhwa and reads left to right, the other half is manga and reads right to left. Here are the series being sampled:

(manga)
Alichino - Wow, I thought this one had AMAZING art (picture in the middle of review). Intriguing story about strange creatures that grant wishes. Seriously awesome artwork.
4/5

DearS - So they basically took the plot of Chobits but changed Chi into an alien. That's it. I hate to be harsh about it but it's pretty much Chobits. The only main difference I noticed was that instead of going for story they decided to go for all out fanservice.
1/5

Gundam Seed Astray R - I'm a fan of Gundam but this was just weird. The pages sampled are a good way into the series so I really had no idea who anyone was or what was going on.
1.5/5

Hyper Police - Cat-girl and Fox-girl are police officers who fight giant bugs. Yeah.
1.5/5

Liling-Po - This one had nice, big panels which I liked but I honestly could not stay interested in this at all. The dialogue was so painfully boring, I have no desire to read this.
1/5

Qwan - Really cool spin off of Journey to the West. Amazing art and really good action. The only thing in here that had an actual confrontation of some kind. I want to read more!
5/5


(manhwa)
Blade of Heaven - Some douchebag main character is in chains because the king of heaven is like YOU STOLE OUR SWORD YOU DICK! Yeah, it didn't do much for me.
2/5

Peach Fuzz - I thought this was going to be terrible but it was actually pretty interesting. Basically it shows what a little ferret is seeing through it's own eyes. The main girl is trying to pet it and feed it but the ferret sees her hands and a five headed hydra beast. I liked it.
3/5

PhD - Another comic about a person going to school and THE SCHOOL HAS DEMONS AND VAMPS AND SHIT! OH MANN!!!
2/5

Planet Blood - The title made it sound like a comedy but it's actually dead serious. Pretty cool story about a guy fighting a war in the future and he somehow gets sent to a different primitive world where a different war is happening. I'd like to read more.
4/5

Soul to Seoul - My favorite comic sample in here. Really odd story with really amazing art. No demons or blades or aliens or magic. Just normal people in New York. I liked it a lot.
5/5

The Tarot Cafe - Woman has psychic powers and she owns a Tarot Cafe and supernatural people go there to get their fortunes. More hot vamp guys. Seems like part of it was literally taken right from Interview with the Vampire...
I really liked some of the art though. Some of the panels of the vamp guys face are amazing.
3/5

Warcraft - That's right, folks! Warcraft! As in the top selling game series by Blizzard. I know what you're thinking: What the hell is this and why was it made? I'm thinking that too. THIS THING IS PURE SCREEN TONE! TOO MUCH GODDAMN SCREEN TONE!!
2/5

So there ya have it! A few of these previews were really good! And a lot of there were not. Yay for Qwan and Soul to Seoul!

'Street Fighter Legends - Sakura' Review

For starters, this was much more enjoyable than Malibu's SF adaptation. Duh. I really like Udon's SF comics. Street Fighter Legends - Sakura is composed of all four issues of the series and a bonus prelude chapter. I also have Street Fighter Legends - Chun Li, but this one was far better. One thing that surprised me about this was that it is pure comedy. The entire way through.

Plot Summary

So if you don't know anything about Sakura, she's a badass schoolgirl who wants to be THE VERY BEST! She idolizes Ryu, SF's main man, and strives to kick ass like he does. Her rival is complete bitch Karin. I seriously hate Karin...so much. She's a spoiled rich heir to a big Japanese family. I've always hated Karin and now after reading this...so much distaste. But anyway, Karin wants to kick Sakura's ass. This comic goes from the schoolyard, to a wrestling match, to a hot dog eating contest of fury. I'd like to take a minute to acknowledge the greatest character is SF history.......DAN HIBIKIIIIII!



Seriously, this man is just amazing. Dan has always been the joke of the SF series and he is so perfectly portrayed in this comic. One part I loved is when Dan is hunting down Sakura to challenge her in battle. He is hiding in the bushes with a clever disguise of part of a bush on his head. He fires an arrow with a scroll attached from his bow and it hits the side of Sakura's house. Dan emerges from the bushes and gets the attention of Sakura's bro. "This is an official challenge to Sakura Kasugano. You would do well to deliver it with haste, young one! HA HA HA HA HA!!"
Dan is so cool.

I will now present my favorite quote from the entire comic, by the character E. Honda. He is the guest judge at the hot dog eating contest.
"Made from 100% pure kobe beef produced by Shinto priests in an isolated ranch hidden in the Rokko Mountains, and nestled into heavenly light buns baked with flour milled from the royal family's private farm, they have been aptly called "The Hot Dogs of the Gods!"

Hell yes.
There isn't a whole lot to take away from this comic on an intellectual level. But it is still amazing. Thank you Udon for making good SF comics!
Street Fighter Legends - Sakura gets 7/10!

DAN HIBIKI IS LORD!

'Clover' Review

Alright, so this is a 500 page manga by the group known as Clamp. I'm a huge fan of Clamp's work and this is a pretty overlooked comic in their career compared to their big works. I've read other things by them such as Tokyo Babylon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Chobits, Tsubasa. Clover is completely different from anything else i've read by them. It's very futuristic, sci-fi themed. First thing I have to say about Clover is that it is incredibely gloomy. I didn't feel much profound joy while reading this. With that said, I still think it was great.

Plot Summary

Clover is about a futuristic world where the military hold gifted children known as 'Clovers'. They are classified as Clover 1 through 4, with 4 being the most powerful. A '4-leaf Clover' known as Sue has been kept in captivity her entire life because of her immense power. All she wants to have some friends and experience joy in her life. All the characters are interconnected in different ways which made it very interesting.



One thing that I thought was really peculiar about this manga was the flow of the story. Basically, it's chopped up into 3 different parts. The first part introduces the characters, lots of stuff happens, and your left not really knowing how to feel about it. Then part 2 takes place before part 1 and explains of a lot of things. Finally, part 3 takes place even before part 2 and reveals even more. At the end of reading it, you can finally feel for the events that occurred in the beginning.

Since this is Clamp, the art is obviously amazing. Some really great designs in the futuristic look of things. The panel setup was really bizarre as well. Some pages are almost completely white save for some small panels. Others are almost completely black. A recurring element in the story is song lyrics. They happen EVERYWHERE! In the beginning, I had no idea what was going on. The words 'I want to find happiness, let me be your happiness, etc' are all over the place. Eventually, things are explained the all the song lyrics make sense. Clamp was really adventurous with these panels!



I don't know if I would classify this as Shojo. Everything about this manga is totally out there. Which I really liked!
I give Clover 7.2/10!
That's right, I went into decimals.
Go Clamp!

Malibu's 'Street Fighter' Issue #1 Review

Oh boy. I would just like to say for the record that I'm a hardcore Street Fighter fan. I adore the games and the new Street Fighter comics by Udon are great. But this....THIS....
*sigh*
this should not exist.
I picked this up at a comic store a while back. It was only 50 cents, I figured it couldn't be that bad. I WAS WRONG. From the cover art alone, I knew something was horribly wrong. I mean, look at the art. It's so.....not Street Fighter. The very first page is a panel of Ryu uppercutting Sagat while screaming "DRAGON PUNCH!"
...wait. Dragon Punch? They actually translated Shoryuken? Wow. The next panel is Sagat hunched over saying "YOU...BURNED ME!" Next Ryu says "A lesson Sagat! To remind you of your defeat...BY RYU!"
Wow.
This is bad.
Really bad.
At this point i'm wondering if I can exchange it and get my 50 cents back.
So anyway, a fierce battle ensues that lasts one page. Sagat picks a fight with Balrog, then Bison shows up and he's like HEY STOP IT GUYS!
Then we scene change over to Chun Li and Ryu in a mountain temple river area place. Ryu sneaks up on Chun Li and tries to scare with a seriously terrifying face. PIG! she screams as she throws him over her shoulder. Uh oh. A battle? Then Ryu attacks! "FIREBALL!!"

...

are you kidding me?
Fireball?
alright.
So they have a fierce battle and then make out.
WHAT?!
Ryu and Chun Li just made out.
ok.
This is quite a read.
So now there's a sad attempt at plot development and then we go to Ken.
Ken time! So now Ken beats the shit out of some ninjas. OH SNAP! He's filming a movie! He's an action star! Yeah!
WHAT THE FUCK?!
Ken is Johnny Cage. This is superb. Ken finishes up shooting and goes out back and LOOK OUT IT'S BALROG! Uh oh, battle time. FIREBALL! YEAH! Here comes my favorite line, "I'm a lot stronger than I was when you beat me in the ring, Ken...AND YOU'RE A LOT WEAKER!"
Outstanding.
"You talk too much, actor! Add this to your script!" *punch*
Here come Balrog's finishing blow!
"EAT MY DASHING UPPERCUT!"

Wow.

So Ken somehow defeats Balrog and Mr. Dashing Uppercut flees in a conveniently placed limo. YAY KEN! As Ken walks away SUDDENLY SAGAT APPEARS FROM THE SHADOWS!
"YOUR FIGHT HAS JUST BEGUN, AMERICAN!!"
AWWW SHIT!!

To be continued!

Malibu made 2 more issues and then the series was sadly canceled.
Well...trying to stay on the positive side. This comic made me laugh. A lot. So..thanks for that, I guess.
I'm gonna have to give Malibu's Street Fighter a 1/10.
I highly suggest not reading this.
...
Dashing uppercut?

I'm so sorry, Capcom.

'Hikaru no Go' Review

So for my first review, I figured I'd do one of my favorite series, Hikaru no Go. A manga written by Yumi Hotta and illustrated by Takeshi Obata (Death Note, Bakuman). This series is 23 volumes long, each volume around 180 pages. This manga follows the life of a young boy named Hikaru Shindo. The first thing to know about this series is that it's about the board game go. If you're not familiar with the game, the manga is a great way to get into it. This series has no voilence, blood, gore, explosions, gun fights, robots, or scantily clad women. It seriously revolves around a board game. It's very different from the typical manga that's released by Jump. Even though there aren't any physical battles happening in the story, the matches that ensue during the go games are some of the most intense things I've ever read. This series really grows and comes into it's own as it progresses. In the beginning, Hikaru is complete douche 12 year old slacker who, while trying to sell his grandpa's old goban (go board) accidentally releases the ancient ghost of a long dead go player. This ghost, Sai, inhabits Hikaru's consciousness and can't leave, kind of like another person living in your head. Sai lives and breathes go and turns Hikaru onto the game. Before long, Hikaru really gets into the game and is going for pro. He matures drastically through the series and the manga goes through many years. The story has a great cast of amazingly likable characters. The art by Takeshi Obata makes incredible growth throughout the series. By the end, every panel is just gorgeous.




*spoilers*
I really can't stress enough how much I adore this manga. The only big problem I had with it was it's romance. Or lack there of. A romance gradually builds through the series between Hikaru and his good friend, Akari. In the beginning he couldn't stand her at times and as he matures throughout it, Akari notices. It's very obvious she likes him towards the end. I was so excited for something to blossom from the this, but nothing ever did. It just didn't make any sense to me. It seemed to be building the entire way through but it never took off.




Overall, this manga is full of memorable characters that I feel like I know personally after reading it. My favorite character is probably Yoshitaka Waya with his badass wife beater. I highly recommend this to anyone and everyone. It might be a little hard to get interested in it during the beginning because of how odd it is compared to most mainstream manga. It's definitely not a quick read given the size but it's most definitely worth the read.

I give Hikaru no Go a 9/10!

=]

Alright!

So I've never blogged before like this but I think it'll be a fun experience. I'm an avid reader of comics in all forms and I'd like to start reviewing stuff. I typically read either Japanese manga or American comics but i've expanded to many different mediums. I'm not sure i'm going to follow some kind of system for the things I review on here or if it's just going to be random comics I pick up on whim. Probably the latter. I'm reading a manga called 'Clover' right now, I should be finished soon so I'll post a review up of that in the near future! YEAH!