'Marvel Mangaverse: Spider-Man' #1

Well, this is an interesting beast. The Marvel Mangaverse comics ran from 2000 to 2002 and some of the characters got their own spin-off series, such as Spider-Man. I was a little reluctant about how this would be but I was pleasantly surprised.

Plot Summary: So this is a short and sweet issue 1, it moves quite fast. All of the basic Spider-Man plot elements are there: Peter lives with his aunt and uncle, Mary Jane and Flash and Gwen are all in it, and several other characters from the universe. But everything has been given a Japanese twist. Uncle Ben is Peter's sensei and he is killed by Venom, who is a large...guy in samurai armor. In school, Peter's teacher is Doc Oc, which I thought was kind of funny. Venom takes orders from the Kingpin, who kind of acts as the Yakuza boss stereotype. Now that Peter is the last surviving member of the 'Spider Clan', his life is threatened by the Kingpin. Peter dons his Spider-Man costume and fights Venom and some foot ninjas in a street battle and essentially impresses him quite a bit.

Kaare Andrews did the writing and art for this, which really surprised me. A lot of the panel layout shots are a lot of fun, especially in the action scenes.

There are couple elements that I'm confused about. For starters, how old are these characters? At first, I thought Peter was just a boy, but then when he's in school, it appears to be high school. The art style is great but it makes it a bit confusing as to what age group we're in. There's a moment in the beginning when Peter has a nightmare during class about Uncle Ben's death. When Professor Doc Oc asks him to leave, one kid in the class mutters 'WHATTA FREAK...PROBABLY KILLED HIS SENSEI HIMSELF...' Wow. That was uncalled for. During the final battle, there's a random moment that confuses the hell out of me: Spider-Man knocks down Venom and is about to strike the 'final blow' or what have you. He says 'Any final words, demon?' when suddenly THE HULK comes out of NOWHERE and rips through the entire building...? What? The this isn't a Hulk we're used to, he's literally the size of a building. Why is the Hulk suddenly in this comic with no warning? Why is he tearing through a city? Why is no one REACTING to the Hulk being here? No one even seems to acknowledge it. What the hell. And the final splash page of the comic is Peter deciding to save the city instead of going after Venom, with The Hulk chasing after him and Mary Jane. So the Hulk is evil or something? He doesn't speak. He's just in two panels in the whole comic! I need an explanation or something. I'll have to find issue 2 to figure out what's going on, I guess. Bizarre.

Overall, I thought this was a fun issue and I'd like to read more. Some of the Japanese twists were quite fun. On the cover of the issue, they have MARVEL and the writer's name written in Japanese Katakana, (MAABERU and KAARE ANDORYUUZ) which I thought was a really nice touch.

An interesting addition to the Spider-Man library, give it a read if you can!


Marvel Mangaverse: Spider-Man #1 - 7.9/10


Next up, I'm going to check out SPIDER-MAN: INDIA...

'Slam Dunk' #1 Review

Slam Dunk. Classic. It's awesome. Let's discuss.

Plot Summary:

Hanamachi Sakuragi is a freakishly tall freshman who's constantly being shot down by the ladies. After seeing the beautiful Haruko Akagi in the hallway, Sakuragi is instantly head-over-heels. He discovers that she has a passion for basketball and decides he's gonna become a SPORTS GUY and win her heart. He tries out for the team but basketball ends up becoming a far more intense endeavor than he planned.

This comic is just great. It falls into that fantastic category of manga that starts off quite funny and absurd and slowly builds up the seriousness over time. After a couple volumes in, you'll find yourself deeply caring about these characters and reading some really powerful scenes that bring a tear to the eye.

But I don't want to get into the main story, this is just discussing volume one. This first book has by far the most comedy; the first few chapters are a riot. Takehiko Inoue doesn't focus on instantly throwing out basketball action, he focuses on introducing and developing plenty of characters in this high school. For me, this series reminds me of Hikaru no Go: a sports manga that has a huge amount of characters that are all ridiculously likeable. Once the 'protagonists' of the series are introduced, the other teams in the area, you'll find yourself enjoying those characters just as much.

The relationships and dialogue between everyone is hilarious, Sakuragi's "posse" in particular (on the left) really crack me up. Everyone makes fun of everyone else in this comic. 

The art is obviously great. You get to see Inoue's earlier style gradually develop into his fluid, realism. Reading this manga just makes you want to run outside and play some ball, it's really inspirational at times. If you're interested in basketball, comedy, shonen, action, slice of life, any of that good stuff, Slam Dunk is for you.

Slam Dunk #1 - 8.7/10

'Hot Gimmick' #1 Review

Here's me attempting to branch out and find good shoujo. I was surprised how much I enjoyed reading volume one of Crimson Hero so I picked up a few volumes of this series. So right off the bat we can assume this series is going to be pretty drama-tastic, hence the name HOT GIMMICK. I liked Crimson Hero because it had a nice sports manga feel to it along with the shoujo, but this series just looked like pure gossip/drama/etc. But I'll give it a shot!


Plot Summary

Our main character Hatsumi is JUST YER AVERAGE TEENAGE GAL. This series has pretty generic shoujo typecast characters. We've got the bad boy Ryoki who might have a softer side to him. Then there's super nice handsome guy Azusa. There's also nerdy otaku Subaru that no one gives a shit about. Poor guy. Hatsumi's sister Akane is only fourteen (two years younger than our protagonist) but she's been getting around town lately and asks Hatsumi to go buy a pregnancy test for her. Bad boy douchebag Ryoki happens to find out that Akane might be pregnant and now has Hatsumi in a bind. If he tells his mother about this, then Hatsumi's family will be shamed by all the other families that live in their company housing area. So Hatsumi reluctantly agrees to be Ryoki's 'slave' if he doesn't spill the beans. Already, this girl has serious self esteem issues. Ryoki basically wants to use Hatsumi as his sex toy etc etc cause this is how all guys are. But we find out that super fabulous model Azusa, who was Hatsumi's childhood chum, has moved back into their complex. He shows that he's going to protect Hatsumi because he's just so darn perfect.

(Check out the above image. SHE'S PRENANT!)


So as far as I can tell this series basically focuses on a love triangle between awkward girl, mr. perfect and douchebag (bordering on psychotic behavior) dude. Like I said, there's an otaku guy that might also jump in the game for winning Hatsumi's heart but he hasn't had much of a role as far as I've read. The most frustrating aspect for me was just that Hatsumi is...kinda dumb. I'm hoping she gets better as it goes on. Nothing really surprising from this series, pretty typical shoujo content going on. I bought the first three volumes really cheap so I'll keep reading and see where it goes. I don't have much to say about the art either, pretty average shoujo style. I do like the cover designs though. I think this series definitely reflects how Japanese behavior is different from American. All the drama in Hot Gimmick starts from Hatsumi not wanting her family to be shamed in any way and I really don't think most Western girls would care much about something like that. Different cultures. Anyway, I might review volume 2 and 3 if it gets any better (or worse)!

Hot Gimmick #1 - 5.2/10

'Naruto' #6 Review

Oh man, it's been a long time since I've read early Naruto! Found this volume used at a local bookstore and I had to pick it up. I read Naruto weekly and I enjoy the series as a whole but I think the first half of Naruto is better overall. This volume starts off with all the ninja taking the Chunin Exam in the Forest of DEATH. Kishimoto's art is still clearly in it's early stages but it's still great nonetheless! This volume marks the first appearance of Orochimaru and I think the plot of Naruto really starts to develop from that. Sasuke is marked by Orochimaru and he and Naruto are out cold from halfway through the volume. Sakura is forced to protect them and the scrolls with her life and I think it's the first time you see her in a strong, independent way. We get to learn more about Rock Lee and his badass-ness as well as Ino.

This volume is full of intense action. Not a whole lot of dialogue or slow scenes, just ninjas throwing down. A fun bonus I enjoyed about volume six is in between the chapters they had profiles and art showing Masashi Kishimoto's assistants on the manga. This volume is a great showcase of early Naruto and how fun this series can be. I don't necessarily think a person would even need to have read up to this point, it's easy to just jump right in. Interestingly, Naruto doesn't have much of a role in this volume; he's in the beginning but that's about it. Volume six is mainly about the appearance of Orochimaru and Sakura/Rock Lee/Sasuke development. Reading this really made me want to go back and start at the beginning of the series, early Naruto has actually become a little nostalgic for me!

Naruto #6 - 8/10

'Steel Ball Run' #1 and 2 Review

    Alright, this is my comic blog so I've got to do it. I've got to review some of my favorite comic EVER, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. I HAVE TO DO THIS. I've been reading Jojo off and on for a few years now and I'm currently on part seven (Steel Ball Run) so I figure I'll review a bit and see how it goes. If you're unfamiliar with this series, each part of Jojo is comprised of a different story with different characters, ranging from five to twenty volumes in length. They're all so unique and interesting, Jojo is basically seven (eight as of recently) completely different manga series in one. In other words: IT KICKS ASS. Since this manga isn't available to American readers (with the exception of part three), I'm reading Steel Ball Run online chapter by chapter. But doing a review of it only by chapter seems too trivial so I'll review it by volume(s).

Plot Summary


Part six of Jojo took place in a prison in 2012 and due to some crazy events at the end, SBR takes place in the wild west in the 1890's. This manga originally started off in Weekly Jump but after about twenty four chapters, it changes into a monthly series. In a nutshell, the story is about a huge race on horseback from San Diego to New York. The two main characters are introduced a good way into the first volume, Gyro Zeppeli (an ancestor of the recurring Zeppeli family) and Johnny Joestar (SBR's JoJo). Johnny is a paraplegic and when he gets touched with Gyro's mysterious steel balls, the strange rotation effect from them causes Johnny's dead legs to actually move. Before starting the race, he decides that he's going to find out the mystery of the steel balls and how they got his legs to move.



















We meet some interesting contestants. Diego Brando (known as Dio) and Muhammad Abdul are reincarnations of former Jojo characters. A man known as Poco Loco is a hilariously awesome black guy competing in the race. He's been told by a fortune teller than his luck is one in five billion so he decides to give the SBR race a shot. Another big character is a native American known as Sandman, who is competing in the race ON FOOT. He has a big advantage knowing the regions of the country much better than the other contestants. I don't want to give many spoilers away so I won't go into what happens in the race. The writer/artist Hirohiko Araki is a godlike being in my eyes; his art gets better with every Jojo series and Steel Ball Run is no exception. Art wise, everything is there in this series and it'll only get better as it goes on. I'm excited to see how much the art will improve in the latter part of SBR when it's a monthly title.

These first two volumes are very much in the western type genre and the series doesn't really become bizarre until volume three. I think Araki cleverly made this series seem very different at first and slowly integrated his Jojo style into it over time. SBR is definitely for a crowd older than that of typical Weekly Jump. These two volumes seem like a pretty straightforward manga story but once you get to the the third volume, shit gets BIZARRO. My first impression of reading Jojo a few years ago was that it was really disturbing and frankly, that hasn't changed! No matter how much I read into the series, it never ceases to disturb me in new and interesting ways. I mean this in a very humble and inspirational way.

Unlike the other parts of Jojo, I don't think it's necessary to read everything up to this point. SBR is still a part of the Jojo lore but it's very much its own series and everything is explained thoroughly. But if you're like me and you've read Jojo parts one through six up to this point, then it's just that much sweeter. Other than having to read this manga online, it's a fantastic read. It's got intense action, good comedy and a nice western feel to it.

Read this series.


Steel Ball Run volumes 1 and 2 - 9/10

Shonen Jump #97 Review

   So I had a subscription to Shonen Jump for quite a long time, I own MANY issues. I figured I'd do a quick review of an issue. It's not very recent but it's one of the last issues I got before my subscription was up. This issue of Jump is not only the first of 2011 but it's also the WILD NEW EVOLVED edition of Jump. Well, the layout is a little different and...that's it. Alright. There's an large image on the side of a Naruto chapter cover but it looks like it's alrighty partway through? It should be the far left of the image but it looks like the middle to me. Oh well. We've got some YUSEI goin' on in the cover. We'll get more into the Yusei business later. As a note, I've read this issue before but I just wanted to review some more Jump on my blog.


Psyren - First up, we've got chapters one and two of Psyren. I'd heard of Psyren many times but this issue was actually my first time reading any of it. I gotta say, it's pretty interesting. Since it's a mystery/thiller, I think it would be a hard series to jump right into from the middle. I've read so little of it overall so a lot of it is still pretty confusing, not much has been answered as far as I've read. It makes it fun to keep reading but definitely difficult for someone starting up at a later chapter. The art is really good, I like the inking a lot. I won't give away any surprises, check it out yourself if you get the chance!

4/5


Naruto - Ahh, Naruto. Such a love/hate relationship. Overall, it's one of my favorite series but sometimes I think a chapter is just awful. These chapters are about Tobi and Kabuto teaming up, their evil secret plans of doom starting to unfold. Naruto goes to a secluded island to train with Killer Bee. Overall, good bunch of chapters. One comment I have is VIZ's HORRIFIC translations of Killer Bee's rapping. Oh my god. I've read a good amount of Naruto scanlations online and the translations the fans make are so much better than what VIZ makes, it's kind of sad, actually. I've caught up with reading Naruto weekly on many different occasions but I can never keep up with it. Most of the time, it's just not good enough to keep me reading EVERY week. Nevertheless, I still have a special place in my heart for Naruto and company.

3.5/5



One Piece - It's One Piece. What else should I say? It's One Piece. I've praised Eichiiro Oda's comic on here before. The chapters featured in this issue of Jump have the death of a certain hugely important character *HINTFIREFISTHINT* One Piece is superb and never disappoints. Honestly, The death of that certain beloved character is one of the saddest things I've ever read. I feel bad for those people who are alienated by Oda's artwork and don't give One Piece a chance; they are missing out on some gold.

5/5




Ultimo - This series has gotten pretty damn awesome. I can't tell if it's going to be a long series or really short. It seems like it could go for years or it could end in a month. Regardless, it's a pretty interesting story with amazing art by Hiroyuki Takei. I don't want to say much about the story because lots of important things happen almost every chapter. In my opinion, it's no Shaman King, but it's still pretty rad.

3.7/5



Bleach - Yeah, I just don't even care. I like looking at Bleach for the art but trying to read it and figure out the story is just pointless to me. Nothing very important ever seems to happen, it's just constant fighting that goes on for chapters. I'm really surprised Bleach is still running, it seems like everyone I talk to who likes it  thinks it should have ended a long time ago. Granted, this issue of Jump is still very behind to where Bleach is currently, there's a lot of catching up to do. It seems to me that Kubo doesn't like drawing backgrounds, so much of Bleach is just white surroundings. I guess I can understand not wanting to draw so many backgrounds but it makes me really appreciate series like One Piece that have extreme detail in all the backgrounds. I'm curious to see if Tite Kubo makes another series after Bleach, I could possibly get into that. We'll see!

2/5



Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's - The original Yu-Gi-Oh manga (volumes 1-7) is one of my favorite series out there. It's clever and witty and awesome. But since the original I think YGO has just been on a downward spiral. Now we've got 5D's, people are dueling while racing on motorcycles, it really seems like a joke. This manga isn't even related to the actual creator of YGO, Kazuki Takahashi, so I really didn't care about this from the start. Everything about is over the top and corny, YGO just keeps going to new heights of ridiculousness. At the end of this chapter, a massive grim reaper of death shows up to battle Yusei. So now we've got the main character preparing to play a card game with death itself (who is riding a skeleton horse) while racing him on a motorcycle. There you have it.

1.5/5

'Crimson Hero' #1 Review

This manga was a very pleasant surprise! This is pretty much what I was looking for when I picked up Red River the other day; a good shoujo! I love sports manga and this is a good example why. The first thing I noticed about this series is the art is pretty great! I can't stand when shoujo manga ka create a series that looks exactly like every other shoujo. Crimson Hero's art is a lot better than most shoujo series out there, especially the faces and clothes. There's still a heavy use of screen tone, like all shoujo, but not so much that it bothered me while reading it.

Plot Summary

The lead character Nobara Sumiyoshi is a tomboy with serious love for volleyball. Her family owns an old fashion japanese resteraunt (ryotei) and Nobara's mother wants her to become the next hostess. She attends a new high school purely on the fact that it has a popular volleyball team but soon learns that it's the boy's team that's popular and the girl's team has been shut down this year. After being sick of all the crap her mom is giving her, she decides to move out and goes to her aunt's (who is also the school nurse) for help. Her cold but caring aunt sets Nobara up at a boy's volleyball team dorm working as their dorm mother. Now we've got a good shoujo setting: girl surrounded by lots of hot guys.

We've got the asshole hot guy and the quiet hot guy in the main cast so I'm sure there'll be a love triangle happening between them. There wasn't a lot of sports action going on in volume one but I can tell there's going to be a lot coming up. Volume one is all pure set up for the series and I think volume two onward will start to have the plot actually moving forward. There are obviously still a lot of main characters that havn't even come into play yet. This series reminds me of Hikaru no Go in a lot of ways and I'm actually excited to read more! I'm glad I found a shoujo sports manga, I honestly didn't know those existed. I think this is a great series for guys who love sports manga and are intested in shoujo and girls who love shoujo and are interested in sports. IT'S A FUSION. I'm surprised to read that this series is still running and is twenty volumes strong. I'll definitely pick up volume two and read it if I can find it!

Crimson Hero #1 - 8.3/10

'Red River' #1 Review

Since I've gotten back into this, I've only been reviewing American comics so let's get back into some manga! Like I've mentioned before, I usually get most of what I review on here from the library. I've been seeing this series Red River there for a very long time and they have over twenty-five volumes there! So I figured I'll review the first volume, if it's good then I'll read more and if it sucks then I probably won't. Well...it was alright. I'm pretty neutral about it. Before I go into Red River, I'd like to bring up something that's on the first page of this volume. It's VIZ's super hip layout, they've got a definition of Shoujo, Pulp Fiction style. It says SHOUJO n. 1. Manga appealing to both female and male readers.
...what the hell? I was amazed by this. Are they saying that shonen (or any other type of comic for that matter) isn't appealing to males and females? Like they're being so edgy and radical by having their type of comic appeal to both sexes? For the record, I know a LOT more gals who like Naruto and Bleach than I do guys. Have I ever met a guy who liked any shoujo? No. I'm not saying it's impossible for a guy to like shoujo, there are some out there that I really like! (Absolute Boyfriend, Alice 19th, CLAMP shoujo) I was just really surprised by this whole GUESS WHAT OUR MANGA ACTUALLY APPEALS TO EVERYONE thing they had to say.
Now that I've got that out there, I'd like to say that Red River is most definitely for female readers. I can't see many dudes spending money on this manga.

Also, check out that cover. Our heroin looks like she's about to be stabbed or worse by multiple people. That's pleasant, right? And the with a title like RED RIVER, my mind is automatically thinking blood since we've got knives on the cover. THIS IS SHOUJO?

Plot Summary

So the manga opens with Yuri Suzuki getting her first kiss. Then the guy immediately ditches after kissing her like a jackass. Later than night, Yuri notices water seems to be acting different around her. Cups of water are sloshing and bubbling when she's near them. At school the next day, two arms shoot out of a fishtank and grab her but then disappear. When she takes a bath at night, the arms reappear and drag her under the water. She nearly drowns before her family busts in from all the noise. She decides to stay away from water  (so i'm guessing she didn't shower for a while) and later when she's walking with her beloved Satoshi, the water hands strike again!! They emerge from a puddle and drag her all the way in by the feet. She's under the water for a while and manages to break free and reaches the surface. She finds herself in an old bathhouse looking area full of strangely dressed folk. She's been transported BACK IN TIME to what is now TURKEY! She meets up with a super hot, angsty guy while on the run (he's destined to be the main hot guy of this manga) and he saves her from being captured. She runs away from him and gets captured anyway and we meet the antagonist of the tale, this crazy ass magician woman who is also the queen. We find out the super hot guy is one of the princes (there are six and I'm sure they're all super hot). So they're about to sacrifice her because the crazy queen bitch wants her dead when suddenly the hot prince KAIL says that she isn't a virgin and he was unaware she was supposed to be a virgin sacrifice. Yuri goes along with his lie and he takes her to his bachelor pad. Prince Kail tries to have her for real but she freaks and yells SATOSHI! So Kail leaves her alone and we all know she's gonna get with him eventually anyway. She gets a servant guy named Tito (which I thought was hilarious) and he's a cool kid. But the queen hypnotizes him and has Tito try to kill Yuri. The volume ends with her still on the run from the queen with Kail.

I didn't have much of an opinion on volume one. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't great. The art style almost reminds of Osamu Tezuka's (Astro Boy) whimsical kind of style. Unfortunately there was one panel in here that was pretty awful looking, it actually scared me. It's just a shot of Yuri's profile view but the placement of her GIANT eye is so low on her head, it's practically below her nose. Pretty terrifying.
I might read volume two if I'm up for it.

Red River #1 - 5.3/10

'Vagabond' #1 Review

Holy shit. This is good. I'm a fan of Takehiko Inoue, I've read a fair amount of 'Slam Dunk' and 'Real', his art is FANTASTIC. I think in terms of his artwork, Vagabond is even better than his previous series, and that's really saying something. I think Inoue is one of the best manga artists out there. I can't think of many other manga ka out there that have the same degree of realism to their art. Hirohiko Araki's (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) artwork has that same life to it in his current series, Steel Ball Run. Him and Inoue should draw each others characters (NEW FANTASTY OF MINE).



So going from reading lots of Teen Titans to this was pretty odd. These panels are just so HUGE. Right off the bat, I have to say that this series is really violent. I figured as much, but once I started reading I was pretty surprised. There doesn't seem to be any warning anywhere on the volume saying "mature readers" or anything. A little odd. I think if 8 year old Timmy is browsing through the comic book section at Barnes and Noble and starts flipping through this manga, he's gonna have problems. Honestly though, I'm a boy, I love the violence in this manga, it's awesome. It takes me back to the days of being an 8 year old in Barnes and Noble, browsing through the comic section, flipping through the manga Akira and marveling at it's violence. I turned out alright, didn't I? o.O
Moving on.


Plot Summary
Vagabond is the story of the legendary samurai, Miyamoto Musashi. This story is directly based off of Eiji Yoshikawa's famous novel Musashi. The manga begins with two young men, Shinmen Takezo and Hon'iden Matahachi, leaving a battlefield full of corpses. They've been best friends most of their lives and they start traveling together from there. The two meet up with a mother and daughter living as thieves and are given food and board. Takezo is pretty much the definition of a badass, to the point where it's scary. People keep mentioning how he has eyes like a demon, and he really does. Vagabond has bits of romance in it, but violence is definitely the main element I get. This is a Seinen series in every aspect and I loved every page. I'm very eager to read more, it's been running for some time now.

If you have any sort of interest in Japanese history, this series is for you. Also, if you just want to see how far a manga can be taken in degrees of realism, most of the panels look like full on paintings; especially the beginning pages of a chapter which Inoue colors. All I can say is this manga is great. Seeing a volume of Vagabond in a bookstore puts everything else around it to shame just from Inoue's art on the cover. I can't imagine a person reading this first volume and being disappointed.

Vagabond #1 - 9/10

'Chobits' Review

More manga from Clamp! SHOCKER! I watched the anime quite a few years ago and I've been wanting to pick up the manga for comparison. As per usual, the manga is far better. Only eight volumes in all, Chobits is a great sci-fi/romance.

Plot Summary

Hideki Motosuwa is a guy (in his late teens?) going to cram school in Tokyo. Taking place in the near future, the world has been introduced to persocoms: human-looking androids used as personal computers. On his way home from work one evening, he spots a persocom in the form of a girl laying in a pile of trash outside. He takes the android home and after she has awoken, has no memory of anything. Only being able to say the word 'Chi', Hideki names her Chi and decides to take care of her and teach her as much as he can. Chi's mysterious past is slowly revealed throughout the series and Hideki begins to fall in love with her.


This series has many interesting relationships, a major one being love between a human and a persocom. More examples are a boy who has built a persocom to replace his deceased sister, a woman who is abandoned by her husband after he buys a persocom, and at the end, a developing relationship between two persocoms.

The art is Clamp, so I loved it. It's a very different style compared to other Clamp works. It's very sketchy compared to the art of  xxxHolic, which is all smooth, even lines. Also, I noticed the noses of males in Chobits are all just a few sketchy lines on the bridge of the nose. Very different compared to other works by Clamp.

One thing that really bothered me about the Tokyopop (douchebags!) translation was that the amazingly awesome persocom, Sumomo, was given the name Plum. What the hell? Everyone else has their normal Japanese names: Hiromu Shinbo, Minoru Kokobunji, etc. WHOSE IDEA WAS 'PLUM'?!

One thing I'd like to mention about the anime: There was an entire episode dedicated to Chi getting her first pair of underwear. In the manga it was about two pages. Wow.

I noticed in a bookstore recently that Dark Horse started publishing Chobits in massive volume formats. I thought this was pretty awesome. Even though it seems kind of unnecessary, I have a lot more respect for Dark Horse than Tokyopop. Overall, this series is very well put together. Not too long and not too short. Since it's only eight volumes, it moves pretty quickly. Very enjoyable series with good romance and lots of great humor!

Chobits: 8/10

'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