'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

'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

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

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.