Manga Xanadu

In a city so dismal it’s known only as “the Hole,” a clan of Sorcerers have been plucking people off the streets to use as guinea pigs for atrocious ‘experiments” in the black arts. In a dark alley, Nikaido found Caiman, a man with a reptile head and a bad case of amnesia. To undo the spell, they’re hunting and killing the Sorcerers in the Hole, hoping that eventually they’ll kill the right one. But when En, the head Sorcerer, gets word of a lizard-man slaughtering his people, he sends a crew of “cleaners” into the Hole, igniting a war between the two worlds. By Q Hayashida Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Mature Genre: Fantasy/Horror Price: $12.99 Rating: I discovered Dorohedoro through the Sigikki.com site. I’m so glad it was put up there, because, based on the volume description, I would have completely bypassed this series, and that would have been a serious crime. While this volume does have violence and some gore, it also introduces some of the best characters I’ve read about in a long time. The volume description makes Dorohedoro sound like a serious battle title, with Caiman and Nikaido hunting down and killing sorcerers and En…

When a little boy brings home a dinosaur egg, the cat of the house isn’t too keen on her new reptile roomie. But after a few weeks of showing the ropes to the new baby, Kitty and Dino form a fast friendship that transcends species!

Mountaineer Shiga made a promise to his best friend following his tragic death in the Himalayas. Twelve years later and he is called upon to honor that promise. When 15-year-old student, Megumi, fails to arrive home from school her mother calls on her dead husband’s best friend for help. Shiga abandons his mountain refuge and enters the city to look for the girl. With the police investigation at a standstill, Shiga decides to go it alone. But the metropolis can be a much more hostile and dangerous ground than the mountains. What has happened to the youngster and will Shiga find her before it is too late? Multi-award winning creator, Jiro Taniguchi, builds the tension to a massive climax in this exciting drama! By Jiro Taniguchi Publisher: Ponent Mon Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Drama Price: $25.00 Rating: I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to participate in this month’s Manga Movable Feast. While I’d heard of Jiro Taniguchi and seen reviewers rave about his work, none of his titles really seemed to interest me. But once I went through a full list of his titles available in English, the first I found that looked interesting was Samurai Legend, which was…

From the pages of history comes the legend of the Samurai Jubei and the book he was pledged to protect. Now that book has been stolen and Jubei must retrieve it before Japan descends into bloody civil war. A tale of blood, swords and political intrigue!

I almost didn’t get through my next series this week. I had two things working against me. With the Jiro Taniguchi MMF coming up, I had Samurai Legend to read, and I received The Quest of the Missing Girl, a volume didn’t think I would get on time, so I had to read that too. And then I was on vacation with the rest of the family, and we had to find a car to replace our 15-year-old car as well as hit Wondercon on the weekend. It was a busy week! But since we commuted to Wondercon, I had the evenings to read Shiki Tsukai. I’ve had the first four volumes for a couple of years now, and after reading the first volume, I thought it had potential. After reading all four, I now know I was wrong. The thing that attracted me to this series was the use of the seasons as an ability and the cards each Shiki Tsukai use. I like game manga, especially those about trading cards, so this series seemed to be right up my alley. I also thought the use of the seasons, birthdays, and birthstones was a unique idea. It really seemed…

Week 10 comes to an end, and I almost didn’t make it. Fortunately, I chose a short series this week and could easily catch up. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to read this series, but my kids are on spring break, and it meant a week where I could go walking, and catch up on some podcasts, and not worry about their homework. Well, my youngest anyway. I don’t have to worry about my oldest. The series I finished this week is Kiichi and the Magic Books. It is from the now-defunct CMX and is sadly out of print. It was part of the Flex Comics deal that CMX made in 2007. This same deal brought such titles as the all ages Suihelibe, the incomplete Deka Kyoushi and Break Blade (Broken Blade). Kiichi and the Magic Books is a five-volume series that’s rated for Teen, but is also appropriate for Tween readers. Kiichi and the Magic Books is about teenage orphan Kiichi. He lost his mother to disease when he was young, and has live alone ever since. He is shunned by the villagers of his home for the horns growing out of his head, and called an Oni….

Playing catch-up doesn’t just mean reading manga, it also means writing reviews of titles I’ve read, but hadn’t got around to reviewing. So here are a couple of Seven Seas Entertainment titles that I’d read a while ago, but needed some time to figure out what I wanted to say.

Apollo’s Song follows the tragic journey of Shogo, a young man whose abusive childhood has instilled in him a loathing for love so profound he finds himself compelled to acts of violence when he is witness to any act of intimacy or affection whether by human or beast. His hate is such that the gods intervene, cursing Shogo to experience love throughout the ages ultimately to have it ripped from his heart every time. From the Nazi atrocities of World War II to a dystopian future of human cloning, Shogo loses his heart, in so doing, healing the psychological scars of his childhood hatred. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical, inc. Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Drama Price: $10.95/part Rating: I first read Apollo’s Song 2 years ago, but could never get my thoughts about it to coalesce enough about it to get a review done. I decided to try again with the latest MMF. And again, I was at a loss for what to say. The story didn’t really speak to me, and some parts repulsed me. I had to give it a lot of thought to really come up with the reason why. It really all came down to…

Set in a medieval fairy-tale backdrop, Princess Knight is the tale of a young princess named Sapphire who must pretend to be a male prince so she can inherit the throne. Women have long been prevented from taking the throne, but Sapphire is not discouraged and instead she fully accepts the role, becoming a dashing hero(ine) that the populace is proud of. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical Age Rating: All Ages Genre: Fantasy Price: $13.99/ea Rating: Princess Knight is another landmark title by the “God of Manga”, Osamu Tezuka. While not the first manga written for girls, it is the one that established many of the themes and styles seen in later shojo manga, and inspired a generation of women to create manga as well. While I had heard of Princess Knight before, I hadn’t had a chance to read it until the one chapter special that appeared in Shojo Beat back in 2007. What I read intrigued me, so I was happy when Vertical announced it had licensed it. And I wasn’t disappointed in the least when I finally got to read it. Princess Knight tells the tale of Sapphire, a child who was meant to be born a…

Toshiko Tomura is a genius; she has already been an established international stage actress, and up-and-coming architect, and an award as Japan’s best new writer. Toshiko is also the mastermind behind a series of murders. The ultimate mimic, she has plagiarized, blackmailed, stolen and replicated the works of scores of talents. And now as her star is rising within the world of the elites and powerful she has amassed a long list of enemies frustrated by the fact that she has built critical and financial acclaim for nothing more than copying others’ work. Neglected as a child, she is challenging the concepts of gender inequality while unleashing her loneliness upon the world as she climbs the social ladder one body at a time. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical, Inc. Age Rating: 16+ Genre: Thriller Price: $21.95 Rating: I wasn’t going to read this title. It seemed to have all the hallmarks of being another MW, and I’ve had quite enough of that. But I started paging through it, and as should be expected, got sucked into the story, and had to read it from the beginning. While it has some superficial similarities to MW, I was relieved to find the…

It’s an epidemic of accidental death! Multiple college students receive odd voicemails from themselves, messages from the future, and all they contain are the screams of their own deaths. A few days later, at the date and time of the message’s posting, they die in mysterious accidents, and oddly enough, each have a candy in their mouths. Original Story by Yasushi Akimoto; Manga by Mayumi Shihou Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Age Rating: Teen+ Genre: Horror Price: $14.95 Rating: One Missed Call was a novel written by Yasushi Akimoto that was adapted into a movie by cult director Takashi Miike. It was received well enough that it got a sequel under a different writer and director. This manga adapts both movies into one volume. The first story is a standard, but fairly coherent j-horror. The second story feels more like a bunch of j-horror elements glued together and slapped with the One Missed Call label. One Missed Call starts out like a fairly standard j-horror. People are being killed in what looks like accidents. The only link between the victims are contact lists on cellphones. The police don’t believe anything strange is going on. There is an intrepid reporter who hooks…

Wrongly executed for crimes he did not commit, a former detective is given a second chance at life. To earn that chance, however, the man now known as Ash must use the supernatural abilities with which he has been infused to prevent the deaths of other innocents. But is Ash willing to dedicate himself to helping others, or is his thirst for vengeance against those who destroyed his life and his loved ones too powerful to ignore? By Avi Arad; Script by Junichi Fujisaku; Art by Yasung Ko Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Supernatural/Action Price: $11.99 Rating: I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I first heard about this title. With a collaboration of Japanese, American and Korean creators, anything was possible. And I wasn’t too sure about the story when it first started serialization in Yen Plus. But as the characters and world was built up, a solid story emerged that both fans of manga and comics could enjoy. The Innocent is the story of Johnny Wright, a detective who is far from a hero, but does want to see justice done. In the case of Frame Burns, crime boss, he wants revenge. And he’s…