In the city of Nekota, where rapid modernization threatens everything the longtime residents hold dear, one young man has stood up to oppose progress. Inukai and his team of vigilantes, known as Grasshopper, protect the citizens from the rising crime wave and the greedy hands of businessmen bent on turning every block into a modern strip mall. But what is this public hero’s true motive? Is this angelic man actually a devil in disguise? High school student Ando has the special ability to make others say out loud what he’s thinking. But will this be enough to uncover Inukai’s secrets and stop the plot to control the city? By Megumi Osuga Publisher: Viz Media/Shonen Sunday Age Rating: Teen+ Genre: Mystery/Drama Price: $9.99/Free Online Rating: Buy This Book Change is unavoidable. It’s a contradictory constant. But the forces for change can be either good or bad. This first volume of Maoh: Juvenile Remix shows how words can bring about change, but leaves the question of its benefit open to interpretation. The volume starts by introducing the protagonist, Ando, a high school student in the 11th grade. Because of an incident when he was young, he tries not to stand out. He…
[Contains Spoilers] “The Vampires of Venice”, while an overall decent episodes, still has some issues. In the aftermath of last week’s attempted “mating”, the Doctor drags Amy’s fiancée, Rory out of his stag party and into the TARDIS, to give the couple a romantic date, just to keep their fires burning. He takes them to Venice, Italy, to 1580. Venice is closed off though, do to fears of the return of the Black Plague. Of course, it’s just an alien race there, plotting to take over the city and run off with the women, and the Doctor must stop them. On the plus side, this episode showcases the one of the Doctor’s strengths. His ability to verbally spar with his adversaries. It was particularly good in this episode, as the Doctor breaks in to Signora Rosanna Calvierri’s palazzo and confronts her. The following “question-for-a-question” scene as the Doctor and Rosanna, bat questions and answers at each other. The Doctor is really in his element here, as the verbal barrage of questions goes back and forth. It’s in scenes like this that the Doctor really shines. Then there are the not so shiny scenes. It mostly has to do with the…
It’s a new month and that means a new issue of Shonen Jump, the soon to be last bastion of manga magazine’s in print. This month continues the preview of Bakuman, spotlights Claymore, and gives a lot more of the same battle manga that has dominated the magazine for the year. Yeah, I can’t say I was all the enthusiastic to pick it up. But let’s start at the beginning. Once you get past all the ads and more ads disguised as “news” you get to some actual manga. First up is the second chapter of Bakuman. At the beginning there is a short blurb on how kanji can be pronounced in different ways and have different meanings. This will be interesting if you enjoy word games or plays on words. The actual chapter has Akito and Moritaka still debating about becoming manga artists. While the first chapter did pique my interest, this second chapter manages to squash it. Akito gives a lengthy lecture about how the love of Moritaka’s life, Miho, is smart because she doesn’t act too smart, and is just passing time until she gets a husband. Yeah. The whole thing nearly bordered on offensive as far…
This volume starts off with a new arc about Rinne’s family, specifically his father. The truth behind Rinne’s constant debt is revealed, as is more about the criminal shinigami organization, the Damashigami, and Rinne’s connection to it. And there’s some tidbits thrown out about Rinne’s and Sakura’s relationship, and for once, it’s not what you’d expect from Takahashi. By Rumiko Takahashi Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Teen Genre: Supernatural/Comedy Price: $9.99/Free Online (Chapters 29-38) Rating: I’ve been disappointed by the previous volumes of Rin-Ne so far. It’s been so much “been there, done that,” but this volume is different. The quality went up for the chapters covered in this volume, to what I expect from a Takahashi series. The weak start made getting this far difficult, but I’m glad I waited it out. This volume introduces Rinne’s father, Sabato Rokudo. He is key to a lot of the problems in Rinne’s life, specifically his debt and the Damashigami. Sabato is a dead beat dad in every since of the word. He left Rinne with his parents after his wife (Rinne’s mom) disappeared. He is constantly withdrawing money from Rinne’s bank account using a forged stamp. He’s unlike any dad seen…
Being a “Projectionist” can bring lots of money and fame, but only if you are good at it. If you want o become one, first you need to have the power to cast a four-dimensional image. The it is really important to be able to hone and perfect you projecting abilities. The best place to do that, of course, is at a high school filled with other aspiring projectionists. Step into this multi-dimensional world with a very special student body and see how each student deals with his or her special gifts! By Ayami Kazama Publisher: CMX Age Rating: Everyone Genre: Romance/Fantasy Price: $9.99 Rating: Buy This Book It’s an interesting world that is created in The World I Create, where completely realistic “projections” are created for entertainment. It’s a lot of hard work, and can be very rewarding. In this volume, we are introduced to 8 students, all attending school to learn to perfect their abilities. The all have different reasons for wanting to be a projectionist, but in the end this title just doesn’t distinguish itself well enough from other rom-com titles. The first volume is comprised of 4 stories that feature two characters each it. It’s usually…
Everyone’s afraid of Koguma– the biggest, most intimidating guy at school. So when Shinobu accidentally spills milk on his bag, you can bet she’s pretty scared about what’s going to happen next. Turns out the bag contains an antique kimono, of all things. It belongs to Koguma’s grandmother, who runs a kimono shop. To make up for ruining the outfit, Shinobu’s going to have to start modeling kimonos as part of grandma’s big plan to market her products to younger customers. Big, scary Koguma’s into kimonos? Turns out there’s a lot no one knew about this tall, quiet boy, and now Shinobu’s out ot change that. But in doin so, will she also end up with a new boyfriend? By Miku Sakamoto Publisher: CMX Age Rating: Teen Genre: Romance/Comedy Price: $9.99 Rating: Buy This Book I’ve never been interested in fashion much, not as a teenage, and certainly not now, so I was wary about Stolen Hearts. The novelty of being set in a kimono shop did spark my curiosity, but I really wasn’t expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised then by the very sweet romance and great characters that I found in it’s pages. The title starts out like…
It’s the social season, and 17 year old Emma heads to London, with her family’s hope of finding a rich husband weighing heavily on her shoulders. One night, a mysterious man approaches her. A refined handsome face, curly black hair and deep blue eyes… Emma falls in love at first sight and shares with him her first kiss. 12 years later and now a widow, Emma visits the Earl of Greyston to discuss the marriage of her stepdaughter. It is the Earl’s younger brother who is betrothed to her stepdaughter, but the Earl never shows himself. While staying there, Emma spots the man she kissed all those years ago in a portrait on the wall…! by Karin Miyamoto, Gayle Wilson Publisher: DMP/eManga/Harlequin K.K./SOFTBANK Creative Corp. Age Rating: 16+ Genre: Historical, Romance Price: $4.99 Kindle/Digital Edition Rating: I’m not a big romance fan, but when I was given the chance to read some of the Harlequin romances from DMP, I decided to see what all the fuss was about. For the most part, I found the stories to be entertaining but formulaic. One story did stand out; Prisoner of the Tower. This is a historical romance that hits all the right…
When Alex’s sister, Sarah, vanishes and all memory and evidence of her existence is erased, Alex is determined to get to the bottom of her sister’s disappearance. What better place to start her investigations than the Nightschool itself? But when she discovers that sneaking into the Nightschool isn’t as simple as it might seem, Alex enrolls as a student. But is she prepared for what she might find? By Sveltlana Chmakova Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Teen Genre: Supernatural Price: $10.99 Rating: Buy This Book The action in this volume moves to the titular Nightschool as Alex is forced to enroll in order to find out about her sister’s disappearance. We learn more about the school and it’s inhabitants as Alex goes through orientation and attends a class. We also see more of the Hunters as well as the seer Marina, as they relax and train at home, and more clues about the broken seal mentioned in volume 1 are dropped. In order to find her sister, Alex tries to enter the Nightschool, and is twice evicted, but not before meeting Ronee, another weirn that is somehow connected with the prophesy and Alex. So instead, she has to enroll in…
This set of chapters starts out stumbling under the weight of more “been there, done that”, but manages to shake some of it off by the end, leaving a volume of work that is at least palatable. By Rumiko Takahashi Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Teen Genre: Supernatural/Comedy Price: $9.99/Free Online (Chapters 19-28) Rating: Buy This Book Chapter 19 starts out with another typical shtick of Takahashi’s; the rival love interest. Every one of her romantic comedies has one, all the way back to Urusei Yatsura, and Tsubasa Jumonji is right out of that boiler plate. He tries to look cool and in control, but in reality he’s just a bumbling fool. He’s ineffectual as a exorcist, his soul dust only causing people and spirits to cough, but not get rid of them. Of course, he fell in love with Sakura when they were children. Sakura was nice to him after he transferred to her school for a few days, and it was enough that now he’s declaring his love for her, and treating Rinne as his rival. These chapters also introduce the damashigami. They are rogue shinigami that take the life of a person who isn’t meant to die…
Schools may lock up the the night, but class is in session for an entirely different set of students. In the Nightschool, vampires, werewolves, and weirns (a particular breed of witches) learn the fundamentals of everything from calculus to spell casting. Alex is a young weirn whose education has always been handled through homeschooling, but circumstances seem to be drawing her closer to the Nightschool. Will Alex manage to weather the dark forces gathering? Nightschool: The Weirn Books Volume 1 By Svetlana Chmakova Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Teen Genre: Supernatural Price: $10.99 Rating: [May Contain Spoilers] Mystery, magic, and a little mayhem have always made for a good combination in a story. Nightschool: The Weirn Books provides all of these elements in a way to make an intriguing world and a great cast of characters to live in it. The world of Nightschool is one divided between the normal, human world of the day, and the magical, supernatural-filled world of the night. As is usual for this type of world, the daytime world is unaware of the nighttime world, while the reverse is the opposite. The Nighttime world is filled with the usual suspects as well. Vampires, witches, demons…
There’s no real news in this month’s Shonen Jump, which is kind of surprising. You’d think they would want to start hyping any new titles coming soon now. But not this month. So what do we learn in this issue of SJ? I learned that Bleach has entered the endless “lather, rinse, repeat” mode of shonen manga. I still don’t find Gin Tama funny, and the magazine is going to get boring real fast if they don’t add something that isn’t just about fighting.
Revenge and redemption seems to be the theme of this sixth volume of Black Jack. Whether it’s a Mob Boss taking revenge on a prideful and corrupt doctor, or a father and son reconciling during a volcanic eruption, Tezuka explores these issues through Black Jack’s dealings with his patients. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical Inc. Age Rating: Teen+ Genre: Medical Drama Price: $16.95 Rating: Buy This Book Revenge can come in may forms. Whether it’s the traditional “eye for an eye”, or in the name of justice, Black Jack ends up getting involved with people seeking revenge, and the patients often are the true victims. In “Twice Dead”, Black Jack’s skills are sought to help save a boy just so he can be put on trial for murder. “Brachydactyl” has a father trying to get revenge on his wife for cheating on him by denying their son the medical treatment he needs. The ably titled “Revenge” has a Mob Boss punishing a doctor for not letting Black Jack help his son. It’s Black Jack that administers the finale blow in this story. “Terror Virus” has Black Jack and his rival Dr. Kiriko working to save men exposed to a biological…