Manga Xanadu

With Tokyopop’s closing, a lot of attention has been paid to the loss of the Japanese licenses. Of course, this is what most manga fans are concerned with. The loss of such an extensive line, for what will probably be forever really hurts. But Tokyopop had another line of books that were actually doing quite well, that as a parent, I am acutely aware of losing; the HarperCollins YA adaptations.

Back in 2008, I wrote a post about subtitles helping my younger daughter to read.  While the subtitles did help her reading improve, it didn’t do anything for her desire to read.  She still preferred playing video games and watching DVDs (granted she did much of this with subtitles/closed captions on, just because I guess), but getting her to read was still a chore.  We got her titles she showed interest in, but they never lasted.  Then, something happened over the summer.

Warriors: The Rise of Scourge Written by Erin Hunter and Dan Jolley Art by Bettina Kurkoski Publisher: Tokyopop (Harper Collins) Age Rating: Y (10+) Genre: Fantasy Price: $6.99 Rating: Storyline: Tiny, a small kit with a loving mother and two siblings that dislike him, at one point, visited the forest. He was attacked by the patrol from Thunderclan (Tigerstar attacked him) and Bluefur pulled them away. Tiny went to the city in fear of being thrown into a river. He then stuck a dog tooth into his coller, and told a lie, which made him change his name to Scourge. Review: I liked this side-issue. It completely changed how I thought about Scourge. Before, I thought of him as an ugly cat with hatred but from this manga, I learn that it was his bad past that shaped him and he’s actually kind of cute. Did I like it: 100% sure. I definitely like it, Scourge is cute, but his past shaped him into what he had become. He may be small, but he proved his littermates wrong. He killed Tigerstar nine times over and Tigerstar deserved it. Could there be anything changed: Nothing, not from my eyes. The manga…