Manga Village

You’re the ones who’re horny every freaking single day of the year! By: Jun Yuzuki Publisher: Del Rey Genre: Comedy Romance Age: OT 16+ Price: 10.99 US As I stated in earlier reviews, I tend to be a reader of seinen manga, and as an adult male, that is the demographic that I fall into. However I try and read all genres and give them a fair shake, or at least an alternative perspective. Although I have found plenty of gems outside of the seinen genre, there are also plenty of head-scratchers as well. Unfortunately Gakuen Prince falls more into the second catagory than the first. Just like the schools in at least 50% of shoujo manga, Jyoshien Gakuen Private High School used to be an all-girls school, but not long before our story begins boys were admitted for the first time. Rise Okitsu is a plain jane (until she removes her glasses) who just wants to survive high school life. She is hazed by her more fashion and make-up conscious classmates, and Rise just tries to shrink and hide. However, this is the first day of school for the tall, dark and brooding Azusa Mizutani. All boys like Azusa…

I have read and enjoyed a few reviews of Mizutaka Shihou‘s Samurai 7. However, none of the reviews I have read have been written by people who have seen Seven Samurai, the Akira Kurosawa classic movie the manga is based on. I hope here to give a different perspective on what potentially might be a great manga. By: Mizutaka Suhou and Akira Kurosawa Publisher: Del Rey Age Rating: OT 16+ Genre: Action Price: 10.99 USD Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai is one of the best movies ever made in the history of cinema. It stands with Citizen Kane and The Godfather as one of the three best films ever made…ever. Maybe this is the general opinion, or maybe this is my opinion, but this is the opinion I took when cracking open the first volume of Samurai 7. And I broke the seal of the first volume of Samurai 7 with nothing short of reverent fear. I love Seven Samurai. It is one of my favorite movies of all time. However I was not disappointed by Samurai 7. It took a modern approach at retelling a perfect movie, and that may be its undoing. Seven Samurai is Akira Kurosawa’s swan song,…

Written by Antony Johnston; Illustrations by Wilson Tortosa Publisher: Del Rey Manga Genre: Superhero OEL manga Age Range: T 13+ Price: 12.99 USD I am not generally a fan of OEL manga, but have been a fan of X-Men for longer than I am willing to admit. This is probably the opposite of the audience Del Rey and Marvel had in mind for this retelling this origin story of the X-Men’s certainly most well-known and crotchety member. The blurb on the Del Rel homepage was not encouraging: “The gripping, all-new adventure of the x-men’s greatest icon, comletely reimagined in the Manga style This is not the Wolverine you know.” Despite the lack of a proofreader (like I am any position to cast stones), what worried me here was the term “Manga style” (capitalized, when “x-men” is in lower case). As we discussed in the last Manga Village round table, the question becomes, “who are Del Rey and Marvel trying to sell this to?”. Are they trying pull X-Men readers to manga? Manga readers to X-Men? Probably not the latter, as this is released just weeks before the Wolverine Origins movie hits theaters. But also, probably not the former, as this…

“There’s just…dead bodies everywhere.” By: Eiji Otsuka and Shou Tajima Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Genre: Horror Range: Mature 18+ Price: 12.95 USD I have spent much of the last few months comparing MPD-Psycho to a roller coaster ride. A lot is asked of the reader the first couple volumes, a little like loading into the coaster and easing up the first big drop. At about Volume 3 and 4 we start getting payoffs, and by the bucket loads. The faithful reader who dug deep into the tale of the Multi Personality Detective Amamiya in the first volumes found quick twists and breath-taking spirals as the size and scope of the world of MPD-Psycho slowly began to reveal itself. In expert fashion, Eiji Otsuka gives us a ride on a roller coaster on it’s fatal last run. Buckled in and barrelling straight ahead, we look forward to what’s ahead as we hear the girders and steel collapse behind us. Everything in the most recent volumes indicates that no character still alive is returning to any sort of normal world after the story ends. The twists and turns get bigger and more frightening, but at  the same time insanely satisfying. Like the…

It’s where Mom and Dad were supposed to go… Art by Natsumi Ando; Story by Miyuki Kobayashi Publisher: Del Rey Manga Genre: Shoujo Age: T (13+) Price: 10.99 USD Ask anyone who has spent any time in Japan what they miss the most, and without a doubt the food will be in their top three choices. Naturally, native Japanese cuisine won’t be better anywhere else, but many are surprised to hear how many delicious breads and desserts can be found in Japanese bakeries invariably found on any shopping street or decent grocery store. I believe the reason for this is triple-fold: 1) throughout history Japan has scoured the world for the the most delicious recipes and adapted them to Japanese tastes, 2) Japanese cooks know less is more, and a sprinkle of dark chocolate has a more subtle and palatable finish then cup after cup of sugar, and 3) bakers take so much pride in their work (and there is no shortage of competition) that every bite a customer eats should be nothing short of perfection. Though the results may not be perfection, Manga writer Natsumi Ando brings these sensibilities to her best abilities in Kitchen Princess‘s ninth volume. Shoujo…

No deceased manga authors have received near the attention in the English-speaking manga world as Osamu Tezuka has, especially in the last couple years. It’s funny that his more adult and obscure works have received most of the attention, and only recently have his most popular works finally been issued (or reissued after being long out-of-print). Dark Horse recently released a huge double-volume Astroboy trade, and now what may be the most anticipated manga of the year (at least for “older” readers) is finally available. Black Jack is probably Tezuka’s most popular comic ever for adults. Vertical Inc. has promised 17 volumes of Black Jack to be released every other month over the next three years. That seems like a bold commitment, until you start reading the stories. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical, Inc. Genre: Medical Drama Age: 16+ Price: 16.95 USD The series title character is a brooding doctor who is introduced as all the best mysterious characters are: with no back story and no introduction. (Think Clint Eastwood from the spaghetti westerns of the 60s and 70s.) Quiet and brooding this unlicensed doctor is a slave to his skills on the operating room table. That alone is not enough to carry the 12 individual stories that appear in Volume 1, and…