Before a certain orange jump suited ninja came onto the scene people were reading about a very different ninja in the pages of Shonen Sunday. I remember many years back one of my coworkers mentioning that Flame of Recca was his favorite anime but that is sort of just ends in the middle of a storyline after being canceled. He lamented the fact that from what he knew the manga had a proper ending but he knew of no plans to pick up the license in the US. Then about a year later came the Tokyopop revolution and the manga boom. Many titles that have been on wish lists for licensing for the longest time became realities and Flame of Recca was one of those titles. So I decided to read what had been recommended to me so long ago. Originally reviewed by Alain Mendez By Nobuyuki Anzai Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Teen+ Genre: Action Price: $9.99 Recca Hanabishi is the son of a fireworks manufacturer who is a self-styled ninja that he mentions quite often in the least ninja way possible. He has made it known that anyone who defeats him in a fight will gain his services…
Raizo has a secret: He has a horn growing on the top of his head. To everyone in the village around him, that makes him an outcast, someone to be avoided at all possible costs. Originally reviewed by Dan Polley By Tanaka Hosana Publisher: Del Rey Manga Genre: Action Rating: Older Teens (16+) Price: $10.99 However, to a few select ninjas who happen to be women, he is the final stop in the bloodline of the Katana family. In their eyes, that makes him the rightful heir to the throne. And now that they’ve found him, they are going to do everything they can to ensure that he rules the land like he should. It’s how these ninja girls go about that provides some intrigue and hilarity to the plot. Raizo meets the ninjas one at a time, and each one tries — in her own way — to ensure his safety. And that’s always how the comedic portions of the volume are set up. Each new ninja is introduced and then works to lay out a plan to save Raizo from any trouble nearby and to help him regain rulership of the land under his family’s banner. Although the…
When Viz Media first debuted their new website, SIG IKKI, a collection of seinen (young men’s) and josei (young women’s) manga titles aimed at older readers, Children of the Sea was the first comic to see its debut. Now that the first 8 chapters have all been released online, they’ve been printed into the first collection of the manga title, in a whopping 320 page Signature size book which looks more like a Pluto or a 20th Century Boys style publication. By Daisuke Igarashi Publisher: Viz Media – Sigikki Age Rating: Older Teen (16+) Genre: Mystery Price: $14.99 Children of the Sea is at its heart, a character driven mystery. It hinges on the fantastic and strange myths of the sea, and three children all connected by a “Ghost of the Sea.” Ruka is a young, brash, tomboy who can’t really express herself through words, and gets in trouble playing handball and gets kicked off her school’s team right at the beginning of their summer break. In her sulking, she decides to travel to Tokyo, and meets Umi, a strange, glowing boy, who is connected to her father, who works at an aquarium in Tokyo. Soon, she also meets Sora,…
Now that I don’t get to talk to my family, I’ve noticed I talk to myself more often… By Mikage Publisher: Yen Press Genre: Humour/yonkoma/yuri Age rating: T/teen Price: $10.99 Yonkoma (or “four-cell comics”) are the Japanese equivalent of comic strips like Penny Arcade or Garfield: short, continuity-light gag strips that may or may not build up into a longer story. The best-known yonkoma in the English-speaking world is probably Azumanga Daioh. Ichiroh! concerns two girls, Nanako and Akane, who have failed their college entrance exams and must spend a year studying at a prep school to re-take them — hence the title: they are “ronin” because they failed the exams, and “ichiroh” because they’re in their first (“ichi”) year of studying to catch up.Added to the picture is Shino, a classmate who is hopelessly infatuated with Nanako but who unfortunately managed to pass her entrance exam and so can’t join her in prep school (no matter how hard she tries), and a very eccentric dorm manager, whose dorm is also a Shinto shrine which Nanako and Akane are expected to help maintain as mikos to offset their rent.And as if that wasn’t enough, Akane is addicted to video games…
A demon’s wrecking havoc in Feng Xia neighborhood! While tracking down this demon, Yun-Shi’s shifu ends up at Hui-Niang’s house. Will she survive this encounter? Su Ping learns that Cai-Sheng is familiar with the mysterious long-haired man. Su Ping starts to wonder how they are related. Wei Zi-Qiu receives an order that if Cai-Sheng is to harm humans, she must be killed. What will Zi-Qiu do? By I-Haun Publisher: DrMaster Publications Age Rating: 13+ Genre: Fantasy/Romance Price: $9.95 Cai-Sheng finally starts to realize her faults, but not until after she loses the one must precious to her, Hui-Niang. Her drive for revenge puts her in potential trouble with heaven, and her naiveté about human relationships puts any relationship between Su Ping and Yun-Shi in peril as well. I didn’t feel as excited about this volume as I did the first two. That Cai-Sheng’s selfishness not only cost Hui-Niang her life, but those of her children as well bothered me, and I didn’t really feel anything for her when she took her revenge on Yun-Shi’s shifu. If she had done what she had promised in the previous volume, they wouldn’t have had to die. Even though Cai-Sheng realizes her error, she…
It has been a while since Neon Genesis Evangelion fans have been treated to a new manga installment of this beloved series, and Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Raising Project corrects that error. Or does it? This Evangelion is a “reimagining” of the Evangelion world hinted at the end of the anime TV series. ByOsamu Takahashi Publisher: Dark Horse Manga Age Rating: 16+ Genre: Action/Adventure Price: $9.95 This alternate retelling starts out as a high school rom-com where Asuka and Shinji have been friends all their lives. It wouldn’t be any fun without some sexual tension and it isn’t many pages before the odd but beautiful Rei Ayanami shows up to throw a wrench in any plans Asuka may have had (not intentionally, of course). Too detailed a plot summary would ruin the fun, but writer and artist Osamu Takahashi delivers young love comedy that may not be always original, but is fun and funny. Non-Evangelion fans may not understand what the big deal is, but regardless, this is better than a lot of shojo romance sitting on shelves today. But this is Evangelion, and the heart marks and bloody noses can only last so long. By the end…
It’s been quite a while since I’ve read any American superhero comics with any regularity, so when I picked up X-Men: Misfits, I was quite skeptical, even if it was a tale of American superheros remixed into a new story in manga format. Originally reviewed by Dan Polley Written by Rainer Telgemeier; Art by Dave Roman Publisher: Dey Rey Manga Age Rating: Teen (13+) Genre: Science Fiction, Romance, Action Price: $12.99 But, quite simply, it was really good. The story centers around Kitty Pryde, who feels like a loner now that she has discovered she has mutant powers, unlike everyone around her, including her family and classmates at school. One day she comes home and her parents are talking to someone about an educational opportunity for her. Her parents tell her that they have noticed her “quirks,” and so she ends up in Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Once she arrives at the school, she is awed by the beauty of it — and of all the male students. (So many of them!) And she is keenly aware that all of the other gifted students around her have better control of their powers. And when she arrives at her room,…
Abandon the Old in Tokyo is a collection of eight short stories each with an interconnecting theme. Each is centered upon a working class male living in a gritty urban setting, and sometimes the protagonists are even drawn in similar manners. Originally reviewed by Matthew Rozier By Yoshihiro Tatsumi Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly Age Rating: Not rated, but contains mature content. Genre: Drama Price: $19.95 Each story is thought-provoking as Tatsumi deals with a variety of subjects ranging from alienation/disconnection from society to poverty to sexual dysfunction. Tatsumi deals with each subject with such a down-to-earth sense of honesty. Almost as if he experienced each of these things himself. He also manages to put so much depth into each of his short stories, so much that he really asks all the right questions. Questions like: why do we do the things we do? what does it take to stand out amongst other “individuals?” are we really any different from animals? Tatsumi’s art is gritty and rough, even sloppy at times. His character designs also do not exhibit the greatest range, as sometimes it is difficult to tell characters apart. He also draws the protagonist exactly the same in a few…
The Guin Saga series as a franchise is as epic as the story that it tells. The Guin Saga novels are an insanely popular with 126 books in the main series and 21 side story novels. There is a manga, an anime, cds, artbooks, rpgs, and even a musical based on the books. The only thing that stopped the series was the author’s untimely death. So with a mountain of source material it can be quiet a daunting task to try to adapt any of the Guin Saga story. But fortunately there is a simpler place to start. The side story novels start with Guin as an established character but are stand-alone stories that do not directly tie into the massive ongoing plot of the main storyline. One or two major characters carry over but most of the main story is unimportant and unaffected by the events in this manga, which make it and unusual but excellent place to start. Originally reviewed by Alain Mendez By Kazuaki Yanagisawa Publisher: Vertical, Inc. Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Fantasy Price: $12.95 The country of Cheironia is under the grip of a horrible plague that is clearly magical in nature is killing more…
The manga market is fairly saturated with books about ninjas. Ninjas are the latest craze for boys, just like vampires are the latest craze for girls. It’s no surprise that plenty of people are trying to get in on the ninja bandwagon. Yen Press’ entry into ninja fiction, Nabari no Ou, has been publishing monthly in its Yen Plus anthology for more than a year now, and it’s picked up a lot of steam, but only recently has the compiled trade paperback (manga fans call them tankobon) been released. By Yuki Kamatani Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Action Price: $10.99 The first volume introduces us to Miharu Rokujou, a completely apathetic schoolboy who wants nothing more than to take over his family’s restaurant and make sure that he never has to care about anything. Unfortunately for him, he is the carrier of hidden ninja world’s most powerful secret – the Shinra Banshou, and a faction of ninjas called the Iga Grey Wolves wants it bad enough to kill him for it. Members of the Banten and Fuuma villages don’t want that to happen though –his classmates Aizawa, Shimizu, and his strange teacher Kumohira have all decide to…