Manga Village

Meet Noh-A Joo, a brand new student at Amityville North High School. We’re barely introduced to the girl when suddenly we get to watch Noh-A get her head chopped off in a gigantic battle between Jack Frost, the only surviving student of North District, and the head guidance councilor of the West District, Hansen. Jack, armed with two sword-like blades attached to his arms brings the heat on Hansen, who wields what appears to be a gun that has been blessed with holy power. A few beautiful fights scenes, some perverted comedy, and ridiculous and disturbing panty-shot scene later, and Noh-A is alive, in a neck brace, in the hospital wing of the school. By JinHo Ko Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Horror Price: $10.99 It turns out that Noh-A is a “Mirror Image,” an immortal in the realm of Amityville, whose blood can be used to heal any wound. While the origin of her special power is not explained, the comic does explain that Amityville is a place where people who fall out of the reincarnation cycle go, to live and then die for good. Amityville is a world that is writhe with battle. Different districts…

In the first volume, Lim gave us blisteringly fast, bloody fighting. With the talented illustrator Park, he gave us gorgeous art, busty women, high tension scenes, and a background story for three characters thrust into something unfathomable. He also gave us tens if not hundreds of tiny, niggling questions. These questions made it so hard to truly enjoy Black God, Volume 1. Now, with the second volume, we still have questions, but a few more answers. Written by Dall-Young Lim; Illustrated by Sung-Woo Park Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Drama Price: $10.99 In this second volume, we foray into a deeper, darker world, and meet a second motsumita, a superhuman guardian of the earth’s “terra”. While these things have started to take on a meaning other than plain jibberish, their strength as story telling terms has not reached a high point . Throughout the volume, Lim uses these words, phrases, and expressions to divulge a secret, carefully crafted like a lotus, its petals peeling away one at a time. The result is a maddeningly suffocating curiosity that permeates the second volume. Many impressive things from the first volume turn out to be mainstays of the seinen manga…

Life couldn’t be better for Keiichi Maebara. Sure, he’s moved to a sleepy, little town where nothing happens and high school consists of a one-room schoolhouse — but his new friends and fellow students are all cute girls! When he happens upon a story about a grisly local murder, however, his contentment turns to uneasiness as he finds himself drawn into a web of silent intrigue that involves his newfound friends . . . and threatens his very existence. By: Ryukishi07 and Karin Suzuragi Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Teen + Genre: Horror Price: $10.99 A few months ago, the manga reviewers here at Manga Village were discussing our review grades. John Thomas awarded a grade of 10 to the first volume of Eden: It’s an Endless World! Now, I’ve read Eden, and John’s right, it’s a fantastic series–but I don’t know that I’d grade the first volume with a 10. Here’s the thing–this grading thing, it’s an imperfect beast. How do you compare the excellence of books miles apart from one another? And I’m not talking subject matter or genre–no, I’m talking about how various manga approach storytelling and format. For instance, the first volume of Drifting Classroom is…