Manga Village

The Manga Village reviewers have covered a lot of manga over the years, and Naoki Urasawa and his titles are no different. It is interesting to note which titles are reviewers chose to review for the site. You’ll notice a lot of 20th Century Boys and Pluto, and a strange absence of this first big title here in the US, Monster. It could just be a case of choosing the new and shiny over an older series. Let’s take a look at what our reviewers have said about Urasawa’s titles over the last 5 years. Charles Tan was one of the founding reviewers for the site. While some of his reviews have been lost over site moves, some of his feelings could still be dug up. He summed up Volume 1 of 20th Century Boys as: Complex and intricate but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Has the same vibe as Old Boy and Monster. For the 1st volume of Pluto he said: Revitalizing Astro Boy for an adult audience. Not all of his reviews were lost. In his review of Volume 2 of Pluto he tackled the sci-fi elements of the series: There’s an old school science fiction flavor…

The Manga Movable Feast for this month is talking about the manga we’re thankful for, the people who got until reading manga, those guilty pleasures we read and enjoy despite knowing better, and the companies that feed our soul. So, here are the Manga Villagers with what manga they are thankful for.

I’ve never enjoyed Vampire Knight. Not from it’s first appearance in Shojo Beat magazine to its final issue. But with two volumes sitting the review pile and the Vampire Manga Movable Feast coming up, I decided to give the series another try. I didn’t have any real hope that I would change my mind, but it couldn’t get any worse, right?

Born into a family of “Hunters,” Takamichi’s destiny is to pursue and slay demons. When her twin brother is killed, she is saved from despair by a pair of Jiu Jiu–shape shifting familiars–in the form of two wolf pups named Snow and Night. Now Takamichi is in high school and an active Hunter. Snow and Night can’t wait to attend school in their human form to “protect” her. But are they ready to go off leash…? By Touya Tobina Publisher: Viz Media – Shojo Beat Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Supernatural Price: $9.99 On first reading, I didn’t really like Jiu Jiu. I didn’t like Takamichi and Snow and Night were so clingy and annoying. It really took a second read for the story to sink in and for me to understand why they had to be like that. I’ve come to like the story now, but I am still shaky on the characters. Takamichi, the protagonist of Jiu Jiu, starts off as rather dis-likable. She is cold and seemingly abusive of her two charges. She always yelling at them or hitting them on the heads. It was very difficult to see anything to like about her. As the story…

As Kobato starts to fall for the dour Fujimoto who works at Yomogi Kindergarten, she puts her mission of helping the broken-hearted and filling her magic bottle in danger. Helping to heal him becomes her sole mission, as she puts herself and Iorogi and his allies in danger. As the deadline looms, will Kobato be able to make her wish come true?  By CLAMP Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Teen Genre: Fantasy Price: $11.99 I haven’t had a lot of luck with CLAMP titles. Even though I hear a lot about how great they are, I haven’t felt any interest in reading any of them. I tried xxxHolic, but the first volume didn’t do enough for me to want to keep reading. But I don’t think it’s right to write them off based on one volume of one series, so with this Movable Manga Feast, I wanted to give a few more titles a try, I just happened to have these two volumes lying around. I was pleasantly surprised by Kobato, and may have found my first CLAMP series I like. It took a chapter or two to catch on to what was going on, but once I had a…

While we here at Manga Village do enjoy Takehiko Inoue, it seems his shonen title Slam Dunk has been our favorite. Starting with volume 1, Katherine Farmar had reservations at first, but had this to say about it: Slam Dunk pokes fun at Hanamichi relentlessly, but it is at its core a solid and very well-done example of the genre rather than a subversion of it. Hanamichi’s error is not in reaching for the top but in expecting to get there without working for it Justin Colussy-Estes read volume 4, and though he thought he didn’t like it at first, another reading and some thought brought him to this conclusion: But in Slam Dunk, Inoue turns that on its head: he puts manga in a basketball context. Understand this, Inoue isn’t interested in telling the same stories found in every shonen manga for the last thirty years. No, he’s interested in basketball Matthew Rozier is in agreement with Justin after reading volume 5, when he says it’s basketball that really sells the series, and the art really helps it: Despite being still images, they exude such a sense of vivacity that it almost feels like being at an actual game….

For the Shohoku High players, the past echoes in the present as Rukawa learns something about Coach Anzai that leaves him determined to be the best high school player in Japan. With ten days remaining until the start of the national tournament, Coach Anzai send the Shohoku High team to Shizuoka for a week of practive with another local team. But Sakuragi stays behind for a special practice session that will push him to the limit and improve his individual skills for the crucial games ahead. By Takehiko Inoue Publisher: Viz Media/Shonen Jump Age Rating: Teen Genre: Sports Price: $9.99 Slam Dunk isn’t a series I read regularly, but I do like to check in on it from time to time. With the Inoue Manga Movable Feast being this month, this was the perfect time to check out the latest volume. This time the action is off court as Shohoku prepares for the national tournament. Preparations are both physical and mental, and inspiration comes from some unexpected places. Rukawa has really stepped up his game, both mentally and physically, as in practice he shows his determination to be the best. He finally shows Sakuragi the real difference in their skills,…

The genre of horror isn’t as easy to pin down like sci-fi, fantasy or romance. It doesn’t have to be in a certain time or place, or have certain characters to work. Horror is an emotion. The creator of a horror story is trying to elicit specific feelings from the reader, mostly feelings of fear and/or dread. Horror manga is no different. For the Horror Manga Movable Feast, the Villagers will be looking at the elements of horror manga, and talking about what they think works, or doesn’t work, in many of the titles available. John: What I love about horror manga is what I love about manga in general: the ability to know no bounds. Great horror manga has to be rooted in reality, but then stretch itself to the edges of believable be truly scary. A couple of favorites that do this darn near perfectly are The Drifting Classroom and Uzumaki. The Drifting Classroom is set in a graspable reality (a typical elementary school) that is teleported suddenly to a barren, hellish netherworld. Uzumaki is set in a small town in Japan that is infected by a plague of spirals. On paper neither sounds particularly compelling, but in…

Reviews are subjective things. A reviewer is drawing on many things when they write their review. Besides technical things such as story structure, character development and art, a reviewers personal preferences and experiences can affect their feeling about a book. And sometimes, even their gender can make a difference as to whether a book gets a good score or bad. In the following discussions, reviewers Alex Hoffman and Lori Henderson will look at different books and examine the similarities and differences they have over each of them. Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan Volumes 1-2 By: Hiroshi Shibashi Publisher: Viz Media – Shonen Jump Age Rating: Teen Genre: Action/Supernatural Price: $9.99 ISBN: Vol. 1: 978-1421538914 Lori Henderson: That was quite a debate we got into with Degenki Daisy. Will Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan be just as contentious? Alex Hoffman: I don’t know Lori – I guess that depends on what you think of the series. Want me to give the rundown? LH: Please do. AH: Here goes nothing. Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan is a series about a boy named Rikuo who is the descendant of one of the most powerful yokai in Japan. Being ¾ human…

Fumi Yoshinaga was first introduced to US audiences through her BL titles. But this versatile writer has also created stories for young adults and adult audiences that both men and women can enjoy. She is also the featured creator of this month’s Manga Movable Feast. So here are the Villagers talking up their favorite Yoshinaga titles.