Fumi Yoshinaga is a creator that often has her works recommended as essential reading material Here at Manga Village we’re not much different! Nearly every reviewer has had something to say about her titles. Some have had a LOT to say.
It’s just the girls this time as the Manga Villagers discuss the latest title for the Manga Movable Feast this month, Fruits Basket. This is a shojo title created by Natsuki Takaya and published by Tokyopop. This 23 volume series was among the first big hits in the US, and was Tokyopop’s biggest seller. It’s the story of Tohru Honda, a high school girl who has recently lost her mother, and through some circumstances, comes to live in a tent in the mountains, which also happens to be near the home of classmate Yuki Sohma, who is living with his cousins Shigure and Kyo. The Sohma family has a secret. They are cursed by the thirteen signs of the zodiac. Tohru accidentally learns their secret, but after promising to keep their secret, she is allowed to live with Yuki, Shigure and Kyo. What were your initial impressions of this title? Connie: (as a disclaimer, I re-read the series a few years ago, and read the ending two years ago, but haven’t picked it up since then. I didn’t have the volumes with me to re-read it for the feast. my impressions aren’t terribly fresh.) I couldn’t wait to read it…
Some of my critics are quick to point out that I don’t give very many high scores on my reviews. I generally don’t have nice things to say about the books I read, and I don’t really give out high marks on my reviews at Manga Village. I don’t know if this is because I have a high standard for the materials I read, or if I just want to be as honest as possible about the content so that people can get an opinion before they go out and buy the manga. I think it is probably a mix of these two personal factors and one key point I constantly fail to remember: the manga I read and review oftentimes are not written with me in mind. By: Mitsuru Adachi Publisher: Viz Media – Shonen Sunday Age Rating: Teen Genre: Sports/Drama Price: $19.99 When I received the Cross Game omnibus a few weeks ago, I worked through it with a bit of trepidation. I love baseball, so I was worried that the manga would either be too preachy about the rules or have large errors in gameplay that would make my enjoyment suffer. My misgivings were buffered by the…
It’s…not much of a list again, so while we present this week’s releases, our picks are in honor of the Manga Movable Feast this week, which is all about Rumiko Takahashi’s works. Enjoy as our reviews pick their all-time favorite Takahashi title.
Rumiko Takahashi is a talented and prolific manga artist. Her titles have been a gateway for many fans, in both manga and anime. She has written both long titles and short anthologies, hitting several genres such as horror, supernatural, drama, and comedy. Most of her titles have also been released in English in one form or another over the last 15-20 years. Was her work a gateway for you to the world of anime and/or manga? What’s your favorite series? Do you have one you didn’t like? Why or why not?
The demon Naraku’s true intentions are finally revealed! Then, Kagome is swallowed up by the Meido. Is she finally beyond her friends’ reach? And will the final battle over the Shikon Jewel draw Inuyasha and Kagome together…or pull them apart forever?!
For this month’s Manga Movable Feast, the reviewers of Manga Village got together to for a roundtable discussion of the featured books Aqua and Aria. Aria, and its prequel Aqua, is a science fantasy about a girl Akari Mizunashi, who goes to Aqua (previously Mars before terraforming) to become a Undine, or gondolier tour guide. It’s slow paced, with each chapter being a slice of life of Akari’s adventures in gondoliering, the city of Neo-Venezia, and Aqua itself. What are your first impression of this manga? Justin: I was drawn to check it out because I’d read some good reactions to it from a few bloggers I trust. When I first took a look at it, I remember being impressed. The art is lovely, the pacing subtle and lyrical, and the narrative takes time to linger on small, slice-of-life details. However, I remember after a short time getting easily distracted. It was very easy for my attention to fall elsewhere because there was a static, muted quality to the first volume. I almost felt like, after I’d read a few pages, I knew everything I needed to know. So, initially, I had two conflicting impressions of the work. Lori: I…
One of history’s darkest days is foreshadowed in this first autobiographical manga volume written by a Hiroshima survivor.
This review was originally posted by former reviewer Alain Mendez who writes as part of the Reverse Theives blog as Hisui. You can follow him on Twitter as well. First a little history lesson before I begin my review proper. The title more commonly known as Aria started as Aqua in Monthly Stencil. When the title was moved to Comic Blade the title was changed to Aria but the story of Aria picks up seamlessly from where it ended in Aqua. When the anime was made this series it kept the title of Aria all the way through. You can think of Aria as the sequel to Aqua but it’s really more of one continuous story. By: Kozue Amano Publisher: Tokyopop Age Rating: Teen (13+) Genre: Slice of Life Price: $9.99 There are some titles that just have this hardcore fan following you can never understand until you have experienced the work itself. Sometimes you totally understand what everyone is talking about and other times even then the appeal is lost on those who cannot connect to the vibe the series puts out. Kozue Amano’s Aria is just one of series. I have always known people who will go on…