Manga Village

By all counts, Ryouta Sakamoto is a loser when he’s not holed up in his room, bombing thing into oblivion in his favorite online action RPG. But his very own uneventful life is blown to pieces when he’s abducted and taken to an uninhabited island, where he soon learns the hard way that he’s being pitted against others just like him, in an explosive-riddled death match! how could this be happening? Who’s putting them up to this? And why!? The name, not to mention the objective, of this very real survival fame is eerily familiar to Ryouta, who has mastered its virtual counterpart–BTOOOM! Can Ryouta still come out on top when he’s playing for his life!? By Junya Inoue Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Mature Genre: Game/Survival Horror Price: $11.99 I had mixed feelings when I heard about BTOOOM! There were comparisons of this series to .hack going on in the mangasphere, which didn’t inspire me. Though having read the first volume, I think being stuck in a video game like BTOOOM! would have been better than the “Battle Royale”-esque “game-in-real-life” that the series has ended up being. BTOOOM! doesn’t waste much time in throwing the reader into the action….

Comparison is one of the great powers of the human mind. We categorize and store information throughout our lives, and then at every step necessary, recall and compare, oftentimes synthesizing new information and opinions. It is hard to review Usamaru Furuya’s Lychee Light Club for the simple fact that there is very little that I have ever read that would allow me to compare, analyze, and then synthesize an opinion of the work. When the mind cannot find the most immediate comparisons, it digs harder and deeper, looking for the things it has experienced before to connect the dots. It is in the shadows of Lychee Light Club and its distinctive beginning that make it such a strange, visceral experience. By Usamaru Furuya Publisher: Vertical, Inc. Age Rating: 18+ Genre: Seinen/Horror Price: $16.95 Lychee Light Club is, if I describe it in general terms, is a Lord of the Flies with an added bonus of homemade robots programmed to find beautiful girls to worship. The characters of Lychee Light Club are all adolescent, prepubescent boys, who are unsustainably obsessed with beauty and androgyny. Lychee, the robot, is probably the most human of the entire cast. There is internal conflict over…

In this third collection of short stories from famed gekika author Yoshihiro Tatsumi, the stories are longer, and the content more about the situations surrounding the sad characters rather than the depths of despair they can reach.  A lot of the topics range back to post-WWII Japan and the effects on society, but some stray towards less specific targets, such as an older man who lusts after a younger coworker, and another about a young man living in a slum-like apartment complex that winds up vacant at the end of the story.  All are emotionally powerful, and all offer commentary on the darker side of human nature and urban living.  This collection was edited by Adrian Tomine, and features an introduction by Frederik Schodt that sheds light on some of the symbolism that might not be immediately recognizable to an international audience. By Yoshihiro Tatsumi Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly Age Rating: 18+ Genre: General Price: $19.95 It’s been a long time since I read the two short story collections that come before this, but I still think this would be my favorite of the three.  With most of the stories dealing with depressing content, being hit with story after story…

At the age of twenty-five, newlyweds Makoto and Yura experience intercourse for the first time.  Now, with their first anniversary right around the corner, Makoto and Yura are just as determined to be sexually fulfilled as the day they said their vows!  But fears Makoto might be cheating test Yura’s trust and inhibit her libido, while their niece Jun looks for love in all the wrong places.  Follow the hot young couple as they step up into love and continue getting it on… and on… and on! By Katsu Aki Publisher: Tokyopop Age Rating: M (18+) Genre: Romance? Price: $19.99 This volume continues the one-shot chapter formula, with the bulk of the focus on Makoto and Yura learning the best ways to satisfy one another amid a variety of everyday situations (ski trips, separations due to work, various anniversaries, et cetera).  Alternate perspective and advice is offered, however, in chapters about Makoto’s over-sexed 20-something sister and Yura’s confused and newly available teenage sister.  There’s even some advice offered for singles, couples in sexless marriages, and others as well.  It’s light on plot, but extremely thorough and very informative in a non-creepy way when it comes to the how-tos. A likable…

The biggest growing issue with Berserk (aside from the fact that Miura is only publishing a handful of chapters each year) is that the plot has been plodding along for some time now. Sure, there have been some big battles in the previous volumes. Unfortunately, though, a big showdown does not always equate to a big revelation. The only thing volume 33 does really well is let the reader know that volume 34 will contain some huge, earth-shattering moments. By Kentaro Miura Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Age Rating: 18+ Genre: Fantasy/Horror Price: $14.99 A ho-hum battle is fought against pirates, which establishes Roderick and his crew as the best sailors around–at the cost of an entire chapter. Yes, once again Miura proves that he can draw a huge sweeping battle scene and discuss nautical battle tactics, but it’s done to the point of overkill. His drawings are stuffed with details: splintering wood, booming cannons, giant clouds of smoke, and turbulent seas. There are countless pirate crew members decked out in hats, bandannas, and vests whose entire lives last no more than a single panel. While readers can certainly appreciate this painstaking attention to detail, it makes me wonder if this…

“I don’t know what kind of history you two have got… but Anzai was really happy at the thought that he was going to get to play ball with you, Wakamiya.” By Nanao Okuda Publisher: Digital Manga Publishing Genre: BL/yaoi Age Rating: M/Mature/18+ Price: $13.95 Ah, sports: hotbeds of drama, competition, and sublimated homoeroticism. Name a sport, and there’s probably a manga about it, if not more than one; in the case of basketball, one of those manga is The Object of My Affection, though as you might have guessed from the genre label, the basketball is less the focus of the stories than an excuse to bring the main characters together. The collection begins with four linked one-shots, “Desolate Days”, “Favorite”, “Cellular Trap” and “Another Day With You”. These stories cover the beginnings of a romance between Wakamiya, an eager freshman and new member of Kanan University’s basketball team, and Anzai, a junior who was Wakamiya’s idol back when he was in middle school due to his outstanding basketball skills. Wakamiya discovers that Anzai never turns up for practice, and learns from Anzai’s childhood friend that Anzai has suffered an injury that will prevent him from ever playing basketball…

Being a guy that’s aging, and probably faster than my inner-child would like to admit, I enjoy it when a comic book caters to me as an adult. While this is rapidly becoming the policy in mainstream comics, where the entire readership is a bunch of 30 year-old man-children, manga published in the USA generally tends to hit the 13-18 crowd. The most popular titles are from Shonen and Shojo anthologies, weekly magazines that target younger children. Let’s just say that Naruto, while interesting, isn’t written for 23 year-olds. By Housui Yamazaki Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Age Rating: 18+ Genre: Horror Price: $10.95 Seinen manga, or manga for men, is a little scarce, but Dark Horse is one of the few publishers that bucks the trend;  the majority Dark Horse’s manga in print are seinen works. Thankfully, the publishing house does an admirable job with their manga. Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, Oh! My Goddess, Eden, and Gantz are all for mature readers, and they’re all great series. One of DH’s shorter manga installments is a three-volume horror collection by mangaka Housui Yamazaki (the illustrator for Kurosagi). In it, he tells the story of the vengeful dead, delivering their hate as…

“If there really are two minds inside his body, then they’re both the real one. Saying that one is fake is twisted.” By Tooko Miyagi Publisher: Digital Manga Publishing Genre: BL/yaoi Age Rating: YA/young adult/16+ Price: $12.95  Il Gatto Sul G deals with topics so often covered in manga as to be virtually clichéd: childhood abuse, multiple personalities, youthful ambitions, love triangles. It could very easily have turned into a godawful melodrama or a trivialisation of some very serious issues; indeed, I’m so used to certain issues being trivialised in manga (especially BL manga, where artists often dispense with realism the better to indulge their whims) that I tend to let it slide, filtering out the more offensive elements in otherwise satisfactory stories. Throughout my reading of Il Gatto Sul G, I held back a little, leery of trusting Miyagi to handle the difficult subject matter with enough delicacy and respect; but I needn’t have worried. Miyagi approaches her story with all the care necessary to do it justice, and the end result is deeply moving. As befits its title, Il Gatto Sul G is a stray cat story, beginning when college student Atsushi Ikeda finds a teenage boy unconscious…

Our childish ideas of being together… I thought I’d forgotten all about them. By Yugi Yamada Publisher: Digital Manga Publisher Age Rating: M/Mature/18+ Genre: BL/yaoi Price: $12.95 Despite being disappointed by her at least once, I have a high opinion of Yugi Yamada. Her art is distinctive and interesting, but not nearly so interesting as her writing, which is sparky and funny and unpredictable. She likes to take the most well-worn BL clichés and turn them on their heads or give them a twist that makes the end result more realistic and less sentimental than it usually turns out in the hands of less skilful artists. Dry Heat is no exception, being Yamada’s take on the “childhood crush all grown up” story. At just 7 years of age, Tatsuhiko declares to his ten-years-older friend Itaru that when he grows up he’s going to become prime minister of Japan, so that he can legalise gay marriage and marry Itaru. Ten years later, and five years after they last saw each other, Itaru learns that Tatsuhiko has gone missing, and is charged with finding him again. His search brings him to a sleazy area of Tokyo where he makes contact with Terasawa,…

College student Ayame’s boyfriend is the handsome police detective Koichi.  After what seemed like a destined meeting, Ayame and Koichi are a couple who want nothing but a lovey-dovey relationship with plenty of hot sex to spice it up.  However, having a police detective for a boyfriend naturally implies that constant troubles won’t be far behind.  Between battling injustices in society and indulging in sexual passions in bed, there is never a dull moment in their relationship.  Though wanting some peaceful time together is understandable, can you really complain when you have to settle for hot and spicy sex? By Takane Yonetai Publisher: Aurora (LuvLuv) Age Rating: 18+ Genre: Romance Price: $10.95 Make Love and Peace reminds me very much of Cotton Candy.  It’s light and fluffy, and fun while it lasts, but I wouldn’t want to eat it all the time. The plot of this series is pretty light.  It’s a slice of life that shows the ups and downs of the relationship between a college freshman and a cop with lots of sex scenes thrown in for no real apparent reason other than to titillate. The actual plot and execution isn’t bad.  College freshman Ayame is dating police…