Manga Village

In the fifth volume of Takehiko Inoue’s Slam Dunk, the “friendly” match against Ryonan High is beginning to wind down. With captain Akagi out of the game momentarily, Hanamichi Sakuragi has finally been given his chance to strut his stuff and prove that he is a bona fide ball player.

Jin is a typical high school kid who lives with his chiropractor dad and homebody sister. But one day he discovers that he has abnormal martial arts powers (great fighting, leaping and running skills). Mysteriously, however, he only has these powers one day a month. Jin has a core group of friends: an attractive girl named Fusano (who likes Jin but would never admit it) who’s also good at martial arts; former bad boy Choji; and brainy computer nerd Tomonori. After school one day, Jin and his friends go to an arcade, where he is called outside by some tough guys posing as cops. It seems they were hired to test his abilities, but unfortunately he doesn’t have any of his special powers on this day, so they beat him up until his friends come to help him. Almost more mysterious than his occasional powers is the truth about the gang of bullies…who were hired by his estranged older brother. Originally reviewed by Dan Polley By Shoko Fukaki Publisher: CMX Genre: Action, Martial Arts, Adventure Rating: Teen+ Price: $9.99 Jin and his female friend, Fusano, both have very good fighting skills. But Fusano is a much more adept student while…

Kenji wrote “The Book of Prophecy” in his boyhood. Now this childish fantasy has become the scenario for the Friend’s fiendish plot to destroy mankind. Kenji goes underground and waits for a chance to fight back.Meanwhile, the evil organization is closing in on a man called Shogun in the ganglands of Bangkok. The mystery grows deeper, the fear more intense, as we near the final battle at the turn of the century… Is there really any way to save the world from annihilation? Originally reviewed by Matthew Rozier By Naoki Urasawa Publisher: Viz Media-Viz Signature Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Mystery/Drama ISBN: 9781421519234 Price: $12.99 Volume 4 of Naoki Urasawa’s suspense thriller 20th Century Boys continues to chug right along, delving further into the exploits the Bangkok-residing, grizzled Japanese man known only as “Shogun.” Who is he really? What is his role in all of this? The answers are contained within. It is now summer of the year 2000. Wait, what? It is 2000 already? The world is supposed to end in December 2000, right? [The time skip from 1997 to 2000 happened in the latter stages of volume 3.] Four volumes into the series and there are supposedly only…

Towering above the sleepy village of Tepes are ancient ruins once erected by the Nobility.  One day, four of the town’s children wander into the ruins and vanish without a trace, only to mysteriously reappear a few weeks later.  But only three return, bearing no memory of what had happened to them. Adapted by Saiko Takaki; Story by Hideyuki Kikuchi Publisher: Digital Manga Publishers Age Rating: 16+ Genre: Horror ISBN: 9781569707876 Price: $12.95 Ten years later, a new breed of vampire emerges; one which can seemingly hunt during the daytime.  Losing the safety daylight offers, panic and mass hysteria begins to grip the townspeople–inciting riots and lynch-mobs.  Amidst the turmoil, the enigmatic vampire slayer known only as “D” is called in to investigate.  Can he solve the mystery of the walking dead’s newfound powers and unravel the truth behind the missing children’s connection to the secret of the ruins? After all the action in the first volume for this series, volume 2 pulls back a little, letting D flex his brain more than his brawn.  There’s a lot more talk than taking of heads, mostly about the nature of the Nobility.  Those who like more variety in their manga will…

Series Description: “The son of a famous pianist, music student Shinichi Chiaki dreams of studying abroad and becoming a conductor like his mentor. Unfortunately, his fear of flying grounds his lofty plans! As he watches other classmates achieve what he has always wanted, Shinichi wonders if he should quit music altogether. “Then one day he meets fellow student Megumi Noda, also known as Nodame. This oddball girl cannot cook, clean, or even read a music score, but she can play the piano in incomparable Cantabile style. And she teaches Chiaki something that he has forgotten: to enjoy his music, no matter where he is.” By Tomoko Ninomiya Publisher: Del Rey Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Romance Price: $10.99 Several weeks ago my local comics shop finally put chunks of their older, gathering-dust manga on sale. There were boxes and boxes of manga from the last decade or so, plenty of stuff that really should be consigned to quarter bins, or given away as a promotional tool, anything just to flush them from inventory. But there were some gems there. I picked up the elusive second volume of Bakune Young, a fantastic series from Viz’s sadly defunct PULSE imprint. I also…

Black Jack is a shonen manga created by Osamu Tezuka. It’s about an unlicensed doctor what lives and works in the underworld. A “scalpel for hire”, he will take on any surgery, anytime, anywhere, for anyone that is willing to pay his price. It’s an episodic series, with each chapter being a self-contained story about some situation Black Jack gets involved in. Much like most TV shows, there’s no origin story or over-arching plot to follow. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical, Inc. Age Rating: Teen+ Genre: Medical Drama Price: $16.95 Black Jack’s background itself is a mystery. Though, throughout these volumes, we meet people from his past that lets us start to piece his story together. The Doctor that saved him and became his inspiration to become a doctor himself. The boy that reminds him of his own rehabilitation. The boyhood friend that donated skin to Jack that gave him his distinctive facial coloring. The stories are scattered, so that in order to get the whole story on Black Jack you have to read them all. The stories aren’t linear either, as some chapters in volume 2 have Pinoko being able to cook properly, while other stories in volume 3…

The great Mongolian tribal leader is shown in this series, which follows the Genghis Khan from boyhood through to adulthood. Khan, whose name was Temujin, is shown at the beginning of the volume as a baby. Originally reviewer: Dan Polley By Seiichi Morimura Publisher: CMX Rating: Teen + Genre: Action/Adventure Price: $9.99 In the next sequence, he is shown as a young boy, and he embarks on a hunting trip by himself. But his father talks to someone else in the clan and confesses that there are others who doubt the bloodline of the young Temujin. There are those who claim he is an “outsider” and that he will eventually become a great leader. Meanwhile, on the hunting trip, Temujin encounters another boy from a different clan, and the experience will forever change his life. As the boys confront each other, wolves appear to attack. The boys save each other from the wolves and a bond is born — but the fact remains that the boys are from different clans. Later in Temujin’s life, once he has grown up and assumed the mantle of Ghenghis Khan, he engages in battle with the boy he swore as a blood brother, and…

Karin continues to come to terms with her feelings for Kenta, but her flirting will have to be put on hold for now. Karin’s grandmother is in town, and that’s enough to put her entire family into a panic. Elda Marker is no silver-haired, cookie-backing matriarch. She’s a hot and heavy vampire vixen with a taste for blood, but a distaste for everything else having to do with the human race. So how can Karin possibly tell her about her new human almost-sorta-not-quite boyfriend? It’s going to be one freaky family reunion! By Yuna Kagesaki Publisher: Tokyopop Rating: Older Teen Genre: Comedy/Horror Price: $9.99 After 4 volumes of almost all comedy, Chibi Vampire is starting to get some real drama going.  The awakening of Elda Marker works as an introduction into the more vampiric side of this series.  Up until now, it has mainly been about Karin living the human world.  With this volume, we start to see more of the issues vampires have to deal with. Elda’s awakening of course brings lots of troubles for Karin.  Elda has a taste for young blood, and hates humans in general.  So no one wants to tell her about Karin’s “condition”.  And…

Blurb from the back cover: “Haruhi holds the fate of the universe in her hands…lucky for you she doesn’t know it! “Meet Haruhi–a cute, determined girl, starting high school in a city where nothing exciting happens and absolutely no one understands her. “Meet Kyon–the sarcastic guy who sits behind Haruhi in homeroom and the only boy Haruhi has ever opened up to. His fate is now tied to hers. Meet the S.O.S. Brigade–an after-school club organized by Haruhi and Kyon with a mission to seek out the extraordinary. Oh, and their second mission? Keeping Haruhi happy…because even though she doesn’t know it, Haruhi has the power to destroy the universe.” Written by Nagaru Tanigawa; Illustrated by Nozi Itou Publisher: Little Brown Books/Yen Press Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Sci-fi/comedy Price: $8.99 So, I know this is not manga, but it is the light novel (a term used in Japan for something like YA lit) that the manga is based on. I work in a kidlit bookstore, so when I saw this come in, I couldn’t help checking it out. This is an insanely popular book in Japan, spawning something like eight sequels, a manga adaptation, an anime adaptation, and translations…

In the darkness stands a girl draped in pure white. Don’t let her innocent appearance fool you; her hands grip a glistening scythe. Momo is the dark messenger of death who, along with her wise cracking cat named Daniel, is tasked with releasing humans from their mortal bonds and delivering their souls to the great beyond. First encounters with Momo always end in farewells. Originally reviewed by Dan Polley Written by K-Ske Hasagawa; Illustrated by Asuka Izumi Publisher: CMX Genre: Fantasy, Drama, Supernatural Age Rating: Older Teen Price: $9.99 (OOP) Momo is dead. She’s a shinigami, actually. But there’s something different about her. Unlike the other shinigami, Momo is not dark and scary; instead, she seems to visit those who are struggling in their lives. And she provides a sort of guidance counseling as only she can. In the first of three short stories, a young man is so self-involved in his depression that he can’t see the world around him for what it truly is. But Momo drops by and imparts some wisdom with him, and he tries to understand what she means. The second showcases a brother who has eternal regrets from something his sister did. And the…