The Rain Goddess Sora is back and she has help in Gimmy and his friends in trying to get her tree spirit back. The group travels to an annual festival, where they think they will be able to meet the amefurashi of the land. Hopefully that god will be able to assist them in their quest to get Sora’s tree spirit back. Originally reviewed by Dan Polley By Atsushi Suzumi Publisher: Del Rey Rating: 13+ Genre: Action/Adventure Price: $10.99 Unfortunately, things to go as expected for Gimmy, Sora and their group. (Do they ever?) Not only is the amefurashi quick to dismiss the validity of Sora’s claims, but she’s inclined to leap to judgments before learning the truth. Eventually, though, the group learns of a ship that crosses the desert. By crossing the desert, they could make their way to a capital where they have greater hopes of obtaining more information on the one who stole Sora’s tree. The trip through the desert and the fallout from it consume most of the volume. And it brings about in infusion in the plot, which gets an assist with a new character, although it’s somewhat predictable how that character is connected to…
A police detective goes undercover in this series, but he becomes a fifth-grade teacher, replacing the role left when the previous fifth-grade teacher was murdered. Now he is set to investigate what happened. Originally reviewed by Dan Polley By Tamio Baba Publisher: CMX Age Rating: Teen+ Genre: Drama/Suspense Price: $9.99 However, the plot is pretty fun and interesting. Toyama comes into the classroom and finds fifth-graders with some interesting quirks. But one in particular is Makoto, who is shunned by his classmates and left alone in social circles. He’s a target for the other kids’ mockery, and he takes it and doesn’t engage back with any of the other students. Toyama ponders whether the bullying of Makoto could have a connection to the murder case, and he begins to investigate. When he begins to investigate, he finds out that the young boy Makoto has previously said he could see visions of monsters. Eventually, Toyama comes to understand Makoto a little bit better, and the two of them form an alliance of sorts to help sort out the mysteries of the murdered teacher. Despite that set-up, there are quite some hiccups. For one, Toyama, the detective, is quite the chatterbox when…
It is said that the road to hell is paved on good intentions, and if that particular idiom proves to be true in any manga ever published in English, Alive: The Final Evolution is the story that seems to be laying down the bricks as quickly as possible. The first volume of Alive seems to be changing gears in the middle of the first volume, changing its tone and its storytelling technique within the first 3 chapters. Written by Tadashi Kawashima and Illustrated by Adachitoka Publisher: Del Rey Age Rating: T for Teen Genre: Action/Sci-Fi/Shonen Price: US $10.95 ISBN: Vol. 1 – 0345497465 The beginning seems interesting enough – Taisuke Kano and his friend Hirose always seem to be on the wrong end of the fights around school. Hirose is small and picked on, and Taisuke, while he talks a big talk, is a total wimp himself. Still, he’s an admirable guy, sticking up for his friends. The resident heroine, Megu, is a cute tomboyish girl who gives Kano and Hirose a hard time for being goofballs and getting beat up before school. It’s obvious she cares about the two of them, and she falls under the typical shonen…
A demon’s wrecking havoc in Feng Xia neighborhood! While tracking down this demon, Yun-Shi’s shifu ends up at Hui-Niang’s house. Will she survive this encounter? Su Ping learns that Cai-Sheng is familiar with the mysterious long-haired man. Su Ping starts to wonder how they are related. Wei Zi-Qiu receives an order that if Cai-Sheng is to harm humans, she must be killed. What will Zi-Qiu do? By I-Haun Publisher: DrMaster Publications Age Rating: 13+ Genre: Fantasy/Romance Price: $9.95 Cai-Sheng finally starts to realize her faults, but not until after she loses the one must precious to her, Hui-Niang. Her drive for revenge puts her in potential trouble with heaven, and her naiveté about human relationships puts any relationship between Su Ping and Yun-Shi in peril as well. I didn’t feel as excited about this volume as I did the first two. That Cai-Sheng’s selfishness not only cost Hui-Niang her life, but those of her children as well bothered me, and I didn’t really feel anything for her when she took her revenge on Yun-Shi’s shifu. If she had done what she had promised in the previous volume, they wouldn’t have had to die. Even though Cai-Sheng realizes her error, she…
It’s been quite a while since I’ve read any American superhero comics with any regularity, so when I picked up X-Men: Misfits, I was quite skeptical, even if it was a tale of American superheros remixed into a new story in manga format. Originally reviewed by Dan Polley Written by Rainer Telgemeier; Art by Dave Roman Publisher: Dey Rey Manga Age Rating: Teen (13+) Genre: Science Fiction, Romance, Action Price: $12.99 But, quite simply, it was really good. The story centers around Kitty Pryde, who feels like a loner now that she has discovered she has mutant powers, unlike everyone around her, including her family and classmates at school. One day she comes home and her parents are talking to someone about an educational opportunity for her. Her parents tell her that they have noticed her “quirks,” and so she ends up in Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Once she arrives at the school, she is awed by the beauty of it — and of all the male students. (So many of them!) And she is keenly aware that all of the other gifted students around her have better control of their powers. And when she arrives at her room,…
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…
Gimmy, along with his younger twin brother and sister, lives in a desert town. But this desert town is unique: It is overshadowed by a humongous tree that is the home to a town’s rain goddess, who provides water to the town. Originally reviewed by Dan Polley By Atsushi Suzumi Publisher: Del Rey Age Rating: 13+ Genre: Action, Fantasy Price: $10.99 Every so often, the town must provide an offering to the deity so that she continues to bless the town with rain. This time, Gimmy is tasked with that. So he sets off to create a doll, only he faces tremendous difficulty. But while he is trying to create a doll, his kid twin siblings overhear him, and they create a plan. Instead of Gimmy’s doll as an offering, they wrap themselves up and hide in a wooden box and the villagers and village head mistake them for the offering. Gimmy eventually realizes what has happened and insists upon journeying to the top of the tree — it’s a really long climb — and bringing his twin siblings back home. But when he gets to the top, he is met by a rude girl, and the two of them…
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…
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…