At Matabi Academy, students are allowed to bring their pet cats to the dorms. For Yumi Hayakawa, whose favorite hobby is making clothes for her kitty Kansuke, Matabi seems like a sure bet. After all, nothing can possibly go wrong with her best friend at her side! But on the first day of school, the two find themselves face-to-face with a murderous demonic minion on campus! Will Yumi and Kansuke be able to defend themselves and their school against an ancient cat demon’s thirst for vengeance? By Yuji Iwahara Publisher: Yen Press Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Supernatural/Action Price: $10.99 Usually ditzy lead characters like Yumi Hayakawa annoy me to no end, and make me dislike a series greatly. But not in this series. Why? Because Yumi has Kansuke, her no-nonsense, tough as nails cat to constantly berate her and keep her in line. And that’s the charm of this first volume; Yumi and Kansuke’s relationship and how it changes when the demonic forces come into play. When we first meet Yumi, we see how thoughtless and clueless she can be. Riding the train to her new school, she puts Kansuke in her suitcase, and forgets to let him out. …
Because of our Thanksgiving holiday, American Football, and the Fall season, this is a big food month here in the States. So, for the month of November I’m going to review cooking manga. I love cooking manga. In my mind, cooking manga demonstrates everything that comics can be—all about great stories about something everyone does. I mean, let’s face it; everybody eats. We all do, and the popularity of television like Iron Chef and the Food Network, and books like , Eat, Pray, Love and In Defense of Food or Like Water for Chocolate, they all speak to something inherently dramatic and fascinating about food. Cooking manga is shonen, shojo, seinen, yaoi—it cuts across genres in ways that other types of stories don’t. I just think it’s cool how creators play with food and cooking to come up with so many different situations, characters, plots. Plus, there’s some inherent difficulties in representing food in comics—the visual pleasures of food are not easily re-created in black and white line drawings, and the obvious draws—smell and taste—are not available to the mangaka. Yet the best cooking manga make you hungry! For my first review, I’m talking about Kitchen Princess, volume 1: Publisher’s…
Juvia and Gray continue to battle as the rival guild continues its assault on Fairy Tail. As the two battle, Gray is impervious to Juvia’s words. But despite their bickering, Gray manages to overcome Juvia’s obstacle and leaves just one of the Elemental 4 for Fairy Tail to take down. Originally reviewed by Dan Polley By Hiro Mashima Publisher: Kodansha Comics Genre: Action, Fantasy Rating: Teens (13+) Price: $10.99 Meanwhile, Natsu is taking on the best of the Elemental 4. His magic is smooth and efficient whereas Natsu’s is frenetic and disjointed. The face-off doesn’t appear to be an even match at all until other Fairy Tail guild members show up and lend an assist. Still, for their enemy, it just means the task requires more concentration; defeat is not imminent. Unfortunately for Fairy Tail, one of the enemy guild’s members, Gajeel, has Lucy. But Erza has a plan: Unleash the full power of Natsu’s potential. Master Jose plows through minions of Fairy Tail members, all while Gajeel sits and toys with Lucy, who is being held prisoner in shackles linked to a wall. During the fight of Gajeel and Natsu, the duo learn about each other and their powers…
Yura Onozuka is the daughter of the stars, and she’s not very happy about it. Always being compared to her parents at school, she hates being average and hates that they make her life harder just by being around. On television, the star couple make their family seem perfect. In fact, you could call it anything but that. Yura’s mother, Yukari Shiraki, is a beautiful actress who treats her daughter like dirt, and her father, who is living in New York, is a world-famous composer. After coming home after being away for two weeks, Yukari drops a bomb on Yura -that she and her father are getting divorced, and that Yura is being kicked out into the street. To make matters worse, Yura’s mother is having an affair with Yura’s only friend and crush, Shin. By Miki Aihara Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Drama/Romance Price: $8.99 What a first chapter! When Yura tells the paparazzi surrounding her home that her parents can eat shit and die (that’s a paraphrase, but I’m sure that’s what she wanted to say), her father’s manager swoops in and decides that he wants to make Yura into an actress. Add a pair…
Cosmoralia’s Prince Ithaca is about to wed Princess Lilia of Ayodoya and be crowned Astralta III. The apparently favorable celestial bearings mean he will be no mere monarch but holy king of a new “papacy”. Alas, the peaceful inhabitants of Planet Astria have no clue that they’re next in line for invasion by a ruthless machine force–a threat that seems to metaphorize the inherent perils of politics and desire in this multilayered saga. The tension slowly mounts to an unbearable pitch in this ominous first volume of three. By Keiko Takemiya Publisher: Vertical, Inc. Age Rating: 13+ Genre: Sci-Fi Price: $11.95 Short on action, and long on drama and intrigue, this first volume of Andromeda Stories sets the stage for an epic battle that has become a staple of science fiction: Man vs Machine. Before there was The Terminator, Andromeda Stories was examining the relationship between man and machine, and what it means to be human. Things start out ordinary enough. Princess Lilia, the protagonist of this first volume, prepares to marry Prince Ithaca after he is crowned King Astralta III. After much ceremony and celebration, the couple begins living happily in the palace. Astralta is a good and kind…
While Yohei is trapped, Shotaro and Tool battle the Fear Robot. And NoFix is unable to finish off Shotaro and Tool, who happen upon a lucky break — and decisive action. Originally reviewed by Dan Polley By Atsushi Ohkubo Publisher: Yen Press Rating: Older Teen Genre: Action, Comedy Price: $10.99 And after the battle, the two seem to think that the best action is to infiltrate the Fear Factory headquarters to help Yohei. But surprises await them, perhaps the biggest just as they are about to enter: Mana comes flying out of the sewer tunnel. After a few cheap laughs at her expense, the three head back in to the Fear Factory lair. Of course, the first thing they do when they get in is yell for Yohei, which certainly doesn’t help their cause but does provide some entertainment. Despite Tool’s best efforts, the natural curiosity from Mana and Shotaro bring about some more comedic situations — and, of course, a fight. Meanwhile, Yohei is being held captive and he starts to dream about his past and about NoFix. All the while, Shotaro, Tool and Mana are encoutering trouble in the headquarters. Eventually, they make it to Yohei, who finally…
Many people wonder about the motivation behind a mountaineer’s desire to risk their life in order to scale a dangerous peak, and George Mallory (1886-1924) has been attributed to have given the most famous (and also simplest) reason why. When asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, legend has it that he simply said: “Because it’s there.” While the authenticity of this quote has come into question in recent years, there is no denying the profound, yet puzzling nature of those three words. Perhaps only the bravest of mountaineers will be able to fully comprehend them. If Mallory and his partner Andrew Irvine had survived their ill-fated 1924 Mount Everest expedition, further light could have possibly been shed upon the subject. Review written by Matthew Rozier Writer: Yumemakura Baku; Artist: Jiro Taniguchi Age Rating: Not rated, Older Teen (16+) rating Genre: Drama, Adventure Price: $25.00 Jiro Taniguchi’s five-volume manga adaptation of Baku Yumemakura’s original novel of the same name attempts to solve the mystery behind what makes a mountaineer tick. The novel was written between 1994 and 1997, and the story itself takes place in 1993, both before Mallory’s body was found sans his Kodak…
“If you had half a brain you would have realized it was me a long time ago.” By Wataru Mizukami Publisher: Del Rey Manga Genre: Shoujo Age Rating: T 13+ Price: 10.99 USD Poor Sachiko is having the worst day of her life. For some reason she decides to confess her love for her long-time crush, the standoffish but handsome Akihiko, who is the four-eyed prince of the title. As expected he rejects her confession of love. Sachiko goes home to say goodbye to her grandmother guardian as she is sent to a nursing home. Sachiko is going to move back in with her mother, (Sachiko’s father died when she was younger) who hasn’t seen her, for some reason, since she was a baby. Mom has gotten remarried, but her new husband ran off to escape a massive debt. But Sachiko’s mom’s new husband had a son who, for some reason, lives with her even though there is no blood relation. Guess who that boy is. Sachiko moves into her new home to find that Akihiko is now her step-brother. His enthusiasm toward his new flat-mate is expectedly flat, but that doesn’t keep Sachiko from fantasizing about her brooding new…
Haruna Nagashima is not your average high school girl. She never devoted any time to romance when she was in junior high. She never thought about any of that stuff. She was fully focused on one thing: sports. As a softball player, she only cared about softball. But now that she’s moving from middle school to high school, she’s having a change in priorities. By Kazune Kawahara Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Teen (13+) Genre: Romance Price: $8.99 Who doesn’t want to fall in love? Little bumbling Haruna tries to follow advice in magazines and shojo manga to pick up a boyfriend, and ends up a train wreck. So, she decides, that just like when she was a softball player, she’s going to need a coach to get better at love. A fairly silly premise, it seems. I was initially skeptical about where the book was going, but that’s when you meet Yoh – the guy that Haruna gets to be her coach. The primary relationship is right there staring at you, right in the face, but adding this grumpy male lead as the bounce board for ridiculous Haruna turned the story into a real charmer. Yoh tries to show…
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…