In the sixth volume of Black God, the Shishigami family faces some critical decisions. Kuro, the sweet and innocent — vacuous, some could say — sister of Reishin, who is being groomed as the successor to the family leadership position. Originally reviewed by Dan Polley Written by Dall-Young Lim; Art by Sung-Woo Park Publisher: Yen Press Genre: Fantasy Rating: Older Teen Price: $10.99 Reishin falls into the young upstart whose views differ from those of the leadership council. Kuro reacts, too, to the wishes of the council and is chided for her intrusiveness. Later, after she and Reishin take a trip and talk, their mother experiences a prophetic dream, and afterward, her actions are a bit incongruous to her words. Kuro later takes a trip to a nearby city to play, but during the course of her excursion, she takes a slight detour. Unfortunately she ends up in the haven of a killer. And she watches as the killer threatens other young women who have fallen into his trap. It’s hard to believe she would be able to defend herself against a psychopath like Hiyou, and her escape is achieved through other means. After that ordeal is sorted through, the…
When Viz Media first debuted their new website, SIG IKKI, a collection of seinen (young men’s) and josei (young women’s) manga titles aimed at older readers, Children of the Sea was the first comic to see its debut. Now that the first 8 chapters have all been released online, they’ve been printed into the first collection of the manga title, in a whopping 320 page Signature size book which looks more like a Pluto or a 20th Century Boys style publication. By Daisuke Igarashi Publisher: Viz Media – Sigikki Age Rating: Older Teen (16+) Genre: Mystery Price: $14.99 Children of the Sea is at its heart, a character driven mystery. It hinges on the fantastic and strange myths of the sea, and three children all connected by a “Ghost of the Sea.” Ruka is a young, brash, tomboy who can’t really express herself through words, and gets in trouble playing handball and gets kicked off her school’s team right at the beginning of their summer break. In her sulking, she decides to travel to Tokyo, and meets Umi, a strange, glowing boy, who is connected to her father, who works at an aquarium in Tokyo. Soon, she also meets Sora,…
The Guin Saga series as a franchise is as epic as the story that it tells. The Guin Saga novels are an insanely popular with 126 books in the main series and 21 side story novels. There is a manga, an anime, cds, artbooks, rpgs, and even a musical based on the books. The only thing that stopped the series was the author’s untimely death. So with a mountain of source material it can be quiet a daunting task to try to adapt any of the Guin Saga story. But fortunately there is a simpler place to start. The side story novels start with Guin as an established character but are stand-alone stories that do not directly tie into the massive ongoing plot of the main storyline. One or two major characters carry over but most of the main story is unimportant and unaffected by the events in this manga, which make it and unusual but excellent place to start. Originally reviewed by Alain Mendez By Kazuaki Yanagisawa Publisher: Vertical, Inc. Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Fantasy Price: $12.95 The country of Cheironia is under the grip of a horrible plague that is clearly magical in nature is killing more…
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…
An advocate for robot rights and a renowned European robot have been murdered. Gesicht, the detective assigned to the case, has deduced that the killer is targeting the great robots of the world–which means that he too is one of the targets. Gesicht takes it upon himself to warn the potential targets, and Atom, the famous boy robot from Japan, is next on his list. Elsewhere, the Turkish robot hero Brando sets out on his own to take on a mysterious challenger. As the robots traverse a labyrinthine path edging toward their own souls, the question remains: Who is the killer and what is his motive? Originally reviewed by Charles Tan By Naoki Urasawa Publisher: Viz Media – Viz Signature Genre: Science Fiction Age Rating: Older Teen Price: $12.99 This manga continues the story established in the first volume–and you should have been hooked to this series by then–but there’s a different vibe going on here. Whereas volume one had a balance of action scenes combined with heart-wrenching drama, there’s more of the latter to be found here. Which isn’t to say this is a bad thing, mind you. But Urasawa’s beats are clearly the character-driven moments, and there’s a…