Manga Village

Nobara’s drive to get the girls’ volleyball team ready to qualify for the next Spring Tournament has tensions running high. Have Nobara’s dreams finally outgrown those of her teammates? By Mitsuba Takahashi Publisher: Viz Media – Shojo Beat Genre: Sports/Romance Rating: Teen Price: $8.99 ISBN: 1-4215-1014-6 After having so much time spent on the romance, it’s a relief to get back to the sports aspect of this story. Even though I don’t care much for the sport, the drama created by it is so much better than the teenage angst from boys and girls sorting out their feelings. Both volleyball teams at Crimson High are having player problems. Nearly all the 2nd years have quit the boys team, leaving the first years on their own. While the girls, after an emotional fight after losing in the Summer Tournament have decided to get serious about training. Their new coach pushes them hard, but the focus soon falls onto Nobara. She gave up the chance to improve individually to play with her teammates. As a result, she shows no ambition to better herself, even when she makes an impossibly high jump of 9 meters. So, it up to her teammates and the…

It’s not every day that someone stops reading Fullmetal Alchemist and gives it up for two years. I probably already sound like an idiot for giving up this series a few years ago, but Lori gave me the chance to check out the latest volume of Fullmetal Alchemist, and I grabbed on without thinking. Reading it has been a bit of a shot in the dark; understanding the storyline from that long ago to now has taken a few leaps of faith on my part, but it’s easy enough to put the pieces together. So, in this review, and in a few of my next reviews, I’ll be hoping into a series mid-way and giving my impressions of how well the book manages to introduce the readers to the current story. By Hiromu Arakawa Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Teen Genre: Action/Fantasy Price: $9.99 Volume 18 is a continuation of the events that occurred last volume, and it gives up more information about the Homunculi, and perhaps what their plans are for the near future. Al and Ed are as crazy as ever, and the deadpan humor of the series retains its quirky charm. It is amazing how Hiromu Arakawa…

Kaguya doesn’t remember who she is or why she has a huge scar on her back.  Six months ago, she was found injured and unconscious in a field of bamboo.  Now she works as a housekeeper and babysitter at a brothel, living her new life simply as “Kaguya”. By Rinko Ueda Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Older Teen (16+) Genre: Historical, Romance Price: $8.99 Kaguya’s real identity is entwined with two men–Hanzou, a handsome bodyguard of Okazaki Castle, and Hanzo, a leader of the ninja village of Iga.  Between amnesia and mistaken identity, no one knows for sure what kind of person Kaguya is.  Only her distinctive scar will lead her to the truth… Tail of the Moon Prequel has a heroine just the way I like them; smart and in control.  As either Kaguya or Princess Sara, this female lead is never clueless, a klutz, or unable to act on her feelings.  This, plus the historical drama, makes this volume a real pleasure to read. I read the preview of this in Shojo Beat, and really enjoyed it. So I was thrilled at the chance to read the whole volume.  It’s essentially two stories about Kaguya, a worker in…

Ozunu is the top student at Kusanagi School of Magical Architecture, a national polytechnic high school dedicated to raising professional magical architects of the future.  Their job is to apply feng shui and other spiritual methods in architecture to exterminate fiends and demons in Tokyo, where the protective feng shui seal has been broken due to wars and urban development.  Being raised by a spider fiend, Ozunu has always tried to purify or return monsters to where they came from.  He clashes with his rival Tsugaru, the heir to a magical architecture corporation, who believes strength is the key to everything. Story by Midori Natsu; Art by Haruka Shoji Publisher: DRMaster Age Rating: 13+ Genre: Supernatural Price: $9.95 Feng Shui Academy is based on a series of light novels, and was serialized in a seinen magazine, facts that are glaringly obvious while reading.  The stories and characters are typical for a supernatural adventure story, but the whole book seems to be missing that special “something” that makes it memorable. At first glance, Feng Shui Academy has an interesting premise.  Students training to be starcrafters, learn to use feng shui to fight and exorcist spirits.  And the chapters where we see…

The School sports festival is coming up, so everyone’s gearing up for some fierce competition!  Even affairs of the heart become a competitive event when Yoh suspects his friend Asaoka may truly have feelings for Haruna…

When Hikari finally asks Kei out, it seems like a dream come true.  But they weren’t counting on a double date with Sakura and Jun!  And when Kei and Hikari finally get a moment alone, who shows up but the dreaded Yahiro?  Throw Megumi, Takashi and Akira in the mix, and it’s another troubled day in paradise! By Maki Minami Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Teen (13+) Genre: Romance Price: $8.99 This is the way you keep a romance from advancing.  You throw everyone else’s romantic troubles at the burgeoning couple!  Sakura and Jun start what ends up being a rollercoaster rider for not just Kei and Hikari, but the other members of SA as well.  Aoi’s pressures from Kei’s grandfather grows, so that it requires Hikari’s intervention, and finally, it’s Kei’s birthday.  Not that he’s got much time to celebrate with his SA friends, with crisis after crisis at the company keeping him away. Less focus on just Kei and Hikari’s relationship has made this a much more enjoyable volume.  Hikari doesn’t show her density as much as she and Kei try to help Sakura and Jun work out their problem.  Or when Aoi tries to pressure her once…

Cai-Sheng is a celestial fox demon raised by a group of wild fox demons, who hope she will master the ability to transform into a male and same them from extinction.  One day, she befriends a little boy and girl, who save her from a dog attack.  Her caretaker marks them with symbols that will not disappear until Cai-Sheng repays her debt.  Two hundred years later, Cai-Sheng meets the reincarnated boy and girl and decides to repay her debt by match-making them, but things get complicated when the girl falls for Cai-Sheng’s male form! By Yi Huan Publisher: DR Masters Age Rating: Teen (13+) Genre: Romance/Gender Bender Price: $9.95 Divine Melody is a Chinese manhua that is filled lots of romantic possibilities, but still manages to keep them from getting convoluted.  It lays down a good foundation in this first volume, introducing a lot of characters without overloading the reader with too much information. The main romance in this story is the love triangle between Han Yun-Shi, Su Ping, and Cai-Sheng’s male form.  I-Huan is taking her time with it, just introducing all the players in this first volume.  Su Ping is under a demon’s curse, and Han Yun-Shi is…

The old cliche is that pictures are worth a thousand words; The cover of DearS volume 1, is the epitome of the cliche. One look at the tight rubber suit-like clothing, gratuitous bosoms, and the giant dog collar around the girl’s neck, and you get a pretty good idea about what this manga is about. By: Peach-Pit Publisher: Tokyopop Age Rating: Teen (13+) Genre: Comedy Price: $9.99 We start of with this loner, kind of losery guy named Takeya, and he lives by himself in an apartment. Everyone is obsessed with DearS, these  aliens that crash landed on Earth one year ago. They’re beautiful, strange, and, well, actually, they’re slaves. Great plot, right? It doesn’t get any better, I assure you. Takeya, in his own way, comes across one of these DearS and in saving her life, she becomes his slave forever. Of course, you don’t get that at the beginning of the book, but later on, it becomes readily apparent.. What isn’t apparent is why anyone would read this drivel. There is not a speck of plot to it; just a girl in a skin-tight plastic suit walking around and buying groceries in an apron. It’s like 7 different…

Written by Antony Johnston; Illustrations by Wilson Tortosa Publisher: Del Rey Manga Genre: Superhero OEL manga Age Range: T 13+ Price: 12.99 USD I am not generally a fan of OEL manga, but have been a fan of X-Men for longer than I am willing to admit. This is probably the opposite of the audience Del Rey and Marvel had in mind for this retelling this origin story of the X-Men’s certainly most well-known and crotchety member. The blurb on the Del Rel homepage was not encouraging: “The gripping, all-new adventure of the x-men’s greatest icon, comletely reimagined in the Manga style This is not the Wolverine you know.” Despite the lack of a proofreader (like I am any position to cast stones), what worried me here was the term “Manga style” (capitalized, when “x-men” is in lower case). As we discussed in the last Manga Village round table, the question becomes, “who are Del Rey and Marvel trying to sell this to?”. Are they trying pull X-Men readers to manga? Manga readers to X-Men? Probably not the latter, as this is released just weeks before the Wolverine Origins movie hits theaters. But also, probably not the former, as this…

A Samurai during Japan’s Warring States period (1467-1573), Daigo Kagemitsu wants complete control over Japan.  He promises his unborn son’s 48 body parts to demons in exchange for that control.  When the baby is born deformed, Daigo throws the newborn into the river to die, but it is miraculaously found by a doctor, Jukai, who makes prosthetics for the child and adopts him as his own.  When the boy Hyakkimaru is grown, he leaves home and begins a journey to recover his body parts.  Along the way he runs into a brash young thief, Dororo, whom he teams up with; together they battle demon and monster on their adventure to reclaim Hyakkimaru’s wholeness. By Osamu Tezuka Publisher: Vertical Inc. Age Rating: Teen Genre: Action/Adventure Price: $13.95 Dororo, first serialized in 1967, can be seen as a proto-shonen story.  It has many of the elements we now see in shonen titles today, though these were new at the time. Tezuka spins a memorable supernatural action/adventure tale and characters that really draw you in, and only disappoints at the very end, though not in story, but lack of it. The first volume of this title is the introduction. Tezuka jumps from past…