Manga News, Reviews and Commentary
“I’m going to uncover the mystery of the ‘Blade Children’.”…World-class detective Kiyotaka Narumi’s last words prior to his sudden disappearance continue to haunt his younger brother, Ayumu. The cheeky 10th-grader becomes equally embroiled in the mystery of the doomed “Blade Children” when he is mistaken for the prime suspect in a murder at his school. Led by Ayumu’s sister-in-law, Kiyotaka’s wife and fellow de...
“On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Twelve Ecliptic Zodiac Keys,” Lucy Heartphilia has always dreamt of joining the guild of mages known as Fairy Tail. While searching for the guild, she meets up with Natsu Dragonil and Happy, a blue talking cat. They are both members of Fairy Tail, though Lucy doesn’t know it at first. They have a few adventures together, where Lucy shows him her magic.�...
“On the Eleventh Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Eleven Band Member Battle,” Rin Amami has a dream of becoming a singer like his mother, but it’s an impossible dream. He has the voice of a frog. He has all but given up on his dream until a chance meeting with a new boyband, the Beatmen and their manager rekindles his hopes. He may possess the legendary Dragon Voice. He begins training with the Beatme...
“On the Tenth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Ten Inukami,” Keita Kawahira is from a family of Inukami tamers, people who contract with dog-spirits to vanquish evil, but he is considered a failure since he couldn’t make a contract with one. One day, his grandmother and head of the clan, tells Keita that there is an Inukami that is willing to contract with him. He goes to meet Yoko, a beautiful girl with ...
“On the Ninth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Nine Tails Fox Demon,” Naruto Uzumaki is a boy that lives in the Hidden Leaf Village. He is a trouble maker and class clown at the Ninja academy he attends. Even though he isn’t very good at ninjitsu, he is determined to become the best Ninja in the village and become it’s leader, Hokage. But Naturo is shunned by the people of the village. When he w...
Want to know why the Japanese model of selling anthologies without back issues won’t work in the US? This ebay auction is a pretty good indication. With 2 hours to go, the winning bid is $91.00 for Yen Plus Volume 1 issue 2, which started out at $8.99. Such outrageous extremes wouldn’t be happening if Yen Press had thought things through and had a plan for back issues. I think this is a good indication of how uneven ...
“On the Eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Eight Dragon Priestess Guardians,” Akane Motomiya is walking to school, when she hears a voice calling to her from an old well. When she goes to investigate, she is sucked into the well by Akuram, the oni leader who wants to control Akane and take over Kyou, a land that greatly resembles Kyoto of the Heian period. Akane, it seems, is meant to be the Priestess of t...
I guess Viz has faith in their chapter books line. In the Naruto line, they already have 4 books out with more scheduled for release. And honestly, as reading material for young ages 5-8, the books haven’t been bad. They have stayed true to the manga, adding embellishments that are appropriate for young ages and uses panels from the manga for illustrations. I know this probably irks older readers who don’t like to see their ...
“On the Seventh Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Seven Dragon Balls,” Goku is a strange boy with a tail and super strength living by himself in the mountains. One day, a girl named Bulma finds him while she is searching for a legendary object: a dragon ball. If you collect all seven and call forth the dragon, he will grant you one wish. Goku has one of the balls, left to him by his Grandfather. He agrees to...
“On the Sixth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a Six Girl Volleyball Team,” Tomboy Nobara Sumiyoshi has one passion in life; Volleyball. Her mother, however, wants her to be the girlish hostess of the family’s ryotei (Old fashion Japanese restaurant). Nobara runs away from home to try and fulfill her dream, but her mother tries to stop her, going so far as to try and force Nobara’s younger sister to...
As you can tell from my last post, I really like Saint Seiya, and not just the manga. Saint Seiya also has an anime, and it’s where I was first introduced to the story. One of the things that really pulled me into the series was the opening animation and music. Here it is: Being a child of the eighties, I also really loved watching Transformers (G1 of course). Apparently, other people share my loves, and one person, with a...
“On the Fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Five Bronze Saints!” Long ago, the ancient Greek goddess Athena, had an army of warriors known as Saints. They were young boys who trained to control their Cosmo, a power within, that allowed them to perform supernatural feats. Thousands of years later, Athena has been reborn, and a new group of knights are training to earn cloths, or armor, and gain the honor to b...
