Horror, fantasy, ninjas, cars and some BL are all waiting for you at the Manga Village! This week, Charles Tan gives his take on Uzumaki Vol 1 from Viz. Dan Polley, another new addition (Yay!) brings the tale of ninjas in love with Tail of the Moon Vol 8 from Viz. Lissa Pattillo has some sweet boy lovin’ with You and Harujion from June/DMP. Finally, it’s me with some magical land romping in Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden vol 6 ...
There’s a lot of comics for teens and adults, and there’s a lot of manga for teens and adults. But what about the kids to ‘tweens? There’s not a lot, but they are out there. Starting this week, I’m going to be listing these books, and spotlighting the ones I recommend. ARCHIE COMICS Archie #582, $2.25 Archie Double Digest #186, $3.69 Veronica #187, $2.25 BONGO Simpsons Comics #139, $2.99 DC COMICS/CMX Carto...
Warning: The following contain spoilers for Nana Volume 8. This last week I posted a review at Manga Village of Nana Volume 8. In it, I wrote that I wished Viz had waited until after this volume to move Nana to a Mature rating. The manga started serialization in Shojo Beat, and was rated Older Teen (16 and +) to match the magazine’s rating. After 7 volumes, Nana was “graduated” from Shojo Beat to be published straight ...
The current issue of Otaku USA, as well as featuring stories about the anime Space Battleship Yamato and Star Blazers, also had an insert on the Star Blazers webcomic, Star Blazers: Rebirth. This is a web comic written by THE authority on Star Blazers, Tim Eldred. It is a continuation of the Star Blazers saga, taking place after the Final Yamato movie, and features a new generation of characters. But, did you know there were other comic...
The latest issue of Otaku USA has a couple of features on the anime classic series Space Battleship Yamato. While reading these features and the writers talking about their first times seeing the series, it got me thinking about how I was introduced to it. Like most other people my age, my first exposure to Japanese animation was through the cartoons that were brought over and re-written for a US audience. Kimba the White Lion, Speed Ra...
Let’s Find Pokemon! Special Complete Edition: Find Pokemon SP ED Art by Kazunori Aiha Published by Viz Media/Viz Kids Genre: Game Rating: All Ages Grade: A+ Can you catch all your favorite Pokemon hidden in the pages? Review I really liked all the drawings. I like the mazes. I liked the way they turned the pokemon upside down to make it harder to find. I liked the pokemon stories at the end. The “Showdown on Blastoise Island...
Dragon Drive Volume 2 by Keiichi Sakura Published by Viz Media Genre: Fantasy, Gaming Rating: All Ages Grade B Storyline Reiji, recalling the events from last battle, wants to train so he does so in a secret training room that Agent L, the female associate that watches the battles and presents who is in the game, shows him. He trains there, determined not to give up. Soon he starts using class time for naps, and also starts avoiding Yun...
I’m not much of a shojo/romance kind of gal. My first forays into manga was through the Shonen Jump action titles. When my Animerica subscription got converted (after two issues) to Shojo Beat, I was sure there wasn’t going to be anything in there for me. Almost 2 years later, I’ve changed my tune, but that’s because shojo isn’t afraid to have romantic leads with bite! (And I don’t mean vampires…...
The latest round of reviews are up at Manga Village. As well as our usual reviewers, we’d like to welcome a new addition: Michael Aronson. He’ll be contribution articles as well as reviews. Our reviews this week cover the spectrum of manga. We start off with some BL, Poison Cherry Drive from Kitty Media reviewed by Lissa Pattillo. Michael Aronson looks at The Astro Boy Essays from Stonebridge Press. John Thomas goes for the ...
You’ll start to notice reviews in the Kidlette catagory. These are reviews of manga written by my two daughters. I’m not editing them other than correcting typos, so you’re getting what they think. Finally find out if the kids like the kid stuff! Now, just a bunch of random news items I want to comment on. Hunter X Hunter is coming back….again. After being put on hold in December with no reason and no date of ret...
Dragon Drive Volume 1 by Keniichi Sakura Published by Viz Media Genre: Fantasy, Game Rating: All Ages Grade: A Storyline This high-schooler, named Reiji, is a video game player. He’s late to his school most of the time and his friend, Yukino, scolds him for it. One day she shows him this awesome game called Dragon Drive, a virtual game where the player is chosen his dragon and will fight other dragons for points to level up their ...
Growing up, my family never had a lot of spending money, and we never got allowances like kids do today! But, when you’re in that kind of situation, you learn a fun, new pastime; Window Shopping. That’s where you go to stores or malls and look at all things you would buy if you had the money. With the proliferation of the internet, it has become Screen Shopping, I guess. And it’s so much easier now, with the store only...