Manga News, Reviews and Commentary
In 1969 a group of boys built a secret base out of dried grass in a field. There, they came up with a story about an evil empire and the heroes that would stop them. They wrote in a notebook called The Book of Prophesy. 27 years later, events in the book start to come true. In 1999, the boys, led by Kenji Endou, have come together to try to stop the evil empire led by “Friend”, and their battle comes to a head on New Years E...
In an ideal world where man and robot coexist, someone or something has destroyed the powerful Swiss robot Mont Blanc. Elsewhere a key figure in a robot rights group is murdered. The two incidents appear to be unrelated…except for one very conspicuous clue – the bodies of both victims have been fashioned into some sort of bizarre collage complete with makeshift horns placed by the victim’s heads. Interpol assigns robot...
The Chinese New Year has arrived, which means two things; a slow down of shipments at work as factories shut down for 3 weeks, and a new post about manga featuring this year’s zodiac animal! We move from the majestic dragon down to the more common snake, but as you will see, there are no such things as common snakes in manga! Fruits Basket – Let’s get the obvious out-of-the-way with Fruits Basket, which features all th...
September is shaping up to a good month for new releases. All-Fiction.net dug up a new solicitation on Amazon for a new series from Seven Seas. Dokusai Grimoire, or Dictatorial Grimoire as Seven Seas is calling it is a three-volume manga series. It follows Grimm Otogi, a far-flung descendant of the original Brothers Grimm, has inherited a mansion from the deceased father he never knew. Along with that inheritance comes a curse; his ance...
I check out Baka-Updates Manga for occasionally for new and interesting titles. When I see an interesting title, I throw it into my wish list so I won’t forget it. This site is especially helpful for License Season at Vertical. I few weeks ago, I saw a title go by that made me raise my eyebrows and even comment about it on Twitter; Tanteiken Sherdock. I was attracted to it because of the “tantei” in the title, denoted ...
There’s a lot of manga out there to read, and not a lot of time or shelf space for it all. But just because I can’t have it all doesn’t mean I can’t dream! Every month I’ll go through the new releases and pick one or two titles that best fit in three categories: What I’m Going to Read is for those titles I collect, or already know I want. What I Want to Read are for those that I’ve read at least...
Zooming ahead to a story arc that presents New World wines for a New World audience, this special episode of the international best-seller features scenes set in Napa Valley and labels from outside the traditional European production centers. Delectable on its own too, the Apostle revealed is the lucky Seventh. Story by Tadashi Agi; Art by Shu Okimoto Publisher: Vertical, Inc. Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Food/Drama ISBN: 9781935654520...
In Sakuran, Moyoco Anno lifts the veil on life in the Edo-period pleasure quarter, Yoshiwara. The story follows Kiyoha, sold into a brothel as a child and forced to work as a maid and her rise to prominence as one of the top-ranking courtesans in Yoshiwara. The allure of the “flower and willow world” as it was called by artists in the day is underscored with the very real tragedy, heartbreak and difficult lives led by those ...
Yukari Hayasaka is a studious, straight-laced high school senior, racing toward college exams yet with no real sense of purpose in her life. One day she’s kidnapped by a troupe of fashion design students and whisked away to their lounge-like atelier. There they ask her to be their model for their school fashion show. At first she resists, scornful of the odd-looking design students, until George, the lead designer, uses his wiles ...
Like most teens at Central City Middle School, Joey Jones is in desperate need of a hero. But the hero of his desire isn’t someone in tights, instead it’s the latest technological fad, a remote-controlled bot called The Heybo. Without much in terms of savings, Joey’s little hero seems out of reach, but in a twist of fate not only does he come to possess one of these machines, his new Heroman comes to life to help him...
At the beginning of 2012 I decided I needed to do some catch-up reading. I had so many series’ sitting on my bookshelves unread, many of which I never read more than the first few volumes. I decided in 2012 I would try to weed some of them out. Well, that lasted about 6 months. And actually, I didn’t do too bad. I got through 100 volumes of manga covering 18 series’. I even resolved to give away 11 of these, though I h...
After a short break with a series of short stories, the action starts back up with Hikaru hungry to climb the Pro ladder and start competing at the same level as Akira. Hokuto Communications, a telecom, decides to sponsor a Go tournament for young pros from Japan, Korea and China called the Hokuto Cup. Akira is a shoe in, but Hikaru has to fight for a place on the three-man team. When the tournament finally starts, it’s a battle o...
