Kaze Hikaru 1-4, 6 and 8
Kaze Hikaru by Taeko Watanabe This is a series that doesn’t knock you over the head with awesomeness but it gradually wins you over with its quiet charm. I remember liking the first few chapters of Kaze Hikaru when it started in Shojo Beat but I didn’t feel compelled to rush out and buy the [...]
Vagabond VizBig Volumes 7 and 8
Vagabond Volumes 7 and 8 by Takehiko Inoue I’ve fallen behind with reading Vagabond, but that makes catching up all the more enjoyable since I was able to read 6 volumes of awesome sword fighting action all at once in these two omnibus editions. This is a series that I sometimes find difficult to write [...]
Amber by Night
Amber by Night by Sharon Sala and Mayu Takayama I’m always on the lookout for fictional portrayals of librarians so there was no way I wasn’t going to read Amber by Night after reading this summary: Amelia is a typical bookworm librarian. But she has a secret. At night, she works as a provocatively dressed [...]
Demon Sacred Volumes 1 and 2
Demon Sacred Volume 1 by Natsumi Itsuki I read so much manga that it is fairly rare for me to finish a volume feeling super-excited to find out what comes next. But the first couple volumes of Demon Sacred are enough to reinvigorate even the most jaded shoujo fan. Who wouldn’t be thrilled to read [...]
Antique Gift Shop Volume 1
The Antique Gift Shop, Volume 1 by Eun Lee The Antique Gift Shop is a solid example of the “spooky shop” genre found so often in manga and manhwa, where a mysterious shopkeeper sells customers items that have mystical properties. The customers’ lives end up being changed dramatically due to their purchases. In a short [...]
We Were There Volumes 6 and 7
We Were There Volumes 6 and 7 by Yuki Obata This is my go-to series whenever I want to indulge in intense teenage misery. Everybody is so unhappy! Love doesn’t make anything better, and can in fact make things so much worse. Part of the reason why I enjoy this series is that even though [...]
Hetalia: Axis Powers Volume 1
Hetalia Axis Powers Volume 1 by Hidekaz Himaruya This manga is probably one of the most high profile new releases coming out from Tokyopop. I knew that this series about anthropomorphic countries during World War II was insanely popular, but I was prepared not to like it. I wasn’t sure if a humor manga potentially [...]
Gakuen Alice Volumes 1, 12, and 13
I remember pointedly avoiding Gakuen Alice when it first came out, mostly because it seemed like it was being marketed as the next Fruit Basket. I was quite happy with Fruits Basket and thought that I didn’t need any substitute Fruits Basket-like series, thank you very much. Then I read the first couple volumes of [...]
Gente Volume 1
Gente, Vol. 1: The People of Ristorante Paradiso by Natsume Ono I liked this spin-off of Ristorante Paradiso more than than the first, standalone volume. The problems with the way Ono set up the mother/daughter relationship in Ristorante Paradisio are left behind as Gente just focuses on the way the bespectacled gentlemen of Casetta Dell’Orso [...]
Viz Quick Takes – Butterflies, Flowers, Arata, and Otomen
Butterflies, Flowers Volume 4 I think with every volume the situations in Butterflies, Flowers grow more cartoony and thus even more hilarious. Yanagi, the president of the company where Masayuki and Choko work has decided that Choko will be his new personal assistant. Oh, and he just happens to be the man who sexually harassed [...]
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