Minima! Volume 1
Minima! 1 by Machiko Sakurai (amazon) Minima! is a shojo series with an interesting twist. The series opens with a scene from the future where a woman is getting married. A tiny animal sits in the church wearing a tuxedo. In the present day Ame has a pathological case of shyness at school. She greets [...]
Yozakura Quartet
Yozakura Quartet Volume 1 by Suzuhito Yasuda amazon I pre-ordered this because I thought the image of a pink-eyed girl with a guitar on the front cover looked sort of cool. I guess I was secretly hoping that she’d wack people over the head with the guitar; instead she uses a lacrosse stick. Unfortunately, someone [...]
New Year’s Manga Inventory
I thought I’d take some time to sit down and make a list of which manga series I’m actively following: Viz Nana – Consistently awesome. Boys Over Flowers – One of the nice things about following a long-running series is being able to see the art evolve. The later volumes of this series are so [...]
Le Chevalier d’Eon
Le Chevalier d’Eon Le Chevalier d’Eon features a combination of cross dressing and horror that I think one would be hard pressed to find anywhere outside manga. Eighteenth century France is afflicted with a peculiar kind of literary serial killer. Poets seem to be suddenly compelled to write psalms using the blood of virgins. The [...]
My Heavenly Hockey Club
My Heavenly Hockey Club by by Ai Morinaga (amazon.com) Hana is a heroine after my own heart. She dedicates her life to eating and sleeping, to the extent that she studies diligently to get into a competitive high school located a few feet away from her house because she wants to cut down on her [...]
Nodame Cantabile
Nodame Cantabile by Tomoko Ninomiya (amazon.com) I really don’t need to be following any more manga series, so I avoided Nodame Cantible for a period of time, despite suspecting that I would really enjoy it. Alas, after an impulse purchase shortly after pay day, I found myself in possession of volume 1 and now I’m [...]
Mushishi
Mushishi by Yuki Urushibara (amazon.com) Mushishi was the only Sundance movie I managed to get to this year, so it was a little odd reading the first volume of the manga after already seeing an adaptation of the story. Ginko is a Mushishi, traveling around and finding people who are afflicted by the ancient insect-like [...]
Quick Manga Reviews: Kurogane, Verses, and Yakitate! Japan
Here are notes about some of the new series I’ve sampled recently. Kurogane by Kei Toume (amazon) In Kurogane the samurai Jintetsu is near death when he is rescued by an eccentric inventor who rebuilds his body by using machine parts. Jintetsu can’t speak any more, but he’s aided by a talking sword. He returns [...]
Air Gear by Oh!Great
Air Gear #1 by Oh!Great (amazon) Itsuki Minami rules the schoolyard, easily beating up anyone that encroaches on his territory. Much like the Disney version of Cinderella, he has befriended a flock of birds, so it is easy to spot him because they hover wherever he goes. Itsuki has learned his fighting moves due to [...]
Basilisk
Basilisk by Futaro Yamada and Masaki Segawa (amazon) Basilisk is one of Del Rey’s manga for mature readers. It is printed at a larger size than the typical manga volume and costs $13.95. When I first heard about it, people were saying the plot was like “Romeo and Juliet with warring ninja clans” and that [...]
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