+ Anima 9
Posted: January 17, 2009 Filed under: + Anima 1 Comment »Natsumi Mukai – Tokyopop – 2008 – 10 volumes total
So, wrapping up the Sailland stuff in the first chapter, the characters find themselves back in Astaria. What else is there to deal with besides Cooro’s past? Nothing. I am very excited.
Nana and a few of the other characters talk about what they’re going to be doing now that they don’t have a particular destination in mind. They aren’t being followed, and are basically wandering from place to place, making a living and enjoying each other’s company. There’s a great panel where Nana imagines everyone as adults.
They still set themselves to little tasks, like helping other + Anima and whatnot. There’s a little story about a swan + Anima periodically appearing to the people of a small town as an angel and a legend springing up around him. Cooro and the others teach him a Very Important Lesson about how he doesn’t have to be an angel to stand out, and he should be himself if he wants to win the girl. Despite the cheesiness of the message, I still liked the story.
Oh, also. People throw rocks and Cooro has to hide because they think he’s the messenger of death. Cooro doesn’t seem to mind, but that still struck me as kind of weird.
Actually, the stuff about him being a messenger of death isn’t left at that story, and it’s also hinted that Cooro didn’t get his + Anima the same way everyone else did. There is a + Anima race that Cooro and Senri run in where they run into one of Cooro’s old friends, and it’s implied that Cooro has always had his + Anima… like, there was no hardship that he needed help with that was overcome by him suddenly having a crow + Anima. Cooro, in fact, seems like he’s never let himself be unhappy.
We also get to see that there’s apparently some organization that is not only giving kids fake + Anima, but is catching kids that get them for real for research purposes. The guy that runs the organization doesn’t seem like a bad guy… in fact, in his backstory, we get another little girl’s story about how she got a pidgeon + Anima, and it’s all very sad.
One more volume. I am very much looking forward to the Cooro backstory.
Detective Conan 25
Posted: January 17, 2009 Filed under: Case Closed 4 Comments »George was singing “Mune ga Doki Doki” at one point during a car ride, and now I’m going to have that song stuck in my head for, like, a week. Thanks, Case Closed.
Otherwise, this volume was surprisingly good. The second case was a little weak, unfortunately. It was about a puppetmaker, but all the awesome situations I imagined that involved puppets were unfortunately not to be. There was a weird drug angle that not much was made of. The end was really, really creepy in that everyone was sort of smiling and joking in the last panel. I liked the way the grandma stepped in to save the feelings of the two little girls, but the light mood was sort of… not a good fit, even though I know that’s how all the cases end, and almost all the other cases involve murder, too. For some reason, I wasn’t having the logic of the way the murders were committed, either. That stuff is always over-the-top, but… yeah, I don’t know why it bothered me a little this time. This one also had Harley in it, and I still don’t really like him.
What else… the first case was a pretty cut-and-dry murder at an ice skating rink. You could see the motive a mile away, and it wasn’t all that surprising when the murderer was revealed at the end, but it had all those things that make a Case Closed mystery, etc. It had Sonoko in it, but for once I didn’t actually mind her that much.
The last story is the best, and is one of those rare stories that has a little bit of plot. Conan starts to suspect that Ran knows his identity (once again), but before he has time to think very much about it, he goes on a camping trip with his friends, runs across some murdering bank robbers, and is shot. There is a cliffhanger. Spoiler – I think he makes it. I also think that Ran doesn’t find out he’s Shinichi.
Yeah. I still like it. I’ll probably like it for as long as it feels like running, which may be indefinitely.
Fairy Tail 4
Posted: January 16, 2009 Filed under: Fairy Tail Leave a comment »Hiro Mashima – Del Rey – 2008 – 14+ volumes
I’m not totally taken in by this yet, but I like that it seems to be a far-above-average shounen action series, and there’s a bunch of pretty unique things about it.
Well, maybe not a bunch. Mostly I’m thinking of the magic system, which I still love reading about. Lucy’s keys are my favorite, and I always look forward to seeing her use them. There’s nothing brand new per se in this volume as far as her magic goes, but we do get introduced to one of her older contracts.
I also really like most of the characters. Happy and Natsu especially, but Gray too, and maybe Erza sometimes. Erza I can take or leave, and Gray hasn’t left much of an impression except for the nudity, which will never get old. I think I like Happy and Natsu most because of their boundless enthusiasm, which always attracts me to characters. There’s still not a lot of depth to any of the characters at this point, though Gray gets the beginnings of a backstory in this volume, but I wouldn’t be too upset if Happy and Natsu stayed how they were. Unfortunately, I think it would take a miracle for me to like Lucy, who is perhaps one of the shallowest characters in the history of manga. She does cool things sometimes, which makes the series readable, and the stupid gags that make me hate her aren’t really her fault… I know what I hate is just fanservice. But she and I… we’ll never be friends.
This volume starts off another story arc where the main group takes on a difficult mission to uncurse an island. The mission is an S-rank mission, so their pride as guild members is at stake (as well as their membership, most likely), but I’m not exactly sure what to think of it at the end of this volume. I like it well enough, but I think I’ll have to read the ending before I form a real opinion of it.
The sense of humor is still a little too wacky for me, and again, I hate the fanservice we get through Lucy. But Fairy Tale is probably one of the only series I read where most the jokes fall flat and it still manages to be really funny. I mean, it’s cracking a thousand jokes, so some are going to be funny on accident, but most anything Happy says makes me laugh, and I’m sure that’s worth something.
Let Dai 11
Posted: January 16, 2009 Filed under: Let Dai | Tags: BL Leave a comment »Naru Hagi. I expected better. Britney Spears?
BRITNEY SPEARS?!
I laughed so hard.
This was another volume where Dai and Jaehee don’t get to see very much of each other. But as far as their separations go, this one is probably the best of the bunch. Dai is roused out of bed at an early hour to flee the country with his family. He tries unsuccessfully to text Jaehee and get him down to the airport, and there’s a whole long scene where Dai is arguing with his brother several different times about how he can’t leave his lover behind.
The texts are intercepted by Jaehee’s mom, who suspects, so Jaehee is spending a summer alone and not knowing what happened to Dai. You can imagine the lamentations that spill over the pages while he angsts about this. Somewhere along the line, he tells his mother the truth about Dai, and is promptly shamed and beaten.
One of the things I like best about Let Dai is that it puts Dai and Jaehee’s relationship in the context of their society, so that the two of them deal with friends, enemies, parents, and the general public who is rather prejudiced. Not very many BL series actually put the relationship in a context outside what it means to the two characters. Let Dai has an overly violent approach to absolutely everything it does, so I can’t exactly call it realistic, but it is a lot more… shoujo-y to me than your typical BL relationship.
Of course, Jaehee breaking into Dai’s house and living in his room is by no means typical, and borderline creepy. The end of the volume hints at something good coming of it, though.
There’s some stuff going on with Naru Hagi and his family, and his dad’s health looks like it’s flagging. It’s pretty sad, especially since it seemed like every member of Naru’s family was pretty upbeat.
And… there’s some more fallout from what happened to Eunhyung. I think she’ll be quite involved with the rest of the series, actually, despite her absence.
One Piece 20
Posted: January 16, 2009 Filed under: One Piece Leave a comment »This series is one of the few that tops itself over and over again with awesome ideas. In this volume alone, there is a Duck Squad, a main batter, some kung-fu dugongs, a gun with a cold, a battle that lasts a proud two seconds, and a game of whack-a-mole in place of a battle. Plus some awesome lying.
This volume is mostly just exposition to the final rounds of battles for this storyline, which I believe will still take several volumes to play out. The armies are clashing and the Baroque Works and Straw Hat Pirates are trying to intervene for various reasons, and the Marines are still wandering around somewhere. There is a fight between Crocodile and Luffy at the beginning of the volume that doesn’t last very long, and we do see some of the fight between the armies at the end of the volume, but… there’s a lot of traveling. Plus we get to see Miss Merry Christmas and Mr. 4 fight Usopp and Chopper.
Usopp is one of my favorites in a fight. The other characters have some really creative moves, and they’re all fun to watch in their own ways, but Usopp’s fights are the best because the stuff he does often comes out of left field. He is the sharpshooter, but since he doesn’t actually use guns, he relies on some truly bizarre strategy. He fires almost nothing in this fight in favor of things like whack-a-mole setups and stuff like that.
My favorite scene was probably the list of animal helpers that get the Straw Hat Pirates across the desert, with the army of swift ducks being my favorite of the bunch… but not by much, because I’m also a big fan of kung-fu dugongs. Karoo got to be a hero at the end of the volume, too, which was really sweet.
Next time will probably just be more Baroque Works fights, like Sanji vs. Mr. 2 Bon Clay, Zoro vs. Mr. 1, and Nami vs. Miss Doublefinger. As much as things slow down when fights are in progress, I’m still really looking forward to them just because the variety of techniques the characters use keep things fresh (the devil fruits are quite good for that, like the Jojo stands).
What can I say? Every volume is fun and fresh, even after I’ve already read them. It’s just the best. There’s nothing else quite like One Piece.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Parasyte 5
Posted: January 12, 2009 Filed under: Parasyte Leave a comment »This series really is amazing. This volume focuses mainly on the relationship between Migi and Shinichi, specifically the way the two now work in battle, and the strategies that only they use that make them superior to most other parasytes. Shinichi is mostly no longer human at this point, and I love the way he slowly realizes he has more and more in common with the parasytes.
His girlfriend is still around, at least. He seems to still care about her, but she’s pushing away and he doesn’t seem to see this. Or he does, and figures it’s for the best since he’s sort of turning into a monster.
There’s a plot early on that carries over from the last volume about a PI following Shinichi around and gathering hard evidence about Migi. Migi wants to kill the man for reasons of self-preservation, and Shinichi can’t quite bring himself to do it. Migi and Shinichi invite the man to help them check out other parasytes with Migi’s abilities. This doesn’t go well, and involves vomiting on the man’s part. He’s pretty persistent for awhile, though.
Shinichi and Migi trigger the ire of a band of parasytes, and they decide the Migi-Shin pair has to go. They send someone fairly freaky after them, even by parasyte standards. The battle is twofold, and I was pretty pleased with it. It carries over into the next volume, and I’m wondering how the series will top it.
But yes, the action is ratcheting up, and the plot keeps getting better and better. Currently, Migi and Shinichi are on a mission to kill every other bloodthirsty parasyte, which I imagine won’t quite go as planned.
Bastard 7
Posted: January 12, 2009 Filed under: Bastard Leave a comment »So the next couple volumes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure have disappeared, which breaks my little fangirl heart. Why that series has seemingly been cancelled, and the likes of Bastard and Ultimate Muscle are still going, is something of a mystery to me. I felt like consoling myself with a shitty manga for some reason. My logic was rewarded with a Jojo reference.
This volume consisted entirely of the fight with Abigail. The first half of the volume was Abigail versus Arshes Nei, and the second half was Abigail versus Dark Schneider. I may or may not have slept through the parts with Arshes Nei, because this battle was just like all the others. They use powerful moves on each other, each one supposedly a death blow, then it doesn’t kill the person, so a more powerful move is dished out.
The fight with Dark Schneider is slightly more interesting, but only because he and Abigail start babbling nonsense about the power coming from Hell, the magic being older than modern magic, who is the most powerful, etc. I… think Anthrasax may be awake? The princess is writhing orgasmically on the floor, so it’s hard to tell if he’s actually awake, or if her seal is somehow being broken, or what. He does appear, and there is a nice drawing of him on the back cover.
Also, Dark Schneider is quartered near the end of the volume, a violent act I was not expecting, and made all the better since he still seems to be alive.
Ho-hum. Three more volumes and it’s still not very readable. At least this volume was far less lazy than the last.
Skip Beat 16
Posted: January 11, 2009 Filed under: Skip Beat Leave a comment »I think it will be hard for Skip Beat’s story to ever top this volume. This one was my favorite so far.
If this volume had a theme, it would be Ren. Ren gets angry, Ren works out his anger issues, Ren is afraid he will scare Kyoko away for good, Ren is trying to get Sho away from Kyoko, Ren makes a fool of himself, Ren is a little forward.
If I hadn’t mentioned it before, I’m a big Ren fan. It’s sort of rare for the reader to get to see this much of what he’s thinking, so this volume was a huge treat. Plus, since Ren is always portrayed as a cool customer, it’s kind of funny when he’s drawn with some of the same expressions as Kyoko. Or anything other than a straight face, for that matter.
Most of the actual plot in this volume deals with Ren finding out Kyoko was stalked by a celebrity and that Sho is still more or less vying for her attention. And has it, for that matter. Ren also makes a play or two for Kyoko’s attention, but… you know how she is. I love the relationships between these three characters, and I really really hope we get to see more of this later.
But yes, this has been my favorite volume of the series so far by a wide margin. Skip Beat is definitely at the very top of my list, and is likely to remain there a good while longer.
Moon Child 12
Posted: January 11, 2009 Filed under: Moon Child Leave a comment »I thought this series was actually 14 volumes long, but it looks like the next volume will be the last. That’s probably for the best, because this volume was pretty slow. It makes sense if the next volume is the last though, because a lot of time was spent discussing the setup for and possible consequences of the meltdown of Chernobyl.
Shonach shows up in Kiev and he and Seth get together to puzzle over the Teruto/Gil Owen mystery. I don’t think either of them quite figure it out, but Shonach may be on the brink. They wind up… otherwise engaged before too long, though.
The character introduced last volume actually does have ties to Art. He actually makes Art question his sanity. This ties in with Benjamin being tortured beyond her limit by Teruto. She thinks she will cause the meltdown, and starts provoking Art so that he’ll kill her.
It ends on one of the worst cliffhangers I’ve ever seen. I know the next volume is the last and all, but… those last two pages were really harsh.
Future Lovers 1
Posted: January 11, 2009 Filed under: Future Lovers | Tags: BL 6 Comments »“Red Blinds the Foolish” actually made me go back and look at the Deux catalog to see what I missed. I don’t often read Boy’s Love manga because I don’t like the plot devices as much as I do regular shoujo manga, but my problem may just be I’m reading the wrong Boy’s Love series. Deux has quite a number of titles featuring older couples, and so far I like them a lot more.
The change in perspective helped a lot. Ironically, my first efforts into getting bl books with older couples netted me a series where the couple are teachers at a high school. I was a little put off at first, because I really did want to get away from the school setting, but it’s almost a non-issue in the first story. The second story does take place mostly in the school, but the change in perspective really did help. It just doesn’t mean the same thing to these two characters as it would if they were students, even with some students being drawn into the main story.
I liked both stories for different reasons. In the first story, the main character winds up drunk after being dumped by his girlfriend and finds himself engaged in a night of wild sex with some guy he met at the bar. He doesn’t really think anything of it, since his dream is to have a wife, kids, and a loving family, but as he unsuccessfully tries to patch things up with his girlfriend, the random guy at the bar, now a coworker, just won’t leave his head. It’s all very sweet.
The second story is told from the other character’s perspective. I like him as a character a lot more than the main, and his story is pretty amusing, though I didn’t actually like the plot of it that much. He’s bored with the way things are, he doesn’t like to please people and deal with hiding his relationship at work, he tries to break up with his partner and turn him to a student that really likes him… blah blah blah. Everything he did just felt wrong. I did like the bizarre focus on wardrobe during the story, so it gets credit for that, too.
There’s a third unrelated story in the back of the volume, but it involved incest (the two boys weren’t related, but they were raised as brothers, which is the same thing in my mind), which is ranked high on my list of no-nos, along with non-consensual sex and high school boys dating older men.
It wasn’t the greatest series in the world, but it was pretty enjoyable, and I’ll be buying the second volume when it’s released. Again, I kind of like these slightly more mature stories, and I’m definitely going to see what else I might like, since it seems like Deux has quite a few they publish.
