This volume is lots and lots of old stories.  Some are only a few pages long.  Some are longer.  The first Astro Boy story isn’t here, but Tezuka mentions that these were mostly among the first, and it was the first appearance of a lot of characters, like Tawashi and several of Astro’s classmates.

Some of the art anomalies are more noticeable in this volume than usual.  I think these chapters ran in color originally, but it’s also highly possible that the artwork is several generations removed from the original source, but it’s very fuzzy.  It’s probably an issue of the originals being in color though, because occasionally there will be a few really sharp pages that appear randomly together, and Tezuka is sort of notorious for continuously redrawing and reworking his stories.  There’s also a chapter which has weird formatting issues where it looks like he added a piece of paper under the original and drew the edges that way, or had to crop the edges of the original panels to make them smaller, something like that.  It was something he mentioned in one of the very early volumes.  There’s also a transition page consisting of a single orphaned panel that looks really weird.

This set of stories is actually better than normal just by virtue of being really old and bizarre.  At one point, Astro is given some sort of “computer disease” that you have to smile at.  Far removed from your standard computer virus, it just corrodes Astro’s insides.  He fights some pretty awesome robot bombs, some aliens during a trip to Mars, and he even fights a Frankenstein’s monster robot alongside some sort of robot cult.  Weird things happen, like Shibugaki constantly picking on Astro, and a really bizarre scene between Shibugaki and Astro’s dad.  Kenichi appears a lot more frequently in the early stories, and he gets a chance to be a friend as well as lose heart in Astro… and Shunsaku Ban even gets to use his real name and occupation as PI.

He also has a chapter where he saves some underwater slaves stuck digging a uranium mine in a gigantic mechanical serpent.  This chapter is weird in several ways, and is probably the most bizarre Astro Boy story I’ve ever read.  At one point, he slams his head and sort of misshapes it.  He does his feats at night, causing him to do some weird stuff during the day.  A couple times, Astro uses the help of a girl living on an island.  We are mercifully spared a caricature, but it’s still sort of implied that the island’s inhabitants are cannibals.  Stranger still, Astro only saves two of the slaves.  As far as I remember, the rest are left underneath, unless he leaves it to the two who escaped to alert the authorities and free them.  But they seem more concerned with tracking down Astro Boy.

I never really know what to say about this series.  I’ve put off talking about this volume for about two weeks, and really, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t get this out of the way.

I think my problem is that it’s never quite what I expect, except not in the way where everything that happens is a pleasant surprise.  I’m always sort of mildly disappointed with things that are going on, I realize.  I don’t really like Machi, so I’m not really liking where things are going concerning her.  On the other hand, the fact that there’s now more of a romance for Tohru was something I’ve been looking for the entire time I’ve been reading the series.  But Tohru’s sort of been shoved into the background for the time being, and she’s also very nearly made into a bad guy at one point, which didn’t agree with me.

I don’t like Machi, and I don’t like her cousin, Yuki’s friend, either.  I guess I just don’t like any of the student council characters.  I did appreciate the focus on Yuki, but it was at the expense of Tohru and Kyo… I don’t know.  I think there’s just way too much going on right now, and way too many characters.  For instance, there was some focus on Machi’s cousin’s girlfriend, which ties into Tohru’s past.  As nice a story as that is, why was she introduced?  Why wasn’t the time that nonsequitor story took up spent on advancing the plot?  It’ll be tricky to wrap things up in three volumes, but we’ll see.

I’m sort of being unfair.  There’s a whole chapter of Tohru/Kyo at the beginning, and it’s very cute.  Shigure reveals why it’s important to keep the cat imprisoned at the main house, and Tohru’s grandfather has a talk with Kyo about the way Tohru talks.  I approve heartily.  There’s also a chapter with Ayame, which I approve of in theory since I love Ayame, but it’s another case of a story telling Ayame’s backstory and… not really advancing the plot.  Why go into these things this late in the game.

Bah.  I’m just being unfair.  It’s a fine series, and the digressions are what it’s been doing the whole time.  It does them well.  It’s just not my thing.

Here.  Because Pastel always makes other series look a lot better.

As messy as Bastard still is, there was a lot of significant story going on in this volume, and I can respect that.  The battle between Dark Schneider and Arshes Nei turns out to be much better than I had expected, and it had a really epic finale.  The armies pouring in to get the last seals to awaken… the evil being (whose name escapes me at the moment) put up a good fight, and there are some interesting fights and some other elements introduced.

Then something awesome happens, and there’s a big fight at the end of the volume.  I actually kind of liked it.  Maybe things will start picking up, but there’s at least the beginnings of organization here.  I do like this series, I have a hard time hating it for being bad… which is kind of is, at the moment.  I just can’t help but be fascinated, though.

I just have nothing to say in defense of this series.  It makes me feel bad for badmouthing it since it’s got the sort of lighthearted cutesy stories I gravitate towards, and the characters are sometimes genuine, but then in the middle of something serious, there’ll be a moment where Yuu “has” to take off her shirt, then gets mad at Mugi for seeing her without a shirt on.  It just… it just can’t give up the ghost on that stuff, and it really ruins things for me.  The fanservice just isn’t seamless enough for me.  I’m sorry.

Plus it has some problems with its stories, too.  A good example is when Mugi is forced to work at the restaurant by himself with just Yuu for help.  We know this is big for him.  We know he would rather be spending time alone with Yuu.  But these things are reinforced about 500 times throughout the course of the chapter.  Or maybe it wasn’t repeated all that much.  I don’t know.

I praised the series some time ago for starting over with less characters, except they’ve all since gravitated back.  I can’t stand Yuu’s sister, any chapter with her will have about 200% more fanservicey jokes, which seems impossible, but there it is.  I was done a favor, because it seems like there’s a possibility she won’t be around for awhile.  I certainly hope she stays away.

And in case you weren’t getting enough boob jokes, a new character comes in and scratches that itch for you.  Of course Yuu is constantly pestering Mugi about staring, and there’s… there’s cosplay… just… it was just too much for me.

Aside from my beef with the fanservice, Yuu’s character is also a little off.  We never learn what she’s thinking, and she’s sort of kept at a distance as sort of a mystery, but she still comes across as shallow and somewhat childish a lot of the time.  At ten volumes in, I was hoping for a little more from the character.

Well, what could I have expected, I guess.

Wow, here’s a volume I never thought would come.  It’s not like, the best thing I’m reading right now, but it is pretty enjoyable.  I like it okay, and I’m very glad it’s back.

I still really like the framing device, which is probably the best thing you can say about any sort of Arabian Nights setup.  It was easy to get back into even after years had elapsed between volumes since the actual story is pretty simple and the bulk of what happens is the tale, this time a sort of retelling of the “Robe of Feathers” legend (which, again, I don’t know if that’s the real name for it or not, that’s just what it’s called in Tezuka’s Phoenix).

A woodcutter’s son lives a somewhat idyllic life with his father, mother, and new sister until a stranger shows up.  The storyteller in the framing device feels that this will parallel the sultan’s situation (he finally pries the traumatic experience out of… the sultan’s brother, maybe), and yes, in the end, when we are told what happened to the sultan in his youth, there are some similarities.  The story is a pretty good one, and very dark.

I’m not sure how many more volumes of the series there are (I would guess one or two more), but after the Sultan’s backstory was revealed, I’m ready for more of that over the stories next volume.  Of course, I remember the stories always being the best part of this series, so I guess I’m just looking forward to the next
volume period.

There is definitely more plot in this volume than usual, mostly due to Masumi’s move to New York City and totally being uprooted from everything she’s known.  She met friendly faces when she got to Russia, if I remember right, but her reception in New York is much colder.  It’s nicely done, because this of course is played for MAXIMUM DRAMA.

I’m never sure of Masumi’s romantic interests.  I was all ready to pair her up with Aoi, and I don’t much like Leonard, but I can’t tell if things are moving more towards them just being dance partners or what.  Maybe both.  It’s hard to tell in this series, which is part of what I love about it.

It enters a new era, where modern dance is discussed and performed.  I was missing the well-coreographed dance sequences from the previous competition volumes, but there were still a handful of dancing sequences while the characters explained modern dance to Masumi.  Masumi can’t quite wrap her brain around it, and the American coreographer is of course harsh with her.  Drama drama drama, as you can imagine, and only in ways that Swan can pull it off.  What would a volume be without at least one character bursting into tears at least once?

I love it.  The art is still gorgeous, the characters are still passionate, and this series is just fantastic.

Sorry I haven’t posted in awhile. Sometimes you have to go to Michigan for several days and come back with festering spider bites all over your hand.

I liked this volume a lot, actually. It’s hard for me to tell whether or not I appreciate these stories because they’re good stories, or because they’re triggering nostalgia for me. Maybe a little of both, but they’re definitely the type of quiet stories that the series is good for.

In the first story, Keiichi et al have to exorcise a memory spirit of some kind from a dilapidated hotel that the Motorcycle Club is having a camp in. The setup is basically that the spirit wants him to fulfill a promise on behalf of his grandfather, who he looks just like. Mixed into the bargain is a super-rare motorcycle his grandfather left behind. It’s just sort of a nice story with not too much rocking the boat. I really liked it.

There’s a beach story that attempts to bring Belldandy and Keiichi closer together, with Urd and Skuld interfering. I’m not sorry to see this type of story go in later volumes in favor of Skuld and Urd antagonizing themselves and Peorth, but this one’s okay as far as it goes.

In the aftermath of that story, it appears that Skuld has some sort of crush on Keiichi. This one always struck me as weird, but I also liked it since it’s sorta rare that Skuld acts human, especially in these older stories. I also just like the end of this story, plus it’s one of the few stories with continuity, so hooray for that.

There are color pages and 4-panel comics too, which are still awesome. It’s a shame they don’t appear more frequently in the later volumes, but it does give me a reason to reread these older volumes.

I… dont’ know.  The master of Sanctuary was revealed in this volume.  It… was supposed to be a surprise.  I don’t know if I’m supposed to know who it is and just forgot, or it’s just Saint Seiya’s way to do everything as loud and in your face as possible.  Probably the latter, though everyone else seemed to know who he was.

The resurrections in this series just kills me every time.  There’s lots of that in this volume, and I laughed every time someone who was supposed to be dead came back.  I love this series for killing its characters off, and I love it even more for feeling like there’s no reason in the world why they shouldn’t be able to come back to life when its most convenient.

But yes.  Lots of fighting.  A few things are explained, but not much.  Mostly it’s just fighting.  Over-the-top, in-your-face, invented-on-the-spot fighting.  It… has limited appeal, but I love it well enough to space the volume out and keep reading.

Following up on the heels of Variante, a series I don’t like very much and isn’t terribly good, here’s a series which certainly fails all quality tests, but I have an inordinate fondness for.

Certainly it tries to get me to hate it.  It’s got plenty of ditzy girls who throw their large breasts around and have no problem using their bodies to get what they want.  They also congregate around the main character, making some sort of… harem.  The magical elements are played waaaay down, you have to look really hard to find them.

I hate myself a lot for it, but I can’t help but like the main plot.  The main character, though very shallow, is a sweet guy, and there are nice scenes that play out while the girls are shoving their breasts everywhere.  For example, I was immediately enamored with this volume when the first chapter was a story about one of the characters building a magical piano so that demons could hear human music.  The music that’s played by a little girl who needed the piano attracts little demons from all over who have come to hear her beautiful playing.  I’m just a sucker for that.

It doesn’t help the main character’s such a nice guy.  He spends a lot of time worrying about other people and doing little things to help them, which I can’t help but like.  He also has several stupid awkward scenes with his teacher which I should hate every time, but somehow play out in my mind as really cute coming-of-age stuff.  I don’t know how I allow it this, but I do.

I don’t know.  I still want more magic, and I may get some next volume, since it seems like we may see Haruhiko trying to help a girl who can’t help her split personality.  But yeah.  I enjoy this series more than I’m ever going to admit, and I would be destroyed if it ever stopped coming out.  Hopefully the T&A will keep it afloat so that I get whatever bizarre enjoyment I can from its other… charms.

Okay, things get much better in this volume.  We finally have plot, which seems like it will play out through this volume and wrap up next volume.

There’s less emphasis on fighting this time, mostly because we’re starting to figure out why the chimeras exist.  Because the main female character and the main male character are separated throughout the volume, and because both have now acquired this knowledge, they both sort of lose their will.  Much is made of this, but at this point, I’m more interested in the promise of the two of them escaping, which is fine by me.

What else… I approve of the use of a parallel character that mirrors the main character’s situation.  She sort of serves as a reminder as to what exactly will happen when the main character stops being useful.  It’s pretty horrible.

I still don’t think the series is that good, or very entertaining, but at least I like it a lot better now.