Manga-ka: Saemi Yorita
Publisher: DokiDoki
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: May 2009

Synopsis: “When Shouzo Mita left home, he thought it would be for good. Although he followed his father’s career path as a construction manager, Shouzo never wanted to enter the family business – that is, until dad got laid-up with an injury. Forced to return home and oversee his father’s company, Shouzo finds that a lot of things haven’t changed, but some things have. Nanami, a childhood acquaintance, has gone from being an awkward fatty to a sparkling pretty-boy straight out of a shojo manga. As an electrician contracted to work for Mita, Nanami’s simple, naive charm and healthy appetite manage to flip Shouzo’s switch. With the choice between remaining independent and accepting responsibility for his family even more complicated, what will Shouzo do?”

Brilliant Blue is an interesting yaoi. While the focus is the relationship between Shouzo and Nanami, it’s barely even romantic at this point. The two spend time together and grow closer over the course of the volume but things like work, family and the dynamics of living in a small town make theirs a far from straight forward romance. The drama in Brilliant Blue is refreshing in that it’s the kind of drama that arises naturally out of life.

Shouzo is a conflicted guy. On one hand, he is quick to come home to help run his father’s company when his dad ends up in the hospital. On the other hand, he can’t help but resent getting sucked back into the small town he grew up in. Being caught between duty and desire is a relatable situation: who hasn’t had to choose between what they should do and what they want to do? In the end, Shouzo chooses the right thing, but he still grumbles about it. This basic facet of Shouzo’s personality shows up throughout the book, making him a solid and well-defined character.

Nanami is both more straightforward and more complicated. Nanami is a young man who has the mentality of a seven-year-old. Maybe not literally, but nearly every character talks about how childlike and simple Nanami is (with Shouzo making the most pointed observations). I found it a little disturbing that one of the leads in a yaoi manga could be so emotionally and mentally stunted. At one point Nanami tells another character (a man who regularly pressures Nanami into sex) that his family told him not to let other people touch his “private parts.” It’s a moment that shows just how young Nanami is mentally. I don’t see how any adult could be attracted to someone who has the mind of a small child, especially someone as uptight as Shouzo. It will be interesting to see how the manga-ka handles their relationship in subsequent volumes. While there is chemistry and attraction between the two of them, there’s also a big gap in their maturity levels.

The way the series is drawn and paced seems more like a slice-of-life story than a yaoi. Ample page time is given to the leads’ friends and family. They come off as actual people with their own lives, rather than merely sounding boards for the main characters’ problems. Part of the reason I want to read volume two is to see their reactions to the main characters’ relationship.

The art is all right. It’s by no means bad, it’s just nothing really stands out. That’s not such a bad thing. Considering the laid-back nature of the series, the placid art actually works in its favour. Character designs are likewise nothing memorable, but they work.

If you’re looking for hot man-on-man action you won’t find it in volume one of Brilliant Blue. The leads only get as far as a kiss on the forehead (the manga-ka berets herself for this in the funny and candid author’s notes at the end of the book) and any sex scenes are not only very brief and vague, they’re between Nanami and a real creep of a guy. But, if you are looking for an interesting drama, then Brilliant Blue is a good bet.

Review written September 6, 2010 by Shannon Fay
Digital copy provided by eManga for review purposes

Another new shoujo-series from Viz Media was recently released, Seiho Boys’ High School and I reviewed the first volume over at AnimeNewsNetwork.

The majority of reviews I’ve read since completing my own have been pretty different from my own; it makes me a bit hopeful that the series may get better in volume two. Personally I found this first volume on the dull side and rarely as funny as it intended – though it did have some especially memorable lines, I’ll certainly give it that.

It has a potentially fun premise – an all boys’ school on a secluded island and the group of boys who live there dealing with their hormonal selves in the face of limited interaction with women. Take out any notion of guy-on-guy action, since this sounds ripe for boys’ love, and you have the general gist (not that I’m complaining about this not being a boys’ love story, we have plenty already, but the premise seems to demand some clarification).

But the story falls victim to a girl-each-chapter formula as scenarios pop up to allow the boys to interact short-term with a new girl and I started feeling bored of it pretty quickly. Will this repeat for the rest of the series? I never like to judge on the first volume though so I’ll definitely be picking up volume two, though with a bit of admitted hesitance.

Manga-ka: Q Hayashida
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: August 2010
Synopsis: “Once a year, hordes of the dead rise and roam the streets of the Hole, hungry for live flesh. And every year, Caiman and Nikaido sign up for the local zombie-killing contest! Whoever sends the most zombies back into the ground will win some fantastic prizes. But the fun ends quickly when En’s cleaners finally track down Caiman and Nikaido. Somebody’s going to lose their head. Literally.”

Continuing on the violence and food focused buffet of the previous instalment, Dorohedoro volume two offers us more helpings of this charming ultra-violent manga. While continuing with its constant food references and cheerful, chummy cast of vigilantes and villains, it amps up its stark visuals and draws us further along the plot and the origins of Caiman’s unusual, lizard-headed appearance while also shedding more light onto Nikaido’s mysterious past.

It’s hard for a manga to go wrong when it kicks off with a zombie-killing Festival. Some might worry that this would be played for gore, but Hayashida instead plays it comedically to a degree, as this is apparently an annual event in the Hole, caused by magic waste seeping into graveyards and raising the dead. To ensure they‘re killed, local Buddhist monks enlist bounty hunters like Caiman and Nikaido, and offer prizes for those who can re-kill the most zombies. Appropriately, our heroes gun for the meat grinder, so Nikaido can better prepare her delicious Gyoza dumplings for a hungry, hungry Caiman. Showing how separated the societies of the Wizards and the residents of the holes are, the Wizards arrive with a newly repaired, shortly-to-be-mangled Ebisu to investigate the mysterious lizard man, entirely unaware that they will encounter a ravenous zombie horde.

Hayashida subsequently builds off this hilarious opening chapter and it’s shocking conclusion with a fairly spooky chapter to shed more light on Caiman’s cursed nature. We discover just how attached (or unattached) he is to his Lizard head, and find out more details about Nikaido. This cheerful chef seems to be the neighbourhood sweetheart, but her bounty hunter skills are her least surprising secret, and Hayashida opts to reveal more of her past to readers (even if Caiman’s a little slow to pick up on the clues himself). The final chapter shows just how dedicated Nikaido is to her restaurant, as she and Caiman take on a dangerous underground boxer to save it. This boxing chapter provides another detour in the series sensibilities, adding sports manga to the elements of ultra violence and art manga. This brief chapter showcases the eclectic nature of Dorohedoro, as it balances both gentle and dark comedic moments.

The visuals are extremely inventive, notably in an early sequence wherein Noi uses her magic to restore Ebisu‘s previously damaged face and brain tissue by chewing on it in a page crammed with panels showing the progression in detail. Another fun moment comes from the title page for Chapter 9, “Dancing with Lizards” where a series of small illustrations of Caiman instruct you on how to do a little jig. The volume even kicks off with a short colour story that gives readers a basic understanding of the series concept as Caiman and Nikaido hunt down a sorcerer, depicted in vivid, painterly mixed media fashion without digital materials on brown paper. The excellence of the artwork goes well with VIZ’s better than usual production values, throwing in a large chunk of colour pages, French flaps and translation notes, most of which are dedicated to the names of the restaurants that decorate Dorohedoro’s background art.

Food continues to serve as a strong visual metaphor, an ever present part of human survival, but also a comfort and a luxury. It’s an everyday necessity, something the living need to continue, yet occasionally indulgent or wasteful, and at one time alive and in search of food itself, echoed in the opening with the Zombie horde. As the zombies hunger for their flesh, the cast waxes nostalgically of delicious home cooked meals, balancing the grim and the fanciful.

Food works it’s way into every chapter and significant event, even as a surprising reveal comes about as Caiman chows down on hospital food. Later, the bumbling foursome of Wizards hunting down Caiman head to a doll-maker wizard who wears a cooked turkey for his mask, and creates dolls with souls. Using elaborate recipes one would normally expect to make a multi-course gourmet meal, he instead creates doubles of people with vestiges of their memories. Masks are another thematic part of the visual narrative of the series, from Caiman’s lizard head to the use of masks in the wizarding world, to the beheading the publishes synopsis teases us with. Each member of the cast wears a mask of some form, whether it’s a lizards head, a spell to change their appearance or the a double life they keep away from friends.

Dorohedoro has built up a compelling narrative around charming, friendly characters with a dual dark nature that even endears the antagonists to you as a zombified Ebisu hungers for your brains or the wizard Shin slightly inappropriate thoughts conjuring up a slightly sexier doll of his burly partner, the blond bombshell Noi, who towers over the rest of the cast and defies expectations as the lead badgirl of the book. Moments like these pepper Dorohedoro as it defies stereotypes and goes against its genre standards, and when combined with the mystery of his origins and the creative world building of both the Hole and the Wizard’s realm, makes for a fascinating, must read for fans of comics and manga.

Review written September 1, 2010 by Andre
Book bought from Strange Adventures

Manga-ka: Izumi Tsubaki
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: August 2010

Synopsis: “For a brief moment, Chiaki fears that another girl is giving Yosuke a massage on the sly. As graduation day approaches, she must untangle her feelings for Yosuke and tell him how she really feels. Love, romance and massage…the exciting conclusion to The Magic Touch!”

Having heard both good and bad things about this series, I decided to undertake a review of the final volume for team Kuriousity. Catching up on the series with a previous volume beforehand, reading this last instalment left me pleasantly surprised. Magic Touch takes a fairly odd concept and delivers an entertaining, offbeat shojo series.

The volume starts off by touching upon the standard exams and Christmas stories you see in so many romantic comedy manga. While seemingly formulaic, these are shared moments of everyday life all of Magic Touch’s readership can relate to, and Tsubaki deserves credit for ensuring what could be seen as a repetitive becomes important moments in the cast’s emotional life. Seeing Chiaki make the difficult choice of helping her best friend out over going on a traditional Christmas date was refreshing, as was Yosuke’s reactions to this turn of events. Tsubaki’s use of a study date to spend more time developing Yosuke and Chiaki’s relationship, depicting more casual moments as they’ve grown more comfortable with each other, also made for a fun sequence that set-up the emotional base for the closing chapters.

Chiaki and Yosuke make for a charming odd couple, as Chiaki’s strange obsession with massage initially raises a brow out of it’s quirkiness, but grounds itself well despite the strange visualization of back pain as adorable creatures Chiaki calls Tsuboz. Chiaki manages to slowly endear herself on the reader, as her fairly honest, well-meaning personality help the reader root for her. Meanwhile, Yosuke might be your typical school prince with a tragic past, but Tsubaki managed to make these elements believable thanks to a detailed back story, and a generally flustered characterization as Chiaki misses Yosuke’s cues in the relationship, and Yosuke makes missteps of his own. The relationship is less a one-sided in this form, and allows the reader to sympathize with both characters.

While the massage-element makes for oddball window dressing initially, Tsubaki chooses to fold it into the conclusion as Chiaki begins questioning her massage-based reasons for being in a relationship with Yosuke. Misunderstandings build-up, and Yosuke also begins to be confused as to Chiaki’s feelings towards him. As Tsubaki sorts out the reasons the couple connected with each other outside the series strange concept, we’re presented with a natural, endearing chain of events that even manages to incorporate the Tsuboz, and complete the main character arc.

I also appreciated that Tsubaki opted to both go with her preferred ending, and the ending suggested by her editor, which worked alongside each other to provide a fairly satisfying finale. Depicting their schoolmates graduation and relationships provided an overall sense of closure, ensuring the reader that everyone is moving forward in to a bright future, yet still remain friends. Although my exposure to the cast was limited, Tsubaki seems to have balanced a fairly large range of characters well, something difficult to maintain in a long running shojo series, where supporting characters often get shoved to the sidelines.

Tsubaki’s artwork is a little more angular then some shojo manga, reminding me a little of Korean shojo manwha with her thicker inks and sharp angles. Her designs are slightly rounded off to make them a bit softer, giving her a look that wouldn’t look out of place in a shonen manga anthology. Also, the outright bizarre visual of the Tsuboz makes for a strangely cute anthropomorphic depiction of back pain. One might be initially confuddled by the bulbous, perpetually relaxed creatures, but will eventually succumb to their charming manipulation of their hosts.

Tsubaki closes the volume with a collection of 4-Koma, and a selection of fanart from assistants in their personal style, a nice way to send off the series from the entire team. Amid the often tumultuous world of shojo manga, it’s nice to have a series end on such a positive, outward looking note, reflected in the warm send-off of the assistants post-script. I’d recommend this series to most shojo manga fans, though some might be a bit put off by Chiaki’s odd fixation on massage. VIZ has announced her subsequent series Ore-Sama Teacher for an English release, so if you enjoyed Magic Touch, be sure to check that out as well.

Review written August 27, 2010 by Andre
Book provided by Viz Media for review purposes

Missed this when it was originally posted to the site but mid-August my review of Crimson Cross was posted over on AnimeNewsNetwork.

What to say about this one… well, it wasn’t bad, persay, but I’d felt like I’d read a near-exact story a hundred times before. It’s a vampire story about the son of Van Hellsing who is turned half vampire and thusly spends his grim days hunting the uber-power vampire who turned him. Along the way he meets carbon-copies of the same female archtype to give him some sort term angst. He broods, he reflects and generally fails at defeating the vampire. There’s a werewolf in there too somewhere. It’s just really stereotypical, unfortunately, and I found myself bored half way through when I realized it wasn’t going anywhere different than the usual.

This book was also another case where I was really underwhelmed by their graphic design decision for the front of the book. The thick flat-colour maroon border just suffocates the artwork – I don’t understand why they wouldn’t use a full-bleed of the art itself.

Overall, it’s as my review says, I can only really recommend this book to “those entirely new to the concept, or those so smitten that they must have all there is to do with the undead-leeches.” Sadly it’s a been-there-bit-that experience.

Author: Venio Tachibana
Manga-ka: Rihito Takarai
Publisher: June
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: August 2010

Synopsis: “It is rumored that Touji Seryou, one of the more popular boys at school, would go out with anyone who asks him out on a Monday morning. But on this particular Monday morning, the first person he meets at the school gate is no other than Yuzuru Shino, Seryou’s sempai at the archery club. On a whim, and well-aware of Seryou’s reputation, Shino asks Seryou to go out with him. Thinking that it will be treated as a joke, they’re both guys after all, imagine Shino’s surprise when Seryou takes him up on the offer!”

Touji is on a quest for true love – or any love really. Half-scorned and left dangling mid-affection by his brother’s girlfriend, Touji has spent his school year dating a different girl every week. But only for one week. Date them on Monday, break up with them on Sunday – it’s a seven day ritual that he’s yet to find reason to break. Until he gets out a by a guy anyway – cue Monday to Thursday!

I quite enjoyed the part of the story where Shino asks Touji out. Sure it was predictable for us third-party viewers but the casual delivery was so just that. Shino asked it almost rhetorically, like he was simply challenging Touji’s answers to his questions about his dating habits, not seriously meaning to ask him out. Touji sticks like a genie to a wish though and soon the two are ‘officially’ going out. Touji immediately takes to the casual dating steps – getting Shino’s contact information, walking with him to school, oh, and actually learning his name. Shino for his part accepts it easy enough as well, he was the one who asked after all, but I was sort of surprised to see him actually push it more than just simply going with the flow. He was pretty taken to being able to tell Touji what to do (which is simply demanding he actually show up for archery practice) and even requests they go out on a date.

What progresses over the rest of the book is the two spending time together and… that’s about it. Again to my surprise the story shifted its focus to Touji, showing a lot more of him than I originally thought it would. It was cute seeing him note the immediate differences dating Shino, aside from the obvious of course. In the first of said moments, he texts Shino first thing to bid him good morning – only to be replied to with a crass ‘what-the-hell?’ equivalent for having woken the other boy up. Dating random male classmate, not the same as random flighty girls- noted.

Admittedly, and unfortunately, this book can get a little boring. It has some charming moments but the whole book is very low-key and the only real drama comes in the form of Touji’s relationship with his sister’s boyfriend. It doesn’t come up enough to warrant much thought past ‘man, she’s a b****’ but the book’s cliffhanger end suggests that, should there be another volume (this isn’t listed as a volume one), that trouble is brewing when she is finally outright rejected as a result of Touji’s growing affection for Shino. Past that however the rest of the book is very mundane, and though I did like reading it and don’t feel it warrants a label of dull, it still felt as such. It’s a pleasant read but not a riveting one. Even the relationship itself gets no further than a supposedly accidental kiss, which makes the book great for new comers to the genre or those underage (the book is rated 16+) though may alienate those who like more spice than sweet.

While Seven Days isn’t likely to blow anyone away with its slow pace and often fizzling attempts at drama, it’s still a very sweet story that actually feels like it’s playing out in a more feasible than-usual way. Cute but not overly compelling, I’d still like to see how things play out when (and if) Friday rolls around.

Review written August 27, 2010 by Lissa Pattillo
Digital copy provided for review by eManga

My recent review of Moto Hagio’s A Drunken Dream and Other Stories has been posted over at AnimeNewsNetwork. This is Fantagraphics’ first manga release and they did it in style – hardcover and everything.

When I first read this compilation of stories, I was a little underwhelmed. I liked it well enough, I enjoyed reading it but it didn’t leave much impression. I waited a week and read it again and suddenly it seemed completely different. It goes to show the importance of rereading, especially for these more subtle series. Too often I fly through a new book and more time is spent simply on absorbing what happened instead of how or why. A Drunken Dream is definitely more about the hows and whys. I was entranced the second time through as I picked up lots of little things I missed the first time.

The review tells what I liked how the book in more detail but summed up I’d really recommend it, not once but twice (and more times for extra charming effect) – it’s a beautiful book.

Manga-ka: Yoshiro Tatsumi
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: March 2010

Synopsis: “Susumu Yamaji, a 24-year-old pianist, is arrested for murder and ends up handcuffed to a career criminal on the train that will take them to prison. An avalanche derails the train and the criminal takes the opportunity to escape, dragging a reluctant Susumu with him into the blizzard raging outside. They flee into the mountains to an abandoned ranger station where they take shelter from the storm. As they sit around the fire they built Susumu relates how love drove him to murder.”

Black Blizzard is an important work in manga cannon, but luckily it’s more than just a dusty piece of history. Even today it is still an engaging thriller worth reading. Susumu is a piano player who’s down on his luck. When he falls in love with a circus performer named Saeko, it leads to a series of events which end with Susumu killing a man while in a drunken rage. When the manga starts he has been arrested by the police and is on a train, handcuffed to a fellow prisoner.

When the train goes off the tracks, Susumu’s seatmate sees it as his chance to escape. Well, more like ‘their’ chance to escape, seeing as the two men are handcuffed together. Susumu and the rough criminal escape into a snowstorm where they have to hide from the police while finding shelter from the storm. While there are many dangers in the mountains, the biggest danger to Susumu is the stranger chained to him. The convict figures that the only way either of them will avoid the police is by getting rid of the handcuffs, and the only way to do that is for one of them to lose a hand.

I became interested in Black Blizzard after reading about it in the manga-ka’s autobiography, A Drifting Life (in that manga it’s called ‘Black Snowstorm’, but I like Drawn & Quarterly’s alterative title better). Tatsumi was trying his hand at something new with Black Blizzard, not just for himself but with manga in general. While the behind the scenes info gives the reader a different perspective, in the end the reader doesn’t need to know what Black Blizzard meant to Tatsumi or even to the manga world at large. It’s a good story that stands up on its own merits, not merely because of its contributions to the medium.

Though still entertaining, Black Blizzard does look dated. The character designs are all very cartoony, which is at odds with the serious story. Most of the layouts consist of grids of equal sized squares, with large gutters between them. Yet even though the style of the book is old-fashioned, there’s still clearly a lot of innovation going on within. I don’t generally think of Yoshiro Tatsumi as being a master of suspense, but here there are several sequences which are amazingly suspenseful.

The story has plenty of twists and turns. A ton of them come all at once at the end, which left me feeling a little bushwhacked by all the revelations. Everything ties up a little too neatly, but at the same time the manga-ka does plant clues throughout the book so the end doesn’t feel like a total cheat (though it still seems unbelievable).

This being a Drawn & Quarterly book, there’s no question about the quality. It’s great. Adrian Tomie, a famous comic book artist and writer in his own right, did the script adaptation as well as book design and lettering. This really shows not only in the dialogue, but in the redrawn sound effects. Usually I hate it when the sound effects are redrawn, but they look so natural here that I didn’t mind. Tomie also conducts an interview with Tatsumi, which is included in the back of the book. For anyone who has read A Drifting Life, there’s nothing really new, but for those who haven’t it offers a look at Tatsumi’s influences and mindset at the time of creating Black Blizzard.

If you like modern suspense manga like Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, than Black Blizzard is worth checking out. I’d also recommend it not only to manga fans, but anyone who likes Hitchcock movies, hardboiled crime novels, or just suspenseful, well told stories.

Review written August 27, 2010 by Shannon Fay
Book bought from Chapters

Author: Satosumi Takaguchi
Manga-ka: Yukine Honami
Publisher: eManga
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: March 2008

Synopsis: “Shuuiku Academy’s students are leaving for summer vacation, but Yuuhi-kun is stuck in the dorm. It doesn’t matter that home lies on the same backwoods country property as the school campus – his house is being remodeled, so Yuuhi’s got nowhere else to go! Likewise, Sango-san will be staying behind to keep an eye on things, leaving the two of them all alone with nothing but time on their hands. Will being away from prying eyes lead Sango to temptation?”

This volume threw me for a loop. I completely did not get the whole dream sequence until the very end of that section, so while I was reading it, while it was kind of entertaining, it was also just a bit…odd. Once I realized it was a dream, it made more sense though.

I found this volume was mostly a lot of nonsense, but still, the art work was worth looking at, and it was mildly entertaining. I wonder at the obsession with cross dressing. Is it an excuse for the more tender feelings? Or just for fun? I’m sometimes inclined to think it’s a bit of a cop out. If one boy is in drag and looks like a girl, then it’s okay. I know it’s just another trope of the genre, and all. I just wonder sometimes.

If I could have asked for one thing from this series, it would have been to see ‘Big Brother’ validate his own feelings a little more, but part of the fun of these things, I guess, is about the chase, and your left wondering if maybe the director is getting a little closer to his goal at last.

I think the manga-ka just had a great time exploring fun stuff in this volume. Her art is, as usual, clean, expressive, and very pretty to look at. Hayate is still my favourite character, though. He always looks so very intense.

This is a much shorter review than I usually put out, but really, this is a pretty light volume, content wise. The whole story, the important bits, anyway, have already been told. This felt like just a bit of a fun romp through the Happily Ever After of the boys’ lives.

As a whole, the series isn’t likely to rock anyone’s world, but it’s entertaining enough for a couple light hours of frivolous reading, and the art work is very, very well worth the cost of admission.

Review written August 23, 2010 by Jaime Samms
Digital copy provided by eManga for review purposes

Manga-ka: Eiichiro Oda
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: June 2010

Synopsis: “Camie the mermaid offers to take Luffy and the crew to Fish-Man Island if they’ll help rescue her boss Hachi from the notorious Flying Fish Riders. Ignoring all of the warning signs (hint: her boss sounds suspiciously like an old enemy!), the crew agrees to help their mermaid friend, only to end up losing Camie to the kidnappers too!”

An alternative title for One Piece vol.51 could be “How to Write a 50+ Manga Series.” In this volume Oda reintroduces characters from over a dozen volumes ago and also weaves in new ones who have strange but important ties to the main cast. It’s amazing how easily both the old and new characters are able to slip into the story. The huge cast highlights how big and real the world of One Piece feels. While of course the main cast is always caught up in some adventure, the side characters have lives and goals of their own that continue even after they’ve left the main story.

The book starts off with the Straw Hat pirates debating whether to rescue Camie’s boss, a fishman named Hachi, from a gang of slavers. Usually the Straw Hats are quick to help out anyone in need, but they have a history with Hachi. Hachi was part of a gang that terrorized Nami’s hometown, and neither Nami nor the rest of the crew have forgotten about it, or at least, the ones who were there remember it. This happened like forty volumes ago, so even some readers’ memories might be a little hazy about what happened exactly. (Luckily there’s a cute panel where Usop quickly fills in the rest of the crew, while at the same time tweaking the story to make him sound like the hero). Eventually the Straw Hats decide that for Camie’s sake they’ll put the past behind them and fight the slavers.

The head of the slavers is eager to take them on. Duval, the gang leader, has a serious grudge against the ship’s cook, Sanji, and won’t rest until he’s killed him. This is a guy Sanji has never even meet in his entire life, so at first it’s a mystery as to why Duval loathes Sanji so much. The eventual reveal about the source of Duval’s hate is both hilarious and satisfying.

Duval’s hatred of Sanji is another plotline that goes way back. It actually spawns from a little thing, practically nothing more than a throwaway gag. Back when the crew first saw their ‘Wanted’ posters, Sanji was aghast because there was a very serious mistake on his poster (it’s a great visual joke, and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read One Piece yet). It turns out that because of that mistake, Duval has been hunted by bounty hunters and the Navy, both of whom have mistaken him for Sanji. Once you know his back story, it’s easy to see why Duval wants Sanji dead.

This being One Piece, everything is resolved in a crazy battle. This one involves a bull, flying fish, and of course the crew’s weird powers and talents. It’s a good fight scene in that every single member of the crew is involved and gets a chance to fight in their unique way. And, in another move that’s a big part of the series, enemies end up becoming friends and allies.

But wait: that’s just the first 1/3 of the book! The next two thirds revolve around the crew taking a trip to the Sabaody Archipelago, an amusement park like island. In theory they’re there to find a man who specializes in ship coating, but for the most part they just end up sightseeing, buying souvenirs, and going on rides.

It’s nice to see the cast relax and have fun, but it doesn’t last long. On the Sabaody there is a group of people called the Nobles who can pretty much do whatever they want, including keeping slaves and killing ‘commoners’ without a second thought. Though Hachi makes them promise not to get involved, the Straw Hats aren’t ones to just standby when they see someone being mistreated right in front of them. It’s not long before they get in trouble with the Nobles, putting not only themselves but also Hachi and Camie in danger.

That is a very brief summary of what happens in the rest of the book, but it would take several paragraphs to go over it in detail. The plotline of the Nobles seems a little dark for a light-hearted adventure series like One Piece. The offhand way the Nobles kill people in the street is disturbing enough, but the casual way they treat slavery is even more unsettling. Of course, this makes it even sweeter when Luffy and co., give them their comeuppance.

One Piece is great at bringing back bit characters and developing them even further. For example, when we see Hachi again it’s not just the manga-ka bringing back a villain, he’s showing the readers the same character from a different angle. In the thirty plus volumes since he was last in the pages of One Piece, Hachi has changed. He’s left the gang and gone straight, opening an octopus fritters shop (which, seeing as he is part octopus is actually really disturbing). He really cares about Camie and even eventually the Straw Hat crew. It’s a nice bit of believable character development.

This volume also introduces a lot of new characters. Sabaody is a popular place for pirates of all stripes and is considered neutral territory. Oda introduces a ton of new pirate captains, and while they look cool in the brief glimpses we see of them (my favourite is masked pirate X.Drake) they don’t get much to do in this volume. It makes you wonder if Oda is just introducing them now in order to lay the groundwork for future volumes. That kind of planning in commendable, but I also want an entertaining story here and now, not just in another twenty volumes. Part of the reason Hachi’s reintroduction works is because the reader got really got to know him in his first story arc. I barely know these new characters, so unless they do something really cool soon I don’t really care if I ever see them again.

At least their character designs are unique. Oda’s continues to draw from a seemingly endless well of unique character designs. He also has a gift for coming up with outlandish and fun settings that are almost characters in themselves. Sabaody is half rainforest, half amusement park. Ferries wheels and roller coasters stand beside huge trees whose roots rise up above the ground. Bubbles emerge from the forest floor and people use them to get around the island. It’s a really neat setting and reflects One Piece’s whimsical nature. Even more mundane settings, like Duval’s headquarters, are still laid out clearly, making the geography of the action scenes easy to follow.

Viz does a nice job with the translation. I like that they include a list of the different One Piece arcs at the back of the book, and that they include Oda’s question and answer sections with the fans. Another nice bonus is the title page of each chapter. Oda uses these to show what other characters in the One Piece universe are up to. In this volume, the title pages follow CP9, a group that is one of the main villains in the series, as they struggle through hard times. The cover pages are not only fun, they manage to work up a little sympathy for a group of characters who are supposed to be the bad guys.

The first part of the volume is a great example of One Piece at its best. The rest of the book is also good, though it feels more like set-up than anything else. It’s still a lot of fun though, and since Oda has a great record of delivering awesome payoffs I have high hopes for future volumes.

Review written August 24, 2010 by Shannon Fay
Book provided by Viz Media for review purposes

Manga-ka: Natsumi Matsumoto
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: June 2010

Synopsis: “Momoka is eager to give Ryuga the antique pocket watch she bought him for his 17th birthday, but when she gets to school, the Ryuga she meets is only 13 years old! A tiny trickster fairy who lives in the watch has taken Momoka back in time, and now Momoka must find her way back to the present day.”

As Matsumoto adds the element of dinosaur-obsession into an already panda-inclined manga, cuteness levels jump into overdrive in this volume of St. Dragon Girl. A personable narrative combines with clever design elements to make a very readable series that touches upon most of the basic elements of shojo manga for a younger audience, while also appealing to general manga readers. Everything is handled in an efficient fashion that endows it with endearing charm, whether it‘s time travel, sinister paintings or overly violent mermaids.

Possessed objects are a fairly common theme in occult manga, and Ryuga’s family business as magicians works this into the series fairly naturally. The volume kicks off with two stories that use this common ghost-element in amusing ways. The time travel elements described in the synopsis are handled in a fun way as well, as a time fairy spites Momoka and sends her back a few years into her own past, leading to some fun moments as the heroine does her best not to upset her nearby future. While time paradoxes are always a fun element of fiction, I was more intrigued by the slightly macabre yet endearing story that followed, as Momoka and Ryuga get hired to take on a boy ghost who has befriended their principal’s granddaughter.

While the amount of panda is less than in the previous volume I reviewed, Matsumoto makes up for it by introducing a new supporting character with a dinosaur fixation, Mao. A whimsical moment of necromancy arrives as this new transfer student attempts to revive a dinosaur skeleton to life in crowded Tokyo, leading to a fun sequence as Momoka summons her dragon to do battle with it’s historic genetic cousin. Being St.Dragon Girl, no one holds a grudge, and the good-natured cast attempts to assuage any issues with his defeat by presenting him with dinosaur toys! This lack of outright villains is part of what makes St. Dragon Girl fun, with dangerous situations arising from mischief, and her cast subsequently dash about solving them. This chapter provided the sort of story that St. Dragon Girl truly excels at, taking an absurd personality trait to make what would otherwise be a simplistic fight sequence a highlight.

The generally jovial approach to the series antagonists also carries over into the romantic aspects. Matsumoto has fun playing on character relationships, while she avoids making the mood overly dramatic. Momoka and Ryuga have their relationship ups and downs, as do their friends, and whenever someone opts to interfere, she avoids making them into a menacing harpy or suave dandy. Instead, we’re treated to self-centered teenage behaviour, as classmates learn the dangers of manipulating each others emotions, and otherwise take a good natured approach. Matsumoto’s characterization choices are a key part of the manga’s success, establishing a positive, happy go lucky mood, though she does wisely opt to leave readers with a bit of a cliff hanger just so they aren’t too complacent.

Matsumoto’s artwork continues to be a major supporter of the most charming elements of the title. Her deft handling of action scenes helps make for a stronger work, elevating it above being a simple festival of cute. The frenetic pace of the book stands out among other school-based manga, as characters run from assorted gangs, rampaging monsters and undead Victorian children. However, the cute quotient is still much appreciated, as we’re treated to the aforementioned dinosaur and other not-entirely threatening dangers.

In terms of extra material, I continue to appreciate how Matsumoto opts to give us a view into her creative process in place of “crazy hijinks my assistants and I get up to!”. Learning the origins of her main characters, and her original concept for the series gives great insight into how manga are made. The volume also includes a bonus-story, “Midsummer Shaolin Mermaid”, which though short, provides some of the funniest moments of the manga as Momoka finds herself training a seemingly selfish Merman during a standard manga beach trip. Highlighting many of the fun elements of the series, it’s a wonderful way to cap off this penultimate volume.

St.Dragon Girl continues to be a fun, involving series that is generally a light read, but an accomplished one. The author bio confirms that there is a sequel series, St.Dragon Girl Miracle, so hopefully VIZ’s upcoming titles will opt to bring over this series, as well as more of Matsumoto’s work. Those looking for more exposure to her work may also want to check out the legal subtitled streams of Yumeiro Patissiere at CrunchyRoll.

Review written August 19, 2010 by Andre
Book provided by Viz Media for review purposes

Manga-ka: Yoshiki Nakamura
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: August 2010

Synopsis: “Kyoko is basking in the glow of working a Christmas miracle and getting some birthday booty of her own. But she’s so unused to this kind of joy that she ends up late to the script reading for her new drama. Now her whole day is a mess and Ren is mad at her! Can Kyoko balance revenge, a career and her own happiness?”

I find I enjoy Skip Beat most when the characters are pretending to be other people. That’s not a dig at the main characters. I really like Kyoko and Ren and find them a nice change from usual shojo leads. But,when they’re acting, or at least working on their craft, that’s when it feels like the manga is firing on all cylinders. This volume brings the focus back to show business world, making it one of the better volumes in the series in a long time.

Kyoko has been cast in a new TV drama. She’s been typecast as a bully, but Kyoko has decided to take the role anyway and try her best. She gets off to a bad start with the rest of the cast when she’s an hour late for the first reading of the script. It’s just the beginning of her troubles. Kyoko, who never really had any female friends before coming to Tokyo, doesn’t know how to relate to the other actresses her age. While Kyoko may be playing the bully in the show, it’s the other girls who end up bullying her when the cameras are no longer rolling. And because she can’t understand what it’s like to be a regular teenage girl, she can’t get into her role either.

Most of the action takes place on set of Kyoko’s new TV drama, making this volume pretty lean on subplots. Kyoko and Ren do have lots of scenes together (there’s a really cute part where Ren tells Kyoko a fairytale as part of his birthday gift to her), but even then for the most part all they talk about is Kyoko’s work woes.

Which actually is fine with me. The relationship between the leads in Skip Beat is one of the most interesting aspects of the manga to me, second only to the mediations on acting. In most shojo manga the two leads would either have gotten together by this point, or at least be angsting over the many (probably contrived) reasons they can’t be together. Skip Beat doesn’t go that route. Ren does have romantic feelings for Kyoko, but he pretty much keeps them in check in this volume. As for Kyoko, she reveres Ren and sees him as her mentor, but she doesn’t seem to even consider him as a potential boyfriend. How many shojo series get all the way to volume 21 without the female lead even having a inkling of attraction towards the main love interest? Personally, I think it’s great and a refreshing change from heroines who obsess over boys and nothing else. Kyoko is obessed, but it’s with making it in show business, not getting with bishonen.

While we see a lot of Kyoko and a bit of Ren, much of the regular supporting cast is missing in this volume. Since the main plotline was so strong, I didn’t really notice or even care until afterwards. Also, there’s a new character introduced in this volume that seems promising. Chiori is an actress working on the same show as Kyoko. While she seems sweet and kind, it masks her spiteful, manipulative nature. The scene where the manga-ka reveals Chiori’s darker side is creepy and super-effective.

Nakamura’s art works well enough for the series. It’s not exceptionally beautiful, but it’s solid while still being pretty and consistent. The manga-ka also has a great pen for comedy and pulls off a lot of great visual jokes (the layouts also show that she knows how to set up a punch line). The attention to detail also helps with the more serious aspects of the manga. Fro example, there’s a part where the director points out how formal Kyoko’s posture is compared to other girls her age. When I went back and looked over the manga, it was easy to spot what he was talking about.

I was really disappointed with volume twenty of this series, so much that I worried about whether Skip Beat was no longer the same manga I had loved before. This volume puts the series back on track. Also, it has one of the best parental advisory warnings I’ve ever seen in a manga. It states that the manga is rated 13 and up because “This manga contains a grudge.” It’s nice to see that the series is starting to remember that.

Review written August 18, 2010 by Shannon Fay
Book bought from Strange Adventures

Author: Satosumi Takaguchi
Manga-ka: Yukine Honami
Publisher: eManga
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: November 2007

Synopsis: “When class president Sango Tsutsui and the other student administrators end up sequestered away at a director’s meeting, Yuuhi-kun is left back at the school, alone and defenseless. Will Yuuhi’s naive, country ways make him fair game for the Ezaki trio? Or will Tsutsui-san return in the nick of time to save him? Could it be that absence truly makes the heart grow fonder – are Yuuhi and Sango ready to take their strange relationship to (gasp!)… the next level?!”

Now this was an interesting instalment. I liked this second volume of Can’t Win With You for the most part, because Hayate and Kanya are by far my favourite couple in this series so far and there was a lot of development in their story. This strikes me as slightly odd, since the story is about (or is supposed to be about) Yuuhi, and, by extension, Sango. It makes me wonder a little just exactly which story the author wanted to tell.

There is some nice character development for Yuuhi though as he slowly comes to terms with what`s going on between the other students. In telling Hayate and Kneya’s story, via Yuuhi’s intervention in their relationship, the author can show the younger character’s growth without putting him in a situation that might not sit well with readers.

This book, with its series of vignettes, is about opening minds – Yuuhi’s, his older brother, Torishima’s, and his soon-to-be boyfriend’s, Sango. Even Hayate and Kenya are given a bit of a glimpse into their own thoughts and feeling for each other that they might not have had if not for Yuuhi.

As for the director and his three sons, they play a smaller role in this book, but I have to say, it`s clear the apples didn`t fall far from that father tree. Going into volume three, I’ll be looking to see how the awkward relationship between the Director and Yuuhi`s brother plays out. I’m not entirely sure what’s left to resolve though, as Yuuhi seems to have come to terms with his feelings for Sango, Kenya has finally put his foot down and told Hayate what he wants, and Hayate has opened up enough to accept what Kenya’s offering.

As far as the artistic technique goes, there’s not much else to say from my last review. What’s new in this book however is the intimacy. There are a greater number of love scenes in this book over volume one, and I’m torn. The art deals with the graphic scenes in a very sensual, understated way. There’s nothing really graphic about the art at all. There’s lots that is suggestive, though. The manga-ka lets the viewer fill in a lot of blanks, and that can certainly be more interesting that showing every detail. Still, it’s a tiny bit disappointing to wait so long for the pay off, and then have to use my imagination in the end anyway. Just a tiny bit, though. Part of enjoying good art is going beyond what’s on the page, and Yukine Honami is very good at evoking strong emotion.

One of my very favourite panels is Yuuhi and Sango’s first kiss. There’s almost no detail, as the drawing is a picture of what’s happening in the dark, yet the artist’s created a feeling of tenderness and discovery that’s impossible to convey so thoroughly in words, and likely would not have worked as well if she’d gone for more detail.

Overall however it was definitely worth reading this second instalment of Can’t Win With You for Hayate and Kenya alone. I’m interested to see what the third volume has to offer.

Review written August 10, 2010 by Jaime Samms
Digital copy provided by eManga for review purposes

Manga-ka: Souya Himawari
Publisher: June
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: April 2010

Synopsis: “Roh is an outrageous orphan who has survived on the streets relying solely on his own strength. When he is taken in by a loving grandfather and grandson, Roh begins to believe that life may not be that bad. But when Seishin’s grandfather dies unexpectedly, Roh finds himself responsible for more than just himself!”

A one-shot collection of short stories, Moonlit Promises easily surpasses the mediocrity of other similar collections. Visually pleasing artwork and tender stories that vary from a genetically-engineered song-bird to a genie trapped in a ring and two boys becoming mercenaries to make a living, this trio of stories is worth having on any boys’ love readers’ shelf.

The first story is really nice in regards to the main couple but there’s some ick-factor playing out in the background. The story revolves around individuals who are genetically designed to be born with animal features (fuzzy ears, wings, tails, etc.). They are coveted as rare and referred to as ‘pets’, sold by the hour to patrons or outright sold altogether to their new ‘masters’. The pets seem generally happy with the set-up from what we’re shown but it’s clearly in a strictly master-and-pet way – they’re breed for loyalty. While the fetish is handled tastefully (never too explicit), less can be said for the general age of all the pets involved with sole exception of the main character. All the background photos and other shown pets are clearly young children, and emphasized as such verbally by characters, and yet they go hand in hand with the purpose of having sex with. This will undoubtedly prove unsettling to some readers. Yes they’re ridiculously adorable but put them in context with “I’m going to sleep with one of them tonight for sure!” and it just gets unsettling, to say the least.

That aside though, the story of a man reluctant to indulge in this fetish but soon coming to care for a disregarded pet-model is charming, if not on the melancholy side. He takes the young man in, wanting to live with him as a near-equal over a pet and disregards others’ interference to remind him that his song-bird likely only has a few months to live. The ending feels too neatly resolved though for fans of a happy ending shouldn’t disappoint.

In the next story, which takes up the largest portion of the book, a spunky child living on the streets is taken in by an older man who wants a friend for his grandson who has emotionally shut himself away after the death of his parents. Roh, said plucked-from-the-street child is spunky and dedicated, actually reads pretty naturally for a kid and sets out to befriend the old man’s grandson, Seishin. The two grow up together and become good friends before the death of their grandfather leaves them with only each other. Their relationship feels strictly brotherly for the first portion of the story until a moment of emotional consoling slips between the sheets. Not just emotional-brothers anymore! What adds a definite kick to the story, and an unexpected one at that, is that soft-spoken Seishin takes a job as a security guard which eventually leads him to taking lives for the sake of his patrons. Distressed at his lack of ability to understand the pain this causes Seishin, Roh quits his job as a bartender and signs up to be a mercenary – a job that will not only pay better but perhaps teach him a thing or too.

I really didn’t see the mercenary angle coming but far from being just a quirk for the sake of it, the arc of this short story involving Roh as a mercenary was actually really compelling, albeit brief. He trains, speaks to his superiors about the ramifications of the work they do and interacts with his fellow comrades who, though sparsely in appearance, all feel fleshed out the perfect balance to make them feel real but not a lose end. The story’s end feels a little cliché as Roh struggles with the realization that he’s left Seishin alone, essentially doing the worst possible thing in attempts to help him, but it’s still sweet, mushy and well executed finale utilizing a dramatic could-possibly-die scenario to spark the climax.

Shifting things around yet again, the final story in the book is about an older man, Robert Wilkonson, who inherits a fortune from his deceased Father. Despite his wealth however he wants nothing more than the chance to pursue his dream to design and fly airplanes (the story itself taking place early in the last century). During an expedition to Egypt to follow-up on his late-Father’s work, he discovers a ring that, when-worn for only a moment, releases a genie who offers him a wish. The genie, Khatam, has been trapped in the ring and bound to grant wishes for others until he can make amends for a crime he committed many years ago. No one else can see Khatam except Robert and the young genie quickly becomes a sounding board for the man’s thoughts and a witness to the aristocratic but stifled lifestyle he leads.

This was my personal favourite story of the book. The artist succeeds in creating a very sympathetic mood for Robert’s dreams and it’s hard not to feel for him each time he looks into the sky lost in thought, or when he subsequently falls in love with Khatam as someone he can finally share his dream with. Robert being an older man (young-to-middle-age anyway) was also a notably pleasant element and he came across as reserved and mindful as I can only assume the creator intended.

Handling a variety of similar but distinctly unique in some respects stories really helps show the skill of the artist. Her art is really appealing – well proportioned characters who are attractive without being effeminate and all sporting clothing and mannerisms distinctly suiting to their individuality. Little things stood out a lot to me, like the array of casual clothing worn by Roh and Seishin in their story and I found many moments worth a stop-and-stare, such as the squeal-inducing cuteness of the pets and the Egyptian locale and attire of the final story (plus the genie, who though standard in design, is no less a good cool/cute combination). I would love to see more from this artist.

Overall I really enjoyed Moonlit Promises. Short story collections are usually hit or miss with me and often the boys’ love available here seems disproportionately saturated with them at times. This book however feels so fresh with each story that it escapes the crux of being the same story rehashed multiple times in a single book. Excusing some background skeev-factor in the first chapter, these stories are all generally sweet, well drawn and offer plenty of pleasant surprises.

Review written August 10, 2010 by Lissa Pattillo
Digital copy provided by eManga for review purposes

Manga-ka: Yuko Kuwabara
Publisher: June
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: August 2010

Synopsis: “When happy-go-lucky Shiro is suddenly murdered by a jealous lover, he finds himself summoned to heaven by the teeny-tiny (and totally bored) God Kami-Sama. The two soon hatch a plot to form a “family” featuring the beautiful ninja Kuro…but little do they know that Kuro has his own troubled past! Will these three lonely misfits find a way to overcome their differences and forge a lasting bond?”

Garden Sky is another of the books I question the validity of labeling boys’ love, especially when Digital Manga has their Doki Doki line-up which fits this one-shot like a tailored glove. There’s the potential for boys’ love here but that’s about as far as it goes. The book is split up into two different stories, each one building itself up like your average tale of boy-loves-boy but then stops just before the point where you’d officially deem it one. This isn’t to say the book will really appeal to those who aren’t fans of the genre, but even those who are will likely find themselves a bit disappointed in more ways than one despite some polished art and likeable characters.

The first half of the book, for which the synopsis denotes, introduces readers to Kami-sama – God of the world. He resides in the body of what looks like a five year old and has lived thousands of years up on a tiny heavenly floating rock, watching humans live out their lives beneath him. Kami-sama has grown bored however and when he sees a young men murdered by his ex-lover, he whisks the man’s body away , resurrecting him in his world to be his companion. Fear not any implications of this child x adult however, this is not the couple of the story. The young man, pretty laid back about his new situation, suggests they form a family and to do so, he will require a beautiful wife. Allowing him to handpick his own wife via a magical view-of-the-world-pond, Kami-sama plucks another newly murdered individual to add to their small family – a beautiful geisha murdered by a samurai. Fear not again though, for this beautiful geisha is in fact a ninja and of course not only a ninja but a male ninja at that.

Thusly the players are in place – but what now? Well, not much. They all talk, get to know each other a bit, Shiro starts taking a physical liking to Kuro despite being a man because aside from the lack of breasts he doesn’t look any different and Kami-sama randomly comments about things they’re doing now that he never did before. It’s all very cute and fluffy and there’re plenty of reasons to keep reading including the beautiful artwork which should appease fans of pretty boys. Unfortunately as much as boys’ love fans will want to keep reading, just as things are starting to get good – end game. No more, cut off. It’s very frustrating, not even getting to so much as a kiss. This is mostly because the art is so darn lovely that it wasn’t fair to be teased by eye candy we never got.

Following the title story, which takes up approximately half the book, comes a separate story about a trio of individuals enrolled in a magical training school, each – in their own way – striving to pass the tests before them and attain the sought-after rank of Taimashi. The central focus of this short story is a very energetic young man who quickly befriends a pretty-boy sorcerer in his past. The interactions between the two are cute, mostly because of the first’s infectious enthusiasm, but like the first story in the book it all feels like it ends before it’s even begun. Even more specifically, the sorcerer is hinted at being the child of a very powerful magic-user, setting up some back story as if building to an on-going story. The third in their group is a cute little healer who’s meek and unsure about her role and ability. Her part to play isn’t huge but she rounds out the group, or at least she would in a continuing story – in a boys’ love one shot the focus it gives her seems unnecessary. The story overall packs a little more punch than the first because of the magical mishaps and dragon-hunting quests that make up their tests and subsequent missions.

Ultimately neither of these stories are bad, in fact they were both quite enjoyable and I’d love to read more by the artist after finishing this book. Unfortunately it’s hard to outright recommend this particular one-shot when it’s just that. These stories read as if intended to be taken further and by being stopped so abruptly, the book falls short of feeling satisfying and the characters’ personalities insufficiently fleshed out. What you’re left with is some attractive eye-candy and a plot full of fluff that misses feeling truly substantial.

Review written August 9, 2010 by Lissa Pattillo
Digital copy provided by Digital Manga for review purposes