Shugo Chara! Party Impressions

Since the new anime season started a while ago, I think it's about time I've gotten to impressions of the new shows. The only show I'm aboslutuley sure I'll blog is Kuuchuu Buranko (since it's awesome), and I'll follow a few shows (Shugo Chara Party, Kobato, Railgun) for a few episodes. Also, there will be quick impressions for shows I'm sampling later. Now onto today's post: Shugo Chara Party.I can confidently say I've enjoyed Shugo Chara. The first season was good, the second was a bit filler, and I've read the 6 volumes of the manga that's been out here in the US (volume 7 is still waiting for me at the store) and enjoyed them. What do I think about the third season, Party? Is it going to be a hit or has SC! hit it's expiration date?

The show starts off with some cosplayers as the main Charas, Ran, Miki, and Suu. Then we're greeted with a music video, which may or may not be related to the actual show. They do some talking, and then we're shown...Shugo Chara...Puchi. Well, Puchi Puchi if you want to be exact.

I'm not sure exactly what purpose Puchi serves. It's really cute, but...it seems a bit filler. And no, it's not part of any storyline or anything, it's just a cute little time killer. And I'm not sure if that's good or bad, because what goes on in it (I recall this one being about Dia having a flower and no one noticing it) is rather juvenile. I mean, it seems Shugo Chara is now aiming itself at really, really young kids.

And then halfway through the episode, we get to the actual anime. We're introduced to a new character, Rikka, who if I remember correctly, can communicate with X-eggs. She helps the guaridans when an X-egg is terrorizing the art room. I'm not sure what Rikka and her ability will add to the show, I just hope it doesn't lead to more filler.

At the end, we have our forutnes (don't pick Dia's she always gets a bad one!) and the three cosplayers calling out for a Dia, which will be a elementary/middle school girl who watches the show. Actually, I think most young girls in Japan are eligible to enter.

~Thoughts~
At the moment, I'm not sure exactly what Shugo Chara Party is going to do, since only nine minutes of it were actual animation. The music was good and Rikka has potential, but I'm not sure if that can take away from the out-of-place Puchi segments. Yeah, I know it's cute, but since this is an anime, I'd rather see more plot and magical-girl then little kids stuff. Not the Shugo Chara isn't for kids, but it's just so darn...kiddie.

I'll continue watching it, probably skipping the Puchi and just watching the animation part (with the fortunes and music at the end, of course.) For now, I'd give it a 5/10, I guess the younger your are the more you'd enjoy it. Am I getting to old for Shugo Chara, or is it aiming itself at a younger generation? Only time will tell.

Final Thoughts: Kyouran Kazoku Nikki

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki (Frenzied Family Diary)
26 eps

Ah, Kyouran Kazoku Nikki. This is one of the animes that really got me into anime, even though it wasn't perfect.

Basically, it's about a family (consisting of a catgirl, regualr guy, abused daughter, jellyfish, lion, robot, girly guy, and a BDSM girl) coming together to attempt to stop the one of them who is the Child of Enka from destroying the world.

There's stuff in the plot department, but it's not really used. It's more filler (and by that, I mean it's the family thrown in weird situations) then plot. But that's not necsecarily a bad thing, because the characters are fun to watch.

Speaking of characters, they've got personality. Kyouka's the catgirl mother who constantly makes family-is-important speeches. Ouka is the poor normal guy thrown into this whole "operation cozy family" plot. Yuuka is the nine year old daugter, abused in her past family who morphed her into a solitude doll, a.k.a their punching bag so-to-speak. Hyokua is the robot, bursting with power but he still has to learn that it's not okay to hurt everyone. Gekka, the jellyfish is the deus-ex-machina, constantly reversing actions and turning out to be some kind of god. Ginka is the girly-guy, who acts gay but is most likley not judging by the end credits. And then we've got Chika, the once fanservice character turned into masochistic Ginka-lover. Oh, and don't forget the talking lion, who's aparently Teika the "Bister King", which has something to do with ruling over animals. I know I just described all of them in one or two words, but they're really fun to watch. I mean, how many times have you seen a family like this?

Oh, another thing that was great about this series was the music. It's all great. There is one OP sung by one of my favorite bands, Mosaic.Wav (OP's for Sumomomo, eroge). There are also eight ED songs, with one sung by each character. Here's the song titles in the order I liked them most.

Codename wa Lady X (Ginka)
Sekai de Ichiban Yabai Koi (Chika)
THE PITFALLS (Ouka)
Appare Henka Ja (Gekka)
Hen na Kami-sama shitteru yo? (Yuuka)
Kyōran Senki~Nichijō no Kamisama~ (Kyouka)
Boku wa Koushin Saremashita (Hyouka)
Wagahai wa Shougojuu de Aru ka? (Teika)

They're all pretty good. The voice actors really did a good job with the character's voices and the ED songs. We've got Tomatsu Haruka (Kannagi, Moe-tan), Sato Rina (Punie Chan/Dai Mahou Touge), Hiroki Yasumoto (Hetalia) ,Kana Hanazawa (Kobato, Bakemonogatari) and more.

In the end, Kyouran Kazoku Nikki was an awesome anime filled with so much potential. It's ending felt pretty blah though because nothing got resolved after 26 episodes. If you're looking to watch it, don't expect intense plots or anything, just have fun with the characters, music, and mile-a-minute comedy.

I personally loved it even though it lacked a lot, and maybe there will be a second season or an OVA in the future telling us who the real child of Enka is. Either way, Kyouran Kazoku Nikki will always be one of my favorite animes for being different.

Maria Holic 1-3

Maria Holic episodes 1-3
Genres: comedy, yuri, possibly romance in the future?
Production: SHAFT

Having absolutely no idea what Maria Holic was, I pretty much just started watching the series because of the awesome OP. Pretty much all I knew beforehand was that:

a) It's a trap!
b) The OP's title is nosbleed translated...

I knew this could be one of two things: a horribly crammed-together show or a blend of awesome. I think after the first three eps, it's leaning towards awesome.

So let's start off. There's a new girl, Kanako-san, who transfers to a missionary school. She's there because her parents met there, and hopefully she'll find her destined one. But what happens...when Kanako has a run in with Mariya, one of the prettiest girls in school? Kanako develops a crush on her...but is a bit confused when she gets hives from Mariya touching her. That only happens when a man touches her...

Mariya finds out that Kanako likes girls...so it's time to turn her into a slave in order to Mariya to not spread her secret of liking girls. But then we find out...Mariya is a dude. IT'S A TRAP. But no one knows except Mariya's maid and Kanako. So what's Kanako to do, being mentally and once-in-a-while physically tortured by a sadistic trap?

...I didn't have high expectations for Maria Holic, truthfully. I'm actually surprised I enjoyed it. I'm not exactly sure why, but every element seems to mesh together well in the series. I mean, any anime could throw together different personalities at a private school and create a generic comedy, but Maria Holic doesn't do that.

The first episode is the obligatory introduction episode, the second is the one where Kanako is getting used to school life, and the third is the one where she loses something important (in this case, Mariya's grandmother's rosary).

They're very entertaining, partially because of the characters and over-the-top expressions and reactions. It's very interesting, and I'm hoping the series keeps going at a good pace like it is now and doesn't run out of steam because it's only 12 episodes long.

The music adds to Maria Holic. The opening theme, Hanaji, is a very...energetic song. It's plesant to lisiten to because of Yuu Kobayashi doing the vocals and putting so much emotion into it. The ending theme, Kimi ni Mune Kyun, is a cover by the three main character's VA's. They're both nice, but the OP is the better of the two.

Even if you don't like yuri, I'd say give Maria Holic a shot because it's...different. I mean that in a good way, of course. It sort of had a Zetsubou Sensei feel to it, for some reason. I'll continue watching it and posting my thoughts here. =D

Maid-Sama! vol. 1

Maid-Sama! a.k.a. Kaichou wa Maid-sama! volume 1
Hiro Fujiwara
Tokyopop, 183 pp.

Maid-Sama is the story of Misaki (called Misa-chan here-on), one of the toughtest, most agressive females in an all-b0ys school that has recently gone co-ed. She's the student council president, and pretty much keeps everything in check at the school, making sure the boys look neat and the girls are treated nicely. But what happens when a boy, Usui, finds out that her afterschool job is working at a maid cafe?

And thus starts the shojo romantic-comedy Maid-Sama!. It's formula works for now, which consists of the spats between Usui and Misa-chan, but it seems like it might become a bit repetitive over time. I mean, how long can you drag on keeping a secret? It's going to get out sometime.

There's also an extra story called Transparent World in the back of the book, which takes up roughly 1/4th of the paperback. It's a cute lil' story about a boy that died but comes back as a transparent that only his crush and best friend can see.

The characters are probably one of the strong points of Maid-Sama. At first Misa-chan comes off as a tsundere, but it turns out she's not. She's just really, really aggressive and flips to cute at her job as a maid. Usui is the school's heartthrob, who's naturally turned down every girl who's asked him out and set his sights on Misa, even if it means keeping her maid job a secret. There's also a few side characters, including maid cafe costumers that attempt to kidnap Misa, the "Idiot Trio" who follow Misa around school, and the few girls in the school that Misa protects.

I'm going to be blunt about this: the quality of this manga is crap on Tokyopop's part. One of the first of many of their cheaper-paper manga, it disappointments. It's a pain to read, not unreadable, on darker and thinner paper that's a bit see through. The book's cover is weird feeling and not-sturdy. It isn't bonded well together either, you could bend it in half. Just saying, if you want this manga wait until TP does a reprint of it in better quality.

The art is decent, and adds a bit of life to what would otherwise be an average-shojo. The characters are drawn proportionate and there is little use of chibis. The maid outfits are drawn really nicely, down to every frill and detail.

Art: 4
Characters: 4
Quality: 1
Story: 3.5

Overall: Barely a 3. Probably bought down by TP's quality. If you want a grade for the series alone, I'd give it a B. It's really good, but the publisher could have done a better job on it. It's just a bit tiring with see-through paper and small text.

I'd recommend this to the shojo-crowd looking for something different. The first volume is good, but I'm predicting the series might get a bit formulatic over time. It's a breath of fresh air for those that have read lots of shojo and are looking for something new.

View: Disney gets Naruto Shippuden

So for those who haven't heard yet, Naruto Shippuden is coming to Disney XD. What do I think of that? I'm not exactaly sure if it's a good move for fans of the show, but I think it's going to be good for the business. Read on to hear the pros and cons!

First off, this is an excellent business move. Even though Naruto is pretty popular (from what I hear) it'll get more popular here on. I mean really, it's Disney. You know, those people who make the sitcoms and cartoons that your kids watch? Yeah, it's them. They're slowly (IMO) taking over the entertainment business. I mean they just bought Marvel, people. Now Naruto. What next, something huge like...cable companies? Maybe they won't get that far in the next few years, but look out people. The possibility exists for anything.

Sono-ni, this will get more kids into anime. Which I think is a good and bad thing. That means the US anime companies (Funimation, Sentai, and old Genon) will have lots of business. But you know why this is a bad thing too? Because maybe people will get the wrong idea if they see a hentai and think all anime is that. >< So more people could be against it.

Now onto the cons. This is an obvious one. Censoring. You all saw that coming, right? Yeah. I know that there is going to be some censoring (blood, language, ect.) but hey, this is Disney. And if you can't deal with that, go buy the uncut DVD's that are everywhere. But still, censoring is bad IMO. Even if it's stupid like Citramon (Digimon) or something extreme that ruins a show (Kodomo no Jikan). But than again Disney (from what I know) is aimed at kids, and I don't think people older than say, 12, watch Disney. So kids probably wouldn't even notice it.

So what do you think? Is this good? Bad? I can't really say at this point until I actually see what they do with Naruto. Even though I'm not really a fan of it because it's long and filler, I'll give it a chance. It could be great, it could suck.

Kamichama Karin Chu, vol. 1-3

Kamichama Karin Chu volumes 1-3
Koge-Donbo
Del Rey, somewhere in the 180-190 pp. range.

Ah, Kamichama Karin. I enjoyed this series when I was a bit younger. What made it so good? Was it the mix of magical girl and romance that made me borrow the manga numerous times of the library? Who knows, but all I know for sure is that the sequel thus far does not live up to the previous series.

After the events of Kamichama Karin Kazume, Karin's love intrest and future husband has returned from studying abroad. But what happens when Suzune, Karin and Kazune's child from the future is plopped on the doorstep needing them to get rid of the seeds of chaos? It's time to go into god mode. Karin uses the Chronos Clock to turn into a goddess while Kazune uses a ring to turn into a god. With the help of idol Jin and old friend Michi, can they stop the seeds of chaos before it is too late?

Typing that above summary makes Kamichama Karin Chu sound like it actually has an episodic magical girl formula. But prepare to be disappointed, because Chu is all about Karin's love triangle between Kazune, Jin, and Michi. The story is just light fluff and doesn't really help the series. Not much actual magical girl antics go on, other than the "Love Evolution" between Karin and Kazune which they use to "bond" and stop the seeds of chaos.

Some of the cast returns from the original series, like Mr. Glasses Man, Kazune, Himeka (mentioned), Michi, and (obviously) Karin. They've grown up a bit, but not in a good way. Karin has pretty much gone from hard times to spoiled brat with a choice of men. Kazune is his old self, switching between sexist and perv personality at the drop of a dime. There isn't much to say about Jin or Michi, other than they exist to be Karin's love interests.

That would be okay if the characters actually grew. Karin spends most of her time whining about Kazune, Jin is an idol in love with Karin and is Kazune's rival, and Michi...he doesn't get much screen time. He's usually the one left home stuck with Suzune. The characters don't really care about each other either, which makes the whole point of the series seem stupid because it's about love. It would help if they actually knew something about one another.

The art is the good point in the series. Koge-Donbo is know for her sugary, huge-eyed character designs. But even though that's great, more than half of every volume is filled with chibis. Really, if you're going to make such a mediocre series, you should put some work into the art to at least let readers have something pretty to look at to make them ignore the failing characters and story. Goodness.

Del Rey is wonderful with their publications, as always. Translation notes, a decent sturdy book, and high page count are staples for them.

Art: 2.5
Characters: 2
Quality: 4
Story:1.5

Overall: A 2.5 or D, but you were probably expecting that. Your mileage may vary with this one. I'd say if you're under 12 you'll get more enjoyment from this series than I did, But if you're older than that, it's not so great actually. So if you're looking for a better series (there are lots of them) check out the original Kamichama Karin series or the anime. It's better than this.

Full Metal Panic!, vol. 2

Full Metal Panic! volume 2
Written by Shouji Gatou, art by Retsu Tateo
ADV manga (defunct), 194 pp.

Full Metal Panic is not that hard of a series to jump into. All you need to know is that Sosuke is a undercover agent who's a student by day, Chidori is your not-so-average damsel in distress that kids look up to but don't necessarily want to be around. She's also got some hidden power that makes her a Whispered. Did I mention there were giant robots and lots of action? Read on to see what makes Full Metal Panic! a winner in my book.

The story starts out with Sosuke and his class flying to Okinawa on a field trip. But what happens when the plane is hijacked? We find out that one of the hijackers is Gauron, one of Sosuke's enemies that was supposedly dead. But why is the plane hijacked in the first place? Because everyone wants Chidori! She has the power that they want. But what happens when she's kidnapped and everything doesn't go according to plan? It's Sosuke to the rescue.

It sounds a bit confusing the way I typed things out, but it flows very well. There's a bit of romantic tension between Sosuke and Chidori, complicating this a bit. Even though I feel I missed a bit of something by not reading the first volume in the series, I'm intrigued by the plot. We've still got more to learn about Chidori's power and why it's so important.

The characters are good. Sosuke fits into the stereotypical hero. He's a bit quiet, but he's sort of badass when the time calls for it. Chidori is a Whispered. She seems a bit mysterious but she has her own personality that makes her someone to look up to. Gauron and his team of baddies fit the mold of menacing evil. There's also a whole class of side characters, but they don't do much.

The art is something to write home about. Maybe it's just because of me not reading lots of "action" stuff like this, but it's very good. The characters manage to look realistic while still being manga-ish. The mecha are well drawn along with their attacks and the few explosions in the book.

Quality-wise it's standard ADV. The paper is okay quality, it's a bit on the yellow side. The book's trim size is about two and one-half centimeters taller than regular manga, which will make it stand out on your shelf. If you're looking for comparison, it's the size of Yen Press's manhwa line. The translation was well-written, with no need for translation notes. The only thing that irked me was the occasional bolding of words, but I've seen that in a few of their other titles.

Art: 4.5
Characters: 4
Quality: 3.5
Story:4

Overall: 4. An A-. It's good. I'll hopefully be getting volume three when my friend loans it to me. It's a bit hard to find because ADV isn't publishing manga anymore, but they'd probably have it at the local Borders as long as they didn't pull the manga.

Credit: Jeff-chan for loaning me the volume for today's review.

Manga that should be licensed here: part 1

After reading loads of scanlations over time, I think it's about time I made a list of which ones I think should be licensed here for distribution here in the US. First off is an obvious choice...

Hetalia Axis Powers
Hidekaz Himaruya
Gentosha Comics
Possible Audience: 13+ girls
Chance of being licensed: 65% Pretty good, has a devoted fanbase.
Possible Liscensor: 1) Bandai, 2)Media Blasters, 3) Yen Press

Hetalia is a 4koma historical-comedy manga taking place in between World War 1 and World War 2. It mainly follows Italy, Germany, and Japan, the "Axis Powers".

Why? Because it's popular. It has two anime seasons, coming in at a planned 52 episodes. It has 4 drama CD's, and has a devoted fanbase. Also, most of the characters are male so it's fodder for Doujinshi and Fujoshi.

Chu Chu Chu a.k.a C<3C<3C<3 or Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!
Nakashima Tsubaki
Shueisha
Possible Audience: 15+ girls or 18+ men
Chance of being licensed: 15% Not well known
Possible Liscensor: Del Rey or DrMaster

A supernatural romance following Honey, a girl who looks like she's 6 but in middle school. She wants to be an adult, so while saving a bat stuck in a window a vampire rewards her. She grows the body of an adult. I really think this one appeals to younger readers, but with the constant clothes-falling-off Honey or the age changing, it ups the rating. It's either aimed at younger girls or older men. I'd say more towards older men because of the loli main character.

Why? Because it appeals to two different demographics. Teen girls and older men. Can't go wrong.

Amanchu!
Amano Kozue (Aria, Aqua)
Mag Garden
Possible Audience: Everyone
Chance: 50%
Liscensor: Tokyopop or Yen Press

Amanchu is the story of two girls who become best friends and enjoy the ocean. It's a slice-of-life with slight shojo-ai undertones.

Why? Because it's Amano. Both Aria and Aqua are published here by Tokyopop, even though I disagree with their 16+ and 13+ ratings. It's a good (from the few chapters I've read) slice of life that most people can enjoy. I'd say it's a Y 10+ at most.

And that concludes part 1 of my choices of unlicensed manga. After seeing Zetsubou-sensei and Doujin Work get published here, I know the possiblity exists for almost anything to hit the US shores.

REC Impressions

Scanlations are a hard thing to review. Their chatper count is hard to divide into actual volumes, and they may or may not be legal to read depending if they're licensed in the states or not. So when I review scanlations or raws, I'll just put "Impressions" in the title of the post. Got it? Good.

One of today's featured scanations is REC, a story about an aspiring voice actress who has no home and moves in with a man she randomly went to the movies with.

REC
Q-Tarou Hanamizawa
Chapters read: 2/40, ongoing

Quite an interesting story, to say the least. We start out with an unnamed girl, who bumps into a man who has been stood up. Taking somewhat of an advantage of him, she goes with him to the movies. The girl is quite strange, reading the movie's subtitles out loud. Later the man finds out that this girl, Aka, wants to become a voice actress.

After bringing her home for a night, she "does it" with him but quickly runs off after they've finished. Cut to the next morning when the man comes looking for her. He finds out that the place she lived has been burnt down! Oh noes! So what to do? Take her in, that's what. Being the good guy he is, he offers her to let her live in his apartment. After this, he goes to his new job which is advertising for a snack food company. He dresses up as the snack company mascot, Neko-san, while Aka does the voices.

After a few standard antics of living in someplace new (such as walking in on her changing) and some banter, we're back at the jobs of the two. The guy runs into a young girl who loves the Neko-san character, and Aka is delighted that someone likes her talents.

Thoughts
The premise sounds a bit average. It's fairly decent, and you can see the relationship between Aka and the man growing little by little even if she wants them to be just friends. But I'm really not sure if it's going to work out with Aka being a tsundere and all. One minute she's angry, and the next she's in tears over someone liking her work!

REC isn't groundbreaking, and it isn't going to win any awards. But it's a good way to kill some time if you're looking for a good seinin manga with two characters in a more mature relationship.

Companies that could possibly license this:
I'm going to say possibly Media Blasters (Anime Works), because they could release the manga along with the short, 12-minutes-an-episode anime and OVA all in one package for a good price.

As a second choice, I'd say Yen Press. They look like they'd be ones to take a risk and publish more "mature" stuff. If both those fail, I'd say CMX because they pick up "smaller" titles like this one.

Kimikiss: Extra Kiss

This is a review of a short extra chapter from Kimikiss. Not the actual volume.

It starts out with a girl named Kaorin being surrounded by her clasmatess. She's been kissed! Nana, our protagonist for this chapter and classmate, seems a bit confused. What is a kiss? What does it feel like? She'll never know with her brother complex. Kaorin goes into detail, but Nana is quickly whisked away by Narumi-chan to take out the garbage. Cut to Nana in her bedroom, pondering what a kiss is. Her Onii-chan walks in, but she quickly boots him out. Well, it looks like she's at that age...

The next day Nana is having lunch with Narumi, and they ponder what a kiss is. After mulling it over for a page or two, they figure out that they need knowledge. And where does that come from? Books! 'Cause you totally know that books will have everything you need to know about kissing. They end up checking some books out on cooking. They wish it was manga, so then they go to Narumi's house...but end up going to Mao's, because she is an expert on kissing.

It turns out Mao-neesan hasn't kissed anyone! But she doesn't let the two girls know that. That would be like telling a six-year-old there isn't a Santa Claus! But she gives them advice on her non-existant kissing skils just to perk them up. Cut to them walking home, when they see high-schoolers kissing. They then have the great idea to kiss each other, just for practice...

When a soccer ball comes flying at them and knocks them over. They are happy, even though their first kiss wasn't with a boy. Nana walks home, and before going to bed, Onii-chan kisses her on the head after asking him about kissing. Aww.

Impressions
This wasn't was I was expecting after the regular Kimikiss. It's a nice little diversion away from the main story with Mao. There's no smuggling melons under shirts (if you know what I mean), no innuendo, no nothing that might turn someone away from the regular Kimikiss. I'll continue reading Kimikiss anyway and post thoughts here.

This chapter really didn't feel like a dating sim like the rest of the series did.

More later!

Kodomo no Jikan OVA

Ah, Kodomo no Jikan. One of the most controversial franchises that I can think of to date. The manga was canceled here in the USA, and the anime has about 4.5% of ever coming here. You know what? Make that a 1%, because the OVA brings the loli goodness (?) that people are looking for.

Rin, Kuro, and Mimi are looking for a birthday present for their teacher, Aoki-sensei. They go to the department stores, but don't find anything they like or that is affordable. Rin has a great idea...to make him something! That way it shows she cares and it saves money! So what to do now? Have a sleepover at Rin's house, that's what!

Rin starts to paint a picture for sensei, but Mimi in her fit of clumsy and lovestruck-ness spills milk over everything. So she cleans it up, but her and Rin are still freaking out! Meanwhile, Kuro is happy because she hates Aoki-sensei for being Rin's crush and makes a voodoo doll of him. ;P But it turns out Mimi got milk in her hair! Oh noes! What to do? Take a bath, that's what. Give the viewers their loli service.

Mimi totally freaks out when she finds out there's no shampoo left. But what to do now? Rin gets her guardian, Reji, to refill the container. So why does Mimi freak out? Because she's naked in front of her crush! After some bonding between Rin and Mimi, they play a game where they stick their hair in between their legs and become "adults". Get it?

So Rin stays up painting a picture for Aoki-sensei while Kuro is fantasizing about herself and Rin. Mimi becomes worried that Reji loves someone already, but little does she know that Reji's love is dead! So she does have a chance!

Cut to the next day at school, where Aoki-sensei opens his phone to see a text from Rin saying "Happy Birthday! I'm your present!" with a picture of Rin wrapped in a bow. Then he get's a text saying "Look down!" and Rin has "I love you Aoki-sensei!" written in the sand, Kuro has "You lolicon teacher!" and Mimi has something, but the I didn't catch what it said. But she looked nervous. ^^; Cut to Aoki sensei running down to Rin, and she surprise glomps him. The end!

I admit I'm not a fan of loli or the target audience. But I enjoyed the Kodomo no Jikan OVA nevertheless. It didn't have as much emotional or psychological depth as the series which was a letdown, but hey, you can't do everything in 23 minutes. *note* this is the DVD version of the OVA so there was no censoring.*

The OP was okay, it was a bit weak compared to Retsu! Ohime-sama Dakko from the TV series. It was performed by Rin, Kuro, and Mimi's voice actors and was called Otome Chikku Shoshinsha Desu. The ED was Aijou Education by Little Non, which was again not as good as Hanamaru Sensation from the TV series. It lacked the extra oomph that made the TV ED song so special and fitting.

The animation quality was okay. The VA were decent. They portrayed their characters well, with Rin being energetic but having some tradgey behind her, Kuro being the yuri rich girl, and Mimi being the worried, shy, and easily scared girl with issues.

The characters are what make this series. So what if they're nine? If they can provide more depth than lets say, a 17 year old character why not? Rin is energetic with a growing crush with Aoki-sensei, Kuro is a rich girl who's madly in love with Rin but rarley shows it in public, and Mimi has issues and is very shy. She's got a chest bigger than most middle-schoolers, is easily scared by what others think about her, and has a shy crush on Reji. You know what? These characters share similarities with those of Lucky Star, with Kona-chan as Rin, Kuro as Kagami, and Miyuki as Mimi.

Characters: 5
Sound: 3.5
Quality: 3.5
Story: 4
VA: 4

Overall: A solid 4. This is a good start for the series, but needs to dig more into the psychological drama and issues rather than light-hearted loli and fanservice. I'd only say this is ages 15+ because of fanservice and suggestive-ness. It's not as good as the TV series, but it's a nice diversion from it with more of the character's narration and depth.

Full Moon, vol. 1-7 (END)

Full Moon wo Sagashite
Arina Tanemura
Viz (Shojo Beat), around 170 pp. per volume.

Do you want to get in touch with your shojo-loving manga side? Do you want to push away all those action and fight scenes for a bit of emotional drama? Do you want a character-driven story that will most likely touch your heart at one point in the story? Well look no further, Full Moon wo Sagashite will do all that for you!

Mitsuki Koyama, age 12 has one year until she dies of a throat tumor. With that in mind, she wants to become a pop star! Despite her grandmother's hatred of music and singing because of past incidents, Mitsuki is detirmend to become a popstar, find her lost love Eichi, and live her life to the fullest. But can she do that all in one year? Or will she die trying?

Volume 1 starts the tale off with a bang. After finding out Mitsuki has a year to live, she runs off to become a popstar. But she's pursued by a pair of shinigami under the name of Negi-ramen, who want to take her soul! But rather than do that, they sort of hang around her because she's the only one that can see them because every day is one closer to her death.

Volume 2 brings on a bit of the popstar fluff. Peforming, costumes, and just about everything else that showbiz has, Mitsuki goes through it. But there's also a darker side of showbiz, with lyrics being stolen, banter between contestants, and shady members of the audience...

Volume 3 kicks everything into high-gear by jumping into the story. There's so much explained in this volume that it will amaze you. We find out Eichi isn't waiting for Mitsuki in America, and he actually died in a plane crash. We learn that shinigami are what they are because in life they committed suicide. And now that Mitsuki knows the truth, is it really worth following her dreams any more that her love is gone forever?

Volume 4 feels like a bit of a letdown after the most impacting volume 3, but is good nevertheless. Mitsuki is a bit crushed after hearing Eichi is dead. But what happens when her feelings start to blossom for Takuto, one of the shinigami following her?

Volume 5 picks up on a better note, with Mitsuki climbing the charts under the idol name Full Moon. But fame has a price, as I'm sure almost every celebrity knows. Among the many gifts she receives, there's a threat for one of the next performances! Is it true? Should Mitsuki quit being an idol because of this threat?

Volume 6 brings on more of the drama we've been waiting for. Mitsuki is in dire need of an operation, but with that comes the loss of her voice. Will she have the operation? Or will she refuse it and end up dying sooner? And what happens when the shinigami become more of a threat to her? Her life is bound to end soon...

Volume 7 is the final volume. Mitsuki is trapped by Jonathan, one of the most powerful shinigami in their world. Another shinigami, Izumi, is able to help her but doing so would release his final memory that he may not want to remember. So Mitsuki and Takuto die together, but end up living again. So what happens three years later with no Eichi to be found? Is it time to move on into another relationship?

As mentioned before, this is really a character-driven story. Despite it revolving around wanting to become a popstar, that really fades from the story as it goes into later volumes. The story is fueled primarily by Mitsuki, who is so in love with Eichi and is heck-bent on finding him. But her aspirations to find him slowly fade, and she's more driven to think about dying because she'd be closer to him. In the end, she has to make a decision over if she should let her love for Eichi go and be with Takuto or not.

The characters are what make the story. Mitsuki is surprisingly emotional for a 12 year old (13 in later volumes) and has determination. Takuto and Meroko (Negi-Ramen) are rather nice shinigami, who would rather see her live instead of taking her soul. Izumi and Jonathan are the more diabolical pair of shinigami, always plotting ways to steal her soul and/or kill her.

The art is surprisingly good. It improves little over the seven volumes, but Arina has her own style. It's big eyes, long, wavy hair, and somewhat lanky-bodies. It beats your average shojo-style any day, though it may take a bit of time getting used to.

The quality is average. Viz seemed to do an average job with the first 6 volumes, but kicked it up a notch with the last volume translating lots of extras, such as thank-you letters to Arina for writing Full Moon and some bonus manga from her about her adventures in signing copies of Full Moon in Taiwan. I also commend them by translating a Full Moon dictionary that she wrote in the back of volume 7, which was sort of an explanation of characters, songs, and events in the series.

Art: 4
Characters: 4.5
Quality: 3.5
Story: 4.5

Total: Rounded to a 4, or a A-. I'd recommend this to teen girls looking for a good emotional drama with nice characters and a good story. It's bound to touch your heart and make you feel for the characters. The series will only cost $62.93 without tax, so it's not that much of an investment.

Shonen vs Shojo vs Seinen

What makes these three main demographics so different? Why is josei manga not in this post? Why are these titles shelved side-by-side at a bookstore? Why am I asking you all these questions? Read on to learn the answer and find out!

Shonen, shojo, and seinen manga can be very different. Obiously the first difference is the demographic. Shojo is usually aimed at girls ages 10-18, shonen boys at 10-18, and seinen aimed at men 18-40. Josei is aimed at women 18-40, but that will be covered in a different post. Now...onto the bulk of this article...

Shonen is usually what hits mainstream media. Popular shows such as Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece are shonen. Lots of younger kid's anime are shonen too, such as Pokemon, Bakugan, and Yu-gi-oh! What makes shonen shonen? Good question. There's usually lots of episodes and/or manga volumes in shonen series. There's usually a good amount of fanservice in shonen if it's aimed at an older demographic. And if it isn't a fanservice-y shonen, it usually revolves around someone trying to be the best at something. Or it could be a combination of those, like Air Gear.

Some notable shonen are Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei and Welcome to the NHK, neither which focus on the above topics. See, there are lots of diffrent kinds of shonen. Those two above cover dark comedy, which is personally one of my favorite sub-genre of manga. Other notable shonen include Rizelmine (romance, comedy), Love Hina (fanservice, romance, comedy), Negima?! (romance, comedy, fanservice), and Disgaea 2 (comedy, action).

Now onto shojo. Lots of shojo is on the market, ranging from magical girl to romance. It's prime audience is girls, so it usually involves bishonen. Shojo does not have much fanservice, unless it's one of those weird angle shots just to give a bit of eye candy to the few-and-far-between male readers.

Shojo is usually drawn in a standard style. Huge, expressive eyes with long and flowing hair. There's usually frilly costumes or pretty uniforms too. And for the lack of fanservice, the bishonens make up for it with their bishie-ness. Shojo usually has a romantic theme about it.

Some notable shojo are Shugo Chara (magical girl), Kaichou wa Maid Sama! (romance comedy), Full Moon wo Sagashite (romance, drama), Kodocha (romance drama/comedy), and Cardcaptor Sakura (magical girl). Feel free to recommend any more titles in the comments.

Last but not least, we have seinen. It's a bit of a small genre, but what it has is good. It is aimed at men ages 18-40, but I think that some titles from this genre can be enjoyed by those who are younger than that. Seinen fits into a different category than shonen and shojo, and covers lots of different topics. From romance to intense action to the supernatural, seinen has it all. Some notable examples are Kodomo no Jikan (romance, drama, psychological), xxxHOLiC (supernatural), and Gantz (action).

So which demographic do I enjoy the most manga from? I'd say it's shonen, though the shonen I read isn't mainstream and doesn't go on for more than 8 volumes.

Top shojo picks: Kitchen Princess, Maid Sama, Shugo Chara.

Top shonen picks: Zetsubou-sensei, Welcome to the NHK, Hibiki's Magic, Chobits, Leader's High.

Top seinen picks: xxxHOLiC, Kodomo no Jikan.

So that wraps up the view column. Which do you prefer?

Pokemon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu

Pokemon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu
Toshihiro Ono
Viz Media,1999, 165 pp.

Ah, Pokemon. Good times, good times. Lots of this generation grew up playing the games (or at least watching the anime) but might not have read the manga that may or may not have influenced the franchise. Now that I'm reading it again (I got it out from the library back in the day), I feel the nostalgia coming back. Is it good? Or does this book fall flat like many adaptions? Read on to find out!

You all know the story. Ash wants to become a Pokemon trainer, but does not have the skills nor pokemon to become one. One fateful day, Ash discovers a Pikachu chewing electric wires in his house, so he captures it and it soon becomes his ticket to being a pokemon master. Follow Ash's adventures as he fights his rival Gary, captures more pokemon, earns badges, and climbs the ladder to the top of the Pokemon League.

Many things are the same as the anime, but some are different. Such as Ash's companions, Brock and Misty, don't pal along with him like they do in the anime. Ash's fights are very quick, and Pikachu just uses thundershock most of the time to wipe out the gym. And last but not least, things move along very quickly in the manga as opposed to the anime. The plot seems to flow not-so-smoothly because of the quick pacing, but because kids are the target audience for this one I can't complain too much.

The characters seem a bit shallow at first. Ash is close to the typical shounen hero archetype, being positive, determined, and easily charmed by women (heh). Misty is somewhat of a bishojo, but is picked on and bossed around by her older sisters. And Brock, well let's just say he isn't the ladies man that he wants to be. You might notice they look slightly different than their anime counterparts, and they act a bit differently too.

The artwork is a bit messy and aged.

The actual publication is flipped, so purists might not be enthused by that. But this was back in the day where lots of manga were flipped, so you shouldn't be to mad. Viz did some editing, especially Misty. She's wearing a bikini top in one panel and for the rest of the book she's wearing some black, very non-showy shirt. Why, Viz, why? Is it really so bad to show a 12 year old in a Bikini top? It's not like kids have never been to a beach or seen TV shows with girls wearing them...

This book is hard to find, but some libraries still have it. Be warned though, most of their copies are in bad condition because of the wear-and-tear of kids borrowing it. Mine is in such a crappy condition that the cover is partially ripped off and I had to fill out a notice that I didn't harm the book. ^^; So be warned.

Art: 2.5
Characters: 3
Quality: 3
Story: 2.5

Overall: 2.75. A D+ at best. I'd say if you want it and you're a teenager and/or an adult, look at it purely for the nostalgia value and don't expect much. It sort of falls flat for those looking for an in-depth read, but hey, if you're looking for that don't expect much from something that is from the juvenile manga section.

Doujin Work, vol. 1

Doujin Work volume 1 (Packaged with the first DVD)
Media Blasters
HIROYUKI, 118 pp.
Available here.

I've been reading Doujin Work through scanlations before it had came out, so now that it's available in legal English form I scooped it up right away. It came with the first DVD of the Doujin Work anime, which was a good deal for $14.95 at Best Buy. Now, onto the review...

There's no real plot of Doujin Work, it just follows Osana Najimi through her adventures in the Doujin world. It starts out rather comically, with Najimi asking Tsuyuri what perverted thing she does alone and why she's sleeping in class. It starts with "Ma" and Najimi assumes this is something completley different than drawing manga. As soon as Najimi enters the doujin convention, her thoughts change on Doujin and she quickly agrees to make her own in order to make a living. She meets Justice (a lollicon), his lolli Sora, Hoshi (a boy that is crushing on her), and her yet-to-be named rival.

It just follows their Doujin antics in 4koma style. We see Najimi playing an ero game, her first publication, drawing a certain part of the anatomy shown by Justice, and Justice's protectiveness over Najimi. I can't really explain what happens, it's sort of a comedy slice-of-life revolving around doujin, with plenty of perverted humor thrown in for a few good laughs.

The characters are the propelling force of this 4koma, with most of the humor coming from things they do or say. This is especially the case for Najimi, being a newbie to the Doujin world, with her being uncomfortable drawing and reading about hentai. Justice is an overprotective lollicon, who sells his Doujin for next-to-nothing. Tsuyuri is defiantly a pervert, working on sadistic manga and being a gateway to the Doujin World. Sora is a non-innocent lolli, who is madly in love with Justice and draws Doujin despite being about eight years old.

The art is better than your average 4koma, with no use of chibi's or super-deformation. No matter what the characters are doing, they manage to stay looking realistic.

The quality I must say is not so great. I do commend Media Blasters for bringing over such an under-the-radar title, but they could have done a better job with it. The trim size is smaller than your average manga, thus making it look weird next to other manga on your shelf. The paper quality is so-so, but how they printed the text was a bit small and hard to read. They could have done better, but it's (barley) passable for now.

Art: 4
Characters: 5
Four Koma Execution: 5 (for humor)
Quality: 2.5

Total: Rounded to a 4. An A-. It could have been better if the release was more quality, but other than that it's one of the better 4koma on the market. It's genuinely funny, and it tells the Doujin World how it is. It's executed better than the similar title Comic Party. I recommend Doujin Work, but only for those who may have an interest in it, such as people who actually make Doujin or to otakus that want to enjoy a 4koma with good humor.

Amefurashi, vol. 1

Amefurashi The Rain Goddess, volume 1
Atsushi Suzumi
Del Rey, 221 pp.
Available here.

I got this one the day it came out. I'm not sure what it was that made me want to get this...maybe it was the sassy girl on the cover? Or maybe it was the fact that it was by Atsushi Suzumi, the creator of Venus Vs. Virus? Either way, I'm glad I picked this up.

The story is about average. It has it's weaknesses, but manages to be unique in a way. Gimmy is on a mission to save his younger twin brother and sister because they accidentally shipped themselves off to the Rain Goddess. So he has to get them back from the sassy goddess Sora. Along the way, there's another goddess that wants to get in Sora's tree so that she can control the rain.

It works out pretty well, except for the few weaknesses. One of them is Sora's story. There really isn't any reason why they send up gifts to Sora. Yes, after that it does rain but why? Why would you go send dolls up to a goddess? Another is the plot itself. It's fairly predictable.

The characters are great. Gimmy is much like Watanuki from xxxHolic, but isn't the same character. They share similar traits. Sora is a very sassy and somewhat immature goddess. Just about everyone else other than the two main characters is cookie-cutter, from the twins to Daryl, the parental figure in Gimmy's life.

The art is by far the strongest point of the book, which is very good. It's got detail and still fares well during action scenes. The characters are drawn very well, with costume detail and expressions that stand out.

The publication is great, mainly because it's from Del Rey. This book is extra thick, coming in at 221 pages with just the main story and a few notes with sketches. It has the extras, translation notes, and has a decent (but untranslated) look at the next volume. These are the great things that make a worthy publication.

Art: 5
Characters: 3.5 (Bought up to four point five by the mains, but taken down by the cookie-cutter side characters)
Quality: 5
Story: 3

Overall: Rounded to a 4. It's an A. It's a good, short shonen story that's only two volumes long. Your mileage may vary if you're used to reading long shonen and don't enjoy short ones. If that is the case, you man not enjoy this title to it's full extent.

Beauty Pop, vol. 1

Beauty Pop volume 1
Kiyoko Arai
Viz (Shojo Beat), 194 pp.
Available here.

I honestly don't have much to say about this title. Maybe because this was an impulse buy, or maybe because I don't really care about looking "pretty" that much.

Kiri is a hair cutter. She works her magic on girls and makes them look "pretty". But she has rivals, the Scissors Project, with the 3 most popular makeover guys in it. They start a rivalry, compete to make girls prettier....blah blah blah...but wait. This isn't stupid, like you may think from reading the back cover. It's actually okay.

There's a few makeovers in this book, mainly middle school girls who want to be "pretty" to be with a boy. But the one that starts the rivalry between the S.P. and Kiri is Yorozyua, a.k.a "Fat-chan". She's so fat and ugly, and demands that the S.P. make her beautiful. She ends up as Kiri's contestant in the competition. The competition ends before the book ends, yet we don't get to see who wins.

Kiri is the exact opposite of what you'd expect to be a shojo heroine. She's unruly, frazzled, and a bit on the lazy side. The members of the S.P. are what you'd expect high-spirited rivals to be- high spirited, competitive, and with a bit of goofiness. Kiri's friend Taro wants to also become a hair cutter, but I couldn't tell if he was just overly flamboyant or if he was gay.

The art is your standard shojo fare, with big eyes, and a moderate amount of screentone balanced out with some white space. I must say that the art is very simple and clean in this manga, and tells the story well.

The actual publication is all right, it's standard Viz quality. It's got somewhat low-quality paper and has one or two translation notes scattered about.

Art: 3
Characters: 3.5
Quality: 3
Story: 3.5

Overall: 3.25 or a C. It's nothing really special but it's not a run-of-the-mill shojo either. I picked it up purely on impulse because Borders Express was having one of those "buy 4 books, get the 5th free" promotions and the shelves were almost bare. I guess it's aimed at younger teens and tweens, but I guess shojo fans of most ages would enjoy this breath of fresh air. Sorta.

Heaven's Will, vol. 1 (END)

Heaven's Will volume 1 (of one)
Satoru Takamiya
Viz (Shojo Beat), 193 pp. $8.99
Sudou Mikuzu has a very special talent--she can see ghosts. And because of this predisposition, she's become a magnet for all sorts of unwelcome monsters. Luckily for her she's just met Seto, a friendly, cross-dressing young exorcist. Sudou needs protection from all the creepy phantoms bugging her, and Seto needs to practice his exorcism skills. Consequently, the pair decides to team up and help each other. In return, Sudou promises to bake a cake every time a ghost gets zapped!

I admit this book has potential. Lots of it. For a oneshot, I would have thought this would have been turned into a series because it has so much potential. But because of being a oneshot, it seems to fall flat in the end.

Sudou is your average teen, except she can see ghosts, spirits, oni and the like. When she meets Seto, a crosdressing exorcist, a friendship is formed. He protects her while she draws spirits to him and bakes cakes. Along with their friend Kagari the vampire, they exorcise spirits!

I admit I thought this was going to be something like Ghost Whisperer or Twilight. But I was proven wrong. This has elements from them, but it is it's own story. It works out well for a oneshot. We also have a very interesting back story with Seto and how he wants to bring his sister back using his body because she died saving him.

The characters are great. They're very well designed, and have good personalities. Sudou is your average teen, but she's scared of most things, including ghosts, oni, boys, and pretty much everything she doesn't understand. Seto is a caring crossdresser who wants to bring his sister back to life by getting a "change", and Kagari is a stone-faced, monotone vampire. They're all very interesting and developed for a one-shot.

The art is great. It's very pretty and illustrates the tale well.

The publishing is good. It isn't nearly as good as Del Rey's or as bad as Tokyopop's. It's somewhere in the middle. There's a translation note here and there, but they aren't in the back. They're scattered around the book as footnotes.

Art: 4.5
Characters: 4.5
Quality: 3
Story: 3.5

Overall: 3.8. It really goes that extra mile by having a really interesting back story for Seto. I really think this could have turned into a series, because the ending isn't as satisfying as it could have been. B+.

Minima, vol. 1

Minima! volume 1
Machiko Sakurai
Del Rey, 182 pp.

What would you do if your favorite toy came to life and became your best friend? Well, that's just what happens to Ame Oikawa, a shy schoolgirl. Nicori is a super-cute doll with a mind of its own—and a plan to make Ame's dreams come true!

You know what? Shy isn't the word to describe Ame, the most shy, quiet, and easily-embarrassed school girl you'll see in a manga. You'd think she was just coming out of being a hikikomori actually, judging by her reactions when people talk to her.

This book starts out a bit confusing with Ame buying a plush toy that was on sale. She soon finds out that it can talk, and it's name is Nicori. Suddenly, the press fires up and Ame and Nicori are all over the news. Why? Because it's a talking doll, people. Be excited. (Actually, thinking about it, Japanese news usually covers weirder things.) With Ame in the news, she doesn't really respond. She just cares about that plush toy Nicori.

Ame doesn't have a lot of friends because she's so shy. So naturally, her classmates are somehow flocking to her more and more. They ask her about crushes, and think she likes someone in the class. So Nicori pulls out a picture that is Ame's of one of the most popular guys in the school. Obiously she reacts to this in a negative way, freaking out and comparing the guy to merchandise. So after all the popularity of the Nicori toy, Ame gets kidnapped. So it's up to Nicori to save her!

The story isn't so great. It's a bit confusing in the beginning, with many plot elements being thrown at you. Ame doesn't make the story any easier, because she only says a few lines throughout the book. Speaking of the characters, none of them are really special. We've got her classmates Midori, the popular class guy Sasaki, and a few girls that occasionally ridicule Ame. Their personalites aren't shown very much, and their one-dimensional.

The art isn't so great either. It looks rather amateur, with it being good in one panel and in the next blah. It's inconsistent. The characters aren't drawn well and are rather simplistic. And Nicori is so simple he looks like he could have been designed by a six year old. Really, he's so simple and plain you could probably illustrate him perfectly on Microsoft Paint.

This is one of Del Rey's earlier publications, so it isn't that great. The covers cut off a bit short, so the pages stick out of them about a millimeter, leaving them to be damaged. They did include a few translation notes, which are helpful for those who might not get the parody of the NHK or why a mother would buy high-grade sushi to celebrate something.

Art: 2
Characters: 1.5
Quality: 4
Story: 2.5

Overall: 2.5. Or a D+. Really, there were things that could be improved on such as characters and the story. But then again, Your milleage may vary with this book. You may like it more than me or you may dislike it. It's a matter of opinion.

If you're looking to buy this for a tween girl, I'd say pass on this one and pick up something like Kitchen Princess or Mamotte! Lollipop. You could also look into Shugo Chara! if they're willing to read magical girl. (All titles mentioned are from Del Rey and rated T.)

Aria, vol. 1

Aria volume one
Kozue Amano
ADV manga, 176 pp.


Grade: A
On the planet Aqua, a world once known as Mars, Akari Mizunashi has just made her home in the town of Neo-VENEZIA, a futuristic imitation of the ancient city of Venice. The technology of "Man Home" (formerly Earth) has not entirely reached this planet, and Akari is alone, having no contact with family or friends. Nonetheless, the town, with its charming labyrinths of rivers and canals, becomes Akari's new infatuation, along with the dream of becoming a full-fledged gondolier. Reverting to a more "primitive" lifestyle and pursuing a new trade, the character of Akari becomes both adventurous and heartwarming all at once.

Actually, I don't think Aria needs a summary. It's a good ol' slice-of-life manga about gondoliers in an incarnation of Vince set in the future.

Aria follows Akari, an undine in training. For those not in the know, an undine in this series is an in-training gondolier. It follows events in Akari's life, such as gondola races, waiting at the Bridge of Sighs for a friend and a trip to the shrine where she witnesses a sun shower. It's very simple and relaxing, and is meant to point out to you that there are some magical times in life and to enjoy them.

Akari isn't smart, and she isn't supposed to be. She's kind-hearted, ready to stop a race just to pick up some fruits that a woman dropped in the water and is naive. Her friend Akia is level-headed and is competitive, and one of the more experienced undines Alicia is kind and caring. Along with the cat (?) President Aria, they make up a perfect slice-of-life crew who live out the most enjoyable moments in life.

The art looks better in black and white then in color I must say. The cover really didn't hook me into reading this manga because of the coloring. But once inside and reading, the art was pure wonderful, with several somewhat-detailed two page spreads.

It's okay quality wise. The cover feels a bit weird, and is marked and dented easily. This particular volume comes with a few helpful translation notes in the back. I must note, this is the ADV version, not the Tokyopop version. ADV version is rated all ages while Tokyopop's is OT. Why? I have no clue, because I didn't see one objectionable thing in this whole volume.

Art: 4
Characters: 4
Quality: 3.5
Story (charm): 5

Overall: A 4.2. I must say that I keep the .2 in there because this is a noteworthy book that almost anyone can enjoy. It's got those qualities that really make a slice of life manga, with likable characters, a good setting, and charm. I think also the older you are the more you can appreciate it. A and recommended.

DNAngel, vol. 7

DNAngel volume 7 (of 13) ongoing
Yukiru Sugisaki
Tokyopop, 168 pp.

Things just keep going from bad to worse for Daisuke--he's suddenly taken away by The Second Hand of Time, which Dark failed to steal. The only remaining link to Daisuke lies within another painting that he had unwittingly given to Riku the day before. Dark now has to retrieve the painting...while pretending to be Daisuke!

Another installment in the DNAngel series. Why does it seem the pacing of this series has slowed down? Maybe because Riku seen Daisuke transform into Dark and she still doesn't get it...

Dark failed at stealing the second hand of time. Why? Because Freedert whisked Daisuke away into a painting that he had give Riku a day ago. So somehow, Dark drags Riku into the painting for no reason. She has yet another chance to discover the Daisuke/Dark secret, but I'm pretty sure the manga-ka doesn't want her finding out until the final volume.

Apart from the main story, we're still going through the play Ice and Snow, with the main male character changed to Dark (played by Satoshi) and Freedert (Daisuke) tangeled in a romance. Actually, there's so much implied yaoi between Satoshi and Daisuke the characters even point it out and fawn over it.

The characters don't seem to be progressing-them seem to do exactly the opposite. Riku is becoming dumber and more oblivious, Daisuke is trapped and helpless, and Dark is becoming a pervert. Then we've got Satoshi, who seems like he wants some hot yaoi action.

The art is the same, currently the same quality as last time. The character's ears are drawn really low on their heads in this volume, which was kind of weird.

Tokyopop seems to be making volumes shorter. This one is 168 pages and the last one was somewhere between 172-176? Other than that, this is their normal standard- cut off word bubbles, one or two grammar mistakes, and non-translated sound effects.

Art: 3.5
Characters: 3
Quality: 3
Story: 3.5 (It got interesting, but then it was cut off by the Ice and Snow parts.)

Overall: 3.25 or a C. The story was intersting, but was constantly pushed away because of the Ice and Snow play. The characters aren't progressing either, they're actually becoming more oblivious!

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, vol. 2

Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei: The power of negative thinking volume 2

Meet the most melancholy high school teacher in Japan: Nozomu Itoshiki, whose fashion sense is strictly nineteenth-century, whose personal goal is self-annihilation, and whose signature phrase is “I’m in despair!” He’s similar to Franz Kafka and Jean-Paul Sartre–if Kafka and Sartre had had to deal with a classroom of short-skirted, lovesick students. And to make matters worse, Itoshiki’s family wants him to get married. Forget the bride, here comes the gloom!

Hands down, this is one of the most enjoyable manga I've read in a long time.

The manga Sayonara, Zetsubou sensei revolves around Nozomu Itoshiki, a.k.a Despair-sensei, and his life as a teacher. But wait, he is no ordinary teacher, being suicidal and constantly in despair from trivial things to mannerisms to anything else in between. He teaches his class full of crazy students, from the overly positive Kafuka Fuura to illegal immigrant Maria to the "I'll sue!" double personality Kaere.

This particular volume starts out with wishes, which Zetsubou-sensei quickly points out that most don't come true. Then we have Commodore Perry come to the school and open everything, even though he's not truly Commodore Perry. Then we have commentary on some things aren't reported, even though people want to know, in this case the students wanting to know their grades. And then there is a chapter about shadowy outcasts.

The second half of the book deals with the "On-Edge" school, where everything would crack at any moment if someone burst a fuse. We also see Sensei and Fujiyoshi-san's passions for Doujinshi, even though they both have different visions of what doujinshi is. Then Sensei is arranged to marry-to anyone he makes eye contact with! And finally, the characters go through criticism training.

Usually, those things would only be worth a chuckle if performed normally. But this manga is satire, with some of the most funny and strange characters you'd ever meet. Everyone, from Sensei to Meru, the cute-but-nasty mute, pipe in on the situations in this book. It's funny. It's even funnier from the skewed perspective of Zetsubou-sensei.

As mentioned before, the characters are top-notch. You have to love them. They're all archtypes-the illegal immigrant, the hikikomori, the fujiyoshi, the positive one, the fanservice girl, and the balding one- would be boring usually, but Koji Kumeta makes them something special by having the comedy play off their archetypes. An example of this is Maria, the illegal immigrant, being a newbie to Japan and imitating others behaviors and not quite understanding everything completely.

The art is very simple, and it has it's own distinct style.

The quality is over the top, with pages of translation notes explaining pop culture references, Kanji jokes that American readers might not get, and chapter title meanings. The cover is so nice feeling and smooth, it makes you wonder why other companies aren't as good publishers as Del Rey. They also get bonus points for picking up this niche title.

This book really caters to the Otaku, Hikikomori, and Weeaboo, with lots of Japanese references and language puns. Most people will not enjoy this unless they are one of the aforementioned types, but those who will love it.

Art: 4.5
Characters: 5
Quality: 5 (Del Rey really went the extra mile)
Story (satire and comedy): 5

Overall: A 4.8. This is an A+ all the way. Highly recommended.

Mamotte Lollipop, vol. 1

Mamotte! Lollipop volume 1
Michiyo Kikuta
Del Rey, 208 pp.
Junior high schooler Nina is ready to fall in love. She's looking for a boy who's cute and sweet and strong enough to support her when the chips are down. But what happens when Nina's dream comes true…twice? One day, two cute boys literally fall from the sky: they're both wizards and they've come to the Human World to take the Magic Exam. Their success on this test depends on protecting Nina from evil, so now Nina has a pair of cute magical boys chasing her everywhere she goes! One of these wizards just might be the boy of her dreams…but which one?

I admit when I first got this, I really didn't have high expectations. From hearing the premise this sounded like it would be an average mixed magical girl shojo. But it turned out to be a nice romantic comedy with a bit of magic thrown in.

The premise sounds a bit silly at first. Two boys falling from the sky? Really? Having to protect the girl that likes them because she accidentally swallowed the item for a magical exam? It's all too perfect. But it makes a great starting point for a solid romantic comedy.

We go through Nina meeting Zero and Ichi, the two main wizards that she is crushing on, meeting rival wizards-in-training Forte and Sun, we get to see them got to the hot springs (which has censored parts!), Nina as a baby, and mid-terms. These are all things that happen in regular shojo, except there are twists such as using magic and the other wizards coming and trying to kidnap Nina because she has the crystal pearl.

The characters are average at times, but overall you feel like you get to know them more over the course of the book. The releatinship between Nina and her two potential boyfriends grow, and the rivalry between the wizards and other love rivals grow. The characters that are focused on are Nina, Zero, and Ichi, but there are also some recurring characters like Rokka (who loves Ichi but is 5), Go (Rokka's butler/gigolo), Forte (Sun's partner), and Sun (the crossdresser).

The art is great, surpassing my shojo standards. Yes, the characters have huge eyes, but who cares if it adds to their design?

The quality is top notch, which is pretty much a standard for Del Rey. One complaint: why did they censor one panel in the hot springs chapter? Goodness, it couldn't haven been that bad. Otherwise, I commend them for the translation notes, translating sidebars, and including an extra story Magical Medical in the back.

Art: 4.5
Characters: 3.5
Quality: 4.5
Story: 3.5 (Works out surprisingly well despite the average premise.

Overall: A solid 4. Or an A-. Recommended to most shojo fans looking for something fresh and appealing.

Gaba Kawa, vol. 1 (END)

Gaba Kawa (Loosely translated to "So persistent it's cute)
Rie Takada
Viz, somewhere in the 160-180 pp. range.

Young demons Rara Yamabuki and Bibi Kurosawa come to the human world in order to do evil deeds and become full-fledged demons. Rivals in love, they search for the legendary demon, Hiroshi Akusawa, in order to win his heart though they don't even know what he looks like. While Rara is standing on the roof, classmate Retsu Aku mistakenly believes she's going to kill herself and grabs her, "flying" down with her to safety. With that, and hearing him called "Aku," Rara believes him to be Akusawa, but later learns he is just a normal human and that Akusawa isn't nearly as desirable in person. When she uses her power of flight to aid Retsu, which causes her to lose the power forever, Rara realizes she has fallen in love with him. From Wikipedia

This is your standard supernatural-romance shojo. It's light and fluffy with a bit of comedy, but leaves you feeling empty in the end. I guess you could compare it to cotton candy, but that is better than this.

Where to start? If the back cover (which I didn't post this time because it might spoil the book for you) doesn't explain exactly what happens in the book, nothing does. Even if you don't, the story is predictable. Rara was sent here to Earth to cause micheif and become a full demon, but ends up falling in love. That's common for a shojo story. It's not that great for a well-read shojo fan, because you've all seen it before.

We've got your standard shojo antics, such as crossdressing to get closer to the boy, attempting to protect the boy but failing in a cute way, and the love rival causing trouble for the main character. Nothing special here that you couldn't read in about 10 other different shojo manga.

And the less-than-stellar ending didn't help either. It came way too soon, with the story's overall feeling becoming a darker tone for the last chapter. Really, I thought this would have been a better series if the last chapter didn't screw up the pacing.

The characters aren't likeable. Maybe it's because Rara is stupidly-persistant for loving a boy that she hasn't spent five minutes of quality time with or that she's simply a bit annoying. Bibi is your standard shojo love rival, and Aku is your standard tall-dark-and-handsome bishie. There personalities aren't fleshed out enough, even though there's time to do that. Nothing special here either.

It was an okay publication from Viz, nothing special. The paper was average, and the translation was okay. The only complaint I had is maybe pricing it a bit lower than 8.99 because it's a oneshot. Maybe they could have put it at 7.99 like their Shonen Jump line.

The art wasn't special. Maybe it's because I didn't enjoy the art that much in Happy Hustle High, or maybe it's a different problem, but I didn't think the art was spectacular. There's also an over use of chibi that works well the first few times for comedy, but like boob jokes, chibi's become stale over time.

Art: 2
Characters: 1
Quality: 3
Story: 1

Overall: 1.75. I'm not sure if that's an F or a D-. Even though there's been mixed reviews of Gaba Kawa, I'm on the negative side. Not recommended. If you're looking for a decent oneshot with supernatural elements, romance, and well fleshed-out characters, check out Heaven's Will.

Don't even bother buying this. Many libraries in my area got this back in March of this year, so if you have the urge to check it out, search for it in the Library catalog.

Q-Ko-Chan, vol. 1

Q-Ko-Chan volume 1
Ueda Hajime
Del Rey, 202 pages.

In the near-future on planet Earth, a world gone mad where never-ending war is a fact of life, Kirio is the coolest kid at school. Up in the sky, a giant robot is fighting a fleet of gunships, but the brilliant and distant Kirio is far from fazed—until the battling 'bot makes an unexpected landing in Kirio's front yard and rings the bell. But the worst threat for Kirio could be what stands on the other side of the door: an alien invader robot with the face of an adorable girl! From Del Rey.

Q-Ko-Chan is an interesting title to say the least. It's by Ueda Hajime, the creator of the successful FLCL. Q-Ko-Chan shares the similar art style of the FLCL manga, which is minimal. Not minimal as in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, just...well, have a look for yourself. It's very...just black lines on white paper. There's some shading, but not usually. It's unique. If you ever see it in a bookstore, I'd recommend flipping through it just to see the art.

Kirio, the main character ends up finding Q-Ko-Chan, a robot girl, in his yard. He quickly takes her in and hides her. But when the time comes, he's quick to take up the offer when she offers for him to "board her", as in piloting her and fighting off aliens that are attacking Japan. There's also some fragments of plot involving Kirio's mother as she works in the Special Operations force and the affect of her absence in Kirio's life, but that isn't really touched upon that much in this volume. We see Kirio's classmates end up entering their own chans in the end of the volume, but that is in the very few pages. Oh well, we'll find out next volume why that happened.

The story isn't really that upfront in this volume, it's much more about how Q-Ko-Chan is found and how she bonds with Kirio, and then boarding her to fight off the opposing forces of Japan. I guess you could call this somewhat of a war drama, but I'm not exactly sure because the story was confusing at the points where it showed up. Tying the invasion of Earth, family relationships, and bonding with the chan-dolls didn't really work well together.

The characters are okay, they aren't really expressive or easy to relate to. Kirio Muji is a standard stubborn boy who isn't really used to dealing with robots and is somewhat of a loner. The rest of the the characters are Mei and her clingy friend Shiino, the class good-boy Noru, the intellectual Tatsuta, and the non fitting-in Katsuki. But you know what? Those last 5 I described to you were so side characters, I really had to look up their names and descriptions in the book. That shows how much of a role they actually have in the series.

But the one character that stands out is Q-Ko-Chan. Not just because of her design (and coming from outer space) but because she actually has somewhat of a personality. She's not very confident of herself, and is portrayed as quite klutzy. She only really trusts Kirio to "board her", but he's so heartless he's quick to offer her over to one of his classmates. She's somewhat shy, but wouldn't you be to if you just landed on a planet with no knowledge of it whatsoever?

Aside from those issues, this book is very, very good quality. It's got the smoothest, non-flimsy cover I've ever felt. The paper is sturdy, and only one or two text boxes were cut off but the binding. This book is nice and thick, coming in at a nice 202 pages. There were 4 nice, detailed pages of translation notes, explaining everything from why they translated Ittekimasu they way they did, the suffix ko-chan, and how the Japanese address system works. One of the best translations yet.

Story: 2 (It's there in fragments, and is a bit confusing.)
Charters: 2 (Not much other than Q-Ko-Chan and Kirio, and there isn't much development.)
Quality: 5
Art: 2.5 (It really maters on your opinion. It may be higher/lower for you.)

Overall, I'd give this a 2.75, or a D+/C- depending on your taste in art. It's not easy to find, so don't go into your local bookstore expecting to find copies. I found mine at B. Dalton Books, a branch of Barnes and Nobles. I couldn't recommend this, but if you like stories about robots and befriending them, this is the story for you. If you're looking for some nice, sweet romance or heavy action look somewhere else.

Kodocha, vol. 2

Kodocha volume 2
Miho Obana
Tokyopop, 184 pp.

<- Note Not the American cover.

12-year old Sana Kurata is used to getting what she wants – even in love. Ever since she hired her manager, a man 10 years her senior who she calls her "gigalo," she thought it was true love. When Rei shows his feelings for a woman his own age, Sana realizes that Rei’s feelings for her are anything but romantic. Sana has romantic problems at school, too, as now former-bully Hayama and mama’s boy Tsuyoshi are vying for her affections.

It's about time Sana was hit with reality. Really, Sana, do you think the 20 something year-old manager actually liked you? Really? Well you've got something coming.

Sana's manager Rei ends up meeting Asako Kurimi, his "old flame" at an interview, and Sana ends up following them and sees that they she still has intrest in him. Sana acts immaturely as usual, mad that her "gigolo" (pimp in the anime) has betrayed her. After a talking to (and admitting
that she didn't ever know what gigolo meant) she gets over her break-up with Rei. Well, at least she didn't moan about it for days.

Akito kisses Sana. She freaks out as usual.

There's also a bit of emotional drama where Akito's father has an ulcer and coughs up blood while eating sushi and the whole incident is misunderstood as death. But it turns out Akito's dad is okay! Sana then films some commercials, which isn't as filler in the manga as it was in the anime. And then we find out about how Sana took Rei in off the streets. Also, at the end of the book, we're left with a cliffhanger about what happened to Tsuyoshi since he wasn't in school.

The characters are growing little-by-little. Sana matured a bit, and now realizes that a crush doesn't make that person a "pimp" or "gigolo." Akito and Tsuyoshi start a rivalry for Sana's love, and become frenimies. Rei and Asako get back together, much to the disappointment of Sana. Sana's mom is extra-stern in this volume, giving Sana a talk. T3T Sana is scared for life.

The art still looks dated. It's good, the characters are drawn proportionate and expressive, which is a plus.

I'd say this would be a great publication for Tokyopop, if it wasn't for their messy placement of sound effects. All of the sound effects (except the last chapter) are all in English, which is good. Except they got lazy and didn't translate a few in the last chapter. Oh well. They were very sloppy with the placement of sound effects, where they'd blur out the backround big enough for a size 20 font but only put in a sound effect about font size 5. Why Tokyopop, why?

I still feel there's something missing from the book, and I think I've finally pinpointed it. The manga has less comedy than the anime. It's not balanced enough to make it perfect like the anime dealt with balancing drama and comedy. Even though the manga is advertised as a "smash hit comedy", there's clearly more of a focus on drama and romance. Also notice that the two token "funny" characters, Zenjiro and Babbit, are absent. They provided some of the more "funny" parts of Kodocha, such as Zenjiro filming with Sana and Babbit's comments on whatever is going on in the scene.

Art: 3
Characters: 4.5
Story: 3.5
Quality: 2

Total: 3.25 or barley a C. Something just didn't click with this volume, and your mileage may vary. I'd recommend the anime over the manga still. Because for $34.99, you can grab the first season boxset which covers the manga volumes 1-5.