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.

Mao Chan DVD 1

There's a fine line between being something for kids and something that anyone can enjoy. Mao-Chan is the latter, being a show both you and your kids will enjoy.

Mao Chan: I will protect the peace of Japan! DVD 1 of 4
Originally by Ken Akamatsu, manga illustrated by RAN
Geneon/Pioneer, All ages

Mao-Chan is a 2nd grader whose grandfather is the Chief of Staff of the Ground Defense Force. She has been trained to become a valuable member of the force since she was born. When she turns eight, she, together with her friends Misora and Sylvia, form the elementary school self-defense team. Mao protects the land, Misora, the skies, and Sylvia, the sea. These pint-sized girls do their best to protect Japan from "cute" alien invaders.

At first, the premise might make you think of two things, the first being "Is this lolicon?" Well no, it isn't. The 2nd is "Wow, this is going to be stupid." Well, no, it isn't. It's a good comedy/magical girl/defend the Earth (well in this case Japan) story that the whole family can enjoy.

Story
I'll admit I wasn't taken in by the premise that much either. Just reading it made me say "Is this some cheap-shot at money making? What a dumb idea." The story follows the (attempts) Mao-chan makes at protecting Japan. Along the way, she gains fame for being such a young defender at just eight years old, has her friend Misora join the air defense force, and meets the sea-defence force girl Sylvie.

They defend Japan against all kinds of "cute" aliens, from bunnies to kittens to watterskippers. Actually, Japan is rarely in any real danger, so there's nothing to worry about. They just transform (which is nothing but a cosmetic change) and usually end up doing something like lecturing or firing one of their defense triangle to stop it. They don't really do any intense/violent battling, despite Mao-chan riding around on a huge tank that could easily take out a city. I'd give it a 3/5, because there isn't much of a story but it follows the girl's lives and attempts at defense. It does what it says on the box. Cute girls defend against cute aliens.

Characters
Take your pick. We've got your pink-haired main protagonist, your blue-haired best-friend of the protagonist, and the foreign, etiquette girl with brown hair that eventually teams up with the protagonist. They actually have personality, with Mao being the somewhat strong/clutzy leader, Misora being the stereotypical and caring BFF of Mao, and the polite foreigner Sylvie. They're nice, and have grown a little bit over the 7 episodes on this disc.

We've also got your side characters, with the three grandfathers (Mao's, Misora's, and Sylvie's) who dispute over who's eight-year-old daughter is the best. We've also got Yuriko, the student-council president who's actually an alien with an interesting backstorty, and her friend Chinami, the vice-president. We've also got Kagome, the colonel of the defense force, who has a thing for Mao's grandpa. Kagone bears a resembelce to Naru from Love Hina, another one of Akamatsu's works. The character design a bit above average, but they need to have more fleshed-out personalities. 4/5

Animation
The animation is standard quality, I've seen better and I've seen worse. It was consistent in this volume, with no drop in quality yet. I'm going to call it average. 3/5

Menus, Extras, Package, OP's and ED's
The menu stood out on this DVD, with a quick, 10 second introduction clip of "I'm Mao, and pledge to protect the peace of Japan!" Then the menu is Mao standing in the middle with 4 clovers on the bottom, with the standard Play/Scene Selection/Setup/Extras.

We've got the creditless OP as usual, and a blooper reel. Not much on extras for this volume. The OP and ED are both preformed by the somewhat famous Yui Horie, and are both excellent if you are a fan of her. The OP is All my love and the ED is It's my style.

This package stood out to me on the shelf because of the picture of Mao and the huge tank behind her. It comes with a reversible cover with some screencaps from the first 7 episodes included on this disc. The episodes are only about 7 or 8 minutes long, which is a good thing because if they ran any longer than that they might have become boring or stale. 4/5 Note: as of now, the DVD is out of print until Geneon find someone to re-distribute it. You can find used copies at Suncoast/FYE for cheap, though.

Dub/Sub
The English dub isn't half bad. They stay true to the script except for a few places, which is good. The only thing you'd miss out on by watching the dub is Sylvie's references to Love Hina. I'd say they did a good job on both the dub and the sub. 4/5

Total
3.6, or a B-. It's a good show for almost anyone. It's not too sweet which many say. It's supposed to be a light show for everyone. I'd watch a few episodes just because it's short and enjoyable. You don't have to put your mind to work thinking out complex plotlines or what's going to happen next.

It's not the next revolutionary anime and it isn't going to win an award, but hey, for 7.99 a DVD, it's worth it if you have the extra money and want to take a break from any serious stuff.

Rozen Maiden DVD 1

Rozen Maiden DVD 1: Doll House Limited Edition with box
Original Concept by PEACH-PIT
Geneon, 13+

"This is the story of one young boy who couldn't get along with his classmates and decided to drop out and never return...
This is the story of an exquisite doll who wished to one day become a normal human girl...
This is the story of one young boy and an exquisite doll and their adventures as they strive to help each other in overcoming their fears and the very real dangers of the Alice Game. However, in order to do that, they must overcome their distrust of each other."

Story
Jun is a hikikomori. He buys weird cursed and voodoo items online, and then when they arrive he mails them back before the grace period ends. One day, he receives a card asking To wind or not to wind. He circles to wind, figuring that it can't hurt him. Slipping it in his desk drawer, he goes to bed, only the next day to find a case containing a delicate doll that looks like a human girl...

And so starts Rozen Maiden. Many say it's similar in concept to Highlander, but I've never seen any of those movies/series so I can't really comment. Shinku, the doll that Jun finds, commands him to be her servant and protect her Rosa Mystica. The dolls play the Alice Game, in which the last doll surviving becomes the next Alice. 3/5 It's a unique idea, but it needs to be expanded on more and we need to learn more about the Alice Game.

Characters
In this volume, we meet Shinku, the 5th Rozen Maiden Doll, Hinaichigo, the 6th doll, and Suiseiseki, the 3rd doll. Shinku is very commanding of Jun, Hinaichigo is like that annoying little cousin who wants to play with you, and Suiseiseki is a timid, shy girl who is still warming up to Jun. We also meet Nori, Jun's over concerned sister.

Thoughts: Jun is portrayed more childish in the dub than in the sub. He says things like "This is going to be the bestests!" and acts very immature. Shinku is a very demanding little doll, and relies on Jun to move from room to room because of her lack of height to reach doorhandles. Hinaichigo is childish, and needs more attention. Suiseiseki is very, very timid, and needs to come out of her shell. Nori seems like she's there for comic relief sometimes, acting like a grown up. Their personalities are portrayed well in this volume, but they've still got room for growth. 4/5

Episodes
The first episode is just to introduce Shinku and how she came to be Jun's doll. The second episode is meeting Hinaichigo, and her becoming part of Jun's household. The third episode introduce Suigintou, but she is only on-screen for about 5 minutes. The forth, and final episode on this disc introduce Suiseiseki, who enters Jun's dream world.

Out of those four episodes, the 2nd and 4th shined the most. In the second, we see inside what's called the N-Field, where Hinaichigo has taken residence for a short time to battle Shinku. It's very bright and colorful, and the battle is animated greatly. It's very smooth and isn't stiff. The fourth episode is where we enter Jun's dream world, which is full of school items, ranging from study guides to flowers that talk and behave like Jun's classmates would. 5/5 for being interesting and symbolic.

Animation
As aforementioned, the animation is very good. Bright colors, and a nice rendering of the doll's antique looking clothing. The human characters are somewhat less detailed from the dolls, and sometimes look messy. But that's okay, because the one-and-a-half fight scenes we have make up for it. It's smooth, and isn't choppy. 4/5

Presentation
The DVD has nice packaging, with a reversible cover and a clear package. This particular DVD came in the limited edition box, which the rest of the series can be stored in. The box is red velvet on the outside, with two golden pictures of Shinku and Suigintou on the side of it. The DVD menu is standard Geneon, with a the cover image on the left and the functions on the right.

The dub was done good, other than Jun sounding younger than an 8th grader. It stayed very close to the JP script, some things were just phrased differently. 4/5 EP's 1-3 were watched in English, with EP 4 in JP to hear "Desu."

Extras, Opening and Closing
For extras, we have the creditless OP and ED, along with translated credits. We also have trailers.

The OP is performed by Ali Project, Kinjirareta Asobi, and is a nice song. The ED, Tomei Shelter, performed by refio + Haruka Shimotsuki, is a relaxing song that fits the mood of Rozen Maiden. It's a bit on the slow side, but it'd defiantly MP3 player worthy. 5/5

Overall
This DVD gets a 4.2, or an A-. It's a good, solid start to the series, but there's still more story to explore and character personalities to be fleshed out.

Original post here.

DNAngel, vol. 6

DNAngel volume 6 of 13 (ongoing)
Yukiru Sugisaki
Tokyopop, about 172 pp.

Daisuke has the hots for Riku but doesn't have the guts to tell her. His whole family follows him into the forests where they watch Daisuke and Riku on their little date. Everyone is tired of waiting for this young man to make his move. Will he finally tell her?

Wow, Daisuke. You blow your chance every time.

This volume starts out with Daisuke and Riku in the forest, where he has a chance to tell her his real feelings...and you can guess what happens. Nothing. The entire Niwa family shows up to spy on Daisuke. WTF? I mean, look, the series could have ended here at a nice 6 volumes, but no, we have to have Daisuke's family show up to make the story drag on for another 7 and counting volumes.

Well, Daisuke attempts to reveal his secret of being Dark to Riku, but guess who's there to halt the story? That's right, Daisuke's family! They drug her (yes, you read that right) so that she can be taken home and think the Dark/Daisuke transformation is a dream. Seriously, the plot needs to get moovin'.

In the middle of the book, we get a bonus story about Risa and Riku when they are little and how they lost a stuffed animal, but it seems out of place sitting in the middle of the book. There really isn't any significance to the story either, and feels like something that should be added to a fanbook instead to please the fans of the series.

Continuing on, we find out Daisuke's been chosen to be the lead in a school play. That's normally a good thing, right? Well not in this case. He's been chosen for the female lead. Because, you know, the girls are too busy to play in the play. And guess who the male lead is? Satoshi, Daiskue's rival. And did I mention this is a romance play?

Goodness, the series is really pulling out the shojo tropes.

Finally getting to the action part with Dark's thief antics, he's off to steal the 2nd Hand of Time. We're told a cute little fairytale, but that's only a diversion. Dark ends up meeting the girl in it who inhibits the treasure! We're left at the end of the book seeing her floating there.

Surprisingly, there is not much character development in this volume. Daisuke's attempt at any sort of romantic development is ruined by his annoying family's appearance. Riku hasn't changed at all, and she's still unsure of her feelings for Daisuke. Make up your mind, woman. You either like him or you don't. It's that easy.

The art is an improvement over the past two volumes. It's very good in some places, mainly the bonus chapter smack-dab in the middle of the book. But if you flip-through, you'll see lots of super-deformed, chibi, or stick-face shots.

The quality is the same as the other volumes.

Art: 4 because of improvement.
Characters: 2.5 Because of lack of development and growth.
Story: 3 Goodness, Daisuke's family needs to get a life.
Quality: 3.5

Total: 3.25, or a C-. The plot needs to star going somewhere and the characters need more depth.

Originally posted here.

Kodocha, vol. 1

Kodocha: Sana's Stage volume 1
Miho Obana
Tokyopop, 194 pp.

Sometimes an adaption of a media is better then the original. This is the case with Kodocha, a 1994 manga by Miho Obana. In this case, the anime was better. Why? Well, you'll find out in this review.

Sana gets a part in a TV movie, costarring with a hot new actress, but she’ll never get to the studio if she can’t survive the bullies at school. Akito "the Demon" Hayama continues his reign of terror so Sana comes up with a crazy plot to put him in his place. Sana takes advantage of Akito’s fear of heights and challenges him to a bungee jumping contest! Maybe the world’s biggest bully will finally back down.

Sana is the star of Kodomo no Omocha, a.k.a Child's Toy, one of the hottest shows on television. But she has to deal with Akito Hayama at school, the "boss monkey" of a group of boys who make school a neither a fun or safe places with blackmail, harassment, and bullying. After another one ofAkito's antics involving water guns, Sana finally stands up and tells him this is enough.

After that, she finds his weakness, which is a fear of heights. So what to do now? Challenge him to a bungee-jumping contest in the school gym, that's what! Of course, nothing goes as planned...so it's time to turn to blackmail! Give little demonAkito a taste of his own medicine! With Sana's friend Tsuyoshi and his brand new Polaroid Camera, it's time to take a picture of Akito with his pants down!

With Akito under Sana's control, school life returns to normal...but only for a short bit. Akito's former gang has found a new boss, who is ready to fight back and bring chaos to the classroom. After a quick bout, the gang comes crawling back toAkito, but he refuses.

Sana gets the chance to star in a TV movie about a sister and her younger sister and turning their hate relationship around. It hits close to home withAkito's family, who's sister hates Akito because their mother died giving birth to him. After watching it, Akito's family changes for the better. 4 out of 5 because of the fast pacing, with the drama and comedy combined nicely.

So what makes this book less then the anime? The characters. Sana is nowhere near as hyper or serious as she is in the anime, which is a bad thing. She was so expressive, it's hard to put into words. From her exaggerated expressions to her amazing voice, it's missing.Akito seems a bit bland, without the somewhat mature, adult tone in his voice. Tsuyoshi just seems like a regular dork without his talented voice actor.

Sana. She's surely an energetic girl, but she's oblivious to some things, and isn't that smart. Really, she calls her manager Rei a gigolo. Really Sana? Gigolo isn't interchangeable with manager or boyfriend last time I checked. Akito is the trouble causing boy in the class, but underneath the act he puts on he's actually a troubled kid who's had to live his life as an adult because of a dysfunctional family.Tsuyoshi has problems too, with an abusive dad, and the split of his parents. This brings him to call the teacher "Mom" by accident, then he starts freaking out when kids laugh at him.

I'd give the characters a 4 out of 5, simply because the anime added more personality to them. I mean, the manga-ka could have expanded on them, but it focused more on the antics and fast pacing of the story.

The art's average shojo. Big, glistening eyes and medium-sized, easy to follow panels. The characters aren't drawn too detailed, but Obana does a good job of drawing them nevertheless. Overall, it looks a bit dated being originally drawn in 1994 compared to newer shojo art. 3/5 because of aging.

Tokyopop did a good release, with this beinc one of the first non-flipped right-to-left manga published back in 2002. But I have one complaint. Why are only half of the sound effects translated? It's somewhat inconsistant to see something like Grrrr! next to characters like の, 区, ハ, and 啓. One other small complaint also is the rewrites by Sarah Dyer, but I only noticed a few. Some of the dialouge was changed and some more otaku-centric jokes were changed. 4/5

The total is 3.75, or a B+. There are things that could be improved upon, but they can pass for now. I'd reccomend the anime over this, simply because the drama and comedy is more balanced and the characters are more expressive. Worth a read if you find it at your library, though.

DNAngel, vol. 4-5

DNAngel volumes 4 & 5 of 13 (ongoing)
Yukiru Sugisaki
Tokyopop, about 174 pp. each

Vol. 4 While continuing his relentless pursuit to get the scoop on Dark, Takeshi becomes distracted by a mysterious young woman in a museum. He falls instantly head over heels for her, and recruits Daisuke to help find out whom she is. But the path to love takes them far from home...

Vol. 5 After barely escaping the fight with Krad, Daisuke find himself with no one to turn to. He has a new enemy out to kill him and Dark is nowhere to be found. When Daisuke receives a clue about Dark’s whereabouts, he goes on a search-and-rescue mission for the phantom thief. Meanwhile, Riku and Risa manage to get each other lost, sending their classmates into a manic panic! Found on Amazon.

Not much goes on over the course of these two volumes. I'd say out of the 5 volumes of DNAngel I've read, these would be the weakest, story-wise and art-wise.

Volume 4
Volume 4 starts off with an encounter of Takeshi (Daisuke's annoying, journalist friend) and Menou, the embodiment of one of the treasures Dark/Daisuke is planning to steal. After that, the whole class, including Riku and Risa (Daisuke/Dark's love interests) go on a trip to an island.

Not much goes on story-wise as aforementioned, other than some dealings with Menou and getting the treasure that Dark was stealing. Takeshi's interest in Menou seemed just like a plot device to get Dark to wait another chapter to steal her "treasure".

The art went downhill in this volume. Remember that great art in volume 3? Well it isn't here. The characters seem disjointed once again, with off proportions and weirdly-arranged facial features. Sugisaki-sensei's art varies from volume to volume, so it could go up or down in quality at any time.

The characters aren't developing very much. We see some emotion from Takeshi, which is good because he's not being annoying for about a chapter. Daisuke seems like he's becoming more helpless, because he has to rely on Dark more. The only one who grew a bit is Satoshi, because we're going to find out his alter ego soon, which is foreshadowed a bit.


Volume 5
The whole class is still on vacation. At least in this volume, we meet Krad, Satoshi's alter ego. Think of him like you'd think of Daisuke's alter ego Dark, just more controlling. Krad pulls out another half of a treasure that Dark was missing, and traps him inside it, leaving Daisuke helpless. Daisuke uses one of his treasures and an eternal girl named Toto appears, who's going to help him retrieve Dark's memories, which are conveniently condensed into feathers.

Yes, if that bolded sentence up there reminds you of an anime/manga series called Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, you're darn correct. I'm not sure if it's a homage to that series or what, but Daisuke now has to find Dark's memories, or else Dark will be trapped in the mirror world forever. Thankfully, this filler arc only lasts about less than half of the book, so it isn't too time consuming. After that, Daisuke comes out of the mirror world and rescues Risa and Riku, who have been trapped on a small island and in a forest.

The art is an improvement over volume 4, but didn't reach the quality of volume 3. It was only published eight months after volume 4, so the art didn't improve a lot. The characters look better, with better proportions and realistically-arranged faces.

Not much character growth here. Daiskue is still dependent on Dark to save him in the worst of times, and they both seem unsure about their feelings towards their love interests. Satoshi, who once seemed independent and intelligent, seems more helpless and shota-like when he's trying to get out of Krad's transformation. Riku and Risa seem hopeless, waiting for their knight in shining armor to come rescue them from wherever they are.

Tokyopop's release was about the same as the first three volumes. Regular quality paper, untranslated sound effects, and small bonus material.

Overall

Art: 3 (Has gone down)
Characters: 3 (Down too because of lack-of-growth)
Quality: 3.5
Story: 3 (Filler)

Overall, both volumes get a 3, or an C, bordering on the edge of C-. The story doesn't seem to be going anywhere, there's not much character growth, and the art quality is down.

I'm still going to continue this series because I've got volumes 6 and 7 waiting for me inside my Ottoman, so prepare yourselves. Hopefully there will be less filler.

DNAngel, vol. 3

DNAngel volume 3
Yukiru Sugisaki
Tokyopop, 182 pp.

It's time for the St. White festival, and Daisuke has been so busy working on the festival committee that he's forgotten to get a present for his beloved Risa. His mother, in her infinite generosity, forces Daisuke to take a simple white ribbon as a gift. To top it all off, there's a story going around that if a boy gives a white ribbon to a girl and ties it for her on St. White, they will fall in love ...

This volume of DNAngel is an improvement. The art's better, the characters have improved, and more goes on. I think that's because we don't have any short stories in the back, but that's a good thing. Also, I like the cover for this volume. Daisuke is holding some sort of long red scarf, so it reminded me of Laharl's from Disgaea.

We start out with the celebration of St. White's day, with Daisuke with his white ribbon. It's rumored that when you give a white ribbon on a girl on St. White's day, she'll love you forever. So his mom forces him out the door with it. Well, a few incidents later, Daisuke runs into Riku in the closet. He's in Dark Mode, so he stops a boy from harassing her. Daisuke had lost the white ribbon earlier, so he makes use of the dusty curtains and wraps one of them around her. After a kiss, Daiskue runs off like usual.

Daiskue collapses of a fever in class, so it's up to Satoshi to run him off to the clinic. Riku fakes stomach pains to ditch class and catch up with Daiskue. She admits her love of him, but he is actually awake and hears. She runs off, and Daisuke runs off after her. He gets kidnapped by some suspicious folk...

Who turn out to be commercial producers. They want him to film a commercial with Dark. But how do they know his secret? His mom signed him up for this. ^^; Yeah. So then after that, Daisuke turns into Dark and has to steal another object. He succeeds, but Riku is there stalking him. She runs into Satoshi, who was crossdressing, trying to trick Dark. But everything works out in the end, with the ad being plated on TV and Daisuke running to school the next day.

We got to see more of Dark this volume, with him taking over Daisuke on White day. He's quite the lady's man, kissing Riku. Riku is showing more of her crush for Daisuke, but when she actually has to face him she usually runs away. Satoshi seems like he likes men. That's the vibe I get from him. Also, with everyone exclaiming how him and Daiskue look so cute together, I expect some more yaoi fluff in future issues. Daisuke seems like he has an attraction to Riku. Poor Risa must feel left out.

The art has improved even more than last time. It looks more manga style, with the characters proportioned right, the use of some chibi Daiskues, and a more bishonen appearance of Dark. Sugisaki-sensei is improving even more.

The actual published book was okay, we had two cut off speech bubbles. This volume seems a little bendy, maybe because it's a bit smaller? But I''m not sure. We've also got some extras, with character popularity polls, a day in the life of Satoshi, and a cute 4koma about Wiz, everyone's favorite little animal.

Art: 4
Characters: 3.5
Story: 3.5 (It felt a bit filler, though.)
Quality: 3

A solid 3.5 Well done! We got to see a bit more of the characters, the art improved greatly, and there was more substance. We also got some nice extras, too.

DNAngel, vol. 2

DNAngel volume 2
Yukiru Sugisaki
Tokyopop, 178 pp.

The annual midwinter hike is no walk in the park for the students of Azumano Middle School. Daisuke has been dreading the trek all year, but at least he gets to show off his rugged charms for his beloved Risa. But when Daisuke and Riku find themselves lost and alone on the frigid mountainside, it’s Dark to the rescue. Can the Phantom Thief save the day without blowing Daisuke’s cover?

This is quite a pleasant volume of DNAngel, minus the short story in the back. It seems Daisuke's attention is shifting from Risa to Riku, and Dark's from Riku to Risa, which makes for some interesting situations. Daisuke ends up having to transform into Dark on the school trip to save Riku, but no one catches him. Later in the book, Daisuke goes on a date with Risa, only to be stalked by just about everyone in the class. But she seems to want to see Dark more.

For the more phantom thief part of the story, we see Dark is going to steal a precious painting. He makes a bet with Satoshi that if he successfully steals the painting, that Satoshi will leave Daisuke alone. Fortunately, Dark wins, but will Satoshi follow through with the deal? I highly doubt it.

We've also got another bonus story, this one taking up nearly 50 pages called The Demon Returns. Kinnara's fighting partner, Sakura, died fighting an oni. Kin ends up finding her granddaughter, Kazusa. She ends up fighting another demon, and Kin enters her friend Shinji's body to protect her. In the end, Kin stays on Earth. This story wasn't nearly as enjoyable as N is for Nishiki in the last volume. This one just seemed throwaway.

Not much character growth happens in this volume. I'd say that Risa and Riku grew the most, with their love interests slowly shifting. Riku also got some bonding time with Daisuke, which was nice, but it would have been better if she was conscious for most of it. Satoshi still seems snob-ish, and Daisuke's mother tells Daisuke to "never relax around that kid." Duh, that's quite obious when he's pinning you against a tree.

The art seems somewhat better with this volume. Other than The Demon Returns, which seems disjointed and messy. DNAngel seemed to flow better for some reason. I couldn't tell you when these were published in Japan, but I know the manga-ka has a knack for putting series on hold to work on others. So I guess she gained experience.

The quality of this volume was okay, I didn't notice any grammatical mistakes. Also, Tokyopop put in a nice translator's note explaining why Daisuke is uncomfortable when someone calls him "Daisuki", because daisuki means that you like that person. Without that, many non-Japanophiles might have been scratching their head. A few speech bubbles were cut off by the binding and one of the bubbles were empty, but that's what I've grown to expect from Tokyopop.

Art: 3.5 (If it wasn't for The Demon Returns...)
Characters: 3
Story: 3.5 (just for this volume. More could have been done.)
Quality: 3

Overall, this gets an 3.25, falling closer to average. But this is still great for a shojo series, and I'd recommend it (at least up to volume 3). Next time you go to Borders, instead of buying that next volume of Absolute Boyfriend which you'll most likely regret, why don't you pick up DNAngel instead?

And just a tidbit, volume 3 does not have any short stories in the back. Yes!