Category: Manga

Manga of the Month: December

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Yoroshiku Master by Sakura Tsukuba

I picked this story with the holiday spirit in mind! It is by a manga-ka that I really enjoy and have talked about on occasion. She writes really spunky females and good-hearted romantic leads. This series is ongoing and she writes a little of it now and again. In this story, Sagara has a chance meeting with a guy named Kaito who all of a sudden transforms into a reindeer?! Not only that, he informs her that she is one of many santas. Funny, sweet, fluff ensues as Sagara gets to know Kaito (and his hilarious family) and as they prepare for the most important night of the year, Christmas Eve! There is no major drama here just light-hearted romance that is a perfect match for the season!

Liar Game by Shinobu Kaitani

Liar Game starts with Nao Kanzaki dropping of a 100 yen bill that she finds to the police to show us that she is stupidly honest. So when she gets involved in a game about being a great con-artist she is without a doubt up a creek without a paddle. She comes home to a package that reveals she has been chosen to take part in the Liar Game tournament. The briefcase contains 100 million yen and a set of rules. When the round is over she must give back the 100 million yen. Any money she takes from other players is hers to keep. Any money she loses she must pay back. Soon enough she winds up loosing all her money to a fellow player. Out of despair she teams up with a brilliant con-artist named Shinichi Akiyama,who has recently been released from prison. The Liar Game tournament is much bigger than they might have guessed. Also learn the organization behind the tournament seems to have some greater but unknown designs behind their games.

Whenever Liar Game comes up in conversation it is almost always compared to Death Note. This is not an unfair comparison since the core appeal to both series is the psychological games of cat and mouse. In each stage of the tournament, it is Nao and Shinichi trying to figure out the underlying strategy needed to win the game while deducing their opponents strategy. Shinobu Kaitani has been good at building up the tension until the end of each round of the game. There was also a 11 episode live action version made and was rather well received.

Ongoing Investigations: Case #021

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I was interested in Chaos;Head because it was described as Welcome to the NHK mixed with Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Since I loved both series I figured this might be a great combination. This was not a lie. In fact it’s a good one line description. Unfortunately, Chaos;Head takes all my least favorite parts of both series and combines them into one utterly detestable show. I liked Keiichi as a character from Higurashi although I may be in the minority. Sato from Welcome to the NHK was not a likable character but he was enjoyable because he was the main character in a dark comedy. Takumi Nishijo is an even less likable character and he is the star of a paranoid supernatural murder mystery. I will forgive a character for being utterly unlikeable for comedy but not drama. Also I can’t imagine the world where, no matter how much magic is involved, any woman would watch to touch Takumi with a 10 foot pole. Also I found most of the female characters rather flat and uninteresting. If you can’t interest me in women with magical swords you are obviously doing something wrong. I am curious what is behind all the murder in Shibuya but not enough to keep watching. Chaos;Head plays with some good plot hooks but without good characters to back them up.

Got around to books 2 and 3 of Here is Greenwood. The guys of Greenwood never fail to crack me up with their antics from helping out pop idols to the fierce competition (and betting pool) at the sports festival. It remains a delightful, funny series about friendship and dorm life with the constant addition of over the top situations.

Armored Trooper Votoms ends like so many other anime with the main character killing God. This of course makes everyone think of Nietzsche so you can insert your own The Gay Science joke here. The plot quickly becomes all about Chirico as we entered part 4. God Planet Quent throws some major plot revelations that diminish poor Fyana’s significance which was sad because I liked her. They avoided the trap of making Fyana a useless girl character in a robot show but her importance to the plot rises and falls depending on the episode. Sometimes she has to be protected; others she does the protecting. She never fades away but I would have liked to see her be Chirico’s partner like she was in Part 3. I liked the ending but the the epilogue seemed sort of bizarre in Chirico and Fyana’s decision. Votoms was a good take on the real robot genre. The mecha in Votoms had many different variations but was utterly utilitarian and there was no uber mecha that rule over all other mecha. It was all about the pilots. I think I would like to see more series like that but I wonder if that effects the all important model kits sales.

I read the 07-Ghost preview courtesy of Go-Comi which I can’t ever recall buying any manga from as of yet (though I have been interested in Bogle which is about a theif). It has nice artwork and pretty boys running around in military school. So far there has been some supernatural abilities slightly displayed and there is an obvious secret agenda by the school. Since it was just a preview I didn’t get a sense of the world yet, however it has a nice fantasy or possibly alternate history feel to it. I also like the friendship between the two main guys. I may just pick up my first Go-Comi title with this one. Also has an anime on the way in Japan.

I finally picked up my two One Piece figures from my parents house. I love the Portrait of Pirates figures. They are nicely made and have been getting significantly more intricate as the series goes on. We start with the only figure that is two different figures in one because of course Usopp is a completely different person than his good friend Sogeking. Usopp comes with two different Sogeking masks, his toolbag, cape, and the Kabuto slingshot.

I like the Bon Clay figure but have to say it’s rather odd for them to make a figure of him. I know he distinctly has a following in Japan. Surpassing characters like Buggy, Sir Crocodile, Mihawk and the such. That is the way that Japan decides to make it’s crazy choices. Still there are very few one piece characters I would not buy a figure of so who am I to complain. Bon Clay comes with two different faces and you can attach his swans to his feet from maximum Okama Kenpo power.

Finally got to see the first episode of Tentai Senshi Sunred which is a limited animation production parodying tokusatsu shows. Would very much fit in the vein of Adult Swim productions and the animation is similar to it as well. Oh and it is just 15 minutes long. A pretty funny show that you really don’t have to know much about sentai shows to get. And it has a totally awesome opening song (keep an eye on those subtitles!) which is reason enough to see it.

Pic of the week:

Ongoing Investigations: Case #020

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Well, well, dare I curse us by saying that the experiment earlier in the week went well. We got some good comments and interesting feedback. A social experiment like this, and all experiments, can have surprising outcomes or they can turn out exactly as you hypothesized.

I think the most important thing was that we tried the experiment more than if we “succeeded,” “failed,” or learned some grand lesson. I guess that is my scientific education showing though. Also no one can accuse us of hating on Kodomo no Jikan without ever reading it. They can still hate on us but I can ignore them without guilt. I think we both tried our best to cast aside our prejudices and give our respective manga a fair shake. I know for one that I will continue to give new genres and controversial manga a chance.  If I had let the Internet dictate what series were about I would still think that Pretty Cure was a lesbian pedophilia show and not just a cute magical girl show.

I apologize for not doing much in the way or reading or watching this week. I have been wrapped up in a novel :)

I randomly found Yanki-kun to Megane-chan looking up what magazine Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei ran in. I thought it had a cute name so I decided to read a few chapters. I really like it. It is a good blend of shoujo and shonen. The author, Yoshikawa Miki, used to be the assistant of Mashima Hiro the author of Rave Master. The facial expressions and some of the comedic timing are clearly reminiscent of her old boss but she brings a lot of her own style to the manga. Daichi and Hana have a spastic but amusing friendship. For some reason Daichi’s constant obsession over whether or not Hana likes him while clearly ignoring his own feelings for her brings a smile to my face. As for Hana, I feel she is the Captain Tylor of class representatives. I have to say I am also really liking Rinka from what little I have seen of her. I would have crossed the line and payed the 100,000 yen fine if you know what I mean. I am really surprised I have not heard more people talking about this manga.

I never really thought I liked the band UVERworld, but in this past year I have heard three anime openings (Toward the Terra, Gundam 00 season 2, and Bleach’s 2nd opening) provided by them and I could no longer deny I had major love for their sound. So I decided to finally listen to some of their full length albums. Overall I think they are pretty decent and have an upbeat fun sound. Sometimes they throw in some rap with it which is only done semi-well. I will continue to follow them and see what they do next!

I recently watched To Aru Majutsu no Index up to episode seven. I was surprised they wiped Toma’s memories. It places him in the position where the majority of the cast and the audience now know much more than him. They keep teaming up Toma with Stiyl Magnus in a antagonistic fashion so I am sure they are insanely popular in yaoi. I really wanted to like Kaori Kanzaki because she is a magical swordswoman but she has to have the ugliest fashion sense I have ever seen in a anime character. Really? One legged Jeans with a crop top and cowboy boots? Really? That is such a hideous combination it hurts my eyes. On the other hand Index is still super cute. Yeah, Index! Also for such a popular character I have still not seen that much Mikoto Misaka which is a crying shame.

It is rather rare to find Sherlock Hound fan-art let alone good fan-art, that is why this is the Pic of the Week:

sherlock hound, holmes, fanart