Category: Fantasy

Manga of the Month: Zettai Karen Children

1 Comment

Zettai Karen Children (絶対可憐チルドレン) by Takashi Shiina

We can blame this all on Ed Chavez as we can with so many other things. As a fan of Shonen Sunday I distinctly remember Ed recommending this title to me. That led me down the road I walk today. But in the end I have no regrets. This was the only path. My whole post is recommending Zettai Karen Children.

In an alternate history set in the not too distant future, next Sunday AD, psychic powers are a rare but not unheard of phenomenon. And while some people use their power for selfish gain, crime, and destruction the forces at B.A.B.E.L. use their gifts to defend their fellow-man and help promote the idea that psychics can be a force for good. Three of the most power psychics in the world are the extremely bratty and rebellious girls known as The Children. Can their new guardian Koichi Minamoto train them to their full potential while preventing them from taking over the world?

Continue reading →

Manga of the Month: Seven Deadly Sins

1 Comment

Nanatsu no Taizai (七つの大罪) by Nakaba Suzuki

Everyone is waiting for a new hero to arrive. Monkey D Luffy is a superstar but he is only one man. Ichigo Kurosaki and Naruto Uzumaki are close to retiring. There are some B and C level celebrities like Soul Eater Evans and Natsu Dragneel but they don’t have that top-tier of star power that classic shonen champions like Goku or Himura Kenshin had. There are a few empty seats on the round table of shonen money makers and the manga industry eagerly awaits the paladins who will fill those chairs.

Nanatsu no Taizai is a new series from Weekly Shonen Magazine that is attempting to gain membership to this illustrious line up. With a fantasy setting and high-powered knights it looks like it could be a viable contender.

Continue reading →

Time Traveler: It’s Cruel but It’s History

1 Comment

I loved the Girl Who Leapt Through Time, who didn’t? That was a sequel to the original novel story The Girl Who Ran Through Time. This movie doesn’t really have any trigger like leaping or running so I’d call it the Girl Who Fell Through Time, maybe. It also only has one big movement through time as opposed to a bunch of little ones.

Well “The Girl who Drank a Magic Science Potion That Made Her Then Run Through a Weird Blue Screen Sequence to Go Back in Time” does not really roll off the tongue. It is possibly better than what I was going to name this article, “Time Travelers Never Do Nothing For No One” or just have a link to a certain anime song that I use whenever time travel comes up. But I guess that is why we trade-off writing the article names.

But in all seriousness Time Traveler: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is based on one of those stories like A Christmas Carol or Romeo and Juliet that is constantly remade and re-imagined. The original story The Girl Who Runs Through Time is a Japanese science fiction classic. It has been remade in several movies, TV series, and specials. This and the film by Mamoru Hosoda are both sequels that deal with younger relatives of the orignal protagonist. Thankfully you don’t need to have experience the orignal story to get into this movie. While familiarity with the original does add a bit of depth you might have otherwise missed it is not vital. The wink and the nod to the smell of lavender can be caught by fans of the original but are not necessary to anyone watching this as a stand alone experience.  This story stands well on its own as its own time traveling love story.

Akari Yoshiyama seems to have luck on her side. She just got into the school of choice and her life seems on track for a brilliant future. But when her mother is hit by a car it seems that her problems actually lie in the past. Before falling into a coma her mother asks Akari to go back in time and give a message to a young man. As ridiculous a request as that seems it appears her mother has a formula that can make it happen. But when Akari is two years off in her trip back in time she must team up with a young science fiction director to deliver her message. Can Akari find this mysterious man without permanently damaging the time space continuum?

Continue reading →