Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
The struggles of a group of students, each with a supposed sin in their past and so trapped in a murder game, continue in Judge volume 2 with another death and more exploration of the group’s circumstances. As set up in the previous book, there’s an attempt to outwit the manipulator, but it quickly fails — since it depends on a group of strangers in a stressful, life-threatening situation all trusting each other. It’s vaguely charming of our protagonist, Hiro, […]
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A new volume of Yotsuba&! is always a thing to be celebrated! Enjoy its simple pleasures, just as little girl Yotsuba does in all of her daily life. Yotsuba&! volume 12 was particularly interesting to me because at one point, the teen neighbor girls take her trick-or-treating. I’ve been working a project with a Japanese team, and over Halloween, I asked if they celebrate it. They said no, not really, but the kids thought it was fun to wear costumes. […]
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As I predicted when I reviewed the first book, I liked Genshiken: Second Season by Shimoku Kio more on the second try. With the odd fan personalities, it takes a while to get comfortable with them, but more time spent makes them more acceptable, just like having a weird friend. You take them as they are, quirks and all. I should have mentioned, when writing about volume 1, that the internal volume and chapter numbering continues from volume 9 of […]
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It’s odd reading a yaoi manga that’s set in the US among, as the book promotion has it, the “high-society set”. Seeing the fantasy interactions in a venue I know something about, though, makes the unrealistic reactions — as the two men kiss and fight and tease in high-drama style — all the more obvious, and thus all the more escapist. Lies Are a Gentleman’s Manners contains a set of stories about the same characters, revealing more of their motivations […]
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The author of Doubt, Yoshiki Tonogai, returns with another series about kids wearing animal heads trapped in a warehouse where they’re killed off one by one. However, Judge has more to recommend it than Doubt. (Although don’t get me wrong, that was quite the adrenaline ride, even if the end made little sense.) As you can see from the cover, there are different animals this time around. They’re themed, to match the seven deadly sins: the pig is gluttony, the […]
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The sexism fears foreshadowed in previous volumes by Junya Inoue are here fully realized. For a change of pace, instead of facing off with yet another repellant, bloodthirsty villain, the threat in BTOOOM! volume 3 is more primal. Ryouta, his older sidekick, and the girl on the cover must survive an attack by giant lizards. But first, Ryouta and the girl (who has no name yet) face off. She manages to take herself out — thus making me wonder how […]
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When I started reading Mitsuhisa Kuji’s Wolfsmund, I thought I was in for a medieval adventure focusing on spirited rebels attempting to reclaim their land (14th century Switzerland) from a harsh occupying regime. By the end of the first chapter, I was disabused of my assumptions in shocking fashion. Given the usual formulaic structure of many manga, it was a pleasure to be so surprised by a change in direction. This series is titled after the location, a militarized pass […]
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Thank goodness Bunny Drop concludes with this volume. I keep reading the series by Yumi Unita, dreading what was coming, hoping that I’d be wrong. I just couldn’t make myself look away. Here’s what you need to know about the title to understand my dislike of the premise. Daikichi is now 40. He’s been taking care of the informally adopted Rin for ten years, raising her as if she was his daughter, since she was six years old. Although the […]
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