The sports festival that started in the previous volume continues in High School Debut volume 10, only with an added complication: Yoh’s friend Asaoka has declared his interest in Yoh’s girlfriend Haruna. Asaoka has a bet with Yoh; Asaoka will only leave Haruna (who’s blissfully unaware of all this) alone if Yoh beats him at the festival events. I know things had to change once Yoh and Haruna got together — but I sometimes miss the humor of the early […]

This is a bit of a departure for the site. Usually, when it comes to manga series, we leave them up to one reviewer or the other instead of switching off. Although Ed’s previously reviewed the first two volumes, I wanted to get in on recommending this astoundingly good series by by Naoki Urasawa. 20th Century Boys volume 3 is where Kenji reaches his turning point. He now understands what’s going on — someone who knew about their childhood games […]

It’s time for that staple of shojo high school manga, the sports festival. Since Haruna and Yoh are in different grades, this will be the only time they get to share a school activity. In addition to the sports competitions, they’ll also be part of a cheerleading group, a behavior that’s uncomfortable for the reserved Yoh. Haruna, on the other hand, is full of enthusiasm, and friends speculate that her energy might break Yoh out of his shell a bit. […]

Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs volume 13 is a definite change of pace for this series about a pet shop worker, her dog, and their friends and canine companions. I appreciate the creator tackling all phases of pet ownership, though. One thing people should consider before getting a dog, or any pet, is that they are likely to outlive their animal loved one. It’s an important lesson in understanding the cycle of life. Kanako had a Pomeranian named Czerny. She doted […]

It’s been a while since I’ve checked in with this entertaining game competition series. (In part, that’s because of a Diamond hiccup soliciting volume 14, which meant I had 15 but had to wait to get the books in order.) I’m glad I could read all three of these volumes together, since they make up a major turning point in Hikaru’s life. Hikaru has become a professional go player, and as volume 13 begins, he’s dressing up for the recognition […]

Solanin has little in common with how many readers think about manga. It’s a self-contained volume, slightly larger in size than the usual manga digest and much thicker. More important is the content, a story about young adults seeking to find themselves and their directions in life. If the book was described to me, I would be more likely to guess Top Shelf or Drawn & Quarterly instead of Viz. I welcome seeing this diversity from them as part of […]

When I first heard about this heavy metal parody by Kiminori Wakasugi, I was sure I’d be too grossed out to make it through. The premise, you see, is that nerdy virgin Soichi becomes the vile, repulsive, hateful, misogynist lead singer of a death metal band on stage, but he really wants to sing sappy pop songs. The comedy comes from the contrast between Soichi’s incompetence at so much of life and his made-up posturing on-stage. I did have to […]

Guest review by Ed Sizemore At the end of volume two, Uran, Atom’s little sister, helped tame and recapture some loose zoo animals. This volume opens with her at police headquarters explaining how she got involved in the first place. We learn that Uran can sense strong emotional states, especially fear. A few days later, on the way to school, she senses powerful feelings of fear and confusion. She skips school to find the distressed person and help him/her. She […]