Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
After the turning point of the last book, in volume 16, Hikaru has given up on go as a way of punishing himself. His former classmates and competition don’t want to let him leave, though, seeking him out to find out what’s going on, since he disappeared without giving anyone a reason. Meanwhile, Isumi is playing demonstration matches in China. Isumi previously left his go club after struggling and failing to pass the test to become a professional. His story […]
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Janet is a character type many readers can identify with: She’s only got a few close friends. She spends a lot of time by herself or with her best friend and roommate, a ghost named Paul. She’d like to have a relationship, but she’s unsure she’s ready to put in the work involved or whether she’s found the right guy to be worth the effort. When her friend Freya sets her up on a blind date with Derek, the two […]
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With so much interest in the upcoming Twilight manga and the general trend of vampires in popular culture, I thought I’d look at some manga that feature vampire characters and their forbidden loves. These books were provided by publishers for the purpose of review. Vampire Knight Volume 7 by Matsuri Hino, Viz, $8.99 US This popular series is set at the exclusive Cross Academy, a school with a Night Class full of beautiful vampires and a Day Class that must […]
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I wasn’t all that impressed by an earlier book in this series, The Manga Guide to Statistics, but I found this volume by Hideo Nitta and Keita Takatsu a big improvement. Like all the books in this series, The Manga Guide to Physics is written by an expert; in this case, a physics professor from Tokyo Gakugei University who is also a member of the International Commission on Physics Education. That means the explanations of mechanics are right on, as […]
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Now that I’m no longer astounded by the sheer medical craziness of this classic series about a rogue doctor, I’m reevaluating why I read these stories by Osamu Tezuka. They do, at times, bear signs of age (especially in the treatment of female characters and women’s roles; I found volume 4 particularly bad in this respect). And the stories have started making winking allusions to being comics — early in this book, characters left at the end of a long […]
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The latest Toon book maintains the high quality of their line of hardcover comics for kids. The situation in Little Mouse Gets Ready is simple: a mouse needs to get dressed so he can go to the barn with his family. He puts on his clothes, one piece at a time, sharing the struggles many kids do — getting the arm in the sleeve right, making the buttons match. The sneakers are Velcro, so no need to tie bows any […]
Read moreDave Carter at Yet Another Comics Blog posted Amazon’s top 50 graphic novels as of Friday. I thought I’d kibitz. The first thing I noticed was that the #1 seller isn’t really a comic, by my definition, but at this point, I doubt I can redirect the Wimpy Kid bandwagon. More significantly, it takes until #39 before you see a Marvel comic, and that’s a Stephen King tie-in, so it barely counts. There is no Marvel superhero title on this […]
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As the series about raising an autistic child continues, With the Light volume 4 tackles the question of work. Hikaru’s parents worry about what he will be able to do to be self-sufficient as he ages, plus Dad is facing business problems of his own. There aren’t enough translated manga that give a relatively realistic portrayal of the Japanese businessman’s situation and expectations, so I really enjoyed that part of this book. Hikaru’s parents have a routine of what works […]
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