It feels, upon opening Nephilim volume 1, like Anna Hanamaki set out to craft not a story but a catalog of as many fetishes as possible. A Nephilim is male during the daytime but becomes female at night. Plus, they’re bloodthirsty; they try to kill anyone who sees them. However, the one in this book is so incompetent that that’s less a threat than unintentional comedy. A chest-baring soldier captures a Nephilim after flirting with him. Once night falls, he […]

Guest review by Ed Sizemore Covering EduManga: Mother Teresa and Great Figures in History: Mother Teresa. The Life of Mother Teresa Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, in current day Macedonia. Her parents were both devout Catholics. Drane, Agnes’ mother, constantly helped the poor with deliveries of food and clothing. She modeled for her children a compassion that expressed itself in meeting the tangible needs of the less fortunate. By age 12, Agnes was convinced […]

Real Love by Mitsuki Oda is the second release from the Luv Luv Press imprint. Like their first book, Voices of Love, this volume contains sexy love stories aimed at an adult female audience. (It’s rated Mature, for ages 18 and up, due to language, nudity, and situations.) Unlike the first book, the stories here are longer, which I hoped meant they’d have more depth, but I was disappointed. The first (title) story focuses on the love lives of twins, […]

Voices of Love by Kanae Hazuki is the first release from Luv Luv Press, an imprint of Aurora Publishing promising “passionate manga for women”. And that’s what they deliver. This volume contains five love stories that don’t shy away from nudity and sex scenes. (That explains the Mature 18+ rating.) When I first read them, I thought, “This is just what I’ve been looking for: yaoi, only girl/boy.” Then I realized just what that said about how my brain has […]

Michiko is still pursuing her dream of being a model in Walkin’ Butterfly volume 2 by Chihiro Tamaki, even though she has little understanding of what’s involved. Her first task is to learn how to walk in high heels. She gives up quickly, embarrassed to be so tall, but more because she has no work ethic, no understanding of the time and effort needed to achieve meaningful goals, without quick gratification. Her lack of patience makes her too eager to […]

I’m so glad to see more josei manga titles becoming available. These are books aimed at women, skewing older than the better-known shojo books for girls. And you’ll know that Walkin’ Butterfly by Chihiro Tamaki is for an older reader (it’s rated 16+) from the first page, which is a full-body nude image of the protagonist glowering at the reader. It’s an appropriate choice, since it sums up the core conflict of the story. Michiko is very tall, and as […]

Not your typical manga, the Azumanga Daioh Omnibus by Kiyohiko Azuma (collecting four previously published books) follows a group of high school girls through school until graduation. With a few exceptions, the entire book consists of four-panel strips (called 4-koma)… so this is more like a Japanese version of a Dilbert collection than your usual high-school romance. At first, I took them lightly, as slight gag strips that told a joke and moved on. It surprised me later on to […]

Aurora Publishing is a new manga publisher, established last year by Japanese company Ohzora, who’s responsible in that country for Harlequin Comics and Project X, among other titles. Flock of Angels Volume 1 The band Angelaid is so popular that fans have taken to wearing fake wings (causing the streets to resemble an anime convention). Pearl’s one of those fans; her older brother Shea supports her interest while the oldest, Matt, is too busy making money for the family to […]