Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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I hadn’t realized that the Flower of Life series concluded in this volume. The stories still feel similar to the previous, without the kind of directed wrapup you see in other manga. Some situations are even left open, without clear solution. It’s been a while (two years) since the previous installment, but I found that the characters came right back to me. Plus, there’s a handy catch-up listing to start. Harutaro and Shota are trying to make manga professionally, while […]
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by Asuka Izumi; story by K-Ske Hasegawa You may know the term “shinigami” from the popular Death Note series, where the death god is black and goth and scary. Ballad of a Shinigami, based on a light novel series (translated in the U.S. by Seven Seas) and later anime, turns that concept on its ear by featuring a young girl, all in white, as the messenger of death. Except few people actually die in this book — instead, they’re affected […]
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While the main Emma series concluded with volume 7, this volume continues visiting Kaoru Mori’s Victorian world, telling tales of some of the supporting characters. The first two chapters are a flashback to Kelly and Doug Stowner as young marrieds. (Kelly was, later in her life, Emma’s employer.) They’re debating visiting the Great Exhibition, for which the Crystal Palace was built, but the expense will be difficult for them to manage. She’s harshly practical, but the way the two of […]
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Chouko’s feeling lonely because Kei has locked himself away, writing. So she joins up with an odd little college reading club in The Name of the Flower volume 2 by Ken Saito. They’re all astounded by how pretty she is, so they instantly go out drinking, and various club members tend to grab at her to keep her from leaving. The behaviors in this volume, unlike the first, reinforced for me that this story took place in a different country […]
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When I heard about this book, in which manga artist Shiho Torii accepts her editor’s challenge to lose 15 pounds in five months, I thought it sounded perfect for me. I love manga, and I’ve been meaning to get in better shape. Unfortunately, while the concept is promising, So I Need to Lose 15 Pounds itself is terrible. First, there’s the cartooning itself. I’m ok with simple art, but the illustrations here are so minimal as to make me ask […]
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