Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka Volume 1

Guest review by Ed Sizemore Gesicht is a robot and a detective for Europol. He’s been assigned to investigate three bizarre murders. The first is Mont Blanc, an internationally beloved Swiss robot, who was brutally slain while helping to control a forest fire. A few days later, North No. 2, a formidable military robot turned butler, is also destroyed. Then there is the murder of the human Bernard Lanke, a robot rights activist. Evidence at each crime scene connects the […]

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Papillon Volume 2

Well, that was a twist. Volume 1 was about twin teens thinking they were in love with the same boy. Volume 2 heads off in a very different direction with all kinds of over-the-top events. Shy Ageha has just lost out on Ryusei to her twin sister Hana. That plot is quickly forgotten, though, as the strange guidance counselor Kyu-chan instead starts meddling in Ageha’s relationship with her mother. The parents raised Hana, you see, while Ageha was raised by […]

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20th Century Boys Volume 1

Review by Ed Sizemore When Kenji was nine years old, he dreamed of saving Japan from alien invaders and nuclear holocaust, but as a 37-year-old man, he runs the family convenience store. His days are now filled with stocking shelves, dealing with his cranky mother, and raising the baby his sister dropped off at his doorstep. Suddenly, strange things begin to happen around him. A loyal customer and his wife disappear. Next, a childhood friend dies under mysterious circumstances. Stranger […]

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High School Debut Volume 7

Even when tackling standard shojo situations — in this volume, boyfriend Yoh gets sick, and Haruna is left alone to care for him — High School Debut by Kazune Kawahara puts its own unique twist on them. First, there’s the way Haruna takes everything incredibly seriously. The terror on her face when she hears the news … her energy and concern contrasted with Yoh’s sister’s blase “you take care of him, I’m going out” … how completely unprepared she is […]

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Sand Chronicles

If you’re looking for shojo teen romance with more substance than the usual high school hijinks, Sand Chronicles by Hinako Ashihara is the perfect series for you. Sand Chronicles is Ann’s story, told in flashback to key seasons in her life. At the age of 12, she and her mother move from Tokyo to her grandparents’ rural village. Her parents have divorced due to her father’s debts, and her mother is having trouble coping, with hospital stays for overwork and […]

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Honey and Clover Volume 4

I enjoy this series by Chica Umino more when I keep two things in mind: 1. Read the chapters/stories one at a time, with pauses in-between. That allows for the differing moods of the various entries to seem less like abrupt changes and more like the author wants to explore different aspects of nostalgia for young adulthood. 2. You get out of this series what you put into it. Those who are predisposed to enjoy it will find more in […]

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Naoki Urasawa’s Monster Volume 18

This final volume of the series continues the same high quality established by the first book. Some have expressed concern over the ending, but I don’t see why. The character art of Dr. Tenma over this series reminded me of Angel‘s Wesley — a quiet, bookish man with a terrific life path laid out for himself who finds himself, only because he seeks to do what’s right, transformed into a kind of taciturn vigilante. The friends he makes along the […]

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Black Jack Volume 2

I’m astounded that this second book contains even more far-out stories than Volume 1. I didn’t think there could be such a thing. The first, “Needle”, shows one of the rare occurrences when the rogue doctor Black Jack is defeated. We get a hint that this might happen on the first page, where a wise older doctor (with a huge fluffy beard) cautions the rogue to humility: Don’t underestimate the human body, or else. … When you’re trying to treat […]

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