It’s been a while since I’ve read any of Ai Yazawa’s Nana, even though it’s my favorite manga series. I have a bad habit of saving the best for last — which is great in concept, except in practice, I often run out of time before I get to the good stuff. I wound up with five installments stacked up, most of what had come out this year. So a long weekend seemed the perfect time to dive back into […]

Yuiko loves animals, but they don’t respond well to her smothering affection. Leo is a freaky-looking feral exchange student with wild black-rimmed eyes. He has violent berserker rages, but she notices how well animals respond to him, making her jealous of his affinity with them. Together, they’re the perfect couple, even if their story is somewhat like the Tiny Toons’ Elmyra meeting a cross between Tarzan and Wolverine. Her experience being hurt by her pets makes her unafraid of him, […]

Fumi Yoshinaga has quite the fan following based on her short series Antique Bakery and Flower of Life, as well as her yaoi works. With its strong, science fiction-like concept and old-fashioned flavor, Ooku: The Inner Chambers has the potential to make fans of even more manga readers. In medieval Japan, the ooku was a harem, an area of the ruler’s castle where his concubines lived and no men were allowed. In Yoshinaga’s story, there’s been a plague that kills […]

I was stunned to realize that this volume didn’t conclude the series, since so many plot points are tied up and conflicts resolved. All the themes of the series are prominently on display: * Robots demonstrating human emotions. Detective Gesicht solves the murders based on a self-described hunch. * The horror of war. Gesicht’s visit to a Persian bazaar seeking clues introduces him to a robot child maimed during the past conflict and reduced to begging. * Trying to survive […]

After the time jump shown in the previous book, I shouldn’t be surprised with the major twist in this volume, but I was still stunned when it happened. Being left shocked and confused, though, just puts me in the same place as many of the characters in this sprawling story by Naoki Urasawa. Kenji and his friends have sent their loved ones away from Tokyo and banded together to battle the evil group of Friends. They’re convinced something will happen […]

The Creepy Girl from the previous volume is playing on Yoh’s kindness in an attempt to wedge herself between him and Haruna in volume 11. I was a bit surprised to see her portrayed by Kazune Kawahara as so manipulative and mean, but when I checked back in the previous chapters, I realized she’d been that way all along. I’d just been seeing her through Yoh’s eyes and assuming no one could be that nasty on purpose. It doesn’t help […]

When we last left dog whisperer Suguri, she, her dog Lupin, and three other dog owners and their pets were taking a vacation together. At a country lodge, they encounter another visitor with four huge dogs — Newfoundland, Great Dane, Leonberger, and Great Pyrenees — as well as an unwelcome guest: a bear! When Suguri returns, she discovers that her boss Teppei has taken his purebred black Labrador Noa (which is how Suguri and Teppei met) to be bred. That […]

Guest review by Ed Sizemore Gesicht has been assigned to guard Adolf Haas and his family. Haas’ former colleagues have decided he’s a liability and want him dead before he can reveal too many of their secrets. But Gesicht is starting a personal crisis as buried memories begin to surface, revealing shocking details of his past. Also in this volume, Hercules faces off against Pluto, while Uran, Professor Ochanomizu, and Professor Tenma all have to come to grips with what […]