Kurohime 12 by Masanori • Ookamigumi • Katakura: C+

June 15, 2009 by Leave a Comment

kurohime-125Kurohime is a witch-gunslinger, which essentially means that she can shoot magic out of a gun to heal injuries, beef up her own physical defenses, or conjure “witch-beasts” to fight opponents. As the volume begins, she is fighting the Kurohime Punishment Squad, a band of scantily-clad women with a grudge against her. A common enemy forces the women to work together and the previously-stoic Kurohime exhibits compassion for her reluctant allies and even helps to rescue the lover of one of them.

Kurohime definitely has some ridiculous attributes—nearly all of the warrior women are wearing next to nothing, Kurohime’s more grown-up guise looks like she has some pretty severe anatomical deformities, and one of her foes is (I am not making this up) a vampire werewolf death angel—but it somehow manages to be pretty entertaining. The story is surprisingly easy to follow for someone just popping in at volume twelve and the frequency with which some of the characters seem to undergo transformations into other sorts of creatures is kind of cool.

While I found myself distracted by all of the improbable bosoms in this manga, there are times when the art is nice to look at. Facial closeups are usually lovely and the character design for Zero, the former male lead who has now become a sort of… quasi-invisible death angel, is nothing short of awesome.

Story-wise, Kurohime is a bit crazy, and art-wise it’s bursting with fanservice, but it’s still pretty intriguing for all that.

Kurohime is published in English by VIZ, who has released eleven volumes so far (twelve will be officially available on July 7). The series is ongoing in Japan, where the sixteenth volume has just been released.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Filed Under: Manga, Shounen, Supernatural Tagged With: ,

Fairy Tail 6 by Hiro Mashima: B

June 10, 2009 by 1 Comment

From the back cover:
Hotshot Natsu and his cool rival Gray are fighting to stop a calamity demon from being revived by Gray’s fellow disciple Lyon and Zalty, a master of lost magic. But while they try to defeat the bad guys, the magical ice binding the demon keeps melting. Then a grudge between Fairy Tail and a rival guild turns to all-out war!

Review:
In the Author’s Note at the end of the volume, Mashima says that he doesn’t do much planning ahead with his story. I think that shows with the way the Deliora arc plays out. There are a couple of switcheroos that, while they very well may have been intended from the beginning, make me suspect a last-minute easy out. Also, Lucy’s sudden escalation in importance at the end of the volume comes out of nowhere.

That’s not to say the result isn’t entertaining, though. The battles between Gray and Natsu and their opponents are pretty fun, with some new ice techniques from Gray and a new kind of magic—the ability to control time as it relates to objects—for Natsu’s opponent. Shounen staples like having faith in one’s companions, preventing one’s rival/ally from completing a noble self-sacrifice, forgiving the enemies’ sins due to mitigating angst, and delayed-reaction spurting wounds abound.

Though it’s disappointing that our heroes face virtually no punishment whatsoever (aside from some very creepy spanking the Master administers to Lucy) for undertaking an S-class quest (played up as an offense worthy of expulsion), the story picks up a bit once they return home to find that Fairy Tail headquarters has been virtually destroyed by a rival guild called Phantom Lord. Throughout the volume, less prominent members of Fairy Tail had been introduced on the chapter splash pages, and just as I’d been thinking I’d like to see some of these folks get to do something cool they’re given an opportunity to do so in a rather awesome brawl when Fairy Tail pays the rival guild a retaliatory visit.

Even though Lucy’s capture at the end of the volume is not the most original shounen plot device, some of the Phantom Lord opponents look interesting, so I’m looking forward to what’s to come.

Filed Under: Fantasy, Manga, Shounen Tagged With: ,

Animal Academy 1 by Moyamu Fujino: C+

June 1, 2009 by Leave a Comment

When Neko Fukuta is rejected by every other high school to which she applies, she ends up at Morimori Academy, a school where shape-shifting animals learn to act like humans. She’s allowed to remain, under the condition that she keeps her species a secret, and proceeds to make friends with her roommate, learn about the importance of road signs, encounter a mysterious snake, and meet a boy in her class who claims to be human and who seems awfully determined to get her away from Morimori.

Animal Academy will probably appeal most to its target demographic, since most of the story consists of Neko encountering cute animals and dealing with issues like “how do I make new friends without my possessive roommate feeling neglected?” There is some superficial mystery, too, like a last-minute addition that the school is all a “big lie,” but for the most part it’s pretty lightweight fare.

This is one of those series where the protagonists look a lot younger than they actually are, probably in an attempt to help the presumed ten-year-olds readers identify with high school students. I conducted an impromptu audit of the nearest human and asked my husband what grade he thought Neko was in. “Fourth or fifth?” he guessed. When I told him that the American equivalent is actually tenth, he responded, “Pfft. Maybe she’s the runt of the litter.”

While I doubt Animal Academy is a story that adults would enjoy, it really isn’t that bad. I confess that I am actually considering picking up volume two because I want to know what that snake’s deal is.

Animal Academy is published by TOKYOPOP. One volume has been released so far, while the series is complete in Japan at seven volumes.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

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One Piece 9 by Eiichiro Oda: B+

May 21, 2009 by 3 Comments

onepiece9I enjoyed being unspoiled on this, so if you want to be unspoiled too, go no further.

From the back cover:
Luffy and crew must contend with “Saw-Tooth” Arlong and his nasty Fish Man pirates, who specialize in using mafia tactics to squeeze the lifeblood from innocent villagers. Needless to say, it comes as a big surprise to everyone that pirate-hating Nami is actually a member of Arlong’s crew!

Review:
This volume’s all about Nami and her background and, though some parts of it work out as one might expect, I still found the final pages to be unexpectedly moving. Essentially, Nami’s working for Arlong because of a deal they struck in which she might be able to buy the freedom of her village for a hefty price. She’s sacrificed a lot for this goal, and the arrival of Luffy and the others to “rescue” her doesn’t actually endear them to her, as it causes her to have to prove her loyalty to Arlong. The scene where she fights (and apparently stabs) Usopp is pretty awesome, though I never had any doubt that she had somehow managed not to really wound him.

What’s even better is how this situation affects the others on the team. Usopp’s pretty convinced Nami’s evil, but Luffy refuses to consider it or even to hear the details of her past that her step-sister, Nojiko, relates to the others. Nami has a pretty tragic backstory, not unlike those of Luffy and Sanji in that an adult made a sacrifice to protect her life and she feels bound to repay that and protect their dream. In Nami’s case, this manifests as a foster mother named Belle-Mère and a close-knit village, respectively. Nami had thought everyone in the village hated her for becoming a member of Arlong’s crew, and was okay with that if it meant being able to protect them, but they secretly always knew what she was about and want to protect her just as much.

When Arlong betrays Nami by stealing the money she’s accumulated thus far, the villagers have had enough and are set on taking up arms against their oppressors, which will surely get them killed. The absolute best scene I’ve seen in this series so far occurs when Nami, desperate to stop them, tearfully turns to Luffy and says, “Help?” I’ve got geekbumps just thinking about it, actually. After this, Nami’s boys, each a badass in their own way, head to Arlong’s lair to take care of the situation. I kind of love them for it.

Filed Under: Manga, Shounen Tagged With: ,

One Piece 8 by Eiichiro Oda: B

May 20, 2009 by 2 Comments

onepiece8From the back cover:
If Luffy wants to get out of a year’s worth of chore-boy duty on the oceangoing restaurant Baratie, he’s got to rid the seas of the evil Don Krieg. Unfortunately, Krieg’s armed to the teeth and aided by his “Demon Man,” Commander Gin. The battle takes a surprising turn as Krieg reveals his increasingly deadly military might!

Meanwhile, Nami has sailed off on the Merry Go with treasure in tow, and she’s headed to Arlong Park, home of creepy Captain Arlong and his Fish-Man Pirates. What business does Nami have at Arlong Park, anyway? Something fishy is going on and Luffy’s crew just may be in over their heads!

Review:
The first half of this volume reminds me of the theme to The Itchy and Scratchy Show. You know, the one that goes:

They fight and bite
They fight and fight and bite
Fight, fight, fight, bite, bite, bite

Okay, maybe there isn’t actually any biting, but there sure is a ton of fighting. It’s pretty cool, though, with Luffy being fearlessly determined to win against Don Krieg, like any good Gryffindor shounen hero, and earning the admiration of the Baratie pirate-cooks in the process. I was amused that, after he endured bomb blasts and being stabbed by a few stakes, all he seemed to require was a couple of bandaids.

While Oda does well at illustrating the fights so that one can tell what’s going on, I was left with the urge to see this animated. A lot of the fight takes place while Luffy and Krieg are standing on floating chunks of a destroyed deck, which would probably be more impressive if in color, et cetera. Also, I’m not sure if this is new or not, but I really noticed some panels with interesting perspectives in this volume. Instead of always focusing on Luffy, they’d sometimes focus on the weapon about to hit him or the effect of his kick while the rest of him is in the background. It’s pretty neat.

Because of Luffy’s determination to follow his foolish dream to sail the Grand Line, Sanji decides to follow his own dream—to find a mythical patch of ocean called the “All Blue,” where every species of fish in the world can be found, conveniently located somewhere around the Grand Line—and accepts the offer to join Luffy’s crew as cook. Though he tries to be tough about his departure from the Baratie, there’s a pretty awesome goodbye scene and then they’re off in a vessel belonging to Sanji, following Nami’s trail.

As they sail, they (and we) learn more about the dangers awaiting them in the Grand Line, including the existence of three great powers that rule those waters. I assume that each group will have to be defeated in turn, which is a pretty appealing prospect, I must say. Even cooler, though, are some unexpected revelations about Nami’s background. I’m glad I’ve managed to remain spoiler-free for this series!

Filed Under: Manga, Shounen Tagged With: ,

One Piece 7 by Eiichiro Oda: B

May 19, 2009 by 3 Comments

onepiece7From the back cover:
Don Krieg’s evil pirate armada attempts to hijack the oceangoing restaurant Baratie, but the pirate-cooks put up a fierce resistance—until Krieg reveals one of the greatest secret weapons in his arsenal: Invincible Pearl!

When sous-chef Sanji steps into the fray, it turns out that he and Chef Zeff have some unfinished business concerning the loss of the latter’s leg! Will their differences come between them, or make the Baratie stronger? Either way, unfortunately for Luffy, it turns out that Don Krieg harbors an even deadlier weapon: Gin, the very man whose life Sanji once saved with a square meal!

Review:
While nearly the entirety of this volume is occupied by the fight for the Baratie—with Luffy assisting Sanji and the cooks in their efforts to fend off Don Krieg and his pirates—there are still some nice bits of storytelling that elevate this beyond your typical shounen fare.

I was wrong that Sanji is the son of Chef Zeff, but their backstory together is revealed here and it’s kind of horrible, in a way. Suffice it to say that Sanji feels responsible for the end of Zeff’s pirate career and so will fiercly protect Zeff’s new dream, the oceangoing restaurant, and gets up time after time (after enduring injuries that should’ve killed him about six times over) so that it can exist for even a moment longer. What I really loved was that Luffy completely understood and we get a little snippet of the scene in which Shanks lost an arm protecting Luffy to really show the parallels between his and Sanji’s situations.

What I didn’t love was Invincible Pearl, possibly the most ludicrous opponent yet, but I couldn’t help kind of admiring how absolutely absurd he is.

Filed Under: Manga, Shounen Tagged With: ,

Case Closed 3 by Gosho Aoyama: B+

May 7, 2009 by 1 Comment

From the back cover:
Jimmy, Rachel and Richard take a vacation aboard a cruise ship, but little do they know that the patriarch of the wealthy Hatamoto family is about to be murdered. With the perpetrator still aboard, can you figure out whodunit before Conan does!?

Review:
I actually quite liked both cases in this volume, which is good, because as the first chapter started out I was feeling rather blah about it all and wondering whether it was time to give up the series.

The first case happens not aboard a cruise ship, as the back cover claims, but upon a charter boat hired by a wealthy family who has celebrated a wedding upon their private island. The family patriarch hates everyone but his granddaughter, and everyone but her hates him, so there are plenty of suspects for his sudden death. Conan, of course, puts it all together. What I liked about this case is that it didn’t involve a needlessly and ludicrously elaborate killing method. The victims are stabbed and, in one case, bludgeoned. The clues instead involved things like locked doors, missing murder weapons, et cetera. Perhaps that’s why this is also the first case where I actually had guessed the correct culprit!

The second case involves a surgeon who has received an old toy and a million yen each month going on two years. The best part of this case is that Rachel starts to realize just how much Conan is leading her father through important deductions. She confronts him a few times about his being Jimmy, but he manages to weasel out of it in the end by having Dr. Agasa call and use the voice modulator thingie to simulate Jimmy’s teenaged voice. Having read some volumes in the upper twenties, I know that Rachel still doesn’t know the truth, but I still really enjoyed her suspicions and how she isn’t fooled by some of the stupid things Conan tries to throw her off his trail.

Filed Under: Manga, Mystery, Shounen Tagged With:

InuYasha 36-37 by Rumiko Takahashi: B

April 29, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Centuries ago, a dog-like half-demon named Inuyasha attempted to steal a powerful gem known as the “Shikon jewel” from a village, but was thwarted by a beautiful priestess, Kikyo, whose enchanted arrow pinned him to a tree. There he remains for fifty years until Kagome—a modern-day high school girl transplanted to the past by means of an enchanted well—frees him because he’s the only being in the village capable of defeating the monster currently threatening it. Kagome is revealed to be the reincarnation of Kikyo when the Shikon jewel, carried by Kikyo into her funeral pyre, emerges from a cut in her body.

When the jewel is later shattered, scattering slivers of its power across the land, Inuyasha and Kagome team up to hunt for the shards. They’re joined in their travels by a young fox demon (Shippo), a lecherous monk (Miroku), and a demon slayer (Sango). A cast of recurring characters includes Inuyasha’s full-demon brother (Sesshomaru), a brash wolf demon who fancies Kagome (Koga), and the resurrected Kikyo, for whom Inuyasha had romantic feelings back in the day and whose occasional reappearances cause him angst and prevent any progress in his nascent relationship with Kagome.

InuYasha is rather notorious for the repetitiveness of its plot. Over and over, the group will encounter a village that is being menaced by some kind of supernatural threat, be it a horde of self-replicating rats or a band of undead assassins. They will generally discover that a Shikon shard is in use and that Naraku, the chief antagonist of the series, is responsible. They will track Naraku down and Inuyasha will fight and nearly defeat him, but he will escape, even if all that’s left of him is his head and shoulders, and eventually return, due to his regenerative powers.

Volume 36 adheres closely to this pattern in its outcome, though the beginning stages vary somewhat, as Inuyasha and friends are now in search of Naraku’s heart, hidden in the body of an infant, which is what enables him to defy death so frequently. They receive some assistance from a surprising source—Kagura, one of Naraku’s creations, has been angling for a while to be free of his control, and so leads the good guys to a cave where the infant has lately been hidden.

In volume 37, things are a little different, though not substantively. Half-demons change into human forms on the night of the new moon, and Inuyasha is in that weakened state when Moryomaru, a demon created by one of Naraku’s minions, comes after the last Shikon shard in Kagome’s possession. Sesshomaru arrives to save the day and a rather uninspiring battle ensues, ending with Moryomaru’s disembodied head escaping, sure to return, et cetera. The volume does end with some great infighting amongst Naraku’s cohorts, though.

I long ago stopped feeling any investment in these encounters with Naraku and no longer expect anything but another reiteration of the pattern. Knowing that there are nineteen more volumes to follow these ensures that I won’t feel genuinely excited until we are much nearer to the end. Given this lack of forward momentum, then, why do I find the series so endearing?

The answer lies in the series’ characters. Like any good sitcom, InuYasha boasts a cast of likable leads. Everyone has their own subplot—Miroku is cursed with a “wind tunnel” in his hand that is slowly killing him, Sango’s late brother has been reanimated by a Shikon shard and forced to serve Naraku—and genuinely cares for the others. For every storyline that pans out exactly as one expects, there are nice scenes like the one near the end of volume 36, where Kagome and Inuyasha share a quiet, peaceful moment in a tree, musing upon how happy they are to have the other by their side.

Also, despite occasional gore and an inordinate number of severed heads, the story has a gentle sort of humor that I appreciate. I don’t find Miroku’s pervy antics to be that amusing, but other things are cute, like Shippo’s shape-changing abilities and the shorter tales that don’t tie in with the main narrative, like one about a handsome traveling medicine man who wishes only to return to his original form… a mosquito.

Takahashi’s art is up to the challenge of handling all of the story’s diverse elements. Her style is distinctive, and a little bit retro, and I’m a big fan of it. She doesn’t skimp on backgrounds and uses tone judiciously—daylight scenes are usually bright and clean while tone is chiefly used to provide gloom as needed. The biggest complaint I could make is that the art has been flipped. Thankfully, volume 37 marks the end of that era, as Viz recently announced that beginning with volume 38 in July, InuYasha will be released in English with unflipped art for the first time. The upcoming VIZBIG editions will also read right-to-left.

InuYasha is a manga institution for good reason. It may meander at times, but I don’t regret a single moment I’ve spent reading it.

Review copy for volume 37 provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Filed Under: Manga, Shounen, Supernatural Tagged With: ,

InuYasha 35 by Rumiko Takahashi: B-

April 28, 2009 by 4 Comments

From the back cover:
A new crop of demons is plaguing the land. The more demons are killed, the more humanlike they become. This progression culminates in a battle between the gang and Moryomaru, Hakudoshi’s new and fearsome creation. Can Koga and Inuyasha stop their infighting long enough to battle a common enemy?

Review:
In volume 34, which I reread before starting this one, Inuyasha and pals pledged to help a living mountain regain his “nulling stone,” stolen by Naraku, which hid his demonic power and let him pretend to be a normal mountain so he could live peacefully and undisturbed. I mention this because the story shifts so abruptly into fighting this new batch of demons created from other demons—or “hodge podge demons” as I dubbed them—that I completely forgot about their quest. Eventually, Naraku’s minion, Hakudoshi, swipes some nulling stone-detecting crystals from Miroku, at which point I went, “Ohhhh! Riiiiight.”

That kind of gives you an indication of how blah these plots were. Hodge podge demons rampage, Inuyasha and the gang kill them. Hakudoshi appears with a more advanced demon. Teamwork prevails and the bad guys flee, etc. After that, there are a few chapters about a girl who Miroku had apparently pledged to marry two years ago who is now due to wed a catfishy lake spirit. The saving of her is not interesting, but I enjoyed Sango’s reaction. I wish she would’ve stayed pissed a bit longer, though, since Miroku’s sleazy ways do not amuse me.

I also liked seeing more signs of dissension within Naraku’s ranks, as Kagura visits Sesshomaru with one of the stone-detecting crystals, which will enable him to find the location of Naraku’s heart—it being kept separate from his body is supposedly what’s allowing him to regenerate so often—and destroy it. It occurs to me that I’d really love to see a chapter or two that tells the story from the bad guys’ perspective—A Day in the Life of Kagura or something like that.

Filed Under: Manga, Shounen, Supernatural Tagged With: ,

One Piece 6 by Eiichiro Oda: B+

April 22, 2009 by 8 Comments

From the back cover:
Luffy’s pirates thought they were just stopping in for a quick bite… but now Luffy’s been made a busboy on Baratie, the oceangoing restaurant, and it turns out some of the worst-mannered pirates on the Grand Line are just dying for a meal.

Always one to look on the bright side, Luffy sets his sights on Sanji, the smart-talking, skirt-chasing assistant chef of the Baratie, as the Merry Go’s new cook. But it’ll take more than a vicious pirate battle and a little sweet talking from Nami to convince him to leave the Baratie and join Luffy’s team. His oath to feed any and all pirates in need keeps getting in the way. The question is: what do you do when the very same pirates you just fed now want to serve you up for dinner?

Review:
Is this the part people meant when they assured me it would soon get really good? There’s so much good stuff here I need to make a list!

1. We get some fun, ominous hints about the Grand Line from someone who’s actually been there.

2. Don Krieg, the leader of a pirate armada of 50 crews, is introduced. He’s got some specialized weaponry, but aside from that, he’s not silly and cartoonish like the other villains we’ve seen so far.

3. Turns out the head chef of the oceangoing restaurant is a famed pirate who sailed the Grand Line and kept a log book.

4. Hawk-Eye is awesome! He’s a master swordsman who took down Don Krieg’s ship with just his sword. Zolo’s been looking for him so that he could challenge him for the title of greatest swordsman, so they have a great fight and Zolo loses spectacularly. Still, Hawk-Eye sees potential in him and tells him to live and keep improving and come see him again someday.

5. Nami steals the Merry Go! I’m sure she’ll come back, but I like this anyway. Plus, I think we may be starting to see an inkling of her past.

6. Sanji, the cook that Luffy wants to join the crew, is kind of annoying but with the powerful kick he displayed at the end of the volume, could it be that he’s the head chef’s son and that’s why he doesn’t want to leave the oceangoing restaurant?

So, there were awesome fights, some character revelations, some hints about the future, and even one nice bit of continuity when Luffy referenced a character we haven’t seen since volume one. If it stays this good, I’d be happy.

Filed Under: Manga, Shounen Tagged With: ,
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