From the back cover: Japanese reporter Sohei Toge returns to his homeland, where he finally learns the secret that led to his brother's brutal murder at the hands of the Gestapo. But now the Japanese secret police are on his tail, and the SS officer who tortured him in Germany has followed him to Japan to hush him up—permanently! As fate would have it, Yukie Kaufmann, the … [Read more...] about Adolf 2: An Exile in Japan by Osamu Tezuka: A
Comics
Cheeky Angel 11-13 by Hiroyuki Nishimori: C+
In my review of volumes 1-10 of Cheeky Angel, I wrote, "Sometimes I’m not a fan of episodic storylines, but Cheeky Angel pulls it off because Nishimori-sensei never loses sight of the most important aspect of the story: Megumi’s struggle to choose between accepting her current femininity and finding a way to return to what she once was." Unfortunately, this no longer holds … [Read more...] about Cheeky Angel 11-13 by Hiroyuki Nishimori: C+
Skip Beat! 20 by Yoshiki Nakamura: B
Kyoko takes a break from acting jobs in this volume to focus on throwing a fabulous non-birthday birthday party for the boss’s granddaughter, Maria, who refuses to celebrate the occasion since it’s also the date of her mother’s death, for which she feels responsible. What follows is possibly the most shojotastic volume of manga ever, filled with warm expressions, bright smiles, … [Read more...] about Skip Beat! 20 by Yoshiki Nakamura: B
InuYasha 45 by Rumiko Takahashi: B
A running plot in InuYasha involves the fact that the villain, Naraku, can never be wholly vanquished because he has secreted his heart away and as long as it exists elsewhere, he can’t die. It’s been dozens of volumes, so my memories of his methods are hazy, but his heart has resided for some time in the body of an infant, which has constructed itself a living fortress in the … [Read more...] about InuYasha 45 by Rumiko Takahashi: B
X-Men: Misfits 1 by Raina Telgemeier, Dave Roman, and Anzu: C-
Having fortified myself with some small exposure to Marvel-style Kitty Pryde, I felt equipped to tackle the first volume of Del Rey's X-Men: Misfits for Manga Recon. Whether you're an X-Men fan or a shojo manga fan, you're bound to be disappointed (if not dismayed) by this hybrid. In this shojo-style X-Men “remix,” Kitty Pryde is a fifteen-year-old girl who is an outcast … [Read more...] about X-Men: Misfits 1 by Raina Telgemeier, Dave Roman, and Anzu: C-