After an admirable performance in an exhibition game against a tough rival, the Shohoku High basketball team is ready to get back to practice, but a gang of thugs with a grudge against team member Ryota Miyagi makes that impossible. They invade the court with the intent of starting a brawl that’ll get the Shohoku team disqualified from competition. Just when the thugs have been … [Read more...] about Slam Dunk 8 by Takehiko Inoue: B+
Slam Dunk 3-7 by Takehiko Inoue: B
How did I let myself get a whole year behind on Slam Dunk?! Of course, the upside to such a monumental lapse is having half a dozen volumes to gobble up back-to-back! At the end of the second volume, hot-headed protagonist Hanamichi Sakuragi impressed team captain Akagi by declaring himself “a basketball man” in answer to pressure to join the judo team. As a reward, Akagi … [Read more...] about Slam Dunk 3-7 by Takehiko Inoue: B
Alice in the Country of Hearts 1 by QuinRose and Soumei Hoshino: B-
From the back cover: Wonderland is officially at war! And Alice is trapped in the middle of it all. Will she make it out alive? A little arrogant, stubborn, and determined to get back home, Alice isn't fazed by these challenges... until she discovers that every man is gun crazy and weirdly in love with her. What's going on in Wonderland?! Review: Based on a “female-oriented … [Read more...] about Alice in the Country of Hearts 1 by QuinRose and Soumei Hoshino: B-
Stolen Hearts 1 by Miku Sakamoto: B+
The basic plot of Stolen Hearts is summed up succinctly on its back cover: “a mismatched pair finds romance through a kimono shop.” Though the premise has some things in common with other shojo series—a significant difference in height between the two protagonists (Love*Com), a girl who attempts to familiarize her classmates with the finer qualities of her scary-looking love … [Read more...] about Stolen Hearts 1 by Miku Sakamoto: B+
The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer: C+
From the back cover: When life as Alex Morales had known it changed forever, he was working behind the counter at Joey's Pizza. He was worried about getting elected as senior class president and making the grades to land him in a good college. He never expected that an asteroid would hit the moon, knocking it closer in orbit to the earth and catastrophically altering the … [Read more...] about The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer: C+