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Review Archive

To see a list of reviews in alphabetical order, please see our review index.

Review: Sakura Hime (Vol. 01)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, June 7, 2011

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Manga-ka: Arina Tanemura
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: April 2011

Synopsis: “Sakura is the granddaughter of a mysterious moon princess who slew demons with her Blood Cherry Blossom sword. All her life Sakura has been forbidden to look at the full moon without knowing why. Then one night, unhappy over her impending marriage, Sakura gazes up at the moon, only to see a demon attacking her…”

Sakura Hime is one of the most confused books I’ve ever read. Not confusing – it’s linearity is fairly simple to follow – but confused in how it hops around between genres and moods so suddenly. While the story opens with a feudal-Japan love story, things take some surprisingly bleak twists that take things into the territory of dark magical girl stories complete with a Moon Princess, demons and ninjas.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Arina Tanemura, Manga, Sakura Hime, Shoujo, Shoujo Beat, Viz Media

Review: Bleach (Vol. 35)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Monday, June 6, 2011

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Manga-ka: Tite Kubo
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: June 2011

Synopsis: “Higher Than the Moon While the Soul Reapers are entrenched in bloody one-on-one battles with the Espadas, their sworn enemy Aizen is preparing to make the next move in his elaborate plan. The battlefields of Hueco Mundo will soon give way to another battlefield where the price of losing will prove to be infinitely higher. “

The first volume of Viz Media’s 3-in-1 edition of Bleach comes out this week and finishing this thirty-fifth single volume of the series makes me almost envious of the omnibus format. Never has there been a series that keeps me flipping through the pages as swiftly as I do in Bleach. A part of this is obviously because I want to know what happens next, but predominantly it’s because of how text-light and attack heavy the pages are. I love how fast-paced and energetic it is, you’re completely drawn into the fight sequences! Unfortunately they’ll only last you a couple of minutes at most.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Bleach, Manga, Shonen Jump, Viz Media

Review: Arata (Vol. 06)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, June 4, 2011

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Manga-ka: Yuu Watase
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (13+)
Release Date: June 2011

Synopsis: “Hinohara discovers to his horror that his tormentor Kadowaki has followed him to Arata’s world. Recalling his suffering, Hinohara flies into a rage that triggers his transformation into a demonic entity!”

My prayers were answered after the Kadowaki-heavy volume five. He’s considerably less present in this sixth book after Hinohara forces a retreat of the group of opposing Sho. It comes with a price however. We learn that as much power as Hinohara’s weapon has for good, in his hands it still has the capability to cause out of control destruction. For the good of the world he aims to save, Hinohara will need to learn to control that temper, but as readers, it’s fantastic to see him get a chance to vent.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Arata, Manga, Viz Media, Yuu Watase

Review: Arisa (Vol. 02)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, June 2, 2011

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Manga-ka: Natsumi Ando
Publisher: Kodansha Comics
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: May 2011

Synopsis: “Unraveling secrets. Who is the mysterious “King” controlling the class? Tsubasa pursues Akira Manabe, a troubled boy who might know the King’s true identity. As Tsubasa closes in on Arisa’s secret, the King makes another move!”

Arisa‘s first impression continues to be its deceptive cover. Bright-eyed shoujo heroines and flowers give away nothing about the actual contents of the book – a continually compelling mystery about a school held in the grip of ‘The King’: a enigmatic figure who grants the wishes of students. When Tsubasa’s twin Arisa jumps from a window and goes into a coma, Tsubasa enters the school under guise of her sister to try and find out why.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Arisa, Kodansha Comics, Manga

Review: My Girlfriend’s A Geek (Vol. 03)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, June 1, 2011

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Author: Pentabu
Manga-ka: Rize Shinba
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: May 2011

Synopsis: “Lady Luck may have smiled upon fresh-faced college student Taiga Mutou in the form of his cute coworker Yuiko agreeing to go out with him. But little did he know that this particular lady was rotten through and through! When the couple’s first Christmas rolls around, Taiga decides to tutor a schoolboy for some extra cash. Only Yuiko’s fujoshi filter seems to have rubbed off on Taiga more than he ever anticipated, and now he’s seeing his new part-time gig in a whole new light?! Can Taiga hang on to the job, or will his Christmas plans be thwarted by his own fully ripe and rotten tendencies — not to mention Mr. Perfect, Kashiwabari, who still wants Yuiko for himself?!”

Yuiko is still a geek, specifically a huge boys’ love geek. The facets of her and Taiga’s individual personalities haven’t changed much since the beginning which makes the frustrating nature of their relationship a continued fault. Seeing as how the book is based almost entirely around this, you can see the problem. Some quirks are still entertaining though, and some occasional circumstances sweet, but they only just manage to balance out the moments that just painful – or as in this volume, even a little creepy.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, Manga, My Girlfriends a Geek, Yen Press

Review: Tenjo Tenge 2-in-1 Edition (Vol. 01)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Monday, May 30, 2011

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Manga-ka: Oh!Great
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: June 2011

Synopsis: “Soichiro Nagi and Bob Makihara were always the meanest street brawlers around. When they enter Todo High they plan on carving out a reputation as th strongest fighters in their new school – easier said than done in a place that’s dedicated to training its students in the art of combat! After realizing they’re the new fish, swimming in a tank full of sharks, Soichiro and Bob enter the Juken fight club as rookie members. However, the Executive Council – the archrival of the Juken Club – soon launches a surprise attack. Soichiro and Bob have a chance to show their stuff, as long as they don’t get curb-kicked in the process!”

Shiny new packaging, pages of full colour artwork and a brand new translation – Viz Media has done fantastic work on bringing Tenjo Tenge back to the North American market. But how does the story hold up today when we feel like we’ve already had our share of series like it before? Martial artist high school students vye for the top spot as strongest there is with busty girls, punked-out guys and a flurry of action to keep your eyes glued to the page along the way. Tenjo Tenge was brought back for a reason and despite its questionable (but fully intact) content, it’s a manga series worth a revisit or a first time trial.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Oh!Great, Omnibus, Tenjo Tenge, Viz Media

ANN Review: Pet Shop of Horrors Tokyo (Vol. 08)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, May 28, 2011

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Missed this one! My review of Pet Shop of Horrors Tokyo (Vol.08) can be read over on AnimeNewsNetwork. The review was originally posted back in February.

Pet Shop of Horrors is one of my favourite manga so it was tough writing my review for this volume which was very… meh. Not bad, but not all that great in comparison to those before it. Several issues on Tokyopop’s end were also really disappointing and stood out a lot. Saddest of all though, it all pales in comparison to the fact this is likely the last volume of Pet Shop of Horrors (or perhaps even Matsuri Akino) that we’ll see in English because of Tokyopop’s shut down.

None the less I still highly recommend this series. The original series, Pet Shop of Horrors, is notably for horror fans while the sequel series, Pet Shop of Horrors Tokyo, takes a much more light-hearted, character driven turn. Fingers crossed we somehow see the end in English someday!

Also a note that I’m no longer writing manga reviews for AnimeNewsNetwork effective this past May 22nd. We may still see some reviews of mine pop up on there (which I’ll continue to link to from here) but I won’t be submitting new material. That being said, ANN is looking for a new manga reviewer! If interested, you can check out their listing for the credentials and how-tos of applying.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: ANN Reviews, Manga, Tokyopop

Review: Arata (Vol. 05)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Friday, May 27, 2011

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Manga-ka: Yuu Watase
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (13+)
Release Date: March 2011

Synopsis: “Hinohara is surprised to learn that Kotoha no longer believes he’s Arata of the Hime clan. Meanwhile, a group within the Twelve Shinsho sets in motion a diabolical plan to eliminate Hinohara!”

After the previous two volumes, I was beginning to lose faith in this series. It hasn’t struck me as Yuu Watase’s strongest work since the get-go but despite that its fine line balance between shonen and shoujo elements and some slick artwork kept me coming back for more. I almost didn’t after the last volume however where it really felt like we were getting nowhere. Despite that it still felt like there was a flurry of activity assaulting us with every page. The result? Pointlessness, or at least what feels like it. Thankfully this fifth volume shifts its gears, and while it trends old ground, it does so in a way that sets in motion some intriguing and suspenseful scenes.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Arata, Manga, Viz Media, Yuu Watase

Review: Bakuman (Vol. 04)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, May 22, 2011

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Author: Tsugumi Ohba
Manga-ka: Takeshi Obata
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: April 2011

Synopsis: “When Akito is unable to come up with a storyboard within the time frame he promised, Moritaka decides to break up their partnership! As they go their separate ways to create manga, it may turn out that they’re actually headed in the same direction…”

Is it too much to ask for more manga in a manga series about making manga? In this fourth volume we’ve given a little reprieve from this frustration when a single page from each artist’s work is shown. Still, it feels more like a mouthful in a work that should offer a feast. The glimpses of storyboards are neat, particularly the chapter covers which are Bakuman in-progress stages. But, when you read page after page of people writing, drawing, revising and then talking about doing all those things (rinse and repeat), you start to resent seeing next to nothing of it.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Bakuman, Manga, Viz Media

Review: Oresama Teacher (Vol. 01)

Posted by Shannon Fay on Friday, May 20, 2011

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Manga-ka: Izumi Tsubaki
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: March 2011

Synopsis: “Mafuyu is the no-nonsense, take-charge and hard-hitting leader of her high school gang. But when she gets expelled for being a delinquent, her mother, fed up with her daughter’s wayward ways, sends Mafuyu to an isolated school far off in the country. Determined to make the best of the situation and make her mother proud, Mafuyu decides to turn over a new, feminine, well-behaved leaf. But her fighting spirit can’t be kept down, and the night before school starts she finds herself defending some guy who’s getting beaten up. One slip wouldn’t have been a problem, except the guy is…her teacher?! How can Mafuyu learn to be a good girl if her teacher won’t let her forget her wicked past?”

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that manga is rarely the result of one person’s talent and hard work, that there is in fact a fleet of people (assistants, editors, publishers) who work with the manga-ka to create the final product. This is clear in Oresama Teacher volume one, a manga that has an editor’s fingerprints all over it. While there are lots of funny moments in this volume, overall the work feels like it’s being pulled too hard in different directions as the manga-ka and her editors try out different approaches and ideas. It comes off as a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Shoujo, Shoujo Beat, Viz Media