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Review Archive

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

Review: Otomen (Vol. 10)

Posted by Shannon Fay on Sunday, May 15, 2011

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Manga-ka: Aya Kanno
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (13+)
Release Date: May 2011

Synopsis: “A potion at school causes all the guys to act manly and all the girls to act feminine! Suddenly, Asuka loses interest in all the girly hobbies he loves, and Ryo is working at a bakery?! Can anything break the spell they’re under and turn them back to normal?”

Otomen isn’t a series known for its restraint. The series has never shied away from off-the-wall characters and contrived situations, but for the most part they all stayed believable (if more than a little extreme). While the series has always existed in a world of cartoonish hyper reality, it never relied on anything supernatural to move the plot forward. So when a major plot point in the book revolved around a potion (seriously, a potion?) I was just about ready to give up on this series. But something surprising happened as I kept reading. Kanno take this bizarre situation and uses it to really get at the heart of the series, going deeper into its themes than it ever has before.

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

ANN Review: Dengeki Daisy (Vol. 04)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Monday, April 25, 2011

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For my most recently posted review over at AnimeNewsNetwork, I revisted a series I’d previously reviewed over there – Dengeki Daisy (Vol. 04).

“Amusing as they may be, Teru and Kurosaki are still facing the same problems they were one, two and three volumes ago. These stories have their charm but don’t feel worth the postponed plot.”

It’s such a relief to have the big secret finally completely out in the open! Then again… it hasn’t changed much. Teru knows who her hacker-protector DAISY is at least yet no one’s really talking about it. Everyone’s still doing the same thing they were before! At least there’s some subplot working its way to the surface and I look forward to seeing how these more sinister story directions play themselves out.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: ANN Reviews, Manga, Viz Media

ANN Review: Clean Freak – Fully Equipped (Vol. 01)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, April 19, 2011

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A rather unfortunately timed review of mine was posted over on AnimeNewsNetwork this weekend for Clean Freak – Fully Equipped (Vol. 01).

“A quirky plot will only get you so far and Clean Freak may keep up the ethanol-enthusiasm to the end, but it does so at the expense of developing characters readers will truly care about.”

Overall, I didn’t really like this book – I didn’t dislike it per say but it was a total throw away once done (er, donate or sell but you know!). I did like the lead’s over the top problem with germs and cleanliness because it was pretty entertaining but the unpolished artwork and multitude of underdeveloped characters being rushed in and out the whole time made it really hard to give a care. Kudos though to the graphic designer for the lovely packaging! That was the entire reason I picked it up in the first place.

Gengerally unless I find it heinous or incapable of finishing, I always try to give a new series two books to prove themselves to me. It’s too bad however that with Tokyopop’s sudden shutdown it’s very unlikely Clean Freak will have a chance to prove itself again.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: ANN Reviews, Manga, Tokyopop

ANN Review: Toradora! (Vol. 01)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Monday, April 11, 2011

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AnimeNewsNetwork has posted another of my reviews, this time for the first volume of Toradora!. It’s recently been released by Seven Seas.

Overall I thought the book was fun, though also a little dull. This was because it felt predictable and rather cliche as far as otaku-targeted material goes. I don’t tend to read works like this so it was an interesting change of pace; plus I felt like on a site like ANN of all places, someone who has never seen an episode of the anime series (and very likely never will) was a fairly worthwhile angle. I’ve got friends who rave about the series though so I’m curious to see if volume two offers up a little more entertaining substance. A notably plus was I really liked Seven Seas work on it. It had a very complimenting adaptation which is something that stands out more often than not to me from the publisher.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: ANN Reviews, Manga, Seven Seas

Review: Not Love But Delicious Foods Makes Me So Happy!

Posted by Shannon Fay on Sunday, April 3, 2011

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Reviewer: Shannon Fay

Not Love But Delicious Foods Makes Me So Happy

Manga-ka: Fumi Yoshinaga
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: December 2010

Synopsis: “There is a Japanese saying that goes, “Hana yori dango,” or “dumplings over flowers.” And no one is more of an advocate of this adage than mangaka Y-naga, a woman whose life revolves around her intense work and equally intense sleep schedule. The only thing that can rouse her out of this infernal cycle of deadlines and being dead to the world? Food. As Y-naga and her friends visit restaurants around Tokyo to satisfy their appetites, their individual approaches to food add an extra dimension to their witty and comical interactions.”

Manga about food is similar to manga about music – they have to convey things through a visual medium that are pretty much impossible to capture visually. For music manga, it’s the sound of an instrument or a beautiful voice singing out, while for food manga it’s that taste of a delicious meal. But while you can’t substitute one sense for another, many manga-ka have risen to the challenge and found fun ways to convey different sensations through images. Fumi Yoshinaga only manages to make it halfway. While Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy! is a fun read, it didn’t leave me hungry, a bad sign in a manga about food.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Fumi Yoshinaga, Manga, Yen Press

Review: Taro and the Magic Pencil

Posted by Andre Paploo on Thursday, March 24, 2011

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Reviewer: Andre Paploo

Manga-ka: Yukiya Sakuragi
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: All Ages
Release Date: November 2010

Synopsis: “Before the day his comic book drawings came to life, Taro was an ordinary boy. Now his characters are in danger and it’s up to him to save them! With the flick of a magic pencil, Taro transforms into Terry (a terrier) and enters his comic book world. The adventures ahead are more amazing than anything he ever imagined.”

Children’s manga has only recently started to trickle into the domestic market, with VIZ and Udon each offering a clutch of Japanese titles tailored to this growing segment in the graphic novel market. While there has been lots of manga targeting younger fans like the Shonen Jump line, what struck me as interesting about this range of titles is that they are aimed at early readers. Taro and the Magic Pencil takes this a step further than other all-ages manga in serving as a bridge between children’s story books and comics, similar in the approach of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Captain Underwear books, if for a slightly younger audience.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Viz Media

Review: Only The Ring Finger Knows (Vol. 02)

Posted by Jaime Samms on Wednesday, March 9, 2011

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Reviewer: Jaime Samms

Manga-ka: Satoru Kannagi (Author), Hotaru Odagiri (Artist)
Publisher: June
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: July 2006

Synopsis: “After all the studying he did for his exams, sacrificing time with his boyfriend Yuichi, Wataru gets a measly C-average on his summer prep test. Yuichi’s college classmate Asaka offers to tutor him, and he eagerly accepts. Wataru finds Asaka’s cool beauty and attitude strikingly similar to that of Yuichi’s, and subconsciously becomes vulnerable to his advances. For the first time in their relationship, Yuichi becomes enraged. Will they be able to overcome this new obstacle?”

When I started out reading this second volume of Only the Ring Finger Knows, I expected more tension between Asaka and Yuichi. Throughout the story, I kept expecting Asaka to step up and try to win Wataru’s affections. It seemed so obvious this is where the author was headed with this story. Instead, she spends a great deal of the book endearing Asaka not only to Wataru, but to her readers as well.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, June, Light Novels

Review: 20th Century Boys (Vol. 13)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, February 27, 2011

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manga-ka: Naoki Urasawa
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: February 2011

Synopsis: “(Warning: Synopsis and review contains large spoilers.) The Friend is dead. As the news spreads around the world, the members of the Friends’ executive committee are faced with a dilemma: Is it all over, or will the events predicted in the New Book of Prophecy still be carried out? Otcho insists that things are not over at all, and that is exactly what his old nemesis tells the fractious Friends’ committee, where quite a few members are prepared to call it quits. Soon thereafter, certain members begin disappearing, one after another.”

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: 20th Century Boys, Manga, Naoki Urasawa, Viz Media, Viz Signature

Review: Right Here, Right Now (Vol. 02)

Posted by Shannon Fay on Thursday, February 24, 2011

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Reviewer: Shannon Fay

Manga-ka: Souya Himawari
Publisher: June
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: February 2011

Synopsis: “At the war’s height, Takakage and Mizuo once again cross paths. The two embrace, profess their unending love for each other, and swear mutual oaths…but there is talk of Takakage getting married. With their personal crisis and the war ripping apart the nation, how will the two men be able to stay connected?”

Right Here, Right Now is a very enjoyable time travel romance. In this volume the main character Mizuo has to decide between staying in the past with Takakage, a local lord he’s fallen for, or return to his life in the present. While it’s not the most unique dilemma (if you’ve read even a chapter of Fushigi Yugi you’ve seen Miaki sweat over the exact same problem), it’s still well done here.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Boys' Love/Yaoi, June, Manga

Review: Sand Chronicles (Vol. 10)

Posted by Shannon Fay on Monday, February 14, 2011

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Reviewer: Shannon Fay

Manga-ka: Hinako Ashihara
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: January 2011

Synopsis: “Daigo digs up the time capsule he buried twenty years ago when he was only ten. What message did Daigo leave for his future self? And what does it take to live life fully and without regret?”

There are some manga that continue even after the main plotline has resolved itself, where the series keeps going even after the main conflict is finished. An example of that can be seen here with the final volume of Sand Chronicles. At this point Ann has pretty much worked through her issues and the love triangle between her and her two childhood friends, Daigo and Fuji, has straightened itself out. But while this volume may be superfluous to the main storyline, it still delivers a bittersweet and touching story.

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