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Review Archive

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

Review: About Love

Posted by Shannon Fay on Tuesday, February 28, 2012

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Manga-ka: Narise Konohara
Publisher: June
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: February 2012

Synopsis: “Asaka is a dedicated wedding planner who’ll do anything to guarantee his clients’ happiness. Sadly, his own love life has all but vanished thanks to his ridiculous work schedule! But when Asaka’s first patron resurfaces, the precious spark of true love may finally fly for him. Can he plan the perfect affair…or will it just have to happen by chance?”

About Love is less a yaoi and more a straight up drama. It’s the kind of the story that could possibly happen in real life, but upon hearing about it your first thought would probably be ‘Geez, that’s messed up.’ This manga was uncomfortable to read at times, but even when I winced I still had to keep reading.

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

Review: The Tyrant Falls In Love (Vol. 04)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, February 15, 2012

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Manga-ka: Hinako Takanaga
Publisher: June Manga
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: August 2011

Synopsis: “It’s been a long and winding road to victory, but Souichi has just moved in with Morinaga! Sure, it’s only meant to be temporary…and he’s got to do all of the cooking…and the cleaning…but these are small sacrifices for the sake of love, right? Too bad Morinaga is still struggling to keep Souichi out of his pants! Will he surrender control and let his stubborn heart lead the way?”

The Tyrant Falls In Love returns with another 200 pages of will-he-won’t-he as Morinaga continues to romantically persist after Souichi. A lot of the same material may be rehashed here (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing) but this book really steps things up with some drama you won’t expect. Finally more than their sex lives is now at risk. This fourth volume proves one of the most enjoyable yet as Souichi wages a one-sided war against a stalker and Morinaga fights to survive helping him with it.

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

Review: Dawn of the Arcana (Vol. 02)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, February 12, 2012

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Manga-ka: Rei Toma
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: February 2012

Synopsis: “Princess Nakaba of Senan and Prince Caesar of Belquat only married each other for the sake of peace between their two warring countries, but things take a surprising turn when Caesar finds himself falling for his strange wife! Caesar tries to get Nakaba to return his feelings, but she maintains that he is her enemy and that she hates him. So when Nakaba has a vision of Caesar getting killed, will she say anything to save him?”

Princess Nakaba remains a captive as the wife to Prince Caeser, heir to the throne of the kingdom warring against her own. With Nakaba’s loyal attendant Loki at her side, her time in the castle has shifted its attentions from survival to instead coming to terms with her growing romantic feelings. It’s not the direction I was hoping the story would go but I can’t say I’m surprised. At least with someone still worth rooting for and artwork to oogle, Dawn of the Arcana could be a winner yet.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Dawn of the Arcana, Manga, Shoujo, Shoujo Beat, Viz Media

Review: Shocking Pink!

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, February 4, 2012

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Manga-ka: Riosuke Yasui
Publisher: Project H
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: August 2011

Synopsis: “Fed up with how the world is being run, Ryuubi decides to do something about it. She is determined to rule it herself! And her first step towards world domination is to enlist a strategist into her camp. But the minute she rinds said strategist, Takaaki, she seems to become preoccupied with making as many heirs with him as possible! Indeed for Takaaki, there isn’t much strategizing to be done, more like sexual servitude, as world domination seems to have taken a beat to Ryuubi’s carnal cravings. On the other hand, Kan’u and Chouhi, Ryuubi’s sisters-in-arms are truly intent on their duties. They plan to “help out” Ryuubi as much as they can in case their ruler fails to produce an heir! And as if things couldn’t get any steamier, Takaaki’s childhood friend Motoko suddenly realizes that she has the hots for him as well. It seems there’s no rest of the hapless strategist. Indeed, this “version” of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is something you’ve never seen before!”

The back cover’s rather thorough walk through of Shocking Pink!‘s plot makes it pretty clear that intrigue and cleverly withheld plot developments aren’t what this story is all about. As the first title released under DMP’s new hentai imprint, Project-H, we know it’s not the plot we’re going into Shocking Pink! For. Offering all the cover gives up and then some, if you like what you see on the book’s (uncensored) outsides then there’s a good chance you’ll favour its contents as well. Warning: Book and review contains 18+ only material!

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: DMP, Hentai, Manga, Project-H

Review: Cross Game (Vol. 06)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Friday, February 3, 2012

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Manga-ka: Mitsuru Adachi
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: February 2012

Synopsis: “The arrival of a new year brings Ko’s last shot at Koshien closer at hand, but Akane Takigawa and her striking resemblance to Wakaba cause Ko’s heart to stir. Meanwhile, something happens to make Azuma and Aoba grow closer. Young feelings wax and wane in Ko’s third year of high school. To top it off, the Seishu baseball team gets a new coach?!”

This new volume of Cross Game arrives at the perfect time of year (though one could easily argue that any time of year is perfect for another stirring volume of Mitsuru’s Adachi baseball-driven character drama). With events spanning from early January to mid-February, the snow has begun to melt, the summer Koshien tournament is around the corner and love is undeniably in the air.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Cross Game, Manga, Viz Media

Review: Highschool of the Dead (Vol. 05)

Posted by Shannon Fay on Saturday, January 28, 2012

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Author: Daisuke Sato
Manga-ka: Shouji Sato
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: January 2012

Synopsis: “Takashi and his fellow students join up with a band of survivors who have barricaded themselves inside a local mall. Though the shopping center seems a well-stocked place to hide from the undead lurking outside, the policewoman in charge is having a hard time maintaining peace within. The group from Fujimi High would rather not get involved in a power struggle and tries to stay under the radar until they are ready to set off again. But with so many attractive, buxom girls among the students, it may be nearly impossible to avoid unwanted attention of the worst kind…”

I had some apprehension going into Highschool of the Dead. From the art and the write-up, I assumed that the manga was going to be little more than a mix of tits, ass, and gore. While those are indeed the three main ingredients in this volume, the manga has enough going for it that I enjoyed it anyway.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Yen Press

Review: The Betrayal Knows My Name (Vol. 02)

Posted by Shannon Fay on Wednesday, January 25, 2012

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Manga-ka: Hotaru Odagiri
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: December 2011

Synopsis: “Welcomed into the arms of the Giou clan and the Zweilt, Yuki reaches out to his comrades even as he is drawn into their war with the darkness. But the demonic Duras continue to spread their malevolence around Yuki, and the members of his new family are not impervious either, as one of their own vanishes without a trace and yet another is cornered by a sudden ambush. In the Zweilt, Yuki may well have found the long-sought-after place he belongs, but the enemy seems intent on stealing it out of his grasp forever. And when the shadowy figure of “Reiga,” the nemesis of the Giou, finally steps into the light, will Yuki find himself utterly alone, crushed by the weight of the truth?”

They say there are only so many types of stories, and one of them has to be ‘pretty people with super powers fight bad guys for fate of the world.’ The Betrayal Knows My Name not only follows this basic plot, it also has all the tropes you usually see in battle shojo manga: beautiful boys and girls, lots of destiny talk, plenty of fights and even more angst. While it’s not going to replace CLAMP’s X as the flagship title for the genre, it has its own strengths and charms that make it an enjoyable series.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Yen Press

Review: K-ON! (Vol. 04)

Posted by Victoria K Martin on Monday, January 23, 2012

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Manga-ka: kakifly
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: December 2011

Synopsis: “As the second school term begins, so do preparations for the upcoming school festival! The Pop Music Club starts working on some fresh lyrics as they tune up their act for their live show. But the third-year girls find themselves practising for a performance of another kind when Ritsu and Mio are selected to play the lead roles in their class production of Romeo and Juliet! With the rest of the girls tied up in play rehearsal, Azusa spends her afternoons alone in the clubroom … Will the show be ready to go on?!”

The synopsis for this volume is a bit misleading. While the themes it raises are present for the entire book, the plot surrounding the play is actually resolved very quickly. The rest of the volume is concerned mainly with the older girls of K-ON! as they face their imminent graduation and the challenges of getting into university.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: 4 Koma, K-ON!, Manga, Yen Press

Review: Ouran High School Host Club (Vol. 17)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Monday, January 9, 2012

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Manga-ka: Bisco Hatori
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: December 2011

Synopsis: “Tamaki’s father and grandmother, the heads of the powerful Suoh Corp., are behind the Host Club’s suspension and the plan for Haruhi to be shipped off abroad. Now the Host Club members must pull out all the stops to save their beloved leader from his family’s infighting.”

We’ve arrived at the penultimate volume of Ouran High School Host Club – you’d think it was the end reading it though. It feels like all the stops were pulled out for this amazing climax. The romance, the friendship, the favours of acquaintances, the company power plays, the family struggles, medical breakthroughs and a race against the clock. No volume of manga I read throughout this entire year had me as giddy and tight gripped on the pages as this one.

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

Review: Higurashi When They Cry – Atonement Arc (Vol. 02)

Posted by Shannon Fay on Saturday, January 7, 2012

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Higurashi When They Cry Atonement Arc (Vol.01)

Author: Ryukishio7
Manga-ka: Karin Suzuragi
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: December 2011

Synopsis: “Rena has taken extreme measures to protect her and her father’s happiness, but such drastic actions have terrible consequences. When her friends learn of her crimes, they feel no revulsion toward Rena, but rather a sense of regret that they hadn’t been able to help her and avert this tragedy. But even if they had sensed Rena’s desperation, would her classmates’ pity have transformed itself from sentiment into action?”

Higurashi isn’t a series for everyone. It deals in extremes – when it’s not over-the-top gruesome, it’s cavity inducing cute. The two things might seem at odds, but the manga uses these disparate elements to play up each other. The violent scenes become that much more unsettling when committed by cute, wide-eyed characters and previously innocent scenes become less cute and more creepy as the series goes on.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Higurashi, Manga, Yen Press