New Manga Purchases: Week of August 15, 2010

• "Rasetsu" Vol. 1 -- This is a spin off of "Yurara."  In this series Yako from "Yurara" returns and starts working for a small exorcist company.  The company's main talent is an 18-year old woman who happens to strongly resemble Yurara.  The ghosts they exorcise are run-of-the-mill and the side characters are very one dimensional.  I can't recommend this series based on this first volume because there are much better series with similar themes.  These series include the original series "Yurara," "Her Majesty's Dog" by Mick Takeuchi, and "Ghost Hunt."  2/5
• "Afterschool Charisma" Vol. 1 -- I'm so sad about this one.  The premise is GREAT!  It's about a school filled with the clones of notable historic figures and one seemingly normal guy.  But then that premise is rammed down the reader's throat and then pounded into the reader's head with a jackhammer to make sure we understand these are clones of famous people.  I think a little subtlety would have been nice.  The quiet moments when Kamiya is with Freud and Hitler (of all the famous people to clone...) are quite nice.  The rest of it, though, is schlock.  I think it also would have been nice to get rid of the obvious villains and the glaring lack of ethics of those villains.  I guess I felt this series could have been a whole lot better if it stuck to the nature vs. nurture question and gone with it in that vain.  So what if Marie Curie wanted to play music and be in love with the school's founders son?  That could have been interesting. Oh!  The most excellent thing about this volume was the "All Mighty Dolly."  I wants one badly!!! It's soooo cute!!!  2.5/5  I really feel that this one is a matter of taste, so if the premise sounds good to you, you might want to check it out, especially if subtlety is not your cup of tea.
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Manga Review: Pandora Hearts, Volume 1

"Pandora Hearts" by Jun Mochizuki is yet another variation on the "Alice in Wonderland" story.  This time "Alice" is teen boy named Oz who has just turned 15 (though, he's drawn to look all of 10).  Just before his birthday he stumbles down a hole and finds a pocket watch, which upon touching leads him into a dream about a giant Black Rabbit who is disguised as a very insane girl.  Later at his coming of age ceremony he is formally sucked into the surreal abyss where B-rabbit saves him from some twisted entities called "chains."   And then some stuff happens and the two of them end up at some mysterious mansion where they are invited to join a society called "Pandora."  Pandora happens to be an organization that researches "chains."  Does that sound familiar? Yep...blah, blah, blah ... meh.

I suppose if I had not read other similar but much better manga series than this, I would have liked it more.  I can't quite put my finger on it, but this series seemed very flat to me.  The chains, though trying, didn't seem all that threatening, nor did they push the edge of looking twisted.  The main character, Oz, has no personality and B-Rabbit is just another crazy brassy girl whose true power can only be unlocked by the main adolescent boy character.  It's all very commonplace.

This series falls along the lines of "DN Angel" and "Jing, King of Bandits."  However, both of these series are far superior to "Pandora Hearts" and I highly recommend them -- although "Jing, King of Bandits" can be a bit esoteric at times.  In terms of "Alice and Wonderland" variations, there is a new series running now called "Are you Alice?" which is far more interesting.  I give "Pandora Hearts" volume 1 2/5 because I did get through 90% of the volume before giving up.Source URL: http://aminefairy.blogspot.com/search/label/2%2F5
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Lots of New Manga -- Quick Reviews of Volume 1

Bad:
"Love Master A" -- Girl of 1000 broken hearts is made class president by a male harem that what looking for a mistress. It feels like a shabby wannabe "Ouran Host Club" I couldn't get through the entire first volume -- 1/5

"Shiki Tsukai" -- A boy is born with unknown powers that are influenced by the seasons. A beautiful maiden of spring, who happens to be the daughter of some big corporation owner, comes to protect the boy. It's not very interesting. 2/5 but I did read the entire first volume.

"Suppli" -- Whiny working women in her late 20's breaks up with her boyfriend of 7-years, now worries about growing old alone. "Kimi wa Petto" (Tramps Like Us) and "Hataraki Man" are much, much better. I got through the first chapter only before I became bored with the main character's self indulgent whining -- 1/5

"My Dearest Devil Princess" -- short and unathletic Keita buys a box from his friend who promises the box will grant him wishes. Keita opens the box and a sexy devil appears who promises him three wishes in exchange for his soul. This manga is basically a bunch of fan service -- low on story development, character development, and originality. The only saving grace of this story is the gay track captain who's in love with Keita and the vice class president who is crushing on the track captain. She thinks the track captain is after the devil. 1.5/5

"Puri Puri" -- Masato, who dreams of being a priest, enters an all girl's divinity school. Apparently at this school all the girls wear dangerously short skirts and don't know the first thing about Catholicism. This is fan service at its worse. 1/5 because I did get through the entire volume. It was funny, but there's no reason to set this story in a "divinity school."

Okay:
"Short Sunzen" -- A violent girl, violent boy love story. The drawings are really bad and the stories are forgettable. "Cheeky Angel" is better. 2.5/5

"Enchanter" -- A demon finds a boy, Haruhiko, with the same smell of her former master, Fulcanelli. The demon looks like the teacher Haruhiko is crushing on. Together with Fulcanelli's, Haruhiko and the demon, Eukanaria, fight off demons who are attacking the teacher. There is some humor, but overall the story lacks originality. 3/5 for an average manga.


Good:
"Love Attack" -- A violent girl, violent boy love story done right. This first volume had lots of sincerity and humor. 5/5

"Monkey High" -- The jaded uppity daughter of a disgraced politician transfers to a public school. There she meets a boy who reminds her of a baby monkey. His innocence charm melts her heart. This manga so far is very sweet. 5/5

"To Terra" (Terra e) -- The manga the anime is based upon. Like the anime, it is excellent! I highly recommend reading it. 5/5

"Pretty Face" -- A karate macho gets into a accident and awakens a year later with the face of the girl he's love with. Mistaken for dead, his parents move away in sorrow and he is mistaken on the street to be the twin sister of the girl he's in love with. To make her happy, he decides to live as her big sister until her real sister is found. The manga series starts off sweet and sincere with sprinklings of raunchy boy fantasy. 4/5 -- because I feel the main conceit is going to get old quickly.

"Shinshoku Kiss" --16-year old Kotoko admires the reknown doll maker Fool. While out scouting for beautiful people, Kotoko is kidnapped by Fool and told that she has to be his assistant or die. And so begins Kotoko's bizarre relationship with Fool. I like the drawing style of this manga a lot and I also like how I'm not really sure what Fool's intentions are. 5/5 for a creepy manga.

"Walking Butterfly" -- This is the story of Michiko, a 6-foot tall girl who hates her body. Consumed by anger and self loathing she lives on the fringes of society doing odd jobs and petty crime. While delivering pizzas, she is mistaken for a model and dressed to go out on the runway. The clothing designer, Mihara, recognizes right away that she's no model and tells Michiko that she couldn't handle one second out on the runway. He's right and Michiko runs out, but at the same time has a breakthrough, realizing that modeling is something she can do and feeling all fired up by Mihara's challenge. 4/5 -- for a good start with a deduction for some self indulgent whining on Michiko's part.

"Heaven!!" -- This light confection of a manga is about Rinnie, who can send ghosts to heaven with her harisen; Uzaki, a yankee punk with bad taste; and a lecherous God in search of a body. Uzaki gets run over by a bus while trying to save Rinnie and end up in a coma. The God takes over Uzaki's body and condemns Uzaki's soul to a stuffed pink monkey. It turns out that the God has a much better personality and fashion sense than Uzaki, so once he gets Uzaki's body cleaned up, the new and improved Uzaki is a handsome lady killer. Oh, what's a poor pink monkey plushie to do? 4/5 -- for a promising premise, but there does seem like there's anywhere to go with the story.

"VB Rose" -- I didn't expect to like this manga about a high school girl who assists a pair of guys who run a wedding dress boutique. Surprisingly, it's a sweet story about a Ageha who idolized sister has just revealed to her family that she's pregnant and is marrying the father of her child, a man Ageha considers less than worthy. Ageha designs handbags and has a local following, that includes Yukari and Mitsuya of VB Rose. While workig through her emotions about her sister, Ageha volunteers to help make her sister's dress ... and so begins VB Rose. 5/5 for great character development and an examination of a sibling relationship that is universally common.Source URL: http://aminefairy.blogspot.com/search/label/2%2F5
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Manga Review: The Devil Within

I think the Japanese title for this manga is more fitting: "Tenshi no naka ni Akuma Ari" -- "The Angel within is a Devil" (or something like that). Still this doesn't stop this 2 volume manga series from sucking. This manga is about a girl, Rion, who is on the cusp of 16-years old -- apparently the age people become "legal" in Japan -- who is told by her father that she must "marry" one of 3 supposedly super hot guys. It turns out that the three guys are "angels" and Rion's adoptive father is a "devil" and through some blood ritual has turned her into a devil too. The problem is that Rion is afraid of men and, therefore, prefers boys -- in other words she's a "Shota Con." Rion falls in love with a boy her age, Tenshi, who through some curse has the body of a little kid. However, in Rion's presence, sometimes Tenshi regains his full grown body, much to the dismay and fright of Rion. Sigh ... the first volume mildly piqued my interest because I wanted to know the connection between Rion and Tenshi -- their connection is a good one, but ultimately this manga suffers from poor execution. It's too bad too because the base story isn't so bad -- it a little like a gender reversed version of "Shuffle." However, "Shuffle" had underlying sweetness. This manga is not sweet at all, rather, it is shallow and crude and portrays the main character, Rion, as nothing more than a very confused teenager. It's also disappointing to see how shallowly the angels problems are dealt with.

A warning to "Western" readers: This manga's concept of "angel" and "devil" have nothing to do with "good" and "evil" -- rather they are more like two different clans of the same type of human-like "demon" -- "demon" in the sense of a supernatural creature that can be of any moral alignment. So in this manga, both the angels and the devils act like what "Westerners" would consider to be "devilish." This is common in many manga, so get used to it and try not to be quick to assign "good" and "evil" based upon Western iconography. In some of the stories "good" and "evil" cannot be distinguished or may exist at the same time in a character.

Anyhow, this manga gets 2/5 -- the average of 3/5 for a decent first volume and a 1/5 for a crappy juvenile let down second volume.Source URL: http://aminefairy.blogspot.com/search/label/2%2F5
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