Blog
March 31st, 2008 — Links, Manga
Just a couple of reviews this time around:
FYI, my comment notifications don’t appear to be coming through at the moment, so I apologize for any delays in responding to or moderating comments.
March 30th, 2008 — Anime, Recommended Series
I’ve decided to start a new feature for this blog: the recommended series. I’ve been writing reviews of individual manga volumes and plan to do some of individual anime DVDs, but sometimes it makes more sense to write a post on a series as a whole. To start things off, here’s a look at one of my favorite anime series, Cowboy Bebop. It wasn’t the first series that I watched and liked (Fullmetal Alchemist takes that honor), but it was the first series that I watched in its entirety.
Cowboy Bebop is set just a few decades in the future, in the year 2071. Interplanetary travel is now a reality, due to a network of hyperspace gateways set up throughout the solar system. But the gates come with a price: an industrial accident involving one gate has sent debris from the Moon raining down on Earth, destroying much of the world’s surface. As a result, most people have left Earth to find a better life in the colonies on colonies on the other planets, and those who remain on earth live underground.
Continue reading →
March 20th, 2008 — Manga Reviews, Reviews
Hana-Kimi, Vols. 1-2
Story and Art by Hisaya Nakajo
Translation by David Ury
English Adaptation by Gerard Jones
Rated T+ for Older Teen
Viz, 2004
(First published in 1997)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59116-329-9 (Vol. 1)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59116-398-5 (Vol. 2)
Japanese-American teen Mizuki Ashiya has admired youth high jump champion Izumi Sano ever since she saw one of his competitions on television. Now she’s transferring into his school in Japan in order to meet him, but there’s just one catch: it’s an all-boys’ school. Mizuki can cut off her long hair and wear a chest-flattening vest, but how long can she really hope to keep her sex a secret in the close quarters of private school dorm life?
March 19th, 2008 — Manga Reviews, Reviews
My reviews of vols. 2 and 3 of D.Gray-Man are now up at Manga Life. A teaser:
Set in a fictional nineteeth century, D.Gray-Man is the story of fifteen-year-old exorcist Allen Walker. An accommodator of a fragment of Innocence, a mysterious substance with the ability to fight the demons known as akuma, Allen works as an exorcist of the Black Order to search for lost fragments of Innocence that will help the order battle the evil Millenium Earl.
March 13th, 2008 — Manga
(I may not have time to post on Friday, so you get this post a day early!)
If you read enough shojo manga, it won’t be long before you become an expert in how Japan celebrates Valentine’s Day and White Day. For those who haven’t yet reached that point of manga consumption, here’s a brief overview. In Japan, Valentine’s Day tradition calls for women to give chocolate to men on February 14. Men who receive Valentine’s Day chocolate are supposed to make a return gift one month later on White Day, March 14. You can read more about the holiday traditions on Wikipedia.
It’s easy to see why these two holidays have become time-honored manga plot devices. Like “the big dance” in US teen fiction, Valentine’s Day and White Day are wonderful excuses for meaningful glances, significant blushes, stammered confessions of love, and truly awkward moments between our favorite emotionally clueless characters. But in the hands of skilled writers, they can also be opportunities for great characterization and entertaining adventures.
March 12th, 2008 — Manga Reviews, Reviews
My review of Peace Maker, Vol. 1 has been posted over at Manga Life. A teaser:
Set in 1864, Peace Maker is the story of two brothers, Tetsunosuki and Tatsunosuke, who join the Shinsengumi, a group of swordsmen loyal to the shogunate. Tatsu, the elder, just wants to make a good living so he can support himself and his brother, but Tetsu’s driven by a different goal: he’s vowed to avenge his parents, who were killed by a Choshu revolutionary. But when Tetsu joins the Shinsengumi, he must make a difficult choice. Is he willing to become a demon—someone just as ruthless as his parents’ murderer—so he can get his revenge?
March 2nd, 2008 — Graphic Novels, Links, Manga
March 1st, 2008 — Manga Reviews, Reviews
D.Gray-Man, Vol. 1
Story and Art by Katsura Hoshino
Translation and English Adaptation by Mayumi Kobayashi
Rated T+ for Older Teen
Viz, 2006
(First published in 2004)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4215-0623-4
Set in an alternate nineteeth century, D.Gray-Man tells the story of Allen Walker, a fifteen-year-old boy with a dark past. Allen is an exorcist: his left hand, disfigured since birth, hosts a fragment of Innocence, a mysterious substance with the ability to destroy demons known as akuma. When Allen invokes the power of his Innocence, his arm transforms into a fearsome anti-akuma weapon. With his fellow exorcists of the Black Order, Allen fights akuma and searches for lost fragments of Innocence to prevent the end of the world at the hands of the evil Millennium Earl.