Anne Freaks by Yua Kotegawa

Synopsis: Yuri Kitawa just killed his mother. While burring her corpse he is seen by a girl; Anna and she offers him help to get rid of his mothers corpse, forever, in exchange for Yuri’s help to assassinate Anna’s father, the Head of the Kakusei Group; a terrorist organization. While on the road of revenge Anna and Yuri meet Mitsuba Maezono, who just escaped from the murderous Kakusei Group that slaughtered his family. A trio with a secret and terrifying past, killing down the road of vengeance and love. What future awaits these Children of Death? And why do they continue going forth on a path made from corpses?

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Great! This is the best way to describe this manga. With the fluid art, remarkable characters and an interesting plot, you won’t regret the bucks spent on the 4 volumes it lasts and to top it all, add the excellent atmosphere that fills those tense moments to make them even more tense and, when necessary, the occasional joke to break the ice while giving us more three dimensional characters. The catch is that all this great things come with some sacrifices.

I was more than amazed, more than in love with the characters. All of them having their reasons to exterminate the Kakusei Group or to stop the deadly trio, I established a connection between the characters and myself, yet this connection was shaken twice and I couldn’t understand the reasons behind these actions, which wasn’t a pleasant experience. While not a pleasant experience it surely didn’t have an impact big enough to ruin the story.

What better way to make things even better than a solid plot? Fluid art? Well Anne Freaks has both. With crisp art that only aids the plot by offering you exquisite character designs and backgrounds, there is enough to drool on. What makes the plot so solid is that it never strays away from the point, with useless side quests as seen on various manga, besides the originality of the plot, vengeance upon your father, the head of a terrorist organization.

Now that you have read my opinion, go get your self a copy of this, start reading and start enjoying. I promise one thing, just one simple thing, you won’t be disappointed. I was lucky I picked this one up based on pure impulse and now you are lucky to know that it is this good.

Angel's Share by Tsutomo Takahashi & Go Ohinata.

Synopsis: The Afterworld Bar, a place between Heaven and Hell where all the people stuck in limbo go to. And he is no exception, but even when he knows which path to take, he just wants to have a drink first, for it may be his last. But little does he know that his cursed luck as a living one ends here.

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Weird in every aspect. Tsutomu Takahashi (Alive, Blue Heaven, Route 69 & Skyhigh) pairs up with Go Ohinata to come up with a refreshing manga that not only mixes the art styles, but the viewpoints as well. The 8 pages it takes to cover the story seem more like a conversation between the two mangakas and it is pretty obvious who is who. A pessimistic side of death (Tsutomu Takahashi) and the optimistic side of death (Go Ohinata).

The extremely limited length of Angel’s Share makes it almost impossible for the main character to have any background and development. Yet we learn about his past life, even when it is just two sentences, it manages to work and it gives us a nice idea of the kind of man he was. But besides the two sentences of background there is nothing else. True, it works, but there is no reason given to his actions and that leaves me with an awful taste since instead of reading a story I end up drawing conclusions that may not correct.

The art has one main purpose, to indicate the state of mind and complexity of the characters. The character that was drawn by Takahashi is dark and emanates a heavy and obscure atmosphere that fits his dark and obscure past and personality and it also enhances it. While the rest of the art was done by Ohinata which is very bright and has almost no shadows, sometimes one might think that a child did those drawings, but that is the point, to lighten the mood and give a light of hope. And while the art does what it was meant to, it ends there, it doesn’t do much else, it is just there.

In the end Angel’s Share offers a nice view at the mangakas opinion on death. Yet the lack of more character background and development makes it hard to like. This share of manga, is just like a taste of a great dish, you will always end up wanting more.

Angel Sanctuary by Kaori Yuki

Synopsis: Setsuna and Sara are brother and sister and they are on the run from everything and everyone. Criticized by everyone for their mutual, strong love they decide to flee from everyone and everything they know, to start again from zero. But, suddenly, Sara is attacked by a monster and in despair Setsuna turns into the Organic Angel, Alexiel. The promised one to return peace and order to the Heavens. Setsuna is now driven to go to the very bottom of Hell and to rise to the upper layers of Heaven, just to exterminate the source of all evil, suffering and chaos and during his quest he must overcome all kinds of obstacles, including the prejudice of loving his sister, with the aid of demons, angels and humans alike.

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Here you have it ladies and gentleman. The most famous work that Kaori Yuki has ever made; Angel Sanctuary. The longest manga I have read until now, 20 volumes of amazing art, captivating characters and enough atmosphere to put you as a spectator of the story rather than a reader. Yet in all its might and glory some things don’t fit, like some weird actions scenes and the length of the manga can make some people back away instead of drawing them near the wonderful story.

Having a cast of fully developed and engrossing characters is something Kaori Yuki has always done right, but in Angel Sanctuary she raises the bar by offering you a huge cast of characters. On the top of my head I’m thinking of 20 characters. And by fully developed I mean entire volumes dedicated to some characters. If we add the delicate art Kaori Yuki is know for, we get an exquisite cast of characters, beautiful both in design and persona. And with her trademark storytelling skills and touch to create and manipulate a story, she draws you in and places you at the side of the characters, so when a character screams you can hear him and feel the intensity of his scream.

True, Angel Sanctuary is something to praise, but it’s not entirely perfect. During a lot of actions scenes I ended up confused, not understanding what had just happen was a experience I can’t like, making me go back and forth the pages to understand what happened was a pain rather than a pleasure. Yet the part I disliked the most about Angel Sanctuary was the ending. Through out the 20 volumes I experienced many, many chills down the spine because of what just happened and while the ending was pretty, I was expecting something more shocking, more amazing and more a-la Kaori Yuki. Something that leaves me with my mouth open for times to come, as she has done many times before.

All The Way Down by Masanori Morita

Synopsis: He is a drunk, a gambler, a wife abuser, a father and a boxer. Divorced and with his neck on the line, he fights what could be his last fight in the ring. All he has to do is take a fall in the fifth round with one minute remaining from his opponents right and wait for the count, and all of his debts will be forgotten and his life spared.

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Well although you might know by now where this manga is going and how it’s going to end it doesn’t matter. Yes, you got that right, it doesn’t matter. Why? Because since page one of six you already know what will happen. The important thing here is the main character that with a sudden thought he proves that he is no ones pet to play with. Morita Masanori accomplishes this by telling you in a concise way what you need to know about the main character, well almost everything since he has no name.

Although the art reminiscences American comics rather than Japanese comics (manga), the amazing use of shades and light with the distinctive trademark of a more serious tone rather than a teen-like atmosphere that most American comics have, was more than enough to let me know this is manga. A few of the things that caught my eye since page one: the color, the proportions and the facial expressions that emphasized anger, contempt, disagreement, pain and the classic look that says: You are pathetic.

I would like that it lasted longer, six pages aren’t enough to satisfy my needs to know a character, I was given certain information and while it made it work, it didn’t made it shine. And maybe, just maybe, the ending would have been more shocking, if I only had known the main character more.

If you have spare time to read 6 pages, five minutes, then get this one, it won’t hurt you and you get to see amazing art plus a what-could-have-been a compelling story. And as a personal plus, I liked it how it shows the life of many boxers that get the boxing fever and start corrupting and poisoning their lives and the ones around them.

Alive by Tsutomu Takahashi

Synopsis: Yashiro Tenshuu took justice to his own hands by killing four men that raped his girlfriend. After killing them and returning to his girlfriend’s side he learns that she has killed her self. Soon he is found by the police and arrested. Sentenced to death, the only thing he has to do now is wait for his final hour. But just before he is executed, someone offers him the opportunity to live as long as he follows their orders, he accepts the deal and is taken to a scientific facility, where he will become part of an experiment as a test subject and as prey to The Black.

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Alive is fearless, brutal and realistic, even when it uses unrealistic components (The Black). Why do I say this? Because it’s all about what The Black represents, and when it’s understood, it is made real. Yashiro Tenshuu gets all the attention on this manga, he is the only one with a background and a development and it should be like this for he is the main character, but the lack of background and development on many if not all secondary characters is really discouraging.

Wonderful art this manga has, well at least in the backgrounds you can almost hear the water running through the pipes and feel the steam burn your skin. Although there are some weird shots at character faces due to the inking or the perspective, most of the character designs are just above normal but not precisely amazing since not much effort was put into them.

The down point of Alive was the lack of appealing characters, development and background for most of the secondary characters. I simply couldn’t connect to them, I understood them, but that doesn’t mean I liked them. If this manga was intended to be a drama then it is a preposterous manga at that. How can there be drama with out emotions and relation to the characters? This is why I think of this manga as a thesis on fear rather than a drama, but I never expected to be reading a thesis, I expected reading a story, maybe not as usual as most stories, but this simply was a huge change of setting.

Doesn’t matter how you want to see this manga, as a thesis or as a drama it is downright mediocre. When scientists make a thesis they stipulate grounds to work on, when writers make a drama they stipulate development. Alive has none of these two very important aspects and when you look at the least important factors, the series just barely made it to the acceptable levels.

Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo

Synopsis: On December 6th, 1992 the world changed forever, when a new type of bomb exploded over urban Japan initiating World War III. 30 years after the war, in a very unstable Japan, paranormal things start to happen and the military is attacked from two sides, by an anti-government terrorist group and the Japanese politicians. And in the middle of this is Kaneda and Tetsuo battle, two life-long friends and rivals, whose lives are about to be changed… For ever.

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I was never a fan of the movie, but a friend of mine talked to me about the manga and convinced me to give it a try. I’ll be honest, the movie was lame, the action wasn’t that good neither was the story, but everyone claimed that the movie Akira had great visuals, and the manga is the reason of it.

But, what if the movie had more character development, more interaction, more plot, more background, more of anything that the movie lacked? You would have the manga. With characters that don’t go to never come back you are compelled to like or dislike them, but more importantly, you get to know them. Their fears, passions, pasts and futures. I read to know fictional people, but when these people don’t open up to me I just can’t empathize with them. And in Akira, in every page, you take a dive and experience with the characters the happenings of this greater than life story.

The plot is where I had some trouble. Trough out the entire 6 volumes of this manga, you always know what is going on, except for some moments where characters touch any deep philosophical fibers that they have. Thing that happens more frequently in the last two volumes, which turns the plot a bit to dense and confusing, not because of the topic, but because of the way it is handled. You will find yourself rereading some pages just to get a good grasp of what is being said.

Even when it felt like it was dragged a bit too long (specially because each volume is 400 or so pages long), Akira is a great action series with a message, that although it may be confusing it will remain true for ever. Characters that evolve with time while disasters occur are an excellent complement to the plot. These two are reason enough to get you to your nearest bookstore to buy the manga.

Aishiteruze Baby by Yoko Maki

Synopsis: Kippei is the popular, pretty and idiot guy at school. His only skill is getting girls and he certainly does get them, specially when his 5 year old cousin Yuzuyu is abandoned by her mother and left the responsibility of raising her to Kippei’s family, who in turn designate Kippei as the person responsible for Yuzuyu. Will Kippei cope with his new responsibilities and his lifestyle? And more importantly, will Yuzuyu see her mother again?

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Have you ever had a feeling that you should not be reading what you are reading? Well, I just did, specially reading the first 4 books in the series that are quite dumb and intend to tame the reader with cute images and silly situations, maybe it works out for some people but I guess my heart must be made of ice, cause reading trough them didn’t stir up anything inside it. Luckily this changes by the last three volumes when things start to get more complicated and serious.

But it is not enough to compensate for everything, including the lame and scarce character development, as well as the slow path the plot takes. All of this masked with the pretty pictures and character design that is characteristic and to be excepted not only for the genre but for the type of story. It is almost impossible not to like Yuzuyu, since she extremely cute and sweet, with out argument she is the best character in the series. Showing more development, background and actual growth through the volumes, besides the fact that she is exactly what she is supposed to; naive, cute and cheerful with ups and downs. Just like any other kid her age. The rest of the cast goes either unnoticed or with a huge annoying label across their foreheads. Mainly for their attitude and absence of special traits in their personalities.

If you really, really, really want to read Aishiteruze Baby, I suggest you grab the last 3 volumes and then the first one. I didn’t like the first one that much but it does help to explain what happens in the last 3 volumes. And if you liked the series more than I did, get the rest of it. But if you don’t you can always spend your saved bucks on other stuff. Aishiteruze Baby is not bad, but it is not good either, and since there are far too many better shoujo mangas out there don’t waste much time or money on it.

A White Summer by Mitsuru Adachi

Synopsis: Ichimura Tetsu and Kakiuchi Gorou have been friends forever, a friendship that was solidified by baseball. Tetsu-kun was the pitcher while Gorou-kun was the catcher of the Nazawa High School team. As life made its turns Tetsu and Gorou took different paths, Gorou as a police officer and Tetsu went to Tokyo to continue his studies. A few years later Gorou is chased by the mob, but every time the mob attacked Gorou the attacker was found dead the next morning. Gorou is suddenly in the middle of a war, his superiors think he is responsible and so do the mob, but he isn’t, so who is behind this murders?

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This very short story by Mitsuru Adachi is a mystery by it self. Offering a great deal of information at a time, the reader is left wondering what is important to know and what isn’t. The weird pacing adds a plus to the confusion factor which is not good at all when you are already confused.

Now, A White Summer isn’t entirely bad at least once you get used to the pacing and confusion, you can start seeing the characters. But even when you can see the characters there is nothing to be felt since it is all so confusing, the characters start being an extra to the story and it is here where the absolute problem can be found, the story. It’s such a simple story twisted back and forth and back again that you are lost. I don’t know how can someone twist such a simple story to the point of confusion.

To save the day we have the art. Excellent. With almost perfect character designs and backgrounds there was no page I couldn’t find a thrill to watch. Even when the story was confusing, the sweet ending was the perfect complement to the manga.

I have yet to read more mangas by Adachi and I probably will. Yet this one is something not spectacular nor is it good or average, it is just mediocre. The only ones that I can recommend this manga to are the people that want to have all the manga that exist in the world or those that are fans of Adachi.