Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Arc 4 by Hirohiko Araki

Synopsis: Josuke Higashikata is a very cool dude, he is nice and quite popular at school, unless you make the big mistake of dissing his hair, that would get you beaten up and then healed almost at the same time. That is his stand ability; Crazy Dimond. It can kill you or heal you, destroy walls only to reconstruct them at different places. What he doesn’t know is that some one is increasing the numbers of stand users in his native town, each one more dangerous than the one that came before him. Now Josuke must stop this rapidly growing wave of stand users with evil goals, or his town will be corrupt for ever.

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At first Arc 4 can be a little deceiving. You think one thing and it ends up being a different thing, this is works for most of the fights, all of them, and the plot. I say the plot, because Arc 4 can be divided into two major stories, the rest are either filler or transitional chapters, if not volumes. The good thing is that both major stories are interesting, entertaining although you won’t be loosing sleeping hours because of them. If you are a fan of Hirohiko Araki’s action and art you will surely love this one too, and if you liked the previous arcs you won’t be disappointed with this one.

Unless you find some of the characters annoying and even sometimes useless. And if you hope to see a bad ass taking the lead role, well, consider yourselves warned that Josuke isn’t the bad ass that Jotaro was in Arc 3. In fact even thought Jotaro appears quite a lot in this arc his role is not as important or significant as that of Josuke. Hirohiko Araki following his tradition of inspiring character designs gives us a further taste of his inking and drawing skills that transport us to a world where everything is possible. It is as if he made a list of all the cool powers every human could have and decided to give one power from the list to all of his characters, people that can make bombs, or super sensitive smell, or healing, or freezing your opponent, or reading a person like a book, and all of them fitting their personalities. That is one of the great things about the Jojo saga, the abilities match the personalities making them quite believable, even if the powers are, for lack of a better word, bizarre.

But, you shouldn’t read Arc 4 if you didn’t like Arc 3 or if you haven’t read Arc 3. If you didn’t like Arc 3 you can avoid this one as they are quite similar in terms of characters, although, I preferred the characters in Arc 3 than in Arc 4 and if you haven’t read Arc 3, you will be thrown off your feet with the spoilers it gives since it is considering you have read it. If you have read Arc 3 and like it, then go ahead and read Arc 4 by all means. It is quite entertaining and will offer quite a bit of thrills, specially the second major story.

My real problem with Arc 4, is the ending, it did leave quite a bit number of question unanswered, leaving it to the readers interpretation, which can be good and can be bad. It is good because it gives a chance for further story lines to merge together giving it coherence to the whole saga, as thin and delicate as it may be. But giving the fact that the saga and Hirohiko Araki aren’t very well known for their coherence it might be a handicap in the future. Either way, I don’t see why you shouldn’t pick this one up, except for the reasons mentioned above, give it a try, it won’t disappoint.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Arc 3 by Hirohiko Araki

Hirohiko Araki
Synopsis: Kujo Jotaro is a high school student that has never meant anyone any harm. But recently Kujo is experiencing some changes, besides the normal ones for a teenager. He is seeing a ghost attached to his back that he can control, but little does he know that his ghost is actually a Stand, a powerful psychic ability that can only be defeated by other Stands. Worried by his grandson Joseph Joestar convinces him that this power is a legacy of the Joestar family and that with the power to control a Stand comes a curse. A curse that Johnathan Joestar, Kujo’s great-great-grandfather, fought and that needs to be stopped once again: Dio Brando.

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After reading the first few volumes of Arc 3 you find yourself thinking that the manga is going great and it keeps going great to the very end. And that is a problem. You see, when things don’t have a climax there is no real tension building up, there is no anticipation or excitement, it is just going great and even when it will remain so to the very end, it is just disappointing to have read all of the 16 volumes to have a very uninteresting ending.

This can be easily attributed to the inexistent personality of Kujo Jotaro. I found many of the supporting characters far more interesting than him and to make things worse, with much more development. In fact, the little personality he had frustrated me, he had this bad boy attitude that doesn’t hold up, simply because you know so little about him.

I guess that the only thing about Kujo Jotaro I actually like is his design. Although one of the simplest by Hirohiko Araki, it is surely one of the best, and probably for the same reason too. But then again, he isn’t the best design of the series, most of the best designs are found in the Stands, that have a higher level of relevance for the plot than the average psychic powers in psychic manga. But while all the Stands designs are creative and detailed, I can’t say the same off all the fights. Some are excellent and very innovative, there are a few ones that are just plain stupid and pointless too, making the manga drag a few more volumes than necessary.

But then again, the plot is great and the important fights are well paced and detailed, making the experience quite more enjoyable, and considering that this is an action manga, it does its job well enough to be worth it. I just wish it had a more appealing primary character, but don’t let that stop you, Arc 3 is a great follow up to the previous ones, although not as exciting.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Arc 2 by Hirohiko Araki

Synopsis: It is 1937 and Joseph Joestar is Jonathan Joestar’s grandson and as such he inherited his power to use the Ripple. But that is not all that Joseph inherited, he also inherited the curse of the Joestar Family that started 50 years into the past, when Dio Brando became a Vampire thanks to the Stone Mask. Now a recent discovery by Mr. Speedwagon will reveal that there are more Stone Masks in the world and that their creators are even stronger than Vampires, and now these creatures have recently been awaken. Now Joseph Joestar (Jojo) must overcome his curse as a Joestar and defeat these new and more powerful enemies.

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This is my favorite Jojo Arc that I have read (only the first 3). I am easily attracted toward violent and weird stories, and Jojo Arc 2 delivers both of them perfectly. Not only are the fighting scenes extremely violent, but they are weird themselves, along with the plot of the story. Plus this new Jojo packs a lot of wit, making not only all the fights unpredictable but insanely fun. He is also my favorite Jojo so far, even when the most popular one is Kujo Jotaro from Arc 3 because he is bad ass. You see this Jojo in particular is much more charismatic and three dimensional than the Jojo’s from Arc 1 and Arc 3, making him a whole lot more human and realistic, even in this entirely unrealistic story.

The art isn’t a lot more different from the previous arc. If anything it improved in two main areas making it a lot more enjoyable and pleasant. More enjoyable because the character design is much more complex, there is no spot that is overlooked by Hirohiko Araki when it comes to character design making it more enjoyable and, at the same time, more pleasant, because now all the bodies and extremities of the characters do keep a sense of proportion, so now instead of having arms as thick as a tree, their arms look more natural.

It is normal to overlook a few rough spots in the art, but these are easily detected on scenes that require lot of attention to deduct what is going on caused by a severe lack of detail, making the action scenes a bit confusing at times. Besides this, the only other problem I experienced while read Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Arc 2 was that the dialogs got tiresome at times, even Jojo’s. It was kind of boring to see the same trick and same lines be used over and over again.

As the difficult issues aren’t really something that prevents you from enjoying this great action manga, I can easily recommend it to anyone, even if you haven’t read the Arc before this one. Funny characters, awesome fighting sequences and great art all around a plot that only seems to get thicker and thicker overall with twists and turns every other chapter, I can only say that if you are not reading this, you are missing on the good stuff.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Arc 1 by Hirohiko Araki

Synopsis: Dio Brando has just been adopted by the wealthy Joestar family and he plans to get Jonathan Joestar’s (Jojo) inheritance after his father dies. But during a fight Dio ends up wearing a stone mask that turns him into a vampire and with his new powers he tries to destroy Jojo. So Jojo and his friends set out in an adventure to hunt down Dio before he hunts them.

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One of the longest manga series ever (80 volumes in total) is divided in arcs, during this first arc that takes place in the late XIX century we are presented with the characters that started it all. Their hatred to each other is explicit and well based. The protagonist; Jojo, starts as a young boy that we see grow and mature both in spirit and body and represents all that is just. While the antagonist, Dio, grows even more evil as time progresses.

A lot of people are familiar with the art style of Hirohiko Araki, but to those that aren’t you can expect men that would put any professional body builder in shame, there are also a lot of gory scenes too, like people getting their noses torn off, or craniums crushed, you know, the usual. But another cool and interesting characteristic of how the character designs are definitely the clothes. It sounds like a dumb thing but each outfit is brilliant and filled with tiny details after tiny details. And the fact that it is constant through out the entire arc is just amazing

Although some of the secondary roles can’t compete in background or development as Jojo or Dio, they sure make things more enjoyable. Arc 1 of the series was great, having a lot of energy and very well planned action scenes, plus the two main characters that keep you motivated and interested in the story.

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Arc 1 is a great manga by itself and seeing it is already connected to another 5 more arcs it does a splendid job to set the mood and overall background of the entire series. Even if you don’t plan to get all of the 80 volumes of the entire series, you can at least get the 5 that form this Arc up and enjoy a good plot, with great characters and awesome action.

Jiraishin by Tsutomo Takahashi

Synopsis: Kyoya Ida is the best detective at the Shinjuku Precinct in Tokyo. He has earned his reputation not because he follows the rules, but because he willingly decides not to, yet his methods are never illegal. And because of this he is handed the most difficult, violent and complex cases in the entire precinct. Cold as ice and with a clear mind Kyoya Ida will solve any crime, what ever the cost. His sense of justice will drive him trough any obstacle by any means necessary; murder, bribery and even death.

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Tsutomu Takahashi’s first work and by far the best I have read of him. Even though when the main character is underdeveloped and needs more background, it doesn’t matter, because the supporting cast do their work exceptionally by contrasting with Kyoya Ida more often than not. So by carefully reading the dialogs you can understand and know Kyoya Ida’s true colors, and many will not like what they see, but I sure did. I love stories with anti-heroes and what better than a great anti-hero.

Many of us are familiarized by now with Tsutomu Takahashi’s style by now, with his sketchy style that upon closer look reveal anything but a sketch, specially in the backgrounds. The lighting effects are excellent and the way he uses them to build the dark atmosphere up is perfect and constant. Opposing this perfection we have the evolving character designs, don’t get me wrong his character designs are good and tend to get better as you read trough, but his style changes a lot. I couldn’t help myself reading trough the first volumes and being reminded of Naoki Urasawa’s style. But this changes by the later volumes by showing a more personal style that we now love and recognize.

The aspect that troubled me the most was the absence of coherence between the volumes or even chapters. For a few exceptions almost every volume is composed of individual and unrelated chapters, and when they are related they only last one volume, again, with only one exception. So there is really no basic story or plot to follow, it is like a recollection of Kyoya Ida’s most difficult cases. This is a really heavy blow because it makes some of the chapters useless and it wouldn’t have had any effect on the outcome of the manga if they didn’t exist. They end up being cool filler, but filler none the less.

All parts taken into consideration, I think that Jiraishin is a must in every bookshelf, even if you don’t read manga, this 19 volume series is very well worth the time, money and bookshelf space, since its drawbacks aren’t that incapacitating.

Jiatsu Circle by Usamaru Furuya

Synopsis: Kyoko and Saya have been friends since children, they exchange diaries there is no secret they hide from each other. After Saya’s father was sent to a mental hospital she started selling her body to pay the hospital bill, but this lead Saya to become unhappy and she started cutting her self as an expression of self-hatred. While Saya suffered Kyoko discovered love for the first time and was so happy, just to notice her friend is dying from the inside. After Kyoko abandoned her, Saya met Mitsuko; the leader of the Suicide Circle. A few months later the club organized a mass suicide in which Saya took part yet she survived making her only more miserable. What was the reason behind Saya’s miraculous survival?

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Disturbing. That is the first word I can come up to describe this manga. Based on a movie of the same name, this manga offers deep insight into modern Japanese teenagers that loose themselves for the others. And it unwraps this story in such a brutal manner, that it becomes horrific. Yet it also becomes confusing because of the flashbacks, that take us to different times, back and forth, of the friendship Kyoko and Saya held together.

The artwork is nothing beyond the ordinary and the character designs are bald and plain, if not ugly, there isn’t much else to say about the art so, one will think characters will be greatly fleshed out; but they aren’t, well not greatly, the amount of character development was barely enough that it couldn’t satisfied my need to fully understand Kyoko and Saya.

The pacing is acceptable; six chapters to develop such plot is enough. It never feels rushed or at ease, which extenuates the mood of the manga; depressing, yet the lack of interest for the characters was extremely disappointing. Not even in the dramatic end was I moved or touched by the characters, I guess that if could have cared less for the characters, than I did, I would have.

Now that I think of it, disturbing and mediocre are the best words to describe this manga. Disturbing because it gives insight to modern Japanese society and mediocre because it lacks emotions, this manga is supposed to be sad, but it even lacks sadness.

Japan by Buronson & Kentaro Miura

Synopsis: Katsuji Yashima is a yakuza in love. He chased Yuka Katsuragi all the way to Barcelona where she is covering the progress of the Japanese Olympics Team. While interviewing some teenagers about their views on Japan a sudden earthquake makes them all fall into a cave that works as a time portal and sends them into the future, where Japan no longer exists and the Japanese are considered refugees, but instead are treated as slaves. Katsuji is disgusted by this future and will change it or die trying.

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Wait… time travel involving Japanese? Where have I seen this before? Ah, yes, King Of Wolves. What’s with Buronson-Miura and their time travel complex? Sure it allows access to a lot of different environments and atmospheres, but there are other ways to accomplish this, and much more imaginative at that. Then we have the pathetic dialog that is supposed to be ridden by patriotism and pride of being Japanese, but the reasons given are as typical as the flu.

Those that have read Japan will not let me lie that Katsuji Yashima is a mix of Zood and Gutts from Berserk. The character design has some uncanny similitudes with some of Berserk, not only in their facial aspect, but also in the costumes and clothes they use. This is understandable since at the time Miura was absorbed by Berserk and it is also great since the designs are vibrant with detail and there is no character that looks like any other, making it easy to identify who is who. Miura also takes this opportunity to show us, one more time, his ability and technique as he draws the different and well paced action sequences.

What I couldn’t stand while reading the entire and only volume, is the dialog and the plot. Both were ridiculously lame and uninspired making it a boring read, accompanied by uninteresting characters with no background or development at all. In the end we only have pretty pictures and good fights mashed with some sort of dialog and empty flasks for characters. Japan is truly something you should not be reading, even when it is short, unless you are either a fan of Buronson or Miura and must read all of their works.

Indian Summer by Takehito Mizuki

Synopsis: Hiroshi, Takeshi and Kaya have been best friends for ever. But Kaya never stops crying, so Takeshi decides to go in a excursion to find the “Blue Bird”. A bird that is supposed to make you happy from that moment to eternity. After searching all night in a strange forest they give up any hope of finding the “Blue Bird”. Years later Kaya and Takeshi ran away from their homes and Hiroshi entered a private school. But the once-best-friends trio is destined to be together in a quest for happiness again.

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Offering a strong primary character and strong secondary characters, Indian Summer succeeds in creating a world in which the characters leave an impression within the reader. With a plot larger than what it seems there is much to enjoy reading through the few pages this manga is formed up.

Although the characters are beyond decent, the art is just decent. Offering nothing more than the necessary to understand what is happening the art is stagnant when it comes to backgrounds. As for character designs, they are nice, although not in the style I like the most, but this is a minor thing, as well as personal issue.

A plot that is deeper than it looks, characters that shine by themselves and reflect the light the rest of the cast emanates… you will have to be absolutely crazy not to like this one or at least give it a try.

How To Colonize Space by Hitoshi Tomisawa

Synopsis: The General Transport Liner Fullerene is a human space colony. Thousands of lives depend on the good arrival of this ship to it’s next destination. But the massacre of a few crew members and passengers, as soon as word gets out of this massacres, panic and fear spread, specially since the ones murdered were drained and left as a pure skin. One man is the only option this ship has for survival, but what makes this man the only chance the ship has?

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I am a fan of short stories, since they are usually more shocking than a manga composed of 20 volumes. But How to Colonize Space is an exception like any other, with characters that have no name, a plot and a twist that barely make things work and leave too many questions unanswered. It becomes more like a obligation to finish reading it rather than a joy. And it is here where it suffers the most. I never liked reading books that were forced on me.

The art is decent. Not something that screams overwork with excessive detail, but not something you want to scream out of pain by just looking at it. Although the monster design is awesome and pretty imaginative they reminded me of those old movies: “It came from mars”.

Characters and plot do need some extra juice since they are dry and bland. Plot is interesting yet unfinished and unexplored. This manga holds too much potential it just needs more ink and paper to fully develop its idea and concept. While it lasted How To Colonize Space was decent, but it could have been much more.

Hotaru no Mori by Yuki Midorikawa

Synopsis: Hotaru Takegawa is just six years old and she got lost in the Mountain Of God, where monsters live. She was crying for help when Gin appeared, she was so excited that ran toward him to give him a hug, but he evaded her. With the excuse that he will disappear if he is touched by a human. After being walked to the exit of the Mountain, Hotaru promises that she will visit Gin, every summer and it is this way that a beautiful friendship began.

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Hotaru no Mori is short, sweet, pretty and a joy to read. There wasn’t a page I didn’t read without a smile in my face and with such beautiful ending there is nothing not to like. In just 50 pages, Yuki Midorikawa, gave enough information about Hotaru and Gin to be enchanted by their personality and their growing love for each other. Although Midorikawa gave enough information to make it barely work, she didn’t went any further than this.

But that aside, Hotaru no Mori shines in almost everything else, with its crisp, bright and simple art that extenuates the mood, atmosphere and facial expressions. Each page was filled with detail which are most noticeable in the costumes and clothing. The excellent use of inking and shadowing is also something to praise and this also helps with facial expressions which ultimately show off in each character and such beautiful ending just works like a charm.

There is only one thing I didn’t like about this manga, the length. It is so short that it doesn’t has enough pages to give, both, Hotaru and Gin more background. While the background given was enough to put everything in motion, it just wasn’t enough to satisfy my thirst for these lovely and sweet characters, yet the lack of more background is nothing to worry about with such story, characters and art.

Himiko-Den by Oh! Great

Synopsis: Himiko and Jaru are in love of each other, so big is their love that Jaru swears to protect Himiko no matter what. One day Jaru finds the second half of the Kyou, a Bronze Mirror which is supposed to hold some secret power. But this mirror is being searched by demons, so they can ensure their victory over mankind and destroy the world. Suddenly a demon attacks Himiko and Jaru awakening their true self’s; Himiko: The Goddess and Kutani: The One who seals and while they fight the demon, Kunenoku (the Demon City) rises to the sky. The world sits at the bridge of destruction and it is Himiko’s and Jura’s job to save it from the Evil Lord: Jyakatsu.

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Sigh... Another manga that is used for only one purpose in mind: Publicity. this manga came out on 1999 and was the product of 3 years of not-so-hard-work. A game with the same title inspired and anime and apparently it was so popular that Oh! Great decided to create a manga and one that wasn't as great as someone could expect from a popular franchise.

The only high point Himiko-Den has its the artwork. Clean, detailed, fresh and colorful. The colored pages on this title are breathtaking; with the right tone of hues and shadows, even the black and white pages look awesome. Yet art is nothing when the plot is not interesting, same thing could be said about the characters and with a dialog like this one, I just wished they didn't talk at all. If art is the only thing tat prevails in a manga, then it shows that the manga has no depth.

There is a page at the end of the manga in which the creator explains his thoughts on his work. After reading this I almost wept. 80 (eighty) characters were designed for the game and less than 10% made it to the manga, the creator of the manga is not the same one for the game and was given free card to deal with the story and the characters as he pleased. He only created 1 volume in 3 years! And he managed to forget an ending, appropriate character interaction and what do we get? Nothing. Unless you are a fan of spontaneous nudity and fan service, irrational violence (which I don't have a problem with when there is a story to back it up), bad action scenes and stories that will never see and actual end.

The only thing this manga needed; besides th obvious, was a note on the last page that said: "Want to know the real ending? Then buy the game!" Just to make my day.

Helter Skelter by Kyoko Okasaki

Synopsis: Ririka is the top teen idol, model and star in Japan all because of her exquisite body and cool attitude. But after the camera is taken away a monster is freed, alcoholic, addicted to pain relievers and dependant of constant expensive cosmetic surgery to keep her beautiful. She is fake and her fake cool attitude is fading away showing her true madness to the rest of the world.

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I was somewhat skeptical about this one at first. It looked like any other model biography at first, but I have to say I am speechless when speaking of Ririka’s level of madness going back and forth from sanity to insanity seems so natural in her that it is terrifying and the fact that you are taken with her trough such a journey makes the ride a lot more personal than what one would expect.

Not only is Ririka weird by herself, but the way the plot flows showing us scenes from the past with dialogs of the future or scenes from the future with dialogs from the past, this doesn’t really help much and it is a style that may throw people off.

Yet Helter Skelter does a magnificent work at showing us a small glimpse of the celebrity world, not only by making us see how harsh it is but also how crude, tactless and cold that world can be. It also has a very unique art style by keeping character designs simple specially the characters faces and reactions.

Helter Skelter is not a bad manga by any means it is just terrifying and could use a few small touches in the narrative yet it is a window for a world not many people are familiar with by showing us one of the most mentally unbalanced characters that one could think of. Certainly worth reading if you ready for the psychological trip Ririka is embarking herself into.

Gyo by Junji Ito

Synopsis: Tadashi and Kaori are taking a vacation in the beautiful coasts of Okinawa, when they are suddenly attacked by a fish with spider-like legs inside their own house. What is more disturbing is not the walking fish, but the stench that it carries. Before they know it more and more fishes start to go ashore, including sharks and even whales and they are taking over the entire country. Can the walking-fish be stopped or is mankind doomed?

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Junji Ito is probably more famous by his other works, such as Uzumaki, mainly because it got turned into a really successful live action movie. But he surely has made other great horror series, such as Gyo. The idea of walking-fish has been done numerous times, but, the way Ito directed the story and how it ended are what make it stand out from the rest. All of the other approaches use the classical mutation excuse to explain why the fish have legs and can walk. Ito made a really original concept for a machine that enabled the fish to walk and by doing so he obviously drew the line between his story and other walking-fish stories.

But no matter how original his concept and idea are, it’s not scary at all. It is interesting, fun and entertaining but it won’t make you shiver from fear or make your skin crawl. And to this I put the entire blame to how the walking-fishes react, as if they had the consciousness to know what they are doing and even worse as if the machines, described as a simple gas engines, have the will and determination to attack not only the population that lives under the ocean but the one that lives above its surface too.

The art is not something to awe at, but it has its moments and delivers an authentic image of putrefaction running around the streets of Japan. Plus all the nasty tid-bits that are always making company in this kind of stories, so if you can’t take nasty images pretty well, I advise you stay away, specially since it only gets from bad to worse as the chapters go by. But in terms of character and background design there is much to be asked for.

Gyo is a great manga to change the pace or if you just finished a really long story, offering a lot of entertaining value for its length. If you can take some nasty images I say you go for it, at worse you will like the reinvented plot and at best you will get into Junji Ito’s style and end up being one of his fans.

Great Teacher Onizuka by Tohru Fujisawa

Synopsis: Eikichi Onizuka, 22 year old virgin, graduated from a 5th rate University, old leader of a motorcycle gang and a pervert above all, still wonders why he is unemployed. But a sudden turn of events make him take the wild decision to become a high-school teacher, so he can influence children and youngsters so they can avoid making all the mistakes he did, that, and getting a chance to see some panties, of course. Will the students, the teachers, the parents and the system be ready for the Great Teacher Onizuka?

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An exhaustive cast of characters is present ranging from teachers to parents from students to drop outs, and when all of them have a background and a development I get to enjoy the story even more, because I started to care about them and empathize with them. This is one of GTO’s greater assets along with its criticism to present society in Japan and the way stress is handled, both by teenagers and adults.

GTO has a brilliant use of facial expressions, ranging from funny looking to bring the comedy up a notch to extremely serious when things get on the dramatic side of the story. Combined with the detail used in the scenery and action scenes, I ended up getting thrown stuff at me, instead of the characters, kicked, stabbed, punched and laughed at. That is the power of the art used in GTO it succeeds at drowning you into its world, combined of course with the witty dialogs or the real life drama.

It is rare to have a manga to mixes action, drama, comedy and a message about society and that doesn’t succeed at failing in the mere attempt to do so. That is what makes GTO the great manga it is, yet its length and a few untied ends result in a few bumps in the road that are completely worth it and bearable.

Gravel Kingdom by Kaori Yuki

Synopsis: Prince Kirameki met Saga eight years ago, a sand biter, people that live in the desert and the eternal enemies of the Kingdom Of Time, the Kingdom Prince Kirameki is destined to rule. But that day eight years ago, Saga promised that he will return to play again with the Prince. Now in the present day, Saga has return to fulfill his oath, but that is not all that Saga wants. He wants to bring down the Kingdom Of Time, to bury it in sand in vengeance for his mother, killed by the people of the Kingdom. Now Prince Kirameki and his friends, Worry; a priestess and Kanai; his servant, must defend the Kingdom Of Time at all costs, before it is eaten by the sand.

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One of Kaori Yuki’s first works, thus one of the least known of her. This shows of in every aspect about this manga. The art, atmosphere, characters, story and her traditional out-of-nowhere-but-still-great plot twists, not that any of these are bad, not at all, but they aren’t her best, although they aren’t as bad as Blood Hound or Neji. While the setting is too darn unique, even for a Kaori Yuki manga, the whole thing between the Kingdom Of Time and the Sand People had me interested more than average, sadly there isn’t too much to learn about them and about their relation to each other, well, not more than average.

While the art is somewhat crude, it is still above average. Yet this hurts the manga greatly, mainly because one of the strong points of any manga that I have read so far by Kaori Yuki has had great art. Sure it was one of her first, but the lack of a lot of brush-ups is not to remain unseen and kept a secret. As of the characters, well, the length of the manga (1 volume) didn’t offer much space or time for them, yet it manages to be just enough to understand their actions and their ways to fulfill their objectives, but don’t expect an amazing amount of development or background for the characters, expect the enough amount.

The story is your traditional “vengeance for this, vengeance for that” and it manages to work somehow. Yet it doesn’t work as much as in other stories, mainly because the surprise factor was not present and while the plot twist was, so were the clues to the plot twists, meaning; no surprise.

Even when it was one of Kaori Yuki’s first works it doesn’t mean that I have to overlook its flaws. Gravel Kingdom has its up and downs, but the great amount of downs buried this one in the sand.

Ghost In The Shell by Masamune Shirow

Synopsis: In Japan, Section 9 is a division of the Government, which fights terrorism using top-notch technology, weapons, equipment and the elite of the elite personnel. Enter Major Motoko Kusanagi a cyborg created to be the best agent of Section 9. Having no human values, she is forced to live with humans and for the humans. But her position as a cyborg in a human world, allows her to think; what makes Humans human? All her questions remind unanswered, until she met The Puppetmaster trough the net, the best hacker the world had known. But what does this Puppetmaster want from Major Kusanagi? And most important of all, what are the answers to these archaic questions that now hunt even those who aren’t human?

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Although the plot or topic of this manga sound pretty intriguing, we have to consider that the solutions or answers to this questions are nothing more than the creator’s (Masamune Shirow) opinion or point of view. Therefore the opinions of the reader and the creator might not be the same, leaving the reader with a bad experience. Even so, when it comes to the philosophical aspect it’s very deep. Leaving you the burden of the questions and their answers (of course, if you take it seriously), this is the best part of the manga.

Another few good points of this manga are, the dialog between the characters, it varies depending on the mood and atmosphere of the situation they are in. Besides this we have beautiful character design, specially females (Shirow’s trademark), stunning mechanical designs, beautiful coloring and/or shadowing for the action sequences and background stages. Another impressive point is the attention to detail, although not present in every single frame or page, the detail given in certain scenes is above normal or ordinary. Another great asset to this manga is those funny moments in which the characters relieve the tension from every day work, but the really funny ones are the Fujikomas, those spider-like tanks organizing rebellion against mankind, and other sorts of things.

As for the characters, the main character (Major Kusanagi) besides being a babe, is more human than some of the human characters. She has mercy, self confidence, awareness, self esteem and all those things that makes us humans. As for the character development, again Major Kusanagi is basically the only one moving forward, the rest of the characters are either, already at their best or at their worst being stuck in their current position. This leaves a very awful taste, because when the support characters are just wanderers in the story doing almost nothing to help out the main character, she won’t shine as much as she could have.

Even so, with so much good to say, the grade is not very high, because of the pacing. This manga starts very well for the first chapter but for the next 5 to 6 chapters nothing much will happen in the story, its all just one big excuse for fan service (the Japanese version even has a lesbian tri-some) and/or action sequences (extremely gory or extremely violent) degrading the value of the characters, plot and atmosphere in the manga.

For Those Of Us Who Don’t Believe In God by Hiroki Endo

Synopsis: Takako, Kusano, Yuki and Hajime are the main characters in the newest school play by Tajima and his staff; Katayori and Kogure. A tale that looks deep inside the belief of God, Haven and Hell and while outside the set they search for the meaning of life and why is it so complicated and different between two people. They are youngsters searching for answers to ancient questions, while doing what they like; whatever that makes them feel happy about themselves.

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Another manga by Hiroki Endo (The Crow, The Girl and The Yakuza and Boy’s Don’t Cry) this time dealing with something more serious and even with that, it doesn’t get to be amazing or wonderful. The lack of a solid story and appropriate background and development for the characters is a huge problem, but this doesn’t mean there isn’t any of them. And in counter part, the amazing character interaction and those funny scenes that make you laugh and those serious scenes that make you think, work like wonder.

The art is excellent offering great lighting and detail, as well as wonderful character designs, that have real expressions. This means that when a character is happy and smiling you can feel his happiness. Yet the best thing Hiroki Endo offers in this manga is the character interaction. Every time a bunch of characters talked to each other, it was like when I talk to my friends, it was real enough for me to be transported inside the manga and hear them say all these things they said to each other, like advices, jokes and personal anecdotes.

But when the characters interact as well as this, we need to understand why and when it is not explained, it feels like a black stain on white paper. And a huge stain I’m talking about here, one that stopped you from enjoying the manga at the fullest.

While it isn’t what it could have been, For Those Of Us Who Don’t Believe In God is a good manga, that offers great character interaction, acceptable characters and a fair amount of solid scripting and wonderful art.

For Someone by Tomoya Ohishi

Synopsis: Yamazaki wants to enter his school baseball team and to do that he must be capable of doing ten pull ups, but he can’t. So his best friend and lifetime crush, Naoko, makes a deal with him: If he can do ten pull ups, she will kiss him. With this motivation Yamazaki manages to do the ten pull ups, but in the process he kicks Naoko knocking her out cold. Now, two years later, Yamazaki has yet to kiss Naoko, what will he need to do just to get a kiss from the girl of his dreams?.

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Sweet and cute are the predominant feelings in this short story. Yet there is much to know about the characters, like motivations, apart from getting kissed, background and development. For Someone offers light comedy as well, a must in the romance genre, but don’t expect to laugh your lungs out, just a few occasional chuckles.

When it comes to art and character designs, I am splintered in half. Tomoyo Ohishi does a great job in shots from the sides, but when it comes to frontal shots the characters look awkward and very much alike, if it wasn’t for the hair or their costumes it will be rather difficult to make a distinction. As for the backgrounds they don’t assault you with eye catching details or interesting or weird designs at all. They are just there to fill a void.

For Someone might be your ordinary romance manga, with ordinary characters that even when they feel real they need more background and development, with ordinary art. With everything ordinary and nothing extraordinary For Someone is just another romantic manga instead of THE romantic manga.

Flowers by Yoko Nihonbashi

Synopsis: Necrophagic Geomorphitis is a new and rare disease that only a hand full of people in the world have had it. Suzuki is one of them, and like all before him he is fated to die soon. Tonoki is Suzuki’s school doctor, she has treated all of his wounds even those before the disease, she has been with him for a long time and plans to stay with him till death rips them apart.

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You already know what will happen in this manga, so did I before reading it and it matters not, it won’t make a difference. If you are a human with feelings or have a weakness for good love stories, then you are en route to a path of sentimental fondness. I have to confess, here and now, that I shed a tear after reading Flowers.

Not many mangas have a deep effect on the reader, this is because you need to have believable characters that react to each other as real humans. Yoko Nihonbashi achieved this, and by doing so she created a true master piece of emotional resonance not only between the characters, but also between the characters and the reader, taking characterization a step further.

No manga is safe from defects, some have more than others or more serious ones. Thankfully the only defect, if you want to call it that, is the art. While Suzuki’s design is great with all the chunks of skin dripping from his body, the bandages and the high school student uniform, on the other hand Tonoki’s design is rather bland and simple, like the rest of the art. The environments don’t emit the same amount of light the characters do.

If you just ran out of Visine™ or you are looking for something beyond excellent to read, then go get yourself some Flowers.

Emma by Kaoru Mori

Synopsis: 19th Century London. A man is on his way to pay a visit to his childhood teacher; Mrs. Kelly Stowner. Just as he is about to knock on the front door, the door flies open to meet his face, knocking him to the floor. As soon as William recovers he sets his eyes on the terribly ashamed maid and it is at this particular moment that both are love struck, a maid by the name of Emma and a rich gentleman named William Jounes.

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We all are very familiar with the story of the maid and noble/rich man that fall in love and have to deal with all the social status scandal that grows around their relationship. So, what makes Emma different from say… Cinderella? Not much if you only take into consideration the overall plot. But when you take into consideration the setting, the characters, and most importantly the realism you realize that there is not so much that these two stories have in common.

One of the most outstanding aspects of Emma are the characters. They are not only distinct to each other in terms of personality and behaviour, but even when they all are quite different from each other their personalities feel real and consistent through the series. It is also quite impressive that such a big cast recieved enough attention and background in such a short series (7 volumes). All of the key characters are taken into consideration and keep playing an active role with constant interaction between themselves, which only makes it much more enjoyable.

When it comes to the art, I am obliged to divide it into three different categories; backgrounds, clothing and character design. The first two really show the love and dedication towards detail that mangaka Kaoru Mori has, not only because of the high level of the details themselves, but also because of the time invested researching the architecture, fashion and style of the era to give us a realistic idea of how things looked like. As for the character design, I am afraid I can’t give high praise to it, for they fall flat and uninteresting, maybe one could think that this is only realistic, but there were times when distinguishing between one character and the next became quite a difficult task. Although there are some characters that did have a distinguishing feature, like glasses or a beard, other characters look very much alike. Character design also reminded me, in terms of style, to Fullmetal Alchimist.

When everything has been measured and weighted in, I can only end up recommending Emma to anyone who wants to read a good story with good characters and with good dialog that stays far away from fantasy land by walking the realist road to success.

Death Note by Takeshi Obata & Tsugumi Ooba

Synopsis: In this world the Shinigami’s control how people die by using a notebook they call Death Note. But one of this notebooks falls into the hands of Yagami Light, the son all parents wish for; top of the nation student, responsible and brilliant. Upon discovering the powers of the Death Note, Light decides to put it in use to eliminate all the evil people from the face of the Earth. But such a deliberate act raised the attention of the world famous Detective L, who starts an investigation to discover and stop Light once and for all.

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Death Note can be divided in two different arcs that, more or less, split the manga in half, and for the purpose of this review it is important to make this distinction. The first half is clearly the best because it is the one with the most excitement and twists that don’t get far-fetched or extremely complicated and the characters are a lot more likable during this half. I don’t want to say that the characters in the second half are bad or pathetic, because they are not, they are just more difficult to swallow than the cast of the first half.

The art goes through a similar process but in this case for the better. As the plot moves forward it starts getting heavier and darker, Light begins to become more twisted and sharper and the art does so too along with the plot. The first half was composed in a vast majority by very well lit rooms and the scenes had, most of the time, a white background and as the plot started to get complicated the backgrounds got darker and darker, by the later half the backgrounds were much more complex and with a really tense atmosphere due to the inking. This is a great way to create the appropriate ambient and feeling for the constantly changing story and world in Death Note. But regrettably the character design and attention to detail aren’t something that one could talk about with enthusiasm, they just don’t go above the OK mark. Maybe you can throw an exception for the Shinigamis, but then again, they start to appear less and less as the story goes on.

Everything is going great during the first half, but then the dialog starts getting tiresome and the chain of events more twisted. New characters come forth and add a lot of vitality to the manga, a vitality that started to vanish by the end of the first half and marking the beginning of the second half. Only to throw more dialog and a lot more complicated series of events. You have to pay extra attention during this later half and a lot of people might not like it, I got thrown a few curve balls myself while reading some parts, almost forcing me to read it again so I don’t feel left out. All of this is bearable and even understandable, but what I couldn’t understand and bare to witness was the end.

It is easy to spot when everything is about to end and there are only two possible scenarios. And I can’t believe they chose the most common and simple of them all and to top it, they not only picked that scenario, but they also made it anticlimactic. All in all Death Note is a good read with the constant battle of wits between Light and his enemies, as long as you are careful and attentive, but be warned that its ending might get more than a few mad.

Cruel Fairytales by Kaori Yuki

Synopsis: “The Angel and the Witches” is an old fairytale, in which a Girl was saved by the Angel from the hungry Witches of the Secret Forest, or so it is supposed. 11 years ago the Master of Aluked Castle lost his sister in the forest, after she got lost he summons to the Castle, girls that are similar to her; right age, blue eyes and blond hair. But once the girls enter the Castle they are never to be seen again. What is the secret of the Castle and it’s Master? And what is the connection between the Master of Aluked Castle and the “The Angel and the Witches” fairytale?

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Kaori Yuki’s fans rejoice. This was her second manga to be released. And like any other of her works, it’s dark and filled with twists. This is a rather short story (2 chapters only), but it is amazing what Kaori Yuki can do in a few pages, she can give you a story, a cast of interesting characters, an atmosphere and a masterpiece for a conclusion. This is probably the strongest and most important thing to evaluate from this manga, the execution. No aspect is left behind or forgotten, there are no plot holes, no main character underdeveloped and it is unpredictable.

While the art was almost flawless, there where some scenes I couldn’t even guess what just happened, probably because most of the scenes are dark, both in atmosphere (although I like this) and in coloring, another problem is that the artwork is somewhat outdated. Yet this are just minor problems since the artwork is filled with detail and it is easy to get used to.

No main character is left behind, all of them have a past, and a dark one, although I feel it would have turned out better if their pasts where discovered with out the rush, while this makes the manga shocking, in a good way, it may have done more good to the series if this rushed feeling where not to exist or maybe, just maybe, I just want to continue reading more about the characters and more about the story. You be the judge of that. But I did wanted to learn more about them and those secondary characters.

As for the story, you can expect a solid, well developed and twisted story in the good way. Worthy of Kaori Yuki the story has a bit of everything; love, drama, suspense and comedy. After I read this series, I couldn’t avoid thinking on what I just read and how would I say that this manga is excellent, I rolled on my bed for 20 minutes, thinking, thinking and thinking some more. I even had trouble writing the summary and the review because I wanted to be extra careful to avoid spoilers.

Chameleon Jail by Watanabe Katsuhiko & Takehiko Inoue

Synopsis: Chameleon Jail is the most famous and renowned Risk-Hunter in the entire world. All of this because of his natural born ability to shape shift and change his appearance to anything he likes, besides his excellent marksmanship with guns and marvelous capabilities when it comes to martial arts. But can he live up to his fame against the new and constant waves criminals?

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Chameleon Jail is at best a fun short read. That it is all that it can accomplish, Jail has no background nor development, secondary characters are just an excuse for Jail to use his powers and abilities, plots are short and always end up the same way so it all becomes very predictable half way through the first book out of two.

While the art is rich in detail, it isn’t what one would call flashy except for a few scenes. Now this is supposed to be an action comedy manga, and the action scenes don’t have enough flare to them. As for the comedy, it does its job of making the reading a bit easier.

Predictable plots, uninteresting characters, and a lack of flare for the action scenes make Chameleon Jail a somewhat disappointing series, yet an entertaining one. I wouldn’t say you should get this, unless you are either a fan of the creator; Inoue Takehiko or if you just have to own every single manga series in the world, other wise you might want to skip this one or borrow it.

Bremen by Haruto Umezawa

Synopsis: Kasuga Romio ran away from home searching for a dream. In his journey he meets and pairs up with Hino Reijii an enthusiastic guitar player with a taste for rock. Together they will meet more band members, more fans, more gangster, bike gangs, rich spoiled kids, disturbed children and themselves. All to become the “Gods Of Rock”.

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I kept my distance from this title, mainly because it is about a rock band, so I thought, if it is about rock, then I won’t be able to listen the blazing guitars, the sublime bass, powerful drums and crisp vocals. Was I ever so wrong to delay this title for such a long time.

Bremen will literally “rock” your world. With its creative comedy that involves Romio being an idiot and getting involved in fights with a transvestite S&M queen. With the cool action scenes that remembered me of GTO and character interaction of the same level, if not above.

The development of the story has an excellent pace to it that makes you read and read even more, with the cliffhanging moments at the end of the first 8 volumes and the promises of even more fun. Promises that are very well kept and live up to them. All of this drawn in a style that made the Gods of Rock look cooler than what they already were.

Although the background of most of the cast is explained, the ending does present a problem. Since it feels rushed you are left with a bad aftertaste, because the main character, Romio, could have been developed through out the entire series, but it is roughly managed in a span of two volumes. I suppose this was done to create some level of anticipation, but it backfired creating some level of annoyance instead.

Bremen is a tidal wave. Refreshing, strong, fast, furious and fun. What else could one ask from a manga? It has good characters, good comedy, good plot, good action and a decent ending. A must, even if you don’t like rock music.

Boys Next Door by Kaori Yuki

Synopsis: Wolfgang A. Clay is a elementary school teacher in Los Angeles. He doesn’t do it for the money, he is in this for the gratification of helping people and watching the kids smile at him. But even when all he likes to do is bring joy to the little ones, his past is a cruel and twisted one. This past is his curse, accused of killing several male prostitutes, Wolfang only cares about one of them; Lawrence, the only one Wolfgang has killed for love and whose death caused him pain. Why does Lawrence want to die so much? What happened to Wolfgang during his childhood, why is it that killing male prostitutes satisfies him so much?

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I think I am reading way too much manga by Kaori Yuki and becoming a fan of her stories. I don’t know how does she manage to create such twisted stories with out falling over repetition. She is indeed extremely talented both as a writer and as a artist. This is an important thing to evaluate, for this is the third manga made by her that I have read and I can’t get tired of her. Her writing just encourages you to read more and more and more with out stopping.

Again here lays proof that you don’t need a million volumes to create a beautiful story that will make you turn the page with out consideration, a story with characters you will like and most importantly, you will understand. And when a story like this one evolves inside you along with the characters, even if it was for a short period of time, is wrapped so spectacularly, there is no way in hell you couldn’t like it.

It’s really hard for me to explain what to expect from this manga, due to its speed, it is hard not to spoil. All I can say is that if you don’t like Shounen-Ai well this isn’t a manga you would like to read then, although it doesn’t get very explicit. Maybe this was one of the problems I found with this manga, even when I respect homosexuals, this was just too much for me in such a little amount of time and yet this problem doesn’t affect the manga that much, for you will easily adjust to the homosexual atmosphere.

Probably one of Kaori Yuki’s best, this manga shows us again her amazing natural abilities at story-telling, writing and design. With a straightforward plot, yet wonderfully organized, this manga will sure go in as one of my favorites.

Boys Don't Cry by Hiroki Endo

Synopsis: As Matsuda sat there wondering about his life, he suddenly realize that a fence was there preventing him from taking one step further away from life and it was then, when his friend made him realize that he isn’t the only one with a problem to face. And that he shouldn’t be a coward when facing them.

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An outstanding manga that falls quickly into the land of nothingness. With its amazing length of six pages, there isn’t much that can be done and yet, it manages to do something, although at a very superficial level. It was hard to get the message this manga has to give and the one it delivers, is frightening; a look at homosexuality among the high school students in Japan.

But there isn’t anything else than this view at homosexuality among Japanese teens. A few laughs that last as long as a blink of an eye may complement the atmosphere. But where is the character background, development, interaction, a solid plot and a convincing dialog? Nowhere. That is where they can be found.

So what does this manga has to offer? A few laughs and a superficial look at how Japanese homosexual teens are affected and live. But I am a fan of deep dialogs, solid plots and interesting characters, so I can’t simply recommend this to any one that looks in a manga what I like in my manga.

Bokko by Mori Hideki, Sakemi Kenichi & Kubota Sentaro

Synopsis: Kakuri is a member of the Clan Of Bokk. A clan dedicated to save as many lives as possible when times are rough. And the year 230 B.C. was one of those rough years, with unceasing wars that cover the entire 7 countries of the country of China. But the Clan Of Bokk has only one rule: Never ally with any country or kingdom for personal benefit. But with the sudden and increasing amount of wars the Clan Of Bokk is walking a path that goes against their teachings and Kakuri knows this, so he sets on a quest to cleanse his Clan and end war at all costs, even the cost of his own life.

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Think of Bokko as a History class like you wished you had on High School; it has violence, torture, public execution and all those pretty things your teachers conveniently “forgot” to tell you about. It is here where Bokko has its strong points along with the action and strategy involved. Kakuri has but a few pages of background and the secondary characters are most of the time just there, with out you taking them into account even when they participate on important scenes and have important roles to play, because of the impression they leave, which is barely noticeable.

The art it self is great, character designs that feel real, although a few are a bit exaggerated but it won’t ruin the experience of reading through the pages in a rapid way. You can easily read one of the eleven volumes of Bokko in thirty or so minutes, due to the fast pace large scale action and dialog. But more importantly because of the art, since it is really plain there aren’t too many details to look at, which is a good thing, because if you need to spend a lot of time deducting what is happening instead of understanding what is happening, the fast pace of the action sequences would be lost.

With very interesting characters that need a lot of work but an interesting plot that grows and grows as you turn the page and you can’t stop turning the pages, you will devour it. Even with this main flaw, the manga doesn’t need a fully developed character to make its point about war and violence and the outcome of those two. If you enjoy action manga, be sure to check Bokko out, it will be well worth your time.

Blue Heaven by Tsutomo Takahashi

Synopsis: The Blue Heaven, a floating city filled with luxury, seduction, magic, dreams and state of the art security systems. While on route, the crew members spot a fishing boat that looks desolated, immediately a rescue team is dispatched to look for survivors. Two people were rescued, but what intrigued Sano is that the walls of the ship were covered in blood. As soon as the survivors are brought back to the Blue Heaven, passengers and crew members start to disappear. What is going on inside the Blue Heaven? And why did one of the rescued men disappear?

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Right from the start I felt that I was in the presence of a familiar artist; Tsutomu Takahashi (Alive, Skyhigh), and in the presence of a dark and chaotic atmosphere. All thanks to his trademark use of light and camera, along with his exquisite and delightful dedication to detail. Blue Heaven offers a treat to the eyes that allow the reader to immerse himself in the manga to experience it to the full extent.

After the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001, Tsutomu Takahashi decided to approach an actual topic; terrorism, mixed with those of Skyhigh (death) and Alive (fear). He deeply investigates and questions the reasons behind such inhumane acts that are performed by humans, but this questions are shadowed by the constant action scenes or long periods of unrelated dialogs.

The two main characters that approach the topic of terrorism have a complete background, but neither has a complete development. Why? Because the mangaka is concerned about topics that are difficult to answer or that are yet to be. And even when they aren’t fully developed they remain as wonderful characters, but wonderfully twisted and sick. As for the secondary characters, most of them have enough information to work through out the 3 volumes Blue Heaven lasts, yet don’t expect them to have the development the main characters lacked.

Overall, Blue Heaven is an ambitious manga, like the previous works I have read by the same mangaka, that presents the questions to us and leaves them in front of us waiting to be answered. With its gorgeous art and dedication to detail plus the action sequences, the main characters that leave an impression that works toward the real topic of the manga, there is no reason you shouldn’t buy this.

Blood Hound by Kaori Yuki

Synopsis: Rion has always been intrigued by vampires. And recently some girls have been missing and then found dead with all their blood drained. One day Rion’s best friend is no where to be found, a few days later Rion receives a business card signed by Shiho, Rion’s best friend. Armed with all her might she decides to face the leeches who kidnapped her friend, only to find out that they are probably the most charming, handsome, interesting cast of characters she will ever know and most importantly that they don’t know where Shiho is.

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Another Kaori Yuki manga and again a short one. Yet unlike Cruel Fairytales this manga has a few more problems. While the story is not as original as it sounds, the way it develops and ends has Kaori Yuki signed all over, with an amazing twist ending it will surely be enjoyed by many fellow readers.

But unlike many other mangas by Kaori Yuki this one lacks a few things, specially the characters. While Rion is given one hell of a development and background, the rest of the characters lack development or background raging from none to not enough. And as for the villain the reason why her behavior is like that is unexplained, making her an accessory, an excuse, to the story rather than a key piece and this is a problem some of the other characters have in common, the lack of importance. It wouldn’t have matter much if a few characters where simply not there. But the main characters background and development don’t allow this flaw to ruin the experience.

As for the artwork it’s, as always, excellent. Large amounts of effort and time were spent in character design and detail, no aspect is forgotten and as always fits the mood to perfection, doesn’t matter if it’s a dark or a bright atmosphere, it will fit, this is one of the things I like more about Kaori Yuki’s manga, the way she finds to portray the perfect atmosphere.

Even when this manga is fun and fast to read it has its faults and catastrophic ones, surely not one of Kaori Yuki’s best works. The lack of character background and development really sunk this manga into magma.

Blizzard Axel by Nakaba Suzuki

Synopsis: Fubuki just declared his love to the girl of his dreams; Koyuki, and she accepted. The only thing is that they can’t see each other outside of school, even on weekends! Why can’t she see him outside of school? Is she shy? Or is something more serious going on?

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Blizzard Axel has great intentions to make a good story, but the lack of deep characters and the art are its greatest handicaps. Although Fubuki has a bit of a background it isn’t enough to answer all the questions behind his feelings and actions and while we are on the topic of characters, Koyuki seriously needs one. She is like a stepping stone for Fubuki that is left behind once it meets its purpose.

Now, Fubuki is supposedly in High School so he must be around 15 years old, but he looks like a 11 year old and so does Koyuki. That is the main problem with the art, but it is also shown on the backgrounds and settings used for every scene. Although I must mention that the facial expressions are good specially the over acted reactions that add a bit of comedy to the story.

The only thing that I can think of that could save Blizzard Axel from complete damnation is the theme. Figure skating isn’t your everyday topic in manga so it is really a nice change from all the drama or action we see in other mangas. Also the comedy, although not comparable with Yakitate!! Japan, it does make it more enjoyable.

Blame by Tsutomu Nihei

Synopsis: In a possible future on Earth, Killy is looking for the Net Terminal Genes. With his gun he will blast his away to get them, no matter what or whom opposes him, be it mega structures, safeguards, authorities, guardians, cyborgs, clones or silicon life. But the number of humans is low and lowers with every day that passes. But not only does Killy want to find Net Terminal Genes, he is also looking for himself.

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Prepare for the ride of your life! Or rather the ride for your next five hours since that is how long it will take you to read this ten volumed manga. The pace it is absurdly fast because there is almost no dialog, just action and more action and even more action. Tsutomu Nihei gives us a lesson on how to make amazing fights with the most wicked designs I have ever seen in a manga. H.R. Giger (designer of the famous Alien monsters) would be proud by Tsutomu Nihei’s work.

Blame! suffers from a lack of explanations. With the amount of dialog most things remain unexplained and uncovered. The reason why Killy is looking for the Net Terminal Genes is vastly unexplored and the origins of Killy himself are as well forgotten, most of the characters act with out a reason. I also felt lost most of the time since it is pretty confusing and easy to loose your self in the vast and huge and extremely detailed environments that are displayed in this manga.

The action is overwhelming, fast and intense. It takes you from one place to another, from one new foe to the next one with out consideration of your health. The problem some action scenes have is that you can’t understand them all, and you end up re-watching them a few times to fully comprehend what is really going on.

Blame! is great at what it is, a pure action manga. True it needs to answer some questions that could make things a whole lot better, but on its core is great. A manga worthy of reading, unless you don’t like action manga. But if you enjoyed Battle Angel Alita for its action scenes, then get a hold of Blame! or if you are a fan of Tsutomu Nihei (Noise) or Tsutomu Takahashi (Alive, Blue Heaven) then be on the look out for this one. I will surely be looking for more Tsutomu Nihei works.

Black & White by Taiyo Matsumoto

Synopsis: Black and White are two orphans in the harsh city of Treasure Town and they are all alone except for each other. Like brothers they rule the city, even cops won’t get involve with them. But soon a new foreign criminal organization will get in the way of their plans to own the city and their friendship.

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Taiyo Matsumoto has managed to create something grand, not only by throwing different art styles, but by making characters that grow inside you and all by themselves. If anything Black & White doesn’t feel like a manga, not because of it’s topic, but because of the art that explicitly shows the western influence in Matsumoto and this is a good thing, a nice change of style is always welcomed, specially in the manga world.

Violence is the main theme here. No remorse toward women, children, adults even animals. Black and White are respected for their ruthlessness directed at anyone and their drive to start fights and finish the fights they started still standing.

I can only find three things that went wrong with this 3 volumed manga. First of all; how rare it is in the United States I’m not surprised but disappointed, second; how Black is the only character with real development, and third; how volume number two is just slow and uninteresting.

All in all Black & White is a great manga, with great action that promises a lot of fun, an interesting art style to change the pace and flavor of traditional manga and characters that feel like what they are, children, growing children.

Battle Angel Alita by Yukito Kishiro

Synopsis: During a normal, casual visit to the dump site, Professor Daisuke Ido found what appeared to be a part of a female cyborg. Intrigued by his discovery, Professor Ido took it home, he worked for days to give her a body and restore her artificial brain. Alita was the name he choose for her, treating her like a daughter of his own, Professor Ido, continued to work as a Hunter-Warrior by hunting down criminals for money. Alita found that she had remarkable killing skills, so she decides to become a Hunter-Warrior as well, only to be scolded by Professor Ido, but the only thing in little Alita’s mind is: Where do I came from, why do I have this power, and who was I before meeting Professor Ido?

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The characters are extremely well designed and it show to the point that those characters grow and evolve as time passes in the story. The character development is so good, that you tend to like those abominations of nature and those whose acts are despicable and those who are courageous, brave, understanding and simply lovable, will make you, sometimes, cry. Another good part of the cast, is that support characters are the ones that always give the reader and the main characters an important lesson of life. Not only do the support characters make you see the good things about the main characters, they allow you to see the main characters flaws and mistakes, which is even more important.

Although the series may sound some what cliche, think otherwise, while the plot appears to be nothing more than what we have already seen so many times, it is not. The plot it self is covered with various twists, and not only does the plot, the characters, the atmosphere and even the mood of the story change so you can see all the facets of where they are, whom they are, and why they are that way. The plot goes as deep as the human mind can imagine, passing through God and religion, to human behavior, and even those primitive feelings of: love, compassion, fear, anger, despair, survival, etc…

The art is above what you can imagine, it is extremely detailed, that you might even miss some important things shown in just a simple drawing, which will tell you a lot of what a certain character is thinking, doing and even feeling. Facial and corporal expressions are one of the main things that the artist focused on. As for the fight scenes, they are pretty well done, arranged and choreographed, allowing you to see with great detail what the characters are doing.

The only problem with this manga, is that it may loose its pace from time to time without character or plot development, around 1 or 2 volumes (depends on how you see it). Another problem is that it shows some deaths in an extremely gory manner. While this sometimes helps to get a glance of a characters psyche, I thought it could have been avoided.

BAOH by Hirohiko Araki

Synopsis: Violet is a ten year old girl that has the ability to predict her future and this is why she is been kept hostage by the Judas Group. An evil group that specializes in bio-weapons, and their newest weapon is being transported in the same train as Violet; the parasite BAOH. This parasite was implanted in Ikuro Hasizawa who is on the run along with Violet after escaping from the train and the evil hands of the Judas Group.

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Hirohiko Araki is a talented mangaka whose trademarks include violent action scenes and weird monsters. BAOH is a great, although short, example of what Araki is capable and his natural talent for this type of stories.

Although Araki is more famous for Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures than anything else, BAOH is a great mood setter to start with if you want to get used to his work. In this case the art is extraordinary, almost 20 years ago things were drawn by hand and inked by hand too, and it shows in BAOH. The simplistic backgrounds may tell you otherwise, but the manga is filled with lots of details, which are most noticeable in the clothes, machinery and monster designs.

Although the plot is not the most complicated and the characters aren’t really a challenge to discover or intriguing, they do their work to keep things moving as well as the audience interested in them. But what keeps you reading aren’t the characters or the plot, but the action scenes. Even though you know what will the outcome be in the end, somewhat, you want to know how it will be done.

BAOH is good by it self, but it is great if you want to get used to Araki’s method, worlds and style. You should read it if you have the chance, after all this two volume title packs as much fun as most of the other manga out there, but the excessive violence and lack of solid characters might turn some of you away while lure others right to it.