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.

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.