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.