Category: Manga

“I bet it’s tougher than we can even imagine for a monster to live in the human world.”

Tsukune and friends try to take a break from the threat of Fairy Tale on a quiet beach vacation to a seaside inn. But It’s not just them that Fairy Tale is after, and shy former Yokai Academy student San Otonashi might need help from them in numerous ways.

I generally enjoy Rosario Vampire for what it is: a formulaic, fanservice-heavy series that provides a light blend of action and humor. It cranks up the dramatic tension and intrigue in parts nicely, but overall it’s more “enjoyable” than “essential.”

However this is the volume where it transcends itself, and it’s perhaps the best stand alone story within any series I’ve read. Among all the expected fanservice (and there’s plenty) and normal ridiculousness is a wonderful, powerful story about acceptance/ rejection, fear in various forms, and appearance vs reality.

Our usual protagonists’ encounter with San Otonashi plays with the self-same expectations and cliches the series is steeped in, with wonderful results. I love the twist on classic story tropes, where certain ones are embraced to compliment story character development while others are tweaked for added depth. The mix of surprises with certain things unfolding as expected heightens the impact of the former and it all comes together to a strong crescendo to end the volume.

Tsukune is at an interesting point coming into this volume, where he’s training and pushing himself to be less of a burden to his friends, but doubting his ability to achieve that goal. His continued growth intertwines with a spotlight on a new character and related events to her introduction.

The best thing is that the way the story is told not only conveys nuances of San’s and Tsukune’s characters, but several of the other cast as well in the subtle ways they react and comment on what’s happening. San’s tale is masterfully told, with layers to her personality and motivations unveiled deftly , and in way that provokes introspection in everyone around her. Gin in particular gets a nice spotlight in parts.

While it is better to be familiar with the established cast, their powers and personalities, and what they’ve gone through to this point, I realize catching up on a series and a half of Rosario Vampire is a bit of an investment to get to a single story. There is a summary of the regular cast at the beginning of each volume, and I think enough is explained that this could be read on its own. It would be hard to pick up on all the underlying effects and ripples of the story, but the core elements and themes and the emotional resonance related to the two main subjects would come through.

Again, this little slice of Rosario Vampire is one of my personal favorite manga works ever. Push past the general trappings (if that’s not your thing) and enjoy an emotional, character driven ride that provides a lot to think about if you poke below the surface.

“Something is different this time…”

Oz and Gil get a pleasant reminder of their past, but their momentary inattention to Alice is the opportunity something dangerous has been waiting for.

Things start a little silly here to break up seriousness that is to come, and it proves wise as the majority of the volume is quite dark. This seems an important installment overall as there are a couple of potentially huge reveals (and associated maddening cliffhangers). The author is still balancing reveals and continued mysteries extremely well, continuing the more even pacing from last volume after a somewhat unbalanced start.

The growing suspense is well built and various characters’ differing agendas are starting to come up against each other in intriguing ways. Finer points of the growing mythology and name dropping are a little hard to track, but can be done with some reviewing of previous volumes and the careful foreshadowing that’s been laid in. The “Alice in Wonderland” ties jump right back to the forefront in major ways here after being somewhat subtler in volumes 2 and 3.

This finishes all I have to read of Pandora Hearts for now, but it’s really gaining momentum and I’m definitely planning on continuing at some point in the future.

“If parents are the ones who give birth to life… are they also the ones who create a reason for your existence?”

Oz needs time to come to grips to the changes that occurred while he was in the abyss as well as his own new status quo, but those who wish to use him for their own ends won’t necessarily cooperate with his need for a respite.

After the big reveal and somewhat overwhelming info dumps of last volume, this installment has much better pacing and does a better job of conveying important information clearly while still appropriately keeping certain things as lingering questions.

Mysterious elements and exploration of key background stories about the main characters are mixed nicely with action scenes and it’s all delivered with strong emotional impact. The supporting cast is becoming more well rounded and interesting, giving the manga more to entice the reader with than just Oz and his connection to the abyss.

I feel like these chapters hit all the right notes in terms of forwarding the story without giving too much away too soon, and if the author can keep it up going forward Pandora Hearts is going to be a thoroughly captivating and entertaining ride.

“You humans live solely at the mercy of us vampires.”

Humans have caused an epidemic that kills every adult on earth, and vampires take advantage to emerge from the shadows and enslave what’s left of humanity.

Orphan Yuichiro and his friends are kept as little more than a food supply for the vampires, and he dreams of escape to the world above. But the cost of disobedience is high…

The core ideas and general world are interesting, but Vampire Reign fell into usual Shounen trappings very quickly after strong prologue. The”normal” school setting seems out of place and very forced, and it would have been more compelling to spend significantly more time in the Vampire world, which was intriguing and different.

There’s potential here, but the jury’s out so far. I have a few more volumes available, so we’ll see how it goes.

Shoulder-A-Coffin Kuro follows the travels of the unusual traveller Kuro. She wanders with a coffin strapped to her back and a talking bat by her side, and is often mistaken for a boy and/or vampire.

I had read this initial volume a good while back and recently reread it to refresh my memory as a new volume in the series has finally come out. I remember having a similar experience the first time around: the 4-koma style and non-linear order of the chapters makes it hard to get into at first, but by the end I was thoroughly invested with and intrigued by Kuro and her companions. The pacing definitely takes some getting used to, but it does come together and there’s a lot of interesting mysteries beneath the surface adventures. The slice of life style adds a good amount of humanity and emotion to a story with a lot of strange elements.

The art is very good and detailed, particularly for the 4-koma format (which is generally not a favorite of mine). The detail does make it a little busy though, and I kind of wish all the pages were in color (the color pages are particularly gorgeous).

The production values of the book are excellent. Good quality paper and printing and more retained color pages than most manga volumes. The style admittedly makes it a little hard on the eyes sometimes though, as all the borders and backgrounds behind the panels are pitch black.

Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro is interesting and well-developed, although a bit uneven here in the beginning. Well worth reading if you’re looking for something different, and it picks WAY up in subsequent volumes.

A Bride’s Story is an engrossing tale of the daily life a young woman from a nomadic tribe who has been engaged to a young boy from another tribe.

I’d heard a fair bit about A Bride’s Story before my first read and it didn’t disappoint, immediately become one of my all time favorites. It’s an extremely carefully done character driven tale that depicts a situation unthinkable to modern times very accessibly. Amir is welcoming of her new life betrothed by her family to a very young future husband in another tribe with different traditions from her own and it is very interesting to watch as everyone gets used to each other. The story is well layered, with diverse personalities and customs coming into play and several external complications lying in wait. Though some will find the pace slow, for me the best part is that the story knows when to get out of it’s own way and take its time to let a scene unfold properly.

I’ve read a lot of excellent manga by a lot of talented artists, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that compares to this. The detail in the art is AMAZING. Mori fills every panel with intricate, painstakingly perfected details and patterns. Just phenomenal stuff page after page. Several scenes, including the rabbit hunting and wood carving ones, were just jaw-droppingly gorgeous.

A Bride’s Story is one of the best, most lovingly created stories I’ve ever read. The premise depicted is from another time and very alien to modern sensibilities, but it’s done so well you can’t help but pull for the unusual young couple.

Highly recommended.

Akari transfers into a new grade school and quickly befriends Takaki, himself a transfer student the year before. The two grow closer, and time moves on…

5 Centimeters per Second is a manga adaptation of an animated film of the same name. I have not seen the film so will be reviewing this purely on its own, with no prior knowledge of the material going in. This edition contains the entirety of the manga (two volumes as originally published).

5 Centimeters per Second isn’t flashy or ground breaking, but there’s something extremely captivating about this quiet work. It conveys emotion effectively and has a strong feeling of authenticity to the characters and plot. Instead of being bound by idealized or stereotypical romantic story structure, reality’s presence is felt throughout Shinkai’s tale. The effects of young love echo through his lead’s life, for better and worse.

The pace is quite deliberate, but it fits the subject matter and themes perfectly. The main characters are engaging enough, although I did find myself more interested in some of the supporting cast in parts.

The art is wonderful. For such an emotional, character driven piece facial expressions and body language are extremely important. Both are excellent. The careful background detail also helps to flesh out and anchor their environment, and the art in general has a “soft” feel to it that adds to the atmosphere.

Equal parts tender and harsh, 5 centimeters per Second is a powerful and well told love story. It’s not something I really see myself coming back to and there are definitely things about it I would have changed, but this bittersweet tale of growing up is worth checking out none-the-less.

Yotsuba&! is a slice of life manga about a somewhat strange little girl. While I highly recommend reading it in order the previous books aren’t a prerequisite.

Yotsuba’s grandmother comes for a visit. Yep, that’s the volume.

Yotsuba&! has always been about the titular character’s everyday adventures and the humor that arises from them, but I feel like some of the magic is missing from this entry (outside of a wonderfully simple sequence of Yotsuba making her way through her house in the creepy darkness of the night). Her usual whimsy and uniqueness seems toned down just a tad and it isn’t as engaging to watch her interact with her grandmother as it feels like it should be. There’s nothing bad nor out of place for the manga here, but I didn’t find this volume nearly as fun nor captivating as previous ones.

Not much else to say. Unremarkable volume in a fantastic series.

“Today’s Weather: Mostly clear skies with occasional school buildings.”

Honoka Takamiya is constantly just outside the sphere of influence of Ayaka Kagari, the class “Princess.” However after having his world turned upside down by being attacked by a witch at school, the shocks just keep coming as Ayaka reveals herself to be a witch herself… and his protector.

Total mixed bag from the get go here. There are interesting aspects, but the lack of explanation of the general situation and why Takamiya is important is already getting old. The over the top school worship of Kagari and the general atmosphere around her is amusing, but Takamiya so in over his head and has so little personality outside of being a target he becomes a cipher. The battles are fine, but Kagari is so powerful there’s little tension or drama. And so on. It’s just continuous sparks of potential almost immediately negated by the execution being all over the place.

Witchcraft Works has some potential and this initial volume ends with a particularly intriguing hook, but it’s flaws are rather apparent at this point. I’d be willing to try a little more, but I’m in no rush.