Kimi Ga Suki

OhHaiDer :]


No one mention the royal wedding
Or I shall chop your face off
Anyway
Today I bring you
Kimi Ga Suki~


Kimi Ga Suki


Story & Art: Ayu Watanabe
Publisher: Kodansha
Rating: Teen (13+)
Synopsis: (onemanga.com) Aki has always liked her basketball club friend, Mase. However, she can't seem to gather her courage to confess to him. On the day when she finally decides to tell him, she is confessed to by a guy from a different Junior High! A horrible accident follows and Aki finds herself not being able to choose between the two – Mase, whom she truly loves or Koichi, whom she'll always feel indebted to…


Art Review: 3/5


The art style for the most part is somewhat cute, but the proportions for the girls legs and the sweaters just bug me out a bit, maybe it's just me.


Story Review: For a sports related shoujo, this one gets pretty dramatic. Starts off with Aki planning to confess but.. DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN~ Someone confesses to her first and throws her off guard. But this guy is kinda weird.. He makes it sound like he fell in love with her because she emasculated him or something. What made me laugh at this situation though is that she smashed into a pole after being confessed to. That's cute. Lay on the irony, though, the cute notions are over for the time, being, as Koichi gets a bunch of girders dumped on top of him. There are a bunch of things in this manga that make me laugh simply because they are too over dramatic. For instance, when Koichi tells her the first time that he cannot play basketball properly anymore due to the accident. She literally just falls over, and doesn't even faint. Aki is being a draaaaaama queeeeeeen. Now there's some true love. And it's not even amongst the people in the manga. No, it's the complex love of basketball for these people. These kids are crying because they'll never be able to play basketball again. I don't know about you guys but I was pretty fucking happy when I didn't have to go to gym and play basketball again (the horror!) Whatta twist, Mase confesses before Aki, but what does she do? Tell him she wants them to stay friends. Rather confusing, if I don't say myself. As I read the classroom scenes I wonder to myself, how asleep are you when people can sneak up behind you and make extravagant hairstyles with your hair when you're not looking? And right after this Mase makes a jealous bitch comment. About Aki's hair. Good sir, I believe making hair comments because of jealousy makes you pathetic. Or gay. I approach the part where Mogi makes the incorrect spelling jokes. With the spelling error here I wonder if he's Russian.. 'Let's all shower in the sveat of youth together!' In Soviet Russia sweat showers you. Mogi then says,"Spelling has never been my strongest point." Well Mogi, you are a basketball coach, you're not expected to be able to spell. I notice that in this manga at one moment Mase is insulting her and ignoring her and the next he's best buddies with her again as usual. Forgive me for making this reference, but... SOMEONE CALL THE DOCTOR, GOT A CASE OF THE LOVE BIPOLAR~ ....seriously, please shoot me. Moving along, Aki, why are you shocked that Mase and Natsumi are holding hands under the table as you sit there like a failed under-the-table-picture voyeur. You let go of him, riiiiiight? WRONG. *drops a can of spaghetti on her head* It's a shoujo, of COURSE it's not going to be that easy. This manga gets pretty cute at times, Koichi blushes at the memory of their kiss. It's little cute things like this that are rare in shoujo these days. Except when you cross the line and Koichi gets a nosebleed from Aki saying something cute. That's just a little creepy. Another trait of shoujo that is clearly evident in this manga is the aspect that no one in these manga can actually make up their mind. One thing that annoys me about this manga is that Koichi just stares the exact same way every time subtly important is revealed. Every time now I close my eyes I see that weird, vacant stare. It kinda reminds me of the sad Keanu meme. I feel kinda bad for Koichi though. He's a nice guy in this manga and doesn't really deserve to be flung around in the Aki x Mase drama. I laughed at Aki's mom though. Child is pale and can't sleep, must be going through puberty. I mean, Adam Young is pale and can't sleep but I'm pretty sure he went through puberty already. I also chuckled at the 'Heil' shirt that Mogi brandishes a little later on. Your basketball team will be doing cheers like Hitler. As all other mangas, it eventually becomes so dramatic that you just want to hit someone in the face for no particular reason. It literally set itself up so that Mase says that he loves Aki right in front of Natsumi and evidently shit hit the fan. When a kid doesn't show up for school, everyone assumes you have diarrhoea. Nice to know about how often Japanese schoolgirls get diarrhoea to make references to it. Aki, I like your style, stand up to an asshole, whip a basketball at him. That's gotta hurt. Measure effort of love by amount of points one scores. That's a pun that would will me to smash my head on my desk. If I had one. Overall this manga was a little cute, but somewhat typical. You could see everything that was going to happen miles away.


6/10

Lady Masquerade

OhHaiDer :]


Nom nom nom nom ouo
Today I bring you..
Lady Masquerade~


Lady Masquerade


Story & Art: Chiho Saito
Publisher: Shougakukan
Rating: Mature (18+)
Synopsis: (http://manga.animea.net) The distorted memory becomes a masquerade. Everyone hides behind a mask and performs the wildest acts with no consequence. But, life is not a masquerade. The main character is a girl who suffers daily from what she accidentally witnessed years ago. She keeps having flashbacks of a gruesome scene. It always starts with her as a little girl following a black kitten, and suddenly the black kitten turns into a panther! A woman welcomes the panther to join her and the rest of the panthers. And then, unaware of the presence of the little girl, the group starts having "fun." The girl becomes horrified by the scene. She makes a noise and they notice her. "Hunt her down! Kill her!" the woman says to the panthers. She managed to escape from the pack, but they got to her parents. In her flashbacks, her parents were chased and fell off a cliff. The authorities told her that it was a car accident. She has lived on the edge of illusion and reality until she sees the photo of the woman on a magazine. A photo is all she needs to confirm what her flashbacks tell her. Now, she is ready to get even.


Art Review: 2.5/5


I kinda disliked the style, the eyes were too dramatic, everyone had the neck of a giraffe, and some of the facial expressions remind me of Guru Guru Pon-Chan. The backgrounds are kinda pretty and I liked Rei's hair. Although at times the hair in this manga seems to have a mind of it's own, like Medusa's hair or something.


Story Review: Ok, if I said that a manga previously was the most retarded manga ever, I take that back. THIS is the most retarded manga ever. The first line is 'I lost everything in my ninth summer' while the kid runs after a cat. It really sounds like you just ran into a forest after a cat and got raped. Or kidnapped. But no, she just catches upon an orgy of some sort. Poor kid. The story fast forwards to the present where we see the heroine just standing there all grumpy like. Throws a blanket, sees the illusion of dead people in it. If that's not telling you you're fucked I don't know what can. I got an error page while reading this and all of a sudden Setsuna is massaging a naked woman. Did I miss something in the last page..? She was doing laundry a second ago... A little further along someone offers her a present. Setsuna makes an annoyed face. A dude randomly calls her pretty, makes a WTF YOU STARIN' AT face. Doesn't know how to be sociable, no wonder she's spent 15 years in a rehab facility. A hospital where the phrase 'hurry up and get better' is an insult. A couple pages forward and Setsuna nearly gets raped and a bishie arrives and takes a picture. Uhm... Why...? Shouldn't you, y'know, be all muscly and punch the other guy in the face and say,"Are you alright, miss?" And then Setsuna should say... You get the picture. This manga is so badly pulled off it makes me want to slap someone, and we're not even in the second chapter yet. Somehow, after 15 years, the people who were involved with the death of Setsuna's mother and father look exactly the same. What are the odds? And I lol'ed when Setsuna was going to second base and she cries out for her mother. That's kind of awkward, even more so if you're a girl. I laughed even harder when people showed up like yakuza when Okada went bankrupt and came with samurai swords. Oh, manga... I love the irony in this manga: Okada was innocent, and HE gets hit with a car. And while Kenshou and Setsuna romantically embrace you see his blood seeping down his hand. A little forward into the manga a guy in a trench coat (wait, didn't we make this joke already?) takes a crucifix and kills her with it. Hm, the 'crucifix serial killer'. That seems really redundant. It's like ordering a delivery to your house just so you can tell him you didn't want it and then have your dog chase the mailman and rip his junk off (all male readers have cringed by reading this sentence.) As a stereotypical manga, every time Setsuna does something stupid Kenshou just comes running out of nowhere. She's lucky she lives in the manga word, otherwise that would never work. Also, as they mention the crucifix killer again, I think to myself why bother with a crucifix, just get a knife and stop trying to be special. Now, here's something that bothered me. Right when Setsuna confronts the second man involved with the death, she tells him that she is God. I'm pretty sure God doesn't have a vengeful streak and have sex issues. Oh wait, he does. I keed the Catholics. Rei's kind of a whore. Her first actual appearance in the manga consists of someone groping her for a position in a movie. And in the next scene Shirou and Rei are literally dryhumping each other while Miwa awkwardly stands right beside them. As I continue on I wonder to myself if her quest is to get laid or to get revenge, because it seems to be both with her intertwining her fear of sex with revenge. At some points she made it sound like she walked in on her parents 'hugging each other a little too hard.' Rei thanks her masseurs by kissing them? Poor Setsuna, as if her sexuality wasn't threatened enough. Now you're going around confusing the poor girl. And soon it is found out that all the people involved with that orgy were SIBLINGS. That's just a little more than creepy. And speaking upon creepy, why is it that every male in this manga is a rapist? The fighting scenes in this manga remind me of the last scene of Hamlet. EVERYONE DIES EXCEPT FOR ONE PERSON! (no spoilers cause that play sucks, anyway.) And I still have no idea what's going on here. Kenshou's dad is the father of the four people who were involved with the death of Setsuna's parents? And apparently the dad gave them all those aphrodisiacs on purpose? And gave them to Kenshou and Setsuna too? And ate it himself? It's like someone was passing around a bowl of Viagra mistakenly thinking that the 'V' was a special skittle flavour. Kenshou's father is clearly insane as mentioned in the manga 1231931893 times. He chains them both to a post, puts the keys on a desk, offers a knife so one of them can chop off the other's arm to escape, drops gasoline and sets it on fire. That's like saying 'I'll let you escape but I'm going to chop one leg off and stand irritably in your way.' Everyone gets a happy ending! The seriously horny guy dies and Setsuna can finally get sweeped like your mum's chimney. Ok, no seriously, obviously this manga is confusing, and weird, if I may be so kind to say so.


6/10

Deep Love Virus

OhHaiDer :]


I ate too much candy yesterday
Got into a sugar crash -u-;
Anyways
Today I bring you...
Deep Love Virus~


Deep Love Virus


Story & Art: Nagi Michiko
Publisher: Shueisha
Rating: (13+)
Synopsis: (onemanga.com) Mako and Haru have been friends forever. One day when Haru suddenly kisses Mako she starts thinking that this is a sign of a new beginning! However, soon after, Haru tells Mako that he has found a new girlfriend! How will Mako react to the news!?


Art Review: 3/5


I like the style, seems cute, but often times it's way too blushy. And I'm with everyone on this when I say... What the fuck is with the noses? Seriously. They look like shark fins attached to everyone's faces.. Or they all just look like this. *shudders*


Story Review: There's not much to say about this manga. This is not a typical shoujo, with the "first kiss rule", since it happened in the first 2 pages. Not only that, Haru is a complete dick about it, getting a girlfriend the next day and confusing the hell out of poor Mako. Honestly, if that sort of person existed in real life, I hope his blissful ignorance will get him AIDS. As you read along you see that it was a huge misunderstanding. What's with the drama in this manga? Shouldn't there be someone behind them playing an organ with dramatic chords? There's so much angst it makes me feel like I'm the mature one for once. Continuing on, it seems like Haru makes evil faces when he shows jealousy about Shun and Mako's relationship. What's he going to do, rape her? Speaking upon rape, I felt reading this manga was, and not in the sort of way where I feel like my privacy and personal space boundary has been wrecked. This manga was way too short, it seemed to build up to promise for a way longer and more dramatic manga, I was mildly disappointed that it was only 6 chapters long (also an indication of why I don't have much to say, despite being an opinionated person.) Overall, I found this manga cute, the ending was nice, and the daddy references somewhat reminded me of Tamaki from Ouran Highschool Host Club (a great anime you should watch otherwise you haven't lived.)


6.5/10

Appare Jipangu!

OhHaiDer :]


Awfully windeh today oAo
Today I bring you
Appare Jipangu!~


Appare Jipangu!


Story & Art: Yuu Watase
Publisher: Shogakukan Productions Co.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Synopsis: (wikipedia.com) Set in Japan during the Edo period, it follows the life of Yusura, who as a baby, was found under a cherry tree with the "Kongoumaru" (a staff that turns blue when people are sad) by her side. Now fifteen years later, Yusura has become the "hikeshiya" (or "extinguisher of sorrow") and uses the Kongoumaru to 'absorb' people's sadness and hit it back at the people that caused it.


Art Review: 4/5


Again, for those who've seen my Alice 19th review *cough* piece of shit *cough cough* I mention that I do like Watase's style, always super cute, although I noticed in this manga, at times some of the faces come out a bit sloppily.


Story Review: Probably one of the weirdest manga I've ever read. It's technically a shoujo but it follows the story form of a shonen. In this manga, it's evident that Yuu Watase's style of writing is majorly fast paced comedy, but even for her, this manga is way too quick and confusing, especially in the beginning. I tried to read her fight scenes but they are either confusing as hell or extremely disappointing since it ends with Yusura just one-hit KO'ing people. The fight scenes also get somewhat tedious as it has the sort of feel of the Sailor Moon "I SHALL PUNISH EVIL" feel but it gets boring as she says the same line over and over and over again. Poor Yusura, the bishie is in this story just thinks she is a man.. She's only 15, no one develops that fast, I know, it's the manga world, but that would be rather grotesque if a 15 year old girl had I-cups like every other girl in the vast world of manga (can you feel the sarcasm?) As I read this manga I was thinking to myself, the kongoumaru sucks up people's sadness, right? That thing would have a nuclear explosion if an emo kid stood beside her. And I see what you did thar, Watase, 'Kazanosuke of Koka Kola.' Haha, Watase, haha. Although this manga is indeed following a style of shonen, to have all of your romantic feelings bottled up cause you're too manly, it's way too obvious that Samon loves Yusara early in the manga (so, no, I did not just disclose a spoiler, this was made obvious in chapter 3.) Other than that, Watase's writing makes me laugh.. I don't usually laugh or smile at all when I'm reading manga, I look rather stone faced and about to blow it up with my eye lasers. As you read into the manga, there's an introduction of an obvious foreigner, Philip. Here's my issue, how come every time a foreigner comes they are from England or France? And the traditional Japanese art joke, where all the faces of the Japanese people are seen traditionally from the eyes of the foreigner, somewhat frightened me, I'm not all too sure why.. Overall, this manga's funny, but the plot is absolute shite. 


6/10

Shugo Chara!

OhHaiDer :]


Sorry about missing the last update
I was at a concert
Fuck yeah 
Anyways
Today I bring you...
Shugo Chara!~
And no, it's not because it's Easter.


Shugo Chara!


Story & Art: Peach-Pit
Publisher: Kodansha
Rating: Teen (13+)
Synopsis: (wikipedia.com) The heroine of the story, Amu Hinamori, is a student at Seiyo Elementary. At first glance, her classmates refer to her as "cool and spicy" and rumors speculate about her personal life. However, her real personality is that of a very shy girl who has trouble showing her true personality. One night, Amu wishes for the courage to show her "would-be" self, and the next morning finds three brightly colored eggs—pink, blue, and green—in her bed. At first, she is alarmed, but realizes she must have really wished to change. These eggs hatch into three Guardian Characters: Ran, Miki, and Su. The Guardian Characters aid Amu in discovering who she truly is and help fulfill Amu's dreams. Amu's life becomes much more complex as she struggles to deal with her "would-be" selves and the Seiyo Elementary's Guardians, who each have a Guardian Character of their own. Later on,they recruit Amu as the "Joker" to search for X Eggs and X Characters, the corrupted forms of people's dreams, so the Guardians can purify their dreams.


Art Review: 5/5


The art is the only thing I liked about the manga. It's super cute, and I'm just a huge fan of punk/lolita/goth styles in manga, tis also why I loved Nana so much *sniff sniff* The art is well produced, and the line art is pretty.


Story Review: Before I get to the actual plot (which is shit, I warn you) there are some things that stood out to me. One, putting out the draft on my iPod, I got autocorrected from 'Shugo' to 'shag'. My iPod has a dirty mind.. *shakes her head* Also, while reading this (online, because I am poor and my library sucks) this sort of explains about the people who actually enjoyed this manga. 'People who read Shugo Chara also read LSD.' Yes, that explains everything now (once again, picture, you are PISSING me off. Someone teach me how to work this stupid thing~) And now, to the main attraction, the manga itself. Now.. I don't usually have an issue with magical girl manga... but there are just so many things WRONG with this manga that I can't help but rip it to shreds like the tissue paper that was left for your cat to devour hungrily. Amu, I know you want to be cute, and everything.. but I don't think you have the right idea when you say that you want to be obedient. Maybe it's an incorrect translation from Japanese to English but I'm pretty sure one's 'would be self' is not just some white girl. I keed the white girls.. With the way the story implies that Amu lays her original Shugo Chara.. It seems like she's shitting them out. Even though the rest of the characters lay their eggs by having them come out of their heart all dramatic like. As I read this manga I wonder to myself, what's with the guardians of the school? Pedophile defence force? They call Amu cool and spicy throughout the whole manga. I know the engrish doesn't always turn out the best but that's prolly just someone failing at trying to say she's sassy. Why is it that this 17 year old high school student, Ikuto, is always molesting the 6th grader, Amu? That's a fail way of promoting lolita and fanservice at the same time. There's just ear biting and licking and close hugging. If anyone loses it to that I will seriously punch someone in the face. Once again, this manga is just one of those themed mangas, and you all know just how much I hate them.. It's obvious this is an Easter manga with the evil corporation being called Easter, and what with all the eggs floating around.. Although I don't care for the religion much, evidently this manga is an outright mockery of the Easter season for catholics. The X eggs remind me of hollows (why does everything remind me of hollows? Geez.) Becoming character in this manga seems like a huge rip off of Sailor Moon. She even has the hand position sort of fashion about her.. I'm left thinking to myself, with all these character changes in Amu, wouldn't it make her bipolar? I'm just saying. The subplots of this manga are obnoxious and way too obvious. And the rest of the plot and the things allowed to be going on frustrates me as well. At one point Amu loses the new egg she got, and takes someone else's. And there is incest. As if this manga wasn't subtly creepy enough. And I know that there was mention of Nadeshiko having a twin brother, but then Nadeshiko wasn't her but Nagihiko, this whole time, so the queen was a boy... I'm confused. *loses a couple brain cells* In chapter 34, I actually laughed, because the minion says, "Play the violin Ikuto" and it reminded me of this. Chapter 36 is sexist. All talk about how boys are the heros and women are not supposed to be strong. They're not even directing it into a feminist light, they are just repeating the fact that according to the world women are useless. What also made me laugh is the scene where they see Gozen. They pull off the cloak and they see a tape recorder. What is this, Charlie's Angels? And the plot twist nearly made me puke. The ending is so shitty and cheesy that I am now lactose intolerant from reading it. The ending is like if someone beat a horse to death with its own body parts, and then someone rapes the horse, but they think it's not enough and drag the body throughout a populated area for all of them to see, and there's still someone raping the horse while they are dragging it out while the guts trail behind. Overall this manga is asinine shit, it's too long, and you shouldn't read it unless you want to become a giant vegetable. 


3/10

Franken Fran

OhHaiDer :]


Sorry about missing the update last time.
Was a busy busy end of the week for me~
Anyway, today I shall bring you..
Franken Fran~


Franken Fran


Story & Art: Katsuhisa Kigitsu
Publisher: Champion Red Magazine
Rating: Mature (18+)
Synopsis: Fran is a girl created by the world's top biologist. She takes care of her creator's mansion while he is away on research. Her life is pretty uneventful, until many different medical cases begin falling in her lap. This manga is very graphic and frequently features scenes of extreme gore, as Fran begins to do more and more intense surgical procedures. There is a fair amount of black humour, as usually each story ends up with Fran having created some sort of gruesome monstrosity from her patients, while in the end answering to their requests - sometimes literally.


Art Review: 4/5

The design of the characters is pretty, at times. The gore is done horrifically well, and almost looks real. However, the page organisation ends up a bit cluttered at times and you don't know exactly what to look at, like you're in a candy store except there are organs flung everywhere (incidentally if you do walk into a candy store and that's what happened, I suggest you run, your sugar intake can take an hour or two off.)

(image from mangafox.com)

Story Review: This manga is truly only for the strong in heart, mind and stomach. Ironically if a weak person read this manga you would throw up your own esophagus as Fran replaces one in the manga (I don't recall her doing that before but you know what I mean.) Every chapter has at least one surgery in it, including biology that is far beyond what is physically possible. I'm in a advanced placement biology class and only half of the theories Fran actually says makes sense. Every chapter ends with black humour, which makes me smile, particularly because of Fran's aloof nature. Her determination to help every client makes it all the more better as the patient screams or dies horrifically because of the way they've been changed by Fran. As well as the black humour this manga has other traces of comedy, like on this page that I have here (it's not a spoiler, it's very early into the series.) [Grr, stupid picture, you are making me mad -sighs] Anyway, this is from Cosmetic Surgery, and I don't know about you but the sight of that girl made me laugh just a little, and I barely laugh at manga at all in general. This manga in its entirety is a chilling manga, with much introspection to human nature. Fran is so kind, yet with a slight sadistic streak. Okita is just a furry gone wrong, I mean, furries are wrong in the first place, but with this guy you're just doin' it wrong. He's a tiny cat with a human's head that is 2 times the size of the body. I mean when you get used to it, it's kinda cute, but still.. And Veronica's really cute. She just makes you wanna pick her up and snuggle her... SNUGGLE SNUGGLE SNUGGLE -gets decapitated by Veronica- All joking aside, this was a incredible manga, I really had fun reading it, and I'll warn you again, it's a bit NSFW, and it's not because every volume cover has Fran posing with a unbuttoned French blouse. The manga isn't even completely done, let's hope for a great ending of Franken Fran~


8.5/10

Ane Doki!

OhHaiDer :]


Afternoon, all~
I'm so hungry, I think my stomach is going to eat itself.
Not physically possible.
All joking aside..
Today I bring you Ane Doki!~


Ane Doki!


Story & Art: Mizuki Kawashita
Publisher: Shueisha
Rating: 16+
Synopsis: (mangafox.com) Ah, the dream of 13! Kouta is our normal everyday boy, living with his fun-loving workaholic father. Lusting after the school idol in his class, playing games with his friend... there's nothing especially noticeable about him. But one day his father has to transfer to Sapporo and then appears a girl who volunteers to be Kouta's live in caretaker. And what a girl!
Everything about her is mysterious: her mysterious incredibly showy body, her mysterious interest in our boy, and her mysterious need to sleep in the same room...


Art Review: 4/5


The art style is not too shabby. Once again, I'm nitpicking at the eyes, only because in most cases they are too far apart, which almost gives me the impression I'm looking at an alien with huge tits. Again, harem mangas always need to be drawn well since the people who enjoy this sort of manga need to get off on how realistic it is.. I'm just saying..


Story Review: Harems are never really normal stories in general, but this one balances on the border of just plain creepy. What eats away at me when I read this manga is the heroine herself, Natsuki. She's just a super attractive pedophile, in a nutshell. Which does exist, most likely, not all of your pedophiles look like this guy or that guy. *shudders* Anyway, on the topic of pedophiles, Natsuki seems to be either really laid back with herself or she's trying to seduce a kid who's 4 years younger than her. Wouldn't a pedophile's life be easier if he could attract his 13-year-old boys with super busty chicks rather than just creepily offering candy to the ones passing by (get with the times, pedophiles! You're supposed to lure them with pot.) [I keed the children of today's society~] {Not really.} A common thing I find irritating with harem mangas is the fact that all of the characters are boring, and the plot is predictable. I mean, this manga is more of a ecchi romance, rather than an harem, but at least make the characters a little more exciting than the obituary in your local newspaper. At least SOME people are surprised when people pass on, this manga can be predicted entirely just by knowing who the characters are. It's totally obvious when rivals and obstacles appear, and the rivals are just boring anyway. Sakurai being the worst out of all of them, just a really conceited brat who finds out she loves Kouta in the end. What also ticks me off is Kouta's assumptions about Natsuki and the things she does. It's like someone telling the same joke over and over again, expecting us to laugh each time. There are tiny things, however, that I did appreciate. One being the Wii Sports reference. Reminded me of this video. And yes, I was half expecting that to happen and have one one of the characters die so that the manga would end faster. I also found it kind of funny when Kouta does suspect her of doing sleazy things, Kouta's father always pops up in his imagination. I'm very happy to see a child thinking so highly of his father. Overall, this manga was just stereotypical and boring, it kind of had a cute ending, but it didn't cover up just how plain this manga was.


6/10

Futagami Double

OhHaiDer :]


It got awfully warm in Canada.
This kinda frightens me
Oh well
Today I bring you
Futagami Double~


Futagami Double


Story & Art: Yabuki Kentaro
Publisher: Shueisha
Rating: 18+
Synopsis: (mangafox.com) Futagami Sousuke, 14 years old, is a normal student, wishing to live a normal life. But everything changes the day he sees a doppelganger of himself in his house. Since then, the girl he has a crush on, Amane, will introduce him to another side of his world he had no idea about, and it won't be anymore the dear peaceful days for Futagami.


Art Review: 4.5/5


I rather enjoyed this style of art. The girls are uber cute, the guys are well done as well, the ID's look spooky, as they were intended to be. Although I wish there were a bit more cool effects as they're fighting negative idea reincarnations, which sounds cool, and in turn, should look really cool.


Story Review: My one main issue with this manga is that this should have been serialised. I really liked this manga, it was well set up with the idea of ID, which is a manifestation of negative feeling. Although these ID sort of remind me of Hollows from Bleach. With the introduction of characters as long term characters, and the summary giving the idea it would continue, not continuing it was a great waste. Although I'm not entirely sure why this manga was rated Mature, there was only a couple panty shots. There are other mangas that clearly should be among the ranks of Mature and they are all 13+ or 16+, which absolutely boggles my mind at times, but I choose to ignore it because it's more pointless to figure that out than trying to answer the question,"Who came first, the chicken or the egg?" I also found slayer abilities pretty interesting, especially Sousuke's, whose ability is to control ID with a single touch. At times the fighting scenes seem to be a bit over-worded.. They must have spent all their time talking about the concepts of ID and their psychological aspects rather than fighting, which I find humorous, because that sort of thing never happens in real life. I can't imagine a gang fight happening in a dark alley somewhere, and the leaders of the gangs are talking to each other about their purposes all menacing like, and then they decide to quickly finish each other off in the next minute. There's not much else to comment on this manga, because it was a one-shot (tear tear.) Overall I really enjoyed this manga and I hope it gets serialised one day~


7.5/10

Toto! The Wonderful Adventure

OhHaiDer :]


I be stealin internets from the library again
Ohohohoho~
Today I shall review...
Toto! The Wonderful Adventure~


Toto! The Wonderful Adventure


Story & Art: Yuko Osada
Publisher: Del Rey Kodansha
Rating: Teen (13+)
Synopsis: (wikipedia) Kakashi is a young islander whom has always dreamed of leaving his island and exploring the world: A world radically changed because of the world war from 50 years ago.
His father, a famous world traveler leaves him alone at home in their Light House. After a brief period of not seeing his father, Kakashi receives his father's journal which prompts him to travel the world like his father, whom many people say is dead. He’s so determined to leave his little island home behind, that he stows away onboard a marvelous zeppelin. Unknown to him, this zeppelin just happens to be loaded with a treasure and is hijacked by a gang of ruthless criminals known as the Man Chicken Family. There he meets a little scared puppy which harbors magical powers. Kakashi adopts the puppy despite it being unknown to him. After being discovered by the gang that has hijacked the Zeppelin, he befriends their leader. He arrives in the main continent of "Oz", where he begins his travels after the Zeppelin is shot down by the Nassau Imperial Army. After crashing in a field, he and his small puppy meet a teenage girl named Dorothy. She immediately falls in love with the puppy and names him ToTo. They're almost immediately confronted by Imperial troops whom Dorothy is able to dispatch with her unique "Tornado" martial arts moves. The three agree to travel together to Emerald City where Dorothy is heading to visit her parents during her time off from school. Kakashi, ToTo and Dorothy begin to travel together but are confronted by various foes that are questing for the strange dog collar that ToTo is wearing. A Nassau officer in disguise, whom doops the trio into letting down their guard and he, in turn, snatches ToTo. With Kakashi and Dorothy in danger and ToTo feeling threatened, ToTo's full power is openly revealed as he turns into a gigantic magic dragon, which proceeds to defeat the soldiers. The adventures continue as they proceed to Emerald City where Dorothy's parents live. They meet an ex-Imperial Soldier turned performer named Noil. They proceed on down the transcontinental railroad line named "Yellow Brick Road".


Art Review: 3/5


This mangaka's style isn't too bad, there are pretty details and clean art, not my favorite, however. Despite that, not much to complain about.


Story Review: The first pages of the beginning of the manga starts with a heist by the Man Chicken family.... wait did I miss something? The fact it begins so abruptly and oddly just made me laugh a little. A little further on and the dog that Kakashi adopts... turns into a muscled veiny dragon dog thing? I'm still confused here.. This manga is supposed to be one of those "I WILL BE THE BEST IN THE WORLD" shonen mangas, and for this one is fine because it seems rather refreshing this time around. Being a shonen, it'll have the occasional really weird shouting confession they seem to do.. "TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!!!" Um.. Good for you, lad. Good thing they don't do this sort of forward confession thing in shoujo, imagine you're reading a really dramatic manga and you wonder why the main character is being so moody and whiny, and she decides to clue everyone in in a bold fashion by loudly confessing that she has her period. Aren't you fortunate that sort of thing doesn't go on in shoujo? All joking aside, it's clear that this manga is a parody of The Wizard of Oz. For those unfamiliar with the story, The Wizard of Oz is a story about a girl named Dorothy who in a dream is brought to the land of Oz where her house lands on the Wicked Witch of the west (Graphic indeed.) She is then instructed by the Witch of the North (why isn't she wicked? I'd say sexist but that doesn't really make sense) to go visit Emerald city to find her way home. She takes her dog and goes along the Yellow Brick Road and meets the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly lion. Eventually they meet up with the Wicked Witch of the East who already swore her wrath against Dorothy and she throws a bucket of water at her and kills her. They arrive at Emerald city, visit the wizard who makes the ending cheesy as hell by telling them they had those traits in them all along and Dorothy wakes up, to her molesting aunt and uncle staring at her while she has the most trippy dream of the 1940's ever (I keed the Americans, that last bit was made up. Or was it?) This manga has Kakashi, hinted to be the scarecrow when shouting his name at Dorothy, they have a dog named Toto and they're going to Emerald city along the Yellow Brick Road. They don't even try to be subtle with this parody they just made it really obvious. I found this manga pretty interesting, despite me hating mangas that are so uncreative that they have to steal plots from other stories previously made to seem original (*cough cough* Alice 19th *cough cough*)


7/10

The Palette of 12 Secret Colors

OhHaiDer :]


Good afternoon all~
Yes I actually took time to make the title all rainbowy :]
Anyways
Today I sacrifice to you..
The Palette of 12 Secret Colors!
(Yes, it's as dumb as it sounds.)


The Palette of 12 Secret Colors


Story & Art: Nari Kusakawa
Publisher: CMX Manga
Rating: Everyone
Synopsis: (Wikipedia) On the island of Opal live the world's most colorful birds. The birds have attracted a school for aspiring "Palettes" — wizards who have the ability to "borrow" color from one object and paint its qualities onto another. They are partnered with the birds to help with their training, borrowing the beautiful colors from their feathers. Young Cello has the potential to be a great Palette, but she just can't seem to control her power. As the end of freshman year approaches she's on the verge of failing, so she's going to need all the help her bird, Yoyo, can provide.


Art Review: 2/5


I really hate this style. So many things bother me about it. I suppose that the males look kinda nice, but the females are past borderline creepy. Cello has the worst design with her creepy ass eyes.


Story Review: First thought, oh god, I read a manga that was rated for everyone? Aside from the family approved prejudice, there are so many things to be ripping apart in this manga. I feel like this kid. All joking aside, the first thing I'm going to poke at is the fact that the abilities these people are given in general seem stupid and pointless. Basically they are magicians, who partner up with birds, for whatever reason, they take the colors out of the feathers of the bird, and they make shit out of it. You're putting people through school and making them use magic just so you don't need to bother with pigmentation in clothing ever again? Sounds like work that you could do much cheaper in China (I keed the Chinese). But honestly the basic concept of this manga doesn't present much excitement or promise for later volumes. I also don't get the extra concepts that they add to this. Birds eat flowers and suddenly gain more color? Whaa? You can trace the color and make things explode? How is it that color, which is an interpretation of reflected light, suddenly becomes a jello like solid when one needs to? And what is the use for this ability for the rest of your life? An ability like that has the means to forever ruin Eye Spy and Hide n' Seek. My childhood just got startled by that idea. Enough about my destroyed childhood, tiny points that bother me in this manga. Why does Gosti keep her partner in her boobs? Laziness? Fanservice? Really dumb interpretation of the trend to keep a chihuahua in your purse like Paris Hilton? Also, Dr.Guell is probably the oddest bastard I've ever read about. The jokes they try to make with him having a logical mind, calculating things in his head, don't even make sense, or just make him out to be somewhat homosexual. Speaking of Dr.Guell, there is an obvious hint in the manga that Cello and Dr.Guell have feelings for each other. However, this manga is so badly written that the 'romantic pressure' that is supposed to be evident in these sort of things is very badly pulled off and somewhat irritating, as with other things in this abomination of a manga. Overall, I hated this manga, I wish I didn't pick it up, I could have kept some of my brain cells.


4/10

Fairy Tail

OhHaiDer :]


Good afternoon~
...cookies
Anyways
Today I shall be reviewing...
Fairy Tail~


Fairy Tale


Story & Art: Hiro Mashima
Publisher:Del Rey Kodansha
Rating: Teen (13+)
Synopsis: (wikipedia.com) A young 17 year old celestial spirit mage, Lucy Heartfilia, runs away from home and travels to the land of Fiore to join the magical Fairy Tail Guild. Along the way, she meets Natsu Dragneel, a teenage boy looking for his foster parent, a dragon named Igneel, with his best friend, Happy the cat. Shortly after their meeting, Lucy is abducted by Bora of Prominence, who was posing as Salamander of Fairy Tail, to be sold as a slave. Natsu rescues her and reveals that he is the real Salamander of Fairy Tail and has the skills of a Dragon Slayer [fire type], an ancient magic. He offers her membership into the guild, which she gladly accepts. They, along with Happy become a team and perform various missions offered by the Fairy Tail guild. They are some times accopanied by Erza Scarlet,an armored maiden, and Gray Fullbuster, an ice maker.


Art Review: 2/5


I always hated this style. It reminds me of One Piece, which I can openly admit that I hate with a fiery passion. Long arms, long legs. I was able to accept that in mangas like xxxHolic because it wasn't really an action manga. This is, so I somewhat expected it to be in proportion. Everyone in this manga has the exact same face. The females look like males, aside from Lucy, and the males also look retarded. The enemies and main villains also look moronic, no matter how clever they come off as in the manga.


Story Review: I never really liked these kinds of manga. I say 'these kinds' because I find this manga is written and drawn similar to a lot of shonen manga which, in these cases I dislike. The biggest problems with these... There's too much going on in one volume. Usually I'm able to pick up a manga and sort it out but there's too much shit going on here. The volume I read featured a plot arc that mentioned the use of a song that could kill anyone who heard it, which was titled 'Lullaby'. The whole time I was reading this I couldn't take it seriously since it's also a move in Pokemon, and Lullaby is generally useless at times. I know that its a common trait in mangas to have really cheesy lines and shitty comebacks, but at one point a character calls another a 'worthless bag of wind'. There's a fine line for shitty writing, but this manga just crossed it, and got mauled by a moped in the process. Mashima, go hang yourself for writing that excruciating line. One more bit about the writing... The guild is called 'Fairy Tail'? Really now? I can't imagine a villain who is a wizard with super badass magic skills saying to himself,"Muahahaha, my evil plain is complete. Once I cast this spell... OH NO, IT'S THE FAIRY TAIL BRIGADE!" And you can't say you can, either. One thing that really ticked me off about this manga is that when the bad guys realise that they are no match for the hero they are fighting (which is about 2337294872 times in this volume alone, to add to the damage) they make this stupid ass face, which realistically looks a lot like this. It also reminds me of Speed Racer (the anime of course, not the shitty ass American remake of it) and his odd faces. I continue reading the manga up to the point where the flute that apparently summons the deadly song turns into a giant floating tree monster. Once again, more stupid faces. But the mention of the giant tree monster brings me to my next point about how dumb this manga is. Generally, shonen mangas are based the idea of a person wanting to become the 'strongest warrior/demon/wizard/accountant/whatever in the land'. This manga seems to not follow the normal way of just becoming powerful over a period of time. Rather, they are overpowered now, and there is never even a sliver of doubt in the characters as they completely rape and pillage every bad guy that gets in the way. They don't even need teammates as they show up 5 seconds after the fight is over and the victor shouts (and I quote this directly) "YOU GUYS ARE TOO LATE I WON ALREADY". As you can tell, I found this manga overall boring, predictable and mediocre.


5/10

Chibi Vampire

OhHaiDer :]


Good morning~
I know I keep saying I stay away from vampire mangas
But this is too ridiculous to be ignored!
Today I bring youu...
Chibi Vampire~


Chibi Vampire


Story & Art: Yuna Kagesaki
Publisher: Tokyopop
Rating: Older Teen
Synopsis: (front cover) Karin Maaka isn't like other girls. Once a month, she experiences pain, fatigue, hunger, irritability- and then she bleeds. From her nose. Karin is a vampire, from a family of vampires, but instead of needing to drink blood, she has an excess of blood that she must give to her victims. If done right, giving this blood to her victim can be a very positive thing. The problem with this is that Karin never seems to do things right...


Art Review: 5/5


I love this style of Kagesaki's. It's very cute, has good line art, it's very clean, and super appealing (as to why I got sucked in to pick it up. It was so cute~)


Story Review: My first thoughts on this manga. What the fuck? Just reading the summary fucked with my mind. Firstly, it sounds like they are describing a period.. Out of her nose. What does she do when it's her time of the month, stick tampons up her nostrils? Secondly, not only do they break the rule of vampires having to drink blood, they make them give it away to their "victims". What, do they just present it to them in a blood transfusion pack with a bow on it? Throw it at them and scream parts of the bible like ancient Catholics? I keed the Catholics... (not really) Anyways. Do they just give it to them, give them AIDS from the blood, and go, "My evil deed is done~ *sparkles*" But now that you think about it, I've never seen a vampire contract AIDS before, although I might suspect it due to all the blood that they drink. Besides, aside from actually getting AIDS, I've never really heard of people going "OH NO, THAT PERSON IS GOING TO GIVE ME A BLOOD TRANSFUSION! WOE IS ME T^T" Oh well, onto another point. Another thing with this summary, how do you fail to give blood to someone? You're a super powered vampire, you can catch the people you want to GIVE blood to (I still think that's a retarded idea, to be honest) with your super fast legs and strength. Do you try to sneak up on them in the dark with a needle full of blood, try to inject them but do something clumsy and inject it in your own eye? I think that they are trying to do this, but they kind of failed, if that ever happened. There are also a different number of things that confuse me about this manga. You still bite people even though you're giving away blood? I don't get it. Also, how does the blood gush out of her nose, when she doesn't even have a heartbeat? Many times in this manga they are implying that this vampire even has blood pressure. Doesn't that just make you human with huge teeth? Also at some points in the manga, a vampire can lose too much blood. There's supposed to be an equilibrium to this? But now to actual plot and characters in the manga. Karin's adorable. With her shyness and automatic blushing and what not. D'awwww~ However, she looks constipated when she's stressed about her blood rising. Which kind of results in me never being able to take that seriously. And at some points, when Karin blushes, it almost looks evil at times. Like that anime facial expression where they darken the section underneath the hair around the eyes. Just a thought of mine. The plot seems to flow pretty well for something confusing as this, and I enjoyed reading it despite not knowing what the fuck was going on.


7/10