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Author Archive for Victoria K Martin

Review: Punishment

Punishment

Author: Yamila Abraham
Artist: Yifeng Jiang
Publisher: Yaoi Press
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: September 2012

Synopsis: “As the son of a former Prime Minister, Vishva could have any government job he wants. He chooses to work as someone who canes political prisoners. Vishva’s despicable personality makes him the most loathed person in the department. That is, until an ethnic minority is hired. Fang took the wretched job because there are few prospects for him in their country. He”s quickly exposed to prejudice and abuse. Vishva befriends Fang because it infuriates his co-workers. But, the more he studies him, the more fascinated he becomes… ”

I’m not personally a big reader of yaoi manga but I, like most people who have been in anime/manga fandom for a decent amount of time, had an idea of what to expect from such a book: two bishounen in a relationship that most likely would be lacking in the consent department. In this respect, Punishment certainly did not disappoint.

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Review: Soul Eater (Vol. 11)

Soul Eater (Vol. 11)

Manga-ka: Atsushi Ohkubo
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: November 2012

Synopsis: “Arachnophobia has taken the offensive and spreads the Kishin’s madness throughout the world, using “BREW” to threaten anyone who stands in their way. In the wake of attacks at home and abroad, DWMA sends its top students to quell the madness and gather information wherever they can. But the madness is spreading much quicker and is stronger than they had anticipated. When confronted by an incarnation of the Kishin’s madness itself – the sinister Clown – will Maka and Soul fall victim to its manipulations?”

Volume eleven of Soul Eater picks up right where volume ten ended, with the DWMA on the defensive under Arachnophobia’s assault. The first chapter focuses exclusively on dealing with Stein, who is the main suspect in the murder that ended the previous book. It’s filled with good use of emotion and shots without dialogue, though it is at times not the easiest narrative to follow. This only increases when most of the other chapters in this volume are solely dedicated to focusing on Maka and Soul, which leads to some disconnect in the volume as a whole. While of course these chapters were originally published in a serialized format, I still do prefer for a volume to have some sense of unity, which this one definitely does not.

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Review: Is This A Zombie? (Vol. 02-03)

Is This A Zombie? (Vol. 02)

Author: Shinichi Kimura
Manga-ka: Sacchi
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: July 2012 | November 2012

Synopsis: “Ayumu Aikawa is settling into his new life – or lack thereof – and enjoying the ties he’s building with his new roommates, strange though they may be! But when the opportunity arises to face his murderer, will this zombie/magikewl girl be up to the task?? …  And with Eu under threat from a mysterious nemesis known only as the “King of Night,” the motley crew is tighter than ever as they resolve to keep the “shady necromancer” safe. But when the resident vampire ninja, Sera, receives orders from home that threaten Eu’s well-being, will she turn her back on her new friends?!”

Is this a Zombie? started out as a light novel series, which has since been adapted as an anime and a manga. I haven’t read the novels, since I don’t know enough Japanese, but I have seen the anime and, while it wasn’t for me, I didn’t think it was that bad.

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about the manga.

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Review: Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden (Vol. 11)

Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden (Vol. 11)

Manga-ka: Yuu Watase
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: March 2013

Synopsis: “While Takiko learns the terrible truth behind the prophecy that set Uruki against his father, King Temdan, the country of Bêi-jîa faces both civil war and foreign invasion. Takiko’s final hope lies in reuniting the last two Celestial Warriors, the twins Urumiya and Teg. Can she mend the rifts between brother and brother, father and son?”

In this second-to-last volume of Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden, the plot is clearly getting ready for the conclusion as major plots begin to wind down and loose ends begin to be tied up. Focused on here are the conflict between Uruki and Temdan, and the reunion of Urumiya and Teg. Both plots reach their conclusion in this volume, to mixed success.

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Victoria’s Favourites: Top 20 Manga (Part 04)

Victoria’s Favourites: Top 20 Manga (Part 04)

The hardest part about making this list was assigning the order and I replayed with the rankings over and over again. Nailing it down was the most difficult for the top ten titles or so, because all of them are ones I absolutely adore and it was very challenging to say I liked one more than the other. In fact, I only came up with the final order when I asked myself a question concerning the top five, which I am about to finally share.

That question was this: if there were only five manga series I could read for the rest of my life, which ones would I choose?

Without further ado, here are my choices.

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Victoria’s Favourites: Top 20 Manga (Part 03)

Victoria’s Favourites: Top 20 Manga (Part 03)

Time for the third part of my Top 20 Favourite Manga list. If you missed the earlier parts, you can find them here and here.

(Just a reminder, this is a ranking based on personal preference, rather than just perceived level of quality; however, with each choice, my ranking of the series over at Anime News Network is noted in parentheses.)

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Victoria’s Favourites: Top 20 Manga (Part 02)

Victoria’s Favourites: Top 20 Manga (Part 02)

Welcome to the second part of my Top 20 Favourite Manga list! You can read the first part here.

(Just a reminder, this is a ranking based on personal preference, rather than just perceived level of quality; however, with each choice, my ranking of the series over at Anime News Network is noted in parentheses.)

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Review: Vampire Knight (Vol. 15)

Vampire Knight (Vol. 15)

Manga-ka: Matsuri Hino
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: November 2012

Synopsis: “With Kaname missing, Yuki must now step in as acting head of her clan to maintain the fragile peace between the human and vampire societies. Will she be able to regain the trust of the vampire aristocrats, much less Aido?”

The majority of the Vampire Knight volumes set after the time jump have been very Kaname-centric. Some of his mystery is revealed while even more secrets appear. However, in this volume Kaname takes a step back and allows the focus to return to Yuki, as she takes the knowledge she has learned and puts it into practice.

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Victoria’s Favourites: Top 20 Manga (Part 01)

Victoria's Favourites: Top 20 Manga (Part 01)

I’ve always been a fan of top lists, hence why I’ve made a couple of my own. However the lists I liked writing the most were always the ones about my personal favourites. Because of this, I’ve recently been trying to determine what my own favourite manga and anime are, since after almost ten years of reading/watching, I’ve had the chance to be exposed to quite a bit.

Now, this is a ranking based on personal preference, rather than just perceived level of quality, and with each choice I have also included my ranking of the series over at Anime News Network in parentheses (my username there is marie-antoinette, for anyone who is interested). And so, without further ado, here is part one of my Top 20 Favourite Manga!

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Review: Bamboo Blade (Vol. 14)

Bamboo Blade (Vol. 14)

Author: Masahiro Totsuka
Manga-ka: Aguri Igarashi
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (13+)
Release Date: August 2012

Synopsis: “After the intense drama of the Burnish Academy TV shoot, each member of the Muroe kendo team has a new outlook on their involvement with kendo, and Tamaki is eager to learn what reasons her friends have for participating in the sport, hoping they will help her find her own motivation. Kojiro plans a trip to observe the Gokuryuki national tournament to help Tamaki in her search, and with the support of her family and friends, Tamaki takes a confident step toward the future in the final volume of Bamboo Blade!”

The back of this book features an afterword from writer Masahiro Totsuka about the series. In it, he describes how he wanted to give readers who are not sports fans a story that demonstrates the passion that athletes put into sport and how much it shapes them as a person. In this final volume, Bamboo Blade more than delivers on this plan as the story is brought to a very satisfying, though not completely conclusive, conclusion. It thus achieves another thing mentioned in the afterword, which was Totsuka’s goal of putting his characters “on the starting line” by the series’ end.

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Take me back to the top!