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Posts Tagged ANN Reviews

ANN Review: Butterflies, Flowers (Vol. 05)

ANN Review: Butterflies, Flowers (Vol. 05)

This weekend my review for the fifth volume of Butterflies, Flowers was posted over at AnimeNewsNetwork.

Butterflies, Flowers is one of my favourite currently running series – it’s so funny that I know I’ll have several good laughs reading every new book. The actual romance is pretty lost on me, as how creepy and controlling the relationship is is far more domineering a factor than any mush, but I forgive it for the fun at their expense and for being a shoujo series actually targeted at older women (ie: a josei series in Shoujo Beat trimmings). More Yuki Yoshihara’s series please!


ANN Review: Strawberry Panic Omnibus

ANN Review: Strawberry Panic! Omnibus

The omnibus trend continues as I tackled the collected edition of Strawberry Panic for a review over on AnimeNewsNetwork.

Overall I had fun reading this purely because it was so silly; cute but campy. The art was beautiful but the characters pretty shallow. It really felt like a big stereotype of Yuri as a genre, with a debatably healthy dose of cliches straight out of harlequin novels. Too bad about the lack of any realistic romance though, though at least I wasn’t really expecting that going in. Ah well, it was shiny?


ANN Review: Demon Sacred (Vol. 01)

ANN Review: Demon Sacred (Vol. 01)

Certainly one of the most odd volumes of manga I’ve read as of late, I recently reviewed volume one of Demon Sacred for AnimeNewsNetwork.

My thoughts – this is a pretty silly story. Then again I’m not sure if you could really present the premise any better – demons in the form of unicorns from another dimension trapped by fangirls in the bodies of their pop-sensation idols – that about sums it up. I wasn’t especially intrigued or engaged in the story at all, it came off as too silly for me to take seriously while not silly enough to be intentionally funny. I’d very much recommend the creator’s more engaging Jyu-Oh-Sei over this which takes the twins fighting-against-odds story much more dramatically. That is of course unless you’re looking for silly, then step right up to Demon Sacred.


ANN Review: Pokemon Adventures (Vol. 08)

ANN Review: Pokemon (Vol. 08)

Eager to spread my love of this under-appreciated series with the masses, I recently reviewed Pokemon Adventures (Vol. 08) over at AnimeNewsNetwork.

What else can I say? I’ve been reviewing the majority of the series here on Kuriousity and it’s still one of my favourites. It’s always difficult to recommend the series to people when there’s so much assumption based on the mass-media phenomenon that Pokemon is. But, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Pokemon Adventures is a fun, surprisingly-serious (and violent) at times yet adorably drawn series that captures the feeling of the original games far better than I felt any other adaptations have. It was fun reading from other fans in ANN’s forums.

But I digress and should be summarizing my thoughts of this volume!Volume eight starts the beginning of a new story arc with the cast of characters we’ve known before predominantly behind us as they do their own thing elsewhere for the duration of this book. I liked the new character Gold who is an entertaining sort (and he throws Pokeballs with a pool cue!) though I did miss the other characters. Only a few more books until the series changes artists so I’m enjoying Mato’s work while I can.


ANN Review: Cross Game Omnibus (Vol. 01)

ANN Review: Cross Game (Vol. 01)

There might be a lot of forward momentum in the future of digital manga but I’m still rooting for the print-team and omnibus editions really seem like the way things’re going. No complaints from me however, more manga for less money and a hefty read time makes me a happy consumer and fan. One of the most recent series to start from the gate in omnibus form is Cross Game from Viz Media. I reviewed the first volume (making up the first original three) over at AnimeNewsNetwork.

I bought Cross Game while I was down at New York Anime Fest and the book lasted me almost the entire time I was waiting to board my flight back home. It clocks in at just over 600 pages, and while in hindsight I wouldn’t recommend reading the whole thing in one sitting, it is really hard to put down once you’ve been drawn in. The hook moment hit me at about the 1/3 point after a big plot event occurred that really caught me by surprise.

Predomiantly it’s Mitsuru Adachi’s notorious muted character writing that makes this title so interesting. Being so accustomed to over-the-top reactions, screaming, flailing and wailing in manga, reading something as subtle and calm as Cross Game is like settling down into a cold bed – it’s a bit awkward at first but once you settled in and warm up, it’s absolute bliss. My strange analogies aside, it’s a very different experience and I highly recommend it.


ANN Review: Black Butler (Vol. 03)

ANN Review: Black Butler (Vol. 03)

One of my current favourites for sheer fangirlish pandering that hits all the right buttons for me, I reviewed the third volume of Black Butler for AnimeNewsNetwork.

The story in Black Butler is pretty minimal. It likes teasing at some of the plot it hasn’t fully divulged yet but past that it survives pretty heavily on the effect of its short term events. Only three volumes in however and these enjoyable forays of snappily dressed men being amazing at butler-work and butt-kicking is nowhere near dull yet. Hopefully it doesn’t get to be so either, I’m so enamoured with the artwork, atmosphere and Victorian-charm. Pander away, Black Butler, for now I’m yours! (Except in regards to those three obnoxious housekeepers – why oh why are they still there?)


ANN Review: Deadman Wonderland (Vol. 03)

Deadman Wonderland (Vol. 03)

Prisons, powers and battles to the death – my review of Deadman Wonderland (Vol. 03) was posted over at AnimeNewsNetwork late-October.

I really, really like the artwork of Deadman Wonderland. I also like the characters and the story concept is pretty snazzy too… but I admit to not being able to follow the story all that well. It’s not confusing per say, but it feels like there’re so many things it doesn’t address, that I feel like I’m stumbling around over what they are. Still, can’t say it isn’t lots of fun to read anyway! Pretty violent content though so reader warning.


ANN Review: Black Gate (Omnibus)

Black Gate

Feels like I’ve been reading a lot of omnibus recently – not that I’m complaining to 600+ pages of manga for cheap! I kicked off a week of omnibus reading with Black Gate, a 3-in-1 omnibus from Tokyopop. You can read my full review of it over at AnimeNewsNetwork.

Overall, I enjoyed it. The beginning bored me a lot though, at first I didn’t think I’d be able to get through it all. Thankfully an assortment of interesting characters came in midway and made it exceptionally more entertaining. Pretty artwork too, which was my entire basis for picking this one up. See what a shiny cover can do?

Book purchased at Strange Adventures


ANN Review: House of Five Leaves (Vol. 01)

Newish review up over at AnimeNewsNetwork, this time for a new-to-English-print SigIKKI series, House of Five Leaves.

While Natsume Ono’s previous works have left me a on the underwhelmed side, I found I enjoyed House of Dead Leaves. Her subtle charaterization was a lot nicer and less over-dramatic for the sake of being so. The Ero-period setting worked well and I think her art’s improved a lot too, House of Five Leaves being one of her more recent series.

In hindsight, I think my C+ grade for the art was a little low but my decision there was based on how extra subjective I think it is to people’s tastes. Natsume Ono’s art is always an easy deal-breaker as I see it. Personally I liked it here but the masses at large? Eh, maybe not so much by first impressions.


ANN Review: Your Love Sickness

Your Love Sickness

I guess it’s more a good sign than not that I’m having trouble keeping up with my reviews being posted over at AnimeNewsNetwork, right? You can check out my thoughts on a new boys’ love short story collection, Your Love Sickness.

In short: I really liked this one. So did Shannon, which made me happy. For me this artist’s work screamed ‘Naono Bohra!’, who is one of my favourite manga creators. The stories were all pretty good in this one and the art was lovely – pretty but not pretty-boy kind of pretty. Okay, maybe a little pretty but still mostly masculine. As a one-shot this is a nice low-risk purchase too, so for that and all reasons already given in my review, I recommend it happily to fans of boys’ love.


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