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Posts Tagged ANN Reviews

ANN Review: Stepping on Roses (Vol. 03)

If you’re interested in reading my thoughts on a shoujo series that goes past guilty pleasure into just ick, you can check out my review of Stepping on Roses (Vol. 03) over at AnimeNewsNetwork.

It’s always had that hokey harlequin-romance quirk to it but it officially crossed the line in volume three to just flat-out WTFery. Someone put that girl out of her misery already; see to it her brother has a horrible but well-deserved end and let the pretty butler-man appear in some other series consisting of more likable people. Silver-lining: the art is still pretty.


ANN Review: Arata (Vol. 03)

Arata (Vol. 03)

Another fairly recent Viz release, and one of my most anticipated current titles, I reviewed volume three of Yuu Watase’s Arata for AnimeNewsNetwork in September.

Unfortunately this third volume was a bit of a letdown. It progressed the plot well enough, and had some really well drawn fight scenes, but I kept finding myself confused as to what was going on. It had some scenes that should’ve been really dramatic yet they just fell flat, which was a shame. On the amusing side, this volume had several panels that screamed ‘I was drawn by an assistant!’ so loud that I couldn’t help but have a little chuckle. Poor funny looking background people.

Ah well, hopefully this was just a bump! Speaking of Yuu Watase though, I wonder when the next Genbu Kaiden comes out…


ANN Review: NGE Campus Apocalypse (Vol. 01)

A bit belated but back in September my review for Neon Genesis Evangelion: Campus Apocalypse (Vol. 01) [phew, long name!] was posted over at AnimeNewsNetwork.

It’s been a long while since Dark Horse has had a manga series I was interested in (excluding the ever-engaging Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service) but the art style and plot of this looked like something right up my alley. The fact it was Neon Genesis Evangelion was just an interesting quirk.

Overall I enjoyed it, the art was really nice (non-NGE characters looked especially good with the freedom to design from scratch) and the plot was alright. I was irked at the end when Shinji stepped up as the stereotypical passive anime-hero to join this fight he never really gave enough thought to, but other than that I read the book with few complaints. Not overly exciting, but decent entertainment for those new and old to the franchise.


ANN Review: Tale of a White Night

ANN Review:  Tale of a White Knight

Newish manga review of mine over at AnimeNewsNetwork is for a one-shot horror/fantasy book from Digital Manga, Tale of a White Night.

I’m a fan of these types of suspenseful ghost stories so I really enjoyed the majority of this book. The art was also really pretty (note the gorgeous cover) – the combination reminded me of Matsuri Akino’s Pet Shop of Horrors, so I think fans of it would enjoy this as well. The last story in the book was a big let-down though; sharp change of subject matter and art style that was a real surprise, sadly though not a good one.

Still, a good overall read with some nice work on it by Digital Manga so I’d recommend fans of the genre checking it out. Shannon Fay also wrote a full review on the book which was posted earlier this week.


ANN Review: Toriko (Vol. 01)

ANN Review: Toriko (Vol. 01)

With volume two of this series coming out shortly, seems like a good time to direct any curious-readers to my review of Toriko (Vol. 01) over at AnimeNewsNetwork.

What to say about this book… well, I definitely liked it. It’s weird, that’s for sure and I’ll admit I didn’t see myself so immediately warming up to a story about a huge musclely food-disposer beating up giant beasts with his own bare hands for the sake of a tasty meal. Who would’ve thought? Toriko is sort of gross but also sort of endearing in his own beefy shonen-hero sort of way. His little sidekick chef also kept reminding me of Kuririn (from Dragonball) which I swear had no effect on my affection for him. I don’t think.

I’m looking forward to volume two, to see how these culinary-quests play out.


ANN Review: The Tyrant Who Falls In Love (Vol. 01)

ANN Review: The Tyrant Who Falls In Love (Vol. 01)

One of the most long-anticipated releases on my wishlist in the past five years has finally been released this month – The Tyrant Who Falls in Love! I own the series it was spun-off from – Hinako Takanaga’s Challengers – so I’ve been really excited to read a series about its more memorable character.

Over at Anime News Network I reviewed the first volume so you can read my thoughts in mostly-full over there. In summary though, I loved it. It’s definitely not for everyone – some homophobia and non-con scenes – but I had so much fun reading it that it was worth the wait. Extra eager for volume two!


ANN Review: Seiho Boys’ High School (Vol. 01)

ANN Review: Seiho Boys' High School (Vol. 01)

Another new shoujo-series from Viz Media was recently released, Seiho Boys’ High School and I reviewed the first volume over at AnimeNewsNetwork.

The majority of reviews I’ve read since completing my own have been pretty different from my own; it makes me a bit hopeful that the series may get better in volume two. Personally I found this first volume on the dull side and rarely as funny as it intended – though it did have some especially memorable lines, I’ll certainly give it that.

It has a potentially fun premise – an all boys’ school on a secluded island and the group of boys who live there dealing with their hormonal selves in the face of limited interaction with women. Take out any notion of guy-on-guy action, since this sounds ripe for boys’ love, and you have the general gist (not that I’m complaining about this not being a boys’ love story, we have plenty already, but the premise seems to demand some clarification).

But the story falls victim to a girl-each-chapter formula as scenarios pop up to allow the boys to interact short-term with a new girl and I started feeling bored of it pretty quickly. Will this repeat for the rest of the series? I never like to judge on the first volume though so I’ll definitely be picking up volume two, though with a bit of admitted hesitance.


ANN Review: Crimson Cross

ANN Review: Crimson Cross

Missed this when it was originally posted to the site but mid-August my review of Crimson Cross was posted over on AnimeNewsNetwork.

What to say about this one… well, it wasn’t bad, persay, but I’d felt like I’d read a near-exact story a hundred times before. It’s a vampire story about the son of Van Hellsing who is turned half vampire and thusly spends his grim days hunting the uber-power vampire who turned him. Along the way he meets carbon-copies of the same female archtype to give him some sort term angst. He broods, he reflects and generally fails at defeating the vampire. There’s a werewolf in there too somewhere. It’s just really stereotypical, unfortunately, and I found myself bored half way through when I realized it wasn’t going anywhere different than the usual.

This book was also another case where I was really underwhelmed by their graphic design decision for the front of the book. The thick flat-colour maroon border just suffocates the artwork – I don’t understand why they wouldn’t use a full-bleed of the art itself.

Overall, it’s as my review says, I can only really recommend this book to “those entirely new to the concept, or those so smitten that they must have all there is to do with the undead-leeches.” Sadly it’s a been-there-bit-that experience.


ANN Review: A Drunken Dream and Other Stories

ANN Review: A Drunken Dream and Other Stories

My recent review of Moto Hagio’s A Drunken Dream and Other Stories has been posted over at AnimeNewsNetwork. This is Fantagraphics’ first manga release and they did it in style – hardcover and everything.

When I first read this compilation of stories, I was a little underwhelmed. I liked it well enough, I enjoyed reading it but it didn’t leave much impression. I waited a week and read it again and suddenly it seemed completely different. It goes to show the importance of rereading, especially for these more subtle series. Too often I fly through a new book and more time is spent simply on absorbing what happened instead of how or why. A Drunken Dream is definitely more about the hows and whys. I was entranced the second time through as I picked up lots of little things I missed the first time.

The review tells what I liked how the book in more detail but summed up I’d really recommend it, not once but twice (and more times for extra charming effect) – it’s a beautiful book.


ANN Review: Alice the 101st (Vol. 01)

Happy Birthday to me! I’m 24 today which I’ve been warned means I’m only one year away from being five years to thirty – this is scary now I’m told.

On a completely unrelated note (and one considerably more post-relevant), I’ve got a new review up over at AnimeNewsNetwork – Alice the 101st (Vol. 01).

I was really excited for this book as a fan of the artist’s previously-released-in-English series, La Esperanca. Alice the 101st is thus far considerably less melodramatic but that’s not a bad thing; there’s some interesting different plot elements coming together and a fun amount of humour in this one as well. I thought things fell into place a little too easily though so there’s room for improvement in volume two in regards to handling the plot it has a little better. What I liked the most though was the artwork which looks really sharp, especially the stronger use of black. Snazzy stuff and fun to see how her art’s evolved since the last series I read.

A digital copy of this book was provided by eManga.com for review purposes


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