It was so nice outside today! It’s great to be able to shed off the winter coat and boats and head downtown for some new comics wearing a light hoodie and a comfy pair of sneakers. I didn’t come home with a huge pile of stuff but that makes them all no less awesome.
I bought three books from Viz Media this week – Pokemon Adventures (Vol. 12), Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan (Vol. 02) and Blue Exorcist (Vol. 01). Upon flipping through Pokemon Adventures, I’m most excited to read this volume – there’s a whole bunch of previous characters returning such as Misty, Brock and Sabrina so I’m really to see why and under what circumstances. Blue Exorcist (Vol. 01) caught my eye with its shiny cover and I’ve heard a lot about it lately because of its upcoming anime release. It’ll almost be like I’m up to date on anime playing these days!
One title from Tokyopop this week as I start up another new manga series – Clean Freak: Fully Equipped (Vol. 01). My first impression is that the art is really rough and rather unappealing but hopefully the rather quirky sounding plot can overcome that. We shall see! It’s about a boy with a huge germophobe problem and the friends he makes who help him overcome it.
Topping off my purchases with a trip to the discount bin, I purchased From Erocia With Love (Vol. 14). I only own the first three volumes and honestly didn’t like them very much. But I’ve heard lots of good things about the series so we’ll see how a random dip in the middle fares!
Lastly, and though not manga, I’m also going to mention my purchase of Bone (One Volume Edition). For a mere $20, I was able to buy the entire Bone graphic novel series in a single book! I’ve never had an opportunity to read the entire series before so I was really happy to find this book for sale.
Now I’m off to read! What did you purchase this week?
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Starting out my stack of Viz Media titles were several continuing series. First came the shonen with the new volume of Bleach (Vol. 34) and my much anticipated purchase of Toriko (Vol. 04). Toriko has really surprised me in how much I’ve been enjoying it – feels very Dragonball-esque to me. Next was Rin-Ne (Vol. 05) which has proven itself more enjoyable with each volume, even if it is just Takahashi doing Takahashi stuff like it’s her own trope now.
Speaking of new series, and moving onto Seven Seas, I bought the first two volumes of Toradora! and Amnesia Labyrinth. Both really aren’t my usual kind of stories (they’re more ‘otaku-targeted’ if that makes sense?) but I’ve bee wanting to collect some more Seven Seas titles because of their great adaptation work. I must say the quality of Amnesia Labyrinth is really spot-on with a lot of Japanese editions I’ve seen including the little outside strip slip along the bottom.
Speaking of larger cut sizes, I bought the second volume of 
My other purchase of the week, and the one I had to read as soon as I was handed my reciept for buying it, was Black Jack (Vol. 13). It’s my favourite of Osamu Tezuka’s works that I’ve read and easily one of my favourite manga series ever. Black Jack’s such a fun character, the kind of person you wouldn’t really want to meet under most circumstances in real life but on the page he’s a well-rounded individual with crazy surgeon skills and the attitude to use them for his own means. There’s quite a bit of Pinoko in this volume and aliens, plus Black Jack’s jerkliness is at an all-time low – yup, low. Volume thirteen really feels like a collection reminding us he’s got a heart of gold when sometimes it’s easy to forget.
Absolute favourites of the week were definitely the newest volume of Pet Shop of Horrors Tokyo (Vol. 08) and Black Butler (Vol. 04). Both star enigmatic pretty-boys with hidden powers and a whole lot of random happening around them. I was disappointed that the new volume of Black Jack wasn’t shipped here yet but these two definitely did a lot to brighten my mood. Retailers are listing this volume of Pet Shop of Horrors as the last one though – I really hope that’s not the case!
And lastly I picked up a new boys’ love one-shot from BLU – Stray Cat. I’ve already read this one and really liked it. Great release quality from Tokyopop, fun characters with a nice art style and some really hilarious comics about the creator’s pets at the book’s end. BLU books don’t come out often but I’ve been pretty impressed with their selection overall these days.
Also criss-crossing time and fashion-space is the second book of the light novel series, The Twelve Kingdoms. The first book blew me away as a detailed and believable fantasy story about a girl ripped from her world and dropped into one of demons, Gods and people hatched from egg-fruit.
Next I picked up the first volume of The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko which I bought purely upon hearing so many good things about it. Plus after reading so much Ouran I’m up for some more shoujo-y goodness. This is also the first new series I’ve bought that sports Tokyopop’s new graphic design work. It uses a lot of black and is pretty slick looking. I’m not sure how well it will compliment different series but for now the pink and black looks really nice.
