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Review Archive

To see a list of reviews in alphabetical order, please see our review index.

Review: Fairy Tail (Vol. 01)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, July 23, 2009

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manga-ka: Hiro Mashima
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: March 2008

Synopsis: “Cute girl wizard Lucy wants to join the Fairy Tail, a club for the most powerful wizards. But instead, her ambitions land her in the cluthes of a gang of unsavory pirates led by a devious magician. Her only hope is Natsu, a strange boy she happens to meet on her travels. Natsu’s not your typical hero – he gets motion sickness, eats like a pig, and his best friend is a talking cat. With friends like this, is Lucy better off with her enemies?”

At first glance, Fairy Tail may seem undoubtedly familiar to those who’ve read the popular, One Piece. Don’t be fooled however, both are done by different creators, and despite various similarities in the visual style, there’s still some distinct differences in each manga-ka’s approach to their respective stories. As a reader who could never fully understand the appeal of One Piece, I was wary that my discontent with it could prove a hindrance here. Fortunately, I was pleased to a find a constructively linear story with interesting characters and an invigorating world of magic to explore.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Del Rey, Manga

Review: Nightschool (Vol. 01)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, July 21, 2009

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Creator: Svetlana Chmakova
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: April 2009

Synopsis: “Schools may lock up for the night, but class is in session for an entirely different set of students. In the Nightschool, vampires, werewolves, and weirns (a particular breed of witches) learn the fundamentals of everything from calculus to spell casting. Alex is a young weirn whose education has always been handled through homeschooling, but circumstances seem to be drawing her closer to the Nightschool. Will Alex manage to weather the dark forces gathering?”

Like so many others, I picked up Nightschool with high expectations based on my enjoyment reading Svetlana’s charming three-part series, Dramacon. And yet, at the same time, the story of a young girl experiencing romance at an anime convention is considerably different than the story presented here in Nightschool: an effective, if not slightly unoriginal, tale of a school with an evening class of night-rooming students amidst a city of hunters out to rid the world of their very existence.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Global Manga, Yen Press

Review: Buddha (Vol. 01)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Monday, July 20, 2009

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manga-ka: Osamu Tezuka
Publisher: Vertical
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: May 2006

Synopsis: “In Buddha, originally serialized in the 1970s and one of his last works, Osamu Tezuka lavishly retells the life of Siddhartha, who isn’t even born until page 268. Instead, Tezuka introduces Chapra, a slave who attempts to escape his fate by posing as the son of a general; Tatta, a crazed wild child pariah who communes with animals; Chapra’s slave mother, who stands by him no matter what; and Naradatta, a monk attempting to discover the meaning of strange portents of the Buddha’s birth. Throughout the book, the characters engage in fresh and unexpected adventures, escapes and reverses, as they play out Tezuka’s philosophical concern with overcoming fate and the uselessness of violence.”

Though I failed to grasp the depths of which Buddha is apparently intended to symbolize, it’s still a strong prolouge to the life of a young man destined for great things in a world that suffers so strongly from its own failings.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Osamu Tezuka, Vertical Inc

Review: Monkey High (Vol. 02)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Sunday, July 19, 2009

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manga-ka: Shouko Akira
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: June 2008

Synopsis: “Haruna and Macharu head off to the amusement park for their official first date! But how romantic is the date going to turn out with scary roller coasters, guys hitting on Haruna, and even rowdy classmates popping up?”

Eager to experience a second volume as charming as the first, I wasn’t disappointed when I finished reading volume two of Monkey High. Macharu and Aizawa are continuing on as the unexpected couple and remain one of the most endearing pair I’ve ever had the joy of reading about.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Viz Media

Review: Falling Into Love

Posted by Shannon Fay on Sunday, July 19, 2009

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Reviewer: Shannon Fay

Manga-ka: Takashi Kanazaki
Publisher: 801Media
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: November 2008

Synopsis: “High school student Hisashi has admired top model Tomohito for years. His only goal in modeling is to get a contract at the same agency. By sheer coincidence, the two happen to be at the same shooting location. Looking to put some fear into his rising competition, Tomohito snares Hisashi into a passionate kiss claiming “I just wanted to wipe that prim look off your face!” But even the best laid plans are bound to have complications. Instead of running off the competition, he may have just gotten himself a suitor!”

I previously reviewed another manga by Takashi Kanazaki called His Arrogance. Both books share a cast of characters but focus on different relationships. In Falling Into Love, we meet Hisashi as a high school student who’s just breaking into the modeling world. When top model Tomohito takes an interest in the younger model, it sparks a rivalry that quickly becomes something more.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: 801Media, Boys' Love/Yaoi, Manga

Review: Moon Boy (Vol. 01)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Saturday, July 18, 2009

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manhwa-ga: Lee YoungYou
Publisher: Ice Kunion (now Yen Press)
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: May 2006

Synopsis: “Apart from the fact that the color of her eyes turn red when the moon rises, Myung-Ee is your average, albeit boy crazy fifth grader. After picking a fight with her classmate Yu-Da Lee, she discovers a startling secret: the two of them are ”earth rabbits” being hunted by the ”fox tribe” of the moon! Five years pass and Myung-Ee transfers to a new school in search of pretty boys. There, she unexpectedly reunites with Yu-Da. The problem is, he mysteriously doesn’t remember a thing about her or their shared past at all!”

I’ve gotten into the habit of jumping into series midway recently, and more often than not, it’s easier than one would imagine to get caught up with the story. Moon Boy, however, was not one of those instances, and having been confused from volumes four and up, I knew it was time to step back and check out volume one for a simple much needed explanation.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manhwa, Yen Press

Review: Oishinbo – Fish, Sushi & Sashimi

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Friday, July 17, 2009

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Author: Tetsu Kariya
Manga-ka: Akira Hanasaki
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Teen (13+)
Release Date: July 2009

Synopsis: “Yamaoka and his father, Kaibara Y zan, have never enjoyed an ideal father-son relationship. In fact, it’s about as far from ideal as possible, and when they start arguing about food–which they inevitably do–the sparks really fly. In this volume of Oishinbo the subject of dispute is fish, starting with the question of whether mackerel can ever be truly good sashimi. Later, things come to a head during the “Salmon Battle,” which pits father against son in an epic contest to develop the best dish before a panel of judges. Will Yamaoka finally defeat Kaibara? Or will he once again be left in his father’s shadow?”

Fish, Sushi & Sashimi: Some panels of this volume of Oishinbo had me hungry, while others, with the unskinned fish and their beady little eyes being nonchalantly consumed in whole, left me a little less than eager to indulge. I can imagine that sushi lovers would undoubtedly find the different meals more appealing overall, yet I still enjoyed learning about a variety of different sushis including several of which I will definitely be keeping a look out for.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Osamu Tezuka, Viz Media

Review: B.Ichi (Vol. 03)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Thursday, July 16, 2009

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manga-ka: Atsushi Ohkubo
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: May 2009

Synopsis: “Shotaro and Tool square off against the Fear Robot, but they can’t help feeling like something’s missing. With Mana still nowhere to be found after the attack at the Robot Fight Tournament and Yohei firmly in the clutches of the King of Spin, it seems the best course of action is a covert rescue mission into enemy territory!”

Like any straight-from-the-mold shonen series, the bulk of this third volume of B.Ichi sees the lead cast splitting off to fight some of the undoubtedly-many enemies standing between them and the their goal of destroying a giant robot created by the evil organization reponsible for its construction.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Yen Press

Review: Clover (Omnibus Collection)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Wednesday, July 15, 2009

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manga-ka: CLAMP
Publisher: Dark Horse
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: April 2009

Synopsis: “Kazuhiko is a young, but already deeply wounded, black-ops agent of a baroque, retro-tech world – pulled out of retirement to escort Sue, a mysterious waif, to a destination she alone knows. Sue and Kazuhiko have never met… yet she knows him, having grown up since the age of four with her only human contact being two distant voices: that of her elderly “grandma” – Kazuhiko’s commander, General Ko; and that of Kazuhiko’s dead girlfriend, the beautiful singer Ora. And Sue has been kept in that cage all these years because of what she is, and what the Clover Leaf Project found her to be: a military top secret… and the most dangerous person in the world.”

Combining the noir-esque features of one of CLAMP’s most visually distinct works, and an impressive repackaging by Dark Horse, this dark futuristic story of hope and survival gets another well-deserved chance to enthrall a new generation of manga fans.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: CLAMP, Dark Horse, Manga

Review: Cirque du Freak (Vol. 01)

Posted by Lissa Pattillo on Tuesday, July 14, 2009

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Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Author: Darren Shaw
Manga-ka: Takahiro Arai
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: June 2009

Synopsis: “The world of internationally acclaimed author Darren Shan’s Cirque Du Freak brought to life as you’ve never seen it before! Darren Shan was an average kid until destiny brought him to the Cirque Du Freak. Now Darren’s been immersed into a shadowy world inhabited by vampires, werewolves, and strange creatures the likes of which he’s never imagined, and his life will be changed forever!”

While I make a habit not to judge a book by its cover, it’s still more often than not a deciding factor in the order of my ever-growing stack of books to read. In the case of Cirque Du Freak, the less than inspiring cover left me placing it on the lower end of my book pile, doomed to the obscurity of someday and the maybes of tomorrow. It proved a mistake of mine however, as having finally read this opening instalment, I was greeted not with mediocrity but instead with one of the most compelling first volumes I have read in ages.

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Categories: Reviews
Tags: Manga, Yen Press