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Review Archive

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


Review: Beyond My Touch


Manga-ka: Tomo Maeda
Publisher: Viz
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Released: December 2005

Synopsis: “Mizuno and Mamoru never saw eye-to-eye in school. Nervous glances, crippling shyness… every day, a tangled web of feelings threatened to keep them apart forever. But when Mamoru dies and returns as a ghost, the boys unearth a truly special connection. Can this new love from the great-beyond bring Mizuno back to life, or will his shadowy past bury all hope?”

Beyond My Touch is a collection of Tomo Maeda boys’ love stories, three in total. The title story, and also the longest, stars Mizuno, a quiet student who keeps to himself until one day when the ghost of his classmate follows him home. Mamoru claims that Mizuno is his regret, keeping him here on Earth as a ghost. Despite how hard Mamoru tries to help, and openly shares his feelings, he seems to be nothing but an annoyance to Mizuno. What’s a little ghost to do?

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Review Themes: Ghost Story Week

ghost

  1. The spirit of a dead person, especially one believed to appear in bodily likeness to living persons or to haunt former habitats.
  2. The center of spiritual life; the soul
  3. A demon or spirit

With the week of mystery reviews over, it’s time for a new theme! This week it’s ghost stories: mangas that revolve around the deceased and haunting. Like last time, you can expect five reviews, spanning across the week with one a day. This time around there’ll be some more volume ones (for those looking to start a new series), a one-shot, a complete series and a set of light novels, all from a few years back but still great today. From creepy to funny to fluffy, keep checking back for some stories that are a little different from the ones you’ve heard around the campfire!

Previous ghost story-related reviews:

Mail (Vol. 01)
Kamen Tantei (Vol. 01)
Psychic Power Nanaki (Vol. 02)
Tokyo Babylon (Full series)
XXXHolic (Vol. 11)


Review: CLAMP School Detectives (Full series)

Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo

Manga-ka: CLAMP
Publisher: Tokyopop
Volumes: 3
Rating: All Ages
Released: April 2003 – August 2003

Synopsis: “Welcome to the CLAMP School, Japan’s most prestigious place of learning – home to prodigies, wunderkinds and young geniuses of every make and model. In a world where the average student is smart than the teachers, how then can the top students challenge their intellects? Why, by creating a detective service of course!”

It’s the final review of mystery week today with CLAMP School Detectives! This set of books takes readers of CLAMP’s older works to a familiar place, back to the walls of the prestigious CLAMP School: a fully self-functioning school (and small city) for the gifted in the heart of Tokyo. This three-volume series revolves around three such gifted youths, the trio who makes up the elementary division’s council: Nokoru Imonoyama, Suoh Takamura and Akira Ijyuin. Together they’re also the CLAMP School Detectives, saving the city one damsel at a time!

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Review: Satisfaction Guaranteed (Vol. 01)


Manga-ka: Ryo Saenagi
Publisher: Tokyopop
Rating: Teen (13+)
Released: July 2006

Synopsis: “Shima is a jack-of-all-trades who can solve any problem that’s presented to him. When he’s approached by Kaori, a super-hot teenage model who’s being followed by a mysterious figure known as “The Snowman”, the two team up to catch the stone-cold stalker in the act. One thing’s for sure: When you hire this hot duo, your satisfaction is guaranteed!”

Meet Shima Yoshitsune, a young man (though not nearly as young as he looks), who single-handedly runs Anything Agency, claiming that he can do and solve anything. When his newest client ends up being the famous supermodel, Kyo, the two become friends and team up to solve the problems of others. It’s one mystery after another in this episodic series of events.

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Review: Gorgeous Carat Galaxy


Manga-ka: You Higuri
Publisher: DMP/June
Rating: Teen (13+)
Released: July 2006

Synopsis: “The trio decides to visit the castle of a distant relative known for its unique garden full of monstrous sculptures. However, these mysterious topiaries are more than mere decorations and hold secrets that could be deadly. When a mysterious figure begins to attack the houseguests and an unexpected blizzard keeps everyone confined to the grounds, this peaceful trip to the countryside soon becomes something out of a nightmare, full of mystery, intrigue and murder.”

Gorgeous Carat Galaxy, released by DMP, is a sequel to the BLU released series, Gorgeous Carat. The same cast of characters are back in this one-book sequel that continues off from where the last left of. Ray, the charismatic and charming thief-by-night; Florian, the beautiful astriocratic son sold by his family and Lila, Ray’s assistant, take a trip out to the country to visit a distant relative’s estate. Soon everyone there finds themselves trapped by a freak blizzard and at the mercy of someone out to get them!

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Review: Off*Beat (Vol. 01)


Author/Artist: Jen Lee Quick
Publisher: Tokyopop
Rating: Teen (13+)
Released: September 2005

Synopsis: “Meet 15-year-old Tory Blake, a self-proclaimed genius who is somewhat antisocial and more than a bit cynical about the world Life is just tedious for Tory… until the day an attractive but secretive boy his own age moves in across the street. Tory becomes obsessed by his mysterious new neighbour and begins documenting his every move. But this pursuits of friendship – and possibly more – leads Tory to the one thing he wasn’t expecting to discover.”

Off*Beat isn’t so much a mystery in its own right as it is the story of a boy looking for one. Tory Blake is the story’s lead. He’s an intellectual, anti-social teenager who doesn’t give the world a whole lot of credit, plus it seems to bore the heck out of him. One day a boy named Colin moves in across the street in the dead of night and suddenly Tory’s found a target for his obsessive-compulsive nature.

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Review: Kamen Tantei (Vol. 01)


Manga-ka: Matsuri Akino
Publisher: Tokyopop
Rating: Teen (13+)
Released: September 2006

Synopsis: “A pair of young aspiring mystery writers tries to crack the most bizarre, baffling and hilarious cases around them. But when clues lead to a dead end, fortunately for our duo, the Masked Detective always seems to show up in the nick of time to help! In this light-hearted mystery from the creator of Pet Shop of Horrors, it’s not always about solving the crimes – but you can be sure that trail of evidence will lead to a hoot and a holler!”

A mystery story about mystery lovers solving mysteries: A perfect beginning to this week’s theme! The story follows Haruka Akashi and Misato Nishina, two high school students, and best friends, with a shared love of mystery novels. Together they make up their school’s Mystery Book Club and write stories of their own under the pen name Taro Suzuki. When a fellow student commits suicide, Haruka decides they need to put their skills to the test and set out to discover what really happened. When the two hit a dead end, a strange man decked in costume appears to help, calling himself Kamen Tantei!

Read more…


Review Themes: Mystery Week

mys·ter·y

  1. any affair, thing, or person that presents features or qualities so obscure as to arouse curiosity or speculation:
  2. a novel, short story, play, or film whose plot involves a crime or other event that remains puzzlingly unsettled until the very end
  3. obscure, puzzling, or mysterious quality or character

It’s the beginning of Kuriousity’s summer of weekly manga themes! Starting it off is a week of mystery: detectives, thiefs and good ‘ol fashion sluething. There’ll be one review a day, making for a total of five reviews for some series I think are worth sharing! First one goes up tonight.

If there’s a mystery-themed manga that you’ve enjoyed, feel free to comment here and tell me a little about it. A fan of mystery vs. not so much? Think you’d like to see more mystery manga on the shelves? Don’t be afraid to share your thoughts!

Previous mystery-related reviews:

Kat & Mouse (Vol. 01)
Kat & Mouse (Vol. 02)
Satisfaction Guaranteed (Vol. 06)


Review: +Anima (Vol. 07)


Manga-ka: Natsumi Mukai
Publisher: Tokyopop
Rating: Teen (13+)
Released: April 2008

Synopsis:
“As Cooro and company travel through a dark tunnel on the way to Sailand, Husky tells them the reason why he wants to go there – to see his mother. But it looks like the family reunion will be delayed when the children discover that in Sailand, +Anima are kept as slaves! And if that weren’t bad enough, Husky and Senri are captured by slave hunters! Can Cooro and Nana fly them to freedom?”

A lot happens in this joyfully extra fat volume of +Anima. Cooro, Nana, Husky and Senri continue their trek through the underground tunnels to the neighbouring country of Sailand, seeking people from Husky and Senri’s pasts. Upon getting there, they find out that Anima are looked at as lesser beings and kept as slaves by the humans. While Cooro and Nana are taken in by a kind Anima-keeper, Husky and Senri are captured by much less hospitable slave hunters.

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Review: Welcome to the NHK (Vol. 06)


Author: Tatsuhiko Takimoto
Manga-ka: Kendi Oiwa
Publisher: Tokyopop
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: March 2008

Synopsis: “Satou’s hallucinations of an Angel-Misaki are getting worse! Having run away from home, he now turns to arcades and pachinko bars for relief. But he soon learns that there are expensive habits, and this escapism comes at a cost he might not be willing to pay. Feeling alone, with no one to turn to, especially now that Yamazaki’s got his own girl problems, Satou is at an all-time low. Where will he turn?”

The hallucinations, social downfalls and episodic insanity continues in volume six of Welcome to the NHK. Satou, Misaki and Yamazaki all get their time on centre stage to let readers know that nothing’s really getting any better, despite what opportunities present themselves.

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