Sumomomo Momomo by Shinobu Ohtaka

Gong Hey Fat Choy! 2016 is the year of the monkey, but the gif I found was something completely different.

Darth loves dumplings.

Sumomomo Momomo by Shinobu Ohtaka

Art and story (c) Shinobu Ohtaka

Genre: Seinen, Martial Arts
Length: 12 Volumes – 92 Chapters


            Right off the bat, the art is a little shaky, literally the lines look very 'hand drawn' I suppose would be the nicest way to put it. If you read One Piece like me, its a bit like the wiggly lines you get on it, too, just in the mouths and clothes, it doesn't look unprofessional. This manga had other little things like that, in general it reminds me of Beelzebub with a little One Piece big teeth thrown in, and like Beelzebub, at the beginning the proportions were a little strange. Mostly, it was the same small handed syndrome, which disappeared by the end of the manga, and a bit of big guys having too wide of shoulder for their heads. Other than that, I've got nothing to complain about. The movements were very good, and once the clothes stopped looking too big for the bodies, it got even better. Despite being a martial arts manga, the fights are hardly there, but though there is a lack of actually seeing people fight, what is given is done well. The eyes have a unique look, the faces, too, and emotion is played across the faces amazingly. Its kind of surprising seeing the variety of characters in this story, the manly men look like old-style samurai and their children all are typical manga characters including huge eyed chibi types and just plain huge little eyed types. I had a few design choice issues myself, but I'll discuss that later, but its a lot of fun to look at in a very good way.

This basically sums up the whole thing.

          When Momoko, the only daughter of Sendayuu Kuzuryuu, the leader of the Dragon clan of martial artists, is told by her father she, as a woman, cannot gain anymore strength and must instead find a strong man to have a child with so that her offspring can surpass her, Momoko goes to find her father's equal's son to ask for sex and marriage to fulfill this order. Reaching the Inuzuka household, however, things do not go as planned. First off, Koushi refuses her offer of bearing their children, and then he tells her he hates martial arts?!
           I really enjoyed reading Sumomomo Momomo...mo (? I'm never sure if I have the right amount of 'mo's) I found the emotions played really well and I laughed out loud several times through out the story as well. It was very conscious of itself, I think, and of it's martial arts genre and it felt very obvious that some of the tropes were being made fun of and exploited. For example, Koushi's family's special move involves shooting lasers out of their eyes and while that seems perfectly normal in a martial arts story, like this or Dragon Ball say, it really is a ridiculous ability and it is pointed out quite often how weird it is. The cast of characters are also very diverse, despite being mostly female at first, and you get a lot of those side characters, sometimes you get more of them than you do of Koushi and Momoko. To usually hilarious results. Like I said, I lol'd several times, the humor also had me smiling at lots of stupid running gags and the just plain silly things people did, its a really good comedy. A bit of it is lost in translation, though, and some other mumbo-jumbo doesn't

I love sunsets for the hell of it.

really add to the ease of reading, either. The 'clans' of martial artists are the hardest to come to terms with because, frankly, their descriptions are a little vague and while in Japanese you could tell who was who by the 'animal' in their name the translations loose that. Every clan member has a Chinese character for an animal in their names but besides a few words I've picked up over the years (thanks to Fruits Basket, mostly) I had no idea who was from where until they flat out told me. Those two things are easy to move on from, though, as they have nothing to do with actual enjoyment of the story. There is one major thing that bothered me, though, and that was the choices of the characters came off as fetish-y at times. Typically I think it's just supposed to be for comedic effect, but it was, in my opinion, uncomfortable instead. There are two main examples of this and I'll try not to have any major plot spoilers as I explain them. The first is Momoko herself, as well as another, similar character. The age for Momoko isn't given right away, but it turns out she is supposed to be 15 years old, and Koushi is 17. Ages are tricky to convey, true, and Momoko is a naive and immature character, but at times her sex demanding and panty shots had the taste of pandering to lolicon. The feeling fades as less emphasis is placed on the asking for a child plot point, but the fact that Momoko is supposedly fifteen and looks eleven kind of makes the act a little gross if you think too hard about it. What I found worse than that, though, is a character named Horse Mask, who is a vigilante type hero who I'm not really going to explain for plot reasons, but I feel like her 'joke' just went on a little too long. See, the more humiliated Horse Mask gets,

Does that face say pain? Or pleasure?

the stronger she gets, so that means she has a super embarrassing outfit that happens to fall apart or can be taken apart, so that her power increases. In short, the skimpy outfit gets skimpier so that Horse Mask can become even more powerful. The outfit itself is pretty fetishistic in the first place, since she is a 'horse' it is made to look like reigns and the like, but actually seeing a girl with a bit in her mouth just screams S and M and not much else and then seeing her being humiliated about it is just over the top. I suppose some of my aversion has to do with the fact that I am female and don't think that humiliating a girl for laughs is very nice, but its mostly due to the faces she makes while doing it. Now, granted, Horse Mask only has the two plot lines where her power has to be brought forth and, typically, the two things I disliked sort of sunk into the background after a while so I don't really think its much of a deterrent but it does come off in bad taste when you get to those parts. So much so that I thought I'd have to give this a negative review at one point, but the moment passed, and the good eventually outweighed the bad. Other than that, I really enjoyed reading the emotional journeys of the characters and how things worked out in the end. I got past that bad taste in my mouth left by earlier (or sexist) things and decided I really think this is worth reading.



4/5 Martial Arts manga that pokes fun at Martial Arts manga.

And, simply because I had another one...

Good job fixing that banner definitely not in reverse footage, Darth.

Zero In by Sora Inoue

Y'know, when you like to watch or read all different types of genres, especially in things geared towards men, or to both men and women, you get used to sex being thrown in randomly. Books especially, I'm no prude, but not every book needs a sex scene to get people to read it. Maybe its more like movies make it easy to tell when such things are coming because they are rated, but books aren't besides 'child' 'teen' and 'adult.' Same goes for manga, not all 'shonen' titles are full of busty girls showing cleavage or having up-skirt shots, but, you never know which ones do until you sit down and read them. I'll warn you, it is one of those manga. But, for a 'hot chicks with guns' manga, it could be a helluva lot worse, that's for sure, and I am actually surprised that in the end I do recommend it. (Well, Blogger just erased twenty minutes of fiddly editing on this post, but it's late, so, sorry if the layout is a little wonky)




Zero In by Sora Inoue

Art and story (c) Sora Inoue

Genre: Action Shonen, Ecchi
Length: 12 Volumes – 75 Chapters



           The art is very professional, I don't think there is one thing I can find to complain about as far as the art goes, even at the beginning. There were a few times the backgrounds were a bit empty, but this was usually during action scenes so it obvious why they were left that way. The eyes are expressive, and there is a wide variety of character designs in both main, side, and background characters. The hair is interesting to look at, not only are the haircuts themselves complicated, but the hair itself has good action during all the different scenes (a character all its own, perhaps?). The detail of this manga, actually, is amazing. The clothes for example, are always layered and full of details, even the school uniforms are different and fretted with things that make them unique from other manga and the assorted characters in the story. The clothes are also well fitted to the bodies, as well to the characters who are wearing them, they have a modern feel which plays into the slightly futuristic plot. The physiques are also in a wide spectrum, with girls more on the chunkier side, I assume this is to make their ample bosoms look more natural, and if that is the case I appreciate it. There isn't much I dislike more than giant pillow boobs on thin frames. The guns are well rendered and the action isn't hard to follow, making the shoot outs a dream to read (and there is a metric ton of them). If I had to really dig for a complaint, sometimes the dialog bubbles were easy to read out of order.
           Kou Shiraishi knows he is a complete wimp who is always getting into trouble, and in a society rife with gun crime trouble isn't hard to find. To combat the crime rate, though, a private police force has been formed, while it cannot discharge weapons without direct permission from the police they are a fast response team capable in hand to hand as well as gun fights. When Kou predictably gets in trouble and the private police are called in, he finds himself face to face with the girl idol of his school, Mikuru Nazume, a secret officer of the private police and very capable at handling the capture of violent criminals. Kou may be weak physically, but he's always wanted to join the police force, in fact he decides to to follow Mikuru's example and become strong, too.
           The art is excellent, the story is excellent, the action is heart pumping, and the comedy hits the mark, a top notch manga in just about every category. This isn't really my type of manga, too much fan service, but I still highly enjoyed reading Zero In. Because, amid the gratuitous boob, butt, and panty shots, a real story is nestled. The characters are basically all likable, though with the amount thrown at you its not surprising a few rubbed me the wrong way (lookin' at you Shikie, I still dislike you), and, even more unbelievable, the action is good and the story is good. The slow romance gets a little annoying sometimes, but it adds a little interest into the relationship that you know is going to happen sometime. Suddenly, in the middle of a fight, you'll find yourself laughing, too, because the characters are so well crafted. It really is a perfect mash up of action and school comedy manga. The highlight of this manga is the several chapter spanning action fights. Usually revolving around some personal tragedy or attack on one of the main character's loved ones, they are intense shoot outs with good always triumphing. Just as it should be. Its those in-between chapters you have to worry about, that’s when the real stuff goes down, but the tragedy doesn't drone on. It wasn't perfect, of course. Kou's sister, a side character who is introduced right at the beginning, is one of the problems I have with Zero In, see, she's cute and busty like you'd expect, but making her a purveyor of sexy body shots every time she shows up feels sort of gross since the main character is her brother. I realize that she's but one of the different types of girls in the manga so that the reader is sure to have an abundance of choices to pick their favorite from, but seriously, is weird how she poses around while her bother is right there. Mikuru is also a cliché in anime/manga, a cheerful and a bit clumsy character who is actually a huge bad ass; think Trigun's Vash, Trinity Blood's Abel, Rurouni Kenshin's Kenshin, the list goes on... and on. I personally don't think it detracted from the story, but I am a fan of the trope. My translation was a little here and there sometimes, though I never mark that against the original manga. All in all though, I'm still highly surprised at how much I liked Zero In when every title page is a girl showing/in her panties. I mean, its obviously not marketed towards me, but it is basically every other page with the pin-up shots. I'd like to down grade it for that, but for the action sequences alone it gets full marks.

Will this get me more page views, I wonder?

5/5 Not my style, but, all the same, really well done on all fronts.

What these two guys said

Yu Yu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi

While trying to stop myself from reading Neuro again right away (I'm obsessed, really, I'm watching the anime to try and hold me over but its not the same) I decided to find a more classic Jump manga to read this time around. Though three long manga in a row has basically wiped me out, seriously my bum hurts from sitting for so many hours at a time and I won't even bring up my shoulders, I'm glad I read this trio of shonen manga in a row. Though I think I'm in the mood for something more girly now.


Yu Yu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi

Art and story (c) Yoshihiro Togashi

Genre: Supernatural Fighting Shonen
Length: 19 Volumes - 175 Chapters

with her on the next page

For example, this thing

           The art is fairly rough, after a while it seems that that roughness is given more of a stylized look, but there is a weird contrast in this manga. There are times when people are really amazingly pretty and then something really nasty will show up and this nasty looking guy will hang around for chapter after chapter until you, like the main characters, want to punch him in the face. The background guys, too, will be the strangest people you have ever seen. This being such a well known manga, I've seen it around for a long time, as such I've always though about how appealing and not appealing it can be all at once, I suppose its part of its draw. Characters are easily recognizable, its very unique, in an older style. The eyes, when given the chance, have lots of sparkling depths, and considering its mostly all bouts and comedy, the chances are quite plentiful to see it. The clothing isn't special in any way, typically the characters wear school uniforms or black clothing, their casual clothing is given some detail but that is not often seen. The backgrounds aren't notable, fighting sequences don't tend to lend to them anyway, but they are lacking. Its really hard to describe this art in my usual terms, to see it is to know it, but beyond that it is hard to define.
           Yusuke Urameshi is a delinquent of the highest order, able to win every fight the other punks challenge him to, or he used to, its now impossible for him to brawl or smoke because he's dead. In an unexpected twist, having died saving an innocent child, he's given a chance to redeem himself. All he has to do is be a ghost for a while first. Little does Yusuke know, though, that this encounter with the underworld will soon change the course of his life forever.
           I remember reading bits and pieces of this manga in the American version of Jump back in high school, and enjoying it, to boot. This time around I set out to actually read the thing all the way through and see how it fares over all. Personally, I found that it hasn't really held up as far as the story goes. I enjoyed it, but I probably would not read this again because I found it a lukewarm narration. My main problem with it was there was never any in between of the character's lives, it was always straight to the next set of challenges. So, even though romance elements are introduced, they're never really given any weight, only teased whenever the author felt like it. Before I get too carried away though, lets go back to the beginning. The beginning

of Yu Yu Hakusho is nothing like the rest of it, more specifically, volume one and two essentially are just Yusuke being a ghost and meddling in other spirits or human's lives. I don't know if the author got wise to the boring-ness of this or got bored himself of drawing it this way, but suddenly the premise put into place is thrown away to put a more action-y spin to things. And that is when what its typically thought of as Yu Yu Hakusho really begins. What is typical to it, you may ask? Well, epic fist fights with demons that don't end until Yusuke wins, no matter how many times he goes down before hand, and super powers endowed by character's auras including finger lasers and disgusting transformations. These fights, ending in the main characters being bloody and broken, are always proceeded by a page or two of peace, but the next threat, more sinister than the last, always shows itself right away. I found the action sequences themselves were easy to follow and enjoy and the characters themselves interesting and funny, but it got repetitive really quickly. That could be said about most manga, especially fighting manga, but the way that things restlessly move on in Yu Yu Hakusho really felt like a grind to me. Its a classic, its fun to read, but I can't really recommend it wholeheartedly. With such interesting characters around all the time, I wish I'd had more time outside of fights with them so I could get to know them better. The ending volume really tires to remedy that, too, I think, but the loosely connected stories of the gang's happenings just feels more like limping along instead of heading towards an ending (its also a bit like Dragon Ball's ending, too, in more ways than one), and after 19 volumes I'd hoped for something much more satisfying. Just like the strange art, the story also was likeable and unlikeable at the same time.



2.5/5 Despite being a classic and nostalgic, I found it lacking in long-term appeal. 

Ah yes, I read this manga often in the American Daily Shonen Hop magazine. Memories of my youth...

Beelzebub by Ryuuhei Tamura

Boy, thanks to many distractions including birthday manga, a family member moving, graduation parties, and getting stuck in traffic so long my car's radiator cracked and I had to ride home in a tow truck, I totally missed posting anything last week. I'm sorry about that, truly I am, it never fails that as soon as I pick a long manga to read things just keep me away from finishing in a timely manner. Because of that I'll try to post another manga review this week to make up for it. All the same, I really enjoyed this manga and I hope you will, too.



Beelzebub by Ryuuhei Tamura

Art and story (c) Ryuuhei Tamura

Genre: Action Shonen
Length: 27 Volumes – 240 Chapters


            At the beginning the art is a little sketchy, but the character designs are quickly put to memory and the art settles to what it will be for the rest of the story. The backgrounds are pretty typical because it is a fighting story a lot of the blank panels can be excused for dramatic shots so, overall the backgrounds are filled in when its not a rumble. The clothing, not so much, they are high school kids so their clothes don't much change out of simple uniforms, though that is also typical with delinquents, just about all the clothing have a simplistic style to them. I suppose that isn't bad, but one of the main character's maid outfits always looked ill fitted and that did bother me. The style is strong, there’s a lot of unique looking characters, and the characters look different from one another. The hair was always well done and, though the eyes don't have a lot of detail, they showed the emotions very well. The action sequences were easy to follow and understand, and considering there were a lot of them this is definitely a feat. There was this one major problem that I had with the art, though, and that was that the hands always looked too small for the arms and you see the hands a
lot, so it kept tripping me up. The proportions never changed and my eyes never got used to it, every time I'd stop and think 'that hand is too small.' Mixed in with everything else, though, it was just a small, personal problem, and didn't detract from my enjoyment.
            Tatsumi Oga is the toughest kid at school, an endlessly idiotic muscle head, feared and revered where ever he goes often through quickly applied force. Then something in his life changes, he finds himself taking care of a little green haired child who goes by the name Beelzebub. Once this child comes in the picture and relies on him, Oga is no longer the punk he once was, but instead becomes stronger and even more ruthless! For Beelzebub is no normal child, but, in fact, is baby demon lord in training!!
            First things first, it is possible to count on one hand how many times through out twenty-seven volumes of manga that the baby wears clothes. Going in I wish I had had a little warning about the constant full frontal baby that is Beelzebub so I am putting this warning at the beginning of my review. Its pretty much constant baby ding-dong, and you almost become desensitized to it because its always lurking there so casually. Which has got to be why this manga has not seen an English release, but that is just a shame because this was an excellent read. Within the first ten pages I was laughing way too hard at the stupidity, and that was before all the action really kicked in, and I was already hooked. Like any action manga, Beelzebub is a story of slowly ramping up fights where the characters must grow stronger each time or be defeated so that they can then grow stronger afterward in time for a rematch. There were a few times this type of story telling was a little boring,

usually because the actual training parts were foreshortened or cut out completely, or the fights just felt like a grind instead of an actual plot. But that irrevocable humor would kick in and I'd forgive all the other faults. Not only is Oga completely insane and outrageous, but the cast of side characters (at times overwhelming in their numbers) are more than often having you roll around in fits of laughter as well. The whole cast goes together perfectly, though I did get tired of seeing Beelzebub's man bits, there's not much else to complain about when all is said and done. When looking for action comedy manga, its not often you find one where the two parts are equally given time but Beelzebub did give me that balance. What originally sounds like an overused delinquent plot, and almost comes close to being one at the beginning, is actually a supernatural tale of the human world and hell's politics rolled in rip-roaring gags. If I really had to dig, I'd have to say the ending was a little rushed, but the bonus I've mentioned at the end makes up a bit for that. Considering that all the fights are basically fist fights on more and more epic proportions, I'd say this manga did a really good job of keeping the interest of the reader. I don't think it ever was wholly predictable, either. I'm really glad I decided to read this, and I don't think it will disappoint anyone looking for something in this genre.



5/5 Hilarious and action packed, its the full package.

Yes, Oga, that's you.

Bonus: 
Beelzebub Sidestory by Ryuuhei Tamura


Genre: Action Shonen
Length: One Volume – 6 Chapters


This is just a few extra stories of the Beelzebub crew after the main story is now over and you are lost in despair with out it. Mostly made up of silly gags and even more couple teasing, it has a bit of everything you are craving after the bit abrupt ending given following the Beelzebub ending. I really enjoyed it, actually, it filled in a few gaps and helped the ending of the original plot line sting less. Its not all about Oga and Beezl, either. Make sure you read this one once you finish Beelzebub!