Koukenryoku Ouryoku Sousakan Nakabou Rintarou by Tetsuo Hara

Majin Tantei Nogami Neuro by Yuusei Matsui 

*AHEM* Sorry, a certain demon distracted me (yet again) from a prompt posting. I couldn't even find a zombie manga to do for Zombie Awareness Month in May, either! I've just been all over the place, the month was gone before I knew it. Ah well...




Koukenryoku Ouryoku Sousakan Nakabou Rintarou by Tetsuo Hara

Big Face is (c) Tetsuo Hara

Genre: Shonen (?)
Length: 2 Volumes – 19 Chapters



           Let's see if I can put to words this art, if you know Hokuto no Ken, AKA, Fist of the North Star, then I don't have to explain as it is the same mangaka, but for the rest of us… Its manly, beefs of all types dominate the pages with wide shoulders and necks like tree trunks. Heavy shading dramatically lights everyone, and tends to make for strange looking

foreheads. The caterpillar eyebrows don't help. Of course, they are all under lots of business stress so its understandable that they would be so sweaty, too. The hair is nicely detailed and, in most cases, very natural looking. Though the clothing has the same over dramatic shading as everything else it's well drawn suits of just about every type. Personally, I find this kind of art strangely mesmerizing, and while grouchy man faces may get boring to look at, put to good use in the humor. If anyone is put off by it, I'm not going to criticize, that's for sure, but the art is well done and its only the style it's self that can be objected to, really.
           With the Japanese economy in really poor shape, though the force of many foreign dignitaries, a special agency has been set up to help get it back into working order. The agency's name? The Misappropriation Enforcement Administration, and it will dig out politicians and other individuals who are misusing banks to line their own pockets. What sort of men work at such a slap dash place, one with out any sort of budget and a limited time, and what tactics will they use?
           If I had to sum up this manga in three words: Manly banking regulations. Luckily, I don't have to shorten it so much but, all the same, my art, plot summary, and whatever

other words I use to review this manga, cannot do this proper justice. Truthfully, I'm not sure who exactly would be interested in reading this anyway, so that also trips me up... I questioned the shonen of this because it seems more seinen in appeal, considering the subject and art style, and also the fact that there is boobs once or twice. That isn't the only thing that has me waffling on what to score and recommend Koukenryoku Ouryoku Sousakan Nakabou Rintarou. I mean, I got a lot of enjoyment out of this, but it is wordy and goes into the specifics of Japanese banking in ways I don't think even a regular Japanese person can understand completely. IT. IS. DENSE. On the other hand, the humor hits right at the gate and continues on through out. Rintaro is a bit of a silly sadist, and his switch flips are epic. Anytime you see a cigar come out of his suit pocket, you know stuff is about to go down. And heaven help anyone who mentions his parents! Rintaro just has to be sitting down somewhere, and you'll laugh; he's got such a strong presence, and not just because he's six feet wide, so that he makes all the technical stuff worth it. He has a bit of a Clark Kent/Superman thing going, too, that leads to a lot of strange situations, as well. Overall, the art and subject matter may seem daunting, but within the introduction is a man named John Climton (as seen in the picture above) who is a caricature of former President Bill Clinton, and if his inclusion does not tickle your funny bone in anyway, feel free to stop, because its just a sample of how ridiculous things get. It's basically super manly guys yelling and tricking middle aged bankers into giving up money they've stolen and embezzled amid a haze of cigar smoke. I will confess something, though, I always read everything when I'm reviewing a manga but I did not read two pages of this one. All the same, I think I can get a pass.




4/5 Probably niche, but I very much enjoyed it.

Itou Junji no Neko Nikki: Yon & Mu by Junji Itou

That post title looks a little like a palindrome, doesn't it? I had a hard time choosing which pictures to choose for this manga, so there is a little too many of them. I just couldn't help myself.



Itou Junji no Neko Nikki: Yon & Mu (Ito Junji's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu) by Junji Itou

Length: One Volume – 10 Chapters
Genre: Comedy, Seinen, Slice of Life

...and this color picture, too

           This manga is by a prolific horror mangaka, and the art style is played up even further for entertainment purposes in this comedy manga. As I said the last time I reviewed Itou Junji's work, the art is practiced and well done from every angle. The creepy and

unsettling look is very unique, as well, and the realistic way every thing is drawn just adds to the atmosphere. Surprisingly, it lends very well to the comedy of it all and allows for super dramatic movements for the cats and captures the strange things you do for your pets in a real-to-life way. The cats' faces are the best part, no question, but the over the top way he caricatured himself and his former-fiancee-now-wife are also lots of fun and creepy for no reason whatsoever. You quickly adjust to it, anyway.
           A horror manga artist's comedic depiction of his learning to love living with cats, and all of the furry creatures' strange ways.
          When I read Black Paradox, I sort of swore off this artist because I simply didn't care for that story at all, or the way it was written and so didn't feel in the mood to try another of his work. On the other hand, I really like cats and the humor of Black Paradox worked for me. After looking at it several times and debating I decided to go for it and read this. I do not regret it at all. Its completely understandable and the humor does hit. All the embarrassing and scary things that his cats did speak true and had me laughing out loud a few times. The oddly horrific art meeting the mundane mischief of the two title cats is a blend I wasn't sure I'd

like, but it works so well it adds so much more to the stories. Mu, the fluffy one, is so much like my own cat (who was sleeping on my chest while I was reading and who is currently laying across my forearms as I type this) that I enjoyed it all the more. A big part of the plot is how unused to cats the author is, so he looks like a fool trying to understand, and, and simply get to like, his new roommates. Things like having to have his brand new house spoiled by their claws and items to protect against them. Its also about trying to understand why cats act like they do, and how much that effects the owners. The looks the two human characters give each other out of jealousy because one cat or the other is showing favoritism is just so perfect, even if it is twisted into inhuman form by the horror-style art. And I do mean twisted. The cats are the stars, though. Yon has such an atrocious face at times and at other times he's perfectly normal that the personality is so easy to understand. Mu is the cuter one but the way he's so likable but suddenly will bite, and how normal it is, also is super realistic. There's not really a continuous story, as its short tales of how different life is when pets share your house, but for comedy manga its pretty well cohesive. Its so funny how much people will do for their pets and how much they simply seem to be undermining your entire system of living that this manga could probably go on and on and not lose any of its humor. I'd like to see more of the pair, for sure.



5/5 Fun with cats and horror art.

Asamiya-san no Imouto by Asano

Asamiya-san no Imouto (Miss Asamiya's Little Sister) by Asano

Art and story (c) Asano

Genre: Seinen
Length: 3 Volumes – 22 Chapters



          The art is pretty good, there were a few things that were distracting though. Such as, the arms looked too short for the body proportions, and the faces sometimes were a little askew.

Plus, there were times where the panels just didn't make sense even though they were supposed to be explaining a certain action. I wouldn't say it was confusing but, well, it was really confusing at times. The scope of things really doesn't come together for explaining how the world looks either, it just relied on using the names of places instead of showing things. It actually seems familiar even though I've never read anything by this mangaka before. Its passable but it isn't unique.
           When a wandering merchant, Kyoko, gets saved by a young girl traveling on her own she decides to treat her to lunch. Turns out the girl, Aoi, is following the many descriptions her father left in his sketchbook, but when Kyoko takes a look at the sketchbook it appears to be more than just sketches and is something she could make a lot of money off of. Forcibly making friends with Aoi, Kyoko decides she'll follow the girl on her journey until she can slip away with the notebook, but there just might be more to Aoi than having a valuable sketchbook...
           I'm just going to come out straight and say, I honestly have no idea what I read. There is a lot of back story to this manga, so much so that I though I there was a prequel of some sort, like a movie or a visual novel or something, but there is nothing like that to it. Everything is given to you by hinting at it for a while and then having really long sections of dialog explaining it, sometimes through a flash back and sometimes through secondary characters talking in a

There are a few funny scenes, tho.

separate location than where the story was happening two pages ago. Forcing you to sew all the disjointed information together, and even then it still doesn't make any sense. The ending did the same thing, it told me one thing and then told me a second thing so I'm not sure which ending is the true one. Sometimes stories like these work out and sometimes they don't. It actually reminded me a lot of Eat-man, which I read five or six years ago, where the scenery is more advanced than the present but is so far in the future that that advancement is worn down and old already and also was rather confusing. Speaking of the world, just like I said in the art section, it simply does not paint a cohesive picture of a certain world, instead it seems like each place visited is its own separate ecosystem. Also, the format of the first volume is just completely exchanged in the second and third volumes trading a story of a girl who isn't entirely what she seems to be into a story about some incomprehensible danger that has to be stopped and warring factions who all think they know best how to stop it. Kyoko was the only interesting character and they abandoned her. Much like BioMega where they randomly changed characters and explained things but not in a way that actually makes any sense, this story is shoved in your face too much to be enjoyable. I know people who like to read dense manga like this, Claymore and Gunslinger Girl were two I was recommended by someone who does and I found both of them more work than was enjoyable, too. I simply couldn't find pleasure from reading this and that really does lower my rating, as that is what I'm looking forward to when I sit down to read.

2/5 Too much explaining not enough actual plot.

Oh shut up, you were the worst part!

Kaikisen by Satoshi Kon

Well, I sure took my time getting back. I blame Taletell Game's Tales of Monkey Island and my life-long obsession with Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate™

Kaikisen by Satoshi Kon

Art and story (c) Satoshi Kon

Genre: Seinen, Fantasy
Length: One Volume – 9 Chapters and one extra One-shot


           This manga has a semi-realistic style, round faces and small eyes, with hatch marks for shading and detail. The movements and the look of the bodies are natural and easy to follow, and the facial expressions are just as well done. The clothing isn’t particularly interesting, it looks like the rest of the art, normal and common. There is good variation to the types of people in the story, too. Very professional and easy to read.
           Yosuke is the son of a Shinto priest and the successor to a tradition as old as the seaside

town he lives in. Up a tall set of stairs near his house, in a shrine behind lock and key, is a mermaid's egg. His ancestors made a pact with a mermaid and Yosuke is the most recent heir of the ancient agreement to watch over it. It is a secret kept for so long a time but now that the town is trying to modernize, an act led by a land developer and Yosuke's father, the egg is being used as publicity for the construction and the up coming mermaid festival. Yosuke doesn't really believe the egg is real but strange things are beginning to happen…
           This story is like a hot summer month, it moves slowly until the end when its over too quick. The beginning is a lot of dialog with out a lot of explanation, with days passing easily and no answers being given about what will actually happen later. You meet the characters here and there as Yosuke wanders the town between his studying sessions. Then, all at once, the story gets up and dashes away with you having to scramble to follow. Its a good story, a little spooky and a little bittersweet, but it is also very plain. I labeled it as fantasy but it's not really, it reads much more like a slice of life manga where you just come in on some one's life for a little while and see what happens. Yosuke is rather

sluggish and doing his best to ignore something he actually takes an interest in but you only really find out why at the very end; up to that point he is rather unlikeable. The moral of conserving nature rather than bulldozing it is an old one, especially for places like Japan since its an island, so there isn't a lot of freshness to the plot because of that point. The mermaid's egg though, is the opposite, because it seems like an old story, it gives that part of the plot weight and a pulling power; you want to find out exactly what the egg is and what will or will not happen with it. As Yosuke is kind of a do-nothing, he also is disappointing in the middle parts of the plot, though. It all comes out pretty average in the end, its a good read with good art but it isn't something to be remembered or read over and over again. The added one shot at the end is okay, older art and a bit of a cute ending but it doesn't add anything to the enjoyment of the previous story, plus it is very trope-y and annoyingly so. This manga is actually written by the same man who directed the anime movies Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers and Paprika, all of which are pretty famous and I recommend the last three as I have seen and own them and regard them as very fascinating movies. He did die rather abruptly in 2010, but his movies have, like this manga, a touch of realness and absurdity to them.




2.5/5 Okay to read but not worth searching out the story specifically.

Halloween Oneshots 2016

Happy Halloween! Just a few oneshots to end the season. I'll add the pictures a little later, I'm not feeling well at the moment so I'm being a little lazy. At least I had fun, and I hope you did, too.


Kurenai Kuraki  by Kazuko Furumiya


Genre: Shojo, Horror
Length: Oneshot - 60 Pages

Spooky and a bit gory, this oneshot has too much story to actually make full sense. Even though it's the longest of the three stories I read, it reads as the most rushed. It feels more like a set up than an independent short story. The girl isn't really built up enough before the spooks happen and the male lead leaves more questions than answers. The art is a little unremarkable as well, making it about average.


2.5/5 An okay read.



Nyanderful by Sekaiichi Asakura



Genre: Seinen, Horror
Length: Oneshot - 26 Pages

A young bakeneko goes out on her first night of haunting the newest heir of the family her ancestors swore to ruin. Silliness ensues. The very cavalier art style and simplistic story are charming and engaging. Just the looks on the faces are funny; the very round head of the main character is great for this, actually. I had a good time, still, I'd be remiss if I didn't also say it was weird. Its no secret that I like weird, though and after having a taste, I wish there was more of the little monster doing her best.


5/5 Sweet and silly.




The End in Common Ruin by Mitsukazu Mihara


Genre: Horror, Supernatural
Length: Oneshot - 9 Pages

A story of two twins who were never apart and wanted to stay together forever. The queen of gothic lolita strikes again! The straight edged art and dark, large eyes gave away the mangaka right away. The story, too, is stark and blunt. Telling a story in such a short time and yet still having such a complete beginning, middle, and end, is wonderful. Definitely right for the season.

 
5/5 Dark and tragic.

Doctor Du Ming

Imeant to post this yesterday but hey, the 2nd is just as spoopy as the 1st to start this year's Halloween Spectacular!!!!!! Too many exclamation points? My sister and I already put up our Halloween Town on the fireplace mantle, we love the season so. While I still have to do everything on my phone, I I hope I can find some good scary manga this year.

Doctor Du Ming by Jing Zhang and Jinglong Han

Sorry about the poor image quality

Genre: Seinen, Suspense, Horror
Length: One Volume - 15 Chapters


           The art is very smooth and pretty, and the eyes have a dark and mysterious depth in

them. Appealing, though at times a bit vacant, but that adds to the suspense because it's so hard to guess what exactly anyone is thinking. There's not a lot of action in this but activity is pretty static, almost stagnant. The body anatomy and clothing are fitting and the backgrounds are good. I think there isn't a lot of memorable originality but it is high quality.
           Du Ming is an anesthesiologist who is very low energy and almost detached from life, despite his handsome face. When he gets a call from an old colleague that shakes him, he lets some of his calm slip, though because the woman he fell in love with and obsessed over since college has suddenly committed suicide.
           Just a little spooky story to start off the season, more suspense than gore, but there's some good elements in it, too. I don't believe I've reviewed very many Chinese manhua, and I almost didn't review this one because of its slow start. The deceptively mundane plot of a doctor who is indifferent

to just about every part of life. Then, suddenly the perspective of this man shifts and you're smack dab in the middle of a faceted horror story. Its not really one you might have guessed at the beginning of the story, either. Personally I had a point where I went 'Oh, he's liket hat, huh?' and gained much more interest from then on. It's not overly complicated but it has a few points that can be mulled and connected as you go and think about at the end. If you're looking for a suspense comic about the darkness of dangerous love this is a good example.


3/5 A little slow, but an interesting read.

And because it is my favorite Halloween meme:

God Tells Lies by Kaori Ozaki

Its so freaking hot! How did humanity survive before electric fans and air conditioners? There are times when I think I was born in the wrong time but not in summer when I can be cool even though its 110 degrees outside.

God Tells Lies (Kamisama ga Uso o Tsuku) by Kaori Ozaki 

Art and story (c) Kaori Ozaki

Genre: Seinen, Slice of Life
Length: One Volume – 5 Chapters

           This manga very much has the simplistic look that is popular right now; smooth lines and long limbs. This example is very well done art wise, and though the eyes initially seem plain they hold lots of emotion. Plenty of variation in the face, eye, and hair styles. The backgrounds are there as well, I honestly didn't even notice when they were blank. The clothes are basically plain, but they fit well on the figures and have excellent movement. Not terribly eye catching, but it doesn't have to be, its the story that hooks you instantly after all.
            Natsuru is a kind of awkward, so when he refused the most popular girl in class because he was embarrassed he found himself snubbed by the other girls. He didn't mind that much though, because his real interest is in playing soccer. Then a new coach takes over his team and he just can't get along with the man. Unsure how to explain himself to his mother, he keeps his trouble to himself. On impulse Natsuru skips summer soccer camp, and ends up staying with his classmate, Rio, who he had left an abandoned cat with when

he couldn't leave it alone. Her and her brother seem a little strange, and something about

Worst coach ever, btw.

their house seems strange.
           This is a touching story of love set in the summer of 6th grade. Two kids becoming a family through adversity. Its nice finding a slice of life manga like this one. The slow pace really makes the day to day stand out, and the feelings hit true right from the beginning. Seeing the two main characters do their best despite both being lonely in their own ways makes you root for them, and of course as they get closer when things fall apart seeing how they cope is heartbreaking. I'm not going to say this manga has a satisfying ending, but it is practical, just like the rest of the manga. The whole thing feels pretty realistic, and that just drags you in further. I may have teared up a little, which is a lot for me, and I suspect, had the mood been right I might have full on cried. I don't really want to give any details away for this manga because the way it is written draws you along so easily, its a short one so even if it may sound generic, give it a try. This one volume could be a whole movie, its so good. Its a good summer story, one that will stick with you.


5/5 Emotionally on point.

Fuyu Hanabi by Hidenori Hara

 I didn't particularly like the last two I read so I went for something different this time.




Fuyu Hanabi by Hidenori Hara 

Art and story (c) Hidenori Hara

Genre: Seinen, Sports
Length: One Volume – 9 Chapters



           I genuinely liked this art at first glance, its an older style which might put some people off, but it was always excellently done. Something about it reminded me strongly of Monkey Punch's Lupin III, though I'm not sure how close it truly is, it just had that same feel. The action was well done, too, and considering this is a manga about boxing, that’s a really good thing. The clothes are pretty nondescript but I found no fault in them. The backgrounds are pretty good, a few blank pages, nothing too distracting. The main character's scruffy chin is my favorite part of the art.
           When a nearly washed up actress meets a nearly washed out boxer to train for an upcoming movie, sparks fly. Combative and disinterested, Maki feels this role is her last chance to become a known actress before her career dries up for good. Dragon Gon is at the edge of retirement with out any prospects at making his name known as a boxer. These two make an “on the edge” couple who are forced to work together.
           I found this story rather endearing, and it made me smile while I read it. The story is

pretty predictable, but the details aren't too cliched. Its a fun, light read. The name 'Fuyu Hanabi' translates to 'Winter Fireworks' and that is an appropriate description for this, I

assure you. Its about two possibly past their prime professionals trying to just get one last hurrah before they are forgotten forever. With things not going too well for either party. Of course, some feelings start mixing in after a while, too, but only right before everything falls apart so the drama is better. As far as sports manga go, it has very little sports in it. You sort of get a half romance half sports blend where you kind of don't get either. The ending is a little ambiguous, too. For a one volume, its definitely worth a read; its well put together and the characters are funny. I had a good time and I think just about anybody else will, too. That’s not to say that some readers will not dislike some of the details. The art I've already mentioned isn't everyone's cup of tea, it can look sloppy (I've reviewed plenty of manga with sloppy or sketchy art and I personally have never found such a detail to be a totally make or break it detail anyway) and there is not a lot of beauty in it. Maki is also a character that could be hard to love, she's a bit spoiled and spends most of her time screaming or drunk. Also, the story doesn't go deeply into anything, either, and the conclusion is a little weak. I still really enjoyed it.



4/5 Super readable.

Cradle of Monsters by Kei Sanbe

 That is the end of Zombie Awareness Month 2016, I hope it gave you some insight on how to survive the zombie invasion when it comes. There is a really good tip in this manga, too.

When up against zombies, always go for the neck if you can.

I won't be posting next week because it's my birthday then and I don't feel like it. Plus, it will let me get ahead a little bit, which is good for a lazy person like myself. With school almost out, though, I won't have to worry about work anymore either. I should get some longer manga read finally.



Cradle of Monsters by Kei Sanbe


Genre: Seinen, Horror, Ecchi
Length: 6 Volumes – 41 Chapters

Art and story (c) Kei Sanbe

           I want to say the art is as good as the story, but there are a lot of extra lines in the clothes and background that I found distracting. The faces have a unique look to them, snub-nosed and grim but expressions aren't all that changeable. The eyes and hair have a lot of different looks to them, though, and the eyes especially show expression best

even if they look sinister when they don't need to. The action is follow-able and the gore has a good balance. It's not just guts everywhere or the like, but the blood and wound detail gives exactly what is needed in a zombie story. The backgrounds are there consistently, and really add to the dilapidated feel of the setting, even if it isn't immediately recognizable.
           When a maniac goes on a killing spree on a cruise ship, a group of high school classmates have to band together to protect one another, but when a tremor adds to the confusion and their ship capsizes staying together becomes the least of their problems. It seems like its more than just one man who has gone crazy and is killing people on sight. Is it simply coincidence that so much happened all at once? And can the small bands of survivors make it out alive?
           The last manga this year is the most 'horror' one of the three zombie stories. It has a proper plot that continues in a logical way and it has lots of characters to zombie-fy and murder off. I really enjoyed it, despite it being one of the type that shows panties (and towards the end just full naked shots) randomly. The zombie angle wasn't just expected to fly with no type of explanations and it

gives a good take on the process. There was a little bit of things getting convoluted towards the end when all the ends were being tied off, but nothing logic breaking. Everyone gets theirs so its pretty satisfying. Especially the long burn on a few of the more annoying characters that make you want to strangle them, in that fun-hate way, who get it in the worst way. The psychology was done pretty good, too, though at times it was repetitive, it wasn't too preachy. I was worried in the middle it would be a story that ends in tragedy and no one makes it out despite the terrible struggles they went through to try, and I would have liked this a lot less had that been the case, but its nice to have a horror manga that isn't just depressingly ended with no survivors. Not to say that everyone you expect to make it does, though. No deep spoilers, zipping lip. Well, except to say that one of the main characters randomly grew up in a circus and it just sorta seems to come out of left field with a tiger and from time to time other strange character actions or plot twists do happen like that but again, nothing breakable to the story.  The beginning is a little slow, though the terrible misspellings on my version of the manga did not help that, the story keeps things moving pretty good with the extra shots of random zombies and bad guys showing up at good intervals. Its not just that I didn't enjoy the first two zombie manga that make this one look good, I assure you. Zombies hungry for flesh on a sinking boat, it takes survival horror up one more notch.



4/5 Enjoyable and bloody escape story.

BioMega by Tsutomu Nihei

Went and saw Captain America: Civil War today. Now that Deadpool came out, though, I'm just going to keep hoping he'll show up like Spiderman did in that movie. I really gotta stop waiting until Saturday to post these, but re-reading One Piece is just a time suck that I don't want to end. Also, very short review of this manga via a zombie gif:

BioMega by Tsutomu Nihei 

Art and story (c) Tsutomu Nihei

Genre: Seinen
Length: 6 Volumes – 42 Chapters


           The character designs are rather interesting, the faces have a unique look to them, though the most expressive is the character who is a bear, otherwise facial expression isn't very varying.
Everything is suitably distressed and worn looking for the story, and the backgrounds are pretty much all there. As a zombie, more like a strange science fiction version of zombies, story, it is also filled with plenty of gross visuals. Lots of plant-based looking blobs and pustules that are only there to be disgusting and have no other purpose are present. The detailing, though, was a put off for me. All the shading, especially in the environment made everything look really cluttered more than it made it look real. It's good art but it wasn't perfect.
           A virus from Mars is turning people into drones, dead corpses taken over by the disease, and a looming threat of it overwhelming humanity has set several super powers of the world into motion. Each has a different idea on how to fix the problem. One agent is on a recovery mission amid all of this to find a girl who seems to be immune to the virus, but with the drones, her guardian, and the other agencies all against him, things are sure to be bloody.

           Most of the time while I was reading this manga, I had no idea what what going on. Its pretty much just fights but the enemies and their motivations are pretty much never given until the very end. Even then it seems like gibberish. Speaking of the “bad guys” they liked to show up and die in quick succession and couldn't tell the difference between some of them because they were spiky with aprons on. The enemies also tended to get larger and larger until the scale became impossible to visualize, as well, and it just makes no sense how the one guy and a single gun does any damage at all. I know it's there were times it might have been the same guy more than once but I literally cyberpunk, but like I mentioned in the art review, there is almost too much going on at times and the

Side note on this picture: Barf.

clutter makes it hard really see what is happening. About halfway though, as well, the whole planet disappears and turns into a giant umbilical cord floating in space and the zombies are forgotten for a while, but understanding this world is even more confusing than the one before, so… prepare for that turn around. Within which there is a random chapter that I still do not understand where it is supposed to fit into the rest of the narrative. There's always something happening in BioMega but exactly what is going on can sometimes be a chore to understand. Strangely enough, I really liked the main character, Zoichi, a synthetic human who is immune to the virus and super resilient against a beating; he's cool and stoic and shoots a really big gun sometimes but that only goes so far when there are random things happening all the time. Had things been explained more I think I would have liked it better but not by much, and even the action was hard to follow at times. You can only see so many guys heads exploding before you want a little more from the plot. If you wait four volumes to explain anything, by that point I have lost interest. I only finished it because zombie manga are pretty scarce… and Zoichi was pretty bad-ass.





2.5/5 Not enough story to keep interest.

And this thing shows up? What a weird name.

51 Ways To Save My Girlfriend by Usamaru Furuya

 May the 4th be with you! I had to baby sit my 3 year old niece so I made her watch the original Star Wars with me, it was fun. May also is Zombie Awareness Month, though I do not have enough zombie manga to post one every week this year, so I'm just going to save the zombies for later but I will recommend a few posts from last year that I found totally fun and would read again if I had the time but I started re-reading One Piece and catching up on new chapters and that is going to take some time I tell you what. Anyway, if you haven't read Sankarea yet, do so, as well as Unlucky Boy Undead Girl (its the third one down on this page but the first two are pretty good, too). Hopefully some ongoing manga will finish by next May, or the zombie apocalypse will actually happen, so I can find some then. Well, enough of this run on sentence riddled intro and on the the actual review...



51 Ways To Save My Girlfriend by Usamaru Furuya

Art and story (c) Usamaru Furuya

Genre: Adult Survival Horror
Length: 5 Volumes – 49 Chapters



           The art was pretty bad, but at times I found it perfectly pleasing. I really can't figure out this art at all, it has sort of a skewed look to it as well has having caricature-type designs to people so then the regular people tend to just look awkward. The clothes are interesting and all but they do not always seem to fit people very well. Initially I found the eyes off putting, then they sort of went from fine to empty randomly, and I had a hard time coping with what people were actually feeling. As this is a survival manga, there is a lot of crying and the tears are not realistic in anyway, just large obstructions in people's eyes. Its a bit of the 'ugly' man art that seinen get at times that are semi-realistic but then the main characters were rather less realistic looking so they didn't match a lot of the other characters. Let’s just say, the art isn't terrible.
           When a large earthquake hits Japan, a young man and a middle school friend who just happened to meet on the street, are thrown together in the most extreme circumstances.
           This manga is like Dragon Head, but less convoluted and more preachy. I realized when I was starting this blog that I would end up reading manga that I did not like, in fact I have quit manga or simply have not reviewed them because I didn't think I could even muster the energy to complain about them. This was almost one of those. What seems like

an interesting title and plot turns into just men trying to rape women for, like, three volumes straight. I am not exaggerating. Interspersed with the main characters are explanations of what would actually happen if an earthquake happened, such as ground water seepage and fire storms, but then what starts as a warning tale of people getting drunk and women being alone and in danger turns into the whole plot line instead of another warning taking over. I got really bored really quickly. I don't usually use this as a bad thing, but this manga is also very Japanese. The main characters are going through famous Tokyo landmarks and districts but as I only recognized about half of them, the two page spreads of the destroyed skylines really did nothing for me, let alone knew where they were in relation to where the characters were trying to get to. Japan has a real problem with the threat of earthquakes and its interesting to see an artist's idea of what would happen. That is why people like to read post apocalyptic stories, to imagine this world we have going to total hell and how people would cope. In this manga's case though, it actually seemed like it was giving advice at times but that advice was dispensed in long-winded fourth wall breaking dialog boxes that really begged to be skimmed instead of read carefully. Even the characters themselves aren't worth mentioning, they were so flat. All in all I feel like I wasted my time, unfortunately. At least this was much shorter than Dragon Head and has nothing to do with the government secretly drugging people. It does have the eyes, though.


1/5 Tiresome after a while and with art that is a little hard to take in.

Dageki Joi Saori By Yu Yagami

Dageki Joi Saori By Yu Yagami

Art and story (c) Yu Yagami

Genre: Comedy Seinen
Length: 2 Volumes – 15 Chapters



           Art is angular, and has a bit of sketchy quality, mostly in the details than the core art. Looking at it, its obvious that the almost simplistic look is a style instead of an amateur choice. Faces aren't particularly detailed, but the variety of the characters is very good. Clothes fit the slim frames well, and have enough detail to warrant a look or two; the doctor's lacy dress comes to mind, the hem detail often catches the eye. The backgrounds sort of come and go, but the foregrounds usually have enough detail that it goes by unnoticed, or it just looks like a dramatic effect. I don't know if the art alone would really get someone to read this, but it has a very unique look, though initially it may look plain, it has a lot of character that matches the people with a lot of character inside.
           Having recently gotten his nursing license, Naoto is looking for any doctor that will work with him. One day after his grass field baseball game, a doctor approaches him, a beautiful one at that, who's first words are 'I love you.' Naoto normally would be flattered, but this woman then chases after him with the metal bat that was slung over her shoulder trying her hardest to hit him! What kind of weirdo has he attracted the attention of, and how can he get away with out tasting one of her hits?
           Here I was thinking how close the premise of this manga is to another, only to realize that its actually from the same author! I was a bit surprised to see that the silly Hikkatsu! has a sister manga, but I wasn't disappointed. This is basically a gag manga, the chapters loosely connect, but its just one silly premise for Saori-sensei to use her 'shock treatment' after another. As a gag manga, there isn't much character development, but the main two characters do get to show different sides here and there, and the side characters, when not immediately cured and forgotten, also have heart to them. And the fact that the Hikkatsu and Dageki Joi Saori have such a similar premise is also pointed out and used as a joke, too. Even if this manga had been horrible, the premise alone is amazing, but Yu Yagami pulled this on me once already, and I have to say that managing a wacky premise into a coherent story seems to be this mangaka's forte. I really wish it was longer (the same complaint I had for Hikkatsu!), but you get a good, happy though predictable ending. Just like the previous work of this mangaka, I just fall short in explaining it, but I can't recommend it enough.



5/5 You'll laugh and you'll care for the bizarre characters within.

Uh, a baseball bat isn't a utensil, Doctor. You can't eat pudding with it.

Henshin no News by Natsujikei Miyazaki

Its hard reading American comic books in any proper order, they tend to be published monthly but with breaks or other stories in between. Not to mention most of them started forty-plus years ago. So to save yourself some time instead of buying single issues you go for what they call a 'trade paperback' only to find out that even those are out of order at times, too. Now manga, there is a easily collectable comic, always in order, always the same format. So much easier to consume.


Henshin no News (News of Transformations) by Natsujikei Miyazaki 

Art and story (c) Natsujikei Miyazaki 

Genre: Seinen (Some would say slice of life but is it really...?)
Length: One Volume – 9 Chapters

What is that face? WHAT? IS? IT??

           The art is unique and has a sketchy, messy quality that adds to the fluidity of the movements
and general (in)sanity of the work. At times it seems almost as if the artist didn't care to try, but in a good way, it's all professional and stuffed with detail. The eyes are watery and wandering, and the clothes are plain yet match the characters very well. The hair has the same movement, and the people are, in a weird way, very normal looking at times. Really, looking at the art is the best way of describing it. Strange, very yes, just like everything else in this manga, but also very interesting to look at.
           Another set of shorts by Miyazaki-sensei. Another mind blowing set of stories. Most involve finding love in strange places or strange love in normal places, there is a heavier lean on the tragic in this volume compared to the other one. As well, as the name implies, the idea of changing oneself.
           It got me again. I went into this thinking: “I read the first one, I won't be so surprised this time around by all the weird stuff.” And I came out thinking: “Well, wasn't I completely wrong.” So, even if you have read Boku wa Mondai Arimasen, you may just be surprised at what weird things happen. The more tragic elements add a different flavor to the mix as well. Its such a strange mix of emotions to begin with because the heart of the

Literal balls.

stories are very easily graspable, but the people and the situations are so odd that the stories tend to veer off into left field at the drop of a hat. For example, the first chapter of this manga is probably the most memorable, its strange but not overly so and its actually kind of a cute love story until the male lead's literal balls inflate and the couple float off into the sunset. I am not joking you that is what happens. I laughed and I shook my head and I laughed again; I had to get up and distance myself for a moment just to process. I almost can't understand why I like this mangaka's works so much, but, lord help me, I do. I was looking forward to this, and it did not disappoint. Unlike the first one this one is much less set in our reality, or at least that’s the feeling I got, but the way the worlds are put together is as complete as ever. I don't tend to review one-shot collections, and this has the same problem as the rest of them, its just hard to say definitively whats good and what is bad with so many short stories, but at least they all share the weird world view. Really, I can only repeat myself: try it if you're looking for something like you've never seen before just don't expect it to make any kind of sense. I think I liked this one even more than Boku wa Mondai Arimasen but it is even more out there than the first one. It still gets the same score, though.




4/5 So strange I like it even though I don't understand it. 

Saved by Nessie.