With the series’ focus narrowed to showing what makes great Shonen Jump manga, it narrows the focus further still as aspiring creators Mashiro and Takagi now have to determine what kind of manga will work well in Jump.  Smartly, they realize that pirates, ninja, and shinigami have already been taken, so they have to come […]

It’s inevitable that after thirteen volumes detailing the exploits of Osamu Tezuka’s maverick medical maestro you’d get the feeling that you’ve seen everything this series has to offer.  After all, virtually each story features the doctor addressing some unusual medical condition which turns into a morality or cautionary tale in the execution.  The reason I’ve […]

The anime series that was adapted from this manga was trash of the highest caliber.  A violent and gory romp about highschool kids trying to survive against the hordes of the living dead, it featured lots of fanservice in the form of well-rendered guns and gunplay, scenes of its female cast jiggling away in various […]

I didn’t review the first volume of this series because I was planning on saving it for a potential podcast about taking established characters and transplanting them into all-new settings.  (See also:  DC’s Elseworlds comics.)  That hasn’t happened yet, but I might get around to it later this year.  Anyway, the first volume of “Campus […]

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I read a lot of the scanlations for “Gantz” prior to picking up Dark Horse’s English release of the series.  I had read up to vol. 14 around four or five years ago before stopping for reasons that I can’t remember.  Now that vol. 15 is finally […]

I enjoyed this latest volume of “Claymore” for reasons which I’ll elaborate on in the next paragraph.  The thing is that there were so many little details that I’d forgotten in the long wait between volumes (i.e.:  What was the deal with Rafaela and Luciela?  Why was Miria hanging out with Galatea?) that it has […]

Longtime readers will be glad to know that the title character is actually featured in more than a few panels this volume.  Though she’s not back “front and center” Alita still plays a pivotal role as creator Yukito Kishiro begins the build-up towards the Z.O.T. finals.  That said, people shouldn’t be surprised that most of […]

As promised, and to wrap up the year, my thoughts on vol. 2 of “Hetalia:” If you liked the first one, you’ll like this too. Seriously.  There’s really not much else to say about this.  It doesn’t feel as unfocused as the first volume, but there’s still no real narrative tying everything together.  So you […]

Another one of my favorite titles from last year is still very entertaining in its fifth volume.  However, the reasons for that are turning out to be quite different from what I was expecting after reading the first two volumes.  The first volume set up a fascinating alternate history of Japan where the Edo era […]