Yes, the title is very long and silly, but also quite apt.  This is a collection of shorts about a female mangaka named F-mi Y-naga who specializes in drawing yaoi manga and frequenting restaurants with good food.  She is IN NO WAY a thinly-veiled self-portrait of the person who wrote and illustrated this volume, Fumi […]

If you’ve been following my thoughts on this series from the podcasts, then you’ll know that the first two volumes of this series left me with deeply mixed feelings.  While mangaka Felipe Smith is a very talented artist who also has a keen eye for satire, he also has an over-the-top approach to his work […]

Well, it’s nice to know that they, actually have plans.  After months of silence, a cancelled panel at the NY Comic-Con and the announcement that they’d be taking over publishing most of Del Rey’s titles, we finally found out what they’ll be publishing next summer.  It’s a combination of new titles, license rescues from other […]

In this volume, Yotsuba gets her very own teddy bear.  She names him Juralumin.  He can even “talk” by making “Mweeeeeeh” sounds when he’s held the right way.  When he does this during dinner at a yakiniku restaurant, Jumbo asks her what he said.   She translates his response as, “Later… I’ll make… Yanda cry.” Then […]

While originality will never be this series’ strong  point, vol. 2 shows that it’s shaping up to be a good example of solid storytelling.  After the dust settles from the previous volume’s climactic fight, Hikaru decides that it’s finally time to make peace with her father’s death.  So she decides to travel to the island […]

As “Slam Dunk” finally starts living up to its hype, the Takehiko Inoue basketball title that I’ve always liked delivers one of its best installments yet.  This is in spite of the fact that with this volume, I’ve finally given up hope that Inoue will ever find the right balance in showcasing the struggles of […]

Looking back at my review of the first volume of this series, I’m surprised at how negative I sound.  The surprise mainly comes from the fact that I genuinely enjoyed this volume.  No, it’s not the second coming of “Planetes,” but it’s evolving into its own character-driven sci-fi animal.  That’s because the character interaction feels […]

Vol. 4 of this series that’s ostensibly about kids training to be astronauts begins with a scene of something that’s been in woefully short supply.  We get to see Asumi, Kei and Marika actually training to be astronauts!  The scene of them trying to move in a giant pool of water in their space suits […]

I appreciated the first volume of “Bakuman” more for what it represented than what it actually did.  The last thing I’d expect a “Shonen Jump” title to be is a character-driven story set in the real world about two kids trying to make it as manga creators.  That was enough to hold my interest despite […]

While “Slam Dunk” continues to get better and better, the Takehiko Inoue series that got me to give that series a chance isn’t.  In fact, these last few volumes of “Vagabond” show that as the series is winding down it seems poised to go out with a whimper than a bang. Though the series continues […]