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 […]

The last time I talked about this series, I said that it hadn’t become the great Shonen Jump title that everyone else said it was.  Since then, it has made some great strides in that direction.  Thug turned basketball man  Sakuragi Hanamichi will never stop being an idiot, but his self-proclaimed genius as an athlete […]

In case anyone was wondering whether or not my favorite comic from last year has lost a step, let me assure you that it hasn’t.  Mangaka Naoki Urasawa (with Takahashi Nagasaki in tow) continues to spin an absolutely riveting tale as he slowly parcels out information about the conspiracy at its heart.  Things kick off […]

This series has been coasting on goodwill from me for quite some time.  With this volume, said goodwill has finally run out.  I mean, how am I supposed to get excited or interested in a story that involves one of the hoariest of plot devices — amnesia — and runs through it in exactly the […]

Way back in vol. 2, “Kurosagi” did a volume-length story about the group getting involved with mysterious, murderous happenings with a company that specializes in undertaking.  Despite a few plot holes, it was a satisfying tale that cemented the series as one to follow in my mind.  Nine volumes later, we’ve got another extended storyline […]

If you’re familiar with mangaka Hitoshi Iwaaki’s great, overlooked series “Parasyte,” then the premise behind this series may ring a few bells.  Hikaru is a highschool girl who broadcasts her social aloofness to the world by wearing headphones everywhere she goes.  She’d be perfectly happy without getting to know the rest of her classmates until […]