Manga Review: Rave

Title: Rave
Author: Hiro Mashima
Release: Weekly
Status: Complete
Genre: Shonen, Fantasy, Comedy, Adventure, Romance
Art: C
Originality: A
Story: B
Characters: A
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: Hiro Mashima’s previous long-running series had anime adaptation I truly enjoyed. I thought it pretty well-paced, had a great story and loads and loads of creativity thrown into it. And though I was disappointed that it had to be cut short at what I thought was the halfway point of the series I still thought it was an amazing series. Unfortunately, I was wrong about it being the halfway point and was thoroughly disappointed with the arcs that followed after the point where the anime stopped. Apparently the author decided to stretch things out as much as possible with subplots that really didn’t need to be there and recycle the same old set of clichés for EVERY SINGLE GODDAMN battle that I just couldn’t believe how bad the series got after that. Power levels didn’t make sense anymore, character focus was all over the place and the lacking art style didn’t help. Somehow it did all get better once the art style improved and the story shifted its focus back on the Raves and how the characters tie into the whole scheme of the universe but not after spending half of its publication on pointless subplots and characters. I would have given the story an A rating if the middle chapters were condensed and handled better but there was too much crap in between the great starting and ending arcs. Seriously, Rave would have made an overall amazing shonen series had it not been for the middle. Good thing he’s gotten better with tying plotlines together in Fairy Tail.

Manga Review: Metallica Metallucca

Title: Metallica Metalluca
Author: Mizuno Teruaki
Release: Weekly
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Shonen, Adventure
Art: B
Originality: A
Story: B
Characters: B
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This new Jump series is set in a wondrous new world where special metals with magical properties exist in addition to the known metals in our own reality. The main character is a kid from a mythical tribe of legend that has been said to possess this miraculous ability that allows them to mold any metal freely with their bare hands and he’s on a journey to become a great minea just like his father. Cliched plotlines and overdone character archetypes aside, this is one of those series that’s just bound to last. The demographics this manga is aiming clearly are the kids with its strange new world and mine ’em all approach and its proving to be a pretty good draw with all these interesting metals that author comes up with. There’s a lot that the mangaka can set up during its build-up chapters and use later on when the plot gets more interesting. If done right this could even rival One Piece when it comes to the creativity that gets fed into either manga though it will take quite a bit of work for it to match up all other aspects. This in my opinion is the most promising rookie series in jump out of all the new series they’ve been trying out lately. That’s not exactly a hard thing to do given how underwhelming most of them have been but unlike those, this series knows exactly where to bank its money in.

Manga Review: Cloth Road

Title: Cloth Road
Author: Okama, Hideyuki Kurata
Release: Monthly
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Seinen, Sci-fi, Adventure
Art: S
Originality: S
Story: B
Characters: A
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This is set in a world where fashion, of all things, has been turned into a gladiator-like sport where the fighters where these high tech clothes sewn with threads made of nanotech material. This story follows two long lost twin siblings who meet each other as the brother’s mentor falls ill and he now has to find a way get the money they need through the fashion battles. It falls upon the sister to use the clothes that the brother designs to win a match and get the money and though he is reluctant at first, he decides go through with it and save his mentor. I’ll give this a lot points for its amazing setting and the unique characters but it does take its time in moving the plot in favor of focusing on the details rather than moving the plot. I won’t say that’s a bad thing but I would have given the action an A score if it didn’t take half a year’s worth of chapters to get started on the adventure bits and the main plotline. I get that this story is meant to be very character-centric and the authors have done an excellent job with everyone here but there’s a lot of potential right there in the world the story’s set in and I’m not just talking about the fashion fights but the actual world too. However, in spite of the slow moving story, it’s still a very promising manga that’s really worth checking out.

Manga Review: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

Title: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou
Author: Asahinano Hitoshi
Release: Monthly
Status: Finished
Genre: Slice of Life, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Art: B
Originality: A
Story: S+
Characters: S
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This is the story of a robot named Alpha who runs a coffee shop in a future earth where much of the world’s landmass has become submerged due to the rising sea levels and human civilization has more or less regressed to the level of the mid 20th century’s. Despite the seemingly post apocalyptic setting that the world has become, this series focuses on the daily life of Alpha and the people around her. We see them living out their lives in this strange new world that the author presents to us and that’s all there is to it. There’s no overarching plotline, no ultimate goals, no hidden agendas or even meaning behind what happens in the story. Despite how lackluster and pointless that may make this manga sound, this series proves itself to a brilliant piece that manages to evoke the very same sentiments of its characters in the readers themselves. Whether it’s fascination, melancholy or even nostalgia, this series will, more often than not, creep up on you and play with your heartstrings in ways that very few series would even aspire to. More than anything, this series will make you feel the passage of time and the inevitability of changes around you and that's what makes this series so incredibly poignant. Know that this is coming from someone whose emotions are rarely ever swayed by anything at all and that anything capable of doing so deserves a look at. It is in my opinion the prime example of what the “Slice of Life” genre really is and how even the most bland idea can be spun into something amazing. However, if you still won’t take my word on this, I would suggest that you give this a read and see if you can stop yourself from continuing any further.

Manga Review: Seven Ocean

Title: Seven Ocean
Author: Minazaki Suu
Release: Monthly
Status: Finished
Genre: Shonen, Adventure
Art: A
Originality: A
Story: A
Characters: A
Humor: B
Action: A

Impression: This is a short but sweet series about a guy who finds himself in debt after having been conned into giving money to some girl who had claimed to have needed the money for her dying father’s surgery. This leads to him becoming the captain of the ship of a different girl who lent him the money to pay his debts and now he has to help her hunt down these monster sea creatures in the seas. It’s one of those Shonen series that really knew what it was doing but was shot down in the prime of its life for some reason. From what I hear, the author was incapacitated - whatever that means. It’s got high a dosage of low-brow and slapstick silliness that normally doesn’t do much for me but it manages offset the downsides with a pretty interesting premise, awesome action scenes and some pretty solid characters. But like I said, the only real downside is the abrupt ending. Fortunately it ended in such a way that a sequel not too unlikely.

Manga Review: Artist Acro

Title: Artist Acro
Author: Ato Sakurai
Release: Weekly
Status: Finished
Genre: Shonen, Fantasy, Adventure
Art: B
Originality: S
Story: B
Characters: B
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This is set in a world where people with special abilities are called Artists who use them to create splendidly magical works of surreal Art. The main character is a young kid with ability to turn anything into clay ready to be shaped and his dream is to create a city full of Art. Between the walls of moving fire and portraits made of coins, these are just the kind of works of art that I’d like to see. This manga has plenty of creativity to augment the usual shonen fair and hopefully it's had enough time to show itself off in all of its five volumes of publishing.

Manga Review: Stray Little Devil

Title: Stray Little Devil
Author: Kotaro Mori
Release: Monthly
Status: Finished
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Yuri
Art: A
Originality: S
Story: A
Characters: A
Humor: B
Action: A

Impression: This is about a girl named Pam who gets sucked into another world populated by spirits, demons and angels but absolutely no humans. She herself is no longer human as her body has become that of a devil’s. A mysterious man soon shows up to save her from the angel named Linfa who attacked her for trespassing and he tells her she can only go back to her world if she works hard to become a full-fledged devil. The author shows that he is incredibly creative with this manga as he shows us a brilliantly vibrant world through his amazing artwork. This alternate world of his reminds me a lot of the Legend of Mana series with the huge tree and the friendly looking spirits. The characters are also a lot of fun and I would have given an S score for that department if it weren’t for the way it ended. It wasn’t bad but I felt like it should have been elaborated more instead of rushing things. There was a lot of build up that didn’t pay off as well as they could have that I think that one or two more chapters would have solved. But the main reason why the ending left me unsatisfied was because of how they settled Linfa and Pam’s relationship! There was great development for Linfa’s tsundere progression but Pam didn’t even give a hint of having any romantic feelings towards her until the very end. Seriously! A proper epilogue would have been REALLY nice since the ending just leaves you wanting for MOAR! MOAR BUILD UP! MOAR PAY-OFFS! And most important of all… MOAR YURI!!!

Manga Review: Esprit

Title: Esprit
Author: Tsuitsui Taishi
Release: Monthly
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Shonen, Adventure, Fantasy
Art: A
Originality: A
Story: B
Characters: A
Humor: B
Action: A

Impression: This story is set in a world where communities are contained on individual islands referred to as "homes" and in one of them there live a girl who knows nothing about the world outside of her island. An agent of an organisation dedicated to discovering new "homes" one day finds her home and she is inspired to join the organisation and explore the world. I like this one a lot. The girl is refreshingly cheerful and airheaded but she's got Kamina's never say die attitude and the strength to back it up. I don't particularly care for the pacing though which is slow but the characters are definitely the strongest aspect of this manga. It also has very nice idea that really play up the adventure portion of the story so I'm expecting this manga to get better the faster they release those chapters.

Manga Review: Alive: The Final Evolution

Title: Alive: The Final Evolution
Author: Kawashima Tadashi, Adachitoka
Release: Monthly
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Shonen, Fantasy, Adventure
Art: A
Originality: S
Story: A
Characters: A
Humor: B
Action: A

Impression: A mysterious event shakes the world where thousands of people suddenly commit suicide all of a sudden after a comet lands on earth and at the center of these events are people who suddenly have gained powers after resisting the so-called “suicide virus” that took the lives of many others. A trio of friends are dragged into a plot to take control of the catalyst of these events and the destruction of the world depends on the choices they make. That suicide virus idea really caught my eye but it was characters and the story that made me stay for the rest. Each character is unique and all of them have their own issues that their powers stem from. It’s interesting to see how each of their abilities expresses the regrets and the scars in the characters’ personalities. It’s a shonen manga with some surprising depth to it and some interesting ideas so it’s worth checking out.

Manga Review: Bokutachi no Tabi

Title: Bokutachi no Tabi
Author: Sakai Mayu
Release: Monthly
Status: Finished
Genre: Shoujo, Adventure
Art: A
Originality: B
Story: A
Characters: A
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This is about a hardworking girl who has been living under the strict rules of her mother because her brother disappointed their mother so all hopes are on her. She on the other hand has a passion for art that she plays down in front of others but when her mother finds and throws away her treasured art book done by the artist she idolizes, she runs away from home dragging in a boy that her friends tease her about on a regular basis. They go to a distant area of Japan from where they live and she finds out what it was like for her idol when she was just starting out as an artist. It’s a short story that has a certain charm to it since it’s about the main character getting a chance at the passions she’s been keeping a secret for so long. It’s quite a likeable story so I would recommend it to people looking for short but sweet stories.

Manga Review: Cage of Eden

Title: Cage of Eden
Author: Yamada Keiyou
Release: Monthly
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Psychological, Seinen, Adventure
Art: B
Originality: A
Story: B
Characters: B
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: This is about a group of students on an international field whose plane crashes onto a jurassic park like island sans the automated rides, cages and the management. These students now have to face monster like creatures of a bygone era using what meager survival skills they have while trying to find a way off the island. The first few chapters are quite exciting but the latest scanlations don't really have the same impact as they did in the beginning so the pacing and story don't maintain the high level of suspense from the start. It's an okay read that may or may not be educational depending on whether or not that cryptozoology info they give is true. The plot could go in a number of directions from where it is now so it could prove to be even better in the future and keep us in suspese. I'm betting everyone will die though.