Fermer Mardi
Artist: Kirino Hajime
I adore this dark twisted little short! Well not that twisted but it really is very enjoyable.
The story begins with a very young girl watching something being killed.
We soon learn that the thing killed was a corpse eating monster called Estoma and that he has been killed by the undertaker who's job it is to keep Estoma from leaving the grave yard. The girl then proceeds to explain (rather angrily) that she had wanted to kill Estoma to revenge. The undertaker assures her that this time the monster won't come back to life…
Of course it does come back to life the next week…
At any rate it is a worth while one shot and at only 100 pages its a fast read that will keep you entertained! Every time I read this one I always wish it was a series… I think it would have been interesting to see how the author would have developed it longer.
I recommend it to those who enjoy one shots, fantasy stories, monsters, and people who need something to read and only have a little time.
Anyways sorry this ones a short review!
I've been planning of putting together a 'great fathers in manga' review for father's day and it has been taking my manga reading time… (I am such a geek I have manga reading time… >.> whats become of meeeeee~?)
~Tsu
KISEIJUU
Other names: Parasite, Parasyte
Author/Artist: Iwaaki Hitoshi
Sometimes you just need a good old school scifi fighting manga! That’s where the fun and enjoyablity of Parasyte comes in.
A manga from the 90s this series has actually been published twice. There’s a “flipped” version (Where they took all the pages and flipped them so the book would read left to right so us English readers would buy them) and then again by DelRey in the now normal and original format. Come on people liked it enough it got published twice!
At any rate the story begins with some unknown race of parasites taking over people brains by eating them. The main character Shunji was a victim of one such creature but the parasite failed to eat his brain and has instead taken over Shunji’s right arm.
Normal parasites eat human flesh but Shunji’s arm can’t do that and feeds on Shunji’s blood. The story progresses to follow Shunji trying to come to terms with his new life while avoiding the other parasites that may try to kill him due to his parasite’s failure.
This series is definitely worth a read! I found it an extremely enjoyable mix of scifi and action. It also has great drama and a strong plot. (Something action series don’t always have) Anyways this series is just great! Also all the parasites are quite cool looking, the character designs for them are really quite impressive! I loved it the first time I read it and I found myself reading it again while prepping for the review and am now addicted again! ^-^;;
If you love old school manga its a must, if you like action scifi, again a must. I think even if those aren’t necessarily your thing this series is still worth while for it’s writing and strong bold lined art style. A very fun and intense read!
Have you read it? Comment!
Read after reading this? Share your thoughts!
Want me to review a series? Let me know!
As always good and bad opinions are welcomed just keep it classy! lol
~Tsu
Dawn- Tsumetai Te
Author: Ueda Shinsyu
Dawn Tsumetai Te (loosely translates into something like: Dawn- Cold hands; or “Unfeeling Hands,” personally I think the latter is more true to the feeling of the story) is the story about a high school boy that gets more than he bargained for one night when he encounters the serial killer that has been on the prowl lately and ends up killing him after getting bitten. This series takes a lot of cues from the disease zombie in that people are being taken over by a kind of parasite that feeds on humans and much like a virus lives only to spread itself.
The main character Nagasawa soon discovers that he has also been infected. A government organization agrees to give him the drugs to slow its progress in exchange for his cooperation killing the Nightshift (the name they give the infected) He then tries to come to grips with balancing his secrete cover with his regular life all while becoming more and more aware that he might not be human anymore.
This series really stands out because of it's excellent balance between the character's emotions and the action/horror element. I often find that series with the horror/action feel don't give enough time to character development and I am happy to say I was pleased with Tsumetai Te's attension to that! ^-^
For the most part I really enjoyed this series and do recommend it to zombie, supernatural and action fans. If I had to give one critique it would be for SPOILERS AHEAD a slightly disappointing ending that felt a little too good to be true for my tastes but in the end I am glad I read it and have even reread it. And fear not the fact that its classified as a Josei (a manga aimed a women, the grown up version of shoujo) I actually thought this was a seinen and I think this is a manga that transcends these male/female genres.
If you’re shy of blood or action isn’t your thing this isn’t necessarily for you but the romance, action and drama really bring the world to life and I know I loved reading it!
However if you love your action, supernatural, horror and/or your zombies, READ IT! You won’t regret it!
Have you read it? COMMENT! ^-^
Did you read it after reading this? PLEASE SHARE!
Got a series you want me to review? PM or comment!
Good or bad I like hearing your opinions!
Wanna find another series to read or watch? Check out my other reviews on this world! ^o^/
Want to just chat? I’m game! Lol
~Tsu
LUCIFER AND THE BISCUIT HAMMER
Alternate titles: Hoshi no Samidare, Samidare’s planet／star
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, Seinen, Supernatural
Author: Mizukami Satoshi
Oddly not the strangest name for a manga I’ve ever seen, but still very weird. So what is it about? This is a VERY unique, interesting and great story! The story begins with our main character waking up to find a lizard on his bed nothing sums it up like the first two pages of the manga itself “One mourning I woke up. There was a lizard in my room. We stared at each other. And the first to break the silence… was him.”
When I read that I was hooked. The lizard then continues to introduce himself to Amamiya, our main character, and explains that Amamiya is the lizard knight, has the ability to use special powers and is destined to fight against the golems and the Mage to save the world from being smashed by the biscuit hammer. Understandably he has problems accepting this which leads to fun scenes.
He is then introduced to the princess, and other main character, Samidare. It is then that the princess recruits him to help her defeat the mage so that she may be the one to destroy the world. By now you’re thinking this is a silly silly manga with no serious moments but you couldn’t be more wrong. As Samidare and Amamiya meet with the other knights there’s an intense tension that's built from their desire to save the world and Samidare and Amamiya’s secrete desire to destroy it. The knowledge that this will mean they will eventually have to fight their friends and turn against the world creates a surprising amount of tension.
Their battle is intense despite the strange premise, and you feel connected to the characters both in the manga’s good and bad moments. You might even find yourself crying.
Personally I love this series because it has everything I love in a manga! Its funny, but is also heartfelt and serious, it has great action scenes but doesn’t focus just on the battles.
I strongly recommend this manga to anyone who wants an interesting and unique scifi/action/drama/comedy and to anyone who’s just looking for something new and different. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed!
Have you read this manga? did you go read after seeing this? Just want to comment?
Feel free to discuss this here! ^-^
~Tsu
Awesome lady leads in manga for girls!
So there I was in my one of my film theory classes day after the Oscars aired and my teacher showed us this video on youtube that talked about something called the “Bechdel test.” I highly suggest watching the youtube video through the link but to sum up, it's a test that determines whether a movie or tv show has use of female characters. It requires that two women talk to each other for 60secs about something other than a man.
I started thinking about this test and the manga I read, (I read a lot of shounen) and started thinking about which women are strong characters in series that are aimed at girls. (ie shoujo and josei manga)
Then I started hunting and… Graaah! It’s difficult! Even calling up Wallie and asking for help got the “Oooh that's hard” response!
And yes I do realize that girls read shounen and sienen and that there are plenty strong girls and women in them to be found as well, but that does not change the fact that these series ARE aimed and advertised at boys and men. And I wanted to see what strong ladies were in manga aimed at us females.
RULES:
(Sorry Kaoru from Rurouni Kenshin, I love you, but you only fight in the first book and need to be saved even then) And also (sorry Ouran fans) I am not counting reverse harem manga or (sorry Harada twins from DN Angel) not counting it unless they are a main character with a good portion of the story seen through their eyes.
Also another kind of random criteria, but to be on the list I have to respect the character. In other words if they were a person I’d go “I respect them.” (terrible explanation I know. XD) Also this is JUST manga! NO anime. (other wise this list would be filled with Miyazaki movies)
So I am going to count down my favorite strong female characters in manga aimed at girls and women!
Read these and feel free to share your own favs, or thoughts about the Bechdel test in the comments!!!
Special thanks goes out to Wallpaperotaku who helped me keep my sanity making this list and gave me some great suggestions!
~Tsu
First some Honorable mentions!
Princess Primula from Apothecarious Argentum, sadly doesn’t make the list since not enough of the manga is from her point of view. However her character growth is fun to read and she makes one choice in particular towards the end where (MILD SPOILERS) she picks her country over the man she loves and I give her mad props for that. Its something I don’t think I could do.
Tohru from Fruits Basket. I still haven’t decided how I feel about her and whether I can over look some plot issues I have, despite my love for the series. From the people I talked to about Tohru, everyone seems to be split on whether she is or isn’t, (half say yay the other neigh) but Wallpaperotaku made a strong case for her so I am giving her a nod as she is a tough cookie if a passive person.
All shoujo that CLAMP has written. Pretty much all their girls are well written. But I didn’t want this to be a Clamp list so I’ll be talking about them in a later review. It felt unfair to the other series to include them since they do such a good job. ^-^
Ok now to the main attraction! In my personal opinion of the shoujo and Josei I’ve read the ones I feel have strong female characters!
Yuki from Vampire Knight
First off I would like to say that Vampire Knight is not my favorite shoujo and I don’t even particularly like Yuki or a lot of the characters. So why does she make this list? Because, though begrudgingly, I do respect her. I think that her character goes through a lot of things and she grows and changes with them. I really feel like the choices she makes regarding Zero and Kaname shows a lot of guts. Even though she’s stuck in a pretty typical love triangle her problems aren’t magically solved and the manga does a great job of showing her struggles and emotions especially towards the end. Even though this manga isn’t completed yet I feel she deserves a mention on this list. (though we’ll see how I feel once the last chapter comes out! ^-^)
Kazura from Platinum Garden
Another incomplete series with a pretty typical “girl ends up living with guy she barely knows but doesn’t like on first impression” manga. However I personally believe this series has quite a bit of bite and gives not just Kazura but the other girls she meets a lot of attention. She also makes a lot of difficult choices and sticks to her guns a lot. Once again her problems aren’t quickly solved and I really buy the budding romance and drama.
Ririko from Helter Skelter
This is a MATURE josei manga that follows the story of a model striving for perfect and coming to the realization that the world of modeling is slowly throwing her away. This manga is a worth while read that consists of EVERY main character being female. Even Ririko’s plastic surgeon is a woman. Not only is it very female focused it also deals with image issues that all girls experience in a very creative way. I suggest this only to those who feel they are mature enough to handle it and to read my full review on the series on Beloved Blood’s Rein of Darkness world here.
Machika from Immortal Rain
I will almost assuredly do a full review of this series at some point since it is one of my all time favorites. For now though lets look at Machika! She could be written of as weak on first glance but once again its in her determination and growth as a person throughout the series that makes her a strong character. A perfect expample is when she meets the villain she’s been searching for (not Rain) and realizes the classic confrontation she’s imagined is far from the truth and the worlds more complex than she thought. This series also features several other fantastic female characters including the villain Sheriam, and a friend of Machika she meets along the way. Sheriam in particular is a favorite character of mine! You know why she’s doing what she’s doing and even that she knows it’s wrong, and why she doesn’t care anymore. The only short fall is this series splits the focus between male and female characters although the majority is from Machika. Despite that it is still a great manga with some great girls!
Once agian feel free to share your own opinions and favorites in the comments!!!
Thank you for reading!
~Tsu
