Hello!
Welcome to The Anime & Manga Review!
It has been my dream to create a world on TheO where users can go for anime and manga reviews and finally here it is! I plan to make this world an active, exciting and helpful place for learning about and finding entertaining manga and anime to read/watch.

Hey! Did you know I do all kinds of things to make it easy to search specific genres and reviews?
For information on how to search for genre and such things please see my info post!
Its the first post of this world and will help you find your way!

~Tsubasachro
(aka Tsu)

The Necromancer

Hey all! If you haven’t voted yet, please pitch in your opinion on what my “special thank you for 5,000 views review” should be!
http://www.poll-maker.com/poll92360xb492460b-4

Necromancer
Author/artist: Soga Shina

Oh where to start about this review? First off I think a liiiiittle personal background about myself is needed… XD I am a panel geek. Nothing gets me more excited than when a comic book or manga has amazing panel arrangement! (I have mentioned this in the past, but I’ve written a 10 page research paper on the subject)
So needless to say this manga has really cool page layouts. The author really enhances the story through those choices and I love it.

Moving on from my obsession with panels… The story is about a mysterious young man who is a necromancer. Of course there’s a price to be paid for these services, and that just so happens to be three years of a living person. Oh but that’s not all! A resurrected soul’s essence, or “special characteristics” are enhanced through this process and its impossible to predict how much or what will happen. Interesting right?
Like many manga the basic premise itself is fairly simple, but I just adore the bitter sweet stories and the main character (the necromancer) has such a straight forward and sometimes brutal views on death and resurrection that he’s really interesting to learn more about as the series goes on. To top it off, the other main character who is a female cop trying to find some kind of evidence that the necromancer is up to no good, adds a really fun element and lets some of the stories take on mystery element.

Truly though, I must say I really like the art work in this series! This is a horror manga but the actual characters have a very sweet, elegant smoothness to the way they’re drawn. This style with its cute characters and stark black and white contrast makes for a unique look that oddly compliments the horror nature of the series very well. (my friends and I were just talking about sweet and evil things today and decided it’s “swevil” or sweet and evil)

While this is classified as a shounen manga, I think that shoujo fans would really like this one. And of course if you’re into bitter sweet horror stories or want to try something just a little bit different this is the perfect choice. It's a fun read, with some great mysteries and thrills.

~Tsu

ps. Did you know that I actually use the tags and post type to make my reviews easy to find and filter?
Check out how to do this on my info post!

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The Udon Woman

The Woman of Udon

No, this isn’t a manga about a woman made of udon. (While I am sure that somewhere out there it exists, I have yet to read a manga about a person made of noodles. I can’t say the same about other foods.)

No Udon no Onna, Or Lady of Udon, by Est Em is actually a cute slice of life Josei that's the simple story of two people falling in love.
The leading lady works at the university cafeteria where our leading man buys his lunch every day. She works at the, you guessed it, udon stand. There’s a bit of an age gap between the two, of I think about 7 to 10 years, and it is really adorable to watch them fumble around!
The way they meet and get to know each other feels very natural, and being a josei it’s aimed at women and reflects a more realistic relationship than the average shoujo. Seriously, words cannot say how enjoyably awkward these two can be!
If this series has one down fall it’s that, like real relationships, there is not a clear ending. Despite this, the story still works and is enjoyable, but I know I wanted more at the end. But hey! Any series that leaves you wanting more is doing something right!

You would enjoy this if you want a cute romance to read!
I’d say skip it if you need action this week, and check out something like Tista or Assassination Classroom instead.

Sorry for the short review… >.>
I had work, Thanksgiving, more work, and quitting work this week so I’ve been busy! Lol
Next week I hope to be able to review an anime! Probably FMA or one of my 10 anime I’ve Never Seen. Oooh or maybe that Chrismas themed anime that's name I always forget… (Providing I can remember the name…)

~Tsu

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Shinigami Romance

Sarashi Asobi
Author: Tobina Touya
Sometimes called Exposing Game (get yer head out of the gutter!)

So I’ve actually reviewed a series by the author before! (Here) So that makes this the first repeat author on this world! Woot!

Ok so to boil the plot down, it’s about a misunderstood girl, a bored shinigami and a little game.
To go into more detail, this shoujo manga starts with Ren Ohba, a girl with a tough stern exterior who just wants to help people but due to the way she acts she is constantly misunderstood. A shinigami is watching her and knowing she doesn’t have long to live, decides to play a game by making it so she shares her inner voice with the world. In other words all the things she thinks, she says aloud. (Trust me when I say this is adorable and hilarious) Anyhoo, wonderful hijinks ensue but it’s not all fun and games… A suffering shinigami, a girl trying to extend her life, and love triangles are also abundant.

I really enjoyed this short series. (I’ve reread it several times… and I’ve made 2 wallapapers for it…) It hits the right balance of adorable fun and heart felt drama. It’s also truly refreshing how the author spins the shinigami and misunderstood girl cliques into a new exciting piece. The characters are well developed and the chapter addressing the love triangle (I call it the creaking chapter) is one of the best portrayals, I’ve seen, of handling rejection and change in shoujo manga.

Anyhow Who’d like this?
Fans of shinigami manga (yes it could be it’s own genre) or fans of shoujo manga. I think even if shoujo isn’t your thing there’s a lot to enjoy here, but if you aren’t in the mood for some romance you might want to skip this one for now.

~Tsu
Ps. No seriously though... there's soooo many shinigami manga...
Maybe I should do a best and worst list of them...

(Also Sarashi Asobi is my favorite by this author)

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