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Oct
4thUrusei Yatsura Cosplay: Benten (Unidentified)
Snapped at Comiket 2010 by photographer Charlee Chayatana, this unnamed Japanese cosplayer tackles Rumiko Takahashi’s space biker chick from her hit manga Urusei Yatsura, Benten! Urusei Yatsura is a comedic manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi that premiered in Weekly Shōnen Sunday in 1978 and ran until its conclusion in 1987. Its 374 individual chapters were collected and published in 34 tankobon volumes. The series tells the story of Ataru Moroboshi and the alien Lum, who believes she is Ataru’s wife after he accidentally proposes to her. The series makes heavy use of Japanese mythology, culture and puns. The series was adapted into a TV anime series produced by Kitty Films and broadcast on Fuji Television affiliates from 1981 to 1986 over 195 episodes. Eleven original video animations and six theatrical movies followed, and the series has been released on VHS, Laserdisc and DVD in Japan. Benten is Lum’s childhood friend. Her character is named after Shichifukujin Benzaiten (one of the Seven Lucky Gods), the Shinto goddess of knowledge, art, and beauty. This Benten is a “space biker chick” who wears a plate-mail bikini, sports a “butch” hair style, tears around the sky on a red airbike, curses like a longshoreman, and carries a high-tech bazooka. Her arrival on the scene is often heralded by artillery fire. She holds an annual battle against Lum’s Oni clan on Setsubun. Aside from being a good hand-to-hand fighter and having the aforementioned bazooka, she appears to have no special powers. As [...]
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Sep
6thReview: Fullmetal Alchemist (Volume 16) (2008)
In an alchemical ritual gone wrong, Edward Elric lost his arm and his leg, and his brother Alphonse became nothing but a soul in a suit of armour. Equipped with mechanical “auto-mail” limbs, Edward becomes a state alchemist, seeking the one thing that can restore his and his brother’s bodies… the legendary Philosopher’s Stone. The brothers pursue fugitive May Chang to solve the mystery of why their alchemical powers were rendered inert while she and Scar continued to be able to wield them. Meanwhile, Scar enlists some unlikely help to delve into the secrets of his brother’s alchemical knowledge. And the newest, most horrifying homunculus makes an appearance…! With Volume 15 being very much a history lesson and filling in some of the gaps surrounding the Ishbalan Civil War, it is nice to get back to the story proper with Volume 16, though be warned that for the most part this volume is pretty devoid of any real action. Rather the first half is carved up between three story threads, namely Eric and Al trying to track down some answers, Scar forcefully enlisting some help in his quest, and Colonel Mustang continuing to peel away the secrets of the military. The second half changes location as the Elric brothers are sent North, where they encounter a few hostilities before getting quite the surprise with what will be their new home base for the next while. And entwined in amongst all of this is a rather epic battle between Scar and [...]
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Aug
20thReview: Naruto (Volume 3) (2004)
Naruto is a ninja-in-training with an incorrigible knack for mischief. His wild antics amuse his teammates, but Naruto is completely serious about one thing: becoming the world’s greatest ninja! Dreams – Naruto’s sensei Kakashi believes that the diabolical Zabuza survived their last battle. Now, in anticipation of their enemy’s return, Kakashi puts Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke through rigorous training programs to increase their focus and control. This time, their job of protecting the old bridge builder Tazuna and his family will be a hundred times more difficult! After a very much action-packed Volume 2, Naruto Volume 3 slows down the pace considerable for the first two thirds or so, focussing on special chakra training for the trio of young ninja, giving us a little more insight into their characters. At the same time we are given a little more background surrounding the people, location, and situation that Kakashi and his group find themselves in, all of which helps to build up to a very explosive last third of the book, where all out, over the top fighting between the ninja takes centre stage once more! (Ending as expected on quite the cliffhanger!) Author/Artist Masashi Kishimoto once again effortlessly combines his slapstick humor, drama and action to produce a wonderful page-turner of a manga volume, and when combined with his masterful artwork which is so full detail, emotion and action, never mind his superb bringing to life of all the slapstick humor he throws around, makes for an addictive and fun [...]
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Aug
2ndReview: Samurai Deeper Kyo (Volume 16) (2002)
Kyo and Hotaru begin a fight to the death at the first of the Five Shining Gates. The two collide in a sizzling-hot flame that burns up both their bodies – and makes the ground tremble! Then Kyo’s ultimate technique, Suzaku, rises up into the sky… Written and illustrated by Akimine Kamijyo, Samurai Deeper Kyo is a manga series set during the Edo period of Japan’s history, following Demon Eyes Kyo, a feared samurai seeking to regain his body after his soul is sealed inside the body of his rival, Mibu Kyoshiro. Volume 16 now has us well and truly deep into the story, with Yuya now only having a matter of hours left to live as one by one the star markings on her chest slowly fade away. That said, this particular issue is pretty much completely devoted to the epic and fierce fight between Kyo and Hotaru, as the latter’s hatred towards Kyo is seemingly enough to raise his abilities to an even higher level than what they already are! (Intermixed in the big fight are a lot of flashbacks as well, attempting to explain the relationship between Hotaru and Kyo, as well as the reasons behind why Hotaru acts the way that he does.) If you are already engrossed by the Samurai Deeper Kyo world then you will undoubtedly enjoy the backstory provided, but as per usual, the fight itself is so overwrought and over the top that it is difficult for it to try and maintain [...]
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Apr
12thReview: Cowboy Bebop (Volume 2) (1999)
Cowboy Bebop Volume 2 features all new chronicles on the famous exploits of the hapless Bebop crew Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, Edward Wong Ha (well… just Ed) and Ein. Bound by convenience, driven by woolongs, and usually starving, this quirky quintet may, or may not, get their bounty, but they’ll pursue it with vigor and tenacity… or at least that’s what an MBC TV producer wants to see when she does a story on them. Annoyingly, the only two manga titles that were released for Sunrise’s hit show Cowboy Bebop weighed in at a measly two volumes and then three volumes respectively, and worse still, they were primarily targeted to shoujo, i.e. females aged 10 to 18 and fans of science fiction. In other words, Cowboy Bebop Volume 2 by author Hajime Yatate and artist Yutaka Nanten failed to capture my attention, the end result being me not enjoying the books and thus not willing to give it a great score. Of course, you could always say that I’m being unfair considering this isn’t being targeted to me, but unfortunately for you, these additional two facts help strengthen my view: a) The decision to write in a short story format (volume 2 is made up of 5 separate stories!) means no continuity, rushed conclusions and setup, and just no chance to actually build on characters which we came to love via the television anime run, and b) Yutaka Nanten’s artwork, though competent for the most part, does often [...]
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Mar
14thReview: Last Fantasy (Volume 5)
The feverish fight to rescue the town from complete annihilation makes reluctant allies of everyone – Tian and Drei, Anna and her special task force, the religious chick, and, worst of all, Nagi, the thief. And, surrounded by Zombies and with little hope of making it out of the city alive, the lot of them sallies forth into the hordes of walking dead to face death… or worse. From writer Creative Hon with art from Yong-Wan Kwon, volume 5 of the Last Fantasy Korean manhwa brings to a close the short fantasy/comedy adventures of the low-level magic user who can pretty much only throw fireballs Tian, and the strong as an ox, but dumb as one too warrior Drei von Richenstein, the two unlikely heroes (who are almost always broke) with a knack of turning allies into foes. Plunging our main characters directly into battle against the hungry horde of zombies right from page one, the action is relentless until the final and satisfying closing scenes, which bring about the end of the main storyline around two thirds into the book – leaving the rest of the volume to be padded out with some extra stories set in the world Creative Hon has created from the inspiration that is Final Fantasy, generating enough story threads towards the end so that should they ever be called upon to one day craft some more Last Fantasy books, they’ll at least have something to carry on from! Although the book maintains it’s slapstick [...]
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Feb
21stReview: Switch (Volume 5)
Kai Eto may look like a squeaky-clean kid, but the Greater Kanto Narcotics Control Division’s new investigator hides a violent alter ego and a dangerous past. Together with his stoic partner Hal Kurabayashi, Kai is assigned to track down and stop the distribution of a dangerous new drug – Dragon Speed. A night on the town with fellow NCD employee Mari turns into a nightmare for Kai when they get mixed up with the Ryugen drug ring in a deadly case of mistaken identity. Volume 5 of Naked Ape’s (Saki Otoh & Nakamura Tomomi) Switch manga continues the story of the child-like Kai and serious Hal as they continue their drug investigation. Although not much in terms of character development really occurs in this volume, the story is deepened with the introduction of some key and enigmatic players, amping up the level of danger just a notch. At the same time, amongst all the expected angst and drama, Naked Ape do inject their usual brand of silly humour into the story (particularly in the first half of the volume), but to be honest, it does drag back the tone a bit, and in the end, volume 5 doesn’t exactly hold your attention, particularly because it can’t make up its mind as to which mood it is trying to convey. Add to that the jumping around in the story and the often confusing artwork, this certainly isn’t a volume to pick up if you a) aren’t already invested in the story [...]
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Feb
8thReview: Fullmetal Alchemist (Volume 15)
The horrors of the Ishbalan campaign occurred years before Ed became a state alchemist, and had serious repercussions, which set the tone for the complicated dealings of present-day state politics. Lieutenant Hawkeye reluctantly tells Ed all the dread details of the role Colonel Mustang and the other state alchemists played in this tragic event. As you might be able to tell from the volume blurb above, volume 15 of Hiromu Arakawa’s popular Fullmetal Alchemist is devoted entirely to telling a backstory around the Ishbalan Civil War, focusing in particular on Colonel Mustang as he is drawn into the senseless conflict through his military orders, as well as the pretty bloody and dirty stuff the state alchemists were called upon to carry out, as the Amestrians under King Bradley systematically killed every man, woman and child living in Ishbal. Other stories touched on is the tragic birth of Scar, the death of Winfrey’s parents, the betrayal of Solf J. Kimblee, as well as the expanded actions of Colonel Gran. Hiromu steps out to make this a very bloody and cold-hearted book, as she leads you through what can only be called murder by all the characters you have come to love and admire in the military up until this story arc. This doesn’t paint a pretty picture of the Amestrian military but it certainly does paint a lot of the backstory and reveals a lot of the motivations for what is happening in the main story timeline. Of course, this does [...]
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Jan
12thReview: GetBackers (Volume 4)
They’ve found the Stradivarius. Now to the hard part – getting it back! Of course, that is their job… and do it they must, even if it means once again going up against the mighty Protector, Ryudo Hishiki. The Protector is a big, burly, bone-crushing bodyguard with a serious beef to with our fearless heroes. But when Ginji takes out the lights, the brave turns to the blind Madoka to get them out of the bind! Volume 4 continues the adventures of the GetBackers retrieval service duo of Evil Eye-bearing Ban Mido and electrically charged Ginji Amano, with them this time around tasked with trying to retrieve a young, blind musician’s prize Stradivarius violin from a seedy underworld family. To make matters even more difficult, the man who has stolen the priceless violin has hired a number of freelancers to protect it, including Shido the Beastmaster and Ryudo Hishiki, the unstoppable protector. What happens from here on out is one long struggle and fight as the boys and their charge face off against their adversaries in an attempt to reach the violin, before tackling the even more difficult task of getting back out again! And to make matters worse, there are a couple of hidden assassins also waiting in the wings to strike when the opportunity presents itself! Writer Yuya Aoki, under the pen name of Tadashi Agi, is behind the adventure once more, delivering a volume that is full of action and suspense, brining in no less than six [...]
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Nov
3rdReview: Air Gear (Volume 5)
So Ikki and his rather makeshift little group finally manages to get a proper Air Trek team going after a fair bit of scrounging around, and even partake in their first official battle as a team (though after a proper preliminary round of fisticuffs of course!) Although Agito ignores them and Buccha and Onigiri fail them, Kazu is given a moment to shine and they are rescued through the arrival of a mysterious female skater as well as the skills of Ikki who continues to ascend his Air Trek skating path. But there is an unexpected turn of events that awaits for them back home, one which will see Ikki possibly losing his skates for good, as we are let in on more of the mystery surrounding the legendary Sleeping Forest clan… Mangaka Oh! Great continues his madcap action comedy shonen romp with Air Gear volume 5, giving us again plenty of action, fight and skate sequences, plenty of juvenile humor to have a giggle at, and of course sprinkled with serious scenes so over the top that they do end up feeling a little silly to have there in the first place. It is definitely a shonen story through and through, and so if you are fans of this kind of silliness and over the top action with power escalations, then you’ll probably get a real kick out of this one, which doesn’t really let up on anything promised inside. (And as a bonus if you are actually enjoying [...]
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Oct
12thReview: Bleach (Volume 2)
Goodbye Parakeet, Good Night my Sista – Immediately after checking into the Kurosaki Clinic with a mysterious scar on his back, the muscle-bound Chad goes AWOL. Accompanying Chad is a talking parakeet imbued with the soul of a young boy named Yuichi. It doesn’t take newbie Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki long to surmise that a Hollow must be involved – by far the strongest spirit he’s faced to date. Ichigo is about to discover that not every soul is bound for the Soul Society, especially if it’s tainted with innocent blood! Mangaka Tite Kubo is back with his huge hit Bleach in volume 2, continuing the almost non-stop action that saw off volume 1, with Chad being chased by an unseen foe, Ichigo and Rukia desperately trying to intervene and an underpowered Rukia going up against what is a very powerful Hollow, stalling him until Ichigo can first deal with his problems on the home front! However, there are a lot of pages in here, and following the first half we get thrown straight into the next arc, featuring a shady shop owner, modified souls, more back story on the Soul Society and yet another headache for Ichigo, one that is literally jumping out of his reach! Again Tite Kubo comes up with an enjoyable story, mixing all out intense action and “what happens next” moments with his trademark silly humour, to produce a thoroughly enjoyable story to take in. There is a fair bit of character development, more than [...]
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Sep
1stReview: Basilisk (Volume 1)
The Iga clan and the Kouga clan have been sworn enemies for more than four hundred years. Only the Hanzo Hattori truce has kept the two families from all-out war. Now, under the order of Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa, the truce has finally been dissolved. Ten ninja from each clan must fight to the death in order to determine who will be the next Tokugawa Shogun. The surviving clan will rule for the next thousand years. But not all the clan members are in agreement. Oboro of the Iga clan and Gennosuke of the Kouga clan have fallen deeply in love. Now these star-crossed lovers have been pitted against each other. Can their romance conquer a centuries-old rivalry? Or is their love destined to end in death? Volume 1 throws us right into the middle of our first ninja battle, as Yashamaru of the Iga clan squares off against Shougen from the Kouga clan, pretty much letting us know what we are in for the rest of this battle-a-minute adaptation of Futaro Yamada’s 1958 novel. Writer/artist Masaki Segawa skillfully guides us through the story as he sets up all the elements necessary to spark the upcoming violence and then hits the accelerator as he unleashes all manner of fierce and grotesque ninja, each possessing some or other very strange and unexpected secret technique as the two clans battle it out for the main prize. The writing on Basilisk is very steady and very detailed, and Masaki ensures that you are onboard [...]
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