About Heroes

Love Attack Vol. 1
Story & Art: Shizuru Seino
Translation: Adrienne Beck
Adaptation: Magdalena Sniegocki
Publisher: Tokyopop

No, Love attack is not a song by Bad Company. Although, if you’ve heard the lyrics to the song it kind of relates to the story in Junai Tokko Taicho (Love Attack)! In a twist of sorts, Chiemi Yursa is a high school girl whose record is anything but perfect. She has been suspended for bullying other students and fighting more than once and she’s not even half way through her first year. This all might lead to an expulsion, unless she can convince Akifumi Hirata, the nastiest fighter in the school to clean up his act. Funny enough the two biggest bullies in the school are the sweetest couple when they are together. While I hate being biased in saying that the art is very shoujo with all the big eyes and pretty boys; I have to say that Seino can pull off some great clean action scenes. The story while predictable, still holds my interest because I really like Cheimi, I mean she’s not your typical girly girl. It’s your typical shoujo story with plenty of comedy, romance, misunderstandings, and fights. On a side note, I’m still trying to figure out who that girl on the cover is. While I’m sure it’s supposed to be Cheimi, in the manga she looks like she has light hair not black. B-

My Dearest Devil Princess Vol. 1
Story: Makoto Matsumoto
Art: Maika Netsu
Translation: Satsuki Yamashita
Publisher: Broccoli Books

Alright picture this scenario: One guy. Three wishes. Half naked demon hottie granting wishes. Keita picks up a box that contains the demon girl Maki in it. Maki can grant Keita three wishes in exchange for Keita’s soul. Until he decides what to wish for Maki decides to stay and live with him until he is ready. Now she attends his school and if his classmates aren’t trouble enough a little angel by the name of Sheeta appears to cause more havoc. I really can’t say much about this book other than it was nothing more than fanservice galore. Every ten pages we are either shown a panty shot, a shower scene, or funbags all over Keita’s face. There is even a little bondage scene that involves holy water being poured on Maki. Even though I think of myself as a pervert, I really think they overdid the fanservice here. It adds nothing to the story (what little there is to begin with) and gets annoying more than anything. The one good thing I can say is that the art is really good. Well, at least the ladies look really good, for some reason the male characters look like they stepped out of a Beyblade episode. If you like nothing more than to look at panty shots and cleavage teases every 10 pages this book is for you, just not my cup of manga though. D+

Ororon: The Complete Collection
Story & Art: Hakase Mizuki
Translation: Tomoko Kamimoto
Publisher: Tokyopop

This was my first time reading this series. Even though it came before Baku, Asian Beat, and Demon Flowers I really don’t know how I missed this story the first time around. Because I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed The Demon Ororon. Chiaki is an orphan and a rather strange, lonely girl who attracts all the wrong sorts of people consisting of spirits and ghouls. She encounters a beautiful bleeding young man and decides to help him. In return for her help Chiaki acquires a wish and much like Oh My goddess, she wishes for this demon to stay with her. He's the good-looking, cynical, sharp-dressing, chain-smoking Demon King of Hell. And he's having a rather rough time being king, because of a bounty on his head, his family hates him, and his friends are trying to murder him. I had so much sympathy for Ororon and his relationship with Chiaki; I couldn’t help but route for them. Now don’t let the fast paced introductory chapters lure you away from this book, because Mizuki does try to introduce too much and too fast. I found the exaggeration of perspective and elongation of the character's bodies (specially those necks) to be visually interesting and well-used to help tell the story. The only complaint I have is that at times the male cast all look the same. In my mind at least the lead - Ororon - should stand out from the pack. Still, you get used to style and can usually manage to distinguish between them all eventually. I really enjoy Mizuki’s art because for the most part the drawings are clean and uncluttered even the fighting sequences are easy to follow. This however changes towards the end as new characters are introduced and there is just an over abundance of fights in small panels, it does get hard to follow. Although the cover is a bit misleading; this book is full of fighting, blood, gore, death, and a tragic love story to get the attention of any reader. B+

The Good Witch of the West:
The Girl of Sera Field
Story: Noriko Ogiwara
Illustrations: Haruhiko Momokawa
Translations: Agnes Yoshida
Adaptation: Natalie Baan

I read Wicked a few years ago and L. Frank Baum’s books are some of my favorites. Hell, I still think that Return to Oz from the 80’s is better than the original Wizard of Oz movie. With that being said, you might just laugh and skip my review. Well going by the title, I really thought it was going to be a book related to the world of Oz. So I was disappointed when I didn’t recognize any of the characters or settings, but by the end of the novel I fell in love with this world that Ogiwara created. Firiel lives in the remote highlands with her father, who happens to be an astronomer. Her and her friend Rune go to a royal ball and she catches the attention of the prince. On her way home she is attacked by mysterious men in robes. Then the secrets start to unveil as all of the sudden her past comes back and haunts her; Because she might be heir to the throne. I really couldn’t put this book down from beginning to end and the words are so descriptive that I could picture every scene take place with ease. Granted, I have a vivid imagination, but those pictures by Momokawa are just amazing. I just found out there was a manga too, so if it’s anything like this. Count me in. A-

The Other Side of the Mirror vol. 1
Story & Art: Jo Chen
Translation: J.Y. Standaert
Adaptation: Kereth Cowe-Spigai
Publisher: Tokyopop

Hmm…. this is another book this week with a song like title. Although, typically I think of Lewis Caroll not Bob Dylan when I think of mirrors. If you’re not familiar with Jo Chen’s artwork well then you’ve had your eyes closed. With work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Runaways, Thor, Street Fighter, and Dark Minds it’s hard to miss her unique art style. Yes, I’m a fan; I have a picture of the Xander cover from the Buffy series on my wall at work. I don’t think that Xander has ever looked so badass! Well anyway back to the review. The setting is New York city where two unexpected couple meet. Lou is an alcoholic, who makes his living out-drinking people at bars. Sunny is a prostitute who was a southern belle runaway. As soon as they hookup they start looking for a way out of their world and start having faith in a humanity that left them behind many years ago. The story is very adult oriented and deeper than that initial layer. The artwork is phenomenal. Chen manages to capture so much human emotions in one picture than most artist do in their entire career. Sure the pictures are in black and white, but they are still fantastic. Fans of Chen will already be picking this up, but I highly recommend anyone to give it a try and be pleasantly surprised. All this and you get some fantastic additional sketches and a beautiful chromium cover. A