About Heroes

Aria vol. 1
Story & Art: Kozue Amano
Translation: Elina Ishikawa
Adaptation: Gina Lee Ferenzi
Publisher: Tokyopop

A few months ago I reviewed Aqua and fell in love with the world of Aqua (which as it turns out was Mars in the 24th century). Aqua was the prequel for the manga Aria, which at the time I thought was released in America. Well, as it turns out the Aria manga just hit the US and I finally got around to reading it. I would first love to point out the gorgeous cover; something about Kozue’s covers really brings out my inner-child. The story takes place in the city of Neo-Venezia, based on Venice in both architecture and atmosphere; it also serves as harbor city of narrow canals that people use to get around instead of streets, traveled by gondolas. At the start of Aqua, Akari arrives from Manhome (Earth) to become a trainee gondolier with Aria Company because her dream is to become an undine. While Aqua showed us her training in pairs, her solo adventures are shown in Aria. The artwork is clean, detailed, and utterly breathtaking. Amano does a wonderful job on the beautiful scenery (whether it’s calm or raucous), loveable characters, and a fun, simple outlook on a simple life. There is a feeling I get when reading this manga that I can’t describe. It’s the same feeling when I watch a Miyazaki film and I get taken away to that timeless and endless world. I highly recommend this wonderful book. A+

Hell Girl vol.1
Story & Art: Miyuki Eto
Original Story: The Jigoku Shoujo Project
Publisher: Del Rey
Many years ago I read a manga called Hell Baby that scared the crap out of me. Let’s just go on the record and state that Hell Girl has nothing to do with Hell Baby….thank goodness. Judging from that cover of what appears to be an innocent little high school girl I couldn’t tell how dark this story really was until I started reading it. When you have a hate in your heart so deep that you seek revenge on your enemy; there is a website you can go to that will solve your problems. According to the urban legend if you type in the name of your enemy on a mysterious website known as Hell Correspondence that only appears at midnight, the Hell Girl will appear and take your tormentor to hell. Of course this comes with a price and you guessed it: Your soul!!! The first volume contains five stand alone stories and feature Ai Enma aka Hell Girl and her clients that she helps to avenge. All the protagonist, happen to be women, so I really have no idea if Hell Girl can help guys out and they all share similar story. The stories range from a girl being picked on to a girl wanting revenge on the vet that didn’t help her dog. The outcome however is always the same. The stories get repetitive and even the dialogue gets repetitive. With every story having rumors about the website and Enma mentioning the same contract over and over it all feels the same. But for some reason I really wanted to see the people get theirs in the end. The art really doesn’t seem the type to be telling a dark and demented story such as this one and I think that is the reason why it works. No one expects a cute young girl to have such horrible intentions. I really hope later volumes do however get away from the formulaic storyline that the first volume is filled with. B

Here is Greenwood vol. 6
Story & Art: Yukie Nasu
Adaptation: Mayumi Kobashi
Publisher: Viz

A little over 10 years ago there was a set of 6 oav episodes that I completely loved and wished they did more with. I had no idea that 10 years later I would be reading the manga that the Here is Greenwood oav was based on. I never thought anyone would release this great series mainly because of the outdated artwork, but I’m sure glad the folks at Viz saw something that most publishers passed on. The story of Greenwood is about Kazuya Hasukawa's belated arrival at Ryokuto Academy, a little over a month into the start of the term thanks to unfortunate events that include being injured in a car accident, a stress-induced ulcer, and a freak series of mishaps that delayed touring the academy and completing his admissions process. The dormitory is known as Greenwood and many of its tenants are insane, funny enough because the dorm was originally an insane asylum. To give you an idea of how crazy some of these characters are Kazuya’s roommate is Shun Kisaragi, who is a pretty girl that is living in an all male dorm. Kazuya walks in on Shun using the urinal one time and it turns out Shun is a guy; funny thing was the rest of the dorm not only knew Shun’s secret, but were placing bets to see how long it would take Kazuya to figure it out. In this volume there is a run in with an alien who has lost his humanoid pet, a crazy baseball game that takes the whole dorm by surprise, and the return of Nitta Mieko. I can’t say enough about this wacky book, other than go and try it out. A

Hunter X Hunter vol.18
Story & Art: Yoshihiro Togashi
Translation & Adaptation: Lillian Olsen
Lettering: Mark Griffin
Publisher: Viz

From the same guy that brought you Yu Yu Hakusho comes a story about a quest for a lost father and becoming a special breed of hunters. Gon dreams to be a Hunter, much like his father that he hardly remembers. He has passed the selective licensing exam, but finding his father Ging is proving harder. Along with Killua and Biscuit they investigate the Hunter only game Greed Island (Joystation video game that could help Gon find his father. So while Gon, Killua, and Leorio try different methods to make enough money to buy Greed Island, Kurapika takes center stage. The game runs on a complex card-based gaming system, not really like Yugioh, but close. The goal of the game is to collect a number of set cards, although almost everything in the game, from money to food, can be turned into cards. There is a long and gruesome battle between Gon and Genthru and even though he eventually gets healed, Gon loses a hand in this gruesome battle. Throughout the series I’ve noticed that the art style has changed dramatically. While I wasn’t a big fan of the art style in Yu Yu Hakusho, I really love his new sketchier art style. I really enjoy the where the story is going; it seems we will finally get answers to questions that have spanned the first 18 volumes. I have heard a nasty rumor that this series has gone on hiatus in Japan as of December 5, 2007. I hope it won’t last that long, because I am enjoying where the story is taken us. B

Short Sunzen! vol.1
Story & Art: Susugi Sakura
Translation: Kristi Harmon
Adaptation: Zachary Rau
Publisher: Tokypop

I’m the first to tell you that some of my favorite manga are nothing but love stories: Maison Ikkoku, Video Girl Ai, and Oh My Goddess! Just to name a few. So I don’t shy away from love stories even when I read an over abundance of them in one month, I still give everything a fair shot. Having going on the record with that statement, I can now go on with the review of Short Sunzen! Satsuki is a rather rough and mannish looking girl, who acts more like a tough girl than the lady she is supposed to be. When she's not trying to beat people up, she secretly longs for her handsome and cool classmate, Aya. Unfortunately, he sees her as just a friend and that’s all. So it’s your typical story of unrequited love between two friends. However, these friends are spending more and more time with each other and it seems that there might be something blossoming there. It really seems that I have read this story more than once. Violent girls who are really nothing more than love struck gentle creatures has been done before and better. I can’t find a unique thing about this manga and I really looked. Even the artwork seems borrowed for this type of story and I really hate saying that. But, I’m serious there was nothing that kept me reading and I ended up reading the whole volume. There are some panels that seemed cluttered and some of the interaction between characters is lost because of this. However it seems that Sakurai does have a grip on clothing and at times that is the only way to tell the characters apart. If you are a fan of love stories and can’t get enough of them this book is for you! But there really are better ones out there such as the recently released Love Attack that stand out. D+ So, why the plus you ask? Well, I think that Sakura has lots of potential to be a fantastic artist.

V.B. Rose vol. 1
Story & Art: Banri Hidaka
Translation: Yuya Otake
Adaptation: Rachel Brown
Publisher: Tokyopop
V.B. are the initials used for the Velvet Blue Rose bridal design shop. Now what does this have to do with this book? Well in one word; everything. Ageha has just learned that her older sister Hibari is pregnant and is going to marry her plain boring boyfriend (at least in Ageha’s eyes). During a visit to the Velvet Blue Rose where Hibari is getting her wedding dress made, Ageha makes friends with the two owners who also happen to be cute guys Yukari and Mitsuya. She ends up causing Mitsuya to cut his hand open and makes them a promise that she will help make her sister’s wedding dress. I have to say that Ageha is a spoiled rotten brat. She is very selfish in her thinking ways. Now that her sister is pregnant and engage she can’t spend that much time with her. She gets into arguments with her sister and gets thrown out of places. However, the character really starts growing on you. Because everything she says and does, deep down inside is an unselfish act. She makes purses for her forgetful sister to help her keep things organized and she has taken it upon herself to make this dress perfect. This manga contains some truly breathtaking art between the characters and gorgeous designs. I am really curious what Ageha’s story will be after the wedding day. B