About Heroes

As you may have noticed last week there was no Monday Manga Reviews and it’s not because we got lazy (well I guess we could have sped-read through some books, but I’m glad we don’t do that). It’s because we got a double dosage of books coming up this week, but you’ll see, so for now on to the reviews!

Berserk vol. 20
Story & Art: Kentaro Miura
Translation: Duane Johnson
Lettering & Retouch: Replibooks
Publisher: Dark Horse

After many years and volumes Guts and Casca are briefly reunited in this volume. But it wouldn’t be Berserk if they weren’t reunited amidst a heard of demons and angel/demon amalgamations. It seems that the demons didn’t eat Father Mozgus’ and his minions, but instead have given them angel wings and immense powers. Of course this wicked clan thinks that these gifts are from God and plan to use it to destroy the non-believers. Just when you didn’t expect it; the Skull Knight makes a valiant return as he rescues Luca from falling to her death. It is through her we learn the demon’s true intentions and his background story. What I meant earlier by the brief reunion is that as soon as Guts reaches his old flame she is taken to the skies by the winged Mozgus and as we see later is about to be burned alive for her sins. Meanwhile Isidiro, Puck, Nina, and the guard are trying to find their way out of the tower while trying to survive demons coming out of every corner. This book is in your face with action and gore. I think Miura is on a mission to try and outdo his previous volume with more carnage and onslaught in each new volume he puts out. I mean in this volume, we get to see demon infested humans gobble up on a kid’s intestines. Which I guess leads to the only problem I had with this volume and that is it seemed that the story is back to where we left off in volume 19. Very little happened in the volume that moved the story along and it focused more on the action panels and gore than any previous volume. This book is definitely not for the weak of heart; however it is so damn fun if you can take all this violence. B

Doors of Chaos vol. 1
Story & Art: Ryoko Mitsuki
Translation: Adrienne Beck
Adaptation: Shannon Foreman
Publisher: Tokyopop

I’ll be honest and go ahead and admit that the cover really didn’t do anything for me with the exception of Clarissa’s tattoo on her back. I thought it was going to be a cheesy love story that spanned through time and space. But for some reason that tattoo lured me into reading this book and I’m sure glad I picked it up because I literally couldn’t put it down until I had read it in one sitting. Legend states that when all the doors open, the world will slip into chaos. That sets up where the story goes. The twins Clarissa (open) and Mizeria (close) are the only two that control the Four Doors which protect the world from descending into chaos. Along comes Rikhter, their guardian and kidnaps Clarissa. This in turn weakens the Door of Chaos and demons begin to pour through, threatening to destroy the entire kingdom. Now it is up to Mizeria to find her sister in time before everything goes to hell. But she won’t be doing this alone, because Zelfa from the temple of time has been sent to help her to get the doors back in place. I loved everything about this book, the story, the pacing, and the magnificent pictures. I really like that Zelfa is not the stereotypical good guy, he is very forceful and a bit of a jerk to the so called key! I can’t wait to read the next volume and highly recommend this series. A

Dr. Slump vol. 14
Story & Art: Akira Toriyama
Translation & Adaptation: Alexander O. Smith
Touch-up art & Lettering: Walden Wong
Publisher: Viz

Before Akira Toriyama put his name on the map with Dragon Ball and DBZ, he created a wacky series called Dr. Slump; A story about mad inventor Senbei Norimaki and his “perfect humanoid robot” Arale. She does not understand the world, and the world just can't understand her! She has very weird ways of having fun like to poking poop on the ground or completely ruining any chance for Dr. Norimaki to get some action with the ladies. She is also super strong, and does not know her own strength. This volume continues the story of Dr. Mashirito and his obsession with the destruction of Arale with his latest invention Caramel Man 007!!! The robot does succeed in destroying Arale and Caramel Man 004 (Obotchan), but we all know that everything will be back to normal…err insane in the end. It’s kind of funny that Viz gives this a Teen rating, because Dr. Slump is targeted at the Elementary school level in Japan, which really shows the different level of body-comfort between the two societies. Even with the Teen rating, Viz has edited the some of the sexual references, nudity, and alcohol humor. But I guess that’s a small price to pay for a wonderful translation to a fantastic over-the-top hilarious series. If I had to compare this to an American comic, my guess would be something like Little Lulu or Casper the Friendly Ghost on crack! I love this series and I recommend it to anyone with a sense of humor. A+

Gunsmith Cats Revised Edition vol. 4
Story & Art: Kenichi Sonoda
Translation: Dana Lewis
Adaptation: Toren Smith
Publisher: Dark Horse

The final installment of the revised Gunsmith Cats edition is finally here. But not to worry, this isn’t the last we’ll see of the girls, because the Burst series is coming out on schedule. The Cats' informant Becky gets word that a new Italian Mafia syndicate is moving into Chicago in full force and they are pushing a new drug called Kerasine Two. This new mafia are taking out police sharpshooters and tearing through competing Mafia groups. Of course Rally knows who's behind it all: her arch-enemy the lesbian dominatrix mob-woman Goldie, back to make good on her promise to make Rally her personal slave. Every member of the supporting cast plays a key role in this final volume and they all have their shining moments. Rally realizes that without her “extended” family she wouldn’t have been able to take down Goldie. This final volume may not deliver as much of the hard-hitting action that made readers fall in love with the series, but it retroactively gives the preceding stories an emotional core with some great character development moments to go along with the gleeful T&A and fetishistic violence. Dark Horse also adds of ton exclusive gag strips and a few issues of Sonoda’s left-to-right reading Riding Bean stories from 1989. Also included are some "making of Riding Bean" comics and sketches and notes from the early days. We really get to see the behind the scenes in the making of a fantastic series. If you love chicks with guns.....this is the story for you! A+

.hack //G.U. + vol. 1
Story: Tatsuya Hamazaki
Art: Yuzuka Morita
Translation: Ryan Peterson
Publisher: Tokyopop

I will be the first to admit that I am only vaguely familiar with the .hack// universe. I have only seen the anime and attempted to play the first game on the PS2. I was aware of the existence of the manga and tons of games that followed, but have never looked into it. Now, keep that in mind when you read this review. I was really excited to sink my teeth into this manga. For years I have wanted to read what the hype was all about amongst the fans. Words can’t begin to describe the amount of disappointment when I finally read the whole volume, twice (because trust me it really takes no time to read it). I was completely lost from beginning to end. The main character Haseo (the terror of death) is searching for the wielder of the double three bladed swords, Azure Flame. He believes that Azure is responsible for putting his friend Shino in a coma. While in the “World” he comes across Pi and Yata, who are members of the G.U. and want Haseo to join, because they believe he has the ability to draw Avatar because he is an Epitath. Even with the author’s, character guides, and timelines the story was just everywhere. It didn’t make any sense how fast the pacing was and it just made the story feel horribly structured. It was like this manga was written for people with extreme A.D.D. and hell, even I love stories with that formula, but this one was just terrible. Even the great artwork couldn’t save a bad story. That is the one positive thing I can say about the book, is the artwork is great. The character designs are right out of the videogame and the action sequences are nicely laid out. But like I mention at the beginning of the review, it might be my lack of knowledge in the world of .hack that made me lose my interest quick. I am not saying I am opposed to reading any other manga based on this world, but this one was just not for me. But hey, if you are a fan of the manga or videogame, you already know you are buying this book! D

Shin Megami Tensei Kahn vol. 1
Story & Art: Kazuaki Yanagisawa
Translation: Nan Rymer
Adaptation: Mike Wellman
Publisher: Tokyopop

Before I even read this book, it already had two strikes against it. 1) It was based on a hit videogame (and I had just finished reading .hack). 2) It compared itself to Battle Royale. I think I mentioned before how there are only a hand full of manga that made me feel the huge range of emotion that BR made me go through. So I wasn’t expecting much, but this was another book that drew me in from the beginning. The premise is about Karukozaka high school being taken to hell with all its students. Along with the help of the demon Pixie, only two students came back; Nobu and Yumi. Hoping to start over again by enrolling in new schools Nobu and Yumi just can’t get away from the demons they escaped once. Now Nobu is aware of a government plot to raise Hell on Earth and only he and a small group of demons/humans can prevent that from happening. I really enjoyed the book, I loved how slowly we get to learn about the old high school and Nobu’s past. Now on the cover it has a parental advisory sticker and I’m assuming that is because of two scenes. One is a scene featuring Nobu’s mom and her naked body with her intestines on the floor and the other is a lesbian/demon sexual scene between teacher and student. While those are a bit extreme it’s really nothing too extreme we haven’t seen before. I’m not sure if it gets worse as the series progresses, but it’s nowhere near the level of violence and sex found in BR. Still, it’s a fun story with some clean artwork and some sick and twisted use of demons. B+