Manga Reviews: Back with more Bleach than before!

Bleach vol. 31
Story & Art: Tite Kubo
Translation: Joe Yamazaki
Adaptation: Lance Caselman
Publisher: Viz

At this point in the series I really don’t think I’m ever going to find out why Tite Kubo called this book Bleach. Sure it could be Ichigo’s ultimate weapon, but I think he just like the word Bleach, which happens with lots of Japanese authors and performers. Does it matter? Hell no! Because I immediately knew this was going to be another kick-ass story when I saw Ulquiorra walk down those steps towards Ichigo. Ichigo cuts lose when he learns that his friend Rukia was killed by the Novena Espada, but we all know better. Just like most battles with powerful characters, it just doesn’t last long enough and Ichigo ends up falling at the hands of the fourth ranked Espada. But, the focus of the volume is the fight between Ishida and Renji against Szayelaporro. Not to worry about Ichigo though; he is eventually healed by Orihime only to start a second round against Grimmjow Jaegerjaques! It seems like the last few volumes of Bleach have been our main heroes fighting mid level characters and just preparing for the big fight against Aizen and his thugs. There just doesn’t seem to be an end to this Hueco Mundo arc and in a way it could really go on forever. Some may see this book as nothing more than 200 pages of sword fighting action, but who reads a shonen series for the character interaction and poetic writing? You get what you paid for and that is one kick-ass battle after another with some surprises and memorable moments along the way. The art remains the same steady beat that it began with. Kubo gives it his all to blow us away with some great action sequences. Sure it’s one huge fight but I always find myself eagerly awaiting the next installment. B+

Fairy Tail vols.10 & 11
Story & Art: Hiro Mashima
Translations: William Flanagan
Lettering: North Market Street Graphics
Publisher: Del Rey

Looking at these covers makes me think how much I loved Rave Master and how much I wish some publisher would pick up the rest of the stories that Tokyopop didn’t finish. But, that’s a tale for another day. I mentioned before how much the stories are mirroring the early stories of One Piece with how linear and silly the storylines are getting. Yes, it still feels like Harry Potter meets the Straw Hats, but how can that be a bad thing? Finally, these volumes focus more on character interaction, than the huge fight scenes that have been occurring lately. We get to learn more about Erza’s past while she is being held captive in the Tower of Heaven by a childhood friend by the name of Jellal. We finally see her cut loose against Ikagura (which also happens to be one of my favorite shooters) as she battles for Sho’s life. The art style seems to be back in the game with volume 11 and even though at times the angles and the way the characters are drawn make the fighting really hard to follow; it’s still some great panel to panel sequential art. I think what I have always enjoyed about the book is that sometimes the dullness and weakness of the story can be kept hidden by the over the top action sequences. The series is definitely filled with comic relief, mostly of the belly-laugh variety, lots of strange antics, and fun dialogue. It’s still a good read right up there with Rave Master. B
Naruto vol. 48
Story & Art: Masashi Kishimoto
Translation: Mari Morimoto
Lettering: Inori Fukuda Trant
Publisher: Viz

There was a time when I would make fun of Omar for reading Naruto. I always thought it was targeted at 15 year old girls or the people that read and watch Twilight. The more I got into manga the more I kept hearing about Naruto Shippuden and I wanted to just skip ahead and get to those stories. Of course the greater power at Aboutheroes wouldn’t let me and I don’t regret reading 47 volumes to get here one bit. After defeating all the Pains, Naruto now knows the location of the true Pain. But there is more to this new nemesis than meets the eye as we find out why Pain decided to destroy the Hidden Leaf. Unfortunately the set up for this fight was hyped up too much as some parts of the battle feel rushed just to get some fights out of the way. Sure so much has changed since the series first started it doesn’t seem like Naruto is the prankster he used to be nor is he trying to achieve some impossible dream like when he was a kid. I really did wish I was growing up reading this book. I envy the kids that started reading this in middle school so they could grow with the characters. While I did enjoy the original run, it wasn’t until the Shippuden chapters that I really dug the characters (with the exception of the Kakashi story). If you are a fan, you know you have bought this. The only thing I hate doing now is waiting until the book is published. A
Oh My Goddess! vols. 13 & 14
Story & Art: Kosuke Fujishima
Translation & Adaptation: Dana Lewis & Toren Smith
Publisher: Dark Horse

In case you’ve never heard about Oh My Goddess on our podcast or on our past reviews here is a real real quick recap: Keiichi Morisato accidently dials a goddess hotline and ends up with three goddesses. These three Goddesses are Belldandy, who Keiichi is madly in love with, her older sister Urd, and her younger sister Skuld. These two volumes have so much story pact in them that it makes the newer volumes just look so dull. I’m not saying the future volumes are bad, but this is the Oh My Goddess that I miss. We are introduced to Chichiro who was the founder of the NIT Motorcycle Club before it went to Tamiya and Otaki. And what’s an introduction of a new character without a proper race? Skuld gets her own angel, there's a completely smitten broom that wishes it was human and has feelings for Urd, and Sayoko becomes an All-Powerful queen. This is the storyline where she becomes one of my favorite characters. After asking the stars to help her defeat Belldandy in the next Nekomi Tech Campus Queen contest, Mara hears her pleas and offers to help. The story was both charming and funny, which at this point is what you would expect from the series. The art is, as always, the gorgeous mix of cartoon-like style and realism that Fujishima becomes increasingly adept at. It seems that in these volumes Fujishima is finally comfortable with his characters and it is just plain gorgeous. Do yourself a favor and buy these books! A+

Tsubasa vol. 26
Story & Art: CLAMP
Translation: William Flanagan
Lettering: Dana Hayward
Publisher: Del Rey

Two more volumes! Just two more volumes and that’s the end of the manga that I thought could go on forever and to be honest I wish it could. I’m a huge CLAMP fan and they could keep traveling through different CLAMP universes for the rest of the series for all I care. I want more Magic Knight Rayearth! More X 1999! More Chobits! More Clover and Wish! So many possibilities and yet all good things must come to an end. If you’ve never heard of Tsubasa and just wanted to know what was going on or what this series is about here is a quick catch-up: Sakura is the princess of Clow and Syaoran is a young archaeologist passionate about the past and about Sakura. Before she can tell him that she too loves him, she is drawn into ancient ruins, where her memories, in the form of feathers, are scattered across multiple worlds. Syaoran goes with the dying Sakura to Yuko, the time-space witch and made ever famous from XXXholic, who grants him, along with Kurogane and Fai D. Flowright, the ability to travel across worlds to seek out the feathers. This is the type of action I was craving for in the last two volumes. Syaoran successfully manages to travel space and time via a wish moments before Sakura dies. Of course nothing is ever that easy for our trio of heroes because Fei-Wang won’t let his plans fall so easily. We finally learn the connection between Kimihiro Watanuki and Syaoran. In a twisted turn of events we learn that Watanuki is another part of Syaoran, he was created to fill the gap left by Syaoran after he decided to turn back time and erase himself from his own world to save Sakura. I didn’t see the whole Watanuki/Syaoran connection; I figured they would look alike. That is really my only complaint about this volume. We have the team back together and even a special appearance by Yuko what else could you possibly want?A

Manga Reviews: Man, we cranked them out this week!

.hack: Legend of the Twilight Omnibus

Story: Tatsuya Hamazaki
Art: Rei Idumi
Translation: Ben Dunn
Lettering: Jose Macasocol Jr.
Publisher: Tokyopop

I love LOVE Omnibus editions! If you ever come to my house and check out my bookshelf, you’ll see exactly what I mean. I’m a wait for trades kind of guy, which you know if you listen to the podcast and it seems more and more I’m turning into a wait for omnibus kind of guy. I enjoyed the previously Tokyopop omnibuses err omnibi whatever….. This one is no exception, it collects all three volumes of the series with over 650 pages plus original artwork, all original covers, Japanese covers, and a postscript all for less than 20 bucks! Let’s talk about the story for now. This series, Legends of the Twilight takes place following the .hack games on Playstation 2 games. A pair of siblings, Shugo and Rena, win a contest that grants them limited edition characters models or Avatars (not to be confused with the Last Air Bender or James Cameron) of the legendary players known as Black Rose and Kite. Rena, as Black rose, is keen to use the prize characters although Shugo is a bit more reluctant to assume the role of Kite. He feels he has outgrown the videogame genre. Inside The World however, Shugo is back to being the kid that loves playing videogames. Then a visit from Aura provides Shugo with Kite's bracelet, and they quickly draw the attention of other familiar players. These include Balmung, Helga, and even Orca. All wondering if history is trying to repeat like it happened four years ago. Gradually, the pair make new friends and start playing in the virtual world. As epic as it sounds it really lacks in the action department and most of the book is spent on tame adventures. It’s not until we get to third part of the story that things come together. While the cute character art might fool into thinking this is a story for kids, it’s really not. There is a sexual undertone used by the writer and it contains its fair share of language. Unfortunately the artwork doesn’t stand out and while it serves its main purpose of telling the story; it really falls flat when it comes to action sequences and facial expressions. While it wasn’t necessary to read this book to enjoy the rest of the .hack world any fan of the series will probably pick this up. If you aren’t a fan of the .hack games this might give you an idea why it has a huge fan following. B -

Alive: The Final Evolution vol.8
Story: Tadashi Kawashima
Art: Adachitoka
Translation: Anastasia Moreno
Lettering: North Market Street Graphics
Publisher: Del Rey

As much as I hate to admit, Omar was right. I wasn’t a big fan of this series at all. But he kept insisting that the series did get better as it progressed. So I read the first five volumes and now I’m hooked. I don’t know why the first volume didn’t reel me in; I mean the premise is neat. A worldwide epidemic of something knows as a suicide virus causes chaos at a Japanese high school. Kids and teachers begin killing themselves in bizarre and violent ways. A group of high school kids learn that they may hold the key to this mystery. It turns out that the virus is of alien descent and people either kill themselves, gain powers that give them the urge to kill, or as with Taisuke Kano; they get powers without the urge to kill. It’s a unique way of taking a superhero book and gives it more of a sci-fi twist. Speaking of heroes, this volume questions just how much of a protagonist is Taisuke. Not to mention an awesome fight between Nami and the girl who killed her brother Kanon! What I noticed this time reading these books is how enjoyable the artwork is. It’s crisp and clean. You can really tell what’s going on in each panel without having to look twice. Adachitoka (awesome name by the way) has a gift for sequential story telling. Throw in some plot twists in each volume and I’m there for every volume. I really can’t rave enough about this series…where else are you going to find such a variety of genres being covered? A-

Amefurashi: The Rain Goddess vol. 2
Story & Art: Atsushi Suzumi
Translation: Elina Ishikawa
Lettering: North Market Street Graphics
Publisher: Del Rey

From the creator of Venus vs. Virus and Haridama: Magic Cram School comes Amefurashi! I guess it doesn’t help that I never read either one of those two books. That can also be good, because I go in this book with no idea what to expect. The story is somewhat like Oh My Goddess; Boy meets Goddess. Gimmy is just an ordinary teen that runs a repair shop and lives in a desert town. With rain rare to come, the town gives up offerings to the rain goddess who in return provides them the essential water. She lives in a grand magical tree with instead of leaves, have clouds. Gimmy notices that his younger twin brother and sister disappear. While searching for them, Gimmy runs into Sora, the rain goddess who provides water to the town. But another goddess, Ciel, wants Sora’s sacred Nimbus tree, so that she can control the rain. By the second volume Gimmy realizes that Sora isn’t just a goddess, but she is very normal at heart and laughs and cries and he could see himself falling for her. The book is often silly, but fun with some great artwork. That’s really what grabbed my attention was the beautiful artwork. The characters are vivid and gorgeous. The only thing is that the action scenes seem stiff and awkward and really don’t flow very well. That’s just a small gripe for an otherwise fun book. A-

Clover Omnibus
Story & Art: CLAMP
Translation: Ray Yoshimoto
Lettering: IHL
Publisher: Dark Horse
I remember years ago buying the first volume of Clover when it was published by Tokyopop and it was 15 bucks. It was during a time when manga was being dropped to ten dollars a pop and 15 bucks for 100 pages just seemed too much to put down. Even if I am a big fan of CLAMP, I just couldn’t do it. Along comes Dark Horse and release all four volumes for less than 20 bucks! Now I got to finish the story and the price is rightly justified. This omnibus is over 520 pages long and includes not only the original four covers, but promotional art featuring the characters from the book. Clover is set in a dark, cyberpunk, futuristic world where the people in control are called Wizards and they will do anything for power; even destroy lives. Enter the clovers, a few children with special powers who seemingly have the magical ability to manipulate technology. Their powers vary from teleportation to summoning weapons from thin air. The higher the leaf-number the higher their power; they rank from 1 through 4. The wizards fear them, so the Clovers are either controlled, or destroyed. The story is also about a young girl called Sū and she happens to be the only 4-leaf Clover discovered. She is imprisoned along with other Clovers by the government. Now with her escort, Kazuhiko, they will journey to Fairy Park and they relationship will take a turn to the past. The story is fascinating, the characters endearing and intriguing, and the art is incredible. There aren't too many complicated two-page spreads as there usually are with CLAMP. Instead, they experiment with blank space and unusual angles. The artwork is clean and sparse, but this is in a good way. It's not filled to the brim with images like Clamp's usual works, which is not to say that is bad, because I love that style too. The gorgeous artwork mixes lush, baroque detail with spare, elegant page layouts and this serves to reinforce the mood of isolation and gives the whole manga a film-like feel. It gives the book a clean, austere feel that none of CLAMP's other manga has. This is a beautiful work that any fan of cyberpunk, Clamp or excellent stories/art will enjoy. A-

Dokkoida?! vol.1
Story & Art: Yu Yagami
Original Story: Taro Achi
Translation: Sheldon Drzka
Publisher: CMX
Never thought I would be reading a book that had a superhero wearing diapers. Ohh, who am I kidding? I read manga and independent comics; I knew this had to happen eventually. The manga and anime of the same name are based on a 6 volume novel series. The premise of the manga is pretty absurd, but it works on considering the characters’ personalities. 19-year-old Suzuo Sakurazaki is in search of a part-time job when he runs into Tanpopo, an alien who happens to look like a 10 year old human girl. Claiming that she works for a toy company, she offers him a job testing a costume for the character Dokkoida. But she’s really working for the Galaxy Federation Police, an organization looking to test out power suits for their own peacekeeping forces. The suit itself looks like a cross between Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and Kikkaider. Before you know it, Suzuo beats up a giant robot and moves into an apartment building with other suit-testers-only and none of them know they’re all doing the same job! The book is not only action packed, but also it happens to have a very humorous take on superheroes and their secret identities. But that humor is really lost when you realize it’s the same over the top goofy tantrics that keep repeating and repeating. There is also the stereotypical harem approach to the book when all the girls he moves in with have a crush on him. It’s a good concept and the art style really fits the book, but I hope with the next volumes the in your face humor takes a step back. C

Hellgirl vol.6
Story & Art: Miyuki Eto
Original Story: The Jigoku Shoujo Project
Translation: Gemma Collinge
Publisher: Del Rey

I settled with watching the anime of Hell Girl after reading volume 1. How could I forget how sometimes the anime seems to vary so much from the manga. Hell girl was an original anime that was later adapted to manga and even a live action television series. Just because you’ve seen the anime doesn’t mean that you necessarily have to skip the manga. Most of the stories are original and yes, some are adapted from their anime episodes. The plotline revolves around Ai the cute school girl on the cover who also happens to be Hell Girl. She’s an ageless entity who collects names of the deserving and unfortunately sometimes undeserving for retribution. The cost of sending your enemy or rival to hell it that eventually you join them in eternal torment. Volume six adds four new chapters to the story. One of them focuses on Ai’s assistant Ichimokuren. That was a nice break from the usual norm of the story. The flaw that I noticed in this series and yes even the anime is that sometimes you never see the people actually fully realize their choices & their mistakes. Some of the clients never fully understand what eternal suffering in hell means, and as such they never appear to regret their actions or fear their deaths. Most of the characters assume that they'll live for a long time and not worry about the consequences of their actions. While the art is gorgeous to look at, I’m not sure it still fits the book. For example Ai’s eyes (no pun intended) are full of life and big where as her anime counterpart’s look like they are cold and dead. While sometimes the plot was predictable the stories were still entertaining and I can’t wait to read more of Ai’s wicked moral lessons. C+

Variante vol. 2
Story & Art: Iqura Sugimoto
Translation: Sheldon Drzka
Lettering: Dave Lamphear
Publisher: CMX

It’s been a long time, probably a year since I reviewed volume one of this intriguing manga. In volume a girl named Hosho Aiko wakes up after the murder of her family, in a lab to discover that her own arm has been replaced by one from a hideous and powerful monster. This arm has a will of its own as we find out in this volume. Agents from Aethos which is a mysterious, government-linked corporation, want to use the power of Aiko's demon arm to fight the deadly creatures known as Chimeras, whose attacks on the civilian population are increasing. But agent Sudo, who has befriended Aiko, isn't so happy about this development. After tests on dogs Dr. Kochigawa releases Aiko to fight her first opponent. After a brutal battle she is able to defeat it, but it’s not her will that makes this happen. Through a series of flashbacks we find out that agent Sudo knew a girl 14 years ago by the name of Nana. Nana, seems to have had the same thing happen to her on her back. These “wings” eventually took over her body and Sudo had to shoot her down. This is why he wants to help Aiko out as much as possible. The art makes the story flow better too. There’s a nice mixture of cross-hatching and toning that works well here, giving the artwork a unique feel to it that helps convey the rather bleak world of the series and gives it that dark etch that terrifies you at times. The designs of the Chimeras and Aiko’s left arm are very organic looking and Aiko seems to be in real pain when the arm strikes unexpectedly. I’m intrigued with what’s going to happen to Aiko and Sudo and the rest of the Chimera. I can’t wait till the next volume. A-

The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls: Revenge of the Hori Clan vol.7
Story & Art: Masaki Segawa
Original Story: Futaro Yamada
Translation: Gemma Collinge
Publisher: Del Rey

Man, that is one long title, but it completely makes sense why you have to use the whole title to describe the inside of the book. I’m being completely honest when I say that as much as I loved Basilisk I just couldn’t get into volume one of Yagyu. I’m not sure if it’s because the first volume took too long to tell or maybe I just kept comparing it to Basilisk. The story is about Kato Akinari, the local lord, rules the territory with an iron fist, committing all manner of atrocities. When the Hori clan rebels, he squashes them with the help of the freakish Aizu Seven Spears. Not content to simply round up and execute the men, the Seven Spears track the Hori women clan to a sacred, female-only temple and slaughter them in front of the captured male clan members. When the dust settles, only seven women remain. The survivors begin planning their revenge on the Seven Spears and Akinari. But to carry out their plan, they’ll need a little help from a certain one-eyed swordsman by the name of Jyubei. Yes, the legendary Jyubei with the eye patch. Four of the Seven Spears are dead and three remain. The women now enter Aizu where they encounter the remaining three Spears and a new father/daughter villain team known as Ashira and Oyura. The art is amazing and takes a while to get used to because there’s a heavy reliance on toning which can turn some people off. The action and emotions are clearly depicted, if at times a bit comically so. You can easily tell the good guys apart from the baddies because the bad guys are ugly, with several bordering on animalistic. Segawa seems fond of round edges as well; instead of square shoulders, all his characters have round, muscular ones and their chins and noses have a smooth curviness to them as well. I found myself really enjoying this volume though. Even if I missed the five volumes in between the remaining cast is making this book really enjoyable. It’s enough to go back and pick up the missing volumes. The interaction between the characters is what kept me reading this volume and I can’t wait to see how it ends up. B+

Manga Reviews: Akira, Bloody Kiss, Ode to Kirihito, Tsubasa

Akira Vol. 1
Story & Art: Katsuhiro Otomo
Translation: Yoko Umezawa
Adaptation: Linda M. York & Jo Duffy
Publisher: Kodansha Comics

How do I go about reviewing the very book that got me into manga over 20 years ago? How do I review the pinnacle of story-telling that changed the way I looked at comics forever? How long can I keep asking questions? It’s true; Katsuhiro Otomo’s masterpiece was my very first manga. Of course back then it was released in comic format by Epic Comics (Marvel) and in color by Steve Oliff. 10 years later it was reprinted in its original Black and White format by Dark Horse Comics with a new translation. This new version is brought to us by Kodansha Comics (the same publisher that has been in the game for 100 years. To be honest, other than the new introduction by Otomo himself I think that this version is identical to the sold out Dark Horse version.

The story takes place in Neo-Tokyo in the year 2030, which is also thirty-eight years after World War Three began when a new type of bomb exploded over Japan. While riding at night through Old Tokyo where the bomb exploded, a group of bikers led by Kaneda, suddenly come upon a small boy standing in the middle of the road. Before Tetsuo, who is riding at the head of the pack, can swerve out of the way, his motorcycle explodes. The small boy disappears as the military shows up and starts asking questions and then leaves without offering any aid to the injured Tetsuo. Kaneda’s life turns upside down when he encounters a woman named Kei who belongs to an underground revolutionary movement that is fighting against a covert government agency that studies humans with paranormal abilities. It turns out that one of these humans is the little boy that Kaneda's gang ran across that night in Old Tokyo. However, Tetsuo is also one of these superhumans, but he is far more dangerous than the others because his powers are just developing and he doesn't know how to control them. Things go to hell when Tetsuo tries to become the head honcho and ends up killing one of his old friends, Yamagata. There are also rumors and whispers of a small powerful force named Akira.

What can I say? Other than I loved this story and it still holds up after all these years. Otomo is a great storyteller. His artwork is very clean but also detailed and the action sequences were easy to follow. The artwork is top notch, but in the first book the style is quite different than the later installment. The characters look fairly rough to begin with, Kei and the Colonel in particular, though they fall into their usual forms fairly quick. Otomo's astounding attention to detail shines through from the very first panel, however, and the cityscapes are simply breathtaking. The artwork is flipped to accommodate English readers, and it's sometimes a little weird as the flow gets interrupted in spots. The translation is also pretty accurate. The dialogue isn't the greatest prose ever written or anything, but it's a far better translation than one might expect. No book collection is complete without Akira, I’m not talking manga or comics I’m talking books! A+

Bloody Kiss vol. 2
Story & Art: Kasuko Furumiya
Translation: Monica Seya Chin
Adaptation: Magda Erik-Soussi
Publisher: Tokyopop

It seems that the vampire craze has been sweeping the nation because of Twilight. But I guess vampires were always a part of our culture. We’ve had titles in manga like Trinity Blood, Chibi Vampire, and of course Vampire Hunter D (yes, I know that it’s a novel, but there is a manga out there). The premise of this book is pretty simple: After Kiyo inherits her late grandmother's run-down mansion and decides to temporarily move in as she prepares to become a lawyer. The catch is she also inherts two kind, handsome vampires, Kuroboshi and his servant Alshu, that have been living for years with her grandmother. Things turn for the worse when both vampires decide that they need to enroll in school to check out the female student body…well Alshu pretends to be a school nurse. It seems that Kiyo’s feelings for Kuroboshi are stronger than she first thought and is willing to keep him at school by playing a tennis match against Fujiwara. There is also another vampire story called Wishing on a Vampire at the end of the book. The story was interesting although sort of predictable, and is gets pretty repetitive. The idea of the story isn't new and I found it similar to Fruits basket in some aspects. Sometimes the art looked awkward and it got confusing to follow, but it really does fit the book, specially the chibi style used in parts of it. B

Ode To Kirihito
Story & Art: Osamu Tezuka
Translation: Camellia Nieh
Publisher: Vertical

As much of a fan that I am of Tezuka it’s amazing that I never heard of this book until I started looking at Vertical’s back log of manga they have on their website. The plot of this book is pretty simple at first, but turns into a beautiful complex story. It starts with a young doctor named Kirihito Osanai and his efforts to cure a strange disease that deforms its victims so that they look like dog people. He eventually becomes infected with the disease himself and is led on a wild odyssey around the world as he is kidnapped and treated like a fool by many people. During his journey he meets strange allies and stranger foes. Many of the characters are portrayed as neither outright good nor bad. The series also includes a number of references to Christianity; and that is somewhat unusual in Japanese manga. This really just summarizes the plot, but there is a great deal more going on here; with many subplots, a raft of well-developed characters, and actions and reactions that feel completely realistic. Tezuka has created a wonderfully detailed world here, and the truly amazing thing about Ode to Kirihito is that, like all truly well-crafted graphic novels, it feels like we just don't spend enough time in that world. Osamu is simply brilliant and is a master story teller weaving all human emotions in this superbly crafted book. His brilliance lies in developing each character and handling it in such a way that left you gasping and wondering how keen an observer Osamu was. Eight hundred pages just don’t seem enough to read about. I could follow Kirihito’s life for more volumes. The cover is which features a slider that, when moved to the left, reveals Kirihito's face after he has contracted Monmow's disease. The only drawback to the book is that the last 350 pages started dragging the plot down because the pace slowed down dramatically. I had to push myself to get pass some of those pages. But the overall product is still an amazing story. A-

Tsubasa vols. 23 & 24
Story & Art: CLAMP
Translation: William Flanagan
Lettering: Dana Hayward
Publisher: Del Rey

I have been completely out of the loop in Tsubasa. After reading 17 volumes back to back I found it difficult to skip to volume 23 and 24, because it seems like I missed a full chunk of story. I guess if you aren’t familiar with Tsubasa you can check out our huge review of the books. Here is a quick catch-you-up just in case you didn’t want to read all that: Sakura is the princess of Clow and Syaoran is a young archaeologist passionate about the past and about Sakura. Before she can tell him that she, too, loves him, she is drawn into ancient ruins, where her memories, in the form of feathers, are scattered across multiple worlds. Syaoran goes with the dying Sakura to Yuko, the time-space witch, who grants him, along with Kurogane and Fai D. Flowright, the ability to travel across worlds to seek out the feathers. It’s been one hell of a ride with so many cameos by other CLAMP characters. It seems that volume 23 wraps up the story with Syoaran clone. They crammed so much into one volume with Syaoran's battle to stop the clone's rampage, protect Sakura, and salvage Fai's last chance at a life without physical dependency on Kurogane. The line that really got to me was when Sakura asked Syaoran if she could call him Syaoran. This shows that she has grown close to him and wants to express how much she cares about him without using honorifics. Volume 24 is the beginning of the final Tsubasa story arc (it ended in Japan with volume 28 just this month). The flashback sequences were really nice to see in this volume. This series has been epic so far and I can’t wait to see how it ends. A

Manga Spotlight: xxxHolic

This Review was Submitted by Thomas Pfeiffer

Story & Art: CLAMP
Publisher: Del Rey

Watanuki’s a normal teenaged high school kid, well except for the fact that he’s suffering from the Ichigo epidemic of seeing ghosts and ghoulies, who accidentally stumbles into a mystic shop run by an arrogant, crazy lush named Yuko, the space-time witch. Yuko’s specialty just so happens to be in fixing people’s “problems” in exchange for something equally important. For Watanuki that happens to be his “ghost-seeing” problem in exchange for Watanuki becoming the indentured servant for the witch. Watanuki’s day to day adventures include cooking, cleaning, shopping, acquiring the latest alcoholic beverage Yuko has the taste for at the time, and catching glimpses of other patrons of the shop and their tragic downfalls. Of course this is an occult shop so it’s not as hum-drum as it sounds, ordinary chores can quickly brush elbows with the supernatural.

Going into this manga I had no idea what to expect. I knew that it crossed over into “Tsubasa Chronicles” another CLAMP work being published at the same time, so I was intrigued, I heard great things about Tsubasa and its “crossovers” and of course been a CLAMP fan ever since those three girls went off to magical RPG land and started killing off princesses. Mostly I was excited about possibly seeing some crossovers from CLAMP series in XXXholic, but alas none (unless of course you count Tsubasa, and there is a drunk black Mokona). The premise for the manga that you get from reading the first couple of volumes sounds great. Problematic people coming into a mystical shop for help with their problems or addictions and the space-time witch which tries to help them, often ending in a sorrowful, or horror-filled climax for the individuals when they won’t listen to Yuko’s advice. It seems that’s where the ol’ CLAMP gals got the title (“XXXholic” as in “(insert addiction here)-holic”) Brilliant premise! But soon the manga turns into random stories about Watanuki, his exorcist rival, and the girl next door he’s in love with and the shenanigans they get into with japanese folk tales and mythology. It sort of turns into a poor man’s Urusei Yatsura, random stories involving the supernatural, but unlike Urusei Yatsura, no zany, over-the-top humor. The stories seem to try too hard to include fables and mythology without actually having a reason to giving you that “what was the point?” feeling. It feels like the majority of the stories are “filler” stories in an anime series that you end up hoping the next chapter will actually continue on with the plot. Just so you know after Volume 3 they really don’t, at least not often enough. In fact the only reason I continued reading this manga was to find out if it would ever go back to that intriguing premise that it led you into thinking this manga was about.

Of course the artwork is phenomenal. I honestly have to say that this is my favorite CLAMP artwork, and I’m a huge CLAMP fan. It’s drastically different than any of their other stuff. It still keeps with CLAMP’s way of doing malnourished, anorexic men, bubbly cute females and detailed hair, jewelry, etc. but it seems to have a much more clean line feel with much more simplified character designs (most of the male characters wear a school suit which transfers into CLAMP’s artwork as a pitch black body suit with angles). It might appear to be a very lazy style but the lines are so precise and technical every page is a work of art. Also the lack of details in the characters makes the read much more enjoyable and easy for to see character movements and depth.

All in all XXXHolic is a manga having an identity crisis. Tons of different ideas and premises leaving the reader confused on what kind of story the manga’s actually attempting to be telling. Pick up the first three volumes, if you liked the stories of Watanuki & Co. and their zany adventures with the supernatural, keep reading, that’s the plot point that CLAMP for the majority of the time runs with. If not stop there and just think of this manga as a really good idea wasted. B-