Bleach vols. 41-43Story & Art: Tite KuboTranslation: Joe YamazakiAdaptation: Lance CaselmanPublisher: Viz Even after all these years reading this manga I still play the Number one song in the back of my head when reading the fighting sequences.  While the world may not ever know why Tite Kubo decided to call this book Bleach, but at this point does anybody really care what this series is called?  Anyone else find themselves calling Ichigo Bleach at times?  I can’t be the only one. The stakes have never been higher. Orihime is still held captive at the hands of Aizen and Ichigo and pals have to rescue her before it’s too late. …

5 Centimeters per SecondStory: Makoto ShinkaiArt: Yukiko SeikeTranslation: Melissa and Taka SanakaPublisher: Vertical Boy having a kid and updating your website really takes a toll on you.  Anyway after a small break.  Your manga review crew is back! We start off with a book based on one of my favorite anime.  It is based on the movie with the same title by Makoto Shinkai.  I remember watching Voices of a Distant Star and people comparing Shinkai to Miyazaki and his movies to those of Studio Ghibli.  For some reason I seem to be the only to disagree and compare him to Nicholas Sparks.  I always end up crying tears of…

Emma vols. 2 & 3By: Kaoru MoriPublisher: CMX I’ll say it again, just like the first volume I did not think Emma was going to be my cup of English tea….hahaha, alright that was lame. Those covers, at least to me, looked like an American artist trying to imitate manga. In these two volumes Emma and the Young Master Jones go out on a tour of the historic Crystal Palace, which leads to an unexpected romantic evening together. But things are not meant to be because news of their love comes to the rest of the Jones household. Of course Eleanor is not happy to hear about this. This leads…

Buso Renkin vol.1Story & Art: Nobuhiro WatsukiTranslation & Adaptation: Mayumi KobayashiLettering: James GaubatzPublisher: Viz I first got a small taste, or rather the first chapter of Buso Renkin in volume 28 of Rurouni Kenshin. I really didn’t think much of it then; just another guy gets granted powers by sheer luck and has to save a girl from being eaten by monsters. Although completely different than Kenshin, the story was one that I didn’t find unique. However, after reading the first volume of this series, Renkin shows a great promise. Kazuki Mutou is mortally wounded when attempting to save a girl from a strange monster, but is given a new…

Jim Henson’s Legends of The Dark Crystal: The Garthim Wars Volume 1Barbara Randall Kesel, Heidi Arnhold, and Max KimTokyoPop The artists did a wonderful job of creating a Jim Henson/Brian Froud world in this prequel to the awesome movie, The Dark Crystal. Fans of this cult classic will definitely appreciate the attention to detail – from the way the Gelfling’s three fingered hands are kind of blocky to the way their upper lips and noses protrude from their faces. But as far as story goes…, it’s pretty slow at the beginning. Lahr’s village is destroyed by the Garthim, creatures that kidnap the Gelfling race for the Skeksis, who in turn…