I was excited to see a new Record of Lodoss War… anything really come out, both in terms of the Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth game (which I’ve just finished Let’s Playing – I’ll have a review of that in November) and when I learned that a new manga was coming out set after the events of Chronicles of the Heroic Knight. I had wondered if it was going to be an adaptation of Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth – but Crown of the Covenant being its own story (albeit one that Wonder Labyrinth led directly into) was something of a pleasant surprise.
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Manga Review: Devilman
I’ve been endeavoring to fill some of the broad gaps in my manga back catalog – I’ve watched far more anime than I have manga – and one of the particularly significant gaps is in the career of one Go Nagai. While I’m familiar with him as being frequently referred to as “Anime’s Horny Uncle”, or “Perpetually Horny On Main” – not all of his works necessarily seemed to fit with that tonally, Devilman more than any other. So, considering the reputation of that work (and its, shall we say, end of The Elric Saga-esque ending), once the Devilman manga became available in print, I decided that eventually, I would take the time to seek it out and give it a read. Having finally finished reading it, I do indeed have some thoughts. There will be spoilers.
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Manga Review: Hayate the Combat Butler (Complete)
So, the manga of Hayate the Combat Butler concluded a few years ago – and while the official US English release has not yet reached its conclusion (Viz is moving at a somewhat glacial pace with their releases), the rest of the work has been translated through (*ahem*) other avenues. Consequently, I can provide a reasonable analysis as to whether it’s worth the wait for Viz to reach the ultimate conclusion of the series.
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Manga Review: Record of Lodoss War – Crown of the Covenant Vol. 1
It has been decades since the last installment of Record of Lodoss War, so I was tremendously surprised to encounter a new installment of the manga coming out in 2023 – subtitled Crown of the Covenant. I’ve picked up the first volume, so it’s time to give my thoughts.
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Quick Thoughts on K Manga & Manga Up!
So, Kodansha’s planned manga app – “K Manga” – which they’d yanked all their titles from various simul-pub services (like Azuki) in preparation for, has finally come out, and I’d like to give some quick thoughts, and compare it to Square Enix’s Manga Up app, and with it the Shonen Jump, Viz Manga, and Azuki apps.
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Manga Review: Master Keaton
Naoki Urasawa’s Master Keaton is fascinating to read alongside his later series Monster. If Monster is an HBO prestige television series, Master Keaton feels much more like a syndicated TV series. Both are mysteries, but Monster pushes forward on a tightly plotted course toward its conclusion. At the same time, Master Keaton is willing to tell a collection of more episodic stories, often moving back to a particular status quo at the end of each episode. That’s not bad, it’s just a different approach.
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Manga Review: Naoki Urasawa’s Monster
Naoki Urasawa’s Monster was the series that got him on my radar when I learned (10 years ago) that Guillermo Del Toro was trying to get a live-action adaptation of the series made for HBO (which ultimately fell through). That was enough to get me to hunt down the manga and slowly, over time, read it through my local library system (impacted by books falling out of and then back into print). Well, at long last, I’ve finished reading it.
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Manga Review: The Rose of Versailles
Shojo manga has, historically, been underserved by American manga publishers – and when we have gotten shojo series, they have tended to be more conventional romance series – and not necessarily works in other genres (whether fantasy, science fiction, or historical fiction). However, some of the more influential works of the genre have fallen overlapped with other genres, and probably few more influential and more high profile than Riyoko Ikeda’s The Rose of Versailles. It’s also a manga that until fairly recently, hasn’t been available (legally) in its entirety in English.
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UQ Holder: Complete Manga Review
Ken Akamatsu’s most recent (and likely last for a while) shonen battle manga, UQ Holder, has come to a conclusion. So, having previously discussed it the last time I got caught up, now is a good time to give my thoughts on the series.
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The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Manga Review
I started going to anime conventions during peak Haruhi-ism. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime had first aired – fans were debating in which viewing order was the “right” one to watch it in, conventions had panels about how to do the Hare Hare Yukai, it was a wonderful time. As the years have gone, and in the wake of Endless Eight, and a general lack of Haruhi content, the visibility of the series has kind of faded to the background. However, the novels and the manga were still out there, so I came to the decision that if I wasn’t able to see the whole story animated, I’d read it in manga form and see how it all played out.
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Copellion Manga – Why I Dropped It
It’s been a while since I dropped a manga, and much as when I reviewed Night Head 2041 after having dropped it, it feels appropriate to discuss Copellion for the same reason – particularly since I made it over halfway through the series (with under 100 chapters to go before finishing it) before I had enough.
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My Hero Academia Manga – Caught Up!
I’ve finally gotten caught up on the My Hero Academia Manga in the Shonen Jump app, and want to give my thoughts on where the manga is now. As a warning – this post will contain spoilers for content after the conclusion of season 5, up to where the manga is now and will include speculation on what will be covered in Season 6. Spoilers will begin below the cut.
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Maison Ikkoku, Collector’s Edition Vol. 2-3: Manga Review
Maison Ikkoku is, like a fair number of Rumiko Takahashi’s manga from this period (including Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2) – very sitcom esque. It finds a status quo, will venture away from it at the start of an arc, and will generally will return to whence it came at the end, with some forward movement, but not necessarily a lot. Such is the case with the second and third volumes of the manga, where after introducing the cast in the first volume, it’s starting to find its rhythm.
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Silent Mobius Vol. 9-12: Manga Review
The last 4 volumes of the Silent Mobius Manga are, in a lot of respects, representative of everything about the manga that works, and everything that really doesn’t. We have some truly spectacular action in these volumes, but also a reiteration of some of the more considerably cringy elements of the series. There will be spoilers for the ending below the cut.
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Knights of Sidonia Volumes 14 & 15: Manga Review
It’s interesting looking at Knights of Sidonia’s ending on context of the endings of Blame and Biomega, and the tones of those series overall. Blame and Biomega were stories with a generally small cast. Blame with one person, later 3 people. Biomega with 3 people. Those stories were also generally travelogues, with the protagonists traveling the Megastructure or the World (respectively) to find a solution. Knights of Sidonia on the other hand, has the story more (generally) locked down to a location, and has a much larger cast. So, the question becomes how does the ending pan out. There will be spoilers in this post.
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UQ Holder Vol. 1-17 Manga Review
Negima, Ken Akamatsu’s previous manga, was one that Akamatsu wanted to make as a battle manga, his publisher wanted to make as a fanservice-heavy rom-com, and ended up being both. UQ Holder, Akamatsu’s current manga, starts as a battle manga and has, to date, stayed that way, with plenty of fanservice and some rom-com hi-jinks scattered through the series.
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Hayate the Combat Butler Vol. 37 Review
If you were expecting the Manga Contest to come to some sort of a head this volume, expect disappointment.
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Knights of Sidonia Vol. 12-13 Manga Review
These volumes of Knights of Sidonia are the lead-in for the big climax of the story. Tanijiro picks his romantic interest in these volumes, and the Sidonia gets ready for their big final assault on the Greater Cluster Ship, only for a new wrinkle to potentially ruin their plans – and the ship.
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Silent Mobius Vol. 6-8: Manga Review
Volumes 6 through 8 of Silent Mobius is where the shit really hits the fan. For the past 5 volumes, the fight between the AMP and the Lucifer Hawk has been pretty conventional. The Lucifer Hawk launch a terror mission, AMP fights back. Starting lightly with volume 5, but more predominantly with 6-8, the Lucifer Hawks start directly taking the fight to AMP.
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Knights of Sidonia Vol. 8-11: Manga Review
Volumes 8-11 of Knights of Sidonia are where Nihei steps firmly into New Battlestar Galactica Territory. We had a bit of that in the earlier volumes, but here there’s the level of internal political dissension I associate with that show.
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Silent Mobius Vol. 1-5: Manga Review
As part of this COVID-19 world, I’ve been trying to get through some of the manga titles on my reading list. One of the ones I’ve been working on is Kia Asamiya’s urban fantasy Cyberpunk opus, Silent Mobius.
(Note: For the purposes of this review I am reading the Viz Media release – the Udon release is incomplete, and the Manga Planet release hasn’t come out yet).
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Manga Review: Maison Ikkoku Vol. 1 (Re-Release)
In what feels like decades since the last release of Maison Ikkoku, Viz is re-releasing the manga, using the 10-volume format that the series received in Japan, instead of the 15-volume release they used for the previous version, and with a new translation. Since I didn’t get particularly far in the manga with the previous release, I figured now is a pretty good time to start over from scratch.
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Hayate the Combat Butler Volume 36: Manga Review
So, remember that creepy coffin in the attic? Neither does this volume. It does, however, remember Ruka and Nagi’s challenge.
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Shinji Ikari Raising Project: Manga Review
The manga Shinji Ikari Raising Project does a lot with a pretty simple concept – what if we take the small slice-of-life rom-com anime vignette from the last episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion, and expand on that to its own series? Generally, it succeeds at that concept, with some solid humor, though with some missteps later in the series that gets things kind of awkward.
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