Hello!
Welcome to The Anime & Manga Review!
It has been my dream to create a world on TheO where users can go for anime and manga reviews and finally here it is! I plan to make this world an active, exciting and helpful place for learning about and finding entertaining manga and anime to read/watch.
Oh where to start about this review? First off I think a liiiiittle personal background about myself is needed… XD I am a panel geek. Nothing gets me more excited than when a comic book or manga has amazing panel arrangement! (I have mentioned this in the past, but I’ve written a 10 page research paper on the subject)
So needless to say this manga has really cool page layouts. The author really enhances the story through those choices and I love it.
Moving on from my obsession with panels… The story is about a mysterious young man who is a necromancer. Of course there’s a price to be paid for these services, and that just so happens to be three years of a living person. Oh but that’s not all! A resurrected soul’s essence, or “special characteristics” are enhanced through this process and its impossible to predict how much or what will happen. Interesting right?
Like many manga the basic premise itself is fairly simple, but I just adore the bitter sweet stories and the main character (the necromancer) has such a straight forward and sometimes brutal views on death and resurrection that he’s really interesting to learn more about as the series goes on. To top it off, the other main character who is a female cop trying to find some kind of evidence that the necromancer is up to no good, adds a really fun element and lets some of the stories take on mystery element.
Truly though, I must say I really like the art work in this series! This is a horror manga but the actual characters have a very sweet, elegant smoothness to the way they’re drawn. This style with its cute characters and stark black and white contrast makes for a unique look that oddly compliments the horror nature of the series very well. (my friends and I were just talking about sweet and evil things today and decided it’s “swevil” or sweet and evil)
While this is classified as a shounen manga, I think that shoujo fans would really like this one. And of course if you’re into bitter sweet horror stories or want to try something just a little bit different this is the perfect choice. It's a fun read, with some great mysteries and thrills.
Hey all! I surpassed 5,000 views on this world!
Whaaaaat??
Even though I’ve been so darned inactive lately… You guys are freaking awesome! Seriously thanks to all of you guys who have supported me, read these reviews and commented!
And as I promised a while back, once I hit 5,000 plus views I’d do something special, while this review isn’t that something special, I really want to do something super cool and fun and so I’m going to let you guys pick from some options!
SO! Which review do you want to see as a Special? (I’ll do a video and have writing and go all out for this one!)
1. Full Metal Alchemist: Manga vs. Anime vs. Anime
2. The top ten best manga I’ve ever read
3. The top 10 weirdest manga I’ve read
4. My theories on the differences between manga and comics
5. Top 10 saddest series
6. I will explain where the ‘hand to the mouth shoujo gasp’ came from and other fun manga history facts.
So there you go! Take a vote and let me know what you’d like to see as a (hopefully) exciting special!
The Ongoing Manga You Should Definitely Be Reading
Hello all! Sorry it’s been so very very very long… (Link to why I’ve been insanely busy for those interested) But for the rest of you I’ll sum it up with work… so much work… (Deadlines suck man!) and so this post is coming to you! (Thanks to my needing an excuse to take a break from mindlessly converting footage from an H264 to AppProRes 422)
Anyways, have you been looking for a new good series to get into but just don’t know where to start looking? Well search no more my friend! The answer is upon you!
I have searched the internet for you! Read hundreds of series! All the work has been done! Here are some ongoing manga that you should really already be reading. For this list I have tried to pick a series from every genre so both shoujo and seinen, Josei and shounen, horror and romance, can all find a new series to throw their passion wildly behind! I have also ruled out the popular popular ones that you already know exsist. Although seriously… Attack on Titan is just… so freaking awesome you really should give it a gander if you haven’t already, but that's for another day, today lets take a look at some lesser know gems! (some are more well known than others)
So here’s the results of my digging through the internet and tentacles to find you the good series!
And now onto
Ongoing Manga You Should Definitely Be Reading Already!!!
Seinen
Ajin
Author: Miura Tsuina
Artist: Sakurai Gamon
I love this series, I love this series!!! So far it’s a hard hitter that's still fun and exciting! I already talked about this series a bit on Thiefspawn’s world IDefyn (so I’m gonna paraphrase myself a bit)
I love the premise~! Ajin is written 亜人 and translates as something like Sub Human. And yeah that’s what this series is about. There’s this new being called an Ajin that can’t die, nobody quite knows what they are, and there don’t seem to be very many of them. Typically nobody even knows that the person they knew was an ajin until they don’t die when they should have.
And in the first chapter our protagonist meets with an accident… And it’s totally awesome! The characters are brutal in their logic and the art style matches that gritty mood as well. Definitely a worth while action series! Plus the series has been quickly gaining popularity and for a reason! Seinen fans, action fans, don’t miss out!
Shoujo
Koushin Ouji
Author/artist: Kuwahara Souta
So cute. Sooooo very cute! Plus it falls into the Supernatural category, which I am a huuuuge fan of! (I may have been part of a paranormal investigation group back in college) Basically it’s about a demon (the demon prince actually) who has come to our earth in order to collect souls and to discover the secret of the Kuronai, which is a power that will allow him to inherit the throne. There, one thing leads to another… and now he’s living at this very optimistic girls home with her and her grandma. I know that basic plot makes it seem run of the mill, but between an adorable shoujo art style and some genuinely heart felt moments, I think this series stands strong. The love interest has real problems, and the prince has a determination to his duty that lets me buy the “drama of will he collect her soul?” Seriously shoujo fans, why aren’t you already reading this? It’s great so far!
Ok I already did a full review for this series so I’ll keep it brief. (read the full review for a complete synopsis, and my awesome personality XD) This is currently one of my absolute must read as it updates manga. Its got what I love, action, comedy, and suspension of drama that makes me want to know whats gonna happen next!!!
To boil the plot down, the story follows a trouble class at an elite school that has been selected to assassinate their teacher, who is an alien, who announced he will destroy the world within a year and as proof he can do it he puts a big hole in the moon. As part of a deal with the Japanese government he will be the teacher of a high school class but the students are the ones who have to kill him. Its silly, its sweet, its actiony and I love it! If you dig comedy and action you really should be reading this!
Seinen/shounen
Spirit Circle
Author/artist: Mizukami Satoshi
I don’t curse much, but damn… just this manga… It seems really silly at a glance and the art is cutesy, but I know what to expect from this author. (The author of one of the personal top ten manga I’ve ever read which I reviewed in an earlier post) And what to expect from this series is one that has equal parts fun, cute and truly sweet moments, and brutal, sad and touching moments. And just… damn this manga is shaping up to truly be something great. Again I HATE jumping to conclusions, manga often get ruined by bad endings, but really this is worth a read. This is a story about a middle school boy who is one day confronted by the new transfer girl, and she says she hates him and proceeds to wack him in the face. There he relives a past life and the revelation of an unbreakable reincarnation cycle between him and the girl begins to real itself. Seriously, give it a try! I personally cannot wait to see where is goes! Give it the first two chapters, if you’re anything like me, you’ll be completely hooked.
And since I don’t have any Josei I’m currently reading…
Another shoujo!
Akatsuki No Yona
Author/artist: Kusanagi Mizuho
Anyone remember that “Top Female Leads in Shoujo” review? I totally would have put the lead, Yona, from this series, on that list I had known of her at the time! Such a fun fantasy shoujo! Has that delightful “red haired princess with problems” clique. (Isn’t that such a random clique?! But seriously, I know like. Over 5 manga in that genre) Anyhoo, follows the story of a princess who has to grow stronger as a person and complete a quest in order to reunite the country and regain the thrown. I love it because she does grow as a character and is, I feel, pretty awesome that way. I totally believe her emotions and can relate to them. I don’t even mind that is has a reverse harem (one girl with tons of guys) which usually is a deal breaker for me. It’s just a very interesting story and I want to see what happens next, what more can you ask for?
Anyways, I hope that this list helps you find that new special manga in your heart!
Let me know if you give it a read! I’m always curious to see what other people think!
And in between now and my last post feel free to browse my other entries! Maybe you'll find more than one series to love. ^-^
Hunger Games and Battle Royal Duke it Out
(Well you know… until only ones left alive…)
Not really anime or manga but this works best on this world.
Hello!
I’ve had several friends ask me about Battle Royal in the last year or so because I’m one of those people who have read the Battle Royal book. Not the manga, not watched the movie, but who has actually read the official English translation of the book by Houshun Tokami. This makes me one of the few who have read Hunger Games AND Battle Royal and can explain whether Hunger Games really is the rip off that Royal (mostly movie fans) say that it is.
So I’m going to share my opinion with you guys, who may also be curious what the similarities and differences are.
So right off the bat I’m going to say, I enjoyed both books. I read Battle Royal at 15 when I was the same age as the characters and at the time, the most emotionally taxing thing I’ve ever read. (And arguably it still is.) I read the Hunger Games trilogy in the last couple years and it was also good and I enjoyed it.
So now lets talk about what’s the same and what’s not!
(THERE WILL BE SOME SPOILERS! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!)
SAME:
The basic Premise
The basic premise of both books is the same. Young people (I think its 12 to 17 in Hunger games and in Battle Royal its only the last year of middle school which is about 14-15) are being forced to fight and kill each other until only one survivor remains.
THE DIFFERENCE:
From there both plots go off onto their own path. Really except for the basic plot they have very little in common and focus on completely different aspects of what a world like this would be like.
Games focuses far more on one person’s journey in this world and the political implications. In fact, Games is far more about social commentary on media and war than on children killing each other. In Royal, on the other hand, the teens are all taken from the same classroom and have known each other for years before having to kill one another. Because of this, the story ends up being more of a study of the mindset that people would be in in the situation and throughout the book we hear from almost all 42 students point of view as they are killing or being killed.
TO GO INTO MORE DETAIL:
The core of both books takes on different angles of the same situation.
Games wants you to understand Katniss’s path to wanting to over throw the government. To do that, the trilogy sets up the world and politics in great detail and we hear all about it. This allows us to understand Katniss’s choices throughout the story.
In Royal the government may be the reason they’re in a killing game, but the actual reason they do this is not really known in the book. I think there’s a brief blurb about them saying something like that it’s “So the government can research tactical information and study human responses” but is that really the reason? That question is not answered in the book.
In Games, the media, physical appearance and the actual coverage of the game is essential to the story. In fact a good chuck of the three books is talking about how it is vital for political ideas to be presented in a way that looks good. (as a film major who’s helped manage a social media campaign, it’s definitely a thing.)
In Royal, nothing about the killing is broadcasted. At the beginning I believe that people know which middle school class is taken, and then nothing until the survivor is announced. (In fact, one of the few similarities is that both books have a moment where the characters are remembering seeing a feral and haunted girl who just survived on television.)
Royal is way way more brutal. You see (or read I guess) the deaths in great detail. It’s crazy and intense. Every chapter opens with the number of students left alive. It is rough to watch the number fall… Parts of the book still follow me to this day.
The Games is Katniss’s story and the first person stays with her. Very few deaths are actually seen and even less are described in detail. Also, a lot less people die in the games, which has only 24 people, versus almost double that in Royal. (The last chapters in the last book are pretty brutal but not too bad) Also Games doesn’t stay in the actual games very much. The trilogy isn’t really just about the games. If it was it would end with book one.
Ok now to answer the second question I always get asked by friends who want to understand the similarities and differences: Which do I prefer?
Well, both books make their points very well and appeal to their audiences.
Personally I really like the grittiness of Battle Royal and it made it’s impact on me first and while I was much younger. Since I was the same age as all the characters at the time I really put myself in their shoes and it was intense. (Lord of the Flies is literally nothing in comparison)
But I can see why people would prefer Hunger Games and I really do still like the series. It also made it’s points very clearly and did what it was trying to do well.
-I think if you want to experience intense moments of people lives read Battle Royal, if you are more interested in knowing about an entire world read Hunger Games.
To end this little talk, I want to point out that accusations of ripping off will always arise whenever something popular is released. Many many movies and books share similar plots and ideas, because everything has been done before at one time or another. What makes things not a rip off is when they take an idea and spin it in their own unique way.
Either way these books stick with you after you read them. To quote the last line in Battle Royal, “they’re part of you now” and I encourage people to look for Battle Royal in English or Hunger Games if you haven’t already read them!
Feel free to share how you feel about them or ask questions in the comments!!!
Ok! Halloween horror is over! (awwww….) So for those of you all horrored out and now terrified to sleep, here’s a great anime to help laugh those woes away!
So lets see… Cromartie High School is hard to describe… it’s a comedy, so that’s a start.. Each episode is more or less it’s own entity with the same characters, however the basic plot follows the story of a good boy living on the straight and narrow who ends up going to a school full of delinquents. The series is a parody of series about delinquents and is very very funny! Having everything from robots to Gorillas to even Freddie Mercury (lead singer of Queen) this anime is just a bizarre piece of Japanese goodness!
There’s really not much I can say about the plot… except that it’s absurd and funny. My favorite episode is probably the episode that includes stories like: Freddie getting a pet horse, aliens, and the epic horse + Elephant=hamster joke…. Lol I just love how absurd this comedy is!
There’s also a pretty hilarious live action movie version and a manga by the same name.
At only ten minutes per episode, it’s a fast watch and easy to rewatch.
I guess you wouldn’t like it is you don’t like comedy… (Can anyone dislike comedy?) Or if you like topical humor and only topical humor. (smart jokes0
This series is fun and should be watched with a light heart and smiles!
Here’s the opening song to give you all a little taste of Cromartie!
(And a screen shot from the live action movie)
