Blue Exorcist: Dream Town

I read Blue Exorcist, Vol. 13

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin.  Follow me on Twitter or at Grumble.  Support me on Patreon.

Food Wars: Memories of Battle

I read Food Wars!, Vol. 6

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Food Wars: The Dancing Chef

I read Food Wars!, Vol. 5

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Nisekoi: Last Minute

I read Nisekoi: False Love, Vol. 8

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Seraph of the End: Brothers

I read Seraph of the End, Vol. 4: Vampire Reign

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Food Wars: Resemblances

I read Food Wars!, Vol. 4: Shokugeki no Soma

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Review: JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE: Part 1 – Phantom Blood Volume 1

JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE: PART 1 - PHANTOM BLOOD, VOL. 1

VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia
CARTOONIST: Hirohiko Araki
TRANSLATION: Evan Galloway
LETTERS: Mark McMurray
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7879-8; hardcover (February 2015); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
260pp, B&W with some color, $19.99 U.S., $22.99 CAN, £12.99 U.K.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a multi-genre, shonen manga created by Hirohiko Araki.  It first appeared in the Japanese manga anthology magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump, in 1986, but has been in Ultra Jump for the last decade.

VIZ Media is making the legendary manga available in English for the first time as a series of deluxe edition graphic novels with color pages and new cover art.  A multi-generational tale, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure centers on the heroic Joestar family and their never-ending battle against evil.  JoJo's Bizarre Adventure begins with the “Phantom Blood” arc.  It is the story of two brothers; one ambitious, but also cruel and evil, and the other is dignified and strives to be a just man.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 1 – Phantom Blood, Vol. 1 (Chapters 1 to 11) opens far in the past, as an ancient ritual reveals the power of a mysterious stone mask.  Centuries later, in Great Britain, a cliff side accident brings together two men, Lord Joestar and Dario Brando.  The former is a grateful gentleman; the other is a thief who, by chance, appears to be a kind and helpful man.

Then, the story leaps forward to 1881.  Lord Joestar adopts Dario's son, Dio Brando, and brings the lad into his home.  However, Dio immediately begins to plot against his new brother, Jonathan Joestar, only son of Lord Joestar.  Although Jonathan makes an effort to bond with his adopted brother, he finds that Dio only causes him grief and pain.  Secretly, Dio plans to usurp Jonathan as heir to the Joestar family.  The return of the ancient stone mask will change both fates and plans.

I had heard of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga, which was first published in 1986 in Weekly Shonen Jump, but I cannot remember when.  VIZ Media recently sent me a copy of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 1 – Phantom Blood Volume 1 for review, which surprised me because I had assumed that this was going to be a digital release.

As I am unfamiliar with this series, I do not know how it evolves over time as story.  I imagine the visual and graphical style of the art also changes.  Phantom Blood, Vol. 1 is certainly bizarre in terms of the overall graphical storytelling and the visual presentation.  Creator Hirohiko Araki has an awkward, chunky approach to drawing male characters.  Jonathan and Dio grow into behemoths who smash and crash into each other, and into anyone else who wants to fight them.  There is a strangely beautiful quality to this odd, ungainly cartooning of the human figure and head and face.  I found myself eager to see how characters would look from one panel to the next.

The story is a blast to read.  I read it in big chunks, stopping only when I had to do something else.  Honestly, I hated to come to the end this volume.  JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is outlandish, and the fights are wild affairs that seem like comic book parodies of the fights in martial arts movies.  There is also a cliffhanger quality to each chapter that demands that readers come back to see more of this kooky manga that blends horror and fantasy adventure.  In fact, I already want more.  Fans of unusual shonen manga will want to try the Shonen Jump Advanced series, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 1 – Phantom Blood.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

Assassination Classroom: Time for Grown-Ups

I read Assassination Classroom, Vol. 2

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, which is seeking donations.  Follow me on Twitter or Grumble.

Nisekoi: She'll Be Home for Christmas

I read Nisekoi: False Love, Vol. 7

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, which is seeking donations.  Follow me on Twitter or at Grumble.

D.Gray-man: By Your Side

I read D.Gray-man, Vol. 24

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Review: ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM Volume 1

ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM, VOL. 1
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

CARTOONIST: Yusei Matsui
TRANSLATION: Tetsuichiro Miyaki
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Bryant Turnage
LETTERS: Stephen Dutro
EDITOR: Annette Roman
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7607-7; paperback (December 2014); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
192pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 U.K.

Assassination Classroom is a shonen manga that made its debut in Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan in 2012.  The series is created by Yusei Matsui, who was an assistant to manga artist Yoshio Sawai, the creator of such popular manga as Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo and the long-running JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Assassination Classroom is a humor and sci-fi manga about a classroom full of misfits who take on their teacher who has bizarre powers and super strength.  The teacher, whom the students name “Koro Sensei,” is the alien octopus that destroyed 70% of the moon.  He becomes a teacher at Kunugigaoka Junior High, where he teaches the outcasts of Class 3-E and he promises to destroy the Earth after they graduate.  Now, it's up to these students to kill their teacher to save the world.  They are the “Assassination Classroom.”

Assassination Classroom, Vol. 1 (Chapters 1 to 7; entitled Time for Assassination) finds the students of the Assassination Classroom ready to pop a cap to save the world.  Besides saving the Earth, the other incentive is a 10 million dollar/yen reward, offered by Tadaomi Karasuma of the Ministry of Defense.  It's up to Karasuma to train these students to kill... even if he has to become their new P.E. teacher.  Plus, a juvenile delinquent skilled in battle tactics returns to school.

The Assassination Classroom manga is weird, with its mixture of comedy and menace.  It can be disconcerting to go from poignant teacher-student relationship to classroom violence in the space of a few pages or even a few panels.  At least, it would really be disconcerting if Assassination Classroom were not a shonen manga – a genre or class of manga where comedy and comic violence meld in imaginative and even volatile ways.

I like the science fiction and fantasy sub-genre that brings aliens, humans, and schools together.  I am still a fan of the 1980s animated series, "Galaxy High School," and I have even sampled some of the manga that influenced it, Urusei Yatsura (or Lum).  Assassination Classroom Volume 1 makes me curious to see where this goes.

B+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

Food Wars: The Perfect Recette

I read Food Wars!, Vol. 3: Shokugeki no Soma

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, which is seeking donations.  Follow me on Twitter or at Grumble.

Seraph of the End: Operation Shinjuku

I read Seraph of the End, Vol. 3

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, which is seeking donations.  Follow me on Twitter or at Grumble.

Rosario+Vampire Season II: Alter Ego

I read Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 13

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Blue Exorcist: Izumo Kamiki's Mother

I read Blue Exorcist, Vol. 12

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ULTIMO: Future Vision 2989

I read Ultimo, Vol. 10

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Manga Review: ALL YOU NEED IS KILL

ALL YOU NEED IS KILL 2-in-1 Edition (MANGA)
VIZ MEDIA/Haikasoru – @VIZMedia

STORY: Hiroshi Sakurazaka
STORYBOARD: Ryosuke Takeuchi
ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS: yoshitoshi ABe
ART: Takeshi Obata
TRANSLATION: Tetsuichiro Miyaki
LETTERS: Evan Waldinger
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7601-5; paperback, (November 2014); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
430pp, B&W, $14.99 U.S., $16.99 CAN, £9.99 UK

All You Need is Kill is a Japanese science fiction novel written by author Hiroshi Sakurazaka, and first published in 2004.  Bestselling author John Scalzi (Old Man’s War), called All You Need is Kill “science fiction for the adrenaline junkie.”  The novel is also the source material for the 2014 film, Edge of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt.

Back in July 2009, All You Need is Kill was first published in English by Haikasoru, the science fiction imprint of VIZ Media, the largest distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America.  VIZ Media also produced an original comic book adaptation of Sakurazaka's novel, All You Need is Kill: Official Graphic Novel Adaptation, created by Nick Mamatas (script adaptation of the novel), Lee Ferguson (artist), Fajar Buana (colors), and Zack Turner (letters).

There is a manga adaptation of All You Need is Kill, produced by artist Takeshi Obata with writer Ryosuke Takeuchi (storyboards) and yoshitoshi Abe (original illustrations).  VIZ Media originally premiered the manga in its Weekly Shonen Jump digital manga anthology.  Under its “Shonen Jump Advanced” imprint, VIZ recently published an omnibus print edition (5.5” x 8.25”and 430 pages) of All You Need is Kill the manga, which is black and white with several color pages.

All You Need is Kill opens sometime after Earth has been invaded by the alien Mimics.  In Japan, the United Defense Force (UDF) was created to fight the Mimics, which are difficult to defeat.  In the 17th Company of the UDF, Keiji Kiriya is a “Jacket soldier,” named because of the armor he and other soldier wear, called a “Jacket.”  One morning, Keiji awakens after a strange dream in which he died in battle.  He spends the rest of the day with a sense of deja vu.

Then, the U.S. Special Forces, which is basically the only military that is successful against the Mimics, arrives.  Keiji sees Rita Vrataski, the leader of the U.S. Special Forces, known as “the Valkyrie,” and also as the “Full Metal Bitch.”  Keiji knows that he has seen her... on the battlefield... before he died.  Keiji has been dying in battle, only to be reborn the next morning, to fight and die again and again.  Is the Full Metal Bitch the key to Keiji escaping the cycle or the catalyst to meeting his final death?

Takeshi Obata is one of my favorite manga creators, so I was excited when VIZ Media gave me a copy of the All You Need is Kill manga for review.  It truly deserves to be called a “graphic novel,” not only because of its length of 430 pages, but also because of the epic scope of its narrative.

All You Need is Kill is rousing military science fiction, and it offers the thrill of a frenetic action movie.  It is also the manga adaptation of a light novel reborn as a genuine shonen battle manga, because this feels less like an transfer of mediums and more like something first born as a manga.

Ultimately, what makes the manga All You Need is Kill successful is the attention to character drama and personal details.  Readers will buy the idea that Keiji and Rita are imperiled because the creators of this manga go to the emotional center and into internal conflicts of the characters.  The world seems at risk because the readers see it through characters in which they can believe, so the risk feels real.

Takeshi Obata deserves to be called “great” because his storytelling is always potent, regardless of genre, and he gives texture and life to drawings on paper.  All you need is talented manga creators who can deliver and you get high-quality science fiction manga like All You Need is Kill.

A

www.VIZ.com
www.shonenjump.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

Food Wars: The Ice Queen and the Spring Storm

I read Food Wars!, Vol. 2: Shokugeki no Soma

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, which is seeking donations.  Follow me on Twitter.

Review: TIME KILLERS - Short Story Collection

TIME KILLERS
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

CARTOONIST: Kazue Kato
TRANSLATION & ENGLISH ADAPTATION: John Werry
LETTERS: John Hunt, Primary Graphix
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7167-6; paperback (September 2014); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
244pp, B&W, $14.99 U.S., $17.99 CAN, £9.99 U.K.

Born in Tokyo in 1980, Kazue Kato is a female manga creator, writer, and illustrator.  Time Killers is a single-volume, standalone, paperback collection of manga short stories that Kato produced in the first decade of her career.  Time Killers is published under VIZ Media's Shonen Jump Advanced imprint.  Time Killers contains 11 manga short stories, mostly in black and white, but there are 13 pages of color manga and art, as well as a fold-out, full-color gate-fold poster.

The stories are whimsical, fantastic, realistic, and genre-bending.  Some are like fairy tales, while others can best be described as “shonen manga.”  “The Rabbit and Me” (a shonen-type tale) introduces Shuri Todo, a teen hit man and assassin who wears a rabbit-eared cowl/mask.  He meets high school student Taira Futamura, a boy who becomes attached to Shuri.  Before long, that connection strengthens in the worst way.

“Tomato” features anthropomorphic animals.  Usakihii Usa, a rabbit guard, and his human partner, Sasuke Futamura, are hired on by Mrs. Oka-no-an, a stout, older female rabbit, to protect her precious tomato farm.  The arrival of thieves reveals connections between the guards and their employer in surprising ways.  In “Astronerd,” 16-year-old Yoshio Fujiko is an “astronerd,” a nerd who loves astronomy.  Now in high school, he has abandoned that in order to fit in with the other kids, but the new girl in school and also an alien invasion will force Yoshio to face the truth.

The story that closes out Time Killers is “The Miyama-Uguisu Mansion Incident.”  Knight No. 387, a demon hunter of the Knights of the Blue Cross, arrives at Miyama-Uguisu mansion to save Monaka Miyama-Uguisu, a young girl who has “the spittle of a demon on her.”  No. 387 is drawn to Monaka, so he tells her the story of a demon who became a demon hunter so that he could protect a young girl who helped and then, befriended him.

I have read a few manga short story collections from a variety of genres (including adult yaoi manga).  The Time Killers manga short story collection is one of the best that I have read, and it is not just because of the variety of genres this collection offers.

The most attractive thing about these stories is that they have heart.  Kazue Kato makes them mean something beyond mere escapism, fantasy, and fantasy-hues.  “Tomato” starts as if it is just going to be a “yojimbo” tale, but Kato takes the characters on a surprising journey of spiritual growth and healing.  There is enough material to turn it into a graphic novel.

“A Maiden's Prayer” is like a beautiful poem that is also a fairy tale.  “A Warrior Born of the Red Earth” could pass for American-produced Western fiction.  “Master and I” is a convincing and effective cautionary tale.

Some may mistake “The Miyama-Uguisu Mansion Incident” as a precursor to Kato's hit shonen manga, Blue Exorcist, but according to the “Author's Note” section at the end of the book, it was produced from unused material for the hit manga series.  In fact, Kato fills her author's note/afterword section with lots of interesting back story about these short stories.  She makes Time Killers a worthwhile, complete collection that has both excellent manga shorts and rewarding extra material.  By the way, the title is a reference to “killing time,” as these stories could be read as pass-times – enjoyable past-times


A-

www.VIZ.com.

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

Seraph of the End: Black Asura

I read Seraph of the End, Vol. 2

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, which is seeking donations.  Follow me on Twitter.