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Manga Review: Otogi Matsuri
In the quite little town of Miyakono life takes a drastic turn for many residents. The residents have forgotten the old traditions and have abandoned the gods. By destroying the mountain and filling in the rivers an ancient charm was broken. This charm protected the town from the onslaught of the ten Kenzoku. These ancient and monstrous creatures gather the souls of their victims to resurrect their creator. The only humans that can fight these beings are those who have been chosen by the four gods guarding the town. These gods are: Suzaku, who protects the south, Seiryu, who protects the East, Genbu, who protects the North, and Byakko, who protects the West. Upon contact with the gods the chosen must give up their most precious thing in exchange for a jingi, a sacred weapon. They, along with the few who have spiritual sense, are the only ones who can see the Kenzoku and thus must fight together to save the greater population who are unaware of the danger. Still, the Jingi users are only human and their weakness causes many deaths, some unavoidable, some harrowing.
Manga Review: Island
From the manhwa writer that wrote Shin Angyo Onshi and Defense Devil comes a story of demons, death, history, and vengeance. Island centers around Won Miho who, ever since she came to Cheju Island, has attracted the attention of the native demons. Her only line of defense is Pan, a serial killer who hunts these demons. This mysterious man uses Buddhist chants and his jade dagger to defeat both god and demons alike. He is unpredictable, to say the least, and Won has to resort to money in order to keep Pan defending her. However, these demons are the least of Won’s worries as she gets caught in a history of hate between Korea and Japan which manifests itself in supernatural killing and battles.
Manga Review: Parasyte
Even in real life, humans are slowly destroying the planet. However, in Parasyte Earth may have a chance due to alien invaders. These aliens are parasitic, sometimes symbiotic, creatures that attempted to take over human bodies when they first invaded. Most Parasites succeeded and took control over human brains. Others failed to take over humans but succeed in controlling other animals, although this is considered a failure by the Parasite population. These Parasites develop a need to eat others of the same species as their host. Thus Parasites in human hosts eat other humans. Another failure is when a Parasite fails in taking over a human’s brain and instead controls a different part of their body. This is the case of Shinichi Izumi who has a Parasite in his right hand.
MangaLog: Hotel
From the same mangaka that brought us Sun-ken Rock, Boichi, comes a collection of five oneshots.
In general these oneshots have amazingly detailed drawings. Seeing how most of these oneshots have a sci-fi theme to them pictures can become quite grand, to have such images as detailed, crisp, and clear as these is quite the accomplishment. The facial expressions on the people here are of the most expressive I have ever seen in a manga. Boichi-sensei also shows off his ability as a writer. Together, the drawing and the writing act as an efficient conductor of emotion. The emotion Boichi-sensei put in is the emotion you receive, no less but everything more.
Click the break to read a summery of each oneshot and my thoughts on them.
I started making a post about every chapter of manga chapter I read. I called it MangaLog and I started off strong with a collection of oneshots.
Manga Review: King of Thorns
People often ask: “If you could have one superpower what would it be?” One day I decided to sit down and plan out what would be the best superpower so that I would be prepared should someone ask. After brainstorming I came up with two superpowers that were tied for my favorite. One of them is turning what I imagine into reality. Just like any superpower this one has flaws. This manga explores what happens if someone tries to utilize this great power in order to take over the world. In this manga the so called, “Medusa virus,” has started to infect humans. The result? People slowly turn in stone. Huge power awaits those who can control the Medusa virus.
Manga Review: Hajime no Ippo
Ippo is sixteen years old and most people think he is a wimp. Which isn’t really true. He works at his family’s fishing charter business and has a sailor’s build but he is simply too nice to fight back against bullies. But one day when he was being pick on by a group of bullies, Takamura, a professional boxer, saved him. This was the turning point in Ippo’s life. He now aspires to be a professional boxer and surprisingly, he has the talent for it.
Manga Review: Dragon Warrior: Dai’s Great Adventure
A rather old manga, Dragon Warrior: Dai’s Great Adventure is based in the world of the video game series Dragon Quest. This story stays true to the game to such an extent that even the manga feels like a RPG (Role Playing Game); the characters level up, learn new spells, and change classes. As you can tell from the manga’s title the manga is about Dai, a Dragon Knight, who goes on an adventure with fellow Disciples of Avan and other friends to defeat the Great Demon King Vearn.
Manga Review: Kamen no Maid Guy
Being the last two heirs to the Fujiwara Conglomerate the commoners, Naeka and Kōsuke Fujiwara, are bestowed two maids by their doting grandfather and head of the Fukiwara family, Zenjurō Fujiwara. However, these maids do not just have the ordinary duty of doing chores and serving their masters, no, these maids must also protect their masters from harm until they are old enough to receive their grandfather’s inheritance. Mysterious accidents has killed the rest of the Fukiwara family thus Zenjurō hired two highly skilled maids, each to the tastes of his grandchildren. But it seems he misunderstood Naeka’s taste in action moves as a need to hire a macho male maid. Thus Kogarashi, the Maid Guy, was hired. If being a male maid wasn’t weird enough he also has maid superpowers and no sense of personal space.
Manhwa Review: Id
Some times we stumble across stories of fantastic lands, mystical creatures, and epic battles. Other times we come across stories like Id. Id has everything I mentioned, fantastic lands, mystical creatures, epic battles but it has a few things that make it different from the rest of the crowd. This manga has amazing art, a great story, and an even better entertainment value.
Manga Review: Defense Devil
Available here
“Adapted from the oneshot Akuma Bengoshi Kukabara, Mephisto Bart Kucabara is a devil lawyer. In order to return to the demon world that he was exiled from he needs to collect enough Dark Matter. To do so he creates a plan to claim the Dark Matter from the souls of sinners sentenced to hell. Prove the soul’s innocence and the Dark Matter becomes his.
But how can he gather enough Dark Matter when his kind personality causes him to continually use it up in order to defend the soul from the Shinigami that has come to take them to hell?” - Mangafox.com
