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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: Cyber Blue
“We are in year 2035 on the Tinos planet, colonized 300 years before by some earthlings. With only half of Earth’s oxygen concentration and with cold arctic conditions over most of Tinos, the human beings are forced to wear a life support apparatus that supplies the oxygen necessary for survival. The black market in such apparatuses is a flourishing business in the criminal world of Junk City. Blue, the protagonist, is in desperate need of a life suport system after being mugged, but an unscrupulous bunch of criminals cheat him of his money and leave him with an outdated model with an old AI. He is tricked by the head of the police, Weiser, into a committing murder, and is then killed himself. The AI, called Fatso, decides to save his life, and gives him a new artificial body filled with extraordinary strength and the cumulative knowledge of their combined three hundred and seventeen years. The resurrected Blue decides to get revenge and protect all those suffering under the tyranny of Weiser.” - Animea.net
Manga Review: Hoozuki-san Chi no Aneki
Available here
“The female Haru is the eldest, has an incredible nasty character. The male Gorou is slightly younger than the sister, but his character is quite different from hers. This is a 4-koma crack comedy about their wacky day to day life; this work has certain levels of nudity. (Source: Mangaupdates)” - Mangareader.net
Manga Review: Tenjo Tenge
Available here
“In one unusual Tokyo high school, education takes a backseat to brawling as warring clubs wreak havoc in the hallways and chaos in the classrooms, all vying to be the baddest team around! Although they often contribute their fair share, only a handful of students serve to stem the tide of violence in this untamed outpost. These are the few, the proud, the powerful: the members of the Juken Club!” - Magafox.com
Manga Review: SaiKano
“Shy Chise and nervous Shuji are high school seniors in a small town and have just started dating. But everything changes when Shuji discovers that Chise has been engineered by the Japanese Self Defense Force to transform into the Ultimate Weapon! Soon Chise is torn between realizing her potential as a devastating fighting force and her desire to share a bowl of ramen with her new boyfriend!” - Mangahere.com
Manga Review: Angel Sanctuary
Available here
“The angel Alexiel loved God, but she rebelled against Heaven when she saw how disgracefully the other angels were behaving. She was finally captured, and as punishment sent to Earth to live an endless series of tragic lives. She now inhabits the body of Setsuna Mudo, a troubled teen in love with his sister Sara. Setsuna’s misery mirrors the chaos among the angels, and their combined passions threaten to destroy both Heaven and Earth.” -Mangahere.com
Manga Review: Sanctuary
Available here
“Sanctuary has everything that defines a seinen series: complex characters, a thrilling story, passionate sex, and ruthless violence. Sanctuary’s story revolves around Akira Hojo and Chiaki Asami, two childhood friends that took opposite paths in life. One joins the gang in Japan, the Yakuza, and the other joins the government. Some say it’s “The Godfather” of Japanese manga; we feel that if any manga is going to blow your mind, this series just might be it! ” - thespectrum.net
Manga Review: Kamiyadori
Available here
“From Tokyopop:
Girard and ViVi are special government agents known as “Right Arms” whose job is to seek and destroy people who have become “infected.” In this world, a weird virus that turns people into monsters has run rampant and the only way humanity can survive is to keep tight control on those who are infected. If the virus’ symptoms appear, the person must be disposed of. It’s a tough world where women and children must sometimes be killed to prevent the spread of the virus.” - Mangafox.com
Elfen Lied
Available here
“The story involves human mutations called “dicloniuses”, who grow horns on their heads and possess telekinetic powers, in the form of invisible “arms” called vectors.
The tendency for violence among dicloniuses varies among characters. Certain scientists contain them in a Facility in cells where they are subject to inhumane experiments to test their abilities or where they await execution for being too dangerous.
An infectious virus is also associated with the mutation. This virus is spread through non-lethal contact with the vectors of a diclonius.
The main non-mutant character in the story is Kouta, who ends up becoming increasingly involved with these dicloniuses, as they seek refuge from the scientists.
The main diclonius character is Lucy/Nyuu a killer whose alter ego is a hapless, and very cute child whose vocabulary and intelligence is quite limited.
{Corrections from Silvermagic.}
After a large amount of choice occurences the lives of these two characters becomes inexplicably intwined…” -Mangafox.com
I don’t think I have misjudged a manga as much as I have this one. Normally, I judge a manga by its artwork. This is a bad habit and I am trying to work myself out of it. To fix my habit I generally read a chapter or two so I can accurately judge weither or not I think I will enjoy reading this series. Normally that is enough to get a good feel of the manga. But it wasn’t enough for this manga. There was so much blood and gore right off the bat I felt like I could not continue. And I didn’t continue, until many months later when a friend of mine highly recommended reading it. Since we have similar tastes I decided to give Elfen Lied another try, and I do not regret it.
As it turns out my original assessment was not untrue but simply it overlooked too much. You see, there is a lot of a gore in this series, in fact that is an understatement. You see so many people dyeing in such gruesome ways that you think everyone will die and, in fact, everyone is in danger of dyeing by the end. By there is much more to that. There is love, hate, sadness, happiness, hopeless, hope, betrayal, forgiveness and just about every other emotion you can think of. If you can get over the gore there is a lot this manga has to offer. The characters for one, are very lovable. The plot is extremely good there is never a dull moment and the ending was just absolutely golden. When I reached the ending I was so flooded with emotion I almost had to take a break to collect myself… almost.
A warning to all potential readers: If you do not like gore or can not stomach it DO NOT READ THIS MANGA. It is very common to see heads, limbs, and bodies flying everywhere, the innocent are not spared. Also nudity is fairly common, this is basically a manga you want to read in privacy. You have been warned.
Sources: wordpress.com, mangareader.net, mangafox.com
