Until Death Do Us Part is a slickly packaged compendium of action movie tropes that reads like a story. That’s not to say it’s bad — it isn’t — but to warn you that you may experience a powerful sense of deja-vu as you thumb through its numerous shoot-outs, explosions, and speeches about terrorism. The [...]
Reviews
One Piece, Vol. 62
May 18, 2012 by
By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz. Now that the gang is back together, we are off to Fishman Island. No, really! Really and truly, they do finally arrive at Fishman Island this time. Which sort of ends up being [...]
FLCL Omnibus
May 15, 2012 by
By GAINAX and Hajime Ueda. Released in Japan in two separate volumes by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Magazine Z. Released in North America by Dark Horse Comics. I recall when Tokyopop first released this manga, a number of years ago, my general reaction to it was sort of a flat ‘what’. Of course, I [...]
Honey Darling
May 14, 2012 by
Would you still respect me as a critic if I admitted that I loved Honey Darling? Before you answer that question, consider the following evidence: Exhibit A: The Cover. One of the characters is wearing cat ears and holding a cat. Gotta cover all the bases, I guess. Exhibit B: Logic-Free Plotting. Chihiro rescues a [...]
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 5
May 14, 2012 by
By Naoko Takeuchi. Released in Japan as “Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Nakayoshi. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics. Sailor Moon is at Vol. 5, and the R arc is nearing its end. Things are getting bad. Mercury, Mars and Jupiter are still abducted, Moon’s been kidnapped, and now [...]
Rohan at the Louvre
May 11, 2012 by
In 2007, NBM Comics-Lit published Nicolas de Crecy’s Glacial Period, the first in a series of graphic novels commissioned by the Louvre Museum. The goal of Glacial Period — and the four books that followed it — was to introduce readers to the richness and complexity of the Louvre’s vast collections through a familiar medium: [...]
The Flowers of Evil, Vol. 1
May 11, 2012 by
By Shuzo Oshimi. Released in Japan as “Aku no Hana” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Vertical. Sometimes you get one of those series coming down the pike where you know, based on your own personal tastes, you’re going to both love it *and* hate it. I [...]
The Flowers of Evil, Vol. 1
May 9, 2012 by
If you grew up in a small town, you probably knew someone like Takao Kusagi, the nebbish-hero of The Flowers of Evil. Kasuga is a precocious middle-schooler who copes with provincial life by burying his nose in a book. His peers tolerate him, but find him a little too smug and strange to be one [...]
Fallen Words
May 4, 2012 by
By Yoshihiro Tatsumi. Released in North America by Drawn and Quarterly. Sometimes you don’t need deep, significant plots. You don’t need characters that go on an incredibly journey that lets them grow up and learn about life. And you may not need 65 volumes to tell your story. Sometimes all you need to do is [...]
Short Takes: Durarara!! and Kamen
May 3, 2012 by
Between the Manga Movable Feast and end-of-the-semester duties, I’ve fallen hopelessly behind in my reviewing. Today’s column is a first step towards conquering my towering pile of unread books. On the agenda are two new series: Durarara!! (Yen Press), a wacky comedy set in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district, and Kamen (Gen Manga), a martial-arts manga that’s [...]
