Thursday, August 20, 2009

Billy Bat

Billy Bat is a manga about a comic artist who, one night, heard that someone had seen a drawing of his main character while in Japan. The artist decides that he can't let himself steal it and so visits Japan while trying to figure out where he had seen it. He then gets caught up in a huge murder case and there are lots of conspiracies and yeah. It's by the same person who wrote Monster. (Can you tell? I can.)

Anyway, it's really good.

I rate it 8 out of 10 for epic justice.

********

It's only thirteen chapters long so far but it's updating.

Bartender

Bartender is (obviously) a manga about a young bartender who supposedly mixes really delicious drinks. The manga is him working at a bar, helping customers and brightening people's days. It's all very interesting, though a bit cheesy.

Another interesting quirk is that the main character remembers absolutely everything perfectly(a trait shared, in fact, by the main character of the last manga I read).

The manga is ongoing and irregular, but at present only contains 15 chapters. It updates slowly, as far as I can tell...

Anyway, it's more interesting than I make it seem, and I rate it 7 out of 10. While not quite a must-read, it is enjoyable and even slightly informative.

Asterisks asterisks asterisks~~~

*******

But yes, it is very good and a short read.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Asklepios

Asklepios is a manga about some kid who is descended from a family of doctors who were considered 'heretics' by the church because of the way they performed surgery, or, rather, the fact that they performed surgery instead of just prescribing medicine or something.

Anyway. It's a kid(who's name, I think, is 'Buzz Medill Asklepios' but I keep wanting to replace 'Medill' with 'Roadkill'. He looks like roadkill. People call him Buzz.) who becomes a great surgeon and saves people and tries to become recognized by the church as doctors instead of heretics. It's very cheesy.

Just to clear something up, at one point the main character uses an external fixator to heal somebody, and the translator's note on onemanga says something about them being used to 'make people taller'. That's not true. External (and internal, for that matter) fixators are used for stabilizing bones or lengthening. In this case, lengthening would be for correcting a discrepancy, not making someone taller. (Take it from someone who knows: My little sister just had a fixator taken out and her legs are almost even!) Limb lengthening is used for people who were either born with disabilities that somehow resulted in uneven limbs or people who somehow injured themselves and had uneven limbs. They are not just used to 'make people taller'. I'm sorry, it's just that that untrue note irks me. (As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure that doctors who use fixators for limb lengthening refuse to just 'make people taller'.) Anyway.

Other than the cheesiness and the little bit of misinformation, Asklepios is actually an interesting manga. I mean, it's only 19 chapters long and then ending is just like "what" but other than that...

Anyway, I'll rate it a 6 out of 10. I've read worse, but I've read better as well. Still, if you have a bunch of spare time and absolutely nothing else to do or read, I suppose you could read this.

Asterisks~~~

******

Yes, it lost points for the misinformation. It's annoying and it's NOT TRUE. Heh.

http://xkcd.com/386/ He he he.

Amatsuki

Amatsuki is a manga about a guy who is doing some new form of studying the Edo period, that is, putting on glasses that make everything look like it would in the Edo period and then walking around a building pretending he's gone back in time. Apparently something happens, though, and he gets stuck in the Edo period with no way of getting out. He has to get used to his new life and stuff.

While it has an interesting concept, Amatsuki was so boring I only read four chapters of it before deciding it wasn't worth my time. It's not captivating at all, the plot is just plain dull, and the art is pretty shitty too. So yeah. It seemed like an interesting concept, and I'm sure there are plenty of other people who can really get into it and enjoy it, but I am not one of those and I don't feel like reading any more of it when I could instead be reading something great. Never again will I force myself to read something as tedious as Detective Conan. Oh, and, just to put things into perspective, Detective Conan was easier to read and more interesting than Amatsuki. Detective Conan is 703 chapters of the same thing! So yeah.

Amatsuki bores me, but it's not like 'OMG HORRIBLE WORST MANGA I HAVE EVER READ'. I think I'll give it a 3 out of 10. Yeah, that works.

Asterisks are fun to type~

***

So yeah. On to something more interesting.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

RANDOM: Kuroshitsuji

Kuroshitsuji was recommended by a friend who gave me a better summary than the one on onemanga.

It is about a British 12 year old boy(though he turns 13 somewhere in the middle of the manga) who has a butler who is probably the most badass butler the world has known. The boy is Ciel Phantomhive, the owner of the Phantomhive estate, owners of a candy and toy company.

Ciel is also a servant for the queen, commonly referred to as 'The Queen's Lapdog". She will give him stuff to do and he does it. By this I mean something like, 'Find out who keeps killing all these people and make them stop killing people.' At least, that's what she's said so far.

I started out watching the anime while my sister was reading the manga(she was slightly ahead of me, for once) but then I got to a point where she would ask me where I was, I would say where, and she would be like, "That place isn't in the manga..." That continued for a while until I talked to a friend, and we confirmed it as a cause of, as he so wonderfully put it, "Squeenix strikes again". Then I read the manga starting from where it differed (Chapter 13 of the manga is the last one that is similar to the anime) and I finished it (before my sister! Yay~).

Anyway, I rate Kuroshitsuji 7 out of 10 for Epic Justice.

Asterisks~

*******

But yes, this manga is very good and awesome and epic and I recommend it.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Alive - The Final Evolution

Alive - The Final Evolution is about a massive virus spread across the world causing people to commit suicide. Those who have felt the urge to die but lived anyway have inherited special powers and are referred to as 'comrades'. They travel everywhere searching for the Heart of Akuro, which will supposedly increase their powers.

The manga is ongoing and irregular, and, at present, there are 66 chapters released (Or, at least, able to be found on the internet.)

This manga was very interesting, and, while not excessively happy or funny (It posesses more of a mindscrew-esque quality to it) it is an extraordinarily good read and a very interesting, captivating story. I love manga like these. ^_^ As such, I will rate this manga 8 out of 10, and I highly recommend it.

Asterisks~ ^__^

********

The author needs to write faster, I want more chapters of this.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Aiko Desho!

This is a manga about a guy who tries to study for college by staying at his aunt's house. His aunt works at a kindergarten and makes him work there as well. A little girl named Aiko becomes attatched to him (presumably as a father figure).

I only read up to chapter 7 on this for two reasons.

1. It was boring.
2. The main character started falling in love with Aiko, I think...

But yeah. It seemed like an interesting concept but eventually became dull and slightly creepy.

My sister made me put that on the list... >.>

Anyway, I rate this 2 out of 10.

And the asterisk thing:

**

The review of this is short...

Friday, August 7, 2009

+Anima

+Anima is a very lighthearted story that takes place in a world where children can gain some of the powers of animals if they are in desperate need. The main character is Cooro, a little boy who likes apples and cheese and is happy almost always. His Anima, or the power he has, is that of a crow, meaning that he has black wings and feathery arms when he chooses to. He travels with three other companions: Husky, a fish Anima who looks like a girl but is a guy and in fact hates girls, as he repeats over and over, Senri, a boy of about 15 or 16 (The oldest of the companions) who has the Anima of a bear and is a very quiet, intimidating person who likes pressed flowers and sweet things, and Nana, a small girl with the Anima of a bat who likes clothes and wants to marry a rich husband(rather like Anise from Tales of the Abyss).

The story follows these four companions as they travel part of the world, dodging prejudice(+Anima are generally not accepted as regular members of society), learning more about themselves and each other, and having a lot of fun and causing hilarity along the way.

This manga is one of those things that cheer you up no matter what mood you're in, as observing the hilarious antics of all the characters makes almost anybody smile.

This manga is very happy and lighthearted (while having, I suppose, some deep hidden message in it(but I never really care about those)) and it is very fun to read, which is why I give it a 9 out of 10.

You can find chapters 1-42 on onemanga.com and the rest on mangafox.com. I have no idea how many chapters it has because mangafox has the last two volumes appear to be one chapter each (with 104 pages XD) and I am too lazy to go through each scanlated volume and count. I suppose I could look it up, but that wouldn't be fun, would it?

Okay, fine, I'll Google it.

Ah! Google has produced the results in the form of a completely different manga site that happens to have all the chapters! according to manga.animea.net, +Anima consists of 56 chapters. I'd never heard of 'manga.animea.net' before, so I'll have to add it to my mental manga repertoire.

But yes, as I said before I award this manga 9 out of ten. Because I like asterisks:

*********

^That's a lot of asterisks and it looks rather messy. Oh well. I hope I get to award each and every manga on The List at least this many, because that would be two and a half notecards worth of good manga titles.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

The List Completed!

Alas, I hath finished The List! It reads:

+Anima
Aiko Desho!
Alive - The Final Evolution
Amatsuki
Asklepios
Bartender
Billy Bat
Black Cat
Black God / Kuro Kami
Blazer Drive
Bloody Monday
Blue Heaven
Bokurano
Break Blade
Bakuretsu Tenshi / Burst Angel
Cage of Eden / Eden no Ori
Chaos Head
Claymore
Crossing 25
Cyborg Grandpa - G
D-Live
Defense Devil
Doubt
E's
EL EL
Eternal Sabbath
Eureka Seven
Fate/Stay Night
Mirai Nikki / Future Diary
Genshiken
Hajimete no Aku
Highschool of the Dead
Hot Milk
The Hour of the Mice
HunterxHunter
Hyde and Closer / Magic Ban Removal!! Hyde and Closer
Imouto Wa Shushunki
Island
Jackals
Jiraishin
Jyuki Ningen Jumbor
Kami no Shizaku
Kami to Sengoku Seitokai
Kurogane no Line Barrel
Kurosagi
Kyoukai no Rinne / Rin-ne
Liar Game
Luck Stealer
Mahou Sensei Negima! / Negima! Magister Negi Magi
Mai - Otome
Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro
Maken - Ki
Manhole
Midnight
MPD Psycho
Muddy
Muhyo and Rouji
Mushishi
MxO
Nagasarete Airantou
Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge
Oni - Gokku
Out Code
Pluto
Psycho Buster
Q and A
Rave
Reborn! / Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
Saijo no Meil
Sakura no Uta
Shina Dark
Shion no Ou
Skyhigh
Spiral - Suini no Kizuna
Spiral - Alive (I read this one's summary first but it seems to be a spin off of the one above so I wrote them both down)
Suicide Island
Super Cruel and Terrible Tales of Mangaka
Tantei Gakuen Q
To Aru Majitsu no Index
Tokyo Ants
Toshokan Sensou - Spitfire!
Tribal 12
Veritas
Wrold Embryo
Y+M / The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls
Yakuza Girl
Yu Yu Hakusho
Zero
Zero In
Zombie - Loan

EDIT: New ones!
Ikigami
Magic Insulator
Switch
Knights
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu
Needless
Q.E.D.

Soon I'll start reading +Anima and review it.

The List So Far

I just finished the 'U's, so here's the list so far:

+Anima
Aiko Desho!
Alive - The Final Evolution
Amatsuki
Asklepios
Bartender
Billy Bat
Black Cat
Black God / Kuro Kami
Blazer Drive
Bloody Monday
Blue Heaven
Bokurano
Break Blade
Bakuretsu Tenshi / Burst Angel
Cage of Eden / Eden no Ori
Chaos Head
Claymore
Crossing 25
Cyborg Grandpa - G
D-Live
Defense Devil
Doubt
E's
EL EL
Eternal Sabbath
Eureka Seven
Fate/Stay Night
Mirai Nikki / Future Diary
Genshiken
Hajimete no Aku
Highschool of the Dead
Hot Milk
The Hour of the Mice
HunterxHunter
Hyde and Closer / Magic Ban Removal!! Hyde and Closer
Imouto Wa Shushunki
Island
Jackals
Jiraishin
Jyuki Ningen Jumbor
Kami no Shizaku
Kami to Sengoku Seitokai
Kurogane no Line Barrel
Kurosagi
Kyoukai no Rinne / Rin-ne
Liar Game
Luck Stealer
Mahou Sensei Negima! / Negima! Magister Negi Magi
Mai - Otome
Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro
Maken - Ki
Manhole
Midnight
MPD Psycho
Muddy
Muhyo and Rouji
Mushishi
MxO
Nagasarete Airantou
Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge
Oni - Gokku
Out Code
Pluto
Psycho Buster
Q and A
Rave
Reborn! / Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
Saijo no Meil
Sakura no Uta
Shina Dark
Shion no Ou
Skyhigh
Spiral - Suini no Kizuna
Spiral - Alive (I read this one's summary first but it seems to be a spin off of the one above so I wrote them both down)
Suicide Island
Super Cruel and Terrible Tales of Mangaka
Tantei Gakuen Q
To Aru Majitsu no Index
Tokyo Ants
Toshokan Sensou - Spitfire!
Tribal 12


The only thing I had from the 'U's was a oneshot which was good.

A lot of the mangas go by a few different names so I tried my best to include all the different names, which is a reason this list isn't entirely in alphabetical order.

So far this list takes up 2 notecards, front and back, and a little bit of a third.

Introduction

The Grand Manga Hunt is something I started on a few days ago. Basically I'm going through all the manga on onemanga that I haven't read before, looking at the summary, and then writing it down if I'm interested in reading it, or just reading it if it's a oneshot. In this blag, I will poast my list, and then review each manga on the list and rate it from 1 to 10, 1 being 'this manga kinda sorta really sucks' and 10 being 'This is one of the best manga I've ever read'. After that I might do a 'ten best manga I've read' list, but not until after most of The Grand Manga Hunt.