The Grand Manga Hunt

Bakuretsu Tenshi

2009-12-26T14:14:00.000-08:00

WHY DO PEOPLE DO THIS? WHYYYYY?

Let me explain that cry. The main characters of Bakuretsu Tenshi are named Jo, Meg, Amy, and Sei. (What happened to Beth?) As a person who has the script version of Little Women memorized (sadly), That automatically means I can't take this manga seriously. However, if it was a manga fanfiction-y thing then that would be at least a little bit less odd. BUT the characters don't act like their cheesy, annoying classic literature counterparts. If I were to draw parallels between the Bakuretsu Tenshi characters and Little Women, then I would say that Jo acts like a combination of John and Mr. March, Meg acts like a slutty combination of Jo and Amy, Amy acts like Beth, and Sei acts like Meg. MOREOVER, it seems that Meg is in love with Jo and wants to sleep with her. I was already mentally scarred enough by working on the show of Little Women. Manga is making the mental scarring worse! It's creating new, stranger wounds! AAAAAHHH~

Anyway. Now for the actual plot of Bakuretsu Tenshi. It seems that Jo and Meg are on the run from the law. That is all I could gather halfway through the manga. I stopped reading it because it seemed to be going nowhere.

This manga makes my head spin. If they're going to steal characters from Little Women, why did they have to omit Aunt March? She was my favorite character! (Besides, the main characters need someone to yell at them.)

Anyway, I rate this manga 4 out of 10. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I didn't work on the show of Little Women, but I doubt it.

I only read about 8 chapters of this, but considering that it's out of 16, I'd say that's the farthest I've gotten, relatively speaking, in a manga that I didn't finish.

I know that I still didn't read Blue Heaven, but I'll read it later. I am LAZY.

Bokurano

2009-12-12T09:21:00.000-08:00

Damn, this was a messed-up manga...

It is 66 (technically 65, but there are two 64s) chapters of pure giant robot battles combined with moral issues.

There is no one main character to this manga. At all.

It starts with fifteen schoolchildren who decide to explore a cave. When they enter the cave, they are contracted into a 'game' of sorts, and told that they cannot back out. The next day, they discover a giant robot that they learn they must pilot and with a fight against another giant robot in order to save their world. Soon after, they discover that the pilot dies after the fight inevitably.

The fifteen characters are supposedly seventh-graders, but they're the most fucked up seventh graders I have ever seen. (I still remember seventh grade...)

But yes, there is not one truly good character in the whole of the entire manga (Rather like the graphic novel Watchmen).

While 66 chapters may seem like a lot, I read this within a few days.

I am going to rate this manga 7 out of 10 because it wasn't that enjoyable, but it was an interesting read, and I have definitely read worse manga. This one is very well-written, but it carries a huge unreal quality to it...

Break Blade

2009-12-10T17:23:00.000-08:00

Before you comment - YES, I just realized that I skipped Bokurano, but Break Blade was only 11 chapters and I'm done with it so I'll go read Bokurano and then maybe Blue Heaven.

Anyway, Break Blade. As I said already, it's only 11 chapters long so far, but it updates irregularly and so that means there probably won't be another chapter for quite some time.

The premise is that all the world's machines are constructed from a special type of quartz, and what powers the quartz is 'magic'. Magic is in quotes because it is supposedly a special type of magic, that is to say, not as fantasy-like as we would think. (It seems to be more like Spiral Power to me(which will make sense if you've ever seen/read Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.)) The main character is one of few n the world who doesn't possess this 'magic,' so he can't operate machinery and lives a pretty hard life.

His friend(who also happens to be the king of some country that's in the middle of war) summons him and informs him of the existence of a golem(that's what the mecha in this manga are referred to(it confuses me because I always expect golems to be People Who Talk Like This)) that doesn't run on this 'magic'. As soon as Lygatto(the main character) boards this golem, the base where it is stored is attacked and Lygatto operates the golem in order to save his own life. He also learns that the war is against another of his childhood friends.

This story is very good so far, as well as pretty interesting, and while the mechas don't look like anything special, the story and the characters make it a pretty good manga. I rate it 7.5 out of 10.

Now I have to go read Bokurano. I'm sorry for overlooking you, Bokurano!

Shuntage

2009-12-03T19:54:00.000-08:00

Blue Heaven is really hard to concentrate on because of its unique art style, and I don't want to just 'give it a chance' and then not read it fully because it does actually look promising, but I'll read it after a few of the other ones on The List. I'm postponing it because I'm lazy.

Bloody Monday Season 2

2009-11-30T16:34:00.000-08:00

I just thought I'd add that so far Bloody Monday Season Two is quite good, though the main character does appear to suffer from 'Beginning of Second Season Main-Character-itis'. Yes, that is a long title for a disease, but it is fitting considering that sometimes the disease can last for a painfully long time.

Monday Bloody Monday

2009-11-28T16:31:00.000-08:00

I have finally finished the manga 'Bloody Monday'! Be proud of me. XD

How long: 96 chapters. There's also a season 2.

Bloody Monday is about a hacker named Takagi Fujimaru who accidentally discovers a video with footage of a massacre, many people all succumbing to a very unnatural, very gory and bloody virus(dubbed 'Bloody-X'). Then, with the help of his friends and the organization his father works for, he goes head-to-head against a terrorist organization in an attempt to stop the upcoming tragedy, 'Bloody Monday,' from occurring.

It is a very interesting and captivating manga which I highly recommend

I rate this manga 8.5 out of 10.

Now I must go read Season 2 and then start the next on my list, Blue Heaven.

Sorry for the wait

2009-10-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry for taking so long to finish Bloody Monday, but I am determined to finish reading Watchmen, and I'm worried that if I read manga before I finish it then I will open the book backward again...

I know, it's funny for me to be poasting this, considering how long it took me to finish Black Cat, and also because of the fact that absolutely nobody reads this, but whatever...

Anyway, as soon as I have finished Watchmen I will be reading Bloody Monday like a fiend again, so expect a review within the next week or so.

Blazer Drive

2009-10-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

Blazer Drive is a manga with 17 chapters. However, each chapter is around 60 pages long, so it takes longer to read than one would expect. It updates monthly.

Anyway. It takes place in a society where they have developed 'Mystickers', which are similar to stickers(but larger and they don't fall off until they've run out of energy) but they have special powers. (ex. Lightning mystickers generate electricity, etc.)

On the day his brother 'dies,' the main character, Daichi, receives(from his 'dying' brother) a mysticker that will generate unlimited electricity. He is then told that he is a 'Blazer,' a person who can control mystickers. After he learns this information he is thrown into a Blazer faction(by a friend of his brother(who looks like he should be from TWEWY)) and rival and evil Blazer organizations start to target him.

It definitely falls under the category of 'GENERIC SHOUNEN,' but it's still good, funny, and interesting.

I rate this manga 7 out of 10.

It wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible either, and it was fun to read.

*checks list* Next is Bloody Monday!

Extension to The List

2009-10-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

So, I was looking on onemanga, and I decided that since there were tons of new series that come out all the time, I shouldn't just be outdated.

As such, I'm looking through all of them and adding them to the end of the list.

The new ones are:

Ikigami

Magic Insulator

Switch

Knights

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu

Needless

Q.E.D.

Yeah.

They look interesting.

I'm gonna go edit them into the bottom of my The List poast.

Black God / Kuro Kami

2009-09-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, I admit, this is short time for me. I only read 3 chapters. Meh, I know, shun the Naki and stuff...

This looked promising, but it wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. The summary said it was about dopplegangers, which I've always thought were an interesting concept. But no, it wasn't that great... It was confusing and hard to follow, and I felt like reading it was a chore. I don't torture myself when reading things. Except Detective Conan, and that's just so I can say I've read all 707 chapters and then talk about how awful it is. I'm only sometimes masochistic. XD

Anyway. Also, the art style annoyed me. It didn't look like manga. It was also hard to follow.

But yeah. I'll give this story the benefit of the doubt and rate it 4 out of 10.

I'm sure it's very good to some people. Those people just aren't me.

To each his own.

Now on to Blazer Drive! That looked promising!

Black Cat

2009-09-29T17:47:00.000-07:00

Why hello there, my 0.537 readers! I'm sorry for not poasting in a while, but Black Cat was 185 chapters long.

Anyway.

Black Cat is a manga about a sweeper(bounty hunter) named Train Heartnet, his partner Sven Vollfied, and Eve, the 'Little Princess'.

Train is an ex-member of an organization called Chronos, and all they really tell you about Chronos is that it is big and powerful and secret. Anyway. Black Cat is the story of Train and his companions as they go to defeat Train's ex-partner Creed, who wants to be god(where have we seen that before?).

Along the journey, Train and his companions meet new people, reveal their pasts, and get some nice, lovely character development.

It's kind of cheesy in its theme, but Black Cat reminds me of a bunch of awesome manga/anime/video games.

It seems like a combination of:

Trigun

Cowboy Bebop

Death Note

Tales of Symphonia

Alive - The Final Evolution

S-CRY-ed

And a bunch more that I had in my head while reading the manga but have now forgotten. Trigun and Cowboy Bebop the most, though. Train even has his own Rem, though her name is Saya and she's more of a love interest.

Anyway.

I rank this story 9.5 out of 10.

I'm tired of the asterisks thing, they are useless.

Anyway.

On to Black God(or Kuro Kami)!

Billy Bat

2009-08-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-20T16:12:00.000-07:00

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.

Asklepios

2009-08-19T23:25:00.001-07:00

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

2009-08-19T21:41:00.000-07:00

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.

RANDOM: Kuroshitsuji

2009-08-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

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.

Alive - The Final Evolution

2009-08-13T21:35:00.001-07:00

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.

Aiko Desho!

2009-08-09T17:20:00.000-07:00

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...

+Anima

2009-08-07T22:37:00.001-07:00

+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.

The List Completed!

2009-08-01T15:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

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.