The All About Manga Thread

[Ultimate Houde]

Naruto pisses me off

 

[Big Bad Goblin]

That would be the most well thought out revenge ever.

What you trying to say? Don't give Bush any ideas, we're at war already!

 

[Iceshadow]

What you trying to say? Don't give Bush any ideas, we're at war already!

Too late. Japan is dead, you just don't know yet because of the time difference.

 

[McCheese]

It's time for the introduction of a new segment from your beloved manga reviewer. You can't hang your manga-hat entirely on Bleach, One Piece, and Naruto. I try to keep my reading a little more well rounded than that. To do so I go to my beloved onemanga.com and look for new series. I read the first issue and if it's interesting I keep reading. If I'm not hooked I move on to something else. That may seem like I'm being quick to judge, but the first issue of many mangas are between 40 and 60 pages long. So it's like reading the first 2 or 3 issues of an American comic. So from now on I'll use this segment to introduce these series and give my own patented insane ranting disguised as a review. These reviews are only of the first issue. If you think the series gets better after the first issue then by all means say so, but understand that these reviews do not cover the series as a whole. If I pimp something that turns out to be boring repetitive crap like Inu Yasha, please understand that I was fooled by an interesting premise. And if I piss on something that turns out to be as amazing as FMA, please understand that I was not blown away by a talking suit of armor and a midget.

Now that we've got that out of the way, prepare yourself for...

What's New McCheese?​

Note: This is not a weekly segment. I don't have time to be reviewing new mangas every damn week.

Tista - This is the story of an assassin who may or may not have connections to the Catholic Church. The assassin also happens to be a young girl named Tista. It's a manga though so that "twist" was to be expected. What I didn't expect from this story that seems at first to be dark and sacriligeous was the charm. And some of that charm comes from her interaction with a young man named Atty. The main character starts off as a very quiet introverted girl as all young female manga assassins do, but not annoyingly so. So there's an edge up on most stories of this type. Anyway when she meets Atty he takes her out of her shell a bit. He actually forces the issue. Atty is an aspiring artist and he lives with the man that raised him after his dad bought the farm. He also works for the very same man at his art gallery. Tista is assigned to kill a bad guy who her handler says is using an art gallery as a front for a drug operation. See where this is going? Yeah, they telegraphed that one a little bit. But the end is executed pretty well.

The Verdict
4/5 Tafts. Give this one a read. The characters are interesting. The art was quite good. And the premise is entertaining and certainly has room to be explored.

07 Ghosts - The premise for this has something to do with an empire and special troops who fight with spells, maybe. They really didn't do a great job of explaining either of these things. Instead they spend their time building up the friendship between the main character and his best friend. And these two are really close. Too close. But they are forced into a test where they have to kill a big guy with thier spells? Seriously, no idea what is going on in some of these panels. The inner monologue switches around a lot and the art isn't clear. But they beat him without killing him. So a visiting diplomat finishes the big guy off for them. Why? Who knows. Later he attacks the diplomat because he suddenly gets a repressed memory of his father being killed by said diplomat, I think. He gets tossed in jail. His friend tries to help him escape. He fixes it so his friend can stay with the military and he can be the lone wolf, the solitary eagle, etc. They promise to be friends forever. So that means they'll be fighting each other to the death in the near future. The diplomat attacks him and he crashes into a flying motorcycle or something.

The Verdict
2/5 Tafts. Skip it. The characters are shallow and stock. The art is subpar. And the plot is nonsense so far. Worst of all there are no ghosts!!! If you want to see two friends fight it out read Naruto. It's much more compelling and you can understand what's going on.

 

[Iceshadow]

Tista - This is the story of an assassin who may or may not have connections to the Catholic Church. The assassin also happens to be a young girl named Tista. It's a manga though so that "twist" was to be expected. What I didn't expect from this story that seems at first to be dark and sacriligeous was the charm. And some of that charm comes from her interaction with a young man named Atty. The main character starts off as a very quiet introverted girl as all young female manga assassins do, but not annoyingly so. So there's an edge up on most stories of this type. Anyway when she meets Atty he takes her out of her shell a bit. He actually forces the issue. Atty is an aspiring artist and he lives with the man that raised him after his dad bought the farm. He also works for the very same man at his art gallery. Tista is assigned to kill a bad guy who her handler says is using an art gallery as a front for a drug operation. See where this is going? Yeah, they telegraphed that one a little bit. But the end is executed pretty well.

The Verdict
4/5 Tafts. Give this one a read. The characters are interesting. The art was quite good. And the premise is entertaining and certainly has room to be explored.

I was literally just about to suggest this. I liked it for the reasons you mentioned and agree with the rating. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of gun she uses, it looks like some revolver magnum/rifle hybrid.

07 Ghosts - The premise for this has something to do with an empire and special troops who fight with spells, maybe. They really didn't do a great job of explaining either of these things. Instead they spend their time building up the friendship between the main character and his best friend. And these two are really close. Too close. But they are forced into a test where they have to kill a big guy with thier spells? Seriously, no idea what is going on in some of these panels. The inner monologue switches around a lot and the art isn't clear. But they beat him without killing him. So a visiting diplomat finishes the big guy off for them. Why? Who knows. Later he attacks the diplomat because he suddenly gets a repressed memory of his father being killed by said diplomat, I think. He gets tossed in jail. His friend tries to help him escape. He fixes it so his friend can stay with the military and he can be the lone wolf, the solitary eagle, etc. They promise to be friends forever. So that means they'll be fighting each other to the death in the near future. The diplomat attacks him and he crashes into a flying motorcycle or something.

The Verdict
2/5 Tafts. Skip it. The characters are shallow and stock. The art is subpar. And the plot is nonsense so far. Worst of all there are no ghosts!!! If you want to see two friends fight it out read Naruto. It's much more compelling and you can understand what's going on.

I read this a little while ago, yeah it blows and doesn't get better. The main character gets taken in by a church and it's revealed that 6 of the "ghosts" are priests in the church and are. archangels or something. Meanwhile the art is almost incomprehensible, especially during action scenes.

You might want to check out Dogs, I remember liking it.

 

[McCheese]

I was literally just about to suggest this. I liked it for the reasons you mentioned and agree with the rating. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of gun she uses, it looks like some revolver magnum/rifle hybrid.

I don't know what that gun is, but I want one.

I read this a little while ago, yeah it blows and doesn't get better. The main character gets taken in by a church and it's revealed that 6 of the "ghosts" are priests in the church and are. archangels or something. Meanwhile the art is almost incomprehensible, especially during action scenes.

Oh ghost priests. Makes perfect sense.

You might want to check out Dogs, I remember liking it.

Will do. Look for that in the next installment.

 

[Iceshadow]

New Fullmetal Alchemist is out! **** is about to go down.

 

[McCheese]

New Fullmetal Alchemist is out! **** is about to go down.

It's good. The end is nigh.

 

[Ice]

I finally go tmy Variante vol. 1 manga.

Will read it soon.

 

[Iceshadow]

I finally go tmy Variante vol. 1 manga.

Will read it soon.

God, FINALLY!

 

[Ice]

God, FINALLY!

That's what I said.

But seriously, stupid Diamond screwed up and I had to wait over a month for this. :neutral:

 

[Iceshadow]

That's what I said.

But seriously, stupid Diamond screwed up and I had to wait over a month for this. :neutral:

I ordered Iron Fist in september and am not getting it until this month.

 

[Iceshadow]

I ordered Iron Fist in september and am not getting it until this month.

Ha I got it on my birthday!

 

[Iceshadow]

MCCHEESE!!! What happened to ya's?

 

[McCheese]

I took a week off. Deal with it as you read 2 weeks worth of...

McCheese's Weekly (kinda) Jump Manga Review​

Bleach 300 + 301 - Byakuya vs Blackguy. Blackguy transforms into a big multi-eyed freakshow and uses an attack that takes control of Byakuya's right leg. So what does Byakuya do? He severs the tendons to his own damn leg! This is technically smart because it removes Blackguy's control, but come on. Ouch much? They are interrupted by Hanataro who was unable to keep pace with Byakuya and his flash step. He complains. Byakuya tells him to shut it. Blackguy attacks Hanataro. Byakuya jumps in front of it and loses control of his right arm. He chops at his own limb again and informs Hanataro to move back or he'll get caught in the crossfire. Blackguy commends him for his composure and intelligence, but questions whether it was intelligent to hobble himself before taking on an Espada. Byakuya says that the loss of an arm and a leg are nowhere near enough to bring him down to Blackguy's level. His tune hasn't changed much since his fights with Renji and Ichigo. Black guy informs him that he used two of his eyes in the last attack. Meaning he took control of something else besides Byakuya's arm. The unconscious Rukia attacks Hanataro. Cuts him pretty good too. Byakuya moves to disarm her, but Blackguy orders him to stop and has Rukia hold a sword to her own throat. He demands Byakuya disarm himself. Byakuya complies, but uses the 6 points of whatever attack he used to hold Renji still to do the same to Rukia's body. His sister now safe he picks up his sword and drops it back into the ground to summon his Bankai. Blackguy attempts to take control of the blades. Byakuya tells him it's pointless. He only has 50 eyes, but Byakuya's blades blot out the sun. He attacks. When did this series get good again?

4/5 Limb Chopping Nutbars

Naruto 378 + 379 - Jiraiya realizes that with his multiple vantage points Pein has the advantage. In addition his fat body took out most of Jiraiya's ninjutsu. So Jiraiya decides to hoof it out of there and escapes into a tunnel. He and the toads come up with a plan to use a powerful Genjutsu. Jiraiya leads them into a trap and disables two of the bodies before landing the Genjutsu on the third. The genjutsu is pretty cool. It uses sound to paralyze every muscle in the body. Except apparently the mouth since Pein is still talking. Jiraiya attacks and sticks a giant sword in the chest of each of Pein's bodies. Jiraiya seems to think putting a sword through someone's chest is fatal. Silly old man. Pein attacks him from behind. Jiraiya loses an arm and gets chased outside. Now he's facing off against six bodies and he's down one arm. Oh and three of those bodies are the same ones he was fighting. They now appear completely uninjured. Jiraiya is so screwed.

3.5/5 One Armed Sannins

One Piece - One Piece decided to take it easy on me so they didn't put out a new one this week. Luffy uses his power boost to beat the ever living crap out of Oz. That's it. 18 pages of Luffy kicking ***. He finishes with a Gomu Gomu no Thunderstorm. It appears to knock out both Oz and Moria, but probably not. The 19th page is Luffy losing all his shadows and everyone marveling at what he's done.

4/5 Unbeatable Super Luffys

 

[Iceshadow]

I took a week off. Deal with it as you read 2 weeks worth of...

McCheese's Weekly (kinda) Jump Manga Review​

Thank God, withdrawal sucks ***. So cold...so cold....

Bleach 300 + 301 - Byakuya vs Blackguy. Blackguy transforms into a big multi-eyed freakshow and uses an attack that takes control of Byakuya's right leg. So what does Byakuya do? He severs the tendons to his own damn leg! This is technically smart because it removes Blackguy's control, but come on. Ouch much? They are interrupted by Hanataro who was unable to keep pace with Byakuya and his flash step. He complains. Byakuya tells him to shut it. Blackguy attacks Hanataro. Byakuya jumps in front of it and loses control of his right arm. He chops at his own limb again and informs Hanataro to move back or he'll get caught in the crossfire. Blackguy commends him for his composure and intelligence, but questions whether it was intelligent to hobble himself before taking on an Espada. Byakuya says that the loss of an arm and a leg are nowhere near enough to bring him down to Blackguy's level. His tune hasn't changed much since his fights with Renji and Ichigo. Black guy informs him that he used two of his eyes in the last attack. Meaning he took control of something else besides Byakuya's arm. The unconscious Rukia attacks Hanataro. Cuts him pretty good too. Byakuya moves to disarm her, but Blackguy orders him to stop and has Rukia hold a sword to her own throat. He demands Byakuya disarm himself. Byakuya complies, but uses the 6 points of whatever attack he used to hold Renji still to do the same to Rukia's body. His sister now safe he picks up his sword and drops it back into the ground to summon his Bankai. Blackguy attempts to take control of the blades. Byakuya tells him it's pointless. He only has 50 eyes, but Byakuya's blades blot out the sun. He attacks. When did this series get good again?

4/5 Limb Chopping Nutbars

What a hard ***. The only thing better would be if Byakuya was smoking a cigarette while *****ing the Espada.

Naruto 378 + 379 - Jiraiya realizes that with his multiple vantage points Pein has the advantage. In addition his fat body took out most of Jiraiya's ninjutsu. So Jiraiya decides to hoof it out of there and escapes into a tunnel. He and the toads come up with a plan to use a powerful Genjutsu. Jiraiya leads them into a trap and disables two of the bodies before landing the Genjutsu on the third. The genjutsu is pretty cool. It uses sound to paralyze every muscle in the body. Except apparently the mouth since Pein is still talking. Jiraiya attacks and sticks a giant sword in the chest of each of Pein's bodies. Jiraiya seems to think putting a sword through someone's chest is fatal. Silly old man. Pein attacks him from behind. Jiraiya loses an arm and gets chased outside. Now he's facing off against six bodies and he's down one arm. Oh and three of those bodies are the same ones he was fighting. They now appear completely uninjured. Jiraiya is so screwed.

3.5/5 One Armed Sannins

I can only think of all the Pein/Konan fanfictions popping up that are gonna have him running a train on her by himself/himselves. :sick:

One Piece - One Piece decided to take it easy on me so they didn't put out a new one this week. Luffy uses his power boost to beat the ever living crap out of Oz. That's it. 18 pages of Luffy kicking ***. He finishes with a Gomu Gomu no Thunderstorm. It appears to knock out both Oz and Moria, but probably not. The 19th page is Luffy losing all his shadows and everyone marveling at what he's done.

4/5 Unbeatable Super Luffys

Definitely a cool chapter, but it seems kind of a quick end to Moira and Oz. Well there's still Bartholomew Kuma to worry about.

 

[McCheese]

There is no escape from...

McCheese's Weekly Jump Manga Review​

Warning: The sheer awesomeness of this week might blow your brain out!

Bleach - Byakuya taunts the espada he just attacked. The espada protected himself in his wierd looking butt-thing. He is quite angry. He attempts to gain control of Byakuya again. Byakuya puts up a barrier and blocks Blackguy's attack. Blackguy flips out and shoots his control beam thing repeatedly. Unfortunately for him Byakuya has already flashstepped behind him. Blackguy babbles incoherently about how the Shinigami have no right to kill hollows. He says that they think it's some kind of divine right to do this. Byakuya interrupts his rant to cut him in half and tell him that he didn't kill Blackguy for any other reason then he dared to attack his superior. Blackguy dies quoting Mr. Spock. SRSLY. Elsewhere Nerdguy laughs at Mayuri who is on his knees panting. God Mayuri is useless.

4/5 Dead Spocks

Naruto - Jiraiya recognizes one of Pein's bodies. The one he used to deal with Akatsuki was Yahiko (I think. Is that the right name?), one of Jiraiya's former students. Jiraiya asks Pein about it. He confirms that it was Yahiko's body, but now he's dead. Jiraiya wonders how it's possible that these 6 bodies have the Rinnengan. Pein attacks. In the Leaf village Tsunade's assistant tries to comfort her by saying Jiraiya will be back soon. Tsunade informs her that she's betting against it because of her terrible luck. Her inner monologue seems to indicate that if Jiraiya survives this he'll be getting some Hokage booty. Good for him. Elsewhere Sasuke's team is met by Kisame who tells him that Itachi wants him to go ahead alone. Sasuke is fine with that. He leaves Kisame alone with his team. Suigetsu chats with Kisame who doesn't recognize him at first. The two whip out their swords and prepare to duel. Sidenote: I'd bet money that Suigetsu is going to turn on his teammates here and he and Kisame will fight Karin and the Biggin 2-on-2. Elsewhere again the Konoha 8 are met by TOBI!!! Oh, how I've missed Tobi! Tobi is acting like his usual carefree self as he mentions how wierd it is to run into them like this. They chat for a while before a shadow clone of Naruto attacks Tobi from behind with a Rasengan. Tobi screams out in pain before Naruto passes right through him and Tobi says "NOT!" Awesome. Elsewhere again Itachi greets his brother and asks him what his Sharingan sees. Sasuke tells him that it sees Itachi dead. 3 new fights that I can't wait to see. And now I'm much more interested in Pein vs Jiraiya than I was last chapter. Naruto rocked the house this time out.

5/5 Ghost Tobis

One Piece - Oz isn't dead yet. Not surprising. He gets up and the wierdo pirates flip out, but the Mugiwaras are already up and plotting his demise. They work together to freeze Oz in place, chain him to the ship, straighten out his spine, and then Luffy delivers the final blow. He smashes Oz's face and snaps his straightened spine in several places. Down goes Oz! Down goes Oz! Next issue the Mugiwaras attempt to get their shadows back.

4.5/5 Slightly Deader Zombie Giants

 

[Iceshadow]

This was a good week. Tobi is awesome, and Byakuya is still a badass.

Also, Mayuri's hat is stupid...well stupider.

 

[Iceshadow]

Over the weekend I read Ruroni Kenshin, it was pretty good but towards the end the fights got a little stale. It was interesting how many Marvel characters the author used as the basis for designing his character. It was an enjoyable enough read with a satisfying ending and good art, but the author is kind of an emo. 4/5

Also, tonight I started on Pluto, and so far I love it.

Pluto (プルートウ, ?) is an on-going manga serial by Naoki Urasawa published in Big Comic Original starting in 2003. It is based upon events from the classic series by Osamu Tezuka, Tetsuwan Atom (a.k.a Astro Boy, literally Iron-Arm Atom). Specifically, the series uses the characters and original story from the popular "Chijou saidai no ROBOTTO" ("The World's Strongest Robot", Dark Horse's version: "The Greatest Robot on Earth") storyline from the 3rd volume of the manga (as well as a few elements from the 2003 anime series version of the storyline with bits and pieces added from other stories by Tezuka) and reinterprets the plot as a murder mystery and noirish suspense thriller. In terms of both tone and visual style, the series is a complete and modern re-envisioning of the Astro Boy universe dissimilar to the original manga.

The manga has a very Blade Runner feel to it (with splashes of I, Robot) and the plot is this:

The main character of the series, rather than being Atom, is the Europol robot detective Gesicht and his attempts to capture a powerful killer in Germany who is attacking both humans and robot with no apparent motives. The case becomes much more puzzling when evidence leans toward the murders being the work of a robot, which is something that hasn't happened for eight years.

The art and story are both top notch so far, and Atom (Astro Boy) and Gesicht are both awesome. My only complaint is that there isn't too much fighting (most takes place off panel), but that wouldn't fit to well with the tone of the book. 4.5/5 (I took points off because of one chapter that dragged it's feet a bit)

 

[Ultimate Houde]

Why do I enjoy Prince of Tennis?

WHY!