GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, Vol. 1

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GTO: 14 Days in Shonan is loud and silly, the kind of manga in which the slightest misunderstanding between characters escalates into shouting matches, bone-crunching violence, or incarceration (or all three). It’s the kind of manga in which the hero is over-confident to the point of being dumb. And it’s the kind of manga in [...]

Yakuza Cafe

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Yakuza Cafe is a pleasant surprise, a cheerful, smutty send-up of gangster manga that playfully mocks maid cafes, foodie manga, and yakuza culture. The titular gangsters are the Fujimaki Clan, a once-feared crime syndicate who’ve launched a legitimate business: a yakuza-themed cafe, staffed by the clan’s former foot soldiers. Though the food is tasty, and [...]

Hyakusho Kizoku, Vol. 1

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Drawn in a loose, improvisational style, Hiromu Arakawa’s Hyakusho Kizuko may remind readers of the gag strips that round out every volume of her wildly successful Fullmetal Alchemist. That’s not a knock on Hyakusho, by the way; like her fellow sister-in-shonen Yellow Tanabe, Arakawa’s omake are every bit as entertaining as her more polished stories, [...]

Moon and Blood, Vol. 1

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If Rumiko Takahashi and Kaoru Tada collaborated on a manga, the results might look a lot like Nao Yazawa’s Moon and Blood, a cheerful mish-mash of slapstick humor, romance, and light horror. Sayaka, the protagonist, walks into her kitchen one morning to discover that a handsome, imperious teenager named Kai has taken up residence with [...]

Short Takes: Toradora! and Vampire Cheerleaders

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This week’s column focuses on two new titles from the Seven Seas catalog. The first, Toradora!, is a romantic comedy based on Yuyuko Takemiya’s popular light novel series; the second, Vampire Cheerleaders, reunites Aoi House artist Shiei with writer Adam Arnold, this time for a comic horror story about a cheer squad with a very [...]

Short Takes: The Beautiful Skies of Houou High and Replica

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It’s easy to forget that DMP publishes more than just romance; after all, they have the largest catalog of ladies’ comics and yaoi of any publisher in the US. But DMP is also home to Vampire Hunter D, Itazura na Kiss, Project X: Cup Noodle, Alice the 101st, Speed Racer, and dozens of other titles [...]

Short Takes: Genkaku Picasso, House of Five Leaves, and 7 Billion Needles

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It’s time for another round of Second Takes, in which I revisit series that had promising debut volumes. First up is Genkaku Picasso (VIZ), a surreal farce about a teen who can see the darkness in other people’s hearts; next is House of Five Leaves (VIZ), a costume drama about a ronin who falls in [...]

Short Takes: Dragon Girl and Mistress Fortune

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Lou Grant may have famously told Mary Richards, “I hate spunk!,” but I have a special fondness for plucky heroines, those ladies whose confidence, determination, and unrelenting optimism compel them to save the school drama club or bag a cute boy. I’m not an indiscriminate fan of spunk, however: I strongly prefer stories in which [...]

The Best Manga You’re Not Reading: Gun Blaze West

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Let me begin this review with a disclaimer: Ken Burns would not approve of the historical liberties taken by Gun Blaze West creator Nobuhiro Watsuki. The dialogue, for example: the characters speak in a distinctly modern patois, filled with phrases never uttered by Sitting Bull or General Custer. The scenery, for another: verdant Eastern forests [...]

Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy!

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My Dinner With Fumi: that’s what I would have called the English-language edition of Not Love But Delicious Foods Make Me So Happy! The fifteen stories contained within this slim volume celebrate good food and good conversation, documenting Yoshinaga’s interactions with friends, assistants, and fellow artists at real restaurants around Tokyo. No culinary stone goes [...]