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Manga Review: Yotsuba&! volume 3

 

 



Yotsuba&!
is a comedic slice of life series by manga-ka Kiyohiko Azuma, also known for her famous 4-koma series Azumanga Daioh. It follows the trials and tribulations of one Yotsuba Koiwai, an oddball of a five-year-old girl who lives with her equally weird adoptive father, Mr. Koiwai (usually referred to as "Dad"), who translates things for a living. Every chapter follows Yotsuba as she embarks on a different adventure, usually bumping into the other characters that make up her town, from the loud but romantically awkward Jumbo to the Ayase family that lives next door.

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Manga Review: Battle Angel Alita: Last Order volume 12


Battle Angel Alita: Last Order is the alternative path to the ending of the Battle Angel Alita series.  Alita has regenerated herself into the world of combat.  In Volume 12, with her companions, she changes the Z.O.T.T. and exposes some of the Government's dark secrets.

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Manga Review: What a Wonderful World! 1



What a Wonderful World!
is a compilation of 9 tracks or short stories that chronicle a turning point in the life of young adults. All of these tracks deal with characters that live on the fringe of society. They range from middle school outcast, to college dropout musician, to struggling manga artist. Inio Asano takes us through a series of events that cover the depressing to humorous times in life all captured in the urban setting that shows the oppressive tendencies that come with inner city life.

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Manga Review: The Prince of Tennis – Volume 34


The Prince of Tennis is a shōnen sports action-comedy manga. The story centers around Ryoma Echizen, a prodigal tennis player at Seishun Academy whose ultimate goal is winning the National Middle School Tennis Championship. While the series focuses on Ryoma, it also chronicles the path of his club, especially those that play pairs, as Ryoma tends to play singles.

Manga Review: Rin-ne Vol 1

 



Rin-ne is the newest manga by Rumiko Takahashi, the creator of Ranma ½ and Inuyasha. In the series, Sakura Mamiya is a young high school student with an unusual ability; she can see ghosts. When one of her classmates is revealed to be a “sort of” Shinigami, she starts to have all sorts of strange supernatural adventures… and it all seems to be related to the time she got lost as a child and saw something very unusual.

 

Manga Review: Viz – 20th Century Boys

Naoki Urasawa, acclaimed manga artist for decades, is back with another thriller in 20th Century Boys. When Kenji was a boy during the 1960s he had dreams like any other kid. He watched the moon landing in 1969 and wanted to be an astronaut. He read comic books and wanted superpowers to save the day. He wanted to be tough enough to be able to beat up the bigger kids who picked on him. But most of all he listened to rock and roll, and wanted to be a rock star. Kenji's friends have the same ideas, and, one summer, they decide to create the Book of Prophecy, a picture book starring themselves as nine warriors who rise up to defend the Earth from the amorphous League of Evil, who are planning to bring the end of the world on December 31, 2000.

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Manga Review: Magic Touch – Volume 4


Magic Touch is a shōjo romance-comedy centered around the high school romance of Chiaki Togu, a cute and shy girl and member of a club, the Massage Research Society, who falls in love with Yosuke, the hottest guy in school, after seeing his back and wanting to massage it. Volume 4 continues to develop the romance between Chiaki and Yosuke, add some more comedic chapters as well as develop some of the side characters.

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Manga Review: KimiKiss Vol. 2

KimiKiss Volume 2, is a one shot love story that follows the gradual relationship between Kouichi and Asuka.  Kouichi has been noticing that there are a lot of couples around school lately.  Almost everyone around him is in some sort of relationship, except for him.  That's when he gets hit in the head with a soccer ball of love, which is kicked by the smokin' Asuka.

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Manga Review: Knights of the Zodiac – Volume 27

Knights of the Zodiac, also known as  Saint Seiya, is an epic shonen adventure based very loosely on Greek mythology with a Japanese twist. The story follow five warriors who fight wearing sacred golden cloths based of five of the zodiac constellations. They fight to protect the reincarnation of the goddess Athena from the other Olympian gods trying to dominate earth in an endless struggle as she is continually reborn throughout the ages. Knights of the Zodiac tells the story of her 20th-century incarnation.

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Manga Review: Samurai Harem: Asu no Yoichi – Volume 2


Samurai Harem: Asu no Yoichi is a shonen action-comedy manga with a heavy dose of romantic undertones about a young perverted samurai, Yoichi Karasuma, who is sent off by his father for outclassing him at such a young age. Yoichi ends up living as a freeloader at the Ikaruga Dojo run by four young sisters: Ibuki, Ayame, Chihaya and Kagome Ikaruga. Being raised as a traditional samurai in the ways of feudal Japan his dress and mannerisms attract a lot of attention and he is at first an unwelcome guest, but eventually is allowed to stay.

Manga Review: Chibi Vampire, Vol. 14

Chibi Vampire Vol. 14 is the last installment to the Chibi Vampire series.  Karin Maaka is not a  normal vampire.  Instead of taking blood from her victims, she gives them blood.  Kenta Usui is a human who has had a lot of depressing things happen in his life.  The two make an awkward couple, and there are plenty of things that are in their way for a successful relationship.

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