Punch volume 1

December 27, 2008 at 5|40|pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: , , ,

Title: PUNCH volume 1
Author: Rie Takada
Rating: Older Teen

Elle’s the granddaughter of a Muay Thai boxing champ set to inherit his dojo and marry his best friend’s son.  The problem?  Elle wants nothing to do with fighting.  While the other girls growing up were playing house, she was watching the boys beat eachother up, and she hates it.  All she wants is a normal relationship with a guy who ISN’T her betrothed, Ruo, a long-haired fighting champ trained by all the best coaches.

When Elle meets Kazuki by chance, he catches her eye with his gorgeous face – and then with his rough attitude.  It turns out this guy she thought she might like is a street fighter who’ll mess up anyone in his way.  It only complicates matters when she blurts out his name to Ruo, and it gets worse from there.  What’s a girl to do?

I love Rie Takada’s art style and her chibis are to die for, totally expressive and cute in an offbeat way (I especially liked chibi!Grandpa with his eyepatch.)  The writing’s sharp and definitely shojo-y.  And the heroine isn’t particularly doormat-like either.  I was cracked up by Takada’s Gaba Kawa in Shojo Beat, and Punch doesn’t disappoint.  It’s an above-average shojo manga in a line that’s been rather disappointing lately.  Nice liscensing, SB.

Art – 8/10
Story – 7/10
Extras – None
Overall – A fluffy, fun shojo manga… although what was with the bath scene?

My 5 Favorite Sad Moments in Manga

December 21, 2008 at 7|36|pm | In Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Tags: ,

Here are five scenes from manga that’ve caused me to get teary-eyed – and this is by no means the full list.  I’m overemotional by nature, but at least these are some that literally made me cry.  (There are many, many more FMA moments that belong on this list, but I’m too lazy to make another.)

5. Fullmetal Alchemist volume 2.  When we first met the adorable pigtailed Nina in volume 2 of Fullmetal Alchemist, it was hard not to fall in love with her and her dog, Alexander.  But she doesn’t stay adorable – or human – for long… and it’s all because of her father, the “sewing-life alchemist” Shou Tucker.  Asshole.

4. Sand Chronicles volume 3.  Ann and Daigo were the most realistic, believable couple in any Shojo Beat series, ever, but did things have to end this realistically?  Ann’s still shaken from the loss of her mother, and when Daigo tries to comfort her, she lashes out at him, saying that the last time he told her things would be okay, it was right before her mother’s death.  Grab the tissues.

3. Fruits Basket volume 16.  Before this volume, very little was known about Tohru Honda’s father, Katsuya.  A flashback to when Katsuya and Kyoko first met gives us all we need to know – but that’s all I can tell you.  The spoilers are too great, and the chapter really works its magic best if you go in not knowing what will happen.

2. Bleach volume 20.  We all thought Sosuke Aizen was SUCH A GOOD GUY.  With his loving demeanor towards his subordinates and his kindly face, he could do no wrong.  And then he died, or so it seemed… until he revealed that HE WAS ALIVE ALL ALONG.  But the real shocker came when he stabbed his loyal lieutenant, Momo Hinamori, in the back (well, okay, the chest.  But you get the idea.)  It just wasn’t fair.

1. Fullmetal Alchemist volume 4.  Now here’s the awful one.  EVERYBODY loved Maes Hughes, the devoted father and high-ranking member of the military.  So when he was killed – in an incredibly brutal, almost hard to read about way (one word: shapeshifter!) – it was like a punch straight to the gut.  And this is why I love the series, really – some scenes just hurt to read, but you can’t put the damn book down.

Genshiken review

November 18, 2008 at 4|54|pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: , ,

Don’t get me wrong. Genshiken is not a manga that non-otaku can pick up and immediately fall in love with. It isn’t meant for people who can’t laugh at their own nerdiness, either. So what exactly is this little 9-volume series for?
Nerds, plain and simple. It’s the only answer. Who but a nerd would want to read ALL ABOUT NERDS? Doing nerdy things and saying nerdy words (ooh, that rhymes!)?
Yup. Nerds.
Now that I have got that “nerd” overload outta my system… basically, Genshiken is about a confused college freshman with about 0.2% of a life. Yes, ladies and gents, meet Kanji Sasahara, who’s looking for a club to join as the new year begins. His choice? The “Genshiken,” aka the Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, which consists of about three people. (Of course, he could have just joined the much bigger and better-funded Anime or Manga clubs, but where’s the fun in that?)
Another new member of the Genshiken is Kousaka, who’s even more of a geek than Kanji yes, it is actually possible and his friend/kinda girlfriend Saki, who is dragged along and hates EVERY SECOND OF IT.

Basically: this manga is hilarious if, like me, you are a high school/college aged otaku who doesn’t mind laughing at themselves.  The characters are actually very real, and every otaku can find something that they relate to.  (Oguie’s shame about her fangirlishness made me go, “Whoa, that’s me!”)  And… okay, it can get a leetle bit… 16+ at times (well, it does have a rating on it!) but honestly, that’s just how real college students act.  Get used to it.  And get ready to laugh your butt off! (No, I’m not quoting that Nerima Daikon Brothers preview)

EDIT: By the way, I took a quiz about Genshiken.  Apparently I’m most like Ohno-san.

… Success!!!  I was scared they’d say I was Madarame-kun.

Madame Otaku In The News!

October 30, 2008 at 4|47|pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: , ,

“On an overcast Saturday afternoon at the spacious new Phantom of the Attic in Oakland, two young girls chatted happily as they approached the counter. Zoe Taeger, 13, of Morningside and Katie Davidson, 14, of Troy Hill found what they were looking for. Davidson was about to become the proud owner of the latest installment of Tite Kubo’s “Bleach,” an ongoing Japanese graphic novel about a teenager who sees ghosts.”

Actually, it wasn’t the latest installment, it was only volume twenty.  Still, you can read the rest of the article at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08303/923535-42.stm.

I feel loved ^^

 

In other news, here’s my anime-watching progress:

 + got bored after watching 2.5 eps of .hack//SIGN

 + finished watching ROD the TV, which didn’t measure up to the OVA’s brilliance but was still entertaining

 + reached episode 10 of Trigun, and only loves Vash more.

That’s all for now!  Thanks for reading my blog, y’all.

-Kate (Madame Otaku)

The Manga (and Anime) Commandments

October 21, 2008 at 3|51|pm | In Uncategorized | 5 Comments
Tags: , ,

Inspired by many, many lists of “shojo/shonen cliches” made by my fellow otaku, I have decided to post my Ten Manga (and Anime) Commandments.  What are these, you ask?  Just ten rules that I think all manga should follow.

1) Thou shalt not have a doormat as thou’s shojo heroine, unless thou intends to change her.  Hot Gimmick, anyone?  (Haven’t read this, but I’ve heard enough about Hatsumi or whatever her name is… *shiver shiver*)  Seriously, we don’t want to read about a totally passive, totally limp girl who just takes whatever s*** is doled out to her.  Even Makino from Boys Over Flowers eventually fell prey to this stupid stereotype (the damn girl almost got killed, like, five times!  Show some backbone like you did in Volume Two!)  Why can’t we have more heroines like, say, Ouran High School Host Club’s Haruhi?

2) Thou shalt not be overly dramatic in thy lines.  “Bohaha!  I shall defeat you now!  Feel the rumbling of my power!”  Enough of that.  Seriously.  Tone it down a little, okay?  (Kishimoto-san, this means you.)

3) Thou shalt not use overly long spells, also.  I almost threw my copy of Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicle across the room when everybody started using, like, fifty-word-long spells with dragons in ‘em.  This is totally ridiculous, people.  It was bad enough with Rukia’s weird kido at the beginning of Bleach…

4) Thou shalt put in hilarious omake and 4koma.  Arina Tanemura does this brilliantly- her manga is always stuffed with great sidebars, explanations about chapter illustrations, and four-panel comics that nearly always make me bust a gut laughing.  “Yami-nabe!”

5) Thou shalt not go on and on and on and on and on with a series that could have ended earlier and that wasn’t even that great.  Did we really need thirty-plus volumes of Naruto?  NO.  NO WE DIDN’T.  If the library in my town wasn’t so busy ordering volumes of the ever-popular ninja series, we could get some Honey and Clover or something.  Even better, we could subscribe to Yen Press.

6) Thou shalt not write AzuDai yuri (or at least keep it PG.)  This isn’t so much a manga commandment as a fandom/doujin/fanfic commandment.  But I am totally dead serious about this: if anybody dares to smut-ify one of the sweetest series around, ’specially if Chiyo is involved (she’s eleven!  Jesus, people!)  In other words, don’t do it.  Or the Sleep Is For The Weak people will hunt you down with a big-ass hammer

7) THOU SHALT STOP CASTING JOHNNY YONG BOSCH  Yes, he’s pretty amazing as Ichigo in Bleach, and he’s great as Vash in Trigun.  But from what I hear, he pretty much failed as Lelouch in Code Geass.  I understand that there isn’t exactly a huge amount of voice talent but geez.  Also… Vic Mignona as OHSHC’s Tamaki?  LOLWUT?  Edward Elric (awesome exploding metallic alchemist angst boy) =/= Tamaki Suoh (spoiled, over-the-top, still extremely awesome rich boy who thinks Haruhi is his daughter).  NEW CHOICE PLEASE.

8] Thou shalt not give every character a FREAKING FOOD OBSESSION!  L and his cake, Mello and his chocolate, Vash and his doughnuts, CC and her pizza, Tohru and riceballs wait, that’s not right 

9) Thou shalt not ever, ever, ever remake FLCL or Hartley and I will run you over with a yellow Vespa.  (Not that I ever heard of such a thing but, hey, you never know.)

10) Thou not make your main characters whiney, depressed emo idiots.  Shinji Ikari, I’m looking at you.  Get some anti-depressants, please?

Bleach: Not Just For Washing Your Clothes, Anymore

July 31, 2008 at 2|28|pm | In Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Tags: , ,

bleach_urahara0187.jpg image by kissablexlies
Translation: “Read Bleach or I’ll poke you with a big stick!  Seriously!”

Jacket Copy:

Ichigo Kurosaki has always been able to see ghosts, but this ability doesn’t change his life nearly as much as his close encounter with Rukia Kuchiki, a Soul Reaper and member of the mysterious Soul Society. While fighting a Hollow, an evil spirit that preys on humans who display psychic energy, Rukia attempts to lend Ichigo some of her powers so that he can save his family. Much to her surprise, Ichigo absorbs every last drop of her energy. Now a full-fledged Soul Reaper himself, Ichigo quickly learns that the world he inhabits is one full of dangerous spirits and, along with Rukia—who is slowly regaining her powers—it’s Ichigo’s job to protect the innocent from Hollows and help the spirits themselves find peace.

—

While Tite Kubo’s smash-hit manga Bleach is published by VIZ’s Shonen Jump line, which to me is full of manga that follow the same formulaic plot (Unlikely boy hero wants to be best [ninja/samurai/tennis player] in the land,) even if it does run into a whole lotta cliches, somehow it all seems new when you pick up the first volume.

Here’s what I love so much about the ten volumes of Bleach I’ve read so far:

1) Character design.  The looks of all the characters are completely different.  You know in some manga how you can’t freakin’ tell half the guys apart?  Thankfully, that doesn’t happen in Bleach.  Every character has something you’ve just never seen before.  Uryu’s awesome asymmetrical hair, Renji’s weird eyebrows, and a guy who’s followed around by a giant pig… and let’s not even get into the fact that the “Rukia Rescue Squad”’s leader is a freakin’ cat.

2) Really cool stuff.  Explosions!  Big scary monsters!  Toys running around in cosplay!  Oh my!

3) Most of all… there are some truly emotional moments in Bleach that I wasn’t expecting.  The flashback to Ichigo’s mother’s death, for one, was drawn really well and fit in so well with the story.  Another scene I really loved was when Orihime thought about how Tatsuki had protected her throughout the years and knew she had to save her this time.  And it’s interesting seeing inside the workings of Rukia’s mind when she starts wondering if maybe she’s developing “human” feelings, like friendship, jealousy, fear…

All in all, Bleach is a really great manga.  It’s funny, action-packed, emotional, explosive-y, sword-y, and just generally awesome.  If you haven’t picked it up by now, go down to the local library and ask for a copy of volume one today.

Warning: May cause uncontrollable urges to scream “Sooooul caaaaandy!” at Pez dispensers.

Azumanga Daioh

July 30, 2008 at 7|50|pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: , ,

It’s amazing when you look closely at Azumanga Daioh, just how different it is from other school comedies.

For instance, there is no adorable blushy love triangle.

There are no incidents of girls having to be carried to the nurse’s office.

And there are no paranormal twists such as seeing the past (Land of the Blindfolded), leading past lives (Please Save My Earth), or having a robotic lover (*shudder* Absolute Boyfriend).

Instead, you’ve got a main cast of six girls and two teachers, very talented pigtails, a stuffed cat dressed as Santa, very bad hiccups, and…

Well.  I could go on forever with this mysterious, catchy-sounding review blah blah blah, but I know most of you want me to get straight to the story.

Basically, Azumanga Daioh is about eight main characters.  There’s the fanatical English teacher Miss Yukari, who throws chalk at students more often than she teaches them.  Her complete opposite is her best friend Nyamo, the gym teacher, who’s more easy-going and definitely a lot smarter.  Their students include: Tomo, the most annoying girl you’ll ever meet (but really, you’ve got to love her); Yomi, a studious brunette with glasses and a fixation on her weight; diminuitive little Chiyo-chan, ten years old and already starting high school; Kagura, whose athleticism is nearly unsurpassed; Sakaki, who looks tough and hard but really only wants a cuddly plushie; and Osaka, who dreams about flying and giant cat plushies when she should be paying attention in class.

Sound confusing?  It is, a little.  But it’s goddamn funny.  Almost every page made me laugh out loud, and the ones that didn’t made me smile.  There are even some moments that made me go, “Aww,” and wish for a friendship like the ones the girls share, like the scene at the graduation ceremony or their winter outing to karaoke and dinner (cut short by a very rude appearance by… well… I won’t tell you yet.)

You know how some reviewers say that a manga isn’t for everyone?  I’m not going to tell you that.  I’m going to say that Azumanga Daioh is a must-read for any manga fan out there.  Because no matter what genre you like, how old you are, or how much you hate hate hate teenaged girls in school uniforms, this manga will definitely bring a smile to your face.

And if it doesn’t?  Well, fuhgeddaboudit.

« Previous Page

Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.