Manga Reviews

[Review] Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal Edition Vol. 1

Since Sailor Moon first sparked a generation of magical girl-loving readers, it’s been released quite a few times in the West, from Tokyopop’s original MixxZine editions in 1998 to Kodansha’s reprinted and restored Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. Now Moonies have a chance to read the …Read more »

Queen’s Quality Vol. 1 [Review]

February 11, 2018

Che Gilson

Queen’s Quality is a sequel to QQ Sweeper and isn’t the best place to jump on board. If you haven’t read the previous series, it’s hard to catch up on the plot or get invested in the characters. While Motomi does a decent job of …Read more »

Gabriel Dropout Vol. 1 [Review]

February 10, 2018

Shaenon K. Garrity

Fresh out of angel school, Gabriel is sent to Earth to help humanity. Once there, she becomes seduced by the pleasures of the flesh: playing video games, watching anime, eating instant ramen, and not bathing. In no time, she’s skipping out on her angel duties …Read more »

Takane & Hana Vol. 1 [Review]

February 7, 2018

Che Gilson

When Hana fills in for her older sister at an arranged marriage meeting, she’s introduced to Takane, obnoxious scion of the Takaba Group, a massive corporate conglomerate that can shake the economy with one word. After Takane insults Hana, she tosses her wig at him …Read more »

Hybrid x Heart Vol. 1 [Review]

February 4, 2018

Brittany Vincent

Hybrid x Heart is an unfortunate case of “what you see is what you get” when it comes to titillating manga. It features fantastic art and incredibly detailed costumes, but its overarching narrative is as flat as its protagonists’ chests are inflated. While there’s nothing …Read more »

No Game No Life, Please! [Review]

February 3, 2018

Jason Bradley Thompson

In Disboard, a fantasy world of vampires, angels and beastfolk, all disputes are solved by games instead of violence. Izuna, an eight-year-old girl with a fox tail and fox ears, is the ambassador from the beastfolk to the human kingdom of Elkia, presently ruled by …Read more »

Beasts of Abigaile [Review]

January 31, 2018

Che Gilson

Romance, roses, cute guys, cute girls, werewolves, and an oppressive social order begging to be taken down! Beasts of Abigaile has just about everything you could ask for in a shojo manga. Yes, the werewolf angle is just an excuse to draw ears and tails …Read more »

[Review] Captain Harlock Space Pirate: Dimensional Voyage

January 28, 2018

Daryl Surat

I commend Seven Seas Entertainment for releasing the original Space Pirate Captain Harlock by Leiji Matsumoto, but perhaps Matsumoto’s art style and loose approach to continuity may feel too “old fashioned” to new fans. Harlock is ideal for a remake, but the various anime (and …Read more »

Nirvana Vol. 1 [Review]

January 27, 2018

Che Gilson

Yachiyo Hitotose has an altruistic streak a mile wide. When she gets the chance to volunteer overseas, Yachiyo jumps at the chance. Unfortunately, her airplane goes down in a fiery blaze. Fortunately, she wakes up in another world. Yup, Nirvana is a portal fantasy. But …Read more »

Rose Guns Days Season 3 [Review]

January 24, 2018

Jason Bradley Thompson

In an alternate-universe 1949, Japan is even more devastated by World War II than in our universe, and hordes of Chinese and American immigrants move into the depopulated country after the war. Native Japanese find themselves a minority in their own homeland; most adopt English …Read more »

[Review] Chibi Sasuke’s Sharingan Legend

December 30, 2017

Brittany Vincent

When you think of the funniest characters in Naruto, Sasuke—the brooding loner whose mission in life was to kill his brother Itachi—probably doesn’t come to mind. But Rock Lee already had his own comedy spinoff manga, so now it’s Sasuke’s turn! As in the original …Read more »

Neo Parasyte M [Review]

December 17, 2017

Shaenon K. Garrity

Last year, Kodansha published the English edition of Neo Parasyte F, a collection of manga tributes to the legendary horror manga Parasyte. All the contributors to Neo Parasyte F were shojo manga artists, and it was fun (not to mention bizarre) to see cute shojo …Read more »

To Your Eternity [Review]

December 13, 2017

Shaenon K. Garrity

The thing lands on a prehistoric world. It’s a probe, sent by some kind of alien intelligence, but organic and alive. It can take any shape, though it needs practice. It’s indestructible. It becomes a wolf, then a boy. It dies over and over. Very …Read more »

Red Colored Elegy [Review]

December 10, 2017

Evan Minto

Seiichi Hayashi might be one of the most famous manga artists you’ve never heard of. Not only was he a prominent member of the avant-garde art movements of the 1960s and 1970s, but Hayashi also made “geki-ga,” comics that rebelled against kid-friendly manga. Red Colored …Read more »

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card [Review]

December 2, 2017

Shaenon K. Garrity

Over the past decade, superstar manga team CLAMP has been revisiting its older work, reviving xxxHolic, Legal Drug, and now its iconic 1990s magical girl series Cardcaptor Sakura. Sakura and her friends, originally elementary schoolers, are now in junior high but still cute as buttons. …Read more »