The cruelty continues in volume two of The Flowers of Evil , by Shuzo Oshimi ( Drifting Net Cafe ). Pure, unadulterated elation mixes potently with a maddening telltale heart as Kasuga embarks on a dream date with his school crush, Saeki. Despite all the …Read more »
Oddly enough, the third volume of Toru Fujisawa's GTO: 14 Days in Shonan turned out to be a perfect Father's Day read, because it kicks off with the resolution of the storyline that finds former troublemaker Miki Katsuragi reconnecting with her dad. Everything's rosy at …Read more »
Beyond the specifics, The Flowers of Evil will probably contain at least some aspects of life to which most can relate. Takao Kasuga is a middle-schooler who isn't quite like his peers. He keeps to himself, finding joys in leisure-time entertainment others around him would …Read more »
Maria Kawai, the lead character of A Devil and Her Love Song , remains an enigma for the first volume. She’s been expelled from her previous school — for beating someone up, apparently — and at her new high school, she’s quickly the victim of …Read more »
With the second collection of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan upon us, we're out of the setup stage and ready for a full volume of Shonan antics. It's not all Onizuka running around beating up punks with a horse mask on his head, however. Things …Read more »
There are numerous anime/manga series that are hugely popular in Europe, but not particularly well known in North America. Amongst the series that earn more appreciation across the pond is Hirohiko Araki’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure . Much of Europe loves Araki’s magnum opus, and Araki …Read more »
The 12th and final volume of Kou Yaginuma's Twin Spica manga is upon us at last, and it's a bittersweet farewell to a series that hopefully hasn't fallen under the radar for too many. It's a rare treat to follow a story from beginning to …Read more »
Oosawa doesn’t have time to think about love or marriage. He works full-time at a restaurant and is also a single parent taking care of a kindergarten-aged daughter. His wife walked out on him and Oosawa’s top priority is making sure his daughter Chizu is …Read more »
What do you want first, the good news or the bad news? Most people wisely choose to get the bad news out of the way, but Usamaru Furuya starts with the good in the third and final volume of his Osamu Dazai adaptation, No Longer …Read more »
It's a sign of good storytelling when even the most solemn of reflective moments resonates with the reader in some way, and that's a skill that mangaka Kou Yaginuma has been honing throughout the run of Twin Spica . If you've been following the series …Read more »
Cracking open Vertical Inc.'s release of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan brought back a lot of manga memories, specifically of Tokyopop's early-2000s publication of Toru Fujisawa's Great Teacher Onizuka manga, to which this serves as a follow-up. Most importantly, it reminded me why I used …Read more »
Kurosu admits that his skill at drawing is average, but he still enrolls at an art university. While there, he is amazed by the work of fellow student Yukari. The two of them end up on the same train together, but when Yukari leaves his …Read more »
The first volume of Usamaru Furuya's No Longer Human , based on the novel Ningen Shikkaku by Osamu Dazai, plunged us deep into the life of Yozo Oba. Oba isn't like your average student; sure, he gets along with his classmates, but it's all a …Read more »
It's a bittersweet feeling to see Vertical Inc.'s release of Osamu Tezuka's medical thriller Black Jack finally come to an end. On one hand, I'm actually not anywhere near tired of reading his episodic exploits. B it's also really nice to see the entire run …Read more »
"Gon smash!", "Gon chomp!" and "Gon hungry!" are about the only remotely feasible bits of dialogue I could imagine coming out of the vice-like mouth of that little orange dino, Gon. That's precisely why I'm glad he never says anything in Masashi Tanaka's manga, which …Read more »
Joseph Luster
Danica Davidson
Heidi Kemps
