So here’s the list:

Jade of Bango
Kasumi
S.S Astro
Jo Jo’s Bizarre Adventure
Gurren Lagann
After School Nightmare

Also feel free to make your own reviews or comment on existing ones in the forums.

Full reviews are past the break.

Jade of Bango – By: Kimikk

Lin is an average, ditzy 16-year-old high school student–except she can see and communicate with spirits! Attacked by an evil being, she is saved in the nick of time by a man she’s seen in her dreams, In Mu. He is the Guardian of the Saint of the Jade of Bango–which is her! Not only is he her guardian, but he’s also her…fiance?

Very good pick, it’s not a manga actualy, it’s a manhwa which is Korean manga. You will notice if you pick this up that it read left to right and no, TokyoPop did NOT swap it from the standard manga format cause it was that way to begin with. Anyway, I really enjoyed this one, the plot shows some promise and has a couple really good moments that I laughed out loud at. I also really liked the art style of this one as well.

Kasumi – By: Kimikk

Kasumi is about a 16 year old girl who upon moving into a new town, receives the power of invisibility from a tree god. However, there’s a catch, she can only turn invisible when she holds her breath. Kasumi soon learns she is not alone and that there are others like her with such special powers. Unbeknowst, her powers start to surface, attracting the attention of Ryuuki, Seiran’s Student body president and she becomes the target of vengeful Reina, the president of the RSF, Ryuu-sama Fan club.

Another that I thoroughly enjoyed. This one has a plot style that I have come to really like. It has hints at the magical girl theme, but it sets the story in a slice-of-life, drama, comedy, romance plot and the main character doesn’t have over the top magic powers either, it’s a simple ability but has potential for greatness.

S.S Astro – By: Kimikk

There are many manga out there about school life, but those are mostly about the students. Here is the first about the young female teachers. S.S. ASTRO follows the adventures – romantic and otherwise – of a group of young teachers working to make ends meet. Fun doesn’t have to end after high school!

This one caught my attention. I have not read it yet, but I absolutely intend to. When I read this I said to myself, “I have GOT to read this one!!!” and also because of what it also says at the Yen Press site. http://yenpress.us/?page_id=416

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure – By: Gensho

For Starters I would like to say that the Jojo series is Sh?nen Jump’s second longest running manga in japan and the names is really just Jojo’s Venture but anyway so there has to be something good in it for it to last this long right?, and indeed there is

Background – The manga began in the 1980′s and is still running today with 7 arcs with 753+ chapters, The American release of manga though starts with the 3rd arc which was the most popular arc called “Stardust Crusaders” which this review will center around. Another fact about the series is that in each arc every hero/heroine is name Jojo and there are some heavy western Music references in the series

Story – The Story centers around Jotaro Kujo a high school student who’s in jail for beating up 3 punks in the alley but He seems to want to stay in jail cause he thinks he’s possessed, worried his mother sends for his Grandfather Joseph Joestar [Hero from the Second series "Battle Tendency "] to help him. He arrives and informs Jotaro that he has the same thing but the name for it is a “Stand” with the help of Joseph and His friend Avdol they inform Jotaro of his Family’s history and their mortal enemy Dio Brando who has stolen the Body of Joseph’s Grandfather Jonathan Joestar [Hero from the First Series "Phantom Blood"]. In the midst of the conversation the hero’s find Jotaro’s mother unconscious, she had developed a “Stand” aswell but she’s not powerful enough to control it so its slowly killing her, so in order for them to undo this they must kill Dio the trip though takes them throughout the middle east.

Visuals – The Visual are a bit surreal, the characters are mostly muscular, its a bit reminiscent of Fist of the north Star but not that big, the art style is still awesome and the battles are well done sometimes they maybe short but its more of strategy and luck that makes the fights interesting.

Conclusion – I dont know what drew me to this manga but I’m glad I picked it up the series is brash sometimes funny well done and has a plot that can be a bit complicated but it’s rewarding when you figure things out. Even though I am a die hard fan of the series I would still highly recommend this to any Sh?nen reader

Gurren Lagann – By: matisleonhart

First, I love the use of color in Gurren. I especially love the use of bold primary colors, (The reds, yellows, and blues). The uses of these primary color and using them in different shades help set the different moods, from bright shades used during battle and while there on the surface to the dark shades used during times of depression and when they’re underground. I also love the sketchy style used in the anime. Unlike most anime that have a clean smooth line painted style, Gurren Lagaan has a style that is very reminiscent of a live sketch with a more color pencil look. It was really unique and I very much enjoyed it. It gave the character design a more distinct style that made it very unique.

Speaking of the character designs, I found them along with the robot designs to be absolutely awesome. I love the designs of the robots, especially Gurren Lagaan, I thought they were very different from you typical anime robot and combine with phallic symbolism made them absolutely hilarious. I thought Kamina heroic look fit hilariously with his “village Idiot” personality. I really like that Simon’s look change throughout the series seeming very child like at the beginning and evolving into more of leader type look. Now before I talk about Yoko, I just want to warn all the fangirls that I’m going to go totally fanboy on her. Yoko is just hot, her design totally compliments Simon, at least for the first six episode and I’m breaking the fourth wall here a little. Her hot body with the red string bikini top and daisy duke shorts combined with her sexy independent personality and big ass sniper rifle makes you totally want to be Simon if you a guy. I know some of you might be saying, “Don’t you mean Kamina”, I’ll get to that in a second. With her big ass and big chest, Yoko is in my “Top Three Hottest Anime Babes of All Time”. The only character design I didn’t like was Nia. Her design didn’t impress me and she never made me understand why everyone on the Dai-Gurren was enamored with her.

I really enjoyed the music; it defiantly fit with the series. I thought the theme song was perfect. The music in the series really seems to fit the action adventure feel of the series.

Now that I’m done kissing ass, let me get to the part that really brought the series down for me. THE PLOT! First off, the whole series feels rushed. It feels like they had an idea for two stories, and then push them together and jammed it into a 26 episode series. This is partly due to the fact that Gainax doesn’t have the balls to do a 26+ series because they’re afraid of bankruptcy. The first 6 episode weren’t as bad and were actually pretty good, but the next 9 were just horrible. The story never feels like it flows naturally. It always feels like it rushing to get to the next plot point. Because of this, they end up skip some very important plot points, which cause the plot to be flawed. Another problem I have with the plot is that the expectations that were giving to the viewer at the beginning are that this was going to be a traditional action/adventure giant robot series. We are lead to believe that Simon is the hero, Yoko is the heroine, and that they are going to save the world and end up together at the end which is what a traditional action/adventure series is. Instead, the series completely changes by episode 8 and turns into something completely different.

The plot flaw of the story and the characters are major. If Kamina was suppose to come off as a heroic warrior he doesn’t, he instead comes off as a blithering idiot. The series never makes me understand why people, especially the women are attracted to him when he does nothing and he ideas about “Manliness” are just insane which go to my next point. A character like Yoko would never be with a character like Kamina, their characters don’t match. Also, the love relationship doesn’t happen naturally. In episode 7, she hate his gut and thinks he an idiot and the in episode 8 she madly in love with him, it just doesn’t make sense. Now, I wouldn’t have a problem with it if it happens naturally, in a believable way that made me believe in their relationship and if it followed the traditional way that that type of story is suppose to follow. Kamina is supposed to die because his death is supposed to bring Yoko and Simon together.

Instead, enter Nia. When she appears every guy in the ship falls in love with her. Other then the cute girl aspect, I don’t understand why the characters fawn over her. Also, Simon would never end up with her. The fact of the matter is that they use her to make you forget the biggest plot flaw of the series which is that from the beginning of the series, Simon has been in love with Yoko, and that the reason Kamina dies is because Simon couldn’t bond with Dai-Gurren, and the reason he couldn’t bond is because he saw him kissing Yoko. He obviously has a lot of guilt over this, yet he never confessing this to Yoko. That an important scene that never happens. You can’t tell me that he going to go the entire series without confessing his guilt and crush to Yoko, it just doesn’t make sense.

These plot flaws really bring down the series for me. I mean, I really wanted to enjoy this series, but the plot flaw just left me empty. Overall, I’ll give it a 2.5 out of 5. Great music and art style, but a sadly flawed plot. That’s my honest opinion, tell me what you think. As always, PEACE!

After School Nightmare – By: Kimikk

Synopsis: The story revolves around Ichijo Mashiro, your average high school boy. The girls think he’s dreamy, he does kendo… and he gets cramps when he’s on his period. Perhaps Ichijo isn’t as average as he wants everyone to think.

In order to graduate he is told that he has to enter a world where he gets to see his classmates in ways he never could’ve imagined. Once he wakes up from the nightmare the basement room is gone, leaving no trace of the horrifying experience until the following week where he must keep trying until he finds the key to “graduation.” On top of that, when he wakes up he has to deal with classmates who have stabbed him, scared him, and who have learned his secret: he is not really a boy or a girl.

Plot: This has been a rather… interesting read, it’s kinda of like a romantic horror. The plot for me has been very exceptional and has kept me on the edge of my seat. One thing that may drive some readers away after the first volume or two, is what would “seem” to be the small bit of yaoi, but the funny thing is, it isn’t yaoi and it isn’t even yuri really. It really does tietter on the edge of the two because of the internal struggle that Ichijo goes through.

Art: This isn’t really a strong suit for me since. as long as the art doesn’t look like crap, I don’t care, but this one kinda jump out at me a bit. It was very nice, it’s probably better for someone else to comment on this aspect, but anyway.

Conclusion: This has been a pretty awesome read and a definite “required reading” on my list. Has some nice horror aspects, good drama, and overall, this love triangle may me the most … interesting/twisted you will ever read.

Hello world!!!

I have left the show for a while but don’t fret i will be back  in maybe a month or two … oh well

What i want to talk about today is the amazing game Disgaea 3, the story is very funny and the gameplay is very Final Fantasy Tactics esc, but Better. I would highly recommend it to any PS3 owner and here is the kick .. i could name almost every voice actor. They are so well known and so awesome, yes Even Johnny Young Bosch plays a main character Voice but!! its not Ichigo and its good so i will let it slide.

Mao the Protagonist is played by Vic Mignogna i could tell cause of Ed Elric Impression

Raspberyl is Mao’s rival is played by Laura Bailey i could tell cause she sounds like Kaiko from Yu Yu

Almaz von Almadine Adamant is the “Hero” is played by Johnny Yong Bosch i couldn’t believe it, much rage was held back, he actually does a well enough role.

Geoffery is the butler hand picked by Mao himself to help him into becoming the number one honor student he is played by Dan Woren , he does a lot of minor work in anime.

I don’t want to spoil the plot or things about this game its funny and interesting and if you are anal about games and want to get the full potential about the game, the highest level is 9999, no joke and you can get over a million damage, insane!!

But anyway, if anyone else has any notable  Voice Actors from Anime please feel free to share it in the forums, and remember a Demon must Relish Solitude…

oh ya Best Part its ONLY 50$$

This time around we’re bringing a review to the blog with a review of the 12 episode comedy, Girls High. Girls High focuses around Eriko, a young girl who has just made the transition from junior high to high school. Along the way with old friends and new Eriko experiences what its like to be in the world of high school.

Rather basic plot but then again, most comedy anime comes with a simple plot and lots of laughs and I’d say that this series will give you that. Not rolling on the floor like Lucky Star or Azumanga Daioh but it doesn’t leave you hanging.

One more rather unique thing is the fact that the DVD release is subtitled only. There is no dub version of this series. The subtitles are rather spot on however, they will at times attempt to americanize portions of the translation. Honorifics are left off, but thats never a big complaint. Sister or brother are often translated based on the age to usually ‘big sister’ despite use of the word for sister being used. Finally, you’ll also find the grade scale in the series is americanized. The girls are depicted as being in 9th grade, the first year of high school in the Western world. In Japan, 10th grade is the start of high school. Many veteran anime fans will pick up on this, however if you’re new to subtitled work and not as familiar with Japanese culture you may not notice.

Plot:

Again, the plot is rather straight forward and leads you along through various wacky adventures. One thing of note if this matters to you is the fact that the series is more traditionally episodic unlike most comedies in which you have split up episodes(such as School Rumble) or segmented episodes(such as Azumanga). This actually mixes it up. I know that sound weird since thats what you normally expect. However the current trend of comedy anime has been segmented to fit with manga editions. This series thankfully doesn’t do that.

The laughs are there and you will have laugh out loud moments. However, not every joke is unique or new. This series ranges from hit or miss as far as comedy and that ratio becomes spread out. While it hurts the series it makes the extremely funny moments that much funnier. The best aspect of this series is the more or less honesty of the series. You could almost swear that this could actually be happening somewhere in Japan. Most anime comedy has a certain absurdity to it, however the only absurdity that is here is the girls personality.

Music:

I don’t have a lot to say on the music, though I have more to say then usual.. as contradictory as that sounds. The music is rather standard fare. It works and is even at times enjoyable. You won’t be terribly distracted by the music and may even enjoy it at times. It does become repetitive at times and if you pay attention to music you might pick up on this.

The opening and ending, ending especially, can be rather catchy. Not in the same way Lucky Star’s music is catchy to the obsessive. But catchy to just listen to on its own. I will admit there were times where I had a hard time skipping ahead.

Art/Animation:

The art style is rather enjoyable but nothing that breaks the mold. Its bright, its detailed, its colorful. Its what you come to expect for a comedy about school girls. However, there is a certain un-described sparkle to the art that really gives it a certain charm. A certain something that sticks out at you. However, I find that character design comes off rather uninspired. There’s a good argument for either side… either you have lazy character design that said “Forget it, we’re just going to make three girls the same.” or “Well, we could be rather realistic in a way and not give everyone big bright colored hair that will simply distract everyone.” I just feel like they could have done more with character design, particularly with the main characters.

Animation is rather fluid and easy going for a comedy. The only shame to this is the lack of physical comedy in the series to take advantage of this. Its not mind blowing, but a nice change of pace. Some moments will come off as stiff, but then again I still don’t think every animator in Japan has the art of punching animation down yet.

Overall, this is a series that is worth checking out. If you enjoy school girl comedy with realistic honesty, fanservice, and an enjoyable set of characters then you’ll have a little something to watch along the way.

Check it out, DVD’s are in a box set which is very affordable which comes along with some decent extras including DVD only bonus episodes. Or if you don’t mind watching this on your computer, this is one of the series which was put on Crunchyroll by Media Blasters.

So I just got done with the first volume of Kujibiki Unbalance in manga form and just had to do a little review.

Anyone familiar with Genshiken will know the story behind this series, if you don’t here’s the short of it. Kujibiki Unbalance was a fictional anime/manga in the Genshiken anime/manga, was canceled in the anime and then the creators decided to create an actual series based off of what was presented in Genshiken. Now that’s all done I’ll break up the review as we doing with anime on the show.

Plot: 
Much like the anime Kujibiki follows the same story in the anime Chihiro, the unluckyest person ever becomes the sudent council president elect and along with three other classmates they must preform duties that the current student council assign. In volume 1 they mix and match stories from volume 1 and 2 from the anime as well as a story from the novel. Overall it’s the same thing you’ve seen (if you’ve watched the anime) with a few liberties taken ( fan service, swearing…)

Art:
I was absolutely blown away by the art every page was drawn in amazing detail. I found myself just staring at the pages after I was done reading. I can’t say enough about the art in this book you just need to see it for yourself.

Final Thoughts:
This really is a fun enjoyable read. It really gets you into the story and the art helps you to fully immerse yourself into the overall story. The one thing that I found that bugged me was that Del Rey decided that whenever yen was brought up they would convert that into dollars and I know that the dollar isn’t doing so well right now but 100 yen does not equal 1 dollar. That all being said if you’re a fan of Genshiken and have watch the Kujibiki anime or just want something fun to read pick up this book.

Comment and questions can be left on the forum here.

First I would like to say that i remembered why i don’t watch Anime on TV anymore … they freaking EDIT IT AND FREAKING CUT STUFF OUT FOR TIME!!!!  …. ok got that out of the way but other than that … OK i hated how they FAST FORWARDED the episode the animation was Terrible on the TV because of the freaking Network Station … Although i am sure the DVD’s are good i watched for the voice acting.

Kyle Hebert as Kamina at first i thought was a big mistake, but when i was listening i could tell that this guy can pull off a great Kamina as in Emotional and moving but his Voice needs to sound more Manly and less like a child.

Now i must Applaud Yuri Lowenthal as Simon, he does an amazing job of bringing such emotion and strength to this character and of Course Simon is probably my Favorite Character in Anime.

Wow surprise surprise Michelle Ruff can actually act, i don’t know how but she can pull of Yoko Ritona pretty good, way better than her Rukia (Bleach) voice.

Now this guy is just “Fabulous”, Steven Blum plays the voice of Leeron who is the the ace Mechanic of the whole series and really really makes him sound Gay, but the only thing is he does it SO WELL!!! Its funny much more entertaining than the original.

All in all most things to complain about are the translations itself like TEAM GURREN instead of GURREN BRIGADE …. so whats DAI-GURREN BRIGADE gonna be ??? The super Awesome Team Gurren ?? God i hope not and the Pronunciation of Lord Genome (Je – no – me) is Key he is also my favorite main character if they call him Genome (G – Gnome)  i will be angry.

Other than That buy the DVD’s, don’t watch it on TV you will appreciate it better and this series has a lot of potential as long as they keep translations to a minimum and the voices are good.

ONE MORE RANT ITS NOT CALLED TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN in the States … now its Just ..
GURREN LAGANN!!!!!

- Forum Post

Now that i have gained 3 exp from fighting the evil Rats who ate my Phone Wire, i am now able to give my impression on Final Fantasy Tactics A2. The A2 i guess stands for Advance 2 since its the sequel to Tactics Advance on the GBA , but this one is on the Nintendo DS.

First off things i dont like, i dont like how the judge system only effects you and not your opponent, it makes me sad that i can’t use the law system to my own advantage to beat the enemy. Although now if you follow the rules the Judge gives you a Buff whether it be +Power or +speed and other fun stuff.

Second i dont like how you dont start with Full Mana at the begining of battle, i usually have to wait 3 turns before i get to use a summoning move or a full area move.  So this means my Favorite Red Mage Double Cast and Summoner Moves have been Nerfed .

But in the end its the captivating Story that keeps me going, that this boy needs to finish writing in the book and for the book and the world of Ivalice to end. Although i have yet to beat this game… i am half way through i enjoy it.

(The Source of All Knowledge)

(For Questions Comments, Concerns, or other take… to The FORUMS!)

Lately in my pursuit of all things manga, I’ve come across something familiar to help me out. Fullmetal Alchemist.

This has got me hooked from chapter one and hasn’t let go. The story starts off rather close to the anime at first but quickly ventures off into a story that is just something all its own. It gives you the same mind blowing story elements, retold in a different way giving it an identity all its own.

The art style in my opinion doesn’t feel as stylized as the anime version but still gives you something pretty to look at. If you enjoy Fullmetal Alchemist in anime form you’ll love the manga version. If you haven’t checked it out, shame on you… but if you really haven’t I recommend the anime version above the manga version. While the manga version has more explored story depth along with redistributing the character depth to different characters… you might find yourself a little lost fairly easily.

Either way, check it out. 16 volumes are available here in the US, overseas people need to let me know what its like over there. A great manga if you’re just getting into manga from anime(which believe it or not isn’t as rare as you think).