Medora
Mangakissa – TOKYOPOP
Many of us are in the midst of mourning/celebrating TOKYOPOP, which closed up shop in the United States last month. The fate of many ongoing series is undetermined (and Amazon is unable to fulfill orders for them), but as we wait and wonder at their fate, we can go back and catch up on or [...]
Mangakissa – Toriko, Kobato, and Amnesia Labyrinth
Toriko by Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro Toriko is part man, part demon, and one hundred percent aggression. When the Hotel Gourmet wants to impress important guests at a function, Igo, the chef, decides on a meal of garara gator, the most prized alligator meat in the world. His representative, Komastu, is sent to approach Toriko to ask [...]
Mangakissa – Alien Nine and MeruPuri
My daughter’s elementary school has a tradition involving the sixth graders; in the morning and afternoon, they take turns as crossing guards at the drop-off/pick-up line, holding bright neon flags and keeping their eyes on the smaller children as they walk from or to their parents’ cars. In Hitoshi Tomizawa’s Alien Nine, sixth grade students are chosen to [...]
Mangakissa: 2010 in Manga
It doesn’t take long to read a volume of manga, which makes life difficult when you’re hooked on a series and can read the latest, in its entirety, within an hour of getting your hands on it. Fortunately, there are more manga series than most of us can reasonably keep straight, so it is relatively [...]
Mangakissa – Darker Than Black by Bones, Tensai Okamura and Nokiya
Kana’s father was killed during a mass murder . . . or was he? No one believes her when she is certain she has seen him on the street, walking around just like any other passerby, so she wonders if she is losing her mind from grief or if, somehow, he survived the massacre. Why [...]
Mangakissa: A Wise Man Sleeps, Missing, and Silver Diamond
A Wise Man Sleeps by Mick Takeuchi Miharu’s life is a “bad luck buffet” that seems endless. Her mother is dead and her father disappeared after going bankrupt, leaving Miharu alone and defenseless against the dirtbag creep who not only ruined her father’s business but continuously offers to clear the debt through the use of her [...]
DragonCon – Day 3: Jedi, Tolkien, and Tor
Sunday began with Saber School for younglings, just like last year. On the trek between hotels to find the tower that is part of a hotel but actually a different building – the source of much confusion, of course – where the New York Jedi were holding lessons, we passed Dean Motter, illustrator of The [...]
DragonCon 2010 – Day 2 and World of Warcraft
Saturday morning at DragonCon began with the traditional – or not so traditional – 10:30 parade. The walk to the parade route was no less interesting than the event itself. In the midst of several Lady Gagas, costumed infants in strollers, and superheroes on smoke breaks, groups of runners wearing numbers across their chests wove [...]
DragonCon 2010 – Day 1 and Mary Robinette Kowal
You know you’re at DragonCon when the line at the ATM includes a bard, a cat, and a steampunk pilot . . . and a Halo soldier, Tinkerbell, and Han Solo. This ATM just happened to be in the same spot where we encountered the androgynous Sailor Jupiter last year, the one with leg and [...]
Mangakissa: Maison Ikkoku, Parasyte, and Neko Ramen
Maison Ikkoku by Rumiko Takahashi This romantic comedy somehow reminds me of that old, awful show Three’s Company . . . although it isn’t exactly the same situation. Yusaku, a student with no motivation, no plans, and no life, develops a crush – very quickly – on the new manager of his house, Kyoko, the [...]
April Mangakissa – Alive: The Final Evolution by Tadashi Kawashima
“Alive is not an easy meal to prepare.” Author Tadashi Kawashima states the obvious in a note worked into one of his early volumes of this 20+ volume series, which ended in Japan earlier this year but has some catching up to do here in the West. This supernatural tale speeds along as high school [...]
Mangakissa – Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori
When Haruhi searches for a quiet place to study in the halls of her private high school – the library is crowded with social activity – she stumbles onto an elite group of rich students operating a “host club.” She knows right away that she’s made a huge mistake. She expected an empty music room [...]
