The Volume Rating Thread

Ikigami 1 - 8.5/10

Reminiscent of Battle Royale.

In BR a class of teenagers were given 48 hours to kill everyone else before a bomb went off in their heads. In Ikigami, people unlucky enough to have been injected with something that makes their heart go bye-bye between the ages 18-24 get told - 24 hours before what was injected into them explodes - that they're going to die; they're even given their time of death.

What would you do if you lived in a country that, in an attempt to make people value life (and maybe instill a touch of fear), killed off people at complete random? I don't know is my answer. I do, however, know that I want to see more people given 24 hours to live and see if they A) go for revenge, B) try to sort out their affairs without murder or C) cry themselves to sleep. It's excellent reading material.

It's true that people don't value what they have until they lose it, which make these stories all the more powerful. Since the Ikigami volumes are bigger than average manga volumes, and don't cost more (despite the £8.99 RRP), I've ordered volume two. Me likey.
 
What A Wonderful World! - 9/10

A two volume series of short stories by Solanin's Inio Asano. The stories ostensibly take place in the same town and interconnect, so that main characters in one chapter may be side characters or make a cameo appearance in another. Most are grounded in reality but there are also some fantasy elements.

And it's a joyful, humourous, uplifting read about directionless people of various ages, but mostly adolescents, trying to find their place in the world and understand life. Some of the stories are over too quickly and don't leave too much of an impression, and it's not as good as Solanin, but I still highly recommend these books to anyone who enjoys thoughtful slice of life manga.
 
I'd definitely recommend Solanin, especially to anyone in their 20s. Here's what I wrote a while back:

Meiko is a strong, independent 23-year-old woman who's deeply disillusioned with post-graduation life. She hates her office job and the people she works with and so one day she decides to hand in her notice, even though she's supporting both herself and her boyfriend. It could be whiny and melodramatic but Meiko is such a loveable and sympathetic character, and the story is so full of humour and warmth, that it never comes across that way. It's very skillfully written by an author who was in his mid-20s at the time, and anyone who's ever been directionless or uncertain about their future will be able to relate to Meiko's situation.
 
High School Girls: 8.5/10

(C&Ped from MAL, before ZZZ.)

HSG is an overlooked manga, and it deserves to have a thread for people to leave their post-HSG thoughts in it for others to read, at some point in the future.

If not for an older (than me!) woman on another forum happening to recommend HSG to me, I wouldn't have given it a chance. I avoid most of the school girl ecchi nonsense like the plague. But what this woman said when she described the series intrigued me. What she told me when describing HSG was that she went to an all-girl school herself, and that the manga is a fairly realistic depiction of life at an all-girl school--mainly because the mangaka went to an all-girl school herself. Being a male, I imagined that all-girl schools turn females into lesbians, so I was more than willing to have a looksee after she told me that!

What I love about HSG is that, as well as being hilarious, a lot of what happens in it is 100% believable.

I can believe that girls stop caring when they have no males to look at them; letting laziness rule. I can believe girls stress over removing hair from their bodies, while males remain totally ignorant about such things. I can believe that girls get jealous/playfully bully their friends after the friend in question gets a boyfriend before them. I can also believe that, deep down, females aren't too different from sex-crazed guys.

If there is a point to HSG, the point the mangaka was trying to make is that, underneath all the values society forces on each gender, everyone is pretty much the same. And that's what made the series truly amusing: the fact that the mangaka rarely had to do anything other than putting a group of fictional teenage girls together, chucking in a lot of natural chattering and mixing in some panty-shots to please guys for the series to work as a most excellent comedy.

The only reason I 8/10'd it, rather than 9/10ing it, is because the story seemed to run out of steam once the school trip arc got going; an arc that should've been the best part. By that stage, pretty much every joke involving the main characters had been beaten to death, and the jokes involving the dull lesbian duo weren't very funny. At all. During this section of the story, Kouda started appearing more and more, doing increasingly silly things, and that only lead me to believe even more strongly that the mangaka was short on ideas.

What also played a part - and probably connects to the above - is that the manga ended abruptly; before the third year. That struck me as very odd, considering the mangaka had already made a joke about repeating the second year - without the characters aging - in order to fit in everything she could. You could argue that, with HSG being a comedy, it wouldn't have worked well if the final year of their high school lives had been covered because of exams and everyone being forced to separate as they moved on with their lives. However, it was HSG's excellent characterization that made the many character-related jokes funny, and it was weak on the part of the author for her to seemingly quit while she was ahead. It reminded me of GTO's ending... though, in that instance, the character development had pretty much been covered in full, Onizuka aside.

I'm hoping the manga isn't over and that it's going to be continued, one day. The back of the ninth volume says that it's only the end of the first part of the story. I haven't read up about it yet, the execution of the final chapter and MAL listing the series as being complete being what has got me believing the story is over.

...Enough. I liked the series, and anyone else with taste should, too. It has niiiice art, complete with sexy drawings of (very well developed!) school girls in their underwear, and the dialogue is top notch throughout. Funny, naughty AND it has a realistic edge. Seriously, you can't ask for much more. If not for me having a ton of manga to get through right now, I'd be feeling depressed about having no more chapters to read.

If HSG 2 ever gets released, someone hook me up!
 
All My Darling Daughters - 8/10

A one-shot series of five interconnected short stories by Fumi Yoshinaga--who appears to have written bishie fest Antique Bakery and lots of boys love. Thankfully All My Darling Daughters is short on both.

In the first story we're introduced to cynical 29-year-old salarywoman Yukiko and her mother Mari. They live together and have a close if strained relationship. But after Mari recovers from cancer, she remarries a much younger man, an aspiring actor, and this has a profound affect on their relationship. The remaining stories centre around friends and family of the two women.

One story aside, I loved this book. Many of the characters are flawed and fragile, often as a result of experiences in childhood or youth, and Yoshinaga chronicles their doubts, regrets, and dissatisfactions--all of which makes them believeable and sympathetic. But while the book can be melancholy, it's also about learning to understand others better, and is often very funny and warm.

It's another treasure from Viz's Signature line.
 
Kingyo Used Books v.1 - 8/10

A light and breezy slice-of-life manga about, well, manga.

Kingyo Used Books is, you guessed it, a used book store, one that specializes in manga. It's managed by a young woman named Natsuki, and she's helped out by comic freak and possible love interest Shiba.

This first volume is a series of episodic stories, all of which revolve around manga and the bookstore in one way or another. In the first story, for example, a guy who feels he's too old to be reading comics visits the bookstore and asks Natsuki if she'd be interested in buying his collection. But when he attends a class reunion and the conversation turns to the manga he and his friends read as children, he suddenly finds himself able to reconnect with the feelings he had back then. Upon his return to the bookstore, he's buying, not selling.

The only negatives are that, in this first volume at least, you don't learn too much about the central characters because generally they're not the focus of the stories; and that the book frequently references manga that I imagine would be obscure to Japanese audiences, let alone Western readers. There are notes in the margins but I find them distracting.

It's not life-changing stuff but it's a fun read, the art is lovely, and it does make one feel better about wasting their life reading comics.
 
Shadow Lady: 7.5/10

Too good to have been canceled. Katsura's art, a lively, flirtatious heroine, romance woes resulting from a shy/spunky personality, and the tried and tested formula of a master thief challenging the police repeatedly combined to make SL A+ entertainment.

Shin Angyo Onshi: 8/10

Munsu's arc was satisfying; living up to my expectations--Kye being a beautiful and tragic character. What let SAO down was some poor characterization, quality drops, and a disappointing, all-action finale. Korean history + Chun in S&M gear = Win!

Shin Angyo Onshi Gaiden: 7/10

The first three stories were so-so; adding little of value. The final story, however, not only added some development to Munsu but also reaffirmed my belief that, had the flashback arc started at the very beginning, SAO would've been a truly great series.

Midori Days: 8-8.5/10

I love rom-coms, and MD's unique premise - as well as its ADORABLE heroine - make it hard for me to be critical of. But the series consisted mainly of (amusing) single chapter filler stories, and it ended without a truly satisfying ending. An 8.5.
 
Nausicaa volumes 1-7 - 10/10

I doubt there's anything I could write here that would do justice to this masterpiece. It's the densest manga I've ever read in more ways than one: its epic scope; its meticulously constucted world and history; its themes and messages about the enviroment, war, and imperialism; its page after page of beautiful illustrations and dialogue--there's just so much crammed into seven short volumes (most are under 150 pages).

Moreover, Nauscaa boasts one of the most memorable casts of three-dimensional characters in, well, any work of fiction. As for Nausicaa herself, it's a testament to Miyazaki's skill as a writer that her humanism, determination, and warmth always come across as sincere and believeable.

For all its messages Nausicaa is never preachy, and for all its tragedy it never wallows in sentimentality. I doubt I'll read a better manga.

Black God (Kurokami) volumes 1-2 - 4/10

And then there's this. Despite not having much experience with shounen action titles, when the fighting starts in Black God it's like I've seen it all a thousand times before. Everything is correct and present, from fights that drag on and on, to random powerups, to cheesy posturing, to confusing terminology, to characters who just won't shut the hell up while fighting. Very predictable and boring.

On the plus side, there's some nice art. It's just a shame that it's wasted on such shallow characters and an uninspired story.
 
Here be some more ratings, together with C&Ped MAL tags since not EVERYONE reads my updates. I have to cater to my fans on here, as well, from time to time.

Mugen Spiral: 7/10 (2/2)

Similar to FB: a bad boy gets turned into a cat by the heroine, they edge closer, a reverse harem forms and a rom-com begins. Mizuho's art is charming, but she can't DO action. Canceled when it was getting good with Ura teasing Yayoi by seducing her.

NG Life: 10/10 (7/9)

Even with the fall of Pompeii + KeidaixSeri set to be shown in the last two volumes, NG Life has been so much fun and moved my frozen heart to such an extent that I've made it my second 10/10 early. DON'T LET ME DOWN LIKE PSME!!!

Gantz: 9/10 (14/?)

From dinosaurs to vampires. I didn't even raise my eyebrows when vampires entered the story; their proper introduction coming via an educational seminar and Kurono's brother SHOCKINGLY turning out to be one. Oku has changed me, in a bad way, I fear...

Spice and Wolf: 9/10 (3/?)

The artist has captured the essence of Horo with her work. Her childish side; her flirtatious side; her lonely side - she's drawn so expressively that she shines. She's both unstable and childish, and that comes across better in this than in the anime.

Shinobi Life: 8/10 (6/?)

After an enthralling start, involving ninjas falling from the sky & wonderful romance, it's becoming clear that SL was only meant to last for 1 vol. Beni's gone from "Bite me!" to crying for men, and the romance has come to a halt for past ninja drama.

Kurokami: 9/10 (11/?)

V11 was top-notch. Excel's partnership with Mikami has turned a throwaway character into one with value, and Excel now has depth. Also, Keita's relationship with Kuro has become more intimate, following the humanizing of a previously superhuman girl.
 
Drifting Classroom volume 3:

Marvellously unnerving. Loving the descent into madness and anarchy of the student body. I must say, although I love alt fiction, horror has been one of those I could never quite settle into. Umezu may change that.

8/10
 
Dominion:

I wasn't enjoying this at first and this is why (taken from another conversation):

I think much of the problem is simply my out-of-sync expectations. I will admit to knowing nothing about Shirow's work before picking it up, except that he's the progenitor of all things Ghost in the Shell and that this was a historically significant work. (I'm sort of in my 'check out the masters of manga' phase, hence Tezuka, Uresawa, and Umezu being my current reads). I braced myself for something sobering, hard, gritty, slick as ****, and... well, Dominion is not?

But at the halfway point the comedy started to shine through brilliantly and I started to connect with the zany, whimsical nature of the manga. At one volume length, it's a perfect light relief for a weekend afternoon or while sitting on a plane or something. It's a brief spell following some wacky police officers (seriously, the team's gung-ho dynamic is a fantastic platform for comic detail) as they hunt down maniacal criminals, so it substitutes grandiose action and hilarious comic sketches for plot and character development. The art is fantastic too. Shirow's insane eye for detail boggles the mind, sometimes to the point where I had to stare at different parts of an image for several seconds to make sense of it all. He also wasn't joking when he said he preferred to draw women - the ladies here have stunning, firm, athletic bodies perfectly molded to the hard-boiled machines they ride and shoot with.

I now really look forward to discovering more of Shirow's work. Any suggestions for a good next step?

7/10
 
VivisQueen said:
Any suggestions for a good next step?
In manga form, specifically? I still feel like the two most recent anime series he was involved in (Ghost Hound, based on an original idea of his, and Real Drive, which he was more directly involved with and contains links to GitS and Appleseed) are the most under-exposed of his works, weirdly.
 
I really need to go back and watch Real Drive. Given what the charts are like, it's probably one for the summer season.

Manga-wise, Shirow's other major non-GitS series is undoubtedly Appleseed, but I have the first UK volume of that and I remember finding it rather dull. It was a big deal at the time though, so it may pick up after that.

Black Magic M-66 ran in Manga Mania back in the day and what I saw of it looked more interesting, but I think it tends not to be too highly rated. The film is a different story; both figuratively and literally. It seems to be far better regarded, but it's not a straight-up adaptation.
 
Professor Irony said:
I really need to go back and watch Real Drive. Given what the charts are like, it's probably one for the summer season.
Shirayuri and I were talking a short time ago about doing a rewatch of it, let me know if you are actually planning to watch this!
 
Ah, that sounds like a plan - would give me all the more reason to actually get off my backside and watch it, rather than just threatening to.
 
Oooh, awesome. I'll probably drop in and watch a few with you guys actually. Not the entire show, but there are some golden eps in that series.
 
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