Manga Review: Princess Jellyfish Volume 1

Manga Review: Princess Jellyfish Volume 1 by Akiko Higashimura Amamizukan is not your average apartment building.  For one thing, it’s a small, old-fashioned building of the type rarely seen these days.  More importantly, all the residents are fujoshi (“rotten women”) who for one reason or another have fallen outside the society-approved get job/get husband/have kids way… Continue reading Manga Review: Princess Jellyfish Volume 1

Anime Review: Hataraki Man

Anime Review: Hataraki Man Hiroko Matsukada is an “editor” at Jidai, a weekly magazine.  What this means in practice is that she researches and writes articles, as well as working with at least one outside author who submits a serialized novel for the magazine.  At 28 and still single, Hiroko sometimes worries that she’s missing… Continue reading Anime Review: Hataraki Man

Manga Review: Mysterious Girlfriend X #1

Manga Review: Mysterious Girlfriend X #1 by Riichi Ueshiba Akira Tsubaki is a normal 17-year-old high school student.  New student Mikoto Urabe appears to be anything but normal.  Her bangs cover her eyes, she sleeps during lunch and class breaks, bursts out laughing in the middle of class for no apparent reason and carries scissors… Continue reading Manga Review: Mysterious Girlfriend X #1

Book Review: The Inugami Clan

Book Review: The Inugami Clan by Seishi Yokomizo In a manor on the shores of Lake Nasu, an old man lies dying, surrounded by his kin.  But there is no sorrow for the passing of Sahei Inugami in their eyes, only greed for the vast fortune he will be leaving to his clan.  It seems… Continue reading Book Review: The Inugami Clan

Comic Book Review: Corpse on the Imjin! and Other Stories by Harvey Kurtzman

Comic Book Review: Corpse on the Imjin! and Other Stories by Harvey Kurtzman edited by Gary Groth In later years, Harvey Kurtzman was better known  for his humor work, among other things being the first editor of MAD.  But while he worked at EC Comics in the early Fifties, Mr. Kurtzman was also known for some… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Corpse on the Imjin! and Other Stories by Harvey Kurtzman

Comic Book Review: The Secret Society of Super-Villains Volume One

Comic Book Review: The Secret Society of Super-Villains Volume One edited by Ian Sattler DC Comics has produced many fine characters in its superhero books over the decades, including iconic super-villains.  It can be a lot of fun watching the bad guys do things when their specific hero isn’t around to stop them.  Thus, in… Continue reading Comic Book Review: The Secret Society of Super-Villains Volume One

Manga Review: So Cute It Hurts!! Volume 4

Manga Review: So Cute It Hurts!! Volume 4 by Go Ikeyamada Quick recap:  Meguru and Mitsuru Kobayashi are fraternal twins who look a lot alike.  Due to a zany scheme, they switched uniforms and went to each other’s school for a week.  While there, each fell in love with a student at their sibling’s school,… Continue reading Manga Review: So Cute It Hurts!! Volume 4

Manga Review: Behind the Scenes!! Volume 1

Manga Review: Behind the Scenes!! Volume 1 by Bisco Hattori Ranmaru Karisu is a couple of months into his freshman year at Shichikoku University, but he still doesn’t know anyone.  A shy, sensitive boy, he’s had bad luck with social relationships in the past and shrinks from the crowd.  Until the zombies attack! It turns… Continue reading Manga Review: Behind the Scenes!! Volume 1

Anime Review: Active Raid

Anime Review: Active Raid The year is 2035 in an alternative history Japan, and the city of Tokyo is rapidly recovering from the Third Quicksand Disaster, which turned much of the metropolitan area into quagmires.  Powered armor units called “Willwear” have helped the reconstruction immensely, and are spreading into other industries, but there are people… Continue reading Anime Review: Active Raid

Manga Review: Die Wergelder 1

Manga Review: Die Wergelder by Hiroaki Samura There’s something weird going on with the isolated island of Ishikunagajima.  A decade ago, it was a  poverty-stricken backwater inhabited mostly by fishermen and their families.  Now it’s a thriving red-light district, despite being a five hour boat trip from Japan.  It seems that someone has plowed a… Continue reading Manga Review: Die Wergelder 1