Manga Review: Skip-Beat! Volumes 1-2-3 by Yoshiki Nakamura Kyouko Mogami and Shoutaro “Shou” Fuwa grew up together after Kyouko’s mother largely abandoned her. The Fuwa family runs a chain of traditional Japanese inns, but Shou didn’t want to go into that business, partially because it is the proprietress that is the face of the inn,… Continue reading Manga Review: Skip-Beat! Volumes 1-2-3
Tag: Japan
Book Review: A Curious Man
Book Review: A Curious Man by Neal Thompson Disclaimer: I received this volume free from the Blogging for Books program, on the premise that I would write a review. This is a biography of Robert Ripley (nee LeRoy Robert Ripley), the cartoonist who created the Believe It or Not! feature. I was fascinated by the paperback… Continue reading Book Review: A Curious Man
Book Review: Consumed
Book Review: Consumed by David Cronenberg Disclaimer: I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. The copy I read was an uncorrected proof, and changes may be made in the final product. Naomi and Nathan are photojournalists, specializing in lurid crime and medical stories respectively. They’re what… Continue reading Book Review: Consumed
Manga Review: Ooku
Manga Review: Ooku by Fumi Yoshinaga In an alternate history version of Japan, disaster strikes during the reign of Shogun Iemitsu (circa 1630). A plague that becomes known as the “red-face pox” sweeps the islands, with a fatality rate of 80% among boys and young men. Within a couple of years, the gender imbalance among… Continue reading Manga Review: Ooku
Anime Review: Matchless Raijin-Oh
The fifth-dimensional Jaku Empire (literally, “the Evil Empire”) has decided to conquer the third dimension, starting with Earth. Good thing Earth has a powerful guardian spirit named Eldoran. Or perhaps we should say had a powerful guardian spirit, as Eldoran blocks the invaders’ one-shot superweapon at the cost of crippling himself to a near-death state. Eldoran… Continue reading Anime Review: Matchless Raijin-Oh
Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents Super Friends
Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents Super Friends by Various Back in the 1970s, there was a Saturday morning cartoon titled Superfriends. It featured several superheroes from DC Comics,, plus “Junior Super Friends” Wendy and Marvin, trainee superheroes with their pet Wonderdog. Each episode taught valuable life lessons to kids across America. While reruns of the… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Showcase Presents Super Friends
Magazine Review: Conjunctions: 51 The Death Issue
Magazine Review: Conjunctions: 51 The Death Issue edited by David Shields and Bradford Morrow Conjunctions is a literary journal published twice a year by Bard College. Each issue contains essays, short fiction, poetry and less classifiable writing on a given subject, with this issue being about death. Literary journals tend to have a connotation of… Continue reading Magazine Review: Conjunctions: 51 The Death Issue
Manga Review: Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit
Manga Review: Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit by Motoro Mase In an alternate-history Japan, the government immunizes all children as they enter first grade. But one in every thousand injection also contains a nanocapsule that lodges in the child’s heart. and somewhere between age 18 and 24, will activate and stop that heart. There’s a triple-blind… Continue reading Manga Review: Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit
Book Review: Wounded Tiger
Book Review: Wounded Tiger by T. Martin Bennett Disclosure: I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. Mitsuo Fuchida was the flight leader in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Jacob DeShazer was a bombardier who participated in the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. The Covell family were missionaries. This… Continue reading Book Review: Wounded Tiger
Manga Review: Rin-ne
Manga Review: Rin-ne by Rumiko Takahashi Sakura Mamiya is not quite your normal high school girl. Due to a near-death experience as a child, Sakura can see spirits. One day, she meets the new boy in her class, Rinne Rokudo. She mistakes him for a spirit at first, but the truth is a bit more… Continue reading Manga Review: Rin-ne