Manga Review: Dream Fossil

Manga Review: Dream Fossil by Satoshi Kon Satoshi Kon (1963-2010) was an acclaimed anime director, making a handful of movies (including Paprika) and one television series, Paranoia Agent.   His themes of confusion of dreams and reality, and madness lying just below the surface of society, made his works fascinating.  He also spent some time as a… Continue reading Manga Review: Dream Fossil

Manga Review: Rin-Ne Volume 18

Manga Review: Rin-Ne Volume 18 by Rumiko Takahashi Recap:  Rinne Rokudo is a shinigami (“death spirit”) a psychopomp who helps ghosts and spirits move on to the afterlife.  Because he’s part human, his powers are relatively weak, and he must rely on often expensive gadgets to do his job.  That, and debts his deadbeat dad Sabato… Continue reading Manga Review: Rin-Ne Volume 18

Manga Review: Vinland Saga Book Seven

Manga Review: Vinland Saga Book Seven by Makoto Yukimura Quick recap and spoilers for the previous volume:  It is the age of Vikings.  Canute, King of Denmark and (by conquest) England, needs cash to fund his occupation army.  Therefore, he has engineered an incident to force the wealthy Ketil family into outlawry and seize their… Continue reading Manga Review: Vinland Saga Book Seven

Open Thread: Top Ten Lists 2015

Like many bloggers, I keep a close eye on the stats of which posts get traffic, and it’s time to reveal the winners for this year.  You all like list posts, right?  So here are the reviews you the readers felt were important in 2015. Top Ten Posts of 2015 Anime Review: Urusei Yatsura Book… Continue reading Open Thread: Top Ten Lists 2015

Manga Review: So Cute It Hurts!! Volume 3

Manga Review: So Cute It Hurts!! Volume 3 by Go Ikeyamada Quick recap:  Megumu and Mitsuru Kobayashi are fraternal twins who have been dressing as each other at their schools as part of a wacky scheme to bring up Mitsuru’s history grades.  Each of them has fallen in love while in disguise as the opposite… Continue reading Manga Review: So Cute It Hurts!! Volume 3

Manga Review: Akuma no Riddle Volume 1

Manga Review: Akuma no Riddle Volume 1 story by Yun Kouga, art by Sunao Minakata Azuma Tokaku is the star student at  Private Academy 17, secretly a school for assassins.  As such, she’s being temporarily transferred to Myojo Private School, to participate in Class Black.  Supposedly, Class Black is a game disguised as an ordinary homeroom… Continue reading Manga Review: Akuma no Riddle Volume 1

Manga Review: Let’s Dance a Waltz

Manga Review: Let’s Dance a Waltz by Natsumi Ando Tango Minami’s mother runs a ballroom dance school, where he helps out as a dance instructor (he’s tall for a junior high student.)  But due to a disastrous mistake in his childhood, Tango has decided never to take another full-time partner, and thus not qualify for… Continue reading Manga Review: Let’s Dance a Waltz

Manga Review: Weekly Shonen Jump (2015)

Manga Review: Weekly Shonen Jump (2015) by various creators. It’s the third anniversary of this blog, and as is my custom, I’ll be looking at the current lineup of Weekly Shonen Jump, the online version of Shounen Jump.  For those just joining us, Shounen Jump is the top-selling shounen manga (boys’ comic book) in Japan.  Many of its series… Continue reading Manga Review: Weekly Shonen Jump (2015)

Manga Review: Case Closed Volume 56

Manga Review: Case Closed Volume 56 by Gosho Aoyama Quick recap for newer readers:  Shinichi Kudou (“Jimmy” in the US version) is a teen genius detective.  He runs afoul of a mysterious criminal organization, but their assassination attempt instead causes him to shrink to a childlike appearance.  To conceal his survival from the organization, Shinichi… Continue reading Manga Review: Case Closed Volume 56

Open Thread: RIP Shigeru Mizuki

Open Thread: RIP Shigeru Mizuki Shigeru Mizuki (1922-2015) was a manga artist famous for his horror works, most famously Gegege no Kitarou, and did much work to familiarize younger generations of Japanese children with the traditional stories of yokai. As I’ve written here before, Mr. Mizuki was stationed in New Britain, Papua New Guinea during World War… Continue reading Open Thread: RIP Shigeru Mizuki