With Zoro now on the team, One Piece’s second volume digs into a longer narrative on just one island, as Luffy and Zoro wander their way into the territory of Buggy the Clown. The first volume of One Piece was a collection of scattered small adventures, stories reflective of the clear Toriyama influence that still shows through in moments like the early dragon-ride coloring image. There’s still more of that here, from the wild expression work and character designs to the slapstick and word game silliness that flavors Buggy’s entrance. But we’re already stepping into longer narrative territory, and though One Piece is still a generally light and very readable production, it’s also starting to demonstrate some interesting thematic teeth.
Tag Archives: Manga
UQ Holder, Volume 2 – Review
Love Hina was a legitimately formative experience for me, and Negima! also an off-kilter favorite, so it was pretty much inevitable that I eventually check out Akamatsu’s most recent manga. Unfortunately, so far this investigation has not been rewarded – UQ Holder has been a slog, frankly, possessing none of the creativity or hooks that made his last work fairly reliably rewarding. And this one doesn’t even start off pretending it’s a harem – it jumps straight into shounen territory, but that shounen is just not at all entertaining. Negima! has demonstrated Akamatsu can do some fantastic things in this genre, so hopefully UQ Holder finds its feet eventually.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my chapter notes below!
My Monster Secret, Volume 1 – Review
Back to the manga review grind, with a new release that arrives in the wake of the summer anime – My Monster Secret, the more conventionally (and googlably) titled localization of Actually, I Am…
I enjoyed the few episodes of this show I watched, but not enough to continue – it struck me as the kind of wacky comedy that would actually come off as more enjoyable when I could burn through the gags at my own reading pace. The manga somewhat bore that impression out, though it also made it clear that the adaptation had made a number of its own improvements – namely, getting the initially rough art up to a higher general standard of character designs, and also cutting some very weak early chapters. But those issues aside, this was still a reasonably charming and very breezy read. It’s nice to have some popcorn manga around.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my chapter notes below!
Genshiken Second Season, Volume 7 – Review
Yep, Genshiken has somehow shifted into full harem mode. I don’t know how we got here, I don’t know why this happened, but this is where we are and I guess I gotta make the most of it. Genshiken is still very acute in its small character moments, but the overall movements of this plot have basically shifted the series into a fundamentally different genre/world space than it previously occupied. We’re in anime-land now – there are things characters do because they’ve learned all their social cues from anime, and there are things characters do because they are anime characters, and Genshiken has floated majestically from the first category into the second one. I can’t say I’m happy about it, but it is what it is.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my chapter notes below!
The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Volume 3 – Review
And we’re back to ye olde fairy tales. This volume of Ancient Magus’ Bride was actually fairly light on the magical vignettes, because it was instead focusing on what has always been the most difficult element of the story – the uneven relationship between Chise and Elias. I’ve pretty much been continuously worrying about how the story would eventually handle this, and this volume went a great distance to assuage my fears. It’s clear in how Chise is framed and how those around her talk to her that the story understands this is a messed-up situation born of an unhealthy psychology on Chise’s part. She’s a broken person, and that’s a big part of the story. I’m happy the manga was willing to directly engage with this, and impressed with how well it used Chise’s story to reflect Elias’ own narrative in contrast. Ancient Magus’ Bride continues to be a very engaging story all around.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my chapter notes below!
One Piece – Volume 1
So here I am, embarking on a journey through the first volume of one of the longest and most storied shounen manga out there. I have to assume this is some kind of ploy – funding just the first volume of a monolith like One Piece only makes sense if you’re assuming it’s a strong enough hook to do the rest of the work by itself. I’ll read the first volume and then get dragged along by my own momentum, trapped in the story that has become almost synonymous with manga itself. I’ll start One Piece and that will be the end of me.
Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, Volume 9-10 – Review
And so Biscuit Hammer ends, with a final volume that pays back all my investment and then some. Biscuit Hammer’s conclusion is spectacular, a sequence of battles and moments of emotional catharsis more consistently rewarding than basically anything else in the series. I still had issues with these chapters, from the awkwardly welded-on nature of Anima and Animus to the ever-messy art, but the overall effect of this finale was so strong that I can’t really complain. Biscuit Hammer will always be a messy work, but it’s a passionate and worthy one all the same. If you haven’t checked it out yet, definitely give it a try.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my chapter notes below!
A Silent Voice, Volume 4 – Review
Dear lord is this manga painful sometimes. A Silent Voice is just way, way too good at capturing the exact truth of anxiety both as a personal issue and as it expresses itself in social situations. Shoya’s overthinking and self-doubt is something I can way too vividly relate to, and single moments like the way his chance meeting with an old “friend” completely steals his prior confidence make old scars tickle in a way I probably wouldn’t have been okay with a few years ago. But these characters are also deeply endearing for their own sake and really do care about each other, and so the pain is mitigated by all the lovely moments of connection. It’s a great damn story, and I am really trying my hardest not to freak out about Yamada’s adaptation.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my chapter notes below.
My Hero Academia, Volume 2 – Review
And we’re back to Shounen Jump, picking up the latest volume of My Hero Academia. The manga really kicked into high gear in this volume – nearly every chapter was studded with exciting fights and new power debuts, and even the quiet moments demonstrated a welcome grasp of pacing and understated character writing. My Hero Academia isn’t a story I’d point to as a great character piece (cough Silent Voice cough), but I really appreciate how its characters are given the right to be reasonable. These are talented kids who’ve worked hard, and they express that in every scene of congratulating their classmates for putting out a strong effort or recognizing the importance of a positive attitude over straightforward power. Couple that with the bulletproof visual execution, and My Hero Academia presents an immensely satisfying experience.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my chapter notes below!
A Bride’s Story – Volume 6
And we’re back on the manga train, with the second-to-newest installment of one of the many excellent series I’ve been covering. This volume of Bride’s Story applied all the manga’s usual strengths to exactly the kind of dramatic peaks I’d been hoping for, and the results were absolutely spectacular. The hardest part of reviewing this volume was trying to think of something bad to say, and in the end I just couldn’t. This volume was basically perfect, and certainly one of the single most beautiful volumes of manga I’ve ever read. Great work, Kaoru Mori.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!