Demons who snack on dreams… vampires who suffer from split personalities… cougars who run major corporations. These are just a few of the characters you’ll encounter in this month’s column, as Chloe Ferguson and I post a fresh crop of shojo and seinen reviews that includes volume two of Metro Survive (DrMaster), volume two of [...]

Fancy a bit of the ultra-violence? If so, you’ll be thrilled to learn that Gantz (Dark Horse) arrives in stores this week, complete with shrink-wrap and parental warning sticker. This much-anticipated sci-fi series is really a video game in disguise, as it consists primarily of elaborately choreographed combat scenes (usually resulting in baroque bodily mutilations). [...]

ES: Eternal Sabbath, Vols. 1-8 By Fuyumi Soryo Published by Del Rey Rating: Older Teen (16+) The vivid images that haunt us when we sleep seem like perfect fodder for art. Yet we often produce dream-inspired work that’s much goofier and far less potent than our nocturnal imaginings: think of Salvador Dali’s unabashedly Freudian dream [...]

Ask any otaku what she aspires to be when she grows up (or how she’d rather be making her living), and chances are good that she’ll name voice acting as her career of choice. What many anime lovers don’t realize, however, is just how challenging voice acting can be. Not only is the field difficult [...]

With so many good titles to talk about this week, I’m going to cut to the chase and highlight my favorites. Look for the complete shipping list after the cut… Cat-Eyed Boy, Vol. 1 (Viz): Over at The Comic Book Bin, Leroy Douresseaux offers an excellent summary of Cat-Eyed Boy’s appeal: Something that I admire [...]

Nephilim, Vol. 1 By Anna Hanamaki Aurora Publishing, 192 pp. Rating: Older Teen (16+) Screwball comedy? Gender-confused bodice-ripper? Homage to Moto Hagio? In a word, yes—the very silly but totally entertaining Nephilim is all those things. All it needs to put it over the top is a mangafied likeness of Fabio on the cover. The [...]

Once more unto the breach, dear otakus, once more; gird yourself for another round of Manga Shakespeare. This time, A Midsummer’s Night Dream and The Tempest get the graphic novel treatment from the folks at SelfMadeHero, as they attempt to sex up the Bard with chibis and sound effects. I found SelfMadeHero’s first efforts wanting; [...]

Welcome to the May edition of Manga Minis! This month’s crack team of reviewers includes our anime expert Carlos Alexandre, fellow manga maniacs Chloe Ferguson and Isaac Hale, and yours truly. Our survey runs the gamut from angst-ridden shojo to fanservice comedy and includes volume seven of After School Nightmare (Go!Comi), volume one of Foxy [...]

Another short shipping list, another week of solvency… My top picks for this week: I, Otaku: Struggle in Akihabara, Vol. 2 (Seven Seas): As one might guess from the title, I, Otaku is a meta-manga about fandom in all its various permutations: anime fanatics, figurine collectors, fujoshi. Though the slapstick and obsessive behavior need no [...]

Manhwa maniacs, rejoice—the newest volumes of two long-suspended ICE Kunion titles—11th Cat and Heavenly Executioner Chiwoo—have finally arrived in stores, courtesy of a new publisher: Yen Press. UDON Entertainment also hops the Korean comic bandwagon with the first installment of The Daring Students Association, a supernatural comedy about a high school club that resorts to [...]