Haridama: Magic Cram School By Atsushi Suzumi Del Rey, 198 pp. Rating: Teen (13+) Just as a college-bound junior might take an SAT prep class, the young wizards in Haridama attend special schools to study for their sorcery exams. Kokuyo and Harika, the only students at the rundown Seikiei Magic Cram School, need all the [...]

Voiceful By nawoko Seven Seas, 184 pp. Rating: Older Teen (16+) Voiceful, one of several titles in Seven Seas’ Strawberry line, is a yuri (a.k.a. girls’ love) anthology. Most of the volume is given over to the eponymous story, which explores the relationship between Kanae, a timid shut-in, and Hina, an Internet singing sensation whose [...]

Color of Rage, Vol. 1 By Kazuo Koike and Seisaku Kano Dark Horse, 416 pp. Rating: Mature When reading historical manga, I grant the artist creative license to tell a story that evokes the spirit of an age rather than its details. I’m willing to tolerate certain anachronisms—i.e. flying steam cars—if they serve a demonstrable [...]

If you’re still solvent after last week’s tsunami of new manga, this week may send you straight for bankruptcy court, with dozens of great books headed your way. The list cants heavily towards continuing series like Basara (Viz), Flame of Recca (Viz), Samurai Deeper Kyo (Tokyopop) Sgt. Frog (Tokyopop) and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles (Del Rey), [...]

Has DH scrapped Bride of the Water God and Translucent?

The latest installment of On the Shojo Beat looks at three new additions to the Shojo Beat line-up: Kaori Yuki’s Gothic Fairy Cube, Tohko Mizuno’s magical girl manga Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time, and Arina Tanemura’s debut work I.O.N. Fairy Cube, Vol. 1 By Kaori Yuki Viz, 208 pp. Rating: Older Teen No one [...]

The Record of a Fallen Vampire, Vol. 1 Story by Kyo Shirodaira, Art by Yuri Kimura Viz, 200 pp. Rating: Teen In the postscript to The Record of a Fallen Vampire, writer Kyo Shirodaira cheerfully admits that his editor goaded him into taking on the project: “Let’s do a vampire book.” It was my editor [...]

When we launched Weekly Recon nearly one year ago (on June 20, 2007, to be exact), the goal was to highlight the best new manga arriving in stores each week with a mixture of off-the-cuff recommendations and brief reviews. The vagaries of the book distribution system, however, have frustrated our efforts to synchronize reviews and [...]

Sometimes the shortest shipping lists pose the greatest hazard to one’s fiscal well-being. Take this week, for example: of the twelve titles below, I fully intend to purchase eight. Whoever decided that Gon, Dororo and the Dayan Collection should be released on the same date clearly intended to send me to my financial doom. David [...]

Yet another PCS staffer develops a sweet tooth for Salt Water Taffy.