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). Not exactly my cup of tea, but the art looks sharp. At the other end of the spectrum is the ultra-cute Kamichama Karin-Chu (Del Rey), yet another Koge-Donbo comedy starring a saucer-eyed moppet with hidden powers. I’m finding the middle ground a more congenial place to be this week, as stores stock up on new volumes of Cat-Eyed Boy (Viz), Nodame Cantabile (Del Rey), and Pumpkin Scissors (Del Rey). My top picks for Wednesday, related in haiku form for no particular reason other than my personal amusement:

Apple, Vol. 1 (UDON Entertainment)
Korean comics
In glorious full color
Kind of like Robot.

Dororo, Vol. 2 (Vertical, Inc.)
Hyakkimaru
Is missing forty-eight parts
That has got to hurt.

xxxHolic, Vol. 12 (Del Rey)
Poor Watanuki
Should make out with Domeki
And give up on girls.

SHIPPING THIS WEEK
Alive: The Final Evolution, Vol. 5 (Del Rey)
Apple Anthology Vol. 1 (UDON Entertainment)
Cat-Eyed Boy, Vol. 2 (Viz)
Don’t Blame Me, Vol. 2 (DMP)
Dororo, Vol. 2 (Vertical, Inc.)
Flock of Angels, Vol. 3 (Aurora)
Gantz, Vol. 1 (Dark Horse)
Great Place High School (DMP)
Hideyuki Kikuchi’s Vampire Hunter D, Vol. 2 (DMP)
I Shall Never Return, Vol. 3 (Aurora/Deux)
Kamichama Karin-Chu, Vol. 1 (Del Rey)
Le Chevalier d’Eon, Vol. 5 (Del Rey)
Love Recipe, Vol. 2 (DMP)
Moon Child, Vol. 11 (CMX)
Nodame Cantabile, Vol. 14 (Del Rey)
Oh! My Goddess Authentic Edition, Vol. 9 (Dark Horse)
Pumpkin Scissors, Vol. 3 (Del Rey)
Suzuka, Vol. 8 (Del Rey)
Tomcats (DMP)
Tower of the Future, Vol. 11 (CMX)
xxxHolic, Vol. 12 (Del Rey)

I went to the cupboard in search of a snappy intro for this month’s Minis, but alas—I came up empty. So I’ll dispense with the opening gambit and simply say that this month’s column looks at two new Tokyopop titles, Dragon Sister! and eV, the second volumes of Love Master A (Go! Comi) and Sakura Ganbaru! (UDON), and the best-selling Naruto handbook (Viz), which has been flying off shelves since its release.

Dragon Sister!, Vol. 1

By Nini
Tokyopop, 192 pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)




Buried beneath the slapstick, speedlines, and extreme mammary close-ups is an intriguing premise: what if ancient China’s greatest warriors were, in fact, women? Dragon Sister! begins around 184 AD, when three brothers—Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang—acquire a set of magical scrolls capable of granting any wish. In their desire to overthrow the Han Dynasty, the brothers pray that no more heroes will be born, only beautiful women. Their scheme backfires, however, transforming them into a cabal of power-hungry girls. As the country descends further into chaos, young nobleman Liu Bei forms a volunteer army to oppose the Zhang sisters (formerly brothers), recruiting two busty babes, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, to aid his cause. None of this is explained very clearly—we never have a sense of who the various factions are, or why Liu Bei remains faithful to a corrupt emperor. Instead, manga-ka Nini treats us to a seemingly endless parade of costume failures, crude jokes, and scenes of predatory lesbianism, all delivered in speech that vacillates between present-day dudespeak and wuxia film formality. Strictly for the fanservice crowd; others are advised to look elsewhere for more enlightened tales of female empowerment.

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey

eV, Vol. 1

Created by Roger Mincheff, Written by James Farr, Art by Alfa Robbi and Papillon Studio

Published by Tokyopop, 192 pages
Rating: Teen (13 +)




From the mind that brought us The Covenant comes eV, the tale of a brilliant young woman, Evie, who finds herself injected with über-nanomachines that give her a vast array of physical and mental abilities. Once injected, Evie is taken to the far side of the universe to serve as Earth’s ambassador in a galactic federation.

Farr does a good job with the material and the characters, crafting a fairly fun and fast paced sci-fi adventure story. The whole thing has the feel of a summer blockbuster right down to certain stock characters: a workaholic father who will do anything for his daughter, the daughter who’s bitter and resentful at her father for being away all the time, and a mother who tries to hold the family together the best she can. On the other hand, the book also manages to translate the summer blockbuster feel to the story in terms of the size, scope, and set pieces. You can practically hear the pop rock songs playing at certain parts of the story. On top of that Farr manages to throw in some nifty tweaks to keep things interesting. Evie’s powers aren’t limited to simply amazing physical feats; her subconscious manifests itself in the form of a lil’ flying talking orb, which leads to some comical moments here and there.

Alfa Robbi has some solid story telling abilities but the art style itself just didn’t click. Something about it had me wishing the entire thing had been in color. Maybe it was the various alien life forms, or the moments towards the end when Evie utilizes some energy manipulation abilities, but I really felt that this was a story that would have benefited from some color. Ultimately eV is fluff, but sometimes fluff can be fun.

–Reviewed by Ken Haley

Love Master A, Vol. 2

By Kyoko Hashimoto
Go!Comi, 200pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)

It’s hard to conjure words to describe Love Master A, and it’s certainly not because the title is breathtakingly brilliant. The second installment of Kyoko Hashimoto’s middling school-life romance is so achingly mediocre it’s hard to tell if there’s anything original at all in between all the clichés. The first year school council crew—each easily summed up in three word archetypes—finds itself faced with a healthy plethora of problems, ranging from romantic infighting to the imminent closure of the council itself.

The resolutions are, of course, vaguely heartwarming and grindingly endearing, and with bland shojo everygirl Aria helming the story, it’s hard to find any respite from the standard shojo drudgery. That said, Hashimoto’s attempt to refresh the central love story by reversing the primary perspective is at least moderately novel, and works well to prolong the romantic angst well into the last pages of the book. There’s nothing new here in terms of artistic invention, with Hashimoto bringing out plenty of flowery screentones, sometimes overly so, resulting in visuals that are sufficiently sparkling but occasionally overdone. The dialogue, however, is want to wander more freely into the realm of cheese, resulting in a love confession so unbelievably corny that most other shojo manga would only tackle the same material if they were parodying the genre. With so much else out there on the market, it’s hard to imagine recommending Love Master A to anyone—but if you’ve truly exhausted the offerings, feel free to bide your time with a copy.

–Reviewed by Chloe Ferguson

Naruto: The Official Handbook

By Masashi Kishimoto
Viz, 288 pp.

Looking at ICv2, I can see that Naruto: The Official Fanbook has moved quite a few copies. In fact, it was number fifteen on the best-selling manga list in February. After taking a peek, I’m going to say there aren’t a lot of reasons why it should be selling. The vast majority of the content is plot summary, and the parts that aren’t are generally pretty mundane. There are a ton of quizzes in this, which I found to be inane or largely uninteresting; and even the interviews with Masashi Kishimoto are totally pointless. He reveals nothing, and answers no serious questions.

This is not to say that there weren’t some pleasant surprises in the volume. After opening the book, I found a nifty two-sided color pinup. It’s one of Kishimoto’s more whimsical pictures to, so I was quite pleased to see it. Also, if you don’t feel like picking up the issue of Shonen Jump, this volume has the bonus Naruto pilot story. Despite this material, I don’t recommend buying this volume unless you’re a hardcore completist. If you want the good material (e.g. the full-color art and the pilot story), grab the issue of Shonen Jump which contains it, and grab the Naruto artbook out right now, Uzumaki. You’ll be much more pleased with your purchases.

–Reviewed by Isaac Hale

Sakura Ganbaru!, Vol. 2

By Masahiko Nakahira
UDON Entertainment, 200 pp.

Following the events of the first volume and the conclusion of Kairin’s street fighting tournament, Sakura Ganbaru! continues along the lines of a paint-by-numbers shonen, but with everything compressed into two volumes. The results are wonderful as the fights are fast paced and exciting, and plots aren’t dragged out for dozens upon dozens of volumes. Much like other shonen protagonists (or Ryu from the Street Fighter Alpha manga), Sakura grows and learns more about herself, the nature of fighting and even attempts to discover what it means to be a true fighter. Her encounters with various other characters such as Gen, Chun Li or Zangief serve to illuminate different aspects of her quest and growth, and show the pitfalls of it as well.

Nakahira’s art is as clean and strong as ever, and he does a fantastic job with the various characters and their signature abilities and fighting styles. Unlike the previous volume, this one clearly alludes to the events in the Street Fighter Alpha manga, making some of the character interactions seem a bit odd. I suppose it’s best to think of them as loosely connected. Still, you won’t need to have read the Alpha manga to understand or enjoy Sakura Ganbaru! and doing so might actually leave you scratching your head a few times. At any rate, it’s still a fun and enjoyable series, and it’s great to see a young girl who’s capable of kicking butt and not in need of rescue.

–Reviewed by Ken Haley

Toronto, ON – Mar 5, 2008 – Street Fighter® is one of the most influential video game franchises of all time. It launched the head-to-head fighting game genre and brought together millions of players around the globe to do battle, first at arcades and later, across a variety of home consoles. 2008 is the 20th anniversary of the franchise and to celebrate the property’s rich history UDON Entertainment is producing an all-new full color art book - Street Fighter Tribute.

The Street Fighter fans who were young players when the franchise first launched are now grown up, but their love of the game continues. This high quality art book will showcase a cross section of brand new artistic interpretations of the Street Fighter characters in a series of full size pin-up style illustrations. The book will launch at this year’s Comic-con International: San Diego as part of Capcom®’s Street Fighter Celebration content.

UDON artists and other comic, video game and freelance illustrators have been invited to interpret their favorite Street Fighter characters for inclusion in this special book. Along with these invited artists UDON is sending out a widespread open art submission call to the video game fan artist community to submit artwork for possible inclusion in the tribute volume.

You could be part of Capcom history as part of the Street Fighter Tribute art book and have your artwork showcased alongside top names in the industry! It’s time to show UDON and Capcom your unique vision of Street Fighter!

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES AND FULL CONTEST RULES:
http://www.udonentertainment.com/blog/?page_id=86

ABOUT UDON ENTERTAINMENT
UDON is an award-winning Canadian-based art collective formed in 2000 to provide high-quality creative services to the entertainment industry. Its client list reads like a who’s who of the business and includes Alliance/Atlantis, Capcom, DC Comics, Gamepro, Harmony Gold, Hasbro, Konami, Marvel Comics, Nintendo, Random House, Score, TDK Interactive, ToyBiz, White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast and Wiz Kids amongst others. In addition to client work, UDON also publishes official comics, manga, and artbooks based on Street Fighter®, Darkstalkers™, Rival Schools™ and Exalted. More information about UDON can be found on the company web site, www.udonentertainment.com.

ABOUT CAPCOM
Capcom is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment for game consoles, PCs, handheld and wireless devices. Founded in 1983, the company has created hundreds of games, including best-selling franchises Resident Evil®, Street Fighter®, Mega Man® and Devil May Cry®. Capcom maintains operations in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Tokyo and Hong Kong, with corporate headquarters located in Osaka, Japan. More information about Capcom can be found on the company web site, www.capcom.com.

Street Fighter is a registered trademark of Capcom U.S.A., Inc. Capcom, Darkstalkers, Resident Evil, Rival Schools, Mega Man and Devil May Cry are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Capcom Co., Ltd., in the U.S. or other countries. All other marks are the property of their respective holders.

Toronto, ON – Dec 10, 2007 – This past weekend at the 2007 New York Anime Festival UDON Entertainment unveiled a swath of exciting announcements to a room full of thrilled anime and comic book fans. Just in time for Street Fighter’s 20th anniversary (highlighted by the all-new Street Fighter IV video game and the upcoming live action movie), UDON plans to release three pulse-pounding Street Fighter comic book series in 2008.

First up, Street Fighter II Turbo will be a 12 issue maxi-series continuing the core story of UDON’s Street Fighter universe. Featuring the dynamic and energetic artwork of Chamba (Sinbad: Rogue of Mars), this latest arc pits the World Warriors against each other in an epic tournament-style slugfest.

Secondly, artist Omar Dogan (Sakura, Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles) follows up his run on the popular Sakura mini-series with Street Fighter Legends: Chun-Li. This new 4 issue mini-series focuses on a young Chun-Li, revealing how she grew up to become the world’s most famous female fighter.

Finally, Joe Ng (Red Sonya: Sonya Goes East, Transformers, G.I. Joe VS Transformers) brings his skilled line work to the pages of Street Fighter III: New Generation. This 6-issue series will not only explore the new characters introduced in the Street Fighter III video games, it will also show fans for the first time what classic characters like Guile, Sakura and others are up to during the SF3 era!

Beyond Street Fighter, UDON is diving back into other publishing projects in 2008. The studio will be expanding their successful Capcom Manga line with several new titles including Onimusha: Twilight of Desire and Devil Kings Basara. Fans can also look forward to more Capcom art books including Onimusha Dawn of Dreams: Official Complete Works and the Darkstalkers Graphic File.

In addition, UDON is also kicking its Korean Manhwa line into high gear with new titles including Daring Students’ Association, Dear Waltz, Reading Club, Evyione and Chronicles of the Grim Peddler.

Release dates and more detailed information will be forthcoming in future press releases, so stay tuned to the blog section of www.udonentertainment.com for all the latest UDON news!

This week, Tokyopop and Viz blitz the market with over forty new volumes of manga. Among Tokyopop’s best offerings are new installments of M. Alice LeGrow’s darkly stylish Bizenghast, Matsuri Akino’s coming-of-age drama Genju no Seiza, Yuriko Nishiyama’s sports saga Rebound (a.k.a. Harlem Beat), and, just in time for New York Anime Fest, Svetlana Chmakova’s wildly popular Dramacon. Viz serves up another helping of Naruto, releasing volumes 25-27 of this perennial fan favorite, as well as new volumes of Beauty Pop, Crimson Hero, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Muhyo and Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation. And for connoisseurs of Korean comics, UDON Entertainment unveils Magical JxR, a new series about two teens who attend a school for aspiring magicians. Gee, that sounds novel…

In lieu of writing about this week’s new releases, I decided to focus on two recent titles that I genuinely enjoyed: Suppli (Tokyopop), a series about a twenty-something’s struggle to find love and success in the workplace, and Translucent (Dark Horse), a slice-of-life drama about a teen coping with an unusual medical condition. Both are a welcome antidote to the seemingly endless supply of wan shojo romances and supernatural shonen series crowding the shelves of your local Borders, and would make great gifts for the manga maniac on your Christmas or Hannukah list.

And speaking of Chrismukkah, I have two copies of Shakugan no Shana (Volume 2) to give away. If interested, send me an email with the subject line SHAKUGAN NO SHANA. Be sure to include your name and address. The first two people to respond will receive the books—provided, that is, that you’re at least 18 years old and live in the US.

REVIEWED LAST WEEK: Alice on Deadlines, Vol. 1 (Yen Press), Asian Beat, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop), Baku (Tokyopop), Heroes Are Extinct!!, Vol. 2 (DMP), I Shall Never Return, Vol. 1 (Aurora/Deux), Operation Liberate Men, Vol. 1 (NETCOMICS), Parasyte, Vols. 1-2 (Del Rey), Smuggler (Tokyopop), Spring Fever (Aurora/Deux)

REVIEWED THIS WEEK: Suppli, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop), Translucent, Vol. 2 (Dark Horse)

SHIPPING THIS WEEK:
+ANIMA, Vol. 6 (Tokyopop)
Atelier Marie and Elie Zarlburg Alchemist, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
Beauty Pop, Vol. 6 (Viz)
Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, Vol. 10 (Tokyopop)
Bizenghast, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)
Buso Renkin, Vol. 9 (Viz)
Crimson Hero, Vol. 7 (Viz; click here for a review of volume 6)
Dragon Drive, Vol. 5 (Viz)
Dramacon, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop; click here for a review of volume 2)
Eyeshield 21, Vol. 17 (Viz)
Faeries’ Landing, Vol. 18 (Tokyopop)
Fool’s Good, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop; click here for a review of volume 1)
Genju no Seiza, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop; click here for a review of volume 3)
Gentleman’s Alliance, Vol. 3 (Viz)
Girls Bravo, Vol. 10 (Tokyopop)
Go Go Heaven, Vol. 4 (CMX)
Good Witch of the West, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
Grenadier, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
Heaven, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
Hoshin Engi, Vol. 4 (Viz; click here for a review of volume 1)
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Vol. 9 (Viz)
Kamiyadori, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)
Life, Vol. 7 (Tokyopop; click here for a review of volume 1)
Love Attack, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
Magical JxR, Vol. 1 (UDON Entertainment)
Mobile Suit Gundam Ecole de Ciel, Vol. 7 (Tokyopop)
Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation, Vol. 2 (Viz; click here for a review of volume 1)
Naruto, Vol. 25 (Viz)
Naruto, Vol. 26 (Viz)
Naruto, Vol. 27 (Viz)
Ninja High Scool, No. 155 (Antarctic Press)
Nosatsu Junkie, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop; click here for a review of vols. 1-2)
One, Vol. 11 (Tokyopop)
Peace Maker Kurogane, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
Pieces of a Spiral, Vol. 10 (CMX)
Pretty Face, Vol. 3 (Viz; click here for a review of volume 1)
Rave Master, Vol. 26 (Tokyopop)
Rebound, Vol. 18 (Tokyopop)
Saver, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
Shonen Jump, January 2008
Somedays Dreamers Spellbound, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)
Stand By Youth, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
Street Fighter III: Ryu Final, Vol. 1 (UDON Entertainment)
Tactics, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop; click here for a review of volume 1)
Tail of the Moon, Vol. 8 (Viz; click here for a review of volume 7)
Trinity Blood: Rage Against the Moons Novel, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop)
Tsukuyomi Moon Phase, Vol. 9 (DrMaster)
Welcome to the NHK, Vol. 5 (Tokyopop)
XS Hybrid, Vol. 3 (Dark Horse; click here for a review of volume 1)
Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist, Vol. 24 (Viz)
Zapt!, Vol. 3 (Tokyopop)

Suppli, Vol. 1

By Mari Okazaki
Tokyopop, 208 pp.
Rating: M (18+)

I used to avoid josei, as I often find entertainment aimed at female audiences (Lifetime movies, Sophie Kinsella novels) dull, formulaic, and obvious. Imagine my surprise when I discovered just how funny and honest “chick lit” could be in a manga-ka’s hands. After devouring the first thirteen volumes of Yayoi Ogawa’s totally awesome Tramps Like Us, I embarked on a tour-de-force of Tokyopop’s josei catalog, sampling works by Moyocco Anno, Erica Sakurazawa, and Mari Okazaki. And while I wasn’t crazy about Okazaki’s Sweat and Honey, I liked the artwork enough to try the first volume of her latest series, Suppli. I wasn’t disappointed.

Suppli focuses on twenty-seven-year-old Minami, an up-and-coming advertising executive. Though Minami has a long-time beau, she feels ambivalent about their relationship, maintaining a separate apartment and making work a higher priority than spending time at home. Her boyfriend responds by dumping her. Minami then begins carving out a new identity for herself, accepting more challenging work assignments, forging friendships with her office mates, and exploring her feelings for two very different men: Ishida, a blunt co-worker with bad-boy sex appeal, and Ogiwara, a Tokyo University grad who looks great on paper, but has some nasty romantic baggage of his own.

Suppli vividly and humorously evokes office life, from the unproductive meetings and grueling all-nighters to the horseplay and flirtatious banter between co-workers. The denizens of Minami’s office are colorful, if one-dimensional, characters: a salty old maid, two flamboyant karaoke fiends, and a tart-tongued temp who offers sound relationship advice to her officemates while sleeping with a married man. To be sure, anyone who’s watched Ally McBeal, The Office, or Ugly Betty has encountered these types before, but Okazaki breathes fresh life into her scenario with stylish artwork and several funny, sexually-charged exchanges between Ishida and Minami. Okazaki occasionally clobbers the reader with obvious symbolism; in one sequence, for example, Minami’s thoughts about the road not taken are superimposed on images of diverging railroad tracks. On the whole, however, Suppli is an engaging mixture of wry humor, real-life situations, and romantic intrigue that should appeal to fans of Tramps Like Us and Hataraki Man.

Volume one of Suppli is available now.

Translucent, Vol. 2

By Kazuhiro Okamoto
Dark Horse, 200 pp.
Rating: 13+

Kazuhiro Okamoto isn’t the first auteur to represent adolescence as a disease; stories as different as Teen Wolf and Lament of the Lamb have used extreme physical conditions to underscore the emotional and social difficulties of being fourteen. In Translucent, invisibility is a metaphor for the way many of us bumbled through junior high, simultaneously hoping to escape certain kids’ notice while worrying that kids we deemed cool (or cute) didn’t know we existed.

The heroine, Shizuka Shiroyama, suffers from a mysterious ailment that temporarily causes her limbs (and sometimes her entire body) to disappear whenever she feels anxious, depressed, or hormonal. Early in volume one, fellow eighth-grader Mamoru Tadami develops a crush on Shizuka. Though Mamoru seems immature—he still plays with model planes and rides the swings—he proves unwavering in his devotion to Shizuka, helping her cope with crises big and small, from a sprained ankle to a badly-timed bout of invisibility. Shizuka also befriends Okouchi, a high-achiever who finds everyone’s high estimation of her burdensome (she hopes to “catch” Translucent Syndrome from Shizuka, thus escaping her teachers and parents’ gaze), and Keiko Hamna, a twenty-something glassblower who, like Shizuka, lives with the disease.

Throughout the series, Okamoto avoids the slapstick, deformations, and contrived subplots that can make high school dramas a chore to read, instead emphasizing ordinary moments over manufactured drama. Not much happens in either volume; most chapters depict such normal junior high rituals as dodge ball, cultural festivals, and first dates. (There are a few exceptions, however, such a goofy, over-the-top fist fight between Mamoru and Shizuka’s father.) Okamoto’s artwork is as restrained as his storytelling, favoring delicate lines over heavy shading to give his panels depth and detail. The result is a beautiful, bittersweet portrait of early adolescence that wears its metaphorical conceit lightly.

Volume two of Translucent is available now.

Heads up, otakus! Your LCS may be mobbed on Wednesday by legions of Scott Pilgrim fans eager to see if he Gets It Together. If by some small chance Brian Lee O’Malley’s series has escaped your notice, now is a great time to bust out of your comfort zone and try it.

Scott Pilgrim pokes fun at comic book, video game, and manga clichés; everyone has something to knowingly laugh at, from the League of Evil Ex-Boyfriends to the vintage video game references. O’Malley also wrings a lot of yuks from his affectionate send-up of the indie music scene. The perpetually underemployed Scott plays in Sex Bob-omb, a band whose lyrics are so purple they’d make Billy Corgan blush. For music nerds, O’Malley has thoughtfully included the songs’ chord progressions above the panels. You can play along as you read, though you may discover—as I did—that the music is even worse than you’d imagined. (Take it from someone who’s studied counterpoint—there’s not a whole lotta functional harmony goin’ on.)

But the best part of Scott Pilgrim is its central conceit: our hero must defeat all seven of his girlfriend’s exes before the couple can enjoy true relationship bliss. It’s a nice metaphor for the way most of us feel when we embark on a new relationship. We’d like to leave our baggage behind us and make a fresh start of things, but it usually takes a whole lot of effort—and maybe some Mortal Kombat—to get there. (N.B. If you’ve already read volumes one through three, check out David Welsh’s glowing, spoiler-free review of volume four at Precocious Curmudgeon.)

OEL not your bag? You’ll find a new assortment of Tokyopop titles on shelves this week, including Asian Beat, an anthology of short stories by Demon Ororon creator Hakase Mizuki; Suppli, a josei title about a twenty-something woman looking for love in the workplace; and The Good Witch of the West, a novel from Dragon Sword and Wind Child creator Noriko Ogiwara. You’ll also find the latest volumes of such long-running crowd pleasers as Fruits Basket, Get Backers, King of Hell, Loveless, Samurai Deeper Kyo, and Trinity Blood. DMP also makes a strong showing this week with two exciting new titles: Garden Dreams, a one-volume tale from the prolific Fumi Yoshinaga, and Hideyuki Kukuchi’s Vampire Hunter D, a manga adaptation of the beloved novels. Last but not least, ALC Publishing releases its annual Yuri Monogatari collection featuring stories by Japanese, American, and European artists. For more information visit Okazu, the personal blog of ALC publisher and Yuricon founder Erica Friedman. It’s always entertaining and frequently educational, even if you aren’t a big fan of yuri.

By the way, if you’re looking to score some free manga, John Jakala of Sporadic Sequential is running a cathartic contest. Send him an email describing your worst manga shopping experience no later than 11:59 EST on November 15th. Make it good, and you’ll receive a sweet reward: copies of Dragon Head (Vol. 8), The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (Vol. 4), and Presents (Vol. 1).

REVIEWED THIS WEEK:

• Dorothy of Oz, Vol. 1 (UDON Entertainment)
• Psycho Busters, Vol. 1 (Del Rey)
• Togari, Vol. 3 (Viz)

SHIPPING THIS WEEK:

• After School Nightmare, Vol. 5 (Go! Comi)
• Asian Beat (Tokyopop)
• Basara, Vol. 25 (Viz)
• Chibi Vampire, Vol. 6 (Tokyopop)
• Fandomonia: Characters and Cosplay (Aperture)
• Firefighter Daigo of Fire Company M, Vol. 20 (Viz)
• Flame of Recca, Vol. 25 (Viz)
• Fruits Basket, Vol. 18 (Tokyopop)
• Garden Dreams (DMP)
• Get Backers, Vol. 21 (Tokyopop)
• Good Witch of the West Novel, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
• Hayate the Combat Butler, Vol. 5 (Viz; click here for a review of volume 1)
• Hideyuki Kukuchi’s Vampire Hunter D, Vol. 1 (DMP)
• How to Draw Manga: Manga Sketching Style, Vol. 3
• King of Hell, Vol. 17 (Tokyopop)
• Legends of the Dark Crystal: Garthim Wars, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
• Love Pistols, Vol. 3 (BLU Manga)
• Loveless, Vol. 7 (Tokyopop)
• Manga Literary Classics: Gulliver’s Travels (Youngjin Singapore)
• Me & My Brothers, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop; click here for a review of volume 1)
• Million Tears, Vol. 2 (Tokyopop; click here for a review of volume 1)
• Missing: Story of Kami-Kushi, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
• Musashi #9, Vol. 13 (CMX)
• President Dad, Vol. 7 (Tokyopop)
• Project DOA, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
• Psychic Power Nanaki, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
• Rose Hip Zero, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)
• Samurai Deeper Kyo, Vol. 25 (Tokyopop)
• Shojo Beat (December 2007)
• Street Fighter Sakura Ganbaru, Vol. 2 (UDON Entertainment; click here for a review of volume 1)
• Suppli, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)
• Togari, Vol. 3 (Viz; reviewed below)
• Trinity Blood, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop; click here for a review of volume 1)
• Utopia’s Avenger, Vol. 4 (Tokyopop)
• Vampire Hunter D Novel, Vol. 9: The Rose Princess (DMP)
• Venus in Love, Vol. 1 (CMX; click here for a review)
• Voice or Noise, Vol. 1 (BLU Manga)
• World’s End (DMP)
• Yakitate!! Japan, Vol. 8 (Viz; click here for a review of volume 4)
• Yuri Monogatari, Vol. 5 (ALC Publishing)
• Zig Zag, Vol. 1 (Tokyopop)

Dorothy of Oz, Vol. 1

By Son Hee-Joon
UDON Entertainment, 184 pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)

Chimeras and clones and cyborgs, oh my! This Korean take on Frank L. Baum’s classic novel preserves the most famous elements of the original—Toto, the yellow brick road—while recasting Dorothy and her traveling companions as a scientifically enhanced posse of secret agents. Some of these updates work well: Son Hee-Joon reimagines the Scarecrow as a tow-headed clone who’s prone to malapropisms, and the Tin Man as a cyborg baffled by human emotion. Other liberties with plot and character make little dramatic sense. Volume one begins not with Dorothy’s arrival in Oz, as one might expect, but with a lengthy fight scene between Dorothy et al. and a group of zombies. Only after 100 or so pages of combat, jibberish, and intimations of a greater, pan-Oz conspiracy does the author bother to explain that Dorothy is, in fact, the codename/alter ego of Mara Shin, an ordinary Korean teenager who bumbled into Oz via the yellow brick road. Help me, Auntie Em!

If I was a little underwhelmed by the story, I was genuinely impressed by the overall quality of the presentation. Dorothy of Oz is slickly packaged, with an oversized trim, embossed covers, and several glossy, full-color plates. The translation, too, is idiomatic and edited with the same degree of meticulousness I’ve come to expect from the biggest manga publishers. Such attention to detail bodes well for UDON’s new manwha line, and may help persuade otakus that Korean comics aren’t just a pallid imitation of the “real thing.”

Volume one of Dorothy of Oz is available now.

Psycho Busters, Vol. 1

Art by Akinari Nao, Story by Yuya Aoki
Del Rey, 216 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

Like hundreds of shonen heroes before him, Kakeru is blissfully unaware of the hidden, earth-shattering power lurking within him—that is, until a beautiful girl informs him that he’s destined to save the world. In Psycho Busters, that thankless role falls to Ayano, a psychic who’s being pursued by a secret government agency. She pleads with Kakeru to rescue her and her friends, even using her powers of astral projection to seize control of his body and lead him to an abandoned house where paramilitary forces have trapped them. Though Kakeru hasn’t a clue what he’s capable of, he reluctantly agrees to help Ayano.

One of the hazards of any popular medium is that a hit begets dozens of clones as producers and editors try to duplicate the formula that made the original a success. In the case of Psycho Busters, that means revisiting the well-worn paths traced by manga-ka like Tite Kubo and Oh! Great. I can almost imagine the pitch that gave rise to this very generic shonen series:

You want fan service? Why, we’ve got panty shots, busty lasses, and discrete nudity! You want a non-threatening hero that anyone can identify with? Well, the hero of the story hates school and likes manga, just like many of the boys who will be reading this book! You want action? Don’t worry—lots of stuff will blow up because one of the psychics can start fires with his mind!

Save for a throwaway joke about Nana (yes, that Nana) and a brisk, take-no-prisoners pace, Psycho Busters never rises above the level of so-so shonen titles like Shiki Tsukai.

Volume one of Psycho Busters is available now.

Togari, Vol. 3

By Yoshinori Natsume
Viz, 192 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

Tobei is an SOB whose 300-year stay in hell has done nothing to soften him up. Lady Ema, one of hell’s wardens, offers Tobei a chance at redemption: if he can collect 108 toga, or sins, in as many days, he’ll be allowed to live out his days on earth; if not, he’ll be cast into a deeper rung of hell. She then dispatches him to the modern world armed only with Togari, a seemingly useless wooden sword. As Tobei quickly learns, however, Togari thrives on malicious energy, consuming fierce-looking toga more efficiently than a gun or metal blade. In his quest to bag 108 sins, he crosses paths with Itsuki, a spunky tomboy with a mean right hook; Ose, one of hell’s correction officers, who’s been assigned to monitor Tobei’s progress; and Detective Sawazaka, an ambitious police officer who wants to know why Tobei always hangs around crime scenes. (The answer: that’s the best place to collect toga!)

Yoshinori Natsume’s artwork is both a strength and a weakness of Togari. On the one hand, his spiky character designs and rough, sketch-like title pages infuse the story with fresh visual energy. On the other hand, his fight scenes are a hot mess of speed lines and awkwardly posed bodies. It’s frequently hard to tell how Tobei slays each toga, a problem compounded by the fact that the monsters look like tracings from A Field Guide to Insects, rather than organic elements of the story. Natsume does earn props for his efficient exposition, wit, and equal-opportunity fan service; male and female readers alike have plenty to engage their interest besides lengthy fight scenes and fish-out-of-water humor. Togari may not be the best-looking shonen title on the market, but it’s a solidly entertaining supernatural thriller that never takes itself too seriously.

Volume three of Togari will be available on November 14th.

Manga Minis are back and better than before, with 200% more contributors and no trans fat! This month, Erin, Ken and I team up to review a variety of titles: Flock of Angels (Vol. 1), Gon (Vol. 1), The Moon and Sandals (Vols. 1-2), Picnic, Sakura Ganbaru (Vol. 1), and xxxHolic (Vol. 10).

Flock of Angels, Vol. 1

By Shoko Hamada
Aurora Publishing, pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)

Shea Lipps is the very embodiment of tweenage fantasy: not only is he cute and kind to his younger sister, he’s also an aspiring clothing designer who happens to sprout wings out of the blue. As any scholar of X-Men history knows, such dramatic mutations evoke a wide spectrum of responses. Some changelings are exiled; some murdered; some exploited for commercial purposes (or worse); and a few find themselves in protective custody. Shea is fortunate. His immediate family supports him; girls continue to dig him (although sometimes for the wrong reasons); and he finds a mentor in Kanai, a kindly g-man tasked with finding and assisting people like Shea. Through Kanai, Shea learns that a mysterious virus called angelosis causes the mutation, transforming ordinary people into winged wonders. Thus begins Shea’s journey of self-discovery, as he learns how to fly, cope with his new-found celebrity (cute boy + wings = media circus), and help other people with angelosis.

I’d be the first to acknowledge the story’s glaring weaknesses, from the long-winded speeches promoting tolerance to the resolved-in-a-jiffy conflicts, which never seem to last more than a chapter. (Not to mention the very idea of “angelosis,” which sounds like the clinical name for a divine case of bad breath.) For all its limitations, however, Shoko Hamada never shies away from suggesting how violently the “angels” have been persecuted, nor does she depict Shea as a self-doubting sourpuss once he begins to discover the darker side of being different. Flock of Angels never plumbs the gritty depths of Runaways or The X-Men, but younger teens may well appreciate a kawaii take on the well-documented mutants vs. men conflict.

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey-Tsuei

Gon, Vol. 1

By Masashi Tanaka
CMX, 148 pp.
Rating: Teen

A rarity in the world of sequential art, Gon is a beautifully drawn, completely silent manga. It follows the adventures of the title character, a little orange dinosaur, as he wanders a pre-human/post-dinosaur world getting into all sorts of trouble.

The first volume is made up of several stand-alone stories: Gon hunts on lion back, creates a giant dam after watching some beavers, and lives with a family of eagles and tries to learn how to fly. The only element connecting the various stories is Gon, and, despite what it says on the back cover, he’s not quite the friend to helpless animals. Sure, he helps some, but he’s just as likely to kick them around if it suits him. In the eagle story, he helps to defend the nest, but in the dam building story his construction project leaves an entire forest homeless. Still, there’s something lovable and really enjoyable about watching the little fella getting up to all kinds of mischief. He’s less a cute and cuddly hero and more of a dinosaur version of Bart Simpson or Dennis the Mennis.

The artwork here is absolutely amazing. It’s some of the most detailed black and white art I’ve ever seen. The animals look real (aside from Gon), yet Tanaka is still able to imbue them with a sense of personality that you’d expect to see in a Disney movie.

–Reviewed by Ken Haley

The Moon and Sandals, Vols. 1-2

By Fumi Yoshinaga
Published by DMP
Rating: 18+ (Mature)

Fumi Yoshinaga is the darling of the manga blogging world. Jason Thompson likes her, Shaenon Garrity likes her, and even Katherine, who doesn’t read much yaoi, likes her. So how does The Moon and Sandals compare with her other work: is it better than Antique Bakery? Not really. Is it as charming as The Flower of Life? Not exactly. Is there a lot of explicit gay sex? Why, yes there is!

There are five major characters. Kobayashi is a high school kid who falls for his world history teacher, a young man named Mr. Ida. Out of a naive bravery, Kobayashi goes to Mr. Ida’s house to make a move on him, only to be interrupted by Hashizume, Ida’s lover, who announces that he has quit his job to come live with Ida. Kobayashi runs out of the house, embarrassed. On the rebound, Kobayashi starts to fall for Toyo Narumi, a blonde boy nicknamed “Giant”. Giant hasn’t come to grips with being gay just yet. To complicate matters further, Giant’s little sister Naru has a crush on Kobayashi.

The Moon and Sandals gets a higher score from me for dealing with gay issues in a refreshing, realistic way. Hashizume must adopt Ida as his brother so landlords will rent to them. Kobayashi is not sure how to perform gay sex and buys a book from Ni-chome (Tokyo’s gay district) so he can do it with his boyfriend. Giant hurt a boy he liked in junior high just to prove to his classmates that he wasn’t gay. Characters discuss coming out to their coworkers and families. Even when Yoshinaga’s characters are standing outdoors dramatically in a typhoon and sustaining blood-drawing injuries while confessing their love, there is a certain honesty to her characterizations. Moments that would be melodramatic elsewhere are somehow believable here.

I only have a few hesitations about Moon and Sandals. Ida and Hashizume get un-officially married before they have sex, but after they’ve been living together for months. It seems unrealistic in a yaoi title with realistic elements. Darker-haired characters fall for lighter haired characters as per strict yaoi genre conventions. Yoshinaga’s character designs are all similar. That said, if you like Fumi Yoshinaga, or yaoi, or both, I think you’ll like The Moon and Sandals.

–Reviewed by Erin F.

Picnic

By Yugi Yamada
DMP, 200 pp.
Rating: 18+ (Mature)

In my yaoi reading experience, I generally have to wait until the end of volume one (or even volumes two or three for longer series) for the sex scene. Much to my surprise, the lovers start getting it on in chapter two of Picnic, an anthology of short stories. Also to my surprise, it turns out short story anthologies work rather well for mature yaoi titles. Instead of dithering on about angst and love (boring), the characters get right straight down to the man love (interesting).

Picnic contains six short stories, each of which feature a blonde guy paired with a brunette guy. The characters range across ages and professions. In “Our First Trip Alone Together,” a group of twenty-somethings plan a trip to Hokkaido that keeps falling through; in “I’ll Forget Him in Five Seconds,” a junior high kid is in love with the older owner of a mah-jong parlor; in “I Have an Excuse Too,” two college students have a lot of sex; in the disturbing “But Sometimes You’re Kind,” a homeless kid falls for a gigolo; and in “What Will Happen to Us,” a salaryman is crippled by his unspoken love for his coworker.

Picnic is definitely one of DMP’s more compelling yaoi titles. It’s a little too hardcore for younger audiences, but it’s a satisfying read for fujioshi O.L.’s like me.

–Reviewed by Erin F.

Sakura Ganbaru!, Vol. 1

By Masahiko Nakahira
UDON Entertainment, 200 pp.

The second Nakahira series to be released by Udon, Sakura Ganbaru follows the adventures of Sakura, a young school girl turned street fighter, as she attempts to become the best fighter possible while searching for “that man” (Ryu). Along the way she does everything you’d expect a shonen protagonist to do: she enters tournaments, makes friends out of opponents, and so on. Unlike the Street Fighter Alpha manga, Sakura Ganbaru has a slightly more humorous bent to it: visual gags, mistaken identies, off the wall situations being played up for humor, etc.

If you were hoping for a continuation of the plot lines from Street Fighter Alpha, well, you’ll be a bit disappointed. It seems that this series is unrelated to Alpha despite sharing several characters. (Although they did battle in the Alpha series, Dan doesn’t seem to recognized Ken when they face off.) The artwork here seems a bit rougher than it did in Alpha, but it’s still pretty good. Nakahira’s fight scenes are fun and easy to follow, and he nails the look and feel for the various Street Fighter characters that appear in it as well. Overall it’s a fun start to a short series and a must have for any Street Fighter fans. Non Street Fighter fans might enjoy it, but they’d probably miss a lot of the references and cameos.

–Reviewed by Ken Haley

xxxHolic, Vol. 10

By CLAMP
Del Rey, 208 pp.
Rating: 13+

Although I’ve found the artwork in xxxHolic ravishing from the very beginning, I haven’t always found Watanuki a sympathetic character. He whines. He treats Domeki badly. He makes a fool of himself in front of Himawari. He ignores Yuko’s advice. Yet somewhere around volume five, Watanuki began to grow up, making the transformation from a grumpy, self-pitying teenager to a resourceful young man. He’s regressed from time to time, lashing out at Domeki without cause or butting heads with Yuko. In volume ten, however, Watanuki shows us how far he’s come, as he at last learns why Yuko has repeatedly warned him about Himawari. Watanuki proves wise and compassionate in his dealings with Himawari, and mature enough to accept the consequences of his loyalty. Himawari, for her part, demonstrates both an unselfishness and a courage that her ditzy demeanor often conceals. It’s this richness of character—as suggested by Watanuki’s capacity to learn from his mistakes, and Himawari’s hidden depth—that makes xxxHolic more than just another beautifully illustrated fantasy, but a thoughtful meditation on fate vs. free will.

–Reviewed by Katherine Dacey-Tsuei

Street Fighter Alpha, Vols. 1-2

Created by Masahiko Nakahira
Published by UDON Entertainment

Released for the first time in the US by the fine folks at UDON Entertainment, this two-volume manga retells stories from the original Street Fighter Alpha video game. Creator Masahiko Nakahira adds a few of his own twists and turns as well, some of which were subsequently integrated into the games’ canon story line.

The series follows Ryu, a young Japanese martial artist determined to become the best fighter he can, and his quest to control the Dark Hadou, a power within him that his martial arts skills have awakened. Unfortunately for Ryu, the awakening of the Dark Hadou has also brought him to the attention of the mysterious man named Bison, who seeks to capture and brainwash Ryu for his own purposes.

That’s actually the plot in a nutshell. It’s very shounen-y. Thankfully, unlike many shounen series, Street Fighter Alpha is only two volumes. This means that Nakahira can’t spend volumes on a single fight or half a volume on some minor villian’s backstory. The result is a fast-paced read with surprisingly little of the decompression that one often associates with manga. The focus rarely shifts away from Ryu, and when it does, the episodes tend to be brief and meant to contrast friends’ and rivals’ attitudes with his own. Of course it’s not all grim and gritty and kick ’splode; there are a few funny moments spread throughout the series. Whether using physical humor or humorous dialogue, Nakahira does a good job at keeping the story light and fun while not taking away from more serious aspects.

The only real downside is that there are a number of subplots that are never properly resolved. What does Bison intend for Cammy, for example? Will Ryu eventually have a showdown with Akuma, the man who killed his master? All of these are left hanging. There are a number of reasons Nakahira may have left these stories unfinished. He’s produced more Street Fighter manga, several of which will be published by UDON in the future, so it’s quite possible that he wraps up some of these story lines in those series. It’s also possible that Capcom wished him to leave some questions unanswered in the hopes of piquing readers’ interest in the game itself. Cammy’s story, for example, is heavily elaborated upon in the subsequent Alpha games.

Art-wise, Nakahira’s style leans towards the chunky side. The characters have a certain round, blockiness to them. I’m not sure if this is his normal style or if he tried to stick closely the Capcom design team’s style. If he was aiming for the later, then he definitely succeeded, as just about all the character designs are faithful to their original, in-game appearances. There’s a little variation here and there: Rose looks bit a more feminine here than in the games, Vega is sporting a Shadaloo uniform rather than his bullfighter’s leotard, etc. At any rate, it looks good and fits the tone of the story, allowing for some silly moments between the insane fights and occasional discussions about succumbing to the darkness within. Nakahira’s action sequences are fast-paced and over the top, featuring many of the signature special and super moves from the game series. He even manages to work in a few full page and double page spreads, all of which look great and add a nice sense of the dramatic to certain moments and reveals.

There’s no new ground being broken here, sure, but it’s still a fun, light, action-packed read that should probably appeal to action/shounen fans who want their adrenaline fix without getting sucked into another 40 volume epic.

Volumes one and two of Street Fighter Alpha are available now.

Capcom has announced that gamers will be able to play Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix starting on August 29. The Xbox Live version of this title brings a newly balanced X game mode and online play modes to the mix. However, perhaps the coolest part of it is that Capcom has brought on the crew at Udon Entertainment to bring the graphics and effects alive in the HD era. Instead of looking at the same old school, low res pixels we’ve become used to with the series, everything has been redone with an amazing amount of detail. For any gamers that don’t think they’re familiar with Udon’s work, you’ve seen their work on everything ranging from the Capcom comic books to videogame box covers to end game artwork in various Capcom games and everything in between.

UDON ENTERTAINMENT PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

RACK UP SOME EXTRA POINTS WITH UDON’S BONUS STAGE
Comics’ Biggest Names Team Up in Street Fighter® Vol.4: Bonus Stage

Toronto, ON – July 18, 2007 – UDON’s ‘jumbo manga’ size trade paperbacks have been a big hit with fans who missed out on the original Street Fighter® and Street Fighter® II monthly comic series. But until now something has been missing– those hard to find backup stories by comics’ biggest names! Now, Street Fighter Vol.4: Bonus Stage collects every single Street Fighter backup story in one volume.

Here’s a complete run down! Featured are stories drawn by Adrian Alphona, Kaare Andrews, Carlos Barberi, Ale Garza, Keron Grant, Hyeung-Tae Kim, Salvador Larroca, Kevin Lau, Mark Lee, Joe Madureira, Josh Middleton, Andy Seto, SVEN, Chris Stevens, LeSean Thomas, Adam Warren and Skottie Young. Also included are guest covers and the hilarious Cheap Shots comedy pages by Cory ‘REY’ Lewis.

Street Fighter Vol.4: Bonus Stage hits comic shop shelves August 2007. For news on this and other Capcom® comic books head on over to www.CapcomComics.com.

STREET FIGHTER VOL.4: BONUS STAGE
US Price: $12.95 ISBN: 978-1-897376-00-3
Diamond #: JUN073931
Format: 144pgs, Full Color, 8 ¼ x 5 ¾”

Also Available:

STREET FIGHTER® VOL.1: ROUND ONE: FIGHT! (OCT068047)
US Price: $9.99 ISBN: 0973865202

STREET FIGHTER® VOL.2: THE NEW CHALLENGERS (OCT068048)
US Price: $13.99 ISBN: 097386527X

STREET FIGHTER® VOL.3: FIGHTER’S DESTINY (MAY063447)
US Price: $13.99 ISBN: 0973865288

STREET FIGHTER® LEGENDS VOL 1 SAKURA TP (OCT063730)
US Price: $11.95 ISBN: 0978138643

ABOUT UDON ENTERTAINMENT
(www.udonentertainment.com)
UDON is an award-winning Canadian-based art collective formed in 2000 to provide high-quality creative services to the entertainment industry. Its client list reads like a who’s who of the business and includes Alliance/Atlantis, Capcom, DC Comics, Gamepro, Harmony Gold, Hasbro, Konami, Marvel Comics, Nintendo, Random House, Score, TDK Interactive, ToyBiz, White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast and Wiz Kids amongst others. In addition to client work, UDON also publishes official comics, manga, and artbooks based on Street Fighter, Darkstalkers™, Rival Schools™ and Exalted.

ABOUT CAPCOM

Capcom is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment for game consoles, PCs, handheld and wireless devices. Founded in 1983, the company has created hundreds of games, including best-selling franchises Resident Evil®, Street Fighter®, Mega Man® and Devil May Cry®. Capcom maintains operations in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Tokyo and Hong Kong, with corporate headquarters located in Osaka, Japan. More information about Capcom can be found on the company web site, www.capcom.com.

Capcom, Resident Evil, Mega Man and Devil May Cry are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Capcom Co., Ltd., in the U.S. or other countries. Street Fighter is a registered trademark of Capcom U.S.A., Inc.