Kingdom Hearts II Volume 1

From the shelf of unread books.

Title: Kingdom Hearts II
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 2007
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Shiro Amano
Artist: Shiro Amano

Roxas, a teenager living in a small village called Twilight Town, just wants to enjoy his summer vacation with his friends. But weird things keep happening. A mysterious thief is stealing not just items, but the memories of those items too. And Roxas keeps having dreams about a boy named Sora.

This is actually the third series of manga based on the Kingdom Hearts game, so it's probably not the best jumping-in point for a franchise with so much lore. It was a bit difficult to keep everyone straight, and the artwork gets very jumpy in the scenes where the various bits of weirdness kick in. I did really enjoy the art in the quieter scenes, but even for someone unfamiliar with Kingdom Hearts, this felt more confusing than it needed to be. A bit more time to breathe and explain would have been nice.

And while I have some idea of what types of things to expect out of Kingdom Hearts is was still a little disconcerting to have Donald Duck and Goofy just show up seemingly randomly in a couple of panels.

Fun character interactions between Roxas and his friends did help make this interesting, but not so much that I felt like I needed to find out what comes next.

Rating: 5.5/10

LiLing Po Volume 1

Found at a Little Free Library in Yarmouth MA USA in October, 2024.

Title: LiLing Po
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 2005
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Ako Yutenji
Artist: Ako Yutenji
Letterer: Yoohae Yang
Editor: Julie Taylor

LiLing Po is an infamous thief who is released from prison to help his government recover a set of stolen magical treasures.

This quickly turns into an episodic kind of thing where LiLing Po and the government agents working with him investigate people who have been influenced or changed by the wish-granting powers of the mysterious eight treasures. While this provides some nice structure, I found the characters hard to relate to and the dialogue dense. This could have benefited from slower pacing and a bit of breathing room to get to know everyone before plunging into a sort of monster-of-the-week mode.

Rating: 4/10

Rave Master Volume 1

From a Little Free Library in Amherst MA USA.

Title: Rave Master
Issue: Volume 1
Date: February, 2003
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Hiro Mashima
Artist: Hiro Mashima

This was full of charmingly odd translations. So there's a set of magical stones called Rave. And there is a series of evil magical stones called Dark Bring. The Dark Bring stones are controlled by an evil organization called Demon Card.

Enter, our hero, sixteen-year-old Haru Glory, resident of the an isolated community called Garage Island. When Haru catches a strange horned creature in the sea, he is set on a course that leads him to become the new controller of the Rave stone and wielder of the Rave-powered shapeshifting sword.

The story here is straightforward hero's journey, but the characters are pretty strong, there is some good tragic backstory going on, and the odd quirky details like the strange talking flower-being that lives attached to the wall of Haru's house really make the story shine.

This was more fun than I expected it to be, and I'm interested in seeing where it goes.

Rating: 7.5/10

Cardcaptor Sakura Volume 3

Read my friend's copy of this while visiting.

Title: Cardcaptor Sakura
Issue: Volume 3
Date: 2003
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Clamp
Artist: Clamp
Editor: Jake Forbes

Sakura deals with a Clow Card doppelgänger that has led her brother into danger. She also helps her friend deal with a box that refuses to be opened, revealing another Clow Card. This volume ends with the arrival of a mysterious new teacher at Sakura’s school.

I jumped into this series with this issue, and in spite of the big cast, I never felt lost. The book does a nice job of reinforcing the worldbuilding as it expands on the rules and ideas behind the magical Clow Cards. The story is sprinkled with lots of humor, and Clamp always delivers spectacularly on the artwork.

Rating: 7/10

Soul To Seoul Volume 1

From the boxes of books I had in storage.

Title: Soul To Seoul
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 2005
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Kim Jea Eun (English adaptation by Ellen Choi)
Artist: Kim Jea Eun
Letterer: Eva Han
Editor: Julie Taylor

This was a mix of romance, family drama, and crime drama about Korean teens living in New York City. There was a lot going on here in terms of character interactions, and the first volume just scratches the surface of all of the potential drama.

At the center of it all are rapper Spike and wannabe-gangster Kai. Kai meets Sunil, a young woman recently arrived from Korea, and Kai is willing to give up his playboy ways to date her. Meanwhile Kai's cousin arrives to disrupt the dynamics of his already complex and tension-filled family life.

When Spike gets arrested, Kai takes his first step down a dark path for the sake of bailing his friend out of jail.

This felt a bit choppy as it jumped between different plot threads and conflicts. The writer clearly had a lot to introduce in the first volume and was determined to get everything in. Some of it, possibly the character JJ's backstory, might have better been saved for a future volume. Still, the story set up a lot of intriguing elements, and ended on a strong note.

Rating: 6/10

Snow Drop Volume 2

From the unread manga shelf.

Title: Snow Drop
Issue: Volume 2
Date: 2004
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Choi Kyung-ah (English adaptation by Sarah Dyer)
Artist: Choi Kyung-ah
Letterer: Christina R. Siri
Editor: Bryce P. Coleman

Romance begins to grow between high school student So-Na, and young model Hae-Gi. But just as things are beginning to get interesting at a party, So-Na's old rival Sun-Mi arrives on the scene.

Aside from the introduction of Sun-Mi, the plot in this volume was in something of a holding pattern. The Hae-Gi/So-Na relationship is making tiny bits of progress, but mostly these involve Hae-Gi ignoring basic consent, and So-Na continuing to try to manipulate things.

I did like the way that hints are slowly being given about some sort of connection in the past with So-Na's mother, the author of the book that gave Hae-Gi his name. There are definitely some layers of backstory that will be interesting to uncover, but this volume felt a bit transitional.

Rating: 5/10

Snow Drop Volume 1

One of many, many, unread books that I unpacked from my storage unit.

Title: Snow Drop
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 2004
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Choi Kyung-ah (English adaptation by Sarah Dyer)
Artist: Choi Kyung-ah
Letterer: James Dashiell
Editor: Julie Taylor, Bryce P. Coleman

Rich-kid high school drama with a lot of tragic backstory and a fair number of plot twists. So-Na dropped out of junior high school to run the Snow Drop plant nursery. The nursery is her safe space, where she can mourn the loss of her mother. But when her father pressures her to return to school and finish her diploma, she is stuck in the same classroom with her rich and obnoxious childhood friend, Ha-Da.

Enter pretty boy (and actual professional model) Hae-Gi, who was named after a character in a novel written by So-Na's mother. He and So-Na immediately hit it off in all of the completely wrong ways, and we're off and running. The introduction of Hae-Gi's crossdressing younger brother provides a nice injection of chaos toward the end of this volume.

This was a fast-paced romance fueled by a lot of teenage angst. It suffered from some of the usual issues of "these problems would not be problems of people would just talk to each other", but that is to be expected in this type of plot. So-Na seemed particularly inconsistent, and hopefully this will be smoothed out as the series moves on. Right now, she's likeable only in certain moments.

Rating: 5.5/10

One, Volume 1

From my school library. This appears to be the library's one and only manga volume.

Title: One
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 1998
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Lee Vin
Artist: Lee Vin

This is the opening volume in a somewhat over-the-top KPop drama set in a "Celebrity High School" in Korea, a school attended by several teen pop stars.

This volume introduces quiet but brilliant title character Eumpa One, teen idol Jenny You, crossdressing rap star Jiwon Jin, boy-band leader Ha Rock, and seemingly quiet music fan Young Ju. There's also a whole supporting cast of music teachers, stage managers, and tiger-moms.

With so many characters to introduce, most of this volume is background, although a plotline involving a teacher stealing Eumpa One's compositions in the guise of assignments comes to the forefront by the end.

The characters have a lot of potential, although several of them are not initially likeable, particularly Jenny You, whose petty antics to sabotage Jiwon Jin's career set her up as possibly more of a villain than was intended. Still Jenny does have some sympathetic moments when the story shifts to her point of view.

Some of the language and discussion around gender identity feels dated, and the attempts to describe current pop music fall a bit flat. A discussion of classic punk rock that references real bands works better than most of the music-related sequences in the story.

This had some potential, and the quirkiness of the characters was intriguing enough to hold my interest.

Rating: 6/10

Warriors: Tigerstar & Sasha Volume 2: Escape from the Forest

 Christmas gift for the Kiddo, bought at Foreign Languages Bookstore, Shanghai, China. This is my last comic review for 2020. I've been mostly focusing on graphic novels lately, but I still have about have of the current Random Stack of Unread Comics to get through, so I hope to make that last me until travel restrictions are lifted and I can get back to the US to buy some new comics.

Title: Warriors: Tigerstar & Sasha
Issue: Volume 2: Escape from the Forest
Date: 2009
Publisher: Tokyopop / Harper Collins Childrens
Writer: Dan Jolley, Erin Hunter
Artist: Don Hudson
Letterer: Michael Paolilli
Editor: Jenna Winterberg

This story is a spin-off from Erin Hunter's Warriors novels, featuring the adventures of kittypet-turned-forest-cat Sasha, after she refuses to be part of Tigerstar's plan to rule the four clans.

Sasha tries to seek out her former owner among the housefolk, but instead finds herself on a tour boat, helping out the captain in some surprising ways.

This was a nice self-contained story (in spite of being the middle chapter in a three-part series), that resolved several plot points. It also featured a lot more interaction between cats and humans than most Warriors stories do,  and it was fun seeing some of the story from the human perspective.

This is a solid addition to the Warriors canon of stories, with some tender moments and some fun bits of action.

Rating: 8/10

Warriors: Graystripe's Adventure

The Kiddo picked this one out this past summer at Barnes & Noble in Manchester NH. We've read two Warriors novels in prose form. This is our first time trying out the manga version.

Title: Warriors: Graystripe's Adventure
Date: 2008
Publisher: Tokyopop / Harper Collins Childrens
Writer: Dan Jolley, Erin Hunter
Artist: James L. Barry
Colorist: James L. Barry
Letterer: Mike Estacio, Lucas Rivera, John Hunt
Editor: Lillian Diaz-Przybyl

Originally published as three b/w manga volumes, this full-color collection tells the complete story of Graystripe's capture by the "twolegs", his life as a "kittypet", and his romance with Millie, who makes the decision to join in his attempt to escape back to his beloved Thunderclan.

Erin Hunter's world of feral cats is fun, and it has a an interesting level of depth, especially around the mythology the cats have developed, and those mythological elements play an important role in this epic journey.

There are plenty of encounters and dangers along the way, and the romantic elements between Millie and Graystripe are handled with only the occasional slip too deep into romantic trope territory.

The real strength of the story is Graystripe's internal conflict as he battles his doubts and fears that his time living with humans has somehow altered him so much that he may not be able to regain his warrior nature.

This conflict takes center stage as he is forced to decide whether he can possibly compromise his beliefs that all contact with anything to do with humans must be avoided.

This is an excellent heroic journey with character who experience many stumbles, but find a way to follow their quest to its end.

James L. Barry's artwork is excellent, and the vivid use of color brings the story to life in ways that weren't possible in the black-and-white manga version.

Lovely book and an engaging and satisfying story.

Rating: 9/10

Eensy Weensy Monster Volume 1

I have a box of unread manga in my storage unit that I got years back when I was selling books online. This volume was dug out of that box. I'm listing this copy on Bookcrossing and "releasing it into the wild" (Bookcrossing ID #088-15140289, track its progress here).

We're reaching the end of summer vacation, and we've only got a couple more days before we fly back to Shanghai. I've got a small stack of 5 or so graphic novels that I'd like to read, rather than take with me, so I'm going to see how many I can get through in the next two days. Expect a flurry of reviews here if I manage to make progress on them!

Title: Eensy Weensy Monster
Issue: Volume 1
Date: December, 2010
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Masami Tsuda
Artist: Masami Tsuda

Nanoha Satsuki is a hardworking but struggling student, outshined by her two best friends who are beautiful, brilliant, and popular. When she meets the arrogant "Prince" of the boys in the school, she loses her temper, and the little monster inside her totally tells off "Prince" Hazuki Tokiwa.

The result is a surprising series of changes for both students as they are forced to reexamine their own personalities and their places among the school culture, along with their feelings about each other.

This was a surprisingly introspective romance, paced slow enough to get to know the characters. It's got a big supporting cast that gets lost in the shuffle in places, but there are some nice touches of humor, and the artwork is lovely. The writing is quite self-aware, playfully making fun of some manga tropes as the story progresses.

Rating: 7.5/10

Metamo Kiss Volume 1

I got this one at a Little Free Library in Nashua NH it's also a Bookcrossing book. I'll be releasing it back into the wild at a Little Free Library in MA later today.

Title: Metamo Kiss
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 2007
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Sora Omote
Artist: Sora Omote

After being separated from his family for most of his childhood, Kohamaru discovers that they have a rather unique property: Each family member has a soulmate with whom they can switch bodies upon kissing. Kohamaru finds this out the hard way in an awkward collision with a girl on a train platform, and it only gets more awkward from here.

The comedy relies a bit heavily on pretty simple switched-gender humor, but there is some depth to the background of the family and their strange abilities that opens the potential for the story to get more interesting as it goes.

Rating: 6/10

Soul Rescue Volume 1

We had our first yard sale of the summer. Here at Ogremoot, even the yard sales are geeky, with comics, manga, board games, Magic cards, and a ton of SF/fantasy books. We did well, but there were  expected long stretches without customers, so I grabbed one of the manga volumes I had up for sale somewhat at random (I looked for books that were the first volume in their series). These are mostly books I haven't read. I picked them up to sell online, and suspended online sales to put them in the yard sale.

So this is what I ended up reading today in between yard sale customers and helping my son manage his lemonade stand.

Title: Soul Rescue
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 2006
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Aya Kanno
Artist: Aya Kanno

When warrior-angel Renshi disobeys orders one time too many, he is hauled before a sort of heavenly court-martial and is exiled to Earth by God Himself (depicted here as a dude in a weird helmet with tubes and goggles).

Renshi is stripped of much of his angelic power and given the gift of soul rescue, a power of complete physical and spiritual healing. So the warrior needs to learn to live and think as a healer. Furthermore, he will not be allowed to return to Heaven until he has healed 10,000 souls. This does a nice job of setting up the potential for this to be a very long series. Especially since he only successfully uses the power twice. So, two down, and 9,998 to go.

After the introductory scenario, the volume basically can be broken into three stand-alone stories. All three are good. In the first, Renshi and his heavenly-assigned assistant, Kaito, encounter a young woman and her two young siblings. A friendship quickly forms, but just as quickly, the woman's dark past begins to catch up with her.

In the second story, Renshi finds his soul rescue power unable to cure the ailment of a dying princess. He uncovers a deadly plot, which had a nice twist that I never saw coming.

The third story introduces devils to the mix, as the forces of Hell stir up trouble in a town that has been pushed to the breaking point by a greedy feudal lord.

This was a good start to a series with a ton of potential, and it provided three quality tales. The only weakness was the fight scenes, where it could get hard to tell what was going on until they were resolved.

Rating: 8/10

Agent Boo Volume 2

This was a freebie I picked up this past weekend at Otakon.

Title: Agent Boo
Issue: Volume 2
Date: 2006
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Alex De Campi
Artist: Edo Fuijkschot

Interesting format. This book is mostly prose, but switches into comic format for sections that vary from as little as a panel to as much as several pages. The artwork does not illustrate what is in the prose fiction, it conveys additional plot that the prose does not cover, and thus is integral to the story.

The characters are young interdimensional agents-in-training, in a world at the center of the multiverse.

This story was a mix of fantasy adventure, pre-teen drama, and slapstick comedy. The adventure and drama worked better than the comedy did.The jokes were mostly unfunny or uninteresting.

The story varied from a very straightforward good-kids-take-on-evil-villains thing to something with considerably more complexity, and that complexity, while not consistent through this volume, came into play often enough to keep me interested.

The action was cartoony, but conveyed a decent level of drama and excitement.

Rating: 5.5/10

Telepathic Wanderers Volume 2

A manga I had lying around. No idea where I got it.

Title: Telepathic Wanderers
Issue: Volume 2
Date: 2006
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Yasutaka Tsutsui
Artist: Sayaka Yamazaki

A small band of psychics is on the run, trying to find a place where they can live in peace without their powers being discovered.

This volume begins with telepath Nanase working in a nightclub in spite of her feelings of revulsion at knowing the true thoughts behind all of the smiles and pleasantries around her. She discovers two new psychics at the club: telekinetic Henry, who seeks her guidance in learning to use his powers, and Nishio, a sadistic clairvoyant whose hobbies include blackmail and rape (note: some potentially triggering scenes here).

The taking down of Nishio is handled cleverly as writer Yasutaka Tsutsui has really put a lot of thought into the potential as well as the limitations of the powers of each character.

The second story takes place on a cruise ship with Henry now traveling along with Nanase and the young precognitive Norio. They encounter a violent confrontation between a young couple and must risk exposing their abilities to prevent a murder.

Good characters and very well thought out action scenes and plot twists make this worth a read. I could have done without some of the more explicit sexual violence. Villain is a bad guy. I get it. I did really like the characters and their relationships, and the artwork is beautiful.

Rating: 7/10