Sesho's Anime And Manga Reviews

Podcast manga review of Koi Cupid Volume 1 by Mia Ikumi. Translated by Rie Hagihara. Adapted by Jason R. Grissom. Originally published in Japan by Soft Bank Creative. Published in US by Broccoli Books, $9.99, Rated E for Everyone. The job of the cupids Ai, Koi, and Ren, is to make sure that those that are fated to be lovers come together to fulfill their destiny. Sometimes it might be the shyness of the boy or girl that is keeping them apart. Or it could be a job or a misunderstanding. Whatever it is, the three girls must find a way to overcome the obstacle. They not only struggle with their own ineptitude at times, but also must faceoff against cute demons like Lizette, whose goal in life is to foil angel missions. My Grade for 8-10 year old girl readers: B My Grade for readers 11+: C-

Anime DVD review of Episodes 1-5 of the Aquarion Complete Series Box Set Part 1. Published by Funimation. 12,000 years ago the human race was saved from defeat by the Solar Wing, a Shadow Angel who betrayed his own race for the love of a human girl. All of these thousands of years passed with no word of the Shadow Angels but they reawakened in the aftermath of the Great Catastrophe which devastated the planet 11 years ago. Now the only force that can stand against them is Aquarion, a giant mecha composed of three seperate vehicles called Vectors, that unite to battle the Angels. Only those with special psychic abilities, called Elements, can pilot the Vectors, so a world-wide search to find the best candidates has been launched. It is the hope of the searchers to find the reincarnation of the Solar Wing in the hopes that he can save mankind. You can watch the first two episodes for free at the official Aquarion website: http://funimation.com/aquarion/ My Grade: B+

Podcast Manga Review of In Odd We Trust by Queenie Chan and Dean Koontz. Published by Del Rey, $10.95. Odd Thomas is a young guy who usually keeps his nose out of other people's business, unless they are dead people. Odd has the ability to see the spirits of the dead. From time to time these spirits seek him out for a bit of help, or just to hang out. Elvis is a pretty firm fixture in the town. A seven-year-old boy is found stabbed to death by a housekeeper along with a letter from the killer. It appears that the murderer was the same person that had been stalking the housekeeper for the past two months. The housekeeper, Sherry, just happens to be the best friend of Odd's girlfriend, Stormy. The authorities think that other children that lived where Sherry was employed could also be on the killer's list of targets. Will Odd Thomas and his pals, along with the spirit of the dead boy,be able to find the psychopath before he strikes again? My Grade: F

Manga review of Negima Volume 1 by Ken Akamatsu. Translated by Hajime Honda. Adapted by Peter and Kathleen O'Shea David. Originally published by Kodansha in Japan. Published in US by Del Rey, $10.95, Rated OT, 16+. 10 year old Negi Springfield has just graduated from magic school when he receives his mystic diploma which dictates a student's career. Negi has been assigned as a teacher in Japan. He arrives at Mahora Academy as their new English professor, replacing the popular Takahata-sensei. He gets off to a bad start with one student in particular, Asuna, who just happens to have a crush on Takahata. When she finds out he is being replaced by Negi she becomes hell-bent on getting him fired. Imagine her surprise when she finds out Negi will be rooming with her and her roommate, Konoka! One limit put on Negi is that nobody can find out about his magic abilities. If someone does, then he could be kicked out of his training and maybe even turned into a hamster. But you know Asuna is going to be watching him li

Podcast 101: Anime dvd review of the first disc of the Buso Renkin Box Set 1, Episodes 1-4. Kazuki Muto is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is witness to an attack by a Homunculus, a shape shifting human eating monster, on an innocent schoolgirl. Kazuki bravely dies in an attempt to save the girl. She ends up being a Alchemist warrior named Tokiko, who is in the business of exterminating Homunculi. She kills the monster and then revives Kazuki by replacing his heart with a kakugane, an alchemical device that gives its bearer the power of the Buso Renkin, a weapon that takes different forms depending on the mind of its owner. Kazuki decides to join in Tokiko's battle to rid his town of the murderous Homunculi. My Grade: B

Podcast Episode 100: Psycho Busters Volume 1 manga review. Manga by Akinari Nao. Story by Yuya Aoki. Translated and adapted by Stephen Paul. Originally published in Japan by Kodansha. Published in US by Del Rey, $10.95, Rated Older Teen 16+. Kakeru is a boy bored with reality. He lives mainly through computer games and is just waiting for something exciting and incredible to happen to him. With his mother and sisters gone on vacation to Hawaii and his dad off on a business trip, Kakeru has the run of the house. That's when a ghostly but cute girl appears naked in his room, asking him to come to where her real body is. Kakeru doubts whether he should go but then reminds himself that this type of adventure is exactly what he had been asking for. He quickly becomes involved with psychics on the run from a government facility that grew and used them for their own covert reasons. Joi, the leader of the psychics, declares that Kakeru will save the world, whatever that means. Meanwhile, the psychic hunters are clos

Podcast Episode 99: Manga Review of Dance in the Vampire Bund Volume 1 by Nozomu Tamaki. Translated by Kenji Komiya. Adapted by Katherine Bell and Adam Arnold. Originally published in Japan by Media Factory. Published in US by Seven Seas, $9.99, Rated Older Teen 16+. Mina Tepes, princess of the vampires, wants to found a vampire settlement off the coast of Japan. After she pays off the nation's budget deficit of 1000 trillion yen, she makes the goverment construct a man-made island called Tokyo Landfill #0. Mina then holds a press conference announcing her intentions. But there are some elements, both human and vampire, that want her dead. It's up to Kaburagi Akira, a young member of the Earth Clan, to protect her life. My Grade: A-

Podcast manga review of Color of Rage. Story by Kazuo Koike. Art by Seisaku Kano. Translated by Naomi Kokubo with assistance of Jeff Carlson. Originally published by Koike Shoin Publishing in 2004. Published in US by Dark Horse, $14.95, Rated Mature 18+. George and King, two slaves, have escaped from their servitude on a whaling ship only to find themselves washed up on the shores of a Japan in crisis. A volcanic eruption has just recently killed 20,000 people, and a poor harvest is causing famine across the land. Peasants have begun rebelling against their masters or abandoning their farms. Neither of which sit very well with the nobility, who count on the farmers to work their lands. George, who is Japanese, can fit into the situation very easily. But what to do about King, an African American, whose skin color alone will cause the two to stand out? It's not only his race that brings unwanted attention. King believes that he has to stand up against anyone that oppresses their fellow man. Even if it means ki

Heavenshield Volume 1 by Ryu Blackman podcast manga review. Published by Tokyopop, $10.99, Rated Older Teen 16+. In this vague sci-fi adventure, the evil and demented General Oz has escaped from a high security prison to lead a military coup even as important members of the government are being killed by the Green Light Assassins. Enter Sepulveda Ramos, or Carrot, as she is more commonly called. Carrot is a prostitute who also takes up the government's dirty work as a secret agent. She has been charged with finding out what the connections between all the world's major players are and to find a way to preserve the government in some sort of working condition. If this means killing a few people, she can live with that. She also has a personal grudge against Oz, since he killed her boyfriend 3 years ago. My Grade: F-

Episode 96: Comic book review of Batman Death Mask issues 1 and 2 by Yoshinori Natsume. Published by DC and CMX, $2.99 each, unflipped in black and white. Yoshinori Natsume, artist and writer of the Japanese manga Togari, tries his hand with an American icon with these first two issues of the four issue Batman: Death Mask. Bruce Wayne is having a bit of a mid-life crisis as he wonders who he really is. Is he Bruce Wayne masquerading as Batman or vice versa? Then he meets an employee of a Japanese corporation holding an art and culture exhibition in Gotham that reminds him of a girl he met 20 years ago in Japan. He was there for martial arts training, but he also encountered the malevolent spirit of a long dead warrior who threatened to possess him. Now the same spirit seems to be running around the city cutting off people's faces! My Grade for issues 1 and 2: B+

Podcast Anime Review Episode 95: 5 Centimeters Per Second. Written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. ADV Films, $29.98. Takaki and Akari have been friends since they were young kids but when Akari moves away, their relationship gets a bit strained simply because of the physical distance between them. Now in high school, Takaki finds out he too is moving and he will probably never see Akari again. So he makes a desperate try to reach her via train on a night when heavy snow is making such a trip nigh impossible. Even though 5 Centimeters is packaged as a single movie, it can also be broken down into 3 distinct segments chronicling the continuing breakdown of the love between Takaki and Akari. Well, more accurately, the failure of Takaki to move on with his life when he realizes he will never be with Akari. The second segment offers a bit of hope as a classmate of Takaki's is just dying to tell him that she loves him, but will Takaki even notice? My Grade: A+

Manga Podcast Review of Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl Volume 5. Story by Satoru Akahori. Art by Yukimaru Katsura. Translated by Adrienne Beck. Adapted by Janet Houck. Originally published in Japan by Media Works. Published in US by Seven Seas under their Strawberry imprint, Rated 16+, $10.99. In this concluding volume, Hazumu's life grains are running out, leaving her 30 days to make peace with her friends and decide whether she is going to declare her love for Tomari or Yasuna, or neither of them. Hazumu is trying to work out a plan whereby nobody's feelings will get hurt. But is that even possible in a love triangle? Meanwhile, Tomari and Yasuna are wrestling equally with the only way they can save Hazumu's life. Namely that of sharing their own life grains with Hazumu and sharing her fate for the rest of their lives, knowing that the day they stop loving Hazumu, she will die. Grade for this Volume: A- Grade for the series: B+

Tweeny Witches Volume 1 Anime DVD Podcast review. Episodes 1-7. Directed by Yoshiharu Ashino. Script Writer: Shinji Obara. Anime Works, $24.98, Rated Ages 13+. 11 year old Arusu is bored with our little planet. The only thing that keeps her interested is her belief in magic. Unfortunately, magic is nonfunctional in our world. Her dream comes true when she is transported to a magical forest in the midst of a fairy roundup by some apprentice witches about her own age. The fairies are needed for magic to be worked but Arusu sees them simply as victims of exploitation. She sets out to change this alternate world for the better, and see that magic is only used to bring happiness, never for aggression or fear. When she sets free all of the 100 fairy specimens the witches have collected, Arusu, along with the uptight discipline officer Sheila and her cute friend Eva are sent to gather them up again. My Grade: A+

Monkey High Volume 1 by Shouko Akira manga podcast review. Translated and adapted by Mai Ihara. Originally published by Shogakukan in Japan. Published in the US by Viz Shojo Beat, $8.99, Rated T for Teen. Haruna Aizawa has just transferred from the elite K Academy to Kita High School. Why? Because her politician father was arrested on corruption charges and when her friends at K found out about it, they turned on her and started treating her like a freak. She moved to Kita in the hopes of having a fresh start but because of what happened at her old school, she has distanced herself from her peers. She even compares her fellow students to monkeys jostling and manuevering to be on top of a monkey mountain. She meets a cute boy, named Macharu, that reminds her of a baby monkey. Against her better judgement she begins to fall for him, but Macharu's friend, Atsu, the prince of the school, also has an interest in Haruna. My Grade: C-

GTO volume 2 by Tohru Fujisawa manga review. Translated by Dan Papia. Originally published in Japan by Kodansha. Published in US by Tokyopop, $9.99, Rated Older Teen 16+. Onizuka's training is over and he is all set to become a full-fledged teacher. He thinks he made such a good impression at Musashino High where he student taught that he will be getting a call anytime telling him that he has been hired. He even skips taking the teacher exam because he thinks the position is his. Imagine his shock when his friend brings his attention to a newscast that states that you have to pass the teacher exam to teach at a city school! Onizuka is relieved to learn that he can still teach at a private school and is able to arrange an interview at Holy Forest Private Academy. On the way there he headbutts a man groping a young woman's ass on the train. An ass that Onizuka himself was thinking about squeezing. By coencidence, it turns out that the young lady, Azusa Fuyutsuki, is also interviewing for a teaching job at Holy

Podcast review of Gunlinger Girl Volume 1 by Yu Aida. Translated by Eiko McGregor. Originally published by Media Works in Japan. Published in US by ADV manga, $9.99, Rated Teen 15+. The Social Welfare Agency is seen as a great institution by most peopl because it helps out handicapped youngsters, but in actuality it is a secret government unit that recruits young girls to become cyborg killers. The girls have no choice since they are brainwashed, or conditioned, to follow orders. They are partnered up with older men and sent out on missions ranging anywhere from political assassinations, taking on terrorists, to taking criminal witnesses into custody. Their physical modifications make them deadly, hard to kill, and efficient agents but the psychological scars they bear can never be healed. My Grade: A-

Podcast Episode 89: Manga Review of Dark Metro Volume 1. Story by Tokyo Calen. Art by Yoshiken. Adapted by Kereth Cowe-Spigai. Published by Tokyopop, $9.99, Rated Older Teen 16+. Unknown to humans, the subway tunnels beneath Tokyo are the boundary between our world and the Underworld inhabited by demons, ghosts, and grudges. So it's not really a good place to get stuck during the dead of the night. Sometimes people miss a train, and sometimes they are even lured down there by vengeful spirits. But there is one guy looking out for the living, a pretty dude named Seiya whose job it is to guide spirits to the Underworld...and to keep out those whose time to die has not yet arrived. A collection of shojoesque horror tales. My Grade: D-

Podcast Episode 88: GTO Great Teacher Onizuka Volume 1 by Tohru Fujisawa. Translated by Dan Papia. Originally published in Japan by Kodansha. Published in US by Tokyopop, $9.99, Rated Older Teen 16+. 22 year old virgin at large Eikichi Onizuka dropped out of high school but went on to complete a college degree at Eurasia College but is finding it hard to get a job. It might have something to do with his bleach blond pompadour and his three requirements for his prospective employers: an 8 million yen per year salary, opportunities to meet movie stars, and an unlimited expense account. You could see where he might have a problem, right? It's been 6 years since he came to Tokyo with his pal, Ryuji. Both of them made a promise to become great men. Ryuji has a good job as a store manager. But Eikichi's hopes are sinking lower and lower. Until he stumbles upon the idea of becoming a legendary teacher after meeting a young high school girl named Erica Nakajima seeking comfort from a bad relationship. My Grade: A+

Podcast Episode 87: Naruto Volume 28 by Masashi Kishimoto manga review. Translated by Mari Morimoto. Adapted by Deric A. Hughes and Benjamin Raab. Originally published in Japan by Shueisha. Published in US by Viz Shonen Jump, $7.95, Rated T for Teen. Well, I'm getting used to my new apartment and I like the extra space but I'm still arguing with people that have ripped off some of my money (I think of them as vampires). But anyway, I'm doing my first giveaway this podcast episode, a free copy of Naruto Volume 28 shipped to your door for one listener...or reader! Two years have passed since Volume 27 and Naruto and Jiraiya have returned to the Hidden Leaf Village after their training tour. Naruto finds out that most of his companions have passed him in terms of formal ninja rank. Naruto has still not even passed his Chunin exam! The Akatsuki are moving out in the open more and more. This secret society not only wants to capture Naruto and bend his demon power to their will, they also want to kidnap Gaara. In

Podcast Manga Review Episode 86: Pumpkin Scissors Volume by Ryotaro Iwanaga. Translated and adapted by Ikoi Hiroe. Originally published by Kodansha in Japan. Published in US by Del Rey, $10.95, Rated Older Teen Ages 16+. Two warring states, the Empire and the Republic of Frost have signed a ceasefire, the so-called Thin Ice Treaty. Now, three years after hostilities, the Empire still suffers from starvation, disease, and rogue soldiers lording over the common people. A special army unit, Section 3,has been formed, dubbed Pumpkin Scissors, to aid in war relief and reconstruction. Its leader, Alice Malvin, born into the nobility, is a crusader who truly believes she can make the lot of the common people better. Joined by her subordinates, Machs and Oreldo, she is prepared to butt heads or battle with sadistic nobles or bloodthirsty soldiers in her quest. Section 3 is joined by Randel Oland, an anti-tank trooper, bred and trained to seek suicidal close range combat with tanks. This is the story of how one unit