Well, I'll tell you what the hold up is. Right now I have a ton of unread volumes sitting on my shelf and I haven't had time to read them all because of balancing school and an almost full time manager position at work. I'd love to be posting reviews every day, but for now, I'm going to make my goal to not have any unread things left on my shelf.
Manga is a pretty expensive hobby, so having un read volumes sitting on my shelf makes me feel like I've wasted my money. I don't like wasting money, so I'm going to read all of them before I post another review. Once I've done that, I'll have a LOT of things to review, and the reviews shall fly thick and fast.
Best Regards!
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Review - Pluto Volume 1
I really hope Viz decides to license Billy Bat. I've become a huge fan of Naoki Urasawa. His storytelling has such a grand, cinematic approach that just makes it impossible for me to put it down. In fact, I really want to get to the next volume of Pluto, but I've got to write this review!
STORY
Pluto is a retelling of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy, specifically an arc in the Astro Boy series called The Greatest Robot on Earth. It's a legendary work with anime and manga still being inspired by it today.
I've never read it.
Hopefully nobody burns me at the stake for saying that, but I never have. Therefore, I'm going into Pluto completely blank. How will it work? So far, pretty well. Naoki Urasawa seems to know that not everybody has read Astro Boy, and so he presents this story in a very familiar way. Key scenes unfold in very similar progression to Monster and 20th Century Boys. That isn't a bad thing at all, because Urasawa is a master storyteller, effortlessly weaving together several storylines.
Pluto is set in the obvious future where an unknown presence is going around destroying many of the world's most powerful and respected robots for unknown reasons. On the case is Detective Gesight, a robot in danger himself. In this future, robots coexist with humans peacefully and have thoughts and feelings of their own. It's pretty neat to see it like this, since in most sci-fi stories the robots are usually lesser than humans and are frequently discriminated against. Not so here, which is new and nice.
ART & PRESENTATION
Urasawa's style of art always hits all the right notes with me. It's realistic without losing it's cartooney charm. A lot of Urasawa manga involves a lot of talking heads because the series' themselves just don't have much action, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. 20th Century Boys had a little action, but it looks like I'll be able to see how capable Urasawa is of it here. Some of the best bits are below.
Viz's presentation is marvelous, as usual, with fine printing, a great translation, and many color pages rounding off the deal. All the spines line up well, with one slight anomaly I'll address in the review for volume 2.
CHARACTERS
Urasawa always writes great characters, even if most of them here are robots. The robots in Pluto all feel very human, and watching them go through their various trials and tribulations is great. There's only one character here that leaves an impression as a returning character, and I'll go over him here.
Our hero detective Gesicht is also a robot. He's a well made robot, though. One can barely tell that he isn't human. Being a detective and a robot makes him usually all serious all the time, but he has emotions which are shown sometimes. He also has a wife and frequently has a reoccurring nightmare, one which we don't know the details of yet.
FINAL VERDICT
I have yet to read something by Naoki Urasawa that I don't actually like, and Pluto doesn't seem to be any exception. Plus/minus below!
+ Cool sci-fi
+ Good mystery setup
+ Great art
+ Gesicht is a good lead character
A - BUY IT
Pluto has a great opening volume, and it looks to only get better from here. Next stop, Billy Bat...? Please?
(I don't own Pluto. All rights go to the author, Naoki Urasawa, and the licensing company, Viz Media).
STORY
Pluto is a retelling of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy, specifically an arc in the Astro Boy series called The Greatest Robot on Earth. It's a legendary work with anime and manga still being inspired by it today.
I've never read it.
Hopefully nobody burns me at the stake for saying that, but I never have. Therefore, I'm going into Pluto completely blank. How will it work? So far, pretty well. Naoki Urasawa seems to know that not everybody has read Astro Boy, and so he presents this story in a very familiar way. Key scenes unfold in very similar progression to Monster and 20th Century Boys. That isn't a bad thing at all, because Urasawa is a master storyteller, effortlessly weaving together several storylines.
Pluto is set in the obvious future where an unknown presence is going around destroying many of the world's most powerful and respected robots for unknown reasons. On the case is Detective Gesight, a robot in danger himself. In this future, robots coexist with humans peacefully and have thoughts and feelings of their own. It's pretty neat to see it like this, since in most sci-fi stories the robots are usually lesser than humans and are frequently discriminated against. Not so here, which is new and nice.
ART & PRESENTATION
Urasawa's style of art always hits all the right notes with me. It's realistic without losing it's cartooney charm. A lot of Urasawa manga involves a lot of talking heads because the series' themselves just don't have much action, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. 20th Century Boys had a little action, but it looks like I'll be able to see how capable Urasawa is of it here. Some of the best bits are below.
Viz's presentation is marvelous, as usual, with fine printing, a great translation, and many color pages rounding off the deal. All the spines line up well, with one slight anomaly I'll address in the review for volume 2.
CHARACTERS
Urasawa always writes great characters, even if most of them here are robots. The robots in Pluto all feel very human, and watching them go through their various trials and tribulations is great. There's only one character here that leaves an impression as a returning character, and I'll go over him here.
Our hero detective Gesicht is also a robot. He's a well made robot, though. One can barely tell that he isn't human. Being a detective and a robot makes him usually all serious all the time, but he has emotions which are shown sometimes. He also has a wife and frequently has a reoccurring nightmare, one which we don't know the details of yet.
FINAL VERDICT
I have yet to read something by Naoki Urasawa that I don't actually like, and Pluto doesn't seem to be any exception. Plus/minus below!
+ Cool sci-fi
+ Good mystery setup
+ Great art
+ Gesicht is a good lead character
A - BUY IT
Pluto has a great opening volume, and it looks to only get better from here. Next stop, Billy Bat...? Please?
(I don't own Pluto. All rights go to the author, Naoki Urasawa, and the licensing company, Viz Media).
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Review - Vagabond Volume 1 (VizBig Edition)
I apologize for not putting a review up sooner. I've just really been wanting to do Vagabond. I got this forever ago and read through it, but that was way before I had my blog, so I couldn't review it. Anyway, I also just wanted to read it again, and this blog gave me the perfect chance!
STORY
Vagabond is the tale of real-life samurai Miyamoto Musashi, and Vagabond starts from before he was called by that name. The tale starts with Musashi (going by Shinmen Takezo at this point) and his buddy Hon'iden Matahachi returning to their home village after a bloody battle. They beat up some wayward enemy samurai, encounter some ladies, and get separated.
In all reality, this volume (or three volumes) could be billed more as a prologue since it deals with Takezo graduating to the name Musashi. I say graduating because this volume deals with Takezo/Musashi maturing as an individual, but more on that later.
As actual story goes, it's not super complex. This is a fairly simple story (for now) with characters having fairly simple goals. Musashi travels around challenging various samurai and honing his skills as a swordsman. As far as a biography goes, however, it's a darn good one. The simple nature of the story makes it easy to read. It took me forever to get through this volume, however, because I was too busy looking at that art.
ART & PRESENTATION
Hands down, Vagabond has the best art. Ever. It's not surprising that it takes so long for a new volume to be published, because the amount of work that goes into this manga is astounding.
Every picture is obviously drawn by hand with some fantastic brush work thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately I can't add every single picture from this 600 page volume, but I'll add a few of the very best.
Viz's presentation is spectacular, as well. The translation is solid, the printing is solid, the binding is solid, the color pages are plentiful and solid... Actually, the whole book is very solid. Seriously, this book weighs about a ton. You could probably very easily beat someone to death with it.
CHARACTERS
It was difficult to tell if any of the characters in this volume would be returning for future installments, and, as such, I'm only really going to go over the lead character, Miyamoto Musashi. That isn't to say the rest of the characters are forgettable, though. Matahachi is a dirtball, Otsu is down to earth and relateable, Takuan is interesting... You get it. Vagabond has great characters. I just don't want to wast my time with one who isn't coming back after this volume.
Takezo, as he starts out being called, is a pretty simple dude. His mission is to become "invincible under the sun", and he'll train himself and push himself to the limit to get there. He's strong in both body and mind, but he isn't unbeatable or fearless. A particularly character driven moment involves him hanging from a tree and thinking about how he ended up there. It's a great scene, even if it does draaaaaaaaag ooooooooooon. Once he becomes Miyamoto Musashi, Shinmen Takezo has died, and he becomes a new man. It's all very philosophical, but it's cool. It gives him some layers. He has goals other that to be the very best... Like no one ever was...
FINAL VERDICT
Vagabond is excellent. I don't know how much of this telling of Miyamoto Musashi's story is fictionalized, but if it's all more or less true, it's a darn good way to learn some history. Plus/minus below!
+ The best art around
+ Compelling, easy to read story
+ Real-feeling characters
+ Deep moments for Musashi
- Even if the tree scene does go on for a little too long
A - BUY IT
Vagabond is basically a staple in any manga collector's library. If you don't have it yet, go get it. Vagabond rocks.
(I don't own Vagabond. All rights go to the author, Takahiko Inoue, and the licensing company, Viz Media).
STORY
Vagabond is the tale of real-life samurai Miyamoto Musashi, and Vagabond starts from before he was called by that name. The tale starts with Musashi (going by Shinmen Takezo at this point) and his buddy Hon'iden Matahachi returning to their home village after a bloody battle. They beat up some wayward enemy samurai, encounter some ladies, and get separated.
In all reality, this volume (or three volumes) could be billed more as a prologue since it deals with Takezo graduating to the name Musashi. I say graduating because this volume deals with Takezo/Musashi maturing as an individual, but more on that later.
As actual story goes, it's not super complex. This is a fairly simple story (for now) with characters having fairly simple goals. Musashi travels around challenging various samurai and honing his skills as a swordsman. As far as a biography goes, however, it's a darn good one. The simple nature of the story makes it easy to read. It took me forever to get through this volume, however, because I was too busy looking at that art.
ART & PRESENTATION
Hands down, Vagabond has the best art. Ever. It's not surprising that it takes so long for a new volume to be published, because the amount of work that goes into this manga is astounding.
Every picture is obviously drawn by hand with some fantastic brush work thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately I can't add every single picture from this 600 page volume, but I'll add a few of the very best.
Viz's presentation is spectacular, as well. The translation is solid, the printing is solid, the binding is solid, the color pages are plentiful and solid... Actually, the whole book is very solid. Seriously, this book weighs about a ton. You could probably very easily beat someone to death with it.
CHARACTERS
It was difficult to tell if any of the characters in this volume would be returning for future installments, and, as such, I'm only really going to go over the lead character, Miyamoto Musashi. That isn't to say the rest of the characters are forgettable, though. Matahachi is a dirtball, Otsu is down to earth and relateable, Takuan is interesting... You get it. Vagabond has great characters. I just don't want to wast my time with one who isn't coming back after this volume.
Takezo, as he starts out being called, is a pretty simple dude. His mission is to become "invincible under the sun", and he'll train himself and push himself to the limit to get there. He's strong in both body and mind, but he isn't unbeatable or fearless. A particularly character driven moment involves him hanging from a tree and thinking about how he ended up there. It's a great scene, even if it does draaaaaaaaag ooooooooooon. Once he becomes Miyamoto Musashi, Shinmen Takezo has died, and he becomes a new man. It's all very philosophical, but it's cool. It gives him some layers. He has goals other that to be the very best... Like no one ever was...
FINAL VERDICT
Vagabond is excellent. I don't know how much of this telling of Miyamoto Musashi's story is fictionalized, but if it's all more or less true, it's a darn good way to learn some history. Plus/minus below!
+ The best art around
+ Compelling, easy to read story
+ Real-feeling characters
+ Deep moments for Musashi
- Even if the tree scene does go on for a little too long
A - BUY IT
Vagabond is basically a staple in any manga collector's library. If you don't have it yet, go get it. Vagabond rocks.
(I don't own Vagabond. All rights go to the author, Takahiko Inoue, and the licensing company, Viz Media).
Monday, January 26, 2015
Manga Monday
Barnes and Noble always has 50 percent off select manga on Mondays. It's a bummer that I get paid on Fridays, since I always plan out way in advance what money I'm going to save and what I'm going to spend. Then again, most of the titles on sale either don't interest me or I already own, but oh well.
I always forget to account for gas in my spending money. That's why my saving is only marginally successful, I suppose! Oops! Oh well! Life goes on.
I always forget to account for gas in my spending money. That's why my saving is only marginally successful, I suppose! Oops! Oh well! Life goes on.
Friday, January 23, 2015
Review - Jormungand Volume 4
Where I live, we don't get a lot of snow, but I enjoy it regardless! There's a possibility for it in the next ten days. I'm excited!
STORY
Well, for starters, the story arc from the previous volume wrapped up. It ended sort of inconclusively, with Doctor Miami leaving a cryptic note for Koko before going off to chase more butterflies and Valmet letting Karen live to fight another day. I can tell that that's going to be a story that doesn't go away anytime soon, which is fine with me, 'cause I'm always up for learning a bit more about Valmet since we didn't really learn much from this arc.
Then the second half gave us a story arc that actually started and finished in this volume. What a surprise! This arc gave us an interesting story in that there was hardly any violence. It was all about business and negotiations. Pretty interesting stuff, really. The only problem with it was that it was all a bit confusing. Maybe I just didn't take my time reading it enough. I got the gist of what was going on, but it seemed like someone with knowledge on the subject probably would've enjoyed it a little more.
ART & PRESENTATION
Same old, same old. The art is okay. Unfortunately, since there was hardly any action during this volume, there wasn't much room for cool art, and there was a lot of talking heads. Still, there were enough cool bits for me to put some below.
Viz's presentation shines again. I like how the colors from the cover wrap around to the spine. It creates a really neat look.
CHARACTERS
Again, lots of characters we'll probably never see again in this volume, but we got some info on more of the crew. It seems like each character that's on the front with Koko is probably going to get a little bit of a focus in that volume, since that's been the pattern so far.
On the cover of this volume is Lutz. He's sort of a dork, but he's an expert sniper. We learn that he, while a great sniper, has moral trouble of just offing someone who happens to be in his sights. It adds some nice depth to Koko's crew, knowing that they aren't all just crazy mercenaries.
FINAL VERDICT
The fourth volume of Jormungand wasn't my favorite volume so far. As much as I enjoy characters talking out their conflicts in an educated manner, in the case of Jormungand, more action is better. Plus/minus below!
+ More character moments are always appreciated
+ Action scenes are cool
- But sparse
- Second arc was a little confusing (for me, at least)
C+ - BORROW IT
Jormungand is still worth your time, but I'd still recommend you borrow a volume or two before you go out and spend money on it.
(I don't own Jormungand. All rights go to the author, Keitaro Takahashi, and the licensing company, Viz Media).
STORY
Well, for starters, the story arc from the previous volume wrapped up. It ended sort of inconclusively, with Doctor Miami leaving a cryptic note for Koko before going off to chase more butterflies and Valmet letting Karen live to fight another day. I can tell that that's going to be a story that doesn't go away anytime soon, which is fine with me, 'cause I'm always up for learning a bit more about Valmet since we didn't really learn much from this arc.
Then the second half gave us a story arc that actually started and finished in this volume. What a surprise! This arc gave us an interesting story in that there was hardly any violence. It was all about business and negotiations. Pretty interesting stuff, really. The only problem with it was that it was all a bit confusing. Maybe I just didn't take my time reading it enough. I got the gist of what was going on, but it seemed like someone with knowledge on the subject probably would've enjoyed it a little more.
ART & PRESENTATION
Same old, same old. The art is okay. Unfortunately, since there was hardly any action during this volume, there wasn't much room for cool art, and there was a lot of talking heads. Still, there were enough cool bits for me to put some below.
Viz's presentation shines again. I like how the colors from the cover wrap around to the spine. It creates a really neat look.
CHARACTERS
Again, lots of characters we'll probably never see again in this volume, but we got some info on more of the crew. It seems like each character that's on the front with Koko is probably going to get a little bit of a focus in that volume, since that's been the pattern so far.
On the cover of this volume is Lutz. He's sort of a dork, but he's an expert sniper. We learn that he, while a great sniper, has moral trouble of just offing someone who happens to be in his sights. It adds some nice depth to Koko's crew, knowing that they aren't all just crazy mercenaries.
FINAL VERDICT
The fourth volume of Jormungand wasn't my favorite volume so far. As much as I enjoy characters talking out their conflicts in an educated manner, in the case of Jormungand, more action is better. Plus/minus below!
+ More character moments are always appreciated
+ Action scenes are cool
- But sparse
- Second arc was a little confusing (for me, at least)
C+ - BORROW IT
Jormungand is still worth your time, but I'd still recommend you borrow a volume or two before you go out and spend money on it.
(I don't own Jormungand. All rights go to the author, Keitaro Takahashi, and the licensing company, Viz Media).
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Review - Jormungand Volume 3
My new shelf is almost finished! Maybe I won't fill this one up as fast. To be fair, I did have the other one already partially filled since I was transitioning out of an old, ugly bookshelf. Now I have a blank slate that I'll fill up with good manga. I think I've only read two series that I didn't like and donates to someone else. That would be Drifters and Switch. You'll probably never see me give a recommendation for SKIP IT, just because I usually see if what I want to buy is actually worth buying.
STORY
In this volume of Jormungand, people shoot guns at things and such things usually explode.
Actually, not really. In this volume, the action actually takes a backseat to the quieter moments, allowing us to get to know some of the crew a little better. At the beginning, there's the story of why Jonah hates Casper, which is pretty good. It's sort of cliched, but not too much.
In the second half, we get a plot involving an annoying American guy, a Chinese businessman, and an apparent grudge from Valmet's past. There's also a scientist who is obsessed with butterflies. It seems like it could be interesting. Plus, I'm always up for learning a little more about Koko's crew.
ART & PRESENTATION
The art continues to be sort of lame. Since there wasn't much action this volume, there wasn't much of a chance for the art to shine. THAT SAID... There was one spectacular scene where Koko's cargo ship mounted with mini-guns took out a squad of pirates and a helicopter. I'll show some of it below.
Viz's presentation is once again spectacular. Everything is so nice looking. Honestly, one of the best things about Jormungand is how it looks on your shelf. That makes it sound like the rest of the series is wank, which is false, but seriously. It's put together soooo well.
CHARACTERS
There are quite a few new characters here, but none of them are characterized enough for me to really go over yet, so I'll just talk about one I haven't talked about yet. All the new characters can lead to some confusion, though, as not everybody is given enough panel time to make a lasting impression.
Valmet is kind of scary. She's insane with a knife, is more muscular that most of the guys on the ship, and is crazy in love with Koko. She's crazy, but also entertaining. It's shown in this volume that she used to be with some form of military that she has some tragic back-story with, but we only get a glimpse of that this volume.
FINAL VERDICT
Jormungand is still most certainly cool, but I'm still not entirely sold on it because of the occasionally lackluster art. Plus/minus below!
+ Still cool and fun
+ Low amount of action means more time for characterization
+ That pirate take-down scene
- Meh art
- Lots of new characters is a little confusing and can leave the reader thinking "who's that?"
B- - BORROW IT
You ought to read Jormungand, for sure. It's up to you whether you want to give it a permanent place on your shelf.
(I don't own Jormungand. All rights go to the author, Keitaro Takahashi, and the licensing company, Viz Media).
STORY
In this volume of Jormungand, people shoot guns at things and such things usually explode.
Actually, not really. In this volume, the action actually takes a backseat to the quieter moments, allowing us to get to know some of the crew a little better. At the beginning, there's the story of why Jonah hates Casper, which is pretty good. It's sort of cliched, but not too much.
In the second half, we get a plot involving an annoying American guy, a Chinese businessman, and an apparent grudge from Valmet's past. There's also a scientist who is obsessed with butterflies. It seems like it could be interesting. Plus, I'm always up for learning a little more about Koko's crew.
ART & PRESENTATION
The art continues to be sort of lame. Since there wasn't much action this volume, there wasn't much of a chance for the art to shine. THAT SAID... There was one spectacular scene where Koko's cargo ship mounted with mini-guns took out a squad of pirates and a helicopter. I'll show some of it below.
Viz's presentation is once again spectacular. Everything is so nice looking. Honestly, one of the best things about Jormungand is how it looks on your shelf. That makes it sound like the rest of the series is wank, which is false, but seriously. It's put together soooo well.
CHARACTERS
There are quite a few new characters here, but none of them are characterized enough for me to really go over yet, so I'll just talk about one I haven't talked about yet. All the new characters can lead to some confusion, though, as not everybody is given enough panel time to make a lasting impression.
Valmet is kind of scary. She's insane with a knife, is more muscular that most of the guys on the ship, and is crazy in love with Koko. She's crazy, but also entertaining. It's shown in this volume that she used to be with some form of military that she has some tragic back-story with, but we only get a glimpse of that this volume.
FINAL VERDICT
Jormungand is still most certainly cool, but I'm still not entirely sold on it because of the occasionally lackluster art. Plus/minus below!
+ Still cool and fun
+ Low amount of action means more time for characterization
+ That pirate take-down scene
- Meh art
- Lots of new characters is a little confusing and can leave the reader thinking "who's that?"
B- - BORROW IT
You ought to read Jormungand, for sure. It's up to you whether you want to give it a permanent place on your shelf.
(I don't own Jormungand. All rights go to the author, Keitaro Takahashi, and the licensing company, Viz Media).
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Review - Akame ga Kill! Volume 1
I've been very excited to get my mitts on this release. I read the first chapter of Akame ga Kill! online and I enjoyed what I read, so I was pretty stoked when I say it had been picked up for English release (by Yen Press, no less!). Does the first volume live up to my hype..!? Read on to find out!
STORY
Country bumpkin Tatsumi is going to the capitol to join the army and raise money for his poor village. With his impressive sword skills, there's no way he won't be accepted! But alas, things in the capitol aren't as chummy as Tatsumi thinks. Essentially every young person in the capitol and surrounding villages wants a spot in the army. Alas, Tatsumi doesn't get in. He's turned away only to be taken in by a sweet girl named Aria who can't help but feel bad for him and his situation. She warns Tatsumi to be wary of the assassin group Night Raid.
But not everything is as it seems.
The well-off in the capitol are all terrible people with penchants for torture, rape, and every other vile act on the planet. They wallow in greed while the poor get poorer, and Tatsumi is one of those poor people. Thankfully, Tatsumi won't stand for it, and he winds up joining Night Raid after discovering that Night Raid is made up of people who are out to take down the capitol.
It isn't exactly a new premise. Evil government oppression is nothing new in terms of story. What Akame does well is take this well-worn premise and make it new and fresh and exciting.
It's not problem-free, though. It suffers from jarring tonal shifts between drama and comedy (example: Tatsumi mourns over the graves of his friends, when suddenly a ample-chested lady flops herself on him and drags him away). Also, the series has many dark themes that it isn't afraid to display: dismemberment, crucifixion, you name it, it's probably in this first volume somewhere.
ART & PRESENTATION
The art in this series is pretty good, all the characters look good, the backgrounds are filled out, and everyone has a vast range of expressions that are always clear. The only problem comes from the action scenes. They're fast paced, cool, and sometimes leave the reader thinking "what the heck is happening?" Also, characters' softer edges sometimes appear blocky. Regardless, there are still some cool bits I'll put below.
Yen press puts together a great book. Clocking in at a whopping 240 pages (as opposed to the standard 192), it's tightly bound with color pages at the beginning and a decent translation. I wish, and I might get criticized for this, that the translation were a little more edgy, honestly. A series that has dark themes deserves equally dark language to go along with it. I know, it's silly to want more curse words, but it would work better, in this case.
CHARACTERS
I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of characterization in this volume, actually. I figured it would be pretty typical shounen-y one-note characters, but it's not. That's pretty nice!
First is obviously Tatsumi. Tatsumi's a good hero. He's got morals, he's not a snob, but not a loser, and he isn't afraid to take out the darkness. There's a bit when he cuts someone right in half after just meeting them because they've been torturing innocent people in secret. It was nice to see ma main character with no qualms about doing what needs to be done.
Next is the title character, Akame. We learn that she was raised as a human weapon for the army, which left her cold and ruthless. She joined Night Raid after realizing that the capitol was up to no good. Even though she's standoffish, she's still caring for her team members.
Last, for now, is Mine. Yep, that's her real name. Regardless, she's tsundere to a T. She's somewhat rude and makes herself out to be more important than she actually is. However, that's due to being neglected and ridiculed as a child. She hides her true feelings behind a mask of haughtiness, which can be a liiiittle grating, but not too much.
FINAL VERDICT
Akame ga Kill! is pretty darn good. It won't win any awards, for sure, but it still does what it does quite well. Plus/minus below!
+ Fresh take on an old premise
+ Chock-full of fast paced action
+ Dark, gritty, and morbid...
- ... So certainly not for everyone
- Translation skimps on harsh language
- Action scenes are occasionally confusing
B+ - BUY IT
Akame ga Kill! is sure to quench the thirst for a dark action series for fans of such things, but isn't for everyone due to some disturbing content. I'd buy it, and I did, but you may not want to.
(I don't own Akame ga Kill!. All rights go to the creators, Takahiro and Tetsuya Tashiro, and the licensing company, Yen Press).
STORY
Country bumpkin Tatsumi is going to the capitol to join the army and raise money for his poor village. With his impressive sword skills, there's no way he won't be accepted! But alas, things in the capitol aren't as chummy as Tatsumi thinks. Essentially every young person in the capitol and surrounding villages wants a spot in the army. Alas, Tatsumi doesn't get in. He's turned away only to be taken in by a sweet girl named Aria who can't help but feel bad for him and his situation. She warns Tatsumi to be wary of the assassin group Night Raid.
But not everything is as it seems.
The well-off in the capitol are all terrible people with penchants for torture, rape, and every other vile act on the planet. They wallow in greed while the poor get poorer, and Tatsumi is one of those poor people. Thankfully, Tatsumi won't stand for it, and he winds up joining Night Raid after discovering that Night Raid is made up of people who are out to take down the capitol.
It isn't exactly a new premise. Evil government oppression is nothing new in terms of story. What Akame does well is take this well-worn premise and make it new and fresh and exciting.
It's not problem-free, though. It suffers from jarring tonal shifts between drama and comedy (example: Tatsumi mourns over the graves of his friends, when suddenly a ample-chested lady flops herself on him and drags him away). Also, the series has many dark themes that it isn't afraid to display: dismemberment, crucifixion, you name it, it's probably in this first volume somewhere.
ART & PRESENTATION
The art in this series is pretty good, all the characters look good, the backgrounds are filled out, and everyone has a vast range of expressions that are always clear. The only problem comes from the action scenes. They're fast paced, cool, and sometimes leave the reader thinking "what the heck is happening?" Also, characters' softer edges sometimes appear blocky. Regardless, there are still some cool bits I'll put below.
Yen press puts together a great book. Clocking in at a whopping 240 pages (as opposed to the standard 192), it's tightly bound with color pages at the beginning and a decent translation. I wish, and I might get criticized for this, that the translation were a little more edgy, honestly. A series that has dark themes deserves equally dark language to go along with it. I know, it's silly to want more curse words, but it would work better, in this case.
CHARACTERS
I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of characterization in this volume, actually. I figured it would be pretty typical shounen-y one-note characters, but it's not. That's pretty nice!
First is obviously Tatsumi. Tatsumi's a good hero. He's got morals, he's not a snob, but not a loser, and he isn't afraid to take out the darkness. There's a bit when he cuts someone right in half after just meeting them because they've been torturing innocent people in secret. It was nice to see ma main character with no qualms about doing what needs to be done.
Next is the title character, Akame. We learn that she was raised as a human weapon for the army, which left her cold and ruthless. She joined Night Raid after realizing that the capitol was up to no good. Even though she's standoffish, she's still caring for her team members.
Last, for now, is Mine. Yep, that's her real name. Regardless, she's tsundere to a T. She's somewhat rude and makes herself out to be more important than she actually is. However, that's due to being neglected and ridiculed as a child. She hides her true feelings behind a mask of haughtiness, which can be a liiiittle grating, but not too much.
FINAL VERDICT
Akame ga Kill! is pretty darn good. It won't win any awards, for sure, but it still does what it does quite well. Plus/minus below!
+ Fresh take on an old premise
+ Chock-full of fast paced action
+ Dark, gritty, and morbid...
- ... So certainly not for everyone
- Translation skimps on harsh language
- Action scenes are occasionally confusing
B+ - BUY IT
Akame ga Kill! is sure to quench the thirst for a dark action series for fans of such things, but isn't for everyone due to some disturbing content. I'd buy it, and I did, but you may not want to.
(I don't own Akame ga Kill!. All rights go to the creators, Takahiro and Tetsuya Tashiro, and the licensing company, Yen Press).
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