A Teen Author's Home
Manga
He is My Master Manga Review
Jul 8th
He is My Master (also known as HiMM) is a ecchi gag manga by a husband and wife team made up of Mattsu and Asu Tsubaki. (They broke up not too long ago, though, and the manga is kinda at a standstill with only five volumes right now). It’s about a “boy in the midst of puberty who inherited his parents’ fortune and was living all by himself with no supervision and has surrounded himself with tender young girls in a huge mansion, thus living out his fantasies and creating his own world of desire as he makes them serve him” (the manga makes this very clear as it uses this description often) named Yoshitaka Nakabayashi. Oh, and he is also an ”inhumane pervert with a Lolicon fetish”.
This manga is mindless perverted fun. Everyone is at least a little evil. There’s a lesbian in the mix. A little girl who is evil and controls people. An alligator god with glasses. Heck, everything you wanted in a manga that you didn’t even know that you wanted is in here. Sadly, the gags sometimes get repetitive especially all the contests (compare to Ranma 1/2), but there is often just enough new material and more than enough comedy to make you keep reading.
One unique thing about this manga is that the authors not only break the fourth wall, but use a wreckingball to do so. They constantly make comments about what they thing about the manga and joke via a character’s voice or a dialog box. It adds much more feeling and passion to the manga.
There is a large group of people that really dislike this manga though. I would try it and see if you like it, and if you don’t then oh well, but if you are into the perverted funny fetish gag evil thing then you better get reading.
Future Diary ( Mirai Nikki ) Manga Review
Jun 15th
I found out about Future Diary from the back pages of a Tokyopop manga, which said it would be out soon (i.e. 2 months). I was so curious about this title I looked it up myself, and never looked back.
Future Diary by Sakae Esuno is about a young boy named Yuki who lives life as a bystander, doing nothing but recording the events around him in his cell phone diary. The only people he talks to are in his imagination, the most remarkable is Deus Ex Machina, the lord of time. One day Deus mentions that he wants to play a game, and suddenly Yuki’s diary is already filled out with future events that he would have recorded! Not only this, but Yuki soon finds out that 12 others were also granted the same abilities with their own diaries (each of which record different types of information). The best part is when these people are told that they each have to kill each other and that the last person standing becomes the new god of time!
Just to add to poor Yuki’s problems he has a FREAKING CRAZY INSANE STALKER named Yuno. Her diary keeps track of Yuki’s actions. Isn’t that great? [un]Lucky for Yuki she doesn’t want to kill him, she wants him to love her, but as I said she is crazy; she will do anything to impress him, even kill! Should Yuki trust this maniac and let her help him win this game, or is she just using him?
This manga is very intense and gives the reader no downtime in all of it’s currently 52 chapters (I expect the manga to end very very soon!). Action, suspense, romance, a little horror; this manga has it all! Short but sweet, just the way I like ‘em!
Chobits Anime and Manga Review
Apr 14th
Chobits… what to say about Chobits… well, it was written by CLAMP, an army of female mangaka who wrote Card Captor Sakura (which I watched and thought was a very good kiddie-shojo) and Angelic Layer (which I heve never seen, but it does seem like it was aimed at a younger audience). This, though, is not quite as kiddy. It has a message and theme for the reader, and though it uses a fairly large amount ecchi to make the majority of the story funny, the message stands out and will stay with you the rest of your life.
Just so you know, I am going to focus the review on the manga and not the anime, which had a few differences in the first episode (the only episode of the anime I watched) including a scene on the farm where the main character lived before the story began.
Anyway, in summary, Chobits is about a boy who is attending classes because he failed his college entrance exam, named Hideki. He orginally lived on a farm, but for the classes he moved to the unfamiliar city. He is amazed by all the things there, especially the very human like robots everyone owned, called persocoms. Hideki is poor though, and cannot afford one. But one day he finds a perfectly good, cute persocom in a dumpster. He turns it on and takes it home. The only problem is that the only thing it can say is chi! So that’s what he names it, Chi. Soon he realizes that Chi is learning from him; she copies his actions, starts to use words, and gains a personality of her own! But persocoms are supposed to only use pre-programed data, not learn for themselves! And Chi can’t even connect to the internet! What kind of persocom is she? As Hideki curiously searches for these answers, his relationship with the robot changes… but is that okay?
Yeah, I know, lots of questions for you to answer for yourself as you read this 8 manga series published in the US by Tokyopop. As for my final opinion, I say this series is very worth reading. As I have said before, I am a very large fan of shorter series, and this one qualifies. Very good quality all the way through, and lots of questions, twists, and turns. This book is certainly one of the most serious ecchi books I have ever read. Because of that, it would appeal to a very large audience. So, in other words, read it.
Oh, and I almost forgot, inside Chobits is a little picture book called “A City With No People”. It is amazing and theme-rich, as well as trippy and dark. That is one of main reasons I love this series!
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days Review
Apr 3rd
In my opinion, the back of the first manga, published in America by ADV, summarized the series the best.
Imagine a Neon Genesis Evangelion in which dating the right girl is more important than saving the world…
That’s right, this 6 manga spinoff of the epic, best selling, super confusing, controversial, emotional, and meaningful mecha anime and manga is 100% shojo. Heck, this is like 200% shojo. Yes, the Eva still make an appearence, but… dude, how the hell… what kind of twisted person would do such a thing (please don’t answer with the author’s name, Fumino Hayashi, because that’s not the point)? Hey guys, guess what? I loved it XD.
Imagine it as a benchmark for your shojo. This book series has all of the stereotypical romanctic scenes, all executed well, as well as adds a little paranormal in there. Heck, the author even gave the characters new backstories! This manga is well written, though a little short. The best part is the last manga, where it goes to each character and shows you how they turned out in the future, as well as adds an unexpected ending twist!
I do not think that most people would say these are worth the ten bucks each, but those of you that love shojo will read this series at least twice, and that alone makes it worth the few extra dollars compared to other manga. Also, you do not need any past Eva knowledge to read these. Actually, if you do, it will just confuse you XD. I know it did me because I read this then read the real manga.
In conclusion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days is nothing like the original series, though it does have Eva in it. It is pure shojo, and only people who like pure or almost pure shojos will find this manga worth their time.
Chibi Vampire / Karin Anime and Manga and Novel Review
Mar 30th
Karin (as it is known in Japan through out all media, as well as the English dub of the anime), also known as Chibi Vampire (as it is known as in the American version of the manga and novels), is a series of mangas, anime, and novels, all based off of the manga by Yuna Kagesaki. It is the story of Karin, an odd vampire who can live in the day and doesn’t suck blood, who lives with her normal-vampire family. The only issue is that she has an… issue… with like… a nose perioid… I’m not kidding. Every month a ton of blood comes out of her nose. If she tried to stop it, she will faint. The best way for her to expels the blood into someone. But, of course Karin is also a klutz, and always messes up.
I should mention that in this story good things happen to the people vampires take (or in Karin’s case, give) blood to, providing they don’t kill the human they are feeding from. Karin, for example, makes unfortunate people happy. Every vampire has a different affect of their victim of that sorts.
One day her blood gushes out in front of a new classmate named Kenta. To her surprise, he actually helps her clean up the blood. This triggers a myriad of events, all funny and romantic, like a good romantic-comedy should. Each chapter ends with you begging for more from the well-written characters (each of which have a past that you will learn about in the manga, and a few in the anime), the cute love scenes, and the piss-your-pants funny comedy.
The manga and the anime are different. Though they begin the same, about halfway through they start to differ. Their endings are totally differnt, and though I liked the manga better, both were very good. As for the novels, they are adventures that happen in-between the events in the manga. Though they hold no value plot-wise, they are very good and I am hoping all of them get translated to English by Tokyopop (I know there is another one coming out soon).
In summary, Karin/Chibi Vampire is an otaku’s Twilight done right. As my favorite anime and manga, I would recommended them to everyone, especially shojo lovers. Hey, even if you don’t like shojo you are sure to laugh and enjoy the read.
