Review: I Am Here Volume 1

I'm currently at the extras page of this volume. It's 300+ pages of good shoujo manga! This is story is kind of generic, like Cinderella without the step family and talking rats. Step into the sunlight my friends!

Manga in the Mail: 1

Today I received two volumes of manga, Bakuman Volume 1 and Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit Volume 1.
I really liked the anime for Bakuman so I decided to order it online as soon as it went on sale. I have been eyeing Ikigami for a while now because I'm intrigued by the little synopsis it has, "Congratulations! You have been randomly selected by the Government....to die in 24 hours!" I think that's enough for me to pick it up.

Of course, these are used as I don't really buy them at retail price (that would break my bank and I would have to wait, maybe about 3-4 years, to get to my current manga count. I need to update my manga inventory (haha, like I'll sell mine.) to keep track of my collection (humblebrag much?) and to look at what I'm missing. I have a lot of volumes 1 and 2 of a title for checking them out if I like them or not. Sometimes I buy 4 or 6 of a title because I feel like I might really like it.

So yeah, I might review this after the year ends or maybe before. Who knows?

Review: Dogs: Bullets & Carnage Volume 1

I've read this the start November maybe. I'm not sure. It's a good manga though.
WARNING! This volume (or the series for that matter) contains graphic and gory scenes.
You might also die from too much MOE!

Case in Point: Nill

Review: Train Man: A Shoujo Manga

This is what I read early this morning and finished tonight. I'm craving for more Densha Otoko (Japanese for "Train Man") stuff so I read this first thing in the morning.

Train Man: A Shojo Manga is about an otaku ("nerd/geek") and a princess-like lady. It's about the development of this young man from being a complete otaku to being a gentleman, and the development of his relationship with the opposite sex. With the help of a certain forum, he tackles challenges that he never would've thought of to happen to him. It's an interesting read because it's fun and realistic.

I like to read romance manga specially with a mix of comedy in it. (duh, most romance mangas have that element.)

This is me trying to be cute.

The difference of this manga from the other Densha Otoko manga is the art style and the shortness of it. I've grown to like the shoujo (for girls) manga art style because it's a refreshing take for me since I started out with shonen manga. The story is to the point and leaves out the unimportant details but it still fulfills the plot.

This story is part of the Densha Otoko franchise. It has spawned a movie, a live-action tv series and a couple of mangas. The story of Desha Otoko is the almost the same all over it's media. He's an otaku, meeting a pretty lady by the train. The same plot over all the media but it's somehow refreshing.

Bottomline:
Read it. It's a fun manga to read and it's a good starter for a person who hasn't read any manga in his/her life. The art style is definitely shoujo but anyone would like it because it's a light read and to the point.

Manga Collection

I have over 400 volumes of manga and 100+ titles in my collection. I'm not boasting my collection for it is still relatively small. I only have a 1/4 of the total volumes to complete all the series I have. I can't list them all but in terms of genre, I collect ecchi, romance, drama, action, horror, and psychological manga. I love shoujo manga though I only have quite a few (Black Bird, B.O.D.Y., Butterflies; Flowers to name a few.) My current favorite mangas are seinen manga because I feel the need for more action, gore, violence and other stuff. I hope I can list them someday to help you choose what manga to read if you plan on reading manga.

Someday...

Someday.

Manga 101

Manga, is the equivalent of western comics in Japan. That is not the only thing that separates comics from manga, here are a few comparisons:

1. Japanese books read right-to-left, not left-to-right like we usually do. It takes some getting used to as the reading style in manga is flipped. Once you get used to it though, you open a book from the back like you're reading a manga. (Yes, I do that all the time now.)
2. Manga has a wide span of themes, genres and titles to choose from. From supernatural to reality based genres. There's a lot, including sports, horror, fantasy, romance, ecchi (which is basically the letter "H" and the abbreviation of hentai which means weird, odd, perverted in Japanese) and some other genres you don't want to know (I'm talking about you yaoi and yuri.)
3. Manga closely resembles graphic novels, because mangas and graphic novels have endings. They don't just continue to live on or be replaced by a new character to fill in for the death of a former one (*cough*Marvel*cough*.)
4. Manga tells the story through action instead of dialogue like comics and graphic novels do. Some manga titles do have lengthy dialogues but they lean more towards action.
5. Manga is not just black and white comics, as it does not need color to tell a story. It does use screen tones to make it feel lighter and express feelings like shock and sadness.
6. Comics usually come out in volumes as trade paperbacks (or TPB.) Mangas do that too, they are called Tankobon.
• Most tankobons have more pages than TPB's (Tankobon's are usually in the 200 pages range while TPBs are in the 120 page range.)
• Tankobons are smaller but thicker while TPB's are larger but thin (duh, the pages.)
7. Some manga titles come out weekly and some are monthly. Most comics come out monthly.

Those are some of the manga and comic differences and comparisons. Hope you find that informative.