Wishlist: Neon Genesis Evangelion

If you are an anime loving person then you should have come across this show. It's a masterpiece, a classic and a mind-trucking journey towards insanity of a show. I wrote about this show on one of my papers and I said:

This anime is a deconstruction of the *mecha subgenre. It focuses on the psychoanalysis of each character in the show and how a character breaks into more pieces as time goes on. On the outside, it looks like a regular super-robot anime but as the show progresses, its true colors show up and kids might be turned off by the unusually long dialogue and flashbacks into a character’s past. Anyone who first watches this will not understand the show in face value and this just shows how great an anime can be.

Review: Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad Volume 1

I've watched the anime adaptation and it's 9/10 for me. I'm actually starting to write a story about my experiences because I'm really inspired by the anime. Enough talk about the anime, let's talk about what started it all: the manga.

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad Volume 1: (by Harold Sakuishi) Yukio Tanaka is a 14 year old senior in junior high. He complains about his everyday life being dull and wants to do something about but he has no idea on what to do. When Ryuusuke Minami entered Koyuki's life, he started to change and began to have a challenges that made his life better.

Manga in the Mail: 9

Battle Royale, a theme that is gory and is down-right awful. When I think about survival, I think about Bear Grylls. *Crickets chirping* Just kidding.

Let's do that again. When I think about survival, I think about the human instinct. The basic command of finding food, water and shelter. If a situation deals you with more people, it becomes a disaster. You can live by yourself and survive by yourself if you are extra careful. Adding people into the survival mix is gonna get you killed sooner or later. Why? Conflicts, self-preservation, lies and other stuff that people can do for their own survival. That's what made me buy this series. Ladies and gentleman, I present to you: Limit.

Update: December 19, 2013

I'm experimenting with the scheduling of my posts. I've decided to post reviews on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday every week. Every review day is gonna be a different volume of the same title for two weeks. Confused? I'll clarify.

Let's say today's Monday. I'm going to review Ninja Girls Volume 1 today and post it. The next Monday would be Ninja Girls Volume 2. The next Monday after that would be a different title, like a review of Air Gear Volume 1. The Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would be the same. I'll only review two volumes of each title for two consecutive weeks, and then I'm changing the title. Some time after that, I'll go back to the past and review volumes 3 and 4 of that title.

Here! Have a Meruru break!

What about the other days? Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays are kind of meh. I don't know what to put in between but I might as well post some Manga in the Mail stuff or Now Reading posts to fill the gap. I might put two up because I feel like Mail and Now reading aren't as heavy as the reviews, in terms of content.

I also want to try something new, something I don't have and something I want: Wishlist. It's a post that tells people what I want to read and what I'm looking forward to reading. It's kind of like a Manga in the Mail post without having the physical books.

So expect the posts to be somehow longer, and fewer. I don't want to run out of material to post so I'm saving some. There you have it! Thanks for sticking with me!

Review: Dogs: Prelude

I thought about reviewing more of Dogs: Bullets & Carnage but I think I'm gonna pass that up and review the prelude first. Since I have read only the prelude and the first four, my information regarding the whole story might be incomplete .

Warning! This volume contains graphic violence, gore, blood and mild nudity.

This is a prologue to the series Dogs: Bullets & Carnage. The Dogs series wasn't planned to be 10 volumes long and it was only meant to have this oneshot of a title. Because of the demand for a continuation, Shirow Miwa created the main story Dogs: Bullets & Carnage which has the meat of it all. This volume acts like a compilation of different characters, each story has highlights each of the four characters.

Manga in the Mail: 8

So, I just received a huge package containing 13 volumes of manga and 2 light novels. Then there's another package with a complete set. I'll reveal the bigger of the two and put a first impressions on them. Here we go!

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad Volume 1 and 2

Review: Pastel Volume 1

I've got doubles of this manga that are in fair to good condition. This is title is amazing and I can't wait to fangirl over this series!

I love cover art that's made with pastel.

I bought the first 6 volumes hoping that it would be an awesome series with realistic fan service. (I'm a guy so I have my eye candy needs.)  It turns out, this is more exciting and more frustrating than what Love Hina offered! Awesome sauce!

Review: Alive: The Final Evolution Volume 1

It's another review! Woo!! I don't want to bog you all down with manga haul impressions and what not so I'm reviewing stuff. Please bear with the shallowness of my reviews. Arigato!

Warning! This title contains graphic violence, gore and blood.

My first impression of this title goes like this: "Whoa! Suicide Virus! Lethal Pandemic! This is awesome!" If you've read my past posts, I really like dark themes. I'm not making fun of it, I'm just really interested in the psychological aspect of it all. My psych teacher once told me that people who have killed a person in their life had a change in their brain. That, to me, is interesting so I'm sorry if this is too morbid for you. Anyway, let's move on to the review shall we?

Now Reading: 5

I'm trying to finish the other Now Reading titles but I feel like I lack the enthusiasm to finish. On to more unfinished business!

WARNING! This volume contains graphic violence, implied rape and a ton of gore.

Okay, I think I've seen the title that could possibly compare to the bloody roller coaster called Batlle Royale.

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit Volume 1: A country (most likely Japan) passed a law that randomly selects one person a day; between the ages 18-24, to die in 24 hours after receiving an Ikigami (Death Papers, documents that notify a person that he has 24 hours left to live). This law is to get people live healthy and happy lives. If people think that their life is short, they become more productive with their time.

The story is about a man who delivers Ikigami's to the person who is going to die; Kengo Fujimoto. He doesn't side with this law 100% and he still questions this law. Is this job really honorable? It must be! It's for the best of the country! But after a few months, he starts to get used to it somehow.

Art: The art is very good and it complements the story so well. To get the scare factor, you have to draw it as realistic as possible. You can definitely say that it truly belongs to Viz Media's Signature series. The details and expressions on peoples face are accurate.

It's gory and graphic, like it should be. It instantly clicks.

Story: I'm in the halfway mark of the volume which finishes the first story of the first Ikigami recipient in this title. I like how the plot, incorporates the Ikigami recipient's past into the story. It felt the same like when I was reading Battle Royale, as it highlights each "victim" as a main character. I like that kind of story telling: introduction, backstory, present day. How did each character come to be? Will the past factor in the person's actions within his/her last 24 hours?

The pacing is good and it doesn't waste space on useless action. It skips time of inactivity but sometimes, it feels like it jumped over some details that I want to know. Overall, it's a nice page-to-page experience.

Bottomline: Read it. If you want some realistic action and some inhumane rule/law/act, this is for you. I warn you though, I don't want novices to be reading this yet. This is a dark manga that presents a realistic plan to make people do what you want them to do. This is Machiavellian stuff right here.

Manga in the Mail: 7

These are kind of the leftovers from the last big haul and a floating one. (What's floating?!)

Wolf God Volume 1 and Variante Volume 1

Review: Genkaku Picasso Volume 1

Sublimation, a defense mechanism that turns a negative feeling into an acceptable form. Most artist (painters, musicians, writers and other creative people) have this defense mechanism as they tend to express their anger, happiness, sadness and every other emotions humans have. I have this but I don't think I've needed it for so long. What does this have to do with the review? Well, you're about to find out!

From the outside, it looks like a manga about an artist who dreams to become a big hit. I took this title at it's face value. I love art, so why don't I read a manga about art. If you thought the same thing I did, well, we're both wrong.