Series Review: Nozoki Ana; Peephole (ノ・ゾ・キ・ア・ナ [No・Zo・Ki・A・Na])

Sometimes, the smallest spark can burst into a huge flame. This is exactly what this story is about; a small crack/hole in a wall that will drive two unlike people into sorrow, sadness, joy and lastly, love. Neighbors divided by paper walls, witness each other's true selves. It is an odd story indeed, a love born out of a Peephole.

Nozoki Ana Volume 1

I'm on an ecchi manga binge. Well, to be exact, it's a seinen romance manga. Tons of love-making scenes and heartbreaks. I just read this today, the entirety of it (2nd of July, 2014) and I have some sort of a lingering headache from reading on a tablet all day.

Honna Wakou is a female mangaka who drew this seinen manga. WHO WOULD'VE KNOWN? Wakou does sound a bit female so I saw this coming. Sort of. From what I've gathered, this is her first published work which is not so bad considering it ran for 13 volumes. It is nice to see that it's an adult love story that leans towards the female side of a relationship. Enough jibber-jabber, let's get to the review.

Spoiler Alert! If you are gonna read this post, please read the actual manga first!

Warning! This title contains mature themes and nudity. 18+

Series Review: Kono S o, Mi yo! Look at this S (このSを、見よ [Kono S o, miyo])

What if you had a curse/blessing (depending on how you see it) that make the opposite sex crave for you? To men, a tempting offer but to women, a curse. This story tells the situation of an adult male having a birthmark on his bum that has the power to make women crave for him in a sexual way. The catch? The women must still have their period or else, it won't work. How does it get "turned off"? The woman just needs to have sex with the guy to avoid further sexual frustrations and wet panties. Still with me? Good! Let's review this!

Kono S o, Mi yo! Volume 1

The mangaka; Kitazaki Taku, has been published with multiple titles since the late 80s. I don't know much about the guy but from what I can see (which is barely scratching the surface), he's drawn a lot of ecchi stuff. I don't have anything special to say since I haven't read anything from him except for this title. I will read the stories "prequel" because this story is unique. I'll get to it. Just click that "READ MORE" and hope you'll be satisfied with this review.

Spoiler Alert! If you are gonna read this post, please read the actual manga first!

Warning! This title contains mature themes and nudity. 18+

Review: The Wallflower Volume 1

1 mansion, 4 bishounen, 1 girl, 1 goal to "free rent." Four gorgeous teenage boy are tasked to do the (almost) impossible, to turn Sunako Nakahara; a macabre-loving girl, into a proper lady. Tomoyo Hayakawa really made something funny and beautiful with this title! Here you go, The Wallflower Volume 1!

You have just read the whole plot of the story. It's funny and it's definitely shoujo (hmm, just google "Free! Iwatobi Swim Club" so you have an idea), but guys, don't be discourage, there is still something for you here. Maybe a lesson about not calling girls ugly? Come, come, don't be shy!

Review: Me and the Devil Blues

After reading this big volume. It's packaged as an omnibus but they don't call it an omnibus. It's twice as long and I really enjoyed the ride this brought.

Warning! It has sensitive themes and nudity.

Well, a touring musician has a lot to sacrifice including family. Today's musician has it easier, but way back in the roaring twenties, it was like hell to be a touring bluesman. It's also not touring, but more like wandering.

Review: Lament of the Lamb Volume 1

A vampire story with a love story at the side. You've got it wrong if you think this is about twilight. If vampires were real, Kei Toume's version would be the ones. Her art and story telling just give me the chills without it being a true horror manga. It's like one of those tragedy stories of the medieval times where suicide and murder are a means to convey extreme feelings. I present you, Lament of the Lamb.

"Mingled among the sheep, there is a wolf. And by his own lonely fangs, he is bent..."

The expressions of the characters on the front cover is what you will have after you read this. The sadness you get from reading something emotional, something dreary. You'll have to read it to understand what I'm talking about.

Review: pink

It's not the color, it's the manga. It's really awful and bittersweet. It's like drinking coffee, it's really bitter but over time, cup after cup, you get really used to it but then you realize, your tastes have changed.

Warning! This title contains nudity, sex scenes and adult themes. 

Vertical Inc. said it perfectly, "Published at the zenith of the Bubble era, women's comics legend Kyoko Okazaki's representative work captures... the spirit of the times." It is the spirit of the times where people were spending lavishly and didn't care about the future. This is like seeing Japan back in the late 1980s.

Review: Toradora! Volume 1

Long awaited review? Really?! I can't believe you guys! Sorry for the wait though! Yeah, it's the manga adaptation of the light novels. Surprisingly, it's nearly the same as the anime adaptation!

Fun fact: The author thought about the title and tried putting the characters' personalities. Tiger and Dragon, the "tora" part is Japanese for tiger, the "dora" part is the shorthand for dragon in romaji (I know little about the Japanese language but I know that they have a "western" style syllabic system for "western" words.)

Review: MPD-Psycho Volume 2

Disappointed. I feel down. I was hyped up and let down.

I was so hyped up because volume 1 just left me wanting for epic gore fest but this one lack that. They got me hooked on this addictive substance and now I'm having withdrawals because this "new version" of this substance was lacking that extra high.

ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

Story so far: Yosuke Kobayashi, a detective has developed Dissociative Identity Disorder. He houses different personalities, from a psychopath to a stuttering idiot. He's currently hired by a private investigation firm and is now solving grotesque crimes.

Review: MPD-Psycho Volume 1

Dark Horse writes that this a controversial series and from my opinion, it does live up to it's name. This is so sick and so grotesque, this is beyond horror manga, this is freaking PSYCHO!

Warning! This is volume contains INTENSE GORE, SICK VIOLENCE BRUTAL CRIMES and NUDITY. This is for mature readers, preferably 20 years old and up. Be advised.

Before you click Read more, please know that this is unlike any manga out there. The level of gore this series has brought is far beyond any horror manga or any detective manga I've read. This is your last chance to back out. Please, listen to me and do not read more than this if you don't want to dream of bad dreams.

Review: High School Girls Volume 2

Hello! Welcome back from reading the laugh trip that is High School Girls! Did you read it because of my recommendation? No? Why? I'm sorry I can't do a good job at reviewing!     ＿|￣|○

I am currently laughing my butt off from reading all the volumes I have (which is 5 in total) so I don't have a butt right now. ＿|￣|○  Oh yeah, after finishing this volume, I can definitely say that this is a shounen manga.

Story so far: We have a group of girls that are starting their high school lives in an All-Girls High School. What they don't know is that girls who attend that high school are different from the "Princess/High Society" girls in their minds. Boyfriend-less girls, lesbians, filthy club rooms, dreadful locker rooms, ill-mannered girls, wild girls and most of all, no holds barred girl stuff (stuff you don't want to know because it's the harsh truth about girls.) And then, at the end of the school festival, one of them got a boyfriend. Well, let's continue the story...

Review: Bakuman Volume 2

So you've read volume 1 and I've read volume 1 from a long time ago. That review was not so thorough (like my reviews are thorough and professional ＿|￣|○ )  and my current reviews have a system of sorts. So let me revise my review on this title so we can get a bit more out of it.

Draw. Draw. Draw. Write. Write. Write. Wouldn't you go insane if you did this all day long? I'm amazed at what mangaka's go through just to put a chapter out there. I also want to be a mangaka but you know, I just don't have the inspiration and the story telling down. I can draw but only stiff illustrations and most are just sketches. These mangaka's work their butts off just to make their manga last a little longer. Then you also think of a gimmick to make your manga rank higher in the polls. What a busy world manga is. No wonder Taro Kawaguchi died from work exhaustion (well, a lot of Japanese people die from over work, no joke.)

Story so far: The story starts when a middle schooler Moritaka Mashiro (Saiko) was confronted by a classmate of his; Akito Takagi (Shujin), about both of them being mangakas. Shujin goes to convince Saiko to draw for him. Unknowingly, Shujin cooks up a plan to make Saiko become a manga artist. After the execution of the plan, Saiko is now determined to be a mangaka and is now aiming for his work to be in an anime!

Review: Arisa Volume 2

More shoujo goodness! Yes, the second volume of my first shoujo series this new year! Well, not really the new year but let's just say the winter season. Iko yo!

So, I've finished this volume last year but because of my confusion on my college schedule (I literally thought my classes start the 7th of January so I was freaking out) and laziness that I didn't really bother to review this until now. Forgive me okay?

Gomenasai!

Review: What a Wonderful World Volume 1

I got this title recently (if you were reading my past Mail posts then you would know about this) and I've been conservatively pacing myself through this amazing title. This is truly a WONDERFUL manga!

If you read my Mail post about this, please, disregard that. I found a treasure. I hit the mother lode. This title is amazing. Listen to some The End of Evangelion soundtrack while reading this so you can feel the review more. Tearing up is allowed. The feels are intense.

Review: Limit Volume 2

So... I'm still in awe after reading 5 volumes and I'm preventing myself from reading the last one. I don't want to kill this feeling of surprise of WHY THE HELL ISN'T THIS A SEINEN SERIES?! (Sorry WcDonalds) I'm lovin' it!

Warning! This volume contains graphic violence, verbal abuse and blood.

I don't even know why this isn't talked about. Most of the manga collections I've seen on video sharing sites don't have this title. Why is it not famous? This is a seinen manga with teenage girls as it's characters. However, the issues that are expressed here are definitely shoujo. Am I repeating myself? I'm sorry, I'm just disappointed to see that this title isn't a part of some famous person's collection. You should have!
It might not be an Attack on Titan but this is Literature!

Review: Kingyo Used Books Volume 1

"Why would there be manga at a goldfish store?" - one of the unique characters. (Kingyo = Goldfish) So yeah. A used bookstore that only sells manga and magazines that are solely for manga. What story is there to be told about that you say? A lot.

So, I hope by now you know that uhm... I... you.... me and you... I know we have a lot in common so uhm... if you want to maybe... 

Review: Arisa Volume 1

First of all, Happy New Year and let's start our year off with a new series to review!

I recently received this in the mail and it's a shoujo manga. I love shoujo manga but the past 4-6 months are filled with action, shounen romance, seinen and battle manga. Lately, I've been craving for more shoujo manga so I think this is the right title to get me in the mood.

I've finished this volume last night and I'm really glad I picked this up. Awesome start of a series so buckle up! Let's dive in into shoujo territory!

Review: Limit Volume 1

First off, have you read Battle Royale? If you haven't, why haven't you? I don't own it and I read it online *cough*illegally*cough* and finished it. Anyway, if you liked that title, then I'm sure you'll love this!

Warning! This volume contains graphic violence, verbal abuse and blood.

It's a shoujo manga despite it's serious, dark and somewhat horrifying atmosphere. It's mainly about the hunted being the hunter. This is too serious to be a shoujo manga, it should be a seinen series! I like shoujo but I don't think the young shoujo audience should read this. It's just too graphic. It also has a live-action drama that aired recently which is awesome! (I'm gonna watch it after I finish the whole series!) Anyway, come with me as I review the volume! Yeah!

Review: Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad Volume 2

Training for the swim team, learning how to play the guitar, playing with a band on-stage, skinny dipping with a really hot babe. Koyuki works hard and plays hard.

We're finally getting closer to what that cover art is trying to get at, Koyuki playing the guitar in a live setting. I wish I had more volumes of this title.

Review: Pastel Volume 2

Hi! Two days have passed since Christmas. Be glad I'm doing this for you! Joudan! Joudan! (It's a joke)
I'm getting the hang of putting out 4 reviews a week, the only thing I'm worried about is the days that don't have any reviews. Sorry if those days are kinda boring. I do hope you look forward to my reviews! Like this one!

Warning! This volume contains FAN SERVICE! REJOICE MEN!
Seriously, this volume contains scenes that is only suitable for older teens and up.

As I told you all before, I like Toshihiko Kobayashi's cover art made with Pastel colors. I'm in love with his cover arts like crazy! Kokoro no dokidoki! (Am I trying too hard?!)

Review: Dogs: Bullets & Carnage Volume 2

Just as promised! I've come back with the second volume and it's filled with more action than you can chew!
Also, it's Christmas today so... Merry Christmas! Hope you have an awesome day ahead and like this review, BANZAI!

Naoto + Nill + Nuki + Lokie = Awesome Cover Art

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

So you've read Volume 1 and the Prelude. If you have not, you can't catch up to this review. This is mostly about the story. The art is still the same awesome style.