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+

Weekly! All you need is Kill 16 & 17 (END): All you Need is Kill; Sky Blue

Keiji gets attacked by Rita. According to Rita, both of them have become antennas because their brains have received a signal that only mimics use. To escape the loop, one of them has to die and continue to save humanity. At the end, one survives and drinks the moldy coffee. That person will continue to save humanity with their skill and knowledge about mimics. All you need, is kill.

Announcement of the Tankobon's.

Mother of god, I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about the ending. Last night (06-10-2014) I saw the ending and it was awful. My heart was breaking and my chest tightened. I don't know why but I really got emotional that night. It has officially ended. Let me tell you more about it. Here's are the titles: オールユーニードイズキル (Ōruyūnīdoizukiru) and スカイブルー (Sukaiburū).

Previously on: All you need is Kill 15: Rita go on to the battlefield and save Sergeant Bartolome and the other troops. After pushing the mimics back, Rita signals Keiji to go on and execute their plan to kill the server and backup mimics. Keiji feels something urgent is coming...

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

Weekly! All you need is Kill 12, 13, 14 & 15: Engage; Boy & Girl; Morning Coffee; Killing Machines

The unity of the two loopers, leaves Rita awestruck. She talks with Keiji and plans on their attack. Just when  he thinks he could escape the loop, he loops back. Keiji does everything over again but now they grow closer, not as comrades but more like lovers. The day begins, Keiji sees another side of Rita when she was preparing their morning coffee. The day starts off good until the mimics attack the military base. They suit up and go to the battlefield with the intent of ending Keiji's loop.

Weekly Young Jump 19, 21-22, 23 & 24

Issue 20 didn't feature the series.

Yes, I've been skipping. I've been inactive for the last few days but I haven't on my youtube. If you want to check out my youtube channel and what I've been up to, then please click here. By the way, the Japanese titles for these chapters are (in order): 12: エンゲージ (Engēji); 13: ボーイ＆ガール (Bōi & gāru); 14: モーニングコーヒー (Mōningukōhī); 15: キリングマシーンズ (Kiringumashīnzu)

Previously on: All you need is Kill 11: After escaping her loop, Rita kept killing mimics all over the world. She sees Private Kiriya and he tells her to meet somewhere alone. Keiji then confirms Rita's future question of "Is tea served free?" She begins to tear up knowing that she is not the sole respawner.

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

Weekly! MonsterxMonster

Oooh, it’s Shingeki no Kyojin but instead of kyojin, we have Kemono which translates to beasts, believe it or not. Then after a few pages, there were beast hunters who hunt beasts to sell on the market because ivory and other materials can be taken from beasts. Imagine a Rhino horn the size of the whole Rhino itself. After it hooked me like a teenage boy looking at a porn mag only to find that the models were trannies, the series showed it’s true colors, it’s about a NEET trying to have a peaceful, couch-potato (but in this case, a bed-potato) life but still wants to earn money and grope all the tits in the world.

From what I can collect, this is Tobita Nikiichi's debut series. I'm worried that this series would end up being crappy due to the unclear plot. Let's just hope that it goes well because it looks promising.

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

Weekly! All you need is Kill 10 & 11: Out (アウト [Auto]) & Answer (アンサー [Ansā])

Rita escapes out of her loop and meets Keiji for the first time (in her timeline). The story finally comes full circle and Rita cries in; presumably, joy of knowing someone who shares the same fate as hers.

 

Weekly Young Jump 17 & 18 2014
I'm not a perv! These are gravure models and this is the legit cover art for this magazine. 

Finishing the Rita background arc, this is getting a bit slow but it's getting closer to the end. I can just feel it! I'm kind of sad to see this series go really. What am I talking about?! It's not even ending yet! Well anyways, to make up for the lack of activity, here I am to give you two chapters at once. Get ready!

Extra jokes I made.

Previously on: All you need is Kill 9: Half a year has passed since Rita signed up for the UDF. She was a vengeful wreck but soon she found herself comforted by random ramblings of her commanding officer. Rita kills an odd looking mimic and finds herself 30 hours in the past, before she eliminated that odd mimic. She tests her hypothesis, she was in a loop. It turns out that the mimics are studying her movements and are keeping a high defense status. How can Rita escape this never ending loop?!

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

Now-Reading 9: Minamoto's Story (源君物語 [Minamoto-kun Monogatari])

Have you heard off "Hikari Genji" or "Genji monogatari?" If you've watched a lot of anime, you probably have heard of it. It's the story of a man searching some sort of attachment from females because he doesn't have that maternal attachment. He goes through 14 women to help him achieve that attachment. That's the extent of what I got from this series. Why am I telling you this? This series is basically the modern take on that story.

Every girl encountered by the main character.

If you felt like Seishun Pop! has a ton of sex scenes, this has chapters of it! Considering it's a weekly published series, 8 pages of sex scenes isn't enough! The scenes are showed in a way that leaves the reader to use his/her imagination to create the scene. It's not a hentai manga but it is smut.

The mangaka for this series is Inaba Minori. Believe it or not, like Seishun Pop's mangaka, she's a woman. I'm not discriminating for what they draw but I applaud them for being brave enough to show their work. The good thing about her is that this is her first work ever. She might have drawn doujinshi that no one on the Internet knows but it's good to know that she has room to grow. On to the story shall we?!

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

Warning! This series contains mature themes and nudity. If you are under 18, please turn back now.

Now-Reading 8: Youth Pop! (青春ポップ! [Seishun poppu!])

The ultimate focus of this story is finding that someone who you want to protect with all of your life. It might be family, it might be a partner, it might be a friend or a lover. Whoever it may be, you will go to lengths which you've never even thought about crossing until you found this person. My friends, I give you: Seishun Pop!

Seishun Pop!

This is a nice seinen series that has a ton of sex scenes. Tons. As in there are at least 5 chapters worth of sex scenes. Okay, let's leave that. It's mostly about the relationship Sakuta has with people and "another thing." It's just nice to read this. I marathon'd this and it's amazing! Some of the mature themes are great and they really show some taboo stuff in this series. You just have to read it to know what I mean.

Touta Kitakawa is the mangaka for this manga. Her other works include a balding story fittingly titled "Hageruya" (Hage means bald so I'm guessing it's translation is "Balding"). She has drawn more but these are the available ones that Google-sensei provides. Sorry for blabbering too much.

Warning! This title contains mature themes, nudity and violence.

Weekly! All you need is Kill 8 & 9: ███████ * & Reset (リセット Risetto)

We get to know more of ███████'s life. Yes! Her real name isn't Rita! She was a country girl living in Pittsfield, Illinois, U.S.A. She lives with her parents in their farm. One night, three mimics attack the town and kills a third of the total population of her town. To avenge her family, she stole the identity card of someone she knew briefly to increase her age, to immediately join the UDF.

The battlefield, she wield an assault rifle capable of killing mimics easily. Her commanding officer saves her from peril and calms her down by spouting random things. A strange giant mimic descends from the sky and she was caught in the loop after shooting at it. She is now caught in the loop and mimics seem to study the weaponry humans have. She swears to live through and fulfill her vendetta.

Weekly Young Jump 15 & 16 2014

Previously on: All you need is Kill 7: Keiji takens on the center stage as he kills each mimic brutally with his mastered weapon; THE GIANT BATTLEAXE OF DOOM (exaggeration intended)! Also, he's not the only one who RESPAWNS every time!

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

Warning! These chapters contain gore and blood. It may or may not have Rita's naked body.

Weekly! All you need is Kill 7

Holy mother... This just got better! That last line from Rita just blew me away.

*Updated Magazine Cover

How bold!

Previously on: All you need Kill 6: Big busted lunch lady Rachel hits on Keiji to "heal" the punch he gained from the last chapter. He fights countless more battles until his 158th respawn...

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

Warning! This contains alien gore!

Bi-Monthly! Inu Yashiki 1

Oku Hiroya's new series! It's about 58 year old salary man who is diagnosed with stomach cancer. If you've read GTO (by Tooru Fujisawa), the family of our main character in this story is basically the Uchiyamada family. If you haven't read GTO yet, his family regards him as just the bread winner and nothing else. Because this is a Oku Hiroya we're talking about, we can't just have a slice-of-life seinen drama series right? Correct! Just imagine your favorite Austrian Bodybuilder Governor acting for the next Terminator movie.

Evening Magazine

Inu Yashiki (INU = Dog; Yashiki = Mansion) is Oku Hiroya's series after Gantz. The first time I read this, I thought it was going to be about a slice-of-life story about an old man. No kidding! The whole chapter was about this old man's life. No aliens, no gore, nothing! And then the ending came. It was unexpected but somehow I expected it to have some kind of Silent Hill joke ending. Anyway, please give it a read!

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

Weekly! All you need is Kill 6

Keiji rejecting a possible date from the very hot babe that is, Rachel the lunch lady! Back in ch. 5, we are greeted by Sergeant Bartolome's corpse and the reason is that the Sergeant was trying to save Keiji. Keiji's mistake made him depressed and have that face. Back to the battlefield, after 158th respawn, he finally manages to wield a battleaxe properly with only one hand. Beast mode Kiriya go!

*Updated Magazine Cover

Previously on: All you need is Kill 5: Sergeant Bartolome is seen dead and after some time, Kiriya inevitably follows. We get to see Keiji's schedule and it doesn't change except for this day. His depressed expression on his face made him a target for a tough guy as Rachel complained about it. He was forced to engage in combat yet he only dodges the tough guy's punches. Ultimately, he ends up with a black eye and a praise from Rita about his dodges.

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

Manga in the Mail: 24

Super cheap and in great condition. I found them and I'm surprised no one paid higher than what I was ready to pay. I got this super amazing deal for these volumes:

Blame! Volume 1, Blood: The Last Vampire 2002, Warriors of Tao Volume 1 & 2 and Fullmetal Alchemist Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

I was expecting the manga to be in a "Very Good" condition since most of the manga I buy are like that, except for this one. I was surprised to see them so clean and so taken care of that they are basically like new with only a little shelfwear. They haven't even been yellowed (yeah, manga does yellow over time but that depends on how you take care of them!)

Weekly! All you need is Kill 5

You have a giant battleaxe that requires the wielder to practice it non-stop, and you have a soldier who wants to use it BUT doesn't have a lot of time. It's true that he can do it everyday as he respawns, but doing things in a routine in the exact same way is tiring. Here's to hoping that there is something out of the ordinary happens.

I wish there was a way to buy magazines from Japan cheaply. I mean, you can buy a magazine for 4-5 bucks from Japan, but then comes the biggest pain in the neck, SHIPPING! $20+ for shipping alone and that's like the slowest service. I don't live near a Kinokuniya bookstore so I can't really buy weekly magazines though I would LOVE to have at least just one issue. I have a ton of manga already and what my collection needs is a magazine. Seriously. Anyway, here's the actual content. Sorry for my whining...

Previously on: All you need is Kill 4: Shasta Raylle build Keiji a battleaxe--the same one that Rita has--in exchange for an external hard drive with god-knows-what is inside. That's the only important thing worth noting.

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

Weekly! All you need is Kill 4

My prayers have been answered! MORE OF LIETENANT SHASTA RAYLLE!!! Nerds will always be nerds, give her something with a ton of data in exchange for her building a GIANT BATTLEAXE! This is a short chapter so I'm going to keep it real short.

(I'm not posting these random magazine covers with semi-nude girls. These are the actual cover for Weekly Young Jump where All you need is Kill is published.)

I'm kinda late on this but it's better late than never! College is not my best friend when I'm trying to keep a manga review blog.

Previously on: All you need is Kill 3: He begins training with Sergeant Bartolome and has since been killed 12 times. He has been experimenting with different weapons but his weapon of choice has become the piledriver. However, the piledriver needs ammo and can only have 20 per weapon. Desperate to survive, Keiji infiltrates the base's R&D department to ask Shasta Raylle to make him a battleaxe like Rita's.

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

Weekly! All you need is Kill 3

Oh, we're listing rules now? This is becoming more and more of what I expected out of Takeshi Obata! Death Note everybody! Keiji has died a ton of times now, he has killed a lot of mimics but he's looking for something better to help him. We're focused more on Keiji's weapons rather than his training.

Young Jump Issue #9 2014

Previously on: All you need is Kill 2: Rita is revealed as a heartless opportunist. Moments in each respawn can vary depending on Keiji's actions. He tries to learn the art of war from Sergeant Bartolome since he's a survivor.

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

Weekly! All you need is Kill 2

Rita's true power is revealed! She follows the rules of survival of the fittest and that's why she's still living after battling with mimics all over the world! Keiji, after accepting his fate, is now training to be the strongest or at least in the level of Rita.

(BTW, I downloaded a ton of Weekly Young Jump magazine scans just to find out that All you need is Kill is printed in this one. I just saw the photo of Kiriya and I knew it. So dumb of me.)

Previously on: All you need is Kill 1: Keiji Kiriya wakes up from a bad dream about his death. Next day, he is deployed at the battlefield and he dies along with his comrades. Keiji Kiriya, wakes up from a bad dream about his death along with his comrades. Next day, he tries to escape the base only to get ambushed by aliens called mimics. Keiji Kiriya wakes up from a bad dream about his death as he tried to escape. He borrows his bunkmate; Jin's pistol and kills himself. Keiji Kiriya wakes up from a bad dream about his suicide. He learns that he only gets to repeat the same day over and over. His only escape is to survive out of everyday.

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

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.

Haul 2: January 21, 2014

Since I really like this series, I bought duplicates. No! They're not used! They are still in their shrink wrap with labels and stuff! Awesome deal if you do say so myself.

Black Lagoon Volumes 1, 2 & 4

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.