Wow that was pretty good and like normal good not just Go Nagai good! The story is a reinterpretation of Dorian Gray (which I have never read) but with a pretty well samurai era flavor. For a Go Nagai manga is was pretty serious and even somewhat classy! There were some fan service scenes here and there, but given what the story is about they usually had an actual purpose. The artwork here is also some of Go Nagai's best. It's more detailed that most of his other works (especially the backgrounds) and there were quite a few standout pages.
This series is as out of its mind nutso-crazy, of course, but it's been that way from the beginning. This arc's as crazy as ever. It's set in a hot spring town, but don't expect much generic hot spring stuff. Instead, expect Destruction Princess insanity. Yes, even for anime, this series really is something! There are some definite bad things about the series -- for instance, it's utterly, comically absurd, but there's virtually never any thoughts about the lives that have to have been lost in the chaos -- but still, overall, this is a good series, I guess, if "good" applies to something like this.
Loose Relation Between Wizard & Apprentice 17-22.5 [End]
I hadn't realized that this series ended, but I caught up. The ending is pretty abrupt -- I expect that this series was cancelled, most likely, not ended by choice -- but it's an okay, moderately conclusive ending, considering how little time there was. This series is one about a world like the modern one, but with magic. There are mages and such. It's a harem setting, but it's only arguably a harem show, because there's one girl who's the main focus of the romance; only one other girl actually shows any feelings for him, and she doesn't go anywhere with them and he doesn't know about it. So it is a series about a guy surrounded by girls, but there's only any romance with one. I think it works. Anyway, the final arc ended nicely. I was surprised about the plot's ending, it was kind of clever.
The MC guy's father is actually alive, and that he'd been raising Cthulu, who of course looks like a teenage girl and isn't crazy, or a Lovecraftian god; she's a being from outer space who mages had sealed here in an ocean prison tower five or ten thousand years ago. Then they set up a lie about how Cthulu was trying to break out, to get mages to go there and get killed by the tower's defenses, because their deaths kept the tower's magic charged or something. So the villain guy goes there to beat Cthulu, but learns the truth, which understandably upsets him greatly. He tries to destroy the world (of course), but the MC saves the day. He almost dies in the process, but lives. Then the MC's father, and Cthulu presumably, come home, and his father starts working on trying to the the MC and Konoha (his apprentice)'s relationship to ... move forward. The end.
Overall, it's too short, but I'd say this is worth reading. It's a fun series, and while the male MC is the one who saves the day, etc, Konoha's far from helpless, and does become a mage too. Not bad.
Classmate (♀ to Meikyuu no Futekisetsu na Kouryakuhou 1-2
This one's a new series from the guy who did the above series. It's pretty confusing at the start -- this clearly isn't set in normal modern-day Japan, but there's been absolutely no explanation so far about how, exactly, this differs from normal reality. I'm really confused. Apart from that, the setup's okay. This looks to be a more serious series than the above one, with harem and action elements (that have real danger, it seems). The plot... I don't really get it, but there's this school with seven students, because it's being merged into a different school in a few years and most people left already. But then the military takes it over and tells everyone they won't be allowed to leave for a few months while they do some secret operation. We get hints of how this world isn't like ours, but no actual explanation. These three mysterious girls appear, two with guns and one with knives or something, and the main character guy learns that he's some successor of something or other, so he's important, naturally. Then this tower comes up out of the ground, which they have to go in... yeah. It's somewhat generic, but not explained well so far. Even so, it's okay so far.
Trinity Seven 17
Gah, this fight's still not over... I mean, it's a good fight, but multiple cliffhanger endings, in a monthly series, is kind of cruel. Anyway though, it is a solid chapter as usual. Entertaining series. I do hope evil girl loses soon though, she has it coming.
Also, now Levy is the only one of the seven girls who the MC hasn't seen topless... good luck there, as they say in this chapter she'll be tough to beat, or catch off guard.
Fairy Tail up to 288
Hmm, so what kind of special, evil power is this girl using, apparently? Because yeah, it sure looked like Wendy's attack should have done more damage than that. Overall though, decent chapter.
Unbreakable Machine Doll to 22
This series has gotten quite serious indeed, now. People have died, evil plots have been revealed, and the Night Party hasn't even started yet, though it's about to. Despite the seriousness though, this series has maintained a pretty strong quality level. This is a good series, and I want to know what'll happen for sure. The main protagonists are reasonably likeable, as well, which is saying something for this kind of thing! And yes, they still are.
So yeah, this arc was about the girl who's going to be the MC's first rival in the Night Party. She has a pretty awful "family", let's put it that way. But the MC doesn't want to lose either, so he can't lose to her or something. So far he's done a good job of helping her a bit, but of course the fight hasn't yet started. I expect he'll win.
Pajama no Kanojo (all so far)
I like this series. It reminds me of animes I like, with a story about a ghost girl who isn't actually dead and who wants to get back to her body, and the MC guy who likes her, and goes in a love triangle direction after that. I wonder, will it become harem eventually? So far it's love triangle, with the catch that the not-dead ghost girl's got some issues with her condition... anyway though, yeah, I like this. The story, characters, and art are all pretty average, but it's a decent average, so it's a quite decent series.
Very interesting stuff, a lot of it new to me. I don't really think anyone truly "invented" manga though, as you can always trace back the technique to sequential art in it's earliest form and it's pretty much impossible to give credit for that.
It really could go either way. Right now it feels like it could be an endgame or it could be something like Aizen's introduction or the Kishin in Soul Eater being revived.
It really could go either way. Right now it feels like it could be an endgame or it could be something like Aizen's introduction or the Kishin in Soul Eater being revived.
Hana Otoko - pretty typical taiyo matsumoto, which isn't a bad thing. felt most like ping pong, but ping pong is just way way good.
Initial D - still as cheesy as ever. Sometimes there's some interesting character development in between the chapters upon chapters of highly intricate drawings of cars and mountain roads. i really wonder if chapters are so short because of the millions of speed lines needed to be drawn. it's also kinda fun to pick out what parts are on the cars.
Well if I knew it had such amazing character designs I would have probably got into it earlier, guess Ill wait for the anime since it seems to have great production values, and this one in fire and the one in blue seem pretty cool.
The next cancellation batch should be somewhere in the second half of August, and Jump had room for 1 series (starting 2 and throwing out Nura).. but we're also gearing up towards Golden Future Cup 2012. It's possible something will be cancelled to make room for GFC before August.
It depends on just how much room Inumaru freed up. It wasn't full-length chapters so I really have no clue.
And yeah Nisekoi's probably safe. I've never seen a manga as young as Nisekoi take the cover from a much older one (as it did magnificently some time ago).
Well if I knew it had such amazing character designs I would have probably got into it earlier, guess Ill wait for the anime since it seems to have great production values, and this one in fire and the one in blue seem pretty cool.
This shit has gotten so fucking stupid, I want to stop reading it. Nishi crying for his mom is the same as when he died the first time. I'm fine with that. He didn't bitch out when those kamikaze aliens blew up the gantz room, though. He was gonna go out like a champ there. I am bothered by Kei and Tei surviving the vacuum of space, though.
Plus, why the hell wouldn't Kei have destroyed that tower on the alien ship? That wasn't explained well other than the giant alien asking him not to. However, it makes no sense because no matter what kind of attachment he has to that alien chick, the fact of the matter is, that giant spaceship was about to destroy Earth. Why would he have any qualms about destroying them? If he didn't, there was a good chance he wouldn't have a home to go back to. That just made no sense to me.
I'm tired of this damn manga already. I hope it ends soon. It's gotten beyond ridiculous at this point. PEACE.
Honestly, I still like the one-shot better than the actual one so far. Maybe it was just the fact it wrapped up nicely (and the art seemed better in it).
...anyway, idoru doesn't seem like she'll be anywhere remotely close to real competition. This isn't Nisekoi!
Also 1 to 1 swimming lessons when you've got an organisation trying to kill you and your mentor has told you you're fucked in water is a really awesome idea.
Hmm, so what kind of special, evil power is this girl using, apparently? Because yeah, it sure looked like Wendy's attack should have done more damage than that. Overall though, decent chapter.
Well, her magic is the same Lost God Slayer magic that the Fire God guy that Natsu fought on Tenryuu island used. Since her magic is supposed to be Wendy's just better then it probably means her healing powers are a lot better too. Notice that she ate wind too before Wendy hit her with the new attack.
Wendy will probably beat her the same way that Natsu beat the other guy. Eating the black *insert element here*.