Manga Reviews

Reviews are separated into ages based on the ratings of the books.

Teen

Princess AI

**** [Martha]

Whole series - Princess AI turns up on earth with no memories of who she is or where she comes from, the only thing she has on her is a heart shaped box that somehow sucks the life out of anyone else who holds it, after meeting a boy who offers her a place to stay she starts to sing on the street and it makes everyone happy. She gets a job in a night club as a singer, where she always wears very gothic type clothes, then after a fight with a demon who has come over from her homeworld to kill her, she takes up the offer a talent agency gives her in order to protect herself and the others around her. Doing this she discovers that she can send her feelings out in her songs whether they be happy or angry.

Fruits Basket

*** [Ali]

Vol 1 - I didn't think this would be my kind of thing, and I was right. It's not terrible, I can see why people like it. It's a gentle romantic comedy about a girl meeting some guys who turn into the animals of the zodiac if they're hugged by a girl. A cute, character based story. I'm not really a big fan of cute.

*** [Helen]

Vol 1 - It was pretty good but I kept getting confused about which character was which! Considering I'm not a big fan of romance type stuff it was fairly intriguing. Might read some of the others.

Return to Labyrinth

*** [Helen]

It's been a long time since I watched 'Labyrinth', but I remember it was good. It was mainly good because of the dark, eerie land Jim Henson had created and the fact it was ruled by David Bowie. Sadly, this book doesn't have the magic that the film had. It's alright, but nothing special.

Dragon Hunt (Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy)

*** [Helen]

Vol 1 - This was pretty good, I think the best thing about it was learning more of the back story behind WarCraft. I wonder if it's even more interesting if you've played WarCraft games other than WoW!

.Hack://legend of the twilight

**** [Helen]

I enjoyed this, I think partly because I play MMOs a lot so it reminded me of things I've actually had happen, and partly just because it was well written and funny. Would definitely like to read other .hack books.

Sgt Frog

**** [Ali]

Volume 1. Comedy manga in which a cute frog alien intent on world domination ends up living with the Hinata family, doing chores in between thinking of strategies to rule the world. I liked it a lot to begin with, but got a bit tired of it towards the end. However, I do think it was a funny premise and carried out very well.

Older Teen

Death Note

***** [Ali]

Read to volume 9 - A very clever story and very enjoyable, I got completely hooked very quickly and had to keep buying more books, the only series I've actually bought all of. Excellent one for discussion with the morality issues raised in this series. Great art, great characters and very original plot. Keeps twisting and changing, very cleverly done, I am very keen to get to the end, but at the same time don't want it to finish.

Mature

Priest

* [Ali]

Read to Vol 2 - After the first volume this seemed high on graphics and low on words. Which can be good, but I was left without feeling I'd been told much of the story. It only took 10 minutes to read and seemed like a basic intro more than anything else. After the second one I just decided this was nasty and don't want to read anymore.

Battle Royale

***** [Ali]

Up to Volume 3 - Excellent series, I was hooked by the first volume and the next couple just made me even more involved. Though I found volume 3 to have stronger content than was necessary, so did not like it as much. The graphics and story are excellent.