Lament of the Lamb is one of the least known works I have reviewed within this series of vampire based titles. Despite this though it is definitely the best vampire based manga I have had the chance to read or watch. This is largely due to the fact that it uses the least traditional, and most realistic approach to a vampire story. It surprises me that this work has been so overlooked, since it does such a great job handling it’s dark subject matter. This work is definitely head and shoulders over the typical vampire based work, and doesn’t focus upon the usual vampire based cliches. That I can finally actually review something of quality with a vampire theme (even if that theme is underplayed) is a major relief to me (especially since this is the last review on this theme).

The art for Lament of the Lamb is very good in quality. While it isn’t one of the best examples of artwork I have ever seen, it is definitely is above average in quality. The work as a whole sets itself apart with a art-style that is distinct, and unique. I was really impressed by it’s ability to paint a melancholy mood with it’s art. The characters have facial expressions that are expressive, and revealing of their morose feelings. The backgrounds, and shading also does a excellent job of illustrating the inner emotions of the characters. The art in this work is definitely worthy of praise for it’s unique style, and paints the emotions of the characters using detailed facial features, and moody backgrounds.

Even though I’m putting this in my series about vampires, I would actually categorizes this more as a medical drama. The story follows Kazuna who considers himself an average high school student, besides the fact that he lives with only with his aunt. He goes to school where he has many friends, and even is beginning to develop a mutual crush on a girl in the art club You Yaegashi. This all starts to fall apart though when he begins to have attacks, and spasms at the site of blood and the color red, a problem which can only be cured by drinking blood. Things only get more complex for him when he realizes that a sickly schoolmate, Chizuna Takashiro is actually his sister. As Kazuna’s condition worsens he begins to retreat more and more from society, because of his fear of hurting those close to him. At the same time he becomes closer to his sister who is also suffering from the disease, and is the only one he feels safe around. Meanwhile his sisters heart problems are worsening from the medicine she takes to suppress her own condition.

This is a tragic tale about isolation caused by a physical/mental medical disorder. As long as you don’t go in expecting much cheer, or supernatural elements in this gloomy story of heart break it’s not that hard to enjoy it. It does a excellent job at portraying the fear, and isolation caused by a illness, and the Kazuna’s reliance upon his sister for help. It purposefully brings into question whether, or not the characters take the appropriate actions, and if the leads are making the right choices or not. At the same time though it isn’t preachy, and leaves these questions almost always as ambiguous ones.

I found it interesting as to how this manga handles the theme of vampirism. In Lament of the Lamb vampiric qualities are not considered supernatural, or positive in any way. These qualities are treated like a psychological disease, and/or a addiction, rather then a primarily physical ailment. The damage this condition causes is mostly psychological in nature, is mostly caused by a separation from the world, and the fear of hurting the ones you love the most. The biggest threat the characters face is the fate of loneliness. Due to the fact that they try to avoid harming the rest of the world they end up hurting themselves and those close to them the most. These elements make this series a slow moving, and moody work where the threat of trauma is just as frightening as the drama caused by the actual vampiric urges.

Like any manga with a dark, and complex plot it is the characters that can make or break the story. Lament of the Lamb thankfully is rich in complicated characters with very complex relationships. The main character Kazuna feels like the victim of the story, and is the character that moves along the plot. His normal world, and life crumbles around him, and he is unsure of where to turn. He struggles to understand his feelings for his sister and girlfriend, and to understand why he was separated from his family. He pushes away his aunt and friends, and separate himself quickly from his old way of life. He does this to protect those he cares for, but also ends up hurting them with his sudden disappearance. He realizes more and more that his sister is the only one who can understand him, and who he can safely be around. He also wishes to save his sister from her condition, just as she likewise wishes to save him. This inner conflict is what keeps his character interesting, and creates complex questions through out the story.

The best character of this series is his sister Chizuna. Though she suffers a immense amount of guilt, she is actually mentally the strongest member of the cast. Chizuna is a blunt, stubborn, resolved, and brutally honest character who really leads her household, though she is physically very weak. Even when she is most vulnerable physically she will do whatever she can to protect her brother’s well being. She develops slowly, and eventually even becomes a more dominant character then Kazuna, as she helps to protect him from his condition (whether this protection is right or wrong is another interesting question though). It is this complexity, and powerful attitude she has that makes her such a mysterious and interesting character.

Though this story is definitely about the Kazuna and Chizuna, the supporting cast does a great job at supporting the two leads, and standing on their own. Doctor Minase is Chizuna’s doctor, and harbors his own complex set of feelings toward Chizuna and Kazuna. He seeks to help protect Chizuna, but also realizes deep down that he is also in need of some saving from his own inner demons. He also realizes that Chizuna’s condition is fragile, and feels he most do what he can to protect her. Chizuna and Kazuna’s parents are also major characters, despite both being gone they both play important major parts in Chizuna’s back-story and her actions (too much about them would go into spoilers). You is also an important and interesting character that plays a major role within the story. You at first is confused by Kazuna’s sudden disappearance, rejection of her, and his attacks. She tries at first tries to heed the warnings to stay away from Kazuna, but has trouble emotionally dealing with these requests. She tries to convince Kazuna to inform her of what is happening, but he turns her away causing her anguish. There are a number of other important minor characters such as Kazuna’s best friend, his aunt and uncle, and a suspicious nurse, but they are more minor cast members used mostly to drive the plot (though they are still very realistically written though and fit into the story).

Lament of the Lamb is a very different, dark and smart vampire tale. Instead treating the vampire as a supernatural being with mystical powers, it takes a much more humanistic and tragic approach. It is the first manga I have read to treat vampirism as both a deep physical and mental ailment, and to go into the effects caused by the ailment. This manga really focuses both on those with the condition, as well as those related to them. If your looking for a more typical vampire story, or more upbeat work then this manga isn’t one you should read. If you can deal with the subject matter of this title, however then the great art, realistically conflicted characters, and the deeply innovative and tragic story definite make this work worth picking up. While it’s publisher Tokyopop has gone business, it should still be easy enough still to find all of this series for not too much online for a good price.

While I had a number of possible artists in mind for this new music segment, every choice I could have made all seemed to lead me back to my love of the musician Louis Armstrong. For this reason I knew that I’d have to begin this segment with the inclusion of one of favorite musicians Louis Armstrong. Armstrong is a fantastic, and inspiring musician who changed jazz music, and my life forever. He is unbelievably talented both in playing of the trumpet (and cornet), and in his unique style of singing. I remember the moment in life that I was given a CD of the Hot Five sessions. While this album wasn’t the first jazz album I had received or heard, it was the first one that inspired me to become a musician in the first place. To this day that album, and Louis Armstrong are both personal favorites of mine. These are just some of the many reasons that inspired me to focus upon Armstrong as the first artist for this new segment.

Louis Armstrong was one of the key musicians responsible for the popularisation, and stylistic development of jazz. While he certainly wasn’t the first widely popular jazz musician, his influence upon the form, and format of jazz is perhaps the most lasting of any musician. He helped to develop and popularize among musician the concepts of skat singing, and improvised solo that are based upon chord changes. He also helped to bring the concept of swinging the music to a number of most famous big bands, including Duke Ellington bands. His influence on musicians of the Swing era is clearly unprecedented. Armstrong is for jazz a figure akin to Osamu Tezuka, Jack Kirby and Beethoven. Like these other figures he is clearly a genius so influential that without existing it’s hard to image that his area of expertise, (jazz music) would even exist now, or at least would have the same major impact on American popular music.

Louis Armstrong grew up in a special time musically in New Orleans. During this period jazz very was young, and was beginning the exciting process of developing. Despite it being a relatively new concept as a genera, New Orleans was a remarkable place during this experimental early period to hear jazz music and it’s roots (as it still is today). Many modern jazz musicians have seemed to have forgotten that during this time, jazz was mainly the music of brothels and saloons, and a lower class genera of music that was considered rebellious, dangerous, and sexy. Jazz was mainly performed by people known for having distinct and strong personalities, this included musicians like Freddie Kepperard, Jellyroll Morton, Sidney Bechet and Armstrong’s musical mentor Joe “King,” Oliver. Oliver was a truly amazing performer, but even his enormous skill was eventually overshadowed by Armstrong’s own amazing talent. Under Oliver’s tutelage, and the absorbing of the music of his contemporaries Armstrong would quickly develop to become one of the most talented cornet/trumpet players within New Orleans.

Armstrong’s most famous period of music is commonly attributed to be his works with the groups the Hot Five, and Hot Seven. He made recording with this early all star group, after leaving the famous Fletcher Henderson Big Band in New York, and having recorded with Clarence Williams. It was during these recordings with the Hot Five and Seven that Armstrong was finally given the chance to sing. As a result he produced a number of major and influential hits such as “Heebie Jeebies.” These songs helped to spread many New Orleans traditions such as skat singing outside of the city to other musicians. What really impresses me about these sessions, however is how well the musicians in the band play off each other. I think that the most overlooked element about Armstrong career is that he was also a amazing bandleader, and great judge of musical talent. He definitely partly inherit these traits from his mentor King Oliver. Armstrong brought together many of his close colleagues, many of which who were part of the Oliver band to play during these sessions. All these musicians knew each other closely, and were able to seamlessly play off one another to create a truly breath taking sound. The band members were definitely some of the best players New Orleans had to offer at the time of these recordings.

Eventually Armstrong would go on to meet with Earl Hines, and then go on to lead his own big band. Though I loved the combination of Hines and Armstrong, this period of Armstrong’s career was probably my least favorite. This doesn’t mean, however that Armstrong still didn’t produce many great tracks, and that he personally was any less talented or productive during this period of time. The problem with this period of his career though was with the exception of Hines, few musicians in his bands could match his performance level. Armstrong was clearly the front man, and carried the bands he worked for with his outstanding musicianship.

It wasn’t until 1947 that Armstrong was finally able to find a group with musicians that had the talent, and musicianship to work with him as equals. In May 17, 1947 Armstrong created a small group comprised of top level Swing and Dixieland musicians, including the famous trombone player Jack Teagarden (another one of my favorite musicians) and pianist Earl Hines. It was during this final, and longest period of Armstrong’s career that his talent really was most prominent. While some narrow minded jazz critics scuffed Armstrong’s playing during this period for his use of show tunes, his use of a standard set of repertory, and a more old fashion style, I feel this is clearly Armstrong strongest career period.

These sessions finally brought Armstrong together with a group musicians that were as talented as he was, and could keep up with his playing. It is a shame that so many of the talented musicians with the All Stars have been so overlooked outside of their contributions to the ensemble. Most of the musicians who were a part of Armstrong’s All Star group were clearly talented enough to manage bands of their own (many of them such as Teagarden in fact would go on to do so).

Not only was Armstrong’s playing with the All Stars outstanding during this period, he also collaborated and played with some of the greatest musicians of his time. Armstrong made a number of famous, and momentous collaborative recordings with Ella Fitzgerald, and Duke Ellington. Without a doubt this was definitely the most influential period, and important part of Armstrong’s career. It was during this time that Armstrong was given the most freedom and inspiration to grow.

It’s so hard to recommend specific songs of Armstrong’s to listen to, because so many of his songs are masterpieces. Almost any track from any era of his career is bound to be at the very least outstanding, and is well worth while to listening to. From his earlier period I’d advise the pieces “West End Blues,” “Potato Head Blues,” “Cornet Chop Suey,” and “Gut Bucket Blues,” (though all the songs from this period are similar in nature, and worth hearing). These takes all show off Armstrong powerful leading role in the ensemble, but most importantly his group’s remarkable ability to work together as a unit.

While I’m not as fond of Armstrong’s big band period there are still many great tracks to be found from this period. The “Tiger Rag” is a great example of Armstrong’s outstanding power and stamina, and one of my favorites of this period. I also enjoy the Latin influenced piece “The Peanut Vendor,” and Armstrong great singing on “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” and “Blueberry Hill.” While these tracks aren’t nearly as powerful as Armstrong’s work with the All Stars, they are still well worth hearing and landmark recordings.

The longest and best category of music by Armstrong is to be found with his group the All Stars. It’s even harder to come up with a list of some of the best works recorded by the All Stars then it is for the Hot Five and Seven sessions, because this period of Armstrong’s career was so long and dynamic. Armstrong’s Broadway show tones are some of the best works of this period, including his versions of “Hello Dolly,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” and “Cabaret.” I also love his work during this period when he worked with the amazing female vocalist Velma Middleton, including “Baby it’s cold outside,” and “Big Mamma’s back in town.” His work with people like Middleton, and his friend Jack Teagarden in pieces such as, “Rockin’ Chair,” highlight his ability to vocally play off, and compliment his singing partners (though this trait can also be attributed to his trumpet solos as well). Some other great tracks of this period include trombone player Trummy Young’s signature track “Margie,” and the one of my personal favorites from his California concerts “The Buckets got a hole in it.”

Armstrong is also famous for teaming up with the top jazz performers of his time. While there are tons of amazing recording that documented these collaborations which can be considered amazing, I have a few personal favorite team up albums, and tracks that are really worth hearing. My favorite of these team ups is monumental album Porgy and Bess. This album was recorded with jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald, and displays some of the best of both their vocal work and a exceptional out of this world passion. Any album with the combination of Fitzgerald and Armstrong, however is also a most have. Another amazing album is the Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington: The Great Summit/Complete Sessions. In this album Ellington and Armstrong’s groups team up, and record some of the best vocal tracks in the Ellington library (and a few great non-vocal tracks as well). While Armstrong never really had a major team up with Sidney Bechet, “Cake Walkin’ Babies from Home,” is a great early period example of Armstrong playing with this jazz legend. Regrettably I have had to leave out a huge amount of amazing tracks in my short list of tracks, but this is because Armstrong’s recordings offer a nearly endless supply of great music.

Armstrong is a special sort of musician that only come around once ever. Armstrong’s distinct, and passionate singing is responsible for creating a standards that jazz singers are still measured by today (such as skat singing). Armstrong’s trumpet playing is one of a kind, and definitely deserves the status as legendary. This genius is combined his talent humanistic love of life to create some of the best jazz music ever. This combination of musicianship and humanism makes him a personal hero of mine. It is clear without his contributions to jazz it wouldn’t be the same at all, and I feel it wouldn’t have ever been able to reach it’s status as a popular medium without him. I think the most accurate statement about Armstrong’s music comes from his statement about the goal of his group’s music, “What we play is life.” Some more great quotes about Armstrong and his works can be found here: http://www.satchmo.com/louisarmstrong/quotes.html

Fate/Stay Night is a work that really grew on me as I continued to watch it. This show managed to overcome a number of flaws, and ended up working where other shows would have likely failed. Despite this it isn’t a perfect show, even though it overall was an interesting anime to watch. It took me a little while to warm up to this show, and knowing it came from a dating sim video game I initially feared that it would be poor title. Thankfully my patience was definitely rewarded, and my fears laid to rest as I continued to watch further into the series. While on the surface this show this show seem to be slow, and generic, it quickly developed an interesting story and set of characters.

One of the problems I had throughout this show was it’s animation. While the fight scenes were generally impressive, I didn’t care much for the style of animation used, and I found the quality of this animation was also often inconsistent. The animation for Fate/Stay Night has a glossy overly computerized look to it, which I occasionally found distracting. This sort of animation feels oddly un-natural looking, and seems oddly enough fake looking. I know this is a weird thing to say since most anime doesn’t really look realistic, but something about this type of style reminds me of computerized looking manga (something I often complain about), and as a result the animation felt oddly off. The other major problem I had with the animation was that it was obvious where the animation budget went into. While I was greatly impressed by the flashy fight scenes, many times the other sequences clearly only had mouth movement on top of a still images. What did catch my eye though in this shows animation was the background and shading work, which did a great job of setting up the mood and setting. While a few elements were done well in the animation field, I was generally was not impressed by the animation in Fate/Stay Night.

Soundwise this work is also a very mixed bag. I didn’t care much for the dub in Fate/Stay Night, I thought the music was pretty good for background style music, and I thought the credits were alright but not particularly memorable. Something about the dub just didn’t work for me, and I’m not sure why this is. It’s not like the cast does a terrible job in the dub, but the voice acting was just not convincing. I think it might be that the characters sounded like actors/resses, rather then actual characters that were really involved in important action and interaction. The voice cast sounded like they are kind of going through the motion of playing their characters, and no one really stood out in the cast besides maybe Liam O’Brien, Grant George and Kate Higgins. This is definitely an anime best watched in the sub, which was much stronger then the dub.

The music was relatively good in this anime, but this music never really asserted itself enough to make a great soundtrack. The music is mostly used to create a sense of mood, and to put emphasis on what is going on in the story. I especially liked the use of Mozart Lacrimosa, and the theme for a specific major villain (which will not be mentioned in this review). The music was really well done, but it was easy to forget that it was actually playing. This made most of the musical tracks sadly forgettable, and not as interesting to listen to out of context of the show. While I enjoyed the music, it would be hard for me to separate it from the actual show, and continue to find find it compelling.

The credits weren’t particularly memorable for me. I enjoyed the first opening, but I didn’t feel it was an amazing opening either. I liked this opening’s musical track alright, but this opening was one of those openings with a lot of posing and very little creative imagery. The second opening felt un-necessary (especially when the ending wasn’t ever changed), and noticeably got less visually interesting then the first, but it was still an alright opening. The ending consists of a boring shot of the main servant character Saber (more on this topic later) standing still, with a dull slow pop track. I don’t really have much to say about these credits, which really didn’t annoy me or impress me all that much.

The story for this work is slightly unusual for a shonen style work, but is for the most part fairly typical. The adopted son of a mage Shirio Emiya is fairly average kid, besides some mysterious nightmares he has about when he was child. Besides being able to look into the structural contents of an object, and reinforce them he is fairly normal person who lives a fairly normal life (at least in Shonen terms of normal). He is looked after by a girl from his school, and by a teacher who both help him out with day to day house work, and help to keep him company. Soon, however a series of mysterious incidents explained on the news as gas leaks start to occur in his town. He doesn’t realize, however that these incidents are actually the result of a once in twenty year war over the coveted and magical Holy Grail.

This grail has the power to grant a wish to whoever ends up claiming it. In this battle randomly selected Magus’s are able to summon powerful servants, who are epic heroes from the past. These servants fall into one of seven classes: Saber, Archer, Lancer, Berserk, Rider, Assassin, or Caster. Each mage and servant then are to battle in this war until only one pair remains. This remaining pair both receive a wish from the grail as a reward for their victory in this war. Rin Tosaka, a model student, idol and witch at Shiro’s school ends up summoning up a mysterious Archer type servant with no memory his past. While cleaning up after a club Shiro accidentally walks into a fight that Tosaka and Archer are having against another servant. As a result he is nearly killed by this enemy servant, since servants are obligated to kill all witnesses to their battles. He is saved by a magical gem used Tosaka, but the servant who tried to kill him quickly finds out he is alive, and soon comes back to Shiro’s home to make sure he is properly killed. Some how, however he is able to summon a saber type servant (which is supposedly the strongest servant type), and his servant is able to fend off the attempt on his life. He soon creates an uneasy pact with Tosaka and his own servant, and begins to ready himself for the dangerous task of acting as a master.

For a shonen show based upon a video game, this show has no business being as good as it is. The key to why this show really stands out from the typical shonen is found in it’s execution. First off, the battles in this show really feel like they place the lead characters in danger. These conflicts make the characters really feel like they are fighting for their lives. The show goes out of it’s way to show how brutal these battles are by having the characters lose, get hurt, and/or become totally exhausted by their fights. Another element that this show really has going for it is that it has a strong female cast, unlike most shonen works that have obvious male biases. This inclusion of female cast members that are key to the show, such as Saber and Tosaka is a very welcome aspect. I enjoyed how these character prove in many cases as more useful, and intelligent then the male lead Shiro is, and are definitely a major part of the story. Another interesting feature is that this show presents some interesting moral questions for the characters. An example of one such question that often comes up is whether, or not to kill ordinary people to increase a servants power and mana supply. Lastly the story does a good job setting up suspense and mysteries, while not making these elements are overly contrived. These four features allow Fate/Stay Night to rise above average shonen works, and make the show really gripping.

Just like within the story, if the cast were handled in a average way they wouldn’t have been interesting. Thankfully, Fate/Stay does a good job handling it’s cast, and making them much more convincing then in most shonen works. Shiro is the typically heroic sort of lead character found in a shonen, except that he is always in character even when it’s unwise, makes realistic mistakes, and has strong reasons for the way he acts. He can be overly willing to put his life on the line, even when he can do nothing, and has to learn many lessons through suffering from the mistakes he makes. He grows as a character learning from these mistakes, and learns that certain sacrifices are required often on his path for success, and that other things most never be sacrificed. I wish I could go into more detail about his character, but I’d rather not spoil important plot points. Sabre is a very interesting character, because of how she interacts with Shiro, and due to how complex her goals are. While morally they have similar goals and values, Sabre is much less thrilled with Shiro’s need to help out in battle, and many times disagrees with his methods and orders. She has a very personal reason for wanting the grail, and for those who know the Arthurian back story her actions make lots of sense. She also clearly wishes to be taken seriously, and for her sex not to get in way of peoples view of her as a capable servant.

Rin is a interesting character who grows from helping Shiro. She begins the series determined to get the grail at almost any cost. She also is also initially is very distrustful, and is clearly distant from others around her. When she needs to look out for Shiro she develops more of a moral compass, and a willingness to work with others toward a central goal. She quickly realizes that despite her formal upbringing, which gives her clear power advantage as master and her mysterious servant, that she most value of friendship and should fight with Shiro. Archer likewise outwardly prefers being a loner, and he often can be a cold figure. He clearly doesn’t get along with Shiro, because of his skepticism toward Shiro’s behaviors.

The minor characters in this show range from mostly pointless except as plot points, to having very interesting motivations. The villains for the most part are a bit undeveloped, but all of the have reasons behind their actions. I like how many of the villains are portrayed as humanistic, and most have good reasons for their actions. The comedy relief minor characters were mostly pointless, though they weren’t overly annoying, and for the most part they were pushed to the side when the show started to pick up. I think the minor cast could have been developed a bit more, and the leading characters were a bit to cliched personality wise. Despite this though I feel that this show does a good job developing convincing reasons for each character’s personality traits, and for making sure the viewer really cares about even most of the villains.

Fate/Stay Night quickly grows from a cliche seeming shonen video game adaptation into a really interesting anime. While I didn’t care much for it’s animation style, the sound features aren’t perfect, and the characters and story at first glance seem cliche, this anime really has more interesting features to it then initially meets the eye. It’s execution allows it to make the character’s personalities convincing, and to create a compelling story that is stronger then in most shonen. While this anime might be on the harder side to find, I would recommend it if you can find it for a reasonable price purchasing it. Despite it’s flaws Arkada (a member of the Desudesbrigade review site) has successfully converted me toward liking this show.

Black Butler is a very curious work, and one of the rare examples of a work that manages to get some of it’s details down right, but is lacking in many of it’s basic elements. While this makes it interesting to review, it was still a disappointing to view. It’s been a long time since I have actually reviewed a work that disappointed me as much as this one did. While it wasn’t one of the worst experiences I have had with an anime, I can’t honestly say I enjoyed Black Butler very much. While I have a lot I can say about why I felt this way, the bottom line was that this show just isn’t nearly as fun to watch as it is to write about. While I can see why certain people love this series, I couldn’t get past the major problems this show has. I ended up finishing this anime series feeling lost, and rather cheated by the ending reveals.

The animation style for Black Butler doesn’t really stand out all that much, but is better then many other anime series. The character designs fit well into the setting and were well enough done to be interesting to look at, but not well enough to be a really memorable after watching. The animation for Black Butler tended to be very inconsistent. Some times the animation was very good, at other times the animators clearly cut corners obvious corners. While the lighting could at times be interesting, only one element of the animation for Black Butler really stood out for me. This stand out element was set design, which was befitting for the era and setting of the show. I was impressed at how well this anime portrayed Victorian era London, especially in it’s use of proper London architecture. While Black Butlers setting was impressively animated, I wish the overall animation for this show and character designs were a lot more memorable.

Likewise in the sound department Black Butler is a mixed bag. While the voice acting and first closing credits sequence is strong, these elements are kind of overshadowed by the overall weak score, and the bland nature of the other credits. The voice acting in the Dub is the biggest draw sound wise. With the exception of Sherlock Hound, Black Bulter has the most British sounding voice cast in a dub I have ever heard. While the sub is okay, it is the stellar cast employed by Funianimation for this anime’s dub that is really noteworthy. The lead character’s voice actors are especially strong in this dub, and make the dub the strongest element of this entire work.

Sadly the music is tragically much weaker then the voice acting. I did enjoy how the score took chances, and made interesting use of Gregorian chant (like the Death Note anime) and operatic singing. Despite this though the music was often absent, many tracks were generic and these tracks were reused far too often. The music also really for the most part like the animation wasn’t very memorable, and at times was to weak for setting the proper mood. While I appreciated the creativity of the music, at times this creativity didn’t really work for me. Though this shows soundtrack did take some interesting risks in the soundtrack that paid off, most of the music for this show wasn’t memorable, was minimal, and often didn’t work when it was presented.

With the exception of the first ending most of Black Butlers credits were rather average. The first opening does a good job a introducing the characters, and has some nice atmosphere, but isn’t anything special that I haven’t seen or heard before musically. The 2nd opening is even more boring in all aspects (except the song that doesn’t change), and loses some of the original opening draw of atmosphere making it slightly worse. The 1st ending is easily the best of credit sequences, not because the music is much better, but because of the creative and cute imagery added. The imagery of Ciel (the main butler) doing all of his tasks in a chibi reel is funny, and cute. Sadly the 2nd ending does away with this cute animation, and instead replaces it with the slow panning across static images, and a bland song, which was really skip-worthy. While I enjoyed the first ending, I felt that the rest of the credits while not terrible were not interesting or noteworthy.

Black Butler’s basic premise is fairly easy to explain (though after plot details are explained later in the series it gets needlessly complex). Earl Ciel Phantomhive, is a orphan child, and the inheritor of the Phantomhive company and name. The Phantomhive company specializes in toy making, but secretly serves the queen with special tasks involving the underworld. When Ciel was young his parents were murdered, and his house burnt down. Ciel begins the series by summoning the demonic, and literally perfect Butler Sebastian to serve him. Ciel offers his soul in return for Sebastian’s service, until his parents murders are found, and revenge is taken upon them. Ciel returns to his estate, rebuilds his manor, and continues his service to the queen. He continues to plot vengeance upon his parents murder(s), and hopes draw out clues while performing tasks for the queen.

The problem with this story is that although parts of the plot are interesting and original, these interesting elements are almost completely buried under a number of faults. To start with the good elements of this show, the setting is interesting and accurate when it needs to be. This show does a excellent job making the setting feel properly Victorian. However, it isn’t so concerned with accuracy to the point where it is distracts from the shows plot. It’s use of Faustian themes likewise I found very interesting.

Most of the plot is sadly marred by a variety of major pitfalls in it’s basic premise. These faults are so major that they really end up dragging the plot. To start off with the vengeful kid seeking revenge is one of the most cliche plots ideas of all time. This is a common plot device found in a number of anime series and other works, and doesn’t really alone make for an interesting plot concept. While this concept lacks originality, it wouldn’t have been a major problem had the rest of the plot been well executed. The problem is that the plot’s execution contains a three fold series of problems. The primary problem with the plot is that there is so little of actual story. Most of Black Bulter consist of side stories, and comedy, rather then working on the actual central plot. In fact most of the actual underlying plot is relegated to the last four episodes of the show. While some of the comedy is funny, I felt most of it was dull and bogged down the shows pace. The comedy also was often extremely random and unexpected, and the show would switch between serious and silly tones in a ways that were often jarring. While I enjoyed some of the side stories, more often then not I was bored with these side stories which were pointless toward advancing the main plot.

The second problem I had with the plot is how the supernatural elements are handled. While I am not naturally again elements of super-naturalism (and when they are well done I actual enjoy them immensely), I feel that this sort of plot device needs to be applied with special care. The problem with the super-naturalism in this show is that it is used too often as a plot contrivance, and feels underdeveloped. Every time something supernatural was introduced in Black Butler there wasn’t any reason for it’s introduction, other then advancing the weaker elements of the plot. Usually the supernatural elements seem out of the blue and random, or like sad attempts to cover up poor bad writing. These poorly handled elements were merely excuses used to hide the weaknesses within the placing and plot of Black Butler.

The last major problem of the plot can be found in the ending of Black Bulter. I appreciated that the ending took some more chances then the rest of the show, and presented some actually meaningful action. The reveals at the ending though highly were disappointing, and were initially confusing to me. As I mentioned in the introduction, after ending this anime I was left with a major headache, and dissatisfaction as my mind tried rap around the revealed elements. The ending didn’t feel rushed, so much as it felt convoluted and morose (I won’t reveal the details and spoil it). These three major problems covered up the interesting details of the setting, and made many of the show’s episodes seem convoluted and/or boring.

Character wise some of the characters are interesting, and other characters are extremely boring and/or annoying. No where is this more clear then looking at the two lead characters of the show. While I thought Sebastian was a interesting character, I was less then impressed with Ciel. While Sebastian was often used as deus ex machina (which was sometimes one of the funny running jokes of the series), he was reasonably interesting because his service was merely vested in self interest. It is clear that he doesn’t help Ciel out of the goodness of his heart, despite this he is also obsessively loyalty to Ciel. His cool and mysterious nature was befitting of a demonic character, and it was clear his interest was to feed off of Ciel’s soul. Ciel on the other hand is a constantly brooding and cold figure, who hides a occasionally warm heart. His character is rather predictable, and isn’t really given much chance to grow or change. His motive for revenge was nothing out of the ordinary, and I found this motives and mopey nature to be really boring. His young age and cursed pentagram eye (which is usually covered) is perhaps the only remarkable feature he has. There isn’t enough originality, or personality to his character me to really care about his brooding emo nature.

The rest of the cast has even more of a discrepancy between those character who are interesting, and those who are bothersome. I really enjoyed the curious and mysterious Lau, a powerful Chinese gangster, and drug dealer working with his sister Ran-Mao. His motives are hard to peg, making it hard to tell if he is a real silly ally of Ciel or a plotting fair weather friend. I also enjoyed the weird undertaker character who plays a minor, but interesting role in the story.

On the other hand the comical relief character’s such as Ciel’s three incompetent butlers, and the head butler who drinks tea most of the time were really annoying. Until the last few episodes they added nothing to the show other then comedy relief that was at best bothersome. I also thought that although cute, Elisabeth was a totally useless character in this adaptation. The worst character though without a doubt was the gay stereotype/female (it is hard to tell which) red haired Shinigami character Grell Sutcliffe, who appears a bit later into the series. Grell is constantly irritating, is always trying to flirt with Sebastian for some reason, and is mostly a bungling troublemaker. In both versions (sub and dub) Grell’s voice and demeanor really got on my nerves, especially since Grell acted like a gay stereotype. I was also not impressed at all by the major villain of the series that is revealed toward the end of the show (though I won’t go into detail so I don’t spoil anything). While I enjoyed Sebastian and some of the minor characters, I felt that Ciel and most of minor characters were annoying, boring and/or unnecessary.

While certain details of Black Bulter were impress, they were not enough to sell me on the entire show or for me to overlook the shows many flaws. I while I enjoyed the Victorian setting, voice acting and some of the ideas and characters presented, I didn’t have any love for other characters and the overall plot. The music and animation though not terrible failed be of any interest to me either. While I feel that this isn’t the worst show I have seen, it was still was a major let down, and definitely wasn’t as interesting a show as I had hoped for. For a better anime with great English voice actors I would advise instead to watching Miyasaki’s Sherlock Hound, rather then this show. Though I didn’t loath this show as much as some others I have reviewed even this week, I often found myself bored by it and wouldn’t recommend viewing it.

Since many of my readers may have had a chance to see the latest remediation Usagi Drop (the anime), I thought it would be fun to take a look at the manga that inspired this anime. Much to my delight, most of this manga is very similar in the feel of anime (which has been generally well received), and has the the same heartwarming realistic tone. That is until the ending, which despite continuing to be well written made no sense, and I feel had no business being part of the story. Besides the lousy ending, however this work is really able to portray it’s unusual subject matter more accurately, and sensitively then most manga can, all while keeping it a interesting read.

The one area that I really can’t say is so stellar is the artwork. While the character designs were unique and enjoyable, the backgrounds left something to be desired. While I am aware that crowded backgrounds might have spoiled the quiet and thoughtful mood of this manga, the backgrounds just didn’t cut it for me. The backgrounds in this work are weak, and particularly boring when they are at all presented. On the other hand the character designs were fantastically expressive, and gave each character a unique look. Usagi Drop’s creator ensures that the characters are given body language that is both natural and expressive. While I loved the character designs, the poor background designs really hurt this manga’s overall art, making it merely okay rather then excellent.

Usagi Drop is a slow heartwarming story about single Japanese thirty year old who knows little about children, and then ends up adopting a young girl named Rin. While going to his grandfather’s funeral Daikichi Kawachi discovers that his grandfather had a illegitimate child, and that the childs mother left her. This situation leaves Rin alone without a family or some one to care for her. Due to her illegitimate status no one else in Daikichi family seems to be willing to take care of Rin. Annoyed by his families selfish attitude Daikichi decides to take care of Rin himself. The problem is that he has little experience with children, is a single salary worker and has no idea how much of a challenge it is to care for a young girl. Throughout the manga he learns more about what it means to raise a family, and about who Rin is.

Usagi Drop succeeds so much, because it really is able to capture the family dynamics in Japan, and it’s accurate portrayal of it’s characters. The plot doesn’t really follow any sort of real sequence, other then a time skip of ten years. Instead it focuses more on important moments in Rin and Daikichi’s life. This work moves at slow gentle pace, and rather then trying to capture the readers attention constantly it takes a more sophisticated, and character driven approach, similar to that of House of the Five Leaves. It’s humor likewise doesn’t beg you to laugh at it or try to be slapstick, but rather opts for realistic situational humor. This reservation really makes Usagi Drop seem much more sophisticated then the average work.

Rarely do I feel the need to mention much about the ending of a series at all, since I like to refrain from giving spoilers. Sadly I feel I most address at least briefly the ending of manga, because it is classic example of how not end a story of this sort. I have no problem with the time skip having a greater emphasis on romance. I also applaud that this story does not have a cliched sort of romance, and has Rin assert her independence despite initially having conflicted feelings. When Rin does fall in love, however it just doesn’t make any sense at all. While the stories dialogue remains mostly solid, the ending just doesn’t work at all for this story (and in fact is somewhat creepy). The writing beyond chapter 42 creates a terrible romantic subplot, which just doesn’t feel like it belongs in this story. While there are elements that remain good after chapter 42, I’d strongly suggest stopping at that chapter, rather then reading the disappointing ending of this story.

Usagi Drop’s real strength lies within it’s characters, which are easy to relate with and to care about. Daikichi is one of the best lead characters presented in a manga, because he manages to be flawed, and at the same time compassionate and likable. He discovers of how to care for Rin in very realistic situations, and usually manages while doing this to come off as comical and/or genuinely heart warming (which is very difficult feat). Rin likewise is lovable, because she is such a heartwarming character. Her real strength as a character, however comes from her child like behavior. She asks questions that kids in her situation would ask, and although she is intelligent for her age she still behaves like a kid realistically would. These to two characters play off each well, and make a interesting family dynamic.

The minor characters are just as interesting as the leading ones, and have the same realistic feel. Rin’s childhood friend Kouki when a kid really acts like a young boy should. While he is very loving toward his mother, he has trouble showing that love. He also behaves in wild manor as a young boy would, and makes a good foil to Rin’s quiet and intelligent manor. As he grows up he outwardly he still seems silly and thoughtless, but within it’s clear that he is very caring toward Rin and his mother. His mother Yukari is a kind person who clearly has her hands full trying to take care of her son alone, while dealing with low self confidence (perhaps a result of her husband leaving her). She and Daikichi end up helping each other out, but at the same time clearly have social boundaries set up.

Rin’s mother is very interesting character, because of how conflicted a character she is. She had Rin at a very young age, and then was forced to make a devastating choice. She ends up choosing her job over Rin, and then is forced to live with the regret knowing that she abandon Rin. Normally such a character would seem selfish, and be portrayed as such, however Usagi Drop makes her character much more sympathetic then selfish. Her character is racked with guilt, feeling that she isn’t worthy of being seen as Rin’s mother, and is too afraid and ashamed to ever approach Rin. Daikichi’s relatives and coworkers, especially his parents are shown as being supportive, but also humanly flawed characters that naturally aren’t perfect all the time. The entire cast for Usagi Drop has a this really natural and human vibe to them that you don’t often find in many manga.

Usagi Drop is one of the few feel good manga series that really work. Despite it’s sweet nature it is still able to have a realistic, diverse and complex cast. While the artwork is mixed, it’s simple and charming story supported by this great cast more then makes up for this minor problem. Even for a person who isn’t a fan of most inspirational themed works (like me) this one is really worth reading. Besides the ending of this story (after chapter 42), I feel that this series is really worth purchasing. I would, however strongly advise though not read beyond chapter 42, due to the fact that the ending makes so little sense and mars the mood of the story a bit.

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Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 is one of those series that I found is really hard to review. The problem I had reviewing it was that I felt that I wasn’t really the target audience for this work. Although I enjoyed it, it was really aimed much more towards a younger audience, or for those generally interested in a easy to read story without much deep content. This meant that I really had put myself in a very different mindset, and I had to view this series through much less jaded lens. This frame of mind really helped me though to see why the Digimon series is so popular, and why this manga is so well loved by some readers. While V-Tamer 01 was not without it’s flaws, it was fun series to read. It also introduced me to the Digimon series (which I never watched as a kid), and I found that it was definitely a great manga for younger readers.

I thought the art for this manga was surprisingly good for franchise based work, however the art still wasn’t the highlight of this work. One thing that really impressed me about the artwork was how fun and exciting it was. The art design clearly prioritized entertainment over trying to have a serious artistic prowess (which is not a slight, but rather a observation). As a result the character designs had weaker expressive abilities and complexity of movement then usual, but were interesting to look at. The biggest draw of the art was clearly the creativity employed in the character design, which made the cast much more impressive then the average work of this kind. While the backgrounds are weaker then in many manga, for a shonen story they were remarkably well done. The art presented backgrounds that really gave a good sense of the environment in which the story takes place. While the artwork isn’t fantastic overall, for this sort manga it is far above the usual standard.

The biggest strength to this story is it’s relative simplicity. The series begins with the trainer Taichi Yagami being turned down from a game tournament for the battling monsters in Digimon video game. This is due to the fact that his dinosaur like monster named Zero is not recognized in the tourney as a legitimate creature. Despite being unable to compete in the tourney, Taichi is offered a chance to battle the champion Neo Saiba after the tourney is completed. He ends up tieing with with Neo, cause the self confident Neo to become frustrated. The story really begins though when he later is summoned into the games digital world by an angel monster. He soon discovers that a demon monster has found a powerfully evil egg. This demon is trying to hatch, and summon a dangerous new evil monster into the world. It’s now up to Taichi and his friend the monster Zero to find five trainer tags, and then capture them by defeating monsters, so as to be allowed access to the demon’s castle. Meanwhile the demon has also made plans to summon his own champion Neo to stop Taichi, and raise the monster in the egg when it hatches. Neo, however has special plans of his own.

Like other good children’s titles such as some of the Pokemon manga’s, or the original Dragon Ball (before Z), this series isn’t trying to tell the worlds greatest story. Instead the story is designed to be fun, creative and a exciting adventure. This means that this story is able to avoid some common shonen pitfalls, such as being soap opera like and/or acting like a deeply intellectual work, at the expense of fun or creativity. It’s focus is based upon exciting action, and the interesting monsters of the world, rather then a drawn out story filled with melodrama. Sadly this work does carry many common shonen flaws, such as overly simplistic themes of friendship and constant power ups in battles toward the end. This works relatively simplicity and the general lack of an ego, however makes these elements slightly less dull. Another great advantage this manga has over the typical shonen is that it has a story structure. V-Tamer 01 is a reasonable size, and doesn’t drag on for an immense amount of pointless chapters, unlike many other shonen works. While Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 is certainly is not perfect, it has many advantages over the typical shonen manga that makes it an ideal work for those looking for a good time.

While the characters are the weakest element and a bit predictable, they still manage to be likable, and this manga did manage to make me to care about their fates (unlike some other shonen manga’s). Taichi Yagami does a convincing job playing the heroic and kind shonen lead, remaining ever optimistic and uses his skills to help those in need. He isn’t really given many specially unique traits besides the above mentioned ones, and a interesting looking costume. His monster Zero is very much personality wise like Taichi, except that he is a bit more slow witted and is more of a comedy relief character. The best part of these two characters is their silly victory dance, which is always entertaining. Their travel partner the monster Gabo is a more cynical, but still kind hearted guide monster. The only other really important initial hero is Lord HolyAngemon and his general Leomon who both summon Taichi to the digital world, and help him fight the demon Digimon’s evil.

The main villain is a rather typical rival character. Neo is the opposite personality wise to Taichi in almost every way. Unlike Taichi he serves a evil purpose, is motivated by personal objective, is highly methodical and can’t stand to be foiled. His sister also appears in the series, and seems pointless toward the plot at first, though this changes later in the series. Neo also brings with him three allies known as the Aliases. One is a egotistical girl obsessed with her appearance with a rose based monster, another is masked loner computer expert with a magical clown, and the last is the misguided friend of Neo’s with a giant knight monster (to avoid spoiler I won’t go much into their details). The last important character worth discussing is the Demon who seeks to use his egg and Neo to take over the human and digital works. These characters are pretty simple figures with relatively common shonen style goals, while a few of them develop most of them remain pretty devoid of major change personality wise.

If you are looking for a deep or life changing work, then this clearly isn’t a manga worth reading. If you are, however seeking a story a child could enjoy that is fun and entertaining then this is a manga is worth looking into. Despite the characters being generally under developed, the story and art is better then in most Shonen works. I personally appreciated this works light atmosphere, though I felt some of the later chapters shonen cliches were sometimes tiresome. I’m not normally a big fan of most shonen works, however I thought this manga was pretty good for a shonen based work (make of that what you will). I’d recommend this work simply because it is available online for free, and isn’t that long, unlike most Shonen titles.

I’m glad that I finally have a chance to do a video game review, and that the game I’m reviewing first is Star Fox 64. This is one of those games that I came to play much later then it’s original release date, and that I instantly fell in love with upon actually playing. I regret not having played this game earlier, and consider it my favorite game on the Nintendo 64, even surpassing great games such as Mario 64, Mario Kart 64 and Super Smash Brothers. It’s no surprise that a game of this caliber really helped to revive the Star Fox franchise, and has yet to be surpassed in popularity or quality despite technological advances. I’m glad I can finally have chance to share my full thoughts about this game in review. This is why I was so excited to see this game be suggested for this very special week of reviews.

The one major problem with Star Fox 64 is that its visuals haven’t aged well. While they were neat looking, and cutting edge for their time, they really don’t stand up well today in comparison to more modern graphics. Despite this though this game can’t really be blamed for it’s lack of graphic much. Since this game was created at a time where 3d graphics were a relatively new concept for a home console video games, the graphics are actually very well constructed for a work of its era. It’s also definitely a major improvement graphically on its SNES predecessor. Well the art really looks dated by today’s standards, I’m sure back when they game was released it was extremely impressive looking. In some ways these graphical limitation can also be seen as good thing for the game. On top of pushing the creators to come up with more creative game play, these graphics really work well with the squad chat portions of the game. For some reason I just love the way the characters mouths seem to flap up and down wildly while characters are talking. Despite the art not aging well, Star Fox 64 makes creative use out of the limitations of its technology, and was mostly likely impress looking when it was released.

Soundwise this a great example of how to do a dramatic score on a small budget. While the soundtrack clearly doesn’t have the budget, or quality of a game like Mario 64 or Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, it still has an excellent score with a number of memorable themes. The theme for Corneria, Lylat and Planet Venom were very befitting the epic mood of the game. This music provided the proper music for epic dog fighting and action packed missions.

What really struck me the most about the sound in this game though, was the voice acting. The voice acting in this game fits in absolutely perfectly. The dialogue is over the top in that perfect way that makes it exciting, cute and a bit humorous all at the same time. I find myself after playing or thinking about this game repeating quotes from it cheerfully with friends. While the music is definitely original for this game it is that voice acting that makes this game most memorable.

The story for Star Fox is very much a classic science fiction story. In a flashback before the game the main character’s father James Mcloud, his friend Peppy Hare, and the cowardly and greedy pilot Pigma Dengar are all sent to investigate disturbances in the Venom system. This planet is the home of the exiled giant mad scientist Andross. After they are attacked by Andross, Pigma betrays the group fleeing, and James sacrifices himself so that Peppy can escape to warn Corneria general Pepper. The game begins with general Pepper alerting the lead character Fox and his group of mercenaries that Andross has begun his attack upon the Lylat system. He hires Fox along with his men to stop Andross’s plot, and to save the galaxy from attack. Along with Fox comes the aggressive Falco Lombardi, the always in trouble scientist Slippy Toad, and the veteran pilot Peppy Hare. Andross has likewise hires a team of mercenaries to do his bidding known as Team Star Wolf, who plan on stopping Team Star Fox. They are lead by Wolf O’Donnell a ruthless rival to fox, and his allies Leon Powalski a chameleon rival of Falco, Pigma Dengar the greedy pig who betrayed Peppy and Fox’s father, and Andrew Oikonny the nephew of Andross who seeks to defeat Slippy. Together you (as Fox), and your team most battle against Andross’s fleet in order to reach him and finally take him down for good.

The story feels very much like a Star War’s type of story, and I’m guessing that this game really made the Lucas Art’s jealous. This game surpasses any other Star Wars based dogfighting game that I have ever played. It also silly in a fun sort of way, as well as being a really energetic and thrilling adventure. I really enjoy how fast paced and easy to follow story is for this game. While the story isn’t a masterpiece, very complicated or sensible it has that perfect sort of space opera feel, which keeps it entertaining.

As I have made mention above a few times Star Fox 64 is for the most part a dog fighting game, with an arcade like style. Most levels are spent flying around and shooting down enemy machines, and end in a interesting boss encounter. A few level, however have you facing off against Star Wolf’s crew, or piloting alternate vehicles such as subs or tanks. While the controls can occasionally be tough to masters (especially in the non-ship levels), they are precise and handle remarkably well for a early outing in 3d. These controls definitely fit well with Nintendo 64 controller, and I have a hard time imaging how this game plays in the current remake (which I haven’t played yet), which doesn’t use a controller.

The level designs are filled with exciting action, and actually allow for a more smooth and free roaming style then in later games of the series. This difficulty is not that big of a deal in this game, but the difficulty also depends a lot on which path of the game you end up taking. This is determined by whether, or not you find the secret to advancing on the tougher path or not. This element of the game is the most frustrating part, and I many times I ended up having to look up what to do to take the more challenging paths. The weakest element of this game though is the multi-player, which is just a large open dogfight with the occasional upgrades. This mode is most fun with when with three other people playing. Sadly I have yet to find three other people to play the multi-player with me, so I haven’t been able to really experience this portion to the fullest. This game is clearly a one player based game, and the multi-player is kind of thrown in as a after thought. Despite this though the one player mode is a lot of fun, and this game really outshine its competitors such as Rogue Squadron in terms of game play.

Star Fox 64 may look a bit old and is mostly a single player game, but it more then makes up for these faults with it’s great use of sounds, a exciting and loose story, and a stellar control scheme. Without a doubt it definitely deserved a 3D remake, and it’s a shame that the Star Fox series has never been able to recapture the magic of this game (Star Fox Adventure’s being a especially heinous sequel). I wish when I was younger that I had purchased this game, and had the chance to experience it sooner. This game is definitely worth picking up, especially if you are a fan of arcade style games or the Star Wars films (the original trilogy before it was screwed up with the prequels). In fact, it alone is reason enough to purchase a Nintendo 64 with a rumble pack, and is better then any other game of it’s kind that has been released to this day (that I have played)!

Once again it looks like I will be taking a look at the manga Bokurano: Ours. Having reviewed the first book of Bokurano, I was interested as to the quality of further books in this series. Thankfully you all (or at least those of you who voted) gave me the opportunity to share my thoughts on the rest of the series. For those who missed my first review I loved the first book of Bokurano: Ours, and was strongly looking forward to the rest of the series. After reading more of this series oddly enough the series really didn’t get any better or worse then this first book, except for the surprising ending (which will not be included in this review). This isn’t really a terrible thing since the first book was an excellent read, however it’s unusually for a series to be so strong in the first book, and to not change in quality as it progresses. This is one of the few books where you can judge by the first book’s direction whether, or not your going like the series.

Even if this manga’s other elements aren’t your cup of tea, there is something that definitely needs to be said about improvement of the artwork from the first volume. While I still see the art as the weakest element of this work, the art does becomes exceptionally strong. The character design for Bokurano is one of the elements that remains just as strong, and individual as in the first book. While the backgrounds remain sometimes rather unimpressive, the further volumes are able to create more dark tension, and a greater sense of action within the setting. The art-style and concepts used for the creative enemy machines, and kids own menacing and alien mech machine are highly polished. Even though the art remains the least appealing element of the this work, it reaches a very high caliber as it grows in further volumes.

If Bokurano really changes much story wise from the first volume, it can said that Bokurano increases it’s sense of moral ambiguity. Again for those who didn’t read my last review of Bokurano: Ours Bokurano, the story centers around 15 children who stumble upon a mysterious cave. In the cave they meet a man named Kokopelli (who oddly looks a lot like John Lennon) working with complex computer equipment. He offers the children the chance to protect the earth in a game by piloting a giant robot. The children agree and form a contract to participate in this game, unaware of consequences of their agreement. The mysterious man teaches them how to battle enemy machines, and then leaves the kids with a odd monkey like robot for a guide. The children quickly find out though that this game is all to real, and that piloting this robot is more of responsibility then many of them bargained for. Worst of all they find that they are forced to fight or the earth will be destroyed, and that even a successful battle will end in the death of person the piloting it. It’s only a matter of time before each child will be forced into pilot the mech, and hopefully save the earth, followed shortly after by death.

The central points of interest within this series are the moral dilemmas presented by the plot, and variety of ways the children act when faced with having to be a pilot. At times in the series there are interesting tales based upon self sacrifice and doing the right thing, but it is the stories where the children act in malicious and self interested ways that are the most interesting to read. It’s also nice that the series usually avoids giving easy answers or being overly preachy. Occasionally though even Bokurano falls prey to the above mentioned faults, and as a result suffers a bit when it does become overly preachy.

In comparison to Neon Genesis Evengelion (which clearly influenced this works in many ways) this manga focus’s on presenting believable characters, and the realistic implications of piloting a giant robot. As a result it focuses much less upon showing brutal mech battles, or the menace and destruction caused by invading robots. Rather then trying to create spectacles through major battles, Bokurano is more concerned with actions of the cast. Bokurano likes focusing in on how people react when under a huge amounts stress, and the huge amount of power and the responsibility that goes along with it. Instead of slowly developing the center casts persona’s and then evolving this cast, this series instead prefers to leave you in the dark to as to the characters major motivations until it’s their turn for a arc. When it comes time for a character’s backstory, however Bokurano takes a fast and much more efficient approach then most manga do. I enjoy this style for a story of this kind, because it allows for much more surprises, and also avoids any distractions away from the character studies. This lack of distraction allows these studies to be more in depth, and makes the cast more compellingly mysterious. While Bokurano’s plot lacks the spectacle that many other mech works have, but it more then makes up for this by instead presenting complex moral choices, and a more realistic and impactful setting.

Bokurano is all about the characters, with the group of children who signed the contract being the main focus. It’s hard to describe any individual child, because the series is based around discovering each kid’s story. Thus revealing too much information about these characters would spoil the plot. This creates a situation that makes it hard to do a good review on Bokurano, since the main purpose of the series is to develop it’s cast (and I don’t want to reveal spoilers). What can be said about the cast, which I remained impressed with (just like I was in my last review), is how much they acted like real kids would. Bokurano works hard to present the main characters with a wide range of motives, and reactions to situations they face. These reactions run the gamut with certain character that are noble and have riotous intentions, while others characters have much sinister intents. This work is not afraid to have some of the children act in cruel, malicious and/or selfish ways. This makes the children much more human, and portrays them much more like real children, rather then as perfect beings. It is this humanist exploration of the cast that really makes this manga so strong.

The rest of the cast likewise is strong, and really fits well in the realistic setting of this story. Koyemshi is a weird sort of monkey like thing left behind Kokopelli after he disappears. Besides being a sarcastic and a menacing figure, his main purpose to is to transport the kids into and out of the mech machine. The other two major cast members are the military officer Masamitsu Seki and Misumi Tanaka. These two characters have the tricky task of taking care of the children, while making sure not to anger Koyemshi (who slices off another officers fingers when threatened), and for the sake of the earth make sure the children do battle. Eventually they are even forced to be part of the contract as well, thus making their already incredibly tough job even harder. At the same time they are shown to have many human attributes, and despite their noble nature behave like most people would in their place. I appreciate that even within all the minor characters, no reoccurring character is a throw away character.

Bokurano didn’t really improve a whole lot from when I first reviewed it. This is due to the fact though that the first volume is so powerful, and sets a mood which is consistently followed by the rest of the series. Bokurano really reinvents the mech genera with it’s more character driven style of story. It focuses more upon moral dilemma’s and drama, rather then on typical focus of giant robot works the action. The art still remains interesting to view, despite not being as landmark a achievement as the characteristics of the cast. This definitely is one of my favorite reads of this year, and is my favorite work of the mech genera. I’d definitely once again highly advise picking this series, especially if you are into series with cerebral concepts.

Many people are probably aware that when I wrote this review the new Sailor Moon manga was a booming success for Kondancha, and actually sold out it’s first printing less then a month after release. What many people might not be aware of, however is that Kondancha has also released simultaneously the prequel to Sailor Moon (and subject of this review), entitled Codename Sailor V. This series focuses around the female super-heroine that made many cameos many within Sailor Moon, and who helped inspire Usagi the lead character of Sailor Moon. While I did find Code Name Sailor V a fun read, I didn’t feel it was nearly as original or interesting a book as Sailor Moon and it did have a few major problems. Still for fans of the magical girl genera it is well worth looking into this manga, despite it not being as interesting as it’s predecessor is.

Naoko Takeuch has a special knack for really interesting artwork. Her art is very much drawn within a classical shojo atheistic. Some shojo features she used in the art included long lanky character designs (though not nearly as lanky as some other shojo works) with large eyes and pretty dream like backgrounds. The background details were used sparingly, but were also used very appropriately. Another interesting aspect of this work is it’s use of chibi to designate a comedy relief character or during some scenes that involved comedy. I only could find two possible major complains about the art-style for this work. One is that the art is very much in a shojo style, and secondly that the panels are sometimes crowded. While I wasn’t really put off by this manga’s style, others who dislike a more conventional shojo style might not enjoy the art. If you don’t like the art of this work though, then chances are that you aren’t going to enjoy the shojo style of the work in general. The second major problem with this title’s art is that at times the art feels crammed. So much is going on within certain panels that occasionally the art feels to busy. If you happen to be a fan of shojo style artwork at all, then chances are that you’ll love the art-style of this book.

Codename Sailor V is very similar in tone and story to Sailor Moon, and was actually the basis for a number of early episodes of the Sailor Moon anime series. The premise for Code Name Sailor V is very simple, and somewhat similar to Sailor Moon. It stars Minako Aino (who would later go on to become Sailor Venus in the Sailor Moon series) an energetic junior high school student who is selected by the spirit of the planet Venus to be a guardian of the earth against the Dark Agency. She discovers a talking cat Artemis who gives her a magic pen, and other magical devices that help her transform into the super-heroine Sailor V. Her objective is to use her powers to defend the world from the corrupting hypnosis of the evil Dark Agency. Much to Artemis annoyance though, Minako is not always the best guardian, and frequently is side tracked from her missions. Many times it takes Artemis and/or the mysterious boss characters to get her to recognize the evil of a Dark Agent, but she wastes no time in battling this evil once it is revealed to her.

Where this book differs from Sailor Moon is in four key ways. Firstly off the plot for Codename Sailor V is episodic, and each story is pretty much a stand alone story. Each new adventure usually has a new villain for her to do battle with, which is sent by the Agency to brain wash people. Secondly, unlike the characters in Sailor Moon, Sailor V doesn’t really work with anyone other then her mascot Artemis and the mysterious boss character. Although, characters do reoccur in the work they are usually are added for comedy relief, or plot exposition rather then as a major part of the work. The third difference is that this work is much more predictable, because of it’s episodic format. Usually the story involves Minako finding a problematic icon from the Dark Agency that is hypnotizes people, and after some running around and comedy defeats this being. This formulaic process is probably the biggest weakness of the work, and doesn’t allow for the story to ever really change or to have any major surprises. The final difference has to do with the tone of each work. Although sometimes stories of Code Name Sailor V focus on themes such as team work, friendship, and romance which are commonly featured within Sailor Moon, this manga usually focuses much more on fast action packed comedy.

What I really love about this book the most, which is also a key element in Sailor Moon as well is it’s emphasis on a super hero story that is aimed at girls. This is sadly something rarely seen in modern American super hero comics, which are more focused upon more grin stories aimed at older male readers. This focus toward young women makes both of these works much more light hearted, fun, and inclusive of larger demographics then most American works currently being released. This combination of Shojo and super hero themes really makes both Sailor Moon and Codename Sailor V good reads for fans of either or both genera’s, and/or for those who are put off by the current direction of most super hero comics.

The character’s of Codename Sailor V consist of Minako, her animal sidekick the talking cat Artemis, a attractive seeming villain sent by the Dark Agency, the police force and some other reoccurring side characters. The most important character of this entire work is obvious Minako, who goes by the super heroine disguise of Sailor V. Minako is somewhat similar to Usagi from Sailor Moon in that she is a poor student, lazy and is addicted to arcade games. Despite these shared traits, however Minako is clearly a very different character being much more energetic, athletic, confident, selfish and chipper then Usagi usually is, and is less apt to cry about her position or to work well with others. Minako’s positive attitude makes this title more upbeat then Sailor Moon is, and make her the ideal lead for the comedic feel of this work. I also like how she isn’t portrayed as the perfect sort of lead character, and uses her powers often in self interested ways, such as using her magic pen to ace her make up tests. This makes her a good foil for her animal sidekick Artemis. Artemis is often disappointed in Minako’s selfish behaviors and the misuse of her powers, and he often scolds her for her greedy behavior wishing that she would be more heroic. He also is the voice of reason, and helps point out to her sources of evil and how to be good hero (help that she usually needs, but isn’t always prone to pay attention to). Not much is known about the boss character of the story yet, however it is clear that it is someone mysterious who is helping Sailor V hunt down evil, and that not much will be revealed about this character any time soon.

The villains sent by the Dark Agency have thus far been single story characters (only volume one is included in this review). Usually they are villainous pop-stars, but they can also take the form of other popular icons. The Dark Agency’s goal is to turn people into slaves, who mindlessly worship them and have them eventually help them take over the Tokyo (and then move on to the world). To do this their agents appear as attractive popular figures, and then use brain washing powers to ensnare victims in their charm. They are then defeated by Sailor V, who often uses her mirror to expose their real monstrous forms and vanquish them. These Dark Agent characters are the weakest characters in the series since their goals are so predictable, and because they are sounded defeated within a single story and don’t really develop into a major figures or threats.

The other characters of the story are mostly around for comedy and story purposes. The most common of these characters found later in the manga are the police detective Toshio Wakagi who hates Sailor V for solving crimes before the police, and Natsuna Sakurada the superintendent-general of the Metropolitan Police Board who is his boss and secretly adores Sailor V. These two characters were really great characters, because they explained the police reaction to Sailor V in a realistic and comical way, and also because they were both good foils for one another. Another reoccurring character that was interesting was Minako’s mother, who was based upon Takeuchi’s own mother. The mother usually disciplines Minako for some of her bad actions, but it is clear that her personality is in many ways comically similarly to her daughter’s. The last two characters that reoccur, and that are really worth mentioning are the comic relief nerd Gurikazu Amano, who is too much of a geek to usually be hypnotized by the Dark Agents, and Motoki Furuhata the local young arcade owner working where the Sailor V’s secret base is hidden and a possible love interest. While many of the characters in this series don’t add much to the overall plot, the leading cast is strong and the supporting cast adds to the humor nicely.

While Codename Sailor V is definitely not as inspired as it’s counter part Sailor Moon, it still is enjoyable to fans of this genera of work. It’s art is definitely creative, it’s storyline is fast paced and it’s lead is good enough to overcomes formulaic elements of the work. It’s combination of the shojo and super-hero genera remains extremely engaging, as does it’s whimsical sense of humor. While this work is definitely a lot of fun and I did really enjoy it, it is also an acquired taste and I wouldn’t recommend this work everyone for that reason. I would definitely recommend buying this work though if you enjoy shojo works or the Sailor Moon manga/anime.