cassiesheepgirl

Story: High school may well seem like a trying time but, as old farts like myself will tell you, your school days really can be some of the most fun of your life. Azumanga Daioh proves this unequivocally with every turn of the page as it documents the everyday life of the innocent ten-year-old prodigy, Chiyo, and her new high school friends during this turning point in their lives. As with all the best comic slice of life series, Azumanga contains very little in the way of plot. While the overarching narrative follows the girls’ escapades through high school, the joy of this manga... See full review

Story: Delinquents. In real life, we pretty much stay the hell away from them; certainly in my local town if you see a rough-looking chav* you avoid eye contact and dive into the nearest bookshop. However, when it comes to fiction, none of that matters, especially when considering the gang in Eiji Nonaka’s seventeen-volume work Cromartie High School. They probably couldn’t organise their fists to punch you in the face. With its vibrant Pop-Art style covers, this manga immediately catches the eye, but what lurks inside is a treasure trove of comedy gold that will have you laughing like a... See full review

Story: Anyone who has read my review of Law of Ueki anime will know that I love this series and have been sucked into its wacky world twice already now. So when I felt like drifting off into a world of magically-enhanced teenagers and madcap battles for a third time, reading the manga seemed like the natural next step of my Ueki voyage. Kousuke Ueki is a perfectly normal middle school student who, like every other decent boy of his age, transforms manky bits of rubbish into monolithic trees in order to uphold his strong sense of justice. This ability was a gift from his carefree homeroom teacher... See full review

Story: Life is full of inevitabilities and uncertainties. Considering how much I loved the first Law of Ueki manga and the anime adaptation, I was bound to read the five-volume follow up, Law of Ueki Plus. Whether I liked it or not was not so obvious, since sequels are a bit of a dangerous area; some simply repeat the format of previous successes and feel uninspired or dull as a result, whereas others simply lack that spark of the original and thus taint one’s adoration for the source material. One thing that I WAS sure of was that I had no intention of actually reviewing this manga... See full review

Story: I have a lot of nostalgia for Bleach. It was my first venture into the world of both shounen anime and manga, and was what got me started on a journey that – even today – has me devouring whatever I can get my hands on. As such, it pains me to repress my inner fangirl and actually look at this series critically. At the time of writing this review, four hundred and twenty-three chapters have been released, the story thus far has reached a definite conclusion, and mangaka Tite Kubo has announced that a further two arcs spanning the best part of another four years will follow. It... See full review

Story: It took a fair amount of time from my introduction to anime to properly start enjoying manga, and I generally started with series whose anime counterparts I liked. Despite this, I still hesitated to pick up Fullmetal Alchemist until the 2009 series, Brotherhood, began and caught my eye in spectacular fashion. Hearing that it was faithful to the manga’s plotline and being apprehensive about the anime’s release in the first place, I decided to give it a shot – and boy, was that ever a good decision! Fullmetal Alchemist documents the journey of two young brothers, Edward... See full review

Story: I can’t honestly say that I have any particular criteria when it comes to deciding what manga to pick up; most of the time it boils down to whether the plot sounds vaguely interesting, if I liked the anime, or if it needs an entry on the site. So when it came to Project X: Cup Noodle my chain of reasoning went as follows: “Hmm it has an odd name and I do like instant ramen. Hang on… a manga about cup noodles?! Eh it’s only one volume and needs a synopsis. Sod it, why not?” Luckily this was one gamble that didn’t prove to be a complete waste of my... See full review

Story: When you love an anime series and then decide to pick up the manga, I often find that a sense of trepidation creeps in and a voice whispers in the back of my head that maybe it won’t be as enjoyable. Despite my love for the television series’, when I first picked up Fullmetal Alchemist and Naruto, I wondered if the difference between the two media would dull my love for the animation. However, it’s not always so bleak, as every so often you stumble upon a manga that you know you’ll love from the moment you start reading, regardless of any feelings for adaptations. For me this... See full review

Story: For a long time I put off watching the anime of One Piece because, although it sounded fun, it was just too damn long and the thought of watching three hundred plus episodes was a bit daunting. However I soon gave in and became quickly addicted, devouring the now four hundred instalments in fairly quick succession. Then, while suffering from withdrawal from a nightly dose of my favourite pirates – and against my bank balance’s better judgement – I decided to pick up the manga. Fifty-four volumes later and I can now barely wait for the next part to come out here in the... See full review

Story: 8/10 I first encountered and began to admire the work of mangaka Natsume Ono when I watched the Ristorante Paradiso anime. My adoration grew when I saw episode one of Sarai ya Goyou and after reading the RisPara manga and as much Gente ~Ristorante no Hitobito~ that I could get hold of, I realised that I was a definite fan. So when I saw her 2004 one-volume story, ... See full review

Story: 6/10 Ristorante Paradiso follows Nicoletta, a young girl who has come to Rome in order to inform her mother’s new husband that his wife has a secret daughter. After meeting with her estranged parent at her step-father’s restaurant – the Casetta Dell’orso – Nicoletta not only decides to keep her mum’s secret for now, but she also falls for one of the waiters, an older gentleman named Claudio. As she tries to win his heart, Nicoletta begins working at the eatery and slowly begins to learn more about both her mother, and her co-workers. What I like most about... See full review

Story: People are f****d up! Society is f****d up! The whole damn world is f****d up! Right, now I’ve got that off my chest, shall we begin? Welcome to the NHK follows the many trials and tribulations of Tatsuhiro Satou – a young NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training), who refuses to leave his apartment. One fateful day he meets Misaki, a young girl who takes pity on him and decides to make Satou her ‘project’ and enable him to re-enter society. Along with both help and hindrance from his old friend Yamazaki and their plans to create the world’s most epic erotic... See full review

Story: 8.5/10 I’ve always been a bit of a tomboy; as a child I would be in the garden playing with frogs instead of hosting a tea party for my dollies. Now in my mid-twenties, while I no longer try to pet any unwilling amphibian in my path, I am still more likely to be diving headfirst into a sea of shounen goodness rather than weeping my way through romantic dramas. However, one lusciously ladylike love story manages to break through my many boyish layers and tug at my very heartstrings. It’s clear that Emma is something special. The plot revolves around the straightforward premise... See full review

Story: I have a confession. Despite thoroughly enjoying Metropolis and devouring any of the Black Jack anime that I can lay my grubby little hands on, I have never read any of Osamu Tezuka’s manga – that is until now. My first dip into the world of the ‘God of Manga’ is the two volume sci-fi story – Nextworld. Its plotline is rich with political and philosophical themes, from a wryly satirical look at the Cold War and the possible fallout of atomic warfare to references to apocalypse and the story of Noah’s Ark. Add in opportunistic greed, oppression and the... See full review

Story: I started out as an anime fan, and only later became interested in manga. As such, a lot of my choices in what to read have been based on whether or not I enjoyed the animated version and, as a rampant Studio Ghibli fangirl, when I discovered that The Cat Returns was based on a one-volume manga, I immediately went and ordered it. Baron: The Cat Returns follows the story of Haru, a young, clumsy girl who doesn’t seem to have all that much going for her until one day on her way home from school, she saves the prince of the Cat Kingdom from being run over by a truck. To show his... See full review