The funniest Manga I have ever read, and likely ever will read is hands down Kyohiko Azuma's Yotsuba&!  Following the adventures of a green haired little girl it is full of funny, genuine and warm humor.  Combined with Azuma's always fantastic art and an uncanny ability to climb into the head of a Kindergarten-First grade aged kid makes for humor that is fit for anyone young or old.  This book is a great way to introduce some one who is unfamiliar with manga to the medium.

Posted by: raging tachikoma at 10:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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     I know that I hardly seem the type, but I too have a softer side, okay I'll be honest, I have a less abrasive side.   A good story that revolves around people and their feelings for each other is one of the hardest things to write consistently well from volume to volume, or even from chapter to chapter.  There is only so much ground that you can cover and it has all been well covered by everybody and their third cousin twice removed since time immemorial.  Hell, the very first novel, the Tale of Genji was a romance story.  Affairs of the human heart are something that we love to read about because it is something that we all have first hand knowledge and experience with in some way or another.

     For good old no strings attached romance three series stand out for me, Pastel, Gacha-Gacha (Capsule, not New Revolution) and Suzuka.  Of the three Suzuka is by far the best, with its multifaceted charcters and wonderful art.  Pastel takes the classic guy living with the girl of his dreams story and runs with it, but rather than being boring the characters are sympathetic enough to draw you into their world, and when ever things get too heavy a bit of humor helps bring things back to a normal level.  My only complaint about Pastel is the rather spineless nature of the protaganist, but still it is well worth checking out.  Gacha-Gacha is, as I am aware, is vey much a hate it or love it series.  I like it for a couple of reasons, one it treats a serious condition in a way that is more than just an excuse for cheap laughs, not a lot of authors would be able to treat a main character with multiple personality disorder with the kind of respect that Hiroyuki Tamakoshi manages.  I was able to empathize with the people portrayed in this series.  The other thing I like about this one is that it is short and sweet, while I love a big ongoing masterpiece as much as anyone sometimes it is nice to have a story that you can breeze through in an afternoon.  Romance, with a dash of humor these three fit the bill very nicely, maybe I am not so hopeless after all.  I mean none of these are overflowing with pointy chins or angst.

Pastel: 7 Volumes out now from Del Ray, Vol. 8 drops on tuesday.            

Gacha-Gacha (Capsule): All Five volumes out now from Del Ray

Suzuka: Five Volumes out now, again from Del Ray. 

Posted by: raging tachikoma at 11:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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     Sooo, I was saying that lately I have been drifting toward slice of life manga of late.  That is true but I still love a good series that is full of stuff that will simply never happen in this world.  Enchanter is a great example of this, I happened across Enchanter, much like Tetrgramaton Labyrinth by accident, the cover of volume one caught my eye and a I added it to my stack of manga.  After flipping through it a bit I knew that this was winner, with its laugh out loud humor, a fair share of action and nearly but not quite gratuitous fan service.  The main thrust of the story is about a highschool student (imagine that, a manga where the protagonist is highschool student , but I digress) named Haruhiko and the demon Eukanaria, who wants his body, and just his body.  If Eukanaria can sleep with Haruhiko she can extract his soul and replace it with the soul of her dead lover Fulcanelli, an Enchanter.  To keep this from happening happening Haruhiko takes on Fulcanelli's power and becomes an enchanter himself, keeping his soul, but having to continuosly rebut the advances of Eukanaria (who is all hips and tits), who did I mention looks just like the girl he has the hots for.  If that wern't enough there is the occansional demon attack and other stumbling blocks to a normal life being thrown at our somewhat reluctant hero.  On a curious note the distinguishing feature of enchanters is complete heterochromopathy, that is having eyes of distinctly different colors. (Digression #2, partial heterochromopathy is not uncommon, this is when one or both eyes have areas of the iris that are different shades or colors.  Complete heterochromopathy is rare in humans, but less so in certain dog and cat breeds.)  There are currently five volumes of Enchanter out from DMP, which deserves credit for sticking with the larger volume size and the use of color dust jackets, much like most manga in Japan.  I wish that was something that more companies did, but at least one company does it.

Posted by: raging tachikoma at 08:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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     I find it interesting how my preferences in the genre of reading material has evolved over the years, it paints a picture of a steady but evolutionary change in what I find interesting.  While I still read and enjoy some titles that I first began following years ago I have noticed that over the past year to 18 months my tatses have shifted more toward series driven by carachters and plot than say out and out action or comedy.  I still enjoy those series, and still follow them closely but the stories I seem to enjoy the most are those that are about normal people in normal circumstances.  My favorites in this genre are varried but share the similar thread that they revolve around normal people with normal problems and concerns. They are in no particular order Genshiken, Suzuka, Pastel, School Rumble and Welcome to the N.H.K.

Posted by: raging tachikoma at 11:34 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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