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Sora's manga reviews
Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya I LOVE YUKI! But seriously, Furuba is a very deep and meaningful series. I love the characters. They feel so real. You care about them so much and they all have very deep, complicated personalities and pasts. A friend once said to me that it's like Natsuki Takaya flipped through a psycology book and assigned every problem in it to one of the characters ^_^;;
All I'll say about the plot is that it's about a family whose members transform into their respective zodiac animal when hugged by someone of the opisite gender. But instead of focusing on the obvious comedic elements, it's more about the emotional side of things and how the Sohmas deal with being isolated from the outside world.
Beautiful series. Could not recomend ANYTHING more.
Rating: 5/5
Official age rating: 13+
My age rating: 13+
DNAngel by Yukiru Sugisaki Err...I've thought and thought, but I can't figure out why I like this. I guess it's just a good story ^_^ Something about it just appeals to me greatly.
DNA is about a boy named Dausuke who transforms into a handsome kaitou (or 'phantom theif' if you don't like inserting a Japanese term in your English) named Dark when he thinks about Risa, the girl he likes. And ofcourse Dark likes Risa's twin sister. It's largely a story about finding out who you really are, what with Daisuke's dealing with having two separate personalities inside him. Very cute, fun, enjoyable, and a bit deep.
Please do yourself a favor, DO NOT buy Tokyopop's release. It's horribly re-written garbadge. Buy the Japanese version and print out translations
Rating: 5/5
Official age rating: 13+
My age rating: 12+
+Anima by Mukai Natsume (Not available in English. I get my scanslations here, but there are a few other places if you search) Cute and well written. Even though there's not much of a plot, it manages to stay interesting. That's a great feat. I just can't stop reading it ^_^
In another world, though they are rare, there live people with characteristics of animals called +Anima (Plus Anima), who are feared and shunned by society. This manga follows the adventures of four children who are both gifted and cursed to be +Anima.
Rating: 5/5
My age rating: All
Card Captor Sakura by Clamp My first manga *heart* Even though it's a magical girl manga, it really breaks the molds. The writing's mature, without being writting for an older audience (like Alice 19th, for example, a magical girl story for teenage girls). Clamp's so good at mold breaking *heart*
A girl named Sakura acidently releases creatures out of magical deck of cards and must return them. It's not tired or clique like some magical girl stories and it's filled with Clamp's amazing style.
Rating: 4/5
Official age rating: All
My age rating: All
Saint Tail by Megumi Tachikawa I think I only still like this because it was one of my first manga ^_^;; It's a fun little story. Quite cute.
Meimi is a Catholic school student by day, kaitou Saint Tail by night! Robin Hood style, she steals back items that where stolen and gives the back to there rightful owners.
Rating: 3/5
Official age rating: All
My age rating: All
Wish by Clamp As Blue Rose once called it, the perfect manga. No violence, little bad language, and love triumphs over all. I felt so warm and fuzzy reading it! Another wonderful romance from Clamp.
A man rescuses an angel. To repay him, the angel will grant his any wish. The man says he has everything thing he needs, so the angel vows to stay with him until he makes his wish.
Rating: 5/5
Official age rating: 13+
My age rating: 10+
Yami no Matsuei (Decendants of Darkness) by Yoko Matsushita I wasn't sure whether to add this or not, but I decided that since I really love it, it's a favorite. Well, I really like the happy funny parts (Tsuzuki is so kawaii =^.^=) and the mysteries are cool and interesting. Also, I love a good shinigami story (Japanese angels of death of sorts. Shini= Death Gami/Kami= God).
Yami follows shinigami Tsuzuki and Hisoka as they solve mysterious cases such as people who should have died, but didn't. They also must find out how and why most of these cases are tied to the evil Dr. Muraki.
Rating: 4/5
Official age rating: 16+ (I think. I don't really get Viz's T+ rating)
My age rating: 15+
Fullmoon wo Sagashite by Arina Tanemura (Not available in English. I get my scanslations here, but there are a few other places if you search) Another shinigami story! I haven't read very far in it, but it seems to have the potential to be very meaningful and great.
12 year old Mitsuki always dreamed of being a famous singer so her long lost first love Eichi-kun will be able to find her again. Unfortunaly Mitsuki has throat cancer and can't sing. To top it off two shinigami come and tell her she was one year to live. How will Mitsuki fulfill her dream?
Rating: 5/5
My age rating: 10+
Juvenile Orion by Sakurako Gokurakuin Angels! Demons! Winged bishonen! Kyaaaa! XD . JO is like a lighter version of Clamp's X.
Mana moves back to her old home town and is reunited with her old friend Kaname. But it turns out that Mana and Kamame both have special powers tied to Aquarian Age, a psychic war. Battles between bishonen ensue. In fact, one review I read said it's like Pocket Bishonen fully realized. I have to agree with that.
Rating: 5/5
Official age rating: 13+ for vol.1, 16+ for the rest
My age rating: 13+
Magic Knight Rayearth by Clamp When you think surpirise ending, think part one of Rayearth o_O Clamp's take on the 'girl(s) transported to another world' genre!
Not much to say about the plot. If you know Fushigi Yugi or Escaflowne, you know Rayearth.
Rating: 4/5
Official age rating: 7+
My age rating: 10+
Death Note Story by Tsugumi Ooba Art by Takeshi Obata (Scanslations here. They rotate so do a search if they don't have the chapter you want)
Definatly not on here because it's a fun read. Death Note is probably the most facinating manga I've ever read. I never know what's coming next and it always amazes me how far Kira will go and the ways he finds to evade the police.
Raito finds a Death Note, a note book dropped by a shinigami, which allows him to kill anyone he wants just by knowing their name and face. Nicknamed Kira (which comes from the Japanese pronounciation of 'killer') by the media and police, Raito tries to use his Death Note to better the world by killing off criminals. But is Kira himself the one the world would be better off without?
I just want to mention that Kira is the most creepy person ever. He really scares me sometimes >_<
Rating: 5/5
My age rating: 15+
Title/Author/Rating (out of 5)
Angelic Layer / Clamp / 4
Card Captor Sakura / Clamp / 5
Chobits / Clamp / 3.5 (might've gotten a 5 if it weren't for all the echi-ness. Naked android girls >_<)
Clamp School Detectives / Clamp / 3
Clover / Clamp / 4
Magic Knight Rayearth / Clamp / 4.5
Shirahime Syo/ Clamp / 3
Suki / Clamp / 4
Tokyo Babylon / Clamp / 3.5
Tsubasa / Clamp / 4
Wish / Clamp / 5
X / Clamp / 4
xxxHOLIC / Clamp / 5
Alice 19th / Yu Watase / 5
Brain Powered / Yoshiyuki Tomino and Yukiru Sugisaki / 2 (Brain Powered has the special honor of being the most confusing manga I've ever read)
Brigadoon / Nozomi Watase / 4
Correct Yui / ? / 2
Cresent Moon / Haruko Iida / 5
Demon Diary / Kara / 4 (Korean mahnwa, actualy. I don't really think of mahnwa as manga, but it's here anyway)
DNAngel / Yukiru Sugisaki / 5
Dragon Knights / Mineko Ohkami / 4 (*coughonlyreadthe13thvolumecough*)
Escaflowne / Katsu Aki / 3
FLCL / Hajime Ueda and Gainax / 4 (Yes, I actualy liked the art style in this)
Forbidden Dance / Hinako Aishihara / 3
Fruits Basket/ Natsuki Takaya / 5
Fushigi Yugi / Yu Watase / 3.5
Girl Got Game / Shizuru Seino / 3 (Hana Kimi rip-off. Not nearly as funny either)
.hack / Tatsuya Hamazaki and Rei Izumi / 3
Hana Kimi / Hisaya Nakajo / 4.5
Inu-Yasha / Rumiko Takahashi / 4 (Rumiko Takahashi's art bothers me for some reason. I'll stick with the anime)
INVU / Kim Kang Won / 3 (Mahnwa)
Juvenile Orion / Sakurako Gokurakuin / 5
Kare Kano / Masami Tsuda / 5
Kodocha / Miho Obana / 5
Love Hina / Ken Akamatsu / 1 (The echi-ness! My eyes! Argh! Worst manga I've ever read)
Marmalade Boy / Yoshizumi Wataru / 2.5
Mars / Fuyumi Soryo / 3.5
Mega Tokyo / Fred Gallagher / 5 (American, but very manga style. Why don't more American 'manga' take place in Japan?)
Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok / 4.5 (Thanks, ADV for only licensing the second series -_-)
Naruto / Masashi Kishimoto / 4
Neon Genisis Evangelion / Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and Gainax / 4 (Read 1-2 from the library, but definatly buying whatever volume has Kaworu. Kaworu-kun...)
Onegai Teacher/ Please! and Shizuru Hashiya / 5 (Surprisingly clean for a shonen romance)
Pita Ten / Koge Donbo / 4
Pokemon / Togashi Ono / 4 (The manga is way better than the anime. The art is cool too)
Pretear / Kaoru Naruse and Junichi Satou / 3.5
Prince of Tennis / Takeshi Konomi / 3 (I was surprised to find this somewhat entertaining, because I HATE sports)
Rave Master / Hiro Mashima / 3.5
Real Bout Highschool / Sora Inoe / 1
Revolutionary Girl Utena / Chiho Saito / 5
Rurouni Kenshin / Nobuhiro Watsuki / 4
Sailor Moon / Naoko Takeuchi / 2 (Like the anime, hate the manga. Takeuchi's art really bothers me)
Saint Tail / Megumi Tachikawa / 5
Shaman King / Hiroyuki Takei / 4 (The cool story really makes up for the weird art)
Shutterbox / Tavisha and Rikki Simmons / 4 (American. Not very manga styled if you ask me)
Tactics / Sakura Kinoshita and some whose name I don't feel like looking up / 4
Tokyo Mew Mew / Reiko Yoshida and Mia Ikumi / 4 (The only reason I bought it was because it had a cat girl in it. Heh)
Trigun / Yasuhiro Nightow / 4.5
X Day / Setsona Mizushiro / 4
Yami no Matsuei / Yoko Matsushita / 5
Yu Yu Hakusho / Yoshihiro Togashi / 3 (Licence Togashi's Hunter x Hunter already!!! *dies from lack of HxH*)