I have no idea how it got to be April already! Anyway, Grant starts things off this week with a look at volume three of Bamboo Blade (Yen Press), and follows it up with another third volume, this one of Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Raising Project (Dark Horse). Ken’s up next with volume eight of Black God (Yen Press), while Connie’s take on volume two of A Tale of an Unknown Country (CMX) and Sam’s views on volume three of Yu-Gi-Oh! R (VIZ) round out the week’s offerings.
By Masahiro Totsuka and Aguri Igarashi
Yen Press, 224 pp.
Rating: Older Teen
Oh, Bamboo Blade. Your story plods along for these first few volumes, never really going anywhere. It’s all ho-hum and by the time I’ve finished a volume, I realize that none of it was necessary.
Half of volume three is eaten up by the continuation of the practice tournament from the previous volume. Since it’s all for practice and the reader already knows each girl’s fighting style, the matches are completely predictable. Kirino unsurprisingly asserts her “never give up” personality to earn her win and Tama completely dominates her second match. Everything is punctuated by overreactions from teammates and coaches. Yawn.
Even the biggest potential for plot development—the rivaly between Kojiro and Kenzaburou—turns out to be worthless when Kenzaburou reveals that the free year of sushi bet he made in the first place was a ruse. The two part ways with the revelation that Kenzaburou coaches a second team that Kojiro will need to defeat. After that, there’s a fruitless side plot where Tama starts working part-time in order to afford an expensive anime box set.
The saving grace of Bamboo Blade is its sharp, clean artwork. Yes, the characters sometimes change height from scene to scene, but when it’s time to break out the action scenes, they’re consistently great to look at.
If you need a read that is pure, plain vanilla, go ahead and grab Bamboo Blade. Otherwise, it’s safe to skip this title.
Volume three of Bamboo Blade is available now.
–Reviewed by Grant Goodman
Story by Dall-Young Lim, Art by Sung-Woo Park
Yen Press, 208 pp.
Rating: OT (Older Teen)
The Okinawa arc comes to a head as Kuro and Keita face off against Hiyou and Shinobu, the Negative Root and murderer of Keita’s own mother! It’s an emotional and surprisingly brutal climax that puts our heroes and their allies through the proverbial meat grinder.
Even though I missed the previous volume I didn’t have too much trouble figuring out what was going on and was caught up in it fairly quickly. The showdown between the four is very well done and the beatdown of the heroes is surprisingly effective. I was really surprised at just how brutal the fight was. Whether it’s a rock to the face or Hiyou and Kuro breaking out their powers, the fight has a distinctly savage and desperate feel throughout the book. The visuals do a fantastic job at conveying all the intensity of the battle and at times it feels like action is going to pop off the page.
The series is hardly a groundbreaking, innovative work, but it’s been a solid action/adventure series from the get-go and this volume is no different. It’s a nice climax to the current arc, even if the ultimate resolution is a bit clichéd.
Volume eight of Black God is available now.
–Reviewed by Ken Haley
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Raising Project, Vol. 3
By Osamu Takahashi
Dark Horse, 192 pp.
Rating: 16+
In volume one, it was a refreshing concept: take the Evangelion cast, let them get to know each other, and make them suffer less. By the third volume, however, the idea has started to wear thin.
The goal of the Raising Project is to help Shinji become “more positive and emotionally affirmative.” Aside from sounding totally lame, it forces the plot into stale predictability. What it seemingly translates to is this: Shinji needs to realize that girls are pretty and that he should talk to them about his feelings, even if it seems difficult. Seeing how Shinji is in the throes of puberty, this is a task that should require absolutely no outside interference—or scientific studying, for that matter.
Unfortunately, the plot makes both of these necessary, resulting in a boatload of unnecessary plot devices to put Shinji, Rei, and Asuka in pseudo-sexual situations. Such devices include Shinji walking in on Asuka changing, catching a falling Rei so she lands on top of him, and—drumroll please—slipping on a banana peel so he he dives face-first into Rei’s crotch. I understand that there is an audience for these hijinks. I am not among them.
It turns out that when the giant robot combat and the looming apocalypse are taken away, Evangelion isn’t much more than a high school blush-a-thon.
Volume three of Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Raising Project is available now.
–Reviewed by Grant Goodman
A Tale of an Unknown Country, Vol. 2
By Natsuna Kawase
CMX, 191 pp.
Rating: E
The romance between Marie and Reynol continues in this volume, with most of the action taking place in Reynol’s kingdom of Yurinela as the story leads up to the announcement of their engagement. Marie tries to learn all she can about Reynol’s country as the two lovebirds continue to learn about each other and their respective family members scheme against them for their own reasons.
Unfortunately, I read this volume after the very similar series Lapis Lazuli Crown, by the same author. Both are wonderful and very fun upbeat romances that take place in quirky kingdoms, but I think Lapis Lazuli Crown comes out above this one (fair enough, I believe Tales is Kawase’s debut work). There is less chemistry between Marie and Reynol, though I do appreciate that they do all they can to try and learn about and relate to each other. Also, I had forgotten about the fact the heroine periodically dresses in a maid outfit for no reason, though the random appearance of the outfit is reduced to one chapter, with one other chapter featuring Marie as a maid as part of the plot. There is also a strange subplot involving the individual plans of Marie’s brother and Reynol’s mother and older brother. Marie has to win over the latter two, who are against Reynol marrying the princess of such a small kingdom, in order to announce her engagement, but the political elements seemed out of place. Stranger still, they don’t go anywhere.
It’s a cute and low-key all-ages romance, and it’s also fairly mature and well developed for this kind of title. I think it’s great for kids, and adults could certainly do worse for a cute three-volume read, but there are more challenging reads out there for fans of romantic fantasy.
Volume two of A Tale of an Unknown Country is available now.
–Reviewed by Connie C.
By Akira Ito
Viz, 216 pp.
Rating: Teen (13+)
The card controversies and brand extensions continue as I sink my teeth into Yu-Gi-Oh! R this week. This volume encompasses what seems to be the ending of the card professor battles, with Jonouchi taking out their last and lowest-ranked member (ultimately leading him nowhere closer to their final goal) and Yugi facing off against the cream of the crop, rising higher and higher to victory. Much more is added to the mix when brothers Seto and Mokuba Kaiba arrive on scene, vying to take back what was once theirs.
I liked this third volume a bit more than the first volume. There is a richer story present, with Yugi having to deal with his inner weaknesses during one of the battles. Speaking of the battles, they remained the same in terms of creativity in strategy and the characters’ relationships with their cards (example: a shy, defensive character using chess piece cards).
I felt that the artistic depictions of the card creatures increased tremendously. I was honestly wowed by the structure and design of the card creatures when I read this volume; I just wish a bit more of that creativity could go into the story.
Volume three of Yu-Gi-Oh! R is available now.
–Reviewed by Sam Kusek
Review copies provided by the publishers.
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