An Americanized manga, Sorcerers & Secretaries hooked me with the name. I was expecting a evil-fighting admin assistant with a pen that dissolves evil and a stapler that will fend off the most intimidating magical creature. What I found was something completely different.

Nicole is a receptionist and college student who lives her life in a dream world that she spins through writing sword and sorcery tales. We can all relate to her immediately with issues such as, an annoying mom, annoying job and coworkers, wanting to write instead of work, and everyone in her life putting down her interests by saying “that childish fantasy stuff you like”. This tale started slow for me, but won me over with its cute book references and speculative fiction inside jokes that only we understand. Although the art is very American (circa 1980’s Sunday morning newspaper comics), the drawings of the bookstore are great and had me pause for a few minutes to read the titles. One cover I especially got a chuckle from was “LARP for Beginners”. A new twist in this tale is that the cute hottie at the bookstore actually likes the geeky, book-loving, allergy girl.

The author is definitely in our demographic and should be supported for that alone. However, this is not a tale I would recommend for its excellent fantasy story. This book is not so much a fantasy story as a romance where the lead is in love with the lead character in her fantasy novel. Like Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, the girl is wrapped up in a fantasy tale so completely that she cannot see a real guy who wants to date her. Still, an amusing, quick read and one that despite its cover warning 13+, is safe for all readers. Sorcerers and Secretaries is a great gift for your teenage cousins who are into the fantasy/romance genre.

If you enjoy this manga, you can read more about the series and download desktop images from this site: Sorcerers And Secretaries

Get your copy here from amazon and hlep support the project:

• Sorcerers & Secretaries, Volume 1
• Sorcerers & Secretaries, Volume 2

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In Orange Crows, a young witch performs a forbidden magic, blows up a research center, injures her best friend, and is exiled to a barren wasteland with witch devouring fairies all in the first two pages! Five years later, a group of witches come to take her to trial and see if she is able to return to society. Her old best friend, Natty, just happens to be the head of the ragtag group called the Special Witch and Warlock Squadron (S.W.S) that comes to collect her.

All the witches in this tale have mini wings that come out of their hips and wear talking hats. Each of these hats has a different attitude and style. One of the hats, named Grim, is a plumper version of the sorting hat from Harry Potter and always wants to sleep. The fashion styling of this manga is really unique. Think Halloween Town meets club kid, meets Delirium from the Sandman comics. The post apocalyptic-like clothes are funky and always interesting.

My favorite character is Bianka, a member for the S.W.S. and in charge of teaching us readers what everything is about in their world. Each chapter has a full page lesson called “Queen Bianka’s Crash Course” where she tells us the details of certain witch practices such as sweeping, which is riding a broom like a hover board. Bianka is like a pint sized Tank Girl and has the same irreverent manner. She has plans to build teapot tank which she calls “1,000 pounds of porcelain death on wheels” and a talking cat that says, “Off with her head! Meow.”

The S.W.S. take on perhaps the scariest monsters I have seen in a while. I think the picture below will cause you to agree. I’d hate to meet these guys in a deserted alley.

To find out more about Orange Crows, visit Amazon.com
Orange Crows Volume 1

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Contrary to what the cover and write up leads you to believe, the star of this manga is not Princess Resurrection. The true star is Hiro, an abandoned boy who is resurrected to be a slave for the princess. Poor Hiro wakes up in a morgue unaware that he is now undead and wanders to the Princess’s house.

Princess Resurrection is nonchalant and uncaring of his life or what becomes of him. As the daughter of the king who stands above all monsters, I guess she has the luxury of being jaded about death. She wields many weapons such as stakes, swords, jackhammers, and her favorite, a chain saw. Despite the many monsters she massacres, her dress is never damaged. Now, this is a girl we can look up to!

So, let’s see… we have a hell-bent princess, an undead boy, a robot maid, is there someone missing? Ah yes! Let’s add a rebellious werewolf girl into the mix.

These books are great. No matter how many times Hiro is “accidentally” killed by the Princess’s weapons or the robot maid says her only word “Hooba”, this story never gets old.

What you’ll find in Volume 1:

• Hiro wakes up dead and finds the Princess battling a horde of werewolves
• Insane hospital employees attempt to make Hiro their savior and then try to kill him.
• Werewolf girl saves Princess Resurrection from a battalion of squidmen.
• Extras in the back include a four page spin-off comic and two pages of translation notes explaining the significance of certain scenes along with a sneak peek at Volume 2.
• Favorite quote: “You think Hiro’s alright?”
“He only drowned for one night. There shouldn’t be a problem.”

What you’ll find in Volume 2:

• The Princess’s evil little sister visits and infects the house with triffids.
• A sexy vampire girl wants Hiro for her own and attempts to steal him from the Princess.
• The Princess battles another horde of werewolves.
• The robot maid finds an android who she cares for.
• The Princess kills an eyeball squid creature with a jackhammer.
• Extras in the back include a five page spin-off comic and two pages of translation notes explaining the significance of certain scenes along with a sneak peek at Volume 3 which looks to include a mummy army.
• Favorite quote: While most of the crew is fighting for their lives against triffids, the maid is cleaning up. “It’s a little noisy upstairs… Oh well. I need to vacuum!”
The art in this manga is not pretty and frilly, but it is very well done. Monster art, gory blood, fighting, and a girl who cuddles her weapons? What more can a horror manga fan want?

Go to Amazon.com to preview or purchase Princess Resurrection 1, Princess Resurrection 2, Princess Resurrection 3, Princess Resurrection 4, Princess Resurrection 5, Princess Resurrection 6, or preorder Princess Resurrection 7 (released November 24, 2009).  There is also an animated DVD Princess Resurrection: Collection 1

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This gets weird for me because I’m filled with both joy and hope over the prospect of a reboot.  Up to now many of you have not heard me talk about Fullmetal Alchemist because I fell deeply in love with the series only to be left betrayed when the story took a twist about mid series going into a parallel world.  I hope this reboot fixes that.

Aniplex is retelling the Fullmetal Alchemist story but this time staying more true to the manga.

• Some parts of the tale will be told from different points of view then what we got in the original anime.
• They are going to give minor characters from the original anime larger rolls
• Putting parts from the manga into this version that was not included in the original.
• Brand new aspects to the story to be included in this version.

They are promising to maintain the high animation standards that awed us in the original anime.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood debuted on April 5th 2009 in Japan but fear not this time we will not have to wait months to be able to watch it in the states.  Each new episode airs on Sunday in Japan and we can watch it streaming online by Thursday in the states (suck it BBC RE: Doctor Who)!!!  The episodes are English SUB.

Watch it streaming online here on Funimation.com

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I officially have Death Note mania.  I’ve just watched Death Note and Death Note Movie II: The Last Name live  action movies.  These are two of the best Japanese made movies I have ever seen.  I am so in love with these films that I am recommending them to non-anime/manga fans as well, because they can stand on their own as great cinema.  For those of you who haven’t given in to Death Note mania yet, let me fill you in on a little background information.

The story of Death Note is an intoxicating one.  What if you had the power to kill criminals who somehow went free after committing horrible crimes?  You could kill murderers who laughed at surviving family members as they cried that their loved ones had not been avenged.  You could kill any criminal, even if the police couldn’t find them, as long as you had a picture and their name.  But where would you draw the line?  What would the constant killing do to you and your soul?  Death Note centers around Light Yagami, a brilliant student who stumbles across a notebook lost by a spirit of death.  This notebook enables the owner to cause death to any human as long as he can picture their face and write down their correct name.  What starts as a vigilante experiment for Light, becomes an obsession which gains him acclaim as the hero Kira.  Japan goes crazy.  Some people think Kira is a god, while some see him as the devil.  Soon, the famous detective known simply as “L” is called in to investigate.  You goth-lolita fans will love the character Misa Misa.  She comes into the story in manga book 4 as a blonde, punk-style lolita.  In the live action movies, she is Japanese, but still embodies the cute lolita style, just toned down a bit.

Death Note was created by writer Tsugumi Oba and illustrator Takeshi Obata.  It first appeared in 2003 in the form of a serialized manga comic in Weekly Sho-nen Jump magazine.  The series was then adapted into live action films released in Japan starting June 2006.  An anime version, a novel by Nisio Isin, and a video game followed.  Death Note has been optioned for a film produced by Hollywood, but I can’t seen them making this flick better.

Since it’s release, Death Note fans have grown in the millions.  It’s become so popular that there have been many cop-cat crimes overseas and in the US.  Students in US schools have been suspended for possessing self-made death notebooks with names of their teachers and classmates inside.  In early 2005, Death Note was banned in the capital of China to, according to Beijing media, “protect the physical and mental health of it’s youngsters”.

The live action films are so right on the manga, any fan is instantly floored at the detail.  From the attitude of Light, to the eccentricities of “L”, the director of this film nailed it at every turn.  The shinigami, or spirit of the dead, is excellent animation and spooks me to the core.  I’ve always found the shinigmi, whether in the mangas or in the live action version, to be the type of creature that can make you laugh or scream.  His simple nature and love of apples make me view him as a huge skeleton-shaped stuffed animal.  But when he begins to laugh and fly up with those horrifying wings, I want to hide under the covers! 

These movies do have some differences in them from the comics, but they are explained well.  Although the second movie is not as good as the first, they make a nice pair.  Unlike the Harry Potter movies, these films seem to flow right into each other as if no time has passed.  You can buy these two excellent movies at a really good price right now on Amazon.com.  A plus is that they are English dubbed, so you don’t have to read subtitles unless you want to.  The subtitles do not match the dubbing, so if you are hard of hearing, I suggest turning it up louder rather than using the assistance of the close captions.  I will be looking for an English dubbed version of the third movie, L: Change The World, but to warn you, the reviews are less than favorable.

The real concept of this tale leaves questions we can all ask ourselves.  When you get so obsessed with righting wrongs, where do you draw the line?  How do you know when to quit before innocents are hurt?  And if a mortal man was given the power to kill, even in the name of justice, how long would he stay good?

You can buy all these Death Note goodies here at Amazon.com
You can also buy all of the mangas here at amazon.com

Watch Death Note series streaming live online here

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The Millennium Snow series is on my list of most enjoyable manga series.

Chiyuki is a seventeen-year-old girl who’s dying from a heart problem she was born with.  Toya, a vampire who hates the taste of blood, saves her by biting her, which allows them both to live.  Against his will, Toya slowly falls for her happy nature and constant positive attitude.

Toya has a cute little bat companion named Yami-maru who helps the girl pull his master out of the comfortable isolation he has come accustomed to.  Somehow Yami-maru adds that chibi element that manga’s love to have without making things too silly.  Yami-maru couldn’t be any cuter if you put him on a Sanrio stationery set.

The fun really begins when a werewolf boy named Satsuki falls in love with Chiyuki.  He professes his undying love to her and thus begins the love triangle.  Toya grumbles and calls Satsuki “Dog”, but it seems as though he knows Chiyuki needs the werewolf around.  The ultimate in teen girl fantasy, these two guys fight over Chiyuki at every turn.

Volume 2 delves deeper into the relationship between all three characters and how the vamp and werewolf put up with each other’s presence for Chiyuki’s sake.  The cover of this manga has a great shot of Toya with his arm around Chiyuki.  Trusted bat companion, Yami-Maru, is perched on his hand and Satsuki stands behind them.

As always, I look for the extras in manga’s as a plus.  In volume one, there is a female to female love story called A Romance Of One Moment though short, it’s rather good and shows potential for a manga of it’s own.

This was one of the first manga’s I ever read and therefore they are a set of books that have held a standard for other manga’s to follow.  My only complaint is that there doesn’t seem to be any plans for more volumes despite the last one coming out in 2007.

If you’d like to purchase these items, they are available at Amazon.com

Millennium Snow, Volume 1

Millennium Snow, Volume 2

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The second Astro Boy trailer is out and I’m getting excited.  Watch the second trailer above!

Astro Boy is based on the 1960’s science fiction manga and television program.  Set in a futuristic world wherein androids co-exist with humans. Astro Boy, sometimes called simply Astro, is a powerful robot created by the head of the Ministry of Science, Doctor Tenma, to replace his son Tobio, who died in a car accident.

This animated film will hit theaters on October 23rd, 2009.

Get your copy of Astro Boy Television Collection here from Amazon
Get your copy of Astro Boy manga Volumes 1 & 2 here from Amazon

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This is not going to be one of those warm fuzzy reviews that has you skipping down to the manga store eager to spend your hard earned cash.  Those of you experiencing a budget crunch can now take that sigh of relief. 

Until The Full Moon promised to be an excellent male to male love story with vampires and werewolves in it.  Instead, it was a disappointing read  ruined by chibi jokes and silliness.

Marlo is a half-werewolf half-vampire guy who changes into a woman on the night of the full moon.  David is a full-blood vampire who loves Marlo in both his forms (male and female).  I had high hopes for this formula!

This book is entertaining, but for all the wrong reasons.  It’s corny jokes draw more of a moan from the reader than a laugh.  It’s funny the rating on this book is 16+ because the jokes and situations seem to fit more into the 10-12 year old boy philosophy.  Is it rated 16+ only because it deals with a same sex relationship?  You have to wonder.

Although created in 1998, the  art style is completely 1980’s.  All the clothes and hairstyles look to be pulled from watching the first MTV VJ’s.  The guys have long feathered hair.  The chicks have big hairsprayed bitch-do’s.  This 1980’s feel is strengthened by the appearance of Marlo’s ex-girlfriend from America.  The stereotypical Jersey girl tries everything to win Marlo back until she finds out he turns into a girl at full moon.  Then, she’s on the next plane back to Jersey with her blown-out hair and dangly earrings.

It bothered me that when Marlo is in his guy form, he makes fun of David being gay.  Yet, when Marlo is a woman, he loves David passionately.  There is no explanation for this.  It’s not like he has two people in his body.  He remembers everything that happens to him in both forms.  So, wouldn’t you have a bit of lingering feelings, even if you changed form?

There’s also a strange folk tale in the middle of the manga that starts to explain why werewolves can turn into women during full moon, but then you learn this is just a story the mom made up.  This manga left too many questions.

I found the two vampire father’s meeting rather comical.  The mother can throw out a few quips that made me laugh such as:  “Our son becomes a woman at full moon?  How do I buy him clothes?”

The artwork irritated me because the characters had plain Charlie Brown-like mouths sometimes.  The way the artist draws ears is disturbing.  They look like lemon slices on either side of the character’s head.

Overall, I was disappointed in this manga.  It showed so much promise, but did not deliver.

If you’d still like to check this manga out, it’s available at Amazon

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The Vampire Kisses series by Ellen Schreiber has been a staple of the YA horror community for quite some time and now, you can read it in manga form.  Though I have not read the books in this series, the manga can stand on it’s own as a work of art.

Vampire Kisses #1: Blood Relatives is a cute, teenage romance about an adorable goth girl named Raven and her gorgeous vampire boyfriend.  Raven reminds me of a young Death from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comics.  They added just a dash of chibi to make you forget you are reading an American produced manga.  The art, by REM, is gothic and modern with a beauty all it’s own that will have any gloom cookie loving it from cover to the last scene.

This is the first successful book adaptation turned manga I have seen.  The art is well done, the story is edited well, and it accomplishes what it is meant to, which is encourage you to read the book series.  I can say confidently that this team “gets it” and I give them credit because not many trying to break into the manga market do.

We manga fans have come to expect extras in the back and we are not to be disappointed here.  They have included some cool behind the scenes sketches of all the characters.  I adore the goth-loli-punk sketches of Kat.

My only complaint with this little book is that it is too short.  It is a measly 98 pages while most mangas run 150-200.  Considering the novel this manga represents is on the slim size, I suppose they didn’t want to stray from the series format and make it larger.  I am, however, hopeful for an all-encompassing omnibus of these mangas like TokyoPop did with the Princess Ai series.

I have high hopes for this series to continue in like style.  If you’re looking to move from traditional manga into book-inspired manga, this is a great way to start.

To purchase Vampire Kisses #1: Blood Relatives on Amazon, click here:

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I am working on a series on the future of entertainment media: music, audiobooks, books, comics, movies, television series, and I am curious where you think everything is going.  Piracy, copyright, creative commons, user generated works, streaming, and online collaboration have changed the media landscape forever.

The old models for production, distribution, and monetizing entertainment media have been changed forever, and there is no clear path forward.  To make this series, I want to gather as many ideas as possible.  No one has the answer yet, but together, we can start moving in the right direction.

So what are you ideas, you can post them in the comments here, or email me your thoughts.  Is there someone you want us to try to get a comment from?  The best posts will be included in the series.  Let’s get the dialogue started!

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