Hot Gimmick volume 1

Hot Gimmick volume 1
by Miki Aihara
Viz Communications
BW, 192 pgs w/ ads, $9.95 US / Higher in Canada

Hot Gimmick is the first of Miki Aihara’s manga to reach North American shores, a shojo that at first glance sticks to the tried and true formulas of the genre. Where it differs though is in its art, which in itself is enough to convince the reader to check out subsequent volumes. This is fortunate for the reader because if online research is to be believed, Hot Gimmick deviates from the norm starting with volume 2.

Case Closed volume 1

Case Closed volume 1
by Gosho Aoyama
Viz Communications
BW, 192 pgs w/ ads, $9.95 US / Higher in Canada

High school student Jimmy Kudo uses keen powers of observation and astute intuition to solve mysteries that leave local law enforcement baffled. As such, Jimmy has become somewhat of a local legend, helping the cops when all clues have lead them to dead ends. Jimmy is a modern day Sherlock Holmes, possessing the talents that made that fictional detective such a renowned investigator. Jimmy has, in fact, learned his skills from reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Holmes stories and other detective novels in a vast library belonging to his own father, a famous writer of mysteries.

Hellsing volume 1

Hellsing volume 1
Dark Horse Comics
by Kohta Hirano
BW, 208 pgs, $13.95 US / Higher in Canada

This action and gore-packed horror comic has just enough sly humour to take the edge off the guts and guns, putting this manga in the same territory as Trigun and Scryed. Both of those manga use both action and humour just like Hellsing, but those two series failed to put any sort of smile on my face. So, what’s the big diff, you wonder. Hellsing has two things going for it that those other two manga did not: 1. Outstanding art; 2. Wildly entertaining storytelling. Kohta Hirano is responsible for both.

Satsuma Gishiden volume 2

Satsuma Gishiden volume 2
Dark Horse Comics
by Hiroshi Hirata
BW, 280 pgs, $14.95 US / Higher in Canada

In my review of volume 1, I neglected to mention Hiroshi Hirata’s artwork. It is detailed and always ferocious, with strong inks, haggard characters, harsh landscapes, lived in locales and brutal bouts of violence.

Satsuma Gishiden volume 1

Satsuma Gishiden volume 1
Dark Horse Comics
by Hiroshi Hirata
BW, 264 pgs $14.95 US / Higher in Canada

Satsuma Gishiden volume 1 opens with an action sequence that grows in both intensity and violence as it progresses, a fight between a convicted criminal and samurai of the Shimazu clan, the criminal as good as naked on a horse and the samurai in full combat attire, armed to the teeth and lusting for blood in this traditional contest. This bloody action introduces the overarching topic of Satsuma Gishiden, which isn’t bold samurai in bloody battles. No, the topic is what do warriors do when there is no war.

Ranma 1/2 volume 3

Ranma and Akane put on their ice-skates to finally duel with the ‘Golden Pair”, Azusa and Mikaao. The victors of the battle win the pig P-Chan and the loser gets nothing. As always, the events get crazy and everybody is fighting for the love of someone else and by the end of it nobody is really sure what happened.

As I started reading this trade paperback, I couldn’t help but feel the series Ranma ½ was going nowhere. The transformation of the characters into different forms was unlike anything I’ve read before, but I was starting to think this premise was getting stale after about three trades. Rumiko Takahashi can write funny situations and her gag timing is almost perfect, but the stories were being told over again in different ways.

Ranma 1/2 volume 2

The adventures of Ranma, Akane and Ryoga continue in this second edition. This series is jam-packed with crazy love triangles; everyone is smitten with someone else but no one is able to get together. In poor Ranma’s case, he’s just trying to avoid the whole affair. Everyone seems to fall in love with Ranma whether he is a boy or if he’s turned into his female form.

Fruits Basket volume 1

Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket is a manga about a family, a very large, important, and mysterious family, which also happens to be extremely dysfunctional. The family in question is the Sohma family, a family that is trying to hide a terrible secret. As it turns out, this secret is really a curse. The curse, which affects only certain members of the Sohma family, was caused by vengeful spirits of the Chinese zodiac. This curse causes the possessed to turn into an animal of the Chinese zodiac when they are hugged by a member of the opposite sex (or if they become too weak). One immediate result of the curse is to split the Sohma family into the in-group (family members that know about the curse) and the out-group (family members who don’t have a clue). Accordingly, members of the family who are cursed are sequestered from the outside world as much as possible, which is another source of friction between family members

Ranma 1/2 volume 1

Both martial artist Ranma Saotome and his father are cursed. They were training and honing their skills in China at a legendary place where they were surrounded by magical pools, sparring on the tops of bamboo sticks. Ranma’s father fell into the “spring of drowned panda” and who ever falls into that pool takes on the body of a big ole panda bear. Ranma, shocked by the transformation of his father and surprised by what happened, couldn’t fight off his panda dad and so he was tossed into a neighbouring pool, the “spring of drowned girl.” And if you hazard a guess at what happened next you’re most likely right. Ranma surfaces with a girl’s body, breasts and all. Boy was he surprised.

Gunsmith Cats Revised Edition Volume 1

Gunsmith Cats Revised Edition Volume 1 Dark Horse Comics (w) Kenichi Sonoda (a) Kenichi Sonoda B&W 464 pgs, $16.95 US / Higher in Canada A fresh look at a great series. There are fast muscle cars; precision guns and numerous panty shots abound in Kenichi Sonoda’s masterpiece manga Gunsmith Cats. Dark Horse has brought back [...]