Sesho's Anime and Manga Reviews

Manga review of The Prince of Tennis Volume 2: Adder's Fangs by Takeshi Konomi. Translated by Joe Yamazaki. Adapted by Gerard Jones. Originally published in Japan by Shueisha. Published in US by Viz Shonen Jump, $7.95, Rated A for All Ages. Ryoma is facing his first real challenge in the Seishun tennis team ranking tournament in which the top 8 players will rise to the top and become starters. The...

Manga review of Naruto Volume 39: On the Move by Masashi Kishimoto. Translated by Mari Morimoto. Adapted by Deric Hughes and Benjamin Raab. Originally published in Japan by Shueisha. Published in US by Viz Shonen Jump, $7.95, Rated T for Teen. Orochimaru is dead! Long live Sasuke! After deciding that he was stronger than Orochimaru, and thereby had a greater chance to kill Itachi, Sasuke used Oroc...

Somebody told me there was some new cool stuff for your Xbox Avatars today and when I looked on the Marketplace I discovered that Tokidoki had opened a storefront on the Xbox Marketplace. Tokidoki is a Japanese inspired brand created by Italian artist Simone Legno that produces a variety of products such as clothes, watches, handbags, toys, and even stylized memory sticks. The art depicted on them...

Podcast manga review of Kimi Kiss Volume 1. Story by Enterbrain Inc. Art by Taro Shinonome. Translated by Alexis Kirsch. Adapted by Kathering Schilling. Originally published in Japan by Hakusensha. Published in US by Tokyopop, $10.99, Rated Older Teen 16+. From the back cover: Kouichi may have started high school not having kissed a girl, but he sure as hell won't graduate that way! Kouichi and Ma...

Podcast manga review of Naruto Volume 38: Practice Makes Perfect by Masashi Kishimoto. Translated by Mari Morimoto. Adapted by Naomi Kokubo and Eric-Jon Waugh. Originally published in Japan by Shueisha. Published in US by Viz Shonen Jump, $7.95, Rated T for Teen. From the back cover: Naruto is a ninja-in-training with an incorrigible knack for mischief. He's got a wild sense of humor, but Naruto i...

Podcast manga review of The Prince of Tennis Volume 1 by Takeshi Konomi. Translated by Joe Yamazaki. Adapted by Gerard Jones. Originally published in Japan by Shueisha. Published in US by Viz Shonen Jump, $7.95, Rated A for All Ages. From the back cover: There is a rumor going around that a twelve-year-old boy is going to enter the sixteen-year-old and under tennis group. How can someone so young...

What's up ADV Manga? I used to buy your books back in the day. Oh, the good old days when you were gonna release 1000 manga volumes. You released Volume 1 of Yotsuba by Kiyohiko Azuma, creator of Azumanga Daioh, in June 2005, Volume 2 in August and Volume 3 in October of that same year. Then things started to hit a snag. Yotsuba, along with other titles like Gunslinger Girl, Aria, and Cromartie Hi...

Podcast manga review of Naruto Volume 37: Shikamaru's Battle by Masashi Kishimoto. Translated by Mari Morimoto. Adapted by Deric Hughes and Benjamin Raab. Originally published in Japan by Shueisha. Published in US by Viz Shonen Jump, $7.95, Rated T for Teen. From the back cover: Naruto is a ninja-in-training with an incorrigible knack for mischief. He's got a wild sense of humor, but Naruto is com...

You know, I was sitting here reading the August issue of Otaku USA, and as I was reading it, I found myself skipping lots of pages, including the anime and manga reviews. Ironically, this was the section I used to read with the greatest interest. And I began to wonder if Otaku USA is even worth buying anymore. For a while now, I have become less and less enthused with the magazine, even though I h...

I bought a couple of manga today at Barnes and Noble, including two Shojo Beat titles, the first volumes of Kimi Ni Todoke and Black Bird. It just struck me that they looked different than the usual Shojo Beat books. Neither of them had those giant ugly volume numbers in the bottom right hand corner nor the boring author font with "Story and Art by" stamp on the left bottom corner and border on th...

Manga reveiw of Hayate Cross Blade Volume 3 by Shizuru Hayashiya. Translated by Adrienne Beck. Adapted by Ed Chavez. Originally published in Japan by Media Works. Published in US by Tor/Seven Seas, $9.99, Rated Older Teen 16+. Well, we finally find out why Mizuchi wants to beat Ayana so bad. Mizuchi asked Ayana to be her sister-in-arms two times, but was rejected on both occasions. It doesn't help...

Japanese researchers are working on baseball playing robots. Don't let your imagination run wild. The robots are basically just arms. One throws a ball and another swings at pitches with a crude looking rod. But who knows, will we someday have fully articulated running humanoid robots running bases? My question is, who would want to watch something like that? My other question is, why develop base...

Manga review of Naruto Volume 36: Cell Number 10 by Masashi Kishimoto. Translated by Mari Morimoto. Adapted by Deric Hughes and Benjamin Raab. Originally published in Japan by Shueisha. Published in US by Viz Shonen Jump, $7.95, Rated T for Teen. While searching for a jinchuriki host in the Land of Fire, Hidan and Kakuzu happened to stumble upon Chiriku, a priest who used to be one of the Guardian...

Podcast manga review of the first chapters of the remaining  www.shonensunday.com  titles: Kekkaishi by Yellow Tanabe, Maoh: Juvenile Remix by Kotaro Isaka & Megumi Oruga, Rin-ne by Rumiko Takahashi. Kekkaishi: By night, junior high student Yoshimori Sumimura is a "kekkaishi"--a demon-hunter who specializes in creating magical barriers around his prey. By day, Yoshimori's got other demons to battl...

Podcast manga review of the first chapters of Arata: The Legend by Yuu Watase and Hyde & Closer by Haro Aso. Both titles are available for free at www.shonensunday.com Arata: The Legend by Yuu Watase: In a mythical world where humans and gods co-exist, a ceremony marking the new governing princess is about to occur for the first time in 60 years. Only a girl from the Hime Clan may take this positi...

Here are three more illustrations and sketches from Entertainment Weekly by Young Kim for the upcoming Twilight: The Graphic Novel, based on Stephanie Meyer's novel, due to be published by Yen Press.

Podcast manga review of Naruto Volume 35: The New Two by Masashi Kishimoto. Translated by Mari Morimoto. Adapted by Deric Hughes and Benjamin Raab. Originally published in Japan by Shueisha. Published in US by Viz Shonen Jump, $7.95, Rated T for Teen. From the back cover: Naruto is a ninja-in-training with an incorrigible knack for mischief. He's got a wild sense of humor, but Naruto is completely...

The manga community has been abuzz the past couple of days over the confirmation that Yen Press is going to be publishing a manhwa adaptation of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight novels. Ok, what should we really classify this book as first? Is it manhwa simply because it is being drawn by Young Kim, a Korean artist? Is it manga? Is it OEL manga? Is it simply a graphic novel series? I'd be curious as to...

Podcast manga review of Solanin by Inio Asano. Translated by JN Productions. Originally published in Japan by Shogakukan. Published in US by Viz Signature, $17.99, Rated T+ for Older Teen. From the back cover: Meiko Inoue is a recent college grad working as an office lady in a job she hates. Her boyfriend Naruo is permanently crashing at her apartment because his job as a freelance illustrator doe...

Podcast manga review of Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 2 by Hiromu Arakawa. Translated by Akira Watanabe. Originally published in Japan by Square Enix. Published in US by Viz, $9.99, Rated T for Teen. From the back cover: In an alchemical ritual gone wrong, Edward Elric lost his arm and his leg, and his brother Alphonse became nothing but a soul in a suit of armor. Equipped with mechanical "auto-mail"...

Manga review of Honey Hunt Volume 2 by Miki Aihara. Translated by Ari Yasuda. Adapted by Liz Forbes. Originally published in Japan by Shogakukan. Published in US by Viz Shojo Beat, $8.99, Rated T+ for Older Teen. Yura has landed the star role as Natsuki in an ad campaign for noodles that also has a TV show tie-in. Her romantic interest, Q-ta, is doing the theme song, and his brother, Haruka, who s...

Podcast manga review of Naruto Volume 34: The Reunion by Masashi Kishimoto. Translated by Mari Morimoto. Adapted by Deric Hughes and Benjamin Raab. Originally published in Japan by Shueisha. Published in US by Viz Shonen Jump, $7.95, Rated T for Teen. From the back cover: Naruto is a ninja-in-training with an incorrigible knack for mischief. He's got a wild sense of humor, but Naruto is completely...

Podcast manga review of Naruto Volume 33: The Secret Mission by Masashi Kishimoto. Translated by Mari Morimoto. Adapted by Deric Hughes and Benjamin Raab. Originally published in Japan by Shueisha. Published in US by Viz Shonen Jump, $7.95, Rated T for Teen. From the back cover: Naruto is a ninja-in-training with an incorrigible knack for mischief. He's got a wild sense of humor, but Naruto is com...

Podcast anime review of the first 5 episodes of the Hunter x Hunter Box Set 1. Published by Viz Shonen Jump. List Price: $49.95. Rated 16+. Directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi (Zipang, Getbackers, You're Under Arrest). From the back cover: Hunters are a special breed, dedicated to tracking down treasure, magical beasts, and even humans. But such pursuits require a license, and less than one in a hundre...

I went to Borders tonight with a coupon for 25% off my purchase, not expecting to find much. After all, I hadn't found anything the week before when I had a similar coupon. Borders is definitely in decline. Whatever section you go into, they have tons of books facing outward to cover up the fact that they do not have a lot of selection. I've seen them try to conceal this in different ways at diffe...