The only interesting thing I’ve been up to.

I’m avoiding full on summary, cause I hate sounding like many of the Wikipedia articles I’ve added to.

Basilisk by Segawa Masaki

I had heard of this long ago, though nothing to get me really interested in reading it. After playing Rance for a while I’ve developed an interest in the Sengoku era, and Basilisk deals with a fictitious power struggle in the aftermath.

The series is only fives volumes long; but it is a series that does not rely on character development as much as twists and turns so the short length is definitely forgivable.

Quite a few people have criticized this as being “Romeo and Juliet with Ninjas”, but I feel that really isn’t the case. The romance is not the main focus of the story, it’s full of action and relatively intriguing characters (despite them not being very deep characters).

Akumetsu by Yugo Yuuki and Tabata Yoshiaki

Akumetsu is…..well I’m trying not to compare it to Death Note (I don’t like Death Note very much) but the comparison is vivid. Akumetsu is about one guy using an infinite supply of himself and technology and weaponry to kill off politicians that are running Japan into the ground whilst keeping a strict moral code. Because the series has it’s own writer, there are many sections that go off and explain the political background of issues that are talked about.

I absolutely love the crazy art-style, not moe, not shounen, just plain seinen.

Nurarihyon no Mago by Hiroshi Shiibashi

I don’t usually read shounen manga, I’ve found it to be cliche ridden and without depth. But I decided to take a look at this and was kind of impressed by the depiction of Youkai. In typical shounen fashion the main character is of high-school age and of course has a supernatural gimmick, in this case he’s the descendant of the titular Nurarihyon who is shown as the “supreme commander” of all Youkai, which is a role I hadn’t heard of before (I thought the Nurarihyon was just a trickster).

I particularly like the artwork on the humanoid youkai characters. The ghostly aura is well imposed and it contrasts with the regular human characters.

Hekikai no AiON by Kagesaki Yuna

It always seems manga-ka go with what I like to call the “Shakugan no Shana” set-up (though the set-up predates that series).

“Highschool boy meets heroine with (insert powers or shit here) and gets involved with her. Whilst said heroine thinks he’s an idiot for getting involved at all. The protagonist may or may not have lost his parents. The protagonist is able to help the heroine in some way. 90% of the time the protagonist is very dense and wouldn’t know if a girl loved him if she smacked him in the head ”

Sound familiar? Not to say this series is bad, I’ve started it and it’s pretty cool and it’s finally a case were Kagesaki’s cute character designs don’t crazily class with the massive tone shifts.

Needless by Imai Kami

I’ve actually gone ahead and downloaded all the raws for Needless. Whilst anyone who has seen the anime can say Needless is simply “alright”. To me the current direction the manga has taken is very interesting as it focuses on Cruz surviving on his own after getting separated from everyone…… But too bad we will never see it in the anime cause madhouse thought an anime-original ending was a good idea.

Liar Game by Kaitani Shinobu

Im a very big fan of Nobuyuki Fukumoto’s work, love psychological tension and gambling in stories. Thus this manga is next best thing while I wait for more Kaiji to be translated. A funny thing about the series is that it features gambling ideas that I can’t even comprehend at times. Though the characters are interesting, the series is really just made cool by the different gambles put into place.

Drifters by Hirano Kouta

Kouta Hirano is of course best known for Hellsing, so it’s pretty cool to see a work by him that doesn’t have Vampires or Priests in it. Drifters is best described as a historical science fiction manga with some fantasy elements. Different historical figures are pulled into one world for reasons that have yet to be revealed. This series also helped fuel my interest in the Sengoku period, as Oda Nobunaga is one of the said figures (featuring a badass eyepatch as well)