Dorohedoro volume 1

Story and art by Q Hayashida

Published by Viz Signature IKKI

Released March 16, 2010

There exists two worlds, “the hole” that hosts punks, thieves, outcasts, and seemingly ordinary people, and the world beyond the doors where the sorcerers live.  Every so often, a sorcerer will enter the door to experiment on non-magic users, leaving their victims on the brink of death.  Dorohedoro is the story of the battle between the sorcerers and the man who cuts them down in order to track down the one who left him with a reptilian head.

Buy and Brag #9

Who am I kidding.

After seeing Up in the Air at the Ogden 6, I went next door to the same bargain bookstore I wrote about in Buy and Brag #6.  I didn’t buy any anime DVDs, mainly because they didn’t have any new ones, but I did pick up some comics.

Most Anticipated Manga 2010

I might be a bit late, but I still want to tell you what manga I’m most looking forward to in 2010.  There’s a lot of manga being translated in English these days and these are my top picks.

#5  51 Ways to Save Her by Usamaru Furuya (CMX Manga- September 2010)

Two former classmates, a gothic lolita and a college student, are reunited.  And then an 8.1 earthquake hits Japan!  I do love my post-apocalyptic stories.  And Tokyopop finished Dragon Head a couple years ago so this is long past due. ———————————————————————

#4 Bakuman by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata (Shonen Jump- August 2010)

From the creators of Death Note, Bakuman is the story of two junior high students who team up to become the most successful manga-ka duo in Japan.  The from the creators of Death Note tagline didn’t impress me, but after reading a few chapters online, I can see this going to great places.  Bakuman was supposed to run in Shonen Jump USA this year, but it hasn’t been announced if it will only be a preview or full blown serialization.

#3 I’ll Give It My All…Tomorrow by Shunju Aono (Viz Signature- May 2010)

40-year-old Shizuo Oguro is tired of his corporate career.  So he decides to quit to pursue his lifelong interest: becoming a manga artist.  I’ll Give It My All… is Shizuo’s story of the ups and downs of his quest at manga success.  This was one of the first series I sampled over at Sig Ikki and I instantly fell in love with it. ————————————————————

#2 AX Volume 1: A Collection of Alternative Manga (Top Shelf- July 2010)

Just as the title implies, AX is a collection of short alternative manga stories.  Originally slated for a December 2009 release, AX was pushed back to summer 2010.  Volume 1 will contain shorts from Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Akino Kondoh, Kazuichi Hanawa, and Shinichi Abe. —————————————————————————————————————————————————

#1 Peepo Choo by Felipe Smith (Vertical- July 2010)

It’s not often that an American comics artist is flown out to Japan to work on a monthly manga in Morning 2 for Kodansha.  Peepo Choo is the story of two individuals.  Milton is a hardcore otaku from Chicago, obsessed with the anime Peepo Choo.  Reiko is a teenage model in Japan who wants a career overseas.  Tokyopop published Smith’s first series MBQ from 2005-2007.  I’m a huge fan of that series and cannot wait to read this one.

More manga I’m looking forward to

Buy and Brag #8

Welcome.  This is the second part of the Buy and Brag season finale.  The theme of this column is good deals.

The good news, all of this manga was 50% off.  The bad news, WaldenBooks has officially left the Midwestern suburbs.  This place was my gateway into the world of manga.  I used to pick up a volume just about every week at my local Waldens (which closed last year).  Now their Aurora location bit the dust.  I still have Borders to browse, for now, but it’s not the same.

10 Beautiful Assassins vol. 1– Another OEL manga from Seven Seas Entertainment.  Just like their other OEL manga, this is printed in right to left format, which always puzzled me since none of them are Japanese to begin with.

Astr0 Boy: Official Movie Prequel (not pictured):  I didn’t have room in the picture for this one.  And I also forgot.  This was not written by Tezuka, obviously, but rather a full-color comic prequel by IDW Publishing to the CGI animated Astro Boy movie.

Future Diary vol. 4– If you’re into Death Note, you’ll like this one.  It’s basically about this guy who has a cell phone diary that tells him what’s going to happen in the future.  Then he meets other people with similar cell phone diaries who want to kill him and finds out that they’re all playing a sick game to see who will be the next god.

Kurohime vol. 1-2–  I’m somewhat of a big boob fan and Kurohime’s knockers are definitely appealing.  Sex sells huh.

Pokemon Adventures vol. 1-4– ^that was somewhat inappropriate.  Pokemon Adventures was one of the first manga I read 10 odd years ago.  It’s nice to see Viz rerelease it complete and at a cheap price.

Yotsuba&! vol. 3-6–  Everyone’s crazy for Yotsuba&!  I did find the first volume of the ADV release for a couple bucks at a Scholastic Book Fair some time ago and enjoyed it.  It’s very pure.  An example of the joy and wonder a child can bring.

Buy and Brag #7

Welcome to the first in a 2-part season finale of andrewreadscomics’ Buy and Brag.  It’s been about two months since my last update, so I’ll post everything I’ve gotten since the day after Thanksgiving.  Some of these pictures have been sitting in my camera for a while, so it’s time to unleash them.  First up is my December 2009 package of Viz Signature manga…

20th Century Boys vol. 6–  I’m a couple volumes behind, but this is still one of the best manga of 2009.

Children of the Sea vol. 2–  I read the first couple of chapters of this volume on Ikki, but I wanted to read the rest of it in print format.  Anime News Network lists the series as ending at two volumes, so I assumed this was it, but as it turns out there’s four volumes out in Japan and is ongoing.

Detroit Metal City vol. 3–  Go to DMC!

Go Go Monster– Seeing as this is the only one in this column I actually read so far, I’ll give a brief review.  Go Go Monster is about an awkward boy who “sees things” at his school.  He believes that someday soon, these things will take over the school.  Enter the new kid, who doesn’t really believe him, but is intrigued and follows him up to the abandoned fourth floor.  This is from the same author as Tekkon Kinkreet, and to be honest is almost the same story.  But I do like this one quite a bit more as it comes from a more psychological perspective.

Ooku vol. 2– Still haven’t gotten to the first volume, but I’ve heard good things.

Buy and Brag #6: Cheap Anime

Andrew back here again to show you my cheap anime finds from last weekend at the bargain bookstore.  This was the first time I’ve seen anime, or DVDs in general at “Bargain Books.”  All DVDs were $5 new, including box sets.

Ah! My Goddess Season 1 Collection– This is something I’ve been wanting for a while.  Oh My Goddess! was one of the first manga series I read and I have many pleasant memories of it.  I did watch the first couple of episodes of the anime adaptation while it was being fansubbed, but lost track of it like I always do with fansubs. I was actually ready to order this for $30 on Rightstuf from the Media Blasters sale going on now, but 5 bucks sounds better to me.

Magic Knight Rayearth Season 1 Collection– I know absolutely nothing about this series, except that it’s from CLAMP and it looks like Sailor moon, but for 5 bucks I’ll give the complete first season a try.

Shaman King Uncut Volumes 1 and 2– Shaman King was one of those shows I used to watch on the FoxBox aka 4KidsTV.  As a 4Kids dub, Shaman King obviously received a lot of flack from the fans.  I won’t comment on the dub, but I did enjoy the anime to a degree.  I thought “Wooden Sword” Ryu was a great character.  These DVDs are uncut with the original Japanese dialogue.  Unfortunately, these are the only two Shaman King DVDs to come out in America.

Yu Yu Hakusho/Ninku Double Feature– I bought this mainly for Yu Yu Hakusho, like everybody else.  From what I heard, this has a completely different voice cast than the FUNimation dub.  But I’m OK with that.

Buy and Brag #5

What did I get in the mail today?

Buy and Brag #4

Back again to talk about the stuff I bought in the past week.  First up is manga and then DVDs.  There’s a lot of variety in this week’s DVD collection in terms of genre and demographic.  I’m just random like that.

Shonen Jump November 2009– On time with yet another Naruto cover.  This month’s issue contains the usual and a preview of Yu-Gi-Oh! R (surprisingly worse than GX).

Yen Plus October 2009–  For a magazine that supposedly ships the first week each month, it’s unacceptable receiving this on the last day of the month, ripped and bent no less.  I’m just letting you know Yen Plus has a shit ton of problems with their subscription service.  Subscribers constantly complain of receiving their issues weeks after bookstores if at all.  I’ll probably be canceling my subscription by the end of the year.

Detroit Metal City vol. 2– Krauser II saves this week’s pick-ups.  Nothing like 200 pages of rape jokes and heavy metal.  Unfortunately, no tattoos in this volume.

Battle For Terra– This was one of those movies I wanted to see in theatres but never got around to.  I believe it was even in 3D.  So I picked this up when I saw it at Borders for 10 bucks. I haven’t seen it yet, but it’s supposed to be a reverse invasion film, with the humans taking over an alien planet.

Ghost Hound: Collection 1– I knew nothing about this before, except that it’s from the creator of Ghost in the Shell and the 20th anniversary project from Production I.G. Pretty big names there, and a big price tag.  This set retails for $60 (half season sets from Sentai Filmworks are usually $40).  But I watched the first disc last night and it’s really good.  Very spooky.  Thanks you Right Stuf for sending this a month before release date.

See Dick Run– Kel Mitchell in a new movie?  Sold.  I grew up on Kenan & Kel and I’ve been dying to see Kel in something new for years.  Kel stars as Dick, a playa who lost his manhood after a night with a succubus.  He has to find his manhood within 24 hours or it’s gone forever.  So he sets out with his best friend to question his top 5 one-night-stands to see who put the hex on him.  This movie is so low-budget, but it adds to the hilarity. It’s not the best script, but it’s so good to see Kel in the movies again.

The Wizard of Oz– Believe it or not, The Wizard of Oz was my favorite film as a kid.  I used to watch it everyday.  Since I missed out on the past 2 or 3 DVD releases of this movie, I decided to pick up this new edition.  Still one of the best films of all time.

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies Special Edition– I’m a big fan of Batman.  Superman not so much.  But I still wanted to check out this team-up film, adapted from the graphic novel.

That’s all for now.  Right Stuf finally has their Viz Media sale up, so I’m going to put in 2 or 3 orders in the following week.  Viz simply has the most series that I’m collecting and I’m behind on a few.  Unfortunately, the sale is only good for manga.  I guess I’ll have to order Hunter x Hunter Collection 4 and the 20th Century Boys movies some other time.

DVD Menu Fail

Bruce Timm presents his top picks for Superman: The Animated Series.  Wait, isn’t that BATMAN?

Screencap taken from Superman/Batman: Public Enemies disc 2.  Review coming soon.

Zorro: Generation Z Volume 1

A new Zorro for the new millennium!  Zorro: Generation Z is a 2008 UK animated series.  It follows Diego De La Vega, descendant of the original Zorro, fighting crime and the corrupt government of Pueblo Grande in a Batman Beyond styled world.  I picked this up for three reasons, lightsabers, my modest love of Zorro and BKN, and the name resemblance to Dragonball Z.

Generation Z begins as all superhero cartoons do, with a two-part origin story.  Diego De La Vega and his mute friend Bernardo return to Diego’s home after school.  They discover that Mayor Martinez and his goons broke in and kidnapped Diego’s father for political motives.  Diego and Bernardo barely escape their ray guns to discover a secret passageway.  It leads to a run down underground cathedral that just so happens to be El Zorro’s lair.  The stories his grandfather told him were true!  Zorro’s “batcave”  is stocked with his Z-pod, Tornado-Z , and four sets of Zorro outfits (my favorite was the gold-fringed getup).  Diego dons the Zorro costume and runs to the Mayor’s mansion to save his father.  Meanwhile, Diego’s Alfred (Bernardo) mans the Zorrocave.  Zorro stumbles his way into the mansion, messes up, only to be saved by The Scarlet Whip who happens to be the Mayor’s daughter Maria and long-time schoolmate of Diego.  However, they don’t recognize each other and neither do their fathers.  The Scarlet Whip helps Zorro and his father escape and that’s the end of that.

The third episode is a mess.  When Diego’s father disappeared in the first episode, the Mayor accused him of swindling the tax payers.  However, this whole affair was dropped and never mentioned. But I’m willing to forget that.  More importantly, in the short time-frame between the second and third episode, Diego has become an expert Zorro and a household name in Pueblo Grande.  The remaining episodes follow the formula of the Mayor’s goons carrying out a heist, Zorro popping up, doing badly, and The Scarlet Whip arriving to save his ass.  Diego and his motive to become Zorro is never explored.  Character development is absent, instead focusing on the comic relief between Diego and Bernardo, El Zorro and The Scarlet Whip, and the mayor and his goons.

But despite its faults, Generation-Z is fun to watch.  It’s colorful, fast-paced, and has plenty of action scenes.  Zorro’s lightsaber and whip are cool weapons, even though they don’t seem to cut through the enemies’ swords or brooms. The interaction between Diego and Maria is humorous during the daily life scenes and how they slowly begin to question whether the other is El Zorro/The Scarlet Whip after a fight.

Zorro: Generation Z is a fine Saturday-morning cartoon.  It’s just a shame that it never got a television deal (although it apparently airs in Spanish on Telemundo).  I’ll likely purchase the remaining volumes if I can find it in-store at Wal-Mart or as free-shipping filler online.
Grade: B-