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Real Bout High School volume 1, by Reiji Saiga and Sora Inoue, 2002, Tokyopop I got this book because it came bundled with the first volume of the Real Bout High School anime. I had heard some mixed things about the anime, but I found the bundle on sale, so I figured I'd try it out. The anime is OK so far, but I really liked the manga. The story is about Ryoko Mitsurugi, a sophomore girl who is a huge fan of samurai drama shows. In fact, she has devoted her life to kendo so that she can emulate her samurai idols. That might be all there is to story if she went to a normal school, but Daimon high, where she attends, has a rather interesting principal who likes to shake things up. The school also has a problem; too many clubs, and not enough space for them all. So, there have been a lot of fights between clubs over space. The solution to this problem that the principal implements is to formalize the fights; they are even broadcast to the entire school over closed-circuit TV! There's pretty good depth here, and all the typical characters make appearances: the side kick, the love interest, the competitor for the love interest's affection, the polar opposite who vexes Ryoko's life, etc. It all comes off very well. The art is pretty good, and I like the character designs. They get a little carried away with the whole short skirt thing, but I've become used to that in manga. There's also a lot of humor, and I laughed through most of the book. Overall I was pleasantly surprised, and I'll be looking for more books in the series. |
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Real Bout High School volume 2, by Reiji Saiga and Sora Inoue, 2002, Tokyopop Just like the first volume, the second volume of Real Bout High School is a lot of fun. The initial story about Shizuma having a duel with a hated teacher wasn't all that interesting, but once things got back to Ryoko it got a lot better. Ryoko is just so danged cute! Especially when she is in her samurai nurse outfit. Yowza. Anyway, this volume of the series is mainly about fun. Notable events include: Shizuma and Ryoko developing a certain "professional respect" for each other, another woman entering the picture as a potential competitor for the heart of Tatsuya (the head of the kendo club and the person whom Ryoko has a crush on), and Tatsuya himself transferring to another school! Say it isn't so! I just adore the character designs here, and that plus an entertaining story keep me coming back for more. I think I'll just go off this week and buy the rest of the series and knock it off all at once. |
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Real Bout High School volume 3, by Reiji Saiga and Sora Inoue, Tokyopop In the third volume of Real Bout High School, the story starts to get a little stale. Everything revolves around the fact that Tatsuya, Ryoko's (our heroine) main crush, is transferring to another school, which we found out at the end of volume 2. Due to this tragedy in her life, Ryoko is rudderless, and not acting at all like her normal self. During her time of weakness, Azumi challenges Ryoko to a k-fight. This battle takes up the majority of the book, and it really drags on too long. Yes, Ryoko has a "breakthrough" in the middle of it, but the set-up took too long. The end of the book was pretty good, as Ryoko and Shizuma spar with each other for really the first time, and you can see where their relationship is going to go. Those two are destined for each other. Overall, this book is average. If you really like the series it will tide you over OK, but it's not gonna sell a new reader on it, most likely. |
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Real Bout High School volume 4, by Reiji Saiga and Sora Inoue, Tokyopop Now here's another series that is rapidly on its way downhill. The first few volumes very very enjoyable, as the chemistry (in a competitive sense) between Ryoko and Shizuma was great to watch. Unfortunately for us, that storyline was pretty much played out in the last volume. So in volume 4 the author brings in a bunch of new characters. Ryoko gets recruited to lead an all-women fighting team that is established to seek "justice," while a new group of bad guys arrives on the scene to harass Shizuma and go up against Ryoko's team. All of this wouldn't be so bad if the new characters weren't just plain weird. Obviously, in a series whose premise is organized fighting in school, you don't expect to see totally normal people, but these freaks are just too far out there for me. Sorry, but I just can't suspend my disbelief that much. The art is still high-quality, but without a solid story to go along with it, this book was somewhat of a chore to get through. There are only two volumes left (which I already own), so I'm sure I'll finish out this series, but it won't be at the top of my to-do list. At this point I recommend just getting the first three volumes and being content with that, but I'll let you know what I think at the end. |
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Real Bout High School volume 6, by Reiji Saiga and Sora Inoue, Tokyopop And we finally reach the end. And a large end it is, as this is the largest Real Bout book by far in the series. In this volume we get more inanity with Ryoko's Shinsengumi group. They are at an amusement park to fight a battle against their arch foe, G, and his cronies. Of course, Shizuma shows up and gets involved in the fight. The man can't stand to have a fight going on and not participate in it. And, of course, we end up with a big fight between Ryoko and Shizuma for no real reason. And they proclaim their love to each other, which was pretty obvious since about the third volume of this series. The one good thing about this volume (or the second, if you get off on seeing Ryoko's clothes get all ripped off) is that the other members of the Shinsengumi actually get some character development, especially Aoi. Some of the girls had been really flat characters in earlier volumes, but we finally get to see some of their motivations. It would have helped if that had come earlier, as I had basically decided that they were all stupid by the end of volume 5, but better late than never, eh? I also like the use of the color blue on the cover. That's about all I can really say at this point. It's time to move on to other things. |
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Read Or Die volume 1, by Hideyuki Kurata and Shutaro Yamada, 2006, VIZ Media This book is crap. I kind of liked the ROD anime that Manga Entertainment released Stateside a few years back. It was different, and the idea of someone whose superpower is the ability to manipulate paper was pretty unique. So, when I heard that VIZ was going to release the original manga I was pretty excited. Unfortunately, the book totally doesn't live up to expectations. It is just too weird for my taste. Everyone in here is insane. Yomiko Readman (the heroine on the cover) is all psycho about the teenage girl author, the teenage girl author is crazy, the guy who kidnaps her is totally in wacko land, the other bad guys are all psychotic weirdos, it just doesn't end. I had to force myself to finish this, as it just wasn't fun. I'll be skipping the rest of this series, thank you very much. |
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Random Encounter issues 1 - 4, by Nicc Balce, 2005, Viper Comics The basic premise of this comic book series is, "What if life was like a console RPG?" If you have ever played a console RPG, you should quickly recognize what is going on here. The story starts with three friends in the Quickie-Mart, who find a collapsed girl on their roof. They are then attacked by a monster, who, when defeated, spits out a random item that can be used to fight other monsters. From there on they meet another girl at the local hospital who actually can explain to them what is going on. It turns out that the girl found on the roof is collecting leaves from the tree of life, and that is attracting the monsters. The writing and art are both done by Nicc Balce, and both are serviceable. The art is all black & white, with some grayscale, but it is well done. Viper also used very good paper to make these books. I will fault the writing a little, but only because there just isn't much actual story here. These first four issues feel like a prologue to the actual story he wants to write, as the last issue of the series doesn't wrap up the story at all, but broadens it. While it is not unexpected for an independent comic to finish before the story is fully told, it is still annoying. Bottom line, Random Encounter is a mildly entertaining story that doesn't really go anywhere. If that sounds like your thing, and you like random console RPG references, then check it out. |