Title: Doubt (Not the Shoujo one)

Author & Artist: Tonogai Yoshiki

Chapters: 1-20 (Complete)

Summary
Rabbit Doubt is a popular game taking over Japan. The instructions are simple: each player is a rabbit in a colony, but one of them isn’t. A wolf in disguise is among the rabbit colony and in every round, the wolf kills off a rabbit. Every round, the group tries to figure out which of the rabbits is actually a wolf. But what happens when the players choose to meet in person? Yuu, Mitsuki, Rei, Hajime, Eiji, and Haruka have decided to do just that. Unfortunately, one of them has taken it to a new level. The wolf of the group has already killed once. Everyone must find the wolf’s identity while trying to stay alive. Read more »

Title: School Mermaid

Author & Artist: Yoshitom Akihito

Chapters: 1-3 (Complete)

Summary

Yoshiko and Haruko are in love (not with each other). When one is in love, they must confess to the person of interest to see if they feel the same… right? Not in this case. Both girls decide to take a more subtle approach. When cleaning one of the floors of the school, the girls find an old book that relates to a concurring rumor. Late at night, mermaids appear in the school and if you eat their flesh your love will come true. Will the girls kill for love?

The Good

Setting:

It’s rare to complement a manga or a comic for the use of setting. Setting is usually the last thing people think about when reading a comic, but here it works. Being somewhere familiar (like a school), but in a different setting (at night) can be quite nerve racking.

The Mermaids

I am vaguely familiar with the Japanese myth around mermaids, though the story serves its own mythology. Without giving too much away, the mermaids were the main highlight of the story. Not only that, but the process of how they came to be is (to a point) horrifying.
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Title: Safe Again Today

Author: Yoo Jinsu

Artist: Park Suhlah

Chapters: 1-14 (Complete)

Summary:

Illegal aliens are a hot-button issue in this country, but what about real aliens? If there are aliens (non-believer), then it would go something like this short read. The main character Choi Sera is a caretaker for illegal aliens and she has got her hands full. In her care is Hyunwood, the last of a royal lineage, the “twins,” whom are actually clones, Seunghyun and Seungmin (one part why it’s a mystery). Other alien characters such as Jaemin (I call him the smart one) and Uohmjee (the “?” of the group) help Sera with her daily care. But Sera will need more than that to help out these outsiders fit in. Creating individual identities for the twins, making Earth another home for Hyunwoo, all the while concealing their alien heritage from the public. A difficult process, especially while “hunters” are hot on their trail. Read more »

Hello and welcome to the new site of mangavender!  If you’re just starting out in the wide and fantastic world of manga this is the place for you.  We review the manga and decide if it’s good for beginners to read when they first start out.  So please join us if you want to find your way in the vast and entertaining comics known only as Japanese Manga.

Title: Digimon Next

Author: Hamazaki Tatsuya

Artist: Okano Takeshi

Chapters: 1-25 (Complete)

Summary:

This is a story of digimon (digital monsters) and the hero, Tsurugi Tatsuno, a boy who competes in Virtual Digimon Battle tournaments. But things start to become real when one of the digimon comes to the real world and attacks Tsurugi.  He is then summoned to the Digital World to save it from the evil Barbamon. Tsurugi and his digimon companion Greymon embark on a quest to save it.  They find other kids destined to save the Digital World and they must work together to stop Barbamon from taking over both the Digital and real world.

The Good

Pictures:

There was a lot of high points in this comic.  I really liked how the artwork for the digimon was done.  It was very reminiscent of the anime series that aired back in August of 1999.  I also liked the way the artist drew the heads of the characters.  It was a mix between the realistic and anime approach.  That’s kind of my preference.  I don’t like manga that’s too realistic or too animeish(?) looking.

Story:

I think that the plot was a very Western-style of writing.  It starts out with an event that triggers an avalanche of unfortunate and often dire situations, but eventually ends up with a happy ending.  I don’t know if people who aren’t fans of digimon would really enjoy this because of the way it’s layed out in the manga, but I think that this is a great book for beginners to read.  I liked the flow of the pictures and how each picture was able to draw your eye to the next place.  It was not confusing to follow at all.  A good point about this story is that it has an ending.  Not what I would like to call “a loose-thread ending”.  Where the author has left some plot holes or parts of the story unexplained so that they can start another manga.  When you get to the end, it ends (Unlike Inyuyasha). Read more »