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).

Characters:

For me there was some background given that I really liked.  Most of it was about Tsurugi, the main character and Shou, a side character, but there were enough tidbits of the other characters that you could understand them slightly.  My favorite personality was for the youngest of the kids Yuu Inui because he’s like the average joe in anime.  He doesn’t believe in himself in the beginning, but eventually gets the courage to help and become a stronger character.  I also liked those of Shou and Norn because they were those of two best friends, but one of them was misguided and the other was trying to fix a mistake made in the past.  When it comes to my favorites when talking about how a character changes I think that once again I will have to pick Yuu and even Shou.  Yuu gains more courage and eventually Shou matures into a kind of good character who later corrects his wrongs.

The Bad

Pictures:

Unfortunately with every good side there’s also a bad one.  When it comes to proportions on the part of the humans I will definitely have to say they got it wrong.  It was like I was transported back to the 50s when Astro Boy came out in the U.S. or even a couple of years back to the first season of Beyblade.  The arms, and legs were way too big.  The hands looked like they were plump sausages on a stump of meat.  As I read it longer I got used to them, but it almost distracted so much that I could hardly read anymore.

Story:

The dialogue was…to put it bluntly really corny.  It was kind of like watching an old Power Rangers episode sort of corny.  But it was really kidsy at the same time.  I thought that it was going to have this kind of dialogue for a long time, until I got past the beginning scanlations and saw that there was a lot of cursing added in.  It surprised me because, for me, cursing and digimon don’t really go together.  But, hey you get what you can.  The background story felt really rushed to me.  In one chapter they pretty much explain most of it, like dropping a big piece of meat on the floor it’s just there.  I would have liked it if they had done it a little better.  Slowly put parts of it in the beginning, a lot in the middle, and less in the end, but we can’t always get what we want.

Characters:

I did not like the personalities of Tsurugi and Ami.  They were really the typical characters you see in anime and manga all the time.  Tsurugi is the happy-go-lucky guy who doesn’t notice anything outside of friendship and protecting the ones he loves.  Ami, on the other hand, is one of those useless characters who don’t really do anything in the story whatsoever.  She doesn’t want to fight until she can’t, then all she can really do is what she’d been doing the whole time, standing back and watching.  When it comes to changing, Ami and Tsurugi are the ones who barely change if at all.  Tsurugi ends the story with the same attitude he came in with.  Ami barely changes in the last chapters, when she finally realizes that she needs to help.

The General

All in all, since this is a site for beginners, I recommend this manga for them.  It’s a good one to get started off with.  It can gradually help you get ready for more serious and strange stories and plots that those really creative Japanese people come up with.  My rating is three stars out of five.  This is for anyone ages fifteen and up.

Rating:***~~ (3/5)

Character Names:

Main: Tsurugi Tatsuno and Agumon

Side: Yuu Inui and Gaomon

Ami Kitajima and Pitimon

Shou Kahara and Peckmon

Barbamon

Piximon

Norn Mikihara