漫画大好き ... I ❤ manga!

( ^ Domo arigato to my wonderful Sato for the Japanese translation! ^ )

Ever since a few weeks ago when I picked up Mars by Fuyumi Soryo at the village library, I've been completely in love with manga. Since then, I've read five more volumes of Mars, five more of One Piece by Eiichiro Oda, and my amazing friend Jess handed over a massive stack of her own collection for my perusal (including several volumes of Shaman King, some Naruto, The Good Witch of the West and various others – you rock, Jess!) I can't get enough of the stuff!

What I think I love about manga is the pure Japanese artistry and humour which, I know, is a given considering it is Japanese (I hear a lot of 'duh's!). But you know what I mean; it just has a certain charm that you can't find with any old comic book or graphic novel. As much as I would love to enjoy reading Spiderman, Batman or even Buffy (I've concluded that the Season 8 storyline is too out-there for my taste... even by Buffy's standards!), there's nothing that I find particularly appealing about them. It's also really interesting that a lot of anime series' have started out as manga (like One Piece, as you can see). So there's no shortage of opportunities to see your favourite characters both illustrated and animated. But, then again, there's not exactly a shortage of adaptations when it comes to western comic book characters, either! Though you guys see my point by now. Manga is just a completely different culture, and when I read it I feel like I'm visiting some exotic place. Now if only I could just read all of it in the original Japanese instead of translated English... that would make it even sweeter!

So you can expect a lot more manga reviews in this blog's future! I'm dying to read the next few installments of Mars, so hopefully I'll be able to find all the volumes at good prices. But if not, I have lots to read in the meantime! Will just have to try and tell myself that though, haha.

How about you guys; do you read manga? What are your favourites?

REVIEW: Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Season 8, Volume 2 – No Future For You

When a rogue debutant Slayer begins to use her power for evil, Giles is forced to recruit the rebellious Faith, who isn’t exactly known for her good deeds. Giles offers Faith a clean slate if she can stop this snooty Slayer from wreaking total havoc--that is, if Buffy doesn’t beat her to it.

Georges Jeanty (The American Way) remains at the top of his game as series artist, and Whedon continues as Executive Producer in this direct follow-up to Season Seven of the smash-hit TV series. (via Dark Horse)

The Buffy Season 8 fest continues! This is definitely my favourite volume out of the three I've read so far. Here we meet Faith and Giles for the first time in season 8, and at the beginning we find out a little of what the former has been doing since the end of season 7. Giles, however, remains a bit of an enigma until near the end of this volume.

As with volume 1 there are five comic books in total here. The first four, collectively named No Future For You, focus around Faith as she is recruited by Giles to take down a snobby, power hungry slayer called Gigi, and put an end to her ways before she causes unrepairable damage. Faith travels to England and goes undercover, attempting to move in closer to the slayer's proximity, but she soon finds herself identifying with Gigi and hesitates getting the job done. Sounds like typical Faith, right? So we're left wondering for a while which side of her will prevail – the evil or good?

If you're a Faith fan, this isn't gonna let you down. The whole story is her – exciting and unpredictable to no end. I'm not a huge fan of Faith's (too much evil!) but this really got me. And I must admit that she seems more interesting in comic book form than Buffy does! The ex-rogue slayer should've seriously got her own series.

The extra comic is called Anywhere But Here, and is not directly connected with Faith's No Future For You. It follows Willow and Buffy into the inter-dimensional lair of a demon called Sephrilian, in the hopes that it will reveal more about the mysterious villian known as 'Twilight' (the mystery of 'Twilight' and its motives cover the main story ark of season 8). But, as usual, trouble ensues, and some revealing secrets are uncovered. A pretty good stand alone story leaving you ready for volume 3! ;-)


Rating: 5 / 5

Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Season 8, Volume 1 – The Long Way Home

Since the destruction of the Hellmouth, the Slayers - newly legion - have gotten organized and are kicking some serious undead butt. But not everything's fun and firearms, as an old enemy reappears and Dawn experiences some serious growing pains. Meanwhile, one of the "Buffy" decoy slayers is going through major pain of her own. Buffy creator Joss Whedon brings Buffy back to Dark Horse in this direct follow-up to season seven of the smash-hit TV series. The bestselling and critically acclaimed issues #1-5 are collected here for the first time, as are their covers by Jo Chen and Georges Jeanty. (via Dark Horse)

Having recently restarted watching the entire Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV series and becoming an even bigger fan of the show than I was when it originally aired, I had to get my hands on the Buffy Season 8 graphic novels! It's taken me a few months to do so, but here they are finally. There are 8 volumes in total, each containing 5 issues of the comic book series.

I've gotta say that if you're a Buffy fan and haven't picked these up yet, you must! I'm not usually a reader of comic books or graphic novels, but I felt that I couldn't miss this chance to find out what happens to all the characters after the TV show.

That is, indeed, where this series picks up from. The back cover of the first volume, The Long Way Home, explains it best:

Worldwide cult phenomenon Buffy the Vampire Slayer returns with Season Eight––only in comics! Series creator Joss Whedon once again takes up writing duties for this official sequel to the show, running the comics as he ran seven seasons of Buffy on TV. This opening story introduces a mysterious threat known as "Twilight" and plunges Buffy and the gang into their biggest adventure––without the limitations of a small-screen budget.

Volume 1 introduces us to this new world in which a few hundred of the newly activated slayers are working for Buffy and the gang in 10 separate squads. Now that Sunnydale is no more, headquarters are now set up in rural Scotland, and together they train these girls to fight against the 'Big Bads'. There are huge monsters, bigger plot twists (trust me) and plenty of nail biting moments. And as creator Joss Whedon writes for this series, plenty of the character's charming qualities and definable wit is in the dialogue. It's very true to the show.

But I'll admit that it wasn't love at first sight for me. I originally disliked the shortened dialogue and the storyline (they really take advantage of the no-budget-to-worry-about deal! And why not? I ask myself now. All comic books do this.) Though as I read on, the story got more and more interesting and I also got used to the narrative style. I guess what you're supposed to do is pick up additional description and detail from the drawings––not relying solely on the words as you would in a normal book. Took me a little while to 'get the hang of' this, but I've got it now. Jeez, this just gives away how much I don't read graphic novels, doesn't it?!

By the end of volume one I was hooked, and quickly went out to get volume 2 (which is, for the record, even better than volume 1)! I'll review that one next week.

Definitely recommended to fellow slayer pals!

Rating: 4 / 5