Hell Girl Volume 1

Overall Rating: B+
Synopsis: Hell Girl is a series of short stories that detail the suffering of different people. Typically, there is an antagonist who causes them to suffer, making the individual's life miserable. Fortunately, there is hope for these unfortunate souls (OOoooo dramatic!). Heard about through whispers and rumors, there is a website that can only be accessed at midnight. Known as Jigoku Tsūshin (Hell Correspondence), should someone submit the name of their persecutor (or really just anyone you hate), the Jigoku Shōjo (Hell Girl) will visit them. She has a creepy voice and red eyes, and will offer you a straw doll with a red string wound about its neck. If the string is pulled, she will send your persecutor to Hell by way of trippy hallucinations. However, if you condemn your persecutor to Hell, your soul will also be sent to Hell when you die.

I really like Hell Girl so far. The only reason I didn't rate it higher is there is a lot of repetition of the way the Hell Correspondence works, and the fact that each episode is an unrelated short story. However, they seem to be setting up the series to follow Ai (Hell Girl) and give her more of a background. That holds a lot of promise, so hopefully as the series progresses, it will get even better.

Tekkonkinkreet

Overall Rating: B
Synopsis: Originally titled Tekkon Kinkreet in the Japanese release, the title is a play on "Tekkin Concrete" the Japanese term for reinforced concrete. The movie was directed by Michael Arias, animated by Studio 4°C, and adapted from "Black and White", a one-volume seinen manga series by Taiyō Matsumoto. Set in the fictional Treasure Town, the movie centers around a pair of orphan kids who live on the city's streets, Black and White. Black is older and tougher (some say he's the toughest kid in the city), and protects the child-like (and perpetually snot-nosed) White). Together they make up the gang known as Neko (or Cats).

Black & White seem to have some special abilities, such as the ability to fly (or at least jump and glide further than a normal person could), and being pretty fucking bad-ass for a couple of kids. The first part of the movie focuses on the duo as they confront rival orphan gangs and even the local yakuza.

Things are going well for Black & White until a mysterious snake-faced entrepreneur with blue-skinned giant assassins show up. He begins working with the some of the local yakuza to tear down Treasure Town and replace it with an amusement park. Since Black and White are against the idea, he sends his assassins to kill them.

The most interesting (and confusing) part of the movie comes when White is seriously hurt and then separated from Black. Without White's influence, Black goes insane and even more violent than he already was. Can Treasure Town, and Black, be saved?

When I rented Tekkonkinkreet I was expecting a fun movie about orphan kid gangs with cute animal names "fighting" each other over territory. What I got was a very strange, pretty messed up, and pretty awesome movie. It's not what I expected, and it felt really slow in parts, but I definitely recommend it. Especially if, like me, you're into philosophy.

Yume Kira Dream Shoppe

Overall Rating: D
Synopsis: This fantasy shōjo, created by Aqua Mizuto, we meet Rin. A mysterious shopkeeper, Rin makes dreams come true, but only for a steep price. The shop in question, Yume Kira Dream Shoppe, is magical and (as is driven home at the beginning and end of almost every chapter) flies through the sky at dusk.

If you happen across the shop, or Rin hears your wish, he may grant it in exchange for something valuable in return. For example, in one story a tree wishes to become human. In exchange for granting the wish, Rin asks for the trees leaves. He travels with a stuffed animal named Alpha, who has been animated by Rin's magic.

I picked this book up on a whim, and regret it. From the description, I was hoping for something along the lines of xxxHolic, which has similar (but darker and more interesting) themes. Unfortunately, Yume Kira Dream Shoppe insists on ending every story with a sugary sweet happy ending and a reminder about how awesome the shop is. That was fine the first chapter or two, but it got old quickly.

On top of that, each chapter is a short story, and the only connection between stories is the shop. As a result, it was hard to care about any of the characters or situations presented. I recommend you steer clear of this one.

Re-Gifters

Overall Rating: A
Synopsis: The series is created by writer Mike Carey and artists Sonny Liew and Marc Hempel for DC Comics' Minx line. It follows Jen Dik Seong (or "Dixie"), a high school girl from a poor Korean American family. Dixie's passion is training in the ancient martial art of hapkido. The only problem is that her training keeps getting messed up, because she has a HUGE crush on a boy in her class, Adam. In order to impress him, she buys him a very expensive statue of one of the first Hapkido warriors with the money her parents gave her to enter a Hapkido tournament.

Now, Dixie has to figure out how to get into the tournament, and win Adam's affections.

I really enjoyed this book. Hell, I could almost just leave it at that. Re-Gifters is a fun, cute book with realistic characters and a well-done plot. It reminded me a little of the Karate Kid, if the main character was a young Korean American girl, and the story was a lot better. Oh, and Daniel-san had a crush on "Sweep the Leg" Johnny. Check this one out.

The Wallflower Volume 1

Overall Rating: B
Synopsis: A Shōjo comedy/romance manga created by Tomoko Hayakawa. At the beginning of the manga, Sunako Nakahara confesses her love to a boy, who utterly rejects her and tells her she's ugly. As any reasonably young person would do, Sunako then discards all traces of her femininity, and retreats into odd and morbid hobbies, such as collecting skulls.

Fortunately, Sunako's aunt owns a mansion that four gorgeous boys live in (huh?). Apparently, the boys pay rent to live in the mansion, and the aunt offers them free rent if they give Sunako a Pygmalian-esque makeover, and she becomes a "perfect lady". The boys set to work, and hilarity ensues.

Often, Sunako is shown as an exaggerated version of her true self that looks like a female version Cartman from Southpark. Will these gorgeous boys succeed? Will Sunako's inner beauty shine through?

I passed over The Wallflower several times before checking it out. I'm not a huge fan of the art, but I love the ridiculous plot so far. This works pretty well as a comedy/romance Shōjo, and I'm interested in the characters. The series is ongoing, so I'm not sure how long they can keep the plot interesting, but I'll definitely be reading it for awhile. It has a lot of potential.

XS Hybrid Volume 1

Overall Rating: B
Synopsis: Created by S. Ji-Hyung, the series is a science fiction story, and one of Dark Horse's new Manwha (South Korean manga) titles. The story is set in a future where some humans have become "hybrids", with special powers, and follows Mina, a tomboy with psychic powers (clearly one of the hybrids). These hybrids police the planet, or kill many, many people, or both.

A lot of the plot in the first volume focuses on Hinchang, a normal kid who is in love with Mina (despite the fact that she put him in a coma years before. That's love.) Hinchang spends most of the book saving Mina from being attacked by another hybrid (who looks cool and has psychic powers), and various other mysterious men (re: bad guys) who are trying to capture/kill Mina.

I like XS Hybrid, but I don't love it. I don't think there are enough really good science fiction manga/manwha, and this one comes close. Basically, I want to love it, but it hasn't grabbed me yet. I think it's because I'm not totally thrilled with either Hinchang or Mina. Hinchang isn't really interesting aside from apparently being a daredevil, and Mina seems incapable of defending herself, despite having psychic powers. Hopefully, both will develop into interesting characters in later volumes.

Shugo Chara! Volume 1

Overall Rating: B+
Synopsis: Created by Peach-Pit, the series is a shōjo manga that follows Amu Hinamori, a student at Seiyo Elementary. Amu has a reputation for being stylish and cool (that's her to the left), but she's really very shy. One night, she makes a wish that she could be her real self, and the next morning she finds three brightly colored eggs in her bed. Each egg eventually hatches a Guardian Character, angel-like beings able to change Amu into a new personality. She also has to deal with the Guardians of Seiyo Elementary, a student council group who have their own Guardian Characters (and a really stupid looking cape).

Of course, the current Guardian King at Seiyo (Guardians are based on cards, so you have King, Queen, Jack and Ace) is Tadase Hotori, Amu's love interest. As an example of how a Guardian Character can affect someone, whenever someone refers to Tadase as "Prince" (his nickname), he changes into a violent, egotistical king who wishes to rule the world. Fun, right?

I grabbed the first volume of Shugo Chara!, because it looked ridiculously cute. So far, the first volume has delivered on that cuteness in spades. The plot is interesting and while it has some familiar aspects (for example, student council being treated like royalty, and the main character having mixed emotions about joining said council), I like the concept of Guardian Characters, and it's different enough to be intriguing. Hopefully the series will live up to its promise.