Monster

Overall Rating: A+
Summary: A psychological/horror/detective seinen series created by Naoki Urasawa, which follows Dr. Kenzo Tenma. An incredibly skilled brain surgeon from Japan, Tenma seems to have it all. He is working at the Eisler Memorial Hospital in Düsseldorf, is up for a promotion, and is engaged to the director of the hospital's daughter, Eva. Unfortunately, the Director, Heinemann, consistently gives priority to high-profile patients at the cost of the lives of less important people. Tenma becomes increasingly unhappy with this arrangement, believing that his role should be to help those in the most need.

He gets his chance to stand up to his future father-in-law when twins Johan and Anna come to the hospital. Johan is suffering from a gunshot wound to the head, and Anna is clearly in shock only talking about "killing". Their parents are dead, and Tenma decides to operate on Johan even after the mayor of Düsseldorf is brougt in and he is ordered to work on him instead. Tenma saves the child, but the politician dies despite the efforts of other doctors. As a result, Tenma loses everything. He is no longer favored by Heinemann and Eva leaves him.

He confesses his frustration to the young boy, Johan, and soon thereafter, everyone in his way dies of poisoning. Johan and his sister have vanished, and Tenma is the primary suspect. Thus the 18 volume story of how a humanitarian act can cause a rash of serial murders, and Doctor Tenma's journey to find the killer begins.

I became a fan of Naoki Urasawa when I started reading "20th Century Boys", and have enjoyed his take on Osamu Tezuka's "Astro Boy", "Pluto". Now, I'm addicted to "Monster". I'm only three volumes in, but I can't wait to read more. I highly recommend this one.

Nabari No Ou

Overall Rating: B+
Summary: An action/comedy/drama/supernatural shōnen series (or superdramactedy for short), based on the manga written and illustrated by Yuhki Kamatani. The story follows Miharu Rokujou, an introverted kid with a devilish side, but who otherwise seems pretty normal. Out of the blue, his classmate Koichi Aizawa approaches him to join a Nindō club, which Miharu refuses.

However, the situation changes when Miharu is attacked by ninjas and is defended by Koichi. During the fight, Koichi defends Miharu and explains to him that there is a secret ninja world called Nabari, and that he is destined to be king. Miharu has the secret art Shinra Bansho written in his blood, and as a result he cannot return to his normal life.

Miharu learns that Koichi is a part of the Nabari world, as is one of his teachers (and advisor for the Nindō club), Tobari Durandal Kumohira. The other ninja of Nabari will stop at nothing to learn the Shinra Bansho, and so in order to survive Miharu must learn to use the power himself or get it out of him. Unfortunately, Miharu doesn't want to become a ninja and getting the Shinra Bansho out of him could kill him.

The set-up may sound kind of crazy (and it is at times), but this show plays the different elements of superdramactedy (yes, I made that word up, so what?) off each other well. The plot is interesting and the characters work well together. Throw in a dash of comedy to lighten things up a little and some good old fashioned ninja action and magic, and you have a winning combination.

Nana

Overall Rating: A+

Summary: A romance/drama/music shōjo series created by Ai Yazawa, and focuses on the lives of young women who are both named Nana. To top it off, they meet on a train when they are both moving to Tokyo and they're the same age (20)! That's where the similarities end. Nana Osaki is a singer in a punk band called Black Stones (or Blast) and is moving to Tokyo to become a star. Nana Komatsu is from a small town and is following her friends and boyfriend to Tokyo, but doesn't know what she wants to do with her life.

As the story progresses, we learn more about each Nana's past, and then their stories merge again when they both want to rent the same apartment and decide to move in together. Nana Osaki gives Nana Komatsu the nickname "Hachi" (after Hachikō), because her behavior is similar to a dog's, and it helps tell them apart (thanks!). Hachi also becomes good friends with the members of Nana's band, Nobuo, Yasu and the very young, and very promiscuous, Shin.

As the series progresses, Blast gains more and more popularity, but the romantic entanglements become more and more complicated. Nana O's ex-boyfriend (who left her to join the band Trapnest in Tokyo) returns, and the two bands become intertwined. Hachi's inclination to fall in love at first site gets her in trouble, and all the other characters have relationships that progress throughout the series.

I absolutely adore Nana. The anime is based on the manga and so far it has been completely faithful to the original series. The addition of the music really adds to the story, since in the manga you have to imagine it. Although it is typically categorized as shōjo, Nana has josei themes. For example, the relationships in Nana are not idealized (a common feature in shōjo), but are instead very realistic, which is one of the reasons I love the series. It's very easy to relate to all of the characters and get drawn in (though that can also be frustrating since they can make dumb decisions!). That said, it retains a lot of the comedy of shōjo-style manga, which helps offset the heavy emphasis on romance and drama. In short, it's one of my all-time favorite series, and I can't recommend the manga and anime enough. Be forewarned, there is minor nudity in the manga series (I haven't seen any in the anime yet), but nothing serious.

Genshiken 2

Overall Rating: A

Summary: Genshiken is a comedy/slice-of-life anime series based on the manga of the same name by Shimoku Kio. The story revolves around the lives of the members of Genshiken, a college club for otaku, and the adventures (and misadventures) associated with being otaku. The first volume of the anime (and the beginning of the manga) begins with the introduction of Kanji Sasahara, an introverted college freshman who is obsessed with anime and manga, but isn't comfortable with that aspect of his identity. On club day he decides to join Genshiken, a club that's only purpose is to enjoy the otaku lifestyle. He also meets Makoto Kousaka, a fellow freshman who is attractive, laid-back, and completely comfortable with his otakuness. The other club members are Harunobu Madarame, a hardcore otaku who spends all of his money on dōjinshi, Souichiro Tanaka, who is an expert cosplay designer and loves plastic models, and Mitsunori Kugayama, who is stuttering, overweight and an excellent artist. Soon after Sasahara's arrival, two female members join, Kanako Ohno, who loves cosplay and Saki Kusakabe who only joins because she's in love with Kousaka. However, over time Saki comes to be a true member of the club, and even tries cosplay. The first volume of the anime follows the group for roughly the first year of Sasahara's college life, and includes two new members joining a year later, Chika Ogiue, who is obsessed with yaoi and is embarressed about her otaku nature, and Manabu Kuchiki, who is loud and annoying and completely unashamed of his otakuness.

The series follows the group as they travel to Comifes, hang out in the club room, and even go to the beach. At the beginning of the second season, the club has recently been accepted to participate as one of the dōjinshi vendors at Comifes, and Sasahara has become president of the club. Now they just have to complete the dōjinshi and get everything ready, but it's a lot harder than anyone realized.

Genshiken is one of my favorite manga and anime. The anime series is incredibly faithful to the manga, and I'm so excited that they finally made a second season. The first season aired in 2004 and an OVA was made in 2006 and 2007, so it's been a long time in between everything. One of the reasons I love this series so much is that it gives a very realistic take on life as an otaku (or geek), and there just aren't enough of those. All of the characters are well-developed and I recognize a lot of the personalities of my friends in them. I can't wait for volume 2 of Genshiken 2 to come out, but unfortunately I have to wait until October 27th. I may have to reread the manga in the meantime.

If you're a geek, and if you're not I have no idea why you're reading this, check out Genshiken (both the anime and the manga) now! You'll thank me.

X-Men: Misfits

Overall Rating: A+

Summary: A superhero/romance shōjo series written by Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman (both of whom used to be regulars on Girlamatic with their comics Smile and Astronaut Elementary), and Illustrated by Anzu, which follows Kitty Pryde, a young high school girl who has the ability to phase through solid objects. In her public school, she suffers from the ridicule of her classmates, and alienation because she is a mutant. However, at the beginning of the manga, Kitty is invited to attend Professor Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, a school for people like her, and her whole world changes.

For one thing, she is the only girl at the school. As you can guess in a high school full of boys this means she gets a lot of attention. They're also all mutants like her, so P.E. means practicing in the danger room, and science class discusses the differences in DNA between humans and mutants. As Kitty adjusts to life at Xavier's, she catches the eye of the Hellfire Club. Led by Angel, the club seems to have it all - money, looks, and they can get away with anything they want. Now, the Hellfire Club wants to add the only female student to their group as their mascot. It doesn't hurt that Kitty can't take her eyes off of Pyro, one of the club's hottest members, and he can't seem to take his eyes off of her either. Throw in cold-as-ice (pun intended) Bobby Drake, the intimidating but sweet Kurt Wagner, and the radical Scott Summers and you've got an exciting high school. Who will Kitty end up with? Is the Hellfire Club more dangerous than it appears? Just how adorable is Beast? You'll have to read the series to find out!

X-Men: Misfits is everything that is great about the X-men comics shōjo rolled into one manga series. I have been eagerly awaiting this one since it was announced more than a year ago, and it does not disappoint. I absolutely love the character designs for Beast and Colossus, Cyclops works perfectly as a vegan, and the Hellfire Club is essentially a host club like Ouran! Brilliant! Seriously though, if you enjoy either X-Men or shōjo (or both, like me) then do yourself a favor and pick this one up. I can't wait to pick up volume 2, but unfortunately there is no release date information yet. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an Angel costume to go work on.

Sora No Manimani

Overall Rating: B+

Summary: A romantic comedy/slice of life series, Sora No Manimani is alternately titled "At the mercy of the sky". The story focuses on Saku Ōyagi, a quiet teenager who spends most of his time reading books. At the beginning of the series, his family has just moved back to his hometown as Saku begins high school. He has dreams of a girl he knew as a child who was of a much more...wild spirit then he was, and was constantly dragging him around on adventures. The girl, Mihoshi Akeno, loved star-gazing, and Saku was often dragged along with her on starry nights. Before his family left town they went on a final star-gazing trip, but Mihoshi fell out of a tree. Saku caught her, but broke his arm, and when Mihoshi didn't visit him in the hospital he vowed never to see her again.

Of course, on his first day back at school, Saku runs into Mihoshi who is promoting the astronomy club. She is on top of the school throwing gold stars down on the students, and encouraging them to join the club. Saku tries to avoid her, but that only makes things worse. Mihoshi tackles him in hallways and is always trying to find him after class. Eventually, Saku realizes that Mihoshi didn't abandon him, but instead was in the hospital herself and wasn't released until after he was. He also discovers that the Astronomy club doesn't have enough members to stay a club. He joins up to help make amends, despite his desire to join the literature club.

Thus begins a slapstick romantic comedy centered around Saku and the astronomy club. It's not quite a harem anime, but it's close with multiple women having a crush on Saku, and he doesn't know quite what to do.

I have to say, I'm not usually a big fan of harem anime. They simply strike me as completely ridiculous. Take one awkward high school boy, add in cute girls, some slapstick comedy, and you're done! Maybe I'm just jealous since I was an awkward high school boy, and that never happened to me. As I mentioned though, Sora No Manimani isn't quite a harem anime in my opinion, and although it has some of the common tropes it's a lot more interesting and engaging than the standard fare. The characters are interesting, and that's really what drives slice of life anime. Saku is believable as an awkward teenager, and Mihoshi is hilarious. It's worth checking out for a fun, kind of fluffy series.

Uzumaki

Warning: Not for the faint of heart. Skip this one if you don't enjoy horror.

Overall Rating: A

Summary: A three volume horror seinen manga by Junji Ito, which is set in the small Japanese town of Kurôzu-cho and follows high school student Kirie Goshima. In the first volume, Kirie finds out that her boyfriend, Shuichi ,is worried about his father, who has begun a strange obsession about spirals. He has begun to collect anything he can find with a spiral pattern, and his obsession goes so far that he stops going to work and instead simply stares at his collection. The situation becomes even more disturbing when Shuichi's father begins making spirals with his own body, and eventually kills himself by contorting his entire body into a spiral.

After his death, Shuichi's father is cremated, and the smoke from his ashes form a spiral in the sky. Understandably, all of this drives Shuichi's mother insane, and she develops a phobia of spirals. She is hospitalized, and Shuichi, scared of what she do if she finds out, has the doctors remove anatomical diagrams of the ear which (of course) contains a spiral. Unfortunately, she realizes that her cochlea is a spiral, and stabs herself with a pair of scissors. This causes her to suffer from vertigo until she dies. Her ashes also form a spiral when she is cremated, and this is only the beginning.

Soon, things intensify: a lighthouse throws out spiral beams at dusk; babies are born, only to sprout spiral-capped mushroom-shaped appendages from their stomachs, and people begin turning into snails. Can this infestation of spirals be stopped, or will it swallow Kirie and Shuichi as well?

My friend Mark recommended this manga to me, and so I borrowed all three volumes from him. Junji Ito does an amazing job of using traditional manga settings and scenarios and making them creepy by adding in spirals and horror elements. For example, in one scene Kirie is at school and things seem normal until a kid who is known for being slow shows up with traits similar to a snail. Over a few days he becomes more and more snail-like until his transformation is complete. At first the other kids bully him as they would normally, but as the transformation continues they bullying becomes more vicious, but the bullies also become scared of the creature. I won't give away what happens next, but it's both creepy and awesome. If you enjoy a really interesting horror plot that builds its creepiness until the very end, then you will probably enjoy "Uzumaki".