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.

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".

20th Century Boys

Overall Rating: A+
Summary: A seinen science fiction/mystery series created by Naoki Urasawa, which follows Kenji Endō, who owns a liquor store and takes care of his infant niece. The story splits its time between the present day (which is 1999 in the story) and when Kenji was growing up with his friends in 1969.

In the present day, Kenji's friend Donkey has apparently committed suicide, but there is also a series of murders. Kenji believes all of it is tied to a strange symbol which he recognizes as being familiar, but cannot place. At the wake for his friend, he reunites with his childhood friends and they reminisce about growing up together and their "secret base". None of them can quite remember the strange symbol or its meaning, but all of them recognize it. What does the symbol mean, and what is its connection to the friends and the strange cult that is growing in popularity? Most importantly, who is "Friend" and what is their connection to Kenji and his friends?

I really can't recommend this one enough. I picked it up this weekend at Chapel Hill Comics' annual Monster Sale, because I had heard good things about it, and wanted to check it out. Now I'm trying to figure out when I can get back to Chapel Hill to buy the second volume (it's supposed to have come out today). The story and characters are well-developed and by the end of the first volume I am completely hooked. I can't wait to see where things go, and I imagine that once I'm done with the second volume I will be annoyed that the third (and final) volume doesn't come out until June.

Yggdrasil

Overall Rating: D+
Summary: Created by Lay Mutsuki, this seinen series is set "in the near future, and online gaming is all the rage!" Apparently, that's an important distinction, since no one plays online games these days. In the "near future" the same company that produces the most popular online game also produces the most popular OS and the two are shipped together. Luckily for Koki Tachibana, his father works for the company! Koki has been doing testing for his dad since the game started, and now he has two characters. One who is a pretty standard character and one that's the most powerful character in the game. Unfortunately for Koki, someone has hacked his account and is playing with the god-like character.

Now Koki's has to find out who's been logging into his account before they cause any major problems.

"Yggdrasil" sounded kind of interesting, so I gave it a shot, but I was pretty disappointed. The plot is pretty interesting, but so far none of the characters have much depth. Also, it was billed as being supernatural/fantasy, but so far the only aspects of the story that has been along those lines have been in the online game. Hopefully the series will improve in later volumes.

Ghost Talker’s Daydream

Overall Rating: B
Summary: A supernatural seinen (18+) written by Saki Okuse with art by Sankichi Meguro, which follows Misaki Saiki, a normal 19-year-old woman who is holding down two jobs to make ends meet. However, her jobs are a bit...odd. Misaki works as a dominatrix and as a necromancer. Working for the Livlihood Protection Agency, she uses her ability to see and speak with spirits to help them find peace and move on.

Misaki works with Souichiro Kadotake, an agent for the LPA, who is a martial artist and afraid of ghosts. To add more zany hijinks to the series, Misaki is an albino and a virgin. Crazy!

I liked the sound of this manga from the blurb, so I decided to pick it up. Honestly, it was about what I expected. It's going for the same kind of dark humor that Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service does so well, and adds a bit of sex appeal. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, Ghost Talker's Daydream doesn't quite pull it off. For me, it's the sex appeal, which is used too often in unnecessary crotch shots and bad jokes. I think if the series went with less fan service and more dark humor, it could be as good as Kurosagi. As is, it's just okay. If you're 18+ and in the mood for a mature supernatural manga, then check it out, but be prepared. Check out a preview here: http://www.darkhorse.com/Books/Previews/14-972?page=0

Emma: A Victorian Romance

Overall Rating: A
Summary: A historical romance series by Kaoru Mori. Emma is set in Victorian London, and is the story of a maid (surprisingly, her name is Emma) who falls in love with a nobleman named William Jones. Unfortunately, as the heir to his family, William is encouraged to marry into another wealthy family, and his family disapproves of him associating with people of the lower classes. Obviously, Emma is not their idea of marrying material. The series revolves around the tension caused by their love.

Emma is a great story that reminds me more of seminal Victorian novels like "Jane Eyre" and "Pride and Prejudice" that has been made into a anime. It is different from a lot of other anime/manga set in Victorian times as it does not include any fantasy or alternate history aspects to the story. If you like period romances, this one's definitely for you!

MPD Psycho Volume 1

Overall Rating: B+
Summary: MPD Psycho is a psychological horror series written by Eiji Otsuka and illustrated by Shou Tajima, which follows Yousuke Kobayashi a former police detective. The series opens with Kobayashi tracking down a serial killer who severs the limbs off his victims. Meanwhile, Kobayashi is suffering from strange dreams where he sees himself killing people. After seeing Kobayashi on tv, the serial killer kidnaps his girlfriend, and severs her limbs, but keeps her alive.

After Kobayashi tracks him down, the killer tells him that he sees something familiar in Kobayashi and that they are on the same side. At that point, another personality emerges, and Kobayashi becomes Shinji Nishizono. Shinji kills the serial killer and is sent to prison. It is implied that the dreams Kobayashi had been having were actually Shinji killing people.

Most of the above is revealed in flashbacks, and the bulk of the first volume is set after Kobayashi is released from prison. His primary personality is now Kazuhiko Amamiya, a brilliant criminologist, and he has been hired to work with a private consulting agency. The agency is headed up by Machi Isono, a criminologist that asked Kobayashi to consult on some cases while he was in prison. They work to track down and bring to justice serial killers, and tend to deal with the really weird and difficult cases the police have trouble solving themselves.

Eiji Otsuka also writes Kurosaki Corpse Delivery Service, which I love, so I was excited to read MPD Psycho. The two titles are very different, and MPD has little of the dark humor that makes Kurosaki great. However, it makes up for that with a great concept, some really intriguing plot, and interesting characters. The only slight negative is that sometimes it feels like they're trying too hard to shock the reader. MPD comes shrink-wrapped and with an 18+ warning for good reason, and I would definitely caution against reading it if you're squeamish. Otherwise, I'm looking forward to checking out volume 2.

Dragon Head Volume 1

Overall Rating: A
Summary: Created by Minetaro Mochizuki, the series is a psychological horror seinen manga. Dragon Head follows Teru Aoki, a school kid, who wakes up in a wrecked train. He had been traveling home with his classmates after a school trip, and just before entering a tunnel he saw something strange on the horizon. Some catastrophe has occurred, and now most of his classmates and teachers are dead, the tunnel is oddly hot, and is caved in on both sides.

The only other survivors are Nobou Takahashi who is going insane, and Ako Seto who was wounded in the accident. They have to find a way to survive, and escape the tunnel, but what awaits them outside?

Dragon Head and Metro Survive are similar in that they both involve train accidents where you don't know what the extent of the damage is to the outside world. Both also do an excellent job of keeping you in suspense and wondering what's going to happen next. I enjoyed the different perspectives though, and I find Teru a little more interesting as a main character. I'm excited about getting my hands on Volume 2, and I hope the series keeps up the excitement for the 10 volume run, which was recently released.

Metro Survive Volume 1

Overall Rating: A
Summary: Created by Yuki Fujisawa, the series follows Mishima, who is trying to make a living working as a repairman for Exopolis Tower, a business and entertainment building that is supposed to be the new hotness. Unfortunately, in an effort to get the building completed as quickly as possible, it was shoddily made, and so being a repairman takes up a lot of time. Mishima promises to be home in time for his son's birthday, but his boss is an ass who forces him to take overtime (after threatening to fire Mishima if he doesn't agree. The work ends up taking all night, and on the morning subway train heading home, a massive earthquake strikes and collapses both Exopolis and its underground train lines. Mishima has to survive the disaster along with the other passengers and find a way to get out. Fortunately, his experience as a repairman comes in handy, but can they survive the dangers? Why haven't they received any communication from the surface, and who is that woman on the cover?

Metro Survive is one of those manga that draws you in and then grabs you. When I finished the first volume, I wanted the second one to be out, so I could read more of what happened. I highly recommend this one!

Switch Manga Volume 1

Overall Rating: C-
Summary: This police mystery manga by Naked Ape follows two new recruits to the Narcotics Control Department in Japan, Hal and Kai. Kai looks like your average, cute manga boy, but apparently has a violent, dark side that shows itself in the first volume. It looks like who he is and what triggers his "switch" to dark Kai is going to be a big part of this manga.

Adding to the plot is a new drug called "Dragon Speed" (basically really bad ass speed), which is being distributed by a Chinese drug ring. It's even rumored that a major star, Kyoya Shirai is addicted to the drug. Kai goes undercover to find out if he's an addict, and who his supplier is before Kyoya dies.

The premise of Switch sounded interesting, so I picked it up. The premise held for the first volume, but the characters were pretty bland. I didn’t really get into any of them, so even though the art was cool, and the story was pretty decent, I just wasn’t that interested in the book. I may check out volume 2 to see if it’s any better.

Mushishi Anime Volume 1

Overall Rating: B+
Synopsis: A historical fantasy/psychological seinen series directed by Hiroshi Nagahama and animated by Artland. The story follows Ginko, a mushishi master, who travels the land finding and studying mushi, and helping those affected by them.

In the series, mushi are described as the purest form of life, an as being in touch with the essence of life. Mushi have many different qualities and are neither good nor evil. Because of their nature, only some people can see the mushi. As a result, many of the legends of ghosts and other supernatural occurrences are humans trying to interpret the actions of the mushi. Depending on the type of mushi, they may either help or harm humans they interact with, and we see many varieties during the course of the show.

Ginko has lost the use of one eye, had his hair turned white and his other eye turned green as the result of a run-in with a mushi, but we don't learn much more about him in the first four episodes. The few things we do learn are that he constantly smokes to keep away the mushi that are always drawn to him, and that he carries a box on his back that contains medicines to help deal with the mushi.

I really enjoyed Mushishi. The series is a little slow in it's pacing, and the episodic nature of it means the only consistent character is Ginko, but it's an incredibly interesting world. I'm looking forward to watching more of the series and learning more about Ginko and the mushi.

Mail Volume 1

Overall Rating: B
Synopsis: Created by the artist from Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, Housui Yamazaki, the series follows private detective Reiji Akiba, who specializes in the paranormal. Volume 1 opens with a nude model shoot, which immediately tells you why the books are wrapped in plastic. The shoot is in a river, and according to the location scout, it was beautiful. Apparently, it flooded, and everything from trash to a skeleton got washed into the area.

The photos reveal even more creepiness. Aside from the nude woman, there is also a headless girl in the photo. This is when we're introduced to the eccentric (a nice way of saying very weird) Akiba. He believes that the dead try to communicate with us every day, and that if we read their "mail", then we can help put them to rest. Sometimes, the dead aren't cooperative, so he also has special bullets with prayers on them that help put the more unruly spirits to rest as well.

I like Mail, but I hope it picks up steam. There are a lot of parallels to Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, which I love, but it doesn't quite capture the dark humor. It's more like Trigun meets horror, which could be fantastic if the series builds up steam.

Check out more manga and anime reviews at Hobotaku!

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.

Red Garden Anime Review of Disc 1

Overall Rating: B+
Synopsis: Red Garden is a supernatural/horror/drama/mystery anime by Gonzo studio. The plot follows Kate, Rachel, Rose, and Claire, who all go to the same private school in New York. All four wake up one morning with no memory of the last night. The following night, they are all visited by red butterflies that lead them to a woman named Lula who tells them they are dead. For obvious reasons, this only confuses them more. She also reveals that the four girls must fight strange creatures for them to stay alive. However, they soon realize she's telling the truth, as one of the creatures attacks them.

I'll be the first to admit I have a soft spot for supernatural manga and anime. So, when I heard about Red Garden I knew I had to check it out. I haven't gotten that far into it yet, but I'm already glad I got the first disc from Netflix. The plot shows a lot of promise, and I want to know the whole story behind the four girls and how they're alive.

I will say there are a couple of scenes where Rose cries a lot. Based on her crying alone, Rose is my least favorite character. Seriously, if you heard it, you'd probably agree. Ouch. I would have rated Red Garden higher if it weren't for that, and the pretty bad musical montage in one of the episodes.

Aside from those pretty minor aspects, I'm looking forward to where the series is going. I recommend checking this one out if you like supernatural plots.

Q-Ko Chan Volume 1

Overall Rating: C+
Synopsis: Q-Ko Chan is written by Ueda Hajime, who also adapted FLCL into manga form. The story follows Kirio Muji, who doesn't care about anything, not even his sister. As he is walking home one day, an air raid begins (apparently a common occurrance in the world of Q-Ko Chan) but Kirio seems unfazed and continues home. Outside his home, he finds a robot girl who protects him from a barrage of bullets and then flies into a forest. From there Q-Ko Chan becomes stranger and stranger.

I love FLCL, so when I saw that the person that adapted it for manga was doing an original manga, I was excited. Q-Ko Chan's art and style are fun and different from most manga, but the plot is hard to follow, and the characters are difficult to relate to. That being said, the art really is neat, and extremely cute. I recommend flipping through it and seeing if it's to your tastes. You can check out a 30 page preview by clicking the title of this post.

Battle Royale Volume 1

Overall Rating: A
Synopsis: Battle Royale began life as a novel by Koushun Takami, which was then turned into a movie and most recently, a manga. The series has become infamous in Japan and throughout the world. In it, Japan is a police state, and every two years fifty 3rd year junior high (grade 9) classes are chosen to forcibly fight against one another until only one student remains alive. The results of the battles are then aired on television. The series follows Shuuya Nanahara and six other characters as the try to stay alive and find a way out of the "Program".

I first saw the movie version of Battle Royale a few years ago, and was blown away by it. It has a unique plot, is brutally violent, funny, and shows just how far humans will go to survive. I picked up the first volume of the manga recently, and it was just as good as the movie. The manga version is a little more explicit than the movie, so be forewarned, but it's an interesting read.

If you can take some graffic scenes of sex and violence, I highly recommend both the movie and manga versions of Battle Royale. It's definitely fucked up, but in a good way.

Shakugan No Shana Volume 1

Overall Rating: C-
Synopsis: A manga series by Ayato Sasakura based on the light novels by Yashichiro Takahashi. The series follows the stereotypical protagonist, a seemingly normal high school boy named Yuji Sakai as he learns about the existence of demons (called Denizons of the Crimson Realm), Demon Hunters (Flame Hazes), and Torches (this one's hard to explain, but basically spirits that temporarily replace humans that have been killed). When Yuji meets Shana, a Flame Haze who wields a sword and dresses in black, he has his first encounter with this strange world, and learns that he is a special kind of Torch called a Mystes. He contains within him a "treasure", a device that gives the bearer special abilities, but they do not get in to what that is in the first volume. Shana then decides she must protect him from the Denizens.

When I originally heard about this series, I thought it sounded promising. Then I read it. It still sounds promising, if a little stereotypical, but the first volume really didn't get me excited about the series. I hope the second volume turns out to be more interesting, but I probably won't pick it up without at least flipping through it first.

The biggest problem I had with the series is it seems like I've already read it. It follows so many of the standard plots and character types you see in manga these days that it doesn't seem to have much life on its own. I am interested in checking out the light novels to see if they're any better.

Battle Angel Alita Manga Volumes 1-9

Overall Rating: A
Synopsis: Battle Angel Alita tells the story of an amnesiac female cyborg named Alita. Alita's head and upper torso are found in a state of suspended animation by cybermedic/bounty hunter Daisuke Ido while he is searching for useful scrap. After giving her a new body, Alita begins to learn how to live in the Scrapyard, the home of the poor and out-of-luck, who live in the shadow of the floating city of Tiphares, where the rich live. Although she has no memory, Alita soon realizes she knows the legendary Martian martial art, Panzer Kunst. The series follows Alita as she recovers her past and uncovers the secrets of Tiphares.

My only complaint about Battle Angel Alita is that the story can get a little slow over the 9 volumes. Aside from that, there is a lot to love. For a series that was written in 1991, Battle Angel Alita holds up surprisingly well as a science fiction story.

Set in a futuristic dystopian society, Alita shares the stage with some excellent supporting characters as well. Along with her father figure, Ido, there is Desty Nova, an insane nanotechnologist, and Kaos, Nova's son, a frail and troubled radio DJ with psychometric powers. These characters make Alita more interesting as a character as she struggles to retrieve her memory.

I definitely recommend checking the series out if you're into Science Fiction. It may not be as much fun if you aren't a sci-fi nerd like me, but give a shot and see what you think. Battle Angel Alita is a classic manga that's worth trying.

Hobotaku Dictionary - Terminology in Manga/Anime

Sometimes, as State-side Hobotaku, we all have some trouble figuring out the different ratings and designations for manga and anime - that's where this handy Hobotaku Dictionary can help. Now you'll know what it means when a manga said to be Shonen Yuri or a character typically Moe.

Kodomo (Target Audience: All kids)
Distinguishing Features: Child-friendly plots that may be moralistic, and marked lack of fan service.
Examples: Hamtaro, Doraemon

Shōnen (Target Audience: Males under 18)
Distinguishing Features: High action and humor
Examples: Bleach, Naruto

Shōjo (Target Audience: Females 13 - 18)
Distinguishing Features: Character development through realistic human relationships
(Note: Viz Media is re-defining Shōjo for their line of manga to mean having a male and female teenagers target audience)
Examples: Lala, Hana no Yume

Seinen (Target Audience: Males 18 - 30)
Distinguishing Features: Encompasses a variety of styles - can be strange, avant-garde and/or pornographic
Examples: Ai Yori Aoshi, Maison Ikkoku, Akira)

Josei (Target Audience: Females 18 - 30)
Distinguishing Features: Realistic characters who grow through realistic romance, sometimes with older characters and adult situations
Examples: Paradise Kiss, Nana, Gokusen

Shonen ai
Distinguishing Features: Never sexually explicit, focuses on homosexual relationships between male characters
Examples: Eerie Queerie, Little Butterfly, I Shall Never Return

Yaoi
Distinguishing Features: Sexually explicit, focuses on homosexual relationships between male characters
Examples: Bonds of Love, Lies & Kisses

Shoujo ai
Distinguishing Features: Not sexually explicit, focuses on homosexual relationships between female characters
Examples: .hack, Kashimashi

Yuri (technically, at this point, Shoujo ai and Yuri are interchangeable)
Distinguishing Features: Can be sexually explicit, focuses on homosexual relationships between female characters
Examples: Strawberry Panic, Burst Angel

Hentai (Target Audience: Over 18)
Distinguishing Features: Extreme sexual activity, including bondage, creatures with tentacles, or other fetishes
Examples: Cream Lemon, Bastard!!

Other Terms

Moe (pronounced "mo-eh")
A character with personality or appearance designed to elicit a protective or loving response from the audience.
Example: Tohru in Fruits Basket, Suiseiseki in Rozen Maiden

Bishonen (Sometimes called "Bishi")
Literally "beautiful youth" - a young male whose youth and sexual appear transcend the boundaries of gender
Example: Yuki Sohma in Fruits Basket, D'Eon in Chevalier D'Eon

Dojinshi
Self-published comics, largely they are of licensed works and feature sexually explicit material.

Lolicon
Japanese term for "Lolita complex" - term for sexual attraction of either gender to girls below the age of consent - childlike female characters are over-sexualized.

Shotacon
Japanese term for sexual complex where in an adult of either sex is attracted to an underage boy (to some extent FLCL and Negima have shotacon elements where older women press themselves on younger boys)

King of Thorn Manga Volume 1

Overall Rating: B+
Synopsis: The series is a science fiction and mystery manga by Yuji Iwahara. The story follows Kasumi after she awakens from being cryogenically frozen. She, and 159 others were frozen after contracting the Medusa virus, which causes your cells to solidify into a clay-like substance. The result is similar to being turned to stone, hence the name. Kasumi and her twin sister contracted the virus, but only Kasumi is frozen. The 160 survivors awaken from their suspended animation in an undetermined future where blood-thirsty monsters and strange plants seem to have taken over the laboratory, and they must fight to survive.

I was first drawn in by King of Thorn's art. I usually find new manga by reading blurbs about what's coming out, flipping through a few pages in the store, and/or hearing good things about the series. It's very rarely the art that draws me in, even though art is so clearly an integral part of any manga. King of Thorn was different. There is something about the style of the art that made me want to like the book. Fortunately, after reading it, I can say the story (at least in the first volume) doesn't disappoint.

I'm big on science fiction and mystery, so this is a win-win for me. I want to know how long the survivors have been asleep, and where the creatures come from. What happened to Kasumi's sister, did she die of the Medusa virus? What is up with Marco Owen, the mysterious tattooed man? I would have given volume 1 a higher rating, but I don't know how the rest of the series is going to turn out. The first volume is high on suspense, builds lots of questions, and gives very few answers. Here's to hoping the series will play out well, I am definitely drawn in.