EggheadLuna6

In the 80s someone with a big vision and big dream poured what had been growing in his brain into a masterpiece, that soon would be acknowledged as a worldwide masterpiece. That person is Katsuhiro Otomo. The masterpiece is Akira.

Akira takes place in the future, in a place called neo tokyo. Neo because Tokyo before was "destroyed" by a person whose name is the title. Akira could do the destroying because he was number 28, a codename for government experiment in brainwave, mental research etc.(not my expertise area)

Where are the other numbers?
This is what the story revolves in.

Kaneda and Tetsuo are the high-ups of usual gang-rider in Neo-Tokyo, got into accident that looks unusual, Tetsuo got wounded, and finally brought by the so-called-police.
Now please tell me you can't figure what happens next and i will slap you in the face, two times.

Indeed the start of the story was both unfathomable and amazing at the same time, but what makes the story great is what happen next. It's realistic.
Why the numbers could do that?
Why Tetsuo is like that?
What is Akira?
All will be answered as realistic as possible, but remember this is a sci-fi story, so be prepared to be as imaginative as possible. Who knows in 2038 Tokyo would look like that? Tokyo could look better or (please no)worse than Akira version. If i may compare the philosophical part of Akira it would be close to 2001: Space Odyssey and Evangelion. Akira, if i may say, is the more enjoyable version of them both. I found myself wanting more of this while reading this, unlike two others.

Here comes the part where Akira stand out the most. The background and the surrounding art. It's TOO GOOD. Believe me, it's made in the 80s but the art still look superb and superlative than most of nowadays series. The explosion was made diligently. You could see almost EVERYTHING of the exploding building, from the glass to the foundation.
Okay, i have to admit that the character design was not eye-pleasing, but when you take a closer look at the character design, you could imagine them living in your brain. Every wrinkle of the Colonel, the curves of Kei's body were so realistic that i have no hard time imagining it was real.

Let's just hope the movie adaptation is as massive as the manga is.
If not, just remember how epic this manga is.

It is a very funny series.
It does have a more serious version as well but this is a comedy version.
I loved reading about the misadventures on Holly's and Colt's ranch.
I wish it was translated to English but you don't need to read Japanese to enjoy it.
Every volume had about 120 pages of fun for all ages^^

if you want to read this, prepared to be completely and utterly blueballed. honestly, i think the series had a lot of potential and definitely could've reached its full potential with time, but it got cancelled and had a super abrupt ending leaving me with very little satisfaction.

the characters and the story honestly had great potential -i truly believe this could've been amazing- but i can see why it ended since the plot was taking a while to get started up and was becoming repetitive. BUT IT COULD'VE BEEN SO GOOD UGH.

anyways, if you're mentally prepared to dive into a decent series and immediately get pulled out again, be my guest. as someone who literally just got emotionally attached to these characters, i'm going to need some time to recover from the what-could've-been. maybe one day they'll start it up again :/

Nozomu Nozomi is a primarily genderbender manga that stands out from it's peers for several reasons: it's fairly short and to the point, has full colour art throughout and treats it's sexual content in a interesting way.

Story 6/10:
Apart from what can be gleaned from the synopsis the story of NN is very much affected by the length of the series. With only two volumes to work with there isn't much time to go off sidetracks or moments that doesn't move the story forward and NN manages to avoid this to a satisfying degree. My main complaint here is that the ending, like many other shorter genderbender manga, comes fairly abruptly, leaving the reader wanting more and to see what will be become of the characters after all they have gone through in the short span of the story. There is no real structure to the series as such, the stories follows the main character and those around him/her as they deal with the changes that have come upon them. The adult scenes and themes included in the series are handled with surprising maturity and felt like the fit into the story naturally rather than just inserted for fan-service (though there is plenty of that).

Art 7/10:
The art, as mentioned, is in really nicely rendered full colour and the characters have nice and distinct designs. Censorship for the adult scenes is to be expected but doesn't detract from these at all.

Character 6/10:
One of the main problems with NN is that other than the MC, the other characters in the story are not given enough time to be developed. There is no story told from their perspective and for a series that deals quite a bit with mental change this is a big minus for me.
Bonus points for a MC that deals with the changes to his gender without the now cliché over-the-top reactions of the genre.

Enjoyment 8/10:
For me, NN is such a short series that, while what has been said above about the series faults still apply, there is still much enjoyment to get out of it. For someone who likes genderbender I have to admit that NN hit a lot of great buttons for me, concerning the gradual change of the MC in particular.

Overall 7/10:
To me, if you enjoy genderbender manga and don't mind reading a story that doesn't try to be a longer, more in-depth story, NN will hardly be a waste of time. There is enough there to enjoy to cover up for the faults but adjust your expectations accordingly. That being said, I'm sort of getting tired of these shorter series almost always having rushed endings.

Boku no Futatsu no Tsubasa is a Mature, Gender Bender, Ecchi, Romantic, Comedy about a Hiromi (girl) who is excited about her cousin Mako (boy?), who is going to be living with her to attend high school. However she is shocked to discover Mako is a hermaphrodite. ^_^

I would say the story is just your usual high school Rom/Com but the issue surrounding Mako makes this anything but an ordinary manga. This may be the first time most of us have come across a gender bender, with such a real life concept, which makes it so fascinating to read. In the beginning each chapter basically brings up another issue or event. Yet instead of having an episodic feel, like most manga of this affinity, the chapters actually link together quite nicely. However the story does go downhill later on, when random developments are just added in.

The artwork is pretty decent with some good looking character designs. However the art style is somewhat crude, which reduces the overall quality of everything, especially the facial expressions.

The characters are pretty interesting but out of all of them Mako is the one this manga is all about. It is hard not to feel concerned about the problems Mako has to deal with but it’s hilarious to see how Mako deals with it all.

Overall Boku no Futatsu no Tsubasa is one of the best Gender Benders, out of all the manga I have read. It’s amazing how well it brings up various issues that we are all thinking whilst reading and give a realistic answer. I can’t stress how many “LOL” moments this manga has in the beginning but that is due to the number of sexual innuendos. So if you don’t mind a very sexually orientated comedy and some incredibly stupid developments, then you must check this out.

*Be warned though, there's a bit of sexual content.*

^_^

The story is super fast and I found myself unable to understand what was going on half of the time. In fact, I could resume my thoughts about this oneshot to the following: uh... ehh????

Story: 2/10
Rockman goes rogue is the plot I guess?

Art: 5/10
Pretty standard stuff, though if the story was more explored, the art could contribute a lot to a comedy scenario.

Character: 1/10
Uhh...

Enjoyment: 2/10
I read it twice, and twice I couldn't really get much of a reaction. Just a brief nose exhale in one painel.

Overall: 3/10
Ehh... I wouldn't recommend it. I wonder why it even exists.

This Manaphy manga is possibly better than the original movie.

It is such a shame that most Westerners are not familiar with this Obscure Manga's existence.

This obscure Pokemon manga is pretty faithful to the original Manaphy movie, except Manaphy is a pretty precocious baby pokemon in this manga adaptation compared to it's anime counterpart.

Here's the differences between the anime and manga in my opinion:

Judy is absent in the manga.

During May's dream sequence, it is implied that May is naked while in the water, while she is fully clothed in the movie.

After his submarine is destroyed, the Phantom threatens to take May hostage and wields a pillar as a weapon, instead of failing to hold the pillar up and being trapped underneath it.

The newly-hatched Manaphy seemingly became somewhat more precocious in the manga adaptation, unlike its movie counterpart, which seems to act annoying and angsty about the new world outside of its Egg.

Manaphy's Egg case breaks when Manaphy hatches, instead of its Egg falling out of the case before hatching.

Manaphy is happy to see Ash in Jack Walker's body after using Heart Swap in the anime, while in the manga, Manaphy seems to mellow out a bit after using Heart Swap on Ash and Jackie, but it's still not happy that May is gone.

*May and Manaphy's goodbye at the end and Ash's near-drowning scene before becoming the "King of the Sea" is a lot more lighthearted in the manga than it is in the movie.

*Instead of the People of the Water's mark, The Phantom opens the door to the Sea Crown by playing an instrument known as the Water Flute.

*When escaping from The Phantom's submarine, Jackie is attacked by several Water Pokémon used by The Phantom's underlings, instead of The Phantom and his Bug Pokémon.

This obscure Pokemon manga is a good must-read for any Pokemon fan.

Overall, I would give this underrated obscure Pokemon manga a 9 out of 10.

- RFART419

The book was lame. The first story in this book of collections was the only thing in there that was worth reading or whatever. I was bored. And anyone who reads this will probably be too. I rated this exactly what it deserved. I like how the first story like captures your heart and compels you to want to root for the characters friendship or whatever. But. Like. This is about friendship. That's it really.

Story 9: - 12 O'clock Bell Ring is an extremely extraordinary story. Lolita-gothic art isn't usually my daily read, I doubt I've read much gothic anyway (Count them on fingers). But what attracted me to this story is the amazing twists in this one-shot. It's a different version of Cinderella, and I might like this one just as much. Except that, this one isn't a role model for kids looking for endless happy ending tales. The characters are TOTALLY different and they are the complete opposite, which makes this story even more interesting.

Art 10: - The art is amazingly drawn. I've gotten to my point right away. Kishimoto Seishi got fascinating imaginations when it comes to drawing. Heck, I think he's got a great style in everything. Not just the people, the backgrounds, the object, everything is wonderfully drawn. It's really unique, I hope this type of drawing will be a trend soon.

Character 9: - Unique. Definitely unique! If you're expecting Cinderella/innocent/baby personalities, be ready to get disappointed. Those characters are more like normal ones. They don't talk oh-so-royal-ish, but, well, in a gothic way. They're especially very attractive and I LOVE what they wear! Their personalities aren't found everywhere.

Enjoyment 9: - I won't spoiler you, but the ending was definitely an awesome one! It left me with a gaping mouth which was totally awkward. But plant the fact in your head that you'll never expect the ending you'll see, I've enjoyed it thoroughly and wishes for more. Although that obviously won't happen.

Overall 10: - I'd love to see one-shots or mangas like this one. So unique, so twisting, so absorbing. You know? I was glad I came across this one.

A pretty good horror read during quarantine times. Shigahime does have that whole vampire trope going on with nothing making it stand out from a story perspective. The writing is an issue with many instances of characters acting a bit corny sometimes. However, the artwork is simply amazing and it is one of the reasons it got me hooked into finishing this brutal story through. The dread and eerie atmosphere was also consistent and it leaves you wanting to discover the cause and plot to this dark atmosphere.

If you have time to read 31 decent chapter-story with brutal and excellent artwork, then Shigahime is an easy choice worth considering.