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Square Enix: Full Force Manga! Part 2 Here is part two of my look into the Full Force Manga! sampler book from Square Enix (read part 1 if you haven't already). This time I’m checking out Kamui, Juvenile Orion, He Is My Master, and I, Otaku: Struggle in Akihabara. Two of these four titles are actually decent. Now, let’s get into it.
Kamui: Kamui begins with a handy narrator briefly explaining that mankind and spirits lived side by side until man found science. Man built its cities throughout the world until some big bad consequences occurred. Some characters are checking out a destroyed city and looking at a map of Japan. The narrator explains that Japan has been rocked by two great earthquakes that have destroyed a few of its islands. The second one goes by the name of The Grand Sinker. While a tragic event, The Grand Sinker sounds like something I would leave in the toilet after eating a Grand Slam from Denny’s. It could also be something new on their menu. The remaining people of Japan formed self-governing states. The two characters staring at the map get called off to go somewhere. One of them says, “Natural disasters and giant creatures. It’s quite the adventure.” Giant creatures and adventure? Well, I like where this is heading. They arrive to a city where some people are being attacked by a monster that looks like a melty human with wings, but the people get all happy when they see the two dudes drive up in their Hummer. The people cheer for NOA, some organization that apparently protects people from monster attacks. There is a stranger there that has never heard of NOA before, but conveniently enough, there’s a random bearded guy right beside him that seems to know everything about NOA. The reader can learn about NOA through some old man’s exposition towards this hooded stranger. We learn where the NOA headquarters is, that the NOA soldiers have some “unnatural powers” and can fly around, and that the monsters are called Atanan monsters. Thanks random bearded guy! Forward to some chick named Lady Sumire lounging in bed. She just finished banging a lower level soldier yet everyone has been ordered to battle stations. The soldier gets ready to leave, but Sumire says “I have a station for you to man here.” Nice. They are about to gets the sheets going again when some other chick comes in a says they need to get to their stations. The soldier leaves to get to his station and sees General Shiki in the hallway. He stops to salute, but Shiki kills him. Well that really sucks. At least he got laid right before he died. Sumire then talks to Aika that she’s tired of fighting giant monsters and the world should just end blah, blah, blah more exposition. Sumire is sounding like a real bitch, but she goes to meet the Atanan and all the soldiers fighting it are happy to see her. Verdict: The ad page at the end has a quote from Play magazine that says, “It’s like a Treasure game you read.” Treasure makes super awesome games and even though the end of the world thing has been done to death, I was kind of digging the story at the beginning and am kind of interested in how things might turn out.
Juvenile Orion: Juvenile Orion opens on a teenager named Kaname who has bat wings. He is getting ready to fight “the enemy” with his friends. Apparently humans have entered into the Aquarian Age and that means bat wings for everybody. Oh, it’s just a dream, never mind. We meet a sixteen-year-old girl named Mana. She wakes up late and rushes to get ready for school. She apparently lives with her aunt who goes into an inner monologue about some accident Mana was in, Mana’s fate, and a bunch of other crap. Now we’re back with Kaname who is playing basketball when his friend Itsuki shows up. Kaname starts talking about his dream and starts feeling weird, but snaps out of it soon enough. Mana shows up at the school and we meet the other main characters almost at once. All the main characters in the book either have some weird feeling in their chest, have visions, or feel that something is up when Man arrives. And apparently inside of Kaname is some beast that must not be unleashed! Oh no, not the beast! We also learn that Itsuki isn’t a normal student. Who is he? Who cares, but he senses a mind breaker nearby. I don’t know what a mind breaker is but it sounds like another fun brick-breaking game like Arkanoid or Breakout. Verdict: There’s no need to read the full Juvenile Orion manga because from the dream sequence at the beginning I can surmise that Kaname and his buddies will unite to save the world from mind breakers and dudes having burning sensations around that Mana girl.
He Is My Master: The title of this book sounds like porn. It almost is and it would be except that all the characters are underage. I sense bad, bad things ahead. Yoshitaka is a 14-year-old whose ultra-mega-rich parents died in a car accident. He was left with everything and is now looking for a live-in maid. Izumi and Mitsuki are two sisters that ran away from home. Izumi is 14 and Mitsuki is 13 (remember that). The two sisters walk by Yoshitaka’s mansion and see his maid ad. Of course, he hires them instantly because he’s a horny teenager. The two sisters put on the maid outfits that Yoshitaka made and yes, they are indeed sexy maid outfits. You would most likely see these outfits in a porno, but they’re on 14 and 13-year-old girls. Plus, Izumi has huge breasts. I think they might be bigger than Eukanaria’s F-Cups from Enchanter. I’ve never seen bigger breasts on a manga fourteen-year-old. I now feel dirty and a bit creeped out reading this. It would be A-OK if these girls were 18. In one panel the artist even has a note that says this is the extreme limit of what he’s allowed to draw. The extreme limit is a 14-year-old’s cleavage and side-ass shots? Damn, I should have been living in Japan when I was 14. Izumi objects to the outfits, but Mitsuki is too innocent and stupid and thinks they’re cute. Mitsuki suggests that they have a contest: whoever can catch her pet Pochi, wins the decision of what Izumi will wear. By the way, Pochi is an alligator that wants nothing more than to tear off Izumi’s clothes, which he does almost immediately. A chase ensues throughout the mansion, stuff gets broken, and this sample ends. The character bios at the beginning say there is a third 14-year-old girl that gets a maid job at Yoshitaka’s because she has feelings for Izumi. So, not only are there underage girls running around in sexy maid outfits, but one of them is a lesbian. Verdict: The characters in this manga are 14, yet the recommended age of the reader is 16+, so why not make this about 16 or 17-year-olds? It would be slightly less creepy. Anyways, reading it more would only bring such uncomfortable scenes as this, starring a naked Izumi. If they were 18 then hell yea (they're not). While some people may like busty under-agers, unless I want to feel like a dirty old pedophile, I’m not reading any more He Is My Master.
I, Otaku: Struggle in Akihabara: Sota is a popular and athletic high school student, but he has a secret: he is a closet otaku. He has been trying to keep his otaku tendencies secret for many years, but he soon may be forced to reveal them to everyone. Sota is walking with his friends when his girlfriend walks up and asks him to hang out to go shopping with her. Sota says he can’t and runs to Akihabara. He is on a mission to purchase a “Limited Edition Digital Dokidoki Doggy Papico figure.” Papico is a character of a fictional anime made up for I, Otaku. Papico kind of looks like a 6-year-old anime girl that the Hello Kitty crowd would be fans of, and I mean the really young Hello Kitty fans. Sota visits nearly every store in Akihabara and each one is sold out of the Papico figure. He then sees a store he has never seen before called Otaku Honpo. He asks the owner if they have the figure and they do. Sota purchases the figure but then puts the store’s bag inside a regular paper bag he brought with him. Takuro, the owner, realizes that Sota is a closet otaku. He snatches the bag back from Sota and says he will refuse to sell it to him because he hides his otakudom. Sota gets angry and say the classic line, “Who do you think you are?” The owner responds that he is the president of the Closet Otaku Extermination Committee and self echoes his name. Takuro activates the metal shutter for the front door and won’t let Sota leave until he comes out of the closet. That’s only the start of the wackiness. Takuro finds out that Sota has a real girlfriend and exclaims, “An otaku loves two-dimensional women only!” Sota then explains why he became a closet otaku: When he was in middle-school he brought an original panty-view Papico doll with him and was made fun of by the bigger kids. Sota figures that the only way to get out of the store is to say what Takuro wants to hear and admit his otakudom. To prove it, Takuro makes him say, “I love two-dimensionals, all hail otakudom,” three times. He says it and the entrance opens up revealing Sota’s girlfriend giving him a weird look for reciting the motto and holding a Papico doll. Verdict: This first chapter I, Otaku was actually pretty funny. I like two-dimensionals as much as the next man, but three dimensionals are still better… most of the time. Well it looks like part two has two manga that I may possibly almost maybe read someday. Then again, maybe I won’t, but you never know. Stay tuned for part 3. - Shawn - 09/19/07 |
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