GotWoot Manga Reviews

[Munsu]

Angel Densetsu

Just so you guys don't think that I only enjoy dark violent mangas, I'm here to recommend the only manga, aside from Hajime no Ippo, that has genuinely made me laugh. The manga has nothing to do with angels, just so you know. It's a manga that can be explained with two words misconceptions and misunderstandings. Here you have Kitano Seichiro, a mostly quiet introverted individual, who is the nicest most generous person you could ever encounter in your lifetime. His only concerns are making good in the world, get good grades, and make lots of friends. The only problem is that he has the face of a devil, so everyone assumes that he's the incarnation of Satan, an individual purely evil. One misunderstanding after another he becomes the leader of the local gang in his newly transferred high school, which is hilarious since he doesn't even know how to fight. The leader is referred to as the Guardian of the school, so he's responsible of protecting it from rival school gangs by fighting them. What mostly makes it funny is that he has a speech problem, and every time he screams to help someone he makes the most evil sound anyone could ever hear, and the manga has a small translation to what he actually meant and to what the other characters actually hear. The manga is full of comedic situation, some interesting fights, and a hint of romance. Everyone should take a look at this manga, it’ll make your day.

You can find more info here:
http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=348

The series is being scanlated by manga-sketchbook:
http://www.manga-sketchbook.org You can download some from there.

You can also download the series from #lurk @ irc.irchighway.net

[Munsu]

Shion no Ou: The Flowers of Hard Blood

I just found a very interesting manga, that I think many of you will like since many of you liked Hikaru no Go. This time around is about Shogi, Japanese Chess, instead of Go. At the moment I find the story much more interesting than that of Hikaru no Go, and the characters are better also. It has a very nice art too, and the story seems much deeper than Hikaru no Go ever was. It's a story about a girl named Shion, who 7 years ago not only did she lose her ability to speak, but her whole family was murdered. Since then she has been raised by her next door neighbor, a Shogi master. Since very little, Shion has always shown great talent and skill to play the game, and the world is about to learn this as she takes her first steps towards becoming a pro. Playing Shogi because she loves the game is not her only reason for playing, it's also the only clue towards finding her family's murderer, who apparently was a Shogi player. So I'm really recommending that you guys take a look at this, Hikaru no Go is very well liked and I think this manga has the elements to surpass it.

http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=1378

The manga is being scanlated by Tsuzuku Jinsei o... & Hanashi and it can be found here:
http://fimbulvetr.no-ip.org:6969 for torrents
http://tjo.one-liners.net/shion.php for links for direct downloads

As always, #lurk has everything too.

[Dark Dragon]

Edit: Since there haven't been any new review, instead of double posting i'll just turn this post into a Adachi Mitsuru Manga review.

hmm i find this manga to be almost a combo of Hajime no ippo and H2 if you ever had a chance to read those are both great manga that i will add a review for later if no one else does.

Katsu

Satoyama Katsuki is a pretty laid back guy that really doesn't have any interest, however both him and his bestfriend has a crush on Mizutani Katsuki who happens to be the daughter of an ex pro-boxer. In order to get closer to her they both decided to join her father gym but Katsuki soon realize that he has a natural talent for boxing. He later found out that his own father also is a pro-boxer who quit due to a certain incident, while his father is oppose of him becoming a boxer Katsuki is still struggling to decide whether to live his life as it is or continue down the path that his dad had left.

Touch

The story revolve around three characters - Uesugi Kazuya, his twin brother Tatsuya, and their childhood friend Asakura Minami. Kazuya is the town baseball hero while Tatsuya is the lazy good for nothing in everyone (except Minami) eyes. Kazuya and Minami is consider to be the perfect couple and everyone expect for the 2 of them to get together. Tatsuya is a kind brother that doesn't mind taking the backseat to his brother and give him the glory, however Tatsuya soon realize that he himself love Minami and is unable to give her up to Kazuya and thus the story unfold.

H2

Hiro Kunimi was an ace pitcher in his junior high school, but one day he was told by a doctor that if he keep throwing his arm would break in 3 month. Now in high school Hiro chose to attend Senkawa High school to forget his pain since it doesn't have a baseball team. He join the soccer club to find a new path and find out that the school has a baseball club but they are consider to be a joke by everyone, the soccer club challenge the baseball club to a baseball game to humiliate them. Hiro unable to watch people make fun of the sport he love switch to the baseball club to help them only to discover that his arm is fine and the doctor that gave him that diagnosis is a bogus. Hiro suddenly realize he can play baseball again, but the school has no team and the baseball club is more baseball fan then baseball players, it is up to Hiro to create a new baseball team for Senkawa and achieve his dream of playing againts his best friend Hideo Tachibana in the Koushien.

[Munsu]

Claymore

This is the manga I've been reading lately, and I really like it. Great sword action for those of you that like that. At the moment there hasn't been much plot, just character development, but it has been pretty good thus far. I really like the art style, especially the way the mangaka draws the faces (same mangaka as Angel Densetsu reviewed above). The world is one filled with Yomas (monsters) and there's an organization that trains people to kill them, Claymores. Claymores are the only ones with the skills necessary to kill the Yomas. Who are these Claymores? That's the question that the manga will answer as it goes along. At the moment, they are an unknown identity which commoners know as Silver-Eyed Witches. The story will follow a Claymore in particular called Clare. There's lots of action, and there's no censorship as far as I can see. The mangaka is not afraid to cut-off a couple of ams, legs, and heads.

http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=1037

This manga is released by Manga-Sketchbook, and they scan the version released by VIZ.

As of now, they've released the first 4 volumes. You can download them from www.mangatraders.com

[Munsu]

Unbalance x Unbalance

I had very low expectations when I chose to start reading this. At the time I was looking for something fun with lots of situational comedy. To my surprise, this manhwa was much more than that. First, it gave me an outlook of Korean school life and family life as depicted in comic books. I'd say there's plenty of character development and a pretty good drama. Some of the situations the characters are presented with are much more mature than the usual from the genre, so it was refreshing. There's also some echiness, especially towards the beginning of the series, but it has calmed down as of late. The art is good, and the women are drawn nicely if I may say so. The story is based on the relationship of one stubborn student who thinks he can do what he wants and his new, very hot, school teacher who doesn't take shit from anyone, especially men. The characters have some complexity, so it's fun to read what's going to happen and how'll they react to different situations. If you decide to read, at least give it a chance till the 4th volume. The manga gets better by the volume, so don't think you can really judge it from the first few chapters.

http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=1829
http://www.k-manga.net/

You can discuss the series here:
http://forums.gotwoot.net/showthread.php?t=14432

[Ryllharu]

Skip Beat

Skip Beat is a series by Nakamura Yoshiki (the author of Tokyo Crazy Paradise). It's stars Kyoko Mogami, a 16 year old girl who dropped out of High School to follow her childhood love Fuwa Sho to Tokyo and support him on his way of becoming an idol. She devotes her entire life to him, but follows him one day to find him telling his manager that he brought her along to be little more than a housemaid. Instead of breaking down and crying, she swears her undying revenge upon him and gets dragged off by security. Kyoko vows to enter show business and make him cry for forgiveness from her.

The art is fantastic, few backgrounds, but this is a shoujo title. A great mix of comedy, drama, and even some action as Kyoko enters show business not knowing a single thing other than her drive for vengeance. Instead of seeing a heroine who falls into a depression and gets saved by someone new, Kyoko instead develops an incredibly evil personality. She's more surprising than anything.



Up to 16 volumes are available on irc, though most of the later volumes need to be redone and there is a volume or two missing. The first 8 volumes are in amazing quality, and a group is filling in the gaps and working their way up from there.