Dramacon is hella awesome; really the best non-japanese manga release i’ve ever gotten ahold of.  When i saw the backwards formatting (oh noes!  I have to start at the front of the book!) i was completely put off.  the feeling faded, however, once i actually started reading it. 

DC is a/b a high school girl named Christie who goes to her first anime con with two friends and her artist boyfriend, who in the typical fashion is a jerkface.  She meets megahot Matt, a shmexy cosplayer with a dark past to match his dark glasses. Lol i sound like one of those Lifetime commercials.  Anywho, Hilarity (and i mean hilarity) ensue as Christie tries to keep off of lovely Matt b/c of her ass of a bf, and lovely Matt tries to weigh his feelings for Christie against his OMG angsty desire to stay away from all human life forms. 

A surprizing twist – the side characters are actually interesting and help keep the plot going.  Yay for DC!  One thing i find particularly funny is that to avoid copyright infringement author Svetlana Chmakova twists around names and organizations like “Pawky” “Mangapop” “Y files” and my favorite, “Tustin Jimberlake”.  Also unlike a lot of other manga, Matt and Christie are actually a good match, and even though they’re only with each other for a few days, there’s genuine chemistry and SUBSTANCE (i’m looking at you, Namine and Roxas) to back them up.

This series is awesome.  If you see it buy it.  If you don’t then go to the nearest place t

Happy Lesson is a/b some orphaned dude who ends up living with 5 of his (female hot) teachers.  Good?  Eh.  The art is nasty – my little sister could do better – and the whole love interest thing Orphaned Boy has going on with his English teacher is totally unbelievable.  I mean, first of all she could totally get fired, secondly it seems like they started crushing on each other randomly.  At least build up to it or something….

But but but, the story is actually pretty damn funny.  The dialouge is great, one of the few mangas that actually makes you laugh from reading it.  My favorite of the stories in the manga is the one where English Teacher looses her wallet and the house is forced to scrounge for money/food.  One of the funniest side stories in any manga, i tell you! 

The anime is better, but if you can find it (i think it might’ve gone out of print – i sure as hell can’t find any more of them) Happy Lesson is worth the money, whether it be yours or someone else’s. 

Time for eleven bucks of pure boredom   the predecessor to Azumanga   Yotsubato!

When i realized Yotsubato was the next work of Azuma, i was all over it (much to my dismay later on).  All in all Yotsuba isn’t funny.  It has a few “heh heh…oh wait, that’s not funny at all” moments, and that’s about as interesting as it’s going to get from what i understand.  For the record, it’s only the first volume, so maybe it’ll get better.  But really, since Azumanga was so brilliant i figured Yotsu would be able to at least skive a little off the top.

But it doesn’t.

Now, as a manga collector, i wouldn’t mind if someone else bought the next volume for me, but no way in hell would i spend my own cash on it (not that i ever have any…).  Plot = wierd little girl and her dad (dad’s the only good character besides the Ugly Girl) and thier neighbors have random mishaps day to day.  Fuka (the Ugly Girl) plays pretty well of Yotsu’s dad, providing the only (short-lived) entertainment in the manga.  The art is gross, worse than Azumanga for some reason, and the story is boring unless you have an incredibly loose sense of  humor. 

Hoooowever…i have to admit, Boxerman was pretty funny.  it actually made me lol for a while. 

Still, Yotsu only gets 1/5 for just not being worth anyone’s time.  What’s really depressing about this is that poor Azuma actually had to stress his hand by drawing it….

or so it would seem.

Glashma has no plot untill the last few chapters, when everything is smashed in too much to be even considered good.  It’s really half-assed, the only reason i’m giving it 2/5 stars instead of 1 is simply becuase the art is heart-stoppingly wonderfull. 

Basically, all the chicks in the world have recently vanished (once again hinting at a false premise of boy love) and all the men are turning into wizards.  Cool?

NO.

75 % of the book is random crap, including a segment about guy-girls that really should’ve been funny but wasn’t.  The last few pages are the only good ones, including a scene with Nippori chasing after his sempai in the hopes of finding and rescuing him.  Or hell, ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING in the whole 191 page frame.

Basically, unless you have a high tolerance for UTTER CRAP you should stay away from this.  Not worth the eleven bucks.  Not even woth 2 bucks.

First off, i didn’t even think i was going to like this series when i was standing in line to buy it.  you know that feeling like “oh crap im blowing 11.99 + tax on this”?  that’s what i was experiencing – the only reason i even bought it was because i heard it was yuri (& knowing me, this was bound to happen…).

It starts out in the middle of the action, and unlike Sorceror Hunters (i slaugtered the spelling, i know…) this is a good thing.  Meg (the nun) & Angela (the loli girl) are the supernatural crime-fighting duo w/ a little yuri/loli (???) thrown in on the side.  When i saw this i was almost disgusted with myself for buying the thing.  Fear not, though, for even if the supposed yuri does seem a far push ( Angela seems to love love Meg, but this isn’t directly voiced & Meg’s thoughts haven’t really been explored – plus Angela is eternally trapped in teh body of a 12 year old) Tetra actually kickes some high-octane ass.

Basically all that’s known about the actual storyline is that Ann is some kind of cursed being who can only continue to live if Meg literally needs her to.  Have i metioned that Ann’s completely indestructable?  So far in only the first volume she’s been ripped in two, impaled, had limbs chopped off and smooshed by a huge hand-thingy and she’s lived through it all, though i doubt she feels any pain through all this.  Anyway, Meg & Ann fight the unded gross things that stalk London, and Ann seems to be tied to some dark omen thing which hasn’t really been explained.

If you like your yuri(/loli) with gore, violence, gore, and maybe some nuns thrown in every now & then, you’re in luck.  AND, AND, get this – unlike other yuri manga/shows (Strawberry Panic/Marimite/Venus Versus Virus) THIS ACTUALLY HAS A PLOT! i know! Great!  So far i’m willing to throw out 11.99 + tax to find the next volume.  God bless you, Seven Seas Entertainment.

Eek! Another great yuri series!  i’m in luck!

Welllll ~~~ I’m in love w/ this.  Many times over i thought i would die of excessive nosebleed while reading this.  Cute as hell.  The art is a little blocky and not too flashy, certaintly no Loveless, but the simpleness of it really goes well with the story and only adds to the sickening cuteness. 

As you could’ve guessed, it’s a yuri/loli series (again, i know…), but this is definitely one of my favorites because (take a note of this, you yuri series that suck *cough cough* venus versus virus) of the realness of the characters.  None of these girls are exessively brainless and hyperactive like…well, pretty much any other manga out there, but instead behave and think like actual people would.  Don’t get me wrong, the occasional Yuiko-like spazmatic ditz is welcome every now and then (why all the Loveless talk?), but that kind of character would be out of place in Uniform.

The basic story is pretty simple and doesn’t really have too much of a solid plot – five girls living in a dorm like each other, are too afraid to do anything about it, and in some cases don’t even know what it is they feel for each other.  My favorite of the pairings would have to be Fuu and Ai-chan, simply because Fuu is the type of tomboyish slapstick humor type gal the world needs more of, and Ai is an unsure ex-dork who loves her friend to bits.  Nevertheless, all of the love-interests are interesting and leave you with the “I don’t know who to cheer for!” thing going on. 

Another note – there are no “bad” characters.  There is one upperclassmen who’s a totall perv ( i like her >.<), but that’s about as far as the anti-hero thing goes.  This is the first manga that had me won over with the very first page.  The princess/prince thing is a killer for me – im head over heels in love.  The only problem i can think of with the first volume is how Anzu randomly seems to fall for Tsumugi.  First she hates her, then she’s madly obbessed.  Don’t get me wrong, the lengths she goes to win even a glance from the other girl is not only cute but funny, however it wouldn’t have killed for a little depth in the situation.  Another yuri/loli title from Seven Seas Entertainment.  So far i only have 5 books from them & im liking thier releases better than the “big publishers” like tokyopop.