One-Shot for Last Weekend – X-Tai Shinsho

X-Tai Shinsho 

Mangaka: Ezawa

Genre: Action, Comedy, Historical, Shounen, Supernatural

Sugita Genpaku made a contract with a demon in exchange for the ability to cure any disease.
But if he doesn’t find someone to treat within the time limit, his soul will be taken!

Published online on Gangan Online in 2011 by Square Enix.

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Okay, I admit, it’s kind of odd that I’m writing a one-shot post for last week considering the coming weekend is just around the corner. But, still, I don’t like leaving an odd bob of a weekend out while we’re active. The one-shot I’m bringing you to attention is X-Tai Shinsho, it’s really similar to another manga series I’ve written about before in a mushroom-manga post called Kaitai Shinsho Zero. It’s whole concept is almost identical in a way, a super-doctor which cures people of extra-ordinary illnesses. I had wanted this one-shot’s story to be more in lined with a Black Jack kind of doctor story. Like a doctor who is curing the weak and sick in a more humane manner than a ball-busting, demon killing-fest like Kaitai Shinsho Zero; but that was not to be, since the protagonist in X-Tai Shinsho also kinda went that route.

The thing that really caught my interest was the fact that the protagonist would die if he doesn’t cure a person with a deadly illness within a time-limit, it was like, wow Shounen manga really hates their protagonists don’t they. I always find that they always have some seriously depressing past but I suppose that’s how you build a extremely epic story? The manga-ka’s drawing style is also extremely pleasing on the eye, really similar to works from Comic Zero-Sum/Avarus/Gene(I’d fit GanGan Online into this group really). The one-shot was written in the way in which most Shounen manga one-shots are written – to allow a continuation to another extremely long serialisation. I don’t think this one-shot was extremely mind-blowing but I still really like the concept and the fact that the manga-ka chose to set it in a historical era; and having a light-hearted/little haughty protagonist is always a plus(keeps things less serious).

Rating: 3/5

One-Shot for a Weekday – Toujuushi

Toujuushi, Bestiarius
(闘獣士, ベスティアリウス)

Manga-ka: Kakizaki Masasumi

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Historical, Shounen, Tragedy

A.D 70, the Roman Empire had nearly overtaken all human civilisation. The imperial empire soon ventured across the lands of the orcs and Albion, the land of Wyverns. As one Roman soldier is defeated by a great Wyvern, his encounter with the being changes the life of his son forever.

Published by Shogakukan in Shonen Sunday, 2011. Split into part 1 & part 2.

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Okay, making up for last weekend’s one-shot post. I didn’t really know what to expect when I began reading this one-shot. This was totally out of my range  I mean, yes, it is shounen manga but it’s art was also very different since its sort of old school and seinen-y(lol) with that impeccable eye for detail (maybe like manga like Berserk?).

Anyway, this was a very nice read. You’ll probably know where the story will head but it reads a bit like an epic piece (I mean the term ‘epic’ as oppose to meaning ‘mindblowingly awesome’ that’s used colloquially). It sort of follows the epic hero plotline which is why it may feel so familiar. What I really liked about it was the clever of marriage between history and old folkloric fantasy which made it seem so real. It can almost convince you that Wyverns do exist and they were just slaughtered to extinction by the Romans. It reminds me of stories like King Arthur or Gawain and the Green Knight for example. This one-shot promises a bit of adventure and is very heart-warming as we see a human and intelligent being share an incredibly close bond that one might only imagine between a father and son.

Rating: 3.9/5

One-Shot for the Weekend: The Miyama-Uguisu Mansion Incident

Alternative titles: 深山鶯邸事件 | Miyama Uguisu Yashika Jiken | Miyama Uguisu Tei Jiken | The Miyama-Uguisu Mansion Incident

Manga-ka: Katou Kazue

Genre: Action, Fantasy, One Shot, Shounen, Supernatural

The one-shot pilot of Ao no Exorcist. Monaka, the heiress to a prestigious family, is staying with her sadistic and controlling uncle after the death of her parents. Her life is given a twist upon the arrival of an unsual exorcist claiming the mansion is being haunted be a demon.

Published as a one-shot in Jump SQ  in 2008.

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We destroyed a record last week by not publishing a one-shot but ‘real’ life called. I read this without prior knowledge of Ao no Exorcist, I haven’t read the serialisation or watched the anime so I sort of fail in being all trendy in the anime world. So anyway, I don’t think that many people out there know of Ao no Exorcist’s origins since it is of a different name so I shall remedy that.

The story’s setting is really your average Shounen manga. You got the bad dude with a hostage and then your hero. What really stood out for me was the story/flashback of ‘the nameless demon.‘ It gave the story a deeper aspect which I thought made it great as a prologue. It was simple but touching with it’s themes of care and kindness, maybe you would shed a tear. It was also kind of refreshing to have a more western interpretation of demons in the story.

I have no idea what happens in Ao no Exorcist but if you’re a fan, I recommend visiting Ao no Exorcist’s roots as it may be thought-provoking or even allow you to look at the serialisation in a new light. I always welcome the idea of knowing how a story developed from it’s original stimulus. Oh, why do shounen manga heroes always begin as a loser?

Rating: 3.7/5

One-Shot for the Weekend – Apple

Apple

Manga-ka: Komi Naoshi

Genre: Shounen, Comedy, Sci-fi, Supernatural

Besides having plants growing out of him at times, Aramiya Satoshi has the special ability to shape-shift into animals . He’s a pretty easygoing guy who just wants to be left alone to enjoy his solitary life in the middle of a junkyard, but the army is constantly after him because of his ability.

Published as a one-shot in Weekly Shounen Jump 2008.

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Ahhh!!! I really won’t have time to write that many posts the next few weeks since I have to prepare for my examinations already… Anyway, due to that constraint I couldn’t go looking around for any new one-shots, so I decided to dig up one I read quite some time back by Komi Naoshi – Apple.

So, it’s about a guy who’s super laid back despite the fact that the balance of the world would pretty much rest on his shoulders and a genius kid who tries to help him out. Yep, the typical shounen plot (In fact, it really reminds me of Nobuhiro Watsuki’s one-shot, Meteor Strike). There’s this simplicity about it being the usual shounen that makes it a nice ‘nothing new’ read if you’d like.

Truth is I couldn’t think of any other one-shot for the weekend and this was what I could come up with in short notice when I remembered it was my turn. I wish I could be like the protagonist right now – all relaxed, all powerful, all in no need for education…. Oh well. That’s why it’s all reserved to stay in manga.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

Extra: Music for the Weekend!

When I was taking the bus back from London, I ended up listening to a single song from my playlist 1/3 throughout the journey. Always loved it – so here’s some nice relaxing music for the weekend! XD

-arawr >=3

Mushroom Manga – Gin no Saji & Ao Haru Ride

A couple of days back I woefully bade goodbye to Kekkaishi as I read its final chapter. It had a surprisingly quite sad ending in certain aspects, but like many other shounen manga it closed with the promise of future – not just for the characters in the manga, but the manga-ka his/herself as well. So as I read the usual final little side note that went something along the lines of ‘thank you for supporting so-and-so… look forward to next work…’ I thought… A-HAH!

Therefore today I mushroom manga from  two pretty-much super popular manga-ka who have recently started on their new piece of work!

Gin no Saji (銀の匙) / Silver Spoon

Manga-ka: Arakawa Hiromu

Genre: Comedy, School Life, Slice of Life, Shounen

Yugo Hachiken aspires to live separated from his family, so he took the chance by enrolling to an agriculture boarding school. He thinks that the path would be easy for him regardless due to his talent for studying – but he’s proven wrong. Brought up as an all-easy-to-get city boy, he is forced to discover the inconvenient truth about agricultural life. Enjoy Hachiken’s story as he tries to keep up with his friends (mostly farmers’ heirs) who are already accustomed to hardworking farm life.

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I didn’t even bother reading the summary before I started going through this. Gin no Saji, or Silver Spoon, is by Arakawa Hiromu – and being an avid fan of FMA, this was a definite must-read.

Toradora Vol 1

Toradora!

Author: Yuyuko Takemiya

Artist: Zekkyo

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance, School Life, Shounen

Status: Ongoing

Ryuji Takasu has learned the hard way that appearances can be deceiving. Despite his inwardly sweet personality, his unintentionally sharp gaze and aggressive features give him the air of a delinquent thug, putting his chances at making friends, let alone a girlfriend, next to zero.

It’s Ryuji’s first day in junior high school and it seems as if things are looking up. He gets to sit in between his only friend, Yusaku, and, more importantly, the girl he’s secretly crushing on, Minori Kushieda. But just when he thinks the stars are aligned in his favor, he unwittingly crosses the most feared girl in school, Taiga Aisaku, making her onto his arch enemy. To top it off, Taiga has moved in right next door to Ryuji and happens to be Minori’s best friend! Can this school year possibly get any worse?!

–Seven Seas

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I watched Toradora! a few days back and it seems inevitable for me to compare both form’s versions. In fact, I could basically call my little review here a comparison between both! Anyways, Toradora –  it’s about time I read a shounen manga which has love as it’s main theme. Either there aren’t that many or I just didn’t try looking for one, the latter being the more accurate. Well, I’ve never read that much shounen manga to begin with anyway.

The story follows two very misunderstood characters with very self-contradicting names and how they try win their crushes’ hearts. We also see them trying to battle their community imposed social positions within the school-o-sphere which is really quite entertaining! The overall plot-line follows a rather predictable(or if you’d like to use a fancier word, ‘classic’) plot-line and is what I call ‘the shounen way of getting couples together.’ By leading the winning pair into the unoptional hilarious scenarios which undoubtably, always work.

Manga-Talk: AKB49 – Renai Kinshi Jourei (恋爱禁止条例)

AKB49 – Renai Kinchi Jourei (恋爱禁止条例)

Author: Motoazabu Factory

Artist: Miyajima Reiji

Genre: Shounen, School Life, Gender Bender, Romance

Urakawa Minoru cross dresses as a girl to participate in a female idol group audition (AKB48). The main objective is to help the girl he likes, Yoshinaga Hiroko, pass the audition. Yoshinaga Hiroko’s dream is to become like her favourite idol who is in the AKB48 group. This audition happens to be her final try, so Minoru crossdresses as Minori and took part in the audition to make sure she realizes her dream.

I don’t quite know how I did it, but when I skimmed over the title I read it as AK47. Then I went through the genres, which was shounen (okay, quite predictable), school life (I suppose semi-auto rifles and high school can go together), gender bender – wait. Hold up. What? What da heck does a gun have to with gender bender? So okay, I go click on it, finally read the title properly and just decided to give it a shot after reading the summary.

Mushroom Manga! Ao no Futsumashi & Saruyama!

Ao no Futsumashi (青の祓魔師)

Manga-ka: Katou Kazue

Genre: Action, Adventure, Shounen, Supernatural, School Life

Satan is the god of demons; but there’s one thing that he doesn’t have, and that’s a substance in the human world that is powerful enough to contain him!
For that purpose he created Rin, his son from a human woman, but will his son agree to his plans? Or will he become something else…? An exorcist?

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What with all these yellow flowers that I’ve never seen before sprouting all over the place recently, I have decided that it is the time for spring. Therefore I am mushrooming one of the manga that have been adapted into anime for this Spring 2011 – Ao no Futsumashi, that most may know as Ao no Exorcist.

Mushroom Manga! NG Life & Shitsurakuen

NG Life (エヌジーライフ)

Manga-ka: Kusanagi Mizuho

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Gender Bender, Romance, School Life, Shoujo, Supernatural

Keidai Saeki is a high school student who remembers his past life in Pompeii, living as the Italian warrior Sirix. His friends around him are all also reincarnated – although they don’t quite remember things the way he does. Keidai’s wife from the past? She’s now a middle school boy – while his best male friend is now a cute girl?!

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There are just some manga that never fail to make me laugh. Laugh, and laugh, and laugh until I cannot take it anymore. NG Life is one of the highest on my list of comedy manga, and it’s probably the highest on my list of shoujo favourites.

One-Shot for the Weekend – Sôten no Kômori

Sôten no Kômori (蒼天の蝙蝠) /  Bat of the Blue Sky

Manga-ka: Arakawa Hiromu

Genre: Action, Drama, Historical, Martial Arts, Shounen, Tragedy

Henpukumaru awakens in the mansion of her enemy. She is introduced to the future lord of the mansion, Chiyozuru. Chiyozuru is able to get the unemotional Henpukumaru to smile and react differently than she normally would. The mystery remains though – who was she in the past?

Published as one-shot in Shounen GanGan 2006.

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I was in one of my post-FMA moods, so I ended up picking Sôten no Kômori since it’s also another one of Arakawa’s works. It was my second time reading it, and I don’t know why but for some reason I enjoyed it more this time round. Hence, I bring it to you as this week’s one-shot =)

It starts of rather typically – the character gets saved by some rich family after collapsing at some random place. The way the story develops from then on however, has more of a realistic touch – the same level of realism that is implemented in Arakawa’s infamous Fullmetal Alchemist (or, at least, as realistic as a fantasy setting could get).

I particularly liked the action scenes – weapons, fighting, creeping around… It’s nice to once in awhile go back to pure action that relied on physical skills and was humanely possible instead of spamming ninjutsu and bankai.

It’s a nice read for a one-shot – the ending felt really complete and well-rounded (the best trait I found about FMA)after all that had happened in the past 60 pages. Despite everything that occurred, the story didn’t feel rushed either. Although Sôten no Kômori isn’t anything like FMA, Arakawa’s trademark skills are definitely exhibited in this one-shot that you really shouldn’t miss out on this weekend =D

Rating: 4.3/5.0

-arawr >=3