Manga Monday: Shoukoku no Altair by Kato Kotono

This week for Manga Monday I’ve got another Quick Review! It’s Shoukoku no Altair by Kato Kotono!

Plot Synopsis: Mahmut is a young Pasha serving on the council of the Türkiye Stratocracy. The clouds of war are gathering over his country as the threat of the aggressive Empire looms large. With Türkiye’s council split between the warmongers and the pacifists, Mahmut begins his quest to keep the peace at any cost…

Plot: This first chapter is pretty awesome, and had me hooked from the first few pages. I’m really looking forward to reading the rest of the series when I get the chance. Hopefully that will be soon, as this series really looks to be awesome.

Characters: Mahmut is a pretty awesome male lead, and his pet eagle Iskander is just as awesome. The rest of the cast is great as well, and I’m excited to start meeting new characters.

Art: The art is excellent, in fact if I didn’t know from looking up the publisher, I’d have guessed that this was run in a Shueisha publication given how good the art is.

Overall: Giving this the definite go ahead, Altair should prove to be an awesome series.

For those who like: Action, Drama, Historical Fiction, Military Fiction, Awesome Male Lead, Fantastic Plot, Great Artwork, Excellent Cast of Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, but how can you hate all that?

Manga Monday: Hero Company by Shimamoto Kazuhiko

This week for Manga Monday I’ve got another Quick Review! It’s Hero Company by Shimamoto Kazuhiko!

Plot Synopsis: “A hero” is a job that in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, display courage and the will for self sacrifice. Would you like to work as such a hero in our company? You may transform, manipulate a huge robot or fight as a squad. Shall we realize your dream in our “Hero Company”?!

Plot: This first chapter that I reviewed is the introduction to the concept of the Hero Company itself and it’s quite funny. It makes a job that we dreamt about as a kid and totally ruins that image for us. It makes the heroes look like normal businessmen, and businesswomen, who are in it purely for the money just like most people who work for a living rather than doing what they love as a job.

Characters: We don’t get introduced to any specific characters in this first chapter, so I’m going to pass over this section this time around.

Art: The art is awesome and has a truly classic Manga feeling, in fact it reminds me the most of Cyborg 00-9 in terms of Art. So I’m definitely going to keep reading this series if it keeps up the amazing artwork.

Overall: This looks to be a truly amazing series that pokes fun at childhood dreams.

For those who like: Comedy, Crushed Dreams, Action, Mecha, Excellent Artwork.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Manga Monday: Yogen no Nayuta by Fujimoto Tatsuki

This week for Manga Monday I’m covering another One-Shot! It’s Yogen no Nayuta by Fujimoto Tatsuki!

Plot Synopsis: A tale about a prophecy involving a girl with horns who is said to bring destruction upon the world, and her brother.

Plot: The plot is pretty tense, and I really didn’t expect this to run in a Shounen publication, but it did. That being said it was a One-Shot so maybe it was able to get away with more than a full serialization would. The plot is also really screwed up, so if you have any squeamishness you probably don’t want to read this.

Characters: Kenji is our main PoV character for this One-Shot and his sister Nayuta is our titular female lead. She’s definitely not normal, and is pretty disturbing. The rest of the characters we meet are never named, so I can’t really comment on anyone else.

Art: The art matches this screwed up One-Shot very well, but given the author’s other work which is even more seriously screwed up I found Nayuta to be much more tolerable.

Overall: If you can handle the gore, this One-Shot might be worth a read. Otherwise move on with your life, you really don’t want to read this.

For those who like: Drama, Action, Violence, Gore, Tense Plot.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, especially the Gore.

Manga Monday: Kataribe no List by Fujiya Izuco [Quick Review]

This week for Manga Monday I’m doing another Quick Review. It’s Kataribe no List by Fujiya Izuco!

Plot Synopsis: A watch that controls time, a marble that can find items and a stick of chalk that can kill any human… The items of the mysterious girl, List of the antiques, all hold their unique magical powers. Without our noticing, they slowly merge into our daily lives. If you strain your hearing you might discover the mysterious secrets hidden throughout the world.

Plot: This first chapter is pretty interesting and introduces us to List and Akitsune, and the world of these mysterious objects, though mostly just with the watch called Ash. I’m pretty hooked and since the series has been completed I’ll get around to reading the entire thing eventually.

Characters: Akitsune is our male lead and he’s incredibly lazy, which is a trait I admire. But he’s not stupid, just lazy, and I also enjoy that trait quite a bit. List on the other hand is a bit of a mystery, but she seems pretty interesting thus far, however those two are really the only ones we get to meet in this chapter, hopefully the cast will expand, but I won’t mind if it stays pretty small.

Art: The art in this series is pretty great, with plenty of detail and sharp linework. I enjoyed it quite a bit, if it keeps this quality throughout the series it’d be up to par with any series in Jump.

Overall: Giving this series the go ahead thus far, and since the entire series has been finished I’ll get around to doing a full review eventually, probably sometime this summer.

Manga Monday: Enen no Shouboutai by Ookubu Atsushi [Quick Review]

This week for Manga Monday I’m Quick Reviewing a series I stumbled across the other day. It’s Enen no Shouboutai by Ookubu Atsushi!

Plot Synopsis: An unexplainable phenomenon of people bursting into flames assails humanity. Put your life on the line to extinguish the flames!

Plot: The plot looks to be pretty interesting, but it’s not the best I’ve seen. I have some hesitations towards the series, but that’s more to do with the author’s previous works, mainly Soul Eater devolving into a mess as time went on.

Characters: Shinra is our main character and it’s pretty obvious that he’s got some serious psychological issues like PTSD. If it weren’t for that aspect I probably wouldn’t be as interested in the series and just pass it off as a typical Shounen series that will devolve into a battle series as time goes on. The rest of the rather small cast is interesting, but nothing super amazing pops out in this first chapter. It’s really all Shinra’s show, and I’ll give him a few more chapters before delivering final judgement.

Art: The art is great, which isn’t unexpected from one of the bigger names in Manga considering his prior work Soul Eater is world famous.

Overall: Give it a shot, you may or may not enjoy it. I’m going to tentatively give this a possibility of turning great, but it’s a 50/50 chance between that and devolving into a mess like Soul Eater ended up becoming.