This Sounds Interesting: GENKAKU PICASSO from Viz
Reported by Charles Webb

There's something oddball enough about this premise that has me curious about it. What do you think? Hikaru “Picasso” Hamura, a grouchy teenager with a talent for drawing, dies in a freak accident. The gods decide to revive him, but only on the condition that he use his artistic gift for the good of humanity. Picasso discovers that sketching a person’s aura yields a surreal portrait of their psyche. Stranger still, Picasso can dive into these dreamscapes...
MORE...

WORDS OF TRUTH AND WISDOM: The Meaning of Moe
Written by Alethea and Athena Nibley

A long time ago—like maybe two months ago—we started noticing that some people seem to use the term “moe” in a way that we, as manga translators, aren't really used to. We thought it could be neat to write a column about how we understand the word, but then we checked Wikipedia, and the article there really does all the work for us. So we thought, “Well, that's silly, to write a whole column about it when there's a perfectly good Wikipedia article...
MORE...

KINGYO USED BOOKS v2 Review
Reviewed by Zack Davisson

If you read the first volume of Kingyo Used Books, then you know the basic pattern of this series: various individuals with various problems drift into the ream of Kingyo Used Bookstore and discover that the answer to their problems was in manga all the time. Student Sekiguchi learns that Osamu Tezuka’s Adolph can teach him as much about history as his college professor; bar hostess Anzu learns through the works of Miyazawa Kenji that dreams can...
MORE...

INUYASHA v52 Review
Reviewed by Penny Kenny

Kagome and company discover new information about the Shikon Jewel, while she wonders why she can’t access the powers within her. A new enemy appears and Sesshomaru recovers something important to him. I haven’t followed InuYasha since about volume six, but I was able to jump right in to volume fifty-two. Partly, because Viz Media thoughtfully provides “Story Thus Far” and “Characters” pages, and partly because creator Rumiko Takahashi keeps...
MORE...

CHI'S SWEET HOME vols. 1 & 3 Review
Reviewed by Victoria Martin

Animal lovers wear their hearts on their sleeves, at least when it comes to their critters. This is particularly true in the case of cat people. I speak from experience in this matter, so my interest was piqued when I heard about Chi's Sweet Home, which tells the tale of a kitten who is lost and found, and of how life changes for both cat and her human servants. I mean owners. However, I have to say that I found these two volumes on the whole underwhelming,...
MORE...

SEIHO BOYS' HIGH SCHOOL v1 Review
Reviewed by Zack Davisson

[Full disclosure: the adaptation of this book was handled by Ysabet MacFarlane, formerly a contributor here at ManagaLife.] Three hundred and twelve guys are all living together in a boarding school so far away from everything they call it “Japan’s Alcatraz.” The ferry only comes twice a day and the nearest train station is a 50-minute drive. Depending on what kind of manga you read, this scenario is putting all sorts of ideas into your head. ...
MORE...

On Art
Written by Liz Reed

Large pink eyes, floating sweat drops, short sailor skirts revealing legs that go on for miles—you can’t put these descriptions in the same sentence without thinking “manga.” Undoubtedly, the style and personality of this Japanese art form are at the core of its popularity and uniqueness. Unlike traditional American graphic novel heroes or newspaper comic shorts, manga characters and genres are defined by their exaggerated expressions, quirky body...
MORE...

Words of Truh and Wisdom: "Cosplay Is To Translating As..."
Written by Alethea and Athena Nibley

After we turned in our last column, MangaLife Editor-in-Chief Charles said we could show off the costumes that I said were eating up our lives! They weren't really eating up our lives until a few days before the party—because one of the reasons they took so long is that we were actually doing our job—but they did take up most of our spare mental capacity. And we were only working on two! They're not technically manga-related, but we decided to...
MORE...

HETALIA v1 Review
Reviewed by Zack Davisson

“Hetalia” (meaning “Useless Italy,” being a portmanteau between the word for “useless” (“hetare”) and “Italy” (“Italia.”)) owes its English-language release almost entire to cosplayers. They love it. You can get a whole group together each doing a different country, or just be the Axis powers or just the Allies, or any combination you want. However, it is well-known that what makes good fodder for cosplayers does not necessarily make good manga for...
MORE...

SOLANIN Review
Reviewed by Victoria Martin

"...the most important messages in our lives don't come from musicians on stage or stars on television. They come from the average people all around you, the ones who are just feet from where you stand." Thus Inio Asano describes his manga Solanin and this statement really encapsulates what the manga is about: normal people going about their daily lives. Slice of life stories are, of course, not an unusual thing in manga; however, Solanin stands...
MORE...

PEEPO CHOO v2 Review
Reviewed by Charles Webb

Coming away from volume 2 of Peepo Choo I feel it has one strike for it and one strike against it when stacked next to the brash, obnoxious, and kind of wonderful first volume: first, there's a definite feeling of advancement in the story's multiple threads. The Miike-meets-Pokefan aspects of the story are showing signs of getting the hell on with it, as the blood-soaked gangster subplot appears primed to explode (along with the murderous, rapist,...
MORE...

FUTURE DIARY v7 Review
Reviewed by Zack Davisson

Mid-Game With the seventh volume of Future Diary we have six of the twelve diary holders eliminated and the game has officially reached mid-point. Only one diary holder, the Eleventh, remains unknown and the rest are now identified and active players. The volume starts off with Yukiteru (The First) and Yuno (The Second) facing off against another couple, Marco and Ai who, together, hold the Seventh diary. Marco and Ai’s diary is based on love, and...
MORE...