Tag Archives: Manga

Megaman: Future Planet Voldos Review

Posted on by
Reply


Time for the next Megaman oneshot. I have to give this one some major props for being what I would consider a true oneshot. It’s over 60 pages long and tells a complete story from start to finish. It’s not over in the blink of an eye and as a result it gets to really be remembered a little more easily after finishing it. The new villain Geist is definitely solid and I like the idea of giving the old robots some new moves. All in all, this is a solid story.

The oneshot starts off with a mysterious figure named Geist appearing and he kidnaps Roll and Dr. Light. All of Megaman’s old foes have returned as well with Geist granting them new abilities to take Megaman down with. That means their old weaknesses are no longer applicable either so Megaman will have to adapt quickly or he is going to be taken down. Can Megaman really defeat these fighters or is it all over for him and who is this mysterious Geist fellow?

I won’t spoil his identity but Geist is definitely fun. The guy is quite smart to be able to use a new gravity stone to give the robot masters their new abilities. For example, Gutsman can now move his blocks after throwing them which makes it harder to dodge or repel. Then you have Elecman who has a super thunder strike now. honestly I’m not sure how gravity factors into that but we can roll with it. Of course a robot like Gravityman would benefit from this but ironically he is one of the robots who is taken down the quickest. I suppose Megaman had enough practice fighting through gravity by that point in the story.

With 60 pages, Megaman is properly able to go up against a lot of fighters and even navigate the enemy castle. This is the level of detail that would be missing if this was a quicker story. So all of the extra pages really had a lot of good use here. We also get to see Megaman strategizing throughout the fight and wondering what’s going on. You could easily turn this into a nice little OVA and then extend some of the fights a bit. Due to just how many villains there are here, the fights themselves are still small for the most part.

After all, Megaman’s taking on fighters from the first Mega Man game and then others as well. The two longest fights would have to be the battle against Gutsman as Megaman learned about the gravity upgrades and then the battle against Geist. Both of those battles were definitely a lot of fun so that worked out pretty well. The structure is also in line with how it would be if this was an actual game adaption. Maybe Capcom should take a note from this manga and make a game where you fight some familiar faces but they have new abilities. No need to always be making new villains right?

The artwork here was definitely solid. The character designs are on point and I did like how the battle scenes were drawn. I think a good amount of effort was put into this adventure and it ultimately helped ensure that the villains felt like real threats here. Even Mega Man had to acknowledge their skills as he said an older version of himself would not have had a shot. It’s nice to see that he has been getting stronger after each adventure which makes sense.

As a final note, it’s only too bad that we didn’t see Proto Man step in. I guess he doesn’t always have to appear but of course it is fun when he does. Megaman barely made it through some of these fights so I’m sure he wouldn’t have minded the backup. In a way Geist is ultimately making more trouble for future villains though as we see that Megaman absorbed the upgraded robot master abilities so now he is stronger than ever. Talk about arming your enemies right? That’s the risk when fighting a hero who can copy abilities with a single touch. There is just no safe way to fight him.

I wonder if Megaman can copy abilities from minions too. We’ve never really seen him do that, but it could be because he just isn’t tempted. What could a minion have that he would really want right? We see that even the minions here got power ups which is handy and rather nice thinking of Geist. It feels like minions are usually left out but it’s important to power them up too since they are the first defense against Megaman. So if you make them nice and strong then you can potentially slow the blue bomber in his tracks.

Overall, The actual planet Voldos may not be explored all that much here but it is responsible for the new gravity stone. That is central to the plot so it all evens out in the end. It’s a good way to jump start a new story like this. Why be constricted to the games when you can come out with original plots right? I’d love to see an ongoing Mega Man title right now that’s story based with a lot of big battles. In the meantime these oneshots do the trick though and I would definitely recommend checking it out. There are no real negatives to be had here.

Overall 7/10

Super Mario: Goddess of the Demon Empire Review

Posted on by
2


The title is a bit misleading I’d say. Daisy never comes close to being the goddess here but the title sounds epic I suppose. This oneshot is a quick adaption of the Mario movie and it’s pretty fun. It’s odd to see Luigi as the brave one of the group but perhaps it makes sense since Daisy is the main heroine here instead of Princess Peach. All in all, it probably won’t change your mind on the film if you’re not a big fan but it’s a decent story here. You’ll finish it very quickly without a doubt and while it may not feel a whole lot like the game versions, it’s a decent AU.

The story starts with Daisy calling Mario and Luigi over to fix her pipes. Unfortunately a pair of hooligans take the chance to kidnap her. They jump into a pipe and take her to meet King Koopa. See, Daisy is the daughter of the lady who stole a fragment of the meteor which split the human and dinosaur realms apart. If Koopa can grab a hold of that and put it inside an artifact, he can re-merge the two planets back together. He is confident that his army and weapons would then be enough to take over the world with ease. Mario and Luigi are humanity’s last hope now. Can they really defeat Koopa though?

While the story is short, there’s a lot going on here. The details are usually left out so you have to try and figure things out on your own. For example, why did the planets split into two dimensions when the meteor struck? You’d have thought that everything would have simply blown up so that didn’t make a lot of sense but it was interesting. Then with the key, it is apparently too potent for the villains to hold for a while as it burns two of them but why can all of the heroes hold onto it? We can try to say that it’s about good intentions or something but that’s pure speculation. I don’t know how Bowser had this contraption set up to re merge the worlds either.

Then with how easy it was for Bowser’s minions to go to the human world, why does he needs to merge the worlds anyway? I get that he wants to rule the world but it seems like he already rules the other world so in that case couldn’t he just rule both worlds? It would probably be easy to rule the humans with the advanced tech that he has at his disposal or it seems like that would be the case at least. So the manga will definitely give you a lot of questions but I suppose this isn’t all very important.

At the end of the day, the characters are fun and the writing is good enough so it makes for a decent oneshot. I think Bowser has the worst design though. Not only do they just keep calling him Koopa the whole time but he just looks like a guy with warts. There’s no real attempt to make this guy look like Bowser and it’s just sad. The design does not age well at all. At least Mario and Luigi have the general builds at the ready even if their caps are gone. As mentioned before, Luigi is the brave one this time. He was eager to jump into the pipe to save Daisy and didn’t hesitate during each part in the chase. Mario was the one who was unsure and needed to be dragged along.

Mario does get his battle with Bowser where he looks brave enough though. Using explosive mushrooms to take the guy down was clever and an interesting interpretation of the fire flower. Seeing Bowser get blown to bits is also surprisingly intense. Granted, Bowser is made of sludge here so that helps but even so, you see Mario just blasting away limbs which is intense. Apparently Bowser has high speed regeneration here which is interesting though. Then of course you have his gun which can send people back to their past selves which seems like an incredibly handy tool. It’s a 1 hit KO if you hit someone because you just keep the ray on and it keeps going until the person is no longer alive.

The art is okay even if I don’t like the designs. It can be a little hard to follow once in a while because of how the manga seems to skip ahead though. It doesn’t want to waste any time and as a oneshot I can definitely understand why that’s the case. At only around 30 pages you’ll be able to read through the story very quickly. The ending leaves room for a sequel although I can’t imagine any scenario where we ever get back to this continuity. There are just too many solid games to adapt and other styles to go with.

Overall, This story is okay. It’s certainly poor as an adaption of the Mario games but if you take it as a stand alone story then it works better. There isn’t anything that the manga does particularly well enough for it to be noteworthy though and that’s what keeps me from calling this one pretty good. It’s not bad but I just don’t see you ever going back to re read it. It’s an adventure that you read once for the novelty and then it’s gone. At best I can say that I do think it was going for a TMNT vibe in a lot of ways. It just doesn’t manage to capture that same level of charm and Bowser is a really weak antagonist here. I usually like the guy but not so much in this adventure. If you really want to relive the Mario movie experience then you should jump in and check this one out. It does have a little more action than the movie version which is always a nice plus.

Overall 6/10

Behind the Scenes

Posted on by
Reply


The main character’s a bit of a pushover but the manga’s off to a good start. Working on the special effects is definitely a subject that you can have a lot of fun with. I’ll have a review up for this series once it’s finished. We’ll see if the lead can end up becoming the ultimate club member!

Overall 6/10

Beastars

Posted on by
Reply


Beastars definitely became quite the hit a few years ago. That title was everywhere before eventually vanishing. The animal world is certainly brutal in this world. It’s not quite ready to get to the next level just yet but I’ll have a review for this series as soon as it’s finished.

Overall 3/10

Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen

Posted on by
Reply


It’s impressive how badly this manga has started off but I’m only done with the first chapter so it could rebound. I might even be missing the vampires at this point but we’ll see how it goes from here. It definitely is interesting to see the demons around instead. Can Guren really save the world!? I’ll have a review up for this series as soon as it’s finished.

Overall 2/10

Fight! Megaman X Review

Posted on by
Reply


Time for a very quick oneshot Megaman X manga. This one’s definitely blasting through the first game at record speeds as it adapts the whole game in under 18 pages. You have to admit that this is quite the impressive feat right? Well, I definitely had fun with it and the art is pretty solid. It’s like a fun little minicomic and since it will take less than 5 minutes to read, why not check it out right?

The basic plot is that Sigma has gone crazy for some reason and launched a war on the world. Mega Man X is the only fighter who can hope to stop him. (Zero doesn’t appear in this story) So Megaman gets to work and makes short work out of each enemy until he also takes Sigma down in a single blow. It turns out that Megaman truly is the ultimate fighter out of all reploids and everyone should fear his abilities. The narrator says that the battles are not over but with Sigma out of the way I think it’s safe to say that they are. Who would dare to rise up against Megaman?

I’m guessing the author is a fan of the fire maverick because he’s the only one who actually beat Megaman the first time. It was good to see that not just everyone would fall to Megaman without a fight. These guys are here to win after all and are used to being the strongest in the land. It goes without saying that they just wouldn’t roll over like this. There’s no time for more than a quick one panel fight for most of the mavericks but it’s still nice to see one put up a fight.

As mentioned, the art is pretty good here too. The pages are very clear and the character designs are on point. You certainly can’t go wrong there and it makes this even easier to read. It works well as a quick cliffnotes version of the first adventure too in case you want to jump right into Megaman X2. You could just read this and you’ll have covered the plot of the first game. Sure, some characters are cut out but you get the general idea which is the important thing.

There’s only so much I can say about 16-18 pages though so this will be a fairly quick review. As a parting note, the story does remind you why the Megaman X series is such a great concept right out of the jump. A future in which mavericks fight using special abilities with the world at stake just sounds awesome no matter how you say it. This story is certainly no exception to this, not by a longshot.

Overall, This is a fun story. There’s a lot you can do with one shots as it gives artists time to practice or you can just see a nice little story with the characters. I’m surprised the story wasn’t more of an original adventure or something but the first game’s plot has aged well so it’ll always end up being fun to read about. I’ve got some more oneshot stories coming up so get ready for those. We’ll see if they’re as solid as this one. As long as Megaman X is taking names I expect we’ll be in good hands though.

Overall 7/10

Guardian of the Witch Review

Posted on by
2


It’s time for the next in the line of cancelled Shonen Jump titles. Guardian of the Witch is a title with a pretty decent premise and it’s one of the stronger cancelled titles that I’ve read. Unfortunately for it, this was not nearly enough to keep it alive. I certainly have my thoughts on why it was cancelled and how it could have improved but first lets dive into the story and see what it was able to accomplish in the 19 chapters.

The story starts off by letting us know that humanity was mostly destroyed by the titans evils. Now walls have been built around each little village that’s left and they are all referred to as city states. In order to fight off the Evils, each village has a Witch who protects them and her protector is known as the Guardian. The guardian is the most powerful fighter in the land while the witch is the chosen one who is able to use supernatural powers in order to beat back the invaders. It’s a tireless job but it’s one that has allowed humanity to stabilize so the witch is seen as a hero and revered by all.

The main character is Fafner and he can’t stand the Evils. He wants to destroy them all after his family was murdered by one. He doesn’t think witches are necessary since the humans are the ones who should beat them back. Of course the irony was that by honing his skills to fight them, Fafner became the guardian since he was the strongest. His life is turned upside down when he finds out that Witches are destined to become evils and his job is ultimately to murder Manasfa (The witch) when she starts to turn into one. Turns out that a whole lot of people knew about this by the way but he never did because he was busy fighting. Well, Fafner decides not to do it and takes Manasfa away. They are now wanted by the whole world but Fafner has decided that there will be no more witches as he’ll find a cure and then he’ll take out the evils. Will he succeed?

The series clearly takes quite a lot of inspiration from Attack on Titan. It’s also not very subtle about this like in the way Fafner’s family was murdered. It’s extremely similar to Attack on Titan. There’s also a very random moment where Fafner bites his wrist the way Eren does to transform. Only here he does it to “remember pain” so that he isn’t slowed down in a fight. It’s a very forced scene that is just here for the Attack on Titan comparisons. As soon as the heroes leave the village it starts to find its own identity but I imagine the start may not have given it the warmest reception among the readers.

Once we get going, there are really 3 arcs here and then the series just ends. In the first arc, the heroes are on the run of course and don’t get far before they’re attacked by a very powerful guardian and witch combo. Their names are Gen and Ruli who work directly for the government and don’t seem to have a village to protect. I’ll give the series credit for adding in the fights early on. As mentioned, the series isn’t even 20 chapters long and yet there really are quite a lot of fights. The powers are varied and the 2 on 2 style with the witches there works well.

The chapters go by very quickly too because the fights are a bit on the longer side. For example, once we finish this fight then the characters head right into a battle with a mysterious new character. This arc’s more of a training arc as this guy introduces himself as Drake. He’s a guardian who did end up murdering his witch as per the rules but has regretted it ever since. Now he lives a quiet life but is willing to help the main characters out. It feels a little bit early for training but it’s handled quickly and the characters were getting wrecked before that. At least this way they are ready for their next fight.

They don’t have to wait long for it either as the next village has them fighting another guardian/witch combo. By this point I should mention their main goal is to get to the final village to locate an old witch who is said to have retired. The reason this is important is because it means that she did not turn into a witch somehow so if they can get that secret then perhaps they can change the flow of the entire system. Nobody else is really buying it though and the heroes are still wanted fugitives so they have to deal with Spica and Claude next. This battle takes us to just about the end of the series.

Technically there are 3 chapters after that but I think the author may have been rebelling against being cancelled because a whole new arc seems to be starting at this point. The heroes head to yet another village where there’s another witch and they want to let her know about the possible cure. There’s not much time for anything though so for once there is no fight. We then get hit with the big 5 year time skip and a lot of emotional dialogue and convenient moments. The 5 year time skip does help make it seem like this wasn’t too easy though. 5 years is quite a lot of time even if the explanation may have sounded a bit too convenient.

So lets quickly talk about what went right and then what went wrong. First off, I definitely liked the art quite a bit. The action scenes flow well and the artist seems experienced to me. I didn’t have a hard time following the action at any point and the blows always landed with a good amount of intensity. The character designs are on point and I found it to just be very impressive. Additionally there is a lot of action throughout which is always a good thing. The series doesn’t take long to really get going. I felt like that should have helped the series last longer but I suppose it just wasn’t enough.

Fafner makes for a good character. He certainly does have his big mistake in the beginning with almost taking Manasfa down just because he was ordered too though. There’s no way he should have even been tempted there. It feels like a scene that just doesn’t make sense with the rest of his personality because he’s not really that kind of guy. Cutting out that scene would have done the whole series a favor. It’s hard to overlook that scene despite Fafner being great in the rest. He’s a strong fighter who never gives up. That’s always a good quality for a main hero lead.

Then we have Manasfa as the main heroine. She is fairly strong but can’t control her magic well and of course using it will speed up her descent into being a demon. These are two fairly good nerfs to keep her from dominating in the pre arc adventures. She’s a fun enough main heroine even if she tends to feel like giving up quite a bit. As the series goes on I expect we would see her be more and more confident. She also has a lot of banter with Fafner all the time. It may be basic compared to some titles but it works well enough and I always like some good back and forth dialogue.

The maid accompanying the two of them is called Nahta and she’s my least favorite member of the 3. Mainly because she spends most of her screen time early on explaining why Fafner should have just destroyed Manasfa. Keep in mind that Nahta is supposed to be the best friend. Her reasoning is that it would have been an honorable death but cmon now…that’s still awful. At least Fafner made the right decision in the end, Nahta is still clinging to her same lines for a while until she snaps out of it. Nahta can’t fight either so she would need something big to change things around.

For what went wrong, well you can probably see how every arc is fairly repetitive. The heroes enter a village and try to tell the witch that she doesn’t have to die in vain since there’s a cure. She decides to fight instead so the heroes get the win and then move onto the next village. Rinse and repeat for the entirety of the series. I don’t think I’ve seen a series start out quite so formulaic or at least not a Jump title. It’s really like the same thing keeps happening. Maybe that was the easiest way to keep on adding new characters but there definitely should have been a more seamless way to pull this off. Something more subtle or some way to change things up.

I liked each arc but I can see how it would feel like the same thing keeps happening. I already spoke about the Attack on Titan homages and usually the quicker you get your own identity the better. This title did get that but I wonder if it was too late. Mainly I think the series would have been able to survive if it had just kept the story switching up a bit. In an adventure title like this you probably want to spend a little more time on character development and a little less time just running around all the time.

Now lets wrap up the rest of the characters. First up we have Gen who is one of the strongest guardians around. He’s more of a villain though as he doesn’t care about his witch partner and just lives to fight. That kind of character can usually be cool but this one just felt more shallow than anything. It doesn’t help that Fafner beats him in the opening fight so there goes his hype. His being mean to his partner also just feels petty.

This doesn’t help Ruli either. She just lets Gen treat her like an item and is cool with it. She seems fairly emotionless so being a witch has clearly taken a lot out of her but it would be nice to see her have some kind of agency. She is able to strengthen her magic by getting injured which is definitely unfortunate. Clearly the team have come a long way in the rankings so this approach has worked but hopefully the power of friendship would have reached them pretty soon which could have helped.

Then we have Drake who shows up in the training arc. He’s a decent enough character. He messes with the heroes a lot by saying things like he may turn them over to the villains but you never really figure that he would actually do that. He has some skill which is good so he lives up to his hype of being one of the top ranked guardians. That said, I wasn’t very impressed with him. After all, he did destroy his own witch which was a really poor decision on his part. That’s never the right call.

Finally you have Spica who is probably the nicest witch. She is always breaking the rules to try and help the civilians who badly need supplies and other such equipment. Unfortunately for her she is always found out by her guardian Claude who puts an end to that. Spica may be a little too indecisive at times but I give her big points for trying to help people. She clearly has a better moral compass than Claude did.

Meanwhile Claude was a stickler for the rules but ultimately the main characters get him to see their side of things. He would have only continued to improve if the series had kept on going. His low points are from when he was a villain but as a hero he’d be fun enough. The guy just seems slow on the uptake with how obviously evil the king of his village was. You’d think people would have picked up on that. The king was the worst character though as we have a scene of animal violence thanks to him and he’s just too over the top. It’s hard to see how nobody has overthrown him by this point.

As a final note, I liked how the power system was set up here. Each witch has their own unique magic which they are then able to enhance the guardian with. The guardian’s ability will then be something related to that element while still being something a little different. I do question how all of these characters have cool elements like gravity and metal while Fafner has nothing but I bet he’d have gotten a power up at some point. You just have to question how Fafner didn’t know more about all of this since he was the top guardian. For now I’ll blame this on his village just being really behind the times. The power system would have likely continued to get even better as the series went on so it’s a shame that it ended so quickly. We could have gotten more explosive fights!

Overall, Guardian of the Witch is a fun series. It’s an action title that wastes no time in getting to the actual fights. The characters are good and I liked the art so you really can’t go wrong here. It’s a shame that it was cancelled, I think it really could have gone quite far. The ending is probably the most abrupt I’ve seen for one of these cancelled titles to the point where I think it should have just ended on a cliffhanger instead to leave room for a possible sequel. There is something fun about the series trying to genuinely have the kind of emotional final speech that you would see for a series with 20+ volumes. Lots of events are referenced that we never actually saw and it’s like for once you are hearing the speech from the point of view of the random townsfolk who have no idea what is going on. The series may have ended but I’d recommend checking it out if you’re a fan of action titles. The fights here are pretty fun.

Overall 7/10

Yugen’s All-Ghouls Homeroom Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time to look at a one shot in Shonen Jump from a while back. The idea of supernatural exorcists is nothing new but very few have used a school setting like this. Depending on when it came out I wonder if it was trying to capitalize on the success of Assassination Classroom. Well, either way this experiment didn’t really work. The title has potential and solid art but ultimately this did not work out. The main character hurts this series quite massively.

The story starts off with someone asking Yugen to help him with a supernatural situation. He agrees and then we never go back to that plot so it was a completely pointless opening page. The story really starts on page 2 as we’re introduced to Mishiro who is super excited to be a teacher at a very prestigious academy. She will be teaching a year 2 course and it ready to uphold the school name. Unfortunately one student named Saeri has not been feeling very well lately. She has become withdrawn in her house and refuses to go outside. This is bad news for the school.

See, the school is known as a perfect finishing school for young ladies and prides itself on a 100% success rate. They’ve never had a troubled student drop out or anything like that. They’re so desperate that they call in a local counselor who just so happens to be Yugen. Mishiro doesn’t like this because Yugen immediately sets a bad impression as he does not dress professionally and flirts with everyone. Can she keep him under control long enough to help Saeri or is this game over for all of them?

I can see what they are going for with Yugen (As the title throws this in your face throughout the one shot) but it doesn’t work. See, as an exorcist Yugen is completely oblivious to a person’s outside appearance. It’s why he falls for those who are much older and much younger than he is. He looks only to the soul and his goal in life is to one day find a wife. By the end even the main heroine starts to get on his side for that reason which is certainly cheesy and sudden but this is a one shot.

You can’t make a good main character like this though. The flirting kind of character is one I usually dislike and Yugen is no exception. He should be taking his job more seriously and not be flirting while on the clock. Naturally it turns out that he is a genius, but even so that doesn’t excuse him here. He’s easily the worst character in the one shot and since he is going to end up being the main focus, that’s a really bad sign for any future potential here. If you were going to do this kind of trait then the only way it could have worked would have been to make him a high schooler as well. He could just be a teacher because of what a genius he is. That would make the plot of him flirting with students not so bad and you could still have him irritate the other teachers. Of course then you can’t have a possible romance with the teacher but that shouldn’t be here anyway.

In this one shot Yugen quickly takes down the spirit possessing Saeri easily enough. It reminds me of Muhyo and Roji where it’s not really a fight so much as Yugen just pointing at the enemy and taking it down. I assume this would likely change as the series went on but I suppose that isn’t a guarantee. I’m not really sure at this point if the series would have turned into a full action or just been more of an adventure title as each kid has their own issues.

The artwork isn’t bad. The designs are suitably creepy and ominous for this kind of title. It doesn’t look like a brand new kind of series which makes sense since the artist is experienced. I do hope that whenever a spirit is exorcised this isn’t just an excuse for fanservice here as the soul ends up appearing each time. The one shot was fairly reserved so I won’t take that as a point against it for now.

As for the other characters, well Mishiro seems reasonable enough. You can tell her dynamic will be about calling Yugen out every time but always being surprised as his antics end up turning things for the better. Ideally she will be able to do more than that as the series goes on. Then you have Saeri who is the victim here so we don’t get to see her full character much. She seems nice enough though and now that she has learned to break the rules (The moral of the story here) she should be able to keep other spirits from possessing her.

Naturally the one shot does end with a big cliffhanger as more spirits attack and the students are going to be in a tough situation now. At the end everyone’s missing which seems to include Saeri. If that is the case then she is supremely unlucky to have been possessed twice. That or she’s in a different class which is definitely possible. After all it’s not the whole school that has vanished so this is certainly possible when you think about it.

A one shot should be intriguing enough to make you want to read a full series about the premise. That’s the entire point so the question is…did this one pull it off? I would have to say no to that. There is potential here but the one shot didn’t make the best use of that. As far as supernatural worlds go, this one has less to it than most. I wouldn’t say that there is a lot to make the series stand out in any way. As mentioned, it is definitely trying for a Muhyo and Roji kind of feel but without the humor and the main character is a big step down.

The series feels a lot more grounded than other titles as the rest of the characters all seem like normal humans. Of course they could introduce more tough fighters eventually but I don’t see as much potential in this one. Throw in how the main character’s not very good and I have to give this a thumbs down. It’s not a one shot that I can recommend and I can see why it has not gotten a full ongoing at the moment. It’s just not ready for that.

Overall, Yugen’s classroom is already out of session and I don’t think any more classes will be coming up. Perhaps we’ll see more of this title in the future but I have major doubts on that. The art is the strongest part of the story and that’s not really a good thing. Of course I am glad that the art is good but you seriously need way more than that if you want to end up being a big story. That’s just how it goes but as they say, it definitely could have been worse.

Overall 4/10

Toy Story 2 Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time to look at the manga version for the sequel. Much like the first one, the manga for Toy Story 2 does a good job of adapting everything and tying the story together well. The art is still clear and the writing is good even if the editor needs to check the text more closely for a proofread. It’s always good to see some new characters here like how we got Jessie into the mix. That definitely helps widen the character roster and I always thought she was a fun character. So you’ve got another quality character into the mix.

Things are finally going well enough with the toys when the manga starts off. They’re all getting along now while Woody and Buzz have become best friends. Unfortunately Woody is getting older now and is more prone to breaking. One day a collector happens to see Woody outside and figures that he can make big bucks by completing his Wild West set. So he steals Woody and now Buzz and the others have to find the guy before it’s too late. Meanwhile Woody meets the Prospector and Jessie, the two toys that he goes along with in the set. They really want him to stay because then they can all live forever in the museum. It is a rather tempting offer for the main character. Should he go with them or stay with his old friends?

This story has a bit more of a sense of danger about it thanks to the involvement of the Prospector. He makes for a solid villain because the guy is absolutely crazy with how badly he wants to be in the museum. It’s also more of a personal threat than the human because this time it’s a toy trying to mess Woody up. Woody isn’t exactly much of a fighter either so you can’t see him fighting the guy off without the team. If only he had chosen the old toys a little sooner, then he may have ended up getting out easier.

Woody is conflicted for parts of the manga and that makes sense to a degree. That said, I can’t imagine anyone being happy being trapped in glass at the museum for all eternity. If the case is secure he won’t even be able to move around. So he can talk but imagine not being able to move for the rest of your life? Now that would have to be really hard to deal with after a while. Don’t underestimate just how long a period of time the rest of his life would be. So if I’m Woody I still would have been going back with the main characters right away.

Meanwhile Buzz is the one who really has all of the answers in his sub plot but unfortunately for him he is taken out pretty early. The scene where he is stuffed in the toy box is pretty emotional because there was definitely a chance that he might not have gotten out. It was a nice excuse to see more of the classic Buzz though who still thinks that he is a toy. The fight with Zurg may be a bit on the anti climactic side but since they’re both toys that does make sense. It’s not like they could suddenly develop powers or anything.

Jessie also gets her character arc here as she was nervous the whole time about not being played with or being abandoned again. She’s already had a rough ride as it was but fortunately things work out for her. She adds to the character dynamics within the roster and will stay on as a good character for future movies. The Prospector is out of options but that’s what he gets for turning evil right?

Toy Story 2 does a good job of keeping in what made the first film good and then upping the ante with the stakes and villains. Seeing all of the toys getting along is also good since it shows how far we’ve come from the days where Woody and Buzz would fight all the time. It’s definitely been a long time since then and the toys need to stick together after all. Considering all the dangers out there, teamwork is really what keeps them together. Buzz deserves most of the credit for the gang being able to find Woody in the first place.

The art is also good like in the first one. Not amazing or anything but it’s all clear and the character designs are on point so you can’t ask for much more than that. For these adaptions I find that the art is usually clear and not too detailed or it tries too hard with the details and gets very messy. If I had to choose between the two options then I would certainly go with the former. You’ll end up blasting through this adventure really quickly that’s for sure.

While he’s not the main villain, I did like the toy collector though. He’s the kind of villain you can have fun with because at the end of the day he’s trying to get rich. It’s a classic motivation and from his perspective he’s stealing a broken toy and turning it into thousands. That’s quite crazy when you think about it. Even if this is what you would call a “petty” crime of course you are still hoping the heroes stop him. It’s so petty that it goes across the bend into being humorous though which is what really makes this villain work in the story.

Overall, Toy Story 2 is a good story. Like with the first manga adaption you still feel like it can’t quite match up to the film but all in all it does a good job of translating this over to the manga format. If you haven’t seen the film yet or are torn on if you should see it, then you’ll want to check this manga out. It’ll give you a good idea of the story and adapts all of the big moments but then you can always watch the movie afterwards if you liked this one. It could be a little while before I’m back into the Toy Story world so this is a good send off in the meantime.

Overall 6/10

Toy Story Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time to take a look at the manga adaption of Toy Story. It’s pretty fun to relive the film as a manga. This always seems like a good idea for someone who has no time to watch the movie or in general for manga readers to check out and then be inspired to watch the movie. I’d say the manga does a good job of adapting all of the events. Of course if you can only pick one way to experience the story then I’d probably say to go for the movie but all in all it’s a pretty enjoyable experience.

The story starts with Andy getting a new toy so all of his existing ones are very nervous. Up until now Woody has always been Andy’s favorite toy but what if that changes? Well, the odds of his fears coming true seem high as Andy’s new toy is Buzz Lightyear. The hottest toy on the market and this guy has a lot of cool gadgets like a button that has some snappy voice recordings and he can even glides thanks to his wings. That’s an awful lot for Woody to compete with. One day Buzz ends up falling out of the house and it seems like Woody may have done this intentionally so he has to bring Buzz back to clear his name. Can he pull this off or are the other toys going to forever think that Woody is very petty?

Describing the plot for a quick adventure is always tricky because you have to think about what the perfect cut off point is. I think that’s a fair description personally even if the story does change quite a bit as it goes on. You definitely understand why Woody is so jealous although at the same time it really doesn’t look great for his character. The guy doesn’t have much confidence to be intimidated like this on day 1. You’d expect him to hold down the fort for a week or so at least but playing with Andy is just too important to him. Woody would ultimately continue to improve as a character in the future films but just by this adventure you would probably put Buzz as the MVP.

He is a fun character after all. Buzz may not realize that he is a toy but partially due to that he does have a ton of confidence. There is no challenge that Buzz doesn’t think he can tackle and he does help the other toys out when they’re in a jam. The next door neighbor makes for a fairly imposing threat since the guy is absolutely brutal when it comes to the toys. It’s really fortunate that the toys don’t seem to properly feel pain like most beings because otherwise that would be really rough for them. It seems more like they just find the sensations odd at most like then the guy merges different toys together.

To think, if Buzz didn’t show up then Woody and friends might never have made a move against him. So Buzz was definitely a net positive for the whole team at large. I’d also say he gives us the best humor moments throughout the volume although Woody deserves credit there as well since the dynamic between the two of them is really part of the selling point for Toy Story in general. The other toys are nice enough like the Piggybank and Bo Peep but their role here is fairly minimal. After all the volume has to go through the events rather quickly so if you aren’t one of the main two then you’re basically out of luck.

As for the art, it’s fairly good. Nothing spectacular or anything as it’s really just going through the motions. It’s always very clear so you know what’s going on. You definitely would not say that the art ever gets cluttered or anything like that. The artist has fun with the expressions and the whole time you do feel like it all looks appropriate based on how the film was. So I don’t really have any issues there, it accomplishes what it set out to do.

The story is also fun enough like with the movie. It’s a pretty interesting concept about how the toys are alive. Naturally you’ll have a lot of questions about this because the implications are huge. Of course you’ll have to think about that on your own since this manga isn’t about to get into all of that. There’s really just not enough time for it but I’ll always give the film credit for really putting in a unique concept here. Perhaps the toys should go around from door to door to rescue other toys and make sure they’re all being taken care of. I suppose the world of Toy Story is likely a pleasant one but just like how they had a mean next door neighbor, I wouldn’t be surprised if other people are being mean to their toys. You could probably do a whole spinoff series about the toys trying to save everyone.

Overall, There isn’t a ton to say about this one. In part because I already reviewed the movie and also in part because it’s just so short. The volume is fairly small and it’s not like there’s a huge cast or anything. There’s no big topic that I have to spend a few paragraphs discussing or some kind of subplot I want to address. It’s a fairly straight forward adventure from start to finish and one that is executed well enough. It’s like a quietly good story that you had fun with. It wasn’t super or anything but you didn’t really have any big issues with it. That’s how I see the Toy Story manga. I probably wouldn’t read it again but it wasn’t bad or boring. It kept my attention and had good characters so you can’t really go wrong there. In the back of your mind though you can’t help but compare it to the movie the whole time though.

Overall 6/10