1. 49

Author: TOUDA Yoshimi
Artist:  TOUDA Yoshimi
Genre(s): Romance, School Life, Shoujo, Supernatural, Tragedy

“In this small town, within the 49 days after a person dies, you can see the dead’s spirit. She once admired this small town where you can still spent time with the ones precious to you within these 49 days, but…” -Kissmanga.com

Thoughts: A nonchalantly deep manga; the story truly opens up when the female protagonist gets confessed to by the ghost of her classmate. This manga is about the reverberations of the confession during and after the her classmate’s ghost’s stay with the living.

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 4/21 - 4/28.

1. The Lawless

Author: Khoo Fuk-lung
Artist:  Khoo Fuk-lung
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Martial Arts, Seinen,Supernatural

“The story begins to unfold in 900-960 AD, Later Zhou dynasty when Chi Wu is being imprisoned after purposely losing to the emperor. His true goal lies within the prison itself, a clue to the whereabouts of world’s greatest lost treasure - Qi Lin Treasure. The words of his capture quickly spread to the ear of his senior and a former officer of the imperial court. Tie Zong Heng (Lawless), decides to be re-enlisted to the imperial services just to hunt down Chi Wu.” -Easy Going Scans

Thoughts: I truly marvel at the skill used in drawing manhua. Everything is colored with striking detail. However, the plot in this manhua is a fairly generic martial arts story.

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 4/14 - 4/21.

1. Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru!

Author: Imigi Muru
Artist:  Imigi Muru
Genre(s): Comedy, Romance, School Life, Seinen

“Uchimaki Subaru, the main character, loves to draw 2- D characters and freakly love them and says that he isn’t interested in 3- Ds girls. Usami Mizuki is quite a normal girl heroine. Lastly, The president doesn’t act like one. 

“There’s a problem with this art club!” Artist Imigi Muru is a winner of the Award for Wxcellence in the 5th Dengeki Comic Grand Prix, went one and had a debut in Comic Gum. Currently has another series running beside this one….” -Mangafox.me

Thoughts: What I like is that this manga starts out generic but has a very subtle twist in the last two pages which prevents me from calling this series generic. In fact, I have no idea how the story will progress.

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 3/31 - 4/14.

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Since the conclusion of World War Three in 2064 and the outlaw of nuclear weaponry, magicians — now known as a Magic Technicians — have become the focus of the current arms race.  ”Supernatural Power,” which were once unique to an individual, have become the focus of study from both Western and Eastern powers. Now, in the form of “Magic,” “Supernatural Power” is accessible for the masses.  However, like the arts and the sciences, talent is required to attain the mastery of magic necessary for use professionally.

It is now 2095, fifty years after World War Three started. The year marks the start of four turmoilous years for Japan and the world during which Magic Technicians replace nuclear weaponry as weapons of mass destruction. Perhaps not so coincidentally, this is the same year that Miyuki Shiba and Tatsuya Shiba enter the most prominent magic high school institution of Japan.

1. Dragons Rioting

Author: WATANABE Tsuyoshi
Artist:  WATANABE Tsuyoshi
Genre(s): Action  Comedy  Ecchi  Martial Arts  School Life Shounen  

“As a 6 Year Old, Rintaro is diagnosed with Henisei Tashu Ijou Syndrome (also known as Hentai Syndrome), a disease that could kill him if he gets sexually aroused. To save him and provide a way for him to live as normal a life as possible, his father teaches him the ways to control his body and mind for ten years in the mountains, with the martial art of the Koei Sougetsu. When he’s 16, he chooses to enroll Nangokuren High School, which he assumed to be the biggest all-boys school in the country but is actually the biggest all-girls school that has just gone coed.

On his first day, he stumbles upon a large scale battle and learns that the first rule of the school is that it “Abides the Law of Nature” which has turned the campus into a war zone-like environment. Rintaro now sees transferring out as his mission, but will it be that easy now that he’s caught the eye of the 3 “Dragons”, the bodacious female leaders of the three biggest factions around?” -Mangahelpers

Thoughts: I usually don’t like manga full of overly well-endowed girls but this one actually has a fairly interesting, if easily avoidable, premise.

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 3/17 - 3/31.

“Virginia Woolf was a twat, extremely overrated, no Getrude Stein. I’ll have a breast.”

Tina Fey is a force to be reckoned with on the small screen. As head writer for Saturday Night Live, she oversaw one of the show’s renaissance periods in the early 00s, and as creator & star of 30 Rock, she forged a path for the smart, single-camera comedy that has become a staple of prime time television.

On the big screen, however, her work has been sadly met with indifference from the movie-going public. Apart from her gig as the writer of Mean Girls, most of her starring vehicles have floundered, and it’s unfortunate that her most recent film, Admission, has gone the same way, as it’s arguably her best film yet.

Kazama Kenji and his two friends are a normal group of delinquents. For them, life is dandy if not a bit boring. Their lives change drastically when Kazama runs into the Game Production Club. In a school full of freaks and weirdos, he entered the den of the freakiest and the weirdest. The club consists of Karasuyama Chitose, the student council president, Shibasaki Roka, the secret boss of the school whom everyone knows about, Mizukami Sakura, a mysterious girl who likes water, and their adviser, Oosawa Minami.

Together with Kazama and his childhood friends, the two delinquents and the masochistic student council vice president, the group goes through various antics and adventures with the rest of the unusual student body and the surrounding area.

This is the story of Yamada, a generic delinquent, and the seven witches of his high school. One day while on the way to class, Yamada falls down the stairs with Shiraishi, the smartest girl in the grade, and they switch bodies. Turns out they kissed upon landing, and that a kiss is the key for witches to use their abilities.

Witches? Yeah, there are perpetually seven witches in Yamada’s high school, although the people change and trasnfer their powers transfer upon graduation. With little else to do Yamada, Shiraishi and their slowly growing group of friends start a club to research the witches’ abilities and their holders.

I don’t like sports manga. Most of them are unrealistic and they don’t accurately represent the sport. Often times they are simply an action manga with good looking guys/girls battling through the use of a sport with unrealistic powers and abilities or use the sport as an excuse for pantyshots.

But occasionally I run into sports manga that aren’t like that. They accurately represent the sport and not only provide the reader with meaningful dialogue, but also offer insight into the sport itself. Baby Steps is one of these manga.

The iconic shojo manga, Ouran High School Host Club — a popular series and a worthwhile read — was released as a box set earlier last month (November 2012). I will not review the series here; instead, I will talk about why you should or shouldn’t buy the box set rather than simply buying each volume separately.

1. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

 AKA: Ano Hana

Author:    Okada Mari
Artist:     Izumi Mitsu
Genre(s): Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Psychological, Romance, Shounen,Supernatural, Tragedy

“Five childhood friends grow apart after the death of Meiko Honma, close playmate of them all. Jintan Yadomi, leader of the group when they were kids, neglects high school and lives as a shut-in when he unexpectedly starts seeing the ghost of Meiko, who can only interact with him and no one else. She has returned to ask Jintan to fulfill the forgotten wish she made as a kid.” -Mangaupdates.com

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 9/9 - 11/4.

I wonder if glowing eyes affects her vision? In fact, how does she get her eye to be luminescent? Is it moss? Yeah, its probably moss.

Following the success of Ga-rei, Hajime Segawa-sensei launched his next series Tokyo ESP. While Ga-rei was a story of the supernatural, Tokyo ESP is based on ESP, Extra Sensory Perception  Both stories take place in modern Tokyo with their respective twists. If you like one, you will like the other, although there are distinct differences. 

1. Akumu no Sumu Ie - Ghost Hunt

Author:     Ono Fuyumi  
Artist:       Inada Shiho 
Genre(s):  Horror, Josei, Mystery, Supernatural

“Midori’s mother has finally acquired her dream home, but it isn’t long before supernatural phenomenas disrupt the peace of the family. And if unexplained electricity failures, strange phone calls, and the eerie presence of spirits weren’t enough, finding unexplainable blood in the bathroom becomes the last straw. Mai and Shibuya Psychic Research are brought in to investigate, but what horrors will they find in the ‘dream’ home that turns out to be nothing but a nightmare?

Akumu no Sumu Ie - Ghost Hunt is based on a sequel novel of the original set several months in the future from the original Ghost Hunt. It was published in 1994 and was only two volumes long.” -Wonderland After Hours

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 8/05 - 8/12.

1. Koyoi, Kimi to Kiss no Chigiri o

Author:     Aikawa Saki 
Artist:       Aikawa Saki    
Genre(s): Romance, Shoujo, Supernatural

“Because she wanted to attend her grandmother’s funeral, Miharu returned to her hometown. Over there, she met a strange boy. And then, she’ll discover his true form…” - Chibi Manga

Click below to view the rest of the notable manga from 6/24 - 7/1.