Review: Yotsubato! - The Manga

(Note: All manga panels must be read from right to left)

Good morn/eve/twilight folks, have you all been well?

Chewed your nails to the quick in anticipation of the lovely tidbits I drop you all?

Well your wait is over! Rejoice! Particularly because I have something utterly delicious for you today.

Ready? Yes/No?

This week I’d like to present my all time favourite manga to all of you: Yotsubato! (referred to as some by 4chan’s mascot, to my extreme horror) is one of those slice-of-life type of manga’s that never fails to cheer you up. Sort of like your Calvin and Hobbes or Garfield, this manga will make you crack up with it’s insane, yet completely normal situations – all the while reminding you in little bits about your own childhood antics.

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A day in the park with Daksh's creator!

Welcome back addicts! Today brings an EXTRA special treat for one and all!

We have for your pleasure, an interview with Shamik Dasgupta, Indian comic scribe extraordinaire, and uber-brain behind the already iconic “Daksh”.

In our last interview with Shamik he promised that he would be revealing all about this new comic that has built a whirlwind of energy around it, to us here at ComicAddicts. And true to his promise, here he is in a candid conversation with us on Daksh

(Also, we have been graciously given some sample pages of spectacular art to preview especially for all of you – click them to see them in all their wicked glory!!)

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CA: Shamik, thanks again for taking the time to be here. If you don't mind we're in total fan-mode and will dive right into the deep end!

CA: After a stormy start and a lot of great fan-approval, Daksh has finally reared his head again! Admittedly, we couldn't have been more pleased, except perhaps if it had been sooner. Where has Daksh been so far and why did it take so long for him to come back again?

SD: Well actually there had been some disruptions after the first issue which took us some time to get back in gear, but when we did we went full steam ahead. There were speculations whether we would follow the usual conventions with Daksh and keep it for all ages or we should go completely mature on this title. Finally and thankfully Level 10 decided to establish their brand Comic Jump as a full fledged mature oriented magazine and my shackles were broken. This is possibly the most fun I ever had writing a series with no holds barred.

ComiCONN in Stamford Connecticut

The recent ComiCONN in Stamford, Connecticut goes to show that you can’t keep geeks down. Despite an impending hurricane, the show still went on and the geeks came out to enjoy it. The only thing that the bad weather did scare off was the 1960’s Batmobile. Still, it’s a legend, it has a right to pull the diva card every now and then.

The show however was a success. There were many vendors and a handful of wonderful guests. On hand were artists Michael Golden, Matt Busch, Mark McKenna and many more. Bill Diamond who has worked with Jim Henson on projects such as ‘The Dark Crystal’ and ‘Labyrinth’ was also on deck. Another neat sight to see were the life size statues of Bela Lugosi as Dracula and Boris Karloff as Frankenstein brought by the Witch’s Dungeon, a classic film museum in Connecticut. There was also Michael J. Citak who plays three different zombies in the movie ‘Remains’.

Shugo chara – Manga Review

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Shugo-Chara seems, at first glance, like a cross between Cardcaptor Sakura and Gakuen Alice, with the main Tsundere heroine Amu Hinamori being quite similar to Sakura with her job of cleansing the "bad eggs" - much like how Sakura cleansed the cards in Cardcaptor Sakura; and her main rival Ikuto Tsukiyomi being a perfect rip-off of Natsume Hyuuga. Really, there’s absolutely no difference! 

And yet, there’s something about it that draws you in – be it the goth-punk-tsundere lead girl or the emo and flirty Ikuto. The manga has a nice blend of comedy, action and fantasy without anything blindingly ‘shojo’ in it.

Plot

The story of Shugo-Chara revolves around Amu Hinamori who is, as earlier described, a perfect tsundere goth-punk character who has a reputation of being ‘cool and spicy’ in the middle school she studies in. However, this is not her true character. Her true self happens to be an extremely shy girl with absolutely no talent in socializing which she covers up perfectly with a cold exterior demeanor. Tiring of this duel personality, one night she makes a wish to give her enough courage to be her true self. 

X-Men: The Animated Series - IN REVIEW!!

I found myself bereft of the world of Marvel’s cartoons as they did not feature anywhere on Cartoon Network, my premier portal to the world of cartoons. Then, one fine day, "Voila!" Channel surfing on a lazy Saturday Morning, I chanced upon episodes of Spider-Man: The Animated Series on the Fox Kids segment of Star Plus. And an hour later, I found myself watching X-Men: The Animated series on Star World, its companion channel. To be honest, I was never into X-Men in the comics – the three teams I was never able to wrap my mind around were Teen Titans, X-Men and the Legion of Super Heroes – mainly due to the team roster changing frequently and due to the large number of magazines featuring each.
Of course, it was the late nineties, but comics available in India were still stuck in the eighties – we had Marv Wolfman on Teen Titans, Paul Levitz on the Legion and Chris Claremont on the X-Men – which, in retrospect, were the best runs on the titles to date. No matter, the seventh or eighth grade kid in me couldn’t figure them out, so they were trash. More than Spider-Man though, X-Men changed my mindset completely.

A Quick look at "Level-E" The Anime Series

Level-E, the series delivers a highly entertaining mix of comedy and storytelling with an original, creative story and a lot of witty, loveable characters - a perfect package.
The series is adapted from the original manga series released back in 1995 by Yoshihiro Togashi – the same Mangaka who also wrote Hunter × Hunter and YuYu Hakusho.  It can best be described as a Sci-fi-Alien-Comedy split into several small story arcs spanning a total of 13 episodes. The concept behind the show has some similarities with the Men In Black movies/series in which several species of extra-terrestrial (E.T) aliens live amongst us and we are not aware of their presence.

Every story arc has its own unique story and they are all very different from each other. However in each one the story always revolves around the main character that everyone calls “Baka Ouji” (Idiot Prince) – a blond haired extraterrestrial being from planet Dogura whose ship crash lands on earth.  The best way to describe Baka Ouji’s character is an intelligently-lazy arrogant person who enjoys playing gags on people around him; the other supporting characters are as good and have an amazing chemistry between them, especially the prince’s bodyguard named Captain Kraft whose job is to keep track of the Idiot Prince.

La Mangafique presents: "Anime Species 2"

Hello darlings, remember me? I wouldn’t blame you for having forgotten, but even drama queens like me need a vacation now and then. Though I don’t know if checking up on one’s minions really counts as a vacation. Have you all been well? Entertained by everything on offer during my absence? Ready for fresh doses of my insanity?

Then let’s start with part two of our feature on major anime categories. While the earlier edition dealt with, for lack of a better word, tamer genres within the animeverse, this time we delve into the darker, edgier sides of anime!

Shoujo: Easily one of the more popular categories, Shoujo is a heavyweight in the animeverse and tends to dominate both manga and anime alike. Heavily characterized by multiple bishounen heroes and villains (all of whom fall for the heroine); ugly ducklings turned into maidens fair (usually but not unhappily in distress); romantic settings; obstacles to the lead pair in the form of disapproving parents/grandparents/uncles/aunts; and the couple's best friends who just about lay down their lives to help in the name of true love. The term Shoujo itself translates to ‘young woman/girl’ and denotes the 10 to 18 year age-group this genre caters to. Popular examples include Kaichou Wa Maid Sama, Vampire Knight and Skip Beat. One of the latest to join the genre, Uta no Prince-sama ~Maji Love 1000% is still airing, and has all the girls swooning. Did I mention rabid fan-girls are a special, free part of the package? Be prepared to fight for your favourite guy. Sometimes I wonder what it would take to buy my way into one of these series.

With so many cute guys to choose from, of course there’s going to be a 1000% love!