Manga Books

Another hit by the Holms siblings. My younger child enjoys a graphic novel of her own while my teenager steals it to read also!!! Way to go Babymouse.

Bambi is...well a hot, pink-haired, killing machine with a pink gun. Bambi has kidnapped a small boy with orders to deliver him to the mysterious "Old Men". Who they are and why they want the boy are not revealed, not yet anyway. But someone else wants the boy back. The Word goes out to professional hitmen and two-bit slime balls all over the country...they are to kill Bambi and bring back the boy unharmed to collect a 500,000 Yen reward. Pretty soon every pro and amateur hitman is on Bambi's trail looking to take her out as she encounters Yakuza hoods, skull masked assassins, a deranged serial killer teacher, and gunslingers in cowboy outfits...all looking to send Bambi six feet under. At the end of the first volume, Bambi faced off against a gun shop full of Cowboy killers and while she killed most of them, some managed to get away with the boy, "Pampi" in tow.

The killers are all a part of the Bloody Gang Mama, whose leader is the wretched, mean, peg-legged Mama herself. It doesn't take long for Bambi to track the gang down as she's determined to tear down the entire town to get Pampi back leading to a no-holds, battle to the death with Mama. I'm sure you can guess who wins. Later, a group of 18 wheeler trucker assassins use their rigs to box Bambi's little car in, trapping her in her toughest situation yet. The Gabba King is not giving up on his goal to get Pampi back, however, as he sends an undead, behemoth masked wrestler named "Platinum Mask" out to kill Bambi next.

Assushi Kaneko's Bambi and her Pink Gun continues its wild thrill ride of raw brutality as our heroine continues to wrack up an impressive body count of would be assassins. The battle with the truckers is particularly exciting as Kaneko uses a minimum amount of dialog and instead relies on his art to tell the story in cinematic fashion. Highly recommended!

Reviewed by Tim Janson

By far, it's my favorite volume. There are more scenes with Ash and Eiji together, which is a plus. I absolutley loved this manga since the first time I bought it. It's a shoujo manga that appeals to both sexes because the plot and the artwork is more like a shonen manga. You won't be bothered by the really low shonen-ai content on the manga, so I say you should give it a chance. It contains lots of violence and some mature themes, but I wouldn't call it exactly for adults.

I just love this series. It's a story a bit off the beaten path that mixes New York gangs, the NYPD, a main character with an IQ over 200 who is also the leader of a gang, the Italian mafia, the Vietnam war, sex and drug scandals, and a little bit of shonen ai for a story that keeps you guessing how they all finally tie together. It's fast-paced, funny, and intelligent and this volume is no different. The plot just keeps getting more and more complex and the ending always leaves you looking for more. I'm really looking forward to the next volume!!

I absolutely love this series and volume 18 did not disapoint. I think I'd recomend this book to anyone who loves manga.

This series is one that gets better with age. The story telling, in the last three volumes especially, is superb.

This final novel is a compilation of three stories. The first is the final chapter to the main story arch, and as the blurb says, it is in turns heart warming and achingly tragic. The second features one of my favorite characters Shorter Wong, and his first unfortunate meeting with Ash Callenreese. The last is far and away my favorite. Set eight years after the end of the series it follows Akira Ibe on her first visit to New York and Sing Soo-Ling (now 6'3", kid had to grow up some time) in his attempts to redeem the sins of the dead. A breathtaking story filled with real life humor and heart break.

I love this book. I read it in the train. I'm just waiting for the 6th.

This is an incredibly moving graphic novel. In order to earn money to feed his mother and infant sister Gen agrees to take care of Mr. Seiji, an artist burned head to toe by the bomb. Mr. Seiji is kept in a room and left to die by his brother and his brother's family. The way in which Mr. Seiji's family treat him, calling him a monster, wishing he would would die so they could stop being incenvenienced, is in direct contrast to the way in which Gen takes care of his mother, and the orphan Ryuta who looks like his dead brother. The story is a perfect metaphor for humanity, civility, and the way in which people treat each other when times are difficult for everyone.

The artwork his excellent. Nakazawa's somewhat cartoony style makes the horrors seem that much more horrific. The burn victims, both living and dead, the maggots crawling through a living person's dead flesh, people vomiting blood, all have an amazing stomach turning impact.

And yet mixed in with all this is Gen's childish love, hope, and optimism. Despite the setting, he and Ryuta manage to find humor and sing songs.

This is a fictional story, but it is based on Kaiji Nakazawa's real life experiences which he went through as a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing. The names of some of the characters are the names of his family. The stories he tells are harsh and real and painful and good. Literature, in any medium, doesn't get any better than this.

With the official storyline over, I was sure these final two volumes were dryed out leftovers. I was SO WRONG. The short stories were interesting and well developed, pertaining to the characters and the background story. Yumi Tamuara always has shown quite a bit of humor expertise throughout her series and she delivers a hilarious alternate fan-fiction of her own characters. I consider this volume a must read for all fans of Basara. You want more Basara and she delivers. :)

It's been only a few days, but only 5 students remain of the original 42: the "good" guys, Shuya Nanahara, Shogo Kawada, and Noriko Nakagawa, and the "bad" guys, Kazuo Kiriyama and Mitsuko Souma.

In the beginning, Kazuo and Mitsuko meet face to face. Their fight lasts for half of the volume, but I did not feel it was too drawn out. There is also beautiful symbolism with Mitsuko, showing how torn apart she is inside.

In the second half, we finally get to see Shogo's experience in the program. We also learn more about the girl, Keiko, he was reminiscing about in volume 2.

Art was excellent as usual, and I've alreay mentioned the fascinating symbolism. Nothing bad to say about the adaption either.

I thought this was a very good volume; probably one of my favorites. We get to look into peoples' personalities and pasts, which is especially good for Shogo, for he seemed to remain such a mystery in the previous volumes.