Manga Review: Time Killers: Short Story Collection by Kazue Kato

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5 (maybe 4)

Publisher: Shonen Jump Advanced (VIZ Media)

Release Date: September 2, 2014

Volumes: 1.

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Explore fantastic realms of imagination in this stunning collection of short stories by Kazue Kato, creator of the smash hit manga series, Blue Exorcist! With Kato's amazing and distinctive art leaping from the page, Time Killers includes her first work, Boku to Usagi (Rabbit and I) and features the stories and character designs that would become her breakthrough series, Blue Exorcist. Take off on a flight of fantasy with Time Killers!

Review:

I have not read Blue Exorcist, although I’ve almost picked it up a few times, so I had no idea what I was getting with this book. But I was intrigued, and I like one-shot stories.

First of all, there are color-pages in this book, and it’s printed on glossy paper, so it’s a rather pretty book.

The first story is the author’s first work, so it’s much weaker, particularly in the artwork. It was an interesting story, though, about an assassin and an aspiring doctor. After that is a bunny and human bodyguard team protecting a tomato farmer. There are several very short stories, but several of them are memorable. Including one about a princess and her complicated clothing, a sad story about an Indian, one about a thug father and his daughter (the ending of which was particularly adorable), and one about a guy who wishes for so many things he forgets what’s important. There are some really sweet characters, as well as some adorable sidekick/mascot characters.

The last two stories are the longest, one about a nerd who falls for a classmate, only for aliens (very cute, tiny aliens) to try to destroy the Earth. And the last one is about demons and exorcists, a demon learning to kill another demon in order to save the girl who cared for him (which apparently people say is like an earlier work compared to Blue Exorcist).

These are humorous, and sweet stories, some are sad, some have mascot-like characters. The art is definitely better by the end. I also enjoyed the explanation from the author of how she got from the first story to now with Blue Exorcist. I was surprised by how much I liked it, and now plan to either read or watch Blue Exorcist.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, and Erik Jansen from MediaLab PR. Thank you so, so much!