Manga Review: Gangsta: Cursed. Ep_Marco Adriano, Volume 5, by Kohske and Syuhei Kamo

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: VIZ Signature (VIZ Media)

Release Date: June 2019

Volumes: 5.

Spoilers?: No.

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

Volume: 1. 4.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A spin-off series from the hit manga Gangsta that tells the backstory of Marco Adriano.

The man named Marco Adriano is a loyal and beloved member of the Cristiano Family, helping them protect the persecuted Twilight population in the city of Ergastulum. But he was once a boy code-named “Spas,” raised as a Hunter and assigned to the Destroyers Second Group for a single purpose: to track down and kill Twilights.

Spas has lost the sense of justice that gave his life meaning. Striker still lives only for the thrill of the hunt. The rift between their moral stances forces Spas to break the promise they’d once made to each other, initiating a bloody parting that will scar them both forever.

The final volume of Marco Adriano’s hidden history of savagery and redemption.

Review:

The fight between the hunters comes to a head in the first half of this volume. Spas has turned on the other hunters, and despite his grief and his wanting to stay with his friends, he has to be honest and do what he believes is right.

It gets real bloody there for a bit. It's a bad stand-off, a bad fight. But thankfully it proves, at least to one person, that Spas isn't a hunter anymore and he wants out. This leads to some more hardships for him, as he knows he's done terrible things, and no one wants to accept him.

I haven't read any of Gangsta, so I don't know where that series starts up after this prequel. I'm not sure where Spas/Marco's story goes from here. This history was definitely dark and bloody and awful, and there's hints of more underlying issues aside from the major ones. But I actually found this to be an interesting spin-off series nonetheless, and I did like Marco's character and the way it was done, how he realized they were doing awful things and yet we still saw that they were his makeshift family with happy memories.

 A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Volume 4, by Hideyuki Furuhashi, Betten Court, and Kohei Horikoshi

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Shonen Jump (VIZ Media)

Release Date: April 2019

Volumes: 7+

Spoilers?: No.

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

Volume: 1. 3. 5.

Goodreads Synopsis:

In a superpowered society, there is nothing ordinary about evil anymore. Heroes, trained and licensed to protect and defend the public against supervillains, stand above all the rest. Not everyone can be a hero, however, and there are those who would use their powers to serve the people without legal sanction. But do they fight for justice in the shadows, or for reasons known only to themselves? Whatever they fight for, they are called…vigilantes.

The sinister Hachisuka continues to haunt the Naruhata district, distributing the Quirk-boosting drug Trigger. Knuckleduster continues to track her and is closing in. Meanwhile, Pop Step receives an unexpected invitation to perform at the Marukane department store’s grand reopening. With Makoto helping out, it’s going to be nothing less than an all-out entertainment extravaganza! But that’s only if she can organize a disorganized group of performers in time for the show!

Review:

While there is a lighthearted plot in this volume—Pop Step joins with a larger group to put on a collaborative concert, something she hasn't done before, and causing a different kind of attention for herself. This is an interesting plot, I suppose. I felt mostly meh, though I guess it was nice to see when Pop was able to use her normal routine to entertain during the crisis, and seeing her grow some more confidence in herself.

But during all this, we see that Knuckleduster has decided to stop avoiding it and confront Hachisuka upfront about all the bugs, only they have a surprising connection. I hadn't really considered this, but I guess it feels a little cliché, and maybe that's why it bothers me.

Now that one potential villain is possibly down, I'm guessing that we'll get to meet a new one in the next volume. We'll get to see where this bug-virus plot progresses to next.

 A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: Tokyo Ghoul: re, Volume 1, by Sui Ishida

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: VIZ Signature (VIZ Media)

Release Date: 2017

Volumes: 16.

Spoilers?: No.

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

Tokyo Ghoul 14. Tokyo Ghoul: re 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

In the world of Tokyo Ghoul, sometimes the only way to fight monsters is to become one…

The Commission of Counter Ghoul is the only organization fighting the Ghoul menace, and they will use every tool at their disposal to protect humanity from its ultimate predator. Their newest weapon in this hidden war is an experimental procedure that implants human investigators with a Ghoul’s Kagune, giving them Ghoul powers and abilities. But both the procedure and the newly formed Qs Squad are untested. Will they become heroes…or monsters?!

Haise Sasaki has been tasked with teaching Qs Squad how to be outstanding Investigators, but his assignment is complicated by the troublesome personalities of his subordinates and his own uncertain grasp of his Ghoul powers. Can he pull this ragtag group together as a team, or will Qs Squad’s first assignment be their last?

Review:

I took a break after the previous series ended, and I really wasn't sure if I wanted to read more. I was conflicted after the ending.

I've finally decided to continue this series, and after this volume... Well, I'm glad I continued, but now I'm a little confused.

As the volume started, I was very confused by when it was taking place, what all had passed, and who a lot of these people were. It wasn't until the last quarter of the volume, that some things started to make sense. But really, that only connected a couple dots, gave me more questions, but made me a lot more interested to keep reading. So, it did the job, quite well.

The world of the ghouls and the kagune and all that is a little confusing to me. There's a lot to understand, and a lot has seemed to change. Then there's this new squad, with Mutsuki and Haise and Urie and Shirazu. I'm intrigued by each of these characters, but I'm not sure what to think of them yet, or where they're going.

I'm very intrigued by Haise, but I want to know what happened that led him here, how things have changed so much. I will admit that some of this makes sense, because it always seemed like we needed to be inside the CCG, with them to see what they're doing.

I'm confused and intrigued. I'm also impressed with a lot of this. Even just the writing—it leaves you interested, and some of the character and technical choices were really thoughtful and done well, particularly with how Urie speaks and thinks.

I'm intrigued, and look forward to catching up.

Manga Review: My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Volume 1, by Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Shonen Jump (VIZ Media)

Release Date: July 2018

Volumes: 5+

Spoiles?: No.

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

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

In the world of My Hero Academia, not everyone needs a license to fight for justice!

In a superpowered society, there is nothing ordinary about evil anymore. Heroes, trained and licensed to protect and defend the public against supervillains, stand above all the rest. However, not everyone can be an official hero, and there are those who would use their powers to serve the people without legal sanction. But do they fight for justice in the shadows or for reasons known only to themselves? Whatever they fight for, they are called…vigilantes.

Koichi Haimawari couldn’t make the cut to become an official hero, so he uses his modest Quirk to do good deeds in his spare time. Then one day, a fateful encounter with some local thugs leads him to team up with two other unlikely heroes. None of them really know what they’re doing, but they’ve got the courage—or foolishness—to try. But they soon discover fighting evil takes more than just being brave…

Review:

Given the world of this series, it makes sense that there would be vigilantes running around. Not only because these things always happen—though, of course. But also because there's such a strict law system for how heroes can do things, of course people would want to use their powers secretly. That's kind of where superheroes come from, you know?

Koichi has a pretty low-key power in which he slides along the ground, so he's not qualified to be a hero. But he still wants to do good, so he helps people at night. But he gets into some trouble, and he tends to get bullied, so he stumbles upon some allies. First being a big, gruff older guy, and the other being a pop-idol girl who sneaks around to give people shows around town. There's a villain sneaking around throughout this, causing chaos for the public, with big nefarious plans.

I like the idea for this series, and the group of characters are interesting. It's just okay so far, but I think it has potential to be a lot of fun.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: RWBY by Shirow Miwa

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: VIZ Signature (VIZ Media)

Release Date: January 2018

Volumes: 1.

Spoilers?: No.

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

Goodreads Synopsis:

In adventures based on Rooster Teeth’s hit animation series, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang are students at Beacon Academy, learning to protect the world from the fearsome Grimm.

When the people of Remnant aren't fighting monsters, they still find conflict among themselves. Now they are at fierce odds. Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long are Team RWBY. Together they are learning the deadly craft of hunting the monstrous species known as the Grimm.

Never before revealed adventures of Team RWBY featuring Ruby, Weiss, Blake & Yang before academy and before they were teammates. Plus, a Team JNPR battle featuring a much-younger Jaune!

Review:

I haven't seen or read anything related to RWBY before, so I went into this book with no idea what to expect.

The book starts with a little bang, and then it goes into an introduction for each character. They all get a chapter to themselves, where we find out what brought them to this point, to this school and working together. In the latter half of the volume, it brings them all back together, where we get some glimpses of their friendships and how they're growing closer, and a competition with another group at their school, and finally where they all work together to defeat a creature attacking.

Knowing so little about this series, this was an interesting volume. But it also felt rather one-dimensional. The enemy at the end, the other groups they meet with, none of that left an impression on me. Even the chapters where we met the four characters on their own felt too rushed and not expanded enough. I didn't really feel like I knew the characters very well by the end, only had a base understanding of their characters.

It was honestly a little disappointing, though I'm curious about seeing the original or reading another interpretation, as it definitely felt like there could be more.

 A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!