MAR (Märchen Awakens Romance)

Oh! Look! I wrote a review that isn't horribly long! Yay!!

I added this manga to my list AGES ago because I got a free poster of it a some convention. I kept putting it off because it looked like one of those really stupid childish animes that lead people to believing anime is for kids. Well, really it probably is aimed for kids..... but I must confess, I like it.
The story is about an useless boy named Ginta. He can't do anything with his life, poor vision, below average grades and dreadful at sport. He spends all his time playing video games or dreaming. Ginta has reccuring dreams about the world of Märchen (fairy tale in German) with fairies and talking trees. His dreams of Märchen become more and more common until one day he is invited into the world of his dreams with fairies and talking trees. In this world Ginta is a completely different person. He can run fast and for longer and is stronger than the average resident of Märchen. But soon Märchen is threatened by the Chess no Korma and Ginta's love for Märchen means he can't just watch it be destroyed, he decides he has to fight! By teaming up with the friends he meets and training vigorously Ginta forms the new group against the Chess no Korma: MAR.

Ningyou Kyuutei Gakudan (Royal Doll Orchestra)

Happy New Year every one!!!!!!!!! Sorry I didn't post last week! I thought I'd take Christmas Day off, but since that upset some of my followers I'll try not to do that again!! ^^

Well, haven't I got a treat for you to day, it's a manga! That's right I still review manga! This manga was recommended to me under the name Royal Doll Orchestra, but you can't find much under that name. Most places use either the Japanese name or the French one. It looks like 19th century France but it's entirely different. In this dimension a dreadful virus has spread the world, like a plague. If you become infected by this plague you transform into something like a zombie doll. 'Cracks' appear on your body, your joints pertrude oddly and you lose all sanity and humane thoughts. The virus is spread if a contaminated 'human', called Guignols, bite you or if their blood enters your body. So it's like a Zombie apocalypse.
Lucille is a an extremely pretty guy, who enjoys using his feminine face to cross-dress and fool others about his gender. He is the conductor and singer of the secret orchestra who will play any melody requested as long as they are paid enough. This includes the forbidden melody's that can cause strange things to happen to the Guignols. Also in the secret orchestra is Gwindel, the silent giant who plays the Cello and Kohaku, the hot-headed one who plays violin.

Buso Renkin

This anime is quite curious. It starts with a really interesting opening scene which made me immediately look forward to the episode (it's not often that the main character dies within the first 5 minutes of an anime), and the whole episode was just very well planned out. They inserted plenty of humour and just the right amount of cheesy-ness to complement well drawn scenes of monsters and fighting.
It's based around the concept of Alchemy and Homunculus (insert full metal alchemist reference her), in this particular plot Homunculus are the result of attempts at artificial life resulting in a man-eating beast and Alchemy is a special power used to fight of the Homunculus.
When Kazuki tries to save the seemingly defenceless girl, Tokiko, from one of theses deadly Homunculus he very quickly ends up dead. But, Tokiko decides to revive her saviour by giving him the power of alchemy.

Kingyo Used Books

Wow, I had this review done ages ago, just for some reason it hadn't posted! Oh well. You can read it now.

Based around a run-down second-hand manga store this book is surprisingly inspirational.
It's full of tales about why people read manga. It sounds pretty ridiculous, but it is extremely enjoyable. The employers are all pretty eccentric and the customers entirely believable!

The art style is very practical (it fits the genre of the book) but I much prefer shojo art so it's not very visually pleasing. Although some of the detail in the backgrounds is amazing!
In all it's a very good manga, but I think it's for fairly particular tastes. The chapters don't really link as such, there are various story arcs spanning over approximately 2 chapters. Personally, I prefer story's that develop more plot as the volumes go along, so this is not my preferred style. None of the characters are particularly interesting either. But the story's can really hit the spot; it really makes you want to get out there! This book definitely has something, I just can't put my finger on what.