Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer Manga Review

So, I finished this manga! It was a medium length manga so it didn't take too long. It IS completed, which I know is a huge incentive for people.

The genre is Fantasy, Shounen, Action, Adventure, and Romance. The story is, without revealing too much, about a boy who wakes up to a talking lizard. The lizard tells him that he is being conscripted to save the world from a magician who plans to destroy the world with a giant hammer. His other task is to protect the princess, who is currently possessing a classmate of his.

However, the boy and princess' host have a secret: They secretly want to destroy the world themselves! Thus, they must keep this secret from the other beast knights (like our protagonist) until the final moment!

That's the overview without getting into too much detail.

Story: 8.
Very good story, though a bit cliched. It has lots of twists and turns and is lots of fun. Definitely very exciting but not TOO exciting that it'd wear you out! Also, it isn't dragged out. In the end, I thought it could have gone longer. Overall, it was a very fun story.

Characters: 9
This is the shining point. EVERY CHARACTER (all 15 or so) are great and beautifully developed. I specially love the princess' host who seems to be an eviler force than the antagonist. I LOVE it! I love the feeling of servitude to an evil girl like her. As for the beast knights, everyone has a great backstory and great personality. Unfortunately, a few characters here and there don't really show up near the end. But the biggest fault is: I can't remember any of their names. It JUST doesn't seem to matter. You remember them by their animals.

Tidbits: 10
-great art
-lots of little interesting facts (like the Akimisic records, spear of longivus, etc)
-attractive storyline

Austin Powers and Caddyshack

A quick review of the 3 Austin Powers movies (before the 4th comes out):
-International man: 8
-Spy who shagged me: 6
-Goldmember: 8

Yes, the second one is the worst. The first had a good story and third one is hilarious with good references. Second one has the best girl. All of them have the best music.


Caddyshack is a great movie: good music, great humor, great character. Very rewatchable

Shinshi Doumei Cross Review

One of the best manga I have read is this one. The mangaka is amazing. The first novel I read by her (I don't remember her name, okay?) is Full Moon wa Sagashite. It seems like a funny like romance comedy...until everyone DIES!!!! It had a much darker theme but still kept the humor. But then towards the end it went crazy with betrayal and action. It was good...I love that kind of twist when its appropriate (TRC made me revise this statement...its transformation was terrible).

But this manga is slightly different: Okay, no its not. Full Moon was great till this came out and blew it out of the water. So many plot twists and very juicy storyline. Chick goes after guy but very unconventional. Read it (I won't spoil ANYTHING as its all plot twists).

Scene: 6
Art is a bit of a turn off and there are all these ads/author notes/random crap on every page. Why?! But its always funny, cute, and amazing.

Characters: 8
You will love all of them. Only manga were I accepted a gay couple (just like Negima is the only lesbian couple). You will be surprised about every character. "OMG, this person was actually ...." and so on. Betrayals occur soon enough.

Story: 6
Unique with minimal bullshit.

Overall: 8

Final thoughts: Worth a read even if this isn't your forte. Its only 40 chapters. Ending is the only disappointment as it seems like a copout...especially since I don't see why she picked that guy as well...

Read full moon wa sagashite if you like Shinshi Doumei Cross, Jonathan is amazing (not in anime though).

Review and Guide: Negima Volume Five

Volume 5:

Negi is now in a situation where he can get a second pactio. He'll need it when fighting against a stronger opponent: the partially demon Kotarou!

Story: Getting better and better, really setting the mood for the climatic finish!

Character: We meet Kotaro and better under Tsukioyomi (the freaky swordsgirl). Yue also becomes an important person.

Things to look for:
-End of chapter 38 (page 80) shows a scene that shows ALL the villains of this saga. You'd be surprised to learn about these characters.
-you should understand how dangerous Nodoka's power is (reading minds?! crap!)
-it would seem Negi will have to learn to combine melee fighting with magic to survive in these situations (foreshadowing of future training)
-Negi knows that his process of finding his father is dangerous and he will fight VERY dangerous opponents. Which means that Nagi might have been taken down by a dangerous foe or is involved with a dirty situation. Foreshadows taht Negi will have many foes to fight and that this is becoming a shounen title.
-Takahata taught him how to fight (that means Takahata knows how to fight too...)
-Negi says that Evangeline was holding back on him.

There are other interesting things but I'm sure you saw them even if you skimmed.

Review and Guide: Negima Volume Four

Volume 4: (chapters 25-34)
The start of the kyoto saga! Negi needs to bring a leader to the leader of the Kansai Magic Association. However, not everyone wants him to bring it so they will be sure to stop him. Also, they plan to kidnap Konoka because it seems she has magical abilities!

Story: Getting better and better. The climatic finish of this saga is to die for!

Character: We are introduced Setsuna, the cheerleaders, and Asakura (using the plot) this volume. Setsuna and Asakura are the ones to focus on.

Things to pay attention to:
-when speaking to Evangeline near the beginning, Negi has a flashback. Nekane is on the ground unconscious. Keep this image in your head.
-Notice those who didn't come (Sayo, Evangeline, Chachamaru, TAKAHATA!)
-Where is Takahata? This should be a question in your mind. He will be mentioned in volume 6 so be aware of it!
-understand the abilities of the pactio card (summoning people, using their unique abilities and artifacts [these are tools], and telepathic speaking).
-start to understand the enemies. Some of them are hired help, which means they are mercenaries working for someone else. Question is WHO that someone is...it would seem even monkey girl is working for someone despite her SEEMING to be the one behind all of this (she might just have a common motive with the brains)
-

Review and Guide: Negima Volume Two

Volume 2: (chapters 7-15)

Story rating:
Most of this volume is still introduction to characters. Baka Rangers are shown again (so be sure to get to them know deeply!).
The actual story seems very harem-esque but don't worry, it decreases. The story starts looking up but will only get better. But for the most part, its a humorous volume but not intense or exciting. Still, its a favorite for its calm and fine art.

Characters: The only ones we need to really learn about are the Baka Rangers. Of course, Chisame is also mentioned but she won't reign important until later.

Overall:
This volume just introduces to random characters (the twins) and give us some details of minor characters, like the cheerleaders. It has a story unlike the previous volume which was simple introduction but nothing to get too excited about. Still love it though.

Things to watch out for:
What happened to Ayaka's brother?
What mysteries lie within the library?
What is this World Tree?
What is a partner?
On page 159 (somewhere in chapter 15), we see that elder from the first chapter! He has a partner, some blonde lady...it would be best to be on the look for her!
Konoka is good at fortune telling huh? Perhaps she is magical?

These things might not have answers now but I would familarize yourself with these topics.

Review: Rurouni Kenshin

Ah, a favorite of mine. It's the story of a samurai who decides to stop killing but to continue helping the world. It's called a love story by the author but it doesn't really seem that way until the last couple chapters which seem kinda forced. Its definetely a comedy most of the time but you can't really see there being love between Kenshin and Kaoru.

Review:

Art: 8
-Perfectly fine. Its one of the few shounen manga that doesn't suffer from the Space Phenomenon (where lots of space is wasted or where pictures are huge to hide these but there is no point or detailed added). Character design is unique enough.

Character: 7
-It does have the stereotypical "useless" character and even a useless female: Kaoru. But they are seen often and used often that it just doesn't seem that terrible. In fact, it is usually the right hand man that seems to be getting weaker and weaker through the story, but Sano is constantly important. For that, RK gets a good score already. As for the enemies, they are unique enough and plenty of interesting ones you can like.

Story: 7
-The idea of helping the world without killing seems fairly unique. But once you get past the Kyoto Saga, the battles are a bit...predictable. However, there are a constantly new plot twists so the story doesn't seem terrible. It kinda feels all the same toward the end but it's still pretty good.

Scene: 8
-Scenes are set up appropriately. There are breaks between fights enough to allow people to get hyped up. Usually, there are never high intensity scenes though there WAS one moment that sticks out for me.

Overall: 8

Final Thoughts: A great manga, even for beginners. It is rated as older teen but I feel a 13 year old who doesn't mind some 'blood' will enjoy it just the same. I recommend this to anyone. It won't be super exciting but the story is fairly enjoyable to read. Great rereadable too.

Review: Negima

You can probably guess my opinion on it, but I LOVE NEGIMA! But I will be unbiased in my review.

It follows a 10 year mage who wants to find and be like his father who did great things around the world, such as stopping a bloody war in the magic world. It's set in the modern times so there are guns, atomic bombs, and high tech robots. However, it has old school swords and ninja skills making it a complex environment. If you want a summary, read my two other posts on it.

Review:

Characters: 9
-every character is unique and uniquely designed. You will find something that you like in every character. Every character is important so you will be sure to see your favorite character appear plenty of times, no matter how minor.

Story: 10
-the highlight of Negima is its story that gets better and better. Though its generic in its setup (finding his father), it gets quite unique and interesting as it goes on. Pactio cards are interesting and unique.

Art: 10
-lovely and detailed. Even backgrounds are amazing. Only problem is the excessive fan service.

Scenes: 8
-every scene has a point: whether improving a characterization, advance the main plot, foreshadow future roles or events, or advance a subplot. The scenes have the usually literary process: slow intesity part that sets up conflict, more and more interesting conflict, high intensity climax (usually amazing action scenes that trump even Naruto, Bleach, YYH, etc), and then refreshing and satisfying resolution which lets us breath again. Sometimes the break between major sagas is too long for me (I love the action) but that can be a necessity sometimes, though its usually comedic effect or to prevent us from dying of anxiousness while Ken takes a break.

Overall Score: 9

Final thoughts: I would recommend this series to anyone, even a beginner to manga. If they can just handle the fan service and slow beginning (which is long), they will get to the very interesting sagas. It has very high rereadability as there is always something new to notice. I've reread it a billion times and the fights never bore you.