slr2moons | First chapter reviews #1

For quite some time, I've wanted to hang out in one of my beloved book stores and simply read. Read everything!! XD Of course that isn't exactly possible, given my work schedule and all, but I can at least sample as much as I can. So last weekend I began my personal manga project!

I plan to read the first chapter minimum of any manga in the store that I have not already read or watched in anime form. Granted, it's difficult to appreciate all a series or even single volume has to offer with only the first chapter, but at the same time, first chapters are mean to grab the reader. Right??

For posterity--and since at least two or three of you will likely be interested in what I find--I plan to post my mini-reviews here. I'm not sure how often I will be able to do this. Ideally it will be once a week, but I think a more reasonable estimation will be 1.5 times a month or so. Heh! And hopefully the store employees won't notice me and start running me off after 15 min or so. *has shifty eyes*

I really do plan to read any book that is next in line on the shelf! I'm glad it's almost impossible to squick me. ^^ It's exciting to think what delightful diamonds I might find among all the dross!

Let us begin! Here are the first three first-chapter reviews. I started at the beginning of the alphabet (or symbols and numbers, if the bookstore chose to stock them in front of 'A'). Banzaiii!

"Age Called Blue" by Est Em. Published by Netcomics. One-shot. It's a BL one-shot about two wannabe rockers in London. One friend is self-destructive and a user of people, the main character is his favorite target. Destructive Friend shows up all beaten and bloody after stealing Main Character's guitar and pawning it, Main Character forgives him. Destructive wrote some good songs while he was gone, they play them at a show (not sure how Main Character reclaimed his guitar), they catch the eye of a producer, Destructive swears he won't run off again, they have some intimate-but-not moments that imply could be more to the "friendship" than just buddies. Artwork very Yazawa-influenced. I'd like to read the whole thing, but only once, and I'm not buying it. I have no sympathy nor interest in self-destructive users like that. The Main Character is an okay guy, though he lets his friend get away with too much. Still, I'm curious how it all works out.

"100% Perfect Girl" by Wann. Vol 1 of at least 10. Published by Netcomics. The artwork was so extremely shoujo it was actually painful to look upon, and I have a high tolerance for doe-eyes and sparklies. Typical shoujo romance story of a gorgeous-famous-rich-tall young business tycoon sees high school senior girl and falls in love at first sight, of course this follows his denouncing the idea of love at first sight with overly romantic and fellow bishouen assistant/friend. Gorgeous Famous is a foreign celebrity, High School Senior Girl is an average student who wants to be a pro artist, but family won't let her do art because it has no future, and her beloved older med-student brother is the favorite of their parents and her only hope for a bright future. Gorgeous Famous is fascinated and begins to stalk her, etc etc etc. I give the story credit for amusement when she had to translate an irate taxicab driver's rants to Gorgeous Famous that yes, he DOES have to pay money for a cab, which blows Gorgeous Famous's mind since he's never needed to carry actual money before. Uh-huh. And there's 10 volumes of this...? I won't be pursuing this one, even for free in the store.

"07-Ghost" by Amemiya and Ichihara. Vol 1 of at least 5. Published by Go! Comi. Little guy main character is apparently an ex-slave, training at a military academy in what appears to be a military state. He has strange memories involving a church and the loss of his parents. He's a genius in his studies and can use--like all his classmates--an odd type of magic that wasn't explained much in what I read. He passes his final with the help of his genki buddy and catches the eye of some evilly gorgeous bishounen military bigwig. Main Character then attacks Bishounen Bigwig because he remembers the guy from one of his vague memories where Bishounen Bigwig apparently killed the kid's father. Looks like Main Character's royalty, too. He might have some sort of significant special stone inside him. Main Character manages to escape the military academy and is rescued by a group of amusing priests, who are all young and attractive. Slash goggles do not have to be on tight at all to see the potential here. Artwork was pleasing to the eye, though the artist's fight scene choreography was rather confusing. I sensed a definite FMA influence in this title: the names were all Germanesque, the magic looks kinda like FMA alchemy, the uniforms were like FMA, short little Main Character, etc. I did read the part that explains the title. Apparently there's a legend that seven ghosts are hunting for the special stone, or something like that. I ended up reading the first chapter and a half, and I'd like to read more. Possibly just for the fun priests. :D

Past first-chapter reviews can be found on the Master Index Page