“The Yellow Brick Road” – Dorothy of OZ (Manwha) – 8/10 Beach Balls

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware. ~Martin Buber

Genre: Comedy/Action/Adventure/Fantasy/Ecchi

Review Status: Incomplete (4 Volumes/5 Volumes)

Licensed: Yes, this manwha is licensed in the US. However, Udon cancelled it at volume 4.

Art: Bold lines for everything- there is rarely a weak or non-existent line to be seen. This isn’t a bad thing- the art is bold, and it suits. The colored pages are brightly colored, and there is great contrast between the blacks and the whites.

Summary: When Mara Shin’s dog Toto gets lost one fateful day, she goes in search for him along some yellow brick road and ends up in the wonderful land of Oz! Everyone starts calling her Dorothy, but these aren’t the cowardly lion, scarecrow, and tin man adventures you remember! This fantasic fairy tale features familiar characters… but with a definitely action animated twist! (from back cover of the first volume)

Review: Mara has been to this land once before as a child. She no longer remembers it, though she has seen the Yellow Brick Road. As her dog Toto decides to go barking down the road she follows- and finds herself in a world that she could never have imagined. This is not the Oz that most people are familiar with- the Witches are actually advanced scientists, at war with each other. Each witch has their own forces and ways of trying to take over, from the clones from the South that have psychic powers (one of which is codenamed “Scarecrow”), to the androids from the North (one of which is codenamed “Tin Woodsman”), and the magic boots of the witch of the east, which age her body ten years but help her access her magic.

It’s a dark, funny, twisted take on the tale. OZ is being ripped apart from the inside and attacked from the outside. All the witches of the Four Points are at war with each other, using their armies, while a force from the outside is insidiously gathering power from others that want to rule. And the Wizard is the worst of them all- someone with real magic and the original owner of the glove that Mara brought back from OZ when she was a child.

It plays with things that we know from the story and other common anime tropes. For instance, Mara -nicknamed Dorothy early on due to a belief that she is the key to a prophesy that isn’t really explained- ends up with magic boots when the Witch of the East dies (and she definitely does not die from a house on her head!). Those magic boots give her a Magical Girl transformation, one that she is fully aware of, as are her enemies and friends. Mara’s friends are all bishies, which is played with since she seems to have a small crush on Abee (the shortened version of “Scarecrow” in Korean). Jokes and crazy situations abound. In the first volume, though, we get a glimpse of the darkness that is taking over OZ, and know that things won’t be pretty. People die left and right, some of them innocent, others not so much. Interesting and violent creatures abound, putting our hero’s lived in danger.

Through it all, they manage to keep a brave face on. I deeply regret that this manga was cancelled early in Korea, at 5 volumes, and wish that Udon would have printed that last volume.

Overall, this was a great twist on a familiar story.

Recommended: 16+. There is some rare language (no f-bombs). There is some perversion from side characters, and of course Mara is self-aware about the magical girl transformation. All the important bits are covered by strips of floating cloth or her hands, though you might see some bare bum. Other characters obviously see the change, though. Some of the outfits for women can be pretty stripperiffic. Tick-Tock ends up in the hands of dwarves, and she starts getting stripped due to the dwarves planning on melting her down for scrap metal. The violence is pretty solidly there, though. People are stabbed, shot, crushed with stones… most of it is off-page, but it’s obvious what happened. You do see dead bodies, but it’s never graphic- just them in their clothes with some blood around them.

Other titles you might enjoy:
Toto: The Wonderful Adventure (manga)
Yureka (manhwa)
½ Prince (manhua)

"Cryin' Right Now" - Asura Cryin' (Season 1) (anime) - 4/10 Leprechauns

The mind, that ocean where each kind / Does straight its own resemblance find; / Yet it creates, transcending these, / Far other worlds, and other seas, / Annihilating all that's made / To a green thought in a green shade. ~Andrew Marvell

Genre: Mecha/Action/Supernatural/Ecchi

Review Status: Complete (13 Episodes/13 Episodes)

Licensed: Yes, this anime is licensed in the US

Art/Animation: The character designs are rather bland. In some scenes, they actually seem deformed. The animation is sub-par for when it was made.

Summary: Natsume Tomoharu is a normal high-school student in every way with one exception: he’s being followed by the ghost of his best friend, Misao.

After moving into his brother’s old house, Tomoharu expects to continue living his normal life but is one day left with a mysterious and locked briefcase without any instruction. At first he plans to leave it in storage, however his house is soon invaded by multiple groups of people after the briefcase. Although still not knowing the purpose of the briefcase, Tomoharu and Misao attempt to escape with it.

From there on, Tomoharu tries to learn the secrets behind the briefcase, the connections between it and Misao and why it has the power to change the world. (MAL.net)

Review: You don't necessarily have to know what's going on to enjoy a show. Asura Cryin' takes that idea and runs with it. For the first episode, you have Tomoharu getting a mysterious package, dealing with having a ghost floating around him, and having two factions fight over him.

Then it starts falling apart. Unlike Darker than Black or The X-Files, where you may be drawn into a story along different arcs but never get a sure answer to the mystery that they're solving, the story is choppy and haphazard that most interest is lost in it.

Half the epsiode is filled with lighthearted comedy that involves partial nudity, sexual innuendo, and boob jokes. Usually, it's completely unnecessary to any character development. Then you have some action. Someone attacks Tomoharu and his harem that seems to grow with every episode, after that there might actually be some plot or you learn a fact about the Asura Machines, and then there might be some more action. I can even tell you about how much of every episode each part will take up.

Part of the problem with this is that the plot is driven by the mystery and purpose of the Asura Machines- so to only get one piece of information an episode, and then have no plot to back up the story being told is very frustrating. With X-Files, for instance, you had a plot (ex.- to get the kiler), and pieces of the puzzle were scattered throughout the episode(s). When there is no purpose to half an episode for Asura, there is little reason for watching at all. It's even worse when the fact that they reveal was already told in a different episode, which makes the entire episode rather purposeless.

To top it off, there is little explanation to all the rest of the elements. What is the purpose of the Science Club? Why are they at odds with the Student Council? Why is there more than one Student Council? Doesn't anyone find it wierd that the student council president has a really funny robe that he wears out in public?

Some things just make absolutely no sense when put into the context of the world this anime occurs in. For instance, why is everyone okay with Misao being a ghost and attending classes? Most people can't see ghosts, presumably don't believe that they don't exist, but when Misao shows up out of nowhere, floating, it's totally accepted and okay.

The other problem is that they continually add more and more elements to this, making it confusing to follow. I actually needed to make myself a list of terms and ideas so that I could keep track of who was who, their backstories, what the deal was up with contracts and handlers, and why I should care about them. When you need to be reminded of why you should care about someone after 13 episodes of watching about them, it's a bad sign.

This anime just tries to do too much with too many characters. Having a billion characters that show up with little to no explanation, and trying to be a mystery and action and ecchi.... it's too much. And they spread it over too many episodes to make a compelling, coherent story.

Overall, while this has some interesting aspects to it, I wouldn't watch it again.

Recommended: No. But 16+ due to the nature of the humor- much of it is sexual, having to do with sex, and in one case comes within a hairsbreadth of porn. It highly rembles it, at the very least. And there's at least one risque joke every episode, in addition to the bouncing ladies' chests.

Other titles you might enjoy:
Eureka Seven (anime)
Code Geass (anime)
Darker Than Black (anime)
Escaflowne (anime)
Full Metal Panic! (anime)
Heroic Age (anime)
Xam'd: Lost Memories (anime)

"A Strange Encounter" - Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge (manga) - 8/10 Turkeys

Bad things are always going to happen in life. People will hurt you. But you can't use that as an excuse to fail or to hurt someone back. You'll only hurt yourself. ~ Anonymous

Genre: Action/Romance/Ecchi/Psychological

Review Status: Full (2 Volumes/ 2 Volumes)

Licensed: Unlicensed in the US

Art/Animation: Very nice. The action scenes are clear and flow well, the art itself is well-defined and clear. It looks lovely.

Summary: Yousuke is bored with life, feeling that he’s going nowhere fast and still dealing with the turnmoil of a close friend’s death. That is, until he’s offered an escape- by being saved from being hacked in half by a chainsaw. The girl who saves him has been fighting the Chainsaw Man for quite a while, knowing beforehand where he’s going to be and preventing him from attacking normal people.

Review: This manga has a serious story beneath the pantyshots and sex talk- it’s about a girl who’s wrestling with her own demons and fears about life, and a boy who’s dealing with death and what it means to live. And in the end, they’re happy to be alive and deal with the problems and unhappiness that life might throw their way, and hope that they can deal with it together.

Overall, if you can get past the panties, you'll be rewarded with a very nice, serious story about life and loss.

Recommended: 17+. There are numerous pantyshots, some brief partial nudity and two panels of fairly sexual situations, a bit of bragging about sex (he's not and it's not particularly graphic), some minor violence with the two kids getting knocked about and the Chainsaw Man getting hit with numerous knives, but there is overall very little blood. There is also some minor language.

Other titles you might enjoy:
Ghost Talker's Daydream (manga)
Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan (manga)
Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (manga)
Undercurrent (manga)
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (anime)
Dennou Coil (anime)
Grave of the Fireflies (anime)
Haibane Renmei (anime)

"One Way Or Another" - Ghost Talker's Daydream (manga) - 9/10 Pumpkins

It is required of every man, the ghost returned, "that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide; and, if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death." ~Charles Dickens

Genre: Horror/Drama/Comedy/Ecchi

Review Status: Incomplete (8 Volumes/10 Volumes)

Licensed: Licensed in the US

Art/Animation: Pretty good. On par with many good manga. The color inserts are vibrant but with an ethereal color and aura to the pictures.

Summary: This story is centered on a main character named Saiki Misaki who has two jobs, neither of which she is particularly happy with. Officially she is a dominatrix in a BDSM club who writes a column for a sex magazine. Additionally she works for a government agency, The Livelihood Preservation Group, as a necromancer. The term necromancer in this story refers to a person who can speak to and see ghosts, and who sometimes can allow the ghosts to speak with their voice to people who cannot see the ghost. Her government job usually entails helping to remove a troublesome ghosts. Misaki considers her government job to be less respectable than her work in the sex industry. (Wiki)

Review: This is one of the few ecchi I will not only review, but will openly admit that I greatly enjoy. Why? Because the stories and storytelling are so great! The dominatrix thing is never really sexual- instead it’s used for fodder for jokes and embarrassing situations, never really going over-the-top and usually with good taste.

That is where this story shines. It effectively mixes good horror with good comedy. The stories are all fairly dark and effective, from the boy who commits suicide due to bullying, the girl who loses her mom and little sister, and more. The people and spirits she interacts with all have feelings and motivations, and she goes above and beyond to try and make sure that they can rest peacefully.

That doesn’t mean she doesn’t have her fair share of troubles- she has a bit of a stalker… one that may be perpetrating many of the crimes in order to get her to those places. Her job also requires a certain type of dress, which she covers with a coat when she doesn’t have time to change. Doesn’t mean that she’s immune to tripping or a clumsy tug at it… in public! But it never is more than necessary, and doesn’t get in the way of the story.

Overall, 16+, preferably older if you’re going to pick this up. There’s language, parital nudity, somewhat sexual situations (one story actually takes place in her BDSM club!), and some general raunchiness. There’s also some gore and murder. You see dead bodies.

Recommended: Yes, if you can handle the movie Friday the 13th. There’s far less sexual stuff in the entire 10 volumes than there is in that one movie, and the gore seems to be about on-par.

Other titles you might enjoy:
Ghost Hunt (anime),
Zombie-Loan (manga),
Darren Shan (manga),
Kieli (manga),
Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (manga)
Shigofumi (anime)
Muhyo and Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation (manga)