Category: Recommendations

Manga Recommendation: Kamisama Hajimemashita

by admin

It has been a while since I have brought you kind readers my latest favorite Shoujo manga, but today, you folks are in luck.  When I first discovered the beautiful piece of artwork that was Kamisama Hajimemashita [or Kamisama Kiss depending on where you’re looking], I was flippantly browsing through the manga section of my local book store while waiting for Matt to finish work so we could go home and read comics and interview people and other things we comic people do. I picked up Kamisama Hajimemashita and started reading.  Three volumes later Matt showed up and informed me it was time to go but I merely hissed at him and backed farther into the corner hugging the 4th volume as though if it were to be removed from my grasp I would die instantly.

Why is this manga so good you ask?

For multiple reasons.  Let’s do an overview of the story first.  Not only is it a creative new twist on a Shoujo that I had not seen in a long time, it was my first introduction to Japanese mythology. It is the story of a young homeless girl Nanami who, through a series of events, becomes the land goddess of a local shrine.  Tomoe, a fox yokai, is the guardian of the shrine and begrudgingly helps Nanami bring the shrine back to it’s former glory all while attending class and helping other gods.  This story seamlessly integrates the complex ideas of Japanese mythology into an easy to read and beautiful story.  It does take a minute to  get used to all of the new names, however once you get used to it, the read is easy.  Although it may seem like a lot of work, I would keep a list or Wikipedia handy to do a little research on what you are dealing with.  It opens up a whole new world of demons, monsters and deities that you can put in your list of information you really don’t need to know but can definitely impress others in the right circumstance.

Now onto things like the artwork and the characters.  The artwork is wonderful in this.  It has a kind of whimsical organic quality fitting of a story that has the fantasy that Kamisama Hajimemashita has.  The characters are all complex with a good amount of comedy running through them.  You can feel for each and every one of the characters.  From the deep dark past of the committed but fiery Tomoe to the happy go lucky but equally hard working Nanami.

I highly recommend this manga.  Every time a new chapter is released and I finish it, I table flip all the things that could possibly be table flipped and sit in a corner just waiting for my email alert to let me know the next chapter has been released.

Manga Recommendation: Kamisama Hajimemashita

by admin

It has been a while since I have brought you kind readers my latest favorite Shoujo manga, but today, you folks are in luck.  When I first discovered the beautiful piece of artwork that was Kamisama Hajimemashita [or Kamisama Kiss depending on where you’re looking], I was flippantly browsing through the manga section of my local book store while waiting for Matt to finish work so we could go home and read comics and interview people and other things we comic people do. I picked up Kamisama Hajimemashita and started reading.  Three volumes later Matt showed up and informed me it was time to go but I merely hissed at him and backed farther into the corner hugging the 4th volume as though if it were to be removed from my grasp I would die instantly.

Why is this manga so good you ask?

For multiple reasons.  Let’s do an overview of the story first.  Not only is it a creative new twist on a Shoujo that I had not seen in a long time, it was my first introduction to Japanese mythology. It is the story of a young homeless girl Nanami who, through a series of events, becomes the land goddess of a local shrine.  Tomoe, a fox yokai, is the guardian of the shrine and begrudgingly helps Nanami bring the shrine back to it’s former glory all while attending class and helping other gods.  This story seamlessly integrates the complex ideas of Japanese mythology into an easy to read and beautiful story.  It does take a minute to  get used to all of the new names, however once you get used to it, the read is easy.  Although it may seem like a lot of work, I would keep a list or Wikipedia handy to do a little research on what you are dealing with.  It opens up a whole new world of demons, monsters and deities that you can put in your list of information you really don’t need to know but can definitely impress others in the right circumstance.

Now onto things like the artwork and the characters.  The artwork is wonderful in this.  It has a kind of whimsical organic quality fitting of a story that has the fantasy that Kamisama Hajimemashita has.  The characters are all complex with a good amount of comedy running through them.  You can feel for each and every one of the characters.  From the deep dark past of the committed but fiery Tomoe to the happy go lucky but equally hard working Nanami.

I highly recommend this manga.  Every time a new chapter is released and I finish it, I table flip all the things that could possibly be table flipped and sit in a corner just waiting for my email alert to let me know the next chapter has been released.

Manga Monday: Claymore

by admin

Last week I promised multiple things.

1) That I would create the wondrous MANGA MONDAYS.

2) That I would post something for the men.

I have delivered on both of those promises today.  It is a great day for Panel Bound.

Today’s Manga pick is Claymore.

First of all, the name should tell you everything you need to know about how awesome this story is.  Anybody in any nerdy spectrum is well aware of what a claymore is:

Claymore is an action/horror shonen (male genre) manga created by Norihiro in 2001 and is still on going.  The entire story takes place in a world that is inhabited by humans and yoma.  Yoma are these terrifying monsters that feed off of the flesh of humans.  As pictured here:

How do they keep yoma from completely taking over the world via eating the guts of humans?  Simple.  The organization of half woman half yoma warriors named Claymores by the general public.  The story mostly follows Clare, the lowest ranked of the Claymores on her journey of revenge.

The story line gets more complicated than that, but it’s one of those mangas that if I say one thing it gives away part of the plot, and then it’s just not fun anymore.  The entire story is just thrill after cliff hanger after sexy women after gratuitous violence after more sexy women and cliff hangers and a dash more of gratuitous violence.

The art in it is superb.  It’s gory, terrifying and dark.  The story is a little bit harder to follow than most other mangas as there are a lot of strange names and corresponding numbers to follow, but as you get more into it, you start to figure out who is who and why they are important (usually because they kick ass in some kind of terrifying way).

Although the characters are all strong women, this is a male based manga.  One can generally tell the difference between the two because their eyes don’t get big, there is a lot of blood and a very big lack of male sex appeal and a huge emphasis on gorgeous women wearing skin tight uniforms with some armor and killing things with big swords.

I highly recommend this manga as well as the anime (which is on netflix instant view).  Everything about it is one big adrenalin rush that never seems to end.  You don’t get attached to characters, you don’t have to deal with any sappy love story, you get action, lore and blood.  Lots of yoma blood.

Purchase Claymore vol. 1 here: at Amazon.com

Until next Manga Monday (or until I have another interview)

-Eastyn

Panel Bound’s Manga Pick of the Week: Tramps Like Us

by admin

Tramps Like Us, written by Yayoi Ogawa, is a manga driven powerfully by the idea of what is considered to be an acceptable match between a Japanese man and woman.  Tramps Like Us is a josei manga.  If shoujo manga were the peppy cosplaying high school student, josei would be her single older chain smoking aunt who has a shoddy view on life at best.  It features Sumire Iwaya, a tall and beautiful business woman who is perceived as cold hearted by her colleagues.

She suffers from depression and anxiety after her fiance called off their wedding and a demotion at work.  Her fiance was threatened by her higher height, status and pay grade (the three highs that japanese women look for in a male partner) and left her for somebody more suited to his societal level.  This of course, bums Sumire out to no end.  I know this sounds like the happiest story in the world, but bare with me.

Now that you have the set up for the huge bummer that Sumire is in her life, let me set up the little bit that gives this manga what I like to call the ‘manga factor.’  That little twist in the plot that is just strange enough to work:

Sumire finds a young homeless man in a box outside her house.  He reminds her of a dog she used to have named, Momo.  She then agrees to let him live there as long as her pet.  She names him Momo.

I am going to let that sink in.  She is now keeping this young man as a pet.

Anyways, so that’s pretty much the set up of the story, as you can tell there will be issues that ensue, especially when she starts dating (NO SPOILERS FOR YOU!)

As for the technical sides, the artwork is wonderful.  The characters all have a strange sensual feeling to them that match the mood of the story quite well.  The clean lines and natural placement and movement of characters throughout the story really help you to forget what you are reading is drawn.

The storyline is what drew me in, however.  The plot seems like it is a bad porn set up, however the characters are all so deep.  Every single one of them is human.  There is no set bad guy or good guy, they just are well developed characters with pretty neutral morality just like us.  It’s easy to latch onto one character and identify with them, which will undoubtedly send you on a whirlwind of emotions throughout the manga (Sumire is my personal favorite as the heroine).

This is by no means a manga for the kids.  The subject matter is heavy (although it does have some humorous parts) and can get pretty steamy at times.  It’s a wonderful 14 volume series and comes highly recommended by yours truly.

Buy it Here!

Also, just to let you guys know, we are going to be making the manga recommends into MANGA MONDAYS!

So stay tuned to find out what new manga I have to recommend next!
Next week: Something for the men to really enjoy

-Eastyn