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When people hear the name Hiro Mashima today, they instantly think of his most recent work, Fairy Tail, which is steadily growing in popularity since its debut in 2006. However, its clearly easy to see where Fairy Tail's roots come from when one decides to undertake his previous, massive shounen story, Groove Adventure Rave. The anime adaptation of Groove Adventure Rave, named Rave Master, suffered considerably because of character designs that were not consistent with the manga counterpart, and because the anime adaptation covered only the first 90 chapters or so, leaving many unanswered questions and open plot holes. Groove Adventure Rave ... is a story that is unbelievably shounen, through and through. However, despite obvious plot twists and predictable characters, it still does not take away on what turns out to be a highly enjoyable read about a teenager's coming of age journey to save the world.

Haru Glory, Rave's shounen hero, is a young teenager living away from civilization with his sister on Garage Island. One day, an old man happens to pass through the Island and Haru eventually learns the identity of this old man is none other than the Rave Master, a hero that is destined to save the world from the atrocious organization, Demon Card, who plan on ruling the world. The old man, in poor health, eventually passes on his title and sword to Haru, entrusting him to find the Rave Stones to stop Demon Card. And thus Haru, becomes the 2nd Rave Master. Early on in his journey, Haru meets a young girl, Elie, who has amnesia and is seeking the truth about her past. This fateful meeting will eventually trigger events that become the foundation that eventually shakes the world.

From this synopsis, any reader familiar with shounen stories can get a sense of what kind of adventures, pitfalls, powers, themes, etc., Haru and Elie will encounter in their journey, and without fail, Mashima utilizes all of them. The sudden power ups, the talk about dreams overpowering thirst for power, friendship overcoming critical death status, so on and so forth. Groove Adventure Rave has all these shounen plot elements and in today's standards, the story starts to get pretty predictable as to what will occur. Fortunately, there are a few plot twists that occur deep in the story which some readers will be surprised to learn about, and it are those saving graces which help keep the reader entertained.

Readers familiar with and fans of the art in Fairy Tail will easily come to love the art Mashima utilizes in Rave because its the same exact style. While not as refined in the early chapters, Mashima designs his character rather attractively, the men with defined muscles and distinct faces; the women with heavenly chests and attractively looking figures. The battles are rather easy to follow, however, there are some instances where things tend to get a bit cluttered. The only critique I do have with his art is that Mashima does sacrifice detail in the background. This is especially apparent during battles, where the background will either be plain white or black. But again, this isn't too bad, as it does make the battles easier to follow.

While the characters look attractive, their personalities are rather predictable. Meaning, Haru is your typical shounen male lead; Elie is your typical female co-lead, and the same with all of the other characters Mashima introduces. They are nothing you haven't seen before, both good and evil. On the other hand, Mashima is able to adequately tell the history's of each of his characters without taking up too many pages or chapters, which is a nice change of pace from other stories where character past's are either too long or too short. Though character personalities really don't undergo a drastic overhaul from start to finish, all of the main heroes do evolve in a sense where you'll be able to pinpoint the difference from when a character was first introduced and where that character is during the last chapters.

Despite Groove Adventure Rave being the poster child for all things shounen, there is something about the story and the way Mashima goes about storytelling that makes it all seem enjoyable. You actually start caring for what happens to Haru and Elie, and watch in awe as their relationship develops from acquaintances to love throughout the plot. Mashima introduces a plethora of different characters that help shape all of the different arcs, and despite the length of the story, with the exception of a few gag chapters inserted in between, you never get the sense that Mashima doesn't know where he's going with the story. Although the story does go from point A to point B without much deviation, it's still an enjoyable read.

One of the big knocks I do have is the fact that almost every evil character, after being defeated, will undergo an instantaneous change from evil to good, which gets to be really old, really quick.

After reading Groove Adventure Rave, its easy to see where many of the ideas, character and guild names arise in Fairy Tail. All in all, if you're looking for a lengthy shounen, "coming of age" journey of a young man, with a nice side of romance, Groove Adventure Rave is something you'll definitely want to check out.

Stories about sports in the anime and manga genre nowadays have been mostly dominated by popular series such as the Prince of Tennis, Eyeshield 21 and Hajime no Ippo, to name a very select few. These are your standard shounen sports stories where its basically the coming of age party of a shounen hero from a place of mediocrity to the path of greatness. As heart-warming as these stories sound, their execution are somewhat similar and highly predictable. And they rarely try to touch on deeper themes. That is where the magic of Adachi Mitsuru comes into play. His works ... not only tell of a story about an everyday kid entering the sports world, they not only involve a deeply rooted romance that the story hinges upon but they also touch upon aspects of everyday life that people may take for granted. That is where the true beauty of Adachi's "Touch" comes into play.

Touch can be best described as a story where, similar to most of Adachi's other works, combine a touching romance story with sports. In Touch's case, its baseball. Uesugi Tatsuya and Uesugi Kazuya are twin brothers, and along with their childhood friend, Asakura Minami, are as close as friends can be. Kazuya is the sibling who excels at baseball, gets the good grades while Tatsuya is the lazy twin who steps out of the limelight willingly so his brother can receive the accolades, even when the topic comes to Minami. While all three of these characters can be seen as the main characters in this story, the plot is driven around Tatsuya. Any more information would ruin the stunning plot twist that Adachi is brazen enough to introduce. You'll wonder whether or not that was the correct move to make in terms of progressing the story. Rest assured, it works well.

The art that Adachi implements is a style that is extremely simple and light, contrary to most other shounen sports manga. There are no crazy hair styles, absurdly figured bodies, but just simple, every day, run-of-the-mill people. This works well because Touch can also be seen to fit under the slice of life genre as well. However, as simple as easy to understand, Adachi does seem to have a hard time showing emotions of character's faces, even in some of the more touching scenes. Whether that's on purpose because of keeping the manga as light and easy to read or if its something he does struggle with, its something to be argued about. However, he still gets the job done exquisitely and stay extremely consistent from start to finish.

The characters in Touch are both the strongest and weakest aspect of the story (if this story has a weakness). As stated previously, the story centers around Tatsuya and the development he undergoes from beginning to end is immense, and done perfectly. The same can be said for the other two main characters, Minami and Katuya, although not to the extent of Tatsuya. Adachi also introduces a lot of side characters - many of which are rivals on the baseball field or rivals that vie for the hearts of Minami and Tatsuya - which really help justify the development seen in the main characters. However, sometimes these side characters are introduced extremely randomly and Adachi will bring them back into the story just as randomly. It's funny because Adachi - in the story - actually pokes fun at himself because he knows he's doing it.

Though Touch is a perfect example where sports and romance meet in earnest, and supporters of both genres will be highly satisfied with what Adachi uses, Touch also falls into the category of slice of life. Adachi creatively weaves in many life lessons, both in a surreptitious manner and a straight-in-your-face manner. Throughout the manga, Adachi also pokes fun at himself many times too and the reader will definitely chuckle at some of the panels in which he does this. Basically, Touch is a highly touching story about the lives of Tatsuya, Kazuya and Minami as they go through middle school all the way to the third year of high school and is a story that any anime or manga fan will enjoy immensely.

The shoujo romance genre has such an enormous amount of stories published by many authors, that its extremely difficult to find a diamond in the rough. More often than not, all of these stories have extremely similar female and male leads in extremely similar situations that many times, differentiating a story from one manga to another can be difficult. Koukou Debut (High school Debut) is a manga that attempts to do that, and does so wonderfully for the first half of its story. However, it then takes a dive in the second half of the story and utilizes typical shoujo plot devices ... that makes it lose the identity it built up for itself during the duration of the first half of its run.

Koukou Debut is a story about the relationship between Nagashima Haruna (our female lead) and Komiyama Yoh (our male lead). Haruna is a girl who is determined to find a boyfriend now that she has entered high school, but has no experience whatsoever in the opposite sex. On the contrary, she tries everything that dating magazines say, but it all ends in futility. On a fateful meeting with Yoh, who's your typical bishounen male who has a cool and collected exterior, but soft on the inside, has sworn off women due to past experiences. However, he knows exactly what guys want and thus, Haruna asks Yoh to be her "trainer in love" to help her find a boyfriend. He reluctantly agrees to do so, on the one condition that she does not fall in love with him. Thus begins the journey between these two star-crossed lovers.

As far as shoujo romances go, this aforementioned plot is actually intriguing and somewhat original. However, this intriguing plot only lasts for the first half of the series, where in the second half, the plot becomes more or less several one-shot stories or events of daily happenings between the two. The author uses all of the cliche'd plot devices in the second half and it seems like it has become like every other shoujo out there.

The art, although very reminiscent of shoujo-type art, is very rough. As with all manga, the art improves as the story goes along, however, I feel the art actually worsens once you hit the last few chapters. Character designs seem really rough and incomplete at times, but I assume that's to be expected with 40+ page releases every month.

As the plot goes, so do the characters. Both leads are fairly interesting in the beginning of the story and the side characters do enough to help compliment the leads. However, Haruna - throughout the entire story - never develops from her insecure, crybaby self, as in almost every single chapter, she cries over the smallest of things. Yoh definitely goes under the most development through the story, but this is brought down by the lack of development of Haruna.

Even with all of its flaws, as a fan of shoujo romance, I still enjoyed this manga. It was able to bring about a certain charm with its supporting characters to help offset a weak main lead. In addition, one has to be in awe at Yoh and how he is able to handle every single fickle mood swing Haruna displays in each chapter. As I mentioned, the first half of the story really shines and gives Koukou Debut its identity. But for some odd reason, the mangaka decided to follow traditional shoujo plot devices with the second half, and in consequence, loses that identity it had built up.

I know I'm probably in the minority in my views of the manga, but I thought I'd give another view of this story. Regardless, any shoujo fan will undoubtedly love this story as it contains all the typical shoujo plot devices. However, if you're looking for something that goes outside the box and attempts to break the medium's constants, after reading the first half of the story, you'll have to look elsewhere for that.

To be honest, I had avoided this manga like the plague when I first laid eyes upon it about a year ago. The artwork, in my eyes, was so non-appealing, that I always figured that even if this story was funny and exciting, I would never be able to fully enjoy it because of the art. I noticed that the ratings on MAL for Angel Densetsu were relatively high (~8.30 at the time) so I figured that I shouldn't judge a book by its cover. So a few days ago, on a whim, I decided to read the first few chapters to ... see if it was anything special. Five days later, I had finished reading all eighty-four chapters with a satisfied feeling. Angel Denestu (translated as Legend of Angel) is your classic example of why its wrong to judge a book by its cover. Although the artwork may not look appealing, and a lot of the characters do not have eyebrows, Angel Densetsu is a relatively enjoyable comedy story about the encounters with devil-look alike, Kitano Seikichi.

Although born with an evil face that has been commonly compared to the devil's, Kitano Seikichi is a soft-hearted, caring teenager (hence where the "angel" word comes into play) who is constantly pegged as a thug because of that evil coutenance. Because of this, on first glance, everyone he meets instantly misunderstands him and more often than not, this leads to hilarious confrontations eventually ending up in fist fights. Although Kitano-kun is the featured main protagonist, the story more-so revolves around his friends, his teachers, his peers, his neighbors, and a plethora of other people and their encounters with Kitano-kun. As the mangaka (Yagi Norihiro) has stated, its more of a story of Hekikuu Town (the town Kitano-kun lives him) then about any particular character. Though the manga has an "episodic" feel to it, the mangaka nicely ties everything together quite well. The story is fueled by comedy and the first half the the manga, the comedy, although nothing new in this day and age, is quite entertaining. It does get a bit old towards the second half of the story, as the mangaka re-uses a lot of the puns and such, but still holds up relatively well.

As I have already mentioned, in my opinion, the artwork looks pretty horrid. This manga was essentially a one-shot to begin with, which might explain the simple character designs, but through a series of events, the mangaka was able to land a deal and thus we get our eighty-four chapter story. The art does improve once you hit the second half of the story, but it doesn't really take away from the fact that a lot of the characters are drawn pretty much the same with maybe one different feature. It feels like Norihiro-sensei was rather lazy with his drawings here. Especially when you compare this work to his other work, Claymore. Although I will admit there are some instances where he outdoes himself with character portraits in more of the bigger events. Once, and if your able to get past the art and take it for what it is, the story becomes so much more enjoyable to read. Taking the opposite point of view, the artwork is simple to understand what's happening in each panel and very consistent from start to finish.

As with these kinds of stories that are essentially a collection of one-shots or what not, its all about the characters. Here's the important point. Although the characters are drawn horribly, and essentially all of them are relatively simple in personality, its the character interactions with Kitano-kun on which the story hinges upon. Norihiro-sensei introduces all types of different characters, whether they are thugs from rival schools, innocent children, in-school peers, teachers and even other parents, he is able to create an exaggerated, yet quite amusing reaction and series of events with their encounter with Kitano-kun. Because all of them instantly compare Kitano-kun to the source of all evil, its pretty entertaining to see how they go about avoiding, fighting and talking and sometimes befriending, Kitano-kun.

Again, if you are able to get past the artwork and lazy character designs, Angel Densetsu is a more enjoyable read than one would like to believe at first glance. Its rather funny to watch Kitano-kun and a bunch of his friends as they actually get into real fist-fights with other thugs, and while all of the other thugs know exactly what is going on, Kitano-kun, without fail, is pretty much clueless on what exactly is happening to him. His friends will ask him to help "take out the trash," referring to other thugs loitering around town. On the other hand, Kitano-kun will fully believe that he is going to help to literally clean up trash and litter on the ground. Seeing how Kitano get himself into and out of these kinds of situation is quite amusing. On the other hand, those amusing situations do get repetitive after awhile. And people may not even be able to get past the artwork to begin with. At the end, if you're looking for an entertaining, comedic, turn-off-your-brain type of read, Angel Densetsu is something I would recommend trying to take up, as long as your able to get past the art and some of the designs.

Ah, Princess Mononoke. It was one of the most earlier films, and anime in general, that I watched, and was captivated at first sight.

The thing I love about this movie is that I've seen so many different takes on what people viewed as the purpose behind the plot. I've read in a few different places that Miyazaki is not a fan of industrialization (or what it has evolved into) and clearly that is represented in the overarching plot in this movie. Whether or not that was the true meaning Miyazaki was trying to portray, he nevertheless sends a powerful message of the side effects ... of industrialization and not respecting the natural Earth and its resources. I've also read opinions where people were a little disappointed in the movie's plot because "its one big ad for environmentalism." I obviously view that as an extremist point of view and while I can see where people who say that are coming from, I feel they did not watch the movie with an open mind or already had some preconceptions about the movie. And of course, first impressions are everything, so once you come away with that mentality, its hard to adjust. Yes, the whole environmentalism aspect does play a part, but its so much more than that. It's about the struggle of man to find a niche in the world all the while trying to find a right balance in respecting it.

Miyazaki also decides to throw in a little romance as a secondary plot and I thought it worked well. It was not the main focus of the story and there really wasn't a point in the movie where they forced it down your throat. It was there, for the people who wanted to see something develop between Ashitaka and San, but for the people who could care less about it, it easily could have been pushed aside for the main view the movie was portraying.

I loved how in this movie, we never had any good or evil. Just two completely different points of view of what the sides viewed as "right" or "correct." Miyazaki included the right cast of characters to represent each side of the struggle. First you have the animal gods, who obviously are the victims of human industrialism and simply want to live in their forest of peace. He also included San, our Wolf Princess, to give us a human's point of view from that side too. On the other spectrum, we have Eboshi, who cared for her tribes people, evident in the way she took care of the wounded and only wanted to best for her people. And finally Ashitaka. A lot of people have mixed feelings of him because he never really seemed interesting and just "was there." In my eyes, that's exactly what his character was meant to be. He was an outsider to this war between human and nature. Coming from a small village where villagers already respected the Earth, he was more of a witness to all of the events, and simply wanted to find a way where both parties could be appeased and eventually, everyone live in harmony. I thought in that aspect, he played his role exceptionally well.

It's a Miyazaki film, and sound is usually top-notch, and that's definitely the case with Mononoke. The music was peaceful when in the countryside, fierce when in battle and soothing during the more emotional moments of the film. The main theme song is still one of my all-time favorites to this day.

I've watched this film only in the original Japanese cast, so I can't comment on the English VAs, but I felt the Japanese VAs did a pretty good job with their respective roles. The animal gods voices were rough, yet understandable and unique to each species. They fit rather well. Though in some of the more "inspired" moments of the movie, I remember being quite disappointed with a view of the voiced lines. But nothing too big.

Background art was beautiful. I have a friend who is an art major and he once commented to me on how amazing some of the scenery is done in Princess Mononoke. I guess I kind of took that comment to heart as I also believe that 100%. Animation holds up to today's standards, and in some instances, I feel it even outshines some of the stuff production companies do today. I feel Princess Mononoke is Studio Ghibli at its finest. Everything feels fluid, body movements move realistically and believably for the world that the movie is casted in.

I guess because this is one of my earlier experiences with anime, this movie holds a special place in my heart and no matter what other people may say about this, nothing can convince me otherwise. I will admit that there are some scenes in the movie which drag on a little too much for one's liking and I felt they could have handled the Deer god's head thing a little better than what was seen in the final outcome. However, those are just small pet peeves I had about a movie in which I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish.

The best part about this movie, in my opinion, is that it has something for everyone. Whether you're looking for something thought provoking, or simply something to watch without having to think too much into the situation, Princess Mononoke can be seen in both lights. Action events are done exquisitely as is the touching romance between San and Ashitaka.

I recently finished this manga only a few hours ago and really wanted to write a review immediately after finishing it up, as so it would be completely fresh in my mind. However, after reading it through, I could not help but to dedicate a few hours to think over what I had just read. Let me begin by saying that I had not read any of Adachi Mitsuru's works and after hearing positive things about this manga-ka, decided to go for one of his completed, yet somewhat recent works, H2. With Touch receiving many of the accolades of being a great ... story way ahead of its time, H2 is a beautiful example of the exquisite style that that Adachi is able to create in his stories, a style which blends sports and a true, emotional romance story into one.

Don't let the surface of the story fool you. Even though it's prominently a baseball themed sport story, what drives the plot is the romance. There are two integral parts of the story in H2. One is the baseball aspect. Hiro Kunimi and Hideo Tachibana are childhood friends who met in middle school and as customary of close friends in these situations, both of them end up going to different high schools. Hiro is your ace pitcher while Hideo is your powerful clean-up batter. One aspect of the story depicts the relationship between these two characters and the friendship shared between two, which is tested on the baseball field as both vie incessantly to win the championship.

However, as I've stated previously, although the baseball aspect of the story is important, it would be nothing without the romance. And this is where I believe Adachi truly shines. He is able to flawlessly weave in an extremely strong and touching romance story within the sports world. Normally, you encounter sports stories with simple comedy and hints of romance that is never developed. However, Adachi's stories are unique in that romance takes center stage prominently in many instances. So a love square is seen between Hiro, Hideo, their childhood friend Hikari Amamiya and Hiro's baseball team manager, Haruka Koga. Adachi not only uses romance strongly in his story, but masterfully interweaves it with baseball.

A point to argue about is the art style Adachi implements in his works. While not the most attractive of styles, it does get the job done. It's not detailed and not pretty. A lot of the minor characters (and even some of the major ones) look oddly similar within the story. This is also the case within Adachi's different works, as characters from one manga look very similar to H2's. However, because his art style is simple, its not overly complicated and is extremely easy to follow, which is very nice when reading through the baseball games. You actually know what's going on in every panel.

Though the focus of the romance sports story is mainly between the four aforementioned characters, Adachi has introduced a very adequate set of minor characters (again, a ton who looks the same) to not only develop the main characters, but truly helps them shine. There are a lot of unique situations that occur which makes the romance square so much more interesting between the four. Aside from all of the minor characters, Adachi has also done well in developing the two main protagonists in Hiro and Hideo. Even though the personality of both never really undergoes a drastic overhaul, you still get a sense of a truly different character from what was seen in chapter one in comparison to what we end up with in chapter 338.

With all of these basic elements set up, it was up to Adachi to bring them all together and ultimately produce something enjoyable. And let me be the first one to say that when I tentatively picked up this manga in the beginning, after reading the first bunch of chapters, I was easily hooked. I spent hours at home - and during work in the spare time - to see what happens. Who do Hiro and Hideo ultimately end up with? Who are going to win the championships? And the beauty of it all is that just when you think you have everything all figured out, Adachi literally throws you a curveball that you wouldn't be expecting, and everything is thrown into disarray once again, captivating you all over again as well.

There are a few downsides to this story. One in particular is the completely abrupt ending. Don't mistake that with the fact that there isn't a complete ending, because there is one. It's just the most abrupt thing in the world, that it makes you wonder after spending 337 chapters building up the suspense to the final showdown between Hiro and Hideo - and ultimately, who ends up with whom - the author suddenly got bored and wanted to end things quickly. Either that or he became busy with his other manga works. It really puts a damper on things.

Adachi writes about Hiro's and Hideo's three years in high school baseball, so you have a great sense of the years flying by and you literally get to watch them develop as baseball players, and develop romantic relationships with their respective ladies. And just when you think you have the pairs matched up correctly, little emotional situations changes things, for better or for worse. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that if you are sports fan, and have been dying to have something where sports and romance meet in earnest, H2 will be right down your alley. Alternatively, if you're a simple romance fan, chances are H2 will also be something that will satisfy your needs. Adachi truly brings you on a rollercoaster of emotions following the lives of these young adults.

The 1990's saw the rise of many of the kind of anime that people classify as your "tournament" shounen anime. Where you have your ragtag group of fighters - usually kids still in their mid-teens - that acquire supernatural powers and must enter a tournament to essentially save a precious friend, destory a certain evil, or just simply to save humanity. This style of anime, if you would choose to call it that, was prominently owned by the Dragon Ball series, and to a lesser extent, Yu Yu Hakusho. There were several "under the radar" animes that followed this style of presentation, ... but fizzled out in the popularity department. Enter Flame of Recca. Although not as popular as the aforementioned series, one could arguably categorize it into a second tier as far as what people will instantly think of when they hear the tournament-style anime in the '90s. Although Flame of Recca did have its own few wrinkles to add to the mix, ultimately, what is seen in the final product is your standard shounen anime where your high school kids gain the powers to defeat the evil, but is still highly enjoyable to read.

The story of Recca actually had a lot of originality for the time (first published in 1995). However, it was lacking complexity. The storyline could simply be broken up into two separate arcs. The first arc with your tournament and the second arc containing your save the world theme. Backtracking a bit, Flame of Recca is a story about a kid named Recca, whose dream is to become a ninja. He quickly saves Sakoshita Yanagi, who he ends up swearing his allegiance to and throughout the story, refers to as hime, meaning princess.

However, little did Recca know that he is actually from a ninja clan that existed some 400 years ago and because of his ties to this clan, it starts a chain of events that will test his mettle against many kinds of enemies - most prominently Kurei (main enemy of the first arc) and Kurei's adoptive father (the main enemy of the second arc). Generally, the plot can be summed into the following: Kurei's adoptive father wants to attain immortality and Yanagi - our princess who happens to have healing powers - is the object of his insane dream and he will stop at nothing to kidnap her and assimilate her powers.

The art in Flame of Recca is good. There is a good amount of detail given to all of the fights, environments, characters, etc. For the most part, it is easy to follow, with the exception being some of the later fights in the second arc, which get a little crazy. Otherwise, I personally didn't have too much problem with it.

This story's characters are a prime example of a manga-ka choosing quantity over quality. He introduces a plethora of different characters that he spends approximately a half a chapter to at the most two, explaining their past. And what's even worse is that the manga-ka ends up using the a bunch of the same characters over and over again in the fights throughout the entire story. Though it is still offset with the introduction of new characters within each mini-arc as well, so it prevents it from becoming too repetitive. The main "good" characters are your typical ones that you encounter - a silent, cold-hearted swordsman, a bully rival of Recca's who has more brawn than brains, a female childhood friend and a 13-year old genius kid. However, each of these characters are developed extremely well over the course of the manga and they complement Recca and Yanagi nicely and really help bring alive the story.

As I alluded to earlier, the manga-ka does recycle a lot of the old villains and uses them for later battles, which ends up getting repetitive. They get beaten the same way both times, but just by different people or slightly different circumstances. Otherwise, the manga is really enjoyable as the author was able to throw in enough comedy to balance out the seriousness of the story. You can't help but to absolutely fall in love with Yanagi's cuteness and admire Recca's bravery. A lot of the powers unveiled are really interesting and unique, although a bit on the freaky side. The freakiness is especially apparent in the second arc, where you'll be encountering more of the supernatural aspect of the story, as the villain uses genetic altering to create insane looking monsters.

In the end, Flame of Recca is more of an old-school manga, but completed in 2002. Given that it is 300+ chapters long, you would hope to see the plot have some kind of complexity - or thinking situations, but they are sorely lacking, as the story is pretty straightforward from start to finish. Despite the fact that this story doesn't involves many complex situations and plot lines, and doesn't delve too deep in many of the character's pasts, the plethora of characters and character developments help offsets those weaknesses. If you're looking for that tournament style shounen, superpower anime that is coupled with a "saving the world theme," and in addition, are looking for some good quality comedy and romance, Flame of Recca is something you should consider on undertaking.

Recently, I mysteriously got into the mood of reading shoujo romance mangas that I went on a little frenzy a few weeks ago and read a bunch of short ones. While they were all relatively enjoyable, understandably some of the stories that I encountered were better than the others. But for some reason, I couldn't help but to get the feeling that a lot of the overarching plot lines in many of the shoujo romance mangas that I read were extremely similar. Nine Puzzle is a direct example of that. While relatively enjoyable and quick to read, it brought absolutely nothing ... new to the medium.

Again, as I have already alluded to, the story in Nine Puzzle is your standard shoujo where the main protagonist, Mika Sawamura, is your typical high school girl who's never had a boyfriend. Meet Kaede Minakami, your typical mysterious classmate who seems cold and distant at school, but once you see him outside of school in an environment that he's comfortable in - Billiards is the name of the game in Nine Puzzle - you'll see a completely different kid. Ultimately, you read how Mika gradually enters the game of billiards and slowly befriends - and falls in love - with Kaede.

The one thing about the majority of the shoujo art is that I absolutely love it! It has that distinct style that is present - similar to other popular series as Vampire Knight and Lovely Complex. It's really detailed, realistic and neat and fits in extremely comfortably with the story presented. Which is why I probably rated the art so high. Hehe. However, besides that factor, there really isn't anything else that caught my attention about it.

With many of these short shoujo romances, you cannot expect too much from the character development department, and that's definitely the case with Nine Puzzle. Mika, Kaede and the other main character - Youhei Ueda (the owner of the billiards store Mika and Kaeda will end up frequenting) - don't have anything special about them and pretty much what you're presented with in the first chapter is what you'll see throughout the rest of the next seven chapters. They even look extremely similar to other female and male leads in other shoujo manga. But again, all three of them are extremely likable and with such a short story, you'll have no trouble relating to all three.

Ultimately, what everything comes down to is how well are you going to enjoy this story, and personally, I absolutely loved it. Yes, it brought nothing new to the table. Yes, its your standard shoujo romance. Yes, the characters are rather plain and not complex. However, the manga-ka uses a proven formula of shoujo romance in Nine Puzzle and without a doubt, that formula works especially well in this manga. I highly recommend this story to people who are looking for a quick fix, with something simple and easy to read (without having to think about complex situations) and a story that is cute and enjoyable to read.

As we move closer and closer to the next decade, it seems like we keep on getting farther and farther away from amazing samurai stories. With possibly the recent exemption of Samurai Champloo and Gintama (which, to be fair, aren't your typical Meiji era samurai story, there seems like an apparent lack of new series that features your traditional Japanese samurai. Well, new series that are actually entertaining and interesting to read. The mid-90's and the turn of the century saw the unveiling of many great series (most still ongoing) like Vagabond and Blade of the Immortal, which truly define and really ... sets the standards of your traditional samurai story, though not your typical mainstream stuff. That is where Rurouni Kenshin comes into play. Nobuhiro Watsuki has really defined the standard of this genre, since his story was arguably the most mainstream and popular of the three. With the anime receiving mixed reviews because of the mistreatment of its final season (which were all fillers), its important to go back to the original manga counterpart and review what exactly sets apart Rurouni Kenshin from other manga and anime, and really, why when people hear the name of this series, have the tendency to group it with the elite of japanese work.

We begin with the story. Himura Kenshin, whose character is loosely based off a real life samurai during the Japanese Revolution back in the mid-1800's, is known as the dreaded Hitokiri Battousai and for some reason, he left the revolution halfway with a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek, a reverse-blade sword and a vow never to kill again. Simply with this much information that is revealed at the beginning of the story, we get a sense that Kenshin's past must have been full of strife, hardship and events which turned him away from the life of a hitokiri to that of a wanderer (rurouni). And simply put, that is where the broad story feeds off of. As you begin to read the manga, you are unfolded to events which will reveal his past to you, all the way up to the final chapter. Not only does this keep everything interesting, but it really gives you a chance to dive into the mind of Himura Kenshin and actually feel what he has felt, see what he has seen, and literally, witness Kenshin's developing character from start to finish. Watsuki has almost flawlessly done this as advertised, with three main arcs to his story - the Tokyo arc, the Kyoto arc and the Jinchuu (Revenge) arc - the latter two really the main players in defining this series.

Another feature that gets easily overlooked in Watsuki's legendary story is the art. I feel when people look at manga as a whole, they look at all the obvious elements of plot, character, etc., but a major categoy that is a factor in the enjoyment score is how well has the series been drawn. Is it consistent? How detailed? And most importantly, do I actually know what the hell is going on, especially during battles? Each of these questions are answered positively in the art as the character models and designs do stay consistent with the mid-1800 feel and culture. The environments, though not intricately as designed as other series, do hold up in its own right, but prevent that "outsanding" score. And the nice part with Rurouni Kenshin is that Watsuki has done a decent good job in drawing the flow of battles to the point where you're not questioning yourself what just happened. Although, some of the sword techniques some characters have will make you stare at the page and be like, "is that even physically possible?"

The character development of Himura Kenshin really comes alive through his dialogue and interactions with the other characters. Well, one might think, "of course this would be the case," but the fact of the matter is that most of the characters that you witness this kind of relationship all have some vendetta or hatred against the Battousai, which makes it all the more interesting to see how Kenshin goes about putting to rest not only these characters, but also his inner hitokiri self. And for as much as these characters bring out the worst in him, it is evenly balanced with his daily, ever growing relationship with Kaoru Kamiya. These interesting character relations and interactions are augmented prodigiously during the Kyoto and Jinchuu arcs, where you get to see the other, more deadly, side of Kenshin for the first time. I will say that some of the characters will make you question what exactly was the manga-ka thinking when he created them, but after watching them in battle, it'll be a simply afterthought.

Witnessing Kenshin go through all these ordeals is what really makes the manga so interesting. With his belief and vow of never to kill again, you really wonder sometimes if he is able to keep it, as there are many circumstances which really push Kenshin's psyche to the limit and even at times, his hitokiri side is unveiled. This is really, in my eyes, what makes the story so enjoyable to read. Every avenue of Kenshin's past, present and future is explored in heavy detail, leaving you with a fulfilled story, an actual complete ending and a truly satisfied feeling of nirvana (okay, maybe I'm stretching it a little bit), but you get the point. To say the least, the story is captivating, especially if japanese samurai, traditional sword-style battles that don't drag on, are things you are looking for in a manga.

The key of success for many shounen anime is usually how well the anime is adapted from the manga. So when people are disappointed with the results of the anime, they usually resort to simply just reading the manga and follow the storyline through that. One Piece is a result of one of the few rare cases out there where the anime adaptation has followed the manga almost tooth and nail, with pretty much nothing lost within the translation between the two. With the anime receiving high review results here on MAL, I decided to take a closer look at the manga, ... and as far as shounen stories go, see if One Piece lives up to the accepted truth that the manga is better than the anime. This is not going to be your standard review. Because of the popularity of One Piece, where most fans know what it is already about, I will delve into more of the concepts, ideals and symbolism that sets apart One Piece from its counterparts.

We begin with the story. At this point in the game, I'm sure everyone who's reading this review or simply have been a fan of anime, know the general gist of what the plot is behind One Piece. If you don't, I will be the first one to say that you're probably living under a rock. Either that, or you're living at the north or south pole, isolated away from the anime civilization itself. Without straying too much off topic here, One Piece is a story about Monkey D. Luffy and his ragtag group of pirates, all trying to accomplish their respective goals, enduring hardships, heartaches, laughs, sadness, happiness and everything in between. As you read from chapter one and all the way through the latest arcs, you'll be unveiled to so many creative story developments, places, people and idea. That is what makes One Piece so fun, the creativity of it all. Eiichiro Oda (the manga-ka) has created such an amazing and unique world that it is something that you will have a hard time finding in other anime, if at all. Though the story seems simple at heart, as you read deeper into One Piece, you'll be unveiled to secret plots and hidden agendas that will have you shaking your legs in anticipation to see how everything will mesh together in the end.

The big difference in regards with the story of One Piece as compared to other shounen is the fact that the story actually gets better as the series progresses longer, breaking the age-old cliche that shounen titles usually carry, where the story will start to suffer the longer the series goes on. Oda has managed to introduce a plethora of different sub-plots that he flawlessly weaves together with the overarching aim of the story about friendship, the sense of adventure and the joys and heartaches that come with the pursuit of your dream. It takes awhile for the sub-plots to start developing, as Oda will subtlety leave hints and clues early on in his story that will blow you out of the water when you encounter them much later. This clearly shows that Oda knows exactly where he wants to go with the story.

One Piece has fallen under heavy scrutiny from all kinds of anime fans because of the different art style that Oda utilizes in his epic story. Honestly, it is a hit or miss. I have found that you will either love it or hate it and as a result, will either love One Piece or hate the anime. As unfortunate as that sounds, its the simple truth I have discovered about the art style. However, I do urge you to give it a shot because if there is anything that grows on you, it is this art style. As you read more and more and get used to seeing the art drawn "One Piece style," you'll - hopefully - grow to accept and love the style. The art style starts off not so great, but again, as the story develops, you can easily see how Oda and his assistants were able to refine the art to something that works, and looks, beautifully.

Going into other aspects of the drawings, everything is relatively easy to follow, especially the epic fights as compared to other shounen manga out there. It's a nice change of pace where you can actually understand what's going on. Backgrounds are given a nice amount of detail and character designs are original and fresh, with different arcs having characters with different clothes and such.

Arguably, the biggest strength of One Piece, that brings it over the top, is the characters and their developing relationships with one another. Luffy's crew has the most original and different mannerism characters you'll ever see in shounen anime and its a wonder how they all get along in the first place (then again, they all don't get along). Though Luffy is your typical shounen hero who is not bright, a black hole for a stomach (though in One Piece, his huge appetite has an actual reason behind it) and courageous when needed, what sets Luffy apart from other shounen heros is his hilarious personality. His comic relief is so funny that you'll be laughing out loud at some of the things he does. The same can be said about the other crew members, and really, every major character in One Piece itself. All characters have a defining trait or quality that you'll either love to pieces or hate with a passion. Watching as they interact with one another and often times their completely opposite personalities clashing with one another, it only provides great room for developing relationships between the many characters in One Piece.

And it is these great developments between characters in One Piece that leads to the biggest theme the encompasses One Piece - friendship...or as stated a seemingly infinite number of times - nakama. However, the word nakama, though commonly referred to as friend, comrade and such, has a deep-rooted meaning that cannot be described in words. More than friends, bonds running deeper than blood can tie people together, you get the picture. In order to understand the meaning, you really need to immerse yourself into One Piece and until you hear/read Luffy (who, by the way, is the only character who can say I will protect my nakama and look cool in doing so) say exactly that.

When you come right down to it, what sets apart One Piece from other long-running shounen is the plethora of genres that not only exist in One Piece, but really come alive and apparent. To begin with, an essential part of One Piece is it's comedy. While other shounen try to input comedy as much as possible, usually it doesn't live up to expectations or is very scarce within the story. One Piece is filled with comedy that, as I stated up above, will make you laugh out loud. And this is only accentuated by the great drawings of Oda himself.

However, as much as the humor is a big part of One Piece, there are also many stunning events that will draw a lot of passion out of you, whether it be a feeling of sadness, happiness, anger or simply have you staring in the page at awe, Again, I cannot stress this enough that One Piece is a story that has every single plot element you can wish for. Well, with the exception of a true romance, but because of the nature of the characters, it's kind of hard to see a budding romance evolve. And as a result, Oda wisely has left it out to date. You'll see a everything from mystery, suspense, drama, a little dash of horror, etc.

Overall, for roughly every two or three die-hard fans of One Piece, you'll probably find one person who can't stand the series. Which pretty much goes to show you that regardless of what rumors you may hear about how amazing or how ridiculous One Piece is, it is something you must experience for yourself and give it a fair chance. I will play devil's advocate and say that One Piece is slow to start off with, where the story really doesn't pick up until the Arlong Arc. Until Luffy recruits the first four or five crew members, then the hilarious character interactions start coming alive. And coincidentally, that is when the plot starts to hit its stride, with Oda starting to leave his hints of what's to come later. It does take some patience.

If anything, I urge you to read up to there and a little further so you can get a sense of what's to come. If you still can't understand why its so epic, its safe to say you may drop the series. However, when you compare One Piece to other shounen anime of its kind, and really, all anime and manga to date, there is no other story out there as epic, as emotional, as developing, as truly amazing as what Oda is telling in One Piece.