Review: Fruits Basket V.03 Collector's Edition

Title: Fruits Basket
Volume: 3 (of 12)
Creator: Natsuki Takaya
Format: Unflipped
Original Publisher: HAKUSENSHA
US Publisher: Yen Press
Release Date: 7/26/16
Pages: 384
ISBN: 0316360643
MSRP: $20.00
Genre: Shoujo/Comedy
Rated: Teen

Description: Spring is in the air, and with spring comes break! When Shigure takes Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo to the Sohma's vacation home to make the most of Golden Week, the inevitable game of cat and rat is already underway, with sparks flying between Yuki and Kyo. But leave it to Tohru to smooth things over! The peace doesn't last, however, when another Sohma (or two?!) drops in! And even a vacation can't shake the rainy day that awaits the group upon their return. When a face from Kyo's past makes an appearance, he lets a shocking secret about the cat out of the bag...

Contains Chapters 25-36:

• Chapter 25
• Chapter 26
• Chapter 27
• Chapter 28
• Chapter 29
• Chapter 30
• Chapter 31
• Chapter 32
• Chapter 33
• Chapter 34
• Chapter 35
• Chapter 36

Review:

Cover: The cover for this volume features Shigure. He is wearing his usual green Kimono that he lounges around in all day at home as he writes his stories. The series title is on the upper left corner in green lettering, with the volume number underneath.

The spine from top to bottom has the volume number, the series title, an image of Shigure and Kagura, the mangaka, and the YenPress Company logo.

The back cover features Kagura holding an orange stuffed cat.

Not particularly my favorite cover of this series so far the background powdery backdrops are gone and we just have a plain white look with characters on each side. The pattern they are going with as well is the order of characters appearing in the manga. So for this volume, Shigure and Kagura make the cover, which in reality for me is a very odd choice as these two characters don't really ever have a lot of time together in the series.

Artwork: More of the amazing Shojo art that this series is known for. Like I've stated with the last two reviews, its the simplicity of the artwork that this series has that makes it shine so well. Background art takes a back seat for a lot of the series, but the emotion that is expressed through the art of the characters is what truly makes this series shine for me! 

Translation: Characters, honorifics, cultural references, places, sound effects... everything left intact from the original.

Extras: More color pages in the beginning as well as an afterword by the mangaka. This volume also includes a preview of the next volume. Like I mentioned before, I really wish the notes in each chapter were left intact, but apparently they are irrelevant now so they were removed. The extras for me feel short, especially when its a Collector's Edition volume.

Content (Warning: May Contain Spoilers): This volume goes right into more single story chapters.

The first few chapters deal with everyone going on vacation and trying to have a good time and relax. Not really much plot just a bunch of fun good Fruits Basket moments.

Then we are finally introduced to the next member of the Zodiac, Kisa Sohma. She has one of the more interesting stories, similar to Momiji. She however wasn't bullied by her family, but the kids in school which she developed a mute personality. Tohru helps her open up and eventually she starts to talk again as she has no fear around Tohru. Also, Kisa is the Tiger!

Next up are a couple side stories until we move on to one of the biggest story arcs yet in the series, which pretty much takes up the remaining six chapters. Kyo's master comes to visit, and we learn about the person who was the cat before Kyo, his grandfather. Kyo's master is pretty much trying to take care of Kyo as a form of redemption, but he also wants to show Tohru his true form.

While his master visits, his master removes Kyo's bracelet, turning him into the true beast that the cat really looks like, and its up for Tohru to prove herself if she truly cares for Kyo as much as she says she does once she sees him in that form. In the end, she accepts him.

The remainder of the volume deals more with Kyo and Yuki becoming closer with Tohru. Kyo also decides he wants to train more with his master, which Kagura also decides she wants to be included too.

There is also a bit more development with Yuki and his brother Ayame, which is great to see these two connect more, since they don't really have much time together and when they do its lots of comedic moments. However this time we get lots of background for the two of them and how they grew up which was great to see with all the extra characterization of these two characters.

As a whole this volume felt a bit all over the place. There was a lot of great stories however, just wish there was a bit more order to this volume like the previous two. It was great to explore Kyo's other side, even though it is so early in the manga version rather then the actual ending of the anime. All in all, this volume was a big leap forward, I just wish it was a bit more orderly when it came to the order of progression of these stories.

Objectionable Content:

Language: No
Violence: No
Nudity: No
Sexual Situations: No

Score:

Cover: 5/10
Artwork: 8/10
Translation: 10/10
Extras: 5/10
Story: 7/10

Overall Rating: 7/10

Where Purchased: Barnes and Nobles
Original Review Date: 8/13/16

Review: One-Punch Man V.07

Title: One-Punch Man
Volume: 7 (of 10+)
Creator: ONE and Yusuke Murata
Format: Right-to-Left
Original Publisher: Shueisha
US Publisher: Viz
Release Date: 7/5/16
Pages: 216
ISBN: 1421585286
MSRP: $9.99
Genre: Shonen Jump
Rated: T (Teens)

Description: Nothing about Saitama passes the eyeball test when it comes to superheroes, from his lifeless expression to his bald head to his unimpressive physique. However, this average-looking guy has a not-so-average problem-he just can't seem to find an opponent strong enough to take on!

When aliens invade Earth, a group of Class-S heroes finally finds a way to fight back and go on the offensive. Inside the enemy mother ship, Saitama fights Boros. Faced with the alien’s frightful power, he decides to get serious! What is the Earth’s fate?!

Contains Punch 35-37:

• Punch 35: The Fight
• Punch 36: Boros's True Strength
• Punch 37: Crash
• Bonus Manga: Big Construction
• Bonus Manga: A Top Pupil's Reminiscence
• Bonus Manga: Pork Cutlet Bowl

Review:

Cover: The cover for this volume features Boros, the current villain of this story arc, holding the world in his hands. Saitama sits on top of the world, just looking dazed and confused. The series title is on the top of the cover, in purple lettering. The volume number is on the lower left corner, with a red back ground and white lettering.

The spine from top-to-bottom contains the Shonen Jump brand logo, the series title, the volume number, the mangakas, an image of Boros, and the VIZ company logo.

The back cover features some of the other heroes in action poses hovering around a building with a ton of destruction on the ground below them. The volume summary is on the lower left portion of the cover, white text on a purple background.

I really love this cover, but then again most of the covers for this series have been handled exceptionally well. The portrayal of the villain, and actually the first villain in this series who has actually caused a significant amount of problems for all the heroes, and how he literally holds the planet in his hands is just a great representation of how bad ass Boros is. What really strikes me as amazing to is a lot of Shonen Jump titles used repeatable art at certain parts of the covers; this series however used unique art at every possible angle of the cover, which just shows how creative the cover designer was with this series!

Artwork: The artwork for this series is stunning. What I love about it so much is that it really goes for what American comics are known for, HUGE SPLASH PAGES! This volume is no joke there as we get the final part of the Boros story arc and an amazing display of page after page of Saitama releasing his last attack in slow mo and it is GLORIOUS! The art never lacks any finesse as it stays consistent from cover to cover and never misses a single beat. Honestly I don't know who doesn't read this series yet just for the awesome fight scenes alone. If you don't you seriously need to check it out, especially this volume and how crazy the art was ramped up for it.

Translation: Characters, attacks, locations, cultural references and pretty much everything else you can think of remains unchanged. Sound effects however have been altered to English.

Extras: There's literally three massive bonus chapters in this volume. All of them deal with the aftermath of the Boros story arc, but they are all about individual characters. Well worth the time to read and all give insight to some of the lesser known S and A Rank heroes.

Content (Warning: May Contain Spoilers): This volumes content was relatively short this time around as there was literally only three chapters and lots of splash pages, but it doesn't really go for it being that bad of an addition to the series. This review though for this portion might be a bit shorter then normal though.

The fight outside the giant space ship with the other S and A Rank heroes reaches its climax against the alien general trying to prevent the heroes from getting inside to help out Saitama fight Boros. They all work together to find his weak point and manage to take care of him within the first couple of pages of the first chapter.

We then move onto the big fight, Boros vs. Saitama. This fight pretty much rounds out the rest of the manga's main story as the two battle it out and battle it out hard. There's even an instance where Boros manages to punch Saitama so hard he ends up on the moon itself, how he gets back to Earth you guys just need to read it to see!

In the end, Saitama eventually wins with a Splash page soiree that goes on for about 15 pages of just amazing imagery. Saitama brings down the whole UFO and saves the earth from total destruction. The final scenes has Metal Knight finally showing up to scavenge the wreckage for alien technology to help him improve his hero status (even though he didn't fight at all) as well as Amai Mask, the Number 1 rated A Rank who basically tells the other S Ranks he is the strongest hero, and he chooses to stay Number 1 A Rank so no one else can join the S Ranks. This may be a problem later for Saitama, but we really don't know where this is going yet. Peace begins anew for the remainder of the volume, so nothing really of a cliffhanger to lead onto V.08 yet, just a few unanswered questions.

As a whole, I really enjoyed the volume. We had a nice conclusion to this story, but I wish there was a little more character development. The introduction of Amai Mask though was a pretty interesting concept. Hopefully we dive a bit more into his mysteriousness in future volumes, cause I can't wait till we see Saitama at least get to Number 2 A Rank and have to find a way to get past this new challenger to move on to the big leagues!

Objectionable Content:

• Language: No
• Violence: Yes
• Nudity: No
• Sexual Situations: No

Score:

Cover: 10/10
Artwork: 10/10
Translation: 8/10
Extras: 10/10
Story: 8/10

Overall Rating: 9/10

Where Purchased: Anime Expo 2016 (VIZ Booth)

Original Review Date: 8/8/16

Review: My Hero Academia V.04

Title: My Hero Academia
Volume: 4 (of 9+)
Creator: Kohei Horikoshi
Format: Unflipped
Original Publisher: SHUEISHA
US Publisher: VIZ
Release Date: 5/3/16
Pages: 192
ISBN: 1421585111
MSRP: $9.99
Genre: Shonen Jump
Rated: T (For Teen)

Description: What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks”? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless?

The U.A. High sports festival is a chance for the budding heroes to show their stuff and find a superhero mentor. The students have already struggled through a grueling preliminary round, but now they have to team up to prove they’re capable of moving on to the next stage. The whole country is watching, and so are the shadowy forces that attacked the academy…

Contains Numbers 27-35:

• No. 27: Earth-Shatteringly Fateful Negotiations
• No. 28: Strats, Strats, Strats
• No. 29: Unaware
• No. 30: Cavalry-Match Finale
• No. 31: The Boy Born with Everything
• No. 32: Smile, Prince of Nonsense Land
• No. 33: Shinso's Situation
• No. 34: Victory or Defeat
• No. 35: Battle On, Challengers!

Review:

Cover: This cover features a red background with a good deal amount of characters featured in this volume. Not going to list them all this time, seeing there is about 10 of them present. The series title is across the top in blue lettering. The Volume number is on the upper left corner, with it making an appearance as if it was the issue number of an American comic. Uraraka is the character featured with the volume number this time.

The spine from top-to-bottom contains the Shonen Jump brand logo, the series title, the volume number, the mangaka, the image of Uraraka taken from the volume number on the front cover, and the VIZ company logo.

The back cover continues the same trends as the previous volumes. Using Speech bubbles and comic panels with different colored overlays to portray the imaging. The volume summary is on the top left half of the cover. An image of Midoriya, taken from the front cover follows. On the right side we have an add for the hero Mic for his radio show. The background is very 70s disco stylized. 

As a whole the front cover was still amazingly well put together. I still however have a problem with the back cover. Using so many colors and them all being clashing colors, really kills it for me. I love the fake advertisement, just the colors are seriously mind boggling and really should have been more thought out before they were added.

Artwork: Moving past the dramatic scenes that took place over the first three volumes, as we established characters and dealt with the aftermath of certain events, this volume dives right back into the beefy heart of the shonen genre. There are tons of action sequences rampant throughout the entire volume, and not a single panel falls short where it comes to the events of the rest of the School Festival Tournament. There are some comedic moments, but the art style stays consistent and true the entire focus of this volume.

Translation: Characters, cultural references, attacks, locations, are left intact. The usual sound effects changed for the American Readers have been changed though.

Extras: Usual, tons of Character Profiles. And we got another Assistance Introduction page. I think all of these are great. I love hearing about characters and where they originated from and wish more mangakas did this with their series.

Content (Warning: May Contain Spoilers): With the first round over of the School Festival, we move right into the next, a Free-For-All Cavalry match putting teams of four up against each other to see who can steal the most points back from each other. The winning teams with the most points gets to advance to the next round. Everyone of course sets their sites on Midoriya, who gained a massive 10,000,000 points from winning the first round, especially Todoroki and Bakugo. In the end however, all three teams with Midoriya, Todoroki, and Bakugo do advance to the next round.

The Third round takes place over the course of the remainder of the volume. This deals with one-on-one fights where someone needs to either be knocked out of the arena, knocked unconscious, or gives up. A few of the fighters give up right away, letting other heroes next in line to fight instead.

First round is Midoriya vs. Shinso. Shinso is a fairly new character who's power is that when someone speaks, he can instantly brainwash them into doing anything he wants. Midoriya is hit with the attack and as he is about to walk out of the arena by being controlled, Midoriya manages to break free by using his own power by pushing it through a single finger and knocking him free of the spell. Midoriya ends up winning the match.

Next up is Todoroki vs. Sero, another fast round with Todoroki pretty much winning within a few short panels.

This basically brings us to a montage of several fights as Uraraka leaves to go meditate before her match with Bakugo. Midoriya and Ida check on her. Midoriya offers advice on Bakugo to help her win the match, but she chooses to do it alone and not rely on others. She wants to become just as strong as everyone else. The volume ends with Bakugo and Uraraka stepping into the arena, the last fight of the first round.

This was a pretty entertaining read, my only problem was the fact that when we got to the third round we were rushed through almost every single fight. Most shonen series drag out these tournaments, and although its nice for a change to skip ahead (I honestly don't care for the whole tournament concept in most Shonen series), I actually really wanted to see some of these fights play out. It really was a bummer to be honest with the pacing; there could have been so much more here and to be honest its the first time this series actually let me down a bit.

Objectionable Content:

• Language: No
• Violence: Yes
• Nudity: No
• Sexual Situations: No

Score:

• Cover: 6/10
• Artwork: 8/10
• Translation: 7/10
• Extras: 8/10
• Story: 6/10

Overall Rating: 7/10

Where Purchased: Barnes and Nobles
Original Review Date: 8/2/16