Weird Schedule...

I will be out of town this week, so I posted the review for the week early. Trying to somewhat keep a schedule. Everything so far on the review plate is done, and is just awaiting to be posted. The first week of July might not have a review though, due to Anime Expo. Also I am in the process of moving, so sometimes reviews might be a bit off in terms of posting. I am sorry, but I'll do my best to keep you all updated.

Review: Fruits Basket CE V.06

Title: Fruits Basket
Volume: 6 (of 12)
Creator: Natsuki Takaya
Format: Unflipped
Original Publisher: HAKUSENSHA
US Publisher: Yen Press
Release Date: 10/25/16
Pages: 384
ISBN: 0316360716
MSRP: $20.00
Genre: Shoujo/Comedy
Rated: Teen

Description: Tohru should be having the time of her life during summer break at the Sohmas' vacation home...but ever since Akito appeared, Yuki and the others go off every day to meet with the zodiac leader. On top of that, Yuki is acting weird...! And when Tohru encounters the Horse of the zodiac, does that leave Akito as the Rooster?! Later, as the next school term begins, the new student council assembles at last!! While Yuki and those around him are occupied, Tohru secretly visits Kazuma. She wishes to free everyone in the Sohma family from their "curse" and looks to him for a clue...Unexpectedly, however, Rin is poised to hinder Tohru's efforts...!!

Contains Chapters 60-71:

• Chapter 60 
• Chapter 61 
• Chapter 62 
• Chapter 63 
• Chapter 64 
• Chapter 65 
• Chapter 66 
• Chapter 67 
• Chapter 68 
• Chapter 69 
• Chapter 70 
• Chapter 71

Review:

Cover: The cover for this volume features two of the cutest members of the Zodiac. The front features Kisa, looking innocent in her lilac school uniform. The series title is on the top left corner, with the volume number underneath. The background is white, with the text being a mustard yellow color.

The spine from top to bottom contains the volume number, the series title, an image of Kisa and Hiro taken from the front and back cover, the mangaka, and the Yen Press Company logo.

The back cover features Hiro standing in a black suit.

As a whole the characters used are two of my favorites of the series, but being that they are the youngest of the zodiac, they don't take up much space at all over the whole visual cover. There is a lot of white background. And the yellow text also doesn't do well in terms of being able to read it that well. Overall, I have to say this is the worst cover design so far. Kind of makes me a bit sad at how amazing these covers have been so far and then a simple cover like this kind of killed the trend.

Artwork: The artwork for this volume kind of flipped back to some of the original design of the first couple of volumes. We have the awesome simple beauty that we all have come to love with this shoujo series, but we have the weird comedic moments again where it seems the mangaka became a little lazy and went with the stick figure method at times too. I don't mind it, but it at times can become a bit weird when a whole scene carries out with different art forms.

Translation: Translation is 100% accurate. Character names, sound effects, honorifics, cultural references, pretty much everything about this edition is left intact.

Extras: We have several color pages and an afterword by the mangaka. Still wish the original mangaka notes with each chapter were included with this edition, but the mangaka removed them because she felt they were irrelevant.

Content (Warning: May Contain Spoilers): The very long vacation story arc that started last volume finally concludes in this volume, but it still drags on quite a bit before we move on to the next part of the series, which isn't really a bad thing either.

Akito continues to try and torment Tohru from afar by inviting all of the members of the Zodiac to visit him and leave Tohru alone and possibly miserable. This isn't the case though as it just gives Tohru time to think more about what the family is really all about and a way to possibly free the members from Akito. Akito finally invites Tohru herself to see him, thinking that maybe if they met face to face he could crush all of Tohru's dreams entirely. As Tohru thinks Akito is actually the last member of the Zodiac, the rooster, Akito shares the news that he is not, but Kureno is. Akito is actually the 14th person in the story, God himself. His job is to control all of the Zodiac until the day they all die. Tohru then decides to figure out a way to break the family curse, but before the end of this trip, Akito becomes a bit violent with Tohru, scaring her face a bit. Kureno steps in and stops Akito from doing more harm. Akito returns to the Sohma house and Tohru returns to the summer house to finish her vacation with the other Zodiac members.

Moving onto the remainder of this volume, we have quite a few lack luster side chapters, but the real story begins to unfold as we head into the second half of this series. Tohru begins to ask the other members of the zodiac, as well as close friends how to possibly break the curse for good, leading her to now find ways that the zodiac members must stand up for themselves against Akito in order to break the curse from them.

All in all, the story is becoming much deeper with this volume. We are moving out of the more light hearted tales and getting into a much more spiraling tale of angst now knowing what Akito is and how much pain these people will be going through in order to stand up for themselves and truly be independent. Tohru herself is a very kind hearted person, so it will be a challenge for her to get through this as well. I haven't read this far in the series before, but from knowledge and how I see the road paved as of now, its going to be a great struggle for everyone with lots of heartache as well which I may not enjoy getting through, but I will have to to see the happy ending these characters truly deserve.

Objectionable Content:

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

Score:

• Cover: 4/10 
• Artwork: 7/10 
• Translation: 10/10 
• Extras: 3/10 
• Story: 8/10 

Overall Rating: 6/10
Where Purchased: Barnes and Nobles

Original Review Date: 5/20/17

Review: Inuyashiki V.05

Title: Inuyashiki
Volume: 5 (of 7+)
Creator: Hiroya Oku
Format: Right-to-Left
Original Publisher: Kodansha
US Publisher: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: 10/18/16
Pages: 192
ISBN: 163236297X
MSRP: $12.99
Genre: Seinen
Rated: OT (Ages 16+)

Description: SINNER TO SAVIOR

Shishigami’s identity as a vicious murderer is known to the nation, prompting him to take refuge. As public outcry calls for him to be brought to justice, a tragic event pushes Shishigami over the edge, and his once violent pastime turns into a mission of revenge. With vengeance on his mind, Shishigami strays further from his humanity into a killing machine, but the affection of a new friend may cause him to have a change of heart.

Contains Chapters 36-44:

• Chapter 36: Shion
• Chapter 37: Lamentation
• Chapter 38: Kill You All
• Chapter 39: Punishment
• Chapter 40: Is 3 Alive?
• Chapter 41: Do I Look Human?
• Chapter 42: Don't Leave Us Behind
• Chapter 43: Spread The Message
• Chapter 44: A Pleasant Day

Review:

Cover: The cover for this volumes features the main protagonist, Inuyashiki, with the display of his back weaponry and jetpack. The background coloring this time used is blue, with the series tile running along the right side of the cover and the volume number on the bottom left corner.

The spine from top to bottom contains the Kodansha Comics company logo, the series title, the volume number, and the mangaka.

The back cover shows us Inuyashiki's opened up weapon arm on the lower right side of the cover. The left side of the cover has the volume summary, along with some reviews by a few reviewers.

As a whole, the cover is nice to look at, although I think they should have featured Shishigami, since Inuyashiki really did not make an appearance at all in this volume. Yeah, I know they seem to have a standard now with odd volume covers being our protagonist while the even volume covers have the antagonist, but over all the cover just doesn't really fit with this volume's content at all. The visuals are still great though!

Artwork: The art style follows the same type as previous volumes, no real changes. I did however notice that certain background scenes suffer with a bit of a grainy real world overlay style, which is ok, but it looks like it is something that could be reused in certain scenarios (maybe some old GantZ backgrounds?). Overall though, it is still a very pleasing manga to read, even on art alone.

Translation: The translation is again very accurate to the original. Character names, places, cultural references, sound effects, and other real world things are left intact.

Extras: All we have is Translation Notes and a color page. Wish this series would have a bit more to work with.

Content (Warning: May Contain Spoilers): If I can sum up this volume in one word, I'd call it AMAZING. We had an entire volume with the story focused entirely on the villain of this series, but as it looks, he might have had a somewhat redemption.

Shishigami literally does a 180! We start out with him moving in with a girl that has a huge crush on him at his local high school. He want's to stay in hiding from the previous volume after he was found out by the government and does not want harm to come to his mother. This doesn't help though as the media has began to move in on his family and stirs up even more trouble, as his mom has gone missing (pretty much dead if I would say) from all of the commotion of the news and reporters. This causes Shishigami to begin to hunt these people down, eliminating them one by one as he tries to somewhat gain a peace of mind.

But this doesn't stop there. There are people on the internet who also begin to send out fake news and rumors to harm Shishigami even more, and he uses his power to literally kill each and every one of them through their social media platforms.

He finally however reveals the nature of himself to the girl he is living with, and although she is completely afraid of him, she still shows how much she cares for him and can't live without him. He then has a change of heart. What he has done has been wrong, so he begins to use his powers the way that Inuyashiki used his, by helping to cure people. All looks once again at peace as Shishigami has taken a new lease on life, but then we have a massive cliffhanger, the feds arrive after finding out his location.

I have to say this volume was gripping from beginning to end. The action was intense, the drama was powerful, and it really brought a lot of character development to the villain who we thought was purely evil. All I can say is what's coming next can become very bad, or it could lead to a new beginning. I'm going with the complete catastrophe scenario, but we shall have to wait and see until V.06 comes out. I HIGHLY Recommend this, go buy it now!

Objectionable Content: 

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

Score:

Cover: 7/10
Artwork: 7/10
Translation: 10/10
Extras: 1/10
Story: 10/10

Overall Rating: 7/10

Where Purchased: Barnes and Nobles
Original Review Date: 5/16/17