Hanger Vol 2 by Hirotaka Kisaragi
Vol 2 was my first foray into Kisaragi’s Hanger series. Hangers are high-drug users who have agreed to work with authorities to apprehend other users. The high-drugs grant the user enhanced physical and mental abilities. They are potent and addictive. This volume follows Hajime, a new Keeper recruit, who has been partnered with the Hanger Zeroichi. After a kerfuffle at the beginning, where Hajime puts himself in danger and gets chewed out by Zeroichi, he decides to shadow another Hanger/Keeper pair to learn more about how the partnership should ideally work. He tags along with Byakuran and Zemu. Things don’t quite go as Hajime expects. A bloody fight reveals some fascinating facets to both Hajime- who’s not as defenceless against druggers as Zeroichi believes- and Byakuran, whose nano-infused blood can either heal or kill as they wish. As the story goes on, Squad 4 prepares to tackle the terrorist group Nine-tails. Can the anti-social Hangers learn to cooperate to bring Nine-tails down without killing each other?
The first few pages of the manga give a little bit of background about Hangers and Keepers, and a few of the major players from the previous volume, kinda like a refresher. I had an egalley of the first volume but the file was bad and I wasn’t able to read it, so I found that definitely useful! I really want to read the first one! I’ll have to order a paperback. I found the concept rather interesting, and I loved the artwork. OMC! The (literally) gender-fluid Byakuran is priceless! I love their flirty personality. And Hajime is absolutely precious and adorable, especially with how awkward he is around his Hanger. Learning about the relationships between the various Keeper/Hanger pairs, and learning their individual personalities was fun. They are each so very different and it’s well-written. If you love manga , be sure to check out the Hanger series!
***Many thanks to Netgalley and Diamond Book Distributors/Tokyopop for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Lady Mechanika Vol 4: Clockwork Assassin by Joe Benitez & MM Chen
Clockwork Assassin is fourth in the Lady Mechanika series. When scientists begin turning up murdered in a most horrible fashion, Lady Mechanika becomes the number one suspect. She’s the only one strong enough, and uniquely equipped to have commited the crimes. To clear her name, Mechanika must find the true assailant, hopefully before he strikes again. The only clue is that the murdered men all once worked together on Project Sparta. This is the first of this series that I’ve read, and I’m eager to get ahold of the previous books! I loved the gorgeous, full-colour artwork. I’m a big steampunk and clockwork fan, and love mysteries, so this was a perfect fit for me. The story flowed well, and though this is the fourth book in, it felt whole and complete in itself.
***Many thanks to Netgalley and Diamond Books for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Seto Utsumi by Kadzuya Konomoto
Konomoto’s Seto Utsumi follows the eponymous Seto and Utsumi, two high school boys, as they shoot the breeze by a river each afternoon while Utsumi is waiting to go to cram school. There are seven different chapters, following seven different, non consecutive days. One day, the pair play badminton. Another day they spend discussing bad habits. Or talking about learning to tie a tie. Overall, neither the artwork, nor the stories appealed to me. Perhaps I’m just too far removed from high school trivialities, but the conversations seemed rather shallow and boring to me. The person most interesting to me was Naruyama, the bully. He shows in several of the chapters, and I can’t help but wonder what his full story is. What’s going on behind the scenes to make him the way he is?
***Many thanks to Netgalley and Akita Publishing for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Hunters by Josh Tierney & Miguel Valderrama
Rating: **
Azarias, champion to the King, has been tasked with a deed of great importance. He is to assemble the greatest heroes the world has seen, venture to a mysterious island, and retrieve the ‘dust’ of an ancient deity, which is said to grant the one who consumes it an extra 100 years if life. This, the King believes, is key to his putting realm affairs in order, and securing his legacy despite reckless heirs. However, getting the dust is another matter altogether. Azarias’ team is plagued with death and disaster from the outset.
While I found the artwork gorgeous (mostly), the story itself seemed simplistic and uninteresting. Added to this is dialogue I could brush off in a mediocre video RPG, badly translated from Japanese speech and culture into modern American speech and values. Both dialogue and storyline may have been overridden, in a gaming format, by the pure pleasure of playing the game. Alas, the graphic novel format wasn’t an asset. The dialogue became massive info dumps, as if needing to explain everything to the characters, even things they should know, or be able to infer. This left the characters feeling flat and generic, offering little to no depth to their personalities.
As the story went along, it became a dull parody of video RPG, with random tasks, adventures, and consequences. There were jarring instances where font, style, and language changed several times. While an overall excellent concept in theory, Hunters just didn’t pan out for me.
***Many thanks to Netgalley and Diamond Books/ Lion Forge for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
