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What are memories but recallings of past actions, experiences, knowledge that we act upon and thus shapes our personality and makes us the person we are today. Yeah, memories are a pretty important thing but what happens when they're unexpectedly torn away from you and you don't know WHY? Will you be able to move on or fall into despair...?

"Danganronpa/Zero" is a prequel to all the Danganronpa games (released so far) and the 2013 anime. You don't need to play or watch them to understand the story but the experience will be different if you're familiar with the franchise.

The story follows the life of highschooler ... Otonashi Ryouko. She lost her memories at a young age, since then she keeps forgeting events from the past hours so she actively uses a notebook to record her everyday happenings. She has no memories of family or friends but there's one person
she does remember: the school's neurologist and childhood friend, Matsuda Yasuke. He studies Ryuko's amnesia and gives her a treatment in the hope that she will get her memories back. Even with all the strange incidents that have been happening at the school, Ryuko's days are peaceful and that's when she meets a certain blonde girl...

The story's written in Ryuko Otonashi's perspective, the writing style is very easy going with short explanations but very descriptive so you can actually relate to what's happening to Ryuko's life and how she must actually feel, I'm not going to give spoilers but I must note I find the first-person writing a good choice because of the plot twist at the end. Unlike other light novels I read, every character has a different speech pattern and you can differentiate between them.

For me, the selling-point of this novel was the mistery factor. The pace gives the reader the chance to slowly connect the dots but you can still enjoy it if you're not the detective-type. Black comedy and romance are a constant throughout the story (although the latter on a smaller scale).

The Danganronpa franchise is known for its excentric (and sometimes clichéd) characters, this installment is no different. There's the
cheerful and innocent girl and her cold and aloof friend, there's the pervert with a sweet tooth, the mysterious antagonist and the loud-mouthed bipolar girl. All of them bring something interesting to the table (except for Yuuto, he's a lame excuse for fanservice) and have a role in the story. There are a few recurring characters and we'll get a short glimpse at the past life of one of them. A nice bonus, I might add.

As a fan of DRP, I was pretty excited to read this novel. I was not dissapointed, in fact I started to appreciate a certain character('s madness) a bit more. The fanservice was a bit too much for me at times but it didn't take too many pages. If you like mistery novels that keep you on the edge of
the seat, I strongly reccomend this one.

"Biohazard Umbrella Chronicles: Houkai e no Jokyouku" is a prologue to the game and a very short manga so the story's pretty much rushed: Chris and Jill enter a Russian village to investigate and find it infested with zombies, courtesy of Umbrella. A few misteries are unraveled and... you'll have to play the game to find out the rest. The art's well done and the monster's drawn with detail.

I'll recommend this to a fan of the franchise or to anyone that gets a kick out of seeing people blowing monster's brains.

Story: 5/10 (Mediocre)
Art: 7/10 (Good)
Character: 7/10 (Good)
Enjoyment: 6/10 (Fair)
Overall: 5/10 (Mediocre)

PLOT: Gilbert gets trapped in Wonderland and he meets the rest of the Pandora Hearts cast while trying to find a way out.
This deviates from the usual gloomy PH story, a really nice change of pace.
[It's not neccesary reading the main manga to understand this story]

CHARACTERS: Most characters' personalities don't change much: Gil sometimes acts like a scaredy-cat (no pun intended), Ada acts all cutesy, etc. But hey guess what? The cast gets turned into Alice in Wonderland characters!! Didn't see that coming, huh?

ART: Great as expected from Jun Mochizuki, combining normal and chibi style into the same page.

ENJOYMENT: Made me chuckle a few times ... (sorry, Gil!). PH fans and cute things fans alike will love this.

PLOT: Sentaro and Kurashima are childhood friends, the former being very popular at school... the later, not so much. But Kurashima has a secret that might change that, what will Sentaro do when he founds out?
Although not a very original story, I found entertaining this love/hate interaction between the protagonists and kept flipping pages to see how it was gonna end.

CHARACTERS: I started reading thinking Sentaro is your typical playboy mc and Akari, your typical gloomy glasses girl mc. To me, the characters seem to be acting on a whim and looked shallow for the most part BUT appareances might be deceving... and that is ... what this manga is about.

ART: Nice character design, above average for a shoujo manga. The mangaka does a great job conveying the characters' emotions through their facial expressions, gestures, etc. The panel composition is very dinamic.

ENJOYMENT: Kept me hooked until the end. Not a master piece but I think something every shoujo fan will enjoy.