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First up, I gotta say, this is one of the most pleasant art styles I've seen in any manga - not just Touhou manga. Props to Azuma Aya - there was never any moment in which your art was caught lacking across these wondrous 51 chapters.

(Speaking of 51 chapters, it's more like 56-57 due to many extra stories, and depending on what site you use the last chapter is sometimes split into 2 separate chapters)

Anyways, Wild and Horned Hermit is one of the best Touhou manga out there. It follows the same structure most Touhou manga follow, that is to say, two or three chapters ... in which an incident occurs that Reimu, Kasen and the gang have to solve. But within each of these stories, so so so so much depth was there, cultural allusions, Japanese history tenfold of any other Touhou manga. With close to 20 differing stories within this manga, it's absolutely incredible how literally NONE of them are boring at all - all of Gensokyo is incorporated naturally, sort of 'guest' appearances of smaller characters such as Aunn Komano, Ichirin Kumoi, Kogasa Tatara and etc appear frequently, truly showcasing the depth and care put into Wild and Horned Hermit.

There is a cool air of mystery to it too - as one who didn't know much about Kasen upon entering this adventure the constant mysterious references and actions Kasen pulls off all build mystery and tension to one of the most surprising and THE greatest ending in all of manga*.

I don't really want to say much else in case of spoilers, but please, PLEASE give Wild and Horned Hermit a try - 100% guarantee you'll love it as much as I did. If you don't, I'll make sure to get your money paid back**.

Enjoy!


*As always, subject to debate.
**Terms and conditions apply.

In the first five minutes of the first chapter of 'Foul Detective Satori', I was thinking to myself, "Eh, the art style's kinda weird and I'm not so into it...story seems a little off-kilter...maybe I'll give it a 7." After the tenth minute, and extending to the 19th chapter (which is the most recent chapter at the time of this review), I was thinking to myself, "this is one of the greatest Touhou manga I've read. Hands down."

And really, at least so far, it is. The 'strange' art style thrown at readers becomes a thing of beauty, and frankly, I could not wait to see ... how each of Gensokyo's denizens would be drawn. If you're a reader of Touhou manga simply because of the slice-of-life fun that the supernatural girls have every day, then fret not, Chireikiden loses none of that in return for a detective-mystery theme. If you love certain specific characters of Gensokyo, then chances are, this manga has a 'devilish' encounter with them at some point. It (will) encompass ALL of the characters Reimu encounters in Touhou's windows era (TH6-) upon completion, as the plot progresses in order of the games and Reimu's interactions (and fights!) with each of Touhou's characters.

I don't believe there's anything else I have to address here, and I hope I've convinced you to give this manga a try. It's one of those manga that leaves you begging for the release of newer chapters, and yet, never gets old, thus leaving huge rereading potential behind to us, the readers.

So please, don't be thrown off by the different art style, you'll get so used to it within minutes and learn to love every appearance of all of your favourite characters. Don't be thrown off by the strange titles given to characters...why is Reimu the "Shrine Maiden Detective of Paradise" indeed? Touhou Chireikiden will be one of the greatest Touhou manga you will read, and whilst short (at least not), those few hours will never fail to amuse you, or have you at the edge of your seat.

Enjoy! I hope you love it as much as I did.

Very very VERY mild spoilers ahead

Shinkaigyo no Anko-san, or "Anko-san, a Deep Sea Fish" is one of those chill, funny manga about girls enjoying their friendships in a slice-of-life format. However, almost all of them are half-fish! Playing on the 'monster girl' theme seen across many manga and anime, Anko-san is fairly generic in terms of being just another monster girl manga, however, plays slightly less into ecchi scenes (of course there still are multiple, mermaids on the beach were unavoidable) and more into the biology of each species of fish.

Indeed, as a new character is introduced, their personality is entirely based off of the ... characteristics of their fish component, fighting fish being boisterous and playful, sunfish being laid-back and 'bright'. The author goes somewhat into depth about the fish species during character introduction, and tries to make the characteristics shaping the character's personalities very clear. I found this quite enjoyable, as the biology was not difficult to understand and made a lot of sense, helping immensely with characterisation, and also taught me new things!

However, it wasn't needed so much as you could pretty much tell the character's personality instantly upon seeing them. This made the manga feel very generic and basic at times, not detracting from the enjoyment, but from the overall feel. Especially the main human girl who accompanies Anko, Wakasa, is your generic happy girl, which is fine, but makes the fun and basic manga a little more plain. (Not like soooo many other manga and anime have generic mc's either though)

The art in Anko-san was good, each mermaid's tail fin, their major distinguishing feature in this manga, was drawn with extreme detail, even contrasting a little with the detail of the rest of the manga (this was not a bad thing).

Overall, Anko-san was a very enjoyable manga that played on the monster girl slice of life theme, with mermaids on land this time, and had nice art, characters and most importantly amusing scenes. It's definitely worth a try, only being 27 relatively short chapters long. Enjoy!

I love One Piece, and I'll always be caught up with the anime as well as watch all the movies, but I have to agree with the harsh critics out there that it's just so painfully slow. While it's great that each arc is packed with action, comedy, drama, flashback scenes giving more insights to the glorious and mysterious plot of One Piece and most of all adventure, the culmination of these things just take far too long for most people.

I'll recommend this show to everyone who's determined on finding one of the most enjoyable animes out there, but if you don't have time ... to binge episodes in which 5 out of the 23 minutes a c t u a l l y progress the plot, then it's best just to leave it on "plan to watch" forever.

But seriously, everything about this show, bar it's speed, is incredible.