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Story: I really liked the idea of the Rings of Death, and that gathering them together can do something for the gatherer{s}. However, I felt like Zombie Powder was Dragon Ball Z meets Trigun. We have the aspect of gathering many of the same item to grant a wish, and the aspects of the main character having a large bounty on his head and the setting of a futuristic western. I feel like Kubo could squeeze a little more originality in there somewhere.

Pace was a thing with me in ZP. It moved at a pretty quick pace, but I'm not sure if it was TOO ... quick of a pace. At some points, I feel like the story was rushed to get to the main objective, that side-plots were suddenly cut off.

The rating for this manga is going to suffer because it's incomplete. The stopping of the serialization left a LOT of lose ends that I was really looking forward to having tied up. Like the mystery behind Gamma's armored arm, and how the surgery turned out. If Kubo wasn't planning on finishing the manga, then he should've planned out the story better to fit 4 volumes.



Art: The art was nice. Very proportional for the main characters. And where people were supposed to look ridiculous, they looked ridiculous. The action scenes weren't unclear, but they weren't a moving picture, either; you could tell what was supposed to be happening. There weren't a lot of background images to admire, and the setting, as I said before, was a futuristic western. Thus, there was only really a flat landscape. But it looked like a beautiful flat landscape.



Characters: Again, the rating is going to suffer because Zombie Powder is incomplete. The characters had nice little spices to them, but I think that the story was too short to get in to some character development. You learned a little bit about Gamma and Elwood. But I would've liked to see more inner monologue from Elwood, some mysteries about Gamma resolved and what the hell was with Smith. All the lose ends and stunted plot lead to weak character development. But they were original characters, so I give them a 9 out of 10.



If you like Tite Kubo's work, then you should give this a look. It's short and sweet, but don't expect too too much out of it, because it's not finished. I think it's something you should read on the side, when you get sick of whatever long series you're reading.

Story: The story was pretty addicting, and set to the right pace of the length of the manga. Aside from the predictable fact of knowing that the woman will always be in the most unfortunate places at the most unfortunate times for the main character. However, about halfway through the manga, because of the sudden involvement of other characters and the initiative to rid the main character and co. from the stalker, you don't know how the story will end. Rather than being a teenage scare, this 1993 thriller manga has a somewhat vague and unhappy ending, which makes the story better.



Art: The art ... was horrid, to say the least. I understand that the style was supposed to be more realistic, and I think it was. But it wasn't very appealing. The art only really worked for the stalker character and the ugly smile she pulled off towards the end. The story easily makes up for the eyesores, though.



Characters: The characters had typical personalities. Though they weren't all that developed. I feel like the main character had reasons for the why he did some of the things he did, but we never see those reasons. So you're left to chalk it up that he's just an idiot. The mystery behind the stalker woman and lack of background is a good choice. Even though the characters weren't really all that outstanding, it just worked for Zashiki Onna.



I think that this is a good, quick read if you're in the mood to get creeped out. But if you're someone who looks at art as a vital part of the manga and you can't stand reading something unless it has good character development, then you might want to look elsewhere. Definitely something to try out, though.

Story: The plot in the manga was only semi-developed, I feel. There were a lot of things mentioned, but nothing really happened. For the first part of the manga, you KNEW crap was going down, but the main cast didn’t do much about it. There were also characters introduced in early chapters, but readers didn’t see any significance for them until the last few chapters. I thought that was a little irritating. Rust Blaster is also classified as a Shounen-ai, but it barely qualifies. There aren’t any actual scenes, unless you’re into the vampire eroticism.

I must say that the ideas are brimming with creativity, though. ... As expected from the creator of Kuroshitsuji. And the main character was very versatile and able to move the plot along nicely. For the 6 chapters, I think the plot moved too quickly and the ending was a more than a little confusing. I think this manga should’ve had one more book at least. The ending implied a lot, and I think it should’ve been elaborated more. But that originality, maaann….



Art: In case you couldn’t infer from my earlier statement, Rust Blaster is by the same person that made Kuroshitsuji. I think that, even if I didn’t tell you that, you would’ve been able to figure it out by the style. Similarities are clearly evident between the two mangas. The gothic character design and feel of the manga are wonderful, something only Yana Toboso could create. If nothing else, this manga is definitely a load of eye candy.



Characters: The characters were unique, in both design and personality. I would’ve liked to see more of a background on all of them, though, I think the manga would’ve had more of an impact then. Other than that, I can’t really find anything wrong with the characters. They went well together and made for a good cast.



Overall, Rust Blaster is a good, quick read. If you liked Kuroshitsuji and want to see more of Toboso’s work, then you should read this. The messages in between panels are very poetic and it’s just something nice to read. I liked it and recommend it.

Rabbit Doubt {“Doubt” for short} is a murder-mystery story telling of a mobile horror game becoming reality. Six young adults deal with their past mistakes while trying to survive and find the “wolf.”

A bit about the game Rabbit Doubt: players are rabbits, and one player is a wolf in disguise. The wolf goes around and kills the rabbits, the other players goal is to find out who the wolf is before it kills all of the rabbits. If the rabbits hang the wolf, the rabbits win. If all other rabbits are dead, the wolf wins.

Story: 9/10

The story of Doubt is short and sweet. The length ... was just long enough to get all points and plot twists across. The twists keep you guessing on who the wolf is, and that alone is enough to keep readers engrossed. The little things mentioned by the characters end up leading to something bigger, which I like. You have to pay attention and keep a tab of all the clues handed to you. I thought the ending was only slightly predicable. But I suppose everyone will come up with their own conclusions.

Art 9/10

The art for Doubt is good enough for an anime. The front cover of it almost looks exactly like an anime screenshot. The art gets a little mundane after a while, there are no beautiful-looking panels or pages, and I think the artist was fully capable of creating more than one. I was so enthralled with the story, and reading, that one of the panels had actually scared me and I jumped. The characters were very distinguishable, even when you were only looking at parts, though I wish there was a little more detail added to the landscape.

Characters: 7/10

The characters in Doubt were pretty stock characters; there was the outcast, the hot popular girl… But what really made the characters was their dirty little secrets that were revealed, and made you see the characters in a different light. They were all written well to their parts, too. The stock personality traits added to the mystery of the story by giving motives or lack thereof. The only gripe that I have about this is that there was no development in any of the characters. The characters at the end didn’t have any revelation, or change in their ways. But I suppose I’ll let this one slide, because any big change in the characters would have either skewed or unnecessarily elongated the story.

Overall: 8/10

The beginning is quite reminiscent of the Saw horror film series. And if you’re looking for something similar to that, then this manga is for you. Although the characters are a little cliché, the short, suspenseful manga is highly recommended by me. Even if you’re not hooked within the first few chapters, I say stick with it, because it only gets better. If you’re concerned about the gore level. There’s some, but it’s not so explicit that you can’t look at it. It’s classic, Japanese gore.

Story: First off, I should say that Death Note is extremely wordy. It honestly would've been better off as a light novel from the start. If the author could plot all that is in Death Note, I don't think he would've had a problem describing character emotions and setting the tone for the atmosphere. That being said, this is definitely not a manga that a young, not-as-knowledgeable person should pick up and read. Not for explicit content, but for fear that their little brains would leak out through their ears after trying to read and guess what will happen next in the plot. Plus, y'know, ... the whole heavy death theme.

However, that's where the beauty of the story of Death Note comes in. There were many twists and turns that keep the reader hooked and guessing, up to a certain point, the story keeps the reader guessing on when it will end. The first half was very creative. Some of the things that Light thought of and {even more impressively} pulled off, had gained him some respect points in my book. I was always curious to see what he would do next, given the situations he was put in.

After the aforementioned point, not much happened story-wise. More lovable characters were introduced, but I think it was a bad move on Ohba's part to move around some of those characters, so he couldn't put them to their potential use to make the second half of the story more interesting. I understand that some significant things happened in the second half, and I probably would've liked them if those significant things were presented in more of a climatic light.

Even if the second half was kind of boring, I recommend sticking with it. The ending sort of washes away the mundane of most of the second half. It's a beautiful display of human emotion and character development. For the close-minded people who couldn't {or refuse to} see the possible other side of the story and think that Kira is invincible, you might be surprised by this ending. While I sort of saw some aspects coming, the ending surprised me as well. It gets the respect it deserves.



Art: I don't even know what to say about the art. Everything was done beautifully. While it was a manga, the art didn't have that manga feel. It seemed more realistic to me, which was a nice change from oversized eyes, appendages, and hair with enough volume to inflate and cause the character to float away when a breeze rolls in. Most of the character designs were simple, but when it came to the shinigami and {at points} Misa, Obata drew them well. And let's not forget the volume covers and chapter pages. It's those specific art pages that we really get to see the nice proportion that the artist used, and the creative ways he makes the characters look good with a nice mix of clothing creases, shading, expressions and positions.



Characters: The characters in this manga were wonderful. The characters were developed well, every character {even supporting characters} had some special trait about them and a specific personality. I absolutely loved how every character was dynamic -- they changed in some way at the end, even if the plot didn't examine how they had changed. They were absolute; you either liked or disliked certain characters, there was no middle ground. There was even contrast to the characters -- Light is a bit mean and introverted, while Misa is quite extroverted, L never sleeps or goes anywhere and always has his eyes open, while Watari has his eyes closed and is L's runner, etc. The characters in Death Note were characters that you wouldn't really find anywhere else because they were all stock characters with a special twist on each of them.



Overall: The Death Note manga is certainly worth a read. Even though it's only 12 actual volumes, all the stuff that's packed in to those volumes make it seem longer. Plus there's anime, live-action movies, video games, and a later light novel prequel. Death Note raises good moral questions and is a good display of human nature. This isn't for someone who doesn't want to THINK about what they're reading while reading it. This IS for someone who wants to see a battle of brains and wits go down instead of fists and swords. A spin on something supernatural that doesn't involve mindless fighting makes for a good manga. Have fun with it.

Believers is an adult psychological manga that has a tinge of mystery to it. It follows a small sub-division of a pop-culture, well-organized cult in the setting of a small, isolated island in Japan.

Story: 8/10

The story starts out following the character’s main activities on the island; working hard for their “compatriots.” The opening chapters are a little strange, with the characters not having being called natural names {rather entrepreneur-esque names like “Chairman” and “Operator”}, mindlessly chanting after a cassette recorded message by the cult leader, and discussing dreams over scarce food rations. The intrigue is what kept me reading, I wanted to find out why ... they were doing all of this strange stuff and after a few mentions of their final goal, I wanted to know what it was.

If the author didn’t throw a big shot of drama in there, then the story would’ve gotten boring. But once more explicit themes hit, drama was abundant. I thought the introduction to the hentai aspect was a little unrealistic and cliché, but hey, that’s the Japanese for ya. This is one of those stories that ended in a way that really made you think about what had just happened, and what’s really real, and what’s not. As all psychological stories do. If you’re looking for something that has an absolute conclusive ending, this manga is not for you.

Art: 6/10

The art for Believers is more on the realism side than traditional manga style. To me, the artist wasn’t really consistent with how they wanted to draw the characters. Sometimes the men had visible facial hair, sometimes they didn’t. Sometimes they were sweating buckets, sometimes not at all. Sometimes the irises in the eyes were visible, sometimes it was just the pupils. The bodies were proportionate, there were no huge distractions on that end, but sometimes the faces looked a little discombobulated, and almost like a blow-up doll. That was something that really bothered me. I also had to look for certain physical features to tell characters apart at first, because they all look basically the same – wearing the same clothes and eventually all having the same hairstyle. If it weren’t for a headband and a slight change in the shape of the eyes, I would be totally lost as far as the whose-its-whats-its. To me, the art just seemed like a rush job to get done just to tell the story. There were no spectacular panels, and I think that the distractions could’ve been fixed if a little more time had been spent on them. It’s almost as if the artist didn’t try…

Characters: 7/10

In the beginning, the characters were all seemingly stock, the only difference was that they acted out their respective “roles.” It was pretty bland, actually. However, I gave this score a 7 because you really see the characters change. One of the characters sort of had a forced change, and the other characters change around that. You still don’t see MUCH of the character individuality, but at least a little bit shines through. Plus, in my opinion, character development is better than having just a set, static character.

Overall: 7/10

Believers is a short, interesting read if you’re looking for something that incorporates survival and cult themes. It also mentions a neat little tidbit about dreams that sort of piqued my interest for further research. I saw it as a bit of a darker, sadder manga, but it really depends on your views on cults and how you take the ending. I think that’s one of the best things about psychological stories, they’re open for interpretation. However, with such a {seemingly} rush job on the art and how dry the characters were I think this manga would’ve hit full bloom as a light novel.

I dropped this manga because the I felt like the story was talking about this big thing that's supposed to be kept secret from the reader. I know that keeping secrets from the reader can make for good plot twists, but if it's not a drawn-out action series, and it goes on for more than 5 chapters, it makes for an interest-losing device.

The eyes on the people bothered me. Everything was so detailed, but then the eyes just put everything out of whack. HUGE eyes does not make for a "beautiful" person. And a lot of the panels were just black, or a close up ... of a character's face...

The characters didn't have any distinguishing traits, and along with the similar way the characters were drawn, it was hard to differentiate between two similar characters. I could only really recognize Tsugiri, the main character.

If you're willing to duke out a confusing plot and stick with 17 chapters of not knowing what's going on, then you might want to read this manga.

Ah, the days of staying up past midnight to watch your one favorite anime on Toonami or Adult Swim that you would rather risk getting the smackdown from your parents than miss an episode {even if it was a rerun}… Usually your television program in shining armor would come to rescue you at a time when you just couldn’t take all of the filler TV-14 cartoons and anime anymore and you almost drift off to sleep at some hour in the morning you couldn’t wrap your little head around.

But the anime you battled at level 12:30 am were unforgettable…

The last of my weekly ... midnight escapades ended with a FullMetal Alchemist fandom. I battled my fair share of “lower-ranked” anime, however many of them have stuck with me to this day. Samurai Champloo being one of them. Back then, I really didn’t understand much, but if I couldn’t be completely conscious of everything that was going on, I knew it was OK to go to bed, that FMA was over, once I heard the opening song to this anime, plus I thought smelling like sunflowers was pretty cool… years after I stopped watching Adult Swim regularly, I read the manga for this series, then MANY years after that, I used this new-fangled Netflix to watch the whole series again. Please note that I watched all 20-something episodes a couple months ago now, so my recollection may not be pristine.

Story: 7/10

The anime is listed as “episodic,” however, it gives the main goal of finding the “Samurai who Smells of Sunflowers.” That being said, one would think that Samurai Champloo would be more of a plot-full anime than an episodic one. Unfortunately not so. However, most of the episodes were not useless. They pushed along character development, or hinted at the ultimate goal. I think that there could have been more plot to make Samurai Champloo more of an elaborate series, add a dash more of character development, tie that in, and we’ve got ourselves gold.

I believe that the story lacked in plot advancement. In the last three episodes, the story picked up, moved quickly, and then concluded. That’s not a TERRIBLE thing until you look at the episode count being over 13, because, let’s face it, if the plot isn’t intricate and doesn’t need the relative amount of episodes it takes to tell the story, the episodes in between could be considered a waste of time.

Animation: 6/10

There were a couple things harming Samurai Champloo in the way of animation; detail isn’t prominent, and bits of the animation just looked BAD – faces were sometimes disfigured, bodies sometimes not anatomically or proportionally correct. And I think I’ve found some features just missing on occasion.

However, I do give credit that the action scenes were animated well, along with the opening and ending sequences. Artistically speaking, a lot of the colors of the towns, what supporting characters wore, and environment supported the tone of different scenes, which is icing on the cake. Plus, remixy scene transitions were pretty neat.

Sound: 10/10

Watching this on Toonami, you only got to hear English dub voices. I dipped my toe to test the English dub waters upon watching this again, and before I knew it, I was cannonballing in. No character voice is bad, the casting is done very well. The sound effects were pristine, down to characters padding along on tatami mats and splashing in the mud.

What I REALLY want to talk about is the soundtrack. I believe this is the first time I’m mentioning my iPod. I don’t put many video game or anime soundtracks on myPod unless I deem them worthy enough. Samurai Champloo’s made it. Think Adult Swim’s blurb segments, but with a little more hip-hop. I’m sure this is what the cool kids in the breakdance club listen to. Yes, a lot of the songs come from the same bass/snare line, but it’s the addition of classical instruments and filters that do it for me.

Characters: 7/10

I have mixed feelings about the characters. Some of the supporting characters had neat designs, but the main cast wasn’t anything fantastic. Not bad, nonetheless. I would imagine that characters who acted like Fuu, Jin, and Mugen did would wear what they were made to.

While I liked the characters, I thought that there could have been a bit more depth to them. I feel you barely skim the surface of Mugen and Jin, and Fuu was the main focus though she wasn’t THE main character. We never get why the two guys stick with Fuu to look for the samurai who smells of sunflowers, or why they stop fighting. I’m also not sure how I take the characters seeming like they’re changing through the anime, but the last note was sung as if all of the characters just go back to normal.

Even though I feel like the character tropes being mashed together is near cliché, doesn’t mean that it’s a fun time and that I don’t like it. They made for some actual comedic moments.

Overall: 7.8/10

Samurai Champloo could definitely be perfected in many areas, but it doesn’t mean it’s a bad anime, it had many positives hidden within. The music and lulz were what kept me going. I liked the characters, and even though the story isn’t exactly suspenseful, I was curious about the ending of it. However, for someone who is looking for a grand, exciting adventure, don’t expect much.

Melodux’s Musings: “You didn’t score this anime very high, why do you seem to like it so much?” I would hate to put all the weight on music, but I do believe that could be it. Music is so sewn in to Samurai Champloo {in some cases more than “music” anime}, that it’s everywhere. The setting is in an alternate edo-era Japan, where hip-hop culture is very prevalent, and you can see it in some “non-traditional” attire and actions. It’s a little hard to explain, and is better shown. But with the music being so good, and having it everywhere, I think that it’s something Samurai Champloo has unique to itself and it’s an anime I wouldn’t pass up.

The beauty and elegance that the characters, environment and overall animation hold will sweep anyone off of their feet at first glance. And it’s surely certainly enough to keep one enticed. But let’s step back and look at it critically for a moment and discuss the good and the bad.



The Bad: -Kuroshitsuji essentially doesn’t have much of a plot. You get a couple hints of it at the beginning, so you get some idea of what it is. However, for most of the anime you watch many filler arcs that - while entertaining – are not related to the plot {for the most part}. ... The anime gets really intense about 6 {estimating} episodes before the end, and it felt a little rushed.

- It’s a little unrealistic. A friend of mine and I were discussing it, and we realized that no one – passersby, other servants, etc – stopped to look at Sebastian and go “holy balls, your eyes are red, you should get that looked at” and suspected him of being supernatural.

- Kuroshitsuji was a yaoi tease the whole time. I would be lying if I said that the relationship between Sebastian and Ciel wasn’t borderline homoerotic. Now, Yana Toboso also created a yaoi before making Kuroshitsuji {Rust Blaster}. So she had full intentions of making Yaoi puns and teasers. However, there are no “successful” yaoi scenes. If you’re the type that can’t stand to be teased, with pretty people, then this might bother you a little more than it should.





The Good: - It’s pretty. I don’t know what else I can say about it. The people are pretty, the scenery is pretty, the way everyone and everything moves is beautiful. It’s definitely one thing that keeps you watching

- Yana Toboso did her research. Most of the characters followed the fashion of Victorian England, and while I can’t remember some little specifics that pertained to the setting, they were pretty accurate. It’s nice to know that there are artists that don’t portray history obscenely.

- It’s actually quite comedic. Almost all of the characters are lovable and mesh well together. I swear, I almost keeled over and died a couple of times because of the ridiculous things that Sebastian does. With most of the plot being filler, it’s something nice to keep around and watch if you don’t know what to watch or have nothing better to do.





My opinion: - Story 7/10: As stated before, most of it was filler, but entertaining. The little plot that was rushed in was original. The idea of a demon serving someone in exchange for their soul isn’t all that common. And all of the servant’s backstories are touching. However, even at the end of the anime, there are some loose ends that they didn’t tie up. Which in turn prompts you to watch Kuroshitsuji II.

- Sound 9/10: Musically speaking, it has a classical/jazzy soundtrack with a dash of Latin choir, which might not appeal to or annoy some people. The soundtrack was actually done by one of my favorite Japanese composers, Taku Iwasaki {Also did the music for Soul Eater}. So I might be a tad biased. But for those who appreciate it, the music is very well put together. As far as the voices go, I cannot stress this enough; DO NOT WATCH DUB, WATCH SUB!!!! While I appreciate the consideration for the fact that they’re in England, the voices don’t match the characters and the British accents are bad, to say the least.

- Characters 10/10: All of the characters are lovable. The two sides to all of the main and secondary characters are a neat twist and come in handy. Yana Toboso really thought them through and gave them good character development, which made a moment when someone was asked to do something out of character all the more comedic. They all have specific traits about them, which make them unforgettable and difficult to mix up with other characters.



If you’re the type that likes to know what’s going on, then you should definitely give this one a chance {I suggest watching it and reading the manga as a paired up project}. It’s for the people that love darker, out of the ordinary plots, and everything Victorian. It’s definitely not cutesy and to say it’s an eyesore would be an insult. Something as entertaining as this deserves more recognition.

As of recent, I’ve been sifting through my Netflix list of anime, and came across this. After hearing much about it and glimpsing some well-cosplayed characters at conventions, I gave Kill la Kill a shot. It definitely had the spice of “not what I was expecting…”

Story: 9/10

Kill la Kill was something that I plowed through kind of quick. That really only happens when I sincerely enjoy a story. I think there were a lot of turns in the plot, and certain aspects kept the suspense going, thus, keeping you watching. One thing I highly enjoyed about Kill la Kill was that there were next to ... no “fillers.” Even though the plot was moving quickly, there was something happening EVERY episode that was linked to Ryuko’s struggle. I didn’t give the story aspect a perfect score because some people might think that some of the themes of some episodes might not need a WHOLE episode dedicated to them, and consider them filler. While I don’t consider them filler, I do agree that some plot points didn’t need to take up a whole 25 minute episode.

Animation: 7/10

This anime is supposed to be a vibrantly colored, fast, wacky anime. And believe me, it delivers. However, for as vibrant as it is, in some parts, the colors looked dulled, or off, from what they were for most of the anime. Some bits where everyone was moving fast, things looked very quickly drawn, and some lines didn’t connect, and it looked awkward. My last gripe is the simple character design; the Goku uniforms didn’t look like anything spectacular, and sometimes the background was more detailed than the characters.

In contrast, aside from the moments where the color dulled, the colors were done very well. The Goku uniforms that transformed were creative {including the Kamui’s}, the environments were done well, and the creative censorship was amusing. One could still tell what things were supposed to be {which is a basic plus}, and all of the girls still came across as sexy without much detail being drawn.

Sound: 9/10

The Japanese voices in Kill la Kill were cast PERFECTLY. The different tones matched the characters and their personality flawlessly. The English version did a good job of matching those voices as well, however, I feel as if whatever company re-worked the dub and scripted it, didn’t even attempt to lip sync. I know with anime evolving and getting better, syncing becomes increasingly difficult for dubs, but this one is just so painfully obvious.

I always enjoy a nice, soulful instrumental soundtrack. A lot of Kill la Kill’s background music had lyrics to it. Which I wasn’t too keen on, but it’s upbeat and fitting nonetheless.

Characters: 10/10

The characters scored perfect because, even though some of them were stock characters, they certainly had quirks about them and went through such development that they make you care for them. At the end of the anime, I wanted it to continue because I wanted to know more about these characters and what they would do. Every little bit of them – even the rivalries – worked well with each other. The characters are the essence of Kill la Kill, they make the story entertaining and heartwarming at the same time.

Overall: 8.75/10

Kill la Kill is very entertaining with some interesting characters and concepts. With all the school uniforms being thrown around, one would think this is a school anime – and in a sense it is. But this is definitely no Azumanga Daioh. Get ready to laugh

Warning: Kill la Kill is not for those who don't enjoy eechi, crude humor, or can’t see the satire in anything.

Melodux’s Musings: I always vice-versa recommend Kill la Kill and Panty and Stocking when talking about either/or. If you like one, you’ll definitely like the other. They’re very similar in the humor {PSG being more vulgar, I think}, have cartoon-like styles, and are equally insane. I, personally, live for anime like this, so Kill la Kill quickly became one of my favorites. I also love how Kill la Kill condensed a plot that normally should have taken longer than a full season {50+ episodes, think FullMetal Alchemist or the Dragon Ball franchise} into 26. I think that’s genius satire in itself.