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A hilarious josei comedy with excellent characters and a great sense of the human psyche. While it never bothers to dig very deep, it doesn’t have to.

For those of you struggling with the synopsis above, here's a hopefully adequate description that might pique (peak?) your interest.
At the heart of the manga is diligent, but unliked employee, the tolerant and reserved waiter Iga Kan. Iga is recruited to work for a new french restaurant, that turns out to be impossible to find, is located next to a graveyard of all places, and is terribly managed by the whims of the irresponsible and spoiled owner Kurosu Kanako. ... Together with this irrational, temperamental, profiteering woman, these two are perfect comedy counterparts. Not to mention the other people in the crew, who all have plenty of reasons why they probably shouldn't be working at a fancy restaurant at all.

I'd say the characters are the manga's strongest aspect. Very defined personalities, and never resorting to stereotypes. Most secondary characters, even the ones around for just one chapter of this highly episodic manga, are at the very least sufficiently charicaturized.

Alot of jokes revolve around old-fashioned Japanese customs, unfamiliar to me, but in most cases the author gives you a heads up. Sounds a bit like it’s dumbed down when I explain it like this, but I honestly wouldn’t have been able to enjoy it as much otherwise. Come to think of it, this manga is actually very “Japanese”. Although it’s set in a fancy French restaurant, and alot of the etiquette is similar to ours (although equally alien to this country bumpkin), few of these jokes would work in a western context, since they deal so much with typical Japanese values and societal norms: work ethics, politeness, distance between server and customer,… Combine this with the fancy setting, and you get a huge tension field for the author to draw humor from.

The art isn't remarkable at first and might turn some people off. The characters are quite stiffly drawn. Everyone looks like they have a stick up their arse. While this could be interpreted as some lacking on the artist’s part, it honestly only adds to the comedy and it wouldn’t be the same without it.

To go a bit overboard: “Heaven?” is a testament to what manga is capable of. In no other medium, from no other country, would you find something like this. It’s light hearted, funny and human. Every single chapter is as good as the last and I was sad to reach the end. Highly recommended.

For those interested: it seems like there is also a live action tv series from 2019 based on the manga.

Short review: great unique art. Definitely one of the better Korean manhwa I've read by far. But I've never liked Korean comics to begin with.

In terms of story: don't expect anything more than guns, gore and seemingly profound but very skippable biblical gibberish interludes. There's alot of intense stuff going on, but at the end I feel like I just read 16 volumes of flashbacks and an introduction to a story that would never actually kick off. And by the time an actual storyline seems to be set up and about to pay off the publication stops. That said, there's no shortage on action. But ... just alternating between slow, moody gothic tea time breaks and fast-paced guns blazing bloody rage against the devil battles doesn't make for a good story.

I'd say it's worth reading a couple volumes for the art alone, but don't hesitate to let it go if you're not getting much out of it. It managed to hold my curiosity for 16 volumes so it's not all bad, and it's a smooth read, hence the 6/10. If you can manage to shut off your brain while reading, it might even feel deep and emotional.

Conclusion: Berserk + The Crow = Hellsing with cooler art = Priest
Great art, shallow story.
Incomplete!

"I told my supervising editor once, "I'm drawing because i want to be forgiven." He said, "Yes, I understand just what you mean." I almost felt like I'd cry."

It's been a while since I've read Knife, but I still remember the effect this had on me. I'll try not to get overly sentimental, but after reading this and discovering that the author had a long-running manga series (Meteor Methuselah), I've never been so hyped for anything in my life. And then I still had to find out she drew these stories as a teenager (!)

Judging from the small amount of users but 8.31 rating and ... 10/10 reviews for Meteor Methuselah + the awful rating on this collection, Kaori Ozaki's works seem to be something people either disregard or absolutely adore and place among their favorite works of fiction of all time. In other words, Kaori Ozaki is a cult-mangaka. And it's safe to say I definitely belong to this cult. And here's where the sentimentality kicks in and I get embarassing: The moment I started reading her works, I felt like I found a soulmate. That's right. You heard me. A soulmate. And I dare say there's many more who feel this way among the few that have been lucky enough to read her work.

In this collection of early short stories, you can really get to know who Kaori Ozaki is as an author. Ozaki has a deceptively simple artstyle, but she is an incredibly talented artist. At first glance, you might not think there's much going on. Not alot of work was put into the backgrounds and the character designs are very typical of 80's/90's manga with a little bit of a personal twist to it, that oddly enough make them reminiscent of the current drawing style. But once you zoom in, there's a sensitivity in the panels you'll either feel or you don't. And more significantly: the level of nuanced, conflicted emotion in the faces is something I haven't seen before in manga.

The reason for this apparent simplicity is actually quite silly: she doesn't work with assistants. She does everything herself. She has also mentioned in an interview that writing the plot is a painstakingly difficult process for her. However she has also described drawing an absolute necessity, almost like a survival mechanism. Considering these melancholic utterances, the content of the stories make alot of sense and the effort going into drawing the right emotions in the character's eyes. We're dealing with a tormented romantic here.

Speaking of tormented romantics. Nearly every one of the chapters features "weak" characters who are in some way completely unfit to live in the world they live in and usually has another character try and take care of them. It is painfully tragic to see these characters struggle about, and although not everyone might relate to the stories, or feel the need for such melancholy and tragedy in their reading, it's all genuine. She has a grasp on human emotion and the struggle of life, that many manga writers could only dream of having.

In short: 'Knife' is a very emotional, tragic read and a great introduction to one of the most criminally underread mangaka, Check it out. And if you're feeling it, keep on reading her other works. If you don't feel it, that's all right too, maybe this amount of melancholy just isn't for you. But you should know she made all this when she was 17-19. And her art has definitely matured over the years.
For those of you who have read her other series: definitely check out her first attempts at manga. If only because it's interesting to see how her art has evolved. Be warned that it might be alot darker than you're used too, but the same themes from her other work are here too, just being explored in a different way. Perhaps it might even be more profound reading for adults and older teens than her work aimed at younger audiences? I'll get back to you on that.
Also interesting: she adds these little anecdotes at the end of every story, (which mangaka tend to do), but she really tends to expose bits of her soul. Really fun to read if you are a fan.

Coo no Sekai is beautiful, scary, heartwarming and absurd. It reads more like a graphic novel and a children's book than a typical manga. Renei has weird sequential dreams every night, where she meets her deceased brother. She is taken to a dreamworld filled with fantastical creatures. I must say, the fantasy is a bit more on the absurd and demented side, which is probably why this is labeled seinen. But I would think of this more as a challenging children's book or for young adults. There's kind of "adult" content, but nothing a 11-12 year old can't handle and it definitely has it's place ... a bildungsroman.

You could compare Coo no Sekai to Alice in Wonderland, Little Nemo or Neverending Story. Except that there are rarely any grand, epic adventures, but the adventures are grand in emotional value. And these emotions feel alot more genuine than in most of the manga I've read. I'm thinking alot of it would really hit home reading it as a child. This combination of the magical and emotional, supported by capable art and quirky creature designs makes for an engaging read for both children and adults.

The reader is also left wondering how much of the dreamstuff has any symbolic meaning. The dreams seem to thoroughly confuse Renei hersel, but also help her deal with her loss. If you're a very critical reader you might ask yourself the question if the author actually has a clue what he's doing or just letting his imagination run wild. I would say that there's plenty of signs that this is a highly capable writer and the story is profound enough to place it among the most qualitative manga I've read so far. One thing's for sure: I'll take this over One Piece any time.

Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku is the hidden gem you are looking for. Although you could probably tell already by glancing over the other reviews. I’ve read the top ones, even very much sympathized with the person that gave it a 6, and now I will tell you why, in my obsessively chronological viewing style, it is still a 10, despite any flaws it may have.

It’s always hard to describe or review something that’s this good without sounding like a worshipping fanboy, especially among all these other rave reviews, who explain lots of things better than I can, but I wanted to give it a ... go. For starters, Ima has an undeniable all-round audiovisual quality that, during the decades it came out, you would only find maybe once every season or even every year. It’s closer to a fully animated feature than an anime. Not only that, they’ve chosen to design it like a Ghibli-movie, although not to present you with a charming Miyazaki-tale, but to use these innocent-looking designs to throw you off. Much like HBO’s Game of Thrones, it manages to pretend to be a typical medieval costume drama for the bigger part of its pilot episode, befores plunging you into the darkness.

As refreshing as the deceiving visuals are, the real feat here is the storytelling. This is not a typical anime in the sense that it is not designed to turn you into an addict. It will not please the viewer with cool fighting moves or fanservice, hook you on interesting magic systems or suck you into intense but superficial melodrama and it will not trigger some latent psychological urges only Japanese animation and maybe Korean dramas seems to be able to trigger in people. No, Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku will turn you into a puppet. It is so skillfully and mercilessly written, that you will feel like a defenseless ragdoll, with no choice but to experience the full load of all the physical and psychological trauma the characters are going through. Anime has never been shy when it comes to gore and traumatic events, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. When a character gets punched in the face, you will FEEL it. Because it is written so darn well and because you are constantly thrown off by the cutish character designs. You don’t expect bad things to happen, and then they do, and you are watching in constant fear, because it will very soon become clear that anything can happen to any character. Halfway through the first episode, you might feel pleasantly surprised, you might be reminded of Castle in the Sky or Future Boy Conan and prepare yourself to be spirited to a fairytale world for a fun and magical adventure. You are sorely mistaken.

To be very silly and serious about the MAL-rating system: this is why a 6 is ridiculous: This type of compelling storytelling (I recall only Seikai no Monshou having this effect on me), and quality of animation and sound is so rare for anime, it really should be a question of whether this is a 10 or a 9. If not, I think you should consider another hobby. I have literally given a shot to almost every anime up until the year 2000, and am seriously wondering what the hell kind of otherwordly brilliant stuff you’re watching that would make this a 6. I mean, really? In what universe does this show only merit a BARELY PASSING GRADE?? Don’t let my childish use of caps mislead you. I am very serious. This is like, “Johto-season of Pokémon”-era we’re talking about. It didn’t get any better than Ima. Okay, rage over, to each his own. If you didn’t enjoy it as much, than that’s that. I personally, have rarely enjoyed any anime better than this one.

***Upto this point, I think I didn’t ruin any surprises but I may be about to get a little too detailed so:***
***SPOILERS, all the way to the end sadly***

Just to give you a few example on how Ima manages to flip your expectations upside down, apart from the designs, I’ll discuss a few characters.

Lala Ru deceptively looks like a typical magical girl, albeit the very mystical type. But she is apparently an ancient being. This is only shortly mentioned in the series but it explains why it seems she barely reacts to the turmoil around her. She experiences time in a completely different way the other characters do. Her time with them must feel like it happens in the blink of an eye. This makes her into a much more intriguing and mysterious character than any similar ones in other shows. And when it is over, I regret to say you will only be left with more questions. Even after the show, Lala Ru remains what she was: an eternal mystery.

Shuu himself doesn’t offer anything new as to what you may have seen before. He is an old fashioned shounen M.C., headstrong and reckless but naïve and kind hearted, wanting to protect the girl he meets from harm. He’s more like Galaxy Express 999’s Tetsuro than an Ash Ketchum, stubbornly refusing to accept injustice. The old fashioned take on a trope was actually refreshing enough for me, but it’s the way he is treated throughout the episodes that turns the trope on its head. He is a naïve boy thrown into an utterly cruel world. On several instances, he beats the odds, protects the girl, each time is left confused, scarred and more and more bereft of innocence. And as it turns out, the girl never needed any protecting in the first place.

Like the M.C., the main villain King Hamdo is so close to the typical evil villain trope and I can’t really tell you that he isn’t. But there’s a huge difference in that he’s just so real. It takes you only a few seconds to realize that this is the scariest guy in the world. He’s the most terrifying villain I’ve ever seen before Game of Thrones. He’s like Heath Ledger’s Joker, exploding from quiet and creepy to murderous anger in a split second. He is seriously deranged and you do NOT want this guy at the head of your government. Which brings me to my only problem with the show: why is he?? Who the hell made him king? How on earth, in an advanced society, do you not overthrow this Caligula, throw him in the looney bin and pick someone else. He is so utterly incapable at decision-making, it’s a miracle he hasn’t self-destructed before the story even began. The unwavering loyalty of his second-in-command is a huge question mark. The lack of explanation and backstory on Hamdo distracted me a bit. Although it is only a smudge on the near-perfect record of this masterpiece.

And that’s what it is, a masterpiece. You may not like where the show takes you but it is flawlessly executed. I’ve yet to see any anime this close to perfection as Ima, Soko ni Iru Boku. It’s gotten a short run but the story is completed, without feeling rushed. They wrap up the character arcs neatly but ambiguously and leave you with a knot in your stomach.

On a last note, and forgive me for being depressing and moralistic, but when you think this show may be exaggerating, too message-y or does not feel realistic, for all its effort to be gritty and realistic, please remind yourself of the following: “Now and then, here and there” is the English translation of the title. It’s a make believe story, but this stuff has happened in our world, and is still happening. There are parts of the world where today still, child soldiers are captured and trained, villages are being attacked or massacred, and terror is used to subdue populations, all to control the ore to produce the device you’re reading this on. Some of the character’s actions and choices may not make any sense to you, but this is not just some cruel fantasy. Everything you see in fantasy-form in this show is happening for real. Although this may not have been the writers’ purpose, it’s the truth, and this knowledge made watching this show a real punch in the gut for me. It’s what makes the story resonate on a deeper level and makes it truly heart-wrenching.

A lot of reviewers seem to be under the delusion that this anime suffers from a small budget. I would like to know what anime they’ve been watching, because I can only assume these must be made in Hollywood for millions of dollars per episode and are directed by James Cameron. No, you innocent, silly goose, no no no. In fact, Kareshi Kanojo, produced by Gainax, boasts one of the higher production values of the season. Just to compare, I mean, this aired alongside the first series of Pokémon. Also the full airing of Cowboy Bebop, but that’s pretty much incomparable. Crap, now I’m reminded ... of Saint Luminous Jogakuin. Horrible. Personally, I would say Kareshi Kanojo is about on par with Cardcaptor Sakura. The director does however use a high amount of still frames and stylized shots, but not to be cheap. Too much attention went into every image to say it was done to save time or money.

Here’s what you should be complaining about:

1) If you are the original mangaka of Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou…
You should despise this. In his egotistical quest to reinvent another genre of anime, Hideaki Anno has hi-jacked your charming, romantic slice of life story and has taken a territorial piss all over it. Instead of remaining faithful to the source material, which was more than good enough and one of the only shoujo’s of the 90’s that managed to keep me around for a few volumes, he tried to turn it into some hilarious, wacky high school comedy and used it as a vehicle to revolutionize shoujo. He wanted to do what Mamoru Oshii did to Urusei Yatsura (ironically one of my all-time favorite anime), interpret it and use it to advertize his own overly stylized directing. While Neon Genesis Evangelion was Anno’s own story, and he could do with it whatever he wanted (and so he did, to great success), this is not his. It’s like someone laboured to make a really tasty, healthy meal and Anno suddenly has a vision, empties a bottle of hot chili sauce and a pack of sugar on top of it, arranges everything to resemble a gothic church and proclaims it the spaghetti bolognese of the new century. This is arrogant directing and a disrespectful adaptation.

2) If you are a huge fun of the original manga…
See no. 1

3) If you are an Evangelion fanboy/girl…
Proceed with caution to no. 4.

4) Everyone else
This is a refreshing and funny romance, featuring at least two realistic, more or less relatable characters with actual depth. The romantic stuff is heart-warming and the gags might tickle one or several of your funny bones. The production values are high, but there’s incredibly frequent usage of stylized still frames. Much like Osamu Dezaki did in the 70’s and 80’s, only for a more modern audience this time. Very Gainax. One can feel a bit overwhelmed by all the style and the nifty little tricks Hideaki Anno tries to pull for the sake of innovation. I found myself getting nauseous from the slightly overpaced switching between frames. Lingering still frames can offer some kind of piece of mind in a slice of life type story, but the quick succession made me feel restless and a bit annoyed at times. Every image seemed so profound and meaningful but you never really get a chance to take everything in. The human mind has a natural attention span, and Anno just ignores our inner clock and randomly crams a bunch of pictures into a random timespan. It just feels unnatural.

Final judgement: touching story, maybe slightly too naïve for adults. Funny scenes and at first impressive and innovative style, which bothered me as I kept watching and distracted me from the actual story. Which is not what good directing should do. Mixed feelings.

Though I doubt any of you misguided bastards will notice, Bounty Dog: Getsumen no Ibu is pretty good. Not that it's that intelligent or subtle that you're missing something. Not at all. It's just that you're too used to seeing this stuff, done better. But the year is 1994 and anime had yet to fully crawl out of it's depression and start booming again.

Then what exactly are you missing? I'm gonna be really vague and say I can't really tell you. Just the general spookyness and mindfuckery, the reason why we're all still watching Chinese cartoons as adults. There's something about this anime, a kind ... of vibe created by the combination of the sci-fi setting and the possibility of supernatural elements that I don't recall feeling in any earlier thing, but is present in later anime. Ergo Proxy comes to mind. I can't really put my finger on it.
Also any naked boobs are small, which is basically a sign of the makers' confidence in the story.

Come to think of it, this ova could've been either great or horrible. There's a lot of potential in the story for awesomeness, but also for a cheap, pulpy boobs-and-gore anime.
Thankfully the boobs were small and the bloody stuff was presented the way it should be, in moderation and at the right moment so it hits you in the gut. I guess the gut feeling is why I consider this underrated.

8/10 might be a bit much. It could have been better written. I was confused in a few instances I think I shouldn't have been confused. The animation was fairly cheap and bleak compared to other ova's of the time, although there were some nice character designs and movements on the freaky girl character. Also, due to its short running time, the characters never really got fleshed out apart from the focus on the main character's backstory. But it does deserve a hell of a lot more than the 5.whatever it's getting now. Which is basically the same score as your average early 90's hentai. Come on people, show some love.

Overall, it could've done with more action in the opening scenes and maybe some more episodes to spread out the action of the latter part and flesh out the characters, but I guess it's fine the way it is.

Final judgement on Bounty Dog: Getsumen no Ibu: better than you'll think it is.

Any boxing manga will immediately be compared to the most famous one: Hajime no Ippo. I'm gonna say this once and for all to probably only a few dozen people who will read this review: Hajime no Ippo is ridiculously overrated. But I get it, it's good, it does everything right, and neatly follows the rules and tropes of the sports genre. But it barely manages to get out of the shadow of the one that came before all of them: Ashita no Joe. Ashita no Joe set the bar and made the rules, and frankly, no one has yet managed to get close to ... dethroning it. It's still more original and better than anything more recent, as addictive as they may be. Hajime no ippo follows the rules, and therefore, loses.

Taiyou Matsumoto on the other hand, doesn't follow the rules. He couldn't care less about conventions of the medium. This is a guy with style. Just like his characters, he likes to do it wrong. The pages are way too cluttered, but if you compare it to another one his works Hanaotoko, you can tell he deliberately changes his style to suit a more serious or comical type of storytelling. The clutter is part of his unique style and he can bend and shape it to enhance everything he tries to convey.

On the other hand, as unique as the art may be, Zero still bares the stamp of the inescapable legacy of Ashita no Joe. But the artist realizes this, and manages to copy what Hajime no ippo, to my eyes, failed at copying: the spirit. The more you get to the end of the story, you can't help but be thrown back to the iconic match between Yabuki Joe and Carlos Mendoza. Readers of both stories will know what I mean. But this is not a copy cat at work. He's paying homage to Joe and by extension, to manga itself. These pages are dripping with love for the sport and for manga as an artform. Master. Excuse me for getting sentimental.

This is one of those movies that is so gorgeous, you will immediately want to "plan to watch" everything made by every staff member involved. At this point I've watched almost only anime from before 1989, so I have to say I was a bit overwhelmed by the innovative and experimental art and animation. Some of you normal people, used to more recent stuff, might not share the same experience. I'm not saying it's a milestone of cel animation like Akira or any Studio Ghibli movie. This has more of a still frame style, but also terrific animation when it's needed. Anyway, it excels at ... both.

The character designs seem influenced by Leiji Matsumoto and shoujo manga. Which is an interesting choice for a mecha. In fact the whole movie seems to have a hard time figuring out whether it wants to be a mecha or a shoujo fantasy romance. It's even complete with an androgynous lead character, which is normal for shoujo manga, but a first in scifi/mecha. And I'll just let you know, in case you're still waiting for the mecha battle after 45 minutes. Don't worry: it pays off.

You could add "difficulty to label genre" to a list of flaws, next to the essentially simple storyline. You could say it's just a hero, a helpless girl and a cliché villain. You could say the setting, background and big cast of characters are kind of an overkill without reading the manga. You could say they used too much deus ex machina to move the plot forward. You could say there was too much stuff like "Mirage Knights" and "Fatima" or that they randomly tossed the Renaissance, some Arabic stuff (credits go to Hagio Moto's Marginal) and the Crusades into a mixer and then gave you a plate of scifi, and your cat farted a rainbow and you're wondering why they went through all this effort just to make an hour-long love story.

I don't really give a crap. It looks insanely good, the music is great, I liked every character, I enjoyed every character interaction, I was engaged the entire time, and I had at least five or six scifi/fantasy boners. I've only checked out one chapter of the manga, and it looks like the wordbuilding and characters will be more of use in a longer format. Maybe the movie serves a kind of a prequel or a simplified summary of the series? No idea. But I will definitely read the pants off of that manga that's for sure.

OVA's and movies from the 80's range from cheap to innovative animation, and in general settle for an easy storyline to serve their actual purpose: experimenting with animation to make a feast for the eyes, whether it's tentacles, demons, showering women or duelling mecha's. So compared to it's contemporaries, Five Star Stories is at the top of the list, when it comes to story (better than most) and art (the best in it's style so far and pioneering new ideas).

I'd place this as one of my favourite movies from the 80's next to Mamuro Oshii's Tenshi no Tamago. Coincidentally, Kazuo Yamazaki, who directed this, also directed the second half of Urusei Yatsura, following Oshii, who directed the first half, both of them raising the medium to a new level with that series and doing it again in their other work. Which goes to show you how URUSEI YATSURA is the MOTHER OF ALL ANIME cough geesh be cool.

This manga was nothing short of revolutionary. I can only imagine Katsuhiro Otomo had a vision, and suddenly knew what future manga should look like. The character designs were out of this world, and immediately copied by his contemporaries (most notably Naoki Urasawa, or even in shoujo (Banana Fish)). Every detail in his artwork was breathtaking and a giant leap forward for the medium in general.
The pace picks up a few notches compared to any other manga of the time. And the psychological mindfuckery may seem normal to anime-lovers, but it wasn't ever done this effectively, until Otomo came along and added the intensity that ... was needed in existing manga about ESPers.

It was Akira that made Otomo so influential, but Doumu was first, and I'd even call it a more satisfying read. While Akira was lengthy and could be blamed for having one or two chase-sequences too many, Doumu is a short and powerful smack in the hypothalamus. It deserved all the credit and awards it got.

Akira will be remembered, but for me, Doumu gets the extra points for being Otomo's first longer work, introducing his suspenseful, intense and at times gory style, which fan boys appreciate so much in all their current favourite anime.

Also features: beautiful drawings of exploding buildings