The latest issue of MyM is now in the shops. Manga reviewed this time are Anne Happy, To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts, The Other Side of Secret and My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong, As I Expected @ Comic (aka My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU).
This month the 50th issue of MyM Magazine was released. I have been writing all the manga reviews for the magazine since Issue 1 back in May 2012, and occasionally did anime reviews too (not so much these days), so I thought it would be interesting to look back at my first reviews for MyM.
This month the 50th issue of MyM Magazine was released. I have been writing all the manga reviews for the magazine since Issue 1 back in May 2012, and occasionally did anime reviews too (not so much these days), so I thought it would be interesting to look back at my first reviews for MyM.
Among the first things of note is that one of the books is not strictly speaking a proper Japanese manga, but an Original English Language manga, the first volume of the steampunk fantasy Soulless. The other two books are manga: supernatural harem series Is This a Zombie? and the not that historically accurate Sengoku Basara: Samurai Legends.
Back in the early days of MyM the manga reviews were not out of a rank out of 10, but where simply “Hit, Miss or Maybe”. Looking back at the reviews I wrote, I would probably make Sengoku Basara a “Maybe” rather than a “Hit”. What I wrote in the review makes it clear that is the rating I should have given it (liking the art, not like the dialogue). The same is true with Soulless. I ended the review by saying it was: “Good but not great” so it is clear I should have said “Maybe”, not “Hit”. The problem was that the review system then was a lot more limiting, and by switching to a simple mark out of 10 it makes things a lot easier.
You may have also spotted that two of these reviews cover Yen Press titles (the other is Udon). The reason I covered two Yen books is simple: they were the easiest company to contact. Before this, the only manga reviews I had really written were for Anime UK News, and they were mainly books I purchased myself, not ones that I got in advance from a publisher. Out of all the companies I contacted, Yen and Udon were the first to give me anything to review. Others were much harder to contact, with Viz being the hardest. It was some time before I was able to get anything from them, but now they send me more books than any other publisher.
I certainly hope that I have improved since four years ago. I know there will still be things that go wrong of decisions that I will regret, but I hope I’ve done a good job and continue to do a good job in the future too.
Sengoku Basara: Samurai Legends © Yak Haibara
Soulless © Tofa Borregaard, Illustrations © Hachette Book Group
KOREHA ZOMBI DESUKA? ©2010 SACCHI ©2010 SHINICHI KIMURA • KOBUICHI • MURIRIN / FUJIMISHOBO
The fiftieth issue of MyM is out now. Manga reviewed this time include Danganronpa, Shuriken and Pleats, Servant X Service and Paradise Residence.
The latest MyM Magazine is now out. The manga reviewed in this issue are Hour of the Zombie, Mysterious Girlfriend X, Goodnight Punpun and Real Account.
The latest MyM is out now. Manga reviewed this time include The Boy and The Beast, Dimension W, School Judgment and Behind the Scenes!!
The latest issue of MyM is out now. Manga reviews cover F, Taboo Tattoo, Franken Fran and Kannazuki no Miko.
The latest MyM Magazine is in the shops now. Manga reviewed in this issue are School-Live!, Yo-Kai Watch and Platinum End.
The latest MyM Magazine is out in the shops. Manga review cover a new omnibus edition of Astro Boy, the beginning of the second arc of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and the finale of Naruto.
The latest issue of MyM Magazine is now available. There are manga reviews of One-Punch Man, Black Bullet and Rose Guns Days.
The latest MyM Magazine is out now. Manga reviews cover My Hero Academia, Ultraman and Chi’s Sweet Home.
Ian Wolf: Odd Job Otaku 