Manga Review: Fruits Basket vol.1

 

By Aliraluna

Story and art by: Natsuki Takaya

     Tohru Honda, an orphan girl living in the woods, suddenly sees a big, beautiful and peaceful house in which members of the Sohma family are living with an ancient curse and to her surprise Yuki Sohma, known in school as “Prince Charming”, is living there! Later on, when Yuki Sohma and Shigure Sohma are walking toward their house, they see Tohru walking by herself and they wonder where she lives as the whole place is theirs and they haven’t rented any part of the land to anyone. When Tohru Honda arrives to her “home” (which is really a tent) she finds that Yuki and Shigure were waiting for her! They take her to their home and she asks if they can rent her a place to camp until the remodeling of her grandpa’s house is done. But Shigure explains that a landslide could happen, and it does covering everything with a mountain of mud. Tohru now had to stay in the Sohma’s house as she got a fever from overworking but is really sad because she lost her mother’s picture and she explains to Shigure her goal of graduating from high-school as her mother didn’t do so. The next day Yuki gives her the surprise that he saved the picture of her mother but also that she’s welcome to stay in their house until the remodeling of her grandpa’s house is complete and, as she likes doing house-work, she should stay; besides the Sohma house needs cleaning! But just as she’s entering her room, from nowhere a boy comes out of a wall to pick a fight with Yuki, calling him ‘rat-boy’; and when he was about to attack Tohru tries to stop the boy and accidently hugs him… and he transforms into a cat! And that’s when Tohru Honda’s “normal” life changes by knowing the curse of the Sohma family. Is Tohru Honda ready to get involved in the magical world of curses and legends of the Sohma family?

 

   What is the curse of the Sohma family? For hundreds of years the Sohma family has been possessed by the twelve spirits found in the Chinese zodiac, but there’s the thirteenth spirit: the cat (in total, only thirteen members of the family are possessed). They can communicate with their respective animals, but for some unknown reason when they are very tired and/or hugged by the opposite sex they transform.

The legend of the Banquet: One day, God told the animals “I’m inviting you all to my banquet tomorrow. Don’t be late!” after hearing that the Rat lied to the Cat saying that the banquet was the day after the day it actually was. The day of the feast the Rat, Ox, Tiger and the rest of the animals; but the Cat, who had been tricked, feasted until the morning and so the Cat was never made a zodiac animal.

Manga Review: Dark Moon Diary

By: Aliraluna

Story by: Che Gilson

Art by: Brett Uher

 

Priscilla is a fifteen-year-old girl, whose parents passed away and having nowhere to go except her European relatives’ home; she will have to endure shocking news. Nachtwald, a European town, is her new home full of ghosts, werewolves, witches, fairies, vampires, and other monsters… Not only that, but her aunt and horrible cousin are vampires and her uncle a werewolf!

 Priscilla recently moved in to her new home and her cousin, Kitten, a gothic-Lolita vampire, calls her an entrée and doesn’t treat her well. To Pricilla’s surprise Kitten can fly! That’s when she learns from her aunt Lilith that her mother was a vampire as well. Dinner arrives, which is always made by Wolfgar her uncle, but only to see it was a monster with an open eye. The next day, her cousin Kitten gives her a small tour and for the first time she sees the town’s people (or should we say creatures?). When Priscilla goes back home she meets her Boogey Monster for the first time, called Broonie. This one hides under things and she likes socks. 

Later on, Priscilla finally makes two friends: Isabel (a witch) and Radu (a baseball athlete werewolf). Yet, Kitten is jealous because Prince Balthazar Sabinov, which I assume is a vampire, said in front of everyone that he was interested in courting her, and that made Kitten  really mad, which is why Priscilla is in a living-hell high-school.

At the end, Priscilla and her aunt Lilith have a dispute and Priscilla decides to leave. When she’s on her way to the airport her uncle Wolfgar gives her a picture of her late mother (which looks like her, but with black hair) and persuades her to come back and she does.

     My thoughts: First of all, I really wanted to talk about this awesome manga despite Tokyopop cancelling it because of its low selling rates. I know there are people out there that had the chance, like me, to read this amazing manga. It’s a fast read, with really cute drawings. You will see Lolita, gothic clothes, funny scenes like Priscilla arriving at a “Were-Mart” (and you know which store she is referring to), when she suddenly eats blackberries from her school bushes, and influential scenes from real life such as bullying and everything the main character has to go through after losing her parents: moving with relatives, new town and country, new people and high-school. My favorite character is Wolfgar because he’s really sweet, loving, and understanding. Finally, I hope that you’ll fall in love with this amazing manga, but the bad news is that there’s no volume two!

Manga Review: Ark Angels

“That’s why…we believe every life is equal and precious.” 

By. Aliraluna 

  Sang-Sun Park was born in South Korea on August 9^th, 1974, and is both the author and artist of Jewels/Les Bijoux, The Tarot Café and Ark Angels. Her usual work tends to fall under comedy, fantasy, romance, and drama, but she’s not one to shy away from other genres.

  Tokyopop published the Ark Angels series in December 2005. (Don’t you just miss Tokyopop? Because I certainly do!) The series consists of three volumes starring a trio of sisters. These three sisters, Hamu, Shem and Japheth, are from an alternate version of Earth, and their mission is to rescue the animals that are on the brink of extinction on our Earth. They need to do so in order to save both Earths because the Earths are connected in some way, and if one of them is destroyed, the other ones will be annihilated as well. This being the case, the sisters volunteered to save our Earth because they still believed that goodness exists in the humans. Their powers help them in their mission, because not only can they see the physical form of the animal, but they can also glimpse their souls.

  This leads to the manhwa’s the main messages of how important it is to save and take care of every animal, not just those on the brick of extinction, and to think twice before bringing more harm to Earth. To me, this makes Ark Angels a really unique manhwa, since finding a series with a tangible message is pretty rare. How do the sisters actually save the chosen animals? They place them in Noah’s Ark, which is in form of a whale. But their task isn’t easy, since they have to live as normal humans, going to school, and even deal with fall in love. (Although, for those who don’t like romance, there isn’t much in this particular series, so there’s no need to worry!) The sisters also have magical pets that can transform into transportation devices.

  Want a sneak-peek? Here’s some information about one of the endangered species in volume 1:

 Meet the: Guam Fruit Bat

-          Year: 1968

-          Place: Guam's Mariana Archipelago

-          Gender: Male

-          Story: A chef that specializes in “premium fruit bat” cuisine has hunted down all the fruit bats and is  trying to capture the last one to prepare a special meal for a president. The girls save the last bat, but they have to save his mother too, who is under the “protection” of the chef.

-          Facts:

o   The male bat and his mother are the last one of this species.

o   He's the fifty-fifth son; his family used to be big, with lots of males and females.

o   They can't contain the urge to sing.

o   They eat sweet-smelling fruits.

o   He has grapes in his hair, while his mom has a pineapple.

Rating: 4/5

Enjoy!