MISC. MANGA, *Captain Nemo

This English-language manga that was the first volume of a discontinued series in one of Seven Seas Entertainment’s numerous original American titles
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This is about the son of the original Capt. Nemo fighting to raise an army against Napoleon IV to free Europe from his tyranny in an alternate 1893. Sent to apprehend the revolutionary pirate, the Minister of Security looses his lovely daughter Camille to Nemo Jr. and his crew of the Nautilus II. Nemo claims her to be a captive, but treats her with gentlemanly respect, which woos her to the part of them making out more than once. A visit to the underwater sunken continent of Lumeria reveals one of the last of an ancient race of sea creatures, which is also where Nemo stores a lot of his loot. The book ends with the crew going to Japan to buy weapons for their cause, which was going to lead into material with hot springs and samurai.

This is a visually agreeable manga, and sure to please your average steampunk fanatics. It’s available as a single graphic novel and on Kindle.

MISC. MANGA, *Sherlock Ninja

What became the start of several steampunk titles for Antarctic Press, this manga-styled one-shot came out simultaneously with the Sherlock Holmes movie to ride of its apparent success.

In this strange martial arts version of the world’s greatest detective, Sherlock takes on the case of the Iron Monkey, where a seemingly innocent British lady is being stalked by an immortal ninja. Instead of Watson, Holmes has a weasponsmith who is apparently the daughter of his former partner. Sorta like when Green Hornet got a female Kato. There seems like there was more to the story to be told, but it seems to end slightly abruptly.

Gold Digger creator Fred Perry made this an intriguing concept, although it would probably be better off fleshed out as being more than one issue. Originally printed in black & white, half of this comic was later on printed in color as a back up feature in two of the Time Lincoln comics.

MISC. MANGA, *Monster Collection

In what seems like a fusion of Slayers and Final Fantasy, this is an original fantasy adventure from Itoh Sei. This takes place in an alternate world where magic is a common thing.

Set in a midevil enviroment, Kasche is a summoner in training whose been given the mission of finding who stole an ancient artifact which is supposed to have a clue to where the Encylopedia Verum is. It is not your normal kind of book, but a great spellbook that can give its user access to summoning some of the most powerful monsters in all creation.

Kasche discovers that the artifact was stolen by a desert thief. She tracks him down, only to be attacked by a lamia(sort of like a naga). After a little struggle, Kasche frees the lamia, whose name is Natasha, from the control of whoever has originally summoned her. Natasha has the ability to take on full human form, and decides to help Kasche find their mutual advisary. The thief, Cuervo joins them on their journey too.

Monster Collection is an exceptionally well drawn manga with effective graphics. The story seems a little similar to ones in other funny fantasy manga like Rune Soldier or Sorcerer Hunters. However, it is entertaining and interesting enough to keep you wanting for more. Gotta collect ‘em all!

MISC. MANGA, *Peebo Manga

Spinning off from his hit Gold Digger series, Fred Perry took the popular little robot characters, the Peebos, and gave them their own original comic. This features all new original material broken up into several short chapters involving the three main Peebos: Peebri, Peegi, and Peebrit.

The Peebos were first little robot smart bombs that Brianna(a composite clone of Gina & Brittany Diggers)had made. But later on in the Gold Digger storyline she made them into more little helper robots. Three of them she modeled after herself and her “sisters”. Peebri gets into alot of trouble, and is always looking for chances to get new video games or blow crap up with her mounted laser cannon. Peegi thinks of herself as an explorer and relentlessly searches for new adventures, even in the trash can. Peebrit, who’s modeled after Brittany, is a speed freak that grows a sudden fascination for cans of tuna, despite the fact that she has to sneak them past Brittany.

In the manga, we first start out with some normal antics from the Peebo Digger sisters, which leads into Peebri makes a working Katamari from some of Gina’s rejected gizmos. Afterwards, Peegi takes them all into on a virtual RPG world. Then, Peebri floods the house with future versions of herself, and the Peebos have to take on a Tolkien-type quest to return Brittany’s wedding ring. Plus, a few other random specs on the different brands of Peebos, and some GD character bios.

MISC. MANGA, *PHD: Phantasy Degree

Harry Potter and Slayers were two factors that probably went into this Korean manga. Creator Hee-Joon Son came up with a strange world where the realm of demons crosses over with the human one. But before most young demons can, they have to go to school!

It starts out with Sang, a young energetic redhead who really seems teamed to enter into Hades, the school for up and coming demon teens. Her personal mission, for reasons to be explained later on, is to gain access to the school and locate a special ring. The ring itself is currently in the possession of Notra, a scantily-clad succubus who is supposedly engaged to the actual prince of Hell, and was given the ring as an engagement present.

In order to get in the school, Sang runs into a group of kids playing hookie. It’s Dev the demon, Mordicus the vampire, Pannus the mummy, and Lukan the werewolf. Sang asks for Mordicus to bite her, and she “temporarily” gets vampire fangs to make herself look like a student at the demon school. However, some humans from a religious guild come looking for the ring too, and slash off a few of the students to get it. But, the seemingly vanquished monsters come back to life, only more powerful(sorta like Saiyans). Sang and the others team up to stop them from gaining the ring and having the gates of Hell at their command.

Phantasy Degree(or just PHD)is develops into a great action fantasy. It’s got great comedy mixed in with action that the typical Yu Yu Hakusho fan would like.

Anime Anyway begins!

Hi. This is the beginning of a new review blog I'm starting. I've been doing blogs and other reviews of anime, manga, comics, movies, and other general geek stuff, but this is the first time I'll be bringing them together into a single site. I'll be reviewing old and new stuff, ranging from anime releases in America and ones still in Japan. Plus, manga and other comics. I'll also go over non-anime animation like Disney movies and superhero animated movies.

Another thing we'll periodically have here is a comic I wrote a while ago that's been out of print for a bit titled Jesi The Genie, which is an anime-styled Arabian Nights comedy/fantasy. Hope you like what you see, and check back here regularly!