Well now, since I'm on break, I finally did what any upstanding person would due; buy more manga. Allow me to summarize my latest volumes of my favorite Asian comics.
Fullmetal Alchemist vol. 22.
Okay, honestly now, the last few volumes have become a blur: Ed and friends fight Father and friends, Ed and Al go beyond the impossible, Roy Mustang continues acting like a 21st century incarnation of Odysseus, Kimblee is still a complete bastard, Olivier demonstrates huge acts of machismo . . . it is all still engaging to read, but the only thing new here is that we see that Pride is not a foe to be taken lightly. Certainly, Pride in the manga is more memorable than Pride in the older anime.
Actually, I need to retcon one of my earliest articles: the older anime doesn't have a superior portrayal of Rose and Hughes. Now that they've appeared more since the beginning, I can safely say that Arakawa has more writing skill than whoever was working for Bones at that time. Other than that, I hope she (the cow lady) throws us a curveball in the next volume; I want my reading sensibilities shaken up.
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle Vol. 25
You remember how the first volume of Tsubasa started off with familiar plot threads from Cardcaptor Sakura? Well, turns out, that was all there for a reason, according to this latest volume. Somewhere in Japan, Nanase Ohkawa is reading this thinking to herself a certain phrase that incorporates the term, "Keikaku."
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle Vol. 26
Holy crap! Shaoran of all people had hidden depths to his character! And here all this time, I thought he was a boring generic RPG main hero. How wrong I was. More awesome fight scenes within. And I know the 28th volume is the last in the series; oh how I anxiously await the end!
XXXHolic Vol. 15
The world is falling apart around Watanuki. Mystery and intrigue (and awesome drawings) abound!
Kurokami Vol. 8
This volume covers its take on what was my favorite episode in the anime version; episode 10. Guess what? This version is better. But now that we're at the point where the two continuities split off, things are unfolding entirely differently now. Everything after a certain chapter here is completely unfamiliar territory now. Also, KURO-CHAN IS LOVE!!!!! (remember, contractual agreement?) (P.S. since Kurokami is Korean in origin, now you know why the article says "Asian comics" because if I said Japanese comics, I would've excluded Kurokami.)
But that's not all, folks. I started collecting another manga series recently. Stick around for more details.
