This week I spent a lot of time in foreign waters. It is our annual quarter of time at the library for our teen reading challenge. In this three month time frame, I am to read as much as humanly possible in hopes of earning bragging rights for our library system to be better than the others. So around this time, I pick up a lot of stuff I normally wouldn’t read otherwise, in order for my reading to fall under the teen umbrella. It’s also about quantity over quality, so I went for manga this year. I took some suggestions from the ladies at work and was able to sort through the undesirables and find a few manga gems. My previous experience with manga is plentiful, as I read a lot of growing up as a teenager. The arena was a bit different back then, especially for me living in a strict household where only age appropriate manga was allowed. A lot of what I read today, never would have floated in my home. I read all of the popular manga that still exists today like Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokemon, Naruto, etc. In adulthood, I have read very little manga because I feel like the second level story depth, if there is any, is very non-existent. Manga stories are surface level stories and not much more, so color me surprised when I picked up Death Note a few years back for this very same teen challenge. I was amazed that manga could have such depth and story in such a small package. Death Note is by far the best manga I’ve ever read now, and this year I find myself searching for that next great adult title.
My first suggestion to read was Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo. A title that had its own show on Cartoon Network for sometime, Bobobo was by far one of the most bizarre books I’ve ever read. It was described to me as a kung fu master who could pull items or people out of his afro to fight bad guys. This obviously appealed to me, so I got the first 5 volumes of the series. After reading the 5 volumes, all I really want to do is watch the show and see all of this crazy shit animated. For one, the story in Bobobo is basically nothing at all, as the book seems like a laundry list of panels illustrating Bobobo’s Nose Hair techniques. While there were some kung fu afro moves, most of them centered upon the use of his nose hairs in many fashions to attack the bad guys. Also, there are some strange characters like Jelly Jiggler, and the golden Pee Boy. It really reminded me of the previously read Axe Cop, in the sense that the story is pretty basic on all levels, and the humor is very childish. This of course, takes nothing away from the quality of the book, as I actually found it really entertaining. I just could not even begin to try and describe any sort of story formed in the Bobobo books, but it was definitely fun to read. I really need to get my hands on the anime though, as this show has to be so wildly silly it would be beyond funny. If anything, it’s just been fun walking around and telling everyone about a book series I read called Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo.
RATED : ( PG-13 )
STORY : ( 1 / 10 )
ARTWORK : ( 5 / 10 )
COVERS : ( 5 / 10 )
AWESOME : ( 7 / 10 )
FINAL RATING : ( 5 / 10 )
The other thing I read this past week was the entire Dragon Ball series. I have tried countless times to watch the show Dragon Ball Z and could never maintain interest in what seems to be the most stretched out story I have ever seen. With each punch or move, pages or scenes go by, where there is little story progression or character development. However, the Dragon Ball manga series was actually really good, and it was the first manga series I’ve read since Death Note where I found myself moderately involved. Most of the time, I read manga and just give it an average rating and move on. I like manga because it’s quick and easy to read, but rarely is there much that sticks with me after the covers are closed. Dragon Ball actually had a decent story, and the characters were fun though familiar. One thing that actually caught me a little off guard was how inappropriate Dragon Ball was! I know that manga and anime gets away with a little more in the perverted media landscape in its native markets, but I was still kind of shocked with how pervy this book was. Master Roshi on several occasions make some questionable statements, one of which involved him spying in a girl’s restroom. There were a lot of references to Bulma’s titties, and you only saw Goku’s little weenie a million times. But Goku and company go to a martial arts tournament expecting to win, but face considerable challenges along the way. I somehow remembered this story from cartoons or reading it previously, as it was all kind of familiar, but I still really enjoyed it. If you’re looking for a series, and maybe the Dragon Ball show wasn’t quite your thing, this is one to read. It was consistent, and it was better than average which is rare to find in manga series in my opinion.
RATED : ( PG-13 )
STORY : ( 7 / 10 )
ARTWORK : ( 5 / 10 )
COVERS : ( 5 / 10 )
AWESOME : ( 7 / 10 )
FINAL RATING : ( 7 / 10 )