Reviews and Comments

Explicit content: rape, sexual assault, graphic violence, homophobia, victimization of women

It almost qualifies as a DNF. Most likely, there should have been one. Don't let the title fool you. The story doesn't have much substance. The main character uses every homophobic slur he can think of, and superheroes fuck. Can you explain the prevalence of slurs in the book? I don't understand how they republished it today.

Aside from the terrible potty-mouths, the art is painfully ugly. I’ll look at characters boned all day. While that's not a problem, the art is extremely inconsistent.

The genres very well define its characters and they never go far beyond the bloody nature of their purpose in the story. There are a lot of uncomfortable stereotypes regarding the female characters in particular. The Boys’ women fall neatly into one of three categories: powerful and sexualized, objects to be sexualized, or raped to provide motivation for a man. Female characters always speak and never take part, unless the story requires it. This is the only exception.

No matter how you look at it, The Boys just lacks substance. My interest waned because of the lack of world-building and an overarching plot. The Boys are a letdown. I understand why it would be a good idea to show that superheroes are actually dicks, but it is a complete letdown.

Overall, The Boys is a gross read. I felt hopeless and disgusted as I made my way through the 300+ pages of perversion and gore. The Boys is a very disappointing book and should be avoided.

There is a slight improvement in the storyline from the previous volume, so this volume gets a star more than the previous volume. Sailor Moon: Pretty Guardian, Volume 2. The story becomes a little more detailed, and we get a sense of the plot as well. It’s much more enjoyable now!

Although I love the art style, something still bothers me. There is literally a ZERO development for the side characters outside of Chiba Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask, Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon, and a glimpse of Queen Beryl’s past.

Usagi is the focus of this book, and the world obsesses so much about her it’s impossible to ignore her. If you are not an Usagi fan, you are most likely to be VERY disappointed. Is there any point to including them at all? I don’t get it.

There was Sailor Venus pretending to be a princess when she was not one. In the pre-canon Silver Millennium, Princess Serenity/Usagi killed herself after Prince Endymion is murdered. Usagi is sad and has no idea what to do. A cliffhanger ends this volume.

My memory recalls that Naoko Takeuchi wanted to kill the Sailor permanently, but her editors talked her out of it. Therefore, her motivations are much more tragic than her publishers’.

Nevertheless, I had a great time with this one, and I can’t wait to read the next volume.

Ramna is a teenage boy who is betrothed to a girl, but the girl is a tomboy who harbors a hatred for boys. During a magical incident, Ramna transformed into a girl when water hit him. His dad had a similar experience, but he turned into a panda when he got wet. As all this is going on, another guy has a crush on Ramna’s fiancée and challenges him to a duel. While fighting with the nemesis, Ramna gets wet, becomes a girl, and now the nemesis is in love with him (as the girl).

It is a super strange martial arts fantasy with a love triangle at its core.

Having a nostalgic feeling, I ordered it from the library to reread. Although I found it entertaining, I couldn’t help but cringe whenever the characters insulted someone by comparing them to a girl. While Akane is an exceptional fighter and can hold her own, she does this as well. I never finished this series, but I plan to read it now to see if I ever addressed this misogyny. Because Ranma occasionally turns into a girl, the series has plenty of opportunity to address the blatant sexism it displays.

Despite its problematic issues, I will admit it’s a fun read with an interesting plot and great artwork. I give it a three out of five. Hopefully Takahashi will address the sexism in later volumes. It will be interesting to see if she creates a more balanced story. I’m still looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Our story takes place in Victorian England, where poison collector Earl Cain Hargreaves is investigating or involved in a string of murders. Cain’s cousin plots a Romeo & Juliet-style fake death, only her lover isn’t so true, and she has to climb out of her grave and take revenge. After that, we have Branded Bibi, which with its identical twins swap made me think of Sarah Waters Fingersmith. There's a story about an all-boys school club finding an immortality potion. He is searching for his blood brother, who has gone off to the big city to become an actor. At the end of ‘The Death of Cleo Dreyfuss’, Cain takes revenge on the brother of his good friend who murdered him.

Several short stories/mysteries introduce the main characters and set up the plot line of the book. However, I have difficulty relating to the characters. Our hero’s backstory is tantalizingly hints, but the stories are too short to do much character development or depth to the mysterious events. The author of this series, Kaori Yuki, might expand on her characters and storylines because it spans two different manga titles.

A second issue is that she does not have a consistent drawing style or plot continuity. It’s hard to tell exactly what’s happening in her artwork panels since they jump from one scene to another abruptly, especially in key scenes with a lot of interaction between characters. I feel like it deleted some key panels in the middle of the story. Her illustrations are gorgeous and have fine details, but the way she jumps around in her story does not appeal to me. It is very distracting to hear her abrupt transitions. The interesting premise and artwork have me excited about the next volume.

This book irritates me to no end! There is nothing good about it at all. I feel cheated and robbed of my time by this book.

It’s a simple plot. In fact, it would have been better as a novella since 300 pages were too much for what it contained in them. In the end, grammar Nazis will have a fit, running out of red ink before they turn the last page.Maxine Kiss is a weak heroine in a world where monsters and demons are imprisoned behind a veil. No matter who she asked, whether friend or foe, she never received a straight answer. Riddles with no meaning are not answers. Despite her threats, she never followed through. Instead of responding to these non-answers, she accepted them and moved on.

As Maxine encountered someone, they talked shit and implied a lot, and she questioned them, but they always deflected her questions or gave vague and incomprehensible responses. Woman, kick some ass! Where is this fierce warrior that is supposed to ‘save the world’? Honestly, if you are the savior, then kill me now. It’s pathetic.

What the hell was she doing with someone like Grant? Their philosophies are so different. Maxine kills the creatures that go bump in the night, while Grant saves them. I find this somewhat naïve on his part. Also, I am not discriminating against the disabled, but if Maxine is going to settle down with anyone, shouldn’t it be with someone who can run for his life? Otherwise, they are nothing more than cannon fodder. He cannot keep up with her or effectively fight by her side. An angry horde of demons would be no match for his flute.

With a violently pro-active persona, she fucked all. It’s all growl and no bite. Although the original premise was sound, something poorly executed it. Her actions did not align with her words. She was ineffective and cowardly. She should have been stronger and more confident.

There are no good things to say about this series. It was an underwhelming and disappointing series that failed to live up to its promise.

Ramna is a teenage boy who is betrothed to a girl, but the girl is a tomboy who harbors a hatred for boys. During a magical incident, Ramna transformed into a girl when water hit him. His dad had a similar experience, but he turned into a panda when he got wet. As all this is going on, another guy has a crush on Ramna’s fiancée and challenges him to a duel. While fighting with the nemesis, Ramna gets wet, becomes a girl, and now the nemesis is in love with him (as the girl).

It is a super strange martial arts fantasy with a love triangle at its core.

Having a nostalgic feeling, I ordered it from the library to reread. Although I found it entertaining, I couldn’t help but cringe whenever the characters insulted someone by comparing them to a girl. While Akane is an exceptional fighter and can hold her own, she does this as well. I never finished this series, but I plan to read it now to see if I ever addressed this misogyny. Because Ranma occasionally turns into a girl, the series has plenty of opportunity to address the blatant sexism it displays.

Despite its problematic issues, I will admit it’s a fun read with an interesting plot and great artwork. I give it a three out of five. Hopefully Takahashi will address the sexism in later volumes. It will be interesting to see if she creates a more balanced story. I’m still looking forward to reading the rest of the series.