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Series Info| Anime fans tend to be split down the middle when it comes to the detective genre. The list of series that follow a boy genius as he solves crimes with his spunky friends is endless; Detective Conan and Kindaichi Case Files are just two of the myriad examples found in the Japanese market. Basically, either you like that sort of thing, or you don't. If you found yourself on the edge of your seat watching Jessica Fletcher solve the mystery of the missing hip replacement on Murder She Wrote, or seeing Matlock put those blasted kids who kept stealing his newspaper behind bars, then chances are, you'll find something to like in Steam Detectives. Everyone else might want to find something a little less episodic. This type of series follows a very basic and familiar formula. Kia Asamiya, while famous for his character designs, has never really been known for his outstanding storylines, and Steam Detectives suffers from a complete lack of creativity. Narutaki, his large-chested nurse and their big clunky robot fight crime, solve the mystery and uncover the mastermind behind it all in nearly every episode. Generally you can solve the mystery before they do, and aside from a few clumsy attempts to add human interest to the stories by involving children or old people, it's a mostly routine affair. It doesn't help that Narutaki is mostly charisma-free and his sidekicks aren't all that interesting either. It's really hard to care about the proceedings at all, especially since we know Narutaki will save the day and solve the crime. There's very little risk in Steam City, despite the fact that it's crawling with cartoonish supervillains. That's not to say that the show is devoid of charm. The character designs are surprisingly pleasant. Kia Asamiya is something of an acquired taste, depending on how big you like your chins and how small you like your mouths. Here, he goes a little more shounen, and the result is an eye-catching and simple design that translates well in to animation. If their clothing didn't have so many gigantic yellow buttons, the show would really be something aesthetically special. The animation is very nicely handled, as well, coming across as being a little bit dated but still fluid and lovingly rendered. There are several moments where the mouth movements don't even try to match the words (even in Japanese they're just opening and closing their mouths at a steady pace with no variation), and a couple of awkward action scenes, but mostly the animation doesn't disappoint. The backgrounds are also detailed and convey the atmosphere of the show quite well. Visually, the show outpaces its unfortunately mediocre storylines. The music is your average collection of cheap anime background music, pounded out on a low-end synthesizer and accompanied by several forgettable and generic J-pop tunes. The dub is serviceable, but it's hard to imagine the English version being outstanding when the source material they're working with is as lame as it is. Narutaki sounds a little old for his apparent age, Ling-Ling has the voice you'd expect her to have, and the villains are all overacting just enough to be slightly grating. One or two of the voices are clearly Australian (or New Zealand… it's so hard to tell, sometimes.), so that adds a unique touch to an otherwise by-the-numbers dub. Watch it in either English or Japanese, you'll be getting the same result. Basically, if you dig the whole Detective genre and started a letter-writing campaign when Diagnosis Murder was cancelled, run to the store and buy Steam Detectives right now. There's plenty in here to keep any serious mystery junkie happy for a long time. Unfortunately, in these first five episodes, the stories have no meat, even less character development and a whole lot of repetitive, formulaic plot development. People looking for a solid, deep action series would do well to look elsewhere for their fix. |
| Title | Publisher | Publication Date |
|---|---|---|
| Young Love Comic aya, May | Ohzora Publishing Co. | 2010.04.08 |
| Zettai Renai Sweet, May | Kasakura Shuppansha | 2010.04.10 |
| drap*, May | Core Magazine | 2010.05.01 |
| Boy's Love*, April | Junet | 2010.04.01 |
| Boy's Pierce*, May | Junet | 2010.05.01 |
| Renai Bijin if, May | Seven Shinsha | 2010.04.14 |
| Reijin*, May | Takeshobo | 2010.04.09 |
| Chara Selection*, May | Tokuma Shoten | 2010.05.01 |
| Daria*, June | Frontier Works | 2010.04.22 |
| Boy's Kyapi!*, '10 Summer (Hanaoto May Spinoff) | Houbunsha | 2010.05.28 |
| Junk! Boy*, Spring Break Issue (Magazine Be-Boy May Spinoff) | Libre Publishing Co., Ltd. | 2010.05.03 |
Hazumu's friends have always considered him "almost like a girl." But what happens when it becomes literal? After being rejected by the girl he likes, Hazumu goes for a walk in the woods, where an alien spaceship accidentally crash-lands on top of him. To honor the galactic code, the aliens restore Hazumu's life—but have reversed his gender by mistake! Now Hazumu must live the rest of her life as a girl, while the aliens move into her house and follow her around. The unexpected sex change is affecting Hazumu's friends, too: Asuna, who rejected Hazumu as a boy, suddenly confesses her love, while childhood friend Tomari starts to show signs of jealousy. Even Hazumu's best friend Asuta questions his feelings. And when Hazumu learns the reason for Asuna's odd behavior, it could be the turning point for the two of them... | ||
| MONSTER RACERS Developer: Tecmo/KOEI Publisher: UFO Interactive Platform: DS Players: 1-4 MSRP: $29.99 Monster Rancher finished third in the creature-collecting anime craze of the late 1990s, falling shy of Digimon's popularity and never even touching Pokémon. Yet Monster Rancher is still around and still getting spin-offs like Monster Racers, so that must count for something. Far from a cheap Mario Kart retread, Monster Racers is a creature-raising simulator where side-scrolling marathons take the place of traditional battles. Players hunt down creatures, train them, and then turn them loose in 2-D stages alongside various other Monster Rancher beasts. There's a multiplayer WiFi mode, plus a tournament mode and the now-traditional choice of a male or female player-avatar, each with an allegedly distinct “storyline.” The game's assortment of 80-plus creatures doesn't seem to have any of the original Monster Rancher characters, so you can forget about Monster Racers resolving those long-unanswered questions posed by the anime series back in 2000. Get Excited If: You remember the name of the yellow, one-eyed monster. |
| Gacha Gacha is the latest in a long line of bawdy sex-comedy manga, and for the most part, there isn't anything about it that makes it really stand out from the rest. Here's the joke: milquetoast loser is in love with mean, short-tempered girl with a split personality who randomly turns into a slutty flirt and tries to sleep with milquetoast guy. Inevitably, right when she's mostly undressed and the milquetoast guy is panicking at the sight of breasts, she turns back into mean short-tempered girl and punches him in the face for his indiscretions. Hilarious, right? Well, if you've ever read something like this before, odds are you'll be straight-faced through most of this volume. As with most manga like this, the big problem lies in the characterizations. There are no likable characters in this; Kouhei is the average wimpy loser who can't confess his real feelings for Kurara. Kurara is a mean-spirited, nasty jerk who takes every opportunity to belittle and humiliate Kouhei. Why is he in love with her if she treats him like garbage? Who knows? Even Kurara's slutty other half, the flip side of her dual personality, is little more than a fanboy fantasy; she's a busty, sex-crazed girl who's determined to get into Kouhei's pants. There are a handful of brave attempts to make the characters slightly more likable—Kurara has the inevitable “nice” moment and Kouhei eventually yells at her for being such an unconscionable jerk, but these moments are rendered impotent almost immediately by instantly turning into yet another clichéd gag about Kouhei getting punched in the face or Kurara's slutty side pulling her shirt off. It's hard to care about what's going on when you'd rather see the characters get hit by a bus. The characters aren't the only problem with Gacha Gacha; the plot needs some work, too. Each chapter follows the same basic routine: Kouhei and Kurara make plans to do something together, like go swimming or go out for dinner or do homework or attend the summer festival. Kurara acts distant and mean while Kouhei rambles on in a series of internal monologues about his feelings for her. Then Kurara transforms into a flirty harlot, removes most of her clothes and basically demands that Kouhei sleep with her. Then at the worst possible moment, Kurara snaps back into her normal self and punches Kouhei in the jaw. Almost every chapter in this volume plays out this exact way. By the fifth time you've read the same gag, you're ready to toss the book out the window. It isn't all bad, though. The artwork in Gacha Gacha is competent and at times very well-done. The characters are all very unique, and easy to tell apart. Panel progression and layout is very professional and fluid, and the background work is quite solid. The ‘next volume preview’ at the back of the book (kudos to Del Rey for always including a handful of much-appreciated extra material at the back of their books) hints that the story's going to get at least a little deeper, but it might be too little, too late. Unless they stop relying so much on one gag played out by shallow characters, it's tough to see this book getting much better. As it stands, it's difficult to recommend Gacha Gacha, unless you're unfamiliar with the trappings of the manga sex comedy, in which case this would be a decent primer. For everyone else with a little more experience, it's kind of a yawn. |
