Rasetsu 1

Rasetsu (1/9)
Chika Shiomi
Viz Media

Rasetsu, a sequel series of Yurara. I was hesitant to read this series since I ended up not liking Yurara. So anyway, I went ahead and read the first volume. It definitely shares the basic plot but here we have Rasetsu a young exorcist that resembles the maiden spirit in Yurara. She’s working at a company that provides exorcism services. Then Yakou entered the picture, just FYI Yakou is one of the main character in Yurara and he was in love with the maiden spirit. Well anyways..

This series is not for me, to be honest I find the plot quite ridiculous. So Rasetsu is a very beautiful heroine, she’s got brain and seems mature. Some malevolent demonic ghost took possession of her body and if she turns 16 and still hasn’t found her “true love” the evil will take her soul. So yep that’s pretty much it. I find it hard to believe that all those years she hasn’t been able to get a guy, she’s freaking perfect.

I also don’t like the episodic nature of this. I don’t know it never got me hooked even back to Yurara. Although I did liked the first two of volumes of Yurara but the episodic nature of both series isn’t spectacular.

The art can be striking sometimes but the there’s something quite distracting, I think the body proportions and the hand. It’s quite rough and weird. There are better series out there but who am I to stop readers, each is to his own. I’ll pass this one.

Kurogane 1

Kurogane (1/5)
Toume Kei
Del Rey

Chapter 1-4

Ok this series is weird. The first chapter resembles the story of Frankenstein. In this case our hero, Jintetsu is a young samurai who found a new body of steel given by an eccentric inventor named Genpachi. This series is not original yet it’s unusual. Jintetsu lost his ability to speak that’s where his partner comes in play. Just like Hermes to Kino, Jintetsu has a talking sword.

At first I wasn’t so sure if the concept of the story would work, since it’s the sword who does all the talking. In the latter, it was vaguely explained that the sword is somehow connected to Jintetsu brain. The series needs some warming up to but once you get the hang of it it’s a good read.

The art is subpar, a little sketchy but it’s ok. I dunno if it’s only me but I find some part of the conversation a little laughable, it seems like the series tries to be a quirky from time to time.

Overall this is a nice read. If you like wandering samurai that focuses in character interactions, I would recommend this. Or if you like a series with characters like in Kino’s Journey you might find this appealing. I can clearly see that this series will be episodic now that the “main” story was over.

Here is Greenwood 1

Here is Greenwood (1/9)
Yukie Nasu
Viz Media

Chapter 1-5

This another series that was titled after its setting. Greenwood is the name of the Dormitory Hasukawa moved into. Greenwood is supposed to be famous for its bizzare occupants. As weird as the students are, the story itself is tad confusing.

Kazuya Hasukawa is our main guy, he enrolled late to school due to being hospitalized when the term started. He idolizes his older brother so he decided to follow his footsteps and enrolled to Ryokuto Academy, an All-Boys School. His older brother was the one who practically raised him since their parents died of an accident.

Though Hasukawa was forced to leave their house after his brother was married to his first love. He thought it’s not appropriate to live with them in the same roof.

The series is episodic, pretty much focused around the life of 4 characters; Hasukawa, Shun, Shinobu and Mitsuru. The characters are definitely out of the norm, including the other students as well. It’s not a bad read but to be honest it’s not good either. The art is outdated which I like, love the classic look. But since it’s quite confusing I couldn’t get into the series. The characters especially the boys are all looked alike. I didn’t find the humor as effective as it should be.

Oh the other series that was named after its setting was Maison Ikkoku, you might want to check it out.