The beautiful Butterfly Cloud

I do not read as much shōjo manga as I would like to because of several personal reasons but I can point out one of the mangaka of this genre that I like, and that is Ashihara Hinako. Although her drawings are somewhat similar to other shōjo mangaka, her stories however really stood out the most. And the way she complements her drawings with the emotions of the story are really what caught me the most. One of her manga that show this skills is Awan Kupu-Kupu (translated in English as Butterfly Cloud).

Awan Kupu-Kupu, or in Japanese is called Chouchou Kumo, is a love story between four childhood friends. Complications and conflicts occur when a friend loves the other one, and another one got jealous, and another one trying to fix things up. Accidents happens and they start breaking apart. Heartbreak is a must but what's more important is to let things go. It's confusing I know, but that's what one look forward to in a love story. Besides, I'm not going to spoil the story for you. Set on an island, the story revolves around the four friends during their childhood up to their teenage years. Once you read the manga, you will feel the emotions straight from the pages, and that's what I love about Ashihara Hinako's manga, you can always 'feel' her stories.

Aside from the main story, there are 3 more short stories that come together with this manga, each with new protagonists and new conflicts. While the short stories are not up to par with Buttefly Cloud, but they are still enjoyable and worth to spend time with.

Overall, Awan Kupu-Kupu is a fun read and a must have for those who love shōjo manga, and also for those who are a fan of Ashihara Hinako's work.

The final fight of the Dark Tournament

Here's my review of the manga YuYu Hakusho Volume 12. Caution: this review has plenty of spoilers. If you hate spoilers, then better skip this post.

I will keep this review simple and short. The first chapter for this volume shows the result for the previous fight (continued from Volume 11) between Kuwabara and Elder Toguro. Elder Toguro has a unique ability with his body but Kuwabara has a few tricks up his sleeves as well. But will he be able to defeat Elder Toguro?

Then after the fight between Kuwabara and Elder Toguro, Sakio steps up on the arena and announces that he bets on his life that the younger Toguro will win in the next fight, which will be the final fight in the Dark Tournament, between younger Toguro and Yuusuke. This means that whoever win in the final round, his team would also win the Dark Tournament. After Sakio announcement, Koenma also bets on his life that Yuusuke would win in the final round.

And so the final round begins. The fight took about 3/4 out of the total pages of the volume, and it did not even finish yet! The result will only be revealed in Volume 13. There is also a flashback showing Genkai and Yuusuke at the start of their training, and what Genkai did to increase Yuusuke's strength.

A lot of damages, blood, and lost of lives (among the devil spectators of course) involved. Yuusuke is obviously overwhelmed by Toguro's powerful attacks. Can he beat that monster? Oh, wait, one main character is killed too (gasp!). But do not worry, all will be revealed in Volume 13.

Until the next review, take care!

The final round of Dark Tournament begins!

Image source: Coverbrowser

It's been awhile since I last wrote about YuYu Hakusho. Let's continue from where we left off. There might be spoilers so stop reading if you do not want me to kill the fun.

The final round of the Dark Tournament started in Volume 11 of YuYu Hakusho. But before that, we get to see what were the characters up to before the final round begin. Hiei was practising his ultimate moves for his final fight; Kurama and Kuwabara got some help from a former rival to enhance their spirit powers; while Yuusuke finally overcame his grief over the death of his mentor, Genkai, in the previous volume.

The 2 teams who reached the grand finals of the Dark Tournament were, you guessed it, Team Urameshi and Team Toguro. Since each team needed to have 5 members, Team Urameshi added Koenma into their team while Team Toguro added Sakio in theirs. Both contestants however stated that they will not participate in the fight (they would not have the strength to do so anyway).

The 1st round was Kurama vs Karasu. It was an interesting and long fight. We get to see Kurama in his full glory as he fought his heart out against the bomb user, Karasu. So basically it was plants vs bombs in this round.

The 2nd round was Hiei vs Bui. The fight was rather short but it was a violent fight. Hiei showed his greatest skill yet while Bui shed his heavy armors to unleash his full strength. We get to see Bui's face for the first time too (he's quite a good-looking fella ;-P)

The 3rd fight was Kuwabara vs Older Toguro. Although he looks like a small kid, but Older Toguro is a cunning and vicious little man. The fight was quite difficult for Kuwabara. As the situation got tense, Kuwabara finally showed his inner strength and double-up his effort in the fight. But was it worth it? Will Kuwabara win in this round?

The tournament is far from over. The fights and final result of Kuwabara vs Older Toguro will be revealed in Volume 12 of YuYu Hakusho.

Team Urameshi...from 5 to 4

Yup, you read that right. In Volume 10 of the manga YuYu Hakusho, Team Urameshi lost a contestant. Not because of withdrawal or injury, but because of death. Yes, a contestant in Team Urameshi died. A lot of spoilers here, so stop reading if you want to find it out yourself.

Vol. 10 continues on the semi-final round between Team Urameshi and Team Otogi Ura. So far Hiei has won 2 fights (in Vol. 9). We get to see the rest of the action in the 3rd fight between Kurama and Urashima Ura. Kurama in his demon fox form (thanks to the fog released by Urashima Ura) intended to force some answers out from Urashima Ura about the secrets of the fog but to avoid him from spilling any more secrets, Shishi Wakamaru killed him instead. And so, Kurama won the 3rd fight. He turned back to his human form after the fog had gone.

The 4th fight between Shishi Wakamaru and Kuwabara was short where Wakamaru transported Kuwabara to another place using a cloak. The 5th fight took quite some time where Genkai returned to the arena to fight Shishi Wakamaru. Having her mask torn during the fight, all the audience knew then that Mask was actually Genkai. She had quite a reputation in the demon world for killing a lot of powerful demons when she was young. The fight ended with Genkai winning it even though she had just transfered most of her power to Yuusuke.

The short 6th fight was between Kuwabara (who had just got back from where he was transported) and the Otogi Ura team leader, Onzii. Again, Kuwabara was transported to another place and lost the fight. He was quite unlucky in this semi-final round I must say. The last fight was between Genkai and Onzii, who revealed himself to all that he was actually Suzuki, the 'beautiful' demon fighter. He was quite funny during the fight, and he was easily defeated by Genkai. And so Team Urameshi won the semi-final round and moved on to the finals.

After that, we get to see the Toguro team in action during their semi-final round. It was short, brief and cruel because the difference of strength between the 2 teams was quite big. Well, at least we get a taste of what we will see in the finals. The one I'm looking forward to is Karasu, his power is quite mysterious.

Then, the major event in Vol. 10 appears nearly at the end of the manga. Genkai met with the younger Toguro in a forest...to fight! They actually know each other, in fact they were lovers!!! Toguro wished to become a demon when he won the Dark Tournament 50 years ago so that he would become young, live longer and will always be strong. They had quite a fight but Toguro was too strong for Genkai and she was defeated. Yuusuke managed to get to Genkai to hear her last words. He tried to fight with Toguro but he was punched so hard he was sent flying to the other side of the forest. And that's the end for Vol. 10 of YuYu Hakusho.

Stay tune because I will be back with the review of Vol. 11 where the final round begins.

The true face behind the mask

YuYu Hakusho Vol. 9 starts off with the result of Yuusuke Vs Zin the wind master. Who won it? The host announced that Yuusuke was the winner but the organizer has a dirty trick up his sleeve. He claimed that Yuusuke was out of the borders far too long and the host count was too slow. So it was a tie.

It seemed like Team Urameshi had lost because Yuusuke and Kurama were defeated and Hiei and Mask were detained for so-called injuries. And all the fighters in Team Masho had lost except one, their leader Risho. So it means that Team Masho won right? Wrong! They forgot about Kuwabara! He was unconscious before but now he was awake and ready to fight. He was badly injured from the previous fights (between Team Dr. Ichigaki) but he insisted to continue the last match because he was their only hope. He can't even use his aura-infused sword and almost lost to Risho. But he didn't give up and kept on standing back after beaten to the ground. Then, something happened. He spotted Yukina (his crush!) in the crowd and hit Risho so hard he was thrown away from the fighting arena. It was indeed the power of love (the scene was funny and I had fun reading it). And so Team Urameshi will enter the semi-final of the Dark Tournament.

For those who have been reading YuYu Hakusho, you guys should know about the egg right? In the beginning of the series, Koenma, the son of the spirit realm ruler, gave an egg to Yuusuke. It fed on Yuusuke's spirit energy and will eventually hatch into a spirit beast and will take form based on the energy that it had consumed. If Yuusuke had bad evil energy, it will hatch into a monster (that what Botan was afraid of). And the egg hatched in this volume! And it turned out to be a cute bird-like creature. So Yuusuke didn't have bad spirit energy afterall. They named it Pu.

Then, back to business. Mask called Yuusuke to a secluded place and revealed herself, she was Genkai! She passed on her spirit energy to (her successor) Yuusuke but the spirit energy was too powerful and Yuusuke's body started trembling and bleeding. If Yuusuke can survive this, he will have the power but if he don't, he will die. It's more like a gamble to me. But they had no other choice, Genkai was old and she needs to pass on her power. Furthermore, in his current state, Yuusuke would never win against Toguro.

The semi-final day arrived. With Yuusuke still struggling (and suffering) with his new power, and Genkai waiting for him, the rest of the team members went to the stadium to begin the fight. This time they will face Team Otogi Ura. It's 3 Vs 5, can they win this?

Hiei fought in the first 2 fights. The 1st one against Makin Taro was quick, but he struggled in the 2nd match against Kuromomo Taro but managed to win it too. The 3rd round was between Kurama (yay!) and Urashima Ura. Urashima tricked Kurama and used an evil device to produce smog to turned him into a baby and kill him. Fortunately the smog turned Kurama into his former self (before he infused himself into a human body and became a human), the infamous thief Fox Demon Kurama!!!

Urashima Ura was in deep trouble. We will find out what happen to him in YuYu Hakusho Volume 10. Overall, this volume had a lot of good fight scenes and my favourite in this volume is the match between Hiei and Kuromomo Taro. Hiei had such great techniques! But will they survive this round? Until next review....

Plants Vs Ice!

It's been awhile since I last wrote about YuYu Hakusho. So let's continue on the journey. Here's what happen in Vol. 8.

The battle continues on between Team Urameshi and Team Dr Ichigaki. Kurama and Hiei finally showed their faces at the stadium after being absent before. They revealed the truth about Dr Ichigaki's plot who was controlling the 3 humans who were fighting for his team. Kuwabara was so angry after he knew about this but was not able to do anything and was beaten to the ground. Finally it was Mask (y'know, the mystery masked fighter, I like to just call her Mask) who managed to free the 3 humans from Dr Ichigaki's control. And Dr Ichigaki was beaten (and destroyed!) by the estranged Yuusuke. He deserved it.

They thought the battle was over but they were forced to begin the next round and fight Team Masho (in Malay, this team is called Pakar Syaitan loosely translated as Devil Experts). And the organizer even tricked Urameshi Team by not allowing Hiei and Mask from competing, they were considered injured. Yeah right! With Kuwabara badly injured, it was up to Kurama and Yuusuke to fight Team Masho. Can they win this time???

My favourite fight in this volume is Kurama VS Toya, the ice master. I just love to see Kurama in action. And Toya has cool techniques too. But the fight was short, I wish it was longer. Kurama was badly injured too. Luckily he's a strong-willed person. Go Kurama!

The volume ends with Yuusuke VS Zin, the wind master. And the result is...mmm...no result yet actually. You have to buy Vol. 9 to find out that one.

Hunters VS Chimera Ants

This is the latest manga of Hunter X Hunter that is available in Malaysia, which is Vol. 25 (sorry for the blur pic). This is one of my favorite manga series so waiting for the next issue to come out is kinda painful. The hiatus that have been associated with this series makes it worst. From what I read, the latest hiatus started in mid-May 2008 and the series will return in October 2008. I hope this is true because I'm dying to know what happen next.

For those who are new to the series, Hunter X Hunter tells the story of our young protagonist, Gon and his adventures to become a great hunter and also to find his long-lost father, Ging. Other main characters include Kirua, a young fighter from a famous family of assassins; Kurapika, the only survivor of the Kurta clan; and Leorio, a street smart Hunter who wants to become a doctor to help the poor.

The latest story arc is about a group of Chimera Ants that has taken over a country. They are actually some type of human + animal hybrid and are very powerful and dangerous. The Ant King wants to take over the world and the Hunters must stop him and his Royal Guards and other minions.

In the latest issue, Vol. 25, the Hunters start to infiltrate the King palace and battle the Ants. It's going to be tough fighting the 3 Royal Guards, and I'm not even sure if they can kill the Ant King. Things are definitely going to be more interesting in the next volume. I wonder who will win?

I hope I don't have to wait long for the next issue.

Midori no Hibi manga is here!

Previously, this manga was serialized in Kreko or Arena magazine (I'm not sure which) in Malaysia. And now finally we had it in volume format. Thank you Gangstarz! Although the anime series had already been in the market for quite a while now, I bet fans still flocking to buy this one since the story for manga is longer compare to the anime. Plus, the size is much bigger. Although it is a little bit expensive, RM6.50 each, compared to other famous manga published in Malaysia like Naruto and One Piece but it's still worth it.

Volume 2 and 3 has already been published too, and I just bought volume 2 a few days ago. So guys, don't forget to buy this if you're a fan.

Urameshi Team stays strong

From Vol.1 until Vol. 7, this is by far my favourite cover.

The Dark Tournament continues on with Kurama and Hiei fighting their opponents. Then, it's Yuusuke's turn to fight the last member from the opponent's team. They win the first round. Things doesn't look good for Hiei though, and Yuusuke too. They had sustained quite a lot of damage and may affect their performance in the next round.

They will face Dr. Ichigaki's team in the 2nd round. There are humans in this team, which is weird since human seldom participate in the Dark Tournament, except for Urameshi's Team of course (they were forced!). Things doesn't look good for Urameshi's Team (again!) because Hiei and Kurama are absent. Where are they?

Things are getting more interesting....

This volume also contain a short story at the back of the manga. It features Hiei and Kurama and tells the story of how they first met. Kurama looks cute in short hair. :-)

Okay, move on to Vol. 8 now.

The Dark Tournament begins!

Now, the moment that I've been waiting for. The Dark Tournament begins!!! Hooray!!! Now I can see a lot of cool moves by Yuusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei and my favourite, Kurama. Oh, by the way, there's another member in their team, a mysterious woman with a mask. Let just call her Mask. The Toguro brothers and Yukina, Hiei's sister, also made their first appearance in this volume.

This volume starts off with Yuusuke and Kuwabara heading off to save Yukina from a gangster mob, wait...not gangster. More like brokers if you ask me. They are billionaires and they deal with demons. Then after defeating the Toguro brothers (or so they thought) who were hired by one of the brokers, they were invited to participate in the Dark Tournament by the Toguro brothers. They need five members in a team (a sixth member is optional for back-up), and so we have Yuusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, Kurama and the mysterious lady, Mask. Then the 1st battle begins. It's Kuwabara Vs Rinku from the Jolly Devil Six team and it ends with a tie...or is it?

We will find out the answer in Volume 7.

Yuusuke Vs Suzaku

Finally, I had finished reading YuYu Hakusho Vol. 5.

If in Vol. 4, we see Kurama Vs Genbu, the rock-like creature, then in this volume we get to see the battles of the rest of the team members.

First to fight was Kuwabara. His opponent is Byakko, a devil resembles a giant tiger. It sure hard for Kuwabara to defeat him. Next, Hiei Vs Seiryu. This is the shortest battle in this volume, proving that you don't mess with Hiei. The last battle would be Yuusuke Vs Suzaku, the evil leader. He was a snake, sending his evil army to kill Keiko and broadcast the events to crush Yuusuke's spirit. Dirty play. However, Yuusuke being the hero (and so cannot be killed easily) defeated him although with much struggle and nearly killed.

Ah...now I can't wait for the Dark Tournament to start. I've already bought Vol. 6 and Vol. 7. Now, if only I can find some strength to finish reading them.

The perfect 4

And so I continued my journey through YuYu Hakusho. I’m now at volume 4. Still a long way to go. The plot is getting more interesting and complicated. Mmm…I like it!

The half part of the manga showed the exam (or battle) to determine who will become the apprentice to the great Genkai. No surprise here. I’m sure everyone knows who will win this. Then the next half of the manga showed Urameshi and Kuwabara team up with Kurama and Hiei to face the 4 evil leaders that had been causing chaos in the human world. Well, actually it was not chaos, more like small disturbances. Some evil leaders…heh.

What I’m so excited about this volume is the assemble of the main characters to form a team (a strong one too) and also, most importantly, to see Kurama in action for the first time! Gotta love that rose whip. I wish I had one (…chuckles).

I know I’m a little slow in finishing this manga but I had so many things to do, and so many other mangas to read! I just hope I won’t get broke by overspending on these mangas.

Okay, time to buy volume 5.

Detective of the Underworld

I've finished reading the first two volumes of the manga and now moving on to the 3rd volume. In this volume, Urameshi Yuusuke starts his new job as a detective. Not the usual detective of course, he is the detective of the Underworld, so to speak. His job is to deal with any troubles that cause by demons in the human world. I'm telling you, it's a tough job. He also used his first 'holy energy shots' in this volume. Nice! Oh, almost forgot. Hiei and Kurama also made their first appearence in this volume.

The image of the cover above is from the English version, mine is the Malay version of course (published by Comics House). I had mentioned this before in the previous post on YuYu Hakusho. Anyway, the pic is still the same, just the background color and the writing are a little bit different. I had to used this one because I don't have any scanner to scan the cover image of the Malay version.

I got this cover from the website below. The cover of Vol. 1 and 2 from the previous post were also taken from this website. Forgot to mention that before, sorry....

Comicvine

Wonderful reunion

Oh my god! I love YuYu Hakusho!!! I started reading the manga since I was in school. I didn't bought them, just borrowed from my friends. That is why I was so excited to see these books at one of the bookstore while I was window-shopping at a mall near my house. I bought volume 1 and 2 for RM4.80 each. Of course the one that I bought is in Malay language (published by Comics House). It's a lot cheaper compare to the English version. But the cover is quite the same with the English version. Only the background colour and writing is different.

The drawings are just average, but the story is so good. Yoshihiro Togashi-sensei really knows how to make a good manga. The same goes for his latest work, Hunter X Hunter. It's sad the story is moving really slow because of hiatus.

Back to YuYu Hakusho. I plan to collect all the volumes into one complete set but since I'm saving my money for something else, I have to buy them one at a time. So it may take some time for me to reach the final volume. I just hope the bookstore won't run out of stock. Old books are so hard to find these days.

A Season for Eternity

Another book review. Wait, not a book...this is actually a manga. A great manga btw. 'Satu Musim Untuk Selamanya', directly translated as 'A Season For Eternity', is written by Ichikawa Takuji and drawn by Takata Yasuhiko. It's original Japanese edition had been published in 2004...and if I'm not mistaken, this manga published in Malaysia in 2006. So...quite a few years already. But a good book should never go unnoticed rite? That's why I'm stll reviewing it.

The manga tells a story about a single father, Takumi Aio, and his son, Yuji. They are struggling to adapt to their lives after the death of their wife/mother, Mio, 2 years ago. Suddenly on one night, while searching for Yuji's cap at the beach, they accidentally met Mio, with no memory of who she really was. So what's going on?!? Confused + happy, they took her home anyway and keep it as a secret (since it would create chaos if people knew she had came back from the grave).

What happen next? Did Takumi and Yuji managed to keep Mio existence a secret? Was she really cheated death? Was she a zombie? Or maybe just a lost spirit? Sorry, cannot tell you that. If I tell the whole story, then there would be no surprise anymore. Go buy the manga instead and enjoy the story.

The main reason I'm reviewing this book (although it had been published for quite some time) is because of the compelling and touching story. The way the writer & mangaka arranged the plot made it well-organized and easy to read & understand, although there are quite a lot of flashback. The drawing is nice too, not the average Japanese-type of drawing...but still nice.

Unfortunately, the manga is only available in Bahasa Malaysia (as far as I know). I could still find it in bookstores, so I think you could too. Only RM6.50 in Peninsular Malaysia and RM7.50 in Sabah & Sarawak. Oh, it also available in Singapore for only S$4.00.

To purchase through Internet, just go to the Gempak Starz website below.

http://www.gempakstarz.com/