Manga of the Month - June

Apollo's song is a remarkable manga by Osamu Tezuka and is a rare story in the sense that it describes the link between affection, love and care in association to sexual intercourse and pro-creation.

The main character Shogo, is the illegitimate son of a prostitute. Growing up in environment of confusion and no maternal affection Shogo soon learns that his mother sins, the uncomfortable way. As he grows up he feels the need to kill animals in the act of mating, as his mental stability falters from time to time he is then admitted into a psychiatric hospital before his attacks transfer from animals to humans.

While unconscious, Shogo meets the goddess of love in a different realm, she is angered by his crimes and then sentences him to a cycle of repeatedly falling in love with the same woman only to be separated from her repeatedly for eternity.

And thus begins Shogo's never ending life, meeting, loving and tearing away from the same woman over and over again. The manga quickly grew painful for me as a reader to see Shogo constantly being separated from his love. But his deep routed detest of affection between two beings was slowly being cured.

Apollo's song included the Greek myth of Apollo (son of Zeus) making fun of cupid for playing with warrior's tools, cupid got angry at Apollo's mocking and so shot him with a gold arrow so he would fall in love with Daphne, he then shot the nymph Daphne with a lead arrow so she could hate Apollo. Apollo then chases after her, wanting nothing but to claim her. When he just managed to catch her, Daphne pleads her father Peneus to save her, and so her father changes her into a Bay laurel tree (I have one in my garden!). Apollo is grieved but vows to tend to her as his tree and makes all famous leaders wear her leaves as a crown (hence Olympic game winner and bay leaf crowns). The story is metaphoric for one who mocks love and then is punished for it.

At the very beginning it brought forth the idea that conceiving a child is the highest proof of affection between two people, and then cuts to a child born from sin and empty lust. The story then discusses the disapproval the child has for anything related to copulation as a result from the lack of parental affection or observing romantic affection.

Apollo's song was not only medically imbibed but also highlighted the need for love between two people in order for healthy peadiatric development to occur. In a way it is saying that affection is a medical requirment.

The manga was not in anyway crude rude or graphic, I think it was a terrific story despite being painful to read. Tezuka delivers again, 8/10 rating.

Manga of the Month - May

I'm late doing this... sorry. But i do have a brilliant Manga lined up for this post. It was drawn by the ex-doctor Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro boy, Black Jack and Pheonix. It was published 40 years ago in 1970 and is considered one of the best medical thrillers made.

It's name is 'Ode to Kirihito' and centres around a conspiracy against a doctor called Kirihito Osanai (western naming) organised by his supervisor and leading professor at a reputous University Hospital. Due to be engaged, Kirihito is sent away to a distant village called 'Doggodale' in order to contract a rare disease named 'Monmow'.

Monmow disease is a cross between Ricket's Disease (bone deformation) and Paget's Disease (facial reconstruction) but later discovered to be a disorder of the pituitary gland (involved in many hormonal functions), the end result is the appearence of a dog, with altered limbs and extensive hair growth, However, intelligence and mental abilities remains fully intact. Despite being a fiction disorder, Monmow disease holds many traits that patients with disabling disease suffer, such as alienation, the feeling of impotence and social inferiority.

The story follows Kirihito's journey to discover the root cause of Monmow Disease, to come to terms with his illness and to avenge the rape and death of his wife. He meets many people, and many towns, where he struggles to gain human identity through his practice as a doctor.

Ode to Kirihito is a remarkable tale of Medical Politics, the medical heirarchy of Japanese healthcare, racism against non-whites (and it's contribution to medical malpractice), Christianity, the choking power of disease, human identity, inteligence vs appearance, displayed humiliation, conspiracy in medical research and Mental illness.

The drawing style is branch off from what Tezuka usually does, but it is suitable and powerfully used in portraying Kirihito's story. A definite must read, and a well earned 9/10 Dessa rating.

Manga of The Month - April

Okay, so i've not been the most attentive blogger the world has seen, but I do have a pretty good Manga to reccomend. It's name is '20th century Boys' drawn and written by Japan's jewel; Naoki Urasawa, who also authored 'Monster' I think i might've mentioned this, if not then that will be next month's manga of the month.

The story synposis will look lame any way I put it, I just can't reflect how good this manga is. Well, to start off, a bunch of boys made their own hideout in the summer of 1969 where they wopuld play and read manga. It was here that they created a story about the destruction of the world, and how the world was consequently saved, a simple imaginative tale made by little boys, Kenji Endo being at the centre of it (he being the main character). About 30 years later in 1997, Kenji's older sister suddenly makes an appearance asking him and their mother to look after her baby girl. She then disappears, now Kenji has to not only mind his late father's store but look after a baby. Soon afterwards, one of kenji's old friends who used to play in their hideout... dies, supposedly a suicide, but kenji knows better and finds out he's been murdered. By anger and emotion he discovers the murderer was part of cult organisation named 'the friends' the main 'friend' is an annonymous person, whose plan is the destruction of the world. And so the little boy's tale turns into reality and each country of the world slowly undergoes changes at the hands of 'the friends' It is now Kenji's Duty to reverse what he feels he has done.

There's actually a lot more to the story than what i make out. 20th century Boys is a very horrific but poignant story, about childhood, poverty, poltical corruption, family life, failed dreams, failed fathers, governmental power and hope in the face of extreme adversity. I've only read 6 volumes out of the total 22 available, I am very impressed by the portrayal of old, new and future times, in addition to the follow through of characters within the ages. For instance, in the first volume a detective who never spent time with his family is killed, his grandson makes an appearnece 5 volumes later trying to succed his hero of a grandfather.

20th century Boys is a remarkable piece of art, creativity, imagination, science-fiction, and non-fictional topics. It is definitly plausable and I give it a well earned 9/10 Dessa rating.

All of it is free to read on the onemanga.com website.

Manga of the Month- March

I have taken an interest in a certain sci-fi-ish manga called 'Heads'. As both a medical scientist and Neuroscientist I took this manga with a huge pinch of salt. It is about a young man who undergoes a partial brain transplant after being shot at a bank robbery. Okay, so when I first read the blurb I was like O..M..G... this was because just a few weeks earlier I got into a heated conversation about how impossible a brain transplant is with a fellow neuroscientist student (Mr. Exam Superhero) who has a stubborn belief that brain transplants will, someday, be possible.

There's just too many issues that accompanies the remote idea of a brain transplant, among the physiological problems such as connecting the white matter tracts, invading the skull without breaking it in order to fit in a brain, connecting the blood vessels, preventing a stroke, preventing tissue rejection and autoimmune encephalitis, matching tissue types, preserving the brain structure, preventing tissue damage or necrosis in transit and finally: maintaing the memory, personality, talents and capabilities of the patient.

That's beside the numerous ethical issues, like whose brain will be donated, is it okay to use cadaveric brain, rejuvenating a dead man's brain (sounds like something from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein) and entering preternatural boundaries (issues of the soul, life and death).

Brain transplants are not just a fictional thing, there have been previous studies done on embryonic tissue and stem cells in order to transplant them, some with success. The therapeutic possibilities are endless! Dementia (Fronto-temporal dementia, Pick's Disease, schizophrenia and others), neurodegeneration (Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinsonism, ALS, Huntington's, TSE and others) and neurological function (such as attention, cognition, intellectual capacity, executive function, co-ordination and many others) could be treated and restored.

A load of bull perhaps? Maybe, I personally believe that brain transplants are impossible purely on religious belief, it is impossible to bring someone back after they have died, that is, when their soul has left their body, not simply their hart stopping. It would be playing god which simply is not possible. Even if a brain transplant were to be successful in term of grafting, I doubt it would ever be successful in terms of bringing the personality back.

The only thing worse than dying is living forever.

Back to 'Heads', it brings about a lot of these issues and also considers the public eye. But it is still very early for me to give a blow by blow analysis of the story. All I can say is that it holds a vast amount of promise and I look forward to seeing how it develops. I can see a glimmer of multiple personality disorder coming out from the initial drawings; this sinister feeling that there are two people in one mind, which could damn well actually happen in a brain transplant, that's IF there could ever be a brain transplant.

The drawing style tends to realism, so you could tell just by glancing that it's not some teen rubbish, there is plenty of detail and is certainly worth a look, but this manga cannot be held in esteem for it's drawings, I have seen better talent. But still, the drawing is good.

I'm rather worried as it is the first Horror manga I've attempted, nothing gruesome has come yet, but I know my stomach and it's pretty weak when it comes to horror and suspense. But I'll be brave and stake it out for the sake of medical insight!
Dessa rating: 7/10 but definitely worth a read.

Manga of the Month- Febuary

So, manga time! I know everyone is waiting in so much anticipation for this post! So lets begin:

This month I want to write about a manga that was drawn by the same mangaka as 'Otoyomegatari' (see manga of the month January) it is called 'Emma' and is surprisingly set in 1895 London! The story is about a maid (named Emma) and a gentleman falling in love and the hardships they face to get recognised and marry. Okay so I'm being ultra girly here with the whole 'love trasgresses all bounds' but I really did enjoy this story very very much, the romance was not cheesy or overly 'magical' like some other mangas and novels like to portray. The drawings were very dedicated to the setting of turn of the century britain, showing the mangaka did her research very well, despite being a self-proclaimed london addict. The picture below shows all the merchendise that was how it looked like in 1985, something I never thought a manga would show me. visit this link for more info http://www.mangafox.com/manga/emma_bangaihen/v02/c010/32.html

So why should you read Emma? not only are the drawings very beautiful (though not as great as otoyomegatari) but the setting is a faithful adaptation to the actual late victorian life. Add a controversial romance with background storylines of the hardships of orphans, and presto! You've got a hit manga!

Manga of The Month- January

I'm so sorry I didn't keep up with the manga of the month for December, but I have recently discovered a manga artist who really does have huge inspirational ability, her name is Mori Kaoru. She is a literary genius. The manga that I'll focus on is called 'Otoyomegatari' or 'Young Bride's story'.

The story is a rather controversial one, set in a rural city in an Eastern/Asian rural city (possibly Turkey or Persia) where a woman of 20 is sent to marry a groom 8 years her junior, you might be thinking 'this is so peado' but the manga takes into consideration the normality of this marital situation at the time. Now we are left with all the emotional conflicts and complications of such a marriage.

Unfortunately only 8 chapters has been released, so I can't say much about the storyline as yet, however Mori Sensei has seriously out-done herself with regard to the artwork, such detail and beauty on the pages are not often seen, as most manga tend to have a modern-western setting. The manga has a fresh outlook to me personally as it's been a while since I've had a good look at Islamic-styled artwork, and this manga certainly had a fair share of it:

Putting the artwork aside, I think the way Mori sensei draws the main character (Amira, which means princess in Arabic) is really well done, like, really. I haven't stopped and stared at the drawing style of a main character in a long time, she made me think 'If I was a manga character I'd want to look like her', that's aside from her awesome archery and hunting skills of course.

Overall, a well thought out and researched manga, with incredible potential to bring about cross-cultural education. I absolutely LOVE the artwork! I give it a 9/10.

Manga of the Month- November

Thought I forgot eh!? Thought you escaped EH?! Well, I simply haven't had time, but NOW! Now I can finally do a manga of the month hehehehehe *sinister laughter*

I'm sorry I'm like 2 weeks late for this, but I know you're all waiting eagerly so I won't waste anymore time.

This month I have grown mixed feelings towards a certain Manga called 'Team Medical Dragon', it is one of the few surgery-related mangas, I think it's well written and drawn, the problem is, that it has some rather controversial views of the Japanese healthcare system that I would personally have to see with my own eyes to actually believe.

This manga is drawn by a well known mangaka, but written by a surgeon, the aim of the manga to my 'reader' point of view is just to slag off the healthcare system in japan, particularly the University (i.e. Research) based hospitals in Tokyo. It is described as a 'Feudal age' run by incompetent lords (professors) governing over peasants (patients). Among discussed roles of nurses as surgeons, framed negligence charges, avoidance to treat foreigners and corruption at the height of the hospital governors, there is also a strong disdain towards drug and clinical trials tested on patients.

I can't really say 'we shouldn't test on humans' because otherwise we would have no development of medicine and the pitiful form of treatment that we have for some major diseases just won't ever evolved. But this manga made me realise that it is on humans, not just the sick that we test drugs with unknown effects on. The manga also made me remember that drug trials are only part of a commercial game for pharmaceutical companies, I kinda forgot about that.

The series might seem to say 'Hate research' or 'Stop drug trials' but what it really is trying to say is 'think of the patients, their pain and suffering' and 'stop using humans as numbers in your sample group'. I guess being in such a research orientated atmosphere made me forget about the humane side to life, and this manga was quite a 'science shock' to me.

Team medical Dragon also sympathises with the horror of being a junior doctor and the naive medical student that will soon bend to the corrupted ways of the system. So I think it is a well rounded manga. However, the one thing that I HATE is that there is occasional pointless sex and nudity which tags the manga as slightly trashy. My only explanation for these unnecessary themes, is that this manga has a lot of medical terminology and hence makes it targeted for those within the field, adding nudity would enhance the number of sales. URGH!

Despite this I do recommend this manga, but I find some of the topics too controversial to believe completely as it could just be controversial to raise sales.

Manga of the Month- October

It has come to that time again. I must bore my non-existing audience with my own passions. I'm sorry to disrupt your attentions, but this simply has to be done.

I shall talk about a long standing Manga I've been reading for two years now, it is called Naruto. I have a very soft spot for Naruto as I watched all the available anime for it 2 weeks before my first year exams. That is not an 'achievement' many people can boast about.

So.. 'what is it about?' I hear you screaming in agitated curiosity. Well, the series is divided into two main sections: the original 'Naruto' and 'Naruto Shippuden' which continues the storyline 3 years later. Naruto is a created culture of a world of ninjas that train from a young age to sanction their duty for their own village, the main Characters are, surprisingly, Uzumaki Naruto (an annoying boy with a big mouth), Uchiha Sasuke (a moody silent boy with a harsh past, but who thinks he's better than everyone) and Sakura (a rather useless girl whose surname I don't remember). The Manga details characters that they meet from other villages, the pasts of other characters and the development of other personalities.


It has too much media for me to describe in better detail, however, it is a very famous Manga series that has gripped readers across oceans and is still gaining popularity by its ever developing detailed and planned plot.

The drawing style is unique, but not very good. Like most male Mangakas and shonen manga, women simply can't be drawn right. I've only seen a handful of good shonen manga that have drawn a female correctly so as not to mistaken as a man with long eyelashes, and Naruto is no exception.

This mainstream manga has been very successful for inciting fear, happiness, sadness and profound emotions in its readers, it is not one of the best (Nana is the best) but it is certainly a highly recommended read for a holiday or when you have weeks of free time.

*sigh* I shall continue to keep writing on Manga! My enthusiasm for it can't be dented by your hard disregard!

Manga of the Month- September

I shall take this precious blog space to vent out my fandom towards the best graphic novel in all History: 'Akira' by Katsuhiro Otomo.

Like all brilliant works of literature, art and film, Akira is a manga that actually doesn't make much sense, I could read all 6 heavy volumes 3 times and still not understand what the message is meant to be.

Being such a brilliant manga it is also difficult to describe the storyline, but I'll take a stab at trying anyway. Set in the future, a givernment organisation held scientific experiements on young children, often leading to death, one of them thrives, however, the power etched into this young child's mind is too great to control, without knowing, the organisation had created an uncontrollable unconscious monster: his name is Akira, he is then frozen in time for 30 years in order to maintain national security.

Meanwhile, Kaneda, a 15 year old boy, has some unusual occurrences surrounding him, one of which was the loss of his rather jealous friend, Tetsuo. Who ended up becoming addicted to an unkown powerful drgug, resulting in his mental and phsycial deformities in addition to its powerful potential. Tetsuo then unleashes akira in a bid to take over japan and eventually the world.
My little summery might sound lame and really does not reflect a tenth of the awsomeness of this series so I urge you to try and find out about it yourselves.

Of all the manga I will ever talk about, I seriously think people should not keep going on living life without reading this one. It is that amazing.

The success of Akira was not only limited to Japan, it was THE manga that changed the face of France and America by exemplifying a part of modern Japanese culture. They and other countried in europe now hold a strong esteem of manga, resulting in their widespread selling potential and the prescence of manga volumes in virtually every book store in France, europe and America. It is unfortunately Britain who are rather slow on the uptake and conservative in their views of sturdy newspapers than graphic novels.

Now onto the drawing style of Akira: the mangaka cannot draw women to save his life in my personal opinion, all the female character's looked like men... but you kind of get over that while reading the volumes as you get used to the drawing style. Women are the only flaw that Otomo has in his style of drawing, due to the countless scenes of destruction and the setting in the future, Otomo has exemplified how creative and imaginative his drawings can be; they take size and detail to the limit and I remeber being consumed by awe as I read some of of the pages and just wonder how on earth he had drawn it all.

Overall, Akira is a must read, despite the prediction that you will be rather confused by the end of it all, the drawing style, plot and issues of power, corruption and governmental control wll blow your mind away :D However, like most of the manga I seem to review about, it is not ment for childrens' eyes, it does have some mature content in one of the volumes and if you're not fussy about strong violence, then everything else is okay.

Manga of the Month August

It's taken me quite a bit of thinking to choose what manga to review this month..... I wanted to review a shonen (boy's manga) as I've been talking a lot about shoujo manga for a while. But I just can't help myself. I have been holding myself off ranting about 'Nana' for a long time and I think now is the time to do so... only because I'm so upset that the new chapters have not been released yet :(

Well, 'Nana' is my all time favourite manga drawn and written by the prestigious Ai Yazawa. There is only one manga of hers that I haven't read, she is to me, nothing short of amazing. Her drawing style is very unique, but in each of her different works there is distiniction, I think she did best in 'Nana'.

The manga is sorta a fashion manga as it experiments with different types of clothing styles and has everything from the punk to the baby. I have met people who have started reading this series and stopped, because they got all 'emo-ified' so it can seriously grip you. For those of you who are pretty inclined to adddiction, maybe you should stay away from this one then.

'Nana' is about two women who are both called Nana and they're friendship, however, they are very different and come from very cross-dimensional backgrounds (not literally). One of them was in a normal family unit, pampered and loved, while the other was abandoned by her mother and left to live with her grandmother, who died when she was 15, so she had to start caring for herslef at a very young age.

I could spend hours and hours typing out the storyline, but that would ruin everything for you, so I'll stop here.

Just Joking :p I won't let you off that easy.

The main thing that one should know when considering this manga though, is that despite the unusual storyline, it depicts life and human relationships in its true and realistic form. There are disappointments, there is sadness, and betrayal. Things that do occur in life.

I like this manga the most, not because I'm a mad fan of the mangaka, but because you see the maturaion of the pampered Nana, she adjusts to the hardships of life that she had been too childish to understand of before, and more than anyone in the the entire series, she is the one that scarifices most for what she believes is right.

For those manga haters for the sake of ignoring my rants, the series has also been made into a film (with real life 3d human beings) I haven't watched it as nothing can be as good as the origiinal right? But this picture looks pretty good that it seems promising.

Manga of the Month - July

I'm sad and yet happy that I can only vent out my manga enthusiasm on this blog, writing my opinions down allows me to improve the way I present them, instead of being overly zealous (which happens while I'm speaking so I look like I'm talking jack), this unfortunately tends to scare my audiences away, even so, only the most patient of people read my manga talks on this blog, and to them, I am grateful. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside :D

So, time for some manga, well, I'll be talking about a series that is relatively newly started and I only finished reading yesterday. I really enjoyed it as I could relate to some aspects of it (as I will be detailing later on), but let me tell you how I got into this manga and the mangaka's works (the manga writer).

*Ahem* well, I came along the series name 'Kimi ni Todoke' or 'Reaching you' in english,.I read the blurb and thought 'this is not something I'd read' but what brought me into reading it was not the artwork, or the storyline, but the covering picture, it was of the two main characters just looking into each others eyes.... Now this little scene has been overly replayed in shoujo (girl's) manga, but for some reason this paticular picture really grabbed my attention and it made me sort of sink into the picture too.

I decided then and there that I'd read it, so I clicked onto the link for the prologue and LO! There was an example of one of the best drawing styles I've seen, simple but bold, delicate but affective, and most of all, wonderfully variable! (you'll understand me if you read it, which you won't, because not many people even read my recommendations.. or listen to me for that matter).

Well, let me get to the plot of the story, It's about this girl called Sawako, but she's accidentally called 'Sadako' as the scray girl character from the film 'The ring' (originally japanese) was called Sadako. And due to her unfortunate stereotypical appearance of a 'Traditional Japanese ghost' she's feard by her entire school, this had been going on scince elementary school when a rhumour became fact by word of mouth. (I hate it when that happens). She therefore gains no social skills of communicative skills, and her kind intentions are always misinterpreted. Resulting in an accumulated classroom fear of Sawako and her isolation.

The humour of the situation is well described in the manga, but the sadness is not ignored. I could understand Sawako's situation slightly (not to say i'm some sort of rhumoured ghost) but in the respect that I too could only start speking with people when I was 14/15, I even had no personality until I was 17. So I could relate to the female protagonist alot and it made me empathise with her too.

A word on the themes of the story must be mentioned, I'm doing a disrespect by mentioning it so late, so i'll just start now :D The romance is really cute, it is slowly drawn out and develops gradually, from a respect to a care to a deep feeling, which I assume is what's supposed to happen rather than a 'love at first sight' crap? But the importance of the romance in the story I believe is overshadowed by the indispensability of friendship. The great focus in 'Kimi ni Todoke' is the journey Sawako makes to enhance her communication skills and aquire friends, something I too can relate too and respect its difficulty.

It is a Shoujo but it does not exclude the male audience, however if you're looking for bad ass awesome fight and action this is not for you, if you're looking for something that relates to human relationships and good comedy with subtlty but not overly thoughtful, then this is for you.

I hope someone out there gets affected by this >_< I really do love this manga and give it 9/10.

Time for some Manga!

Well, it's been some time since I've reported on some Manga, I've decided to have a 'Manga of the Month' and 'Manga of the week' reccomendation system in order for me not to fall out of the habit. So for this month's Manga, I've decided to write about a paticular Shoujo Manga (girl's Manga) that I paticularly admire. It's called Gekka No Kimi, www.onemanga.com/Gekka_no_Kimi


This series is designated for fans of romance and history, ivery much love the draping Kimono's and Yukatas, I think they're beautiful and well drawn in this series. Well, the story can be considered 2 plots in one. This is because a loose adaptation of an old folk story 'The Tales of Genji' is portrayed in paralell with the story of a modern day couple.

The events that which happen in 'The Tales of Genji' transfer and modify themselves in order to occur in the modern day tale, hence you can see the occurrences that happened 1000 years ago, and what they would be like had they happened in these modern, urban times.

The drawing is very very good, I'm a fan of the mangaka (Ako Shimaki) as I quite like her feminine drawings, but I like how they're not typical and how each panel has a sort of silkiness to it, I'm also grateful for the lack of overt use of background tones... when you see flowers and blossoms in virtually every slide it's gets boring. Maybe I'm being over descriptice, but at the end of the day: the drawings are nice to look at. Being a female-audienced series I don't recommend it for the boys, plus they'd get bored with all the sophistication.

I reccomend this, but not soo much as it's not one of the best out there, it's a very very good shoujo though, however there is an over-use of girly poses on the male protagonist , which is not very good. There are also scenes of an adult nature so not one for the kids either. Overall, an enjoyable, fresh and new read. Dessa ratings = 7/10