Matt’s Short Manga Reviews, Edition 2
Angel Cup #3, Tail of the Moon #3, Yakitate!! Japan #3, 0/6 (Zero/Six) #3

When I posted the first batch of capsule reviews, I thought it might become a regular (even weekly) feature. Since six weeks have passed since the last one, I guess we can all see that I was wrong. Or at least, premature–no doubt, as I continue to review so many first volumes, there are going to be more series for us to check back with.

It’s the attack of Volume 3! Not just Suzuka (yesterday’s review), but 4 caps today and a full review of Air Gear #3 (coming tomorrow).

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Angel Cup, vol. 3
Published by: Tokyopop
Writer: Dong Wook Kim
Artist: Jae Ho Youn

184 (168) pages.
Vintage: 2001. US edition February 2007
Translation: Jumi V. Yang
English Adaptation: Hope Donovan
Retouch & Lettering: Star Print Brokers
Production Artist: Courtney Geter
Cover Design: Kyle Plummer
Graphic Designer: Fawn Lau
Editor: Katherine Schilling
Publisher’s Rating: Teen, ages 13+

Previously reviewed: Vols. 1 & 2
Rating: still 3 out of 5

What’s up:

After the boys-vs-girls game (which ran 215 pages or so) we take a step back from the pitch for a character-building volume. There are a lot of new girls to introduce, and while the team recruits and trains some of the mysteries introduced in the first two volumes will have to back-seat it for a while.

Obviously, volume three is a transition, with the new team being officially set up and their first game just a few pages away in volume four. So we get the usual sports-manga training montages, and a few hooks to lead us into later volumes.

It’s still good stuff (and there is enough fan-service to make me doubt the 13+ rating) but the real story is going to play out in volume four, with the first match for the Han Shin Blue Angels in the new league. Between the promise of an actual match and the plot building behind our two main characters, So-jin and Shin-be, I’ll give volume three a pass as necessary back-story before we get back to on-field action in future volumes.

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Tail of the Moon, vol. 3
Published by: Viz Media’s Shojo Beat
Writer & Artist: Rinko Ueda

200 (186) pages.
Vintage: 2002. US edition February 2007
Translation & Adaptation: Tetsuichiro Miyaki
Retouch & Lettering: Mark McMurray
Graphic Design: Izumi Hirayama
Editor: Nancy Thistlethwaite
Publisher’s Rating: Older Teen, ages 16+ (brief nudity and ninja violence)

Previously reviewed: Vols. 1 & 2
Rating: still 3 out of 5

What’s Up:

Of course poor Usagi is going to experience an emotional roller-coaster; this is shoujo. She may be stuck in the service of Lord Ieyasu, but her skills as an herbalist serve her well. And it would seem that absence makes the heart grow fonder, as Honzo comes to terms with his complicated feelings towards marriage in general, and Usagi in particular. The usual hijinks are in play, as various characters find themselves in or out of beds, and in or out of clothes, in ways that are embarrassing but don’t quite violate the age rating of the comic.

A bit of drama develops as well, mid-volume, centered around Yukimaru (a fellow herbalist, introduced right at the end of volume 2) and his odd aversion to women–which comes into direct opposition to his role as a healer & with a tie-in to his past… It’s a nice plot twist, and keeps the will-they-won’t-they plot line of Usagi and Hanzo simmering in the background, without making this volume feel like filler. Of course, the relationship between Usagi and her love is still the A-plot, and there are some advances on that front as well.

Even if you don’t like so-called “girls” comics, you might give this one a read. I’m enjoying the series, though I wonder how Ueda is going to keep the momentum going for another 9(!) volumes.

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Yakitate!! Japan, vol. 3
Published by: Viz Media
Writer & Artist: Takashi Hashiguchi

200 (188) pages.
Vintage: 2002. US edition January 2007
English Adaptation: Drew Williams
Translation: Noritaka Minami
Touch-up Art and Lettering: Steve Dutro
Cover Design: Yukiko Whitley
Editor: Kit Fox
Publisher’s Rating: Older Teen, ages 16+ (alcohol and tobacco use, crude humour, and mature situations)

Previously reviewed: Vols. 1 & 2
Rating: Upgraded, 3 out of 5

What’s Up:

Over-the-top bake offs, internal bakery-chain politics, foodie trivia and honest, likeable characters all pile on to make Yakitate one hell of a fun read.

I thought the gimmick would get old, but this just keeps getting better. Volume three follows up on the cliffhanger from two, the Pantasia Rookie Tournament: all the new hires are eligible, but the preliminary round seems impossible. Not surprisingly, our two heroes out of the the South Tokyo Branch, Kazuma and Kawachi, both qualify — but only after the competition severely tests their friendship.

Can rivalry coexist with friendship? Can the South Tokyo twosome still manage at the next stage of the Rookie Tournament? Can Bread continue to be this damn exciting for at least 19 more volumes?

When I can read a manga and just about taste the damn butter rolls, I’d have to say the answer is yes. It’s still a niche comic, but I’m going to recommend it to y’all anyway.

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0/6 (Zero/Six), vol. 3
Published by: Netcomics
Writer & Artist: Youjung Lee

192 (176) pages.
Vintage: 1998. US edition June 2006
Translation: Jeanne
Graphic Design: Soohyun Park & Yeongsook Yi
Editor: Philip Daay
Publisher’s Rating: Ages 13+

Previously reviewed: Vols. 1 & 2
Rating: Still 3 out of 5

What’s Up:

Well, I’m running a little behind on this manhwa, since the 5th (and final) volume hit the streets a month ago, but I’m picking these up as I find them on the shelves at the local bookstores.

The end of volume two seemed like a shift for this comic, and the payoff (what there is of it) is here in volume three. Just two action sequences, often playing out in slow motion and with numerous character asides and flashbacks, make up a whole 160-some-odd pages here. It’s deep; a hell of a lot deeper than we’ve been led to believe, and almost completely out of sorts with the premise set up in volume one.

Perhaps I should have waited to review this series until I had read the whole thing. I’m even more confused now than I was at the end of #2, though Lee manages to tie up a couple of plot points before the end of the book. Actually, the way forward seems a lot clearer now, but the title is still fairly FUBAR at this point.

The action-and-conspiracy bit have completely overshadowed the clichéd high-school story, for which I guess I should be grateful but it leaves us without a frame of reference for all the weird events. It’s one thing to play with conventions, another entirely to take the usual and twist it to the point where you almost leave your readers behind.

Full marks to Lee for the effort, but I’m still not sure if all the story-sleight-of-hand is worth it, at least until I get another volume under my belt. Zero/Six is more of a thinking-man’s comic than I would have ever given it credit for, but is the confusion deliberate, or just a result of sloppy story telling?