Archive for Manga/Web Comic Addiction

Currently Addicted To: Full Metal Alchemist Manga : Journey’s End (final Chapter) Hosted @ Onemanga.com

The end of a very fun manga. Full Metal Alchemist (F.M.A.) by Hiromu Arakawa drew it’s appeal by using a centuries old myth, the Alchemy. As a myth, Alchemy could turn or transmute  lead into gold or mostly precious metals could be created.

Hiromu expanded the capabilities of transmutation into the molecular level. You could turn grass into bread, sand into glass weapons etc. But Hiromu placed a stop gap at the limitless possibilities of Alchemy, and that was the law of equivalent exchange. There were also laws in effect guarded by a certain “God” of Alchemy, some of which were transmuting lead into gold, transmuting life and reviving the dead.

Will you trade your soul for power? Journey’s End is the last chapter of the series. I won’t spoil it for you F.M.A. fans!

Read the last Chapter of Full Metal Alchemist: Journey’s End by Hiromu Arakawa Here!

Currently Addicted To: A better plot than Lost (TV series) : 7 seeds Manga hosted @ Onemanga.com

Okay so Lost Finale was a downer since the cohesiveness of the plot was lost in by 3rd season. The ending was cheesy and poorly written as “purgatory”. Japanese writer Tamura Yumi actually made a better story plot and get this, she wrote and drew the manga on 2001 beating the first airing of lost on September 2004! Reading the manga made me realize that LOST writer may have stumbled upon Tamura Yumi’s manga and drew inspiration on that.

7-seeds is a chilling manga that started first with 7 people and 1 watcher. The cast of characters, 5 at first, find themselves waking up in a sinking ship in the middle of a storm. They remember sleeping in their own beds, not getting on the ship so, left with no choice but to abandon ship and find land, the characters are marooned in a weird island where plants devour animals, insects prey on all and animals go brutal among themselves. 3 members join the cast and the watcher explains to the bewildered group, project 7-seeds.

The story rapidly gains ground as they are not the only group marooned on the island, other groups have been released as well on various times such as a month or even 15 years before. There are 4 groups in total named as Team Summer, Team Spring, Team Autumn and Team Winter all scattered on the island at different times. To what purpose are they is written by Tamura Yumi as she pulls through Lost plot  with characters, dramatic past, tedious present and unknown future.

7-seeds presents a different level of paranoia of waking up far from your bed, where survival outweighs trust and how time is precious. Every second of it.

To summarize…. I LOVE IT!

Currently Addicted To: Girls with Slingshots by Danielle Corsetto (Webcomic)


Girls with Slinghots Banner

One of the wittiest webcomics that I’ve ever read. Girls with Slingshots (GWS) was originally a super hero webcomic by Danielle Corestto. I love the way the story evolved to include a bevy of unique characters. Although GWS has nicknames for the cast, I prefer my own views of them.

Redrawn by October 2004, GWS evolved to be a story of McPedro, a talking cactus with an accent owned by Jamie, a buxom above-the-waist lesbian and BFF Hazel, a drunken style columnist who was in love with Jameson, a balding but sexy barrista in a cafe shop and his blogging girlfriend Maureen who is hated by the goth chick sadist also a blogger Candy that works with Clarice, the Librarian wannabe dominatrix in a porn store that introduced the Lesbian Bartender Angel to Thea who happens to the former boss of Hazel.

There are other minor characters such as the compulsive pirate liar Chris and the hunky but cross dresser Darrel and a soon to be major character and Hazel’s current love interest, Zach who had sex with 300 women of various sizes, ages and races.

Slinghot happens to be a bar drink btw.

Here’s how to make your own Slingshot drink

  • Mix in the following in a shaker with cracked ice
  1. Gin
  2. Peach Shnapps
  3. Sour Mix
  4. Lemon juice
  5. Grenadine
  • Shake them up five times
  • Serves two shots

Currently Addicted To: The Noob Comic | Behind the MMORPG lies… THE TRUTH!

Have you every played an online role playing game? How about a massive multiplayer game? I guess the young (or were young) has heard of Ragnarok that addicted a whole lot of Pinoys. Other MMORPGs that Pinoys have been playing for nearly a decade count MU, Tantra, RFonline or casual one’s like O2, Audition, Oz and the like.

Somehow, with all those games, the developers and distributors can’t seem to please any player. Questions fly to mind. What does go behind the “server”? How do developers cook up their events? And how supportive are technical support? Every MMORPG player have grim tales to tell yet only one webcomic has dared to answer these questions.

The NOOB COMIC!

Thenoobcomic.com Cliche Quest Character Selection (Click for larger image)

It’s a funny webcomic about a kid who bought a game called Clichequest. The Noob Comic spins a tale of character creation, game mechanics and events and the kooky minds of the “devs” (developers) and players themselves. I just love it!

Visit Thenoobcomic.com now!

Currently Addicted To: Hunter x Hunter (The return!)

Hunter x Hunter (pronounced as Hunter Hunter only), a japanese manga by Yoshihiro Togashi. (Little tidbit, he’s the husband of Naoko Takeuchi, author of Sailor Moon!).
The story revolves around a boy named Gon Freaks who’s natural honesty can turn or influence his immensely powerful foes. First to be befriended was Killua Zoldyck, from the Zoldyck Family of assassins. Hunter x Hunter also has a lot of interesting characters such as Kurapika from the Kurata Tribe.
The storyline was powerful in the beggining. Gon wanted to become a Hunter like his father which sets of a series of events. Just to remove the spoilers, powers used in the manga is called Nen. There are a lot of types of Nen.
Hatsu
  • Houshuu – emission
  • Kyouka – Reinforcement
  • Sousa – Manipulation
  • Tokushitsu – Specialization
  • Gugenka – Materialization
  • Henka – Transformation
To test your Nen Type (not for real though)
Get a glass of water with a leaf floating on top. Hold the glass and release the your Ren.
1. Water overflows – Kyouka : Reinforcement
2. Leaf moves – Sousa : Manipulation
3. Water taste changed – Henka : Transformation
4. Appearance of substances – Gugenka : Materialization
5. Water color changes – Houshuu : Emission
6. Any other change not listed above – Tokoshitsu : Specialization
I just love how Togashi made the Nen abilities. Say for example you have an ability super strength. It belongs to Kyouka. If you can control real objects or another person, that’s Sousa. Conjuring stuff from thin air using only Nen is Gugenka. Thus forms the basis of power in Hunter X Hunter. Specialization though can be deadly or lame. When Kurapika enters red eyes mode, he uses Specialization to be able to use ALL NEN ABILITIES at 100%!
As I said, the story was strong in the beginning, however in the middle it faltered. The author lost contact to sense after Gon gets his license. Gon doesn’t meet his father and even up to now with the end of the loooong hiatus of hunter x hunter, Gon still hasn’t met his father. After the hiatus, HxH mangas were poorly drawn, dialogues were now in thought boxes which might appeal to emo but annoy those who want action.
When I read the whole manga, I thought the Phantom Troupe arc was the bloodiest of all arcs in HxH. It turns out the Chimeara Arc (currently on going) is the bloodiest with a LOT of gore. Still, the story is gaining a bit more ground compared to its comeback. Lately the story is getting a bit more sense. I wonder though, will Togashi be able to reunite his original story line. And how can he return the characters he killed during the Chimeara arc.

Currently Addicted To: Lackadaisy by Tracy J Butler | Lackadaisycats.com

LACKADAISY SAMPLE COMIC BY TRACY J BUTLER LACKADAISYCATS.COM

Viktor deadeyes Freckle

Lackadaisy is actually the name of a cafe that has an underground bar selling prohibited liquor. The premise is set at the turn of the 20th century St. Louis, Mississippi in a world run by cats, Lackadaisy by Tracy J Butler (lackadaisycats.com) spins a story of business and pirates, romance and mobsters.

I really love the way the pic is drawn and shaded with pencil. It really gives you that 1900 feel. Butler really chose the right cat for the right character. Also his attention to detail is shown by his carefully added elements of the type of radios that existed in the 1900s, allusions to history and characters.

Speaking of characters, I especially like “Freckle” who acts like he’s a preppy schoolboy. Give him a pair of guns and he’ll give himself away. Amazing “cat fights” and facial expressions of the characters keep me coming back for more.

Click here to start reading Lackadaisy by Tracy J Butler – Lackadaisycats.com – Ongoing updates

The concept of the comic does remind of Walt Disney’s The Aristocats however, Lackadaisy holds up its tail for its refreshing and witty dialogues, amazing drawings and most of all, CATS! Yep I’m a cat lover.

THE ARISTOCATS BOX COVER POSTER WALT DISNEY JAZZY CLASSIC

Everybody wants to be a cat...

~ Ram

Currently Addicted To: Highschool of the Dead manga!

CURRENTLY ADDICTED TO HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD MANGA COVER VOLUME 1

Highschool of the Dead Volume 1 Cover by Wikipedia.org

Highschool of the Dead is a manga written by Daisuke Sato and drawn by Shouji Sato. This manga has a fast paced zombie apocalypse storyline but somehow went of the track as it started in a highschool setting but quickly developed into a country wide epidemic. Still, the manga has that fast growing character element that quickly over come their fears and gain strength versus the birth of stronger enemies and near to impossible situations that continually test the characters even if they have grown.

Unlike The Zombie Hunters Webcomic, Highschool of the Dead doesn’t have any specific zombie strains or species. The manga draws its strength from the facial expressions, cliche scenes and displays of human attitude, personality and survival instincts.

Expect a lot of blood and gore in this one. Lots of the civillians die and there are some situations where you would think you could have done better if you were in their shoes. Cameo appearances of Condoleeza Rice, George Bush and scenes from Resident Evil and a T-shirt bearing the name 28 Years Later.

The manga has been on hiatus since 2008 only this February2010, authors announced an end to the hiatus plus an anime on the works! I’m so happy it came back! Like what I’ve posted in Currently Addicted To: The Zombie Hunter, I’m fascinated with zombie apocalypse stories and end of the world survival plot with mutants roaming around. It’s sick but I like stories of a dark beginning but leading to friendship and working together and starting all over again.

Read the manga series HighSchool of the Dead hosted in Onemanga.com with the latest chapter!

Note: Please buy the original manga if you can. I can’t read Japanese and the manga rarely gets sold in Philippine bookstores.

~Ram

Currently Addicted To: The Zombie Hunters

zombie exodus

Whew, another online web comic. Though it starts very freaky and you might think the characters are unrealistic. Still, I read it because I’ve always been fascinated with Zombie exodus stories. The Zombie Hunters use the same plot of a viral outbreak causing humankind to turn into Zombies but there are some differences of which the survivors are classified into two. The uninfected or civilian or the dormant infected or simply infected.

Both live together in one isolated island and you can see in the story the tension between the infected and civilians and it’s a love hate relationship. Infecteds have to work as ZOMBIE HUNTERS and venture into zombie infested areas to retrieve supplies and materials while the government and scientists rest the survival of mankind onto the civilians.

It could have been boring since I’ve seen Resident Evil already and played Left 4 Dead yet the comic has some redeeming qualities such as the characters and why they’ve acted kooky in the beginning. There are also 2 unique zombies that I’ve seen in the comic. The Basilisk Zombie which can paralyze a victim before it kills it. The Mercy Zombie is a very nice touch. The zombie just follows a human until the human collapses. Mercy zombies then cradle and embrace the human and just take a bite on the throat or arteries and holds human still until the human turns into a zombie. A Mercy will also fight other zombies just to protect her prey.

I read the whole webcomic in just 24 hours and am anxiously waiting for a new page to be added soon. Click the banner above or below to read the comic! Warning though, grisly content!

zombie exodus

Currently Addicted To : Hayate the Combat Butler

Drat, couldn’t sleep so I drifted on reading another manga that I’ve been hooked for quite some time. Hayate the Combat butler tells of an impossible story of a young boy with a hundred million something Yen debt. Kenjiro Hata, the author, sets the story line spinning as Hayate  is sold by his parents to the Yakuza to pay off a hundred million Yen debt. He runs away only to be employed as a butler by a mega rich girl named Nagi Sanzen’in who pays off his debt to the Yakuza (and Hayate now owes Nagi a hundred million Yen).

Little does Hayate know that a butler has to do herculean tasks for his master. This includes cooking, cleaning, doing random errands, the occasional rescue from kidnapping, and developing a finishing blow in order to protect his master. Yet somehow Hayate fits well in his new life as the story lightly touches upon the amoral way his (ex) parents brought him up. Hayate has an enormous amount of stamina and a great sense of survival brought about the impossible tasks forced by his happy-go-lucky parents among which was to crawl into a zoo with lions just to fetch food.

The story so far that I’ve read shows Hayate normally growing up as an adolescent despite the abnormal situation in his life, surrounded by impossibly rich friends of Nagi, fending off powerful (if not stupid) assassins after Nagi’s life and of course, earning enough to pay off his hundred million Yen debt.

A must read for people who easily goes into debt. No matter how much the amount, pay it, in whatever way you can. Join me in reading Hayate the Combat Butler in Onemanga.com

~Rams

Currently Addicted To: Ghost Sweeper : Mikami!

Ghost sweeper is a story about a money grubbing, self-centered anti-heroine named Reiko Mikami and her lecherous assistant Tadao Yokoshima who continually harasses her and other female characters in the manga even their secretary, a 300 year old ghost named Okinu.
The manga is very entertaining and addicting with no storyline but having lots of story arcs which develop the main characters and keep on adding new characters in a skillful way that you can’t help but feel lonely for them if they don’t show up again. The new characters themselves are various forms of anti-heroes and anti-heroines such as a former assassin voodoo expert, an evil immortal mad scientist/warlock with an ancient android, a vampire and even the dreaded Kyubi or nine-tailed fox demon.
Published in 1991 till 1999, the 39 volumes written and drawn by Takashima Shiina has set a standard for supernatural comedy genre mangas. It combines Asian primarily Japanese culture, religion and mythology with the West.
~ Rams

« Previous entries
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.