reviews of unlicensed scanlated manga

Monday, February 21, 2005

Team Medical Dragon

「医龍」
Mangaka: Nogizaka Taro & Nagai Akira
Genre: seinen

team medical dragonSynopsis: Modern Japanese doctors are more concerned about status and prestige than saving lives. Most of them are fly-by-the-book, doctors who would rather overlook the mistakes of senior doctors at the expense of the patient instead of speaking up and losing their position by getting on the bad side of their superiors. Dr. Asada Ryutaro, with his unorthodox methods, is a genius surgeon rebelling against this "illness of Japanese medicine."

Comments: Team Medical Dragon is a more mature and dramatic version of Godhand Teru.

Warning: graphic surgery scenes, nudity in the first chapter

Scanlator: NexGear

Kirara

kiraraMangaka: Yui Toshiki
Genre: shounen, romantic comedy

Synopsis: Kirara, who got in an accident and died on the way to church on her wedding day, begs God to let her return to earth to her beloved Konpei. Her wish is granted but the problem is she returns as a ghost eight years too early: Konpei is still a high school student, and he has yet to meet the young Kirara of that time.

Comments: The story is cute, with the love triangle between Konpei and the future and present Kirara. The two Kiraras are the exact opposite of each other: the older one is seductive and perverted while the younger one is rough, boyish and refuses to have anything to do with Konpei because she knows that she'll die in the future if they end up together. I thought Kirara could have done without the gratuitous nudity though, but without that, this would have been a shoujo manga instead.

Warning: nudity

Scanlator: Solaris-SVU

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Wild Life

「ワイルドライフ」
Mangaka: Masato Fujisaki
Genre: shounen

wild lifeSynopsis: Iwashiro Tetsushou-kun is your typical high school delinquent, a bum with no direction in life. He has one gift though, and that is he has a perfect sense of hearing. Inspired by a veterinarian he meets on a park, Tetsushou -- with his keen hearing (he can detect irregularities in heartbeat, respiration rate, etc.) and strong desire to save lives -- decides to become a vet himself.

Comments: As of this review, I've only read three chapters so far and I like what I'm seeing. The manga is funny and although the premise of a genius doctor isn't exactly new, the added twist of Tetsushou's perfect hearing is an interesting concept.

Scanlators: Boku-tachi, Manga City