Thoughts: Quickie on Ikki

I’ve been feeling a little off, so though I would do something a bit different this week and give you my thoughts on some of the titles on the Ikki website. This is a website with 100% legit translated manga to read online from Ikki and Viz. Sadly they don’t leave all the chapters up, which I really wish they did. I’ve missed out on a few series because I wasn’t fast enough.

After School Charisma
I really dig this title. It starts out pretty awkward, most of the characters are clones of famous people. In the first few chapters the author really makes sure you know that this bishonen is Sigmund Freud or this beautiful girl is Florence Nightingale and such by saying his/her full name repeatedly. The basic plot is about a high school rising clones of famous people with the idea of letting go back out in the work to "do good work" (it is still a little mysterious at this point). Problems arise when some of the clones don’t want to do what their originals did, and other die just like their originals. Like I said the start is really awkward but this title really comes into its own as an interesting mystery. The art in this is also top notch.

Dorohedo
This had been a title I wanted to read for a while. I had read Q. Hayashida’s adaptation of the Maken X video game and while maybe not the best adaptation the art and strangeness really had me intrigued. That is pretty much the case here with Dorohedo, I’m still not 100% what is going on. There are wizards who mutate people and a dude with a Lizard head who wats to find out who did that to him. But really to me the story in this case isn’t all that important. This is a title where it is to much more about the world and characters that live in it. It’s kind of steampunk if speampunk was actually dystopian like cyberpunk. The art is gritty and kind of chaotic but I really enjoy it for those reason but I know it turns some people off.

House of Five Leaves
I had really loved the anime Ristorante Paradiso based on another work of Natsume Ono which came as a surprise to me. Right now I can’t say how much I like House of Five Leaves it has very slow pacing and I feel only now in the second volume am I getting a real feel for the characters. Still it’s been interesting and I like her really strange and somewhat awkward art. Somehow it is very anime/manga style but not like any other anime/manga.  I have yet to check out the anime adaption of this but this might be one where I like the anime better as was the case with Ristorante Paradiso.

Next week I'll finish off the list but all of the titles I've listed are worth checking out.