Animanga: Kingdom

There's not many historical manga stories that hold my attention. Most of the stories are to much like reading a history book with pictures.

The Animanga: Kingdom is a whole different story. I started off by watching a few episodes of the anime...on a recommendation. I liked it after the third. From there I went and read the manga...all 378 chapters of it (binge reading). I can some up the rest of this post with four words "The story is dope!".

Kingdom follows the life of a young peasant boy named Shin as he aspires to become a great general in warring ancient china. The story takes place 245 BC (Before Christ) at a time when western china was broken in to 7 major countries. The lands of Qin, Chu, Zhou, Han, Yan, Wei, and Qi are all battling for domination.

Shin and his best friend Sin Hyo lived in the country of Qin. They planned to enter the army and become generals. Sin Hyo, turned out to be an identical double of the king of Qin. He was taken to the palace and used as a body double for the king. Sin was killed by assassins.

Shin discovers the details of Sins murder from the real king. His name was Sai and his dream was to unify all of western China. To due this he had to conquer all the other countries and Shin decided to help him achieve his goal. Sin died protecting the king and to honor his memory Shin took up his duty.

Aside from being a historical piece it's great action sequences, writing and character development. It reminds me of the writing style of Death Note crossed with One Piece. Where the writing and plot make you feel for the character. The battle scenes are well drawn with incredible detail. The characters fight with classic weapons from their time period. Sword, mace, ax, lance, bow and arrow...etcetera. The weapons aren't high tech but how the characters use them makes them look superhuman.

Each battle moves the story forward as Shin builds his private army the Hi Shin Unit composed of elite fighters and strategist.  At the same time his victories and failures along with the other generals of Qin propel Sai's dream of unifying China forward. If you read battle type manga like Berserk then I definitely recommend Kingdom.

The anime is on the final episode of the second season. There's no doubt in my mind that there will be a third due to its popularity. Below is a snippet from the battle between Shin and a general from the land of Wei named Rinko. Check it out.

AniManga: Nurarihyon no Mago

I just finished watching the anime series Nurarihyon no Mago (Nurarihyon's grandson). It's an Animanga that was good... but left me unsatisfied with the conclusion.

The series is broken into two parts. First, there was Nurarihyon no Mago. The grandson of great Yakuza demon lord, Nurarihyon named Rikuo Nura. Rikuo has to take over as Third Head of the Nura Clan at the young age of 12 years old. His father was killed in front of his eyes so he was forced into the position.

The Nura clan are Yokai (demons) which protect humans and keep other gangs out of Edo, Japan. Rikuo is only one quarter Yokai, and can only change into demon form at night. The series follows  Rikuo as he trains to become a skilled ninja fighter while building his own parade of 100 demons. Just like his father and grandfather.

The protagonists in part one were a group of rival demons from the Shikoku area. They knew the Nura clan was weakened by the death of Rikuo's father and planned to take over their territory. The Shikoku group of 88 demons led by its leader Tamazuki, had a sword named the Devil's Hammer. The sword was fabled to be unbeatable. Even with the sword, they get crushed by the Nura clan.

There's also a third group of fighters which are humans named Onmyoji. They are like the Quincy's in Bleach. The Keikain House, are the most famous Onmyoji. They specialize in using Shikigami. Spirit creatures and elements like fire, lightening, water, etc. There job is to protect humans from yokai. 

In part two, Rikuo undergoes more training and learns how to control "Fear" which is demon energy. The Nura clan has to fight a 400 year old demon fox, named Haguromo-Gitsune. Who is trying to give birth to the anti-christ so demons could rule over the earth in darkness.

Part two is way better than part one in my opinion. It gives the complete back story on how Rikuo's father dies. Why he dies. Who orchestrated the hit. The connection with the Onmyoji, and a lot of ninja battles. The fights are fast-paced, with good action sequences. They mix martial arts with magic like Naruto or Bleach. 

The only problem I had with part two is that they don't conclude the story! The series stops on episode 25. They do a recap of the whole series in episode 26. If they did end it on episode 25...I didn't understand it. If you have seen the series or watch it and get the ending. Write it below this post in the comments or send it to me in an email. I am dying to know what happened.

Check out the battle between Rikuo Nura and Seimei the Anti-Christ below.

AniManga: Toriko

AniManga is a term I use to describe a Manga that's been turned into an Anime. The anime can be a series, movie, or OVA (Original Video Animation). The newest AniManga I've been following is called Toriko.

At first glance I thought the show was a cheap copy of Dragon Ball. The main character whose name is Toriko looks a lot like Goko in clothing, build and appearance. Before I jumped to conclusions I watched a few episodes of the series. Back then there were only four episodes so there wasn't much information to base my opinion on. Then I read some of the Manga. What I found is that the characters do share similarities with DBZ but Toriko has its own plot.

The story takes place in a world where food is the most important commodity and Toriko is a Bishokuya (hunter of exotic ingredients). All ingredients have a capture value and the higher the value the more dangerous the ingredient. Toriko and a few other characters have special cells called gourmet cells that evolve when they eat foods of high capture value. These cells give them amazing abilities and increase their power, speed and special attacks.

Toriko along with other Bishokuya are searching for a special ingredient called "God" which can start or end world war. Most of the ingredients are puns made from a mix of two different things. For example a tomato crossed with a marshmallow = marshmallow tomato, or a turtle mixed with a shark = shark turtle, which looks like a giant turtle with shark fins and lots of teeth. It reminds me of books I would read as a kid about the magical world of Xanth by Piers Anthony. He was famous for mixing two or more creatures in a comical fashion.

Toriko is not for everyone and is more comical than action packed, but if you like humorous AniManga its worth checking out. Below I posted a few clips of Toriko battles from the Anime.

Comic Movies

I was a huge comic fan when I was a kid. I would read the X-Men, Spider Man, Wolverine, Avengers, and most of the rest of the Marvel line. One of my favorites was X-Force because it was written like the team were average teens with adult problems. The new trend in Hollywood of turning popular comics in to movies has been really successful. 

The Superman franchise were the first successful comic movies. Followed by the Batman franchise which was successful for the first film but quickly lost popularity. I was never a DC comic reader because most of their characters had cheesy names and were to wholesome. It was like reading an episode of Leave it to Beaver except the Beaver and Wally wore spandex. After the release of the Batman movies I began reading his comic.

Thanks to advancements in C.G. (Computer Graphics) technology movies can push the envelope with special effects, making more films that resemble the action sequences found in the books. Which attracts readers like myself and new fans who may have never read the comics but are attracted to the movie. Below is my top fifteen list of comics that have been turned into movies that I think are worth watching. Also a list of movies that could have been done better.

1. Batman Dark Knight
2. Blade
3. The Crow
4. Time Cop
5. Sin City
6. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
7. Iron Man
8. X-Men
9. The Incredible Hulk
10. Spawn
11. V for Vendetta
12. Hell Boy
13. Watchmen
14. Dare Devil
15. Men in Black

These films were in a word “Wack!” They did no justice to the comic, were badly written, and most had bad acting as well.

Green Lantern

Ghost Rider
Fantastic Four

Cat Woman
The Spirit
Steel