MangaScanslationsMain

February 17th, 2006

2006-02-17T20:46:00.000-08:00

Well not much to say, nothing much happened over the last week, just a few more reviews added, yada yada. We're up to 57 reviews now so at least we're making progress, which is good. Like always, if you have any series you enjoyed, or didn't enjoy, please consider writing a review on it and submitting it. The more people contributing, the better our selection will be.

Oh, and happy Valentines day for those who celebrate that sort of thing, and happy Presidents day to those who get the holiday off from school or work.

-- Karthon

Welcome

2006-02-10T20:27:00.000-08:00

Well, not sure what to say, but "Welcome". This site was created a month ago to create a place for people to submit reviews of various mangas they had read. Over the past few years the manga presence within the US has grown rapidly, with tons of new scanslation groups appearing and various companies licensing new series at an ever increasing rate. Yet despite all this, there has been no place where readers can get in depth summaries and analysis of the various series, forcing many of them to rely on word of mouth or on trial and error.

About a month ago several of us decided to do something about this, and started writing reviews on various series we'd read. As of this posting, we're up to 50 reviews, but we've got a long ways to go, and if you're interested we'd love your help. More information on this can be found in the FAQ, if you're interested.

More importantly though, I welcome you to the "grand openning" of our website, and hope you find some series here you hadn't considered before. Who knows, maybe you'll come across a new favorite manga. Please enjoy.

-- Karthon

FAQ

2006-02-07T00:55:00.000-08:00

Q1) What is this site for?
A1) This site was created on 1/11/2006 in an attempt to write summaries and commentaries for various Manga which is available to the english-speaking public. The hope is for the community to contribute reviews and for the site to slowly blossom into a comprehensive collection of reviews and summaries, so that people looking for new series to read will no longer have to rely on trial and error.

Q2) I'd like to write a review. How do I do this?
A2) Great! Please look at the reviews that have already been written for an idea of the format, and look at the Submission Information.

Q3) I disagree with the review you posted about XXXX.
A3) That's perfectly understandable. Reviews are, by their nature, subjective. Feel free to post your opinion as a comment (please keep it civil). If you're motivated to, you can also write a review and I'll include it along with the original review, allowing readers to get opposing views on a series.

Q4) How do I contact you?
A4) I'm usually reachable on IRC as Karthon on either the irc.irchighway.net or irc.rizon.net networks. Until I get around to setting up an extra email account for submissions I won't post my email here.

Q5) I'm not sure how to use IRC. Please help?
A5) There are plenty of articles on google about this, when I get a chance I'll find a link to one of the better ones. In the meanwhile you can just google for "IRC connection guide/faq."

Q6) Damn your page is ugly.
A6) I'm aware of this. I plan on eventually porting it over to a site that will support a better search engine, as well as cover-scans, etc. However I only started this site recently so I'd prefer to focus my efforts on writing reviews and getting reviews into the system. If you're a webdesigner that's interested in helping me create a nicer looking layout, please contact me as per Q3. If you're an artist who's interested in doing some art (for example for the top of the page), please contact me as well.

Q7) How do you rate the various series?
A7) Well there's no single way that all the contributers rate series. After all a rating is merely assigning a value of how much you liked a series. Personally I try to use the following formula, but only loosely. 3 points for art (character art and background art split those points evenly), 3 points for plot, 2 points for character development, and 2 point for miscellaneous. Sometimes the story is good but it just doesn't grab me, whereas sometimes I can't stop reading even if I want to. That's characterized in the miscellaneous section. Of course, it varies drastically from reviewer to reviewer, please don't take this as an end-all-be-all formula.

By Rating

2006-02-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

------- 0.0 ---------

------- 0.5 ---------

------- 1.0 ---------

------- 1.5 ---------

------- 2.0 ---------

------- 2.5 ---------

------- 3.0 ---------
.hack// Legend of the Twilight
Berserk

------- 3.5 ---------

------- 4.0 ---------
Busou Renkin
Groove Adventure Rave
Ren Ai Shijo Shugi
Uzumaki

------- 4.5 ---------
Dan Doh!!
Flame of Recca
Togari

------- 5.0 ---------
Change Guy
Death Note
Gantz
Hareluya II Boy
Tokyo Underground
Yu-Gi-Oh!

------- 5.5 ---------
100 Ways of an Exorcist
Arcana
History's Strongest Disciple: Kenichi

------- 6.0 ---------
666 Satan
Candy Life
Dark Walker
Hareluya I
Love Hina
Nodame Cantabile

------- 6.5 ---------
+Anima
Beautiful Name
Beet the Vandel Buster
Godhand Teru
Great Sword of Wah
Hana Yori Dango
Jaja Uma Grooming Up
Kirara
Prince of Tennis
Project ARMs
Sui Tang Heroes
Team Medical Dragon

------- 7.0 ---------
7 Seeds
Addicted to Curry
Black Cat
Black God

Bleach

Daa! Daa! Daa!
Hells Angels
Hunter X Hunter
Kannade
Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl
Kekkaishi
Lilim Kiss
Märchen Awakens Romance
Pretty Face
Princess Knight
Rurouni Kenshin
Salad Days
Shaman King

------- 7.5 ---------
Angel Densetsu
Detective Conan
Happy Hustle High
Houshin Engi
Kurozakuro
Marmalade Boy
Naruto
One Piece
Saiyuki Gaiden
Tsubasa: Resevoir Chronicle

------- 8.0 ---------
20th Century Boys
Ai-Ren
Area 88
Ares
Beck
Eyeshield 21
Full Metal Alchemist
H2
Hajime no Ippo
Hana Kimi
Miyuki
Noritaka
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Saiyuki
Samurai Deeper Kyo
Show Me The Money
Sirius Scars
Spiral

------- 8.5 ---------
Ah! My Goddess
Family Compo
Hayate the Combat Butler
Kiseijuu
Kodocha: Sana's Stage
Konjiki No Gash

------- 9.0 ---------
Galaxy Angel
Gokusen
Karakuri Circus
Living Game
Psychometrer Eiji
Threads of Time
Vagabond
W-Juliet
Wild Life
Yakitate! Japan

------- 9.5 ---------
Angel Sanctuary
Otogi Matsuri
Today in Class 5-2

------- 10.0 ---------
Battle Angel Alita
Yotsuba &!

Submission Information

2006-02-05T02:34:00.000-08:00

So you're interested in submitting a manga review, that's great. I only have a few stipulations.

1) Follow the format of other reviews on the Main Page. This means provide the following:
Title

Group or Company that's working on it (refer to Manganews)
(Optional) Author and Volume Number
Topic of the manga (i.e. Sports, High School, Supernatural, etc.)
Warnings (Gore, Nudity, Sexual Innuendo, Excessive foul language, etc.)
Summary of the plot (Minimum 1 Paragraph)
Commentary -- What you feel about the manga (Minimum 1 Paragraph)
Rating -- A score out of 10.

2) If you're working on a given series, meaning you're actually a member of staff working on that series, I ask you not to review that series. I'd like these reviews to remain as objective as possible.

3) Please don't act like a fanboy when you write a review. I realize a review is, by it's nature, subjective. But please try and give a series a fair analysis. I will throw out submissions that say stuff like, "OMG NARUTO IS TEH BEST MANGA EVAR! HE COULD SO KICK GOKU'S ASS!"

To submit a review get on IRC and send it to me (Karthon). I'm usually on irc.irchighway.net and irc.rizon.net, so just get on either of those servers and preferably dcc me a text file of your review. If you cannot dcc, its ok to send me the review in a pm (private message).

When submitting a review please include some sort of contact information (email or irc nick) in the text file. This is so I can get back in contact with you if I want you to modify the review in any way (for example adding more details). This is also so I can give you credit when I post the reviews.

All reviews will be looked over by myself or one of my fellow mods before it is posted. As a result it may be a few days before you see your review popping up on the site. Please don't worry about this and please don't bug me about your review not appearing yet. If you think I might have lost/overlooked your review, please resend it after about a week.

Thank you very much, and I'm looking forward to your excellent submissions
-- Karthon

Complete List of Reviewed Manga

2006-02-04T13:37:00.000-08:00

Wild Life (Reviewer's Choice)

--- X ---

--- Y ---
Yakitate! Japan (Reviewer's Choice)
Yotsuba &! (Reviewer's Choice)
Yu-Gi-Oh!

--- Z ---