Simply, a man of many, many, many…blades.

Pop Quiz! The secret behind every great samurai is: A) a tough, but nimble-witted Master? B) a little woman of his own, patiently sitting by the window awaiting his return? Or C) some type of magically-endowed/demon-processed/specially forged from lunar steel under the light of the full moon sword/spear/mallet? … Actually, this time it’s worms. Okay, so that probably wasn’t what you had in mind, but then again it’s nice to have a little something different to spice up the ol’ manga collection, and Blade of the Immortal is certainly a refreshing look at the wandering samurai archetype.

The hero of our story is Manji, a well-traveled ronin of mystery (not...

Manga

What's there left to say about the world's first comic book, dating back to the scrolls and wood blocks of ancient Japan where pictures of little people in funny hats eviscerate each other for people's amusement? Let me get this straight and out of the way here and now. This isn't going to be a blog about the history of Manga or its effect on our culture, no. As interesting as that is, you don't want to hear that. And by God, I'm not putting myself through the ten minutes to look it up on Wikipedia to tell you. If you're reading this, I'm positive you already have at least a basic understanding of what Manga...

If you’ve been reading some of my stuff, you’ll know by now that there are a lot of things out there in the manga-verse that I love. I’m more than happy to overlook one or two shallow technical flaws in a story if the overall effect leaves a good lasting impression. However there are things I won’t abide by. Things that I won’t stand for. Things that are a personal affront to me as a human being. And taking something that’s beautiful and turning it into something that reminds me of teen-magazine-angst is one of them. Get ready for the sheer horror ( not in the scary way ) of the Hell Girl manga.

Look at her. Just…look. In my...

Afro Samurai Director's Cut
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Kelly Hu, Ron Perlman
Runtime: 125 minutes

At its core, Afro Samurai is a tale we've seen before, a lone samurai's quest for vengeance against those who have slain his master/father/mentor ... yadda, yadda, yadda. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. But instead of reheating the leftovers of the genre, director Takashi Okazaki (Explorer Woman Ray) has cooked up a delicious anime masterpiece.

Okazaki skillfully blends touches of spaghetti western, science fiction, fantasy, and pop culture into this bloody tale of revenge. The stylish animation and rhythmic bass pounding score by the RZA separate it from the pack. Oh, and did I mention it features Sam “the...

With the recent release of "The Forbidden Kingdom," I thought today's review should reflect the love for the old Chinese legend the movie is based around. Now being Chinese myself, I've grown up with the stories of Sun Wukong or Son Goku as he is sometimes called...but I've never heard or seen them quite like this. Not the movie. I'm talking about today's manga. Yes my friends, put the kiddies to bed. Here's Katsuya Terada's take on the old stories...a dark and very bloody take...on "The Monkey King."

 You've never seen Sun Wukong quite like this. I know I haven't. Instead of a slender impish trickster as he's mostly portrayed as, Terasa decided to take a much more masculine and...

This week, my cruel overlords and Manga.com have decided that the nausea inducing Hell Girl review I had to do wasn’t enough to satisfy their insatiable, sadistic appetites. So ignoring my tear soaked pleas, I’m once again forced to review another dark and dreary Manga that has to do with death and the afterlife. Apparently that’s what the corporate suits in the Manga business are into now and days. Frankly I’d rather be writing about Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. No, wait…that’s a filthy lie. Today’s title is a little number known as Zombie Loan.
 
Now I’m one of the biggest zombie fans in the history of existence. In fact, I spend most of my free time fantasizing that one day I’ll...