Kurosagi

Introduction: Growing up I loved watching police procedurals and crime dramas/comedies such as Diagnosis: Murder and older shows such as Quincy M.E. So when I found out that Kurosagi was done in a similar vein as a police procedural I knew I had to pick it up.

Plot Overview: Kurosaki, the main character, is a Kurosagi (Black Swindler) that only targets Shirosagi (White Swindlers), swindlers who swindle others out of their money. Not much else is known about Kurosaki initially other then his motivation for targeting Shirosagi is born out of revenge for something that happened to him in his past.

Review: Kurosagi is a procedural at it's heart and as such focuses more on the cases and how Kurosaki is going to swindle the Shirosagi out of their money much more than character development. In fact there are only three consistent characters in the manga with the rest either being villains/victims of the week or showing up every blue moon or so. But this is fine for what Kurosagi wants to do which is present a fraud and how it is done and then show how Kurosaki swindles the swindler.

Conclusion: Kurosagi is great for those who like police procedurals as it's take on the genre is both fresh and entertaining. But if police procedurals aren't your cup of tea then you are better off looking for a different manga to read.

Guardman's Grade: B+

Categories: Drama, Procedural, Mystery

Peace Maker Kurogane

Introduction: I actually found this series completely by accident. I was walking through the mall by my house when I noticed that the Suncoast in it was going out of business and they had a big bin full of movies and series that were drastically reduced in price. So I was like what the hell and started going through the bin until I spotted this series, drawn by the protagonist's bright red hair and the sky blue of the Shinsengumi uniform. Getting it for only a few dollars I wasn't expecting much, but I ended up getting a great and underrated series.

Plot Overview: Peace Maker Kurogane revolves around Ichimura Testunosuke (Testu), a 15 year old boy who wishes to join the Shinsengumi to get revenge on the people who murdered his parents. But due to his small, child like appearance and energetic personality almost nobody at the Shinsengumi takes him seriously and he is relegated to being the page of the demonic sub-commander Hijikata. And so begins the story of Testu's attempts to gain the strength he desires in the backdrop of the coming revolution between Shogunate and anti-Shogunate forces.

Review: Despite being a Japanese historical anime, it's not really that. The historical aspects of it are quite toned down and was obviously made in such a way where prior knowledge of the history and events surrounding the anime are not prerequisites to enjoy it. Instead the historical setting is used as back drop for an intriguing tale that focuses on what one is willing to give up to achieve their goals and whether it is really worth it. In line with that the character development is top notch as you see both characters like Testu who are struggling with the choices they've yet to make and characters like Hijikata who instead struggle with the choices he has already made and the consequences of those choices. But despite the great character development the show suffers from a plot that was intended to facilitate more the character development then make a great story. So because of this the plot can slow down at some points and take twists that don't really make sense other then from a character development standpoint.

Conclusion: Peace Maker Kurogane is an enjoyable historical and character driven anime that has a nice balance of drama, action, and comedy whose only real flaw is a weak plot.

Guardman's Grade: B

Categories: Tragedy, Action, Comedy, Drama, Historical, Samurai

Eyeshield 21

Introduction: I decided to read Eyeshield 21 just out of my pure love of football (not soccer) and my unending curiosity about how it could be translated to manga form.

Plot Overview: Eyeshield 21 is about a small, perpetual gopher named Sena who through his years of running errands for bullies has developed near super-human speed and cutting ability. Seeing this the twisted and ingenious quarterback, Hiruma, of the Deimon High School American Football team, the Devil Bats, blackmails Sena (and eventually anyone else he finds useful) into joining as the mysterious and anonymous Eyeshield 21. And so begins the unlikely journey of Eyeshield 21 and the high octane Devil Bats as they follow their dream towards playing in the Christmas Bowl.

Review: The first thing that comes to mind when reading Eyeshield 21 is that it does a great job of capturing the fun and excitement of football. The author, Riichiro Inagaki, and the illustrator, Yusuke Murata, show the amount of effort and research they put into Eyeshield 21 by the way the equipment and body movement reflects how actual football players look and move (you know minus the special effects). The games themselves are also very good as where one could get bogged down in play after play, they instead streamline them, focusing on the big plays and interactions while subtly hiding the fact that they are skipping a lot of plays. As for the characters, they are all very well done, with each one having an unique style, personality, and way they hold themselves which makes it easy to tell who is who even with all the football equipment on. Even the football teams have their own personality, plays, and easily distinguishable uniforms, from the tricky high octane Deimon Devil Bats to the stoic defense of the Ojo White Knights to the overpowering gunslinger offense of the Seibu Wild Gunmen. The only real problem with Eyeshield 21 is that it was obviously made for an audience that has limited exposure to football as there is never a penalty called and there are a lot of little things that a person with knowledge of football would spot and say that's not right.

Conclusion: Eyeshield 21 is a fun, energetic, and funny sports manga full of great characters that is easy to enjoy and get addicted to if you can get pass some of the inaccuracies and idiosyncrasies in the way they portray the game.

Guardman's Grade: B

Categories: Shounen, Sports, School Life, Comedy

How My Grades Work

I think for the most part my reviews are pretty self-explanatory, except for my grading system. So this post will explain how I grade what and why.

A: Anything with an A grade is something I would Highly Recommend. A graded anime and manga are ones I highly enjoyed, have very few to none unenjoyable traits, and I believe most other people would enjoy too.

B: Anime and manga with a B grade is something I would Recommend. B grades are the average for my grading scale (I know my grading scale is skewed) as B works are things I enjoyed, I feel have few unenjoyable traits (or these traits are mitigated by the enjoyable traits), and have broad appeal.

C: Works with C grades are things I would recommend if the specific work appealed to you. These works usually have some sort of problem be it pacing, plot, voice acting, artwork, characters, etc. that diminished the enjoyability of these works. Now C anime and manga do have several traits that make them enjoyable, but they are works, because of their flaws, that won't have the mass appeal or enjoyment that A and B works will.

D: Anime and manga with D grades mean that they have several problems that detract from their enjoyability and not enough positives to really make it worth ones time unless you are looking for the specific aspects the work has. This also includes a lot of artistic works where the anime or manga is focused only one aspect at the expense of the others. Don't expect me to review a lot of D works.

F: I would be shocked if I ever reviewed a work I gave an F to, as I probably would've stopped watching/reading before I started. But these are works that are universally bad. Think Star Wars Christmas Special bad. Basically anything I give an F to I would not only not recommend, but I would also suggest not touching it or looking at it's general direction.

+ and - are more of a personal ranking of where they belong within each category. For reference a B+ work will either be more enjoyable or have more mass appeal or both than a B or B- work.