Scott Pilgrim Series Review

Release Date for first book: Aug 18, 2004
Publisher: Oni Press
Age Group: T+
Total pages in series: 1208
 Where I got the books: Library
Titles in series: Scott Pilgrim: Precious Little Lies, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness, Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together, Scott Pilgrim Vs The Universe, Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour

 Scott Pilgrim's life is so awesome. He's 23 years old, in a rock band, "between jobs," and dating a cute high school girl. Everything's fantastic until a seriously mind-blowing, dangerously fashionable, rollerblading delivery girl named Ramona Flowers starts cruising through his dreams and sailing by him at parties. But the path to Ms Flowers isn't covered in rose petals. Ramona's seven evil ex-boyfriends stand in the way between Scott and true happiness. Can Scott beat the bad guys and get the girl without turning his precious little life upside-down? 

This series blew my mind with it's awesomeness.

Throughout each book, I chuckled, I "awwwwww"ed, and I was on the edge of my seat as Scott battled with ninja-like moves. The wonderfully unique, fast plot grabbed me immediately.

Each character was hilarious, unique, and I want to hug ALL OF THEM! (It would freak them out so bad...but that's only half of the reason I'd do it.) If I had to pick a favorite, it would be...um...yeah, can't pick one.

Seriously, if what I thought was going to happen actually did in book six, I would've cried, thrown the book at the wall, and emailed Bryan Lee O'Malley in all caps. That is just the kind of loyal Scott Pilgrim fangirl I am. I would read a zillion more of these books, and I'm so sad it's over.

I love this series a million times over. The plot, the writing and animation, the humor, the romance, the characters...I can never say enough good things about Scott Pilgrim.

Plot: WOO HOO!

Characters: WOO HOO!

Writing/Animation: Awesome!

Ending: Perfection...but slightly confusing. (Hopefully re-reading the series will help.)

How kid friendly is it? Well, there's (not explicit) sex, smoking, language, and drinking.

Should I read it? Um, YES!

Overall:

Vampire Game Vol. 1 Review

Author: Judai

Release Date: January 13, 2009

Pages: 200 (Even though I thought it was a few more...)(Paperback)

Publisher: Tokyopop

Most Appropriate For Ages: 13+

In an epic battle, King Phelios defeats the Vampire King Duzell, but both monarchs are mortally wounded. As the two lay dying, Duzell prophesies that the two will meet again after their death, and vows that he will be triumphant. At least half the prophesy is proven true when Duzell is resurrected 100 years later, as a baby wildcat who is rescued and adopted by Ishtar, who just happens to be the great-granddaughter of his nemesis, King Phelios. Ishtar is a playful girl with an iron will and a penchant for pranks, a trait that distresses her caretaker, Sir Keld, and the dashing, but often bumbling, imperial guard, Captain Darres. Ishtar is not, however, the reincarnation of Phelios, leaving the now feline Duzell to continue his quest for revenge...with the surprisingly cooperative Ishtar as his companion!
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Vampire Game was something that my sister had, and it was the only thing for me to read after I'd finished The Dust of 100 Dogs, but it was better than I'd originally thought it would be!

The plot is somewhat juvenile- I mean, come on, a cat and a princess? And, it was too low on action for my manga tastes. But, other than that it wasn't bad. Definitely original.

The characters were really good! The main character, Ishtar, was pretty much a rude brat. Yet, I still loved her! Duzell provided some good laughs with his sarcastic comments that made me love him too. We didn't hear much from her body guard, Darres, who's past I'm anxious to find out since it really didn't go into much detail about his past in the first volume.

The animation, kinda like the plot line, was juvenile. I'm hoping it evolves throughout the series, because it didn't impress me very much. The dialogue wasn't too bad, though.

I didn't think I would care about the sequel until the ending of volume one, which was a nice little cliffhanger. Overall, this wasn't exactly my type of manga, but I enjoyed it. Definitely one for comedy and fantasy manga fans.

Death Note Vol. 1 Review

Release Date: October 10, 2005
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
Age Group: 16+
Pages: 200 (Paperback)

Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects - and bored out of his mind! But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, and notebook dropped by a rogue shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal... or his life?

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This book was...intriguing. It wasn't what I expected, really.

The plot immediately jumped out at me and said "READ ME OR DIE." Unfortunately I don't think I would've died without reading it. There wasn't anything wrong with the plot- like I said, it was intriguing, it just didn't hold my attention for as long as I would've liked it to. It a seemed to drag a little for me, but the ending was pretty cool.

Light was annoying. It wasn't necessarily the killing people with the Death Note thing, he just seemed very arrogant and obnoxious. Ryub was...OK, I guess. He never really showed any personality, and barely even talked until the end. He definitely was a needed character, but not a very active character.

The animation was good. No complaints there. And the storyline was pretty good. The dialogue...eh. It was OK, nothing great. Maybe I had problems with it because usually it was Light talking....

Overall, an interesting premise with a good plot and a bad main character. I'm on the fence about reading the rest of the series, but I may read at least the next one or two because I've heard nothing but praise about the series and am curious to see where it will go. I would recommend the first volume of Death Note to any manga fans looking for a new, edgy take on death.