pangaea/ezel – bonutzuu’s (obscure) manga archive

pangaea/ezel is the sequel to pangaea by Rin Asano.

I got all seven volumes from a second hand bookstore, and they didn’t have the first installment of the series, so while reading the first volume, I was trying to piece together what happened in pangaea from character dialogues. The story is simple enough, so I could guess what happened in the prequel.

In this world, there exists a sacred tree called the Kalpataru, which can make any wish come true. Lyzel/Raizel is an amnesiac boy in possession of one of its branches in the form of a long stick, which gives him amazing combat abilities.

At the beginning of the story, he was with his band of friends trying to get to the sacred city to find out some truths. They were attacked by another guy who got superpowers from the fragment of the Kalpataru in his body, and got separated.

Since pangaea/ezel picks up from the middle of the story, it’s the point where things start to get really complicated. I’ll try my best to not make this confusing.

Mardock Scramble – let’s scramble some eggs! bonutzuu’s manga archive

I love when things go on sale. This was 70% off. It’s in eBook format, which means my mom won’t nag me for buying too many manga.

Mardock Scramble is a 7-volume manga adapted from Tow Ubukata’s novel of the same name. On my blog, I reviewed one of Ubukata-sensei’s previous works, Le Chevalier D’Eon, before. He writes great stories, so I had high expectations for Mardock Scramble, and it did deliver.

Mardock Scramble started with Rune Balot (Balot as in that food where you eat a fertilized egg with a developing embryo) getting murdered, then burned inside a locked car. She miraculously survived thanks to Dr. Easter and his partner Œufcoque (pronounced oof-cock). Rune is an important witness that can bring her murderer, Shell Septinos, to his punishment, and so the two convinced her to stand up and fight for justice.

Rune was revived under regulation Mardock Scramble 09, where experimental technologies can be used to save a witness’s life. Rune’s burnt skin was replaced with some kind of super-advanced metal fiber that gave her a lot of cool abilities, like interacting with electronics without touching them, or super human speed and perception. Œufcoque, a shapeshifting AI weapon that usually appears a yellow mouse, became her partner and help her adjust to her new life, and thwart Shell’s attempts to silence her.

Ilegenes: Giyoku no Koukyoukyoku – bonutzuu’s manga archive

The title, Giyoku no Koukyoukyoku, is a mouthful, so I’ll refer to this is as Ilegenes: Symphony of the Illusory Wings. This manga is a direct sequel to Ilegenes: Kokuyou no Kiseki (the Path of Obsidian) and a prequel to the novel.

Ilegenes is a shoujo sci-fi/military manga. The events take place on an island called Ilegenes, famous for its advanced technology in genetic engineering. However, as with biology and its ethical nightmares, people try to use this technology for the wrong purposes, and that’s where our protagonist comes in.

Story

Fon Fortinbras Littenber was a third-year student in Ilegenes’s military academy and the leader of ‘Elfenbein’, an anti-government organization aiming to expose and get rid of corrupted politicians. Fon planned to run for dorm master of the academy, so that he could make the rules more relaxed, and he and his friends in Elfenbein would have more wiggle room to get out of the dorms and do their anti-government things.

Things were not easy, however, when two females joined the all-male military academy. One of them is Gabrielle “Gabby” Grey, who possessed the same ‘peacock eyes’ that Fon had.

Peacock eyes are symbols of the ‘purge children’, genetically engineered superhumans. Gabby came here to become to queen of Ilegenes, starting with taking over the academy, and so she had to get rid of Fon first. However, Fon could not do anything to her, because it is programmed into the purge children that older children cannot harm the newer ones. F comes before G, so Fon is older than Gabby, and he can’t do anything to harm her while Gabby had the rights to get rid of Fon if she deemed him defective.

Lemuria: Umi no Mokushiroku – bonutzuu’s (obscure) manga archive

I can barely find information of this manga online, so here it is. I’ll write about it.

Lemuria: Umi no Mokushiroku is an old school seinen manga by Kishi Daimurou.

Boogiepop Dual: Loser’s Circus – bonutzuu’s manga archive

This manga is for those who are already familiar with Boogiepop, otherwise you won’t understand anything.

Story

Youjo Senki Shokudou – soldiers gotta eat too, so Tanya the Evil samples fine(?) wartime meals (bonutzuu’s manga archive)

Youjo Senki Shokudou is a spinoff manga of Youjo Senki (Saga of Tanya the Evil), focusing on the character’s daily lives (kinda like the Youjo Shenki shorts). This should be one of those educational comedy manga that kids are encouraged to read lol.

Anyway, in Shokudou, Tanya takes us to sample the food she eats in her daily life as a soldier, from gross canned rations to delicious potato pancakes.

Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi LN/manga volume 6 – bonutzuu’s light novel archive

I bought volume 6 of both the manga and light novel at the same time, so I’ll just write about them together. The final volume of the manga covers volume 5-6 of the light novel (these content were not in the anime).

[This post contains full spoilers for both of these books.]

Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi (A Dark Rabbit has Seven Lives) is a manga by Asahina Shiori, adapted from the light novel of the same name by Kagami Takaya with original character design by Kamiya Yuu. It was published after volume 6 of the light novel and covers the content of volume 1-6.

Kurogane Taito got into a car accident which should have killed him, but found out the he revived thanks to the ‘poison’ given to him by a vampire girl he met as a kid. That vampire is Saitohimea, a being capable of destroying the entire world. And so a very complicated story begins.

Let’s start with the LN first because the manga cuts a lot of volume 5’s content out and I should talk about that. (*Note: I read everything in Thai, and I couldn’t find the English translation for some of the names, so correct me if I got the names wrong.)

Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni – bonutzuu’s manga archive

For those reading scans, hey, there’s a chapter 21 of this manga! And volumes 5-6!

TW: Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni has bullying, violence, and sexual assault. If you are sensitive to these content, please refrain from reading the manga. This review will mention those topics.

Also: spoilers for the ending of Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni, spoilers for volume 1 through 6.

Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni vol 1-6

Marie’s elementary school life is a living hell. She is tormented by her classmates during the day and molested by her teacher after school. Hopeless, she turns to the ‘seven ghost legends of the school’, but will the supernatural be able to save her?

Primas: A Plot of Nightmare (HXL) – bonutzuu’s (obscure) manga archive

Primas: A Plot of Nightmare is a 2008 manga by Okazaki Tsuguo, and takes place in the HXL universe. Taking place in 1989, it follows the story of 10-year-old Hiroki, who unwittingly made a contract with Blue Flame Primas, a four-inch-tall fairy thingy with the capacity to destroy the entire universe.

This is an action/fantasy/sci-fi/comedy manga with old school art style, but what made it funny wasn’t the comedy aspect, it was that it was cringy in general lol.

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Utsutsu kowashi-hen: there is no chapter 4 – bonutzuu’s manga archive

Soooooo I read Utsutsu-kowashi a long time ago and I thought I’d wait until there were more chapters until I continue. Turns out, there are only 3 before it was discontinued for unknown reasons.