Olympos Manga Review by Anime and Video Games

Olympos is a manga about Aki's creative imagination involving Greek mythology.  Ganymede, a Greek prince, has been transported to a miniature garden by the Sun god Apollo.  For centuries, Ganymede has tried to escape by searching for the exit: trying to fight Apollo, or by killing himself.  

The exit is no where to be found, no matter how far the prince walks.  Efforts to fight Apollo ends with Ganymede failing and Apollo mocking him.  Ganymede simply passes out whenever he takes his "life" and ends up waking up in the same garden some time later.  Unfortunately, Ganymede is immortal.

Interesting

 Surprisingly, this manga turned out to be a couple of short stories involving either Ganymede, Apollo, or Hades.  Instead of one huge manga focused on Ganymede, I learned more about Aki's versions of the Greek gods.  I was honestly expecting some love story to happen between Ganymede and Apollo but the story focused on a friendship/enemy set up between the two.  As horrible as Apollo was to Ganymede, Ganymede realized that Apollo is someone he can talk to.  Apollo also begins to understand mortals to an extent towards the end of the manga.  

Pretty

 Olympos is a beautiful manga, who's cover attracted me while I looked at the dozens of manga available at Barnes N' Noble book store.  Aki, displays the Greek gods: Apollo, Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon prettier than they are represented in Greek mythology (Apollo even makes a few amusing jokes about how he should be more manly).  

Greek mythology buffs might be turned off by the bishounen representations of the gods or the loose Greek mythology.  The manga ends abruptly but left me thinking about a possible conclusion.  The notes by Aki throughout the manga made me think even further about the story.  In the future I would love to go look at other manga made by Aki.

Of Anime and Video Games 

I am Hero Manga Review by Midnight Ice Queen on Of Anime and Video Games

Well here it is, probably the last manga that I will review that has a lot of blood and gore for a while. I Am a Hero is on Berserk level with the amount of gore it has, but it evens goes much farther. It's a wonder I even read it, but it was recommend and I appreciate the story.

The story is about the protagonist Hideo Suzuki, a normal underachieving manga artist with a terrible relationship with his girlfriend. Hideo has a vivid imagination that leads him to have hallucinations and talk to imaginary friends. This disturbed me. Greatly.

Eventually, zombies began to infect Japan. Hideo first encounters a zombie when he witnesses a horrible traffic accident where the victim is badly injured, but is able to get up and walk way. Hideo is not sure what was seeing and thinks he's hallucinating. Eventually he goes to check on his girlfriend who is turned into a zombie and tries to eat it. From then on the story of I Am a Hero really begins.

I Am a Hero starts of slow, so slow that I could have fallen asleep. I would have stopped reading if it wasn't so highly recommended which is something that I count as a negative. The pacing of this manga starts off slow too and another negative is that it is that it's about zombies.

After seeing all these zombie games and zombie moves and zombie books, I was done with zombies. Again, the high recommendation won out for this manga. I do appreciate the slow way they introduced the zombies. Sometimes in a zombie story, the writer jumps several months to the aftermath of the zombies emerging, but this manga doesn't do that.

What was even more interesting was the way Japan handled zombies. Even though these people were seriously injured, dead, and not right, the Japanese military considered them to be sick and wouldn't defend themselves seriously against them or kill them. This  wouldn't have happened in American. The Japanese government considered these people grievously unwell and tried to help them.

It was interesting to see the ruination of Japan and how so many people died so quickly. These zombies are also more than ordinary zombies. They try to follow the routines they had when they were alive, they still have special skill sets, and they aren't afraid to run so they are above the basic slow walking zombies.

While Hideo might have been, dull in his previous life, his post zombie life forces him to transform into something else. It's a long term sort of pacing that I Am A Hero has and it doesn't rush through things like character development.

So far, I Am a Hero is an interesting manga. I have cringed so much while reading this manga because of the zombies (and that dude who is always in his underwear) but I'm making it through. If you want some fighting, a realistic post-apocalyptic story, and don't mind characters who aren't immediate warriors after not fighting or defending themselves a day in their lives, then you might want to check out I Am a Hero.

But be warned. You will cringe and you will get freaked out. I wouldn't advise you read this with little kids in the room. It has a slow build up on some things, but it makes things more reasonable and realistic in a way. I Am a Hero is a mature story. Sometimes.

It's still made by Japanese people, which I guess explains the grown man in what looks like a diaper wailing on zombies, but oh well. It's a zombie story made in Japan taking place in Japan. Get ready for weirdness. And more of this…

Or this:

Or this:

You tell me, which picture was the worst?

Of Anime and Video Games 

Beauty Pop Manga Review by Midnight Ice Queen on Of Anime and Video Games

I need a little light and cuteness after dwelling back into Claymore and before I review I Am a Hero. Occasionally I like to read shojo manga that are sweet and light-hearted. Beauty Pop looked like it would do the job. It's about hair-styling of all things and the artist is someone I like so I thought it was worth a shot.

Kiri Koshiba's family owns a beauty salon so she is use to styling hair, but she doesn't do it for the fame and money. Kiri prefers to help brighten the lives of girls by giving them a little of her magic anonymously and this is how she prefers it.

However, there is a group at school that gives grand makeovers to already beautiful girls. The head of the group, Shogo wants to be a brilliant hairstylist. Kiri possess the skills that he wished he had, but not the drive since they are not fueled by the same goals. Kiri would much rather stay in the shadows and help girls who she feels deserve her help, but the Scissors Project group end up drawing her into the world of hair styling that she has tried to stayed away from.

Kiri and Shogo butt heads a lot. Kiri is extremely laid back and absent-minded while Shogo is ambitious and driven. The other members of the Scissor Project add depth to the story and fulfill other roles that a beauty shop will need to be successful one day. You can tell Shogo put a lot of thought into his future, which is probably why Kiri's liaise faire attitude disturbs him.

It's a story ultimately about passion and dreams and it touched the creative side of me. Beauty Pop is a feel good manga. You will love the way Kiri and even the seemingly vain Shogo cares about their family and friends. It's also about finding the beauty of someone outside of their physical appearance, which I liked very much.

Of Anime and Video Games