Count_Zero

I'd describe this a post-apocalyptic, in addition to being Transhumanist Cyberpunk, for reasons that I can't get too far into due to spoilers. The book has a bit of a rough start for it's first couple chapters. It's an interesting book though, and I'm definitely going to continue reading the series.

I'm probably going to review this for Bureau42 or for a video (or both), but long story short, I enjoyed the book. Kate, the book's protagonist, is an interesting hardboiled urban fantasy detective. However, the way magic works in the setting, and how the cosmology of it works falls into some of the Magic Vs. Technology nonsense that I'm not particularly a fan of.

I'll be reviewing this on Bureau42, so the full review is going to be there. However, the short version is that the manga continues to improve dramatically. The Battle of Jaburo is very well done, and Yasuhiko-san does a tremendous job of pulling off scope here, both in terms of big landscapes (the full page tableau of White Base flying over Jaburo is something I'd love to hang on my wall), and action scenes. Volume V came out just this week, and I've already put it on hold from the Tualatin Library. I look forward to finally getting to read it.

The recipes in this book are certainly interesting, and it definitely provided some useful dishes to add to my culinary arsenal. However, that isn't the focus of this book. The focus of this book is to discuss various eateries and restaurants throughout the US and particular dishes of note. This is great if you can afford to travel. I can't.

Though, fortunately, Portland (OR) did come up on the list a few times, so I'll make a note of the places they suggested in the book for future reference if I'm hungry in Portland with some cash to spare.

This was a textbook I read for class, and it felt a little out of date when I was reading it. I probably won't read this again except for class and for professional reference.

Nice continuation of the series, though the tone manages to be dramatically more dire and bleak than last volume was.

This was a decent read, but I'm really not sure who it's meant for. Most of the material in this book is material that is compiled from the manga, which means that if you're a fan of the manga and you've already read it (and own the volumes), then you've already read everything in here. If you're not a fan of the manga or haven't read the manga yet, you'll either be lost, or have the manga spoiled for you. Honestly, I really don't see much of a reason to check this out.

That said, I did enjoy the book, and little bits of new material we get (including interviews with Kio Shimoku and Ken Akamatsu about anime fandom) are really enjoyable. However, I can't really recommend buying this unless you're a Genshiken completionist.

This was a textbook I read for class, and I'm only really including it on my Goodreads, because I don't want the readings I've been doing for class to throw off my book count for the year.

Also, I find it somewhat hilarious that while I'm not supposed to cite or reference Wikipedia articles in my writing for class, but this textbook is able to get away with it.

This is an interesting manga, with some interesting world building. Though, I think this volume plays the fujoshi pandering a little too hard.

I've got a review scheduled to go up on Bureau42 in a few weeks. In short, I enjoyed this manga, though it has some issues with the flow of the action early on.

Biomega reads a lot like a late '80s-early '90s OVA, in the sense that the manga has an incredibly tight focus on action. While there is a narrative there, the story spends more time on the action sequences. To be fair, there isn't anything wrong with that - the manga gives the action sequences the time they need to flow properly, and allow the reader to keep track of everything. There are a lot of manga artists who could probably learn something form Nihei.

This book's main problems, and they're minor ones, are twofold. The book features anime that weren't available in the US as of the date the book was released, and the book features anime which have since gone out of print. The latter problem isn't the author's fault in the slightest - they can't have predicted what would or would not still be in print years down the road.

On the other hand, the shows that aren't available are a bit more of a nuisance, as in order for prospective fans of anime to check out those works, they would have, at the time, needed to rely on fansubs, which is a bit much to ask of new fans. That said, some of the offending works have since been licensed for release via streaming (particularly the Captain Harlock TV series). However, other works aren't as accessible, like Mazinger Z and Cyborg 009.

I still think the book holds up well as a good piece of reference material though. I'd say that it doesn't work as well as a reference material for new fans who are looking for material to find on their own, as much as it works as a gift to a new fan from a long time fan, who wants to give the new fan an idea of what's out there, wants to help the new fan figure out what he might like, and who knows how to get ahold of some of the harder to find works, in case those catch the new fan's attention.

I haven't read any of Attack on Titan yet. Nor have I seen any of the show. However, I have a really good understanding of the work's tone, and I think Knights of Sidonia pulls off that kind of tone better than I've heard Attack on Titan does. The action is gruesome, but it manages to do so without falling back on the same kind of beat over and over, which by accounts Titan does.

The monsters are visually unnerving, without the potential for the designs to become quite as unintentionally comic, as some of the Titan designs can be, due to the monsters being totally inhuman - Spoileruntil they kill a human and transform their appearance into a 30' form of that human..

Also, in this volume, while the body count is lower than the body count from the start of Attack on Titan, the stake's feel just as high, and the writers don't have to casually massacre hundreds of civilians to get the stakes across. Only one character dies in this volume, and it's enough to sell the threat.

This is a good primer on Japanese arcade gaming culture in most of its forms. At $20 it's a little steep on the price side for its length though.

Some of the information in this book is dated (at the time this book was published, Windows XP was still current), but a lot of this information is still incredibly useful, and I'd definitely consider this worth checking out.

Benson does not do a good job of weeding out all the dialog from the game that was actually meant for the player as opposed meant for Solid Snake.

If you're coming into this book looking for an in-depth explanation of the artistic decisions in GAINAX's work, you'll be disappointed. This book isn't about that. What it is about is what inspired the company's formation, and basically an “inside baseball” look at how an anime studio and a science-fiction convention works, or doesn't, as the case may be. If that catches your interest, and you can find a copy, I recommend giving this book a read.

There's a bit less comedy in this volume then there is in the anime - and I'd definitely consider that a detriment to the work, rather then a bonus. I still enjoyed it, but I wouldn't say that this was superior to the show.

Also, the volume takes a weird detour away from the main story to two other characters which didn't appear at any point in the show. Is this just a one-and-done chapter to pad the volume, or something else?

The Marcus Didus Falco series really should be an HBO TV series. It's a highly engrossing mystery series, with incredibly interesting characters, and Lindsey Davis makes the Roman Empire really come alive. This book, the second in the series, is really no exception. Davis makes Pompeii and Herculanium (where the majority of the action takes place) feel like living, breathing cities.If I had one complaint about the book, it has to do with Spoilerthe discovery that Pertinax is still alive. There was no evidence in advance to show he was still alive before then. To be fair, it's a surprise to Falco as well, but it could have been handled a little better, I think.Falco, as a character, is probably one of the better realized examples of a detective who is too pig-headed for their own good. While some of the classic hard-boiled PIs of the 30s have this trait, we rarely see enough of their lives and friends outside of the job to see how this changes that side of things. Falco has family and friends with families, so we get a better look at how his stubbornness effects his life outside of the job.As a fan of historical mysteries (like the Cadfael novels by [a:Ellis Peters 4046 Ellis Peters http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1242605103p2/4046.jpg], I really enjoyed this book, and I'm probably going to read the rest of the books in the series, at least until it gets bad.

A nice start to an interesting series. I'll put a full review on Bureau42

Man, Shinji & Asuka can't catch a break. This time Asuka gets saved from death (a death that got played in the movie a lot like a rape) at the hands of the Mass Production Evas by Shinji, and Shinji gets his one triumphant moment where he manages to save someone, only for the trigger to get pulled on Third Impact anyway.

Also, poor Maya. She finds what is potentially a great job, with a boss she greatly admires in Ritsuko, to the point of falling for her, only to discover that Ritsuko is morally compromised, the giant robots she's helping to maintain are horrific monsters (leading to at least two occasions where she tosses her cookies), and Lilith sends her almost-but-not-quite-incorporeal-enough hand through Maya, which I have no doubt would have been a horrific sensation.

I've got to say, though, Ritsuko getting the last laugh by shooting Gendo through the throat was quite satisfying. If the characters who have died aren't going to get to join the Great Link in Third Impact, then I'd consider Gendo's death to be justice. Though again, if the characters who died don't get to join the Great Link, then I'd say that Misato & Kaji deserved far better - even if they don't get to come back out afterwards, then I'd say that they at least earned eternity together - but that's my inner romantic talking.

So, we haven't had the Quantum Reis (Ree?) showing up during some of the characters death scenes. So, I wonder, when we have Third Impact, will the characters who have died before Third Impact formally begins (Misato, Gendo, Kaji) contributing to Shinji's self analysis, or will we be limiting ourselves to characters who are still alive, like Kensuke & Asuka.

This is probably my favorite of this year's Hugo Award nominees, and definitely my pick for this year.

This is a very good re-telling of Mobile Suit Gundam, with this volume starting with the fall of Side 7, and the re-entry to Earth, which is a pretty good stopping place for the volume. Some of the plot alterations are interesting, like Garma's base being in LA instead of NYC, and Char launching a commando raid on Luna II as well. I gotta say though, considering how successful the Luna II attack was, I'm surprised the war isn't fought with more of those, and less open battles with Mecha.

This volume is also considerably more bloody then the show is. Now, to be fair, the TV show is just that, a TV show, and there are limits to what they can get away with (even Fist of the North Star had to show all their head explosions in silhouette). Still, it's enough where it definitely shifts the tone of the work a little bit.

I'm definitely looking forward to reading volume 2.

Unfortunately, I've come to the conclusion that Asian horror - at least the kind Patrick Galloway likes to recommend, is not my cup of tea. The majority of the stuff he's recommending in this book focuses less on the atmospheric and terrifying, and more on the gross-out and disgusting - basically stuff that's closer to saw then The Ring, and with more rape. This was somewhat disappointing, as his book about Samurai films was pretty darn good.