The Rising Star Of Manga United Kingdom and Ireland

Review Date: 2007 December 11 14:14

Reviewed by: LittleWoodenBoy

Released by: TokyoPop

Publishing Country: UK

Author: n/a

Age Rating: 13+

Page Count: 192

ISBN-13: 9781427801913

Summary

A collection of stories from the second Rising Stars Of Manga competition.

Review

This volume contains the eight best entries from Tokyopop's second Rising Stars Of Manga contest to be held in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Each artist is allowed up to twenty pages to tell their story. Which is easier said than done. Creating a universe and just some detail of the characters could easily take up that space alone, so to fit in a story as well in quite an achievement.

As there are eight different artists involved, naturally there different art styles. Ranging from the Grand Prize winner, who's style is basically Katsuhiro Otomo, to cute chibi to bishies and more traditional styles.

With each story only being up to twenty pages long, to start discussing them would rob the reader out of most of the enjoyment. There is a wide variety of themes so none feel samey. Though I was surprised at the amount of story some of these contained. It certainly led to a more interesting read than was imagined.

My own personal favourites are Redeemon by Mai-yeng Tran, The Homecoming by Morag Lewis and Experiment 1817295#7205 by Suzanne Lam.

Rating: 7/10