I enjoyed the anime series, which has been airing on cable for months now, so when I saw the first volume of the manga (adapted from the anime, which was adapted from light novels) at Barnes and Noble, I had to pick it up.

I don't know whether I'd have liked this as much if I hadn't seen the anime, as there are tons of characters and the relationships can be confusing. Heck, I was iffy about the anime itself until things began to wrap up near the end! But I did enjoy it, and it was fun reading the manga and catching up on how things began, with more time to pay attention to individual characters.

There are students trying to deal with life in the big city, problems with love and status and local gangs; there are shady characters whose motivations seem pretty dark; there's the guy who routinely wrenches traffic signs out of the ground and hurls them at someone who's pissed him off (and he's easy to set off) - he's my favorite character, as it happens, and a nice guy when he isn't angry, but that's not often. Oh, and there's the headless motorcycle rider (actually a dullahan, from Irish myth) who rooms with a disturbingly cheerful doctor. And... are you getting the idea that this is a rather weird series? It's fun, though, well worth dipping into.

[The TV Tropes page for the series is entertaining and informative, but do beware of spoilers; most are masked, but some are not. Then again, reading it may help you figure out what's going on, something that helped me a lot!]

I'm adding this book to k00kaburra's re-started Manga/Graphic Novel bookbox, which will be on its way soon to BCer quietorchid in Minnesota. Hope someone enjoys this book!

*** Released as part of the 2012 Chills & Spills release challenge. The theme for March includes old legends, and one of the characters here is a dullahan, from Irish legend. ***

*** Released for the Celebrate the Irish challenge, for that same dullahan (though in her current form she rides a motorcycle instead of a horse - but it casts a horse's shadow at times...). ***

Took this book from the manga bookbox.

I've tried to read this several times, but just couldn't get into it. The characters don't really appeal to me and the plot is very slow to get going. I like the artwork and style of layouts, but not enough to keep plugging away at it.

I was surprised to see that this was still showing on my available shelf, as I was sure I had released it. After hunting through my real-life bookshelf, it didn't turn up. I don't know my release notes glitched or if I forgot to make them, but I'm making them now. I'm pretty sure I left it on Waffle Frolic's bookswap shelf, although I don't recall the date.