Seraphic Feather

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous Drawing, Unfathomable Plot
Review: Five stars for artwork, three for the plot. Actually, the plot isn't quite *that* unfathomable, but the strong point of Seraphic Leather isn't linear narrative. Basically it's an SF story about alien starships crashed on the moon with an awkward but loving telekinetic hero (Sunao), who rescues virginal and adorable Kei from an explosion in Luna City -- although he thought she had been killed in an accident years before. She used to be older than Sunao, too -- and that's only the first episode. After a while we meet the magnificently beautiful Attim M-Zak, a UN Special Investigator who is on the moon to find out what's with even more (!) mysterious doings concerning the Emblem Seeds. Various baddies like Rix Hayward wander in and get their butts kicked by Attim, and then we meet Number Four, an alien robo-thingie, but just wait -- it get's more complicated. If you're like me and enjoy over-the-top sci-fi adventure, you'll love the plot; otherwise, probably not. But the artwork! Utatane is one of the great masters of manga, and his drawings are breathtakingly beautiful -- not merely his women (Kei, Attim, Fawn), but also his page layout and design. Early on there is a marvelous drawing of the wrecked lunar station. If you buy it for the artwork alone, it'll be well worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous Drawing, Unfathomable Plot
Review: Five stars for artwork, three for the plot. Actually, the plot isn't quite *that* unfathomable, but the strong point of Seraphic Leather isn't linear narrative. Basically it's an SF story about alien starships crashed on the moon with an awkward but loving telekinetic hero (Sunao), who rescues virginal and adorable Kei from an explosion in Luna City -- although he thought she had been killed in an accident years before. She used to be older than Sunao, too -- and that's only the first episode. After a while we meet the magnificently beautiful Attim M-Zak, a UN Special Investigator who is on the moon to find out what's with even more (!) mysterious doings concerning the Emblem Seeds. Various baddies like Rix Hayward wander in and get their butts kicked by Attim, and then we meet Number Four, an alien robo-thingie, but just wait -- it get's more complicated. If you're like me and enjoy over-the-top sci-fi adventure, you'll love the plot; otherwise, probably not. But the artwork! Utatane is one of the great masters of manga, and his drawings are breathtakingly beautiful -- not merely his women (Kei, Attim, Fawn), but also his page layout and design. Early on there is a marvelous drawing of the wrecked lunar station. If you buy it for the artwork alone, it'll be well worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Great artwork!
Review: Former artist for COUNTDOWN tones down his ecchi for a whole lot of cheesecake in this smooth new manga. In a slight mixing between TOTAL RECALL and the anime BOUNTY DOG, this story takes place in the future where humanity has colonized the moon. There, they have discovered the remains of an ancient living alien starship that has some connection to three mysterious stones recently found on Earth named Emblem Seeds. The young Sunao goes to the moon to visit the grave of his deceased childhood friend, but ends up being stuck there after running out of money. So now he does odd jobs to try to earn enough to get home. While at the same time Sunao realizes he has gained what is called "meta-talents" which give him slightly psychic abilities. This ties into the group who has found the alien craft, and their leader Apep has harnessed its powers and wishes to use them to gain ultimate knowledge. He has requested that the Emblem Seeds from Earth be brought to the moon for study. The Seeds are being delivered by a girl who bares a strong resemblence to Sunao's departed friend who also has psychic powers. SERAPHIC FEATHER has alot going for it with a compelling plot and fine character development. Read it!

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Women . . . Not Much Else
Review: Not much really to say about this book, but that the artist Hiroyuki Utatane is very gifted in drawing beautiful women. The main female character of the series Attim M-Zak is an extraordinarily beautiful young woman, and the other main female character is as cute as a button. The book, however, lacks story. It seems to be yet another Sci Fi series with a bunch of busty scantily clad women and a bishonen main bad guy . . . with angel wings. The main plot seems to be so far a guy named Sunao went to the moon because a friend of his Kei, a different Kei apparently, was killed in a Lunar base explosion. He runs into the oter Kei who just happens to look like his deceased friend. Attim M-Zak is an United Nations agent sent to protect Kei because she has an Emblem Seed. We don't find out what these are in this book. the bishonen bad guy is after them though. Please excuse this disjointed review it is as disjointed as the book. I will continue reading it though it might get better. Hopefully anyway.

Rating:
Summary: I think we are missing some details here...
Review: Now, I know that some things need to be kept secret until the end or it will spoil the story, but this is too much. I feel as though I have been dropped into the middle of the story. There is no background on any of the characters or the Emblem Seeds, or even the reason why people have moved to the moon in the first place! I would like to know how the characters know each other and exactly what is so special about the Emblem Seeds, but neither this volume nor the next contain that information.

Be warned--there is some nudity (not much) and gore (buckets full) so you might want to consider something else if you are not mature enough to handle this kind of stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent graphic novel!
Review: This new series is looks very good to me. I just read this first intallment and I enjoyed it greatly. I especially like the artwork in this novel, its the style I prefer. The illustrator is also skilled at drawing pretty women as the previous review says. The plot hasn't gotten too deep yet, I'm still clueless as to what the Emblem seeds are, and the antagonist only had a few frames of dialogue. Most of this book was spent focused around Sunao, Attim-Zak, and Kei. Sunao is the protagonist who is gifted with mental powers which also dont get explained at all. I assume that the trio will stick together and join to fight the evil forces. I'll find out soon enough. I'm looking forward to the next installment of Seraphic Feather.