Arm of Kannon Vol 4

Rating:
Summary: Odd if anything
Review: I picked this up during a vacation to occupy some time. I read the back of the book at the store thinking it might be interesting. Like the title of my review said, it was an odd manga. Its a dark manga if anything but i enjoyed it. The few sexual scenes weren't completely vital the the story, but they really didn't take much away from the manga. One thing I did like about it was the plot/story. Its definitely a story that you won't have read before. If you like darker manga then pick this one up, but if you're a "happy-manga" reader, this isn't going to be one of your top ten.

Rating:
Summary: FREUDIAN NIGHTMARE
Review: It's been 3 years since Mao and Mayo Mikami's father, a respected archeaologist disappeared mysteriously after he found an ancient Buddhist relic named the Arm of Kannon. It holds great power which the government wishes to use to transform ordinary soldiers into demonic death machines. The problem is that the Arm cannot be controlled once its power is unleashed into the world. It seems that everyone is interested in finding Mao and Maya's father, including a mysterious superhero-like swordsman who shows up to save them from a street gang, claiming that he is their bodyguard. Can even he save them from the Arm and the equally evil government?

The Arm of Kannon succeeds on some levels but not on others. If you like the dark sexual horror of Clive Barker mixed with equal parts squish in the dark H.P. Lovecraft you would probably like this. It does have a disquieting atmosphere and is definately recommended for 18 and older because there is some very graphic sexual scenes in it. It's too early to tell whether the series will get better. The swordsman seems to be the most interesting while the brother and sister just seem the stock victims of powers beyond their control. Hopefully Maya will become stronger. Also, the monsters in the manga are almost laughable sometimes reminding one of goofy looking monster antagonists from a Godzilla movie.

Rating:
Summary: Beware of What You Look For
Review: Mao is a teenager. His sister, mother and himself were left by his archeologist father several years ago. But one day as he and his sister are attacked by thugs, they are rescued by a mysterious super-warrior from Isurugi temple. He claims to be their bodyguard.

Then Mao discovers that his father has returned. He is an emaciated shell of his former self. He apparently went looking for a powerful artifact called the Arm of Senju Kannon, which he found and became possessed by. Now he wants to share it with his son. Mao makes some disturbing discoveries and is soon abducted by a secret research facility.

At the facility, they have been working on turning men into monsters using the unused DNA hidden away in everyone, especially the reptile DNA. They are very interested in Mao, the Arm and how it may have effected them.

This first volume is the only one so far without a parental warning and, oddly, has the most explicit scenes in the series so far. Although the series is called "The Arm of Kannon", the artifact is always referred to as the Arm of Senju Kannon. I have read the first several volumes and unlike other reviewers seen no similarity to "Overfiend" although the story of a weapon (sword, gauntlet, knife, etc.) that possesses its user is not new, this book pulls out most of the stops. While not the best horror comic I have read, it earns the title of horror better than most titles currently being written.

Rating:
Summary: waste.
Review: not only did i waste my money on vol. 1 of the arm of kannon, but for some reason when i was at the book store i bought the first three volumes. bad choice. this manga sucks. first off, the story is kind of interesting, however the author didnt put it together very well, and when the dialouge and drawing is lame, then you're not in for an enjoyable time. the art is quite dark and spastic, but it isnt used tastfully at all. the action scenes are pretty boring, nothing you've never seen and alot of times its pretty hard to tell whats going on. there also is a fair bit of nudity, not used tastfully at all either. by tastfully i dont mean make it prudish, i just mean use it where its needed and dont just throw it in the comic because your story and characters suck. overall a boring book, as are the following volumes.

Rating:
Summary: Junk
Review: This is a review of vol 1 and 2. This is one of the worst manga I have ever read for 2 main reasons - the characters are absolute cardboard cutouts, and the plot is totally unoriginal. The fact that the books are very quick to read through and so don't give good value for the dollar, and the art is rather bad didn't help either. I agree with the reviewer that the plot and overall feel of the book reminded me of Legend of the Overfiend, but with a weaker plot, and even less engaging characters if that is possible. When it can be said that a porn movie (because that is basically what Legend of the Overfiend is) has better plot and characters, you know you are in trouble. Also, for those looking for titilation, you won't find too much - there isn't a lot of sex/nudity here - Battle Royale vol 3 for instance has 10 times more sex than these 2 volumes put together.

Rating:
Summary: Feel the wrath of my Kannon
Review: [IMPRESSIONS]

Hold on! There's softcore porn in my manga. It's kinda hard to believe that a horror manga like Arm of Kannon would have something as risque as that, but I'll explain about it later in this review. I had high hopes for Tokyopop's latest release, because the company's other horror graphic novels just couldn't get the genre right ("Priest" and "Pet Shop of Horrors" didn't exactly give me the heebie-jeebies). It's twisted around the edges, but unlike others who give negative remarks on this manga, it isn't half-bad.

Arm of Kannon's premise is a good one. In this day and age, where weapons continues to evolve, only one weapon controls all and can bring chaos to the world by the one who wield it. No, it's not the Ring of Power, Tolkien-geeks, though the Arm of Senju Kannon has its similarities. A secret organization wanted it, a mysterious young man from Isurugi temple wanted to destroy it, and both of them knew that the source of its wherabouts came from a teenager who has a thing for visualizing bleeding women...in the nude (that's maturity, for you). That teenager, Mao, is already having a bad day as it is: he had a wet dream in front of his skimpy older sister Maya, he got beat up at school, then his father came to his life after being AWOL for three years, killing his mother, and turning into a monsterous being that attacked and infected Mao with the evil power. Not only that, he and his sister were kidnapped by the organization to use Mao as a test subject to further their research on why us humans have "lizard genes." Oh, and the organization has the technology to turn humans into lizard people.

This has a wonderful art setting that seem to bring back 80s nostalgia. Otherwise, Arm of Kannon has one of the lousiest character designs I've ever seen. Characters seem basic and sometimes sketchy, and talk about their hairdos. Mao's hair kind of looks like me when I have bedhair, and by the way, Maya, Elvira called, she needs her wig back. The monsters look good, but compare to the ones from "Berserk", they have a lot to be desired.

From the monsters come to one's mind: Arm of Kannon is DEFINITELY not for everyone. Tokyopop really takes its mature rating by the name. Not only is this manga bloody and violent in the most off-the-wall scale, but so is the sexual activities. Panty shots are to be expected, but there's this one scene when Mao is captured and was taken in to the laboratory, he was naked and a female scientist wanted to see if he contains the power of the Arm of Senju Kannon by...let's just say, I didn't see that comming (Oh great, I just did a sex joke in a review). There's a primary flaw behind Arm of Kannon, and that it's too one-sided. I'm mostly seeing the Isurugi warrior fighting one bad guy after another, and so much action scenes beg me more depth in the manga's storyline. Plus the action scenes aren't exciting, either.

Bad art design and tedious scenarios kind of dulls down the exictment that this manga has with its premise, and to the fact that this is more close to the gross-out factor, than the actually fear factor that I expected. Arm of Kannon isn't bad, but this isn't the psychological horror title I'm looking for.