Abduction in Chinatown: Crying Freeman

Rating:
Summary: First Class Story, First Class Manga
Review: My sister Sandy and I turned 21 just three days before we graduated from college. My old dad had promised us each a new car if we made it all the way through in 4 years. Nothing like the promise of a new car to keep a girl's nose to the grindstone. However, when the time came, we didn't want the car. Instead we asked if we could use the money to spend a year in Paris, which was kind of dumb, because we'd studied Spanish all through college and didn't speak a word of French, well, ballet and filet, but that's it.

We got a flat near the Bois de Boulogne and had the time of our lives. But we studied too, worked very hard at French and we did that by reading hundreds of the French version of manga, which they call bande desinŽ. We read PI stories, thrillers, combat and cowboy stories. Our favorite was this French cartoon caricature of an American cowboy called Lucky Luke, who could draw quicker than his shadow.

But after that year was though I'd never picked up another Graphic Novel. Too much like comic books I thought. Then my sis sent me this "Crying Freeman" manga in the mail and I have to say I was captivated by Ryoichi Ikegami's superb black and white illustrations. Kazuo Koike's story was first class, but I believe it lost just a wee bit of it's punch in the translation. And I couldn't quite grasp why the female characters waltzed, ran, jumped and fought sans clothing through the whole book. Kind of a guy thing, I guess. You know, they like looking a drawings of naked women. But nevertheless, much to my surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I'm going to seek out others.

Oh, did we learn French? Kind of, because you know there were plenty of kind young men who were more than willing to offer their assistance, if you know what I mean.

Reviewed by Stephanie Sane

Rating:
Summary: Not up to snuff, but still some entertainment
Review: Portrait of a Killer was probably the best of the Crying Freeman series, understandably since it was the first. This book however, is not up to the standards set by that first book. The artwork as usual is incredibly realistic and stylized. The story is however pathetic. The villains turn out to be nothing short of perverts who like to kill and masturbate. It's still some fun to read, but in the end it is probably one of the worst Crying Freeman books ever made. If anything, get it for the artwork alone.