Looking For Reviews

[Sozo Bakura]

Has anyone heard anything about any of the following manga?

1. Beet: The Vandel Buster
2. Basara
3. Excel Saga

Thank you.

[Arnobius]

I know Excel Saga, but I think that the policy is to review only complete series (someone correct me if my info is outdated) and Excel Saga is ongoing in Japan.

[Sozo Bakura]

Well, anything you know about it would be helpful. I basically want to know if these are good clean books.

[Arnobius]

Well, anything you know about it would be helpful. I basically want to know if these are good clean books.

There is some fanservice, some sexual innuendo. One of the more troubling aspects is an anti-Christian rant given in volume one. Viz rated it for teens, and I don't think that is unreasonable.

[uc pseudonym]

When glancing through two volumes of Basara, I didn't see anything that looked horrifying, not was I particularly interested. Please don't base any purchases or reading on anything so vague.

Beet, however, I have read a fair portion of. Do you want a review of story and overall quality or potentially offensive content?

[Kaori]

There was a thread a while ago in which there is a moderately lengthy assessment of the volumes that had been released at that point in time:

I have read the first nine volumes of the series. Ten have been released so far in the US, although I have heard that the total length of the series approaches 40 volumes. Apparently, it was one of the most popular shojo titles of the 90s in Japan, but VIZ has just recently gotten around to releasing it here.

The rating is Older Teens, which is a pretty fair assessment.

Swearing: I am not exactly sure how much profanity there is, but it is fairly mild. I do not recall anything worse than a few d***s here and there, and I do tend to take note of profanity; if there were anything extreme, I probably would have remembered it.

Sex/Nudity: There is no sex in the first nine volumes with the exception of one instance between a couple on the night of their wedding--and even in that case nothing explicit is shown. Bathing scenes do occur with relative frequency, so there is some nudity, but it is important to note that it is neither explicit nor fanservice-oriented (since the target audience is female, there is no need to portray the female body in this manner).

Violence: This is the main reason VIZ gave Basara an OT rating. It is fairly violent, but not overly bloody in proportion to the amount of violence in the story. Most of the battles tend not to be very graphic, although there are a few exceptions. Reading the opening chapter of the first volume will give you a fairly representational idea of how graphic the fight scenes are.

Other: There is a character who is a cross-dresser; however, he makes it clear that his preference is for women.

As for the quality of the manga, if you are not turned off by the art style, it is a very good series. I would say that it is one of the best-written manga that I have read; the plot is both complex and engaging. I enjoy it despite the fact that the main character's love story, which is one of the most important elements of the plot, actually annoys me. The art style, which I have already mentioned, is sometimes criticized, but my opinion is that the excellence of the writing more than compensates for any deficiency in the art.

Since then, the number of volumes available has incresed to 13, and not much has changed in terms of content. The main areas of concern are violence and some (non-graphic) nudity. However, in regard to sexual content:

[spoiler]In one recent volume, a male character allows another man to have intercourse with him to prevent a female character from being raped. Nothing graphic is shown, although it is very clear what is going on.[/spoiler]

Overall, I doubt the series would fall under the category of "good clean books," but it might be worthwhile if you are willing to tolerate some mature content.

[Sozo Bakura]

AnimeHeretic- Thank you. I'll think twice about reading those books.

uc pseudonym- I'd like to know about possible offensive content, if you wouldn't mind.

Kaori- That was a really great, detailed review. Thanks!

[uc pseudonym]

[uc pseudonym]

I should be able to give you a mostly accurate review of Beet, though I should warn you that my reading (and hence my review) will not be exhaustive. However, it is a fairly mainstream manga and it is being translated by Viz, so chances are that there is no scene with content significantly worse than what I will reference here.

Sexual Content: Essentially none, even on the level of dialogue and insinuations (this is the element I am most likely to be inaccurate on due to limited reading). Certainly nothing is shown. The only element likely to concern readers is the fact that the female lead is wearing only her underwear at times. If you're female, that isn't likely to bother you at all.

Language: English (sorry)

Language: In the beginning there were only a few words typically considered curses, all of them mild. Viz has begun to have fewer such words recently, and it is likely that the same has happened with this series. It won't feature anything you aren't likely to hear elsewhere.

Violence: Frequent but never graphic. Generally speaking, it isn't even that bloody, either.

[Sozo Bakura]

Great! That doesn't sound too bad. I might actually pick those up.