Customer Reviews

Faust 2

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Why didn't this come out sooner???

`Traditional' manga, for westerners, is packed with emotives, and cultural references we do not understand. As standard as the page explaining terms of endearment, and a sample of what the manga looks like in Japanese are, such features do not always make them easy for us.

Enter Faust. As the name implies, this is something more. It is explosive, vibrant, larger than life, and yet so `literal'. For instance, Magical Girl Risuka by Nisiosion is incredible. If you can imagine MCSI (Magical Crime Scene Investigation), then you have the gist of this story. Time travel, personal vacuums, and blood sacrifice are all important themes in this mystery. "Jagtiger" examines the laws of robotics from a synthetic human/military standpoint. To kill or not to kill, that is the question. Time travel fiction is addressed cleverly in "Where the Wind Blows" by (Otsuichi/Obata). What would you do if you knew you were going to kill the one you love? Even the traditional manga in the back (front) of the book is outstanding. "Iron Man Military Unit" is probably the best illustrated fiction in the book, but the remaining stories also stand out too.

This is the manga equivalent of Galaxy, Future, and Astounding all wrapped into one. This "Flight" of fantasy will take you beyond manga shores and fictional skies, your imagination will soar as boundaries blurr and manga fiction becomes fiction. Good literature is good literature, no matter the language or nationality.

Faust proves that.

[...]

Tim Lasiuta

I'll admit it- I only picked up the Faust books because Kouhei Kadono was one of the authors featured, and I'm a complete whore for his works.

To my happy surprise, I found myself loving every story in this volume just as much as I did Kadono's. Magical Girl Ritsuka was my personal favorite. I love fantasy, and found the modern twitch on witches and wizards quite refreshing. NISIOSIN's writing was easy to follow and pleasant to read.

I'm aware that Japanese light novels aren't all that popular in the US, but I'd recommend them to anyone with an open mind and a love of all things out of the ordinary.