Manga Minis: To Aru Kagaku no Railgun Manga and Saki Manga

Today's review is two quick mini-reviews on things that I've already reviewed and just want to follow up. Today's review was the reason I lugged a pile of books back to my hotel from Nakano Sun Arcade without even stopping for sushi, so you'd better appreciate it.

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun Manga - has been licensed by Seven Seas (to be put out here as A Certain Scientific Railgun) and in preparation I thought I'd read whatever is already out in Japanese. As a few commenters mentioned when I reviewed the first volume of this manga, the first four volumes follow the same Level Upper Arc covered by the anime. In Volume 5, the story takes an even darker turn and we spend time following primarily Misaka, as she confronts a problem of her own making...in a sense. I won't be more specific so as to not give it all away. 5 seconds of research will net you the spoilers, I have no doubt.

Yuri in this series remains exactly the same as it does in the anime, toned down in the second arc mostly because Misaka is off on her own through most of it, with little to not interaction with Kuroko. From my perspective, Kuroko's feelings are quite real, just a little immature. Maybe a tad maturer after the interim story when she feels that Misaka is nice to everyone but her (also in the anime.)

Ratings:

Yuri - 3
Overall - 8

I like it and am looking forward to the English release.

Saki was, as an anime, unintentionally funny to me. The overblown fighting drama associated with the game of mah jong was just...silly. The relationship between Saki and Nodoka was that they like one another, but with all those shots of Nodoka's breasts, it *had* to be Yuri, right? No, but try and convince a LFB of that.

The real Yuri, in my opinion, was Yumi and Momo. In Volume 5, Momo even got to embrace Yumi and say "Daisuki" but that's about it. The rest of Volume 5 was taken up with Saki's battle against Koromo - which interested me pretty much not at all. Of all the things in Saki I like, the actual details of mah jong are not among them.

Ratings:

Yuri - 2
Overall - 6

No one is licensing the Saki manga, and I don't blame them. What Hikaru no Go had was BL potential and a female audience and women buy what they want to fantasize over. Guys...just...don't. License Saki, and you'll find it'll just sit on the shelves while "fans" download fanart of Nodoka's breasts and Saki's thighs to keep them warm at night.

Both manga worth a look if you're a fan of the anime, not if you're not.