There it is, Plain as Daylight

Detroit Metal City, Vol. 2
By Kiminori Wakasugi
Published by Viz Media

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In the second volume of Kiminori Wakasugi’s gleefully vulgar series, Soichi Negishi continues to live his double life as a mild-mannered aspiring pop musician and powerful lead vocalist for an underground death metal band. As the line between his dueling identities deteriorates, Negishi finds himself falling into his Krauser II persona more and more often, especially in the presence of his longtime crush, Aikawa. Early on, he even stalks her when she accepts an amusement park date with another guy, eventually letting his jealousy transform him into Krauser, who humiliates her on stage during a “Victory Rangers” show. Later on, while rushing frantically back and forth from an interview (as Krauser) to dinner with Aikawa on her birthday, the blur between his conflicting personalities extends even to physical appearance as increasingly obvious bits of Krauser’s costume and makeup are accidentally left on in Negishi’s frazzled haste.

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Guest Review: St. Dragon Girl, Vols. 3-4Review by Megan M.

When I read the first two volumes of this series, I liked the concept–a martial artist (Momoka) harboring a dragon spirit inside her fights supernatural foes along with her childhood friend (Ryuga)-but disliked the fact that Momoka can only access her powers if Ryuga physically unseals them and how, even then, it is Ryuga who always saves the day, no matter what the situation. In these subsequent volumes, some of that becomes less prominent but other things emerge to interfere with my enjoyment.

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