What I read in October: Digest Version, part 1 of 2

b Attack on Titan 1: Those who wrote about this before I read it were not kidding: The art is like something that really good kid in your class drew in seventh grade.  The world and the story are promising enough to make me keep reading despite the art and the gruesome violence.  The reviewers were also not kidding about the brutality.  Wow.  SPOILER: And I totally didn't expect the main character to buy it in the end of the first volume. END SPOILER.  Bold move, author.  And high body count.  I had to not read this one before going to bed.  I hope the overall story and ending get amazing.  Whoever the main character really is.  I'm not so sure I want the art to improve, though, because I probably wouldn't be able to look at it . . .

b Blue Exorcist 7: Oh, you know, just when you think it can't be more sad, it ups the sad ante.  Like 4 times.  Good character development, lots of action, lots of drama.  This is good stuff.

b Boys Over Flowers 32:  Some day, I will finish collecting this series.  Then I will read it in a marathon, and it will make sense.  I will probably still find lots of it immensely annoying and squicky until (hopefully) Tsuakasa becomes a bearable human being.  At this point, the story tries to make his mother slightly sympathetic, and, well, you know, I give it points for trying, but she's still kind of a terrible human being, so I don't think I can like her.  I won't lose any sleep over it.

b Cross Game 5: Oh, Cross Game.  You get it so right.  That moment of silence, that utter pause when your team loses, and the other team is celebrating like mad, and you just feel stunned and tired and stupid because you know that it is all over now.  So, so right.  Every time one of these comes to an end, I am so sad because I want to read it all right now.  It's like a novel, and I look forward to marathon rereading it when I have the whole thing collected.

b Dogs: Bullets & Carnage 0-4: Oh, Dogs, you are so violent and so stylish.  Sometimes you don't make a lot of sense, but you don't really care because this manga is not about the plot, really, just the characters and the action and the style and the gore.  So why do I like you so much?  It just doesn't make sense.  At least things make a little more sense if you read volumes in a row.  I guess I like how comfortable these characters are in their own skins.  It makes for some startlingly funny character interactions, like when the girl passes out, and one of the awkward leads sees and steps out of the way instead of catching her.  It's totally in keeping with his character and a lovely funny moment in what was otherwise a very serious scene.

b Gon 7 of 7:  So sad that there is no more new Gon.  But the Gon we finally got all of was pretty awesome!  This will be a great pick-me-up series when I need some stubborn, unconquerable tiny tyrannosaurus action and adventure.

b Nana 3, 5: Oh, Nanas, this is hard to read after reading to the current ending of the story.  I will marathon this all some day when I need a drama fix.