Manga Review: Yokaiden Vol. 1 Delivers Monster Laughs

As manga gets more and more popular all over the world, there's an ever-growing generation of comics creators who are strongly influenced by Japanese comics. It'd be generous to say that a lot of the original "manga" published in the U.S. in the last five years has been uneven in quality, with more misses than hits appearing and just as rapidly disappearing from bookstore shelves. But if Yokaiden is any indication, it looks like the bar is being raised a bit.

Del Rey Manga has been dipping their toes into the original English language (OEL) manga pool for the past two years, with releases like The Reformed and In Odd We Trust. Their latest release Yokaiden is from American manga talent Nina Matsumoto, who is best known for her much-talked about (and much imitated) manga-style illustration of the Simpsons. First announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2007, Yokaiden was originally scheduled to be released in Summer 2008, but was pushed out to a mid-November release.

So given the spotty track record of past OEL manga releases, I didn't expect an awful lot out of the first volume of Yokaiden. But after reading it, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this story is genuinely witty and fun. Sure, historical accuracy isn't its strong suit, but there's some funny moments in this first volume that made me think twice about my usual preconceptions about global manga.

Check out my review of Yokaiden Volume 1 by Nina Matsumoto from Del Rey Manga and see if this shonen manga monster story lives up to its billing or if it has a few suprises up its sleeve.

Image credit: © Nina Matsumoto