Of Swords and Parasols

*sigh*

Volume 1 of this was a wonderful, fun shojo romantic adventure.  Volume 2 is an excellent follow up volume.  Sadly, volume  two isn't really a concluding volume, but this is the last book.  At least it seems the book got cancelled, as opposed to Mizuho Kusanagi just losing interest in it or whatever.

This is my prefered kind of shojo(and the kind I fear I've largely exhausted the licensed supply of) action/fantasy/adventure/whatever, with romance-angsty or cute, whichever-in a supporting role. On the surface, Mugen Spiral is rather reminiscent of Inu Yasha or Her Majesty's Dog-demon prince wants to steal the powers of a powerful priestess, she binds him in a fight and now he protects her from other demons-but never read as a ripoff.

Unfortunately, one of the main plotlines-Ura's father's illness-only got touched on, but never resolved.  I guess it's what happens when you set up a myth arc before your book is stable.  Still, incomplete or not(and it's not exactly incomplete on the level of, say, Zombie Powder or Descendants of Darkness) I'd rather read it than most of the shojo I keep seeing lately.

So, several times recently in comments and IMs with various people, the topic of neverending manga  has come up, and how it seems there are  so few manga that are short.  So, largely out of curiosity, I went to AnimeOnDVD and compiled a list of all the manga I've read, in whole or in part, that are under 10 volumes with a few words on each.


And longer series that I'm reading, have read, list and volumes only.  Incomplete series are here as they may end up never ending.


Neither list includes anything that I've dropped or wouldn't recommend to at least a few people.  If I read some of the manga but switched to just anime, it's there if the manga was also good(for longer series.)  Also, if I couldn't remember anything at all beyond "uh...I liked it, it's not here.

Late, but I wanted to finish the Hendee book.

Goal for the week is the second half of the From Far Away manga(vol 8-14) and, since they're fairly quick reads, at least 2 novels...dunno which yet.  If I have time, I'll likely start either an essential or a Top Cow Compendium, as that'll wipe out the manga backlog.