MBQ Mini Review (North American manga)
September 24th, 2007 by Lianne
PG-16/18 for violence, sexuality, language, nudity, guns, and a plethora of other things that make me wonder why this wasn’t rated “M”; official series website
This 3-volume series will be ending shortly, and I fully encourage anyone of age (oh my God not for kids) who likes his/her manga brutal, insightful, and absolutely shocking to give this series a try. Not only is it one of the best North American manga out there, it’s distinctly North American in its focus on the street life of Los Angeles–and thus is nothing like anything you’ve ever read (unless you read the definitely-not-as-good @Large). It follows the story of Omario, an aspiring manga artist who loves his own work, hates everyone who doesn’t love it, and both loves and hates comics in a very violent fashion. Although I usually despise self-referential fiction, this manga is so much more than the story of an LA mangaka, as it largely focuses on the turbulent characters of the LA streets who surround Omario. The sex is disgusting, the violence is incredibly scary, and the commentary on artists, the comics industry, the thug lifestyle, fast food workers, the police, etc. is intensely clever. I didn’t like the story story MBQ was based on (which won second place in the second Rising Stars of Manga contest), but the series, happily, is 1000% better.
Educated impression: This manga is probably too violent/sexual/intense for a lot of readers. But if you can handle it, MBQ is brilliant. (Lianne)