Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

If you have watched any anime outside of a Disney Released Miyazaki Films, then you know about Akira. While the movie is excellent and probably one of the ten best anime movies of all time, it can't hold a candle to the manga, all six volumes worth. The opening sequence is just great, you get two full colour pages of Tokyo being nuked in 1992. Then we open on our story, Tokyo in the Near Future, teenage motorcycle gangs run rampant, including our hero Tetsuo who has the coolest bike imaginable. Well one night while out raising hell they run into a freaky looking kid on the freeway leading from the Olympic Stadium that is under construction. Well one of their members isn't so lucky and hit the kid, but the kid is fine, the bike exploded around him. Suddenly the army swoops in and steals them both away. Tetsuo doesn't understand what is going on but at the same time he runs into a beautiful yet mysterious girl running from the scene. Why is that all mysterious women are so beautiful? In any case the end of the first huge volume ends with things just starting to get rolling. The artwork is very similar to the anime so those who are familiar with the anime won't have a hard time easing into this. I love the manga because it just gives you so much more details and background. I love the schools, they are so ghetto. It is hard to believe that Japan as any Ghetto schools. If you loved the anime, run out and grab this. They are a bit pricy but they are well worth it.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Adventures of Cat Shit One, a special forces unit taking on missions behind enemy lines in Vietnam with a twist everybody are animals. The Americans are rabbits, the Vietnamese are cats, the Chinese are Pandas, the Russians Bears, the Koreans are Dogs I think, the Japanese are monkeys, and the French are pigs, that isn't a personal opinion, they are actually pigs. The manga is made up of several small stories that are filled to the brim with historical facts and lots of military slang. With the exception of the fact that all the characters are animals this is an amazingly precise and historically exact manga, down to the very last detail everything was painstakingly researched. The three main characters are Perky, Rats, and Bota, who despite being bunnies aren't cuddly. I really enjoyed the adventures, they were all believable, nothing was too far out. The entire time I was reading this I kept thinking back to the TV Show Tour of Duty which a Vietnam version of the 60s TV Series Combat and then I was reading the artists notes at the end of the manga and he was directly inspired by Tour of Duty but wanted to do something different twist, turning everybody into animals, that is a twist. I don't think the animal choices are supposed to me anything with the exceptions of the Russians being Bears, Russia was always called the Bear of Europe, and the Chinese being Pandas those are obvious, the French pigs and the Japanese monkeys I can't say but Bunnies and Cats, I think if there was symbolism behind the animals the Americans would have been Mice or something else. Don't go looking for symbolism where there isn't any, it makes you look silly when you expound on your interperation of the symbolism only to learn there never was any to begin with.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

A strange twist on the tale of the Monkey's Paw, but this Arm possesses you and gives you great power. Mao and Maya's father is a big time archeologist who disappeared three years ago while on an expedition to find the Arm Kannon an ancient Buddist Relic. He has returned a changed man and in front of Mao's eyes he transforms into a demon who possesses Mao. The military captures him so they can unlock the secrets of the Arm so they can make super soldiers, but in true government fashion they grossly underestimated the power of the Arm and Mao breaks out of their secret facility. Now it is up to Maya and a mysterious magical swordsman to try and stop Mao before the military kills him. This is a great combination of horror and sci-fi, think X-Files at its scariest raised the Nth power and it is no holds barred. There is one sorta comical scene that invovles the female scientist manipulating an unconscious Mao until he turns into a regular fountain of male potency. The manga is rather freaky in a few places showing that in this manga anybody can die at any time, a true horror principle. The weird sword vs shadow fight went on a bit too long but I assume it was setting up more to come between those two in later volumes. If you like your horror not to pull and punches and be to be raw like uncooked steak this is for you, if squemish best to stay away.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

The word is out on the streets: a reward of five million dollars to the opportunist that wastes the courier calling herself Bambi and returns her living cargo. Skull suit psychos, gold-toothed Elvises, Derringer-packing grannies and all the other scum in these badlands could care less whether Bambi is kidnapping this toddler she christened "Pampi" or if she's snatching him back from his captors. With a pink gun in one hand, and a leashed Pampi in the other, can antihero Bambi's huge ego and formidable gun skills hold off an army? You bet she can, whoever she comes up against she cuts through them like a hot knife through butter. I love this series, especially Bambi, she isn't interested in anything but her own ass. I love how she gets out of many of these tight squeezes with the various and sundry gun packing killers by using the kid as a shield because the bounty clearly states that the kid can't be harmed or the 5 million bounty is worthless. The action is great, especially when you meet Gabba King, this crazy fanged Dracula meets Elvis who Bambi stole Pampi from in the first place. He is a psycho Elvis from Hell who gets off beating a room full of naked women to a pulp. This is the violent bizarreness that fills the manga. Bambi is a interseting character who is only interested in herself, she only eats organic foods and thinks sex is a violence of her temple of a body. She is totally selfish and only cares about Pampi because she has been hired by these shadowy guys called 'Old Men' to bring the kid to them. The kid is a total mute who likes junk food, he is probably some sort of world class genius or puzzle solver or something because all he does is eat and never speaks or does anything. Great manga, really different, lots of crazy action in a very unique Japanese style wasteland. I am looking forward to the next volume a lot, the cowboys have Pampi and now Bambi has wheels.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Bambi's back and now gunning for Big Bad Momma's Gang who has kidnapped Pampi. The gang has set up shop in a small very wild west style town and are terrorizing the citizens and killing at random. Bambi makes her entrance in style, by driving her pink Bug straight into town and shooting the sniper who is on look out for her straight through his scope, now that is a shot. She goes on a good old fashion Bambi killing spree, anybody with a gun, or anybody in the way they are dead meat. Bambi kills her way through most of the gang before meeting Momma, who is a one legged scared freaky bull who has about as much qualms shooting her own men as Bambi does. They have a big showdown in a kitchen where no pot, nor turkey is safe from the gun fire. Of course Bambi wins, she is Bambi after all. She lures Pampi out of hiding with a doughnut which I found rather funny after the whole big shootout. They travel on going to go meet these mysterious Old Men. At the same time the Gabba King is in dire straights, he is sick because he doesn't have Pampi which just raises all kindss of questions about why this mute junk food junkie Pampi is so important, does the Gabba King intend to eat him? That would be rather cool. Bambi and Pampi meet up with a guy on a moped, who we meet in the very first chapter of the first volume as the guy the two thugs were planning to kill before Bambi killed them and he got a second lease on life. He wants to help Bambi but at the same time is feeding the Gabba King information. That really is a stupid idea, you really should never put yourself between psychotic killing machines, it doesn't matter who wins you will always loose. But Bambi has bigger problems on her hands than a weasel on a moped, her favorite show, the Mr Pei Hour has been canceled. Mr Pei may be familiar to the American readers of this manga as one of the symbols of the legendary 60s band the Grateful Dead. Infuriated Bambi goes to a shopping mall were a guy dressed as Mr Pei is handing out balloons. She beat the living snot out of the poor guy demanding that he get back to work making more shows. I've had the same idea about beating up Big Bird but nevermind. After learning Mr Pei isn't a real bear, but a high school dropout in a suit she also learns she had four big rig truckers gunning for her. Bambi and the truckers have a convoy showdown on the road where they try to smash up her little bug and squash her. You think those 4 rednecks have a chance? If you do well you haven't been paying attention. Their little sideshow merely takes us to the next fantastical location, Factory City were an evil force lurks the alleys killing all he encounters, he is the Platinum Mask, an immortal Luchadore, those are masked Mexican wrestlers for those who don't know. The Gabba King hired this wrestler to hunt down Bambi for him and gets a little demostration of how powerful the Platinum Mask his when he disembowels four of the Gabba King's men with his bare fist, yes he is one serious hardcore Luchadore. Now the stage is set for the next volume, Bambi vs Masked Wrestler, man that sounds like fun. Yes it took almost a year for this volume to come out but it is really good and I am willing to overlook these little problem because the story is just so nihilistic, too many people use that word to describe people but Bambi is truly nihilistic, I mean nothing is sacred with her and everybody in her way is dead meat. I also liked the colour scheme used in the manga, the pages alternate colour from blue to pink to fiery red at the end of the manga, I also really like how the manga has a dust jacket, it is a nice touch to make the manga stand out a little bit. I'm not exactly sure why this manga is often listed as adults only or 18+ in some websites, it is violent sure, but it is no more violent than Berserk or Hellsing which DMP also puts out but they decide to list this 18+ and not the others, I don't know all I do know is that if you like really interesting manga that has some violence and very interesting characters this is a manga for you.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

The bodies continue to pile up as Shuuya and Yoriko try to find allies who won't fight. They meet the big guy, Shogo, who agrees to team up with them. The trio start to hack a plan on how to escape while the grisly carnage of the game continues all around them. The most disturbing aspect of this manga and in my opinion of its main strengths is that it looks into the past of these students. Good rule of thumb, if it isn't Shuuya or Yoriko in the flashback don't get attached to them, they're soon to be meat. It is super unsettling to watch these people lead these happy carefree lives and then watch them get gunned out, or blown into gooey bits. This is not bedtime reading, this stuff even makes me uncomfortable but it is so well done it is compelling. It really is the writing more than the gory art that puts the hooks in me, it is graphic but not sleazy. The characters are tragically real, there are no great heroes spouting one liners, these are 9th graders who are killing each other or trying to maintain their humanity in this insanity and being killed for the nobility. We haven't gotten to the meat of the story yet, this volume is still killing off the excess characters and beating up the reader but it is worth the read.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

The plot starts moving as death continues all across the island. This volume is the principle introduction to the bettr of the two evil students, namely ultra bitch Mitsuko Souma, a very, very matured 15 year old. She is also totally without a moral compass and uses her fantastic body to get ahead, she is also very willing to kill as we saw in the first volume but she is also able to kill her friends too. I like her much more than Kouzo Kiriyama, Kouzo is basically a sociopath, he doesn't see the others as humans, Mitsuko sees them as humans but uses them like toys. This entire series is a metaphor for how society has become a dog eat dog kind of place, where the people who suceed are either sociopaths or sluts because they are more than willing to destroy everything in there path to get to the top. Our three heroes don't play the game, the actual game or the coporate ladder game and that makes them heroes. I do like how the boss is taking bets on who is going to win, I won't take bets because I know who wins from the movie. Excellent volume, really builds a lot for the important characters.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

We have the conclusion of the fight from the last volume which ends with Mitsuko killing the winner. This seems to happen a lot in this manga, which makes sense, better to watch two people fight and after they've beaten each other senseless kill the winner who will be too weak to defend themselves. After the fight finishes we learn that Noriko's wounded leg is starting to become infectous and the only way to save her is to venture to the infirmary. Shogo doesn't want to go, he knows trouble is out there but Shuuya says they have to go and takes Noriko on her own. At the same time another student has gone insane and goes wandering for the infirmary. Where she comes face to face with Shuuya. He tries to reason with her, but after you munch on cat brains I doubt reasoning will work and he is saved at the last second by Shogo who takes Noriko into the infirmary to play doctor some more. I liked Shogo, talk about a guy with world class shitty luck, he survives one game only to be held back from his injuries so he gets to play the game again. Man that I would stay indoors during a thunderstorm if I were Shogo. Also Shinji is still working on hacking the collars and shows his pal what he is planning. He has a small bomb disguised as a pocket knife and plans to blow up the school where the leaders of the game are located. What is the deal with half the guys in this story all with S lettered names, Shuuya, Shogo, Shinji, I keep getting these names mixed up while writing these reviews and often try to keep the minor players' names out because they will only confuse me more. I love this series I am just not use to the Japanese names thats all.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

The plot conintues to move, the two guys are nearly ready to detonate their bomb over the school in a bid for freedom, Noriko's fever has broken and Kouzo shows he is smart when dealing with crazied drag queens but now everyone is starting to get tired a very real event especially when you are in such a stressful situation. I like how things don't resolve by the end of the manga, these first volumes are just building up to the big event. You can really tell this came from a book because its flow is different than the usual manga. Best part of this book has to be the Kouzo Sho fight, or rather Sho's head gets blown off by the collar. I still don't like Kouzo, I think Mitsuko is a much better villain but then again I like women. I did like the little dossiers inbetween the chapters that focused on our two main villains. It was interesting to see the rather indept psychology survey they give both characters which shows whoever was doing this knew their stuff. If you are hardy enough for this series I think you will enjoy it for its raw emotion and realistic view of humanity.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Shuuya, Noriko and Shogo are on the move once again but before they can get far they encounter another player. The Kung-Fu master Sugimura (I swear 75 percent of the characters in this manga have an S as the first letter of their first or last names). Thankfully Sugimura spares them a fight and they discuss their individual plans. Sugimura is looking to save another girl somewhere on the island and while he agrees to help Shuuya and company he doesn't join up with them. They split up but they don't go far before encounting a real threat. Kuriyama, our sociopath with the Mac-10 who now has a cap and looks like Dracula when he first attacks. Shogo takes off with Noriko and Shuuya distracts him so they can escape but at the same time Shuuya is wounded by Kuriyama. He is saved at the last second by Sugimura who goes some kung-fu fighting with Kuriyama. But beacause Kurimaya is the biggest bad ass in the game he doesn't get easily beaten by Sugimura and it ends in a draw so Sugimura and Shuuya dive off the cliff to save themselves only be to be captured by a group of heavily armed girls. At the same time Shinji has put the finishing touches on the bomb, now all they need to do is get it to the school house to blow everybody sky high. I'm not the biggest fan of Kuriyama, he is almost too villany, especially now that he has a cape, guys with capes are always over the top unless you are doing a costume drama. The number of deaths in the past couple of manga has really slowed down, nobody died in this manga. Well that is mainly because they killed 20 people in the first 4, you keep that pace up the manga series would be over in ten books. These past couple of volumes really concetrate on character development and interpersonal relationships which makes this series so much more than a kill 'em all with lots of blood and gore. You sympathize with them and their plight is so much more painful because you do feel for them, that is the key to this series.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Shinji's bomb is ready to be delivered to the school building but as they are on their way to deliver it a little problem appears in the form of Kuriyama who shoots Shinji's guts out. Shinji tries to make a break for it but Kuriyama, who apparently has a ton of extra ammo for his Mac-10 slowly takes piece after piece from Shinji. In the end Shinji has to use the bomb he had worked so hard on to save his life rather exact revenge on the monsters that sent him here. This is were the manga gets really far out, Kuriyama has gone from a cape wearing sociopath, to invulerable. He manages to survive this massive explosion by hiding in a truck that gets flung from the barn that explodes and he hopes out like nothing has happened. It kinda ruined the hell Shinji went through, the guy isn't even ruffled. This manga does such a good job making this entirely unreal situation believable and then they throw Kuriyama who is turning into some comic book villain. This entire volume is about blood and gore, mainly Shinji who before being shot totally full of holes get his stomach torn open and his guts fall out which is fixed thanks to the miracle of duct tape, gets his foot shoot off and finally is turned into swiss cheese. I really liked how they had everyone's reaction to the massive explosion, even characters you have only seen tiny little glimpses of. The volume ends with Shuuya all bandaged up in the care of the girls we met at the end of the last issue. We don't know exactly what is going there just yet but it safe to say they don't want to kill him just yet. A good volume that was spoiled just a bit by Kuriyama's super human performance.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

This volume is all about the deadly vixen Mitsuko Souma nicknamed Hardcore which is a very good nickname for her. She meets up with two other members and it is the story of how she is like the Praying Mantis, after mating she kills. Mitsuko is without a doubt the most interesting, twisted, and sexy character in the entire series. She is really screwed up and they do a great job of touching on her past abuse without getting into graphic detail. When she goes thoroughly nuts and turns into the giant teddy bear are priceless. Most people would take the easy route and just make her a slut that uses men to get further in the game but not Battle Royale nope she is really nuts. I really like her insanity too, it isn't like Kuriyama who is just a sociopath because, well we needed a strong male villain in this series to kill off most of the cast. Mitsuko is crazy and we get a reason why, that in my opinion makes her a better villain than Kuriyama plus she has big breasts which makes her a better character to look at than Kuriyam who really wants us to believe is Count Dracula with a Mac-10 in that goofy cape. Strictly on character development and character design this is the best volume of the entire series, Mitsuko's character tackles tough issues that we in this country are willing to look at with any seriousness we like to wrap it all up in 'Dr Phil-isms' and tell her she had to make herself want to change, we don't look at the fact that her brain is totally rewired and she can't make herself change anymore than she can will a broken arm to be unbroken. It is volumes like this that make Battle Royale a manga classic, a bloody sex filled classic but hey not all classics uplift, some show us the nasty side of humanity.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Two side stories that really make short work of the remaining extra characters in the series. Story one involves the rich kid Oda, who thinks the rest of his classmates are gutter trash and his meeting with Sugimura and Kuriyama. Oda, who is called the Toad by his classmates, has a little trick up his sleeve which I found rather clever but of all the characters thus far who have died I didn't feel upset that Oda died, he really deserved it, maybe not in the way he got it, which is rather uncomfortable if you are a male but he really was a slug of a human. The second half of the manga involves Shuuya who is still recovering from his wounds with a group of girls who have decided not to play this twisted game and have banded together to protect themselves. Of course one of them snaps and like a house of cards made of dominos, one falls they all fall. For the first time in the manga I think their collective deaths were rather cheap, six in such a short span of time, I almost think the author realized he had six extra characters still alive and needed to kill them all rather quickly and that is just what he did. Now that the cast has been basically peeled down to its principle members we can get down to the meat of winning the game or getting off the island alive. Good series, not for everyone but I really do like it, it shows that despite all of our highmindedness we still are primitive creatures when you get down to it.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

The full horror of what has happened in the lighthouse now comes to bear in another of this series signature heart and gut wrenching moments. Shuuya gets to wander through the carnage of the last three volumes, not exactly the thing you'd want to do but then he encounters my favorite and least used character Mizuho, a mentally unstable girl with cool hair and a 44 Auto Mag. She gets to play crazy for a couple of chapters before she is smoked by Kuriyama, yes this guy kills 75 percent of the cast. I really wanted Mizuho to be more involved in the manga she was a really interesting character and I wanted her to cause more trouble with her insanity she would have been a good opponent for Mitsouko but that wasn't meant to be, oh well. The volume ends with Shuuya meeting back up with Shogo and Noriko. Now the stage is set, the unnecessary character have all been dealt with, it is time for the beginning of the end.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Sugimura finally finds Kayoko, the girl he has been searching for in the last seven or eight volumes. Now can Sugimura get Kayoko back to Shuuya and the others before Kuriyama finds them? Can Sugimura tells Kayoko his feelings? There is a lot of Sugimura's backstory and his love for Kayoko from a distance. Lots of setting up to a pay off with Sugimura and Kuriyama going at it.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Sugimura and Kuriyama have their final showdown. They let their inner chi powers out and do some hardcore kung-fu and make a few Dragonball Z references. In the end only one of them survives, it really doesn't take a genius to figure out who wins. It is kinda sad with all the backstory between Sugimura and Kayoko and it always ends in such tragedy. Kuriyama continues to do his best Darth Vadar impression, all he really needs is horns and a tail to make him any more evil. The end of the volume was very good, it is a little psychological profile of our two main villains. Personally I like Mitsuko a lot more, she is a richer character, Kuriyama is just a sociopath, there really isn't much about him to be interested in. Mitsuko is lots of crazy fun, especially when she turns into the giant doll, a visualization of her inner child.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Finally they meet, Mitsuko and Kuriyama, the summit of the pyschos. And for the first time I really think this part of the manga was done rather hurriedly and half assed. I wanted the fight between Kuriyama and Mitsuko to be long, at least as long as Sugimura and Kuriyama. Sugimura I always saw as a minor character but Mitsuko was one of the major villains. The rest of the volume it taken up with more of Shogo's backstory. This was one of the big fights in the series and for it to be so short was very unsatisfying. It took 13 volumes but finally there is something about the series I didn't like. I wanted a full blown no holds barred battle between the pair. The fight I got was really one sided and felt almost like an after thought. I would have preferred the Sugimura and Kuriyama fight to be shorter and this fight to go on for an entire volume but alas that didn't happen now all the others are dead, it is time for the final showdown.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Shuuya, Shogo, and Noriko face off against Kuriyama. Car chases, gun battles, and we finally learn where Kuriyama evil disposition comes from. They certainly do give you a whole lotta bullets in this game, but not a creative array of guns. Noriko saves the day and Kuriyama survives for the final volume.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Battle Royale finally comes to a close. The series began in 2003 and in the last three years I have been following the series and have enjoyed it thoroughly. Now we see if Shuuya, Noriko and Shogo can get off the island alive, they've survived everything else but can they clear this last final hurdle in tact? The battle with Kuriyama went on just a little too long, too much talking, too much emotions. But I guess that is the finest trait of Shuuya, he still believes. I really liked the poem at the end of the series, that really capped it off very well. This was a great series, aside from the Kuriyama-Mitsuko fight which I was disappointed with the entire series had excellent pacing, vivid characters, and an excellent storyline. This series was built off its believable characters, this series could have been awful if it was filled with hyperbolic and stereotypical characters in short if this had been done by Americans it would have been filled with so many template characters that would have made the entire story cheap and without the emotional beating the story likes to give the reader so much. The story also doesn't revel in gun battles and action set pieces. This isn't a Rambo movie, the action has a purpose in the story, but it isn't the main leg the story stands on. This really was an amazing and jaw dropping series. Yes it is violent but the violence is real, you feel the character's pain, yes there is some nudity, but it isn't for cheap thrills. This is probably the best manga series for people who want to graduate from the younger manga to mature, serious, and dark manga. This is one of my favorite manga series of all time and it was a great joy to follow it all three years.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Hakufu Sonsaku, a young girl blessed with a large chest and what a chest it is, lives in the country with her mother. She is a Toushi, and as such she has a burning desire to beat people up, but her mother has forbidden it. One day at school she encounters a Toushi who wants her to join Yoshuu school, and says if she refuses her new best friend will be a hospital bed. Hearing this, she immediately refuses. After the ensuing battle, Hakufu's mother asks her to leave home and go to Tokyo, where she can develop her abilities as a Toushi, and fight to her heart's content. So she goes to live with her cousin and go to his school. On the first day she takes on half of the school and beats them up but good. This peaks the interest of one of the power Toushi at school who sends his chesty hitwoman who wears a French Maid outfit and has an eye patch to deal with her. The volume ends with the two facing off after the second thug the lead Toushi sends after her gets beaten up by both of them. This is a really silly and seriously ecchi, every fight Hakufu's shirt bursts open and she is a complete nut. One of the best scenes if after beating up half the school on her first day she is with her cousin eating Watermelon and she falls asleep in the middle of eating and does a face plant into her watermelon slice. This series was made into an anime called Ikki Tousen which I have yet to seen but judging by the manga I will like it. If you liked Ranma only about ten times the ecchi and the characters use the word fuck every couple of panels, even the weak cousin uses fuck, this manga is for you. Lots of combat and lots of fan service.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Hakufu and Shimei square off and at first Shimei lays a pounding on Hakufu until the inner demon in Hakufu awakes up and then everybody in range is in trouble including Ryomou who is the mastermind behind this fight. Both sides seperate to lick their wounds and this leads Hakufu to go for a walk in the park where of course she meets another group of thugs looking to beat her up. Of course they do beat her up a bit then she goes into altered reality mode just as the volume comes to a close. This manga is really nothing but fighting and fan service but you know every once and awhile I am in the mood for kung-fu and panty shots.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Guts the Black Swordman goes through the cursed land trying to seek revenge. If you have seen the anime you get the first three episodes of the first manga, after that it is totally new. But if you are worrying that new means different, nope, Guts gets into trouble and kills everybody in his way to get out of that trouble. But unlike the anime in this Guts is joined by an elf named Puck, albeit Guts hates his new companion. Now don't think that elf means Liv Tyler from the Lord of the Rings Movies, think Pixie or Faerie. It is a little flying person that can heal Guts when it gets bad. I really love the manga, it is the same bloody violence as the anime and now you get so much more of the story, even just from one single volume. I hope that the manga will cover the stuff found in the anime, I would like to see more of that done in the manga that couldn't be done in the anime.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Guts is back at it killing the Demons of the world, trying to find those that branded him. He comes to the next kingdom where the demon has possessed the king who executes everybody thinking they are heretics. Guts par usual gets into a bloody fight but this time gets in over his head and is spirited away by a scared little freaky dude. He explains that he was once the King's doctor but after he became the demon he tortured him, ate his legs, and wife and child. But he managed to escape with something, a Benhilt. Guts takes the Benhlit and goes off. Puck is constantly after him, trying to make him a little more human, but Guts is even more remote and harsh than he was in the anime. Well Puck and the old man are both captured, the old man losses his head and Puck is taken prisoner. I liked this because the old guy is killed and Guts watches, he doesn't care and that makes him a much more interesting character than if he rushed forward and saved the old guy. Well Puck is given to the king's teenage daughter. She explains that the king became a demon because pagan heretics kidnapped and sacrificed his wife, her mother. Again something else that makes the story great, the king was human, his human pain is that drove him down this path. Usually western stories would allow him to be redeemed with this kind of back story but this one he is too far gone and lures Guts into a fight he can not win. At the end of the manga he has defeated guts and is readying for the final blow. Damn them and their cliffhangers! Great manga, so far it gearing up to better than the anime.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Guts has a life and death battle with Baron in his bloated snake form while Puck tries to keep the bloated Baron's daughter alive. Then Guts activates the Behlit and they are sucked the other place and we get to meet demon lord Griffith. After the brutal ordeal Guts survives and we get a window into the early life of Guts, from his rather ominious birth from a corpse to his early life as a mercenary. Somehow I doubt being raised by a bunch of bloody mercenaries isn't exactly the best thing for a child. Well Guts start showing his skill in battle at an early age, by 7 he is already killing at a 5th grade level. I like seeing a more indepth look at Guts the formitive years, it makes Guts a much more dynamic character than just a multi=purpose killing machine. I think sometimes in the anime we really don't get to fully see the fact that all Guts has ever known is death and fighting. Another nice bloody manga with plenty of killing and some rather kinky goat sex, you have to see it to believe it.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

The traumatic and bloody childhood of Guts continues with a very intense rape scene that didn't make it into the anime, I wonder why. Guts and Gambino, his abusive foster father, have a bad falling out as Guts becomes more and more efficient as a killing machine and Gambino is reduced to a crippled bitter man. Of course if two people in Berserk have so much as a disagreement over the color of somebodies armour it is settled in a full on sword fight to the death, and because Guts is one of the combatants the other, in this case, Gambino ends up on the pointy end of Gut's sword and dead. Guts flees this first mercenary camp and ends up fighting some wolves while wounded. He is rescued by another band of mercenaries and he spends 4 years in their service until one siege where Guts defeat the giant grey knight and comes under the gaze of Griffith and the mysterious Band of the Hawk. Guts and Griffith fight for the first time and of course Guts loses because Griffith is better. He is wounded and is taken in by the Hawks and gets to cuddle with Caska or Casca or Kasca it really depends where you see her name. Caska, I prefer this spelling, it is the only Japanese spelling I've seen and they did invent the character. It is here that Guts gets to have a great nightmare of all the allies he had killed. This is something I really wished they'd done in the anime to show the turbulant inner working of Gut's mind and get a little insight on why Guts seems to quest for self destruction in battle. Another problem, I don't like Caska's appearence as much in this as I do in the anime, she looks like a puppy rather than a hot woman. Hopefully her appearence evolves as the manga continues. Excellent manga and another must read even if it is by Dark Horse.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Now with Guts completing his first successful mission with the Band of the Hawks during the night raid he is welcomed into the Band as one of their own and meets all the other important members of the Hawks, Judneu, Ricket, Pippin, and Corkus. Three years passed and they are enlisted to help in the hundred year war between Chuder and Midland, on Midlands side. Guts shows off his seeming death wish as he personally takes on Chuder's best heavy calvary. Caska and Guts do not get along, well Guts really doesn't get along with anybody, he is the definition of aloof, but his seeming death wish gets under Caska's skin but the real reason she hates Guts is that he gets all of Griffith's attention and she wants to go back to the days before Guts joined. The final chapters of this volume the Band of the Hawks are beseiging a castle where a powerful beast lurks. The beast is Nosferatu Zodd, and undying unkillable machine of death and guess who goes one on one against him? You guessed it Guts. Nosferatu is impressed with his skill but he is still no match. He takes a beating but Griffin comes to the rescue. But he too takes a world class beating but Zodd sees the Benlit. He burst through the ceiling giving Guts a dire warning about staying Griffith's friend.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Plots, ploys, and assassination attempts as the Band of the Hawks and especially Griffith begin to becoming rising stars in Midland. The king of Midland makes Griffith a knight, which is quiet a shock to the others because Griffith is a commoner is raising far above his station. To make matters worse Griffith has spotted the King's daughter, Charlotte, and she has taken a liking to him. All of this has outraged the Crown Prince who commands the most glorious unit in the Midland Army, but the straw that broke the camel's back is when the king announces that for the annual fox hunt the army unit that is going to escort the king. So the Crown Prince hires an assassin to remove Griffith and make it look like a hunting accident. Well the assassination goes wrong and Griffith survives. Being the cool customer that he is he quietly plots his revenge and enlist Guts to exact his revenge. Well unfortunately Guts isn't exactly the best assassin, after killing the Crown Prince he is spotted by the Crown Prince's son so Guts kills the Crown Prince's son who is probably 10 or 11. After killing the kid Guts is spotted by two guards so he kills them and it basically snowballs into Guts killing almost the entire castle garrison as he flees. Guts is a tank, you don't send a tank to kill a grasshopper. What really boggled my mind is that who else weilds seven feet worth of sword or than Guts? This is Superman logic, that you slap a cloak on Guts nobody knows it is him despite he totting all seven feet of sword with him. Well apparently he killed everybody that could have seen him so he gets away with the assassination to rejoin the Band of Hawks in a great battle against these massive armoured guys from Chuder. Now it is time for Guts and Caska to bond, Caska gets into a fight with the leader of this knight killer unit and is being effected by her monthly cycle (man that took some dancing to work around that, the guy who made his manga knew guys would have to discuss this because it crucial plot and guys are exactly comfortable talking about this, bastard). Caska manages to fight back but can't keep up. She is saved by Guts but both are wounded and fall off a cliff into a raging river. Guts returns the favor that Caska gave him when he first joined the Hawks and helps her break her fever by laying naked with her. Caska isn't exactly happy about that situation, she really hates him for what he brought to the Hawks. They end up having a little truce until they can make it back to the unit in one piece. I really like Caska, she is probably my favorite character of this series, she is feisty and capable, which are characteristics I like in a woman, plus she is cute in that I will kill you way.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Guts and Caska are isolated from the rest of the Band of the Hawks and surrounded by over a hundred mercenaries of Chudder. It is here Guts earns the title 100 Man Slayer where he kills everybody and anybody around him. It is also here that Caska spills her heart to Guts and gives the reader some much needed backstory on Griffith, Her, and the Band of the Hawks. After Caska reaches the other members of the Hawks they return to find the carnage of Gut's titanic battle. After his wounds heal, he makes some cryptic statements about this being his last fight as the Band of the Hawks and the rest of Midland lay seige to Dedelay, Chuder very own version of Helm's Deep that has never been conquered, that is until the Band of the Hawks tries. They formulate a plan and it is put into action with the main body of the Band taking on the garrison as Caska and her troops inflitrate the castle and again Caska meets Adon, the blowhard who sent her and Guts over the cliff in Volume 6. At the end of the volume Caska is hit by a poisoned arrow by Adon, that guy is lots of trouble, and we are left with a big time cliff hanger. Caska is still far and away my favorite character in Berserk, she has all kinds of emotions, and yet isn't pawned off just as a helpless woman. She is the most real character in the manga, real being a relative term when you compare her to Guts who carries a seven foot long sword and Griffith who looks like he is 13. Excellent manga that is nearing the end of what was covered in the anime. I think the anime does a better job of covering the fighting, in the manga some times it gets confused who is getting hit by what but the anime with its use of motion lets you fully enjoy the splatter of Guts and his 100 man slaying but that is a minor triffle in this excellent manga.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Manji is a petty criminal trying to feed his sister who lost her mind when their parents were murderer. She is killed by other criminals, enraged Manji seeks to get revenge he comes upon an old woman who offers him a drink. But the drink wasn't exactly what he thought it was. She just fed him with a worm that takes over his body, now he can not die until he kills 1000 evil men, hence the title of the first volume. No matter how bad he is injured, and believe me he really gets his ass kicked several times in this first volume alone, the worms in his body will repair all the damage. So he does in search of baddies to kill. In the meantime Rin, the heroine of the story, is living peacefully with her parents, her father is a great swordsman who runs a respected dojo, until Anotsu comes. Anotsu is a genius swordsman with one goal, to unify all the dojo into one, of course under him and to this end he is destroying all them. Rin's parents are murdered and Rin vows revenge. She teams up with Manji and they go to find Anotsu and take revenge. The next two episodes are the best, first they corner one of Anotsu's associates, a huge guy that quotes poetry who also has two female head sewn on his shoulders one being Rin's mother, now that is really something I wasn't ready for, okay maybe carries their hair or something but to sew their heads on his shoulders, this guy really has mother issues. The next is funnier, Rin goes to the home of a family friend, another skilled swordsman and ninja who has retired and is an artist. They come at the moment where he has terrible creative constipation and while there Anotsu ninjas attack. Manji and Rin are having it out with the ninjas outside and the pov is inside his room, he is sitting trying to figure out what he should do as fighting keeps passing his open door. Finally Manji kills a guy and his blood splatters all over the canvas and the artist goes of course this is it. This is a great samurai series, it is the better version of Ninja Scroll.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Manji and Rin continue their quest to hunt down Anotsu and the members of his evil gang. The first they encounter is carrying the heirloom Chinese swords that belonged to Rin's Father. Rin wants the swords extremely badly because it meant so much to her father so Manji decides to be a kind human and to solve his problem as well. The pair show down in a swamp and Manji learns the dangers of fighting on unfamiliar terrain. The second half is much better, Manji meets another like him, a man cursed with the worms, but he has a secret weapon, a poison that kills the worms in Manji's body and all the wounds he suffered start to come back, including his legs falling off. But thankfully Rin has a home remedy that cures him and he goes to have a showdown with the worm guy for the fate of Rin. But how do you kill a man who can't be killed? Simple if your Manji you just hack him into little teenie tiny bits and pin his severed head to a tree, that seems to do the trick, or will it? The manga is good and fast paced peppered with some good physical comedy. The best joke in this manga comes when a girl drops a tray with tea on it and Rin manages to catch the two cups of tea but the tray hits Manji square in the nose. That is a good idea of making your main character immortal so he can take some serious abuse for comedic effect as well to dramatic battle sequences.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

In their quest to hunt down and kill Anotsu Manji and Rin discover he will be traveling to Edo and will pass through an outlying town on his way. They decide to stake the town out and wait for him. While waiting they encounter another of Anotsu's pupils, Makie Otomo-Tachibana, who is masquerading as a geisha. She lures Manji into an alley for a little attention which royally pisses Rin off, who like Kagome and Inu Yasha or another other anime relationship, like one another but never fully admit it. Well she tries to kill Manji but he easily defeats her. She takes off and does some serious soul searching. Here comes a change from most stories, most of the manga centers around Makie, the person we should see as the villain. She humilated her older brother in sword fighting, this disgraced the family and her father threw Makie and her mother to the street. It was here she met up with Anotsu when she saved him from a pack of vicious dogs. She is torn between Anotsu and her love for him, and the urge to lead a simple life playing her guitar. In the end she chooses and goes to pick another fight with Manji. This time she beats him up, down, left, right, and sideways. She soundly defeats Manji, cutting his arm and leg off. He is only spared by Rin. Makie questions Rin's motives on pursuing this revenge, her life as a swordswoman and assassin was nothing but revenge against her father. She decides Rin is committed and her revenge is better than hers. She leaves Manji and goes on her way. This is a really singular manga, I've never seen a manga where 75 percent of the manga is nothing but villain's background and motive and it is tragic and very sympathetic and then she survives at the end of the manga, again normally this doesn't happen. Usually the hero cuts the villain down and they are happy to be released from the pain of their sins but she survives and goes on her way. Will she return? Will she be with Anotsu? Will she leave Anotsu? This is another strength of the manga, it leaves a lot of good questions to be answered in later manga. This is another great Blade of the Immortal manga and one of my favorites.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Manji is attempting to teach Rin how to fight. She goes off to wash her hair and runs into Anotsu. She tries to fight him and fails rather badly, some would blame Rin for fighting but I blame Manji for being a prick in teaching her. Anotsu questions her about revenge and she starts to feel really unsure of herself. Manji, of course, is absolutely no help and they go to a local fare to cheer her up. Manji runs into another member of the Itto-Ryu and asks a question I had asked myself since the last manga, how do they keep bumping into these guys by asking 'Is There A Flag Attached To My Ass? We learn the Itto-Ryu travel on their own under no real orders which must mean there are a ton of them or Manji and Rin have traveled only a few feet. Rin saves the son of this Itto-Ryu from a samurai and the son takes her to meet his father. Manji finds a message left by her and that she had left her sword behind. I'm not sure if it was an error on Dark Horse's side or I missed it but there is a message written on the wall in the last scene but it was never translated so I really don't know if it is important or just a sign that says Donkey For Rent. This was a good volume but I could with a little less Rin feeling bad for herself, not being able to fight, and Manji being a prick to her. I know it is tough love and Rin will soon come into her own, but right now she is definitely in victim mode. Hopefully soon she will come into her own, I am starting to get tired of her not being able to do anything but get into heaps of trouble.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

The confrontation between Rin and the mask maker of the Itto-Ryu concludes with him being totally unrepentant and he attacks Rin. He now has a son so he doesn't want to get blood on the floor so he resorts to strangling her. Fortunately Manji arrives and the pair duel in the middle of the room surrounded by cabinets and candlesticks with only knives while unconscious Rin debates revenge. I really think after killing 10 guys you are already on the revenge path and trying to get off it now is going to be more trouble that it is worth. In the end Manji defeats the mask maker just in time for his son to arrive home. The son attacks Manji with a candle holder and he thinks he kills him. Rin helps the young boy bury his father and meets back up with Manji to continue her quest to seek revenge. I like Rin, she is the best character in the manga, the other two Manji and Anotsu aren't exactly sympathetic but she does drive me a little crazy with all her self doubt. She needs to stop it and start taking care of herself, it drives me up the walls which I guess is a good thing because it does illict a strong emotional response, true the response is knock if off you ditz but it is a response nonetheless. A short volume which is mainly fighting and Rin doubting herself, which was most of the last volume as well. Hopefully the self doubting will go away and she will start taking a more active role in her revenge.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

A new group has arised from the ashes of all the dojos the Itto-Ryu destroyed and have set their sights on destroying the Itto-Ryu just as the shogunate is planning on encorporating their school into the shogunate to teach these lazy samurai what being a crazy killer is all about. This dark and shadowy group wants Manji to come with them, hey an unstoppable killing machine isn't something bad to have when you want to go up against a giant. I really liked this one, Manji and Rin are only in it at the end yet you still get a great read, it is nice to give the villians the Itto-Ryu a little more substance. Anybody can be pure evil, that isn't hard, but evil that people can relate to and maybe even sympathize with and also this new group aren't saints either, it is one big morally ambigious stew, it is the lesser of two evils. However this plays out it will be violent.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

It is the Future there is a guy named Killy who has a little gun that packs a lot of power, he is exploring this massive cyber labyrinth where all sorts of nightmarish creatures lurk. Other than that I can't really say much about the plot of the series so far and I actually liked the whole mystery of what is going on. Killy is looking for terminal genes, what they do we don't know, Killy encounters a group called the Authority, who they are we don't know. This is a greate distopian few of a post-apocalyptic future, most after the nukes stories take place in desert wastelands this one takes place in a cybernetic hell where the machines we built now screw with us. I liked all the mystery in this most apocalyptic stories have piles of back story which always say the same thing this one gives no back story but this one puts you next to Killy who really has no idea what or why. Good series, albeit bleak and sometimes mysterious I hope to see a lot more of this series in the future.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Killy continues to search for people with Net Terminal Genes and we get to learn more of what Net Terminal Genes really are. He first meets up with a group of people that are much taller than him who make a living transporting goods to a place called Cluster City. The only problem is when he learns what they are transporting and let's just say he doesn't like it so he blows everybody up with his Neutron Gun, yes in this volume they give it a name, or rather the half scientist he meets in the bowels of Cluster City. She was once the head scientist in charge of breaking through to the next level but after being unable she was blown up by the president and sentenced to rot in the bowels of the city. Killy breaks her out and the pair make it up to the top of the level where a strange higher lifeform which is tied to the Net Terminal Genes talks to them. Now with the head scientist who cloned herself a new body they break on through to the other side and continue their quest for Net Terminal Genes. This is a really interesting and different sci-fi tale and I think all the things that make it different make me like it so much.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Killy with his new pal Cibo are once again traveling looking for Net Terminal Genes. They encounter these strange creatures that Killy can't hurt and are packing the same weapons as Killy. In the nick of time two short strangers appear and kill these mysterious white faced creatures they call the Authority and take them to their city called Toha which is based around a huge facility that is called Toho Heavy Industries. They have long since lost the knowledge to understand Japanese but remember the name. This was something I found really cool, they have been gone so long nobody remember how to read the language anymore. Well they stay in Toho recovering when the little girl they brought with them turns out to be an Authority Mole which leads to a great deal of fighting as the Authority invade. Killy goes after the little girl as Cibo tries to restart the massive factory but it ends up killing her as Killy goes in for the final fight against the little girl who is leading the Authority shock troops. I really liked how much taller Killy and Cibo are as compared to the citizens of Toho. I really hope Cibo can be brought back to life because Killy really needs a partner for all this wild and crazy stuff. I also liked that this place is so advanced but yet so ancient that the people have forgotten what the stuff actually does.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Killy and Cibo, who possessed one of the silicon organisms that was kicking Killy's ass travel into Toha Heavy Industries. There they encounter two more silicon beings that have a big score to settle with Killy but their fight is interupted by two AI beings who stop the fight. Cibo and Killy are taken away by these little faerie creatures that tell them the two AI beings are very angry and as the manga ends she is coming. What is going to happen? I'm just happy Cibo is still alive, I'm very happy because Killy needs somebody who actually says more than five words in the entire manga. I still like this manga a lot, there aren't a lot of talking, but there is a lot fighting and really cool creatures. The information is a little thin but I think it helps the story and keeps it interesting as you learn more and more about what is going on, especially about Killy who is a real man of mystery.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

The Blame! continues to get passed around, Killy and Cibo are caught between the Toho Heavy Industries forces and the Silicon creatures whose motives are finally revealed. Killy does some time travelling, meets another Cibo and saves existance so he can be shot back into his normal time to encounter the silicons and the goddess of Toho as they throw down for one final fight before the entire Toho Heavy Industries complex leaves for places unknown. Blame is a lot of fun, it is so atypical science fiction, there is no starship Enterprise, there really is almost no hope for humanity in the face of these silicon creatures, which I am really glad we finally are starting to understand why they do what they do aside from being black gooey villians.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

Before there was Ghost in the Shell, manga god Masamune Shirow created the hit series Dominion Tank Police. In the future pollution has become to severe that no one can go outside without a special breathing mask. Crime like the pollution is out of control so out of control that the police force has an independent strike force of tanks, the Tank Police. Among the tank police is Leona, a plucky brash tank gal and her pint sized tank Bonaparte along with the rest of the motley crew of the Tank Police face off against doughy super criminal Bakau and the feline Puma Sisters. In the first chapter Baku has kidnapped a new creature, a fairy girl that has the ability to clean up the atmosphere. But Leona manages to get her back so Bakau gets a giant walking tank to steal her back. There are a lot of explosions and stuff gets destroyed. In the next chapter the Puma sisters sabotage Leona's tank and trap them in a factory that is rapidly filling with poisonous pollution. Bakau's next big heist involves a submarine and the Puma Sisters kidnapping a load of infants from the hospital as part of a scheme to hold the city for ransom to get a spaceship. Yes a spaceship, but it does give Leona and Bonaparte a chance to get ripping through a submarine blowing stuff up. The final episode has nothing to do with Bakau but rather the new national pasttime Spaceball which is so dangerous that 1 player dies every 2 games. Now talk about spicing up Baseball, well Leona doesn't like it and after talking to some protestors she goes to have a chat with the president of the game which of course get her suspended. Now what can Leona do with just Bonaparte? Or What trouble can she get into no without a badge. This was the series that Shirow released just before Ghost in the Shell. A lot of the city is familiar to Ghost in the Shell as are the character designs but this is a comedy not a deep thinking thriller. This is still good but it isn't Ghost in the Shell.

Story: A
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A 

There is this apartment complex with a strange reputation, there has been thirty deaths here in the last five years. They go unsolved and leave the police baffled but they are the result of a twisted old man who holds the lives of all the residents of the apartment complex in his sway because of his extrasensory powers. Until a little girl appears and her powers are even stronger than the old man. This is from Katsuhiro Otomo so this can be called Akira without the end of the world and biker gangs. This is a good manga, I did prefer the first part which was much more of a police mystery, when the little girl arrives in the second half it is a full on bring the house down psychic battle between the pair of them which is still really good but I had seen that from Otomo before in Akira. This is a good single shot manga if you liked Akira and all that psychic powers stuff.

Story: A+
Artwork: A+
Manga Quality: A+
Overall: A+ 

While returning from a school trip a train loaded with high school students crashes in a tunnel and only three survive. Teko Aoki, Aki Seto, and Nobou Takahashi, three students who until today didn't know one another. They find they are totally trapped inside this mountain tunnel. One of them slowly descends into madness, this kind of trauma would drive most people thoroughly insane. They have no way of contacting the outside and what little information they have about what is going on is from a radio that occassionally coughs out a message from an emergency broadcasting service. So they know something has gone wrong but don't know. This is a good manga because it really is creepy, nothing really jumps out and tries to scare you but it is just an non-stop sense of dread. You just know that everything has gone wrong. This manga came out just before the end of the last century which is important more to the Japanese than to Americans because there was a general sense of doom hanging around the turn of the century as with every century and it didn't involve Y2K. This manga really fed that sense of dread and you can really feel it in each page. I don't know what is coming, if it devolves into zombies or crazy Mad Max stuff I won't like it nearly as much but so far it has been very good at setting a mood that I hope they maintain and pay off in future volumes.