Japan is an endless saturation of manga that we in here in the west can only envy from afar. But everyone know that anything Japan can do the west will certainly have a go at doing ourselves. Original English-language manga or OEL Manga is the term given to graphic novels by westerners that are heavily influenced by Japanese manga. But as nice as OEL Manga sounds it has an uphill battle when it comes to competing with the translations of Japanese manga. But this has not deterred Christy Lijewski from thrusting the rock band inspired drama, romance OEL Manga into our hot little hands called RE:play.

RE:play tells the story of a band in a bit of a bind. Their bass player ED has walked out of the band and out of lead singer Cree’s heart. In a chance meeting Cree meets a busker named Izsak who is playing a song her mother wrote in a train station. Cree is immediately smitten by Izsak and asks him to be the bands new bass player on the spot. Izsak reluctantly agrees to help the band out despite his secret blood realted sickness. This doesn’t please the bands other guitar player Rail, who is weary of Izsak’s involvement. Meanwhile two strange characters shadow the bands every movement and occasionally shake things up with their unnatural powers.

The plot of RE:play sounds simple enough but for the most part it really shines as something unusual and interesting. Lijewski’s punk style illustrations, while not exceptionally detailed suit the rock nature of the story while maintaining a clear Japanese manga influence. The romance holds up really well without feeling at all forced or cheesy. But it is not all peaches and cream for RE:play. Something that really annoyed me was the size of the text used when the character said something under their breath. It’s just too small to read easily compared to the normal text. It is only a minor problem but it disturbs the flow somewhat.

So there we have it. Volume one of RE:play stands out for being very rock and roll and fun to read. The characters are interesting and the story is intriguing enough to make me want more. If Lijewski keep producing work like RE:play the manga motherland may have to finally sit up and more notice OEL Manga. Four needless drum solos!

If you’re keen to check out RE:play, publisher Tokyopop’s website lets you sample the first chapter from each of the current two volumes.

The Warcraft franchise seems to be one overpowering juggernaut of media saturation nowadays. From its humble beginnings as a simple real time strategy computer game to the ever-expanding massive multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, we see such things as dedicated television shows, novels, figurines, and now a manga. Warcraft has a rich history when it comes to the story, so it is not real surprise that a manga adaptation has been thrust upon the legions of adoring fans. Here we have the beginnings of The Sunwell Trilogy Vol. 1 – Dragon Hunt written by Richard Knaak, illustrated by Jae-Hwan Kim.

Dragon Hunt follows almost directly from the end of Warcraft III’s expansion pack ‘The Frozen Throne’, so if you are a fan of the computer games you’ll be right at home with the characters and events that are referred to in this The Sunwell Trilogy. But you aren’t you are left out in the cold. There is a brief history of Warcraft at the beginning of the manga to get you up to speed. The story itself follows the hunt of a shape-shifting dragon called Kalec that is trying to escape from the dragon hunters. He gets shot down and caught in a net, but luckily for him a girl named Anveena comes to his rescue. The manga follows these two as they try to escape the clutches of the dragon hunters and other shady figures that believe Kalec knows the whereabouts of the Sunwell.

While the story certainly seems like the strongest point about this manga there are weaknesses. There have been steps to make the story more accessible to those who have not played the computer games but it still requires more explanation. The use of chapters seems pointless, mostly because the story never really deviates. But the flow of the manga is really nice. Jae-Hwan Kim’s illustrations are wonderful but not eyepopingly gorgeous. Even if you read your mangas quite quick you wont feel like you might of missed something.

Overall Dragon Hunt felt derivative and wistful. It almost feels like an illustrated Followship of the Ring without really coming close to Tolken. Dragon Hunt is certainly more of a fan service rather than something new and exciting. For those unfamiliar with Warcraft it is only worth 2 orcs. For fans of Warcraft a solid 3.5 orcs.