By Dani Brown
Kei Kusunoki is a pen name of Japanese mangaka Mayumi Ohashi born on March 24, 1966 in Iwakura, Aichi (Japan). She’s famous for horror and comedy mangas. Her debut work, Nanika ga Kanojo tori tsuita?, was published in 1982 by Ribon Original while she was still in high school. She has 2 kids and her twin sister Kaoru Ohashi also draws manga resulting in a joint work of theirs. Kusunoki’s best mangas include Girls Saurus and Girls Saurus DX. She writes manga both for women (shoujo) and men (seinen, shounen) with 30+ works lately.
In 1990 she released a 1-volume comedy & romance Vampire manga about a vampire in love with a human. The next year came her biggest, 20-volume Onikirimaru with some horror elements. There a phenomenal human-looking ogre (oni) born with a sword in hand, Onigirimaru (Ogre Slayer), takes his name and pride in the sword. Ogres escaped the human world but Onigirimaru believes in his human nature and mission to kill all his kin in Japan.
1991 released her comedy Migiko Nipponichi!! manga of 2 stories. In the 1st one little Sakon cared for Migiko until his abrupt break-up. Now, grown-up Migiko tries to catch his attention as Japan’s top idol. The 2nd story, Takuya of the 7 Wonders, describes a school rumor that anyone entering the building at night will vanish. Oblivious Sanami from middle school decides to disprove this rumor but only loses the best friend and has to save herself before disappearing.
A romance Dokkan Love manga came out in 1995. Dark Guy and his hordes decide to start conquering the world from Japan’s countryside, unaware of heroic Blue Hunter. But after saving young Tachibana Honoka, Blue Hunter becomes also attacked by… her liking. Torn between defending the planet and dating Honoka, he tries to reveal his homely true ID, Fuwa Shinpei.
In 1996 she released a 3-volume Yamada-kun ga Tooru manga. Yuji Yagami from high school can’t but have a crush on his own super young-looking mother, Nomi, who also attracts his class teacher. However Nomi is publicly crazy about her husband Yoji which embarrasses Yuji.
D no Fuuin manga (1999) featuring horror tells about Daria, a seemingly ordinary schoolgirl though often targeted by miracles. Once an evil stranger sets to kill her making her average life a whirlwind…
In a 3-volume comedy & romance 100 Ways of an Exorcist manga (Yuuko-chan 100 Renpatsu!!, 2000), the plot begins with a love letter to a new 5th grader, Mayu Kodabutsu, from her cute classmate, Yuuko Hai. But instead of envy, he gets condolences about exorcist (!) Mayu destined to try her terrifying ways.
A 3-volume Diabolo (2001) manga combining horror and shoujo was by Kaoru Ohashi with Kusunoki’s illustrations. There Ren and Rai are defeated by the Diabolo while trying to save little Mio’s (Ren’s cousin’s) soul… Despite the failure, they were compensated with powers worth the girl’s life.
2-volume Girls Saurus (2001) is a male manga where Shingo Chiryuu suffers from gynophobia. His fear of women developed after a fat girl’s attack, now making him see them as dinosaurs. To complicate things, girls seem always around. So Shingo has no other way but to cure this fear… A sequel manga in 10 volumes, Girls Saurus DX, proceeded in 2002.
Koi Tomurai manga (Love Burial) is a romance story collection. Asahi, mourning her former best friend, comes to a desolate school on the hill notorious as cursed and last for any visitor. Only there does Asahi meet him…!
The Bitter Virgin manga was released in 2005 targeting mature readers. Suwa Daisuke behaves like a young local playboy able to win over any schoolgirl. Only Aikawa Hinako seems an exception but only till he accidentally learns her dark secret…
One of Kusunoki’s latest horror mangas is Kedamono no Uta (2008). Its action unfolds in a monster world. Heavily beaten up at an ex-hospital, Kotoha recovers looked after by her classmate Yui. She says she can recall something only when on the crime scene again. Yui decides to find the criminal and save Kotoha’s reputation by bringing her there.
In 2009 Kusunoki began releasing her new Yaoyorozu Toushinden Kami-gakari manga. So she keeps pleasing her fans.
Dani is a huge lover of shounen manga. He suggests visiting the website AnyManga.com to read manga online free.
How The Art Of The Unspoken Word Can Be Funny
Movie Reviews Sherman’s Way
By Mr D Stevens
This is a well made comedy drama for a journey of self discovery, focusing on a law student Sherman Black played by Michael Shulman who discovers a little about himself and life from a road trip with a two-time Olympian, Palmer played by James LeGros (Ally McBeal).
We meet Sherman with his girlfriend Marcy played by the lovely Lacey Chabert (she has grown quite a lot since the amazing child actress in Party of Five). Marcy has issues with Sherman for not taking charge and making his own decisions, it turns out every aspect of his life is being controlled by his powerful mother Evelyn, played by Donna Murphy (she still looks as ageless as she did with Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: Insurrection), she controls which law firm he chooses to do his internship, and is against him spending the summer with Marcy.
Sherman decides to go against the grain and prove to Marcy that he can make decisions for himself, and attempts to ignore his mother’s wishes by spending the summer with Marcy, without letting her know, he intends to just turn up at her door step, in the process he happens to bump into another fellow who helps him with his luggage, on both of them reaching Marcy’s front door, he is a little surprised to see Marcy kissing the guy, she eventually notices him and while he walks away in a rage, she follows him, but instead of apologising she says “this is what it seems” and tells him she is just trying to explore the different options life has in store for her.
In his anger Sherman decides to go back to the law internship his mother had arranged for him, and hails a driver to give him a lift, and Palmer arrives, fresh from an unfortunate performance at a car dealership, which he left with a classic vehicle nicknamed “The Rooster”, it turns out Palmer is estranged from his son, and would like to give him “The Rooster” as a graduation present, except his son graduated three years ago. After a short stop at a dinner, Sherman unfortunately finds out he has lost his wallet getting into Palmer’s car, and has no option but to phone his mother for financial assistance, however he takes this opportunity to stand his ground against her demands, and stays with Palmer to prove a point to himself that he can make his own decisions.
The two unlucky individuals find themselves paired together at the home of Palmer’s friend D.J., played by Enrico Colantoni (A.I.), and although they seem to be polar opposites; with Sherman intent on keeping a schedule, while Palmer on the other hand would rather take life as it comes, they end up learning from each other. While Palmer’s Rooster is being fixed Sherman does some shopping around the town for his supplies, and bumps into the lovely and odd Addy, played by Brooke Nevin (The 4400), they become friendly and Sherman asks her on a date, unfortunately he cannot drive, neither can he swim, and ends up having Palmer drive both of them around, where they end up in a lake, in a very comical scene.
It is a lovely romantic movie, many will enjoy.
Mr D Stevens is a reviewer at Movie reviews
Movie - Four Christmases
By Mr D Stevens
This is a lovely holiday season movie, starring the lovely Resse Witherspoon (playing a far different character these days than the affectionate and effervescing young lady in Legally Blonde) as Kate and the hyperactive Vince Vaughn (The Wedding Crashers) as Brad, a couple who would rather spend Christmas vacationing in Fiji than with their families, in fact they make it a ritual during the holidays to go on vacation but to lie to their families that they are involved in a worthy cause (usually charity) that can justify their exclusion during any holiday event.
Over the years their lies about inoculating babies in Burma, or doing some other charity work has always helped them avoid their families for Christmas, but on this particular time as they are waiting at the airport, it turns out all flights have been cancelled because of a bad fog, and a TV crew happens to be interviewing passengers on how they feel about their flights being cancelled during the holiday period, they so happen to come upon Brad and Kate, much to their embarrassment as their phones soon afterwards start ringing; with their respected families saying they have seen them on TV.
Brad and Kate now see they have no choice but to visit all four of their families (Brad’s mum and dad played by the stalwart Robert Duvall The GodFather as Howard and Sissy Spacek JFK as Paula, since they are divorced) and Kate’s families (her mum and dad, played by the dependable Jon Voight Midnight Cowboy as Creighton and Mary Steenburgen In The Electric Mist as Marilyn, who are equally divorced) hence the name Four Christmases.
The first visit is to the home of Brad’s father, it turns out his brothers Denver and Dallas played by Jon Favreau (The Break-Up) and Tim McGraw, are UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) type cage fighters (except there are not professional but only upload their fights on youtube), and no sooner are they re-acquainted does Brad finds himself in some bone crunching wrestling moves, it turns out this is the norm, and that Brad’s real name is Orlando, which Kate didn’t know, she takes him to one side to ask why he didn’t feel comfortable with her after three years of a relationship, to reveal this bit about himself, he says he changed his name because he didn’t like it, and didn’t see a problem. It also turns out that there is a $10 limit to the presents that should be bought for the children, however Brad was unaware of this and bought an Xbox for one of his nephews, while the other nephew has to make do with a torch light, much to the father’s embarrassment.
The visit to Kate’s family also reveals some of her fears, that for some time the kids around the neighbourhood avoided her because they thought she had cooties, calling her “Cootie Kate”, and her passive aggressive older sister Courtney played by the endearing Kristin Chenoweth (RV) reveals these embarrassing secrets.
The visits amongst Brad’s and Kate’s respective families shows that the couple are not as close to each other as they thought, especially during a game where the partner has to guess what card the other half is holding, without giving out the name, and this prompts Kate especially to reconsider if they are true and comfortable with each other to spend the rest of their lives together.
It is a warm festive movie, the whole family will enjoy.
Mr D Stevens is a reviewer at Movie reviews
