Genre: Action/Comedy/Western

Age Rating:  Teen +

Price:  $9.99

The week this was released, I chose Gankutsuou as my pick of the week. I was wrong; I should have pointed to this (brief aside: that was a week with something really huge dropping, like the second volume of Black Jack--basically a book that we all were pointing out, so I picked something off the beaten path, as is my wont).

It is fun, light, and adventurous--a great rainy day manga. The basic plot is a little thin, but at its core sturdy enough to hang the series on: series hero Naomi is a plucky Japanese tomboy who arrives in an America-esque country to find her parents and seek her fortune. She has very little to go on, other than the notion that there can't be many people who look like her in the West. Along the way she gains three companions that provide comic tension (a horse that will only gallop in a straight line westward, and two cowboy badasses, one black and one white, that both claim to be her long lost family), plus a straight man/explainer/potential love interest.

The art by Yugami is limber and thin with a slight texture--it reminded me enough of Taiyo Matsumoto for me to warm to it. His figures are lanky with lots of action. All good stuff. The characters are nothing new, but good solid fun nonetheless, if only because the Western setting is rare enough (aren't you tired of mobsters, assassins, and elves?) to provide some freshness. It reminded me of some older manga, like an old school setup in a series by Rumiko Takahashi or Akira Toriyama. Overall, a fun enough manga that I enjoyed it and will check out the next volume when it comes out in a few months.

7.5