Well, I mentioned it before in the technique thread, and now here it is for all to see: my brand spankin'-new manga review blog - The Manga Test Drive! Once a week, I'll be taking the first volume of a different series for a spin, to sort out the classics from the clunkers, and writing it all up for all to see.

ETA: To make navigating past reviews easier, I've decide to take a cue from Captain X and organize the links at the top of thread.

PREVIOUSLY, ON THE MANGA TEST DRIVE...

7 Billion Needles
Afterschool Nightmare
Ai Yori Aoshi
Alice in the Country of Hearts
Angelic Layer
Antique Bakery
Arisa
Backstage Prince
Bakuman
Battle Vixens
The Beautiful Skies of Houou High
Black Butler
Black Lagoon
A Bride's Story
Ceres: Celestial Legend
Clover
Club 9
Codename: Sailor V
DearS
Dengeki Daisy
Detroit Metal City
A Devil and Her Love Song
D.N. Angel
Durarara!!
Flower In a Storm
Flower of Life
Flowers of Evil
Fushigi Yugi
Gakuen Alice
Gravitation
Gunsmith Cats
Hero Tales
Higurashi When They Cry
Initial D
Is This A Zombie?
Jiu Jiu
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Kaoru Mori: Anything and Something
Kobato
The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service
Land of the Blindfolded
Limit
Mars
Missions of Love
Miyuki-Chan In Wonderland
Moyasimon
MPD-Psycho
Natsume's Book of Friends
No Need For Tenchi!
Olympos
Oreimo
The Palette of 12 Secret Colors
Paradise Kiss
Parasyte
Presents
Pretty Face
The Prince of Tennis
Princess Princess
Red Blinds the Foolish
Red River
RG Veda
Rosario + Vampire
Saber Marionette J
Saint Tail
Sakura-Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura
Sakuran
Samurai Girl Real Bout High School
Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei
Soul Eater
The Stellar Six of Gingacho
Sugar Sugar Rune
Swan
Tenjo Tenge
Train_Man (Densha Otoko)
Trash
Twin Spica
Ugly Duckling's Love Revolution
Until Death Do Us Part
Uzumaki
The Wallflower
Wedding Peach
What a Wonderful World!
The World of Narue
xxxHolic
Young Miss Holmes

I like the idea. Rabbit had a similar idea, but she's too busy to review now. I've heard of Antique Bakery before, but never read a review on it or hear anyone praise it. If I manage to find a copy, I'll give it a read. I've been looking for more josei manga and anime.

As for the background, it's easy on the eyes, which I prefer. If you find a new background, I'd like it to be just as simple.

As for suggestions for the reviews, maybe you could include one or two panels from the manga to give readers a good impression of the art style? A picture can be worth a thousand words.

Durga: I'm glad you liked it. Plus, unlike a lot of OOP manga, Antique Bakery is short, still relatively easy to find, and very affordable. You shouldn't have to pay more than MSRP for secondhand copies.

I'll take the scans into consideration, but if I do it, I'd prefer to scan my own versus just hotlinking any old scan on the internet. As much as people complain about piracy and how it hurts the anime industry, it has nothing on online manga piracy. It's ri-goddamn-diculous, and it really does affect the profits of those manga distributors which are still around. As such, I don't want to encourage it, even indirectly. Even if the use would fall under Fair Use, I'd still prefer to scan my own copies (or ones I rightfully checked from a library) versus using others.

So I spruced up the site a little and added a new email address and Twitter account. I've also added some recommended links - some from anime/manga related TGWTG reviewers, and some from this very section. If you feel like you were overlooked, just send me a note there or here and I will happily add you to the list.

Yes this always a very good idea, and a nice way to do things. I do this sometimes in my text reviews (in fact I'm in the process of working on one right now), and other times end up reading the first three volumes and judging based on that.

My reviews tend to be long and are entirely written, but if you have a interest in reading a really in depth analytical review mine are worth reading (at least I hope they are ^>^) I will definitely watch your review when I get home, and try to provide some commentary. I look forward to seeing your review soon! ^>^

It looks like you have a great set up for reviews. You have a good format which is something that is hard to find when beginning a review site. It took me a long time to establish a good format. You also do a good job summarizing the story without giving too much of it away. Your first choice to review is also something that is both quality, and difference. I would definitely say keep up the hard work, it looks like your doing a good job.

ravenhats: I'm glad you like the site! I am remiss to say that I was not aware of your own manga review blog, but I will be adding it to the recommended sites section.

Also, I have a new review up for this week - Higurashi When They Cry.

Thanks for adding me. That was a good first review of Higurashi, I pretty much agree with you with Higurashi though I had some of other problems with the series (though that is probably because I read through the complete first arc). I reviewed it a long time ago, and your post reminded me to take a look back at how I reviewed then (I was shocked at how much I've improved since I wrote that post). I look forward to reading your next review.

^>^

Well, it's Monday, so it's new review time! I've got a dull little stinker of a title this week, with a notorious fandom. Find out my thoughts on The Prince of Tennis.

Also, so you guys know, I'm going to be out of town on vacation for a while, so next week's review will be posted on Tuesday instead of Monday.

Also, starting this month I will have a special new review series for the end of each month. What will that new series be? STAY TUNED!

Your review reminds me a lot of Y Ruler of Time's thoughts. I can't say I've ever had any interest in sports manga (sports are generally interesting if they're real, in my opinion) and Prince of Tennis looks like it wouldn't change my mind.

Bobcat: I actually wasn't aware that Y had done a video on it until you mentioned it. It was interesting to watch, as he had not only read the series in full, but could approach it as a fan and former player of tennis. I'm not suprised to see we agreed on a few points, because the flaws in PoT were as plain as day, and it sounds like they don't get much better as you go further along.

Anyway, I am finally rested and back to normal after my trip, and I have a new review to show for it! This week, I share my thoughts on one of the hidden gems of the manga world, Twin Spica.