CHRISTMAS TIME! Reviews, Giveaways, and More!

 It's that time again.

It's the holiday season, which means it's time for another round of the Manga Test Drive's annual Holiday Reviews, where I review one new title from December 1 all the way to Christmas Day.  That also means it's time for our annual Holiday Review Giveaway, where I gift one chosen reader with a $25 gift certificate to Bookshop.org.  That way, your post-Christmas manga shopping spree can also help support whatever independent book store you wish!

In case you are new to the site, here are the rules:

1. To enter, you must leave a comment on this post at our Bluesky account telling us your favorite manga from 2024.  It doesn't matter if it's long or short, digital or print, old or new - so long as it was new to you this year, it counts!
2. The contest begins as soon as this post goes live and ends at 12:01AM CDT Christmas Day.  
3. One winner will be chosen at random no later than New Year's Eve of this year.  I will then contact the winner to obtain a valid email address where the prize can be sent.

I'm also going to do something a little extra this year.  I've been longing to get back to writing more Disaster Reports over at Renaissance Josei and I've also been trying to find way to encourage more people to join our Patreon.  After a bit of thinking, I've devised a way to do both.  I'm giving you, the reader, a chance to stuff our stocking with a bit of anime coal while supporting the site.

Here's my offer: If we get 10 new Patrons between now and Christmas Day, I will pull one of the most infamous works from our Box of Pain and see if I can find anything original to say about one of the most notorious OVAs of all time: Garzey's Wing.

If you want to make me rant about Yoshiyuki Tomino, the world of Byston Well, and YAMATOTAKERUNOMIKOTO, all you have to do is contribute at least $1/month to our Patreon.  If you contribute $5/month or more, you will get exclusive updates on all our various projects as well as a sneak peak of this and any future pieces before they go live.  In the meantime, make sure to follow our Bluesky account so you don't miss a single review.  Happy holidays!

Review: DARLING IN THE FRANXX

 This one is going to be a doozy.  What happens when you combine one of the most controversial mecha shows from the last decade and combine it with one of the horniest mangaka currently working in shonen manga?  You get THIS.

DARLING IN THE FRANXX (Darin In Za Furankisu), based on the original concept by Code:000 with art by Kentaro Yabuki.  First published in 2018 and first published in North America in 2022.

PLOT:

The world has been ravaged by alien creatures known as Klaxosaurs.  What remains of humanity are locked away in mobile fortresses called Plantations, which are protected by giant robots called FRANXX that require both a boy and a girl to pilot.  Young Hiro is one of the many children raised to become a pilot, but he and his previous partner failed and he can't stop sulking over it.  Then he meets the mysterious Zero Two, a half-Klaxosaur girl with a reputation for devouring her partners.  Against all odds, she takes a liking to Hiro, declaring him her "darling" and agreeing to become his co-pilot.  

Review: STELLVIA

It's so rare to find a mecha manga with a female protagonist and mostly female cast that isn't made for the sake of fanservice, which makes it all the more disappointing that this one turned out so poorly.

STELLVIA (Uchu no Suturuvia), based on the anime series by Xebec with art by Ryo Akitsuki.  First published in 2003 and first published in North America in 2005.

PLOT:

Nearly 200 years ago, Earth was ravaged by a massive electromagnetic wave from a supernova.  Even decades later, the night skies are still tinged with green.  That's the reason that Shima Katose wants to become a space pilot: to see what the stars truly look like.  She manages to get into the illustrious space academy Stellvia and makes some friends, but she struggles with her piloting courses.  What she and her friends don't know is that the second wave of radiation is only a few months away...

Review: BOKURANO:OURS

We got a lot of original mecha stories around the turn of the millennium, most of which were anime originals.  This is one of the rare exceptions (even if it got an anime adaptation later down the line). 

BOKURANO OURS (Bokurano), by Mohiro Kitoh.  First published in 2003 and first published in North America in 2010.

PLOT:

It's an ordinary summer in an otherwise unremarkable seaside town.  A group of kids are wandering around the beach when they discover a cave in the cliffside.  Inside that cave they find a strange man in a makeshift room loaded with machinery.  The man asks the kids if they want to play a game, but asks them to pledge to keep it secret.  The kids don't take the situation seriously at the time, but everything changes when they are whisked away from their classrooms and into a sparse, white room inside a giant insectoid robot.  It's only then that the man explains the rules of the game: each child will be given a chance to pilot the robot to fight other alien robots, with the fate of the world on the line.  The kids win their first battle, but in doing so expose some of the emotional fault lines within their friend group with deadly results.

Review: MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: BLUE DESTINY

It's Mecha Month once more at the Manga Test Drive, and naturally I have to start with the franchise I know and like the best...even if this is not one of its best outings. 

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: BLUE DESTINY (Kidou Senshi Gundam Gaiden: THE BLUE DESTINY), based on the franchise created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Hajime Yadate, written and illustrated by MIzuho Takayama.  First published in 1996 and first published in North America in 1999.

PLOT:

Yu Kajima is just one of the many Federation GM pilots fighting to repel the last remaining Zeon pilots in the closing weeks of the One Year War. His skills have brought him to the attention of Captain Alf Chamra, who believes that Yu is the perfect test pilot for his latest project: an experimental suit called The Blue Destiny, controlled by the equally experimental EXAM system.  Now Yu is being pursued by notorious Zeon ace pilot Nimbus Schatzen, all while experiencing strange visions of a mysterious young woman and piloting a mobile suit that struggles to distingush friend from foe in the heat of battle.