Subject: Manga Reviews: Pumpkin Scissors, vol. 1 | Author | Messages | Billy Aguiar
Posts: 84
 | Posted: 11/2/2007 10:31:08 AM | Pumpkin Scissors, vol. 1
Del Rey Manga
$10.95, B/W, 224 pages, Available Nov 27th!
By Ryotaro Iwanaga
Rated 16+
Reviewed by Billy Aguiar
3 stars
The Pumpkin Scissors are a small military unit of the Empire, who are operating three years after the end of the war with the neighboring Republic of Frost. The war ended in a cease-fire which reveals that both countries mutually were devastated. There are still areas of lawlessness in the Empire, and the Pumpkin Scissor are one of the relief and reconstruction units that are to deal with that. But it is very small unit and mostly intended to push paper around rather than do actual work. But don't let Lt Alice Malvin know that, as the field commander of the unit she is entirely focused on her mission, no matter if it renegade chemical warfare troopers, bloodsport obsessed nobles or even intransigent villagers afraid of being taken advantage of again in her way. On a mission she acquires the assistance of former soldier who is taken in with her vision of recovery from the war, Randall Oland, who was part of one of the secret units in the war. His unit specialized in taking out tanks with nothing more than a handgun and blue flashlight.
Some people are going to want to link this to current world events, but so far, at most you can say real world events reminded people that the time after the war is often when if life is most difficult. All that is left then to do is to pick up the pieces rather than an epic struggle, whatever that war was over. While some of the characters seem like they came from central casting, for once they seem to derive more from western traditions than from Japanese stock characters. The stories combine character bits and action, as the problems of reconstruction have to handled only through the assistance with others but also there is a lot of loose equipment and soldiers that have found nothing better to do after the war that need to be dealt with also. The art is a nice clean style so it is easy to keep track of the action no matter how intense the action, and there is an anime series based on the series coming out from ADV Films that should attract attention to the title.
This is a weekly review here on the CBG site, but don’t forgot to check out my other review site, Prospero’s Manga for more reviews.
www.delreymanga.com
Vol 1. ISBN: 0-34550-119-5
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