Anime & Manga Reviews and News #2: Lagoon Engine

Welcome fellow addicts, to your weekly dose of anime reviews! Let’s leap in headfirst to discuss an unusual title by the artist of D.N. Angel know as Lagoon Engine.

The title certainly sounds odd, doesn’t it? Well, fasten your seatbelts while I drop a shocker in your lap: as far as I can tell, “engines” don’t even come into play with this one. Okay, so it’s not a huge shock; anime titles are notorious for being non-sequitur at times. I just thought I’d let you know ahead of time that this manga isn’t a racing or mecha manga. As for the random word “Lagoon”, the protagonist’s family name is Ragun, so there ya go. Onto the plot!

Twelve year old Yen is the eldest brother in the Ragun household, and hes got quite the life. Every day he has to deal with his irresponsible, brash younger brother, Jin, a mother who’s a novelist and her crossdressing editor Shintaro. To top it all off, he and Jin are the family’s successors to hunt creatures known as Maga. Maga are ghosts and spirits under another name, and fight the brothers by trying to guess their true names. It’s a unique battle system, and the two boys are trying their hardest to become excellent hunters, but they learn along their adventures that not all Maga are evil.

For such a zippy, comedic shounen story, this manga is chock full of questions and scenarios based on the concepts of life and afterlife. Some plot twists are a bit ludicrous, but all in all, the supporting characters are solid and the plot has just enough intrigue to keep you wondering. Battles strategies, such as Yen being the translator for all their battles, and Jin possessing more brute force, are interesting to read and to see put into effect. I am personally interested in seeing how Yen and Jin’s enigmatic cousin comes into play in later volumes, because he seems to be hiding a great deal (not to mention how awkward Yen acts around). The art is very similar to D.N. Angel, but a tad cuter, and perfectly suited to the genre.

Just a short review this week, fellow addicts. I’ll be back with more reviews next week, along with a topic of relative interest to a majority of otaku out there: it’s all about the yuri/yaoi…or is it? When to draw the line at crack pairings, next week! Ja ne!!~