On the Paper Trail: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Official Casebook: Vol. 1

Ladies and Gentlemen here we are, back on the paper trail and at the last manga book for a while. I will explain why in a little bit but as a recap we took a look at Zelda, Mega Man, WoW, among other titles however I can clearly say that the Phoenix Wright was the fist manga that literally had me go WTF out loud to myself.

For those who do not know Phoenix Wright is a point and click adventure that has a twist where you are a lawyer who is defending you clients in trial there is no win/lose situation right away but the various evidence you collect plus the connections you make with them will allow you to either win or lose the trial. This Manga does not cover that aspect, it is more of a slice of life of things that occur outside the court room.

This collaborative piece has various authors going and portraying the characters from this series as they would go and interact with them in vignettes about things that could take place in every day life. These range for adopting a kitty cat, piecing together why they actually choose their profession, finding a lost ball, and explaining to a little girl that a professional relation doesn't have to be a loving one.

This book does not take itself seriously even having two stories referring to the fact they are in the manga and needing to go and spice it up, one has a makeover from phoenix wright as done by the side characters while another holds a trial in an arena like environment playing to the crowd for dramatic effect.

There are MANY authors in this story and none of them connect with one another, which leaves you sometimes confused and lost in the various narratives that take place at random intervals of the Phoenix Wright saga. Now if all these stories took place say between the first or second games that would help the reader ground themselves in the environment the authors are working in, however this book has it scatter shot throughout the series. This allows non gamers to get into the stories without an issue but as a narrative makes it really disjointed.

Final verdict, if you enjoy Phoenix Wright style humor and the slice of life stories this is a pick up, otherwise there is nothing here that stands out to get you into the series based on this game. Next time we are going to do a double feature!

On the Paper Trail: Mega Man ZX Volume 1

We are back to the trail with our Manga celebration, needless to say due to me thirsting for something different on this list we are going to turn the corner on this after one more title, but for right now we are back to Mega Man and Udon with their ZX title. For those who do not know the ZX games are good Mega Man games that were on both the GBA and DS and are known for their old school difficulty and frustrating level designs. As for the story line it was not known for that being top notch but its an effort to say the least.

So what is this story about? Well yes it is about Mega Man ZX, but its the origin story. Mega Man in this scenario is a delivery man who is running late for a job where a package that needs to be delivered. This universe has the mavericks causing chaos and attempting to destroy the rebels who are fighting against them. One thing leads to another and the delivery agents get attacked from the Mavericks, our hero falls down a cliff with the package only to find that it is a Bio-Metal which fuses with him in his attempt to save other people and turns him into Mega Man X. His coworker also get fused with this and turns herself into Mega Man Z.

After some explanation on how the alliance attempts to counter act the Mavericks civilians get attacked by the Mavericks to expose both Mega Men and destroy them. Sure enough Mega Man Z gets mortally wounded and at her last ditch effort gives her Bio-Metal to Mega Man X therefore making him Mega Man ZX, after defeating the area boss Mega Man vows to avenge his friends' death by going to join the alliance.

There are two more filler stories about Mega Man outwitting boss characters and leaning it on a cliff hanger for volume 2. The story itself is ok, it is clearly aiming for a younger audience as most of the key players are of teenage years. The art is alright with small touches brought to you by game graphics like the power meters and some explosions. Everything else reminds me of a slightly more detailed chibi style, it works for the age group that it is trying to attracted to this title however older readers won't get anything out of it.

Overall this story is made for teens but has enough for older readers to go and pique their interest, the emotional Mega Man may have you think he listens to Lincoln Park however once he isn't emotional is tolerable to relate to. The Mavericks pose a good threat and has an interesting back story that they only tell you in small doses that will encourage you wanting to more. The story gives you enough back story and lays the foundation enough to make you want to know more of the environment however I could easily see people turned off by this younger iteration of Mega Man.

Final verdict, check it out at the library/book store and if it interests you then continue with the series otherwise avoid it. For the last installment for the Manga celebration we will take a look at a title I got from Too Many Games, stay tuned.

On the Paper Trail: Mega Man MegaMix Vol. 1

Welcome back to the trail partners and for this installment we are going to talk about Manga. You know Manga, its the Japanese comic Book where you need to read it backwards in order to read it properly. All kidding aside I have nothing wrong with manga, except that the majority of them are serialized so much that to do a proper review requires me to take out a loan to afford it all. So from the jump I am only talking about Volume 1 of mangas unless otherwise specified.

Now for Mega Man MegaMix it is a series created by Hitoshi Argiga and published by Udon. Udon has been known for taking Capcom licensed mangas and treating them with respect. Simply holding the art to the original form, leaving more then enough translation notes, and keeping everything as close to the original as possible. In short, this is a good publisher if these books are up your alley.

Now the book is actually comprised of three unique stories using the various characters from Mega Man 1,2 and 3 to great effect. The first story covers Mega Man 1 where Dr. Wily takes over the robots created by Dr. Light (Right if you are from Japan) and attempts to take over the world. Rock, a service robot demands to become a combat robot to save the humans and Light reluctantly does so. By happenstance Rock discovers the powers of coping abilities and uses them to defeat the various foes and defeats Wily before a cunning escape.

Story two has a more terrorist plot involved as Wily's own creations are used to launch giant skull satellites into orbit to destroy the world and have robot reign supreme. I won't spoil the ending of this one but needless to say Item 2 makes a great cameo in this story.

Story three has Wily recreating Yellow Devil from the original Mega Man but this time Wily's robots are working with Mega Man trying to stop Yellow Devil from causing more harm then good. The ending is bittersweet and reminds you that not all stories have to be used in cannon in order to be effective.

The art and attention to detail is amazing, various minor characters are used to great effect on being general goons and the action fits with the series itself. All the robot masters act appropriately and designed authentically to the various chibi incarnations that you have seen. The ending of the stories do include various character profiles to give you more information on each robot master that was presented in the story and a humorous message from the author detailing some changes he made to the story to make it work better.

All in all if you are a fan of the original Mega Man games give this a look through, currently there are three volumes available with a GigaMix being rumored as well.