Banya Volume 1: The Explosive Delivery Man

When Banya showed up on my recommendations I didn't quite know what to think. I read the product description and thought what the hell, I'll give it a shot. I'm glad I did! It opens with a beautiful action sequence that had me glued to the pages. I couldn't put it down. The art is stunning, great characters, and humorous interaction. The story is fast paced and very engrossing. In other words, Banya truly is explosive! I'm up to volume 3 and I'm hooked. Hopefully someone makes this into an anime.

I sat in the book store today and read this manga in about 20 minutes. The art is of a quality that suits my taste. There are some exagerated facial features that i could do without as seen in much of the Tokyo Pop mangas. Dark Horse usually does a good job and i am a fan. The retail price for this manga is like 12.95, too expensive for 20 minutes worth of reading. Manga is expensive, man but i love it just wish I could get it cheaper.

Definitely not the typical manga. The cover art is beautiful with a few full color illustrations on the inside pages, and it starts out with a bang! I loved the setting, which is in a desert-like area, and Banya is a spunky character that somehow doesn't fit the cliches of other mangas. The heroine is tough as nails and not the usual "swoon and faint" variety, and she's not hanging on the hero's every word - in fact, through the first book so far, there doesn't seem to be much of a romance developing as they're torn apart on different adventures. I'm not a big manga fan, but I really enjoyed this, and I loved the art - all of the faces and bodies are well proportioned and the detail to the environment is stunning! It's definitely worth the time and money, I can't wait to buy the second one. :)