PSYCHO BUSTERS, Volume One
© Del Rey
Mania Grade: C
Story by: Yuya Aoki
Art by: Akinari Nao
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Price: $10.95
Buy it now!
Story by: Yuya Aoki
Art by: Akinari Nao
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Price: $10.95
Buy it now!
PSYCHO BUSTERS, Volume One
By: Nadia OxfordReview Date: Friday, November 02, 2007
"Psycho Busters" sounds like a title an average high school student would give to his average creative writing project, so it's no surprise that a manga called Psycho Busters is … well, average. In fact, Psycho Busters is about as generic as a manga gets.
Kakeru, a typical hornball teenage boy, wishes for an adventure to fall in his lap and lo and behold, he gets his wish. His fate is quickly tangled up with that of four "psychics," young teens with varying powers of awesomeness. The teens are on the run from "Farmers," an evil organisation that seeks to harvest the youngsters for unspecified reasons. Kakeru, formally a mere champion of wanking over his dad's schoolgirl pornography stash, is amazed to learn that he has hidden powers of his own that might shift the fortunes of the downtrodden psychics.
Psycho Busters is worth a few shallow thrills and a few shallow laughs. Kakeru is a moron and an unlikely hero, not exactly an endangered species on the manga pages. His gung-ho attitude and antics are kind of amusing, but he's not a character who will live forever in the hearts of readers once they've closed the manga.
Similarly, the supporting cast kind of comes and goes without making ripples. The four hunted psychics are memorable for their powers (which don't vary far beyond the typical "healing" and "astral projection") but not their personalities. The same can be said about the "Farmers," a typical band of shadowy corporate losers who think of their quarry more as products than people. After much murmuring and gasping, they decide to set the "Category Ones" on the trail of the psychics, but all the build-up is simply for a band of boring enemy psychics with more boring abilities. Kakeru goes up against a Category One with a very obvious power, but when he deduces what that power is (a task probably not impossible for a baby monkey), the Category One is shocked.
Generic all across the board, Psycho Busters' artwork doesn't offer anything remarkable, but it's fun to look at. However, there are instances where it's just plain bad. An example can be found in a two-page spread that introduces one of the Category One characters. The perception is off, so the character looks like he's actually sitting on the buildings that are supposed to be in the background.
If you discover a friend with Psycho Busters, bum it off him and read it for a few minutes of entertainment. Otherwise, don't bother. Volume one retails for $10.95.
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