This third volume of the second season of the Rosario+Vampire manga begins with a single chapter story that sees Koko witness what she thinks is an attack on a student and the werewolf Gin, head of the President Newspaper Club is the main subject. This is a reasonably good chapter that does a nice job of reintroducing the playboy Gin and gives a nice indication of the various aspects of his personality.

Once this is over, the rest of the volume is taken up with the first serious arc of the series with the Newspaper Club taking a summer trip to Mizore's wintery homeland. Once there the group get caught up in the politics and traditions of the Yuki-Onna (the translation calls them Snow Fairies but I think that is a silly name and prefer the original Japanese term) resulting in Mizore being kidnaped and forced into an arranged marriage. This arc is a very good one, despite its seriousness, that gives us a nice look at the Mizore's background and the culture of the Yuki-Onna. There is some action in this part of the volume but most of the action for this arc will be at the beginning of the next volume and some really nice emotional moments for Mizore. The arc also gives a bit more development for Mizore's mother, who is quite an interesting character in her own right, and has a nice cliffhanger ending.

The volume includes the usual 4-koma strips at the end of the volume, as well as a brief afterword. Overall this was a very good volume that is well worth a full five stars.

While I must admit that my experience with camcorders is limited to the ancient one my parents use to own, I found the Samsung QF20 SMART to be light and very easy to use. The quality of the HD picture is good (although it does get a bit grainy in extreme zoom and in low light). The camcorder can be used by both right and lefthanders, although the LCD display can be a little sluggish orientating itself if flipped quickly. There are a number of various visual effects that can be used and the camcorder also has a nice camera function

On the downside I have found the sound can be slightly tinny on occasion and the touch screen seems a little sluggish (although that is probably due to me being unused to it). As well as this the camcorder doesn't come with a memory card or a HD lead. While this is only a minor inconvenience (the camcorder has wireless connectivity), it could be slightly annoying to anyone.

While I am not much of an expert on these things and have yet to try out all the functions, I found the Samsung QF20 SMART Full HD Memory Camcorder to be good for someone like me and I would rate it around four stars.

This ninth volume of the 'Soul Eater' manga concludes one story arc and begins another. The first part continues from the previous volume and sees Corona is put into an comfortable by Medusa, being forced to betray DWMA by first attempting to find the secret vault between the school and then to plant a snake on Marie so that Medusa can keep track of her and Dr Stein. This is a nice plot heavy storyline that should make you feel sorry for Corona as he/she is manipulated by Medusa.

The second part of the volume begins the Brew arc with Maka and her friends having a bit of trouble with their training before moving on to a remote Arctic island where the forces DWMA and Arachnophobia clash. This is a nice storyline with some good development for Maka at the beginning and some very good action as well, the fight between Sid and Mifune being particularly good. The battle also allows some other Meisters to get in on the action with Klink, Ox and Kim all getting some nice scenes.

Between these two arcs there is a bonus chapter dealing with the return of Excalibur and him teaming up with a weak DWMA student called Hero. This chapter is quite funny in places but it is basically just fluff.

Overall this was a nice volume of 'Soul Eater' and was well worth a full five stars.

The third movie for the Bleach anime, Fade to Black is probably the best one so far. The movie sees Mayuri Kurotsuchi conducting an experiment when he is attacked by a mysterious figure that erases a part of his memories. While the experiment subsequently goes out of control, consuming a third of the Seireitei, the mysterious attackers kidnap Rukia and remove her from the memories of the entire Soul Society. Back in the world of the living, Ichigo is the only one who remembers Rukia and travels to the Soul Society to find out what is wrong only to discover that nobody remembers him either.

Fade to Black was a very entertaining movie and one that any Bleach fan would enjoy. While there are places that the plot may seem like an excuse to fight against the other Soul Reapers once again, it is nonetheless still quite interesting with some nice emotional moments as well as some nice action. The animation for the movie is very good and the voice acting for the English dub is generally on a par with that of the series proper (the Japanese version is included as well of course). The villains for the movie were nicely done and surprisingly sympathetic as well once you discover their motivations.

Fade to Black is a very good film and one that is well worth a full five stars.

This second volume of the 'Fairy Tail' anime sees the show improve greatly. The volume begins with the conclusion of the Demon island arc with Natsu and his friends fighting to stop the revival of the powerful demon Deliora and trying to lift the curse on the islanders but not everything is as it seems. This is a good arc that includes some nice backstory for Gray and has some nice action as well as some humour.

After the Demon Island arc is done we get a couple of standalone episodes. The first is a light but funny filler episode involving body swapping that does a reasonable job of introducing Levi and her partners. The second standalone episode is based on one of the manga side stories and shows us the events of Happy's birth. This is a very nice episode that has some entertaining humour as well as giving us a nice view of how the various characters in the show were when they were kids.

The final four episodes of the volume begin the Phantom Lord arc with which sees Fairy Tail come under attack from a rival guild, causing massive damage to the guild house and leaving some members hospitalized. It is this part of the series that things become really good with some revelations about various characters background, some nice action sequences and some reasonably emotional moments as well (the expansion of Elfman and Mirajane's background is particularly good). This arc also gives some of the more minor members of the guild a chance to show off their magic which is always nice.

The main improvement to the show in general with this second volume seeing far less use of the stock footage than the episodes in the previous volume did. The animation of the series is just as good as the previous volume and although there are a few minor changes to from the manga here and there, they are mostly minor and easily overlooked. The English dub still has a few issues though with some inaccuracies creeping in a couple of times (a major one being the explanation of Sherry's magic as allowing her to control any living thing, and then she uses it to control rocks in the following episode) but as with the previous volume the Japanese version is included as normal. On the plus side though I will admit that I am getting use to Todd Haberkorn voicing Natsu and the choice of Ed Blaylock to voice the Phantom Lord guild master Jose was perfect.

There are still a few downsides to the show that stops me giving this volume a full five stars though. First, each episode has got an extremely annoying warning not to sit too close to the TV. Secondly is the choice by the animators to remove some of the blood and battle damage when compared to the manga. This is usually the case for shonen anime (such as in Bleach when Jidanbo had his arm cut off in the manga but only received a deep cut in the anime) but is particularly annoying here when characters talk about how wounded they are but they just look a little dirty.

Overall while the show still has flaws, this second volume of 'Fairy Tail' is very entertaining and well worth a four stars.

Having returned from the future world of Psyren, Ageha and Asaga begin training with a friend of Matsuri-sensei in order to learn the psionic skill Enhance. As well as this Ageha learns the truth about his powerful and dangerous ability and what is in store for him if he is unable to control it. Meanwhile the group is contacted by the mysterious Elmore Tenjuin who wants to talk to them about Psyren.

This fourth volume of the Psyren manga is another very good volume with some nicely humorous moments as well as some interesting training sequences. The volume includes some nice information about the history of psionic powers and reveals the motivation and background of Elmore Tenjuin. The volume also introduces a number of interesting new characters in the form the young psionic users who live with Elmore Tenjuin. Overall this volume is mainly setting things up for future volumes with Ageha, Asaga and Oboro getting more confident with their abilities and Kirisaki inadvertently discovering some information on how the world of Psyren came to be.

This fourth volume is a very good instalment of the series and one that is well worth a full five stars.

This second volume of the 'Nagash Trilogy' is taken up with two separate storylines that are happening simultaneously. The first storyline follows the political manoeuvring of the Lahmian court as they experiment with Nagash's elixir of immortality while attempting to consolidate their power with the other cities of Nehekhara. The second storyline sees the defeated Nagash discovering Cripple Peak and his fight to gain control of the surrounding barbarian tribes while he experiments with the power of warpstone.

'Nagash the Unbroken' is an entertaining book that is somewhat hamstrung by the amount that has to fit in the story. It would have been much better had the two storylines in the book been given their own separate novels as they are both interesting stories that are important to the backstory of the background of both the Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings armies and they do seem to be unfortunately underdeveloped due to being squeezed into the same book. This is most obvious with Nagash's half of the book as it does seem to skip over some things and as this is meant to be a series focusing on him, this is somewhat disappointing. Another problem the book has is that there is something of a lack of characterization for some of the secondary characters with important people such as Abhorash, W'soran and Ushoran receiving little development.

As with the previous book, there are a few changes here and there to the established continuity as laid out in the relevant Army Books but most of these are mostly just changes to the detail with the major events still in place.

Having said this Mike Lee does do a good job of making each story interesting in its own right and the book is a lot better and easier to read than the first book in the series. His treatment of Neferata in particular is nicely done (despite its deviation from her usual canon characterization) and if anyone is the true star of the book it's her.

Despite the books many faults, 'Nagash the Unbroken' is still a very interesting book and while the Nagash fans may be disappointed at him playing second fiddle to Neferata they shouldn't be put off from reading this entertaining novel. Overall, while the 'Nagash Trilogy' may not be quite as good as the 'Sigmar Trilogy', it is definitely a good edition to the Time of Legends series.

Based on the Song of Ice and Fire series of books by George R. R. Martin, the first season of Game of Thrones is a greatly entertaining series. Although I have yet to read the books themselves, after watching this series they have definitely moved near the top of my to-read list. The series itself follows the political manoeuvring of the in the land of Westeros and does so very nicely.

The series has a large cast of characters and while there are some that probably don't get the screen time and development that they deserve, this is probably inevitable when you transfer a book to television. Of the characters in the series my favourite has to be the dwarf Tyrion Lannister who uses wit and intelligence to make up for his physical difficulties and is brilliantly played by Peter Dinklage. There are a few poor performances here and there from some of the other cast members but in general the performances are generally quite good. The effects are good for a TV show and although the pacing of the plot is admittedly a little slow, it is nonetheless interesting and entertaining.

Game of Thrones was a fun and compulsive to watch and while I am not sure how faithful it is to the original books, I do feel that there are a few parts that I seem to be somewhat redacted but I cannot say for sure. Overall the series just feels right and is a lot better than many other series I have seen lately.

This eleventh volume of the Fate/stay night manga is the last to be published by Tokyopop before it finished trading. The volume deals with the aftermath of the fight with Caster, with Saber in danger of disappearing due to lack of mana and Archer still acting antagonistically towards Shiro. After recovering from his injuries, Shiro is confronted by Berserker's Master Illya who has her own plans for him.

This is another good volume of Fate/stay night that advances the plot of the series reasonably well. The volume also gives us some of more information about Saber's past and reviles just why Illya is so obsessed with Shiro. Illya is a fun character and it is good to see her getting some focus.

This was a nice volume and well worth a full five stars. It is a shame that there won't be any more volumes released but we can only hope that another company picks up the licence for the series.

As Lancer gets his chance to fight against Archer to the best of his abilities, Rin and Shiro sneak into Fuyuki Church to confront Caster. The two former masters are a little out of their league but they put up a good fight nonetheless.

This tenth volume of the Fate/stay night manga is the penultimate release of the series before Tokyopop went bust but at least it is a good one. The volume is very action orientated and the fight scenes have been done very nicely, the battle between Rin and Caster is especially good as is the fight between Lancer and Archer. The volume also includes some interesting information on the past of Casters master Souichirou Kuzuki as well as some nice emotional moments towards the end.

This is a very nice volume of the manga and is well worth a full five stars.