Title: Land of The Blindfolded Volume(s): 9 Author(s): Tsukuba Sakura Format: Unflipped; Right-to-Left Publisher: CMX MSRP: $9.95 Genre(s): Drama Rated: All Ages

When DC Comics announced that they were entering the highly competitive and (in some ways) more profitable manga market, I have to admit that I didn't think too much about the announcement. It's not that this wasn't big news, because it was. No, the reason I didn't give the announcement much thought is because there are so many manga publishers out there, that another one entering the market just wasn't a big deal anymore. Even if that publisher was one of the biggest American comic book companies out there. What I find strange though, is that I would have thought that DC Comics would have launched a manga anthology to premier their stuff, seeing as how they already had good contacts with advertisers, so selling ad space wouldn't have been a problem for them. Instead, DC Comics released the manga under the label of CMX, and they launched their entry with a bunch of no-name and odd duck series. In fact, the only "big" series DC had acquired was "Tenjho Tenge" by artist Oh! great (this was the only manga to have had an anime adaptation and other products made).

"Land of The Blindfolded" is one of the unknowns DC released, and to be frank, it ain't much to write home about. The main character in "Land of The Blindfolded" is Outsuka Kanade, who informs us that she views the world as if everyone is blindfolded, ignorant of their pasts and their futures. Kanade wears a blindfold too, however whenever she touches someone, that blindfold slips, and she gets a glimpse of that persons future. This is an interesting idea, one that is the set-up to an interesting and complex story as well as a great explanation as to why no one ever wins the lottery. Unfortunately, "Land of The Blindfolded" never quite catches fire, and nothing about it is really all that spectacular and memorable. Day in and day out, Kanade use's her gift to help people out of sticky situations and problems, even though she anilates her best friend off and on. At one point in the story two guys come into the picture: Arou and Namiki. Arou can see the past and Namiki can see the future. These two falling in love with Kanade and becoming rivals is a given. Then there are the two bonus stories printed in the back of the book, which, combined, are just as long as the three chapters of the main story. I can't say I was either surprised or disappointed with "Land of The Blindfolded." After all, prior to actually reading the book, I had little interest in the series itself, and I didn't exactly have any expectations to begin with.

All that really happens in this book is Kanade helps out a few people from death or heartbreak, and with her starting a relationship with Arou. And that's really about it. So is the series worth reading? I'm not sure honestly. I didn't love the series, but I didn't hate it either. In fact, I'm not even sure what I thought of it. On one hand, I had a difficult time staying awake because the characters personalities were pretty shallow, the structure of the story was pretty weak, and the dues ex machine seemed pretty underused for how much emphasis was put on it. On the other hand, there were some moments that got me caught up in the story. One scene in particular made me shed a tear, where Arou touches a poster of a lost boy, and see's the boy run into the street and get killed by a hit-and-run driver. What you need to remember about this scene is that Arou can only see the past, and not the future. In this scene, Arou can't help but feel powerless, and in many ways, his silence as he cry's in his hands moves us more then a long, drawn out speech about being helpless would. These moments are few and far between, but they show that this series has potential to be something special, all it needs is the chance to shine. It's a shame, then, that the chance never appears again. I'm sure there will be other moments in this series, but the extra stories included at the back of the book seemed to be cutting into the main feature a little too much at this point.

However, ignoring these few spare moments of brilliance, the rest of the book seemed too conventual to really catch my attention in the long run. Even the art, which is basic shoujo work, seemed pretty so-so, like the story it's giving "life" to. I can't comment on the translation. Not to sound like a pessimist, but even though the dialog flows smoothly and seemed natural, seeing as how DC completely screwed up with that whole "Tenjho Tenge" disaster, I'm going to be open to the possibility that "Land of The Blindfolded" could have very well had some changes made to it. Once I find out for certain whether anything was altered or not, I'll update this review, but at the moment I'm going to not grade the translation and wording until I find out whether or not this translation is, in deed, the real deal. One thing I CAN comment on though is the quality of the actual book itself! Let's see here...questionable paper, wobbly cover, and the binding appears to be unstable. Being an owner of other DC books, I can honestly tell you that the shabby quality of this book doesn't really surprise me. I may prefer DC stories over Marvel, but their cheap paper and easy-to-break books has always been a major problem with DC products, and it looks like their manga division is getting the shaft when it comes to quality as with DC's main books. Nice to know that DC is an equal opportunity production company.

Hopefully the quality of these books will improve someday though, as I remember when Tokyopop released books that were just as poor when they were called Mixx, so maybe CMX books will improve someday. One thing about this book that is definitely a plus is that fact that the series, from what I can see, is G rated. Meaning little girls (who I assume is the main target audience for this series) can pick up this series and mom and dad can breath a sigh of relief. I'm sure there are better G rated shoujo series that girls could be buying, but when the pickings are slim, I guess you take what you can get (especially if you've already finished "Cardcaptor Sakura"). Ultimately, my first impression of DC's CMX line was unimpressive. I didn't care for the series as much as I could have, but I also didn't hate it to the extent where I warn people to stay away from it. It's still up in the air whether or not the translation is good or not, but I can confidentially say that the paper quality of the books is poor, and the binding questionable. I wouldn't use this book to be the guinea pig if you are testing CMX's releases. I'm sure one of their other books of theirs I bought will be better, but until then I can say that "Land of The Blindfolded" is a mediocre title that you should probably just pass if you're on a budget.

- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -