Title: Tenryu: The Dragon Cycle Volume(s): 10 Author(s): Sanami Matoh Format: Unflipped; Right-to-Left Publisher: CMX MSRP: $9.99 Genre(s): Fantasy Rated: Teen (13+)

Another day, another manga from the "Censoring Manga eXperts" - sorry, I mean CMX - to review. And in case you couldn't tell from the big red square on the cover (which is NOT a sticker, I might add), this series is from the guy who wrote "Fake," a series I have yet to review (though I admit to having little to no interest in reading). Like most CMX manga I buy, I have little to no expectations for this one, and it sat on my shelf for a couple of months while I read other such "classics" like "Doubt!!" and "Ouran High School Host Club." I'm now regretting putting this series on hold, as now that I've read it, I find it to be one of the more fun series I've read this year. The story of "Tenryu: The Dragon Cycle" revolves around two brothers named Hiryu and Ryukei, who are on a quest to avenge their father who had been brutally murdered after he refused to join an evil clan.

The two brothers save a girl named Ryurei (and her annoying shrimp "protector") from the evil crime lord Torao, and they team up with her to help bring Torao down. Somewhere in between all the sword fights and (comical) verbal exchanges, Ryurei discovers that these two brothers may be the key into winning the current war. You see, these two brothers can summon their very own dragons, which is the kind of power Torao wants for himself. So let's see if we have all the successful ingredients for making a good action comedy:

1. Great artwork?

Check! The artwork in "Tenryu: The Dragon Cycle" is breathtaking. Whether the situation is serious, comical, or action-packed, the artwork succeeds on every level in this series.

2. Likable characters?

Check! The cast in this book are all extremely likable. As brothers, Hiryu and Ryukei are both extremely likable characters that you get attached to instantly. They have that brotherly love/hate relationship that rings true to life, and they are very easy to relate to if you are in that situation yourself (*reviewer slowly raises his hand*). Ryurei is also an extremely likable character. While most female protagonists in a series like this would be regulated simply as the token messenger and love interest, Ryurei is all that and more. She is kind, she puts the boys in their place when they are acting stupid, and she's definitely capable of taking care of herself if need be. Her midget "protector" makes for some good laughs, but seeing as how some of the characters are naturally funny already (probably because their personalities ring so true to life), this guy’s forced humor seems out of place right now. But that might change in future books.

3. Intriguing story?

Semi-check. Right now the set-up for the journey is pretty basic, so it’s hard to say whether or not it will go in any special directions. But hey, this series has dragons in it, and series with dragons are always cool to some extent. Right?

And finally, "Tenryu: The Dragon Cycle" has the most important ingredient of all: heart. See, all the stuff I listed above is quite basic. If I were making recommendations based on stats and requirements, then "Tenryu: The Dragon Cycle" just barely passes the test. But when you add heart to all the above ingredients, then the series becomes much better than it otherwise would have been. I've read this particular story before, so where the story is going doesn't bother me too much. But the characters? I like the characters. They are really fun people to hang with, the kind of people you would like to meet in real life. They have personality traits and stories that ring true to real life, and I suspect many people will love these guys just because they may either see some of themselves in one of these characters, or they may see someone they know in one of these characters. If the characters were only going through the motions, then this series wouldn't even pick up any steam to hold the reader past the first couple chapters. Thanks to some skillful writing, though, the author has managed to make this fairly basic book into something special.

One thing I am going to gripe about, though, is the quality of the book. To make a long story short, this is the worst book CMX has released to date. A stiff cover, the most flimsy binding ever, and paper quality that is beyond horrible. Quite frankly, I'm surprised (even with CMX's past quality slip-ups) that this book even made it to store shelves. I would think that someone would have picked up one of the books and realized that the book was practically unreadable. Seriously, I had to purposely damage the cover JUST so I could read it! NOT a good thing! The book quality is so bad, in fact, that I have to bring the book’s grade down not one notch, but TWO! I don't like doing things like this, because it's almost unfair to the series itself, but CMX just can't make books this poorly made and get away with it. Dropping the grade is one of the only things I can do (and it REALLY kills the editors when a good review becomes a mediocre review JUST because the binding, which could have been fixed before shipping, makes the book a chore to read). I do recommend the series though. While I think a large majority of people are going to loathe the paper and binding for this release, they will most likely be able to overcome their grudge with the paper once they read the actual book.

It's a shame CMX hasn't figured out how to fix these problems (and in fact has somehow managed to make them worse with each new release), but if CMX is going to play the manga game, then it is doing everyone a huge favor if it continues to license series like this one. "Tenryu: The Dragon Cycle" has a little bit of something for everyone and a lot of heart. That's something to commend.

- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -