Coengar2 rejoins the land of the living with a review of a new series filled with gunfights, explosions, action and a hot babe with really big……..guns

Title: Rose Hip Zero

Publisher: Tokyopop

Genre: Action

Age: Older Teen 16+

Volumes: 1 so far

Violence: yep got that

Sex/Nudity: Mild fanservice, but not much

Status: New Series,just being published

Tokyo police officer, Kyoji Kido, has plenty of bad attitude and a Desert Eagle magnum to back it up with. One time Kido was the ace cop of Division Four, the division that deals with terrorism. However, a sting operation against a notorious japanese terrorist group known as ALICE went terribly wrong. ALICE knew it was a set up and destroyed the meeting site, a hotel, with a large bomb blast. The blast killed a large number of civilians including Kido’s younger sister. Burdened by the grief of his sister’s death, Kido transfers out of Division Four and into Tokyo’s Juvie Division. However not long after his transfer the police begin to suffer a rash of assassinations against the highest ranking police officers and department heads. With proof of ALICE’s involvment with the attacks, Kido is lured back to Division Four with promises of revenge against his sister’s killers. The head of Division Four, Mr. Kata, tells Kido that as part of the deal for helping Kido get his revenge he will be teamed up with a partner. Kido is not thrilled to learn that his new partner is a long legged blond who has lightning reflexes and can fire his magnum with unerring accuracy while using only one hand. The fact that his partner, Kasumi Asakura, also happens to be 14 years old doesnt make him very happy either. Then there is the fact that Kasumi is not only a highly trained assassin, but is also the only know defector from ALICE and has her own agenda of revenge. As if this all wasnt bad enough, Mr.Kata moves Kasumi into Kido’s apartment since she has no where else to go. Soon the two partners discover that not only does ALICE want Kasumi dead, they also know that she is teamed up with Kido and they want the two to know that they know.

Good Points: The artwork is pretty good and the storyline seems like it will be interesting. Kido and Kasumi are developing an interesting brother/sister relationship

Bad Points: The fact that Volume 2 isnt scheduled for release until March 2007

Overall Review: Once you can tear your eyes off of the cute blong girl with the gun stuffed down her bra who is on the cover and actually begin to read the manga, you’ll find a series with just about something for everyone. The series has an interesting mix of action,drama and comedy and Kasumi has moments where she is a cold blooded killer and a kawaii school girl, very much like the girls from GUNSLINGER GIRL. Overall, this series seems to off to a good start and i look forward to watching it develop as each new volume is released.

PERSONAL BRAGGING POINT: As many readers may or may not know. I have a rather large collection of manga and it has been my stated goal that i would have 400 volumes by the end of the year. Happily i reached that goal by the second week of November (actually at 405 but who’s counting? =) ) and there seems to be no end in site or in the case that i fail to convince my wife to let me buy another bookcase, maybe i’ll stop when i run out of room on my current book case, but than again, maybe not LOL