Lithium Binge

Manga : Dragon Ball (1984-1995) Mangaka : Akira Toriyama Publisher : Shueisha (42 volumes) LB Rating : 4/5 ( old rating : 8/10) (Note: This review only covers the first 16 volumes of the Dragon Ball manga, from Emperor Pilaf saga to Piccolo Jr. saga.) Dragon Ball follows the story of Son Goku as he embarks on a journey to find the legendary Dragon Balls--seven orbs scattered all over the world that, when collected, would summon the wish-granting dragon god Shenron. Along the way, Goku would become involved with numerous predicaments, such as participating in the Tenkai'chi Budokai tournament, overthrowing the evil Red Ribbon army, and fighting the great Demon King Piccolo. Through his journey, Goku would find himself progressively getting stronger until he becomes a formidable martial artist that can protect his friends and even his planet. When I was a kid, Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z were always in television, airing right after I get home from school. I enjoyed the se...

Book: Memoirs Of A Geisha (1997) Author: Arthur Golden Publisher: Vintage Books USA LB Rating: 3/5 ( old rating : 7/10) Memoirs Of A Geisha follows the story of Nitta Sayuri and her rise as a geisha of Gion District, Japan. In Sayuri's childhood she was Chiyo Sakamoto, a curious girl taken away from her impoverished senile parents and sold off to a geisha house in Gion. After many years and many more hardships, she would become Nitta Sayuri, the most celebrated geisha in the district. Sayuri would realize later that her success bound her from determining her future or from falling in love. When the second world war came, the geishas were no more as they were reduced into laborers and survivors. It was at this point when Sayuri would passionately sought for a way to reclaim to control her life even at the cost of losing things she used to held dear. Memoirs is a typical Asian drama at its face--the main character is beaten to a pulp by numerous hardships in life, only to ...

Manga: Kangoku Gakuen (2011-2017) Mangaka: Akira Hiramoto Publisher: Kodansha (27 volumes) LB Rating: 3/5 ( old rating : 6/10) Kangoku Gakuen is an ecchi comedy manga that brings crazy dumb fun but is also surprisingly clever. Also known as Prison School, the manga tells the story of five freshmen in Hachimitsu Academy, a female exclusive high school that recently became co-ed. One night, these five healthy freshmen--Kiyoshi, Gakuto, Shingo, Joe, and Andre--tried to peep on bathing girls but they were caught by the Underground Student Council. To their surprise, their punishment was imprisonment in a detention facility within the school grounds. As prisoners, they would do manual labor in between their classes and are subjected to sadistic punishments by the USC. In order to save their high school lives, Kiyoshi and the gang would try to escape the prison. The volume cover for the fifteenth volume of Kangoku Gakuen featuring Kiyoshi Fujino, the main character. (Image sour...

Film: Baby Driver (2017) Director: Edgar Wright Studio: Sony Pictures Releasing LB Rating: 4/5 ( old rating : 9/10) Baby Driver is a paramount example of perfectly executing fairly common ideas which consequently transforms a supposedly cliche flick into a unique masterpiece. Baby Driver tells the story of Baby (Elgort), an unwilling but highly skilled getaway driver for criminal mastermind Doc (Spacey). As Baby nears the end of his contract with Doc, he meets Deborah (James) who becomes his motivation to finally leave the criminal life. The film presents how Baby gets into the realization that despite how fast he is as a driver, he can't easily outrun the criminal life he is desperately trying to leave behind. Now while this "final heist " plot structure isn't exactly one-of-a-kind, Edgar Wright's execution makes it one of the best action films of the decade. If you haven't seen this film, go see it now. Car rides will never be the same. (Image so...