No Starch Press has recently published another Manga guide book, this time on the introductory topic of electricity.  In keeping with tradition, my daughter Marielle has kindly opted to review the book.  Read on to see what she thinks of this title and how it compares to the other Manga Guide books she has reviewed.

The Manga Guide to Electricity Review
by Marielle Riley

The story of The Manga Guide to Electricity begins in Electropia, a world of advanced electronic devices and the civilians who inhabit it. Rereko , a young student of Electropia and the heroine of the story, fails her electricity final exam.  As a result, she must take her summer vacation off to start from the basics on Earth with help from a caring professor named Hikaru.

The events of the story right from the start offered great attention getters, and the characters in the story were very appealing and creative in both their looks and behaviors.  All was well until I reached the epilogue where I found it dry and not as dramatic as I hoped it would be. The book supplies a great mix between the storyline and the lessons in which Hikaru teaches the basics of electricity to Rereko.  This keeps the reader balanced so that they don't become bored with the longer lessons in electrical theory, wondering when the book would return to the main adventure.  Comedy is the main style of the book.  There is always something funny popping up in every chapter that elicits a chuckle.  The initial half of the story gives the reader the idea that a romantic relationship between the two characters might evolve, but that possibility is thrown off toward the end where feelings of seriousness are manifested instead.  As such, the book is balanced for both boys and girls instead of typical Manga steering more toward the feminine side.  However, the dramatic action packed and deep romantic relationship scenarios never occur in this book like they do in other popular comic stories, making this book not as emotionally moving as some Manga fans would hope it to be.

The book's authors win high educational points for such interesting explanations as to why certain light bulbs and batteries are better for the environment than others.  This also appeals to our need to discover cleaner alternative sources of energy.  Since this comic book is only 206 pages long, the average reader could easily finish it in a day but would probably have to read the book again to help explain something that the reader didn't quite understand the first time through.  If the reader is a fan of science class or is just curious about how electricity works, The Manga Guide to Electricity is a great bargain.

 

 

Previous Manga Guide reviews:

The Manga Guide to Statistics
The Manga Guide to Databases

Title: The Manga Guide to Electricity
Author:  by Kazuhiro Fujitaki, Matsuda, and Trend-pro Co, Ltd.
Publisher: No Starch Press
ISBN: 978-1-59327-197-8
Price: $19.95 US