Hyper Rune, Vol. 01

Hyper Rune #1

by Tamayo Akiyama

Rune is an 8th grader with some unique problems. It's hard to live a normal life when her "mad" scientist grandfather keeps making her dress up in wacky costumes and calling her the "space queen."

When mysterious humanoid robots start appearing, an alien plot to conquer Earth is revealed. However, things aren't so simple as there seem to be two groups of aliens, each with entirely separate goals ...

Rune and her friends, a set of twins she's known since childhood, are able to transform into robot forms that are similar to those of the aliens. These forms give them great strength and allow them to fight against the interlopers.

Rune befriends one of the seemingly good aliens who now has taken a human form and is attending Rune's Junior High school. Meanwhile, the evil aliens are making preparations to revive their leader in order to complete their plans of conquering Earth ...

Genres: Manga, Graphic Novels, Romance

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 9, 2004

About the author

Tamayo Akiyama (秋山 たまよ Akiyama Tamayo) is a Japanese shōjo manga author and artist. She was a former member of CLAMP. Akiyama has also done illustrations for three novels (Kyokutō Shōnen and Komaranu mae no kami da nomi by Kobayashi Megumi and Watashi no Kare wa Hamster by Edō Kei) and illustrations for a CD (Psycho Sound Machine Drama by Ohara Mariko).

Reviews

[Kristin ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wanted to pick this one up as it's from one of the CLAMP mangakas.

There's a lot going on here, it was quite interesting but also just a lot. Little bit confusing to follow at times but of course wonderful art.

Did not enjoy the creepy ass grandpa tough?? Why would someone write that.

[Emma Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rarely have I read a manga where I had do question whether it was an actual translation, or someone just making things up. Much of this first volume makes little sense, especially the grandfather character and his actions. He seems to be a mad scientist with magical powers involving costumes for his granddaughter. The granddaughter is an 8th grader, but she apparently gets an extra allowance for moonlighting as a superhero. The actual dialogue of the manga is often about how the grandfather's actions and their results make no sense, and in at least one case refer in a snide way to what is apparently an artist's error. That was one of the clues about the translation not being true to the script...
Tamayo Akiyama was originally a member of CLAMP, but this story shows little of the flair and creativity for which that group was known.
On the other hand, the good parts of the book are the goofy adventure and the interesting characters.
In the late 1990s, aliens were plotting to invade the earth, culminating in a takeover in the year 1999. The manga, which wasn't translated here for several years, thus wasn't printed here until after the date of the events, making it a weird flashback.

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this because I'm a CLAMP fan, and I was expecting Akiyama's solo work to be comparable.

It's not. The plot was uninteresting, I found the story almost impossible to follow. It is full of cliches. The only semi-positive remark I can think to make is that that artwork isn't terrible.

I genuinely think this is the worst manga I have read.

[Sabina · Rating 4 out of 5]

so far its about fighting.