[View Chapter 1 at URL] Megan awakens from a dream to find that she is in the afterlife as a full time exchange student. A spirit inhabiting Megan's camera tells her that her mother is being tormented on earth by an evil banshee who took her place on Earth. With the help of her possessed camera, Megan and her friends Thomas and AJ struggle to banish the banshee from her mother's life!
I'm still intrigued, but not very much happened here and none of my questions were answered. I think I'll be moving on for now but I might come back to the series in the future.
Shutterbox Volume 2 Authors: Rikki Simons & Tavisha Genre: Fantasy/Romance/Manga Synopsis: We get to learn more about Merridiah and AJ. We also learn that if you die in Merridiah, you stay in Merridiah. Megan must capture the Banshee she accidently set free to not be expelled from Merridiah; because if she is expelled, both her life and soul will cease to exist anywhere. Review: I found that it was getting easier to follow the format of the manga. Learning more background information made the story easier to understand, and more interesting to me in the long run. I still didn’t understand why this manga is categorized as romance, as I have yet to see any. Rating: ⁎⁎⁎⁎
Shutterbox, Vol. 2 was everything I was hoping that it would be. The plot begins to pick up, the secondary characters are more fleshed out... this is exactly what a second volume should be. Megan has returned to Earth briefly before beginning at M.U.S.E. Things are getting a little hectic for her: she realizes that things in her "real" life are not has they appear, and even things with her best friend, Dagny, are a little complicated.
In this volume, the reader really gets to know the characters from Merridiah, and some of the juicy back story is unveiled. In a way, the back story really surprised me. I was not expecting some of the elements to unfold the way that they did. This was a very welcome surprise since manga volumes can sometimes be come a little predictable. In addition to the the twists, the characters in this volume were hilarious. This was a fabulous addition to the series, and I cannot wait to start the next volume.
The story conerns Megan Amano, a 19-year-old girl living in Los Angeles who has the ability to go to a place in her dreams called Merridiah University. The odd thing is that it's a school for people who are actually dead or never incarnated, a special school to produce muses (spirits who help authors, etc, in producing their works.)
She has a chance to become a special student at the school for a year, studying to become a muse herself. There are also a variety of other quite interesting characters and strange events going on all the time.
This is a really, really good manga. The story is fascinating, the artwork good, the lead female character somewhat different than the standard junior-high or high-school character, and there's also some good comedy. This is really enjoyable and absolutely worth getting.
Beautifully drawn, magical, creative, enthrallingly poetic; the world of Meridiah is like a cross between Wonderland and Hogwarts, and more otherworldly than either. Turns of phrase become literal, and literal matters are turned into word play - a strange, alien, upside-down world full of whimsical and compelling characters. This is really such a great series, I'm thrilled to be reading it, and I can't wait for the next book!
I'm not totally sure about this series, though I was totally excited when I read the author bios and realized that the guy was the background colorist for the Invader Zim series, and the voice of Gir. The idea for the series is interesting and it is going well so far, but I am looking forward and anticipating a decline. Maybe I shouldn't rate books when I'm in a bad mood!