When the iPad was announced one of the first things I thought was "Man this would be a nice way to read Manga on the go" not that it would ever replace my softbound collection, but having a mobile option I could just throw in a bag that could store a batch of volumes would make long trips that much easier.
So here comes VIZ Media with one of the first options for building your virtual Manga collection, so how does it stack up compared to owning the real thing, join me past the jump and find out!
First off the basics, the app is free, purchases are $4.99 a volume with selected free previews available. Pretty standard stuff as it goes with E-Reader type apps from the app store.
One of the things that makes or breaks any reading experience for me on the iPad is the interface, is it simple to use and uncluttered. When I first booted up the app I was greeted with a somewhat spartan but attractive front end interface for the store, showig all the latest volumes for sale, and any special promotions that they have going at the moment. Along the bottom are quick navigation buttons to your Manga collection, settings, and then one back to the store, I found the entire interface quick to use and navigate, I found my downloads with ease.
Setting up an account with VIZ was just a matter of going into the settings screen and getting signed up. Speaking of settings there is a neat option to be able to specify how much space on your iPad you are willing to devote to Manga, its a nice option for folks with the smaller capacity units. My one complaint with the settings is that there is an option for "Show Volumes Not On Disk" the problem is that it doesn't explain how or where it stores the volumes which would have been nice, other than that minor issue though the settings are as advertised and easy to use.
Reading is a simple affair with the pages taking up the majority of the real estate on the screen, in portrait mode a single page is shown, while in landscape you get two pages at a time. Using swipe gestures you change the pages, and the software supports the pinch gestures for zooming as well. Tapping anywhere on the image brings up the slider to quick select pages as well as close the current volume and take you back to the main screen, I would have liked to see some form of bookmarking ability, with any luck that will be added in a future update to the software. Overall the reading experience was enjoyable and issue free, a simple interface that gets the job done.
For purposes of this review I downloaded a preview of Ouran High School Host Club 1 and Dragon Ball 1 I wanted to see not only the quality of the reading experince, but source material variances as well. I am please to report that both Mangas that I downloaded were of the highest quality with deep true blacks and perfect detail levels, I had heard from other reports that there were noticeible differences betweeen older material and newer ones, I honestly couldn't see it, so either that was a one off issue, or VIZ cleaned up the older material, either way I am very happy with the quality.
Right now the biggest issue that I see facing the app is the lack of content, I don't see any of VIZ's older properties on here like Ranma 1/2 or Maison Ikkoku, it would be nice for some of these older series to see the light of day again and be readilly accessible for those who didn't mange to get them the first time round.
Overall I think its a great product by VIZ Media, very easy to use with wonderful output, it has some issues albeit minor that I would like to see worked out, but other than that its a great Manga reader. In the end it will live and die by its content, and hopefully VIZ will add more of that sooner than later.
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