PROJECT A-KO the graphic novel

**1/2

A United States adaption to graphic novel form of a Japanese animation film, PROJECT A-KO definitely has a Japanese anime feel to it. Katsuhiko Nishijima and Kazumi Shirasaka wrote the original storyline for the Japanese anime using characters designed by Yuji Moriyama. However Tim Eldred is responsible for transforming the film to comic form with the artistic assistance of Ben Dunn's pencils. This graphic novel, published in 1995 by CPM (Central Park Media) Comics, is a collection of four comic books chapters released previously as individual releases.

PROJECT A-KO follows three main characters: A-Ko -- our heroine, a red-haired, 15-year-old high school girl who has inherited super strength and speed from her super-hero parents; B-Ko -- A-Ko's nemesis and classmate who happens to be an engineering genius and sole heir to her families fortunes; and C-Ko who considers A-Ko to be her best friend in the world and spends every moment devoting herself to making her best friend happy, up to and exceeding the point of being overbearing and highly annoying. Oh, and did I mention that C-Ko is the object of both A-Ko and B-Ko's affection?

The heart of the story is definitely about the struggle between A-Ko and B-Ko in order to win the heart of C-Ko. Battles are ever escalating between the two as B-Ko continues to build stronger, more powerful robots in order to do her bidding and A-Ko continues to destroy them. The story is filled with many different comedic shticks that involve A-Ko's constant tardiness, and C-Ko's cooking as well as her constant mood swings. They even stick an agent in there who is trying to kidnap A-Ko for her relation to a certain "Super" guy as well as a known "Wonderful" lady!

Now that the plot-line stuff is out of the way, lets get down to reviewing it. This was the first book that I've read that has had a heavy Japanese influence in the story and structure. I liked all the banter between the characters, I thought that it was all quite humorous! Typically, I'm not a fan of anime or manga, but I know enough to know that traditional manga is printed in reverse and generally in black and white. To start out with, I believe that it was the fact that this was an American adaption and that it was coming from an anime film that this was in color, which I did like. The illustration was solid and definitely had the feel of the Japanese anime. Even though the story was told well, I still find that the characters truly weren't that interesting and that the plot wasn't what was keeping me turning the pages. This is why I give PROJECT A-KO, out of a possible five stars, a two-and-a-half.