I've read through many how-to-draw books, and this one falls into the same trap that most American-made how-to-draw-manga books do: After reading it, I don't feel like it was made by a professional manga artist. Heck, not even a hobbyist.

The art is thick and bulky in a style about curves and flow, and many are terribly amateurish, like a lopsided chin on a straight-on shot (p.61, and it's lumpy, too) or having the eye indent of a three-quarter shot look like it was cut with the circle tool in an image editor (p.33).

Now what REALLY confounds me is that there's some quality work in here—this girl on p.75 is adorable and I'd take her home without question.

Aside from the odd good one here and there, though, most of it feels like an American artist making a rubbish attempt at imitating a style outside of his genre.

The sad part, though, is that you're not going to be learning anything here. It starts with a generic ”supplies” section (Pencil PROS: ”...if drawn lightly, pencil marks can be removed with a soft eraser or putty rubber!” Pencil CONS: ”...if you make too many mistakes and then rub them out, this can leave permanent marks.” Direct quotes. Are you serious?) that doesn't talk about application, goes into a quick series of short chapters on drawing the body parts that are generic, lacking in important details, and unattractive, then the artist attempts to show off with some full-bodies in the end... and what may be an unauthorized use of Rudy Roughnight from Wild Arms (p.140).

Just to point out the severe lack of understanding of the genre, here: there are two pages on hair. This is manga and he doesn't have anything to say about hair (”...the different styles are too numerous to cover in this book!” also quoted)? Just let that sink in... AND ONLY FOUR PAGES ON CLOTHING BOOM YOUR MIND IS BLOWN.

Have you ever read a drawing book and seriously thought to yourself that you could draw better and write a better book than this guy? I'm getting it right now.