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Last edited by Jose Cruz on Sat May 02, 2015 12:50 am; edited 1 time in total

Harajuku Takenoko Koban

Really mediocre erotic manga. Still was entertaining for it's 70 pages.

Blade of the Immortal

The final volume came out on Wednesday. This really takes me back. I’ve been reading manga since August 1997 but Dark Horse has been publishing this title longer than that. I’m in the process of reading the whole thing from the beginning.

I can still remember finding this in the back issue bins of a comic shop no longer in business. I would have been looking for Ranma ½ or Oh, My Goddess! back issues. At that time the shop was selling back issues for $0.10 a copy. Based on when I started pre-ordering new issues, that would be October 1997. The shop had all 15 issues published to that date, so it cost a whole $1.50 to start the series. I’ve been buying it ever since.

According to an afterword in the final volume, Samura published this as a one shot (probably the first comic here) in June 1993 with serialization starting in December 1993 and ending in December 2012. Dark Horse started in June 1996 with the first graphic novel version in March 1997. Unlike some of their titles, I don’t remember any long delays between volumes so they have been consistently a bit over two years behind.

Dark Horse appears to have issued the individual comics as matching a whole monthly chapter of the original. Unlike CPM they did not break chapters in the middle when they reached an arbitrary page count. For some reason, while they numbered the comics sequentially inside, on the cover the first issues were put out in named arcs, some of only two issues. They didn’t start numbering the comics on the cover until issue 40. They continued to issue this title in comic form until issue 131 in November 2007, long after other publishers had gone to graphic novel format only. The graphic novels were named and not numbered until volume 12 in December 2003. This frequently made it difficult to keep them in order. They clearly were not following the contents of the Japanese volumes as this is 30 volumes in Japan and 31 volumes here.

Then, as now the books read left to right. As they explain in every volume, they don’t mirror image the page but rather rearrange the panels. I expect this requires some odd placement of word balloons to read properly. This was reported as done at the author’s request. I wonder who was responsible for them never changing to the Japanese format. It will be interesting to see if they reissue this in omnibus form.

At the time they issued the first graphic novel of this series they were still publishing some titles in comic book sized graphic novels (10 ¼ inches by 6 ½ inches), however Blade of the Immortal has always been issued in the current digest size (8 ¼ inches by 5 ¾ inches). I have always wondered about this as of all their titles this would have benefited from the larger size. The two page splash panels he does look a whole lot better in the comic book version. Probably just as well, they would likely have later switched to digest size like they did with 3X3 Eyes leaving some people with mismatched volumes.

So now I have 131 comic books, 31 graphic novels, one novel, an art book, an anime series on DVD, and several posters. The only thing from this series I passed on was a figure of Manji. They wanted a couple of hundred dollars for it at a time when most figures cost well under a hundred. I wonder if anyone bought it.

End of an era. Next up is the final volume of Oh My Goddess!

good stuff, I've been buyin volumes of the series for a bit and i'll admit im yet to actually read any of it but its so well regarded and the art is so good i figured if i didn't like it i could always sell it all as a complete collection one day. Sayin that its makes a nice addition to my collection regardless but with books going OOP id rather have it than not have it.

So a while back, I read v1-3 of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure part 3: Stardust Crusader. I did not like how it just seemed to be moving from one set piece fight to the other and it really didn't do anything for me. But damn if I didn't have to try Jojo's Bizarre Adventure part 1: Phantom Blood anyway. But the good news is: I like it a lot more than part 3. Jonathan is fairly average but damn if Dio is not entertaining as hell. I can't think of any other villains that go out of their way to be such a jerk wad for no other reason than to be a complete and total jerk wad.
Characters also have this weird tendency to get Fist of the North Star weird proportions are random, it's really weird actually, but I don't mind. I'm also really hoping that the rather over the top ending doesn't lead to the series being less interesting and just devolving into the fight set pieces that I so disliked from the third series. But for now, I do plan to pick up the second volume, at least when the comic shop gets it in.

Dorohedoro 14

I've had this on the shelf for a bit, id pre-ordered it but hadn't got round to reading. The end of volume 13 was a bit of a gut punch so this volume pretty much starts from there. The circumstances of ai and risu seem to be becoming a little clearer but its all still mixed up and im feelin a bit lost, all this death and curses stuff has made it kind of hard to follow whats going on with these two.

still loving the series though, the characters continue to be fantastic, the newer guys are interesting and the older characters have changing situations and dynamics that art is still top notch and the fights are ace, especially this volume with the fight just before the end being pretty cool (pie magic).

The next volume hits this month, also pre-ordered (im trying to pre-order more stuff) so im looking forward to it.

Genshiken 2 vol.6

Romance romance romance, the madarame harem route is in full swing and some of its members are resisting as hard as they can. This was an enjoyable volume but frankly i think it was mostly because i was dying to get my hands on some genshiken content after so long, i hadn't even realized the volume was out until i saw someone posting a pic of it on twitter (tweet your manga buys folks it inspires the rest of us). Anyway im still enjoying this, i'll agree its not as good as the original series but that in no way makes it bad, i especially liked the nod to the first series at the end of this volume.

I got some other various new series to try out when I also got Jojo, finally got around to them yesterday!

Demon From Afar 1-2-definitely a Kaori Yuki series. I have some trouble following all her series, no exception here, but I enjoyed it and plan to continue it. The first 5 chapters were like a series prelude, but I expect things to be weird.

Yukarism 1-While not the strongest reincarnation manga I've read so far, vol 1 does have a lot of promise and has me interested to see how all these past characters will come back into the fold. And I just like the reincarnation theme for some reason.

The Devil is a Part-Timer vol 1-a definite keeper. Satan, working at McD's. And starting to hang out with his arch nemesis, the "hero". I do want to see more focus on character development in future volumes though.

Requiem of the Rose King vol 1-I did not like this at all. Sometimes, being unfamiliar with the source material is a plus or it doesn't matter (like Wolfsmund and William Tell, or Rose of Versailles and basic European history), but this time I feel like without it, I just could not follow this for jack. Are there two people named Edward? I think the Yorks and Lancasters hate each other, but which house are we looking at right now? Who is that character in relation to that one? Wait, who is that again? What side are they on? So is this like, a fanfic crossover of two Shakespeare plays or something? And who is this kid's mother again? I know she hates him, but who is the mother who abandoned him? Is that the same lady now who is acting as "mother"?
Gawd, I'm so confused! I do not wish to continue this.

classicalzawa wrote:

Demon From Afar 1-2-definitely a Kaori Yuki series.

Haha! That's about the best way to describe her work (even though it makes no sense to anyone who isn't familiar with her manga, everyone who is understands the meaning immediately). I enjoy the series so far too, and I'm liking Alice in Murderland (coming out in June) even more! Somehow, despite the glut of Alice-inspired manga, and despite my loyalty to the original novels, there's just something crazy and fun about it.

I read Yukarism 1 a little after it came out (I've also enjoyed the reincarnation theme in other works), but I found the protagonist rather unlikable. Not sure if it's just me, or if I should give v2 a try anyway...

—and my long-awaited Kinokuniya order just arrived on my doorstep, eeee!!! Gotta get some work done before I can dig in, though.

Yokohama Kaidashi Kitou

Read only the first couple of chapters but this manga instantly grabbed me by the neck, Incredible how it flows naturally when I read it, It's a really pleasing and relaxing experience. Some of the best slice of life science fiction (but apparently not very significant in that regard).

Bought and read Shingeki no Kyojin vol.16 when it came out, and just caught up with Dia no A (vol.46).

Not too much to be said about Shingeki. I was more interested in the second half of the Kuinaki Sentaku OAD that came with it. They changed how the ending unfolded quite a bit. I thought it was more dramatic in the manga with Levi seeing spoiler[Farlan and Isabel die in front of him rather them already being dead when he got there, Farlan giving Levi a farewell in the manga was perfect, imo.]

Anyway, Dia no A. OMG, SO GOOD. Soooooooooo gooooooood!!!! That was a really, really intense match between Seido and spoiler[Yakushi. Finally Seido is going to Koushien!!! The end with Kataoka kantoku shedding some tears and thanking the 3rd years was amazing.] It'll be a while until the anime can get this far, but I definitely hope we'll be able to see this animated in the future.

Thermae romae vol.3

Yen press put out some quality books here and it was reflected in the retail price, luckily I've managed to get all of these books a bit cheaper by waiting about and keeping an eye open.

Anyway I managed to get hold of the last volume of this time traveling bath house adventure and it picks up right where it left off in the last book after having established a plotline as opposed to the first volumes episodic format. Lucius is in modern day japan and is using his roman upbringing to impress the locals as he works the hotel spa and learns the ins and outs of japanese baths. He manages to return home briefly to let his friends know he isn't dead and learns news that spurs his efforts for the emperor.

This was a nice series, it was fun and it was just long enough not to wear thin on its premise. its easy to see how this was so well received and im glad to have it as part of my collection.

What a Wonderful World!

Welp, it looks "angsty 1st world problems" Inio Asano is always a win for me: I liked Nijigahara Holograph and A Girl by the Sea, I adore Solanin and Goodnight Punpun, and I really liked this work, one of his most early ones.

It's the most "amateur" in terms of style, there are a lot of characters and connections and the author respects them, but many of them have the most "long monologues that feel like an essay of the external author about these issues" dialogue, but his way of doing doesn't bug me too bad. Overall the stories can be hit or miss, someones are very obvious and repeated but others can be very powerful in both heart-breaking (the two last chapters are harsh ahh~) and slightly inspiring, but even the weaker ones are necessary to portray this environment of monotony and mundane life mixed in meaningless but with some hope to be found or appreciated. The strange thing is, I found this work the most crushing in terms of meaning of life and worldview the author has done, even more than Punpun and Nijigahara Holograph, at least it resonates with me harder in the overall message of the work. If he wanted to show the hardness of both monotony and time cicle, he really nailed it.

So yeah, great work, one of my favorite authors, can't wait to read more stuff about him

Magical Girl Apocalypse Really brutal zombie apocalypse, it's pretty cliche though: zombies appear, start killing people which are turned into zombies, the only difference is that the first zombies as magical girls who kill people using magical weapons, the zombies they convert "grow" a black magical girl frilly dress (anybody including fat middle aged men).

Vinland Saga Now I am in the mood for reading something that is actually good. So I started reading this title that is in the top 10 manga list here. Now that's something really good, I have read the first 300 pages of it, all around excellent.

Agame ga Kil Now I was again in the mood for reading some more juvenile stuff. Agame ga Kill is pretty entertaining for it's first couple hundred pages, though I also found it extremely cliche, similar to Magical Girl Apocalypse in that sense. Nowadays I am finding most stuff a bit cliche, well that happens after you watched 400 anime and several dozen mangas. Only the truly good stuff starts to become really interesting.

VINLAND SAGA

Now things are getting really interesting. Its incredible how detailed and realistic this manga is, with the exception of the over the top battles (such as when a Viking manages to throw a horse with a punch). It feels like a medieval account of daily life at some parts and I loved now that I read the first 73 chapters how characters grow and develop, I really felt about all the characters here, the quality of the writing is phenomenal. It feels like a more refined/modern version of Lone Wolf and Cub. Also the artwork is all around excellent. This feels like an all around perfect work of graphic fiction truly worthy of being placed among the top 10 list on the site. While the brutality is astonishing is also realistic, Susan Napier commented about the capacity of Japanese pop culture to feel realistic. Works like this show how realistic they can be in their depiction of human psychology, though fans of more subtle stuff might find it a bit to over the top in some parts.

Biomega~!

Jeez, this is an interesting book. It's so...minimalist. Which is ironic, for a manga that's so impossibly detailed. Every page is a work of art. Scratchy, ocasionally disturbing art.

I'm also reading Gunsmith Cats. Good timing, too, I'm seeing Mad Max Fury Road soon. I watched GC's OVA and liked it, but found it lacking. May was underused and I felt like the heroine was way too much of a badass to need saving by that obnoxious cop twice. But golly, I love the "hot girls, guns, and cars" thing it's got going on, and the cats kicks ass.

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