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RIGHT TURN ONLY!! - Monster Piece Theatre


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HitokiriShadow



Joined: 09 May 2005
Posts: 6251
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 12:25 am Reply with quote
Quote:
(Eden)CONS:
After Chapter 1, however, the rest of the volume jumps twenty years forward and into a snore-inducing survival scenario. Over a hundred pages of exposition, flashbacks and character development are suddenly tossed away in exchange for some short-haired kid and a robot traipsing through a literal urban jungle.


That's pretty much how I felt. I thought the first portion of the manga was great and then after the sudden time skip it was just boring in comparison. However, I'm not giving up on this series yet. I'll give it another volume or two. Maybe the story is just taking its time to set up for something great. I've heard good things about this from people who have read scanlations, so I'm sure it will get interesting again soon.

Basically, I agree with your review of this book.
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Sango chan



Joined: 04 Mar 2005
Posts: 178
Location: In the demon slayers Village
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 12:54 am Reply with quote
How in the world could KKJ get a C+ they must of read the whole manga, cause it is freaken awsome. it at least deserves a B. The manga is 20 times better than the series, that's for sure. I wasn't to crazy on how CMX translated Jeanne's come in line. it's kinda sucks. and the checkmate line, it's suppose to go " under the name of god, you demon born in the dark, i seal you here. checkmate." the manga is alot more explainitory.
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RezSav



Joined: 06 Jun 2004
Posts: 542
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 1:54 am Reply with quote
Quote:
After Chapter 1, however, the rest of the volume jumps twenty years forward and into a snore-inducing survival scenario. Over a hundred pages of exposition, flashbacks and character development are suddenly tossed away in exchange for some short-haired kid and a robot traipsing through a literal urban jungle. It's a sobering reminder that rolling up all science fiction into one also means rolling up the clichés, including a Ghost in the Shell rip-off and musings on the nature of humankind. A "brilliant love song," perhaps, but like so many love songs, overplayed.


Oh please, tell us what you really think.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 2:58 am Reply with quote
RezSav wrote:

Oh please, tell us what you really think.


NEWS FLASH: That is the job of a critic.
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midori kou



Joined: 22 Oct 2004
Posts: 469
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 3:01 am Reply with quote
Sango chan wrote:
How in the world could KKJ get a C+ they must of read the whole manga, cause it is freaken awsome. it at least deserves a B. The manga is 20 times better than the series, that's for sure. I wasn't to crazy on how CMX translated Jeanne's come in line. it's kinda sucks. and the checkmate line, it's suppose to go " under the name of god, you demon born in the dark, i seal you here. checkmate." the manga is alot more explainitory.


I'm not too picky about the CMX's translation of Jeanne's arrival speech and sealing speech. If you read it from the original Japanese version, it's not too far off. After all, translations are only interpretations.

I do believe that KKJ should have received a better rating. Then again, I'm biased as the reviewer. There are certain genres that I like that may conflict with others, but I don't care. As along as I like it, I got what I paid for.
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Patachu
Past ANN Contributor


Joined: 08 Jul 2004
Posts: 1325
Location: San Diego
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 3:25 am Reply with quote
HitokiriShadow wrote:
That's pretty much how I felt. I thought the first portion of the manga was great and then after the sudden time skip it was just boring in comparison. However, I'm not giving up on this series yet. I'll give it another volume or two. Maybe the story is just taking its time to set up for something great. I've heard good things about this from people who have read scanlations, so I'm sure it will get interesting again soon.

Basically, I agree with your review of this book.


Thanks! Yeah, I'm also going to give the second volume a chance -- they really leave things hanging after Vol. 1, and I'm expecting the loose ends of the past 20 years to get tied up eventually.

Quote:
How in the world could KKJ get a C+ they must of read the whole manga, cause it is freaken awsome. it at least deserves a B. The manga is 20 times better than the series, that's for sure. I wasn't to crazy on how CMX translated Jeanne's come in line. it's kinda sucks. and the checkmate line, it's suppose to go " under the name of god, you demon born in the dark, i seal you here. checkmate." the manga is alot more explainitory.


Well, guess what... I haven't read the whole series. The grade is for Volume 2. That's what it says in the review. Maybe the full series DOES deserve at least a B. But I don't know yet because I haven't read the whole thing, and the review never said that I was grading the whole thing.

I do like a lot of shoujo, really. Even magical girl stories. Ultra Maniac owns my soul, and I have no idea how I will handle the next three weeks that I have to wait for the next Sugar Sugar Rune volume. But it takes someone on a level of Wataru Yoshizumi or Yuu Watase to earn A's and B's in my book. I can tell that Tanemura's stuff is good (I'm collecting Full Moon as well), but she doesn't always click with me. Something about her page layouts just make my eyes cross, and I'm often rereading the dialogue more than I should have to.

I guess I just wish that Arinacchi were a clearer storyteller.
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GoodLuckSaturday



Joined: 30 Oct 2003
Posts: 567
Location: Indiana
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 9:07 am Reply with quote
Quote:
What, I'm supposed to say something bad about Monster?


I recently finished the first volume, and while I enjoyed it, I thought it was a little dragged on near the middle-ish. It's an intriguing start, although the first volume doesn't really showcase anything I feel is truly worthy of the A. I don't doubt it eventually becomes that, but given your fairly strict scoring methods, I wouldn't personally give this an A just yet, especially since I feel the first volume of Loveless has a more intriguing mystery to it so far.

I haven't read Jeanne yet, although I've had volume one for quite a while, but I'm glad to see it breaks out of whatever methods I may be sick of by the end of the first book. I do agree on Tanemura's layouts though. Very busy, often difficult to follow. But Full Moon is a pretty good series in my book, so I hope I can enjoy Jeanne.
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barbapapa



Joined: 29 Apr 2005
Posts: 224
Location: Belgium
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 10:04 am Reply with quote
Monster starts of pretty slow imo, but even then the first volume is worth the A. Its just that after that when you finally start to get into the story its truly one of the best manga I ever read.

And great review about Mushishi, I really hope Del Rey will get their hands on this one soon ^^
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Kagemusha



Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Boston
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 12:23 pm Reply with quote
Having read the second volume of Eden I can gladly say that the current narrative gets better. Not only does it explain the connection with the opening chapter, but it also manages to paint a more complete picture of the world. Ends in quite a cliffhanger also, so I'm looking forward to reading the third volume.
Good to see Mushi-shi getting positive press. Like barbapapa said, hopefully Del Rey will pick it up eventually.
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RezSav



Joined: 06 Jun 2004
Posts: 542
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 1:30 pm Reply with quote
Zac wrote:
RezSav wrote:

Oh please, tell us what you really think.


NEWS FLASH: That is the job of a critic.


Uh, I'm picking something up on my obviometer, captain: NO DUH!

I know what his job is, I was joking. Sorry for the OT banter
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JackBassV



Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 241
Location: Coventry, England
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 3:34 pm Reply with quote
Mushishi the anime is quite good, might look into the manga at some point.

Anyone else notice that the review is for vol 1, but the cover is Vol 2?

JBV^_^
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HitokiriShadow



Joined: 09 May 2005
Posts: 6251
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 6:59 pm Reply with quote
Patachu wrote:

Quote:
How in the world could KKJ get a C+ they must of read the whole manga, cause it is freaken awsome. it at least deserves a B. The manga is 20 times better than the series, that's for sure. I wasn't to crazy on how CMX translated Jeanne's come in line. it's kinda sucks. and the checkmate line, it's suppose to go " under the name of god, you demon born in the dark, i seal you here. checkmate." the manga is alot more explainitory.


Well, guess what... I haven't read the whole series. The grade is for Volume 2. That's what it says in the review. Maybe the full series DOES deserve at least a B. But I don't know yet because I haven't read the whole thing, and the review never said that I was grading the whole thing.


I would have given it a B- myself, but that's just me and it's not like there is a huge difference between a B- and a C+. Honestly, KKJ (from what I've read) is just mediocre. It's not bad, but it's not particularly good either.


Patachu wrote:
I do like a lot of shoujo, really. Even magical girl stories. Ultra Maniac owns my soul, and I have no idea how I will handle the next three weeks that I have to wait for the next Sugar Sugar Rune volume. But it takes someone on a level of Wataru Yoshizumi or Yuu Watase to earn A's and B's in my book. I can tell that Tanemura's stuff is good (I'm collecting Full Moon as well), but she doesn't always click with me. Something about her page layouts just make my eyes cross, and I'm often rereading the dialogue more than I should have to.

I guess I just wish that Arinacchi were a clearer storyteller.


I love Ultra Maniac. It's a pity it's only 5 volumes. Crying or Very sad

Since you haven't actually reviewed FullMoon wo Sagashite, may I ask what your opinion of the series is?
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Patachu
Past ANN Contributor


Joined: 08 Jul 2004
Posts: 1325
Location: San Diego
PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 8:57 pm Reply with quote
HitokiriShadow wrote:
I love Ultra Maniac. It's a pity it's only 5 volumes. Crying or Very sad

Since you haven't actually reviewed FullMoon wo Sagashite, may I ask what your opinion of the series is?


For the first couple of volumes it's only at KKJ's level, that "not-that-bad-but-not-that-good" feeling, but once it hits the big plot twist spoiler[(Eichi was dead the whole time!!)] in Vol. 3, I think that's where Arinacchi's talent finally catches up with her amibition. You can really see her blossom as a manga-ka once she figures out how to make her visuals emotionally powerful. I've only read up to Vol. 4 so far, but that's the most heartbreaking one yet and it wins on so many levels.
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theoriginalbilis





PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 1:33 am Reply with quote
Good thing Monster got a good rating. It really deserves it and this is the kind of thing that the manga/anime industry needs right now.

I hope that sales are well enough that the anime is licensed and brought over. I could totally see the anime version winning over the C.S.I. and forensic show fans.
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milcor1



Joined: 27 Mar 2005
Posts: 337
PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 2:46 am Reply with quote
Good manga choices for reviewing but why is the old Monster cover being used?
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