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What are you reading right now? Why?

My library had Terra Formars v1 in pretty early for them (and in stock! How strange!) So yeah, rented that. Debating if I will buy it or not, that was, in a word, utterly bizarre. First off, I like insects, but those who do not will find this incredibly squeamish for them to read on so many levels.

...But yeah, weird premise, really really weird. But for insect lovers, that part was really damn awesome.

^Yeah, that whole racist thing didn't really occur to me until it was mentioned either and I squinted my eyes. First off, they're like, 4 feet taller than humans. No human is that tall. Second, I think attention was made to have their "skin" look rather roach like. To me, that did not look like human skin, but more like in FMA whenever Greed made super hard skin.
Really though, I'd like to hear an opinion from the group that is supposed to be offended by this. Is there really any point in being offended on someone else's behalf when they themselves aren't offended? I hate it when people do that so so much.

I read all of Shigeru Mizuki’s Onward Toward Our Noble Deaths on Thursday night and I regarded it as a fine work, but perhaps one I more respect that strictly enjoyed. I’m a little unsure of what to say, but I want to try to honor a request. My tarrying in writing this ‘review’ has probably meant the loss of some things that I had wished to write.

classicalzawa wrote:

^Yeah, that whole racist thing didn't really occur to me until it was mentioned either and I squinted my eyes. First off, they're like, 4 feet taller than humans. No human is that tall. Second, I think attention was made to have their "skin" look rather roach like. To me, that did not look like human skin, but more like in FMA whenever Greed made super hard skin. Really though, I'd like to hear an opinion from the group that is supposed to be offended by this. Is there really any point in being offended on someone else's behalf when they themselves aren't offended? I hate it when people do that so so much.

But isn't it potentially racist on more than one level though? I mean there is the whole lets go to another continent (world) and enslave/wipeout the indigenous population thing going on there. And the characters seem to be all ok with that idea. Is it just being overlooked by readers because the population is based on roaches, so therefore its ok to hate them and kill them? And yea, the life forms unfortunately look visually like caricatures of people of African ancestry. So I can definitely understand Zac going there and calling it racist. I mean it makes me pause and wonder about where the mangaka is coming from. Is he aware of it? Is it unintentional or does it reflect something of his character (unconscious or not)? Maybe its too soon to tell yet? I wasn't offended by it at the same degree as Zac seemed to be on the podcast (and it was a very short off-hand remark), but I am a little troubled by what I read.

But here's the thing, the kids that went to that planet were under the impression that they were exterminating your normal looking cockroaches. They had no idea they had evolved and I recall that their first reaction wasn't to attack. The main dude went over and said "Hi" even. They were taken by surprise, but they were attacked first, and then it was an all out fight. The characters themselves didn't really go to the planet for the intent purpose of wiping out a race of humanoids. I think hating them after you came in peace and were all like "Hey, we had no clue you guys were here, this is awkward...", only to get your neck bent is justified. Yes, spoiler[the higher ups knew] and that makes them horrible human beings.

But horrible human beings do exist, I don't see the point in pretending racism isn't real. But while I personally don't think the manga is horrifically racist, I'm not about to get offended or... anti-offended I guess? without some sort of input from the group it's supposedly offending. Wether they are or are not offended, it's not up to me to be offended on their behalf.

I do think the implied skin tone is an issue here though, I doubt anyone would blink twice if they were green or purple or blue or something. I think they're making an anime of it, so they should definitely be careful on the skin tone. Of course, there's really not a whole lot of black people in Japan to offend in the first place, so it's probably not high up on their mind. Still, if that anime came over here, I wouldn't be shocked if they went Mr. Popo on it.

Surrender Artist wrote:

I read all of Shigeru Mizuki’s Onward Toward Our Noble Deaths on Thursday night and I regarded it as a fine work, but perhaps one I more respect that strictly enjoyed. I’m a little unsure of what to say, but I want to try to honor a request. My tarrying in writing this ‘review’ has probably meant the loss of some things that I had wished to write.

I was away for a week and I've been slammed at work since I got back, so I haven't had time to write about my reaction to Onward Toward Our Noble Deaths. However, I want to take a moment to apologize here. It wasn't my intent to place a task upon you or perhaps steal time from your other interests. I respect the writing and insights you've posted before in the forums and was interested to see if someone had a different or similar reaction to the work as I did. In part because I was trying to understand my own thoughts and feelings about the work. I was not expecting a "review", but I am grateful for your efforts. I hope to post something about my thoughts on the work by the weekend. Again, my sincere apologies if I put you out. I was only looking for an exchange of ideas. Please, feel free to always say no to me if I overstep my bounds.

Reading The Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer.