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The Mike Toole Show - War Stories


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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 3:28 pm Reply with quote
I just recently bought the Area 88 OVA for cheap. I don't know why it took me so long to get to it.

The first manga I ever read was an incest hentai manga called Super Taboo.


Last edited by penguintruth on Sun Nov 06, 2011 3:41 pm; edited 2 times in total
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jmfsilenthill



Joined: 31 Aug 2009
Posts: 1863
Location: Chinese cartoons are srs biz
PostPosted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 3:38 pm Reply with quote
The first manga I ever bought and read was Welcome to the NHK. Gantz has since become my favourite, but NHK will always be pretty high up there. Smile
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sommer89



Joined: 02 Dec 2010
Posts: 84
PostPosted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 4:00 pm Reply with quote
I actualy own issues 1-10 of area 88 from viz all in clear plastic protection covers.
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neocloud9



Joined: 06 Oct 2008
Posts: 1178
Location: Atlanta, GA
PostPosted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 4:00 pm Reply with quote
First manga I ever read was Sailor Moon... That cute little "pocket manga" version from Mixx, back before it was Tokyopop.
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vermilionone



Joined: 21 Feb 2009
Posts: 45
PostPosted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 4:23 pm Reply with quote
I've always avoided area 88 due to a general disinterest in "modern day" military fiction, but it sounds really compelling.

My first manga was BioBooster Armor Guyver, back in the flipped and cut down to comic book length days. In between waiting for issues of Guyver, though, I started picking up Oh! My Goddess and that was a lot more influential as far as the breadth of stories I'd read.
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Saphiro01



Joined: 14 Jun 2003
Posts: 71
Location: California
PostPosted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 4:28 pm Reply with quote
Mike thank you soooooooooooo much for writing the article I wish I could have Very Happy . Area 88 was indeed my first Japanese manga as well (I'm about to turn 30 on Thanksgiving btw). Funny story about how I got my Viz chapter editions though....

I had been reading regular (American) comic books since I was 5 or 6 years old. Loved them. So one day my mom ends up taking my father, my brother and I to our local comic book shop. They happen to be having a massive sale on mystery blind comic book boxes , those foot or two long cardboard comic book holders. When I first walk into the store my eyes are the size of dinner plates because of all the cool stuff in one place. So I am looking around and I happen upon a comic with a very attractive girl on the cover in a LEOPARD SKIN BIKINI with greenish hair and horns on her head. 'Mommy I want that one!' I tell my mother as she looks at her son in a both proud and horrified look that only a mother of a future geek can give. Laughing .

"No dear you can't have that one..." my mother says in a singsong nervous voice. Then my father chimes up and says "Adam, go ahead and pick one of those big boxes instead". So little 8 or 9 year old me ends up rifling around the blind comic book boxes trying to pick which one he wants, and comes to a realization... The blind boxes are indeed blind, but there are itty bitty openings on the front and back for hand holds. I grin ear to ear and start looking around for something that looks promising and find....

HE MAN! (wait ... keep reading this pays off I promise Smile )

So naturally I pick that one. My dad being the awesome man he was purchased the whole box for me. We get the thing home and I open it up to find... The first comic in the box is some Blond dude with big eyes taking off in a plane. Naturally my little mind is a tad confused but I continue on with my treasure to find...

An advertisement on the back of a series of Arion the Magician Comics from DC with an advert for HE MAN the game for the Intellivision *facepalm* *facepalm* Shocked Crying or Very sad

But on the plus side of all of this, Arion was awesome for a sword and sorcery series, and I also got several copies of each of the chapter comics 7 through the final one (42 I believe) of Area 88.

tl;dr version

I have multiples of comics 7 through 42 in my house with the exception of a few in the early 20's. Mike if you would like to get any you are missing, please send me a pm Cool Very Happy

Note to Viz specifically. Politics and licensing be darned.. BRING BACK AREA 88! Pleeaaaaase *quiver lip*


Last edited by Saphiro01 on Sat Sep 01, 2012 5:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
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wandering-dreamer



Joined: 21 Jan 2008
Posts: 1733
PostPosted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 5:13 pm Reply with quote
Technically my first manga would have been the flipped Pokemon Special/Adventures books that Viz put out (must've been 2001-2003) which I didn't realize until late high school must've been manga but I thought they were pretty awesome. Really wish they had published more back then instead of waiting years to continue with the series, they published the first two arcs and I certainly would have read more if they had published more at the time.
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nightjuan



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 1473
PostPosted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 6:39 pm Reply with quote
As usual, this was a great read. I can't really speak about the Area 88 manga at length, although it sounds more than worthwhile in its own right, but the OVA was excellent and remains one of my personal favorites.

The animation and attention to detail are breathtaking, particularly for someone who grew up with an amateur interest in military aircraft, and the story combines the thrill of an exotic adventure with a strong moral dilemma as well as the inevitable tension between Shin's desperate struggle and the apparent fatalism of his predicament. It does tend to go into what we could consider melodramatic territory here and there, but the characterization was usually good enough to handle that without any major issues.

And, of course, the soundtrack is just so 1980s...but in a rather fitting and charming manner.

Quote:
I also love the fact that each version of Area 88 - manga, OVA, and TV series - has a different ending. None of them can really be called a "happy" ending, but they're all pretty interesting.


I'd certainly agree with that. Curiously enough, it actually took me a fair amount of time before I could accept the OVA ending. My first reaction was one of disappointment mixed with disbelief, but in the long run I've come around to appreciate it and, just as well, the existence of other versions of this story. They all have bittersweet aspects, from what I can tell, but also offer enough variation to suit different tastes.
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Alan45
Village Elder



Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9807
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 7:37 pm Reply with quote
I got into anime and manga in 1997. I saw Area 88 in the back issue bins at the time but didn't get into it. I prefer my wars safely distant in time. I think the first war manga I picked up was Venus Wars from Dark Horse. That was another title that didn't make it.

My first manga were Ranma 1/2 and Oh My Goddess, to match the anime that started it all. After that I sorta jumped in with both feet. Caravan Kidd, Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell and Mai the Psychic Girl. I started with the available graphic novel versions and then went back and picked up all the comic book version of all of these. After a couple of months, I was ordering all of the manga offered in Previews (except the Eros titles). I ended up with some really odd titles, mostly from CPM.
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Graddick



Joined: 13 Mar 2010
Posts: 46
PostPosted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 7:49 pm Reply with quote
Cleopatra DC was a "modest hit"?

I am shocked.
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sawcesome



Joined: 08 Dec 2009
Posts: 31
PostPosted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 8:11 pm Reply with quote
Love HIna's the first manga I ever read and completed.
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Panda-s1



Joined: 14 Dec 2007
Posts: 10
PostPosted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 8:28 pm Reply with quote
To my knowledge, the first manga I read were the Mario and Zelda comics in Nintendo Power when I was like 5. Now on the one hand growing up in the LA area I had a vague idea of anime, but not enough to make any real connections, though I did figure since the authors had funny names (one being Shotaro Ishinomori, lol) that they were comics by Japanese people, and since they had weird humor they were probably translated from Japanese. Man, I gotta read those again.

As for Area 88, I owned UN Squadron briefly, but my dad returned/sold it out of disappointment. I guess with a picture of a fighter pilot in a cockpit, he was expecting a flight sim, not a shooter. I forget when I found out the game and anime/manga were related, but both anime are on my list of things to eventually get around to watching.
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Sewingrose



Joined: 11 Jan 2011
Posts: 579
PostPosted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 8:28 pm Reply with quote
My first manga series? Death Note.

I really only got into manga a few years ago, though I'm an avid buyer of series now. But man do I date myself with that answer.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 8:31 pm Reply with quote
My first manga: http://amzn.to/u1Dv2N

Shoulda kept that around, apparently!
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silentjay



Joined: 12 Dec 2003
Posts: 303
PostPosted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 9:36 pm Reply with quote
penguintruth wrote:
I just recently bought the Area 88 OVA for cheap. I don't know why it took me so long to get to it.


Same here, on both accounts.

As for the manga, I'd have to dig them out again, but I'm pretty sure I've got around 3/4 (or more) of the complete run, including the first issue, which I rescued from a bargain bin. (I've got most of Mai and Kamui, as well.) I think it may have been my first manga, but I can't remember if I found it before or after Akira.

As an aside, I want to thank Mike for the old Anime Jump boards, as I've been going through a classic anime binge recently, and a lot of it was inspired by memories of the old board. (Tearing through VOTOMS at the moment.)
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