Forum - View topicREVIEW: Chibi Vampire GN 1
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biliano
Posts: 956 Location: Cleveland, OH |
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Well, ouside of those minor flaws of the title change and the reversed cover, I thought that the first volume was both very adorable and hilarious, probably more so than Yotsubato!. I took an instant liking to cute little Karin and the shtick of her pension for nosebleeding at the most impromptu times, and the rest of the characters are pretty cool, too. The artwork fits the concept of the story very well IMO: simplistic but not too simplictic. I don't view the generic artwork as a negative at all; I assume that Karin is suppose to be a light-hearted series, and the artwork reflects it.
I do think that using the word "chibi" was a bad choice for TokyoPOP to use (since outside of Karin Maaka, none of the characters fit the "chibi" mode), but they probably renamed it to avoid confusion with the other Karin book that they have out in the Western market. (At least that's what I think.) As far as the snafu of the reversed cover, the reps from TokyoPOP did mentioned that it was a mistake on their part (not intentional), and hopefully future copies of Volume 1 will not have the doinked-out covers. There was some debate that I read over in the Anime on DVD fora about spoiler[Ren calling Kenta's mom a "MILF" (found on page 135) and Kenta calling Karin a "whore", which freaked Karin out a bit (found on page 66).] Personally I don't have a problem with this. I actually found it very hilarious, and just adds to the charm of this series. I also noticed that TokyoPOP dropped the "100% Authentic Manga" label and replaced it with a "Leading the Manga Revolution" label. So I guess that they aren't committed to authentic manga any longer...or are they? 
Anyway, nice review, Theron. I enjoyed reading Volume 1, and I think that Karin will be a sleeper hit for 2006, although I'm not too crazy about the four-month wait between volumes. (Volume 2 comes out in August.) |
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GoodLuckSaturday
 Posts: 567 Location: Indiana |
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Doinked-out is correct. Quite a minor annoyance, but I guess if this is an issue that will be fixed, I don't mind. The TOKYOPOP site also mentions the manga as Karin, and the preview has the original Karin logo on the second volume cover design. I wonder if they'll also be implimenting the original title onto the covers, since the adapted title is a bit off and kooky. I personally don't have much problems with the translation, except that there seems to be a lot more profanity than what I would like to see in a series like Karin. The dialogue as a whole felt all right, but some of the dialogue choices kind of stick out to me. The ones you mentioned I thought were funny and did help the overall style, but the random fits of profanity here and there, especially from cute, innocent Karin... 
The series certainly doesn't accomplish anything grand, but it does what it does well, and I think the first volume showcases that well enough. |
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biliano
Posts: 956 Location: Cleveland, OH |
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A correction from my earlier post: I mentioned that TokyoPOP dropped the 100% Authentic Manga label. They're still using it - it's located on the last page of the book.
As for the profanity, as long as Yuna Kagesaki used it in moderation, I don't mind. |
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2253 Location: Online Terminal |
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We're posting comments about reviews posted 3 days from now? We're special.
The use of profanity bothers me a little in this sense: when I think of mild profanity, I think of something akin to Zac's rules (nothing beyond "damn" or "hell") What you people are describing are a little too harsh in my opinion (although what bilano first referenced probably goes over a lot of people's heads.) |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18167 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I've noticed this before. Apparently reviews that have a set time for posting on the main page are immediately available off the Encyclopedia entries and via Random Fun. It isn't hard to guess what direction this series is going, but it's such a neat gimmick that I'll keep reading. |
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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I was wondering why we had commentary for a review that was in the review section but not on the main page.
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biliano
Posts: 956 Location: Cleveland, OH |
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Because when I was looking up Chibi Vampire/Karin in the Encyclopedia (so I can register the title in My Manga), I came across this review. (It's listed under "Related Reviews".) Since I bought and read the book yesterday, I didn't see any harm in starting a discussion thread about the review, even though the review won't be on the main page until Tuesday (April 25). I didn't violate any rules (at least not to my knowledge). BTW, slightly OT here, but next week Harucon in Elyria, OH, will be showing episodes of the Karin anime. I'm planning on attending this one-day event so my question for those that are watching Karin, does the anime version of Karin stay faithful to the manga, or is it slightly different? |
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jmays
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 1390 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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...what exactly is a doink? Or, I guess, what does it mean to be doinked-out? |
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biliano
Posts: 956 Location: Cleveland, OH |
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Fair enough, I'll edit my comment to say this: Hopefully future copies of Volume 1 will not have the messed-up covers. 
But still, the cover snafu is a minor inconvenience to how enjoyable the manga itself really is. 
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W-General
Posts: 280 Location: Ithaca, NY, USA / Taichung, Taiwan |
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I wouldn't feel the change in name is so deplorable had they not used the word "chibi"
Of all the words thy could use, they had to pick "chibi." IMO, this is an even worse renaming decision made by Tokyopop after their ridiculous decision for Ikkitousen=Battle Vixen. The feeling I got from this word choice is that Tokyopop is trying to capitalize on the average American anime lay-fandom's attachment with the word "chibi" (along with other common Japanese words that American fans like to use...) and thus build familiarity and title recognition. Tokyopop is going down the drains. As for the manga itself, I think it's pretty good. I watch the anime myself and I found it to be lightly entertaining. It's an interesting campus comedy play on the overused Vampire idea. |
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Jabberwock
 Posts: 92 Location: Currently attending the University of Florida |
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LOL! I love how people get so bent out of shape over name changes. Yes, Tokyopop is going down the drains because they changed the name of the manga when they brought it over to something you don't like... |
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darkhunter
 Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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How dare TP try to "build familarity and title recognition" to promote and captalize on their titles. Instead of using marketing, lets just leave japanese title like Ikkitousen, which makes it both hard to prounounce and memorize, which in turn would make it hard for new readers  Yes TP is going down the drain indeed, you should know, you're an expert . 
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biliano
Posts: 956 Location: Cleveland, OH |
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Because of one little name change? Didn't you read my initial post? They probably did that to avoid confusion with Kamichama Karin, their other Karin title. Plus, Maaka Karin stands 4'11'', so she fits the "chibi" description very well, thank you very much. If TokyoPOP is "going down the drain" as you so boldly (and inaccurately) predicted, it should be for the snafu of the reversed cover on Volume 1.
That's good. I'm going to watch the anime version at Harucon this Sunday so I'm looking forward to it. |
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Successful_Troll
Posts: 132 |
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I personally have a huge problem with this. Kenta is supposed to be a nice guy, but any guy that would call a girl he barely knows a spoiler[whore] is not a nice guy. Even if that line is a direct translation from the japanese version it still irritates me quite a bit. |
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W-General
Posts: 280 Location: Ithaca, NY, USA / Taichung, Taiwan |
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Thats right, they should retain the original title. If the original Japanese release supplied an English title, or the original title could be translated into an English title, then do that, otherwise, they should keep it.
And furthermore, if they wanted to change the name, they could have used some other words. I think little vampire does just as well of a job. Chibi sounds like a word your average Japanophile would use, the type of people who had picked up a few words of Japanese from watching anime and getting involved in the anime fandom commmunity, then immediately tries to meld them into their everyday life... Its not just one name change...its just something I've been observing for the past few years. I still remember Tokyopops heydays when they were the biggest kid around the block. Then Viz started getting ALL the shueisha-jump and shogakukan-sunday titles, and then theres Del Ray, then Tokyopop just suddenly seem overshadowed by the two. All their best selling titles have been the ones that theyve been releasing for a long time now, which means none of their recent licenses have been doing very well. And now this. Tokyopop is really losing the grip on the market. (excuse me for not using apostrophes, my keyboard is doing funny things to me) |
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