Forum - View topicMoyoco Anno
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ame_de_verseau
Posts: 21 |
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So, her style is very unique and her characters are different from your typical shojo/Josei fare and I'm really loving Sugar Sugar Rune. I love just looking at it. So i've been trying to get into her other series published in English Happy Mania and Flowers and Bees.
What i'm curious of is, has anyone read all three? How would you say that they compare to Sugar Sugar Rune? Would you recommend them?and why? |
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Not a Jellyfish
 Posts: 539 Location: Boston, MA |
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Unfortunately I haven't read Sugar Sugar Rune, yet, however it is on my list. But I have read some of both Happy Mania and Flowers and Bees. Flowers and Bees was humorous, but it's a lot harder to come by now, so I haven't been able to get very far in the series. Happy Mania, I thought was alright, but there are definitely better josei series available in the states (though they may be few and far between).
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velocet
Posts: 240 |
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I enjoyed Happy Mania and Flowers and Bees, but I can't help feeling they're probably not everyone's cup of tea. Happy Mania in particular suffers from a cast of wholly dislikeable characters. This is deliberate, and there are people like me who get amusement out of how ludicrous the whole series was, but a lot of people seem to have found it more annoying than funny. Though I do like it, I wonder if my enjoyment of the series isn't partly because it was one of the only josei titles on the market at it's time of publication in English. In terms of josei in general, it's not stellar, but it's not terrible either. I enjoy Anno's twisted humour, so despite its flaws it was still enjoyable to me.
Flowers and Bees is better, in terms of humour, artwork and plot, though as with Happy Mania, I think you have to like her humour to really get the most out of it. The artwork standard is a huge improvement from Happy Mania's sketchy mess, but it's still not as intricate and fun as Sugar Sugar Rune. Of the 3, Sugar Sugar Rune is the series I've enjoyed the most, but it doesn't really have much in common with HM or F&B, if that's what you're hoping for. |
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ame_de_verseau
Posts: 21 |
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well...i'm just looking for more Josei manga. and i liked SUgar Sugar Rune so even though it may be very different i was hoping that it would atleast be as good. but Flower's and Bees and Happy Mania are both difficult to get a hold of. i'm up for the challenge though. i want something with more of an edge.
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Not a Jellyfish
Posts: 539 Location: Boston, MA |
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If you're looking for Josei, I highly recommend Tramps Like Us (Kimi wa Pet). It's by Yayoi Ogawa, instead, but I'd say it's much better than either of Anno's other 2 works mentioned. It's one of my favorite series of all time, and definitely the best Josei title translated (though it doesn't exactly have much competition). And if you want edgy, this is it. It's about a working woman who keeps a college boy as her pet "dog". The art is much smoother than Anno's and I feel that there is more real character development in the series. |
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darkhunter
 Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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well sugar sugar rune actually ran in a children or young girl magazine, that's why it is so different from her other two popular title. Flower and Bee is a seinen and is quite good imo, better than sugar sugar rune.
Anno is consider one of the top manga artist in Japan for her fashionable drawing and artistic style. She's also well known for her work beyond manga in japan. |
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Not a Jellyfish
Posts: 539 Location: Boston, MA |
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It's a matter of opinion. Personally, I don't think her artwork is that good, whereas I love Ogawa Yayoi's style. Anno's art has improved in Sugar Sugar Rune, but I still think it's not all that great, especially in Flowers and Bees and Happy Mania. Just because her art is renowned, doesn't mean it's amazing to everyone. |
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Buster Blader 126
 Posts: 1208 Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada |
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I've only read Vol. 1 of Happy Mania. I bought it to try out the series, and while I didn't mind it, it didn't really grab my interest too much. Perhaps I'll read it again in the future, but it's a low priority.
I am keen on checking out Hataraki Man, though. However, we probably won't see that here for quite some time (if ever), due to the extremely slow pace of its release. |
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Kagemusha
 Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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I don't think its a matter of Anno not being a competent artist; anyone who's read JAPAN as Viewed by 17 Creators can tell you she can draw her way around the majority of manga-ka out there. But she mostly draws in the style of her mentor, the great Kyoko Okazaki, which doesn't really focus on making things look pretty. Both authors often focus on ugly subject matter (Anno's most obvious example being Flowers and Bees, which is more or less a satire on the modern pursuit of beauty) and the unattractive styles are probably deliberate. I suspect this is especially true for Okazaki. As for Anno, her art in stuff like Sugar Sugar Rune is incredibly stylish and in my opinion much more interesting than the generic shojo fair, so she can definitely draw more conventionally attractive art. I'll second and F&B or SugarSugar recommendations, but my favorite thing from her is Hataraki Man. Fascinating look at women's changing role in Japanese society, with great characters and a fine sense of situational comedy that really drives a story that wouldn't seem interesting on the surface. As for other josei artists, Nananan Kiriko is about as good as you can get in English. Blue achieves a sense of emotional depth that most manga can only dream of. Her short stories are equally impressive. As I mentioned above Kyoko Okazaki is an incredible storyteller. River's Edge and Helter Skelter are both masterworks that I would hesitate to even classify as "josei" since their appeal is universal. |
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Not a Jellyfish
Posts: 539 Location: Boston, MA |
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I never said she was incompetent. I said I personally didn't like her style. 
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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Well you did say she couldn't draw that good. Regardless of what you meant this is the most common criticism of her and I would have addressed it anyways. |
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Not a Jellyfish
Posts: 539 Location: Boston, MA |
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I don't want to beat this like a dead horse, but I never said she "couldn't draw that good." I said that I felt that Yayoi Ogawa's art was "smoother". This is an opinion. Are we not allowed to have these? I'm sorry, I really don't mean to be rude, I just do not appreciate being told that I said she was incompetent. |
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