Forum - View topicANNCast - Super Manga Pals
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debaoki
 Posts: 11 Location: Emeryville, CA |
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Well, that's pretty true. I do like shonen manga, (i'm utterly addicted to Eyeshield 21, Kekkaishi, and Slam Dunk and still enjoy Bleach, Naruto and Dragon Ball before it got all steroid-ed out) -- but I'll admit that there's some shonen manga that is just painfully repetitive for my taste. Maybe I just don't like the goofball humor of Reborn -- you have to swallow a pretty big "this is dumb, but work with me here, ok?" pill to even begin to read it. A baby mafioso who goes to Japan to tell a complete loser of a boy that he's the next heir to an Italian crime family who just happens to be filled with ridiculously eccentric people who don't act like mafioso at all? and then the little baby who dresses like a cow who gets turned into an adult with a magical bazooka? Guh? But i hear over and over again how some people LOOOOVE this series, so i'll give it another try someday. someday. 
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Divineking
 Posts: 1293 |
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My advice on that would be this: Abandon the idea that the series will have ANY real parallels to the mafia(outside of the few legit jokes about it in the earlier volumes), and you'll be fine. It's how I learned to tolerate Naruto(he's a fu**ing blond ninja wearing a bright orange jumpsuit, you could never take that seriously). For me though, the wacky eccentric characters are probably my main reason for liking this series. I wasn't too keen on the Daily Life stuff at first(the first 7 volumes), but after getting to the meat of the series I got the sense that the author used those chapters to let readers get a feel and appeciation for the characters, so they could actually find themselves caring about them later on. She took, perhaps TOO much time to do it(60 chapters is long to wait for a transition), but I can say this is one of the few series where I actually give a crap about the characters(as opposed to Bleach where Kubo himself couldn't care less about them). Ulitmently though, what it comes down to is this: If you go with the flow, and try to enjoy the characters as it goes along, you'll be rewarded later on. If you try to take the series too seriously though, you'll blow a mind gasket. It's a weird series. Accepting it is probably the only way to get some enjoyment out of it... On a different note, I'll take a look at 20th Century Boys since I finally finished watching Monster, though 20th Century Boys was something I always meant to get around to(Pluto was on my list too...) |
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Charred Knight
 Posts: 3085 |
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You like Kekkaishi? That show just screams generic shonen to me. Maybe it retools itself later into having a really enjoyable storyline.
I should mention that while I have only read the first chapter of Reborn from what I heard it's basically the exact opposite of Bleach, no one likes the first few arcs, but the series gets much better later, while with Bleach the first few arcs are considered the best while the later arcs are considered horrible. |
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Divineking
Posts: 1293 |
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Kekkaishi gets MUCH better, trust me. It's defineltly one of the better written shonens out there. |
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debaoki
Posts: 11 Location: Emeryville, CA |
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Yep, Kekkaishi starts off semi-generic -- but it gets much more interesting as the older brother of the main character appears in volume 3 or 4. The dynamic between the younger brother (who is the chosen heir to the family's power) and the older brother (who is not) is really fascinating. There's love and jealousy, admiration and resentment -- but all done in shades of grey. The brothers obviously love each other -- but as many of us know from our family relationships, these feelings can be complicated by other things from our past. There's a certain emotional depth that slowly reveals itself as Kekkaishi continues. It's a little subtle, but before you know it, you're sucked into it and you realize that there's much more going on than meets the eye at first. It's not generally publicized, but Yellow Tanabe is a female artist -- and once I knew that, it made sense that the stories are not as much a series of fights against ever-powerful opponents as it is a slowly simmering war that is being carried out behind the scenes. the art in Kekkaishi is also very well-done, the characters are fairly well-thought out, and Tanabe does some very nice character designs too. There's a good mix of humor and drama. Overall, it's not something that's wildly different that revolutionizes shonen manga, but I think Kekkaishi is a very well-done, very satisfying series to read. give it a chance -- or at least read up to volume 5, and you may see what I mean. |
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Shenl742
Posts: 1524 |
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I second Kekkaishi. It's a very well-done, and actually very smartley written shonen series. About the only criticism against it is that is that there are a few too many self-contained mini-arcs that only nudge the plot around a little each time (almost like Inuyasha...) but that's all really
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ewsizemore
 Posts: 29 Location: Richmond, VA |
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Paploo, please do write more. (PS. We miss ya on twitter.)
Ioka, thanks for the suggestions. I'll check them out. Re: Kekkaishi, I read the first volume and wasn't impressed. But hearing everyone talk about how much better it gets as the series progresses, I'm thinking it's time to take a second look. I tried the anime for about 10 episodes and it never clicked for me. Maybe the manga will. |
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mad mac
Posts: 186 |
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As far as reviews not drawing much discussion, I think it's just the nature of the medium. There typically isn't much to say about a review other then "I agree," "I disagree and you're a horrible person" or just nitpicking little details. At best, you can use it as a platform to express your own little mini-review either agreeing or disagreeing.
I think chapter by chapter or episode by episode reviews, although impractical on a large scale tend to do a better job of drawing people in and attracting commentary, if only because you can sort of hook them into following along with you and having people encourage you/spoiler tease you as you go along. I'm doing a sort of an ongoing review or Princess Tutu Here for example, not to say that it's especially good or anything. As far as Reborn goes, I tried really, really, hard to like it, but the early stuff is unbearable and even the late stuff is only average to above average shonen at best. I can't recommend it in good conscience unless you're really into Shonen or possibly gunslinging mafia babies. |
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immortalrite
 Posts: 56 Location: Yonkers, NY |
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Full Metal Panic: I agree that while the first season was a bit cliched and underwhelming, albeit still enjoyable in that juvenile kind of way, the second two seasons are vastly superior. I bought The Second Raid on Bluray earlier this year and loved it, and I am also very much looking forward to the remastered Fumoffu Bluray in October.
Manga: I suppose am one of those people who does not read that much manga. This is not, however, because I dislike printed media. In fact, to the contrary; I consider myself something of a bibliophile and I do read quite a bit of "real books," including non-fiction as well as prose novels and poetry. I think the simple reason for my preference for anime over manga is a money and space investment. Since I, like Zac, am pretty uncomfortable reading graphic novels on a screen (which by and large puts scanlations or even some kind of legal "manga-streaming" out of the question), I feel the only good way to read a manga is to buy it. I suppose there is always the public library option, but this often comes with the aggravating experience of having a couple random volumes in the middle of the series simply be missing as well as having to wrestle with all the other patrons. Therefore, for me manga as a general medium is kind of a pain, and it always seemed to me the investment ratio of money and shelf-space to enjoyment is vastly in favor of anime. I mean, it's basically paying $8-10 for something which you can read in 45 minutes vs. $20-25 for a 650 minute anime series (not including the possibility of free, legal streaming). Obviously do not mean to put value judgments in purely quantitative terms, but the whole business does indeed make me extremely wary about what manga I get into, particularly in regards to very long or ongoing series. Take two highly-acclaimed manga for example: Berserk and Nausicaa. While I would really like to get into Berserk, the now 35 (and ongoing) volume count along with the roughly $15 MSRP make it really really daunting, whereas Nausicaa on the other hand is only 8 volumes at $10 a piece. With the same mentality, I am much more likely to start buying Pluto (as per Ed Sizemore's recommendation) than 20th Century Boys, even though both of them are more or less equally interesting and critically-acclaimed. Perhaps ironically, it is my love of the printed medium which makes me so skimpy about reading manga. |
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Quark
 Posts: 710 Location: British Columbia, Canada |
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Count me in as another anime fan who rarely reads manga. It's not that I don't read, because I've always had a love of books.
I think the big draw of anime over manga is that anime has bright colours, movement, the characters are voiced, and there's pleasant music to listen to. Not to mention, but if I'm watching anime, I can knit while I watch, therefore getting more out of my free time. If I'm reading a manga, I can't do that. Another reason is that I'm teaching myself Japanese right now. However, reading untranslated manga takes forever, and my reading comprehension of Japanese is pretty low (yes, yes, I know that means I should be reading MORE in order to get better) However, if I watch subtitled anime, I can work on my listening comprehension, still have the subtitles as backup, and make a cool sweater all at the same time. |
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mad mac
Posts: 186 |
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I'm pretty much with you on this. I like manga, but it's something where I end up only reading very few titles because collecting anime or even novels is just so much easier from a time/space/wallet standpoint. Not to say I don't have a bookshelf of manga, but I'm very leery about picking up new titles just because I don't want to get hooked while with Anime it's so much simpler to just watch it streamed or buy a cheap box set. |
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doctordoom85
 Posts: 2093 |
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Deb, I'm curious as to why you didn't care for Soul Eater's manga, yeah the art starts off kind of weak, but it gets better and honestly the anime and manga follow the exact same story for all the establishing chapters and the first major arc. Yes, the animation and music are solid in the anime, this is BONES after all, but switching to the manga shouldn't be THAT much of a downgrade. Just curious to know why the manga version didn't click for you.
Well, after reading other's comments, I may still give Reborn a shot. I still need to finish catching up with Kekkaishi, O. Parts Hunter, and Negima (just caught up with D. Gray-man at vol 18) and of course start collecting Monster, once I do I might check it out. As for 10 volumes or less manga series I've enjoyed that weren't mentioned, I like Genshiken and Chobits. I also loved the Mushishi anime and will pick up the 10 volume manga series eventually. As for Yellow Tanabe being a female artist, I don't think that automatically means she might not have taken a shonen series into the typical "heroes and villains growing in power" style. Sure, she and the mangaka of Fullmetal Alchemist avoid this format (sorta, arguably FMA still does follow it by simply having the good guys find more and more allies, albeit in an insanely well-executed manner), but the female mangaka of D. Gray-man and Inuyasha generally follow this trope. Which always made me curious, okay I know about most of the female mangaka for shonen (any for seinen though, besides CLAMP and the lady who does Hidamari Sketch), but have any male mangaka done shojo? Preferably examples that have been licensed. Edit: and yeah, count me amongst those who thought FMP (I've only seen the first series) was merely okay (didn't help that Gauron overstayed his welcome, he was just kinda underwhelming to me, I prefer Gundam 00's Ali in terms of that sort of character as he was used more sparingly and didn't hog the spotlight constantly, not to mention spoiler[he killed off established characters whereas Gauron only killed arc-specific characters so Ali was the more convincing threat]). Heck, the dub seems almost universally praised even by sub purists, and even then I thought most of the performances were merely good or just okay. |
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PrettyKitty$$$$$
 Posts: 119 |
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The only one I can think of is Name of the Flower by Ken Saito, published by CMX. It's a great little series, only 4 volumes long. |
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doctordoom85
Posts: 2093 |
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Cool, I'll look into it, thanks! 
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ABCBTom
 Posts: 183 |
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Lots of men used to do shojo. Osamu Tezuka. Leiji Matsumoto. Tetsuya Chiba. It wasn't until the 49ers like Moto Hagio and Riyoko Ikeda showed up that women actually started doing shojo. Anything licensed? Not that I can think of, and if there's anything America hates more than sports properties, it's old shojo. |
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