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REVIEW: Me and the Devil Blues GN 1




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J-Head





PostPosted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:27 am Reply with quote
Woah. Great idea for a manga. Wow. I'm blown away. Well, ok, I was, but the lackluster review turns me off... I still want to read it... just to see.
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blind_assassin



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 755
PostPosted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:52 am Reply with quote
THis is pretty much the only review I've seen so far that isn't glowing. I bought it and was pleased with it. It's not astounding but the art work is excellent and the story is original enough that the silliness and whatever are mostly outweighed. If you've got $20 to spend on manga then Me and the Devil Blues is worth it since its about 600 pages and not that much more than a standard 200 page GN. If you don't like it then I guess that makes it even worse of a loss then.
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fuuma_monou



Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 1817
Location: Quezon City, Philippines
PostPosted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:55 am Reply with quote
Fully Booked has this in stock, but since I'm saving up for the Marimite DVD box at Comic Quest, it'll have to wait until I have cash to spare. Probably after Sugar Sugar Rune Vol. 8 comes out later this month.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14755
PostPosted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 2:01 am Reply with quote
It's not about Japanese girls in panties; of course it'd never sell. Laughing
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JELEINEN



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 253
Location: Iowa
PostPosted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:29 am Reply with quote
Bleh. Would it have killed them to have done a real biography? Robert Johnson's life was interesting enough as it is. All that selling his soul crap was about Tommy Johnson anyway. People just got confused about it because of the similarities in names.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:aifoxq95ldke~T1
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sunflower



Joined: 04 Sep 2005
Posts: 1080
PostPosted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:59 am Reply with quote
I personally thought the background story was fascinating and the more interesting part of the volume. The second half seemed more sensationalist and not at all about the music. It all comes down to what you like reading about. The birth of a legend and his music is to me fascinating.
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Andrew Cunningham



Joined: 01 Feb 2006
Posts: 442
Location: Seattle
PostPosted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 12:02 pm Reply with quote
Couldn't disagree more. This is absolutely one of the best manga coming out in English.
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HellKorn



Joined: 03 Oct 2006
Posts: 1669
Location: Columbus, OH
PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 5:42 pm Reply with quote
Casey Brienza wrote:
The turgid storyline, weighted down by its own gravitas, never manages a pace faster than an agonized lumber.

[...]

The above background story takes a groaning two-hundred pages to unfold.


This only tells me is that the reviewer does not like methodical, slow-paced stories. These are only vague criticisms leveled with why it's specifically bad. It basically amounts to stating, "This is boring," a complaint which could be leveled at ANY piece of fiction.

Quote:
The last hundred pages explore the creepiness of this Wild Wild West—and RJ's curse, which is manifesting on his right hand. I won't spoil anything further here, but suffice it to say that Hiramoto's sense of the horrific leaves something to be desired…and polydactyl people may feel insulted.


This just tells me that the reviewer does not find spoiler[a highly-detailed, realistically depicted ten-fingered hand] to be frightening. I cannot understand why because she does not give any reasons -- yes, this can be done without spoiling anyone -- and again only uses vague generalities.

Quote:
The only egregiously incorrect moment was Clyde's use of Asian body language when beckoning to RJ on page 269.


While more common in the East than the West, it's a gesture easily identified as, "Come here." I doubt that no one in the West has never used it or wouldn't understand it.

Quote:
However, racist depictions of black people in Japanese cartoons since Tezuka have had an ignominious history, and the decidedly caricatured designs of many of the black people in this realistically drawn manga may make some Americans uncomfortable. And they look—not to mention occasionally behave—a bit like the cast of a blackface minstrel show.


Now this just comes across as being silly. The only times when they're "caricatured" are for a few comedic moments in the first third of this volume. And the reactions are just typical of ANY given character design in a manga, not the stereotypical blackface ones (which doesn't pop up at all here).

Quote:
Indeed, the manga seems to fetishize race relations in the U.S. (especially the darker aspects) for cheap thrills.


What's being fetishized? RJ is living in the deep south in the early 20th century. Gee, that's not exactly the friendliest environment and times for African-Americans, is it? Perish the thought that a comic creator would actually depict such events!

Quote:
It also fetishizes frontier justice,


In what way? Again, like much of this review, generalities only with no specifics to back up such claims.

Quote:
and it is possible to read criticism of contemporary U.S. foreign policy here.


Isn't this the second time the reviewer is seeing political overtones that don't exist in the manga? Wasn't the first occasion in a review of a CLAMP book?

Casey and Zac: I appreciate and understand putting out reviews that may run counter to the popular opinion. Carl's Death Note review is an excellent example of that; however, that review also backed up its claim and didn't go off into tangents that are simply untrue of the material. If Casey did not makes such claims, then perhaps she could have devoted more of her time specifically detailing how Akira Hiramoto did not succeed with Me and the Devil Blues. I'd love to read a review like that, but this is just not that review.
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vashfanatic



Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 3489
Location: Back stateside
PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2009 2:29 pm Reply with quote
Congratulations on this manga receiving the Glyph Comic Award as "the best in comics made by, for, and about people of color from the preceding calendar year" in spite of the "whiff of unintentional (?) racism."
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