Forum - View topicJason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - Twin Spica
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Ingraman
Posts: 1077 |
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Lots of the use of the word "shuttle" to describe the "Lion" spacecraft, but wasn't it just a rocket? I don't use those words interchangeably, anyway. Has it been that long since I last read the manga? ^^;
I love the manga, and was quite disappointed that it didn't sell so well and has gone out of print. According to the most recent Manga Out Loud podcast, it's either out or coming out in electronic form, though. I was looking forward to its print release because I'd seen fansubs of the anime, but those who didn't watch the anime might not have known what a great series it is. I'm sure I've missed many a good anime or manga because I didn't know anything about it and it wasn't on CR to stream or on the shelf at B&N to flip through... |
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Shay Guy
 Posts: 2112 |
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I read the first volume from the library back in 2010. It was definitely good, but something about it reacted badly with my mental state -- along the lines of "Here, watch this kid be better than you ever will be, in every meaningful sense, because you haven't been reminded enough lately of how thoroughly you suck. This is what competent people look like, people with the potential to be great; look and see what you will never be."
Not sure I can say why this manga provoked that response when something like One Piece or FMA doesn't. (At the time, I hadn't started the latter, but I'd reached the former's Impel Down arc, so it's not just that I've changed since.) Maybe it's just that being an astronaut is a more real-world "superstar" goal. |
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zensunni
 Posts: 1291 |
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Very nice review. I read Twin Spica last summer, checking the volumes out of my local public library. Interestingly, they didn't have all of the volumes, the last four were not available. I did a little looking on-line and found that I could still buy them, but was short on cash at the time, so I tried requesting them through inter-library loan. Much to my surprise, the library cancelled my inter-library loan requests and purchased the remaining volumes! I was so pleased that they completed the collection so others that find this little gem won't be left wondering what happens next!
All in all, I thought it was one of the better manga I had read. At first I found it to be mostly predictable, but consistently thoughtful, heartfelt, and earnest. As the story went on, Yuginuma managed to toss in a twist or two that I didn't see coming, usually in the form of a swift uppercut to the mental solar plexus, leaving me gasping for breath as I reeled from the assault. The mood is more somber than I expected and the sadder parts are wickedly sad. Sometimes I wanted to put it down after Yuginuma abused his plucky young heroes or heroines in ways that tore at my heart, but I knew that if I stuck with it for a bit, he would turn that ache into a warm glow with the way the wonderful characters would pick each other up and keep moving toward the stars. On the technical side, Twin Spica is very impressive. I took my children to a parent-child Space Camp a couple of years ago and learned quite a bit about how astronaut training is actually done, even though the camp itself is all pretend and simulation. The details in Twin Spica all rang true. Yuginuma did his research, that is clear. As someone who always dreamed of space, yet knew that I would never be able to do something like that, the can-do attitude of the students was a happy rebuke to my negativity. (My daughter may someday live that dream, if she decides to pursue it. I hope she does.) The "Another Spica" comics were nearly as enjoyable as the main feature. I looked forward to the next installment of the lonely life of a struggling young artist who had as much luck with women as he did getting published. It made me hope that, once he became the successful mangaka that published Twin Spica, that his luck in love also turned around. Twin Spica is a wonderful story with only a few story lines that fall flat. It is heartwarming yet realistic, happy yet melancholy, and nostalgic even as it looks to the future, always moving forward. |
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ptolemy18
Manga Reviewer/Creator/Taster
Posts: 357 Location: San Francisco |
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Aggh, my mistake! I think they do always say "rocket"; I just couldn't stop thinking of the various shuttle disasters in real life. It's my American bias... -_-; |
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TG72
 Posts: 334 |
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I ended up buying all 12 volumes and they're worth every cent. What an absolute joy this series is. The training, details about space travel, determination, etc are enjoyable enough, but what made it stand out for me was how strongly Asumi wants to include others in her dream. After all, she starts out wanting to be a 'rocket driver' and take people into space with her.
If you're a fan of Space Brothers, do yourself a favor and check Twin Spica out. |
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partysmores
 Posts: 284 |
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It's also worth noting this is one of the few manga you can get from Scholastic's book fairs/book order forms nowadays; I think it's a little slow and actionless for children but if they've got the attention span, this is a really great manga.
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zawa113
 Posts: 7357 |
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I had actually seen the (incomplete, goes maybe 6-7 volumes in) anime maybe 4-5 years before Vertical grabbed the license, the result of which made my head implode as hard as TRSI's Rose of Versailles nab, so it was an instant buy for me. I wasn't expecting to love the manga so much more than the anime, it goes back and forth between Asumi's past and present a lot more, but with good balance. It's weird in that the very tone of the manga is what tends to make it sad more so than any event. Perhaps as I got used to the tone did I stop bawling at every moment.
The series makes it clear that only one can actually go into space at this time, so normally you'd be annoyed that they can't all go, right? But for some characters, their true calling wasn't actually going into space like Asumi's was, so I love how they're able to do other things instead. The only exception is Shu, whom spoiler[I think they kill off purely because he really was a hair better than Asumi, and him dying was the only way she could've gone into space], so I did feel that was kind of a cop out. But I loved all the training exercises, I found them quite fascinating, so never boring. I couldn't help but think "what if these kids needed to take medicine daily and they forgot it?", no clue if the organizers went and got the medicine for them or something. Still, I am soooo happy to see this manga featured! Once I got v12 in, I went over to Vertical's facebook page to praise them for getting something so incredible, only to hear "yeah, sorry, sold terribly, it's going OOP" and I came back on here to demand people buy it (successfully might I add), but I am glad that it's available digitally now at the very least. It's a real shame it didn't sell well, it had great approval with manga bloggers and critics (it was an absolute darling during its whole run) and it really was the best manga coming out in America at the time imo. That said, I still rank it as my second favorite "coming of age" story, Hikaru no Go beats it out for me. Twin Spica is still in my top 6 for sure though (I don't have a top 5, 6 deserve the spots). On the plus side at this point, of my top 6, only Banana Fish and Hikaru no Go have yet to be featured (my others are Firefighter, Maison Ikkoku, and Flower of Life) |
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sainta
 Posts: 989 |
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I only watched the Twin Spica anime but I enjoyed it. However, I think the writer tries too hard to make us feel bad for Asumi; Nobody except her dad and Lion love her. Asumi is very young in the beginning but everybody treats her like she is a thief or something. What did the poor girl do to deserve such bad treatment?
So the poor dude ended being Kaworu 2.0? 
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krpalmer
Posts: 31 |
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I have a general interest in space (having seen the very first space shuttle launches on TV when I was quite young and having managed to get to Florida to see the fourth-to-last space shuttle launch in person), which meant I picked up Twin Spica right off, such that I was sort of dismayed to hear it wasn't selling well and would be going to thicker volumes to get finished. (Of course, I'm grateful to Vertical for finishing it.) After having read each volume individually as they came out, I did something I don't often get around to and managed to read through the whole series in one steady push last Christmas vacation. It was as good an experience the second time around (this time, I picked up on a few things I might have missed before), although I did have that steady impression of "sadness" to the story... although it was always a cathartic sort of sadness to me.
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Pauratagashi22
Posts: 2 |
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I won the first volume as a prize from a contest at a convention. At first I was very skeptical, mainly because I'm more of a fantasy/supernatural/action fan. So a shoujo, and on top of it, a sci-fi houjo manga was something completely new to me. But when I started reading, before I knew it I had been completely won over. Sadly, I never did find anymore volumes at any of the bookstores in the area. I still have the first volume, and I read it practically once a day, and the experience never gets old :3
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st_owly
 Posts: 5234 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland |
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Twin Spica is technically seinen, it ran in a seinen magazine. I'm so glad I discovered this series before it went out of print. It's something that would've completely passed me by were it not for a certain member of this forum... It's one of my favourite series ever, and anyone who doesn't spoiler[cry when Shu dies] isn't human. It's such a wonderful coming of age story, yet so tinged with nostalgia. |
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Kohii
 Posts: 428 |
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I don't know what sort of manga you've been reading but that is definitely not the case. A lot of people come to like Asumi. She has her friends, her roommates at the Seagull, and even her boss gives her an extra cake on christmas (over the other girl that she works with). spoiler[ It is even hinted that Fuchuya might be hiding some romantic feelings for her. ]. Dr. Sano didn't like her in the beginning, but there's a reason for that. When she was younger, she didn't have friends because she would talk about her ghost friend (kinda reminds me of a similar case in "Kotoura-san").
spoiler[ Well, to be fair, he could've gone on the American expedition, but his demise had been hinted since Volume 8, I think. When they mention that his mom had died of the same disease that the original Marika's mom did, which was, in fact, a genetic disease. There was coughing and sudden nosebleeds before that. ] I love this manga. It's such a shame that it went out of print so quickly and many people won't be able to enjoy it. |
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ewsizemore
 Posts: 29 Location: Richmond, VA |
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While the physical edition of Twin Spica is out of print. Vertical is now selling digital editions of the manga for Amazon's Kindle & BN's Nook. Glad to see the manga still available for new fans.
-now corrected Last edited by ewsizemore on Sat Jun 29, 2013 7:25 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Ingraman
Posts: 1077 |
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I love the word choice. I didn't know that "maga" was a word, but the dictionary widget gave me a definition. It looks like one of those wonderful auto-correct sorts of error. ;p Yeah, while it's not print, it's good that Twin Spica is available in some form... |
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katscradle
Posts: 469 |
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Uh, Spica's not on Nook yet. Actually I've yet to see any eBook from Vertical on B&N since several pre-order dates have come and gone without release. I've been watching since I was aware Vertical have the intention of bringing some of their catalog to digital. So I do hope to see their manga on Nook. |
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