Archive for the ‘MANGA’ Category
April 4, 2005 – 6:17 am
I think this was an anime, then they had the manga. The artist is Murao Minoru – he’s originally an anime artist and this is his first manga work. All I can say is the art is gorgeous and the action is dynamic and very easy to follow.
I’ve heard the anime wasn’t that well executed, even though it looked nice. I only saw one episode but yes it bored me to tears, and I loved the character designs too. Thank goodness the manga is an excellent read. Definitely one of the most enjoyable I’ve had the pleasure of coming across in the last few weeks. No deep stuff, just straightforward awesome gunfighting action with an absolutely cool-as-hell and tough-as-nails female character.
The story revolves around two girls, Jo (the stoic fighter who can’t remember her past) and Meg (the cute sidekick who’s infatuated with Joe). The setting is a lawless Tokyo of the near future. The plot… um… yeah, Jo fights. Jo wants to regain her memory. Signs point to Jo being “engineered”… Enemies from the past show up, blah blah, and why are you interested in plot anyway? :P
I must be utterly spoiled by the recent yuri boom. I can’t imagine liking this even a tenth as much if it Jo was a guy. To clarify, however, I don’t like BakuTen for the yuri (although I’m certainly not complaining), I like BakuTen because the art rocks and Jo is just the most incredible coolest female character (of her genre) since Arashi, or something. I think I need to collect BakuTen art. Lots and lots of BakuTen art.
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February 11, 2005 – 9:42 am
I like finding rather obscure mangaka who draw lovely art. Today, we bring you Takahashi Akira, who as far as I can tell has only two series – 「傀儡/KUGUTSU」 and 「傀儡戯/カーレイヒ」 – which have the same setting and characters but tell separate realities. Or at least, I think they do… They are based on novels (for which same Takahashi co-wrote and drew) and are pretty confusing and complex, plot-wise, since not much is explained in the manga.
Sure looks damn pretty though. A lot of heavy lining and dramatic action; even in non-fight scenes there is a stark dynamism. Things are very cybernetic in feel, the enemies are beautiful even when hideous.
I ran into Takahashi Akira by accident when I bought, on a whim, 傀儡戯 (Kareihi) at K-Books a couple summers ago. Again, a very satisfying discovery, even though I couldn’t really figure out what was going on. If you like kickass female characters and cool male characters and lots of fighting nasty things using supernatural powers, this one’s for you.
You can visit his official page here.
Now, I’m gonna kick back and read KUGUTSU, which has been out of print and ridiculously rare until Wing Comics rereleased it last year. Yippy! But, Kareihi remains in 4 vol limbo, ended with no ending… *sniff sniff*.
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February 11, 2005 – 6:11 am
I thought I’d outgrown gag manga, or pretty much all the new stuff out there was crap. Luckily, “Hayate x Blade” (read as “Hayate Cross Blade”) restores my faith in the ability of mindless hyperkenetic fluff to entertain. Even more surprising for a Dengeki Comics release, it has no cheapo panty shots or anything even mindly ecchi, which is probably why I’m actually reading it.
Hayate x Blade is pure manga comedy, plain and simple. The premise is girls in a kendo school (very modern kendo school!) fighting under a point system to raise their rankings. Of course, the background isn’t the important thing, the real stealer here is the characters, who are at the same time both typical gag manga, and yet refreshing and innocent somehow. It’s great fun, and I laughed out loud at one point. How long has it been since that has happened?
Three cheers for getting back to the good ol’ basics.
Also trawled Mandarake in Shibuya today. It’s a bit sad to see the former mecca of used otaku goods left behind in this new age of bright, cheery and cheap Book Offs.
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February 8, 2005 – 4:39 am
Well, now that Osaka is done and we have to get back to the Foremost Important Reason For Being In Japan – being that of Getting A Job so that I can continue my Life Work of Undivided Undying Complete Support Of Hekiru – I have inadvertantly snuck back into manga reading.
Yep, have spent like 15,000 yen on manga. That’s scary, but not as scary as it my sound, volume-wise, because the stuff I’ve been buying is just damn expensive. Mostly Feel Comics stuff that runs 900 yen to 1300 yen each book, ouch. Some of them I got off recommendations, but I picked up one thing on a whim, because the art looked cool.
It’s by Fujiwara Kaoru, and it’s called Omae ga sekai wo kowashitai nara （おまえが世界をこわしたいなら）. You can look it up on Amazon.co.jp. Contrary to what the cover implies, however, this is no erotic novel… it’s a dark story of vampires and awry love, and one of the best buys I’ve made in a while. Beautiful art, great artistic direction, intriguing characters, original storyline. One of those little known gems that you feel a special pleasure at coming across, just by accident.
Aside from that, I’m looking longingly at some $180 Shure inner earphones. Those babies have some great sound, better than the B&O ones which are fine for classical but feel as warm as ice on a rock track.
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