Kevin's Watch

Any Japanophiles out there into manga? I'm just beginning my journey into the genre, but I must say I think I prefer them over American-style comics. Their depth of plot and characterization reminds me of graphic novels, while at the same time retaining an episodic/serial nature.

I've been reading two series: Trigun and Love Hina. Trigun is basically the Gunsmoke of manga--a bit of Western, sci-fi, punk, and frenetic anime action all rolled into one package.

Love Hina is my personal favorite, though. It's a 14-volume series, and I've been devouring it lately. It's a very old plot--boy in charge of an all-girl dorm--but it comes off very sincere, rather than a fan service. The characters are fun (and flawed, too), and the plot arc is addictive and compelling. Being hilarious and having great animation ain't bad, either.

So if anyone's new to manga, I'd definitely recommend Love Hina as their "first step." Trigun is a bit of a visual blitz--quite confusing in some parts, but Love Hina's quite clear to my Western eye.

I'm a real anime novice, as all I know are Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, the various Dragonball series (although Paul did download all of Dragonball GT with sub-titles as a gift to Beorn a couple of years ago), Yu Yu Hakisho, and my favorite Sailor Moon. But, I've mostly only seen the Cartoon Network versions.

I have read online synopses of Sailor Moon, but have never seen an unedited non-DIC version of the show. I would love to see some of the things in the full versions!

Lord Foul wrote:So if anyone's new to anime, I'd definitely recommend Love Hina as their "first step."

Argh! I wouldn't recommend it as any step, never mind the first!

I've had a couple of bits of anime for a while, and recently I was prompted to begin trying to expand my collection. At the weeked, a friend lent me a box set containing the first few episodes of various series, one of which was Love Hina. Seriously, Love Hina was the only one I couldn't stick out for the full disc (in this case, four episodes).

Trigun surprised me. Somehow I was expecting something more serious (I suppose the largely serious-looking opening titles assisted that expectation) but once I got a feel for the tone, I really enjoyed it.

Other highlights include Bubblegum Crisis (apparently the creators intended the title to be more like "Sticky Situation", but that's Japanese-English translation for you) and Vampire Princess Miyu. BC feels quite 80s and is fairly action-based, but still enjoyable. Miyu was described to me as "Buffy for grown ups" and that's fairly accurate. My only real gripe with Miyu is the short running time of each episode; this tends to exaggerate the episodic nature of the series.

My favourite of the collection, however, is Ninja Scroll. I've had the Ninja Scroll film for some time, and although it has good parts it's deeply flawed. The relationships between some characters (specifically Jubei and Genma) are confusing and not explained very clearly. Additionally, the film is bloody and tasteless to an unusual extreme; I found it uncomfortable viewing.
Ninja Scroll the series, though it follows on very loosely from the film (in that it contains a couple of familiar characters and locations), is far superior. Jubei is more likeable, while still being the dry, laconic, reluctant hero; the fights are handled better, and seem like actual fights rather than Jubei hacking a bloody path through his foes; the repellent aspects of the film are gone; and, finally, "Jubei's Theme" is great.

So those are the recent ones. Others I've seen include Perfect Blue, the first few of Neon Genesis Evangelion, both Vampire Hunter Ds, the Guyver, and Excel Saga. I may have forgotten one or two.

CovenantJr wrote:

Lord Foul wrote:So if anyone's new to anime, I'd definitely recommend Love Hina as their "first step."

Argh! I wouldn't recommend it as any step, never mind the first!

Great, my manga thread turned into an anime thread. Partly my fault, though, as I meant first step in "manga," rather than anime. I have no idea how the Love Hina anime is, but the manga receives my highest marks.

Lord Foul wrote:Great, my manga thread turned into an anime thread. Partly my fault, though, as I meant first step in "manga," rather than anime.

Go and poke the edit button then.

I only have one manga, and that's the Guyver, simply because I heard it's a lot better than the ANIME ( ). And it is.

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm such a novice I didn't even know the difference.

Shall I go back and delete my post?

Nah, you're fine Menolly.

Neat Wikipedia entry on manga: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manga

One of the cool things about manga is the way you have to learn to read it: left to right, rather than right to left. Also: the front cover is where out back cover is.

Lord Foul wrote:Nah, you're fine Menolly.

Neat Wikipedia entry on manga: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manga

Thankee, m'lord.

Lord Foul wrote:One of the cool things about manga is the way you have to learn to read it: left to right, rather than right to left. Also: the front cover is where out back cover is.

Since I pray using a Hebrew siddur, that's not an issue for me.

Lord Foul wrote:Nah, you're fine Menolly.

Neat Wikipedia entry on manga: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manga

One of the cool things about manga is the way you have to learn to read it: left to right, rather than right to left. Also: the front cover is where out back cover is.

I should really try and get some manga. It's probably cheaper than anime. And there are some that I've heard are terrible anime but fantastic manga, like Appleseed.

Hmm...Ebay...

Menolly wrote:

Lord Foul wrote:One of the cool things about manga is the way you have to learn to read it: left to right, rather than right to left. Also: the front cover is where out back cover is.

Since I pray using a Hebrew siddur, that's not an issue for me.

Ha ha! It's funny, but I have trouble reading American comics, as I've been immersed in manga for so long. I was reading V for Vendetta backwards the other day, and I was confused for a couple minutes before I realized my mistake!

I don't know what manga means.

I'm pretty sure it's a corporation, but it's generally used to refer to...hell, just read Foul's Wiki link.

Oh alright, I'll pick out the key bits for you:

Manga (漫画, Manga?) is the Japanese word for comics and print cartoons. Outside of Japan, it usually refers specifically to Japanese comics.

...


Popular manga is often adapted into anime (Japanese for animation) once a market interest has been established.

Ah. Thanks.

Lord Foul wrote:Great, my manga thread turned into an anime thread. Partly my fault, though, as I meant first step in "manga," rather than anime. I have no idea how the Love Hina anime is, but the manga receives my highest marks.

The anime has its fans, but most who know both consider it inferior to the manga. It comes short in regards to the humor, and the anime introduces some additional characters which serve no purpose at all and only waste time, it's not as if the original cast would have been too small to offer enough material. I myself enjoyed the manga well enough when I first read it, but found the anime to be quite a disappointment.

Love Hina is by many considered to be the reference in the romantic comedy genre, the subgenre of boys-targeted harem comedy (one guy, usually a total loser, surrounded by lots of pretty but character-wise extremly stereotypic girls) in particular, you'll often find it mentioned as comparison whenever a more recent series from this genre is discussed, but LH itself only made use of rules and cliches established by the real classics before it (like for example Maison Ikkoku, a series which had less whacky humor and much less fanservice, but offered a better blend of comedy and romance, the latter often coming quite short in LH). Of course Akamatsu's very attractive drawing style plays a big role in its success, particularly the girls' cute character designs.

Sevothtarte wrote:Love Hina is by many considered to be the reference in the romantic comedy genre, the subgenre of boys-targeted harem comedy (one guy, usually a total loser, surrounded by lots of pretty but character-wise extremly stereotypic girls) in particular, you'll often find it mentioned as comparison whenever a more recent series from this genre is discussed, but LH itself only made use of rules and cliches established by the real classics before it (like for example Maison Ikkoku, a series which had less whacky humor and much less fanservice, but offered a better blend of comedy and romance, the latter often coming quite short in LH). Of course Akamatsu's very attractive drawing style plays a big role in its success, particularly the girls' cute character designs.

I thought the romance was very effective in Hina, and watching its ups and downs was hilarious and endearing, as was the growth of several characters (especially Motoko). It was also a little bit against the harem genre, as these girls gave the male a hard time and didn't even like him for a long time, so I thought that was a smart twist. All in all it's one of the most intelligent mangas I've ever come across, despite the fan-service (which itself was so deliberately, awkwardly-placed that I found it almost satirical).

Sevothtarte wrote:Love Hina is by many considered to be the reference in the romantic comedy genre, the subgenre of boys-targeted harem comedy (one guy, usually a total loser, surrounded by lots of pretty but character-wise extremly stereotypic girls) in particular, you'll often find it mentioned as comparison whenever a more recent series from this genre is discussed, but LH itself only made use of rules and cliches established by the real classics before it (like for example Maison Ikkoku, a series which had less whacky humor and much less fanservice, but offered a better blend of comedy and romance, the latter often coming quite short in LH). Of course Akamatsu's very attractive drawing style plays a big role in its success, particularly the girls' cute character designs.

I thought the romance was very effective in Hina, and watching its ups and downs was hilarious and endearing, as was the growth of several characters (especially Motoko). It was also a little bit against the harem genre, as these girls gave the male a hard time and he had to earn their trust,,so I thought that was a smart twist. All in all it's one of the most intelligent mangas I've ever come across, despite the fan-service (which itself was so deliberately, awkwardly-placed that I found it almost satirical).

And I agree the anime is sub-par, though the Love Hina Again anime, three episodes after the series proper, was much closer to the manga's spirit in tone and art, and I enjoyed it immensely.

I still haven't gotten any new manga yet, simply because of regular literature and writing itself occupying my energy, but the next two series I will get are Akira and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, without a doubt.

I just finished all eighteen volumes of Monster by Naoki Urasawa, and the finish makes no sense.