I've been thinking of doing doing a blog for a while now, but I've been busy with school and this life thing everyone not on the internet keeps talking about. But, that's neither here nor there.
If you're still with me, you're probably wonder just what I plan to do here. For one, this isn't going to a blog about daily life and such. No, this is all on the tin: if you came here curious about manga you are in the right place.
It's time to review some manga! You know what's really great about modern manga now? We get to have a voice in it. What am I talking about? This. I really do love Shonen Jump Alpha and digital manga by extension. It's cheaper than print, I get it faster, and while I help Viz, I'm not directly supporting manga in the anthology that I dislike. Heck, I even get to rate and say which manga I think are bad, which is pretty much how the Japanese Shonen Jump ranks its manga as well (with less popular series occupying the back of the magazine until they get canceled).
So, with that said, if there's series in it you like go sign up for a subscription. A year round subscription is cheaper than most anime releases, heck it's cheaper than most Blu-Ray releases. Even if there's series you don't like, you can just ignore then and get the fast manga while supporting the industry.
Okay, we got my product placement out of the way? Then lets just establish a few bases about who I am. I've been an avid anime fan since a pretty young age, since I got to see a lot of Miyazaki films when I was little. My favorite long-running and over-all series is One Piece and while it is not a perfect series *cough* Sabo *cough* it does enough things right for me to see it as a good foil to some of the uh... ahem lesser series I'm going to go through. I'm not gonna bother saying what I love about the series right here otherwise we'll be here until our eyes are bleeding. Suffice it to say, I whole heartedly believe there's a reason it's been around for 15 years and its only at it's half-way point.
Pictured: Climax of my favorite arc in the series
As for favorite short run series: Madoka Magica.
This is complexity and deconstruction done to nigh-perfect levels (moreso with the movies and their additional art) without become caught up in a tangled web of philosophy. The characters are explained just enough to give viewers ample room to analyze and discuss them and the plot is an amazing series of twist that gives no hints away to how the story will end and has you desperately begging for things to work out in the end... and even then you still question if they have.
Other stuff about me since you've been this patient. Well, aside from anime I generally like most stuff in Japan and find its culture fascinating (which'll make my first review so much fun). I've taken classes on both its history, religion, economy, and a bit of its language which helps give me a greater understanding of some of the stuff in manga that you might miss otherwise (still getting around to puns though.
As any good anime fan, I like abridged series as well. My favorite is Hellsing Ultimate as it goes all out in terms of jokes (it's pretty much the South Park of abridged series). The quality just put into making it is astounding as is Teamfourstar's other stuff (yes DBZ abridged is good too, although the last two specials haven't been quite as funny IMPO). Also, just to verify level of awesome this series occupies, check out the third episode's opening and pay attention to Van Hellsing's voice:
You know, that sounds familiar, oh, I bet it's Lanipator, it kinda sounds like Piccolo or...
It's Chris Sabat. I am not kidding. It is insane, it is awesome. Placing all bets on Vic Mignogna showing up next!
That aside I'm also a fan of Adventure Time- how it stays a prime-time kids show I don't know given, you know, the nightmare fuel that is currently entering Digimon Tamer's level and beyond- and MLP. I think they're both fun shows that strike a great balance between adult and kid humor and are fun for a wide variety of ages.
Introductory stuff out of the way? Good, lets talk about what I'll first be reviewing. Remember how I mentioned I like Japan in general? Well, turns out a lot of anime and manga draw strongly on Japanese myth and religion. Heck, the big manga like Naruto and Bleach have elements of Japanese folklore and religion as center plot points while One Piece and Toriko have references sprinkled throughout their stories. They've all incorporated these elements differently and to varying degrees of success.
So what happens when you don't incorporate the myths and religion so much as shove it in the reader's face? Well, pile that on top of every shonen cliche you can imagine and you get...
Oh this is gonna be fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment