Kurokami / Black God
- Thread starter Aion
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Cloud Strife
Vampire Ninja
The manga is much better than what the anime is
Aion
Time-Traveller
Wikipedia alone is enough to tell a person not to watch the anime:
-- Keita is reduced in age so he's a high school student, because all anime fans are in high scool.
-- Keita's personality is changed; removing all his arrogance, violence against women and him treating Akane like he's her pimp. In short, it sounds like he's turned into a dull as f-uck, typical anime goody-goody lead.
-- Keita exchanges hearts with Kuro, rather than having his arm cut off and Kuro replacing his with hers. There are probably roses shown during the heart transplant, also.
And, of course, I'm sure there's less 'service'; removing much of the comedy. It also has an anime original ending and, seemingly, vastly inferior artwork.
I could tell you why to read it but, really, what's the point when no-one on this forum can read more than a sentence?
-- Keita is reduced in age so he's a high school student, because all anime fans are in high scool.
-- Keita's personality is changed; removing all his arrogance, violence against women and him treating Akane like he's her pimp. In short, it sounds like he's turned into a dull as f-uck, typical anime goody-goody lead.
-- Keita exchanges hearts with Kuro, rather than having his arm cut off and Kuro replacing his with hers. There are probably roses shown during the heart transplant, also.
And, of course, I'm sure there's less 'service'; removing much of the comedy. It also has an anime original ending and, seemingly, vastly inferior artwork.
I could tell you why to read it but, really, what's the point when no-one on this forum can read more than a sentence?
Yeah, he went off to train and never came back.
Also, Aion, these threads you make -- It does put things on my 'dar and in fact, I'm planning on watching Gankutsou soon so don't stop with them. The constantly complaining does work. I would like to read this at some stage as well. I looked at the anime and saw all the negatives you listed so that's why I'm not watching that. My interest is piqued, with both this and that Ikigami thing.
Also, Aion, these threads you make -- It does put things on my 'dar and in fact, I'm planning on watching Gankutsou soon so don't stop with them. The constantly complaining does work. I would like to read this at some stage as well. I looked at the anime and saw all the negatives you listed so that's why I'm not watching that. My interest is piqued, with both this and that Ikigami thing.
Aion
Time-Traveller
Everyone seems to rate Gankutsuou, so that should be a safe bet. Unless you've read the superior, impossible to adapt faithfully novel, then it's a sure bet you'll like it. The only negative I see people throwing around is that the visuals are too hard on the eyes. (It takes at least a few episodes to get used to all the moving patterns.)
In terms of manga buying/reading, at the moment it's working out like this for me:
Kurokami - My action, comedy, light fan-service and supernatural drama mix. The most childish of my 'big three', but it still has some gore and serious themes.
Gantz - In the middle of my three is Gantz, and volume nine was sent the other day. It isn't childish but it's certainly presented in a way that appeals to those into lots of violence and boobs. A lot of fun to read and very hard-hitting at the same time.
Ikigami - Deadly serious, and without any fan-service whatsoever. It's basically a series of shorts about the value of life, and it's one of the most powerful works I've encountered to date. I'm so impressed by it that I gave it an early review/blog post, put it in my favourites and added the author to my top people list over on MAL. More people need to discover it.
There's a lot of good manga coming out in English at the moment. The most excellent, very disturbing Bokurano has just started getting released, and I plan on collecting it once more volumes are out (me having read five or six volumes online already). There's also Bakuman, which HAS to be pretty ******* awesome; it being the creation of team Death Note.
Switching back to Kurokami, it's good because, despite it plainly stealing from Naruto in the more recent chapters, it brings some new into the mix and executes everything else very, very well. I suppose the main appeal is that, rather than it having a male lead, it has a female lead do the fighting and a male support her from the sidelines. And, like with any top notch action manga, the artwork is lovely, as well as being clear during the many lengthy but fairly epic battles.
Aside from the obvious artwork and female lead plus points, the blend of comedy and drama is what makes me rate Kurokami highly. The writer knows how to time the events so that the story is never too depressing or light-hearted. With his ability, he manages to have Akane run out of the shower naked after a dog one minute and then move onto a back-story involving an Orochimaru-esque, far more graphic (i.e. with live, naked subjects being worked on) 'experiment' scene the next. It's reminiscent of how, back in the Naruto good days, when there was a good blend of NarutoxSasuke/Jiraiya humour one minute and intense drama the next.
The Naruto links do run pretty deep; a little too deep, perhaps. First of all, Kuro is the last of her clan; her once nice (to her), elite brother wiping out the rest of her clan, mother and all. Even though Kuro is NOTHING like the ever depressive and angsty Sasuke of Naruto fame - her being simple-minded, running around without underwear and eating 24/7 - it's hard to not see the similarities between Itachi and Reiishin. And, like I mentioned before, there's an Orochimaru type character from Kuro's clan who experimented/killed lots for his own amusement; the end result being him exiled and escaping from death.
...In short, I guess what I'm trying to say is that Kurokami will have a lot of appeal to Naruto fans and the like; the lack of an orange ninja, the cleavage shots and Keita being so much of an ******** that he's great to watch be a dick to everyone and get away with it (like Haseo from .hack//G.U.) all adding to its appeal.
Bleach? Naruto? Nah; the Koreans know how's it's done. Screw the Japanese!
In terms of manga buying/reading, at the moment it's working out like this for me:
Kurokami - My action, comedy, light fan-service and supernatural drama mix. The most childish of my 'big three', but it still has some gore and serious themes.
Gantz - In the middle of my three is Gantz, and volume nine was sent the other day. It isn't childish but it's certainly presented in a way that appeals to those into lots of violence and boobs. A lot of fun to read and very hard-hitting at the same time.
Ikigami - Deadly serious, and without any fan-service whatsoever. It's basically a series of shorts about the value of life, and it's one of the most powerful works I've encountered to date. I'm so impressed by it that I gave it an early review/blog post, put it in my favourites and added the author to my top people list over on MAL. More people need to discover it.
There's a lot of good manga coming out in English at the moment. The most excellent, very disturbing Bokurano has just started getting released, and I plan on collecting it once more volumes are out (me having read five or six volumes online already). There's also Bakuman, which HAS to be pretty ******* awesome; it being the creation of team Death Note.
Switching back to Kurokami, it's good because, despite it plainly stealing from Naruto in the more recent chapters, it brings some new into the mix and executes everything else very, very well. I suppose the main appeal is that, rather than it having a male lead, it has a female lead do the fighting and a male support her from the sidelines. And, like with any top notch action manga, the artwork is lovely, as well as being clear during the many lengthy but fairly epic battles.
Aside from the obvious artwork and female lead plus points, the blend of comedy and drama is what makes me rate Kurokami highly. The writer knows how to time the events so that the story is never too depressing or light-hearted. With his ability, he manages to have Akane run out of the shower naked after a dog one minute and then move onto a back-story involving an Orochimaru-esque, far more graphic (i.e. with live, naked subjects being worked on) 'experiment' scene the next. It's reminiscent of how, back in the Naruto good days, when there was a good blend of NarutoxSasuke/Jiraiya humour one minute and intense drama the next.
The Naruto links do run pretty deep; a little too deep, perhaps. First of all, Kuro is the last of her clan; her once nice (to her), elite brother wiping out the rest of her clan, mother and all. Even though Kuro is NOTHING like the ever depressive and angsty Sasuke of Naruto fame - her being simple-minded, running around without underwear and eating 24/7 - it's hard to not see the similarities between Itachi and Reiishin. And, like I mentioned before, there's an Orochimaru type character from Kuro's clan who experimented/killed lots for his own amusement; the end result being him exiled and escaping from death.
...In short, I guess what I'm trying to say is that Kurokami will have a lot of appeal to Naruto fans and the like; the lack of an orange ninja, the cleavage shots and Keita being so much of an ******** that he's great to watch be a dick to everyone and get away with it (like Haseo from .hack//G.U.) all adding to its appeal.
Bleach? Naruto? Nah; the Koreans know how's it's done. Screw the Japanese!
Reading you list the comparisons with Naruto made me think of 666 Satan, created by Kishimoto's brother. It features a lot of similar themes to Naruto and in fact some parts seemingly are ripped straight out but the way the story developed was very different and even the way some of the characters acted were different but structure of Naruto - why the series works and such is very much the same damn thing. It looks like Black God and Naruto work in a similar fashion to this.
Anyway, that just stuck me as I was reading your description. And I've now convinced myself to finish that series off now its finished. I wonder if Naruto will end in a similar manner. I'll be reading this Black God thing when I have the time though. Sounds interesting enough for me to put my eyes upon it.
Anyway, that just stuck me as I was reading your description. And I've now convinced myself to finish that series off now its finished. I wonder if Naruto will end in a similar manner. I'll be reading this Black God thing when I have the time though. Sounds interesting enough for me to put my eyes upon it.
I read the first volume (Waterstones sold 2 and 3 before I had a chance to buy them) and from the first volume, it just seemed like a more mature Shakugan no Shana. Not like that's a bad thing though. But obviously from what you guys say, it seems like it deviates from that...which is good.
It definitely is on my list to buy more of, if I can get hands on money.
It definitely is on my list to buy more of, if I can get hands on money.
MaxonTreik
Chuunibyou
It seems to be a good read so far, but I may end up starting it again since it's been so long since I put it on hold. I'm getting sloppy with my manga reading.
Aion
Time-Traveller
You didn't even need to look at the very first image in the OP to come to that conclusion, Stu. You're a very perceptive young man; I've always typed it.
The problem with Kurokami is, like all shounenish (it's seinen, technically...) work, it starts strongly and then drags on forever more. It's awesome until the end of the Okinawa arc... and then sod all happens. And it doesn't seem like that fact will be changing anytime soon, going on V10 ending with the lead duo bickering over being unable to train together well enough to get stronger...
I'm still enjoying the combination of quality art, action and pervy humour, but it's lost its luster a fair bit in my eyes since I made this thread. The most troublesome issue for me is probably that Kuro's big brother doesn't make for a very good 'final boss' type villain...
The problem with Kurokami is, like all shounenish (it's seinen, technically...) work, it starts strongly and then drags on forever more. It's awesome until the end of the Okinawa arc... and then sod all happens. And it doesn't seem like that fact will be changing anytime soon, going on V10 ending with the lead duo bickering over being unable to train together well enough to get stronger...
I'm still enjoying the combination of quality art, action and pervy humour, but it's lost its luster a fair bit in my eyes since I made this thread. The most troublesome issue for me is probably that Kuro's big brother doesn't make for a very good 'final boss' type villain...
Aion
Time-Traveller
I take back what I said about Kurokami being on a downward slope, following the Okinawa arc: V11 made me raise my rating to 9/10. A great non-Kuro fight, which fleshed out Excel and made Mikami into a character of value, and Keita FINALLY starting to be nice to Kuro after being forced to see her more as a girl. The upcoming fight against Aragi won't advance the plot any but should prove important in terms of powering-up the leads.
And since I never mentioned it before, it's sweet as that Yen Press keep the colour pages. At the end of V10, there were a ton of them, and lesbian Akane service is ALWAYS welcome!
And since I never mentioned it before, it's sweet as that Yen Press keep the colour pages. At the end of V10, there were a ton of them, and lesbian Akane service is ALWAYS welcome!