What manga are you reading now?

Aion said:
OMFGLOL said:
Aion said:
What volume covers Kunio and the giant girl? I NEED MORE ROMANCE!!!

...I haven't read GTO today. There's no point rushing, anyway - I'll just feel depressed when I reach the end and will probably have to go another year before finding another 10/10 title.
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kunio and fujirakawa (sp?) is never mentioned again unfortunately
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The above may very well result in me giving GTO a 9/10 score. With everyone saying that GTO has an excellent ending, going against the trend of excellent stories ending badly, I expected all the plot threads to be concluded.

The author must surely have forgotten about Kunio if he never got him and the giant girl together. It was strongly hinted they would eventually get it on, and I looked forward to seeing giant girl put the Mama's boy in his place.
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The ending of the manga to me is perfect, i couldn't have thought of a better way to end it, well except maybe one thing that annoyed me...

I think basically the author never had any intention to take that relationship any further than it went, i mean the nature of the story itself was more of a side story rather than treated as an important part of the plot such as the relationship between anko and yoshikawa. Kunio will always forever be a mama's boy at heart but it provides a good laugh so i don't mind.
 
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I'm up to the 24th volume of GTO.

Here's some GTO stuff I messaged to Fabio (/lazy):

Teshigawa: At times I hated the guy. I felt sorry for him when his back-story was revealed, I started to hate him again after he shot Onizuka (though he did charge at him) and went insane at school, and then I went back to feeling bad for him once he understood everything, accepted his problems with studying were his fault for being too cowardly to stand up to his parent and tried to kill himself. He and Onizuka then came to an understanding (after another Superman show) and Teshigawa owned up to his crimes. (He didn't get away with what he'd done.)

The final volumes have focused a little too much on new characters for me, and the new headmistress stuff has gone a bit over the top. She has her own group of students known as "Angels"; a group that has the mission of destroying from within. It's like in fighting Shounen titles where a group of elite baddies get revealed together...only in GTO the baddies are school kids. The first angel was developed fairly well, but there's no time for the others.

How dragged out the Miyabi story has gotten kind of irks me, too. At first I thought she was done after Onizuka saved her from being raped...but she came back with yet another student who hadn't been to school in forever. After that, she had more time during the Miyabi vs. Urumi story...but, right after that, she starts dressing like a pro and her past gets looked into. Way too much time was spent resolving the Miyabi issue.

I also think there's a plot hole: during volumes 16-17, Kikuchi said to the others that Miyabi's past with a teacher went deeper than they knew, and that'd he'd tell if they didn't tell anyone. This later makes no sense because all of the people in the room knew the same information already, according to what gets shown later. I may be missing something but it seems like an error made as a result of Miyabi's story getting stretched.

Another thing: the amount of students in Onizuka's class that hadn't gone to school for years. I hate how it saves mentioning them until Onizuka needs someone to save. There's another new character who hadn't gone out for two years that gets thrown in - a bit pointless when the series is near the end. Why more new students when Kunio hasn't had (and won't get any) time before the end? I really wanted to see him hook up with the giant girl - it was strongly suggested they would back when Kunio had time.

Once I'm done, I'll start the new GTO manga. Only six chapters are out and once I've caught up I'll have something to read weekly...or is the new series monthly? The chapters don't seem to be coming out fast.

Then, I'll get cracking with the anime. I could use a recap and it'll be fun listenting to the characters instead of just reading. Urumi looks weird with her eyes in colour - I'll have to get used to that.

It doesn't shock me that nipples and panty shots don't get the same treatment. It'll be a shame but TV series can only go so far. It's not as if I expect the anime to look anywhere near as appealing, anyway.
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OMFG: You were right about the Anko chapters; I enjoyed them. I still would've rather seen Kunio's very own love story instead. There could've been some comedy gold with his mom and Onizuka also in the picture.
 
well the anime has more onizuka and murai's mum moments than the manga if i recall which are very funny, and i also think the relationship between kunio and the giant is done a lot better in the anime so you can look forward to that at least when you watch the anime :)
 
The MILF moments won't be as funny if she has a bra on, though... :(

Like I said, I'll get goin with the anime after I'm done with the manga. I already have episodes 1-10 downloaded. I'm interested to see how the anime ends - they would've had to skip the explanation about why class four started their reign of terror and leave the cast under-developed.

I have questions: Class four are referred to as 2-4, yet the sign on their door is 3-4. Why?

Likewise, some class four people have been said to be 14, yet it's been said a few times that Miyabi is 16. Why?
 
Finished the second volume of Black Jack recently. It's a really, really fantastic manga. Black Jack is a great character and Pinoko is excellent comic relief/cuteness. The backstories are particularly impressive and a lot of the time the series is very touching and emotionally involving, even though it's very episodic. Each chapter is pretty short too, which makes it perfect for reading at work and the likes :]
 
Aion said:
The MILF moments won't be as funny if she has a bra on, though... :(

Like I said, I'll get goin with the anime after I'm done with the manga. I already have episodes 1-10 downloaded. I'm interested to see how the anime ends - they would've had to skip the explanation about why class four started their reign of terror and leave the cast under-developed.

I have questions: Class four are referred to as 2-4, yet the sign on their door is 3-4. Why?

Likewise, some class four people have been said to be 14, yet it's been said a few times that Miyabi is 16. Why?
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the way the anime ended i didn't personally like, upto the final 2 episodes though i think the anime is a really good adaption and improves upon the manga at points, and to answer your questions;

well i think the class 2-4 thing may either be a translation error or the fact that when they are referred to as 2-4 it was the past 1 year ago during the time of the incident, but i dunno really tbh, maybe it's just some japanese school system thing :?

to answer the age thing, i have no idea whats going on with that myself, if i recall when urumi was introduced she was said to be 18 or 19 i think, so how that makes sense i don't know, i think the age thing maybe a **** up on the authors part, or once again it's referring to the past or some jap school system thing.
 
Nah, the Urumi part made sense - she lied to Onizuka to trick him when they first met. She tricked him into thinking she was an adult to get him to do what she wanted.

Your right, the 2-4/3-4 thing could be down to the translators referring to the previous year - when everything started - but surely that would've been 1-4; their first year at high school?

The Japanese school system is a mystery to me. I think junior high goes up to 13/14, and then high school starts. So, if that's right, the class would be 15-16. But I'm sure early on some of the people in the class, including Miyabi (she was later said to be 16) were said to be 14.

/confusion
 
ah yeah thats true, that would make sense since it was a trick, my bad :oops:

that is a good point about it being maybe 1-4 if it where a year ago, man it's all very confusing, it doesn't really bother me though, it's not like it impacts on any of the enjoyment or the story telling, at least for me it didn't. The japanese school system though is just baffling and if what you say is true then it does add to the confusion, perhaps it all makes sense to someone who fully understands the system.

Enjoy the final volume anyway, i'm sure you wont be dissapointed :)
 
Aion said:
The Japanese school system is a mystery to me. I think junior high goes up to 13/14, and then high school starts. So, if that's right, the class would be 15-16. But I'm sure early on some of the people in the class, including Miyabi (she was later said to be 16) were said to be 14.

/confusion
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Theres a scene in the manga (and possibly the anime) where Onizuka is pissed to find he's the homeroom teacher of the sophomores, when he wanted to teach the juniors. Sophomores are 15 to 16 and juniors 16-17.

However, considering the start of the story deals with Onizuka becoming a teacher so he can sleep with a student, theres a chance the ages were bumped up in translation to make the students appear older so there wouldn't be any backlash due to the subject matter. Therefore the original ages could be 13-14.

Also bearing in mind Class 2-4 were the problem class, it wouldn't be surprising that a few of the students were held back, thus making them older. Been a while since i read/watched but im pretty sure Miyabi rarely turned up at school so this would make sense.
 
A quick wiki informs me that Japanese high school is years 10-12, so the students would be 15-16 in year one, 16-17 in year two, and 17-18 in year three (except confusingly there is another type of high school which also includes year 9, ages 14-15...)
 
They don't strike me as 17. At most I think we're talking 15-16.

In America, sophomores (I think that means 2nd years?) are 15-16. The class are sophomores. I think the American and Japanese have the same system in terms of years.

I'll just settle with 14-17 and leave it at that. According to my memory, 13/14 year olds are legal in parts of Japan, so it's all good...though Onizuka strangely needed to make sure Urumi was over 16.
 
In translation, the American system is just fitted over the top of the Japanese to correspond to the right ages. Japanese school years are just "Middle School 1" or "High School 3" etc.
 
Well, it just got more confusing.

Kunio's mom is 27 at the start of the story. She had Kunio at 13. That makes him 14 at the start. Only 7 months pass from start to finish during the GTO story. Kunio's mom is still said to be 27 in the 24th volume, with 6 months having passed.

This, along with characters being upgraded from 14 to 16, makes me very confused. Maybe the ages were upgraded to 16 in the English translation because of all the panty shots and 14 year olds being in sexual situations? Yanks ain't as comfy as Japanese when it comes to school girls and sex. In truth, I have no idea.

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I finished GTO just now, including the 43 page volume filler where Tohru managed to take the piss out of the more kiddy shounen titles out there, with various stories about a girl with superpowers given by coconut crabs. He's so awesome he can even afford to point at laugh at other shounen stories - I think I'm in love with the guy!

The ending was strong, as expected. Lots of drama, lots of tears, lots of insane faces and a happy ever after sort of ending. At times, it had me on the verge of tears, and since I'm a heartless bastard I have to be very invested in the characters to care like that.

The final chapter, and the huge amount of unresolved plot threads, didn't impress me, though. The lead up to the finale was excellent, but the actual end wasn't. The final chapter showed me nothing I wanted to see. No Onizuka back in class, no Onizuka losing his virginity and not even a scene showing Miyabi and Urumi finally making up. As much as I love GTO (10/10 in terms of enjoyment, easy), I can't give it 10/10 because so much lacked closure. It's as if Tohru wanted to leave the door as open as he could in case, seven or eight years later, he needed to make more money by cashing in on his prized asset... Not that someone so great would do something like that.

Here are my top three unresolved annoyances:

1: Onizuka and Azusa

From the start, it was clear they'd get together at some stage. Onizuka would never get with a student once he decided to be the best teacher ever - it would've went against everything he was working towards - so she was the only ever real option.

Towards the end, Azusa gets shown confessing her love (to a pillow), dressing up for him and buying contraceptives...but nothing was shown beyond that because of plot reasons. And, in the final chapter, they weren't even shown together. Incredibly disappointing.

Leaving the main romantic thread of the series without a finish is poor, even if Tohru did plan to continue the story way back when he ended GTO.

2: Miyabi and Urumi

They were once friends. They then became enemies. And, finally, they became friends again...without there even being a scene showing them forgive and forget.

There wasn't even any dialogue between them after their little war. They sat in the same room together, and Urumi visited her at hospital, but still no dialogue. I can only assume Tohru forgot to have Miyabi apologize for what she did because when Urumi saw another person again who had revealed her secret, she tried to set her on fire.

3: Kunio and Giant Girl

Yes, I know this isn't that important but it really bugged me. REALLY.

There was at least one chapter dedicated to this relationship. Maybe more. But, after the school trip, I don't think Giant Girl even appeared in a panel, or at least not together with Kunio. It's like Tohru couldn't be arsed with romance after AnkoxNoboru and decided to not bother finishing what he started. And that REALLY bugged me when I could see lots of laughter if the relationship had been took forward; more than in he case of NoboruxAnko.

To be honest, I'd expect only an amateur to forget or just not bother to conclude subplots. You'd think Tohru would've planned ahead, mapping out the relationships of all the main characters in advance, but it's more like he did most of it on the fly. The Miyabi reveal plot hole adds more substance to that theory.

There are other examples, too. Mayu's inclusion in the story was pretty pointless to begin with. He was pretty much just thrown in to stretch out the middle, him being a repeat of Miyabi getting Urumi to try to get Onizuka fired. That's why his arm wrestling story was the wekest in GTO. But the way Tohru hinted at his back-story - even in the final chapter - and then revealed nothing left a bad taste in my mouth. Assuming he decides to explain in the sequel, is it really acceptable for him to cover something he should've seven or eight years earlier?

...I'm being really negative here, aren't I? The reason is simple: I wanted to give GTO top marks. It's easily the most enjoyable manga I've read. But a story with so much unfinished business isn't perfect, and I can't bring myself to give a 10/10 score to something with so many subplots left hanging. It's still my new #1 but I'm afraid 9/10 is all I can give it.

I don't think I'll ever score a manga 10/10 - there's always something holding me back. I can't see anything coming closer than GTO...

Anyway, the good: tons of memorable characters; amazing, highly detailed art; the hottest school girl drawings ever; a brilliant combination of drama and comedy and one of the most involving stories I've ever come across, as well as one of the most meaningful. In short, a hell of a lot of awesome.

Tomorrow (well, in the morning, when I get up with two hours sleep clocked) I'll start the anime. I think I'll leave the new manga until I'm done with the old GTO - that way more chapters will be out when I start it. Looking forward to more of Onizuka. :D
 
Nearly reached the end of the Lupin III manga that was released over here before Tokyopop stopped. Currently on volume 7 of Most Wanted, I will be unhappy when I get to volume 9 with a preview of a volume 10 which was never released. Still i'm amazed they got this far in releasing it. It's way more extreme than any of the TV series of movies but still hilariously funny (Zenigata catching Lupin in a giant bottle? Great stuff) and by the end of the first manga run it really developed into a classic series.
 
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