What manga are you reading now?

Read Nana 1-2. Liked Nana 1-2. Hopefully, by the end of Nana, I'll understand females and be at one with my inner woman.

Just after I got the first two volumes, TBD had a lot of volumes for £4.29 - nearly all of them, I think. Now that I've finally gotten around to reading the volumes I own and want to buy more, they've put their prices up to £5.39. Figures.

Also annoying me is the price of the first Viz R1 box set. It's a fairly recent series, one Madhouse made. Recent + Madhouse = win. But the RRP is like $60...for three discs and 11.5 (not even 12!) episodes. They've turned into the Beez of America. After currency conversion and shipping, the cheapest I can pre-order it for is £25.... :/
 
Aion said:
Also annoying me is the price of the first Viz R1 box set. It's a fairly recent series, one Madhouse made. Recent + Madhouse = win. But the RRP is like $60...for three discs and 11.5 (not even 12!) episodes. They've turned into the Beez of America. After currency conversion and shipping, the cheapest I can pre-order it for is £25.... :/
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They also removed the [excellent] first opening song if the rumours are true. I can't even argue their prices relate to quality with problems like that.

I haven't actually seen the Nana anime; it looked very close to the manga and I adore that already, so I haven't bothered adding the DVDs to my shopping list. Perhaps one day if Viz tries harder, either with the price or the music content, I'll be tempted. I have a R2 DVD of all of the opening/ending sequences that came with a soundtrack so I can just fill in the rest with the manga. The art style looks as though it's been effectively translated to animation in some respects. Still, I can't help but feel that Yazawa's fussy, girly art style loses something when simplified.

I know you occasionally dabble in live action adaptations. If you go there with Nana one day, be advised that the second movie isn't very good - and this comes from someone who liked the Death Note films. The first is excellent though and captures the feel of the early volumes as well as is probably ever possible for a live action adaptation. The actress who plays Nana Osaki is a famous singer and slips into the part with terrifying accuracy despite having had a completely different image previously in her career.

The levels of intense drama in Nana have started winding me up lately so much that I think I dread each new volume out of terror that my favourite characters are going to go through tougher times each chapter. I'm addicted.

***

On topic I've just finished Blade of the Immortal 20 and started 21. I had been feeling the current plot line had been meandering along for a long time over the last few volumes. I'd been starting to forget what Manji actually looked like at times. With volume 20 that period was over with a bang and it's been non-stop action, resolution and heartbreak just like the best of the old days. With all of the setting up that the mangaka has done over this arc I'm looking forward to the payoff continuing for quite a while. I'm loving the flashbacks for some neglected side characters too as well as the first rate art. Samura is in his element drawing action and beautiful women, both of which are in abundance once more.

R
 
Over the weekend I've read

Detroit Metal City - V1
Fullmoon wo Sagashite - V1
Kodocha - V1
Rosario + vampire - V1,2,3
Azumanga Daioh - V1
 
Read the first three chapters of GTO: Early Years and I've read volumes 3-4 of Nana.

The art of Early Years looks like the art of someone who hadn't created a lot back in the 80's. Onizuka looks nothing like he does in the sequel, him having hair, wearing glasses to fool the ladies and being 6 years younger not helping. And Ryuji looks nothing like he does in the sequel, either - he doesn't have a pony tail or glasses. The artwork is a lot worse overall, and the backgrounds aren't detailed.

So far, my main complaint lies with the characterization. Going on their personalities in the sequel, I assumed Ryuji would be the brains and Onizuka the brawn of their mini-gang. But Onizuka is often shown to the smarter of the two. They don't appear to be the same characters at this early stage, but there are something like 267 chapters left for that to change.

I read a review before buying, and it said Early Years starts out as pure comedy and slowly switches to being a combination of comedy and drama. I hope that's the case because so far it's been all comedy, the opening story involving the duo working at a beach resort, picking up two ladies, not sleeping with them because of stomach and thug related issues...and then, after starting at their new co-ed school, discovering the girls are actually teachers. It's been entertaining but I'm hoping for more.

If I do get into Early Years, the bad news is that Amazon are out of stock. Someone obviously saw my post about vol. 1 coming back into stock and ordered the lot. ;___; Me and my big finger...

As for Nana, it's still pretty good. Even after four volumes, it still has the same 'just started' vibe it did to begin with. I'm going to need to read more to decide how I feel about it. Right now all I can see is that it's a solid drama series, complete with very realistic characters.

I want to see where the NanaxNana relationship is going. It's clear it isn't going to go in a yuri direction, despite Nana O being kiss happy even with her own gender and, going on the thoughts of an older Nana K put in between the chapters, it seems their friendship isn't going to last... but I'm not sure what's going to happen. I'm still trying to get a feel for Nana O, who acts tough 90% of the time yet, at times, acts weak. I didn't get why she walked out of the apartment when Nana K got jealous and snapped at her... maybe she was afraid of losing Nana K herself and struggled to show it before because of her hard as nails personality?
 
Finished volume two of The Early Years and started my 550 page Kare Kano book.

The Early Years is still as silly as it was at the start. Only a few chapters ago there was a chapter dedicated to the penis sizes of the characters. There are signs it's going to become more like its sequel, though - romance was in the air between secondary characters at the end of the second volume. I won't mind if it remains a pure fun series from start to finish, but it'll never reach the heights of GTO if it's pure comedy. (Not that I expect it to anyway, in all honesty.)

Up to yet, The Early Years has been a level down from GTO in every area. Despite comedy being its focus, without the excellent characterization and drama of GTO the jokes haven't been as funny, and most of the jokes have come down to stuff like a penis hanging out of shorts when Ryuji tried to chat-up a girl, or Onizuka coming close to getting it on with a girl determined to spread STDs to every male on the planet. GTO had the perfect mix of drama and comedy, where as The Early Years has only laughs to offer, mixed in with the odd one-sided fight.

I'm looking forward to reading more, though. Like I said somewhere above, it has been fun to read, and I'm sure it'll get better later on, when it's supposed to get more serious. It was the practice run before GTO, after all - it has to have some focus on drama somewhere down the line.

There is one minor complaint I have, not related to the story: the speech bubbles. A lot appear near the spine and are hidden by the binding. I have to position myself under a lamp at a certain angle in order to read the text without creasing the spines, often guessing what some of the words are.


As for Kare Kano, the story is one of the strongest starters I've come across. Straight away the two halves of the soon-to-be couple get fleshed out, often in comical fashion. While neither character is perfect, that makes them more human. When watching the anime, I quickly found myself supporting the two.

...However, Kare Kano drops in quality when the author decided to spend many, MANY chapters on secondary characters in an attempt to make the story go on forever. Sure, some of it is pretty good, but what I wanted to see was the relationship of the main two - nothing else matters.

Anyway. Like the anime, the manga starts great and pulled me in from the get-go. I love the mix of cartoony faces for comedy and more realistic art for serious business. The chapters flow really well, with there being no filler. It's very easy to pick up and read.

If the rest of the series was sold in 550 page sets, I'd buy them... but, as far as I know, the first triple volume sized book is a one-off. It's too bad - I'll probably never finish the manga because of a combination of the single volume releases and all of the filler that ruins the story to a certain degree later on.
 
I've been reading Adolf, the Tezuka epic from the 80s. It's fantastic, of course. Because it's one of his later works, it isn't marred by an over-use of childish gags and the artwork and storyline are very mature and clever. Only on volume 2 (of 5) now :]
 
CitizenGeek said:
I've been reading Adolf, the Tezuka epic from the 80s. It's fantastic, of course. Because it's one of his later works, it isn't marred by an over-use of childish gags and the artwork and storyline are very mature and clever. Only on volume 2 (of 5) now :]
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I really failed on this one.

I've started collecting the brazilian edition of it in 10 volumes and I've got up to volume 6.
Favourite arc being the journalist guy brother. I find it amazing how Tezuka create such complicated stories intertwine them in a way that all comes together really nicely after a long, long while.

The way he makes his characters paths cross in Adolf and in Buddha are really something else. Makes me angry at certain shounen mangaka of this era.

Anyway, epicness approaches you. and I'll try to finish this series.
 
Over the last week or so I've found myself reading a chapter or two of "A. I love you" before going to sleep. Picked it up cheap, and though it jumps through all the harem/romantic comedy hoops it's an enjoyable enough series, that so far hasn't attempted to be too over dramatic. Two volumes left, hopefully it'll remain that way instead of chucking in drama because it's the end.
 
Read a whole load of one-shots this morning thanks to a certain source.

Started Pluto today, on chapter 10 right now, I'm not really familiar with Astro Boy to much, besides the character himself, and seeing as he just got introduced in Pluto I'm wondering if he's anything like the original.
 
chaos said:
I've started collecting the brazilian edition of it in 10 volumes and I've got up to volume 6.
Favourite arc being the journalist guy brother. I find it amazing how Tezuka create such complicated stories intertwine them in a way that all comes together really nicely after a long, long while.

The way he makes his characters paths cross in Adolf and in Buddha are really something else. Makes me angry at certain shounen mangaka of this era.
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Adolf is a very epic, long series. The story has already progressed very, very far and I've only read 2 volumes! I agree that Buddha and Adolf are exemplary Tezuka; that they showcase his enormous ingenuity and creativity and just sheer cleverness :]
 
Finished Pluto not too long ago today, I haven't read a manga from start to finish like this in months and I think it's started me off on my manga craze again. The facial expressions during signs of emotion were just brilliant, I've only ever read the early volumes of Monster and 20th, but I'll be starting them again soon. I can't believe Pluto was my first Urasawa series, it was one of the few series I've read/watched that truly deserves to be called "epic". I can also honestly say I was emotionally moved by several scenes in the manga, and that's a rare thing for me, I can only recall doing that in Gantz when the kid in the Gantz team is beaten to death by his mother's abusive boyfriend. Too bad all seriousness from the scene was taken from it when the mother and boyfriend suggested going to karaoke to sing some Orange Range. lol. But yeah, Pluto was amazing, and Viz can count on getting my money for the translated volumes.

EDIT: Oh and going to finish off Bokurano either today or tomorrow.

EDIT2: Oh and for anyone curious about Urasawa's designs for Tezuka characters, here are the comparisons right here.
 
I was just telling Arby the other day that everyone should read everything that Urasawa has ever done. For some reason I still haven't read 20th myself, but I've got that here ready to start, and I need to read his current series.
 
Just finished reading Volume 26 of Bio booster Armour Guyver. Techincally its a re-read but there's normally some new pages in the collected editions, like i don't remember seeing that page with Sho and mizuki in bed together in the chapters :lol:

Still i wish someone would get this licensed over here, from what i read of the past Viz editions they weren't doing that badly with them
 
Just polished off volume 1 of Detroit Metal City from Viz. For the handful of people who haven't heard of it, DMC is a comedy about an extremely hardcore death metal band and their real lives when not dressed up in makeup and screaming on stage. The main character is a complete wimp in real life and constantly despairs at how he's ended up in this situation.

I'd been planning on grabbing this on DVD (not sure which version) but was low on manga and spotted it in FP when I was out with friends, so it seemed right to give it a try. It's a Viz Signature edition so hopefully not chopped up too much. The presentation is lovely and there were some DMC temporary tattoos inside for some reason best understood by marketing departments.

The actual manga is great. I can't even tell if the creator loves death metal or hates it; he seems to take shots at everything. It reminds me of a hyperactive mixture of Cromartie, Zetsubou-sensei and Jem. My favourite parts are the glimpses into Negishi's day to day life; the mangaka has done a spectacularly spiteful job of portraying him as a sweet, gentle chap with no spine. He'd fit in well in most chick flicks. The artwork is not beautiful but it's consistent and solid enough.

I have no idea if the edit-loving Viz have done anything weird to DMC but the endless torrents of ridiculous swearing seem intact and there's enough depravity for me to believe it's probably uncut. There are little comedic notes at the end of each chapter with definitions of some of the slang used, which intentionally vary wildly in accuracy.

DMC is not for everyone; it's unashamedly stupid at times and the explicit content warning is well deserved. Having said that, I'll be picking up volume 2.

R
 
Just picked up Death Note vol.1 today. Was up to chapter 5 before I even got home. I have now finished volume one & am planning to look for volume two onwards tomorrow.

I must say, Death Note is the best manga I have ever read. I've not read that many manga, but this is truly excellent.
 
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