Manga Thread of Reading Comics Backwards

[coaxmetal]

I unsubscribed from crunchyroll because I had finished KLK and a few other things and found myself not using it, have they improved their manga selection? When I last saw it, it was pretty pitiful. There aren't many good avenues to read manga digitally in any official way. 

 

On the manhwa front, Naver, who host a lot of the korean webtoons, put out an official english language app and website (weebtoons.com I think), which is great, except that means all the sites and people that were translating it had to take their stuff down, so for a few series I was following, like Kubera, the official translation is at like chapter 7 whereas the (very well done) fan one was at 100 or 200 something, at least. 

 

Also I still need to read the latest volume of knights of sidonia, which I do own, but I know ill read it really fast and then not have any more, so I have been putting it off.

[Twig]

It's growing, as expected. It has a number that I read, including the previously mentioned And Yet the Town Moves, which is the best manga none of you are reading.

 

You bunch of jerks.

[Gormongous]

It's growing, as expected. It has a number that I read, including the previously mentioned And Yet the Town Moves, which is the best manga none of you are reading.

 

You bunch of jerks.

 

Dude, I already said, I caught the anime. It's got pictures, words, and sound. Why would I settle for anything less now?

[Twig]

I actually like the manga more, though the anime was good (I finished it).

[coaxmetal]

I will read it

[Gormongous]

I actually like the manga more, though the anime was good (I finished it).

 

Yeah, it felt like one of those anime that just didn't have the time to give the manga its due. Maybe if it had the full season, but (undeserving) failures like Nichijou mean that comedies only get a half-season now, unless they're based on 4-koma with cute girls.

 

Anyway, I'll put it on my manga list that I never make any progress on. The forty-odd volumes of Claymore have been sitting there for four years now.

[Twig]

FWIW, they actually translated it pretty well, and I liked a lot of the voices they chose for the characters, etc. And they pretty much translated it frame for frame to anime. They might have skipped some stories to get to stuff like the

aliens

and

afterlife

, which, BTW, what the fuck, that shit comes out of nowhere, but anyway. It's good. I think I just like the manga more because it feels better paced overall? The jokes hit a lot harder when I read compared to when I watch. Might be because I saw them coming in the anime, to be fair.

[tegan]

Can we talk about webtoons or manhwa in this thread. Even though you don't read manhwa backwards?

 

NO, BACKWARDS ONLY

 

 

 

 

 

 

(seriously though I don't care knock yourself out)

[syntheticgerbil]

Someone tell me things about Naoki Urasawa comics. I liked the art, but I'm already extremely partial to Katsuhiro Otomo's comics and it looks sort of similar in many respects. Dude draws backgrounds, the noses of characters, etc. How are the stories?

[tegan]

Pretty good in my experience. He did a series called Pluto that took a classic Astro Boy story and reimagined it as a detective story. It's only eight volumes long and it's been published in English, so it makes a good jumping off point.

[Codicier]

Pretty good in my experience. He did a series called Pluto that took a classic Astro Boy story and reimagined it as a detective story. It's only eight volumes long and it's been published in English, so it makes a good jumping off point.

 

 Really enjoyed Pluto even though I totally lack any of Tegan's knowledge of it's Astro Boy influence's, it's definately worth checking out either way. regarding other Naoki UrasawaI works, although it was many years since i read it I remember really liking Monster, although for some reason i've never been keen at all on it's anime adaptation.

[coaxmetal]

Oh yes, I also am not very familiar with Tezuka, but I found Pluto to be great. Really enjoyed that. I've also read 20th Century Boys, also by Urasawa. longer, and followed by 21 Century boys, but also fantastic. Another manga I really enjoyed that I haven't mentioned in here is The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer (Hoshi no Samidare). Not Urasawa, just thought I would mention it because I was thinking about it.

[syntheticgerbil]

Pretty good in my experience. He did a series called Pluto that took a classic Astro Boy story and reimagined it as a detective story. It's only eight volumes long and it's been published in English, so it makes a good jumping off point.

That looks great, thanks!

Sounds like I should start reading this guy's works.

[coaxmetal]

In webtoon news, a long running korean webtoon called Tower of God that I like is now off hiatus, and also they have all of it in english on the official english site (webtoons.com). Naver recently launched that which is great, but it meant the fan translated ones got taken down and a lot of the series on the new site are just starting in english, so they lose all the history. 

 

Anyway ToG has all its history and I like it and I'm happy its off hiatus.

[tegan]

I just found out that apparently there was a Chasing Amy manga, and Moyoko Anno worked on it. Whaaaaat?

 

[Roderick]

I am really enjoying A Bride's Story. Gorgeous art, and it just had the funniest chapter about twins desperate to find suitable suitors.

 

FYI, A Bride's Story is about life along the old silk round, about a hundred years ago. It's about Arab tribal culture, specifically the arranged marriage of boys and girls. And it's neither salacious nor sensational in nature, it's delightful and intruiging. And just look at the art!

 

 

[tegan]

I love Kaoru Mori's artwork. Her ability to draw immaculately detailed patterned fabric is an inspiration.

 

 

 

 

Also she draws a lot of lady butts.

 

[Twig]

hahah that bird is just like "i found a nice outcropping to hang out on ima chill now"

[Roderick]

I am constantly gawking at the tapestries and intricate clothing. It's superb.

[coaxmetal]

Dang that art is fantastic. 

 

Speaking of great art, I've been slowly trying to get all of Blame! (by Tsutomu Nihei) which has incredible art. It is hard, since it is out of print. Most volumes are at least $30 used, so far I have the first 3. There are 10 though.

[namman siggins]

Someone tell me things about Naoki Urasawa comics. I liked the art, but I'm already extremely partial to Katsuhiro Otomo's comics and it looks sort of similar in many respects. Dude draws backgrounds, the noses of characters, etc. How are the stories?

Pluto is his best work, hands down.

He perfectly captures, expands and does a bloody great job perspective flipping a the story arc, "The Greatest Robot on Earth", while adding various things from the Astroboy's world.

Urawasa re-interprets the arc as a murder mystery that he uses to explore themes like: Memory, what it is to be a human, can robots be like humans?, War and it's horrible aftereffects. What guilt and hatred does to an individual person and the present and future consciousnesses of a group of people, and music.

Urawasa is also a big user of the Tezuka Star System and it worked wonderfully in Pluto.

[tegan]

Hey, just a heads up, Vertical is polling interest in new license acquisitions. If there are any manga you're interested in seeing picked up that meet their criteria*, you should let them know. They do stellar work and publish a lot of niche titles for older audiences.

 

 

*Criteria is as follows:

1) manga only, no novels or light novels

2) noting published by Shueisha, Shogakukan, Akita Shoten, or Gentosha (no Franken Fran )

3) nothing that debuted prior to 2005

4) no series with more than ten volumes (more of a guideline. It's not impossible, but less likely that they'll pick it up)

5) no rescuing abandoned licenses

[namman siggins]

Anyone here read Fuan no Tane? Good series of short burst Japanese Horror/Weird stories; think along the lines of Junji Ito but not as Lovecraftian or grotesque.

Did a little write up in it: http://the9thblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/some-rambling-thoughts-on-fuan-no-tane.html?m=1

[N1njaSquirrel]

So it's been announced that Naruto is ending in 5 chapters, which is a real shock. I was expecting Bleach to end first out of the big three, yet here we are.

 

Honestly I'm glad it's ending. The latest battle/war was both rubbish and climatic. And

with Sasuke coming back, being a twat and all, it'll be interesting to see what he'll do in 5 chapters to end what would presumably have been an "epic" fight

 

Anyone else still reading it? 

[Codicier]

I've just started working my way through Tezuka's Budda, really enjoying it so far. I was wondering if anyone here had read both it & (the non manga) Bone by Jeff Smith because I'm feeling like Smith is taking some incredibly strong que's from some of the compositions and ideas in budda.