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Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - Alien Nine


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Tanteikingdomkey



Joined: 03 Sep 2008
Posts: 2350
PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 12:17 am Reply with quote
The previous head of our anime club and a couple of other members love the anime of this. personally I could barely stand it and only watch all the episodes because that is what the club was doing at the time. to me it just came across as dragging a little girl through "hell" which entails sending a bunch of boys her own age after her and her crying every five minutes (I am not exaggerating here) it is a moe show before people knew what made a decent moe show, let alone a good or even excellent one. because moe eva (in anime form) FAILS very poorly. now the manga may very well actually go somewhere the ovas seem to stop where the story is finally done with it's world building arc.
I would HIGHY recommended gunslinger girl (which is in print again thanks to yen press) and has two half season of anime. over this if you are in this because of the contradicting moe and bad stuff happening to the characters. also higurashi is another great example of this.
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pachy_boy



Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 1341
PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 2:24 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Her partner, Kumi, likes Yuri a lot, and tries to get close to Yuri and be supportive to her. (Hey, her name is "yuri." Like a typical yuri manga, there's hardly any boys in the story, but on the other hand, there's no explicitly queer content either.


Thanks to the story's overall vague tone to begin with, it could be seen either way, but it always seemed obvious to me what Kumi's feelings were for Yuri, fully confirmed in the Emulators manga.

I remember buying the complete set that included both the anime and the manga, and I had watched the anime first. The anime was brilliantly done--which made the bleak and painfully awkward conclusion/stopping point all the more scarring. I felt it so much, I didn't know if I could read the manga at all. But when I did, found that it continued where the anime left off, and lead to a far more reasonably satisfying conclusion, it was almost therapeutic. In that sense, it was best that I watched the anime first. Plus, without Yuri's voice and the depressing accompanying music, it made her far less much in the manga than she was in the anime, for those who found her crying annoying after a while. Even I thought it was getting harder and harder to keep emapthizing with her when she doesn't even at least try to put up with a fight for her life even despite her unfair situation (and people complain about Shinji from Evangelion).

In short, I love Alien Nine. It's weird, imaginative, inventive and unique, the kind that really grabs me and one of those titles that makes me wonder, What's not to like?
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Generic #757858



Joined: 03 Nov 2008
Posts: 1354
PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:45 am Reply with quote
Man, this sounds far better and more interesting/disgusting than I'd previously given it credit for! Based on ANN's description and picture chosen for the entry I'd written this off as just more 'cute girls having cute adventures' fluff, but guess I was waaay off the mark.
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 3:47 pm Reply with quote
Did they ever make hats that resemble those Borg creatures? I'd get one.
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Snomaster1
Subscriber



Joined: 31 Aug 2011
Posts: 2915
PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 4:42 pm Reply with quote
Let me start off by saying that although I've heard of this series,I've never read the manga or seen the anime version. It sounds like the late eighties series "War of the Worlds,"an update of the 1953 movie that had the aliens invading our bodies. It's a shame that "Alien Nine" didn't have a foreign character that could have told us what it was like elsewhere on Earth.
For instance,could the aliens have taken over America and began forcing themselves on Americans? Did we fight back against this? I don't know and the creator of this manga didn't say. It would be fascinating to know.
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Deadwing



Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 174
Location: North Augusta, SC
PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 4:56 pm Reply with quote
Did anyone else catch the C.O.P.S. reference in the front-page blurb linking to the article?
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heavyweather



Joined: 29 Aug 2008
Posts: 97
Location: Fargo, ND
PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 5:01 pm Reply with quote
Interestingly enough, I first heard about this manga on ANN - from the Buried Treasure column on the OVA. After reading that, I immediately bought all three volumes and Emulators.

Am I wrong in thinking it's very Kafka-esque? Even with it's emphasis on post-human storytelling, the human elements reek of this. The protagonist is forced into a bureaucratic nightmare by forces beyond her control, and every attempt to make her situation better just ends up making it far worse. spoiler[And then, her hope of getting out after graduating elementary school is completely crushed - It's implied that she'll be involved with aliens for the rest of her life]

It's one of the reasons I actually appreciated Emulators - the ending of that book helped re-enforce the themes in the first three volumes.
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Penguin_Factory



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 732
Location: Ireland
PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 5:03 pm Reply with quote
I've read the first volume of this.

I saw the series being described as a straight up sci-fi shounen/ action sort of thing, so I was, uh.... surprised at what I actually got.

I'm still not really sure how I feel about this. It's an interesting premise, and well written, but the way the story heaps misery on the three protagonists started to feel voyeuristic.
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corinthian



Joined: 20 Feb 2009
Posts: 264
PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 5:41 pm Reply with quote
I picked up the series a while ago at a con in the form of a box set with the anime and all the manga. It was well worth it, I think. I always like to see inventive takes and new directions on a fairly common premise.
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Gewürtztraminer



Joined: 14 Nov 2007
Posts: 1028
Location: Texas - Its like whole other country.
PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 6:28 pm Reply with quote
Yuri is a lot more tolerable in the manga.
I bought the anime/manga set and watched the anime first and found her a tad annoying, and the show slightly disturbing.

As the credits to the last episode were playing, I was half paying attention when I something on screen caught my eye.

Did I just see what I thought I saw? After confirming the suddenly dark image displayed, I dove into the manga for more confirmation and a continuation of the story.

I was impressed, and a little icked out. If you get a chance, watch and read this.
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Teumessian



Joined: 11 Oct 2007
Posts: 17
PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 10:08 pm Reply with quote
The Ultimate Collection is still available at Right Stuf, and is under $20 - it's in the specials sections quite often as well. Either way, it's a good deal for the three volumes of manga and the OVA. Emulators is a bit harder to find, I had to scrounge ebay for a while to get one for under $20.

I enjoyed it, but yeah, it's rather off-putting a lot of the time, and the creepy undertones get closer to the surface when a few nameless characters get alien hats of their own. I had left it at my cousin's house, and he phoned me up to ask me what the hell he just watched. I had to say I honestly didn't know.
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TheTheory



Joined: 23 Mar 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: Central PA
PostPosted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 11:16 pm Reply with quote
Teumessian wrote:
The Ultimate Collection is still available at Right Stuf, and is under $20 - it's in the specials sections quite often as well. Either way, it's a good deal for the three volumes of manga and the OVA. Emulators is a bit harder to find, I had to scrounge ebay for a while to get one for under $20.

Yes! I got mine for dirt cheap from Right Stuf a couple of years ago. Totally worth the price.

I actually haven't read through the manga yet... but was really into the anime until the ending came out of nowhere. I should dig those manga out of my closet--I never liked manga/graphic novels until this summer I started reading some. So I might actually have some success now.
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Hackfresser



Joined: 12 Aug 2009
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Fri Oct 21, 2011 7:35 am Reply with quote
how about a spoiler warning next time
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Fri Oct 21, 2011 4:55 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
"The number one thing that girls hate the most now are aliens. They're worse than bugs, worse than reptiles. We hate looking at them, touching them, and talking to them!"


What primitive sexist thinking Tomizawa had (I'm kidding). It's not like all girls dislike reptiles and insects.
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Imalmostgone



Joined: 09 Apr 2010
Posts: 16
Location: Nor Cal
PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 12:40 am Reply with quote
I was impressed with the anime for it's oddball nature and creativity in general...and yes it vague creepiness Confused I should definitely check out the manga to see where it meanders forth.
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