Forum - View topicJason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - 3x3 Eyes
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rinmackie
 Posts: 1040 Location: in a van! down by the river! |
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Oh, wow! I remember this! I have two? volumes of the manga and one old OAV VHS of this series. I got them back in the early days of my fandom. Too bad they don't license stuff like this anymore. But 40 volumes? I don't know if I could get through that much; not to mention they're probably hard to find.
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Crisha
Moderator
 Posts: 4290 |
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Yay! 3x3 Eyes!
As a fan who started off with mainly shoujo manga, this one was a big diversion from the norm during my first few years as a fan. I started buying this as Dark Horse was releasing it. I was quite disappointed when they stopped, so I ended up buying all 40 Japanese volumes. To this day, it is the only full manga series I own in a language other than English. Of course, I couldn't understand a majority of the details from the later volumes, so I was quite ecstatic when scanlations were finally completed for the entire series this year (I've only been waiting, what, 8+ years?) The three biggest draws for me with this series were the mythology, the romance (Yakumo and Pai/Parvati IV, and later Haan and Youko), and the ugly realism. When I say ugly realism, I don't just mean the gore. I remember opening a random page of one of the volumes that Dark Horse released and seeing Yakumo crying - face scrunched up, snot dripping out - and I was like, YES, why can't we have more realistic depictions such as this? In multiple forms of entertainment, crying is often made to look beautiful (or manly if you're crying tears of blood), but normally it isn't. And I loved how that was captured. I ended up purchasing the OVA soon after I got into the manga, but I didn't care as much for some of the changes made to the 2nd arc. It was still good, but I preferred the manga more. And speaking of the 2nd arc (volumes 3-5), what a tease! I was enjoying the development of Pai and Yakumo's relationship and then spoiler[it turns out it wasn't Pai at all but Benares' Houasyo, who later becomes Youko Ayanokoji]. Oh well, at least there was 35 more volumes to develop that. 
I find it amusing that the first three arcs of the series only takes up 1/4 of the series, with the last 30 volumes dedicated to the 4th arc. I'm quite disappointed that I'll never see Haan animated... well, okay, that's not true, there were those cut scenes from the 3x3 Eyes games, but I'd really like to see more. I got attached to the guy and I really liked the Haan/Youko coupling later on. Another thing I really loved about the series was having female characters who are active participants and don't just sit on the sidelines when things get rough or ugly. Even Pai's half of the Pai/Parvati personality never just sat on the sidelines even though she didn't have smarts or power that Parvati possessed. If a loved one was in danger, she never failed to jump in the middle of the battle. Yakumo, as her Wu, normally did a majority of the fighting (and got a majority of the damage  ), but Pai wasn't a pushover. Most of the girls in the series weren't.
Overall, I was quite pleased with the manga, and I was very satisfied with the way it ended. spoiler[Though I couldn't help but laugh that after 40-volume search to become human, and successfully doing so, Pai and Yakumo choose to become immortal again (then again, I wouldn't want to give up Parvati either.] Also, it wasn't just 40 volumes. I think a few years ago Yuzo Takada ended up releasing a few after-series separate shorts that allowed the fans an additional glimpse into the characters' lives. spoiler[It's been a while since I've seen it, but I specifically remember Haan and Youko had at least one child (I believe a little girl). It was so adorable!] |
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Taiyz
 Posts: 202 Location: Canada |
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I've never read the manga, but the OVAs were very entertaining. They certainly had a good mix of elements; action, comedy, horror, romance, without any overshadowing the others.
I'm a bit disappointed, after a couple minutes of research, to discover that despite my earlier understanding, Geneon's re-release of the series only contains one English dub. I could've sworn I read somewhere that their release contained both... I remember the original being quite solid. |
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Chrno2
 Posts: 6172 Location: USA |
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Man oh man now this is a classic story. I remember this series back when the only place to get manga was Kinokuniya, Zen Bookstore, Books Nippan (aka one of Zen's 2nd stores under new management). And the days when the only way to get anime was to seek out friends who knew someone who got a copy from someone else, or buy a "raw" pirated copy for $15-$20.
I fondly remember 3 x 3 during my last years of HS. I saw the first part of the OVAs during my college years. The series intrigued me. I picked up the first volume during that time. I still have it. Unfortunately I never got the chance of collecting anymore. I loved Takada's artwork. I remember when DH was trying to release the series but we can see where that went. I was surprised to learn that this series went on for 40 volumes. Made me really want to see where the series went from the time I picked up the first volume. Now that's a magnum opus. But 40 vols isn't anything these days. Hell, look at Berserk...it's already getting close to the 40 mark. Take a series that has like several parts to it and it adds up. If you've been following it like a novel series then 40 isn't a lot. It's a lot to go back and try and collect it. I really wish I had the chance to closely follow this series when it was available. Too bad I'll never get the chance. Not to mention how it was handled when it was released. Think I'll pull out my OVAs this weekend and take a trip down memory lane this weekend. Great column. |
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Kicksville
 Posts: 1260 |
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I was watching the first OVA again not too long ago with the old Streamline dub - I think the write up on Anipages captures it pretty well, it's still a personal favorite. I would stay up at night to see it on the Action Channel (remember when that was great for all kinds of weird anime?).
That was around when I was in middle school, and I was also picking up Super Manga Blast, with whichever issue I started with beginning in the middle of the fight with the creepy doll lady. That sure left quite an impression. I don't quite remember if I'd seen that or the anime first, but each had their own impact - when I think about it, Takada's art ended up kind of setting the standard for me for what "manga" should look like, despite it not even being the first one I'd seen. It seemed to strike a comfortable spot between anime cuteness/deformity and detailed depth. |
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Snomaster1
 SubscriberPosts: 2936 |
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I did see the anime version of this once. If I remember correctly,it had a few famous voices in the English language dub. It had people like Keith David,Ed Asner,and Keith What's-His-Name,the guy who worked on the old "Equalizer" tv series. I've never seen the manga version of "3x3 Eyes."
I'd love to see something like this set in America,where Asian gods live quietly among the Asian-American population and help fight demons and monsters and such things. I think that would make a great manga. What do you guys think? |
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Shenl742
Posts: 1525 |
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Oh, hey! This is one of those things I've always wanted to read but kept forgetting that it ever existed. Thanks for the reminer Jason!
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lys
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 1017 Location: mitten-state |
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Why does the text "ditzy China-girl character" link to MangaBlog?
I think I read part of a volume of this series sooooo long ago (as a wee highschooler, aww...), during a phase when I was obsessed with three-eyed characters. I don't remember much of what I read except a vague awareness of there being gory gross stuff. But I enjoyed this post!! So that's what the series was all about! |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 10033 Location: Virginia |
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I read the Dark Horse version of this as it came out. I even found the old Innovation comics in the back issue bins in a comic shop in North Carolina. They are still around here somewhere.
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prabb
 Posts: 86 |
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I'd give my left eye to either write or read a limited run column about the Action Channel anime from my youth. "LABOR DAY ANIME on the Action Channel!" That's where I found 3x3 and lots of other great anime. I also found Gunsmith Cats which was a not so great anime that led me to an absolutely spectacular manga. <3 |
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Melanchthon
 Posts: 550 Location: Northwest from Here |
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The OVAs are pretty good, and the story is very unique. I got my hands on some blue-ray remasters, and it cleans up very well. The manga I have big plans for. I obtained all 40 volumes raw (if it's not professionally translated, I will only read it raw), and reading these is a major personal goal. Unfortunately, it is a long term goal, since I currently can't read kanji without the little helper kana, but they'll wait for me.
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ptolemy18
Manga Reviewer/Creator/Taster
Posts: 357 Location: San Francisco |
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Well, naturally, that's because.... ....... ................................................................................. ................. ................................... Agggh! It was a typo! I meant to insert this link: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimeChineseGirl?from=Main.ChineseGirl Good old TVTropes. It's the only Wiki-style site I use other than regular Wikipedia. Yeah, I like this manga. And re: willag's comment, it's true, there's a lot of pretty tough female characters, actually. I particularly love the moment early on when the heroes are in danger and Ling Ling shows up with a huge machine gun and starts blowing away all the bad guys. This is a manga where the violence is realistic enough that you appreciate heavy firepower. -_- |
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ptolemy18
Manga Reviewer/Creator/Taster
Posts: 357 Location: San Francisco |
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Nice!! I'd never read the later parts until recently... I didn't own the tankobon and it wasn't in the Viz library because it's a Kodansha title so there was no way they could ever get the rights. |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2696 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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I never read the manga, but I do remember watching the OVAs a good few years ago and enjoying them. This article makes me want to buy the Geneon DVDs now and give those OVAs another watch.
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doc-watson42
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 1709 |
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I spotted three (more) small typos (emphases added):
A Korean paper character? ("Kanji" or "hanzi"?)
"Mittsume ga Tôru"—note the small tsu.
"Her race". |
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