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Soundmonkey44
Joined: 25 May 2010
Posts: 1243
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Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:46 pm
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Pretty interesting RTO this week. Sad to see the FLCL & Madoka manga aren't quite up to par with their anime counterparts. But glad the new volumes of Bleach & Sailor Moon got good grades. I myself enjoyed the latest volume of Sailor Moon & am looking forward to picking up Volumes 40 & 41 of Bleach this week.
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rheiders
Joined: 05 Jul 2011
Posts: 1137
Location: Colorful Colorado :)
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:27 am
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I can't say I had heard of Song of the Hanging Sky before, but it sounds really interesting! I'll have to check it out^^
Sucks that the FLCL manga is so unimpressive, but it's certainly not surprising. I wouldn't have found the experience nearly as enjoyable without the unique, high-energy animation.
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pachy_boy
Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 1335
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:30 am
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I for one really like the FLCL manga--the only real downside in my opinion is not hearing the Pillows soundtrack. It offers a darker, more brutal take on the story that shocked even me (the sketch-styled artwork really reflected the tone that developed during its second half). It still had great moments that the anime didn't have, like Ninamori becoming a fellow heroine with her own robot. The anime may still technically be superior, but I thought the FLCL omnibus was still worth collecting and reading.
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ChibiKangaroo
Joined: 01 Feb 2010
Posts: 2941
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 8:44 am
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Very brave, giving FLCL a C. I didn't think it was possible to give any FLCL property a low review grade without a throng of fanboys breaking down the doors and clubbing the reviewer within an inch of his life. I thought the review was very well written and informative though. I fall into the group of people who think FLCL is all fluff and very little substance, but I've mostly only been exposed to the anime. Maybe I will check out the manga just out of curiosity.
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marie-antoinette
Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 4136
Location: Ottawa, Canada
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 9:15 am
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I just picked up Sailor Moon 5 ... but still haven't read 4 and am only halfway through 3! But knowing that the Dark Moon arc is just around the corner excites me since I never actually saw all of it in the anime so I don't know how it ends.
And then, of course, the Outers are coming!!!
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Ingraman
Joined: 07 Feb 2005
Posts: 1084
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 9:55 am
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rheiders wrote: | I can't say I had heard of Song of the Hanging Sky before, but it sounds really interesting! I'll have to check it out^^ |
I bought the two volumes as they were released, loved them, and was looking forward to more before Go! Comi faded away... The art was interesting, and the plot seemed to be different enough to hook me. I think that I gave the two books away to another manga reader just last week, after deciding that I needed more shelf space. I'll miss them.
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Kohii
Joined: 12 Nov 2010
Posts: 428
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:02 am
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I honestly thought the Madoka grade was spot-on. In the afterword, the author says that it was the first book he/she'd ever done. It shows.
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Polycell
Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Posts: 4623
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:11 am
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I'm still planning on getting the book, but I wonder why Magica Quartet would choose a greenhorn for the manga adaptation.
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Fencedude5609
Joined: 09 Nov 2006
Posts: 5088
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:14 am
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Polycell wrote: | I'm still planning on getting the book, but I wonder why Magica Quartet would choose a greenhorn for the manga adaptation. |
Probably because it was cheaper.
The manga, while not as good as the anime, has its charms, and there are a few bits towards the end that I like a bit more, actually.
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dandelion_rose
Joined: 12 May 2012
Posts: 657
Location: Kuala Lumpur
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:31 am
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ChibiKangaroo wrote: | I fall into the group of people who think FLCL is all fluff and very little substance, but I've mostly only been exposed to the anime. Maybe I will check out the manga just out of curiosity. |
FLCL makes more sense if you view it as an allegory of adolescence / puberty. It's a story about a young boy learning about what it means to be a man, and his relationships with other male figures (his dad, his brother, Kanti-sama) and female figures (Mamimi, Haruko) in his life. If you watch it again, view it from this angle, and see if the story is any better.
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malvarez1
Joined: 17 Nov 2008
Posts: 2102
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 4:04 pm
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I must say, I loved Bleach volumes 40 and 41. They were plain epic, and Ulquiorra is a boss.
Orihime is useless though.
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Juno016
Joined: 09 Jan 2012
Posts: 2423
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:31 pm
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Fencedude5609 wrote: |
Polycell wrote: | I'm still planning on getting the book, but I wonder why Magica Quartet would choose a greenhorn for the manga adaptation. |
Probably because it was cheaper.
The manga, while not as good as the anime, has its charms, and there are a few bits towards the end that I like a bit more, actually. |
Well, I believe the author does recommend watching the anime beforehand and only reading the manga as a supplement for an alternate artistic take on the events. I don't see Madoka working as well as a manga with the 1-chapter-per-episode thing. And when the author doesn't have much time to plan things out, it's nearly impossible to push a manga into a truly artistic direction. Not to mention, it was started before the anime really got off, so the first few chapters showed how oblivious they were to the later revelations of the anime.
That said, I did enjoy it as a supplement to the anime. The same would go for Kazumi and Oriko. They're all very interesting takes on the potential of the series, even if they may never hit the purely new effect of Madoka's anime on the audience.
I'm collecting the Sailor Moon manga so I can read them all when they're all out. It's been so long since I ever read the manga or seen the anime. It'll be so much fun~
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dtm42
Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
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Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 5:40 am
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Really sad that FLCL and PMMM got weak adaptations, but they don't detract on the greatness of the respective series. Hey, maybe some people will like the Manga enough to go check out the series. That's my hope at any rate.
Also, it's actually kind of funny, hearing that a Manga was worse than the Anime. Most of the time it's the other way around. Guess a bad adaptation is a bad adaptation, no matter what the source material was.
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HeeroTX
Joined: 15 Jul 2002
Posts: 2046
Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:11 pm
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dandelion_rose wrote: | FLCL makes more sense if you view it as an allegory of adolescence / puberty. |
Are there detractors that are unaware of that? While I wouldn't say it is "ham-handed" neither is it "subtle". I think to really appreciate FLCL (like with Evangelion, altho that has other appeals) you need to be a certain type of person who (presumably) felt a strong degree of discomfort or ostracization during puberty/adolescence. While I realize SOME level of discomfort is universal, I think it needs to have been fairly high in order to fully empathize with Naota like with Eva and Shinji. Even then, I'd say it's more style than substance. There are other allegories that fail from a story-telling standpoint too, so it's not like FLCL is the only one.
I think in order to like FLCL, you either need to LIKE Haruko or empathize with Naota, preferrably both (especially since Naota likes Haruko).
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dandelion_rose
Joined: 12 May 2012
Posts: 657
Location: Kuala Lumpur
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Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:37 pm
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HeeroTX wrote: |
dandelion_rose wrote: | FLCL makes more sense if you view it as an allegory of adolescence / puberty. |
Are there detractors that are unaware of that? |
I sincerely think they are. Many people say that it doesn't make sense, and even among those who love it, there are those who 'don't get it'. I mean, it's all right if you don't like it but got it, but if you didn't like it and think it's just random fluff...well, I'm not saying that you'll like it after recognizing the adolescence allegory, but it's worth looking at it from a different angle to get the full picture.
Quote: | While I wouldn't say it is "ham-handed" neither is it "subtle". ... Even then, I'd say it's more style than substance. There are other allegories that fail from a story-telling standpoint too, so it's not like FLCL is the only one. |
I think...iI think a really great reason why I love FLCL is because it gives me the same vibes I get watching a good film, not just because of its message about adolescence. I mean, I'm not a movie buff, but I do remember things I watch, and FLCL has this very Napoleon Dynamite vibe to it, which I really loved (the feel, not Napoleon Dynamite).
Though, there's one other thing -- I do like 'sad comedies', the kind of story where everyone or everything is quirky, bizarre, or absurd in a way that's meant to be comic, but is usually a (thin) cover-up for bitter truths about themselves or the world they live in. I guess you could see this in, I dunno, Arrested Development? The Office? (bearing in mind that I've only seen a few episodes of both, because I don't subscribe to cable tv). Maybe The Truman Show, though I'm sure there are better examples and mine is old. They are (from what I remember) exactly what you said, not 'heavy handed' but also not 'subtle'. And there is quite a bit of that in anime, though FLCL is the best of it. I remember being absolutely nuts for Kodomo no Omocha, I rather enjoyed NieA_7 although someone said it was a bit try-hard, and my recent favourite is Welcome to the NHK.
Quote: | I think in order to like FLCL, you either need to LIKE Haruko or empathize with Naota, preferrably both (especially since Naota likes Haruko). |
What you said is certainly true for a lot of anime. I think the appeal in a lot of anime is in the strength of how the audience can relate to one or more of the characters. This is why I don't always trust reviews, and tend to listen to other fans recommending stuff to other fans. If I know that fan A likes traits X, Y, Z, I know that something they pick up will be quite similar.
But beyond that, you are right in that there's a lot of style involved, so it's also about liking a particular style. FLCL (the anime) was done in a style that I really liked.
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