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RIGHT TURN ONLY!! - 'Twas the Night After Christmas

B- for Eden? That's too harsh, I'd say. Personally, I think the whole series is brilliant...sure, you have to think quite a bit to follow it, but if you can keep track of everything, few series are more rewarding.

Despite all its achievements in style, some folks are still going to get on xxxHOLiC's case for its unremarkable substance. The stories foster an occult atmosphere but fail to deliver any interesting twists, and the emotional range isn't all that great: Watanuki gets antsy over spirits, rages at Dômeki, and fawns over his crush Himawari, all while Yûko spouts her quirky nuggets of philosophy. In other words, the same things that happen every volume. If Watanuki is growing so much as a person, why aren't his interpersonal relationships (aside from the one with Dômeki) going anywhere? Looks like CLAMP is willing to maintain the status quo for their characters as long as they can go crazy with the visuals. So take this for what it is: yet another tale of a young man discovering his special powers and his place in the (spirit) world. Except, y'know, brilliantly drawn.

B- for Eden? That's too harsh, I'd say. Personally, I think the whole series is brilliant...sure, you have to think quite a bit to follow it, but if you can keep track of everything, few series are more rewarding.

When does manga stop being manga? (Purists, don't even answer that.)

coolerimmortal wrote:

B- for Eden? That's too harsh, I'd say. Personally, I think the whole series is brilliant...sure, you have to think quite a bit to follow it, but if you can keep track of everything, few series are more rewarding.

A B- is not a "harsh" score in any sense of the word whatsoever.

So I looked through your older reviews, but I couldn't find any reviews of previous volumes of Eden, so I'd like to know, what have you thought of Eden?

I've been wondering when xxxHOLiC volue meight would come out....nice to see it got an 'A' rating. I can't wait to pick it up.

This "Best New Manga" book sounds interesting, if not to see just what other OEL artists are doing. What genre would you say has the most stories in the book? I don't want too much sword-and-sorcery or ecchi.

hanachan01 wrote:

I've been wondering when xxxHOLiC volue meight would come out....nice to see it got an 'A' rating. I can't wait to pick it up. This "Best New Manga" book sounds interesting, if not to see just what other OEL artists are doing. What genre would you say has the most stories in the book? I don't want too much sword-and-sorcery or ecchi.

Surprisingly, I think only two stories were pure sword-and-sorcery.

I'd say it was dominated most by dramatic/slice-of-life material. And once again Europe proves why they do have more refined tastes...

P.S. Kago-chan for the win.

Seriously, if the Koreans are smart enough to call their stuff manwha, and many online comics have no qualms being called Webcomics, why can't the other non-asian folk just be content with Graphic Novel or Comic Book?

The problem of the label "manga" aside, my problem with "Best New Manga" is the title. I mean.. come on, now. Isn't this a bit pretentious? Everyone's free to have their own ideas about what manga is and what it is not, but this title kind of implies that "new manga" = "non-Japanese" which is ridiculous. (By the way, who is this Ilya person?)

Abarenbo Shogun wrote:

Seriously, if the Koreans are smart enough to call their stuff manwha, and many online comics have no qualms being called Webcomics, why can't the other non-asian folk just be content with Graphic Novel or Comic Book?

Because it doesn't have the same pull, market-wise. Seriously, I wonder if these people would rename their stuff as "graphic novels" and "comics" if suddenly "manga" became unpopular. But then, they would be just "World Graphic Novels" and "Original English Language Comics"... just drops in the ocean without a cool, hip label that sets them away from the rest, if only in name. (On the other hand, "Best New Comics" would make a bit more sense.