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Yay! Black Cat manga's finally "over"!


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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15550
PostPosted: Mon May 04, 2009 6:44 pm Reply with quote
Well, assuming Yabuki-san decides not to continue it one day, as he implies at the afterword, anyway...I actually was starting to lose interest in the series at the half-way point, because Train turning into a little boy seemed to be a case of jumping the shark. And I was kind of worried about Creed turning into a Final Fantasy boss near the end and the fight coming off hoakey as a result. But the chapter after the fight made me realize that Yabuki was making fun of the shonen cliche of powering up for long-winded battles. So I think the whole point of that was not necessarily to be better at something than the other guy/gal, but to be satisfied with what you do in life, regardless of where you are, which is surprisingly forward-thinking for this type of series. Anyway, I wonder if this means we'll be getting To-Luv-Ru next.
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AU_Gundam



Joined: 05 May 2009
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PostPosted: Sun May 10, 2009 12:20 am Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
Well, assuming Yabuki-san decides not to continue it one day, as he implies at the afterword, anyway...I actually was starting to lose interest in the series at the half-way point, because Train turning into a little boy seemed to be a case of jumping the shark. And I was kind of worried about Creed turning into a Final Fantasy boss near the end and the fight coming off hoakey as a result. But the chapter after the fight made me realize that Yabuki was making fun of the shonen cliche of powering up for long-winded battles. So I think the whole point of that was not necessarily to be better at something than the other guy/gal, but to be satisfied with what you do in life, regardless of where you are, which is surprisingly forward-thinking for this type of series. Anyway, I wonder if this means we'll be getting To-Luv-Ru next.


The manga's been over for quite a while already.

And beyond Yabuki's statement, no new news has come up on the proposed sequel. Though I think a reinterpretation would be more worth watching.
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Blackpeppir



Joined: 30 Apr 2009
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PostPosted: Sun May 10, 2009 12:57 pm Reply with quote
I think he's referring to the manga's final volume being released sometime soon. Of course the translated manga has been over for quite some time and the anime (which was just awful) ended a while ago as well. However I must admit I am looking forward to the final volume. There'll always be a place in my heart for cookie-cutter shonen manga like Black Cat
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Buster Blader 126



Joined: 14 May 2005
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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 12:03 am Reply with quote
Blackpeppir: The final volume was just released in North America last week, so he is likely referring to that.

As for the series itself, I will be picking up the final five volumes that I have been missing this month, so I`ll be doing some much-needed catching up to do.
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AU_Gundam



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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 12:07 am Reply with quote
Didn't the series end in Japan at around 2006?

And no, I was referring to the manga's end in Japan, which I now know is 2004.
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Buster Blader 126



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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 12:37 am Reply with quote
AU_Gundam wrote:
Didn't the series end in Japan at around 2006?

And no, I was referring to the manga's end in Japan, which I now know is 2004.


I was referring to Gatsu. I didn't elaborate on that earlier, it seems.
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blind_assassin



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 1:00 pm Reply with quote
I never came to the conclusion that Black Cat was ever intentionally a parody of the shounen genre but more that it was a pretty awful and cheesy series. Although I will concede that a line like "revenge is bogus" could only be either an inept translation or exactly the sort of thing I would write to be ironic (and ironically I'm wearing a shirt that says "Fresh" on it as I type this).
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Blackpeppir



Joined: 30 Apr 2009
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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 3:04 pm Reply with quote
blind_assassin wrote:
I never came to the conclusion that Black Cat was ever intentionally a parody of the shounen genre but more that it was a pretty awful and cheesy series. Although I will concede that a line like "revenge is bogus" could only be either an inept translation or exactly the sort of thing I would write to be ironic (and ironically I'm wearing a shirt that says "Fresh" on it as I type this).


I wasn't saying it's a parody so much as I was saying it's a cookie cutter story, at least as far as shonen stories go. I mean, if you look at it, it goes hero is introduced (I won't mention how cliche the assassin from a secret organization gone rogue or leaving is because I genuinely like this series), random adventures to establish roles, villain from the hero's mysterious past appears and then so on and so forth with many expressions of friendship, loyalty and courage as well as large, increasingly flashy and incrementally more destructive special attacks cropping up along the way.
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blind_assassin



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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 3:29 pm Reply with quote
Blackpeppir wrote:
blind_assassin wrote:
I never came to the conclusion that Black Cat was ever intentionally a parody of the shounen genre but more that it was a pretty awful and cheesy series. Although I will concede that a line like "revenge is bogus" could only be either an inept translation or exactly the sort of thing I would write to be ironic (and ironically I'm wearing a shirt that says "Fresh" on it as I type this).


I wasn't saying it's a parody so much as I was saying it's a cookie cutter story, at least as far as shonen stories go. I mean, if you look at it, it goes hero is introduced (I won't mention how cliche the assassin from a secret organization gone rogue or leaving is because I genuinely like this series), random adventures to establish roles, villain from the hero's mysterious past appears and then so on and so forth with many expressions of friendship, loyalty and courage as well as large, increasingly flashy and incrementally more destructive special attacks cropping up along the way.


GATSU specifically did mention the word parody but I agree a bit more with the idea of it just being cookie cutter since saying it's a parody implies a strong sense of planning in the terribleness. Your statement does remind me of exactly what made me really hate the series. The cliche of a guy being the ultimate apex of ass-kicking and then getting tired of whatever he does and then goes into hiding as a goofy, happy-go-lucky nice guy that just can't bring himself to hurt a fly until his former best buddy who is now a villain kidnaps the young ward with amnesia that the hero is now caring for and threatens to kill them unless the hero comes back to the organisation to help rule the underworld (I really need to come up with a term for that instead of resorting to a run on sentence every time). The only thing I hate as much as that is fish-out-of-water comedy.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 9:09 pm Reply with quote
No, I did not mention the word parody. I said it "makes fun" of the genre. And BC isn't like most shonen series: The hero doesn't always pull off super-moves to win, doesn't get the girl, and doesn't care about being the best at his job-or better than his opponent. He's just happy being able to do something fulfilling with his current level of experience. He also doesn't care about getting into pointless fights which drag on endlessly.
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Blackpeppir



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PostPosted: Wed May 13, 2009 1:27 am Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
No, I did not mention the word parody. I said it "makes fun" of the genre. And BC isn't like most shonen series: The hero doesn't always pull off super-moves to win, doesn't get the girl, and doesn't care about being the best at his job-or better than his opponent. He's just happy being able to do something fulfilling with his current level of experience. He also doesn't care about getting into pointless fights which drag on endlessly.


You're right it's like the other half of shonen manga where the character is a lovable goof who doesn't like fighting but will do so to protect his friends. He wants to live a carefree life but can't because an enemy from his mysterious past pops up and starts causing trouble with his group of flunkies. Then they meet friends along the way that will help in his final battle and blah, blah, blah... Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees and you have your cookie.
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GATSU



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PostPosted: Wed May 13, 2009 1:46 am Reply with quote
Blackpeppir: He's not doing it to protect his friends. He's doing it to settle his old conflicts and move on, since his friends can protect themselves. And he likes the carefree life, but it's all about getting the most satisfaction from his work for him.
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blind_assassin



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
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PostPosted: Wed May 13, 2009 12:35 pm Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
No, I did not mention the word parody. I said it "makes fun" of the genre. And BC isn't like most shonen series: The hero doesn't always pull off super-moves to win, doesn't get the girl, and doesn't care about being the best at his job-or better than his opponent. He's just happy being able to do something fulfilling with his current level of experience. He also doesn't care about getting into pointless fights which drag on endlessly.


My mistake. Your mentioning of the exact definition of what the word parody means led me to believe you had.
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Blackpeppir



Joined: 30 Apr 2009
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PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 5:40 pm Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
Blackpeppir: He's not doing it to protect his friends. He's doing it to settle his old conflicts and move on, since his friends can protect themselves. And he likes the carefree life, but it's all about getting the most satisfaction from his work for him.


Semantics. The point I'm trying to make is that while it has it's own unique elements, every story has to or else it won't sell, it's almost stereotypical in it's execution. Saying Black Cat isn't a cookie cutter shonen story is like saying Naruto and Bleach aren't as well. A lot of the stuff that comes out of Jump usually is with the odd exception every now and then. I'm not trying to start a fight or anything, I'm just saying if it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck...
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GATSU



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PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 8:43 pm Reply with quote
Well, I dunno about Naruto and Bleach, but I still think BC ain't cookie-cutter. I mean, the author doesn't even drag it out endlessly like most of thse shonen titles. And while it may not be original, but it definitely has its own take which helps it stand out from the pack.
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