Forum - View topicREVIEW: Andromeda Stories GN 1-3
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GATSU
Posts: 15571 |
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I think you're being a bit hard on Vertical's editions, considering the limited audience for that manga in the first place. But the review of the actual content is spot on, unfortunately.
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Ryo Hazuki
Posts: 370 Location: Finland |
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I haven't read Andromeda Stories but I can really agree that I would prefer the color pages and the original cover art over the ones we get. Black Jack, Buddha, MW, Apollo's Song and Dororo would really look much better on my shelf with Osamu Tezuka's drawings than pretentious pop art covers.
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Pirkaf
 Posts: 156 |
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Well, To Terra... is better but Andromeda Stories are still a must for any serious manga fan.
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Moomintroll
 Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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Casey's (long overdue) review of the content pretty much mirrors my feelings about the series. It's not nearly as good as To Terra and it's a clumsily told, problematic story that's a must buy for Takemiya's artwork alone.
I'm not sure where she's coming from with regards to the print quality though - they have so-so reproduction values (and that's presumably down to the quality of the pages the licensor provided Vertical to work from) but they're not egregiously fuzzy or pixilated and certainly look a lot better than some of the half-arsed crap that Tokyopop and others have released over the years. As for the covers...Casey's tiresome inverse snobbery raises its head again. Is it weeaboo Orientalism? Fan insecurity? Regardless, they actually look pretty damn good, they complement the To Terra books perfectly and they're rather more commercially viable than any of the original Takemiya covers I've seen (of which there are number in Masanao Amano's Manga reference book and its accompanying DVD).
All of those releases do feature Tezuka's drawings on their covers. And nothing of Tezuka's gets released without being okayed first by Tezuka Productions so his estate is obviously happy with them. Does anybody get similarly excised when an old movie or novel is re-released with a new, more contemporary cover? No - it's standard practice and manga is not some kind of cultural sacred cow that requires special protection from being re-contextualised and re-marketed.
"Pretentious" how? What specious claims of importance or excellence are those Tezuka covers making? |
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Ryo Hazuki
Posts: 370 Location: Finland |
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In my opinion comic panels just don't work as a cover art just like I prefer official poster art for DVD covers to photoshopped screenshots. The reason I still keep the two Viz Black Jack books is because of their cover art. Would't it be a shame if Nausicaä covers had just zoomed panels as covers instead of beautifully drawn and colored covers that are used? |
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Moomintroll
Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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It certainly would. But then Miyazaki has an illustrator's approach to his non-animated work (that being the career he got his start in) and it shows in his covers whereas Tezuka viewed things through the eyes of a cartoonist - for all the genius he displayed between the covers (in terms of movement, decompression and page composition), I don't think he was ever particularly outstanding when it came to cover design and illustration. The Viz Black Jack covers (which are themselves heavily redesigned) don't do anything for me - they don't even have the appealing retro-kitsch quality of the covers of Astro Boy and the other early Tezuka works released by Dark Horse. |
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portgas
Posts: 66 |
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The content review is spot on. However, the fault still lies with Takemiya in not being able to communicate the story, no matter how "good" the art. As far as the art goes, I think the reviewer is a bit too fangirlish in her admiration; if the art can't tell the story, it's a failure no matter how attractive and compatible with what one likes. I'm not as much of an admirer of the artwork as the reviewer, but I can respect it as stellar example of its type.
While I do agree with the assessment of Chip Kidd's overvalued skills, I don't think the cover is that bad, and I don't recollect the "paratextual" problems that are being cited. But I'll take another look. |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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Typos typos... who edits your reviews?
Actually, your description makes me think of Wagner's Ring Cycle more than any distinctively Japanese notions of racial purity, not to mention Dune. And aren't you going a little bit hard on the fuzzy science given how forgiving you were with Jyu Oh Sei? Lastly... More evidence that the grading system makes no sense and is rather useless. She rips on the story and characters as awful and it still gets a B-? Color me baffled. |
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Area88
 Posts: 374 |
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I have the Andromeda Stories 1981 TV special on DVD.
It's really good although very long and desperatly needs English subtitles due to the heavy dialogue nature of the show. I might pick up the manga to see how it compares. Thanks ANN for continuing to review the older manga. |
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scrapps
Posts: 43 |
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I've never minded any of Vertical's covers, but what you have to remember is that manga fans are only part of the audience that they are trying to market to with these releases. These are also marketed toward the indie comic fans, who seem to be more likely to pick up something older. Let's face it, as much as I would like it to be different, most manga fans aren't purchasing these titles.
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Moomintroll
Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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I couldn't agree more. And, on reflection, I suspect that points to the source of much of Casey's vitriol (at least as far as the Takemiya books are concerned): the material's being marketed, in part, to an audience she's not a member of and she thinks that means something is being taken away from her. In her mind the likes of Hagio and Takemiya were pioneers in introducing homo-eroticism into shoujo manga and, ergo, they "belong" exclusively and forever more to the fujoshi clique (despite the fact that, however influential they were in forming it, those artists pre-date that niche and have always had a wider scope and appeal beyond it). The Takemiya works that Vertical have put out were both actually originally produced for teenage boys and the market for vintage comics - including the Japanese ones - lies, as you say, primarily outside the otaku scene but Casey isn't going to let trifling details like that temper her entitlement issues: she'd rather Vertical deliberately lost money by exclusively targeting the few hundred people in North America who share her academic passion for the roots of BL than suffer having to share "her" artists with a wider audience. |
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Big Hed
 Posts: 1607 Location: Melbourne, Australia |
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This was my thought as well. I was expecting a C/C- for the overall after reading the review. Furthermore, I think the cover art is actually very attractive; at least that which is pictured. My impression of the illustration is that it reflects its old-school inspirations while sporting an appealingly modern edge. |
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Pippin4242
Posts: 111 |
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Dude, I'd finished Dororo before I noticed his drawings properly. They are... recoloured garishly, to say the least. And the background art is totally unrelated (I checked the credits). It... doesn't work. I see what they were getting at, but I think pretentious is a fair comment. The Black Jack ones aren't awful, but other editions have been much more attractive. *~Pips~* |
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vashfanatic
Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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I know I tend to rip on Casey a lot, but I actually do agree with her that this is a boring cover. It's relatively attractice aesthetically, but it doesn't scream "check me out!" But then again, a lot of official covers to manga are boring and wouldn't make you want to read what's inside. I love Monster and 20th Century Boys, but the covers are dull and uninteresting; small wonder so many manga get covered in blurbs to make sure you know that what's inside is worth reading. |
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Moomintroll
Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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I'm not overly keen on the Dororo covers myself (though the spines look pretty good). They're easily the weakest of the manga covers Vertical have put out.
That depends on what you think they were aspiring to really.
It isn't supposed to scream "check me out!" - that isn't how you sell classic comics (or classic anything else for that matter). |
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