Forum - View topicRIGHT TURN ONLY!! - Little Twin Stars
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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Oh, Saint Young Men, you are a religious studies major's dream come true... I think it's ridiculously funny, and it manages to be irreverent without being completely disrespectful. But you're right that it's not very deep. I think it's meant as a gag comic, not something will well-rounded characters or anything. But man does it make me laugh! Buddha going to the hospital in volume 2 is probably my favorite bit so far. *sigh* This is never gonna get licensed; it's not just the content, it's also that you'd need pages and pages of notes to explain the jokes, and once you've explained a joke it isn't funny anymore. I should look into importing it...
Oh, and I will put Twin Spica on my reading list. And I have to finally read Real now that I'm caught up on Vagabond. |
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FeralKat
Posts: 402 |
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Saint Young Men is HILARIOUS!
 I think anyone who practices religion and has a sense of humor will love it.
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Joketsu
 Posts: 23 |
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Agreed, SYM is one of the damn funniest things ever, both in concept and execution. I actually don't find it offensive and feel those that would be by it are looking too hard into it for stuff not there. The creator obviously respects the figures, so why not enjoy their wacky antics? The second I found out about it, I had to share amongst my friends. It's something that needs to be shared and seen.
If it does get licensed, let's hope a respectful company gets it and leaves it all undisturbed. I've seen far worse stuff get licensed here, anyways. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15578 |
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I can relate a little too well to Nomiya at times, so I think I'm willing to defend him. Believe me, when you go through a streak of bad luck, it's hard to keep your chin up, even when you're at least not the worst off on the totem pole.
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Ta-kun The Black Kitty
 Posts: 132 Location: Where the truth isn't hated. |
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Saint Young Men can make me laugh and cry... Especially in spoiler[chapter five, where they're hungry and cats flock to them, willing to be their food...
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Christian fanatics may rave at it, but it's all innocent fun. Especially when Jesus says "he'd like Johnny Depp to portray him in a movie." It's just light humor. |
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vashfanatic
Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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Yeah, see that's the thing: it's never really insulting either the Buddha or Jesus (though once in a while it pokes a little fun at their followers; I'm thinking of rspoiler[all the old people at the hospital who believe they're dying when the Buddha shows up]). To begin with, it relies on the idea that everything either religion has ever said about them is tue for much of its humor. The rest of the humor comes from "fish out of water" jokes on the craziness of modern Japanese society. What's more, both of them come across as really nice guys; Jesus especially would be totally fun to have around! It makes affectionate jabs at both figures equally, not picking on only one at the expense of the other. But yes, I can't see this getting licensed because unless you're at least somewhat familiar with both figures, you won't get most of the jokes. Ooh! My library has the first volume of Real! Yay! No Twin Spica yet, though. They've gotten so much Verticle stuff, though, that I imagine it may get ordered. |
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jennye
 Posts: 21 |
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I love Kaze Hikaru. The historical background I've learned from reading this (and all the Shinsengumi-related Wikipedia articles it inspired me to read) made reading and watching Peace Maker Kurogane and Gintama all the more fun and rewarding. The art quickly grows on you, as do the well-developed, dynamic characters who never feel like lifeless history text personalities, but rather living, growing individuals making the most of their free will and unconstrained by their historical context, despite the author's skillful fidelity to the latter. When a story can make me laugh and cry and cheer and fear for its characters, it has me in its clutches (and this one will have my wallet, too, as soon as I can work it into my budget).
I would also second the recommendation for REAL and anything else by Takehiko Inoue. The detail, both visual and emotional, that he manages to convey in his art and storytelling is a pleasure to read. I'm just a few volumes into Slam Dunk and am already sucked into the moment-to-moment action and drama of a multi-volume basketball game, despite my usual utter lack of interest in sports. And Vagabond has me equally hooked. BTW, I've had to borrow Vagabond (and many other titles) through inter-library loan because my system doesn't own it. It's a great service, especially for those of us watching our pennies. If your library doesn't have a title you want or is missing a volume from the middle of a favorite series, ask them if they can borrow it from another system for you. That, or you can suggest that they buy it. I do both on a regular basis. 
Saint Young Men sounds like a hoot. I'll have to give that one a try, too. Yay, more good stuff to look forward to! |
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belvadeer
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I'm a little worried Saint Young Men might spark some religious ire, but it sounds like a fun little read to me.
These all sound like good choices to fill the manga-reading part of the day for me. I'll look into a few. |
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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I agree that the blame for manga's "fall" in the American market can not rest solely on the shoulders of the fans. I've got four library cards and a moderate collection of my own...but as long as manga companies release garbage, gray-scale color pages, overlook or stop releasing series discerning readers consider great, and let classic titles fall out of print whilst holding on to the licenses like snarling dogs, manga becomes something harder and harder to support, let alone collect.
Most of the major manga companies are guilty of some of these sins. Thank goodness that companies like Yen Press and Vertical are choosing quality titles and giving them the print runs they deserve while supporting themselves with more mainstream titles (Vertical has cookbooks, craftbooks, puzzlebooks and novels, Yen has Twilight, 'nuff said). I hope the other manga companies learn a thing or two from them, and expand there global reach as well. Finding great sequential art from Korea, China and Europe and introducing them to manga fans will be a better way to build one's catalog then the upteenth video game spinoff (usually from some eroge game that will probably never be released in the US anyway...) And mainstream appeal? There's a Highschool Musical manga adaptation in Japan. I dare one of the publishers to bring it over and market it to Highschool Musical fans. Just think "If Yen can do it, so can I!" I really don't want to see you guys go out of business. Watching the Anime Companies flail like caught fish is painful enough... Speaking of sequential art from around the world, why is it that Korean Manhwa aren't reviewed in this column? It's a shame that titles should be ignored just because their country of origin isn't, well, Japan. Re: Saint Young Men; I sure hope that Jesus brings up the fact that he wasn't actually born in December. It'll just make his Bday celebration funnier! 
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gartholamundi
 Posts: 316 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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REAL was one of the first manga i started reading, beginning a manga craze for me that began late last year. I absolutely love it and would recommend it to anyone looking for character depth, realistic emotional intensity, and never-failing fantastic illustrations.
and now I'm really looking forward to Saint Young Men, too.
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Wow. I read Mugen Spiral ages ago. It wasn't bad. In fact, I went ahead & picked up NG Life by the author because it has very nice bishies. MS is in the priestess & her demon servant mode like InuYasha & Zenki.
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heavyweather
 Posts: 97 Location: Fargo, ND |
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Yes. Agreed 100%. if there is a title out there that you want to read, especially if it's out of print, and your library (system) doesn't have it, it's a great idea to do an ILL. Support your libraries! anyway, back on to the column proper. I'm happy to see Twin Spica get a good review - I thought that the title looked interestng, and this affirms that it looks like something I should check out. And although I don't think that one can completely dismiss scanlations as a problem in the US manga industry, but I really like Carlo's analysis. |
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JuicyB
Posts: 278 |
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THANK YOU SIR. It seems like everyone in the industry just wants to use scanlations and fansubs as a scapegoat without taking responsibility for their own mistakes.
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vashfanatic
Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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It isn't brought up explicitly, but spoiler[Jesus has no idea that the festival is somehow in honor of his birth, especially as the Japanese celebrate it. The Buddha has to make sure he doesn't find out so that he can throw him a surprise party. Much humor is had.] |
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Brazzlefrazz
 Posts: 163 Location: Canada |
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I really enjoyed this volume of Real. I'm looking forward to seeing how Nomiya's latest venture goes. I really want it to work out for him.
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