Forum - View topicRIGHT TURN ONLY!! - Library War And Peace
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8502 Location: Penguinopolis |
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20th Century Boys is my favorite manga of all time. The art is fantastic, distinctive without being overly exaggerated, and the writing is solid.
I can sort of see why somebody might consider Kanna "overpowered", but in the world of that story, it's utterly meaningless, since no matter what advantage our protagonists seem to procure, ultimately it seems to work against them, and for the Friends, which is a reason I like this so much. The heroes are in way over their head no matter what they do, but they try anyway. Kyoko Koizumi is truly my favorite character, though. I love those facial expressions of hers, they're priceless. The actress they casted as her in the movies was excellent, too. It's too bad they cut her role down so much in those movies. I have to remember to pick this newest Viz volume up this week. |
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suika
 Posts: 33 |
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I found The Dreaming's review to be spot on. I loved the atmosphere of the comic but felt the ending/reveal was a bit of a let down. The artwork may have had its ups and downs, but I do think it's still impressive considering the author did not have any formal art training and had only been drawing for a few years prior (correct me if I'm wrong). And I'm really envious of the speed that she draws!
On the author's last name, "Chan" is a very common Chinese surname - e.g. Jackie Chan. Though I understand where the Chinese surname/Japanese honorific confusion comes from but c'mon! Sorry, just had to get it off my chest. 
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Generic #757858
 Posts: 1354 |
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I like 20th Century Boys too, but that's actually one of the things Iike the least about the series. It starts to get tiring when absolutely everything plays into the bad guys' hands and every clue we get about the Friends identity turns out to be wrong. It also doesn't help that this is something that Urasawa seems to pull in every one of his mystery manga. |
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fuuma_monou
 Posts: 1853 Location: Quezon City, Philippines |
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Is it just me or did everything get smooshed into one big paragraph? Makes this week's column a little hard to read.
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kgw
 Posts: 1189 Location: Spain, EU |
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Yep, Me too. |
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doctordoom85
 Posts: 2094 |
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I'm loving 20th Century Boys so far, it's simply amazing. I'm so glad Viz gives this a good release schedule, having to wait until 2012 for the conclusion is still better than 2014 or 2015.
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Tanteikingdomkey
 Posts: 2350 |
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I know the start of shana is really slow but it is really good when it gets going. also the setup is need to fully explain the world. you really should not compare the adrenaline junkie bleach, and the slow methodical plotting of Shana.
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FeralKat
Posts: 402 |
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I really love Library Wars. I'm aware it's kinda hokey, but I think that's part of the charm!
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TheRoyalFamily
 Posts: 62 |
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What is the point of Negima Neo? I'm asking this in all seriousness. From all the reviews I've seen, it's just Negima For Dummies. And from what I've seen myself, it's a bunch of fanservice with girls that are trying to be, but are not, Akamatsu's characters.
Did somebody decide that Negima didn't have enough fanservice, and made a Negima of pure fanservice? I'm one of those people that was disappointed in the direction the main series went, with all the fightan' and stuff, but this is ridiculous (what little I've seen of it, anyhow). I don't get it. And I'm too scared to try it myself - especially when I'm not caught up to the main series. (But thinking of it now, I may just try it out anyways.) |
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Demon of Rashomon
 Posts: 24 Location: Sussex UK |
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Unlike the current chapters of the original Negima, Neo is one you pretty much have to turn your brain off, sit back, and just take it as it is. Which honestly is something rife with fanservice worse than the early days of the original, really cutesy character designs and enough character tropes squeezed into one classroom to make the seams bulge (especially some girls tops).
I like this, and am happy to admit so. If you don't like the idea of Negima without any hard thinking involved or the hardcore manliness of the latter original chapters then it really won't be your cup of tea. |
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TheRoyalFamily
Posts: 62 |
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Well, I actually did go out and check this out. Didn't find it at B&N (they had it last time I was there - admittedly a while ago - so I presume it was sold out), but did find one at the comic shop. First volume even! So I did find the point - the artist says that he was making a manga of the Negima! anime (I presume originally; I sincerely hope it does not go in the same direction towards the endgame).
So a rehash of a rehash. No wonder it reviews so poorly. I skimmed through Chapter 0. Nice little story. But it illustrates what I don't like about Del Rey's translation. They kept the X-onee-chan (I don't remember her name) in there. Why is this bad? Besides the fact that I am in the camp that says there is no need for most honorifics in English translations in most situations, even in series that take place in Japan - there is most times a good English equivalent phrase - and usually several - that can get the point across - this chapter takes place in WALES. (They also did this in the original manga translations, by the way.) Why are they using Japanese honorifics in an English-speaking land? (I suppose they could be speaking Welsh, but I don't know if that's likely.) I don't expect the author of such a manga as Negima Neo to get that little cultural point, but you'd think there'd be some editor or something at Del Rey that would. But no, they went with this weeaboo translation. Sad that that is my dominant thought about this series at this point 
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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I'm trying to figure out how 20th Century Boys and Slam Dunk got the same B+ while the anime-adapted, shojofied Library Wars got a grade on 2 points lower, a B-.
First of all, 20th Century Boys is considered by many to be one of Urasawa's masterpieces, if not his greatest original work. I love Inoue, but Slam Dunk was his first major work (his best stuff are Real and Vagabond). How does a middle chapter of a beginner's first major work rate the same as the middle chapter of a master's well-honed tale? As for Library Wars, I'll admit I haven't had the chance to read it, but from description alone, are you sure it wasn't a "C"? 
Otherwise, great article! (And I know grading systems are not meant to be taken as gospel, and the review itself is the point, but Carlo himself noted that he had to nitpick a character in order to find a single flaw to rail on in his review. It didn't seem that way for either Library Wars or Slam Dunk). |
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Mr Adventure
 Posts: 1598 |
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Considering how Urasawa riffs on EVERY major manga convention throughout the series, I have no doubt the feelings you're getting about Kanna's character and her exploits are entirely intentional and are leading to something. Some people say 20th Century Boys is their favorite Manga for all time. Well, 20th Century Boys continues to be my favorite COMIC of all time. There is literally nothing this book can do wrong. Its so great on every level. |
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lebrel
Posts: 374 |
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"Despite all this high-minded talk of battling Evil Government Censors, Library Wars still spends way too much time on things that shouldn't matter in the military: namely, Iku's romantic entanglements with her fellow officers. [...] even military men are spindly and soft-faced [...] It'd be far more convincing (and action-packed, probably) if Iku wasn't running around half the time figuring out how she feels about some guy."
OK, fine, dude doesn't like romances. Library Wars in all its incarnations (the light novel, both the shounen and the shoujo manga versions, the anime) is a story with a strong romance plotline; the must-protect-books angle is the plot wrapper. (Even the cover of the light novel has Kasahara dreaming about her anonymous "prince" on one side while helicopters crash on the other.) And I've got to say, both Dojo and Tezuka are pretty buff; only Komaki (the series' designated ultra-bishie prettyboy) has soft features. And I'm quite glad that Iku gets to be strong and physically capable, even if she's kinda ditzy and incompetent at first. I'm a little conflicted on Viz's choice for the manga; I like Iku's character design a bit better in the shounen version, but overall I prefer the art in the shoujo version (the one Viz licensed). Overall, I quite like the series and recommend it (to people who don't hate romances, obviously). |
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