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Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - The Drifting Classroom


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vashfanatic



Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 3495
Location: Back stateside
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 5:28 pm Reply with quote
Oh man, I began reading this c. 15 months ago but then I moved and my current library doesn't have it. Which means, I suppose, that I need to get an interlibrary loan on it. Because it was really good. Incredibly grim, but really good. Thanks for reminding me of it.
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ABCBTom



Joined: 10 Sep 2009
Posts: 183
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 5:31 pm Reply with quote
I bought the first volume of this at a college bookstore and liked it, but I never could find the rest anywhere. Guess I'll need to order it online. 11 volumes isn't that long in a One Piece, KochiKame, Berserk world.

Shame about 14 being illegal, as I liked the bizarre Rooster Man nonsense I saw.

Also, props for mentioning Darger, as his name has been on the tip of my tongue for over a month, and I will now no longer be driven mad by being unable to think of it.
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gartholamundi



Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 316
Location: Gainesville, FL
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 5:39 pm Reply with quote
Drifting Classroom is one of those titles that's been on my list for a long time, nearly a year, but hasn't worked its way up. I'm really glad to see this long look at the series. Thanks, Jason!
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sepherest





PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 6:23 pm Reply with quote
I love Drifting Classroom. It's a shame it's so hard to get copies of though outside the internet, I had an easier time finding Basara and even that took a while.
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wandering-dreamer



Joined: 21 Jan 2008
Posts: 1733
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 6:42 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I spake as a child

Erm, do you mean "I spoke as a child"?

Anyway, I kinda want to read this series now but I'm worried that I'll be horribly depressed after reading it. Hmm, well, if I ever come across it I'll be sure to try it out and decide if I can ever smile again after that.
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ABCBTom



Joined: 10 Sep 2009
Posts: 183
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 7:10 pm Reply with quote
wandering-dreamer wrote:
Quote:
I spake as a child

Erm, do you mean "I spoke as a child"?

Take it up with King James. Doesn't know His English, he doesn't. Should've gone with Wycliffe:

Whanne Y was a litil child, Y spak as a litil child, Y vndurstood as a litil child, Y thouyte as a litil child; but whanne Y was maad a man, Y auoidide tho thingis that weren of a litil child.
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Treetastic



Joined: 28 Mar 2007
Posts: 164
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 7:38 pm Reply with quote
Kazuo Umezu is awesome, in a grotesque way. I still think of him as "the scissor-eyes guy", for reasons readily apparent to anyone who has read Left Hand of God, Right Hand of the Devil. -_-;
ABCBTom wrote:
wandering-dreamer wrote:
Quote:
I spake as a child

Erm, do you mean "I spoke as a child"?

Take it up with King James. Doesn't know His English, he doesn't. Should've gone with Wycliffe:

Whanne Y was a litil child, Y spak as a litil child, Y vndurstood as a litil child, Y thouyte as a litil child; but whanne Y was maad a man, Y auoidide tho thingis that weren of a litil child.

I think you mean "He dunnae know his English."
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driverstart



Joined: 23 Jul 2007
Posts: 214
Location: America
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 8:03 pm Reply with quote
I love this series (As noted with my avatar)! Probably the best horror manga I ever read, with Higurashi at 2 and Uzumaki at 3. Thanks for the article on the series. This manga needs much more love than it has.

I love it if more of Kazou Umezu's works were brought to America. I liked this series so much that I ran out to buy Cat Eyed Boy in hopes for something just as good.
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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6232
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 8:27 pm Reply with quote
Man I loved Drifting Classroom. It got a little ridiculous towards the end, but it was still a very good read.
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Shaenon



Joined: 17 Sep 2010
Posts: 18
PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 2:09 am Reply with quote
Umezu actually started Makoto-chan well into his career, after he was already famous as a horror artist. He described the difference between the two genres as: “If you're doing the chasing, it's a gag manga. If you're being chased, it's horror.”
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pomocho



Joined: 28 Aug 2010
Posts: 20
Location: Columbus, OH
PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 2:12 pm Reply with quote
Another superlative article, Jason. In fact, your feature articles could conceivably be subtitled "Pomochu's favorite manga," because... um... I think you've covered a large portion of my manga loves (so saying that you have impeccable taste would be a self-serving, specular compliment for myself). The Drifting Classroom is no exception; it's unleaded nightmare fuel, pure madness, a gore-drenched fever dream, a mausoleum of frights and grotesqueries. I loved every second of it... every child-eviscerating, open-mouthed moment. Your article did a good job conveying some of the, ahem, unique qualities of Umezu's work (and, yes, where is that domestic release of Fourteen? Chicken George demands it!), and will hopefully bring some new readers to this criminally underrated work.

It is also worth noting that The Drifting Classroom also inspired a live-action film adaptation helmed by Nobuhiko Obayashi, the director of the surrealist, psychedelic cult fight flick House. And unlike that film, his adaptation of Umezu's manga is unmitigated garbage.
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doc-watson42
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 10 Feb 2003
Posts: 1709
PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 2:52 pm Reply with quote
Jason Thompson wrote:
Kazuo Umezu, a mangaka born in 1936 [...]

Umezu was born in 1934

Was it 1934 or 1936? Anime smallmouth + sweatdrop
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gartholamundi



Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 316
Location: Gainesville, FL
PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 2:55 pm Reply with quote
doc-watson42 wrote:
Jason Thompson wrote:
Kazuo Umezu, a mangaka born in 1936 [...]

Umezu was born in 1934

Was it 1934 or 1936? Anime smallmouth + sweatdrop


Ha, yea, I was wondering that too ... I say average the two together to get 1935.
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chloes_fork



Joined: 08 Jun 2004
Posts: 58
PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 3:34 pm Reply with quote
pomocho wrote:
It is also worth noting that The Drifting Classroom also inspired a live-action film adaptation helmed by Nobuhiko Obayashi, the director of the surrealist, psychedelic cult fight flick House. And unlike that film, his adaptation of Umezu's manga is unmitigated garbage.

There was also a live-action Japanese TV "dorama" series adaptation a few years back. Retitled Long Love Letter, it shifted the story's narrative focus from the kids (now high-schoolers) to a teacher and his would-be girlfriend (herself a former instructor who had the unfortunate luck to be visiting the school at the time of its displacement, and played by the enchanting Takako Tokiwa). Despite these and other changes, the show tracks much of the manga's story pretty closely and includes many of its major events. I thought it was a quite successful reimagining, myself.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 4:54 pm Reply with quote
Umezu should play Limbo, I think he'd like it Very Happy

Wow, this sounds like one gruesome story. How scarce is its availability?
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