Forum - View topicJason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - Maniac Road
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prime_pm
 Posts: 2369 Location: Your Mother's Bedroom |
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Picked this up years ago along with its sequel. Funny enough to read, I felt. Been a while.
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Vulcannis
Posts: 41 |
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As a wargamer, owner of way too many AD&D sourcebooks, military model lover and ex-model railroader (HO! And all still packed away).... it was kind of cool reading this. I guess I'm officially an ubernerd.
I did try paintball once, but it wasn't as fun as I imagined. Maybe because I was too out of shape due to aforementioned hobbies. Ah well, at least I don't smell. 
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Wooga
 Posts: 916 Location: Tucson |
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I liked Pretty Maniacs, especially the parrt where they decide to draw their own manga. The regular Art club members think they're 'gross' and 'wierd' for drawing manga style. What can I say, it kind of reminded me of high school..
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DoktorZetsubou
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I remember having owned the first volume of this... hell, why'd I get rid of that? Aurgh.
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TheRoyalFamily
 Posts: 62 |
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One has to wonder why they take financial and/or business advice from and obsessed homeless guy...
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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I hated this series. It's much too much of an otaku apologetic, like Otaku no Video.
I cringed at things like Takezou blaming a random otaku's rudeness to Aoba on her or saying that otaku searching for (often artificially) rare objects is noble. To contrast, Genshiken examined and at times defended otaku (and with reason rather than mere enthusiasm), but it also acknowledged their stereotypical shortcomings. Last edited by Fronzel on Thu Sep 23, 2010 8:12 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Stormwaltz
Posts: 9 |
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Actually, Haruna was a battlecruiser, Aoba a heavy cruiser, and Isuzu a light cruiser. The oldest sister is named after the largest ship, and the youngest is named after the smallest ship. I'm not a model geek, but I am a wargame and Pacific War geek.... |
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wandering-dreamer
 Posts: 1733 |
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How appropriate that this comes out right after the announcement about Genshiken II, guess I should track this down to read while waiting for Genshiken.
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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What would he have done if he had more kids? A destroyer? A submarine? A rowboat? |
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Teriyaki Terrier
 Posts: 5689 |
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In reality, that would probably never ever happen. But since it's a manga, irrational methods can be used. If I thought about the rationality of manga, I probably wouldn't enjoy as much anime and manga as I do. Why did Gon aunt's give him permission to go participate in the Hunter Exam knowing full well he would be injured in the process? It's pretty clear that the Aunt must have known that given the nature of said exam. There is a ton of irrational manga moments and anime moments, but I can't imagine it being really interesting to make a series entirely original. |
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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That's not a very good comparison. Maniac Road is about a pretty realistic situation: a small shop in a real location is doing badly and risks shut down. Hunter X Hunter takes place on a fantasy world filled with unreal beasts and eventually involves superpowers for everybody on the main cast. |
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Teriyaki Terrier
Posts: 5689 |
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Frankly, I am not going to sugar coat it, there are so many comparisons, I am not even sure where to begin. But think about it. The first chapter deals with the main character meeting the rest of the cast and helping them with their store. I agree that this pretty realistic, but to let him take control of the shop is a bit farfetched. Think about it, they just met the guy and for all they know at that point, he could have been criminal with a violent history. Anyway, I did some research via good ole Wikipedia and I will say that while Genshiken and Maniac Road are similar in some aspects, I personally think Genshiken is much better. Yes, the first chapter (based off the review) sounds nice, but after conducting some research, Maniac Road does lose some of it's steam later on. It's not a bad series, but it was far too otaku based. While Genshiken did have some otaku theme's, the series also had variety and wasn't all just about one theme for the entirety of the series. |
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Moonsaber
 Posts: 343 Location: USA |
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I think I've tried every nerdy hobby known, this manga sounds like the mothership calling me home. Not sure how I missed it. I missed when the American release was. Also an RPGer (various D&D, Morrow Project, Runequest, White Wolf, ect), former wargamer (still have my AH games like Panzerblitz), military modeller (and vet.. but the modelling came first), and I still have a good bit of my N-Scale setup. Geek ahoy? |
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ptolemy18
Manga Reviewer/Creator/Taster
Posts: 357 Location: San Francisco |
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Actually, I think Otaku no Video is a lot more critical of Otaku (and/or so extreme in its love that it seems to be winking at the viewer) than Maniac Road. Maniac Road is just kind of overly earnest and propagandistic, but Otaku no Video has those live-action interviews with fans which seem to be poking fun at them at the same time that they glorify them. (And certainly, the anime-within-an-anime in Otaku no Video is obviously a self-parody.) I actually know some anime fans who don't like Otaku no Video because they think it's too insulting to fandom. The thing I don't like about Genshiken, compared to Otaku no Video, is that Genshiken is so *mellow*. I do like the hyperactive earnest "URRRYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAA" attitude towards fandom sometimes. If Maniac Road had gone even more in this direction, instead of keeping one foot grounded in level-headed reality, it might have been more entertaining. I just thought of another way in which the title of "Maniac Road" shows how oldschool it is: the word "Road" is probably a reference to "Fanroad," the legendary ancient proto-otaku magazine from the 1980s. |
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