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Forum - View topicREVIEW: Gestalt GN 1
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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I'm not really a fan of the artist (more Clamp), but I've enjoyed both volumes. The author seems to be fairly equal opportunity (Earthian & Loveless have hetero & yuri couples as well as the boys they're supposed to be about). Granted, I also own a copy of the anime so I'm slightly familiar with the plot.
The art is nice & the mythology seems reasonably fleshed out while the mysteries revealed seem to be decently spaced out. At least it's not the fluff shojo stuff that aimlessly goes nowhere fast but makes sure it's cute while it does. |
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Tamaria
 Posts: 1512 Location: De Achterhoek |
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I disagree, Immortal Rain is a good manga. |
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neocloud9
 Posts: 1178 Location: Atlanta, GA |
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Huh. It does sound kind of interesting, though...
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HJSoulma
Posts: 62 |
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It's not as terrible as this review makes it sound, I have to say. It's not exactly a literary masterpiece, but I think there's enough intrigue and strong characters to make up for the sort of meandering plot. My guess is that the journey will become more focused as the story goes on, which I would argue is something of a stylistic tic of Kouga's.
Granted, I'm probably biased; I bought the (deeply, deeply confusing) anime when it first came out on DVD (and didn't really get the concept of an OVA) and always had a feeling there was "more" to the story... so when I found out there was a manga I spent quite a number of years looking for scanlations (there aren't any), and was basically overjoyed when I heard it was coming out in English. I didn't really expect it to be that great, but after half a decade of confusion the idea of closure was perhaps more important than the actual content. 
Anyway, I wasn't disappointed with the weirdness; it was kind of what I expected, truthfully. It reminds me of the 1990's-- essentially, don't pick it up if you're a Kouga fan, but rather pick it up if you remember enjoying Slayers, Lodoss War, MKR and all the other now-crusty fantasy fare from back then. |
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John Casey
 Posts: 1853 Location: In My Angry Center |
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Somebody's never heard of Escaflowne it seems... 
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johnmora
Posts: 75 |
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I wouldn't call Escaflowne a video game RPG. It's more of its own fantasy beast.
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John Casey
Posts: 1853 Location: In My Angry Center |
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Oh puh-lease. It's 100% RPG. Besides, you gotta recall; at the time of the manga's publishing, most console RPGs were all mostly fantasy settings, anyhow. |
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Youkai Warrior
 Posts: 505 Location: Sarayashiki |
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You have a point. While I enjoy Escaflowne, it was made during the time that many RPGs had fantasy settings. That is probably what helped Escaflowne get popular. However, Escaflowne is probably the only successful anime pretending to be an RPG. And then of course, there's Record of Lodoss War, but that one had more European influence, whereas Escaflowne at times, does seem like something from a videogame RPG. Gestalt doesn't interest me. Neither does Yun Kouga, I never really liked her work. And she is no CLAMP, they are way better. There is plenty of manga out there that are better than Gestalt. |
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CCSYueh
Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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There's a lot worse out there. I have started so many shojo titles in the hope they will deliver half what the premise promises, but they so often disappoint. Platinum Garden. MagicalXMiracle, so many others. So much shojo settles for the easy plot. At least Kouga puts some effort into her stories & doesn't constantly tread the path of least resistance. (Not that I've ever found Clamp to do that either, but that's why no matter how much they piss me off, I continue reading. They are evil.) Yeah, this one feels somewhat "on demand" I wouldn't be shocked if she was given the outline (like Nitta said she was given the theme for Casino Lily ). spoiler[I mean flat out Ouri's "handicap" sounds stupid & just an excuse for gender bender considering magic doesn't rely on physical strength & females (in Western culture at least) are often seen as magically adept (witchcraft, etc)] |
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branewurms
Posts: 19 |
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I just read the first two chapters and... Well, I'm a fujoshi and I'm not pleased. I'm all going along like, "Awesome, a confident female character who's kickass and sexually aggressive!" And then it turns out that spoiler[she's only like that because she's a really a man.] Way to turn from subverting gender stereotypes to reinforcing them.
I want to trust Yun Kouga here, because I was generally very pleased with the gender dynamics in Loveless (and especially with the seemingly deliberate nose-thumbing at the dead lesbians trope), but I don't know. I'm having trouble seeing how the story can possibly recover from this. |
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angelkit14
Posts: 1 Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma |
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I actually love gestalt so far. I find the story just captivating and the characters are fun and adorable.
I like Ouri's handicap. It makes sense on why it happened cause when spoiler[the spell was cast it basically zapped her strength and knocked her magic level down to 2. That's a pretty big handicap considering She was (as far as I know) the strongest of her siblings. Also Suzu in vol.2 is shown to be strong. Ouri comments on how strong Suzu is because it is strange because elves are supposed to be frail and graceful. ] I can't wait to buy vol.3 |
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