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Forum - View topicREVIEW: Arata: The Legend GN 1
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mckg1
 Posts: 287 Location: From Puerto Rico living in Japan |
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Sounds interesting, i might check it out.
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knucklechuckle
Posts: 12 |
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This is not good, it is bad.
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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I read Arata on Viz's Shonen Sunday site, and there are 2 comparison's that keep bugging me:
1. Ancient-fantasy world Arata is a lot more interesting, fun, and humorous than Modern Arata H. I completely agree with you there, and I am disappointed that Arata gets pulled into the background while Arata H. has the cliché journey of "finding his destiny" and "beating bad guys with an ancient powerful sword." 2. This manga is no where near as good as Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden, which, if memory serves correctly, is still unfinished and on a painfully slow production schedule. If Watase is too tired or uninspired to finish that, why would she go ahead and create another manga just like it?! Arata, at this point, still has the vibe of some sort of Fushigi Yugi fanfic: "What if Miaka were a boy and she switched places in time and space with Tamahome?" Something like that. Meanwhile, us Genbu Kaiden fans are left hanging as Watase focuses her artistic energies on something else... Hopefully, Arata: The Legend will improve both plot and character-wise in the next couple volumes. But I wish she could just finish Genbu Kaiden first. *sigh* Then I'd really try to enjoy it as is, and stop comparing the two... |
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FeralKat
Posts: 402 |
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I pretty much agree with the review, however, I do not think Watase's artwork in Ceres somehow "marred" the series.
Knowing Watase, I bet she has a few twists up her sleeves! |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I don't think it's a lack of inspiration. For some reason, Watase just seems to like to work on more than one series at a time recently (I don't think she's ever just been working on Genbu Kaiden at any point during its run). IIRC, the main reason Genbu Kaiden's release schedule is on the slow side (2 volumes a year usually) is that it was originally being serialized in the Fushigi Yuugi magazine which, not unsurprisingly, did not come out as regularly as others. Its switched magazines now, of course, but it's definitely near being finished now (I think she said in a side panel that she's expecting it to be 12 volumes total) and we're all just used to the release schedule it has, I guess? It won't be too much longer at any rate and it is definitely worth the wait. Anyway...I will probably check this one out because it is Watase and I check out everything she does (even Absolute Boyfriend). |
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midnighteve
Posts: 114 Location: Chula Vista |
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As a long time Watase fan, I hungrily devoured the free chapters available on the Shonen Sunday website, but when I picked up this book last week, I was sad to realize that I had already read all the chapters in it. It was a moment where I went, "Darn, I could've bought this later and bought something else instead!" I have to say that they didn't really plan that one out very well. I much preferred the way they offered up another one of SS's acquisitions, Rin-ne, where they had a few chapters here and there which acted as one heck of a good cliffhanger and got me to buy both volumes of the manga just to figure out what happened!
That rant aside, I kind of felt that Hinohara came off a bit too much like one of those "typical shoujo heroines", and the bullying felt off too :/ I know Watase wanted to branch out into Shonen, but it kinda feels like she's still hasn't adjusted to genre yet. It certainly feels, as someone else pointed out, like a gender-swap Fushigi Yuugi except not as good. (IMO) I'm still going to give this series a shot though (faithful fangirl as I am  ) but I'm hoping that she'll pick up the pace on Genbu Kaiden instead...
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Agent355
Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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@Midnighteve: yeah, Arata H. did seem effeminate somehow, and the bullying felt way off. Now that I think about it, I think the lack of physical abuse made the bullying feel kind of...girly.
I'm not an expert on child psychology or anything, but I always thought that even when boys bully each other mentally and emotionally, there tends to be a physically aggressive component to most forms of adolescent male bullying. Girls are the ones who tend to bully with little to no violence. And even 'tho times are achangin' and bullying mores amongst teens change with them, it is to my understanding that girls are becoming more violent, rather than boys being less so. In short, the fact that Arata H. *wasn't* beaten up makes me feel that the whole bullying incident was the way girls bully other girls--and made it hard for me to suspend my disbelief that Watase can write a shonen manga .
I'm still hoping the characters will grow on me in the next couple volumes or so. |
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borastos
Posts: 6 |
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I don't think you fully understand what it is like to be bullied. You say that Arata H. is inconsistent in his behaviour but I didn't see it that way. He had just joined a new school and believed it to be a new start, with that fragile confidence, he was able to show who he really was. Once Kadowaki re-entered his life, it all fell apart, Arata H. again became the victim in his own mind allowing Kadowaki to dominate.
Watase has shown the isolation and despair that bulling can cause its suffers. While for the most part I agree that the bullying was more mental, it was not without its physical side. In one scene the bullies complain that Arata H. did not react to when they repeatedly kicked him during lunch and another showed a flashback in which some other bullies had been trying to push himoff the top of a building. The glue on the desk was porbably too much but the characters themselves acknowledge this. I for one will continue reading this, while I do hope that the other Arata has more to do than just be a place holder until Arata H. comes back. As for Viz putting up all the current chapters, that doe seem a bit dumb. They have however, said that the books come with extras, whether or not that makes it worth it, I will have to see. |
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FeralKat
Posts: 402 |
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I don't understand why people are complaining about VIZ posting chapters on their website. If you don't want to find out what happens, DON'T READ THEM. Wait for the compiled release. All they're trying to do is beat scanslators to the punch. =/ I don't think it's dumb at all.
Many people I've talked to just read things online and never bother to buy any manga. I would much rather have them reading chapters off the official publisher's website than some shady illegal one. |
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