14 posts tagged “manga”
One thing about being sick, it saps your focus. I just don't have the mental energy to do anything beyond rote tasks. Therefore, instead of me getting my homework done, you get a post updating what I've been reading for the past three months.
You're thrilled, I'm sure. :-p
Anyway, despite all the things I've had going on at work, and the reading I've had to do for school (those books likely won't show up on-list until December), I've managed to get a few books under my belt. Just, you know, a handful.
*ahem*
Books: 11 (51 YTD)
A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer
Trinity Blood - Rage Against the Moons Vol 3: Know Faith by Sunao Yoshida
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
Something in the Water by Trevor Baxendale
Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea by Nancy Atherton
Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into History by The Bathroom Readers' Hysterical Society (what?)
Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers
His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik
High Wizardry by Diane Duane
Heaven's Net is Wide by Lian HearnGraphic Novels: 67 (128 YTD)
Fruits Basket 1 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 2 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 3 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 4 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 5 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 6 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 7 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 8 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 9 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 10 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 11 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 12 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 13 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 14 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 15 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 16 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 17 by Natsuki Takaya
Fruits Basket 18 by Natsuki Takaya
Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth by Paul Dini & Alex Ross
Suppli 3 by Mari Okazaki
Modesty Blaise: Live Bait by Peter O'Donnell and Romero
Kaze Hikaru 10 by Taeko Watanabe
Millenium Snow 2 by Bisco Hatori
Skip Beat 8 by Yoshiki Nakamura
Honey and Clover 1 by Chica Umino
Honey and Clover 2 by Chica Umino
Honey and Clover 3 by Chica Umino
Fables: Legends in Exile by Willingham, Medina, Leiloha, Hamilton
Fables: Animal Farm by Willingham, Buckingham
Crimson Hero 6 by Mitsuba Takanashi
Crimson Hero 8 by Mitsuba Takanashi
Bleach 23 by Tite Kubo
Vampire Knight 2 by Matsuri Hino
Vampire Knight 3 by Matsuri Hino
Vampire Knight 4 by Matsuri Hino
Bleach 24 by Tite Kubo
Naruto 1 by Masashi Kishimoto
One Pound Gospel 1 by Rumiko Takahashi
One Pound Gospel 2 by Rumiko Takahashi
Skip Beat 11 by Yoshiki Nakamura
Skip Beat 12 by Yoshiki Nakamura
Skip Beat 13 by Yoshiki Nakamura
Kamen Tantei 1 by Matsuri Akino
Vampire Knight 5 by Matsuri Hino
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
Rurouni Kenshin 7 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 8 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 9 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 10 by Kenshin Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 11 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 12 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 13 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 14 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 15 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 16 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 17 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Kaze Hikaru 1 by Taeko Watanabe
Kaze Hikaru 2 by Taeko Watanabe
Kaze Hikaru 3 by Taeko Watanabe
Kaze Hikaru 4 by Taeko Watanabe
Kaze Hikaru 5 by Taeko Watanabe
Kaze Hikaru 6 by Taeko Watanabe
Skip Beat 14 by Yoshiki Nakamura
Kaze Hikaru 7 by Taeko Watanabe
Kaze Hikaru 8 by Taeko Watanabe
Kaze Hikaru 9 by Taeko Watanabe
Kaze Hikaru 10 by Taeko Watanabe
So, uh, yeah. I've been re-reading whole series of manga. This is partly because I'm so burnt out that a volume of manga is about the only thing I can handle at the end of the day; it is partly because I've been going through my books with an eye towards culling and I need to remind myself why I should keep certain things; also, I just plain like reading manga.
Anyway, sorry for the friendspage spam for those on LiveJournal, but it's not like I do this very often. Also, I hate trying to edit the Vox code.
Well, I've realized that I haven't posted about my reading for some time and not at all regarding the books I've read this year. Thus far, I'm up to 20 prose books (15 new) and an additional ten (new) manga.
I'd like to write up some comments on at least a portion of what I've read so far, but just haven't had the time. (Same goes for my drastically overdue review of The Dreamers of the Day.) I also haven't decided how I'm going to go about things, really.
For now, just have a list:
Books: 20
The Chronicles of Chrestomanci Volume I by Diana Wynne Jones
The Chronicles of Chrestomanci Volume II by Diana Wynne Jones
Sorcery & Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer
Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell
The Witch Hunters by Steve Lyons
The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadow by Fuyumi Ono
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn
Grass for His Pillow by Lian Hearn
Brilliance of the Moon by Lian Hearn
Seeing I by Jonathan Blum & Kate Orman
Welcome to the N.H.K. by Tatsuhiko Takimoto
The Empire of Glass by Andy Lane
The Harsh Cry of the Heron by Lian Hearn
Mad Dogs and Englishmen by Paul Magrs
The Grand Tour by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer
Catastrophea by Terrance Dicks
The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Wind by Fuyumi Ono
The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman
Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. SayersGraphic Novels: 10
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 4 by CLAMP
Mushishi 1 by Yuki Urushibara
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 5 by CLAMP
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 6 by CLAMP
Fullmetal Alchemist 15 by Hiromu Arakawa
Tramps Like Us 14 by Yayoi Ogawa
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 7 by CLAMP
Kaze Hikaru 8 by Taeko Watanabe
Wild Adapter 4 by Kazyua Minekura
The final raw numbers for everything I read in 2007 are as follows:
Books: 56 - 19358 pages
Graphic Novels: 139 - 27378 pages
Fanfiction: 213 - 412329 words/ 825 pages
Scanlations: 9 volumes, 100 chapters - 3759 pages
Re-figuring this for re-reads of the same book during the course of the year, it changes slightly. I'm going to leave the number of pages the same, but reflect the number of unique books:
Books: 55 - 19358 pages
Graphic Novels: 122 - 27378 pages
Fanfiction: 213 - 412329 words/ 825 pages
Scanlations: 9 volumes, 100 chapters - 3759 pages
I've already posted a full list of all the books I read as a poll so I'm not going to reiterate them here. The two things I haven't covered are a list of all manga series that I read (much simpler than individual volumes) and the handful of books that I started during the year, but didn't finish.
As usual, I'm going to tackle the books first. These are almost all things I intend to finish at some point, but either I ran out of time or put them down for other things and just never quite got back to them. Actually, when I went looking for unfinished books, I found more than I expected, I'm actually kind of embarrassed.
Leading off the embarrassment is Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things. It's not that I dislike short stories, or that the stories in this compilation are in any way bad, quite the opposite in fact. It's just that I tend to pick it up in between other things, read one story, and then forget about the book for another couple of months. I think I have a Diana Wynne Jones short story book that I've treated the same way, too. I'll finish these in 2008, I swear!
Next up is another book I've been reading in between other things. I picked up a remainder book called Manhunter: The Definitive History of Serial Murder Investigation as background for a story I didn't end up writing. It's not a priority for finishing any time soon, but if I do write that story, I'm definitely going to pick this back up again.
I've actually got two Doctor Who novels in the unfinished pile. One of which, amazingly, stars my beloved Eighth Doctor and Fitz. The Banquo Legacy is...well, it's not bad per se, it just really hasn't been my cup of tea. Honestly, I can't even really tell you what it's about or why I haven't been reading it, but that's not surprising because going by the bookmark, I haven't picked this up since February of last year.
The other Doctor Who novel is one I simply haven't finished. It's a Missing Adventure called Downtime and the Doctor doesn't appear in it at all. Instead, we have Victoria, the Brigadier and Sarah Jane which should have added up to a kickass novel but...didn't. Actually, the first portion of things dealing solely with Victoria and following on The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear held a lot of promise, but the actual main story bogs down and just plain gets uninteresting. Fortunately, I've only got about another thirty-five pages and then I can put that one to rest.
The next book is one I borrowed from my brother, it's the first compilation of Glen Cook's Garrett stories, The Garrett Files. I'm about thirty pages in to the first book Sweet Silver Blues. It's not bad so far, but I was reading it when my brother got sick and I just haven't picked it up since. The other book I was reading when my brother got sick was Welcome to the NHK. That one I put down because I couldn't bear to continue reading.
Welcome to the NHK is actually far too good, it was cutting way too close to home for me to feel comfortable reading it. The main character is what's known in Japan as a hikikomori. When I had this problem, I called myself agoraphobic, though I never was formally diagnosed that way*. The story is excellent, and I'm very near the end of the book, but I'm not ready to face the rest of it just yet. Until then, this book will remain unfinished and I can guarantee that I will not be reading the manga or watching the anime any time soon. I do, however, recommend it to the rest of you.
The final book left unread in 2007 was one of the Early Reviewer books I've gotten through LibraryThing. Tokyo Year Zero sounded incredibly promising. It's a novel based on a real life serial murderer who was active in post-war Tokyo. What I found when I started reading was an impenetrable stream of consciousness first person perspective. The story may yet follow through on its early promise, but I haven't been able to get past the prologue because I find the prose to be such tough going and I just haven't had the energy to put in to this book. I plan to try again in January, because I feel obligated both to give it another shot and to share my experience in a review.
And, as usual, I'm going to end with the manga. The following is a list of all thirty-five series I read in 2007:
Aishiteruze Baby
Bleach
Buso Renkin
Crimson Hero
Divalicious
Dramacon
Emma
Fruits Basket
Fullmetal Alchemist
Genshiken
Heaven!!
Hellsing
Hoshi no Koe
Kamen Tantei
Kaze Hikaru
Love Attack
Millenium Snow
Monster
Nana
Ohikkoshi
Ouran High School Host
Club
Paradise Kiss
Pixie Pop Gokkun Pucho
Rin!
Rurouni Kenshin
Saiyuki Reload
Shirahime-Syo
Skip Beat
Suppli
Tramps Like Us
Trigun
Trinity Blood
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle
Wild Adapter
xxxHolic
*There are a handful of people on my LJ who may remember what I was like that time
Here's the second part of my November reading post, focusing entirely on Manga. To remind you of what I read, here's the official list:
14 Graphic Novels - 2637 pages (8 new)
Tramps Like Us 8 by Yayoi Ogawa
Tramps Like Us 13 by Yayoi Ogawa
Dramacon 1 by Svetlana Chmakova
Dramacon 2 by Svetlana Chmakova
Kaze Hikaru 7 by Taeko Watanabe
Bleach 21 by Tite Kubo
Nana 7 by Ai Yazawa
Skip Beat 6 by Yoshiki Nakamura
Skip Beat 7 by Yoshiki Nakamura
Aishiteruze Baby 7 by Yoko Maki
Crimson Hero 5 by Mitsuba Takanashi
Wild Adapter 3 by Kazuya Minekura
Kamen Tantei 2 by Matsuri Akino
Suppli 1 by Mari Okazaki
The Tramps Like Us and Dramacon were sort of a 'follow-on' to my shoujo-fest from the end of October. I picked up number 8 as part of 'filling in' missing books and number 13 because it had just come out. Dramacon was just me wanting more light fun and a bit of reviewing because I knew the final volume would be coming out in December.
Tramps Like Us 13 is the penultimate volume in this series, and it truly shows. Much of the focus is on Sumire's changing relationship with Takeshi. We get to see the way they adjust to love as equals and the extreme distance between them and, ultimately, the choices they make to stay together. These are reflected throughout the volume by the actions of the secondary characters, not the least of which is the Hasumi/Fukushima pairing. All in all, it was beautifully handled and I'm very much looking forward to the denouement in Volume 14.
Kaze Hikaru and Bleach were both excellent as always, as was Nana. I'm going to focus, instead, on a couple of titles that I don't talk much about, Skip Beat and Aishiteruze Baby.
Skip Beat is not a book I've gone out of my way for. I read the first several volumes in scanlation and it's on my 'to pick up eventually' list rather than at the top of my must haves. The series on the whole is pretty decent and it puts a nice spin on the stereotypical 'shoujo idol' subgenre. I like that Kyoko isn't always a particularly nice or even, sometimes, sympathetic character. I like that her motivation is as much about revenge as it is about succeeding for herself.
In these volumes, we see a lot more of the nice side of Kyoko. We see her working hard for herself as well as for Ren and even doing pretty well at things. The darker side doesn't come out again until she's directly faced with the object of her ire and her identiy is fully known meaning she must prove herself through her work.
I admit to not fully understanding the extent of all the relationships, but it feels like a balance is maintained as she manages to impress and piss off the male leads in pretty much equal parts throughout both volumes. For a series that can go a bit over the top, it has a very solid storytelling base and I'm considering actually going out of my way to get more.
Aishiteruze Baby is one of my secret, guilty pleasures. I read the first chapter in Shojo Beat approximately forever ago and hated it. Then, for no very good reason, I began to download the anime and very quickly became sucked in by the story. What at first seems like a very over-the-top cutefest is actually a much richer story of love and family -- both the family you are born with and the family you create.
This final volume can only be described as bittersweet. Just as Kippei manages to bring his relationship with Kokoro to a satisfying place, the rug is ripped out from under him when Yuzuyu's mother returns. The resolution is not reached easily and the sweetness of the ending only serves to mitigate things so much. It's the depth of feeling in these later chapters that make the overall, overbearing sweetness of much of the series palatable for me.
Crimson Hero is a series I can pretty much skip over as it's a very straightforward shoujo sports story. Wild Adapter I can sum up with a simple LOVED IT because if I try to explain why I'm probably not going to be very coherent. Kamen Tantei is bland enough that I don't feel a pressing need to go over it for you here. My only comment is to not judge Matsuri Akino by this series, she's capable of so much better.
That leaves Suppli. I picked this up after a brief review that basically said 'it's josei and it's good' which is pretty much all I needed. I've been looking for a good josei fix for after Tramps Like Us ends and I was more than happy to try this out.
I'm very glad that I did, because this has everything I've been wanting in a romance manga. It's got emotional relationships that I can, well, relate to, along with the dilemmas of balancing your work identity, your personal identity and how to fit a relationship into that mix. All of it rings true and is much more in line with my experiences than the idealism of shoujo. If you're looking for a good romance that fits in with adult experience rather than teenage idealism, this is the book to pick up.
Seriously, it's excellent. Go. Buy it. Now.
COMING SOON!
My December commentary with year-end review and wrap up to this little experiment of mine!
3 Books - 585 pages (3 new)
Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood
Reborn on the Mars - Volume 1: The Star of Sorrow by Sunao Yoshida
Nightshade by Mark Gatiss5 Graphic Novels - 967 pages (2 new)
Fullmetal Alchemist 13 by Hiromu Arakawa
Fullmetal Alchemist 14 by Hiromu Arakawa
Paradise Kiss 1 by Ai Yazawa
Paradise Kiss 2 by Ai Yazawa
Ohikkoshi by by Hiroaki SamuraFanfiction - None
Scanlations - 567 pages (3 volumes previuosly read)
Bleach Chater 289. The Scarmask by Kubo Tite/M7
Bleach Chapter 290. The Broken Mask by Kubo Tite/M7
Paradise Kiss Volume 3 by Ai Yazawa
Paradise Kiss Volume 4 by Ai Yazawa
Paradise Kiss Volume 5 by Ai YazawaTotal, Year to date:
Books: 37 - 12512 pages
Graphic Novels: 112 - 21857 pages
Fanfiction: 40 - 109678 words/219 pages
Scanlations: 9 volumes, 85 chapters - 3454 pages
Okay...because I like the people on my LJ friendslist
so much, I'm going to break September up into two posts. Each one will
be fairly long as is, so I might as well keep the long post spam to a
reasonable level.
I started the month off with something different, a mystery I picked up randomly. It turns out that there is an entire series and I think I managed to get the first one. The best thing I can say about Cocaine Blues is that I would have loved it when I was fifteen. Well, that and the writing style is relatively engaging. On the whole, though, this story reads like a novel length piece of wish fulfillment fanfiction.
The heroine, Phryne Fisher, is an independent woman of means in the 1920s. The book starts off in London but Phryne very quickly relocates to Melbourne, Australia to try her hand at playing Lady Detective. Phryne is the epitome of Mary Sue perfection. She's gorgeous, stylish, progressive, and more intelligent than everybody around her. She's daring, creative, not afraid of getting her hands dirty, oh, and the stunning Russian ex-pat dancer from Paris is falling all over himself to land in her bed (as is his sister). Yeah.
The plot is a bit over the top, but still manages to be thin. The setup makes it clear from the outset what the 'big reveal' is going to be at the climax of the book which takes a lot of the fun out of it for me. The big adventure/action sequence really stretched my already extended credibility and, on a couple of levels, just fell flat.
Shockingly, I don't think I'll be picking up the next volume. I'd read it if it were on ff.net, though. :-p
Next up is another anime tie-in light novel. I read the previous release for Trinity Blood which was more a novella collection than an actual novel and I felt it suffered slightly as a first release because of that. This book solves that problem admirably, telling a single story.
The plot and characters will be familiar to fans of the anime, as it corresponds to episodes three and four of that series but events do play out differently and the book is worth your time. I am still very much enjoying the original iteration of the Trinity Blood story and will definitely be continuing to buy the books as they are released.
I have also kicked up my Doctor Who reading a bit, thanks to the DWBookClub on LiveJournal. My thoughts on Nightshade can be found in the discussion thread there.
I'm also back to a few more manga in the first half of September. Fullmetal Alchemist continues to be excellent and I don't think it needs my commentary for people to know that. Also thanks to Borders' September manga sale, I picked up some Paradise Kiss that I've been meaning to get forever and, once again, I'm pretty sure that the world does not require me to explain just how good an Ai Yazawa manga is.
The final book, Ohikkoshi was a volume of seinen 'romantic comedy' shorts by the creator of Blade of the Immortal that I picked up on a whim and which very much did not suck. As far as manga collections go, this is the best set of stories I've seen to date. The art is great, the emotions in the stories ring true and I thoroughly enjoyed it, beginning to end. I would definitely recommend this manga to anybody who is looking to escape from the latest shounen power battle with a more mature tale.
4 Books - 1175 pages (1 new)
Alien Bodies by Lawrence Miles
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones
Stardust by Neil Gaiman1 Graphic Novel - 180 pages (1 new)
Heaven!! by Shizuru SeinoFanfiction - 4500 words/9 pages
Scanlations - 53 pages (none previously read)
Bleach Chapter 286. Tooth and Nail by Kubo Tite/M7
Bleach Chapter 287. Don't Forget Till You Die by Kubo Tite/M7
Bleach Chapter 288. The Bad Joke by Kubo Tite/M7Total, Year to date:
Books: 34 - 11927 pages
Graphic Novels: 107 - 20890 pages
Fanfiction: 40 - 109678 words/219 pages
Scanlations: 6 volumes, 83 chapters - 2887 pages
Between visitors, the high holidays, illness and deadlines, September ended up being a weird month. Which is why I am only just now catching up on recording my reading for you lovely folks. August will be a quickie, with relatively little read and much of that repeats, but expect me to spam you later with an extra-large September edition.
But for now...let's catch up on the end of Summer.
I'd decided to get back into reading my Eighth Doctor novels and figured I might as well catch up on the beginning of the story. Alien Bodies was the next of the 'Eight and Sam' novels on my bookshelf and it was...not awful. My notes on it were brief and state that it was slow in the beginning, excellent in spots and weird in others which is, on the whole, a pretty decent summation.
I believe this book was one of the first to introduce the Faction Paradox and they are just as screwed up and weird as I'd expected. I admit that I kind of skimmed over some of the blood ritual stuff, not because of being squeamish, but because it was kind of boring. I have to give credit where it's due and award Lawrence Miles some serious props for trying to make the Krotons badass. He almost succeeded at it, but the scene where the Kroton is trying to explain just how menacing its incoming warship is and none of the characters will take it seriously, is high comedy.
At any rate, the book was overall a fun read and may be one I go back to eventually.
Next up are several re-reads. I must've been in the mood for some 'comfort' books because I re-read the 'Castle' books by Diana Wynne Jones. They were, as always, delightful and I'm not sure there's really any need to elaborate beyond that.
I closed out the month by re-reading Neil Gaiman's Stardust. I had recently seen the movie and felt the need to re-familiarize myself with the original story. I had sort of wanted to dig out the original comics to compare visual medium to visual medium, but the prospect of going through my longboxes was a bit too daunting. Instead, I pulled out the novel and went from there. (I kind of wish I'd been able to find the cover for the edition I have rather than the movie poster one to use with this post, but oh well.)
I don't think I'd touched the book since I read it when it first came out in 1999. I'd forgotten more of the story than I'd realized, which was probably a plus when I went to see the film. This is not because the film suffers in comparison to the book, quite the opposite in fact, I think the two of them complement each other quite well. I would have focused too much on the differences, though and not enjoyed it for what it was.
The original story is a somewhat different kind of fairy tale than the film and, while an entertaining and engaging read, doesn't have much going for it beyond that. It's not moving or really memorable and I think it loses something without Vess' visuals.
Oddly, I only read one manga this month. I'm not sure if it was a slow month for new releases or if I was just holding off on spending money while I sorted out the purchase of a new car. Either way, this portion of our program is going to be short -- though not necessarily sweet.
I picked up Shizuru Seino's Heaven!! based on my enjoyment of her previous series Power!! (aka Girl Got Game in the US) and Jun'ai Tokkou Taichou. This story, however, really didn't work for me. I found the story (and art) frenetic and without the charm of either of the other series. I realize that this is supposed to be a slight variation on your usual 'girl with supernatural powers' story, but on the whole it just didn't work for me. I won't be picking up volume 2.
4 Books - 2490 pages (2 new)
Chain Mail: Addicted to You by Hiroshi Ishizaki
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling9 Graphic Novels - 1786 pages (6 new)
Bleach 19 by Tite Kubo
Bleach 20 by Tite Kubo
Divalicious 1 by T Campbell, Amy Mebberson
Hellsing 7 by Kohta Hirano
Hellsing 8 by Kohta Hirano
Kaze Hikaru 6 by Taeko Watanabe
Monster 8 by Naoki Urasawa
Monster 9 by Naoki Urasawa
Ouran High School Host Club 9 by Bisco HatoriFanfiction - 1200 words/2.5 pages
Scanlations - 928 pages (337 pages not previously read)
Addicted to Curry Chapter 46. The Spirit of Onions and the Volume of Beef Curry by Kazuki Funatsu/Solaris-SVU
Bleach Chapter 281. The Vulgarian Noise by Kubo Tite/M7
Bleach Chapter 282. The Primal Fear by Kubo Tite/M7
Bleach Chapter 283. You Don't Hurt Anymore by Kubo Tite/M7
Bleach Chapter 284. Historia de Pantera Y su Sombras by Kubo Tite/M7
Bleach Chapter 285. Eating Meat, Alone--The Loneliness of the King by Kubo Tite/M7
Emma Volume 5 by Kaoru Mori/Iichan
Emma Volume 6 by Kaoru Mori/Iichan
Emma Volume 7 by Kaoru Mori/Iichan
Emma Bangaihen Chapter 9. Friendship by Kaoru Mori/Iichan
Emma Bangaihen Chapter 10. Shopping Together by Kaoru Mori/Iichan
Gokusen Gangster Dog' My Name is Kuroda Fuji by Kozueko Morimoto/Completely Oblivious
Gokusen Gangster Dog' A Demon's Island - Mr. Ginko's Murder by Kozueko Morimoto/Completely Oblivious
Gokusen Volume 10 Chapter 1 I hope you Understand Shin... by Kozueko Morimoto/Completely Oblivious
InuYasha Chapter 507. Hitomiko by Rumiko Takahashi/Maki Maki Scanlations
InuYasha Chapter 508. The Miko's Barrier by Rumiko Takahashi/Maki Maki Scanlations
InuYasha Chapter 509. The Bow's Spiritual Power by Rumiko Takahashi/Maki Maki Scanlations
InuYasha Chapter 510. Hell by Rumiko Takahashi/Maki Maki Scanlations
REC Take 30. Cocktail by Q-Taro Hanamizawa/XLG
REC Take 31. Proxy by Q-Taro Hanamizawa/XLGTotal, Year to date:
Books: 30 - 10752 pages
Graphic Novels: 106 - 20710 pages
Fanfiction: 38 - 105178 words/210 pages
Scanlations: 6 volumes, 80 chapters - 2834 pages
This summer has been so incredibly busy that I haven't felt that I've had time to think let alone read. Apparently July wasn't as bad as I'd thought because I managed to get a few things read after all.
I started the month by catching up on some scanlations. Three volumes of the scans were me simply not being able to wait until the English release of Emma. Volume 4 ended on such a dramatic note that I had to go right on through to the rest of the series. The release of a pair of Emma Bangaihen chapters around the same time was a pure bonus. The stories are romanticized and unbelievable, but so lovingly told and charming that it's impossible not to fall in love with them yourself. (And I have to say that the chapter showing Hakim and William as children was made of pure squee and awesomeness.) Bleach is, of course, still fun to read, despite having fallen into the neverending cycle of beating up stronger and stronger foes. To balance that, Gokusen, Rec and Addicted to Curry are all perfectly cracktacular -- but in that really good way. The less said about Inuyasha, the better I think. This series really needs to be brought around to a close.
In anticipation of both the release of the fifth Harry Potter film and the final volume of the book series, I re-familiarized myself with books 5 and 6 in the series. There's not much to say about these books that hasn't been mentioned elsewhere, but my notes on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoneix basically say that the book could have used a bit more editing and possibly some outside direction to keep it from rambling quite so much. My notes on Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince are very succinct. They simply read: 'Much better than OotP'.
As for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I left the following review on Librarything:
The long awaited close to the Harry Potter series delivered in a way that I think the preceding two books did not. The tone was (as expected) dark, but plot seemed much less muddied and Harry himself seemed to have moved beyond his teenage angst and found his way to resolve. Along the way, Rowling filled in backstory and motive, explained mysterious events with more fullness, and maintained a higher energy level throughout than her more recent Hogwarts-based novels have managed.
I felt that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was not only an appropriate ending to the series, but a good one. Everything that needed to happen in terms of plot resolution did, the emotional resolution was there and the story was still very clearly appropriate to its young adult genre despite the constant and occasionally heavy handed reminders that war = death. The epilogue simultaneously manages to be both too much information and not nearly enough, but it brings the message back around to one of hope and provides the ultimate reminder that even in the face of war and of death, life will go on.
The final novel I read in July was Hiroshi Ishizaki's Chain Mail: Addicted to You, released as part of Tokyopop's Pop Fiction line with an English adaptation by Rachel Manija Brown. For a 'light novel' clearly aimed at a much younger audience, I found it surprisingly engaging. As these girls lived out their twisted roleplaying fantasy, I found myself missing my own MUSH and 'play by email' days (which probably says something about me). The odd character relationships, the twists to the story and the final resolution worked well and overall, I found it to be a quick, fun read. I would definitely recommend picking this book up (or, possibly borrowing it) if you feel like reading something short and a little twisted as an afternoon distraction.
Then, of course, there are the manga.
I had read both volumes of Bleach in scanlation some time ago, but I had forgotten that Volume 20 was entirely comprised of the 'End of Hypnosis' chapters which serve to wrap up up the Soul Society arc. It can go either way when you have a single volume that brings resolution to the entire series to that point, and Bleach 20 didn't disappoint. This series of chapters took care of the major mysteries and did a great job with the foundation for the next story arc. I don't think that anybody is going to make the argument that Bleach is somehow deep or meaningful. It truly is formulaic shounen, but the story is laid out well and the dramatic resolutions don't disappoint. I'm definitely looking forward to the official translations of the books still to come, and that kind of sustained interest is impressive for a series this long.
Next up was Monster, volumes 8 and 9. To be honest, I'm not sure there's anything more I can say about this series. Each and every time I try to review it, I simply end up being completely incoherent about the quality of the storytelling I'm pretty sure that you've all gotten the point that I think it's damned good (both of you!) and I'm not sure what I can add to that right now. Maybe when volume 10 comes out.
The shoujo for this month was a very mixed bag. Kaze Hikaru volume 6 really shined for me. The book starts out strong with Kaze Hikaru's representation of the 'Ikedaya Incedent' and Okita's collapse. Then, that's followed by the tensions of the Okita/Kamiya/Saito triangle and Kamiya's dilemma when Kondo asks her to be his successor. There was a lot of action and story packed into a single volume and while it's not a portion of the story you could come into cold, I think it's one of the best single volumes to date.
Faring less well on the shoujo side was Ouran High School Host Club which was disappointingly short and felt padded out by the filler material. This series is capable of so much more than a retread, I'm hoping I see that potential again when volume 10 comes out.
The final shoujo book I read was an OEL, Divalicious 1 by T Campbell and Amy Mebberson. I had received this book some time ago, but had never quite managed to talk myself into reading it. It was some comments on Amy Mebberson's Deviant Art account about the future of the series (or the lack thereof) that convinced me to break it out and give the story a try. My final judgment, as recorded in my handy spreadsheet was: 'Cute. I liked the art, but the story was a bit frenetic.' To expand on that, the simple fact is that Divalicious is not the kind of story I'd seek out on my own, so the fact that I liked it at all is a testament to the creators. That said, I felt there were some flaws both in the content and the pacing that attractive and engaging character design just can't compensate for. It is possible that I will buy a copy of volume 2, but it will be because I want to support the work of an artist I like rather than because I am truly interested in the resolution to this story.
I've saved my commentary on Hellsing for last because I wanted to end on a high note.
Hellsing was one of the first manga I began following back when I was just 'checking out this Japanese stuff'. I have waxed and waned over the years, put off both by a storyline I felt bogged down a bit and by the lengthy wait between volumes. As I reread volume 7 in anticipation of book 8, I felt that I was coming back to the story 'fresh' and that I appreciated it more this time around. The chapters focusing on Pip Bernadette and Seras Victoria were strong and her progression meaningful. The final chapters which set the stage for volume 8 were decent and held their own surprises as well, but the real star for me was volume 8. It's difficult for me to express just how much ass was kicked in this one book alone. There was ultra-violence, and backstory and Count Dracula. There was carnage on the streets of London, the likes of which I haven't seen since Miracleman 15. There was the final showdown between Alucard and Anderson and...and...and...
Anybody who has read and enjoyed previous volumes of Hellsing owes it to themselves to read through the story up until this point. It's just that damned good and I sincerely hope it will not be another two years until the release of volume 9.
Next up! August!
(Which I promise will be considerably shorter)
2 Books - 750 pages (1 new)
Neverwhere (Author's Preferred Text) by Neil Gaiman
Conrad's Fate by Diana Wynne Jones1 Graphic Novel - 190 pages (1 new)
Genshiken 8 by Kio ShimokuScanlations - 118 pages (all new)
Bleach Chapter 267. 'Legions of the Reglets'
Bleach Chapter 268. 'You--Don't Give In to Death'
Bleach Chapter 269. 'The End is Near'
Emma Bangaihen Chapter 7. 'Erich and Theo'
Emma Bangaihen Chapter 8. 'On the Wings of Song'Total, Year to Date:
Books: 11 - 4034 pages
Graphic Novels: 71 - 13264 pages
Fanfiction: 5 - 21950 words/44 pages (no change)
Scanlations: 3 volumes, 22 chapters - 946 pages
Not that anybody cares apart from me, but if you were to compare the Year to Date totals with previous editions, they are going to be off. What happened was that my computer asploded back on January 24 meaning that I didn't have access to my tracking spreadsheet. I didn't quite realize at the time that I would be sans computer for 2 months so I just kept track of things on paper and added it up on a calculator. It comes as no surprise (to me, at least) that I managed to booch this terribly and have incorrect numbers both for number of graphic novels read and for total pages read in more than one category. Now that ASUS has finally sent me a working motherboard to replace the one that died an ignominious death (as opposed to the two non-working ones they sent), I'm back on the spreadsheet and because I trust its ability to add much more than my own, we're gonna go with those numbers from now on.
Now that the housekeeping is out of the way, lets move on to the books!
This first book should be a familiar sight to many of you, though perhaps not this version. While I have been known to reread Neverwhere (and often!) this time around was more of a...revisiting. The version I read this time was not my old 'tried and true' first US edition hardcover, but a trade paperback that s1ncer1ty picked up for me in the UK that contains the 'Author's Preferred Text'. Basically, my understanding is that Gaiman has gone through the various printed editions, as well as the original drafts and scripts and 'cherry picked' the bits he liked best for a single 'definitive' edition. I believe that this was originally done for the Hill House line of absolutely gorgeous but bank account breaking editions, but apparently the UK doesn't have to wait for it.
In a practical sense, not much has changed. In fact, I doubt that most readers, even the most anal and obsessive of Gaiman fans, are going to notice anything different at all. I found that because I am so familiar with both the original US text and the dialogue as heard in the minseries, I came away with a very strong sense of 'this is right'. All the stuff that was supposed to be there was and there was absolutely nothing that I missed. One addition that the 'completists' will enjoy is an alternate prologue that is presented at the end. It is set approximately 400 years before the events of the miniseries and provides a lengthier introduction to Croup and Vandemar. It was interesting to read, but I can see why it was removed and it stands more as a curiousity than an addition to the text. There are also a series of questions and answers, but I tend to think of those as having a relatively limited amusement value.
Next up is Conrad's Fate which is part of Diana Wynne Jones' 'Chronicles of Chrestomanci'. I read most (though not all) of the previous Chrestomanci stories last year and enjoyed them thorougly. I found myself looking at the latest release (The Pinhoe Egg) in hardcover at I-Con when it suddenly dawned on me that maybe I should buy the one before it first--a radical idea whose time has come!
As this series is written for a younger audience, Conrad's Fate was a quick and easy read. There were really no surprises here, this was pure Diana Wynne Jones. The book was accessible and fun, the story relatively straightforward and the resolution a bit absurd and confusing but in a 'drawing room farce' kind of way so that you don't really hold it against her. All in all, I can highly recommend this (or any of the Chrestomanci books, really) if you're feeling a little sick, a little brain-slow and you just need something light and fun to sustain you.
Finally we come to the real star of the week for me. You may have gotten a sense in my previous post of how much I like Genshiken. Well, the long awaited Volume 8 was released this week and I can tell you right now, I'm going to have a hard time waiting until they release 9.
This volume focused much less on 'otaku culture' in general and turned the spotlight squarely on Oguie, both individually and in her relationship with Sasahara. Her backstory is finally revealed and she is forced to come to terms with both her past and the possibilities of the future. Her story and how she is able to come to terms with herself and with Sasahara's acceptance of Who She Is provide more than the usual depth you expect from this series. I enjoyed this book immensely and expect that it will be reread more than a few times before the next volume is due out.
1 Book - 800 Pages (1 new)
InDesign CS2 Bible by Galen Gruman11 Graphic Novels - 2080 pages (4 new, 1 magazine)
Shirahime-Syo by CLAMP
Hoshi no Koe - Voices of a Distant Star by Miyu Sahara
Genshiken 1 by Kio Shimoku
Genshiken 2 by Kio Shimoku
Genshiken 3 by Kio Shimoku
Genshiken 4 by Kio Shimoku
Genshiken 5 by Kio Shimoku
Genshiken 6 by Kio Shimoku
Genshiken 7 by Kio Shimoku
Monster 7 by Naoki Urasawa
Trinity Blood 2 by Sumao Yoshida
Shojo Beat v3 i4 by VariousScanlations - 75 pages (all new)
Gokusen Volume 9 Chapter 'R.I.P, Tenkai's Boss' scanlated by Completely Oblivious
REC Chapter 28 'Sixth Sense' scanlated by XLG
Bleach Chapter 265 'Bang the Bore' scanlated by M7
Bleach Chapter 266 'Hide Away From the Sun' scanlated by M7Total, Year to Date:
Books: 9 - 3284 pages
Graphic Novels: 69 - 13074 pages
Fanfiction: 5 - 21950 words/44 pages (no change)
Scanlations: 3 volumes, 17 chapters - 724 pages
To continue catching up, here's my reading from the first half of March. Once again, you'll see a heavy bias towards manga, this is still due to a severe lack of time on my part. When I'm that busy and that tired, I'd far rather spend my time on manga which tend to be short and easy to digest. The fact that I've got several books started, but haven't completed them, shouldn't be a mark against the quality of the books I'm reading, nor should it be an indication that I need recommendations of more books to read. It really just means I haven't got the time or energy just now and that I'll get back to them when I do. Really.
As for the one 'real' book showing up this time around, this could be takn as an indication of where a good chunk of my time went. I spent a while considering how I should record this book, since it's more properly a reference than something you read cover to cover, and I didn't read through the entire thing. I did, however, read through great heaping chunks of it at a time and probably read damn near the entire main body of text in fits and spurts through the course of my project. What I elected to do was include it but only at the page count of the actual text, without any appendices, etc. I suspect that comes fairly close to my actual usage, give or take 50 or 100 pages or so. :-p
As for an opinion on the book itself, I have to say that I absolutely loved it. This was a fabulous resource that clearly explained both concepts in desktop publishing and concrete procedures for realizing them in InDesign. Absolutely money and time well spent on my part.
Now, on to the manga.
I did not set out to re-read the entirety of my Genshiken collection this month, but it sort of happened anyway. You see, I picked up the full run of the anime at a bargain price and, after watching it, I felt the need to go back to the original. It's not that the anime is bad, it's that the manga is that good.
Reading this series is incredibly nostalgic for me. Much of what goes on at 'The Society for Modern Visual Culture' feels like my own college experiences--regardless of the difference in culture and time. Nerds are nerds wherever you go, I guess and the personal journeys you see for individual characters 'accepting their inner otaku' or learning how to deal with the people around them socially or even just the single-minded devotion to discussions that are the anime/manga equivalent of 'which tech is superior, Star Wars or Star Trek?' ring absolutely true. Shimoku holds a big mirror up to nerd-culture and does it with a light touch that makes it accessible even to the armchair otaku. Now if Del Rey would only publish volumes 8 and 9...*sigh*
I'm going to skim over Monster 7 simply because nothing I could say would do the book justice. Urasawa is not only that good, he's better. This series is completely fabulous and I don't know why everybody isn't reading it.
In contrast, I'm skimming over Trinity Blood 2 because I'm not sure what I can say about it that's worthwhile. The story is disjointed and confusing, and the art even more so. It seems like there'd be something fun underneath all the cliches and awkward rendering, but I'll be damned if I can find it in that mess. Maybe it will show up in the novel translations.
Somewhat better was CLAMP's Shirahime-Syo, a collection of 3 stories and a framing sequence about the snow spirit (in their version, a princess) of Japanese mythology. I have to admit to somewhat mixed feelings about CLAMP's work in general, with much of what they produce just plain not appealing to me. (Though I hereby fess up to secretly coveting a set of xxxHolic books.) And I wouldn't have picked up this book on my own, but it was a 'freebie' tossed in with my latest box of manga so, really, how could I say no?
I believe that the art style is meant to be more 'traditional' than commercial. It's not bad, and it suits the stories being told, but I'm not completely won over by it for some reason. I think it's weakest in the first story which takes place largely in a cave and in which the use of dark/light doesn't entirely feel successful. But then, I didn't enjoy the first story in general so I may just be overly nit-picky. The remaining stories and framing sequence were better, but not spectacular. Overall, I'd say the book is worth reading, but not worth going out of your way to read--if that makes any sense.
The DVD of Voices of a Distant Star was something I felt very much the same way about. I'd picked it up randomly on the cheap and I'm glad that I watched it, but I also don't think that I'm ever going to watch it again. The manga, on the other hand, I think will find a long-term home on my shelf and will be something I come back to when I need a short dose of sweet-but-angsty romance.
I realize that the manga is the derivative work, but I very much preferred it to the anime. There is something about the wistful nature of the relationships that is captured better in the static, drawn images than by the beautifully animated original. I felt their uncertainty, I felt the weight of the distance between them and it all seemed so much more palpable than when it had been played out before me on the screen. I definitely recommend this adaptation to anybody who is looking for something short and sweet but not necessarily upbeat or happy.
That's going to be it for now. Hopefully I'll have more in the way of regular books soon, though I wouldn't necessarily expect to see any until April or so. That's just how things are going right now.
6 Graphic Novels - 1155 pages (2 new)
Rurouni Kenshin 27 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Rurouni Kenshin 28 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Kaze Hikaru 1 by Taeko Watanabe
Bleach 17 by Tite Kubo
Buso Renkin 4 by Nobuhiro Watsuki
Tramps Like Us 11 by Yayoi OgawaScanlations - 129 pages (all new)
Gokusen Volume 9 Chapter 5 'The School Erupts Into Violence Over Gorgeous Girls' scanlated by Impossibility
Gokusen Volume 9 Chapter 6 'The Black Cross Attacks!' scanlated by Impossibility
REC Chapter 27 'Signs' scanlated by XLG
Emma Bangaihen Chapter 6 'With Family' scanlated by iichan
Bleach Chapter 263 'Unexpected' scanlated by M7
Bleach Chapter 264 'Don't Say That Name Again' scanlated by M7Total, Year to Date:
Books: 8 - 2484 pages (no change)
Graphic Novels: 58 - 10994 pages
Fanfiction: 5 - 21950 words/44 pages (no change)
Scanlations: 3 volumes, 13 chapters - 649 pages
I know I'm very behind on posting this, but since I'm probably pretty much the only person reading these, I'm not terribly pressed about it at the moment. The truth is that I've been very busy and have had little time or energy to read lately. There are no books on this installment, not because I haven't read any at all, but because I've started a couple but not yet finished them. I figure there's no point recording them until I'm done. It's very manga-heavy because manga go a lot faster and I'd been reading one or two a night in the evening to unwind once I got to bed. There are fewer of them than earlier in the month, partly because I'd finished Kenshin, but more because I couldn't settle on a 'genre' that I really wanted to be reading and instead ended up watching TV for half an hour or so before falling asleep rather than reading manga.
I spoke more than enough about Nobuhiro Watsuki's series the last time, so I'll leave that aside with the general comment that nothing I read in these three books changed my mind any. After Kenshin, I wasn't sure what I wanted to read. I wasn't really up for more shounen action, but the idea of going for a full-on shoujo romance kind of left me flat. Because of that, I thought I'd move kind of 'sideways' to Kaze Hikaru which borrows many of the same historical elements (read: Shinsengumi) but isn't nearly as cracktacular as Watsuki's fantasy world. I enjoy Kaze Hikaru as a rule, but for some reason it just wasn't hitting where I wanted to be reading. It was simultaneously not 'action-y' enough but not 'romance-y' enough for me so I just sort of set it aside. I may come back to it soon because I really do enjoy that series. Perhaps it will be in May when Volume 5 will finally be released. (Not being included in Shojo Beat magazine means faster tankubon my ass. Not, you know, that I'm bitter.)
Bleach was Bleach, which means that I enjoyed it but, again, it wasn't giving me what I wanted at that moment. Really, I was looking for some good romance-y stuff. Without picking up new series or getting into high-school drama-type shoujo, there's only one direction to go to: Kimi wa Pet aka Tramps Like Us. I have no idea why manga publishers haven't seen fit to grace us with more josei titles, but if they did, I'd be snapping them up like they were going out of style. Seriously. I'd absolutely lurve manga focusing on women concerned with jobs and homes and all the crap that goes along with that. I'd especially love romances geared towards that age group. It would make me positively giddy inside. You hear me vast manga conglomerates? Giddy! I'd be falling all over myself to hand you my money if only you'd sell it to me.
That being said, I did enjoy Tramps Like Us volume 11 very much. The cliffhanger from the previous volume was resolved in a typically wishy-washy sort of way. (These characters excel at wishy-washy, that's why the series has lasted this long as it is.) Volume 11 continues to provide depth for the relationships (Hasumi and his pet, Momo and Sumire, Sumire and her coworkers) as well as forcing the individual characters to face things within themselves. Even this deep into the story, the tension surrounding Sumire's decision (ZOMG! Which will she actually choose!) is still very much a centerpiece. I seriously don't want to wait until June to find out what happens next. :(
