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May 26, 2005
Quick rundown of manga I've been reading
Because I'm still not really into these things and can't be bothered to write entire entries about them, here are some quick notes:
Urasawa Naoki: Pluto vol. 1-2 + ch. 16-19
I started reading this after months of thinking about it, and when I had finished volume one I had to pick up volume two and when I had finished volume two I just had to look for all the magazine chapters. I's really, really good. The entire premise of this manga is to re-tell, in typical Urasawa-style, the most popular Tetsuwan Atomu story. If you've read the original you'll know pretty much exactly who the bad guy is and why he's doing what he's doing (destroying the most powerful robots in the world and killing prominent robot-supporters), but Urasawa's psychological suspence crime novel style with his obsessing over detail and character is just so different from the original (which was a great read, but in an action adventure way), I'm at no time bored with this manga. The characters are brilliant. The exposition is slow, but absolutely fascinating. Read this manga if you don't read anything else in 2005.
Ragawa Marimo: Shanimuni GO vol. 18, 19
End of high school year two for our heroes, and the end of part two. It's so exciting to see Loui and Nobuhisa slowly but surely coming closer to fulfilling their dreams and ambitions. Especially Loui. You have one more year left! Go for it! The romantic Shun/Hinako/Nobuhisa subplot is getting gritty, and I don't really like it mostly because I don't think either Hina/Shun or Hina/Nobu will work, but ... I guess Ragawa knows what she's doing.
Suzuki Nakaba: Blizzard Axel ch. 2-9
The artistic parts of figure skating is dealt with quite well in these chapters, where the protagonist learns how to express himself on the ice. Strangely enough, at the beginning I was worried this manga wouldn't focus on the artistic side enough, but now I think it's not focusing on the technical side enough. I mean, you can be the most artistic person in the world -- and it wouldn't mean a thing if you didn't have the technical tools (the elements) to express your artistic vision. Huh, that was unexpected. I'll keep reading, but mostly because I'm worried about the whole thing. I also think Suzuki needs to make more hooks to his chapters; they're slightly too self-contained for a weekly series in my opinion.
Ninomiya Tomoko: Nodame Cantabile vol. 1-4
The first few volumes were hilarious, but the story moves too slowly. As a collection of one-shot stories it's great, but it doesn't pull me into its longer storyline and thus I got bored and stopped around volume four.
Shimamoto Kazuhiko: Moeyo Pen
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. I love it a little bit less than Comic Master J, because CMJ has that overblown thing pinned down perfectly, but for a slightly more realistic look into the manga world, this is perfect. I'll try to get around to reading Hoeyo Pen sometime.
Ikeno Koi: Tonimeki Midnight vol. 2, 3
I think my positive opinion on volume one was a bit too rushed. Two and three are ... boring, for the lack of a better word. Ranze, being a human, doesn't move around enough on her own, thus making her a far less interesting protagonist to follow than she was in Tonight. The overall mystery is handled a bit awkwardly, too, I think ... she ought to use more pages and go about it slowly.
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