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Post by MentalAnalysis on Jan 14, 2010 20:08:08 GMT
The Megaman MegaMix manga is coming out on January 30th
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Post by Robert Frazer on Jan 20, 2010 19:40:38 GMT
tl;dr - eh, s'alright. Worth a look at. Long Version: Ikigami[/i][/u] Author: Motoko Mase Publisher: Viz Media Volumes Released: 3 Status: Ongoing I wasted time, and now time doth waste me... In Shakespeare's Richard II, after the White Hart is run to ground and King Richard II finds himself deposed by Henry Bolingbroke, the former king is trapped in a dungeon, with nothing to do except wait; wait to see what the usurper plans to do with him; wait for the inevitable. There's only one thing to do to tie up a loose end - there's no doubt what's going to happen, but still time demands its due, and time will not just let him go without extracting as much from him as it can. So Richard II is left to remark ruefully about how capricious time - the tick of a clock, the drip of water, the beat of a heart - always drives us on, affording us enough to encourage us to make plans, but never - never - enough time to actually realise them. We all exhaust ourselves in a mad rush, and expire with so much left to be done; or else we imagine that we have time to relax, only to realise too late that some joker decided to put the clocks forward while we were snoozing. Ikigami brings Richard II's plight to mind - it really sinks the relentless hounding, harrying, heel-nipping bite of time deep into you. It is the story of people who aren't just aware that time is running out, they're counting each individual grain in the hourglass - they have to live more in twenty-four hours than they have in the previous two decades. Japan has come to feel that her people have become staid and dissolute, with personal indulgence rotting away community spirit, public participation, and social morals. Thus, the government has enacted the National Welfare Act, a comprehensive program to restore harmony to Japanese society and remind people of the value of life and love that their selfishness and indolence squanders... by showing them quite starkly just how easily that it can all be taken away. In their first year at school, children are given their mandatory disease immunisations - however, one in a thousand doses also has a nasty surprise added in the form of a nanocapsule which lurks in the body until a randomly-determined date between the host's ages of 18 and 24, at which point it [censored]ters and kills the host by induced heart failure. The victims are only informed of their impending death a mere twenty-four hours before it scheduled to occur, when a suited and pretty anonymous ordinary civil servant arrives at their doorstep to deliver a little laminated card with their photo and a time - the Ikigami, Death Papers. A condemned prisoner waiting to be led to the execution chamber at least has a locked door to clarify his decisions for him, or if nothing else cross his fingers and hope for that phonecall from the governor. Terminal cancer patients at least have months to get their affairs in order and have their final flings. But what do you do, what can you do, when death is coming and there's no reprieve? Ikigami looks at those people who are confronted with that very question. One thing that must be said about Ikigami is that it is incredibly formulaic - it is as closely and regularly structured as the grinding bureaucracy that it depicts. Each volume contains two stories of three chapters each, and the final page of the respective chapter ones are always the hapless victim staring in incredulous horror at his own set of Death Papers. The stories politely alternate between nasty tales where the victim's despair overwhelms him and it all goes horribly wrong, and nice ones where the victim endeavours to fill his last hours with some good and contentment for the world. The protagonist Fujimoto, a young civil servant and a messenger who delivers the Ikigami, hands over the Death Papers and then withdraws into the background until the unfortunate has expired, where he and his ward supervisor - balding, middle-aged, and with a spare tire - have an epilogue opining on the victim's successes and failures, while Fujimoto wonders privately if he's doing the right thing by participating in the system. However, in its favour, while the stories are formulaic they are not repetitive - they are set in a specific framework but there is room for expression within the panel edges. While for the most part he's the benignly impotent civil servant Fujimoto doesn't limit himself for bookending each death with a moral aphorism like a latter day PSA, but his perception and positions do change and evolve as he considers each case, and by the end of Vol. 3 he's started to take an active role in people's stories too. The central tales of each Ikigami recipient are also quite distinct from each other, if the messages they sometimes convey are a little twee and predictable (real music isn't manufactured pop but comes from the heart; drugs are bad, mmkay?; and so on). One way in which Ikigami is striking is the sheer mundanity with which National Welfare operates. Fujimoto has a desk in an open-plan office with workers from a dozen different local government departments; the psychologist at the drop-in centre for Ikigami recipients complains that it's such a dreary place because the unproductive officials are just dumped there to kick their heels until their formal retirement; it's not enough that the government is literally killing you, the Ikigami card also comes with a paperclipped wodge of forms and paperwork for you to fill out for clerical convenience. It's a striking demonstration of the banality of evil. While it's easy to see the National Welfare system as oppressive and counter-productive - and indeed, Fujimoto himself comes to be dissatisfied with his "honorable work" - it is in fact the 'nice' stories which are the more compelling ones (something that might be familiar to us GSG readers, finding the better side to a controversial practise). In our cynical age, we expect those who break down and rage against the uncaring, insensitive world with a final bitter revenge spree and meet them with a bored, indifferent shrug; it's actually then the bittersweet tales of people who try to make the best of things that prove to be more affecting. Indeed, a couple of the stories are real and genuine emotional tear-jerkers. One theme that's also quite clear is that Mase wants to rail against Japan's infamously high-pressure education system as much as he does its pervasive bureaucracy - fully half of the characters that receive an Ikigami in these volumes are school dropouts, and they are either finally ground out by the overwhelming system, or they are trying to forge a different path through life which the Ikigami then snatches away from them, almost as a punishment for impudence. You might have noticed the "Explicit Content" warning in the corner of the cover image. Heaven knows why it's there. It's probably just slapped on to emphasise Ikigami's mature credentials, because there's actually nothing to warrant it at all - the characters don't even swear, and they even remain fully clothed in a rape scene, for crying out loud! Indeed, in terms of its dress and manners Ikigami is perhaps the single most conservative manga that I've read. Mase's artwork is something of a mixed bag. While there's nothing particularly adventurous in his style - as said in the previous paragraph it's all firmly couched in humdrum civilian reality so you won't find any exciting and striking exotic and alien fashions draped over everyone - everything still has a fine, genuine, clear illustrative element which finds quality, if not in imagination, in authenticity instead. His human expressions are also impressively realistic and convey genuine emotion. However, some corner-cutting is embarrassingly obvious - all but the most basic backgrounds are photoreferenced. There's not even the common courtesy of tracing work - they're real photographs with nothing more than a half-tone filter overlaying them! It sticks out like a sore thumb and really undermines the otherwise professional quality - when a double-page spread is just someone's snap from a passing car with the resolution turned down, any drama it might have generated is quite soundly punctured. Altogether then, Ikigami is a rough gem. It aspires to the heights of the Bard, but while it doesn't reach them the fact that it's made the effort is to be encouraged. It's not perfect by any means, and its moral messages are those that you'll have heard many times before, but as a low-key tale which can inspire a twinge of emotion it's a good change of pace from usual action-adventure fare, and different enough to be worthwhile.
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Post by Pombar on Jan 20, 2010 20:02:10 GMT
Ikigami seemed like an attempt to capitalise on the more supernatural-alluding and mature themes that Mushishi, Kino no Tabi, and especially the works of Naoki Urasawa popularised. It didn't end up comparing favourably, frankly, and falls even more flat after having seen the recent Japanese film Departures. I tried to appreciate what it was doing, but in the end didn't really feel like it knew how to deal with its own subject matter, and just felt like something of a half-arsed attempt to cynically jump on a bandwagon of 'mature dealings with death', without realising you actually need to be well written and considered to do that well.
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Post by Baron Canier on Jan 21, 2010 21:35:09 GMT
Currently reading a bit more of One Piece. I think I'm reaching the finale of the Arlong Park arc.
Also, I swear the people who make these translations have dyslexia or something.
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Post by The Tikal who had no Toes on Jan 23, 2010 9:10:48 GMT
You should see some of the Naruto ones, they're beyond [censored]ty. Speaking of which, I found this thing called Naburo. It's this terrible Indonesian Nardo ripoff with Nardo's great-great-great-great-great grandsom or something, with really terrible art, and the hero is called Naburo, an 8 year old genius with no parents who wears an orange tracksuit and looks a bit speshul. It's quite lolzy.
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Post by Moo on Jan 23, 2010 14:26:53 GMT
I read a graphic novel called Cancertown the other day. Was a bit crap.
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Pitt
Script Hume
Ungrateful Sonic Saxophonist
If Lando dies, I'll destroy your planet!
Posts: 7,007
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Post by Pitt on Jan 24, 2010 20:21:54 GMT
I recently read Invincible. It's quite good.
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Post by The Shad on Jan 26, 2010 21:58:11 GMT
Picked up Joe the Barbarian and Supernatural: Origins today.
Fun.
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Post by The Tikal who had no Toes on Jan 28, 2010 19:47:06 GMT
To the Bleach fans on here: is anyone else getting fed up of the reaaaalllly loooong battle in Fake Karakura Town and that annoying [censored] Aizen and his hax powers? I wish Urahara was the main baddie.
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Post by Devo DrakeFox on Jan 28, 2010 19:52:07 GMT
The Megaman MegaMix manga is coming out on January 30th I think I read that once, years ago. Whether it was a fan translation or not I don't remember, nor do I remember the website where I found it.
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Pitt
Script Hume
Ungrateful Sonic Saxophonist
If Lando dies, I'll destroy your planet!
Posts: 7,007
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Post by Pitt on Jan 29, 2010 10:28:32 GMT
To the Bleach fans on here: is anyone else getting fed up of the reaaaalllly loooong battle in Fake Karakura Town and that annoying [censored] Aizen and his hax powers? I still enjoy it, but it has been dragged out a bit much. That said, I'm not sure how he was going to deal with so many characters in one place.
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Post by The Shad on Feb 3, 2010 22:00:16 GMT
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Post by Samface on Feb 4, 2010 13:56:00 GMT
Watchmen 2: Nuclear Boogaloo
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Post by Lost Mercenary on Feb 5, 2010 12:09:12 GMT
Just read the latest Bleach chapter. Is Aizen finally having his ass handed to him?
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Pitt
Script Hume
Ungrateful Sonic Saxophonist
If Lando dies, I'll destroy your planet!
Posts: 7,007
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Post by Pitt on Feb 5, 2010 16:21:37 GMT
Probably not.
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Post by The Tikal who had no Toes on Feb 8, 2010 16:10:49 GMT
It'll probably be a clone or something. Since Kubo and Kishimoto seem to be stealing each other's ideas (if you've read Na Roo Toe recently, you'll understand).
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Post by Pombar on Feb 8, 2010 20:45:23 GMT
They're also all still under his frickin' illusion, so it's much like the 'fatal blow' he suffered from Hitsugaya back in the SS arc.
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Post by Baron Canier on Feb 8, 2010 20:55:12 GMT
Currently reading Ex Machina.
Delicious. I recommened it with the fury of a thousand suns.
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Post by Alex on Feb 11, 2010 3:11:16 GMT
I just (finally) read through the Ultimatum event. Considering all three of the Ultimate on-goings had gone pretty steeply downhill for a good 3+ volumes before Ultimatum (or in the Ultimates case, just their entire third series... and arguably the last half of Ultimates 2), I was actually pretty surprised with how entertained, shocked and actually saddened by the series overall. When I read Civil War and they killed off half their supers, I didn't really care. I didn't know most of the characters that bought it at all and really didn't have any experience of their characterisations or actions from not really being that into the 616 Universe. Reading this, however, a lot of the deaths actually meant a whole lot. I knew who these characters were, and I knew my experience with them in reading the rest of the line. Especially, I've got to say, Janet/The Wasp's. Easily one of my favourite characters in the Ultimates and so cruelly written out Fortunately, my delay in catching up with the event seems to have been fairly beneficial. The relaunched Ultimate Comics print is not only just getting into full swing this year (this month, even - a new X-men comic just started, it seems) but the first volumes of Spider-Man and Avengers are now available to follow up with. Of course, outside of that, I suppose I could always round off my collection with Ultimate Fantastic Four (which I never bothered with at all) and the one or two limited series I still don't have. Gotta catch 'em all! Or something.
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Post by The Shad on Feb 22, 2010 23:38:00 GMT
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Post by ShayMay on Feb 23, 2010 8:06:59 GMT
But seriously, that's a [censored]load of money, wasted on a few pieces of paper. Reminds me of my Yu-Gi-Oh! playing days... Incidentally, the only mangas I've ever really enjoyed are Yu-Gi-Oh! and One Piece, because their plots are at least a bit more complex than the traditional "Oh, I must fight you for 9001 chapters, because you're evil because you're evil". I liked Bleach up until the Soul Society (why the Hell did Tite Kubo not just call it the afterlife?) arc, 'cos everything just dragged on... and on... and on... Well, actually, Excel Saga's good for a couple of laughs, and so's Dragon Half, if you can get past the near-nakedness of pretty much everybody in it. Comics, besides STC/O, are Watchmen, Essential X-Men and Wolverine and Gambit/Deadpool. I have since stopped collecting those, after people who were dead came back to life, and the stories got a bit meh, and it all got very silly. /life story
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Post by Baron Canier on Feb 23, 2010 11:18:42 GMT
Incidentally, the only mangas I've ever really enjoyed are Yu-Gi-Oh! and One Piece, because their plots are at least a bit more complex than the traditional "Oh, I must fight you for 9001 chapters, because you're evil because you're evil". Stop reading Shonen manga, then. Comics I have since stopped collecting after people who were dead came back to life, and the stories got a bit meh, and it all got very silly. Mainstream comics (ie: Marvel and DC) are largely poorly written, convoluted lock-out fests that take themselves far too seriously. There are still plenty of good things to read, however. I could recommend you some good reads, if you like.
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Post by Pombar on Feb 23, 2010 15:48:23 GMT
I contest that Naruto is basically One Piece with less silly and more KOOL!111!, which kinda puts them on an equal level in my eye.
But yeah, if you're looking for intelligence in manga, reading Shounen is not the way to go about it. The way to go about it is to read anything by Naoki Urasawa.
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Post by ShayMay on Feb 23, 2010 16:04:08 GMT
Yeah, I stopped reading shounen manga (with the exception of One Piece) a couple of years back. In fact, I stopped reading all manga (yes, I read some non-shounen ) a couple of years back. Yes, please. I'll check him out next time I have a spare hour or two. Thanks! Although the next hour or two may not come for a while...
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Post by The Shad on Feb 23, 2010 16:46:14 GMT
Shaymay, ever read Hellboy?
If not, you need it. If you have, you need more.
Same with Planetary.
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