Shounen/adult romantic comedy manga recommendations?
Don Gordon
especially ones with nice art.
Recent favourites include:
Ichigo 100% by Mizuki Kawashita - high school boy pursued by 3 or 4
different girls
Refrain by Fumio Nakajima - ex-lover torn between revenge and passion
for her former boyfriend. They are both married
Okusama wa joshikousei by Hiyoko Kobayashi - high school teacher
marries student but refuses to sleep with her till she's of age.
Pasuteru by Toshihiko Kobayashi - High school boy finds himself living
with his true love, very evocative
Gacha gacha by Hiroyuki Tamakoshi - Girl's mind invaded by sexy game
characters, boy protects her
I've also tried:
Peach by Yuujin (U-jin) - Geeky english tutor becomes involved with
sleepy but beautiful girl
Pretty Face by Yasuhiro Kanou - Hero almost dies and given the face of
his true love's sister
No-bura by Kenjirou Kawazu - Hero is pursued by guy who is extremely
feminine
but didn't like them as much.
My favorite mangaka is probably Masakazu Katsura: I's, Den'ei shojo.
Zetman 2 is supposed to be out next week.
Can anyone recommend other manga along these lines?
Thanks,
Don Gordon
Ping Kuo
donsg...@yahoo.co.jp (Don Gordon) wrote:
> I've been looking around for interesting romantic comedy manga,
> especially ones with nice art.
> Recent favourites include:
> Ichigo 100% by Mizuki Kawashita - high school boy pursued by 3 or 4
> different girls
no, 5 to 7 of them.
> Pasuteru by Toshihiko Kobayashi - High school boy finds himself living
> with his true love, very evocative
That is Pastel, but anyway, it got restarted on Shonen Magazine Special
last month.
> Gacha gacha by Hiroyuki Tamakoshi - Girl's mind invaded by sexy game
> characters, boy protects her
also was restarted on Shonen Magazine Special, you may want to try Boys
Be, his earlier works,
Open Sesame on SMS is another romance comedy with good artworks.
> I've also tried:
> Peach by Yuujin (U-jin) - Geeky english tutor becomes involved with
> sleepy but beautiful girl
Ujin? shonen romance comedy?
> but didn't like them as much.
> My favorite mangaka is probably Masakazu Katsura: I's, Den'ei shojo.
> Zetman 2 is supposed to be out next week.
I am guessing Denei shojo is Video Girl Ai, right? story wise it is
better than I''s.
> Can anyone recommend other manga along these lines?
Olddie but goodie, Nineteen, Kitagawa Shou, better than his other work
BB Fish, screen tones on this one is simply awesome. Bunko is out
already, but the orginal version on a larger than normal print is better.
Eisaku Kubonouchi's Chocolat is not bad, either. his earlier work
Shirumoku Dokushin Ryo is also another big name title, but art work are
not quite mature in the beginning,
same can be say with Hoshisato Mochiro's works.
and there are moments in Ah! My Goddess, when they are not concern with
the fate of the universe, it is actually a romance comedy story. the
artwork after book #8 had been consistent and good ever since.
another big name is Yui Toshiki, beside his sci-fi and H titles he also
does things like Kirara.
Tsukasa Hojo's F-Compo is certainly a romance comedy w/ good art works.
his short color work Parrot is also very nice.
of course, there are Ken Akimatsu, Mitsuru Adachi, Rumiko Takahashi,
etc. all do good romance comedy, but some people might debate their art
works are nice or not. I personally don't have problem with them.
RoCo is Peter's territory, do I miss anyone? there must be a FAQ of
RoCo in PRISMS, or there should be one.
--
Ping Kuo
removeantispamtomailmeatpkuoearthlinknet
standard disclaimers applied
Chris Kern
Love Roma. There's only 1 volume out now, but it's quite good, I
think.
-Chris
Peter Van Huffel
F8600C.044...@news03.west.earthlink.net:
> In article <5cdc4523.0311...@posting.google.com>,
> donsg...@yahoo.co.jp (Don Gordon) wrote:
>
>> I've been looking around for interesting romantic comedy manga,
>> especially ones with nice art.
>
<snip>... <snip> <snip>... <snip>
>
> RoCo is Peter's territory, do I miss anyone? there must be a FAQ of
> RoCo in PRISMS, or there should be one.
It certainly is, though I won't pretend to be very knowledgeable in the
field. I was going to answer that the original poster should do a search in
google on romantic comedy in RAM. There have been quite a few threads on the
subject in the past, as I think many of the regulars here are roco fans.
There are also threads on what can be considered roco and what not.
There's no specific faq on roco in PRISMS, and I don't plan on doing so.
Searching the file for the words "romantic" and/or "comedy" should give
enough recommendations.
--
Peter
---
************************************************
***** PRISMS: The Ultimate Manga Guide *****
*** formerly known as the Usenet Manga Guide ***
* <http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Ginza/4996> *
************************************************
* RAM FAQs also available through same site *
************************************************
"With stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain."
Don Gordon
>>Ichigo 100% by Mizuki Kawashita - high school boy pursued by 3 or 4
>different girls
> no, 5 to 7 of them.
Aya Tojo, Tsukasa Nishino and Satsuki Kitaoji are all definitely
pursuing Manaka. I'm not sure if I'd say that Yui Minamito or Misuzu
Sotomura are pursuing Manaka exactly. Yui seems to be helping Tsukasa
get back together with Manaka, while Misuzu just criticizes his taste
all the time.
> > Pasuteru by Toshihiko Kobayashi - High school boy finds himself living
> > with his true love, very evocative
> That is Pastel, but anyway, it got restarted on Shonen Magazine Special
> last month.
The Japanese title is Pasuteru in hiragana, but you're probably right
that it's intended to be gairaigo. I've just been buying the
tankobans, and not really following the magazine version. I liked his
Parareru (Parallel?) as well, although the stories in both are very
similar to Katsura Masakazu's I's. Part way through Pasuteru,
Kobayashi has finally started to break new ground.
> > Gacha gacha by Hiroyuki Tamakoshi - Girl's mind invaded by sexy game
> > characters, boy protects her
> also was restarted on Shonen Magazine Special, you may want to try Boys
> Be, his earlier works,
I have Boys Be, Second season and L-coop. Some of the stories there
were quite interesting, especially L-coop.
> Open Sesame on SMS is another romance comedy with good artworks.
>>Peach by Yuujin (U-jin) - Geeky english tutor becomes involved with
sleepy
>>but beautiful girl
>Ujin? shonen romance comedy?
It was definitely romantic, but it's kind of hard to laugh at the
jokes. Ujin has been so serious lately e.g. in Sakura Tsuushin and
Juliet. His earlier work like Kuishimbo no papa, Kounai shasei and
Angel was much funnier. All of this is of course "Seinen shitei."
>I am guessing Den'ei shojo is Video Girl Ai, right? story wise it is
better
>than I''s.
Yes, that's right. Sorry, I'm not really up on the English titles.
Video Girl Ai is more of a fantasy/SF story while I's is very
definitely a romantic comedy. The character of Teratani in I's is so
hilarious. Classic stuff. I've often wondered what mangakas
influenced Katsura. Any ideas?
>Oldie but goodie, Nineteen, Kitagawa Shou, better than his other work
BB
>Fish, screen tones on this one is simply awesome.
I used to have both Nineteen and BB Fish ( I think I still have one).
Kitagawa's style is so heavily influenced by shojo manga it's almost
funny. I agree though he's a very good artist.
> Eisaku Kubonouchi's Chocolat is not bad, either. his earlier work
> same can be say with Hoshisato Mochiro's works.
Haven't tried these though I've seen Chocolat in stores. I'll give
them a look.
> and there are moments in Ah! My Goddess, when they are not concern with
> the fate of the universe, it is actually a romance comedy story. the
> artwork after book #8 had been consistent and good ever since.
I think I bought one a long time ago. I like the art, but the story
was sort of wild and all over the place. A lot of western fans seem
interested in it though, so I'll give it another look.
> another big name is Yui Toshiki, beside his sci-fi and H titles he also
> does things like Kirara.
I have a couple of volumes of Kirara and even got the tv show video.
Very nice art although the story is sort of silly. Has he done any
other romantic stuff?
> Tsukasa Hojo's F-Compo is certainly a romance comedy w/ good art works.
> his short color work Parrot is also very nice.
I used to read City hunter, but I haven't been following him lately.
Again nice art.
> of course, there are Ken Akimatsu, Mitsuru Adachi, Rumiko Takahashi,
> etc. all do good romance comedy, but some people might debate their art
I bought the first volume of Ramma 1/2, but had trouble getting into
all the bickering. Mitsuru Adachi always struck me as more of a
sports writer, although I've been threatening to try Miyuki. I don't
mind the art so much. I've also been threatening to buy Ken
Akamatsu's Love Hina.
I've read some of the descriptions at Peter's site. He's obviously
put a trememdous amount of work into the site, but one feature I wish
it had is recommendations along the lines of "if you liked Ichigo
100%, you should try I's" or comments/comparisons on the art style.
Peter, would you be interested in comments along those lines?
I hadn't looked at Minoru Toyoda's Love Roma before, but it looks
interesting.
Anyway, thanks again guys. I'm off to the bookstore to see what I can
find. Also any suggestions on where one can buy manga online from
outside Japan?
Don Gordon
Chris Kern
Love Roma is always the first thing I read in Afternoon after Yokohama
Kaidashi Kikou. The series can't go on forever but it should be good
for a while longer at least.
Is Discommunication a romatic comedy? :)
-Chris
David Watson
> Yes, that's right. Sorry, I'm not really up on the English titles.
> Video Girl Ai is more of a fantasy/SF story while I's is very
> definitely a romantic comedy. The character of Teratani in I's is so
> hilarious. Classic stuff. I've often wondered what mangakas
> influenced Katsura. Any ideas?
So do I, esp. on the bishoujo/romantic side, but I can tell you that he is
a major Batman otaku.
--
Dave Watson, Severed Heads Liberation Front (_Stretcher_ CD-R--sevcom.com)
Frezier Balzoff (aka Ottawa), Ontario, Canada Email--shlf [at] ncf [dot] ca
My music and anime webpage: http://www.ottawa-anime.org/~eyevocal/
Deworm yourself: *www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS01-020.asp*
Ping Kuo
Chris Kern <chris...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Is Discommunication a romatic comedy? :)
ummm, no, no, no, no, NO.....
it is a good manga, IMHO, but if you recommend people to read it
thinking that it is a roco they will be "shocked and awed" beyond their
dry pants....
Ping Kuo
aj...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (David Watson) wrote:
> Don Gordon (donsg...@yahoo.co.jp) writes:
> > Yes, that's right. Sorry, I'm not really up on the English titles.
> > Video Girl Ai is more of a fantasy/SF story while I's is very
> > definitely a romantic comedy. The character of Teratani in I's is so
> > hilarious. Classic stuff. I've often wondered what mangakas
> > influenced Katsura. Any ideas?
> So do I, esp. on the bishoujo/romantic side, but I can tell you that he is
> a major Batman otaku.
yeah, for reference, see Wingman and DNA and Zetman, etc.
in his own words, a hobbit that his wife does not approve of. :)
I think, but I am not sure, (can't remember the reference now.) that
the way Wingman ended had a lot to do w/ at that time Katsura wasn't too
successful in romance affairs himself.
Ping Kuo
donsg...@yahoo.co.jp (Don Gordon) wrote:
> > > Pasuteru by Toshihiko Kobayashi - High school boy finds himself living
> > > with his true love, very evocative
> > That is Pastel, but anyway, it got restarted on Shonen Magazine Special
> > last month.
> The Japanese title is Pasuteru in hiragana, but you're probably right
> that it's intended to be gairaigo. I've just been buying the
> tankobans, and not really following the magazine version. I liked his
didn't the compilation has "pastel" the word in English on the cover?
> Parareru (Parallel?) as well, although the stories in both are very
> similar to Katsura Masakazu's I's. Part way through Pasuteru,
> Kobayashi has finally started to break new ground.
Kobayashi is a good mangaka, but he is not a GREAT mangaka, yet. his
art work is pleasant to look at, and his story is easy to read, all he
needs is to imporve a tad more and he would be there.
> > Open Sesame on SMS is another romance comedy with good artworks.
people will response better to this one if they like Orange Road I think.
> >>Peach by Yuujin (U-jin) - Geeky english tutor becomes involved with
> sleepy
> >>but beautiful girl
> >Ujin? shonen romance comedy?
> It was definitely romantic, but it's kind of hard to laugh at the
> jokes. Ujin has been so serious lately e.g. in Sakura Tsuushin and
> Juliet. His earlier work like Kuishimbo no papa, Kounai shasei and
> Angel was much funnier. All of this is of course "Seinen shitei."
the only Ujin work I really like is Angel, I guess it had a lot to do
with its similiarity to Orange Road, and it is a real honest to god
romance comedy hiding behind all the H stuffs. not to mention a
surprising good ending for an adult manga standard, I simply can not
handle all his other works, a little bit too much for me.
trying to think of any other H titles which are good graphic romance
comedy type.....
Fujio Zerry's tobira o koji akete
Makoto Fujisaki's coed sexxtasy
and Aki Katsu's Futari H.
> > and there are moments in Ah! My Goddess, when they are not concern with
> > the fate of the universe, it is actually a romance comedy story. the
> > artwork after book #8 had been consistent and good ever since.
> I think I bought one a long time ago. I like the art, but the story
> was sort of wild and all over the place. A lot of western fans seem
> interested in it though, so I'll give it another look.
umm, if you are trying to read it as romance comedy, then you better off
not buying it, there are "moments" which this title is very good, and
then the rest of the times.....
it is popular enough, try borrow it off somebody.
> > another big name is Yui Toshiki, beside his sci-fi and H titles he also
> > does things like Kirara.
> I have a couple of volumes of Kirara and even got the tv show video.
> Very nice art although the story is sort of silly. Has he done any
> other romantic stuff?
beyond his H titles? I think he is doing another comedy on Ultra Jump
right now, can't remember the title, it is about a transgender girl,
enough said...
> > Tsukasa Hojo's F-Compo is certainly a romance comedy w/ good art works.
> > his short color work Parrot is also very nice.
> I used to read City hunter, but I haven't been following him lately.
> Again nice art.
people who like him w/ City Hunter tend to be disappointed with his
later works, because he has changed while his old readers want the same
thing from CH, F-Compo is definitely more generally prased than Angel
Heart. In fact, if you never read a Hojo work before you will probably
like F-Compo better,
> > of course, there are Ken Akimatsu, Mitsuru Adachi, Rumiko Takahashi,
> > etc. all do good romance comedy, but some people might debate their art
> I bought the first volume of Ramma 1/2, but had trouble getting into
ah, noooo, Takahash's roco is Maison Ikkoku and One Pound Gospel. you
don't read Ranma for romance, kiddie stuffs.
> all the bickering. Mitsuru Adachi always struck me as more of a
> sports writer, although I've been threatening to try Miyuki. I don't
Miyuki and Rough both are good w/o too heavy hand w/ sports like Touch
and H2.
> mind the art so much. I've also been threatening to buy Ken
> Akamatsu's Love Hina.
funny? yes, very romantice? not until near the end, (the more it hurts
the more she loves you? :) good graphic wise? some people like Chris
would disagree with that statement, popular? very much so.
> I've read some of the descriptions at Peter's site. He's obviously
> put a trememdous amount of work into the site, but one feature I wish
> it had is recommendations along the lines of "if you liked Ichigo
> 100%, you should try I's" or comments/comparisons on the art style.
> Peter, would you be interested in comments along those lines?
I think Peter would like his sleep time unaltered... :)
> Anyway, thanks again guys. I'm off to the bookstore to see what I can
> find. Also any suggestions on where one can buy manga online from
> outside Japan?
David, John? anyway, it should be in the FAQ on Peter's site.
Parvati V
nel mio animo interesse sopra il conversare di donsg...@yahoo.co.jp
(Don Gordon):
>I've been looking around for interesting romantic comedy manga,
>especially ones with nice art.
Nana by Yazawa Ai. (tankoubon are published under "ribon mascot
comics" but the manga is actually from the adult magazine Cookie).
Good characters, good plot, excellent script and timing of scenes, and
very good art. I've read up to vol. 8, it starts great and quickly
becomes _wonderful_ ^^^
It's also quite easy to read in Japanese, as it does not feature tons
of slang.
It's very different from Katsura though, definitely more adult work.
Parvati V
--
http://parvatiquinta.altervista.org
IHGGera #1069, IAFa #182 ^^^
Peter Van Huffel
> In article <5cdc4523.03111...@posting.google.com>,
> donsg...@yahoo.co.jp (Don Gordon) wrote:
>
>> > > Pasuteru by Toshihiko Kobayashi - High school boy finds himself living
>> > > with his true love, very evocative
>
>> > That is Pastel, but anyway, it got restarted on Shonen Magazine Special
>> > last month.
>
>> The Japanese title is Pasuteru in hiragana, but you're probably right
>> that it's intended to be gairaigo. I've just been buying the
>> tankobans, and not really following the magazine version. I liked his
>
> didn't the compilation has "pastel" the word in English on the cover?
>
Ah, I just hate it when they use hiragana for foreign words instead of the
katakana, as if discovering the original meaning isn't hard enough already.
Seems Kobayashi makes it a habit, Parallel is also written in hiragana.
>> Parareru (Parallel?) as well, although the stories in both are very
>> similar to Katsura Masakazu's I's. Part way through Pasuteru,
>> Kobayashi has finally started to break new ground.
>
> Kobayashi is a good mangaka, but he is not a GREAT mangaka, yet. his
> art work is pleasant to look at, and his story is easy to read, all he
> needs is to imporve a tad more and he would be there.
>
<snip>
>
>> > of course, there are Ken Akimatsu, Mitsuru Adachi, Rumiko Takahashi,
>> > etc. all do good romance comedy, but some people might debate their art
>
>> I bought the first volume of Ramma 1/2, but had trouble getting into
>
> ah, noooo, Takahash's roco is Maison Ikkoku and One Pound Gospel. you
> don't read Ranma for romance, kiddie stuffs.
>
Just had a vision of Viz's Ranma epithets. :)
>> all the bickering. Mitsuru Adachi always struck me as more of a
>> sports writer, although I've been threatening to try Miyuki. I don't
>
> Miyuki and Rough both are good w/o too heavy hand w/ sports like Touch
> and H2.
IMO Adachi is more close to real roco, than Akamatsu ken or Takahashi (MI
excluded of course).
>> mind the art so much. I've also been threatening to buy Ken
>> Akamatsu's Love Hina.
Lots of times harem comedies are mistreated as being roco.
> funny? yes, very romantice? not until near the end, (the more it hurts
> the more she loves you? :) good graphic wise? some people like Chris
> would disagree with that statement, popular? very much so.
>
>> I've read some of the descriptions at Peter's site. He's obviously
>> put a trememdous amount of work into the site, but one feature I wish
>> it had is recommendations along the lines of "if you liked Ichigo
>> 100%, you should try I's" or comments/comparisons on the art style.
>> Peter, would you be interested in comments along those lines?
>
> I think Peter would like his sleep time unaltered... :)
While I do find the basic idea that was put forward interesting, I won't be
doing it anytime soon because:
1) Ping hit the spot on the sleep time.
2) I'm currently suffering from a slight case of CTS, and will perhaps even
have to cut back normal "guide"-duties. Gosh even typing this doesn't feel
comfortable.
3) there are already such recommendations/comparisons in the guide, it's rare
I know, but if the person who wrote the review put that into it, it's in the
guide too. So, if you want to, you can always submit reviews containing such
comments to me.
4) Implementing a category system... it's just too much. This must remain a
hobby.
>> Anyway, thanks again guys. I'm off to the bookstore to see what I can
>> find. Also any suggestions on where one can buy manga online from
>> outside Japan?
>
> David, John? anyway, it should be in the FAQ on Peter's site.
Sadly, if it is, it isn't updated. There's still no serious candidate for
maintaining the resources FAQ.
John C. Watson
removeantispampkuo-3...@news06.west.earthlink.net, "Ping
Kuo" <removeant...@earthlink.net> wrote:
<http://www.studioproteus.com/fanqna0302.html>
Page down a bit; note that the URL for J-List has an extra leading "h" and
add Book Off to the list:
--
Ciao,
John
John C. Watson
World Otakunization Project, Amherst Division
Please note the change of my E-mail address.
Don Gordon
You've given me a lot to chew on here.
Ping wrote:
>Didn't the compilation has "pastel" the word in English on the cover?
No it doesn't, just the hiragana.
>Kobayashi is a good mangaka, but he is not a GREAT mangaka, yet.
I had kind of mixed feelings about Parallel because it was such an
obvious Katsura ripoff, but I'm starting to quite like Pastel.
Kobayashi is good at evoking the slow pace of rural life in Japan, and
I find his work quite atmospheric. The story moves along at a very
leisurely pace without much happening, but this reminds me of a lot of
Japanese movies.
>The only Ujin work I really like is Angel, I guess it had a lot to do
with
>its similiarity to Orange Road, and it is a real honest to god
romance comedy
>hiding behind all the H stuffs.
I really like Ujin's art, especially on Angel. He heaps a ludicrous
amount of detail into his backgrounds. He's doing Gakuen Tengoku now
for Young Jump and the school court yard or the teacher's room or the
exits, are all rendered completely like the real thing. He obviously
spends a lot of time taking photos on which he bases his drawings, and
it really shows.
I also liked the character of Shizuka and Kousuke in Angel. Shizuka
is confident and intelligent, but has this soft spot for Kosuke, and
is understandably annoyed by his lechery. Kosuke is very good-natured
and self-confident as well. Since then Ujin's characters have tended
to be a bit dim, more tragic, almost pitiful. I hope he comes out of
this blue funk he's been in.
>trying to think of any other H titles which are good graphic romance
comedy
>type.....
> Fujio Zerry's tobira o koji akete
> Makoto Fujisaki's coed sexxtasy
> and Aki Katsu's Futari H.
I know of Futari H, but I'm not familiar with the others. I'll see if
I can dig them up.
No one likes Fumio Nakajima, huh? I thought "Toki ni wa bara no
shoujo no you ni" and "Refrain" (both from Business Jump) were quite
well done. "Toki ni wa" is about a pair of sisters, the younger of
whom has quite a few lovers one of which is our hero, Onda. Her older
sister doesn't seem to have dated at all, and she is initially
disgusted by Onda, but he slowly awakens in her a startling passion.
Refrain is even more of a potboiler, with Kirika and her husband
moving in next to Jin and his wife. Kirika was hurt by the sexually
experienced Jin in university, but now she is back, and out for
revenge. Jin is having troubles of his own with his beautiful but
frigid wife, and before long one thing leads to another...
> > > and there are moments in Ah! My Goddess, when they are not concern with
> umm, if you are trying to read it as romance comedy, then you better off
> not buying it, there are "moments" which this title is very good, and
> then the rest of the times.....
I was looking around for it today. I'm not so hung up about romance
comedy. I used to read superhero stuff, but for some reason lately I
can't get into action the same way I used to. I always wonder why the
characters have to fight each other. Why don't they just talk it out?
>People who like him w/ City Hunter tend to be disappointed with his
later
>works, because he has changed while his old readers want the same
thing from
>CH,
I'm not so deeply attached to City Hunter. It could be pretty
juvenile too, with women hitting the poor guy with hammers and such if
he tried to peek in on them. Is F-Compo more mature?
>>I've also been threatening to buy Ken Akamatsu's Love Hina.
> funny? yes.
Funny is good.
> I think Peter would like his sleep time unaltered... :)
Understandable. It's a vast site. Kudos to Peter for putting in all
that work.
Dave wrote:
>>I've often wondered what mangakas influenced Katsura. Any ideas?
>So do I, esp. on the bishoujo/romantic side, but I can tell you that
he is
>a major Batman otaku.
Let's see know. Ai is catwoman, Moemi is Silver St. Cloud and Nobuko
is Talia. Then again Batman never seemed too interested in any of
them, at least not like Youta.
Ping wrote:
>I think, but I am not sure, (can't remember the reference now.) that
>the way Wingman ended had a lot to do w/ at that time Katsura wasn't
too
>successful in romance affairs himself.
I don't know. He obviously seems pretty interested in women and in
relationships in general. Maybe things weren't going smoothly, but I
find it hard to believe he hasn't had a few girlfriends in his time.
Peter wrote:
>While I do find the basic idea that was put forward interesting, I
won't be
>doing it anytime soon because:
>1) Ping hit the spot on the sleep time.
>2) I'm currently suffering from a slight case of CTS, and will
perhaps even
>have to cut back normal "guide"-duties. Gosh even typing this doesn't
feel
>comfortable.
I've had a bit of carpal tunnel myself. I find if you stop using the
mouse and just do everything with keyboard shortcuts this helps. Also
taking breaks to go out for a walk or whatever is probably a good
idea.
John wrote:
> <http://www.studioproteus.com/fanqna0302.html>
>Page down a bit; note that the URL for J-List has an extra leading
"h" and
>add Book Off to the list:
> <http://www.bookoff.co.jp/>
Oh, nice list! Thanks!
Parvati wrote:
>Nana by Yazawa Ai. (tankoubon are published under "ribon mascot
comics"...
>Good characters, good plot, excellent script and timing of scenes,
and very
>good art.
Sounds great! Thanks.
Don Gordon
Yaniv Tempelman
> In article <5cdc4523.03111...@posting.google.com>,
> > Parareru (Parallel?) as well, although the stories in both are very
> > similar to Katsura Masakazu's I's. Part way through Pasuteru,
> > Kobayashi has finally started to break new ground.
>
> Kobayashi is a good mangaka, but he is not a GREAT mangaka, yet. his
> art work is pleasant to look at, and his story is easy to read, all he
> needs is to imporve a tad more and he would be there.
IMHO his artwork is good, but storywise Parareru is weak, at least
from the first volume I got. RoCos are of course not excactly the
genre in which one has to expect the most refreshing ideas plotwise,
but Parareru is really filled with chlichés. I don't know if I should
buy the other volumes on occasion... Does the story get better with
the following volumes?
> > mind the art so much. I've also been threatening to buy Ken
> > Akamatsu's Love Hina.
>
> funny? yes, very romantice? not until near the end, (the more it hurts
> the more she loves you? :) good graphic wise? some people like Chris
> would disagree with that statement, popular? very much so.
Compared with the first volumes of "Ai ga tomaranai", his artwork has
improved a lot.
I don't consider his artwork to be original, but it's well handed with
all the screentones and it's very dynamic. The sort of commercial
artwork I like.
--
Yaniv T.
Manga Takarajima http://www.manga-takarajima.mangafan.net/ (german)
Yaniv Tempelman
> Ah, I just hate it when they use hiragana for foreign words instead of the
> katakana, as if discovering the original meaning isn't hard enough already.
> Seems Kobayashi makes it a habit, Parallel is also written in hiragana.
Well, in the epilogue of the first volume he mentions that he had no
idea how the story should be named. The title 'Parareru' was the idea
of his editor, as well as the use of Hiragana instead of Katakana ^^'
Parvati V
>Thanks, Chris, Ping, David, Peter, John, Parvati,
>
>You've given me a lot to chew on here.
You're welcome ^^^
If you want a bunch of reviews I've put some on my page (link in sign,
and by the way if you correct my English while you're there I'd be
grateful... strange as it may sound I find it more difficult to
translate from Italian to English than to write in English in the
first place >^< )
>>Nana by Yazawa Ai. (tankoubon are published under "ribon mascot comics"...
>>Good characters, good plot, excellent script and timing of scenes,
>>and very good art.
>
>Sounds great! Thanks.
If you like Nana you might also consider Tenshi Nanka Ja Nai, also by
Ai Yazawa. Art is older and characters are younger (high school
student), but it seems great too ^^^ (reviewed on my page)
Ping Kuo
yaniv_t...@hispeed.ch (Yaniv Tempelman) wrote:
> Ping Kuo wrote:
> > In article <5cdc4523.03111...@posting.google.com>,
> > Kobayashi is a good mangaka, but he is not a GREAT mangaka, yet. his
> > art work is pleasant to look at, and his story is easy to read, all he
> > needs is to imporve a tad more and he would be there.
> IMHO his artwork is good, but storywise Parareru is weak, at least
> from the first volume I got. RoCos are of course not excactly the
> genre in which one has to expect the most refreshing ideas plotwise,
> but Parareru is really filled with chlichés. I don't know if I should
> buy the other volumes on occasion... Does the story get better with
> the following volumes?
never read Parallel so I won't know, what I had read from Pastel is very
standard fare of harem manga, old girl friend, secret admirer,
undecisive boy, etc, etc.
> > > mind the art so much. I've also been threatening to buy Ken
> > > Akamatsu's Love Hina.
> > funny? yes, very romantice? not until near the end, (the more it hurts
> > the more she loves you? :) good graphic wise? some people like Chris
> > would disagree with that statement, popular? very much so.
> Compared with the first volumes of "Ai ga tomaranai", his artwork has
> improved a lot.
that can be said just about any mangakas and their first title, the
artworks of the first chapter of UY, YAUA, and even Black Magic are
quite different than Inu Yasha, A!MG, and GITS2,
> I don't consider his artwork to be original, but it's well handed with
> all the screentones and it's very dynamic. The sort of commercial
> artwork I like.
improvement of screen tones is mostly the result of getting popular and
have some money to able to hire more and better assistants. just about
any big name title has good screen tones, of course, the abnormality is
HunterXHunter,
Ping Kuo
> Ping wrote:
> >Didn't the compilation has "pastel" the word in English on the cover?
> No it doesn't, just the hiragana.
not on the lower left corner of book #3's cover? (at least I think it
is #3, it is either 3, 4 or 5.)
also, Pastel the English word is splashed on the color chapter cover
page of the Pastel part II just on the latest Shonen Magazine Special.
> >Kobayashi is a good mangaka, but he is not a GREAT mangaka, yet.
> I had kind of mixed feelings about Parallel because it was such an
> obvious Katsura ripoff, but I'm starting to quite like Pastel.
when Ken Akimatsu started Ai ga tomaranai it is also obvious that it was
a rip off of A!MG, and then of course he gets better with Love Hina, so
it is a path that quite a few good mangaka started out with, first
imitation (both story and art) then finding his/her own niche and unique
style,
> >The only Ujin work I really like is Angel, I guess it had a lot to do
> I really like Ujin's art, especially on Angel. He heaps a ludicrous
most of the time I find Ujin's art quite unsuitable for the kind of the
story he is telling, :) it would be better if he goes for the softer H
story like Tanaka Yutaka, instead of the weird, extreme hard core stuffs.
> I also liked the character of Shizuka and Kousuke in Angel. Shizuka
> is confident and intelligent, but has this soft spot for Kosuke, and
> is understandably annoyed by his lechery. Kosuke is very good-natured
> and self-confident as well. Since then Ujin's characters have tended
> to be a bit dim, more tragic, almost pitiful. I hope he comes out of
> this blue funk he's been in.
Shizuka and Kousuke are the few Ujin characters which are "normal" and
"nice", all the others....
again, the parallel w/ Orange Road is quite obvious.
> > > > and there are moments in Ah! My Goddess, when they are not concern with
> > umm, if you are trying to read it as romance comedy, then you better off
> > not buying it, there are "moments" which this title is very good, and
> > then the rest of the times.....
> I was looking around for it today. I'm not so hung up about romance
> comedy. I used to read superhero stuff, but for some reason lately I
> can't get into action the same way I used to. I always wonder why the
> characters have to fight each other. Why don't they just talk it out?
imagine a 34 pages manga chapter devote to talking instead of fighting
it out.... :) then extend it into a mini arc of 3-5 chapters of talking
and more talking....
> I'm not so deeply attached to City Hunter. It could be pretty
> juvenile too, with women hitting the poor guy with hammers and such if
> he tried to peek in on them. Is F-Compo more mature?
just about everything Hojo done after CH is more mature, Hojo the person
had grown, and it shows in his later work, apparently his fans didn't,
F-Compo is a realistic yet funny story w/ lot's of the jokes on
transgender, yet it is not juvenile like Ranma, even Angel Heart show
much more growth from all the old characters.
> >I think, but I am not sure, (can't remember the reference now.) that
> >the way Wingman ended had a lot to do w/ at that time Katsura wasn't
> too
> >successful in romance affairs himself.
> I don't know. He obviously seems pretty interested in women and in
that is why he was sad... :) which is why Wingman is the only title
that did not have a happy ending.
> relationships in general. Maybe things weren't going smoothly, but I
> find it hard to believe he hasn't had a few girlfriends in his time.
more girlfriends simply mean he was not successful? beside, think what
girl would like a guy w/ a huge collection of Batman merchandise? :) I
don't think his current wife know of the extend of his interest until
after marrage. I think that was mentioned on one of the I''s cover
jacket insert where the author's forward at. (w/ a picture of his
Batman stuffs.)
John C. Watson
"Parvati V" <parvat...@email.it> wrote:
> Nel tempo 13 Nov 2003 10:05:55 -0800, il mio fedele schiavo Wu desto'
> nel mio animo interesse sopra il conversare di donsg...@yahoo.co.jp
> (Don Gordon):
>
>> Thanks, Chris, Ping, David, Peter, John, Parvati,
>>
>> You've given me a lot to chew on here.
>
> You're welcome ^^^
>
> If you want a bunch of reviews I've put some on my page (link in sign,
"Link in .sig"
> and by the way if you correct my English while you're there I'd be
> grateful... strange as it may sound I find it more difficult to
> translate from Italian to English than to write in English in the
> first place >^< )
^_-
--
Ciao,
John
John C. Watson
World Otakunization Project, Amherst Division
John C. Watson
5cdc4523.03111...@posting.google.com, "Don Gordon"
<donsg...@yahoo.co.jp> wrote:
> John wrote:
>> <http://www.studioproteus.com/fanqna0302.html>
>> Page down a bit; note that the URL for J-List has an extra leading "h" and
>> add Book Off to the list:
>> <http://www.bookoff.co.jp/>
>
> Oh, nice list! Thanks!
You're welcome. Oh--a friend on my local club's mailing list had this to
say:
> | Anyone know any good websites too purchase unxlated manga?
>
> sasugabooks.com for small orders; amazon.co.jp for midsized, and
> animaxis.com for large work out to about the best prices for mail-order.
> Also consider a day trip up to Cambridge for Sasuga's store, or down to
> NYC for Book-Off.
(We're in Massachusetts, so Boston and NYC are fairly close.)
--
Ciao,
John
John C. Watson
World Otakunization Project, Amherst Division
Don Gordon
>If you want a bunch of reviews I've put some on my page (link in
sign,
grateful.
Thanks for the link. Your English looks pretty good to me.
>If you like Nana you might also consider Tenshi Nanka Ja Nai, also by
Ai
>Yazawa.
They are both shoujo manga, are they? That's one area I haven't
really read at all yet (except Eiko Kera's Atashinchi which is just a
gag manga). They are not hopelessly romantic, are they?
Ping wrote:
>>>Didn't the compilation has "pastel" the word in English on the
cover?
>not on the lower left corner of book #3's cover? (at least I think
it is #3,
Oops. You're right. It's on the back cover of all the tankoubons.
Sorry for doubting you.
>it is a path that quite a few good mangaka started out with, first
>imitation (both story and art) then finding his/her own niche and
unique
>style,
I guess Katsura's Wingman has art like Mitsuru Adachi or Rumiko
Takahashi and a story like Ultraman or Kamen Rider.
>most of the time I find Ujin's art quite unsuitable for the kind of
the
>story he is telling, :) it would be better if he goes for the softer
H
>story like Tanaka Yutaka, instead of the weird, extreme hard core
stuffs.
You get the feeling that Ujin's editors are always trying to get him
to tone down the Tarantinoesque violence of his early works and the
overly graphic sex scenes, but he obviously doesn't like being
censored. Usually mangaka who want to do such graphic sex are forced
to work in relatively minor manga, but Ujin has somehow managed to get
hired by Young Jump!?
There are a couple of talented mangaka that I wished had someone else
write their stories: Takahiro Awatake
http://www.cx.sakura.ne.jp/~awatake/
has this nice Hayao Miyazakiesque style, but he doesn't flesh out his
characters at all. As an artist he has what it takes, but not as a
writer.
>imagine a 34 pages manga chapter devote to talking instead of
fighting
>it out.... :) then extend it into a mini arc of 3-5 chapters of
talking
>and more talking....
I'd love it. A manga version of the movie "My Dinner with Andre," and
we could have someone like Kazushi Hagiwara or Kazuhiro Ootomo do the
art.
>beside, think what girl would like a guy w/ a huge collection of
Batman
>merchandise?
I know a lot of guys like that. Have you ever seen the movie Free
Enterprise? One of the heros collects Star Trek action figures and he
eventually meets the girl of his dreams in a comic shop.
Anyway, I've got to run. More later.
Don Gordon
Ping Kuo
> >most of the time I find Ujin's art quite unsuitable for the kind of
> >story he is telling, :) it would be better if he goes for the softer H
> >story like Tanaka Yutaka, instead of the weird, extreme hard core
> stuffs.
> You get the feeling that Ujin's editors are always trying to get him
> to tone down the Tarantinoesque violence of his early works and the
> overly graphic sex scenes, but he obviously doesn't like being
> censored. Usually mangaka who want to do such graphic sex are forced
> to work in relatively minor manga, but Ujin has somehow managed to get
> hired by Young Jump!?
at that time there is no clear defined adult label, yet. the more sex
and violence you show in your manga the more it can sell the magazines,
it is not a hard choice for YJ at all, Ujin even at that time are famous
because his art is nice and willing to do fan services other self
respecting mangaka won't.
Ujin's story and art at that time are revolutionary, today it is pretty
tame by comparsion to other H titles, I guess you can call that
"progress".
> There are a couple of talented mangaka that I wished had someone else
> write their stories: Takahiro Awatake
> http://www.cx.sakura.ne.jp/~awatake/
> has this nice Hayao Miyazakiesque style, but he doesn't flesh out his
> characters at all. As an artist he has what it takes, but not as a
> writer.
I think I have seen some of his color CG on the net, at least I think I
have, nice art, but not the kind of character design style I like, even
Miyazaki's Nausicaa is a very full body and sexy girl compare to
Awatake's thin bambo stick. in fact I can't recall any specific manga
Awatake did, I always thought he was a CG artist like Kazuhiko Tsuzuki
other artists who need "good" ghost writer including Haruhiko Mikimoto
and Utatane Hiroyuki. (they already have writers for their stories, and
they are pretty much no good at all!)
> >imagine a 34 pages manga chapter devote to talking instead of
> fighting
> >it out.... :) then extend it into a mini arc of 3-5 chapters of
> talking
> >and more talking....
> I'd love it. A manga version of the movie "My Dinner with Andre," and
> we could have someone like Kazushi Hagiwara or Kazuhiro Ootomo do the
> art.
somebody show this guy Yokohama Shopping Guide please. :) not only
there is no fighting, there is hardly any talking.
but seriously, Hagiwara's art style would not fit a "quiet" type of
manga, his art is too "dirty", not clean enough, w/ too many things
going on the pages. while Ootomo's style always give you the sci-fi
realistic hard edge feeling and not "soft" enough, even Fujishima
Kousuke's style is better in that regard, Mikimoto would be perfect.
gozotgo
> I had kind of mixed feelings about Parallel because it was such an
> obvious Katsura ripoff, but I'm starting to quite like Pastel.
> Kobayashi is good at evoking the slow pace of rural life in Japan, and
> I find his work quite atmospheric. The story moves along at a very
> leisurely pace without much happening, but this reminds me of a lot of
> Japanese movies.
I liked Kobayashi's art, but... So, Pastel's "story" actually gets
better after volume 1?
> I really like Ujin's art, especially on Angel. He heaps a ludicrous
> amount of detail into his backgrounds. He's doing Gakuen Tengoku now
> for Young Jump and the school court yard or the teacher's room or the
Haven't all of U-Jin's recent comics been in Young Sunday? Is he
really in Young Jump now?
Also, at least since Yume Kamo Shinnai, I wonder if you can really
describe Hoshisato Mochiru as a RoCo-type mangaka anymore? More
"angst" than "laughs"! I guess readers still associate Hoshisato
with Living Game.
Don't try Jaja Uma Grooming Up! unless you're willing to wait for
15 tankouban before the RoCo stuff really starts happening. The
early volumes seem more to set up some characters' later disappointment
(those eyeglasses are a cop-out) than to advance the main relationship.
I am not saying that I didn't enjoy Jaja (I did, but I like "animal
thoughts"), but the drawn-out horse-races, while symbolic, reminded
me of the interminable competition sequences of Jump manga. IOW,
there's a good typical 10-volume RoCo padded out to 26 volumes of
Jaja. Where's the melodramatic horse-racing skulduggery: yakuza,
nose-sponges, hormones, etc.? Trying to figure out the assorted
"clever" horse names was not dramatic enough to draw out the story.
Peter Van Huffel
news:40deef5c.0311...@posting.google.com:
> donsg...@yahoo.co.jp (Don Gordon) wrote in message
news:<5cdc4523.03111...@posting.google.com>...
>> I had kind of mixed feelings about Parallel because it was such an
>> obvious Katsura ripoff, but I'm starting to quite like Pastel.
>> Kobayashi is good at evoking the slow pace of rural life in Japan, and
>> I find his work quite atmospheric. The story moves along at a very
>> leisurely pace without much happening, but this reminds me of a lot of
>> Japanese movies.
>
> I liked Kobayashi's art, but... So, Pastel's "story" actually gets
> better after volume 1?
>
>> I really like Ujin's art, especially on Angel. He heaps a ludicrous
>> amount of detail into his backgrounds. He's doing Gakuen Tengoku now
>> for Young Jump and the school court yard or the teacher's room or the
>
> Haven't all of U-Jin's recent comics been in Young Sunday? Is he
> really in Young Jump now?
>
> Also, at least since Yume Kamo Shinnai, I wonder if you can really
> describe Hoshisato Mochiru as a RoCo-type mangaka anymore? More
> "angst" than "laughs"! I guess readers still associate Hoshisato
> with Living Game.
IIRC, even Yume Kamo Shinnai had its fair share of comedic elements. If it
were all laughs, there wouldn't be much romance left. After all, what would a
good romance be without the painfully low times of relationships? Take MI for
instance, IIRC there wasn't that much to laugh about in the last few volumes.
On Hoshisato, with the exception of "Honki no Shirushi", most of the
descriptions I've read about more recent works of hoshisato still seemed to
indicate comedic elements.
> Don't try Jaja Uma Grooming Up! unless you're willing to wait for
> 15 tankouban before the RoCo stuff really starts happening. The
> early volumes seem more to set up some characters' later disappointment
> (those eyeglasses are a cop-out) than to advance the main relationship.
> I am not saying that I didn't enjoy Jaja (I did, but I like "animal
> thoughts"), but the drawn-out horse-races, while symbolic, reminded
> me of the interminable competition sequences of Jump manga. IOW,
> there's a good typical 10-volume RoCo padded out to 26 volumes of
> Jaja. Where's the melodramatic horse-racing skulduggery: yakuza,
> nose-sponges, hormones, etc.? Trying to figure out the assorted
> "clever" horse names was not dramatic enough to draw out the story.
--
Yaniv Tempelman
> > > funny? yes, very romantice? not until near the end, (the more it hurts
> > > the more she loves you? :) good graphic wise? some people like Chris
> > > would disagree with that statement, popular? very much so.
>
> > Compared with the first volumes of "Ai ga tomaranai", his artwork has
> > improved a lot.
>
> that can be said just about any mangakas and their first title, the
> artworks of the first chapter of UY, YAUA, and even Black Magic are
> quite different than Inu Yasha, A!MG, and GITS2,
I know, but in Ai ga tomaranai it really stands out IMO. At the
beginning it looks like a weak Aa Megamisama, really dull, but in the
latter volumes, it almost has reached the dynamic artwork of the first
volumes of Love Hina. Akamatsu began to publish it in a weekly
magazine (Shounen Magazine, IIRC) but he was unable to keep up the
speed/went sick, so he switched to a monthly magazine. That explains
the big improvement in his artwork between the volumes and also his
lamenting about the weekly schedule and no holidays in the Love Hina
volumes ^_^'
> > I don't consider his artwork to be original, but it's well handed with
> > all the screentones and it's very dynamic. The sort of commercial
> > artwork I like.
>
> improvement of screen tones is mostly the result of getting popular and
> have some money to able to hire more and better assistants. just about
> any big name title has good screen tones, of course, the abnormality is
> HunterXHunter,
Well, there are always exceptions like Hoshisato Mochiru who prefer to
work with hardly any screentones for the characters, but in weeklies
and especially big name shounen titles I must agree.
The work on screentones and photographic images in Love Hina is
amazing in the level of detail, mostly for background of real existing
scenery. There is a nice little section 'how to' section in volume 0.
--
Mata na
Ataru
Manga Takarajima http://www.manga-takarajima.mangafan.net/
Ping Kuo
rubhi...@hotmail.com (gozotgo) wrote:
> Don't try Jaja Uma Grooming Up! unless you're willing to wait for
> 15 tankouban before the RoCo stuff really starts happening. The
> early volumes seem more to set up some characters' later disappointment
> (those eyeglasses are a cop-out) than to advance the main relationship.
> I am not saying that I didn't enjoy Jaja (I did, but I like "animal
> thoughts"), but the drawn-out horse-races, while symbolic, reminded
> me of the interminable competition sequences of Jump manga. IOW,
> there's a good typical 10-volume RoCo padded out to 26 volumes of
> Jaja. Where's the melodramatic horse-racing skulduggery: yakuza,
> nose-sponges, hormones, etc.? Trying to figure out the assorted
> "clever" horse names was not dramatic enough to draw out the story.
well, there are tease here and there in the first 8, 9 books, it started
to pick up around #10, kind of like the relationship between the
characters, nice and slow and gradually simmiering to the boiling point
later, if it is all romance comedy and no horses then it is not real
life, and there would never be any chances for any characters to be
together, just like in a normal roco characters still have to go to work
and face their problems, and only with spare time do they think about
romance, is the horse thing carrying too far? a bit, probably, I find
myself usually "fast forward" them to get to the roco parts, but they
are enjoyable none the less.
My biggest problem, reading Chinese translation, is how the commerical
translator absolutely butcher the name of the horses, the same horse can
have different names in the different parts of the story, that is what
happen when you try to translate katakana back into their original
language (English, German, etc.) then again into Chinese, double, triple
translations, we can have the same horse with different names either by
sound or meaning, just an absolute nightmare, and the problem is, I
don't think that translator ever notice that he/she made those mistakes.
one last note on Jaja, in the last chapter, when the kid bump into a
girl, right before that, he noticed someone familiar, the face wasn't
shown, but the unique backpack was, so you know who's daughter of that
girl is?
hint, he just send an email.
this also remind me, lately there are many horse racing related titles
on various shonen magazines, an odd topic for shonen to say the least,
imagine if that comes out in US comic and what the PTA would say? but I
guess since Mahjong is also an acceptable topic then it is not out of
bound.
Chris Kern
<removeant...@earthlink.net> posted the following:
>In article <5cdc4523.03111...@posting.google.com>,
> donsg...@yahoo.co.jp (Don Gordon) wrote:
>> I'd love it. A manga version of the movie "My Dinner with Andre," and
>> we could have someone like Kazushi Hagiwara or Kazuhiro Ootomo do the
>> art.
>
>somebody show this guy Yokohama Shopping Guide please. :) not only
>there is no fighting, there is hardly any talking.
Well, I definitely recommend this (very highly) even though it's not a
romantic comedy. (Japanese title is Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou)
-Chris
Parvati V
>Thanks for the link. Your English looks pretty good to me.
Thanks #^^^#
>>If you like Nana you might also consider Tenshi Nanka Ja Nai, also by
>>Ai Yazawa.
>
>They are both shoujo manga, are they?
Yes. Nana is more adult (being on Cookie, more mature target) than
Tenshi though.
>That's one area I haven't
>really read at all yet (except Eiko Kera's Atashinchi which is just a
>gag manga). They are not hopelessly romantic, are they?
Depends on what you consider "hopeless" ^^^
Surely not more than Katsura anyway, on the contrary, I think they're
_less_ hopeless than Katsura (who said only shoujo manga tasted like
too much honey?)
gozotgo
> IIRC, even Yume Kamo Shinnai had its fair share of comedic elements. If it
> were all laughs, there wouldn't be much romance left. After all, what would a
> good romance be without the painfully low times of relationships? Take MI for
> instance, IIRC there wasn't that much to laugh about in the last few volumes.
> On Hoshisato, with the exception of "Honki no Shirushi", most of the
> descriptions I've read about more recent works of hoshisato still seemed to
> indicate comedic elements.
I liked the oppressive gloom of Dream with Ghost BETTER than I liked the
lighter Living Game. I've yet to find much more than "cute" situations
in Luna Heights. The emphasis seems much more on the drama in Hoshisato
nowadays. It makes for good manga but not necessarily RoCo...
Dream with Ghost seemed somehow darker, like Berserk, than the occasional
tears found in Maison Ikkoku or Marmalade Boy.
gozotgo
>In article <40deef5c.0311...@posting.google.com>,
>rubhi...@hotmail.com (gozotgo) wrote:
>
>> Don't try Jaja Uma Grooming Up! unless you're willing to wait for
>> 15 tankouban before the RoCo stuff really starts happening. The
> well, there are tease here and there in the first 8, 9 books, it started
> to pick up around #10, kind of like the relationship between the
> characters, nice and slow and gradually simmiering to the boiling point
> later, if it is all romance comedy and no horses then it is not real
> life, and there would never be any chances for any characters to be
> together, just like in a normal roco characters still have to go to work
> and face their problems, and only with spare time do they think about
> romance, is the horse thing carrying too far? a bit, probably, I find
> myself usually "fast forward" them to get to the roco parts, but they
> are enjoyable none the less.
Many RoCos are over after 15 volumes, but in Jaja Uma, the "lovers"
don't even kiss until volume 18! This gave me that Playstation Xenogears
disk1(too slow)/disk2(too much) story experience; most of the "big"
stuff happens in the last 8 tanks of Jaja Uma.
> one last note on Jaja, in the last chapter, when the kid bump into a
> girl, right before that, he noticed someone familiar, the face wasn't
> shown, but the unique backpack was, so you know who's daughter of that
> girl is?
>
> hint, he just send an email.
I always wonder what the "Mrs." of "Yotsuya"-type characters would look
like. "Do-ki"? Poor Kyouhei better hope that zaniness and gambler's
bad luck doesn't run in the family. But, couldn't the girl also be
some neighboring character, like little Daigo Satoru met Hibiki years
earlier? She doesn't look like a gaijin, but 2nd generation might
overcome that speaking with an accent. Then a "do-ki" wouldn't be so
ominous. :)
> this also remind me, lately there are many horse racing related titles
> on various shonen magazines, an odd topic for shonen to say the least,
> imagine if that comes out in US comic and what the PTA would say? but I
> guess since Mahjong is also an acceptable topic then it is not out of
> bound.
Seabiscuit movie was probably a bigger success in Japan than in U.S.
Don Gordon
v.12 (I liked the cover) and Chisa x Pon by Junko Nakano (a recent
Young Jump series about a high school couple slowly struggling toward
their first experience. I liked it, but the humor comes from the very
blunt reactions of the characters rather than gags).
I saw the cover of Love Roma (CLAMP says it's cute! cute! cute!), and
verified that "Kimagure Orange Road" does look a lot like "Angel" as
Ping says. I couldn't find the first volume of Ai Yazawa's Nana, but
it seems to be pretty popular. Couldn't find v. 1 of F-compo.
Yaniv wrote:
>I don't know if I should buy the other volumes on occasion... Does
the story
>get better with the following volumes?
gozotgo wrote:
>I liked Kobayashi's art, but... So, Pastel's "story" actually gets
better
>after volume 1?
I didn't say better. Around volume 4 of Pastel, he stops rewriting
Parallel(which is in turn based on Video Girl Ai and I's) and starts
coming up with ideas of his own. 4 leaves a bit of a sour taste as
there is a vindictive girl out to ruin Yuu's reputation. Volumes 5
and 6 are pretty sentimental, dealing with filial piety and the pain
of seperation. I still like the way he draws those winding hillside
alleyways, and the gentle camraderie among the characters. Still if
you've read volume 1 of either Parallel or Pastel, you've probably got
a pretty good idea of what his style is like.
gozotgo wrote:
>Haven't all of U-Jin's recent comics been in Young Sunday? Is he
really in
>Young Jump now?
I was pretty surprised too. As I mentioned the story is called Gakuen
Tengoku and it's been running since around Issue 48 or so. Chisa x
Pon and Miyasu Nonki's strips finished, so now they have Ujin,
Masakazu Katsura and Hiyoko Kobayashi doing their fan service strips.
Gakuen Tengoku looks promising, but I thought the same thing about
Sakura Tsuushin and Peach. I guess it'll still be three or four
months before it comes out in tankoubon. Zetman 2 is out on
Wednesday.
Ping wrote:
>this also remind me, lately there are many horse racing related
titles on
>various shonen magazines, an odd topic for shonen to say the least,
Of Shonen Jump's 3 million odd readers, I'm pretty sure quite a few of
them are much older than your average shonen.
Re. Ken Akamatsu's Love Hina, Yaniv wrote:
>I don't consider his artwork to be original, but it's well handed
with all
>the screentones and it's very dynamic. The sort of commercial artwork
I like.
I don't mind the art at all. I just wish Narusegawa would stop
punching Urushima so hard that he goes flying up in the air. I don't
think I'd want to date a girl that hit me that hard.
Ping wrote:
>at that time there is no clear defined adult label, yet.
Some Tankoubons have a yellow "Seijin Comikku" circle on them although
I admit it is not so common yet.
>the more sex and violence you show in your manga the more it can sell
the
>magazines,
I think really hardcore manga magazines (like YOUNG HIP, Papipo,
Kairakuten) do not sell very well. I think the reason that Shonen
Jump sells so well is that they manage to walk a fine line, providing
a tantalizing bit of fan service while still not offending too many
people.
>it is not a hard choice for YJ at all, Ujin even at that time are
famous
>because his art is nice and willing to do fan services other self
respecting
>mangaka won't.
I read an interview with Gou Nagai recently and he was saying that he
liked to draw naked women mostly for his own pleasure rather than as a
way to please his fans. I think a lot of the really good "fan
service" artists are like that; they get hooked on their own
creations.
>in fact I can't recall any specific manga Awatake did, I always
thought he
>was a CG artist like Kazuhiko Tsuzuki.
Awatake's stories are so weird, he's spent most of his career doing
doujinshi. Fox Shuppan just recently published Proxima 1.4, a
collection of all the work he's ever done for commercial publishers,
but Fox is an extremely minor publisher.
>Hagiwara's art style would not fit a "quiet" type of manga, his art
is
>too "dirty", not clean enough, w/ too many things going on the pages.
while
>Ootomo's style always give you the sci-fi realistic hard edge feeling
and
>not "soft" enough,
I think it is possible to do a story without fighting without having
that story have to be quiet. I really like Hagiwara and Ootomo's art,
but the fighting and the dark brooding melodrama are so much a part of
their comics I find it hard to relate.
Chris wrote:
>Well, I definitely recommend this (very highly) even though it's not
a
>romantic comedy. (Japanese title is Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou)
Another title to add to my list.
Parvati wrote:
>Depends on what you consider "hopeless" ^^^ Surely not more than
Katsura
>anyway, on the contrary, I think they're =less_ hopeless than Katsura
(who
>said only shoujo manga tasted like too much honey?)
Too much honey? I can kind of understand where he's coming from. All
the men are too handsome with stars twinkling in their eyes, and the
characters walk around in front of endless white backgrounds. The art
in Nana does look not too bad, but it's going to be an effort to
overcome my preconceptions about shoujo manga. I found even Shou
Kitagawa a bit much.
Yaniv wrote:
>The work on screentones and photographic images in Love Hina is
amazing in
>the level of detail, mostly for background of real existing scenery.
I haven't read that much of Love Hina, but my feeling is that people
like Masakazu Katsura, Ujin, and Fumio Nakajima have Akamatsu beaten
silly for the level of obsessive detail in their photographic images.
I don't really like Ayumi Tachihara, but he's another one of these
mangaka who goes wild with photos. Akamatsu sneaks in the odd photo
here or there, but a lot of his backgrounds are white or sketchy.
Nice work on the covers though.
Are there any other mangaka who make good use of photos? Tatsuya
Egawa used to do a little in Tokyo Daigaku Monogatari, but lately he's
gone to white backgrounds.
Don Gordon
Ping Kuo
> verified that "Kimagure Orange Road" does look a lot like "Angel" as
> Ping says.
ah, it's Angel which looks like KOR both in character design and story
set up, not the other way around, KOR is the bigger name and predate
Angel by quite a few years.
> I think really hardcore manga magazines (like YOUNG HIP, Papipo,
> Kairakuten) do not sell very well. I think the reason that Shonen
> Jump sells so well is that they manage to walk a fine line, providing
> a tantalizing bit of fan service while still not offending too many
> people.
and sometime they do step over the line, SJ's Video Girl Ai (censor
pages) and YS's Angel (out right canceled.) were what happened in the
earlier 90's, however, I think the same kind of manga would have no
problem running on the same magazine today in 2003.
> I read an interview with Gou Nagai recently and he was saying that he
> liked to draw naked women mostly for his own pleasure rather than as a
> way to please his fans. I think a lot of the really good "fan
> service" artists are like that; they get hooked on their own
> creations.
Go Nagai = John Manabe = Ujin
major domo hentai sukebe! :)
> Are there any other mangaka who make good use of photos? Tatsuya
> Egawa used to do a little in Tokyo Daigaku Monogatari, but lately he's
> gone to white backgrounds.
Yui Toshiki, when he gets tired of CG rendering and being lazy, Kagome,
Kagome is one prime example, of course, there is Tsukasa Hojo's Parrot,
the photo picture IS the background, highly recommended.
Parvati V
>Hi guys, I finally made it to a used book shop
[snip]
>I couldn't find the first volume of Ai Yazawa's Nana, but
>it seems to be pretty popular.
Don't hope to ever find it (and if you do, you find it at 300 yen...
well, not that much of a discount, ne?).
Old stories by Yazawa are just a little better (you still don't find
them much, but at least prices are the same as other used manga).
That's when popularity may become a problem >^<
Yaniv Tempelman
> I still like the way he draws those winding hillside
> alleyways, and the gentle camraderie among the characters.
Maybe you'll like the stories by O'ishi Masaru (he draws for Shounen
King, Shounen Gahousha Shuppan). For instance his 'Mizuiro'. The
stories are often set in the japanese countryside with charming
backgrounds. His designs are rather 'cartoonish', though.
> I think really hardcore manga magazines (like YOUNG HIP, Papipo,
> Kairakuten) do not sell very well.
They target a lot less people than the big shounen mags. Sales should
be around less than 100'000 up to 200'000 at best, whereas the 'Young'
line by the big companies should be around 500'000-800'000.
> Chris wrote:
> >Well, I definitely recommend this (very highly) even though it's not
> a
> >romantic comedy. (Japanese title is Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou)
>
> Another title to add to my list.
Yes, that's a must have for any die hard manga fan. It has incredibly
good artwork and a refreshing story. The only sad thing is, that there
is only one volume per year coming out. I'm collecting it since volume
five came out, and it's really frustrating to wait always one year
until the next volume ^^'
> I haven't read that much of Love Hina, but my feeling is that people
> like Masakazu Katsura, Ujin, and Fumio Nakajima have Akamatsu beaten
> silly for the level of obsessive detail in their photographic images.
You're right. But if one should name the guy who is most obsessed with
bizarre details and backgrounds, then it would probably be Ueshiba
Riichi. His volumes 12 & 13 of Discommunication are extreme in that
regard.
> Don Gordon
John C. Watson
removeantispampkuo-9...@news01.west.earthlink.net, "Ping
Kuo" <removeant...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>> Are there any other mangaka who make good use of photos? Tatsuya
>> Egawa used to do a little in Tokyo Daigaku Monogatari, but lately he's
>> gone to white backgrounds.
>
> Yui Toshiki, when he gets tired of CG rendering and being lazy, Kagome,
> Kagome is one prime example, of course, there is Tsukasa Hojo's Parrot,
> the photo picture IS the background, highly recommended.
Ryouichi Ikegami.
<http://users.skynet.be/mangaguide/au487.html>
Christian Schröder
> I've been looking around for interesting romantic comedy manga,
> especially ones with nice art.
What about Love Hina?
The Manga, not the Anime.
Since you like Katsura so much (like me) maybe you like this too.
(Funny and Sexy)
The Anime is nice too, but i still prever the Manga.
You mention I"s, so you know Video Girl AI?
The Older more famous work, but still a good Manga.
(Today would be DVD-Girl Ai... :-) )
And ef course DNA^2, Katzura too!
I like *this* very much, cause the Main Guy has a serious Problem.
Zetman2 you say?
You know that there is: "Shadow Lady", weekly based and very Katsura
like.
Ai is very "Yummie".
> Recent favourites include:
> Ichigo 100% by Mizuki Kawashita - high school boy pursued by 3 or 4
> different girls
> Refrain by Fumio Nakajima - ex-lover torn between revenge and passion
> for her former boyfriend. They are both married
> Okusama wa joshikousei by Hiyoko Kobayashi - high school teacher
> marries student but refuses to sleep with her till she's of age.
> Pasuteru by Toshihiko Kobayashi - High school boy finds himself living
> with his true love, very evocative
> Gacha gacha by Hiroyuki Tamakoshi - Girl's mind invaded by sexy game
> characters, boy protects her
That could be tipps for me. thx...
baba,
Cris
Peter Van Huffel
in Xnews, had to go to google.
Christian Schröder <Cris...@alb.de> wrote in
news:MPG.1a4a8d112...@news.t-online.de:
> Don Gordon schrieb:
>> I've been looking around for interesting romantic comedy manga,
>> especially ones with nice art.
>
> What about Love Hina?
> The Manga, not the Anime.
Though it is tempting to call Love Hina a romantic comedy, in my heart I
vehemently disagree with that classification. LH is simply harem manga, no
roco IMHO.
> Since you like Katsura so much (like me) maybe you like this too.
> (Funny and Sexy)
>
That's more like it.
> The Anime is nice too, but i still prever the Manga.
>
> You mention I"s, so you know Video Girl AI?
>
Since Gordon mentioned Den'ei shoujo ..., yeah he knew it.
> The Older more famous work, but still a good Manga.
> (Today would be DVD-Girl Ai... :-) )
>
> And ef course DNA^2, Katzura too!
> I like *this* very much, cause the Main Guy has a serious Problem.
Makes me remember the "boys night out" strips at sexylosers, the puking part
that is...
> Zetman2 you say?
>
> You know that there is: "Shadow Lady", weekly based and very Katsura
> like.
> Ai is very "Yummie".
>
>> Recent favourites include:
>> Ichigo 100% by Mizuki Kawashita - high school boy pursued by 3 or 4
>> different girls
RAM-strawberry bashers, lash out! ^_^
>> Refrain by Fumio Nakajima - ex-lover torn between revenge and passion
>> for her former boyfriend. They are both married
doesn't ring a bell.
>> Okusama wa joshikousei by Hiyoko Kobayashi - high school teacher
>> marries student but refuses to sleep with her till she's of age.
>> Pasuteru by Toshihiko Kobayashi - High school boy finds himself living
>> with his true love, very evocative
Pastel, has been discussed in this thread, IIRC.
>> Gacha gacha by Hiroyuki Tamakoshi - Girl's mind invaded by sexy game
>> characters, boy protects her
>
> That could be tipps for me. thx...
>
> baba,
> Cris
--