Magazine subscriptions
Sceadu
basis? For a weekly especially, having it shipped every week is murder. If they'd ship 4
issues in one lump at the end of the month, I think it'd be better. I know of some sites
like Fujisan that do subscriptions, but they tend to gouge the prices ($6 for a $2.50
magazine, plus shipping?). I wish the publishers offered downloadable PDF subscriptions
or something. -_-;
Sceadu
Chris Kern
<aeona...@NOhotmailANNOYINGSPAM.com> posted the following:
>Is there any company that will ship international magazine subscriptions on a monthly
>basis? For a weekly especially, having it shipped every week is murder. If they'd ship 4
>issues in one lump at the end of the month, I think it'd be better. I know of some sites
>like Fujisan that do subscriptions, but they tend to gouge the prices ($6 for a $2.50
>magazine, plus shipping?).
That does not sound like gouging. Do you have any idea how expensive
it is to send magazines from Japan to the US? Every time I have sent
magazines to the US, the shipping was more than double what the
magazine cost itself. Probably the stores get special bulk rates or
something, but $6 for $2.50 magazine does not sound that bad to me.
-Chris
Sceadu
news:jbj0qvokaigeusbq3...@4ax.com...
I know how expensive it is to send them, because I've ordered a lot of books before. -_-;
I mean, _in addition_ to shipping, they double or triple the street price of the actual
printed material alone. I like to use www.bk1.co.jp because they only charge the street
price, but unfortunately they only sell books. I realize that individuals who "forward"
books for a profit have to raise the price somewhat.
Sceadu
Ping Kuo
Chris Kern <chris...@yahoo.com> wrote:
Kino USA charge $5 UPS shipping, and $3-4 (not include tax) for a
typical SJ. the cheaper price means the magazine is shipped to US via
sea, which means around 3 weeks delay.
if you live around a Kino, you can subscribe to a magazine, (which will
get you 10-15% off stand price.) then pick it up at your leisure in
store and save yourself the shipping fee. which I understand is how
most Japanese in US subscribe to Japanese magazines.
details at kinokuniya.com
hey Chris, how come you are not talking about Hunter ch. 199? :)
--
Ping Kuo
removeantispamtomailmeatpkuoearthlinknet
standard disclaimers applied
Chris Kern
<removeant...@earthlink.net> posted the following:
>hey Chris, how come you are not talking about Hunter ch. 199? :)
I don't read HunterXHunter. I glance at it and chuckle and the
horrible art, but I don't read it.
On the other hand, Kannade is coming along quite well -- another
person with god-hand ability showed up but the main guy was able to
defeat him (doesn't seem that this can turn into a fighting series
because the main character can only use his power once a day). Now
they're off to find the Knight picture for the next piece of his
mother's message.
Don't Call me Thoroughbred is OK -- about to start the mini-tournament
to determine who will be the starters for the season.
I haven't been reading Sengoku Sasori Rappaden.
One Piece is at chapter 297 -- Luffy uses a gold ball to diffuse the
huge lightning mess, so now it's just time to kick Ener's ass and then
the skypeia arc can end.
Shaman King celebrated 5 years this week but I'm not caught up with
that series so I haven't been reading it.
20th Century Boys is a little slow lately but the last chapter or two
has picked up the pace and I think some big things are going to happen
in the next two weeks.
I've been reading old Golgo 13 volumes in bunko form; it's pretty
entertaining so far (just read the first 3 volumes).
-Chris
-Chris
Sceadu
You seem to like Weekly Jump the best. What other magazines are decent? I thought the
Enix Gangan monthlies had some interesting stories, but with a lot of magazines there's
only one or two titles I actually follow.
Sceadu
Chris Kern
<aeona...@NOhotmailANNOYINGSPAM.com> posted the following:
>You seem to like Weekly Jump the best. What other magazines are decent? I thought the
>Enix Gangan monthlies had some interesting stories, but with a lot of magazines there's
>only one or two titles I actually follow.
I buy three magazines: Weekly Shonen Jump, Big Comic Spirits, and
Afternoon (two weeklies and a monthly). I don't know what else
besides those magazines might be good.
(I actually like Afternoon the same or maybe better than SJ, but I
haven't gotten around to reading this month's yet so I didn't talk
about it at all.)
-Chris
Xela W.
news:removeantispampkuo-D...@news01.west.earthlink.net:
> hey Chris, how come you are not talking about Hunter ch. 199? :)
Maybe Togashi hasn't been taking his medications. Killing
off two semi-regular characters in less then a month surely is
unusual for a Shonen Junk title, but one shouldn't be surprised
because it is him afterall. They most probably won't come back
too because this is no stupid Bird Mountain's Drag-on Ball.
I'm just sick of some individuals here giving statements that
they think some titles suck because its artwork is "ugly." It is
basically the same childish logic as comparing games now to those made
10 years ago, saying games these days are "better."
Yes, these days games are visually more stunning ( most even have
long CG intermission movies! ), but so what? Is it fun to play? Does
it worth spending time with it? The eye candy are merely there are to
support the story, the characters, the designs, the game play, but these
days people put more attention to those eye candy rather then those
important issues. ( Mario and FFX, which is more fun to play? )
In some people's "modern standard," titles of Tezuka Osamu, Miuchi
Mizuzu, Ishinomori Shoutarou most probably will be branded as "ugly,"
hence, suck and not worth reading.
STORY and CHARACTERS are the most important elements in a manga,
the art is there to support them, if the story is not there, the title is
not worth reading. ( Or just read them for the visually exciting effect. )
Titles like Ookura Yuuto's Tenjo Tenge, Hagiwara Kazushi's Bastard, Utatane
Hiroyuki's Seraphic Feather surely fall into those categories. One can't
find another mangaka out there that is willing to draw elaborate
backgrounds brick by brick, pebble by pebble like Hagiwara!
Personally thinking, HxH is probably the best title in Junk besides
Naruto and Bleach in terms of interesting characters ( cool dialogs )
and unpredictable story. Let's bet, you know who you are, titles with
"ugly" art like HxH, Jargar, and Bobobo will last longer then "interesting"
cookie cutter titles with cookie cutter characters with formulic plots by
no name newbie artists like Kannade and Sengoku Rappaden. ( Space filler
crap that were thrown out to die prematurely. )
--Xela W.
Chris Kern
<removeantispam_jakyo_n...@yahoo.com> posted the
following:
>I'm just sick of some individuals here giving statements that
>they think some titles suck because its artwork is "ugly." It is
>basically the same childish logic as comparing games now to those made
>10 years ago, saying games these days are "better."
For the record, although I have criticized the art several times (and
I do think the art sucks), that is not the same thing as saying the
manga sucks. The reason I do not read HunterXHunter is that I don't
understand the manga because I don't know the premise behind it, who
any of the characters are, etc. -- and I don't feel like buying 20
volumes of manga to catch up on it. Nothing to do with the art at
all.
But I don't think it's entirely a problem to dislike a title because
of the art. The main thing that separates a manga from a book is that
the manga has many pictures (the pictures describe the action rather
than words). If the pictures are bad, then that's a perfectly valid
reason to dislike something. It's like a book that has a great story
and good characters, but is poorly written -- some people will still
like it, but poor writing is a valid reason to dislike something.
Video games are different because the old titles were limited by the
technology of the time. But the same is not true of manga.
>Personally thinking, HxH is probably the best title in Junk besides
>Naruto and Bleach in terms of interesting characters ( cool dialogs )
>and unpredictable story. Let's bet, you know who you are, titles with
>"ugly" art like HxH, Jargar, and Bobobo will last longer then "interesting"
>cookie cutter titles with cookie cutter characters with formulic plots by
>no name newbie artists like Kannade and Sengoku Rappaden. ( Space filler
>crap that were thrown out to die prematurely. )
Kannade is a lot better than Sengoku Sasori Rappaden to me -- I think
that's the best of the 3 new series that started and I hope that at
least it survives the chopping block (Thoroughbred is OK, I'll read it
as long as it's in the magazine, but I won't cry if it gets
cancelled.)
-Chris
Ping Kuo
"Xela W." <removeantispam_jakyo_n...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
> Ping Kuo <removeant...@earthlink.net> wrote in
> news:removeantispampkuo-D...@news01.west.earthlink.net:
> > hey Chris, how come you are not talking about Hunter ch. 199? :)
> Maybe Togashi hasn't been taking his medications. Killing
> off two semi-regular characters in less then a month surely is
> unusual for a Shonen Junk title, but one shouldn't be surprised
> because it is him afterall. They most probably won't come back
> too because this is no stupid Bird Mountain's Drag-on Ball.
the reason I asked, is because two weeks ago, that is all people on
tw.bbs.rec.comic talks about, for a ng which has 2-300 posts daily, I
estimated about 80%+ of them are about Hunter #199, to the point some
people are posting and complaing that the ng seems to be turning into a
hunter group, not that it would do them any good since nobody can read
the complaints in all the hunter flood. after Hikaru no Go is finished
Hunter is the undisputed #1 title there, (but HnG is still the only
manga with a direct link on tw.yahoo's cover page.)
for me who don't follow Hunter, (in fact, don't follow SJ period.) this
is highly amusing to see. you see all kind of human emotions there,
from people bemoaning the fact that another of their favor character
died, ("he should be more careful when he fights, he must not be taking
xxxxxxxx seriously." as if he is a real person! :) to "hatred" toward
the author, w/ mock news about Togashi being attacked by fans, to
denial, (he will be reborned, won't he?) to over analysis, (xxxxxxx will
be the third weapons,) etc, etc. I must say it is very entertaining, in
fact, probably more interesting than most of the manga I had read
recently. and that is only from reading the subject lines, (I don't
think I want to read every single post there.)
of course, when Hunter #200 comes out last week, another round of posts
follow, but not as furious as the one before, (says 50%?) I guess people
started to realized their foolishness in speculating a manga's direction
w/o even giving time for the story to develop, (not even one chapter!)
> I'm just sick of some individuals here giving statements that
> they think some titles suck because its artwork is "ugly." It is
umm, a little harsh? :)
I can see both points of view, in fact, I also belong to the group of
people who think good story trump good artwork, but also a while back,
we have a thread in RAM concerning what is manga, and we pretty much
reach the conclusion that manga is an entertainment just like TV
programs, it is NOT art, etc.
so like wise, we must make allowance for people's taste and preference,
because for some people art works do matter, me included, however, a
good story will increase my tolarance for bad artworks, it is not like
the manga industry are full with good story title like 20cb, etc. right
now I am trying to track down and read Pastel and GachaX2, and I am
certainly not trying to read them for their story. there are time I
just want a "stupid" title to relax and be entertained, B-horror movie
like army of darkness or B-manga like Love Hina are the best examples.
true story, I was in a manga rental shop, and overhearing 3 or 4
giggling girls talking about manga, and one girl voiced her comments on
Kiseiju, "you know, this is the manga that a boy recommended to me, and
I think there are something wrong with his taste, it is so UGLY, the
artwork is not PRETTY at all, and the STUPID story is all blood and
nothing else...." and all the other girls nodding their heads in
agreement, then they moved on to their favor titles, all of them shoujo
romance w/ lots of flower backgrounds, etc. things which I will hardly
give it a second look.
and I think Iwaaki's Historie is the most interesting title on Afternoon
right now, it has more potential than any other titles on the magazine,
which including the more flashy Tokko, because I have no idea what
direction it will take, OTOH I know exactly what kind of story Tokko
will be, as right now I am no even sure if Tokko will be better than the
first 20 books of 3x3 Eyes. superior artwork not withstanding.
> basically the same childish logic as comparing games now to those made
> 10 years ago, saying games these days are "better."
> Yes, these days games are visually more stunning ( most even have
> long CG intermission movies! ), but so what? Is it fun to play? Does
> it worth spending time with it? The eye candy are merely there are to
> support the story, the characters, the designs, the game play, but these
> days people put more attention to those eye candy rather then those
> important issues. ( Mario and FFX, which is more fun to play? )
actually, they are two different kind of games to do comparsion, (RPG vs
adventure.) a better analysis will be Mario Karte and any other super
fast racing game, or Mario and Sonic, Sega used to do ads showing how
slow Mario is and how fast Sonic are side by side, talk about ads which
are good looking and doesn't tell the whole story.
> In some people's "modern standard," titles of Tezuka Osamu, Miuchi
> Mizuzu, Ishinomori Shoutarou most probably will be branded as "ugly,"
> hence, suck and not worth reading.
artwork quality definitely are of the lower end, but story are pretty
much novel quality. one has to remember at that time many drawing
technique or equipments weren't even invented, yet. publisher editors
and drawing assistants also had not become the norm in the industry.
> STORY and CHARACTERS are the most important elements in a manga,
> the art is there to support them, if the story is not there, the title is
> not worth reading. ( Or just read them for the visually exciting effect. )
> Titles like Ookura Yuuto's Tenjo Tenge, Hagiwara Kazushi's Bastard, Utatane
> Hiroyuki's Seraphic Feather surely fall into those categories. One can't
I PROTEST! :) Tengo Tenge have 2 out of the 3 elements you talked
about, the characters are very strong, it is not even fair to be put in
the same class as Seraphic Feather, even the story is in the class of so
so or ok, not bad. Bastard is in another catagory entirely, since I
don't even like the artwork, is it good artwork, probably, but not the
klnd I like, I like clean, readable pictures,
> find another mangaka out there that is willing to draw elaborate
> backgrounds brick by brick, pebble by pebble like Hagiwara!
there are regular, meaningless details, and there are "details" which
actually mean something, try some of the chapter cover of
Discommunication and you will see.
> Personally thinking, HxH is probably the best title in Junk besides
I don't read Hunter not because I think it got bad artwork or story, I
don't read it for pretty much the same reason I don't read anything from
SJ, I think I have outgrow them, they bores me, heck, I am one of the
biggest Rumiko Takahashi fan and Inu Yasha bores me as much as
DragOnball, may be the reason is because Inu Yasha is exactly like DB,
strange consider IY will probably become the biggest hit Takahashi will
ever have, (even more than UY or Ranma)
James Moar
Xns94281C73FF58ja...@204.127.199.17, "Xela W."
<removeantispam_jakyo_n...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> In some people's "modern standard," titles of Tezuka Osamu, Miuchi
> Mizuzu, Ishinomori Shoutarou most probably will be branded as "ugly,"
> hence, suck and not worth reading.
Not mine. I've been picking up Tezuka books partly because of the art, and
got the first volume of Cyborg 009 partly because the art looked a lot like
Tezuka's. Their styles may not be in fashion, but they're hardly primitive.
--
James Moar
Sceadu
> I do think the art sucks), that is not the same thing as saying the
> manga sucks. The reason I do not read HunterXHunter is that I don't
> understand the manga because I don't know the premise behind it, who
> any of the characters are, etc. -- and I don't feel like buying 20
> volumes of manga to catch up on it. Nothing to do with the art at
> all.
For the record, there are only 18 volumes in print this month. :) Anyway, the title isn't
licensed yet, so a lot of groups have been scan-translating it...
http://www.brainfart.org/hxh/hxh1.html Heh, this is actually Toriyama's World. They've
done chapters 1-151 (v 1-15). There are Bittorrents in 5 volume chunks.
http://www.manga-section.com/main.php?p=downloads Manga-Section is a new group. They've
done chapters 154-187. The quality gets a lot better.
http://www.akatsukimanga.com/ Akatsuki manga has the fill 152-153 if you want them.
Unfortunately, you'll have to get them off IRC.
HxH has a pretty good story if you like the train-then-fight-badguys genre. The art is
pretty lousy sometimes, but the story arcs don't drag on forever like OP's do. >_<
Sceadu