Comics Reviews

I actually checked that out at the book store last time I was there, and I really wanted to grab it but they had the edition of Ubel Blatt I was looking for so I had to leave it behind. The art style looked fantastic, a good amount of detail, but not polluted with it. I think I'm going to get this next time, it sounds really cool.

__________________

I'm talking about the manga, but if it has the same obnoxious romance in it...

I maintain that the Lord of the Rings movies are better than their novel counterparts.

I like the Japanese approach to romance, introverted and "stuck". I think you might like the movie more due to cultural proximity since its sensibilities are "westernized". Overall I found the manga excellent and short and sweet: since its a novel adaptation it lacks the issues you normally get regarding manga such as interminable stories that go on forever.

No, it's most definitely not that. There exists manga and anime that can properly develop romance within a sensical context. The excuse given for them to kill each other is beyond left field, let alone any of the total nonsense in the movie.

But it really stands to be asked why the story of All You Need Is Kill needed any romance in the first place. At least in Groundhog Day, it wasn't a war setting.

Also, anime cliches, anime cliches, anime cliches.

__________________
Movie Reviews | Anime Reviews
Top 100 Action Movie Countdown (2015): List | Thread
"Well, at least your intentions behind the UTTERLY DEVASTATING FAULTS IN YOUR LOGIC are good." - Captain Steel

@Above the Clouds, yep the art of Vinland Saga is pretty excellent modern manga art. Its not very cartoonish but not very realistic either, being at a careful balance.

15) Kingdom (2006-)



I am reading a lot of kingdom, now at chapter 190. This is certainly one of the most engaging stories I ever experienced, each chapter following the previous like a flow and I cannot stop reading. A genuine page turner. And despite being extremely entertaining it is also very powerful and artistically succesfull: it has a distinct art style while being attractive with characters that are easy to differentiate.

It still characterized by some manga clichés such as the use of feminine looking men to denote a person who is young and of high society or in position of great power. Well, in western comics there is extreme sexual diphormism, with men usually twice or thrice as big as women.

Anyway, what I like about kingdom is its reconstruction of China during the Warring States period back in the 3rd century BC. In he West at the same time Rome was emerging as a great power and began to conquer the Western Mediterranean, simultaneously, a massive Empire was established in the East by the state of Qin. This manga tells the story of the rise of a unified Chinese Empire through the eyes of a young soldier, Shin. And what a great story it is, really hits the spot for me, with its huge battles of armies of 100,000 men clashing over the battlefields of Ancient China.

Its emotional power is also enormous, I cried while reading it and if only happened in very few manga so far. I can only recall crying in Line Wolf and Cub, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou and Nausicaa.

There are no rules for how to write a story. If your story has romance and war, that's not "wrong". It worked for me quite well, given the little time they had to develop it.

I don't see what's cliche in the 2nd example. And I have no issue with the other clichés you mention, I think they are cool clichés, like the cliches of Leone's spaghetti westerns, well, at least I like those tropes. They have become part of Japanese culture already.

That's just it, you shouldn't have romance if you only have "little time to develop it".

Of course there are rules for writing stories, if there weren't then by what standards are you judging the writing?

Clumsy Is Sexy, Shower Scenes, and Blind Without 'Em are so far past obnoxious by this point, and not a one of them contributes anything to All You Need Is Kill. It's such a brief story, the moe, nudity, and cleavage comes across as nothing short of pandering. Besides, enough horrible things are excused because "it's already a part of our culture".

There are plenty of anime tropes I enjoy, transformation sequences for one, but numerous anime have already blown the whistle on the lowest-common-denominator tropes in All You Need Is Kill even before the novel ever came out.

When a gimmick is so prevalently used to sell a product that competitiors in your industry are actually TELLING consumers how you're trying to fool them into liking your product, STOP DOING IT.

This post is based on a true story.

So uh, do I dare ask if anyone read last years Secret Wars story arc in Marvel, or is this a Manga or die crowd?

DIE!!!!!!!!!!

Just kidding, I reviewed Watchmen here as well several months ago. So while most comics I read are manga I also read some western comics as well. But I haven't read significant amounts of American superhero comics in particular, however I am open to reading some of them.

16) Hitler (1971)



Excellent manga biography of Adolf. Poor Adolf, reading this I understand why he would want to murder whole populations, the dude's life was awful. His career as a painter was a disaster and he didn't get any, he even "kinda of" married his sister's daughter, who committed suicide because she wasn't allowed out of the house. Knowing his life it is no wonder the man wanted to see a lot of blood.

Adolf also became obssessed with German nationalism and the military as a way to escape the reality of his failed life as an artist. Before he became enamored with nationalism he was even trying to get away from mandatory conscription and escaped from Austria to Germany to do that. A few years later he was brainwashed into a hardcore German nationalist.

Enjoyment. So I don't need "rules", good is stuff that holds my attention, bad is the stuff I find boring.

You are complaining that it's not cliche enough now. Then later you complain it is cliche?

This is easy to understand. There exists Western clichés and Japanese clichés. You like Western clichés and complain when a Japanese narrative does not follow these clichés while at the same time complaining about the use of Japanese clichés in a Japanese narrative. Well,I guess you should try to change your expectations and standards when consuming Japanese culture.

That one I actually dislike. I always jump over transformation sequences because I think they are just too silly.

No, the novel came out back in 2004, Lucky Star is from 2007. Also, Lucky Star is not clearly condemning the use of these tropes in the video you linked but more like celebrating them in my impression

So your sense of enjoyment is completely unhinged from any insistence on narrative cohesion, thematic consistency, and character realism? That would go a long ways to explain why we have very different thoughts on the same movies.

What? No. What?

Not in the slightest. I give western cliches just as much ****. In fact, a lot of cliches appear on both sides. I'm not really sure why you're distinguishing them.

...you've completely lost me. Why should I do that? Because pandering and messy narratives suddenly don't matter in Japan? They do. Just like they do everywhere else.

Really? So fanservice and female character archetypes that have been done to death so hard that the grim reaper herself is a Genki Girl are acceptable, but a hype montage... that's too silly?


It doesn't have to condemn them to draw attention to them. The point is we're well past acknowledging that only the uninitiated might not know when the material is talking down to them. Lucky Star is like a capstone, it's time to forge new tropes, not continue playing to the old ones when you've already been outed.

It's like doing stage magic when the audience already knows how the trick is done and the scantily-clad girls are just there to do a really transparent job of covering up the fact that you have absolutely nothing new to offer.

You know, there isn't anything I can really say after this:
That's like saying the Earth is flat. How can I argue with that?

I find it funny how you, Omnizoa, will argue with a post bit by bit and nit pick at it instead of looking at the whole picture and trying to actually understand what the other person is saying.

There's so many things wrong with this. If he has completely lost you, then why are you arguing? Ask for clarification and explanation. Don't argue when you don't understand what the other person is talking about. Seriously, you argue way too much, and you have no idea what you're even talking about. I think the problem is that you argue so much in so many different threads that you loose track of your own arguments and can't follow them.

I wasn't following the argument, but I just scrolled up and read it and it's obvious that Guap is referring to the way you criticised All You Need is Kill for not following "narrative rules" and then proceeded to complain about Anime cliches. There's cliches you like and cliches you dislike, and you criticise and praise them accordingly to what they have that you dislike or like. So why is it so hard for you to understand when other people do that just because what they like and dislike is different from what you like and dislike? And you think I'm "obtuse."

lol

That specific point has lost me, which is why I respond to each point in sections. Rather than overlooking specific arguments in favor of broad disagreements, I deconstruct posts in order to present constructive ones in turn.

And you antagonize way too much. I believe Guaporense and I can have a civil discussion without your flammatory interjections.

This is precisely why I respond in parts because when you don't, your responses are liable to color the opposing side with gross simplifications, thereby missing the point.

Didn't you JUST say that I lose track of my own arguments and can't follow them? I'm pretty sure that was Iroquois's quote.

I don't think you're obtuse, Zotis, I think you're hilarious.

comics don't like, they are the roof people moving out and then not ponyatka happen with all sorts of people

Whachoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?

Those are clichés. Art csn just be novelty. It does not need to follow previous standards.

Its very common for Westerners to evaluate Japanese culture from their Western standards of what's good or bad. I have the impression you are doing that sometimes when you talk about Japanese stuff. Its very common among Western animation fans to complain about the fact that Japanese pop culture "panders to otaku".

Here that you are mistaken. Japanese culture does not place as much emphasis on adequating their narratives to Western standards of consistency. Also, " pandering " is universal, since everything has a target audience, people who complain about pandering and messy are projecting their own perception, that is culturay conditioned, of what is pandering or messy. Its essentially ethnocentrism.

Yep. Fanservice is of universal appeal. I like these Japanese character archetypes, the idea that clumsy girls are cool is from the facts that: men feel intimidated by powerful women making them clumsy makes then appear less intimidating and more amiable.

I find transformation sequences silly for the most part. Why? I don't know I just dislike looking at them. Although there are some that are cool (Nanoha movies) most are not:



Well, I sometimes enjoy a good repetition of old tropes that is made well. In fact, that's the reason why people read old books, since there is nothing new there by definition.

All I Need is Kill is an excellently executed manga that uses some clichés of Japanese culture from time to time. That's not a problem for me that ruined my experience reading it.

You put it perfectly there was no need for me to add anything else.

There's no point in arguing with him Guap. He just argues endlessly and commits every logical fallacy incessantly. He's not capable of addressing a point, only misdirecting endlessly. It's best to ignore him.

Damn. This is like a Manga world up in heyar'! Of course theres japanese kids that love only the western books.

Anybody ever read Dave Sims Cerebus? Neil Gaimans Sandman? Alan Moores Swamp Thing? Preacher was good till it ended like Inglorious Basterds. Total cop out.