Oh good god. Haha. I consider myself a fan of D but the books are so hilariously bad I don't even know where to begin. I haven't read the particular book you picked up because I never made it past the third in the series; they are, as you say, filled with awful cardboard characters, as well as a depressing amount of cheap, gratuitous violence and rape. The purple prose I could at least handle because it was humorous, but Kikuchi is not a skilled enough author to deal with the heavy issues present in his post-apocalyptic world.
I think of these books as sort of tragic because I find the setting very creative and interesting and brutal, and it might have been something excellent in the hands of another more talented author. I can't imagine anyone comparing Kikuchi to Stephen King unless they really, really hate Stephen King, or are absolutely nuts about Kikuchi's characters and have no other frame of reference as to the quality of the writing in these things. King is not a literary juggernaut by any means, but Kikuchi is not even at the level of a proficient fanfic author, and I can't rationalize blaming it on the translator. As you mentioned in your review there is a consistent lack of showing in favor of endless, hackneyed telling, and that's not something that magically appears via translation.
About the movies, I think you will find a lot of people view the first (older) film with rose-tinted glasses, perhaps because it was one of the earliest televised anime films "for adults". When I saw it at twelve, it was, in fact, a revelation, but upon rewatching I wasn't too impressed with the narrative or the animation quality. The newer film is beautifully animated to a degree I can't adequately describe but the plot doesn't measure up. For my part, I'll stick to hoarding Amano's art books for D and forget the rest.
I think of these books as sort of tragic because I find the setting very creative and interesting and brutal, and it might have been something excellent in the hands of another more talented author. I can't imagine anyone comparing Kikuchi to Stephen King unless they really, really hate Stephen King, or are absolutely nuts about Kikuchi's characters and have no other frame of reference as to the quality of the writing in these things. King is not a literary juggernaut by any means, but Kikuchi is not even at the level of a proficient fanfic author, and I can't rationalize blaming it on the translator. As you mentioned in your review there is a consistent lack of showing in favor of endless, hackneyed telling, and that's not something that magically appears via translation.
About the movies, I think you will find a lot of people view the first (older) film with rose-tinted glasses, perhaps because it was one of the earliest televised anime films "for adults". When I saw it at twelve, it was, in fact, a revelation, but upon rewatching I wasn't too impressed with the narrative or the animation quality. The newer film is beautifully animated to a degree I can't adequately describe but the plot doesn't measure up. For my part, I'll stick to hoarding Amano's art books for D and forget the rest.
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