Karneval
Well now that I am almost done reading the scanlations for this I thought I would do a little review/impression.
I don't usually start long ongoing manga series in scanlation form so why Karneval? Well frankly I have a seiyuu weakness and two of my favorites will be playing leads in the upcoming spring anime (Kamiya Hiroshi & Miyano Mamoru). There are also a bunch of drama CDs for this manga and my original plan was to read this on the plane with the drama CDS (which I still might end up doing but now it will be a re-read). However I lost my electricity during Sandy for 12 hours and reading Karneval was one of the only things I could do to keep myself sane so I just kept reading...
Anyways the fact that I kept reading shows I did enjoy this series, although it has a really slow start. It's a lot of fun to read and I really enjoy the 4 main characters (Gareki, Nai, Tsukumo, and Yogi) and the relationship they form with each other. The manga-ka's artwork is also exceptionally nice. Gareki's character development and path is probably the easiest to see and hence if the anime is smart it will end at chapter 37 where I believe Gareki's character reaches a sort of epiphany in his development (although he still has a ways to go since the story is continuing).
However as much as I like the core group of 4 there are way too many characters in Karneval. Way too many characters that get little to no development and way too many characters that bleed into each other & seem so similar that they can easily be combined into one character to cut the cast down.
I also hate to say this but the villains and overall conflict of the series are just not really all that interesting to me (well except for perhaps the character Karoku associated with Nai). When the series gets into plot and action I get sort of bored. I am much more interested in reading the characters interactions/bonding of the main 4 characters (all of which I said above are a lot of fun and make the series for me).
It might sound like I am being overly critical. I think Karneval is ultimately a fun read and I am definitely looking forward to the anime but if I do look at it with a more critical eye it is definitely a flawed work. But oh well nothing wrong with a bit of a guilty pleasure from time to time.
I don't usually start long ongoing manga series in scanlation form so why Karneval? Well frankly I have a seiyuu weakness and two of my favorites will be playing leads in the upcoming spring anime (Kamiya Hiroshi & Miyano Mamoru). There are also a bunch of drama CDs for this manga and my original plan was to read this on the plane with the drama CDS (which I still might end up doing but now it will be a re-read). However I lost my electricity during Sandy for 12 hours and reading Karneval was one of the only things I could do to keep myself sane so I just kept reading...
Anyways the fact that I kept reading shows I did enjoy this series, although it has a really slow start. It's a lot of fun to read and I really enjoy the 4 main characters (Gareki, Nai, Tsukumo, and Yogi) and the relationship they form with each other. The manga-ka's artwork is also exceptionally nice. Gareki's character development and path is probably the easiest to see and hence if the anime is smart it will end at chapter 37 where I believe Gareki's character reaches a sort of epiphany in his development (although he still has a ways to go since the story is continuing).
However as much as I like the core group of 4 there are way too many characters in Karneval. Way too many characters that get little to no development and way too many characters that bleed into each other & seem so similar that they can easily be combined into one character to cut the cast down.
I also hate to say this but the villains and overall conflict of the series are just not really all that interesting to me (well except for perhaps the character Karoku associated with Nai). When the series gets into plot and action I get sort of bored. I am much more interested in reading the characters interactions/bonding of the main 4 characters (all of which I said above are a lot of fun and make the series for me).
It might sound like I am being overly critical. I think Karneval is ultimately a fun read and I am definitely looking forward to the anime but if I do look at it with a more critical eye it is definitely a flawed work. But oh well nothing wrong with a bit of a guilty pleasure from time to time.