Well, Roll me in fudge and bake me....
Double Manga Review: Japan Tengu Party and Jisatsu Circle (aka Suicide Club).
Well. I was bored, Again. The webcomics aren't updating as fast as I'd like, I'm scared of watching any new movies on the web fearing that they're gonna suck, and I don't know any more good new music I can access to at the very spur of the moment.
So there I was, alone, not feeling like getting up and play dress up with my eyeshadows and eyeliners, and perfectly comfortable with the warmth of the lap top on my lap. So, I willingly venture back to onemanga.com, even though it meant having to go through a whole mess of popular and kiddie-like comics from japan.
So I went through the list, picking titles that seem adult and interesting, and checking though them for any dumb cliches before abandoning them quickly when it's obvious that there ain't anything redeeming about them. I read Cesare, a total yaoi comic (though pretending that they're not) about the Borgias, only that they kept making Bishounen!Cesare seem more as an ambitious anti-hero of justice, and not like the stinkin' sister-slammer he really is...I also read Miriam, believing it interesting, when really it's shoujo. But not the good shoujo like Bride of Deimos so I quickly skedaddled then.
But two mangas got me keep readin' so here's my review on the two of 'em. ^_^
Jisatsu Circle:
Based off of a movie with the same name, this manga however, was cautioned to be although unlike the movie, it's also very extreme in sexual content, gore, and all in a very disturbing way.
Me: Oh great. (clicks)
Now there's one thing I hate about almost all japanese horror. I like the traditional kind, the feeling you get when you hear a chilling tale spoken by your loved ones in the comfort by the fire, or listening a legend when you're out hanging with a close friend. But modern japanese horror hypes tends to try to be shocking, and it gets old and cliched after you watched your first Ringu or Grudge. In the end, you feel like after hearing the latest news of japanese horror...
"Oh, so it's a movie of a ghost that calls people and they die?? How original."
"There's a movie too about spirals? Lemme guess, everyone's gonna die. Fun."
"...Another sequel to One Missed Call? I am so...excited."
I'll leave it to that. I also saw the scanslated cover of Jisastu Circle. Schoolgirls (T_Y). Definitely a story of something sexual and sadistic.
The story, as it turns out, is a tale about a strange phenomena in one group of girls. One day in a train station, a large group of them walked down to the platform, chattering excitedly amongst themselves, almost as they are heading out to a field trip that actually holds their girlish interests. Then, in one bizarre movement, all of the smiling girls got together into a straight line, right over at the edge of the platform. Holding hands, the girls started to count as the metro train rumbled towards them. And at the count of three, every one of them jumped right in front of it.
So. Obviously everybody dies, save, bizarrely one single girl, standing there crying for her lost friend.
That girl's name is Saya. And she is really fucked up.
I don't generally have any sympathy for gals that cut themselves. Of course they always do so because they are usually suffering, or want to really off themselves...but for fuck's sakes do it right.
Well Saya seems to be one heck of a masochist. She has the right to be psychologically warped though, since she's strapped in an incestous relationship with her dad, and to prostitution by her own father.
UM. Do mouths really move like that???
Thus, this manga revolves around her descent to insanity, and something supernatural too, where a dead girl's identity slowly transform once more inside of her.
Frankly, this thing is REALLY similar to the Ring: virus. Sadako being reborn by the women who watched the tape.
Only that whenever a group of the suicide club kill themselves in masse, one is miraculously left alive to carry on the tradition in another time.
Although very interesting, the concept behind it is nothing new. Plus, dramatic suicidal chicks is so MEH. EVEN Japanese schoolgirl suicidal chicks.
*GROAN* OH JUST SHUT UP!
So overall...
Jisatsu Circle: B-
The Japan Tengu Party:
NOW THIS is what I'm talking about.
When I first saw the art I have to admit, I was almost not impressed. Spoiled by pretty anime people and glittery backgrounds, I was blinking to myself a the heavy black outlines that squiggled all over the pages. But as I let myself get carried away by the story, I finally understood that that shit was COOL.
I haven't read that far ahead to know all too clearly of the main storyline. Only that, now that we're replacing vast valleys of once rural land into concrete jungles, and had mostly given up believing our folklore and mythology. So creatures, like Tengus are forced to live among us. Especially, strange enough, runaway human Shinobu.
Shinobu's a young woman living with her master a Tengu as his next disciple, having been raised by him after running away from her family. Now scavenging for food in trashcans and dealing with an arrogant master, Shinobu inwardly longs to be normal again. Which isn't easy when someone else has already made a replacement to take her stead there, and she seems to keep freaking out her other relatives.
But things get a little bit more interesting when she finds out that the replacement does not look like her at all, and a frickin' creepy man posing as her family's uncle is showing more power of the occult than a human should.
The way the plot was chugging was pretty simplistic and slow, however, the whole manga redeems itself by its unusual and zany characters. Their personalities literally take over scenes, erasing any kind of boredom that any reader can feel if it was handled otherwise.
One little girl for example, found by Shinobu and her master one winter night, is a bored and dispirited child who liked beer and sleeping outside over the snow. Even the main character Shinobu, despite being a manga character AND a girl, shows that she's got a heck of a pair of balls without being over-the-top aggressive.
Here, take a look!
Here's a scene with her rummaging through her old home with her friends...when she finds something grisly...(read from right to left)
Suddenly, the frightening 'uncle' discovers them, and as soon as he barges through the door...
HOLY. SHIT. Did YOU just read that?! She just calmly THREW that corpse of a mud-doll of herself RIGHT at the villain! How many characters there are that don't angst and cling to things like that? OH MY GOD.
See what I mean, this tale is different. DIFFERENT IN A FRIGGIN' GOOD WAY.
It's thoughtful, bizarre, well-done and very precise. I'm gonna rush and read the rest as soon as I can. 'Cause I think I'm looking at a definite A+ manga. Wow, I hadn't even done a review without as much spoilers.
Well. I was bored, Again. The webcomics aren't updating as fast as I'd like, I'm scared of watching any new movies on the web fearing that they're gonna suck, and I don't know any more good new music I can access to at the very spur of the moment.
So there I was, alone, not feeling like getting up and play dress up with my eyeshadows and eyeliners, and perfectly comfortable with the warmth of the lap top on my lap. So, I willingly venture back to onemanga.com, even though it meant having to go through a whole mess of popular and kiddie-like comics from japan.
So I went through the list, picking titles that seem adult and interesting, and checking though them for any dumb cliches before abandoning them quickly when it's obvious that there ain't anything redeeming about them. I read Cesare, a total yaoi comic (though pretending that they're not) about the Borgias, only that they kept making Bishounen!Cesare seem more as an ambitious anti-hero of justice, and not like the stinkin' sister-slammer he really is...I also read Miriam, believing it interesting, when really it's shoujo. But not the good shoujo like Bride of Deimos so I quickly skedaddled then.
But two mangas got me keep readin' so here's my review on the two of 'em. ^_^
Jisatsu Circle:
Based off of a movie with the same name, this manga however, was cautioned to be although unlike the movie, it's also very extreme in sexual content, gore, and all in a very disturbing way.
Me: Oh great. (clicks)
Now there's one thing I hate about almost all japanese horror. I like the traditional kind, the feeling you get when you hear a chilling tale spoken by your loved ones in the comfort by the fire, or listening a legend when you're out hanging with a close friend. But modern japanese horror hypes tends to try to be shocking, and it gets old and cliched after you watched your first Ringu or Grudge. In the end, you feel like after hearing the latest news of japanese horror...
"Oh, so it's a movie of a ghost that calls people and they die?? How original."
"There's a movie too about spirals? Lemme guess, everyone's gonna die. Fun."
"...Another sequel to One Missed Call? I am so...excited."
I'll leave it to that. I also saw the scanslated cover of Jisastu Circle. Schoolgirls (T_Y). Definitely a story of something sexual and sadistic.
The story, as it turns out, is a tale about a strange phenomena in one group of girls. One day in a train station, a large group of them walked down to the platform, chattering excitedly amongst themselves, almost as they are heading out to a field trip that actually holds their girlish interests. Then, in one bizarre movement, all of the smiling girls got together into a straight line, right over at the edge of the platform. Holding hands, the girls started to count as the metro train rumbled towards them. And at the count of three, every one of them jumped right in front of it.
So. Obviously everybody dies, save, bizarrely one single girl, standing there crying for her lost friend.
That girl's name is Saya. And she is really fucked up.
I don't generally have any sympathy for gals that cut themselves. Of course they always do so because they are usually suffering, or want to really off themselves...but for fuck's sakes do it right.
Well Saya seems to be one heck of a masochist. She has the right to be psychologically warped though, since she's strapped in an incestous relationship with her dad, and to prostitution by her own father.
UM. Do mouths really move like that???
Thus, this manga revolves around her descent to insanity, and something supernatural too, where a dead girl's identity slowly transform once more inside of her.
Frankly, this thing is REALLY similar to the Ring: virus. Sadako being reborn by the women who watched the tape.
Only that whenever a group of the suicide club kill themselves in masse, one is miraculously left alive to carry on the tradition in another time.
Although very interesting, the concept behind it is nothing new. Plus, dramatic suicidal chicks is so MEH. EVEN Japanese schoolgirl suicidal chicks.
*GROAN* OH JUST SHUT UP!
So overall...
Jisatsu Circle: B-
The Japan Tengu Party:
NOW THIS is what I'm talking about.
When I first saw the art I have to admit, I was almost not impressed. Spoiled by pretty anime people and glittery backgrounds, I was blinking to myself a the heavy black outlines that squiggled all over the pages. But as I let myself get carried away by the story, I finally understood that that shit was COOL.
I haven't read that far ahead to know all too clearly of the main storyline. Only that, now that we're replacing vast valleys of once rural land into concrete jungles, and had mostly given up believing our folklore and mythology. So creatures, like Tengus are forced to live among us. Especially, strange enough, runaway human Shinobu.
Shinobu's a young woman living with her master a Tengu as his next disciple, having been raised by him after running away from her family. Now scavenging for food in trashcans and dealing with an arrogant master, Shinobu inwardly longs to be normal again. Which isn't easy when someone else has already made a replacement to take her stead there, and she seems to keep freaking out her other relatives.
But things get a little bit more interesting when she finds out that the replacement does not look like her at all, and a frickin' creepy man posing as her family's uncle is showing more power of the occult than a human should.
The way the plot was chugging was pretty simplistic and slow, however, the whole manga redeems itself by its unusual and zany characters. Their personalities literally take over scenes, erasing any kind of boredom that any reader can feel if it was handled otherwise.
One little girl for example, found by Shinobu and her master one winter night, is a bored and dispirited child who liked beer and sleeping outside over the snow. Even the main character Shinobu, despite being a manga character AND a girl, shows that she's got a heck of a pair of balls without being over-the-top aggressive.
Here, take a look!
Here's a scene with her rummaging through her old home with her friends...when she finds something grisly...(read from right to left)
Suddenly, the frightening 'uncle' discovers them, and as soon as he barges through the door...
HOLY. SHIT. Did YOU just read that?! She just calmly THREW that corpse of a mud-doll of herself RIGHT at the villain! How many characters there are that don't angst and cling to things like that? OH MY GOD.
See what I mean, this tale is different. DIFFERENT IN A FRIGGIN' GOOD WAY.
It's thoughtful, bizarre, well-done and very precise. I'm gonna rush and read the rest as soon as I can. 'Cause I think I'm looking at a definite A+ manga. Wow, I hadn't even done a review without as much spoilers.