Stuff I have read
Steven Brust, Jhegaala: Vlad can't catch a break, can he? And he made it sound like he had an okay time out East when he mentioned it later. I think I was expecting - well, plot, sure - but more nuanced character development about Vlad not being able to connect entirely with his roots, the alienation of the third-gen immigrant from dual conflicting identities et cetera and so forth, not TORTURE. XD;; This was as much a cut-and-dry procedural as the Indridason the other week, down to the repetitive structure of "I got up, did some investigating, ran into brick walls, got drunk at the hotel bar before going back up to my room. Next day, got up..." Basically, Vlad is the catalyst for the combustion of a preexisting situation, but he has no idea what's going on for the longest time. And then he's flat on his back and miserable, which I felt for because I read the book while flat on my back completely exhausted. XD;
After I posted about Issola I searched up a review of Jhegaala from a flister I didn't read due to spoilers, and now I'm going nuts because I can't find it anymore.
Yamane Ayano, the end of Viewfinder (OMEDETOU!!): I really didn't know how this ended. XDD The last chapter I'd read was the one in which Feilong sits on Asami and they have an awkward conversation, and that only partially. It's as hilarious as I'd hoped and more: it literally took me three hours to read the one tankoubon because I had to stop every two pages to LOL IRL. And also because my Japanese has gone down the tubes. But mostly because shiz is hilarious.
My 2006 predictions came true, with the major difference being Mikhail who grew a personality (...and, I could swear, different hair). Which is hilarious.
Asami: Are you trying to make me angry?
Mikhail (reasonably): Asami, you're already angry.
Mikhail: Unlike Feilong, I'm basically a rational person.
Mikhail: So how's it going with the two of you.
Asami and Feilong: *awkward silence, lack of eye contact*
Mikhail: Not that you should team up or anything, don't get me wrong.
I appreciate Yamane, rather than tying up loose ends, just blowing it the hell wide open as she chugs full-steam toward the ending, letting chips fall as they may with the intent of sorting them out in future when she decides to pick them up again.* By this point she has the makings of an entire Feilong-centric spinoff in which he actually gets to be the hime-sama he's most comfortable being. But I don't think she wants this 'verse without Asami front and centre... XD Reading her afterword it's clear (and anyway she'd said it before) that if she'd had her druthers Feilong would've been a lot more OTT crazy and villainous and shot more ppl eventually coming to a operatically tragic end probably redeeming himself for his lost love etcetc, but that just became a no-go, both fan-wise** and... well, this is not the character you've written, lady. The tragic ending would've been for Feilong to spark off a three-way bloodbath (in fact, if this were gangster-flick "realistic" the Takaba-Yuri-Yoh chase would've done so regardless); instead he loses control of the situation early on and simply never regains it. There are epic conversations. About feelings. The whole affair becomes so awkward by the end that when Takaba tells everyone what to do they go along with it, even the Moscovite irruption.
The other thing is that the tankoubon-only story is essential! What I like about Yamane is that she may write OTT kink meme sex but her view of... human relationships?... is fundamentally level-headed such that she'll never be unintentionally creepy. So I was thinking, is Yamane in her infinite wisdom seriously going to leave this on a note of "my past life is but a fleeting dream for I can think of nothing but you," and... she didn't! Asami talks and everything. XD Kind of amazing that Takaba is finally able to model a mental concept of Asami as a dude who has feelings, A HEART etc. by... grokking what Feilong wanted from Asami? And then deciding that he can't play this game and expect to win without SELF-ACTUALIZATION. Because that is clearly what Asami was trying to get Feilong to do all along: self-actualize. &bawling; Meanwhile Yamane rants in the afterword about this being the "fruity drink" version of the manga, which I eventually understood to mean that she has a sort of mental image of Asami-as-evil-mobster-boss-dressup-fashion-paper-doll, with different objects in his hand eg. gun, cell phone, whiskey glass... fruity drink with umbrella in. And matching popped-collar designer polo.
* What on earth were Mikhail's scars about? He might have been talking about Yuri but they clearly didn't have that kind of relationship.
** The fans clapped for Yoh too, like Tinkerbell. Me, I was glad that Kirishima survived taking a bullet for Takaba, given my inexplicable fondness for Asami's lieutenants. XD;
tl;dr in conclusion this manga is epic comedy
After I posted about Issola I searched up a review of Jhegaala from a flister I didn't read due to spoilers, and now I'm going nuts because I can't find it anymore.
Yamane Ayano, the end of Viewfinder (OMEDETOU!!): I really didn't know how this ended. XDD The last chapter I'd read was the one in which Feilong sits on Asami and they have an awkward conversation, and that only partially. It's as hilarious as I'd hoped and more: it literally took me three hours to read the one tankoubon because I had to stop every two pages to LOL IRL. And also because my Japanese has gone down the tubes. But mostly because shiz is hilarious.
My 2006 predictions came true, with the major difference being Mikhail who grew a personality (...and, I could swear, different hair). Which is hilarious.
Asami: Are you trying to make me angry?
Mikhail (reasonably): Asami, you're already angry.
Mikhail: Unlike Feilong, I'm basically a rational person.
Mikhail: So how's it going with the two of you.
Asami and Feilong: *awkward silence, lack of eye contact*
Mikhail: Not that you should team up or anything, don't get me wrong.
I appreciate Yamane, rather than tying up loose ends, just blowing it the hell wide open as she chugs full-steam toward the ending, letting chips fall as they may with the intent of sorting them out in future when she decides to pick them up again.* By this point she has the makings of an entire Feilong-centric spinoff in which he actually gets to be the hime-sama he's most comfortable being. But I don't think she wants this 'verse without Asami front and centre... XD Reading her afterword it's clear (and anyway she'd said it before) that if she'd had her druthers Feilong would've been a lot more OTT crazy and villainous and shot more ppl eventually coming to a operatically tragic end probably redeeming himself for his lost love etcetc, but that just became a no-go, both fan-wise** and... well, this is not the character you've written, lady. The tragic ending would've been for Feilong to spark off a three-way bloodbath (in fact, if this were gangster-flick "realistic" the Takaba-Yuri-Yoh chase would've done so regardless); instead he loses control of the situation early on and simply never regains it. There are epic conversations. About feelings. The whole affair becomes so awkward by the end that when Takaba tells everyone what to do they go along with it, even the Moscovite irruption.
The other thing is that the tankoubon-only story is essential! What I like about Yamane is that she may write OTT kink meme sex but her view of... human relationships?... is fundamentally level-headed such that she'll never be unintentionally creepy. So I was thinking, is Yamane in her infinite wisdom seriously going to leave this on a note of "my past life is but a fleeting dream for I can think of nothing but you," and... she didn't! Asami talks and everything. XD Kind of amazing that Takaba is finally able to model a mental concept of Asami as a dude who has feelings, A HEART etc. by... grokking what Feilong wanted from Asami? And then deciding that he can't play this game and expect to win without SELF-ACTUALIZATION. Because that is clearly what Asami was trying to get Feilong to do all along: self-actualize. &bawling; Meanwhile Yamane rants in the afterword about this being the "fruity drink" version of the manga, which I eventually understood to mean that she has a sort of mental image of Asami-as-evil-mobster-boss-dressup-fashion-paper-doll, with different objects in his hand eg. gun, cell phone, whiskey glass... fruity drink with umbrella in. And matching popped-collar designer polo.
* What on earth were Mikhail's scars about? He might have been talking about Yuri but they clearly didn't have that kind of relationship.
** The fans clapped for Yoh too, like Tinkerbell. Me, I was glad that Kirishima survived taking a bullet for Takaba, given my inexplicable fondness for Asami's lieutenants. XD;
tl;dr in conclusion this manga is epic comedy