historical manga
Am moodswinging like crazy so I'm gonna type this up before I forget
Gunka no Baltzar (I have NO idea where the "Baltzar Militarismus" name comes from, but if it's an official localization that has got to be the most stupid marketing choice I have ever seen) is basically a military fantasy based very loosely on 18th/19th century Prussia.
(I say fantasy but mean it in the sense that everything takes place in Fakelandia rather than magic being involved.)
I actually started reading this a few years ago, but scanlations are sloooow and it's a relatively young monthly series (~ four years), so never got around to posting about it. (At least I don't remember posting about it....)
It's basically a very accessible/human take on military history and the shift to modern warfare (including both technological and ideological shifts + delicious detail wrt both everyday logistics as well as tactics). Very interesting read, and the art is super nice. I don't know how solid the research is (I have never been particularly interested in this period), but it's very solid storytelling. <3
- - -
I have a huge weakness for historical seinen, in case you haven't been able to tell. :P My regular diet consists of the big shounen series, sure, with the occasional shoujo and josei... but my true love lies with historicals. Sadly, scanlations for these tend to be slooooooow.
(And sadly need to wade through a lot of pointlessly gory/over-the-top series sometimes to get my fix.)
(Blade of the Immortal is not on this list because I consider it more historical fantasy [even though the fantasy aspects are actually pretty low key, it's not so much about "history" as it is about the characters].)
Stuff I'm currently following, in no particular order:
- Gunka no Baltzar: See above. Probably the least historical of my list, but still pretty sexy since it's so grounded in the details.
- Vinland Saga: Vikings! We are now in the middle of Part 2, and although I still really miss one of the characters from Part 1, and found the whole farm arc (not the best descriptor but trying not to spoil) kinda slow, the story's moving along again and this mangaka can do no wrong for me after Planetes. Unlike most epic historicals this is (perhaps weirdly, considering the subject) not a war manga and is pretty low on tactics.
- Kingdom: epic tale of the rise of the Qin Emperor. I've posted about this before (too lazy to dig up link), and of my list IMO this series has the best female characters w/ the exception of Otoyomegatari. Actually I'm behind though because I've been saving up a huge chunk of the series to marathon as a reward to myself. Too bad it has the weakest art of all these series (the manga art isn't bad I think, it takes getting used to, but it's not super nice like some of the other series either)
- Billy Bat: Like I said in my recent post, it's basically the weirdest historical conspiracy thriller ever.
- Otoyomegatari: gloriously and beautifully detailed Central Asian slice of life. In which women's work and women's lives are lovingly depicted, but there is also violence lurking in the background (as such things do)
Stuff I used to follow:
- Historie: classical Greece. About Alexander the Great. It wasn't bad, but I didn't like the art that much, and found the characterization questionable sometimes. (I got as far as seeing some of the reveals of child!Alexander's psychological issues.) OTOH, loved the Scythian backstory and the tactics stuff. That said, I didn't so much drop this as forget to keep track of it. May pick it up again someday to see where it's gotten.
- Vagabond: About Miyamoto Musashi. Glorious art, but the story was draggy for me. I may pick this back up someday. (I got VERY far into it, for the record.)
- Cesare: About the Borgias. Meh. Dropped it for reasons I no longer fully remember. Well, I remember it feeling pretty shallow -- I think I resented that the characterization felt very "shoujo", with Cesare as the woobified Gary Stu. And the viewpoint character was insufferable. I dunno how anyone manages to fuck up a tale about the Borgias, but this one was just a snorefest.
- Ravages of Time: Yet Another Romance of the Three Kingdoms fictionalization. This one an HK manhua. I vaguely remember posting about this years ago. Very very good with the political plotting and such (as a Three Kingdoms series must), but eventually it got too convoluted for me and I decided to save the rest for marathoning someday or something.
Stuff I tried and dropped like a hot potato:
- Shoukoku no Altair: Like why the fuck do people even rec this as a historical. It reads much more like fantasy and the storytelling is painfully childish. I couldn't get past the first two chapters. Maybe if I get bored I'll give it another chance -- but only if I'm in the mood for fantasy, not history.
- Shutohel (rather unfortunately fan-translated as "Shut Hell"): Bizarre time-traveling gender-bending (modern male teen -> badass female warrior) action series set in the time of Genghis Khan. Yeah, you'd think I'd dig it with that premise. :P But the reality is disappointingly weird. It's actually not the supernatural genderbending time travel that gets me, it's the lack of rigor in the actual historical timeline.... lol. Part of that is down to the awful, awful translations -- but overall it's culturally "off" and really bad on those terms alone. That said, I lasted longer with this one than with Altair.
....
I bet I'm forgetting something, and there are some series I mean to try, but I should sleep now.
comments at the original Dreamwidth post
Gunka no Baltzar (I have NO idea where the "Baltzar Militarismus" name comes from, but if it's an official localization that has got to be the most stupid marketing choice I have ever seen) is basically a military fantasy based very loosely on 18th/19th century Prussia.
(I say fantasy but mean it in the sense that everything takes place in Fakelandia rather than magic being involved.)
I actually started reading this a few years ago, but scanlations are sloooow and it's a relatively young monthly series (~ four years), so never got around to posting about it. (At least I don't remember posting about it....)
It's basically a very accessible/human take on military history and the shift to modern warfare (including both technological and ideological shifts + delicious detail wrt both everyday logistics as well as tactics). Very interesting read, and the art is super nice. I don't know how solid the research is (I have never been particularly interested in this period), but it's very solid storytelling. <3
- - -
I have a huge weakness for historical seinen, in case you haven't been able to tell. :P My regular diet consists of the big shounen series, sure, with the occasional shoujo and josei... but my true love lies with historicals. Sadly, scanlations for these tend to be slooooooow.
(And sadly need to wade through a lot of pointlessly gory/over-the-top series sometimes to get my fix.)
(Blade of the Immortal is not on this list because I consider it more historical fantasy [even though the fantasy aspects are actually pretty low key, it's not so much about "history" as it is about the characters].)
Stuff I'm currently following, in no particular order:
- Gunka no Baltzar: See above. Probably the least historical of my list, but still pretty sexy since it's so grounded in the details.
- Vinland Saga: Vikings! We are now in the middle of Part 2, and although I still really miss one of the characters from Part 1, and found the whole farm arc (not the best descriptor but trying not to spoil) kinda slow, the story's moving along again and this mangaka can do no wrong for me after Planetes. Unlike most epic historicals this is (perhaps weirdly, considering the subject) not a war manga and is pretty low on tactics.
- Kingdom: epic tale of the rise of the Qin Emperor. I've posted about this before (too lazy to dig up link), and of my list IMO this series has the best female characters w/ the exception of Otoyomegatari. Actually I'm behind though because I've been saving up a huge chunk of the series to marathon as a reward to myself. Too bad it has the weakest art of all these series (the manga art isn't bad I think, it takes getting used to, but it's not super nice like some of the other series either)
- Billy Bat: Like I said in my recent post, it's basically the weirdest historical conspiracy thriller ever.
- Otoyomegatari: gloriously and beautifully detailed Central Asian slice of life. In which women's work and women's lives are lovingly depicted, but there is also violence lurking in the background (as such things do)
Stuff I used to follow:
- Historie: classical Greece. About Alexander the Great. It wasn't bad, but I didn't like the art that much, and found the characterization questionable sometimes. (I got as far as seeing some of the reveals of child!Alexander's psychological issues.) OTOH, loved the Scythian backstory and the tactics stuff. That said, I didn't so much drop this as forget to keep track of it. May pick it up again someday to see where it's gotten.
- Vagabond: About Miyamoto Musashi. Glorious art, but the story was draggy for me. I may pick this back up someday. (I got VERY far into it, for the record.)
- Cesare: About the Borgias. Meh. Dropped it for reasons I no longer fully remember. Well, I remember it feeling pretty shallow -- I think I resented that the characterization felt very "shoujo", with Cesare as the woobified Gary Stu. And the viewpoint character was insufferable. I dunno how anyone manages to fuck up a tale about the Borgias, but this one was just a snorefest.
- Ravages of Time: Yet Another Romance of the Three Kingdoms fictionalization. This one an HK manhua. I vaguely remember posting about this years ago. Very very good with the political plotting and such (as a Three Kingdoms series must), but eventually it got too convoluted for me and I decided to save the rest for marathoning someday or something.
Stuff I tried and dropped like a hot potato:
- Shoukoku no Altair: Like why the fuck do people even rec this as a historical. It reads much more like fantasy and the storytelling is painfully childish. I couldn't get past the first two chapters. Maybe if I get bored I'll give it another chance -- but only if I'm in the mood for fantasy, not history.
- Shutohel (rather unfortunately fan-translated as "Shut Hell"): Bizarre time-traveling gender-bending (modern male teen -> badass female warrior) action series set in the time of Genghis Khan. Yeah, you'd think I'd dig it with that premise. :P But the reality is disappointingly weird. It's actually not the supernatural genderbending time travel that gets me, it's the lack of rigor in the actual historical timeline.... lol. Part of that is down to the awful, awful translations -- but overall it's culturally "off" and really bad on those terms alone. That said, I lasted longer with this one than with Altair.
....
I bet I'm forgetting something, and there are some series I mean to try, but I should sleep now.
comments at the original Dreamwidth post