I like manga (eh's a cool guy and doesn't afraid of anything)
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I kept a running list of all the manga I read this summer, so I figured now's as good a time as any to type it up and share! I'll admit I read a lot of subpar series, but that's what happens when you arbitrarily decide to read through a library's entire collection of manga. (Note: I only got through about two thirds of its collection, but I still consider this a decent accomplishment.)
Series I read from start to finish, sorted by demographic so this isn't ridiculously long:
Shounen: Whistle!, Fullmetal Alchemist, YuYu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, Buso Renkin, Legendz, Dr. Slump, Flame of Recca, Hikaru no Go, The Record of a Fallen Vampire, Cowa, Hoop Men, Bokkesan
Shoujo: KareKano, Shugo Chara!, Tokyo Mew Mew, Hana Yori Dango, Ultra Maniac, MeruPuri, High School Debut, Fruits Basket, Sugar Princess, RG Veda, Strawberry Shake Sweet
Seinen: Uzumaki, BLAME!, Hellsing, Love Roma
Series I read large chunks of but didn't finish (mostly incomplete series):
Nabari no Ou (8 volumes, I was trying to catch up so I could finish it when the last chapter was released, but... I'm lazy)
Nurarihyon no Mago (11 volumes, mostly caught up)
Yami no Matsuei (11 volumes)
Bleach (24 volumes, restarted intending to catch up eventually)
Nana (20 volumes, mostly caught up)
One Piece (17 volumes, left off somewhere in the Water Seven arc)
Crimson Hero (12 volumes, nearly caught up with the Shojo Beat release)
By my count that's over 450 volumes of manga, which, as I said, is none too shabby. (I added it up twice and got 470 the first time and 460 the second... Math is not my friend...)
* I put Whistle! on the list even though I started it during the school year, partly because I finished it during the summer, and partly because why the hell not I like it so I want to put it on any available lists. Yay.
* I have trouble enjoying Watsuki Nobuhiro's manga, mostly because of the extra pages at the end of most chapters that talk about series and character development. Even more so in Ruroken, because it seemed like he couldn't mention something without talking about how it didn't turn out how he planned or the way he wanted, and it's like, dude! How am I supposed to enjoy the manga when all you're doing is talking about stuff you don't like about it?! I did like how Buso Renkin was filled with Ootsuki Kenji and Kamen Rider references, though. I am especially fond of the cover of volume 5. TRUE HEROES WEAR RED!
* What the hell is with The Record of a Fallen Vampire? It started off like some weak wannabe Black Blood Brothers deal, then aliens showed up and I was like, "Vampires and invading aliens? Is it trying to be some kirakira G-rated Gantz knockoff? I am so confused, IDEK." The plot was okay, in the end, but the series as a whole was just filled with so many bad ideas.
* High School Debut was so much better than I expected! Even though I am so over shoujo romance series, it was just filled with so much hilarious awesomeness I could not resist it. I especially loved how any time there was a group reaction shot, everyone would look shocked or upset except Asaoka, who'd just be smiling his awesome ^_^ smile. The announcement that there's going to be a movie adaption hit as I was around 10 volumes in, and OMG
* Shoujo manga is filled with terrible boyfriends, amirite? As I was reading Hanadan I was like, "EVERYONE IN THIS MANGA WOULD MAKE A TERRIBLE BOYFRIEND, THIS IS GIVING GIRLS EVERY TERRIBLE IDEAS OF WHAT RELATIONSHIPS SHOULD BE LIKE," and then I saw a sidepanel where the mangaka said she worries about girls who think Rui and Tsukasa would make good boyfriends. KAMIO YOKO, YOU UNDERSTAND ME! That said, Kin-san would totally be an awesome boyfriend. I can only assume he didn't make it to the drama adaption because they couldn't find anyone awesome enough to play him. Something else I learned from the sidepanels: The first adaption of Hanadan was a drama CD, meaning the first Hanazawa Rui was KIMURA TAKUYA. Talk about things that make me go o_O.
* It drives me crazy when a series kills off a character in a way obviously intended to evoke a lot of emotion, only to reveal lol they're not dead after all! FUCK YOU YUYU HAKUSHO, AND RUROUNI KENSHIN, AND FLAME OF RECCA AAARRRHHGGGGH
* Sports manga making me want to play that sport is nothing unusual (Slam Dunk is the reason I own a basketball...) but Crimson Hero really sucks in this respect because it makes me really want to play volleyball and I have nothing but painful, depressing memories of volleyball. Goddammit. I liked the volumes that was clearly inspired by Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu, though. /stating the obvious
* Magical girl manga is not what it used to be, huh. Pretty much the entire latter half of Shugo Chara! and most of Tokyo Mew Mew was like "what the hell". I don't know if it's especially difficult to balance the romance and magic aspects or what, but as both series progressed, there was so much facepalming on my part. Ultra Maniac was also pretty lackluster. Maybe I should stick with shounen manga or something. =/
* Thoughts on RG Veda: CLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMPPPP!!! It was written around the same time as Tokyo Babylon so I thought I'd braced myself adequately... only to find out THERE IS NO SUCH THING. YOU CAN NEVER BE PREPARED FOR THE END OF RG VEDA. moveunderskies' all too accurate response to my plight: "Reading RG Veda is like being gored by a rabid, insane bull, that then spits tabasco sauce into the gaping wound. And laughs." Damn, man.
* Baaawwwww I love Nana, you guys, I just love it. It basically proves by example that sometimes there's really no way to tell which decision is the right one, and sometimes it'll be years down the road before you find out, if you do at all. IT IS SO DEPRESSING AAAAA BUT I LOVE IT.
* Dr. Slump is, like, I don't even know. How many different versions of the mangaka showed up? Sometimes at the same time? And poop was a character? I have so much respect for the editor for not killing Toriyama... And then Toriyama put him in the series as an imcompetent evil inventor who ends up dying. I don't get gag manga.
* When I watched the Nabari no Ou anime I was really bothered by the casting, since I felt like Miharu should've been voiced by Minagawa Junko, so while I read it I read his lines in her voice. In my head everyone else sounds like the Old Spice guy. |D
I kept a running list of all the manga I read this summer, so I figured now's as good a time as any to type it up and share! I'll admit I read a lot of subpar series, but that's what happens when you arbitrarily decide to read through a library's entire collection of manga. (Note: I only got through about two thirds of its collection, but I still consider this a decent accomplishment.)
Series I read from start to finish, sorted by demographic so this isn't ridiculously long:
Shounen: Whistle!, Fullmetal Alchemist, YuYu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, Buso Renkin, Legendz, Dr. Slump, Flame of Recca, Hikaru no Go, The Record of a Fallen Vampire, Cowa, Hoop Men, Bokkesan
Shoujo: KareKano, Shugo Chara!, Tokyo Mew Mew, Hana Yori Dango, Ultra Maniac, MeruPuri, High School Debut, Fruits Basket, Sugar Princess, RG Veda, Strawberry Shake Sweet
Seinen: Uzumaki, BLAME!, Hellsing, Love Roma
Series I read large chunks of but didn't finish (mostly incomplete series):
Nabari no Ou (8 volumes, I was trying to catch up so I could finish it when the last chapter was released, but... I'm lazy)
Nurarihyon no Mago (11 volumes, mostly caught up)
Yami no Matsuei (11 volumes)
Bleach (24 volumes, restarted intending to catch up eventually)
Nana (20 volumes, mostly caught up)
One Piece (17 volumes, left off somewhere in the Water Seven arc)
Crimson Hero (12 volumes, nearly caught up with the Shojo Beat release)
By my count that's over 450 volumes of manga, which, as I said, is none too shabby. (I added it up twice and got 470 the first time and 460 the second... Math is not my friend...)
* I put Whistle! on the list even though I started it during the school year, partly because I finished it during the summer, and partly because why the hell not I like it so I want to put it on any available lists. Yay.
* I have trouble enjoying Watsuki Nobuhiro's manga, mostly because of the extra pages at the end of most chapters that talk about series and character development. Even more so in Ruroken, because it seemed like he couldn't mention something without talking about how it didn't turn out how he planned or the way he wanted, and it's like, dude! How am I supposed to enjoy the manga when all you're doing is talking about stuff you don't like about it?! I did like how Buso Renkin was filled with Ootsuki Kenji and Kamen Rider references, though. I am especially fond of the cover of volume 5. TRUE HEROES WEAR RED!
* What the hell is with The Record of a Fallen Vampire? It started off like some weak wannabe Black Blood Brothers deal, then aliens showed up and I was like, "Vampires and invading aliens? Is it trying to be some kirakira G-rated Gantz knockoff? I am so confused, IDEK." The plot was okay, in the end, but the series as a whole was just filled with so many bad ideas.
* High School Debut was so much better than I expected! Even though I am so over shoujo romance series, it was just filled with so much hilarious awesomeness I could not resist it. I especially loved how any time there was a group reaction shot, everyone would look shocked or upset except Asaoka, who'd just be smiling his awesome ^_^ smile. The announcement that there's going to be a movie adaption hit as I was around 10 volumes in, and OMG
* Shoujo manga is filled with terrible boyfriends, amirite? As I was reading Hanadan I was like, "EVERYONE IN THIS MANGA WOULD MAKE A TERRIBLE BOYFRIEND, THIS IS GIVING GIRLS EVERY TERRIBLE IDEAS OF WHAT RELATIONSHIPS SHOULD BE LIKE," and then I saw a sidepanel where the mangaka said she worries about girls who think Rui and Tsukasa would make good boyfriends. KAMIO YOKO, YOU UNDERSTAND ME! That said, Kin-san would totally be an awesome boyfriend. I can only assume he didn't make it to the drama adaption because they couldn't find anyone awesome enough to play him. Something else I learned from the sidepanels: The first adaption of Hanadan was a drama CD, meaning the first Hanazawa Rui was KIMURA TAKUYA. Talk about things that make me go o_O.
* It drives me crazy when a series kills off a character in a way obviously intended to evoke a lot of emotion, only to reveal lol they're not dead after all! FUCK YOU YUYU HAKUSHO, AND RUROUNI KENSHIN, AND FLAME OF RECCA AAARRRHHGGGGH
* Sports manga making me want to play that sport is nothing unusual (Slam Dunk is the reason I own a basketball...) but Crimson Hero really sucks in this respect because it makes me really want to play volleyball and I have nothing but painful, depressing memories of volleyball. Goddammit. I liked the volumes that was clearly inspired by Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu, though. /stating the obvious
* Magical girl manga is not what it used to be, huh. Pretty much the entire latter half of Shugo Chara! and most of Tokyo Mew Mew was like "what the hell". I don't know if it's especially difficult to balance the romance and magic aspects or what, but as both series progressed, there was so much facepalming on my part. Ultra Maniac was also pretty lackluster. Maybe I should stick with shounen manga or something. =/
* Thoughts on RG Veda: CLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMPPPP!!! It was written around the same time as Tokyo Babylon so I thought I'd braced myself adequately... only to find out THERE IS NO SUCH THING. YOU CAN NEVER BE PREPARED FOR THE END OF RG VEDA. moveunderskies' all too accurate response to my plight: "Reading RG Veda is like being gored by a rabid, insane bull, that then spits tabasco sauce into the gaping wound. And laughs." Damn, man.
* Baaawwwww I love Nana, you guys, I just love it. It basically proves by example that sometimes there's really no way to tell which decision is the right one, and sometimes it'll be years down the road before you find out, if you do at all. IT IS SO DEPRESSING AAAAA BUT I LOVE IT.
* Dr. Slump is, like, I don't even know. How many different versions of the mangaka showed up? Sometimes at the same time? And poop was a character? I have so much respect for the editor for not killing Toriyama... And then Toriyama put him in the series as an imcompetent evil inventor who ends up dying. I don't get gag manga.
* When I watched the Nabari no Ou anime I was really bothered by the casting, since I felt like Miharu should've been voiced by Minagawa Junko, so while I read it I read his lines in her voice. In my head everyone else sounds like the Old Spice guy. |D