The Week in Reviews, 8/18/09

[swanjun]

(8-11) Crocodile on the Sandbank - Elizabeth Peters
(8-11) Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee 1 - Hiroyuki Asada
(8-13) The Happiest Days of Our Lives - Wil Wheaton
(8-14) Gin Tama 13 - Hideaki Sorachi (Sorry in advance, salimbol)
(8-15) Fairy Tail 7 - Hiro Mashima
(8-15) Crimson Hero 11 - Mitsuba Takanashi
(8-16) Black Bird 1 - Kanoko Sakurakoji
(8-16) Animal

Comments

[meganbmoore]

Amelia Peabody: ONE OF MY MOST FAVORITEST THINGS EVER!!! I admit, I rarely pay attention to the plots, and instead focus on the characters and their relationships. (True of me and most mysteries, really

[salimbol]

I'd have to agree with your comments about Gintama, and having just read Vol 13 myself, I must say I'm cringing at the thought of this being the first volume swanjun was exposed to! I've always called the series an 'acquired taste', but this volume was Gintama at its crudest, that's for sure (I still found it quite funny, though). In addition to what you've said about some people hating precisely what others love about the series and the fact that it's essentially one parody after another, I also think enjoying Gintama is a sort of cumulative thing: it takes a while to build up familiarity with the characters and their quirks, and I guess to be able to appreciate the ridiculous situations the author puts them into.
And tee hee, our lovely reviewer apologised to me for bashing something she knows I like. No apologies necessary! I like it very much, but I hardly think it's perfect or that everyone should like it too. When it's good it's very very good, but when it's bad it's... not horrid, but definitely puerile.

[meganbmoore]

All rather true. I think the series doesn't really get going in either the crudeness or the parody aspect for several volumes. In retrospect, the first few volumes, while jarring to those of us used to other shounen, do ease you in to the characters and concepts.

[swanjun]

I did rather wonder if I'd picked the absolute worst place to start. Well, not picked exactly, since that's the volume the publisher sent!

If I ever feel brave enough to try it again, do you recommend starting at the beginning or is there a particular volume you like?

[salimbol]

Oh, and I know I said I'd respond on the review website itself next time, but I couldn't help myself when I saw Megan's comment above - I had to say something here first :-).

[swanjun]

No worries. :)

[danielleleigh]

ohhh...did you announce your shonen post on Twitter? Maybe I just missed it....*goes off to read*

[swanjun]

I had accidentally posted the draft of that once and confused people on Twitter, so had switched "Notify Twitter" to No and then forgot to switch it back, so no Tweet ever went out about it.