Friday, September 3, 2010

Weekly Manga Recap: Sept 2, 2010

13 comments:

  1. You said "I really just want Bleach to end" when you meant "I really just want Naruto to end". Other than that, I enjoyed the video :)

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  2. Well, since you asked, here you go.

    As far as additions, all I would say to really fix is the lighting, you obviously don't need 1000+ watt lights, but it'd be nice to see your eyes/facial expression better.

    Honestly I enjoyed this a lot, and this is coming from someone who rarely, if at all, reads manga, it allows me some additional insight in terms of the things my friends read, and suggests a manga that has one aspect of death note that, well, is the main reason I liked it, the psychological aspect.

    As far as a manga I would suggest, it'd be The Ravages of Time, you can find the series on mangafox. It's a pretty awesome series, essentially it's Romance of the Three Kingdoms (yes I'm assuming you know what that is, if you don't, all the characters from the Dynasty Warrior games are from that story) in manga form, except you make characters who are overpoweringly awesome in certain aspects (kinda like JoJo but not nearly that overpowered), as well as strategical geniuses. There is a lot of political intrigue and such, even going into assassinations and assassin clans and such. So you'll get to see Lu Bu get on his horse and just wade into an army killing several hundred guys, and then he'll turn around and be entirely outmaneuvered due to strategical troop placement, that sort of thing.

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  3. Awesome video, I really enjoyed listening to you as you were ranting about some new manga chapters. As far as channel awesome/tgwtg goes, no one does this kind of show. Loving One Piece just makes you a perfect candidate to start doing the vlogs on weekly basis. You can say a lot more than in writing form, you used to write for us every week.

    As for the manga to recommend, starting with shounens Psyren, Soul Eater and Nurarihyon no Mago are definitely a good read; if u are looking for something more serious: Vagabond and Vinland Saga are worth mentioning.

    Finding manga isnt more difficult than it was before. I havent really used OneManga all that much when it was still working. There are A LOT of sites that we, manga readers can use, starting with sites like CityManga, MangaReader, or use the second option which I humbly prefer - downloading scanlations directly from groups which translate them, using baka-updates to check if something new has come out.

    To sum this up, I hope you will continue making these vlogs, for some time at least, because hearing other people's opinions is always entertaining and fun to listen to.

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  4. The Vlog was good. Just get better lighting and it would even better.

    It was cool when Aizen met his match but somehow it felt really familiar. I mean we saw for so many chapters every character in Bleach using his strongest moves against Aizen and nothing worked. Aizen was always on top and only became stronger. It was established that Aizen is just unbeatable.
    Now we have Ichigo back and Aizen is using his "INCOMPREHENSIBLE SPACE TIIIME" move and his sword slashes against Ichigo and nothing works. Same shit with the roles reversed.

    I shouldnt really complain because it was just one chapter but I also dont want to see 20 more chapters of some guy using move after move pulled out of his ass against an unbeatable character. Thats not suspenseful. Its lame!

    Naruto: If Naruto would end next week with Sasuke getting a heartattack I would be sooo happy.

    You should check out 'Noblesse' on Mangafox. I like that one alot.

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  5. Nice video, liked your thoughts about One Piece and Naruto, skipped the rest since I'm not on the newest chapters yet.

    I thought the One Piece time skip + 4 weeks off kinda fit together really well. You sort of get the amplified impact of them coming back when you've had a break and they got all new goodies to show off. Also getting the answers of how things turned out during those 2 years will be sweeeeet.

    About Naruto, well I think the chapter was pretty much pure shit, atleast on how they handled the backstory. It would've been so easy to make it better and more interesting but they've just gave up on some parts I think. And i'm tired of being annoyed with naruto so I just check it out in hopes of something interesting happening, not much of that going around though.

    I'd say the only problem with the vlog right now is the lighting, the rest of it will pretty much sort itself out as you do more of these. I'll be sure to check this site out for more vlogs, keep up the good work.

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  6. Love your vlog, and I hope you do more. I really need to start looking into the Liar Game and Beelzebub, which I keep telling myself I would. I've always been interested in the psychological aspects of Death Note, so I'm sure Liar Game will be right up my alley.

    I also agree that Kisame could've had a better backstory to him, especially with him dying in the next chapter. Easily, with just one or two chapters, Kishimoto could've built up character development by showing off bits of Kisame's childhood, show us the environment he was living in, and then skip a bit to his teens to see how it affects his psyche growing into an adult. That way, you could have a better understanding of where he's coming from when he goes and kills his own team. But instead, we get this idea that he clearly is a psychopath and amounts to nothing more than a lackey to the Akatsuki. Masashi really needs to improve his storytelling abilities and fast. Either that or take a break once in a while to look over his work and figure out how he can improve.

    Keep up the good work and I can't wait for the next weekly recap.

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  7. I liked this Vlog very much so. I like hearing people analyze things I like, even if I don't always agree with the things said. (I still really like Fairy Tail, personally.) I would love to see more in the future. I too am very bummed that One Piece is on break, since I think it is the best shounen manga ever made.

    Now for Bleach, Aizen may be losing now, but I theorize that the Hogyoku will do some more BS and make Aizen even stronger or at least make it harder for him to die. Thus I do think the fight will eventually become even, even if relying so much on the Hogyoku is so frustrating.

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  8. Well, that was good vlog overall, though I didn't get what you meant by Lair Game getting upgarded to Jump. Do you mind if you could explain that?

    Going by your taste, I'd recommend that you check out The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer, an absolutely brilliant and kick arse series that was concluded recently that takes the most stranded generic story about a group of people saving the world and turns it into the most refreshing tale of growing up, death, fate and conflict I had the pleasure of reading. Check it out man seriously! I would recommend others but I don't think it'll suit your taste.

    I also feel you man on the lukewarm response to Beelzebub. I opened a thread on the anime version in the section in the TGWTG forums and it was just painful how no one cared about it T_T

    BTW, check out the Y Ruler of Time section of the forums, we have been having an interesting discussion about One Piece there :)

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  9. This Vlog was good but if you want to do it like an actual series than I have a couple of suggestions.

    1. Set a date to do it. Most manga is scanlated by at least Monday so that should be your choice of doing it.

    2. Make physical notes on each series. Write them down and make sure you discuss important parts. Having something to read off of cuts out all the umm and ahhs.

    3. Have a transition. Before you talk about each series simply put up a colour spread or even the first page of the chapter you are discussing along with what series and chapter number you are discussing.

    4. Add some bells and whistles. Stuff like background music or even some kind of set. Things that can add some acoustic and visual entertainment.

    5. The most important one, make a list of all the series you will do. You can also add a suggestion thread for ones you will do. I suggest doing most, if not all, of the currently running Jump series. Here is a list of most of the current chapters.

    The ones with asterisks are all up to date with scanlations.
    Bakuman #99*
    Beelzebub #75*
    Bleach #418*
    Gintama #323 (on ch312)
    Hokenshitsu no Shinigami #49 (on ch17)
    Katekyo Hitman Reborn! #304*
    Kuroko no Basket #84 (on ch52)
    Medaka Box #65 (on ch61)
    Naruto #508*
    Nurarihyon no Mago #121*
    One Piece #597
    Oumagadoki Doubutsuen #08 (on ch4)
    Psyren #133*
    Sket Dance #152 (on ch 115)
    SWOT #09*
    Toriko #109*

    Metallica Metalluca is ending so no real reason to discuss it. Kochikame is WAY too long and chances are no scans will be out for a long time. Shonen Shikku has I believe 1 scan or so and no scan teams are willing to do it so you can skip it. Also there are two new series that are coming out so you’ll have to wait for that. So basically you should talk about Bakuman, Beelzebub, Bleach, Reborn!, Naruto, Mago, One Piece, Psyren, SWOT and Toriko. Maybe Medka Box because the scan group is catching up on it quickly.

    Also, so of the more popular non-WSJ releases like Air Gear, Negima, Fairy Tail and D Gray man.

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  10. @Rafat while it warms my heart that you actually mentioned Sket Dance (great series) I'm terrified of the fact that you are telling Rollo T to review the majority of WSJ line up.

    How about a little more variety from better manga series :P

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  11. @Tropical The reason why I listed mostly WSJ series is because thats what most ppl read. Ya i know most of us would like to say that we search far and wide and in bookstores across the world to find different and unique manga but chances are we settle for what we can get our hands on. That being mostly WSJ series because they are scanlated quite fast. Meaning for a weekly review series, like RolloT is trying to do, it would be the best route to cut out all the wait time.

    He could discuss some lesser known manga but, unless there is a dedicated scan group on it, it would be weeks of wait time before he could discuss it again and chances are there wont be many ppl who want to read a series if the scans dont come within an acceptable time span. I mean how many ppl would read chapter 3 of OSMMANGA, remember it and the storyline when two months later chapter 4 comes out? Not many.
    Especially when you are reading 5 other series that come out on a weekly basis and you are trying to remember those storylines and events.

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  12. Rollo_T have you ever read Claymore? If so what did you think?

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  13. @ Rafat I can understand the point you're making. WSJ series are popular so they receive more attention from the scanlation groups and thus are more up to date compared to mangas published in different magazines. While that is somewhat true, you're making the assumption that non-WSJ series are being neglected due to their comparatively lesser popularity and that is not true at all.

    Just of the top of my head: Yotsuba&!, Shitsurakuen, xxxHOLiC, Negima!, Air Gear, Zettai Karen Children, Mirai Nikki, Hourou Musuko, The World God Only Knows, Pandora Hearts, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, Hayate The Combat Butler!, Kimi no Iru Machi, Vinland Saga ... these are all non-WSJ series that enjoy a lot of exposure and popularity (to the point some even have groups dedicated to a single series) not to mention some you mentioned yourself. Sure some of them do have a lot of hiatus and a long wait period (D. Gray-Man, Vinland Saga) but that is due to the authors health or some other reason related to that not because the scanners don't put them on top priority. Some of them are monthly but that doesn't mean people will forget what happened the previous chapter just because 4 weeks had passed (just take a look at how many Rosario+Vampire or Claymore fans are there, or even take a look at Berserk. Even with it's near abysmal release schedule, it still has one of the most devoted fanbase out there).

    Look, I'm not saying what Rollo_T should or shouldn't review in his Vlogs, he can review how many WSJ series he likes, I read a number of WSJ series and some of my all time favorites come from it, but tbh I don't want to see this become ''The Weekly Shonen Jump Vlog'' because let's face it, WSJ lineup isn't the most impressive one nor does it have that many constantly good series. I just don't want to see the show to end up lacking in variety and quality (as you suggested to help make it better with your 5 points).

    I'm sorry if I came of sounding rude or harsh in my comment, but I don't like the logic that just because WSJ is popular it should deserve more exposure as a result.

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