Manga Fans: What You Reading?

[greedostick]

Is it distracting to have to flip to the glossary every time you want to know the meaning of a particular sound effect?

I'll try to remember to look through my copy later and double check if the glossary is in the back or on the pages.

 

[greedostick]

I picked up a bunch of manga last week, and read a few volumes. From what we have mentioned here I picked up...

1. Tower Dungeon 1 - Read it and really liked it. Quick easy read. Which is always appreciated. I really like how the mangaka contrasts the light and dark in the panels. I'll definitely be sticking with this one.

2. Goblin Slayer 1+2 - Just finished Vol. 1 a few minutes ago. It's not winning any awards for the story, but it's just fun. I'm curious to see how the Priestess girl develops. Hopefully she doesn't get Gobbed.

3. Orb: On Movements of the Earth Omnibus - Grabbed the first 2 Omnibus. I'm waiting until I get all 4 volumes to start this one.

Also picked up...

4. Ghost in the Shell: Fully Compiled - I'm trying to read this. I hate these huge volumes. It's so hard to get comfortable. You constantly have to flip the book sideways to read the microscopic notes and the book is like 10 pounds. There's not much else to say. You all know about GITS. This version just kinda sucks, but I'm not spending $100+ on the 3 Volume set.

5. Color of the End: Mission in Apocalypse - I read Vol. 1 and thought it was pretty good. It's about a girl that thinks she's the last person on Earth after a viral/monster apocalypse kills everyone. She goes around looking for dead bodies to incinerate in attempt to decontaminate the city she's in. She has a little creature thing that helps her. It seems like it could have potential. I'm going to keep reading for now and see where it goes.

6. Spriggan Deluxe Editions 1-3: Still need to grab Vol. 4. I have yet to start this. Always been curious about Spriggan because I really like the PC Engine game. Not even sure of it's the same series, but it looks like something I would like.

I started Eden: It's an Endless World again. I recently discovered that there are some translations floating around of Vol. 14-18, which were never released in English. I got some files to print on demand them, and plan on doing that and finally reading the entire series.

Eden has to be one of the best manga ever. It's another post apocalyptic story. This one takes place a few decades after a virus kill about 20% of the population. There are 2 factions fighting to overthrow the government and take control. The series has everything I like in a manga. Post apocalypse setting. Lots of fighting and explosions. Really good fight scenes. Political drama. Partially cybernetic women hacking computers and sucking dick on the side.

It's an absolute must read. Just get on mangadex and read it digitally if you have to.

 

[Taiso]

I picked up a bunch of manga last week, and read a few volumes. From what we have mentioned here I picked up...

1. Tower Dungeon 1 - Read it and really liked it. Quick easy read. Which is always appreciated. I really like how the mangaka contrasts the light and dark in the panels. I'll definitely be sticking with this one.

Glad you enjoyed it! There are five volumes currently.

2. Goblin Slayer 1+2 - Just finished Vol. 1 a few minutes ago. It's not winning any awards for the story, but it's just fun. I'm curious to see how the Priestess girl develops. Hopefully she doesn't get Gobbed.

She has the best 'arc' of any of the characters so I think you'll enjoy it. Goblin Slayer is a really interesting character but it takes a long time, and different series (all written by the same guy) to really develop his world view. It's a bit more complicated than 'goblins raped my sister and I couldn't do anything to help' but if you take a step back and look at the broader picture, you will appreciate the larger themes of the little guy always being ignored coming into focus. He never bitches about other adventurers not caring about goblins or complains about anything at all. He just does the work.

3. Orb: On Movements of the Earth Omnibus - Grabbed the first 2 Omnibus. I'm waiting until I get all 4 volumes to start this one.

Orb is really special. I wish I'd remembered to recommend it sooner. GREAT manga. There's also an anime on Netflix, by the way. It was my favorite series of 2024.

 

[herb]

Orb is truly phenomenal.

I picked up initial d omnibus 10 and Vagabond Definitive edition vol 5 this week. Simply peak.

 

[Taiso]

My copy of Vagabond Deluxe 5 is waiting for me at my LCS and I am pretty sure Mobile Suit Gundam the Origin Deluxe Volume 6 will be there as well by Wednesday.

It's been 12 years since volume 37 of Vagabond came out. I hope Inoue, Japan's greatest mangaka, finishes it some day.

 

[herb]

My copy of Vagabond Deluxe 5 is waiting for me at my LCS and I am pretty sure Mobile Suit Gundam the Origin Deluxe Volume 6 will be there as well by Wednesday.

It's been 12 years since volume 37 of Vagabond came out. I hope Inoue, Japan's greatest mangaka, finishes it some day.

I've never read it and it's been peak so far. I really hope he finishes it. And also finishes Real. That one was truly impactful.

 

[Taiso]

Real is incredible, I agree. Heart wrenching at times.

Inoue's greatest strength as a mangaka is that he understands the human mind. He knows how to write people. Even something as basic as the shonen arc of Slam Dunk, which is effortlessly elevated from a simple rivalry/romance story to something about finding meaning and personal growth in what you are doing, even if it's just a game.

In Vagabond, have you gotten to the part where Musashi is ambushed at Ichijoji temple?

 

[herb]

Real is incredible, I agree. Heart wrenching at times.

Inoue's greatest strength as a mangaka is that he understands the human mind. He knows how to write people. Even something as basic as the shonen arc of Slam Dunk, which is effortlessly elevated from a simple rivalry/romance story to something about finding meaning and personal growth in what you are doing, even if it's just a game.

In Vagabond, have you gotten to the part where Musashi is ambushed at Ichijoji temple?

I don't think so. I just finished the fight with the sickle and chain dude.

And yea he really does know how to convey complex emotions and is even able to express them in characters without using dialog.

 

[Taiso]

I don't know how familiar you are with the story of Miyamoto Musashi or the novel upon which Vagabond is based on, written by Eiji Yoshikawa and largely considered the Gone With the Wind of Japan by most literary types familiar with Japanese literature, but historically, Musashi feuded with the Yoshiokas, a school of swordsmanship that had a lot of prominence in post Sekigahara Japan.

The following is spoiler tagged for your benefit but it is all actual historical record so it doesn't REALLY count as a spoiler. But out of respect, here you go...

Spoiler:

His feud with the Yoshioka school created the legend of the 'dojo buster' in Japan-Musashi would go from dojo to dojo, defeating their teachers one after another. At one point, the Yoshiokas devise a plan to lure him to a remote temple to have another duel and then ambush him en masse. The legend has it that he slew a hundred people in that ambush and managed to survive. Whether or not that's true, it absolutely ruined the Yoshioka school's reputation as it was seen as an extremely dishonorable act once word got out. If they'd have succeeded, they could have just made up any story they wanted.

Vagabond's portrayal of this event is fucking AMAZING. You will be haunted after reading it. It's an absolute testament to Inoue's dedication to the craft of sequential storytelling.

 

[joe8]

I'll try to remember to look through my copy later and double check if the glossary is in the back or on the pages.

The glossary is in the front (or back) of the book (I'm not sure which)- I think it's in the front, but you read the book from back to front. It's not on the pages- you would have though they could have the translations under each panel, but that's not how they did it (except for translations of Japanese writing that wasn't sound effects).