|
Post by commond on Feb 28, 2023 18:17:14 GMT -5
One Piece was the big seller when I first moved to Japan. I never had much of an inclination to read it until you pointed out Oda's cartooning. Starting a manga series is a big commitment, though. Maybe someday.
|
|
|
Post by Batflunkie on Feb 28, 2023 18:41:22 GMT -5
One Piece was the big seller when I first moved to Japan. I never had much of an inclination to read it until you pointed out Oda's cartooning. Starting a manga series is a big commitment, though. Maybe someday. There have been a few that I got seriously into, namely Shaman King and Bleach. I'm also into the original Yu-Gi-Oh! (7 volumes before Takahashi does a complete reboot and just focuses on Duel Monsters) and Captain Harlock (3 Volumes that have a very unsatisfying non-ending)
|
|
|
Post by arfetto on Feb 28, 2023 20:01:06 GMT -5
One Piece was the big seller when I first moved to Japan. I never had much of an inclination to read it until you pointed out Oda's cartooning. Starting a manga series is a big commitment, though. Maybe someday.
Yeah, it is sometimes interesting to think about One Piece the entertainment juggernaut versus Oda the artist.
For me, Oda's work here is inspirational, because based on what I've read of his writings about the series itself (and though his editor played a big part in helping to formulate the work too) he was not really going along with too many trends when beginning his story (except the timeless concept of an amazing pirate adventure for a boy's comic magazine), and he was doing it in a style that was pretty atypical at the time too. One Piece is inspirational for comics period haha.
These are from the newest One Piece/Oda art book I own (so no '90s work here):
I enjoy his color work and sketch work.
|
|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 28, 2023 22:06:40 GMT -5
I read One Piece a bit... maybe the first 10-12 volumes? I'd have to look. I agree the art is great, but the story was already getting repetitive lead me not to keep up with it.
|
|
|
Post by arfetto on Feb 28, 2023 22:22:26 GMT -5
That coincides with the volumes I read yesterday, actually. Chapters 1-99 are volumes 1-11, and the bulk of the '90s era of the comic (today I re-read volumes 12-23, but they don't fit in this thread except a few chapters from 12). Hmmm, I find it repetitive in the same way Groo is repetitive, an enjoyable rhythm with enough variations and humor that I look forward to the next chapter. Though I do find it interesting volume 11 and 12 would be the ones to bail on, considering 12 is the first "new blood" volume that shakes stuff up and 11 has some fan favorite moments of the early series. Everyone has their own taste.
Next up, Optic Nerve.
|
|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 28, 2023 22:27:38 GMT -5
I don't remember exactly, I'd have to go up to the shelf and see which ones I have. could have been a couple more. I really don't remember it a whole lot... I grabbed them when they first put the anime on Toonami, thinking it would likely be less little kid-ized. You read 12 of them in a day? wow!
|
|
|
Post by arfetto on Feb 28, 2023 22:39:09 GMT -5
Haha, yeah, and I would have read more if I didn't have to leave my reading room. When I don't have work or any other obligations, I just sit at a desk isolated from the rest of the world with good lighting and a stack of comics and read. I am the type of person that can read a comic until I run out of pages to read, if that comic keeps me entertained, so any long series causes the danger of a day-and-night affair haha. But it has to be something really immersive to me/fitting my mood at the time.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Feb 28, 2023 22:51:15 GMT -5
I mostly just read the first wave of manga translations, like Lone Wolf & Cub, Mai the Psychic Girl, Area 88 and Crying Freeman (there were others; but, those were the main ones I read). I sampled some others, like Golgo 13, Lupin III, Appleseed, Ranma 1/2 (I have that all on digital; but haven't sat down to read through it). I was working for Barnes & Noble, when the big wave hit, at the end of the 90s and a lot of what came out on the market was heavily aimed at teens and pre-teens and didn't have great appeal to me, personally. I do recall the ones we got a lot of requests for, like One Piece, Yu-gi-Oh, Full Metal Alchemist, and a few others. I think the earlier stuff was just better geared to my generation and interests, vs the later stuff; or at least, my personal interests. I've also looked at some of the stuff tied to other media that I like, including the Kamen Rider-based mangas, Go Nagai's stuff (especially Mazinger), Tiger Mask (inspiration for the wrestler, portrayed first by Satoru Sayama, in the early 80s), Ultraman, Giant Robo (Johnny Sokko, in the US), 8th Man, etc. Also, Leiji Matsumoto's space opera works and Osamu Tezuka's classic stuff, especially Tetsuwan Atom, aka Mighty Atom, aka Astro Boy.
|
|
|
Post by arfetto on Feb 28, 2023 23:39:52 GMT -5
I am a big Tezuka fan (own every English physical release of his work to date), so the mentions of earlier translated manga like Lone Wolf & Cub (which I also enjoy) recalls to mind how Tezuka's work was first marketed in the US in the '90s haha. I remember Lone Wolf & Cub had covers by artists like Frank Miller, Mike Ploog, Matt Wagner, etc., so I wonder if that may have inspired what happened. In the mid-'90s, Tezuka's Message to Adolf was translated and released in the US (as the first "complete" Tezuka work published here). Rather than feature Tezuka's artwork on the covers, they looked like this (the books lying down, not the ones standing up): I always kind of wanted to see unsuspecting reader reactions to the vast difference between the covers and interior art haha. But I guess American comic fans already know to be suspicious of cover arts (though I only ever saw Tezuka stuff in book chain stores myself).
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Mar 1, 2023 0:36:57 GMT -5
I am a big Tezuka fan (own every English physical release of his work to date), so the mentions of earlier translated manga like Lone Wolf & Cub (which I also enjoy) recalls to mind how Tezuka's work was first marketed in the US in the '90s haha. I remember Lone Wolf & Cub had covers by artists like Frank Miller, Mike Ploog, Matt Wagner, etc., so I wonder if that may have inspired what happened. In the mid-'90s, Tezuka's Message to Adolf was translated and released in the US (as the first "complete" Tezuka work published here). Rather than feature Tezuka's artwork on the covers, they looked like this (the books lying down, not the ones standing up): I always kind of wanted to see unsuspecting reader reactions to the vast difference between the covers and interior art haha. But I guess American comic fans already know to be suspicious of cover arts (though I only ever saw Tezuka stuff in book chain stores myself). Well, the early stuff was reformatted to read in the Western fashion, in smaller installments. First Comics barely scratched the surface of Lone Wolf & Cub, before their bankruptcy. Thankfully, Dark Horse published the complete series, in the original volume configurations, later. Miller did the early covers, since Goseki Kojima had been a big influence on him, especially Ronin. Matt Wagner took over, for a while, with some really nice work. The first few issues went through several printings, thanks to the Miller covers and the reputation of the saga. Eclipse/Viz at least covered most of the same ground as the Area 88 OVAs, which came out, in English, a little after that. They covered all of Mai the Psychic Girl and at least the main portion of Kamui the Ninja. Of course, the big deal was Marvel translating Akira, as the movie was being animated and Otomo was finishing the story. There was a bit of a wait, for the end, as I recall. Thanks to college, I kind of missed out on the early parts of it and they were hard to come by, in my area; so, I waited until they were collected. My early intro was Maurice Horn's World Encyclopedia of Comics, which came out in the late 70s (original edition; a new one came out in the late 90s), which featured articles about comics from around the world, including Japan. Most had only single panel illustrations, which is how I first saw things like Astro Boy, Cyborg 009, Tetsujin 28-go (Gigantor), 8th Man, Ashit No Joe, Lone Wolf & Cub, and Gaki Deka. When I was in college, I discovered a copy of Fred Schott's Manga! Manga! Manga! (which was still relatively new), the first real English language survey of manga. That was where I first glimpsed a panel of the Tiger Mask manga, despite having seen the Sayama live version, since 1982 (on a WWF Madison Square Garden broadcast, back when the USA Network used to show those, before the WWF national expansion, in 1984).
|
|
|
Post by commond on Mar 1, 2023 7:18:47 GMT -5
I used to think that shonen manga was just for kids, but once my daughter started reading manga, I discovered how well crafted the shonen stuff is. Then it made sense to me why they have such a broad appeal. I know Ed Piskor is big on the Shonen Jump strips. I hope you read some other 90s stuff from the golden era.
Looking forward to the Optic Nerve stuff. There was a real sweet spot in that series where I started to really dig it.
|
|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 1, 2023 7:37:52 GMT -5
I used to think that shonen manga was just for kids, but once my daughter started reading manga, I discovered how well crafted the shonen stuff is. Then it made sense to me why they have such a broad appeal. I know Ed Piskor is big on the Shonen Jump strips. I hope you read some other 90s stuff from the golden era. Looking forward to the Optic Nerve stuff. There was a real sweet spot in that series where I started to really dig it. Agreed, just like anything,some stuff is for kids, and some isn't. Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood is still my favorite series in any media(the Anime that closely follows the manga, rather than the original that went off on a tangent), and I'm certainly not the only one who thinks so... It STILL gets voted best series ever alot.
|
|
|
Post by adamwarlock2099 on Mar 1, 2023 8:05:50 GMT -5
The only manga that ever caught my attention in the 90's was Oh My Goddess! and that was due to the fact that, artistically it looked nothing like the other 99% of manga, something my eyes could never appreciate. Now anime, that was a whole another story. 80's and 90's anime is the best. Can't do 99% of the new stuff.
|
|
|
Post by commond on Mar 1, 2023 8:13:13 GMT -5
Full Metal Alchemist is an incredible piece of work, both the manga and the Brotherhood anime. I watched the anime after finishing the manga and I still reacted as though it was my first time following the story. Mangakas are so good at getting you invested in the story and the characters, and they have free reign to tell the story they want to. Plus, the pathos and emotion is off the charts. I don't know if One Piece is like that, but most of the manga I've read have been highly emotional.
|
|
|
Post by Dizzy D on Mar 1, 2023 9:37:07 GMT -5
I never got into One Piece, mostly due to how much of it there already was, I guess. I tried a few times but lost interest quickly enough. I do have had interest in other mangas: Still buying Spy x Family and Ancient Magus Bride and used to read Trigun, Hellsing, Excel Saga, Berserk (all completed series, though I guess Berserk technically is still ongoing, but I still have to check how the new creative team is doing) and various other titles (usually a couple of issues, but not the full series).
Shonen means that it's primarily aimed at young boys (it's what Shonen actually means). With Seinen Manga aimed at older boys/men, Shoujo at young girls and Josei at older girls/women. That's the theory at least. In practice like all genres, you're going to have some overlap and titles that are primarily marketed at one demographic can have a broader appeal. For some series you'd only notice say it's Shonen is because it was published in a Shonen magazine (as a recent example, Spy x Family is published in Shonen Jump, but it has more female readers). In some cases, titles also change from one demographic to another (IIRC Trigun started out as Shonen series, but moved to a Seinen magazine).
|
|