2012-05-18 13:43:00
In October of 2010 I wrote a short blog post about the Mathematics Girls manga. It's doubleplus geeky, because: A) manga B) cute girls C) mathematics. At the time I was glad this book was being published, but was sad that I'd never get to properly read it.
Until now that is! Bento Books are running a Kickstarter project to get their first, officially licensed english translated volume out the door. Awesome! I'm in!
kilala.nl tags: manga, geeky, awesome, japan,
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2011-11-05 22:46:00
I've been reading more and more of Jinju Ito's works, not all of them as scary as Uzumaki. This awesome, special delivery comes courtesy of Gyo ('the fish'), about a sudden infestation of biomech fish zombies ^_^
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2011-11-03 21:38:00
Recently Tofugu (one of the many blogs on Japanese culture which I follow) ran the article Junji Ito, master of Japanese horror (Junji Ito on Wiki). Let me tell you, Junji-san writes some fscked up stuff! So far I've read The Enigma at Amigara Fault and Uzumaki. While the prior is simply mysterious and eerie, the latter is creepy, unsettling and contains plenty of gore >_> It's the first time for me reading stuff like this and... It really is like H.P. Lovecraft has started drawing comics.
In March I read Dragon Head, which is completely realistic in the horror it portrays and that was just about as eerie as this stuff. The scariness feels the same between all these titles, it's just that the source behind it is different. With Dragon Head it was about the human mind and how 'bad' humans can be. With Uzumaki it's all supernatural and gore.
I'll honestly say that I can only recommend reading Junji Ito's stuff if you're really into horror. If you're still in doubt, just read Tofugu's article, which I linked at the start of this post. It provides some examples.
kilala.nl tags: manga,
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2011-10-09 14:12:00
This deserves a post of its own, just to go over the loot I brought back from CC86.
So. Comic City Osaka #86. People in Europe might have heard about Comiket ("Comic Market") in Tokyo, which is a semi-annual three day event which draws 550.000 visitors and is focused on doujinshi activities. People who make their own manga and video games mostly. ComiCity is similar, but smaller with roughly 7000 visitors and ~1000 exhibitors. Sadly the catalogue is pretty frustrating to navigate for me, so I can't match up some of the more interesting people with websites or names. :(
First impression? "A lot of women!"
And by "a lot" I mean that >90% of the visitors were female. The CC86 website had warned that "some lavatories for men would be converted for women" but I wasn't prepared for this huge amount ^_^ It also meant that many of the manga on offer was by women, for women. As Kaj SMSed me within fifteen minutes after entering "That's a looooooot of yaoi!". Of course it was more shounen-ai than yaoi, but the point was made: lot's of stories about boys loving boys. It also meant that I got quite a few giggles from girls around me. While leafing through various booklets, the ladies were probably wondering whether that gaijin knew that he was about to see guys kissing or doing the nasty (ONOZ!).
Either way. I really enjoyed Comic City! Aside from doujin manga and novels, there were also many other crafts, such as:
I'd set a Y5000 budget for myself, which I'd spent within the two hours we were in there. Loot includes the following:
What a great day :) So many talented artists in one building.
kilala.nl tags: japan, travel, geeky, manga,
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2011-08-18 22:12:00
Late in 2008 I confidently wrote that "Dutch law is strict but not insane yet". Back then dutch law regarding certain pornographic materials were being applied in a way I could agree with. But I guess it's that time of the decade again, because this year it seems that the discussion regarding 18+ comic books has stirred up again. Most notably: stories depicting underage characters.
I won't go into the whole discussion over here, but the debate pivots on the question: "where does reality and the reach of the law end and where does art of fiction begin?" Obviously anything involving real children is out. Obviously! But what of 3D computer graphics? What of 2D graphics? What of drawings or comics? Or what about written fiction? Is Nabukov's Lolita now something that may land you in jail? What about erotic Harry Potter fan fiction?
Right now the dutch DA and minister Opstelten seem to be favoring an interpretation of the law that would outlaw anything of a visual nature. And then there's papers like De Pers, which sensationalize things by exclaiming that virtual CP is "methadone for pedos" (here's the PDF of the relevant pages from today's paper). One camp says that loli/shota comics are a slippery slope and will lead to child abuse, while another camp says that loli/shota keeps pederasts from abusing real kids. And another camp thinks the others are nuts and it's simply fiction, arts and comic books.
Personally I'm squarely in the third camp: fiction and drawings are fake and should fall under freedom of speech/art. If someone wants to write about Harry Potter, Ron and Professor Snape getting jiggy, then that's their prerogative. And if somebody wants to make a drawing of Seshoumaru and Inuyasha doing the Sydney Harbor Bridge* on Kagome, fine by me. If they thrown in Jaken or Rin it might get a bit creepy, but it's still up to them.
Over the years I've seen plenty of these manga and I've no interest whatsoever in kids, beyond what a normal father would have. Like Parka (a reviewer of various art books) I thoroughly enjoy a book like Takamichi's "Love Works" (link to review) for its art. The guy is a -great- artist and what he does with a computer, a tablet and some software is absolutely wonderful as far as I'm concerned.
I'm curious how things will turn out.
EDIT:
By the way, none of the images used by De Pers in their article are from X-rated manga. They are from two different high school drama series, with zero sexual content. Typical for the media :)
*: Here's a thanks to Kevin, for introducing me to that particular piece of slang :p
kilala.nl tags: manga, anime, politics,
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2011-07-28 20:32:00
A few days ago Menno gifted me volume 1 of a little known manga: Sasameke, by Ryuji Gotsubo. He'd remembered that I like manga and anime about sports and stumbled upon a soccer story with a very eye catching cover. I quite like the story and the art, but was surprised upon reaching the third part of the volume... surprised in a From dusk till dawn kind of way, because all of a sudden there's an uninvincible body-builder mom fighting hospital wardens, agents and the father of her daughter! All the while jumping around and eating raw fish from a lake..
0_0; ... ... yea ...
So! All of a sudden the author hits me with this great quote from a young soccer player whose friends were almost bullied away from their practice field (things got sorted out though)... "I'm just a powerless child. All I have to my name is potential." I'll need to give that some more thought :)
kilala.nl tags: manga,
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2011-05-18 21:43:00
One could describe Pixiv as Japan's own DeviantArt: a website for artists of all fields to share and to discuss their work. Many amateur mangaka have a profile on Pixiv to showcase their works. One of my favorite artists, whom I discovered a year or two ago, is Nyanpura (ニャンプラー).
The young lady on the left is Nyanpura's regularly recurring character: a chubby, meganekko (girl with glasses) who is both cheeky and geeky (she loves video games). People who know me will understand that those are all qualities I like in a girl ^_^ When it comes to the artwork, I like the sketchy style, combined with the earthy color pallet that Nyanpura often uses.
Sadly, judging by the Pixiv profile, the artist isn't very active anymore.
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2011-02-01 16:44:00
I'd heard of this series before and now I've stumbled upon it again while looking around for more "Alps Park" / "Alps Hiroba" stuff.
"Ekiben Hitori Tabi" (駅弁ひとり旅, or "train station lunch solo trip") is a slice-of-life story about a man on a mission! A mission to try all of the regional ekiben in Japan. Ekiben are the packed lunches sold at train stations all through Japan. Eki = train station, Ben = short for bento = lunch box. Most stations carry ekiben with local and seasnal specialties so you'll never get bored :) Seeing how I love both trains and Japanese food, the series is bound to contain the appropriate amounts of food and train porn ^_^
This blog post by Telophase contains a bunch of scans and images from the comic.
EDIT:
For those wanting some ekiben food pornography themselves, there is of course a dedicated Flickr pool.
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2011-01-31 20:24:00
Woohoo! I need to order a new book from Japan! Either that, or pick it up at Book Off when we next travel there...
Yep yep! Volume 3 of the manga 'Alps Hiroba' is out! I'm so happy, because I love this series! It's also time for me to catch up on the author's weblog.
And the best part is that I still can't read any of it ^_^
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2010-09-10 23:03:00
The above snippet is taken from the newly released first paperback volume of the Mathematics Girls manga. The manga combines maths with stories of the daily lives of four female maths students.
I immediately recognized the algebra described in the page above as stuff that I'd learned in college over ten years ago. Sometimes I really miss being able to do stuff like that, though I don't even have any practical application for it these days. *sigh*
kilala.nl tags: life, japan, manga,
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2010-04-01 22:38:00
Tonight I learnt of artist Vania 600 through a website which I shall not link here due to its highly NSFW content. Said gentleman (at least, I assume it's a guy) is part of the Sakuradima circle of artists and makes some awesome drawings. I love the design of the characters and the level of detail he puts in there. I'm also very pleased that he featured my favourite Japanese train in the piece seen above. I really wouldn't mind a large print of that one!
I'll definitely look into his work some more. Good stuff!
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2010-02-04 16:23:00
Late last year I discovered a beautiful new manga: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, also known as YKK.
Back then I resolved to search for secondhand volumes of the mangas on our next trip to Japan. Certainly Book Off would have these books available! Well, Kodansha has taken all the effort out of finding YKK books, because they've started a re-release of the series! The first two volumes came out in October and volume six is already expected in February! Lovely!
Volume 1 at Amazon.co.jp.
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2010-01-23 22:56:00
What if God turned his back on his creation and heaven was run by a maniacal dictator in his stead? What if scores of angels went mad and were actually as "bad" as most of mankind? What if the great war between heaven and hell were God's design?
These themes and much, much more forms the basis of the manga Angel Sanctuary (1995-2001). I bought my first pocket from this series soon after it had ended, in 2002. Eight years later I've finally finished reading the whole series, after spending sixty euros buying the full set of twenty second-hand volumes.
The Wiki page's description of the critical reception sums it up pretty well: the artwork is beautiful, the storyline intricate, yet often over the top, convoluted and inconsistent.
kilala.nl tags: manga,
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2009-12-29 20:54:00
Yup, I still haven't recuperated completely from my flu so I'm still stuck at home. My head's clogged with crap, though the fevers have gone completely. Hopefully I'll be 100% OK again when it's time to go back to work in the new year.
In the mean time I'm reading Yotsuba& again, picking up where I left off last month. It's still a great manga and I just loved the moment shown above. Remember kids, you read the panels right-to-left ;)
EDIT:
Speaking of Yotsuba, I laughed my ass off with these spoofs done by folks at Japanator.
Yotsuba & lists. Fuuka is addicted to
Yotsbua & moe, protesting the current moe-mania in recent anime.
Yotsuba & Bakemonogatari. Apparently the show sucked, despite being awesome :D
kilala.nl tags: health, manga,
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2009-11-29 11:28:00
This is the second time I've followed a manga recommendation by Japanator: I'm quite taken by Yotsuba&! (which translates as "Yotsuba and ...").
I'd almost say this manga's required reading for any parent of a young child. It's not only hilarious, but it also prepares you for what ever the heck your five your old kid can get up to :D Kind of like Calvin and Hobbes, but less mischievous.
The sense of humor can be as random as Azumanga Daioh's, which is by the same author. Kaijuu has also described the girl Yotsuba as Osaka stuck in Chio-chan's body.
kilala.nl tags: manga,
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2009-11-10 20:21:00
I have always loved movies like Whispers of the heart, My neighbor Totoro and Only yesterday. Yes they are all Ghibli movies, but they also have something else in common, something which I've only now learnt the word for: mono no aware ("sadness for the transience of things"). Each of these movies gives me a feeling of warmth and happiness, mixed with a feeling of sadness. Each story shows you beautiful moments in life, but also makes it very clear that they have already passed and will never return.
And now, thanks to a recent article at Japanator I'm reading a manga that is the quintessential example of mono no aware: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (Wikipedia). The series spans 140 chapters and was published uninterrupted over almost twelve years. It has never been translated into any other language, though it has a strong fan base outside Japan. To quote Wikipedia:
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is set in a peaceful, post-cataclysmic world where mankind is in decline after an environmental disaster. Exactly what happened is never explained [...]. The reduced human population has reverted to a simpler life, and the reader is told this is the twilight of the human age. Instead of raging against their fate, humans are quietly accepting.
Like the aforementioned movies a lot happens in each story, while at the same time almost nothing happens at all. In my favorite chapter up to now (chapter 12) the main character Alpha has just received a photo camera which is limited to 300 shots. She sets out for the day to make memories, to capture beloved scenery in photographs. However, she grows more and more hesitant due to the limited capacity of the camera as well as a feeling that everything is very beautiful but nothing feels "just right". In the end the only photograph she takes was taken very carelessly as practice, but it was one of her happiest feelings for the day.
As I mentioned YKK was never translated into english, so the only way for me to read it is through scanlations. However, the next time I'm in Japan I will definitely try to get my hands on a full set of the books, just to have the original beautiful artwork.
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2009-11-08 21:32:00
Yes, yes, yes! Ooooh yes! ^_^
I just discovered that a month ago part 2 of Alps Hiroba was released. /o/ You may remember that I discovered part 1 in 2008 and that Kaijuu brought me the book back in February. As a refresher, the book's about a train-geek girl who's joined the JR planning department to work with her big love: trains. Fan-cult-ism, strange situations and comedy ensue :)
And now there's part 2! I will either get it from Amazon.co.jp immediately, or I'll make puppy-dog eyes at Kaijuu again ^_^;
Now, I'll keep on trying to read the author's weblog using Excite translations.
EDIT:
Haha, no way! They're actually ready to release a drama CD! O_O
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2009-05-10 14:39:00
A lot of people now in their twenties or early thirties will remember the Samurai Pizza Cats cartoon series which was aired in the early nineties. Despite (or is it "because of"?) it's completely mangled english translation the show was hilarious and had many, many fans!
In Japan (where the show was knows as Kyatto Ninden Teyandee) companies released many cool toys, including plastic build-your-own action figures similar to today's Gundam toys. Because I'm a big fan of the show and because I love learning about Japanese toys and such I thought I'd devote a new section of my site to the series. I thought I'd give it the same treatment I gave to Arrow Emblem so photos of the merch and info on AV releases would be saved for posterity.
Little did I know that people had already beaten me to it! The lovely Violet and many other, knowledgeable fans are using the Edoropolis fora to gather anything and everything they can find on SPC/KNT, from doujins and fansubs to the latest auctions for collectibles. I'm still tempted to make a site that gathers all the actual files, but that will have to wait till another day. For now the Edoropolis fora will suffice for me and are an awesome resource for SPC/KNT fandom. ^_^
kilala.nl tags: tv, anime, manga, japan,
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2009-04-24 20:59:00
I'm subscribed to at least two dozen Japan-centric blogs through RSS, giving me something to read on the train to work. This morning Deas Richardson of Rocking in Hakata wrote about Ubunuchu!, a recent manga to promote the Ubuntu Linux distribution. Distributed under the Creative Commons license, this comic is a great initiative to get non-geeky people to know about Linux and its easy-to-use brother Ubuntu.
Issue #1 is only twelve pages, but it's still a pretty funny read. The "OMG WIZARD!" drawing is absolutely awesome ^_^
kilala.nl tags: sysadmin, internet, unix, manga, japan,
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2008-12-13 01:43:00
Recently I've been following a number of blogs on Japan and current developments in the otaku culture surrounding Akiba and so on.
One of these blogs alerted me (partially NSFW) of a very new manga called Shin Shinjukueki Kikakuka: Alps Hiroba. Apparently it's a comedy about a young and highly motivated tetsu otome ("iron maiden"), ie a railway attendant.
Seeing how I'm nuts about the Japanese railway system I'd love to just leaf through this book ^_^ Maybe I should ask Niels-sama to bring it back from his next trip to Japan. Seriously, the book costs less than five euros anyway.
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2008-11-24 20:58:00
This evening I was browsing about the web, hopping from one anime/manga related website to the other. I love reading websites about Japan and the latest releases that arrive in Akihabara ^_^
One of the sites I stumbled upon delved into the growing legal problems that fans of manga have been running into. After reading the story of Elizabeth McClung I'm just glad that the Netherlands hasn't gone completely insane yet. Apparently it's illegal for Canadians to import any depiction of "obscene" acts, which apparently include gay/lesbian sex. Seriously, if -our- laws were like that, the rather modest doujinshi on the left would've been confiscated from my luggage as well o_O
Unfortunately Japanese comics and animation have gotten a reputation that causes a lot of people to refer to it as "that Japanese stuff" or "that perverted crap", which is of course completely unwarranted. Anime and manga comes in just about any genre thinkable. Yes, this means that there's porn (some of it rather freaky), but the majority of it really is just like what we know from Hollywood: comedy, romance, action, fighting, horror, etc.
Dutch law luckily allows us civilians to import just about anything we like; thank $DEITY. Of course there are -some- laws against stuff deemed to obscene for words, but those cases are completely warranted because the creation thereof is illegal. In recent years some grey areas have developed, but I sincerely hope we won't be seeing any Canadian/USA scenes as described by Elizabeth. Seriously! Customs opening your parcel and destroying part of what you bought because they offend someone's subjective standpoint? Not for me. If that starts happening I'm leaving the country... Or better yet: starting a campaign against the parties who legalized it.
I do believe that the .gov should look out for its people, but there are limits. Personal privacy is still very important!
EDIT:
Ouch! Here's another scary report. Some USAdian got his whole collection of >1200 anime and manga (and his seven PCs) confiscated because a parcel he'd ordered contained one (ONE!) volume that was deemed illegal as it was "obscene". He's gotten help in his defense, but still! Ouch!
kilala.nl tags: netherlands, politics, manga, anime,
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2008-08-17 13:59:00
Since I left school I've been tearing through a pile of books. Taking the train to work every day has given me the chance to enjoy myself again and to educate myself on non-school-non-work things. Here's a quick list.
Oscar Wilde's The picture of Dorian Gray was a great read. I love the story and miraculously the way the text's written is still very legible these days. Oddly, the first page of the book is horrible and has sentences that run on for seven lines. After that first page everything's perfect through :) If you'd like to read the book, you can download it for free at Project Gutenberg.
Bill Bryson's A short history of nearly everything started out great, but got slower about halfway. I still need to finish it.
I read through the whole eight books of the Marmelade Boy manga. I'm so glad that Yoshizumi-san decided to give the series a happy ending. I loved the romantic, teenage drama ^_^
Verhoeven and Busnel's Vaderschap voor beginners (Parenting for beginners) is a dreary book. The information in the book is quite valuable, but the way it's presented makes it very dry. I had to skim through the book and pick out choice samples to read. It makes a nice addition to other, more pleasant books but that's about it.
Henk Hanssen's Baby management voor mannen (Baby management for men) however is an -awesome- book! The way it's written irks me (manager's lingo and acting like the baby is a product), but the information and the way it's presented is invaluable. I tore through this book in five hours and learnt boatloads! :)
kilala.nl tags: reading, manga,
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2007-12-31 10:19:00
Mind you, I've only seen about 1/12th of one of the days, so it's really a very limited impression :)
First off: there's a lot of talent in Japan! A lot of these people are really good artist and their drawings are awesome.
There's a lot of diversity when it comes to presentation. One thing that most of them have in common is that they know how to design a good cover. I've seen very busy covers, I've stylish/clean covers, but all of them were gripping. Some use ordinary black and white, some use an explosion of colours, some go with special papers for the cover and some add other effects, like glitters, holographic plastic and one even added fur!
The coolest thing to see though, is the great variety in artistic styles. There's everything from realistic, to super-deformed. There's messy artists, there's clean artists, there's traditional artists and there's modern artists. It's very cool :)
I wish I could show you guys all of the stuff that I've bought, but it's a bit too much work for now :) You can view the covers of the doujins I bought in today's gallery (linked below).
kilala.nl tags: japan, comics, manga, japan 2007,
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2007-12-31 09:06:00
I got up around 08:30 and took care of the hotel's checkout. Luckily I could store my backpack behind the front desk, because there was no chance in hell that I'd drag that huge thing around the whole day. Speaking of the hotel: I took my breakfast there (as opposed to getting a pizza pan from 711 again) and I have to say that I really like the classical, Japanese breakfast.
My plan was to visit the Tokyo Big Sight, to attend day 2 of Comiket #73. This day revolves around manga drawn for the female audience, which are usually the stories I like a lot. There's something about the characters and stories that is more attractive to me.
Comiket, for those not in the know, stands for Comic Market. It's a huge convention, focused completely on amateur and semi-pro comics. Over the course of three days, about 35.000 groups of artists sell their manga to over 500.000 visitors. The event is spread across four square kilometers of convention space, bound together by a few kiloms extra of hallways.
I wanted to visit Comiket at least once, just to see what it's all about. I'd heard a lot about it and it really is quite an important event for otaku in Japan. Of course, it also featured prominently in one of my favourite anime, Lucky Star. So far I'd only seen dutch doujinshi and this's made me very curious about how things are done in Japan. I'll discuss that a little more in-depth in the next blog post.
In the meantime, let me say that the Japanese are the masters of crowd control! At no point in time were the crowds forced to a standstill, there was no shouting and shoving and there were no accidents. In general, everyone was disciplined and well behaved :) It's amazing to seen about 10.000 people, crammed into a square kilometer, without any crap breaking out.
A lot of Comiket's visitors come there with a plan. A few weeks before the event, their catalogue (about the size of a phonebook) is printed and people decided on which artists they really want to visit. This usually leads to big checklists, with exact "addresses" in the convention halls. It's all quite efficient :) Armed with checklists and shopping trolleys, these hardcore fans race across the festival, to ensure that they get everything they wanted.
I on the other hand went in there with only one plan: there is no plan :D
I'd decided for myself that I'd spend no more than Y10.000 (62 euros) and that I'd leave once I'd done so. Stats at the end of the Y10.000:
* I'd visited 1 row of clusters in 1 of the halls. This relates to about 1/12th of the whole con space.
* I'd spent about 3 hours circling that single row of clusters.
* 1 cluster consists of about 28 groups and one row of 15 clusters. This means I visited about 420 artists.
* I'd bought 23 doujinshi, ranging in price between Y100 (62 cents) and Y1200 (~7.5 euros).
Because my trip "home" was bound to be a long one, I'd decided to skip the rest of Comiket. I even skipped taking photos of all the cute/sexy/cool cosplayers.
Ah! A tip, if you're ever in Tokyo and have an hour or two of free time: ride the Yurikamome line back and forth, from Shimbashi station. This "train" (though it's more of a bus on a guided track) will take you past some awesome architecture, with the prettiest buildings in Tokyo. It'll also give you a great look at the Tokyo skyline, as seen from the bay.
Before heading to the Shinkansen, I'd lunch at Coco Ichibanya Curry, which is a chain of restaurants that I would heartily welcome in the NL. ^_^ Their curries are awesome, though I will never take anything about heat level 2. I think that my buddy Edmond (who usually puts tabasco on anything he eats) would stop around level 3. It's scary to think that things can go up to level 6. o_O;
The Shinkansen ride back to Shin-Osaka was comfortable, yet very busy. It was the day before New Year's and everyone was going back home for the holiday. Tokyo station was loaded with people and It was getting quite hard to move around. And yet again the Japanese shone in their displine! Travelers waiting for their trains were neatly lined up at the tracks and again there was no pushing or shoving. Very nice.
I got "home" around 20:30, had dinner (takeout udon noodles from 711) and had a chat with my roomies. Today (the 31st) I'll stick around Osaka and tonight I'll celebrate New Year's with some of them. Mostly, I'll be resting up a little bit :) the past five days have been very busy!
kilala.nl tags: japan, japan 2007, manga,
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2007-08-19 11:48:00
The story features a village of demon hunters, chief among them being a young woman named Sango. Sango's pet and fellow combatant is Kilala, a Nekomata (two-tailed cat demon). Kilala usually walks about in the shape and size of a kitten, but when angered transforms into a saber toothed hellcat.
So why pick Kilala for our website's name?
To be honest it was a compromise. We decided to move our e-mail and web hosting to our own domain back in 2005. Back then we needed a domain name that:
After going over the long list of cool names and objects we finally settled on Kilala. We love cats, Kilala is cool and passionate and it's a damn easy name to remember.
As an aside, all of our computers are named after Inu Yasha characters, IY-geeks that we are. So far we have Kagome, Shippo, Sango, Kilala and Yura.
kilala.nl tags: website, manga, creative,
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2007-06-11 23:12:00
The past few weeks I've purchased the first volumes for a number of manga series that I haven't had experience with so far. I'd heard about each series from rumours and had gotten curious since the basic premise of each series seems like it's right up my alley. Having read all three first volumes I thought I'd give'm a little review.
Now, keep in mind that I'm a huge fan of shoujo manga, so most of these titles were originally targeted at girls or young women. It's like with chick flicks: the drama and romance just attracts me ^_^;
Kamichama Karin (Little Goddess Karin) is the latest story by Koge-Dondo, of Digi Charat fame. Her stories usually involve overly cute girls in frilly dresses getting up to insane antics. In Digi's case that worked out wonderfully, but I'm not so convinced about Karin.
In her latest series Koge-Dondo follows Karin, a twelve year old orphan, living with her grumpy aunt, wallowing in her misery. So obviously this series is an attempt to take things rather seriously. Over the course of the first volume Karin makes friends, loses her cat and finds out that she can channel the powers of a Goddess. Sounds like a good starting point for any other manga, right? The drawings are rather good (although sometimes a little "busy"), as we've grown accustomed from Koge-Dondo.
So what kept me from really enjoying this title? The dialogue. I don't know if it's that Tokyopop dropped the ball in the translation or that this is the original writing, but the kids just don't talk like kids. They talk like semi-grownups and throw horrible slang words in that have no place in the conversations. Thanks to the dialogue the whole story becomes a bit hard to believe.
Maybe that the story and writing improves over the following parts, but I don't think I'll be trying it any further.
I had a hard time imagining a manga that was inspired and/or co-written by Courtney Love. You'll know her: rock artist, sometimes druggy, sometimes beautiful, widow of Kurt Cobain. So yea...
So imagine my pleasant surprise when I find Princess Ai to be a story that's rather captivating and that left me wanting for more! I would love to know how Ai adjusts to life on earth, after escaping from her own home planet. I would love to know how her fragile relationship with that guitar player plays out. And I would love to see more of that awesome fashion design!
I love the art work and personally, I think the pacing of the story is great. By the book. We have a slow piece, you get the wind up, here's the exciting climax and then there's the conclusion. Etc. Some parts of the writing are a little unimaginative (what with Ai being named after her country Ai Land, for example), but those moments occur only sparingly.
I'll definitely be getting the rest of this series.
OMG! Loveless has got it all! ^_^
A gripping fantasy story line. A look on magical combat that one not often encounters. Stunning artwork. Tension. Suspense. A sense of mystery. Sensuality. And dare I say it? shounen ai *glee!*
It's series like these that make me wish I had a bishi build like my brother Mistoffelees, who's graced with a slender figure and mysterious looks :D If I were just a few years younger I'd be cosplaying the hell out of characters like Soubi Agatsuma.
Without giving away too much of the story, here's a very short point-wise summary of the setting.
* A world filled with a race of humans who take neko (cat) like properties before they lose their innocence; think "ears" and "tail". The world overall looks just like ours: ordinary people, jobs, schools, clothes, etc.
* This world knows a system of magic purely based on words. Hence the repeated message on the power of words. Now that I think of it: the current Doctor Who season also has an episode on this subject.
* This magic can be used in combat, by stringing either words or eloquent sentences together. In combat participants are paired, one being the fighter unit (deals damage) and the other being the sacrifice (takes damage). It really borders on an SM relationship sometimes.
* The main character is a young boy whose brother was recently murdered. His brother's fighter unit seeks him out to become his servant. The recurring theme in this case is: can one be ordered to really, honestly love someone?
Anywho... Out of these three series, Loveless has to be my favourite. Between the graphical style, the subject matter and the sensual tension it really is a great read!
kilala.nl tags: reading, manga,
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2005-07-28 22:59:00
Lordy! The weather over here is really something else! Just a few days ago I was shivering and wearing a sweater all day and now yesterday and today have been awfully hot and moist. Even this morning, around 06:30, it was 21 degrees C! Please, big G in the sky, make up your mind!
Wednesday evening had a nice Kodak moment by the by ^_^ Marli had gone out for Tepan Yaki at Asian Tower like we do more often, but this time around we were discussing hentai doujinshi and fan fiction at the dinner table :3 As a serious discussion o_O I'm just happy there weren't any other patrons sitting at nearby tables, or else we would've gotten some odd looks!
In other news: I'm quite excited! Next week should see the arrival of my brand-spanking new 14" iBook! o/ Can't wait!..
kilala.nl tags: manga, holy shit,
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2003-11-23 15:23:00
The last two days I've been working on a small tutorial which explains how to colour manga and other comics using the GIMP. I'd been toying with the idea of writing this thing for over a year now, after having to figure everything out by myself when I switched from Windows to Linux. Hopefully this'll get some use :) You'll find it in the Anime/Manga section.
kilala.nl tags: comics, manga, creative,
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2003-10-11 06:49:00
Don't think that we've dropped this hobby altogether! :)
Mar and me've been getting our fix of anime semi-regularly the last couple of months. Series that we're currently following are Cowboy Bebop, Sailormoon, St. Tail and Inu Yasha (Marli's favourite!). On the other hand it's been real slow when it comes to manga, with the exception of two TPB's each of Ranma and of Inu Yasha.
In the drawing department I haven't gotten much done lately. I made a logo for my website's new Warhammer section and that's about it *blush of shame* I did however scan in the last two pages of the Lianne story, eventhough I haven't even finished drawing the two pages. I reckon that I'll never finish'em anyway :( I also was astounded that I hadn't put up the third page of the Cailin stories yet. Now that I remember I was busy colouring it months ago, but then I lost the file :[ So I rescanned the B/W image and I'll put that up untill I get around to colouring the page for real... I hope that I'll get some more ideas for the story sometime soon.
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2002-12-03 00:00:00
Oh my gosh! When it rains, it pours ^_^
I've been getting nice ideas for anime-inspired sewing projects all day now! Not only have I been thinking about how I _could_ get Marlijnes Beldandy dress ready for the con, but I've also been toying with a new idea ~nyo!
And "~nyo" is right! :3 While piling through our closet I found one of Mar's old, comfy shirts which I decided I could use as the basis for a nice kitty-costume like the stuff Piro wears on MegaTokyo. Check the sidebar for a couple of new images: the original shirt and a design sketch.
Only problem is: cloth costs money and I also promised Mar that if I'd sew something for myself, that I'd also be bound to make her Beldandy dress -_-' Choices, choices, choices :p
PS I've been sketching some chibi cosplay designs for the personas I've mentioned and put'em up in the 'Comic' section. Check entries 6 through 8 in the sidebar, under 'Cailin'.
kilala.nl tags: anime, manga, creative,
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2002-12-02 00:00:00
As promised I've scanned the three pages of designs for my A2003 cosplay costume. Not that I'll be making any of it anytime soon, but hey! You never know when it'll come in handy. At least it was a nice exercise in design since it had been a while...
In the mean while I've been thinking of dressing up as Tetsu Hayami, the main character from "Blue Submarine 6", since that would've been an easy costume and I already have loads of the accesoiries anyway. Who knows? Maybe I'll go visit some army dump and get the required clothes ^_^ Anyway. It was either Tetsu or Karl from "Serial Experiments Lain".
Unfortunately Mar's quite disappointed that she won't be dressing up as Beldandy. We really don't have the money for all of the cloth needed to make her Goddess dress, so we'll have to find something else for her (or maybe she'll just have to go in her 'mundanes' just like the rest of the sane people :p).
kilala.nl tags: creative, anime, manga,
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2002-10-20 00:00:00
Well, it looks like there won't be any cosplaying for me and Mar at the next con ;_;
A lack of funds and time to prepare the costumes will prevent us from coming in proper attire. If time allows for it we may look into fixing up something simple. It'll probably be Mar toying around with my cats ears and tail from last year and me dressing up like Hayami from Blue Submarine 6 or Karl from Serial Experiments Lain.
I may as well tell you guys what I was planning for myself though (no sense in keep that surprise ^_^). It was going to be quite a large undertaking, but I planned on going as Ryu Kazuhiko from CLAMPs series "Clover". I was going to make his formal uniform, consisting of slacks, a tight shirt and his uniform/overcoat (with all of the insignias and trimmings). If I can get my scanner to work with Linux I'll put up a picture of the guys :)
kilala.nl tags: creative, anime, manga,
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2002-07-10 00:00:00
Soooo... Me and Mar'll start preparing for cosplay at Anime 2003 real soon now ^_^ Marlijne _really_ wants to go as Beldandy in her blue goddess dress (it is rumored that another girl'll be going as Bel too and that she'll be wearing the red goddess dress) and I'll be cosplaying as a character from one of the mangas by CLAMP.
I won't reveal _who_ it is, since I'd like to keep it a surprise :p I _will_ say that it's going to be one hell of a cool uniform and that it'll take a lot of work to make! I'll be posting designs etc in the left column sometime soon.
Oh! And Niklas will probably be cosplaying Hiei the Fire Demon again. The difference with this year being that the costume'll look better, that he'll try harder on getting the hair right (*grins widely* Good Luck to him!) and that he'll be joining a small group of Yu Yu Hakusho cosplayers! Wai! The girl who got it all running's called WindSailor and is the one who cosplayed as Zell at A2002.
kilala.nl tags: creative, anime, manga,
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All content, with exception of "borrowed" blogpost images, or unless otherwise indicated, is copyright of Thomas Sluyter. The character Kilala the cat-demon is copyright of Rumiko Takahashi and used here without permission.
