Spotlight Manga: Red River MAL Manga Information Page: Red River MAL Score - 8.39 (by 1707 users) Ranked - #160 Popularity - #302 For the next week I would like to have a discussion about the manga that focuses on the key elements that we here on MAL use to critically rate a manga: Art, Characters, Story, and Enjoyment. I would like everyone to approach this thread as if you were going to write a review and structure your initial post like this: Art - insert rating Characters - insert rating Story - insert rating Enjoyment - insert rating Art - discuss any pros and cons of the art styling used in the series, try to include some specifics. Character - describe any of the things you liked or didn't care for in regards to specific characters in the series etc... If you are having trouble writing up a review or coming up with specific pros and cons, please don't worry. Just do the best you can with it and if you can only write two or three sentences about any of the 4 elements then that's OK. Not everyone here is currently at a level which will allow them to articulate their thoughts and opinions. After your initial post is made you can feel free to civilly discuss issues of contention. I am sure there will be many opinions expressed here that some of us will disagree upon and criticise and it is for that reason that this entire club exists. So I hope everyone has fun and I am really looking forward to seeing how this discussion will develop. RESULTS OF THE YOU DECIDE POLL Red River was NOT inducted into the club Manga list: 3 Yes - 50.0% 3 No - 50.0% 67 Don't know this manga - 91.7% of the total number polled 0 Abstained - 0.0% of the total number polled |
santetjanOct 12, 2010 9:54 AM
| You do not beg the sun for mercy. |
| I have read 45 chapters of this manga and it's a nice enjoyable story. Although the idea used here is executed properly, it is not terribly original. It has a good pace that doesn't make me bored and characters are fairly interesting, but it also overuses a bit some tricks typical for shoujo. I'm still undecided. |
| "The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid. Look at the successful men in any of the learned professions. How perfectly hideous they are! Except, of course, in the Church. But then in the Church they don't think. A bishop keeps on saying at the age of eighty what he was told to say when he was a boy of eighteen, and as a natural consequence he always looks absolutely delightful." |
| I am a huge shoujo reader, and Red River really caught me by surprise. I've read adventure-esque shoujo, and in the beggining this seemed a lot like Fushigi Yuugi. And reading Basara recently for the spotlight, i can see the similarities between them--but Red River definitely is superior to both those stories in my opinion. As I read it, the story hooked me in and the characters really grew on me. The romance in red river is more on the smut-shoujo side, but aside from that I thought the actual plot line of the story really interesting. I'm not a history person, but i tend to really get into historical fiction stuff. As I was reading red river I would look at certain things on wikipedia to see how accurate they were to what really happened, and while the mangaka took major liberties, i think that a lot of the general themes are there. If a mangaka puts that sort of research and effort into their stories it really makes a huge difference. The supernatual story was integrated well into the plot and I think it really made the story interesting. While the individual themes of red river seem pretty bland and unoriginal, the story overall feels very different from anything i've read that similar. Red river is just good. Really good, actually. I was really surprised that it was good, and it definitely stands out to me as being a great shoujo for the themes it is comprised of. Its similar series (like Basara and Fushigi Yuugi) just seem to fall short. And yes, even though i do love a lot of pretty generic shoujo manga, they are not the kind of series I'd never say have what it takes to be in the relations. I think Red River does. |
katsupOct 2, 2010 7:16 PM
| Whatever else may be said, Red River is an intriguing endeavour. As I'm currently only 19 of the 28 volumes in and will probably only barely finish it in time to vote, let alone to emend my post here, I cannot give any final thoughts on the story or the characters. I can, however, make an educated guess as to what the remainder of the story will look like as, really, Red River is as basic a generic, or even smutty, shoujo as can be found: Japanese teenager is spirited away to a different time and space, to fall in love with a native prince (why always a prince or pauper? Why can't it ever be a ground-floor manager, a registered accountant or any other mid-level common man?) and fulfill the role, however unwillingly at first, of Chosen One, naturally being thwarted at every turn by an evil stepmother, a tragic dark knight and the loss of common sense that seems to always have to accompany the floods of passion which more or less form the entirety of every single character. What differentiates Red River from so many others, though, is its setting and, more specifically, the amount of attention paid to that setting. Usually, having the story take place in an exotic time and space is solely an excuse to paste on some fairytale background and have the characters dress up in, well, dresses, but the odd choice of situating the story in the late 13th century BCE Hittite Empire in itself shows that the author wanted to show her readers a bit of a realm that she evidently found fascinating. (What is more: She can't have done it for the dresses, as we know almost nothing about Hittite clothing.) When one thinks about it a bit, the time and place chosen is actually an amazingly perfect fit for the type of story, as we know quite a bit about the court structure of the era from diplomatic letters and the time was one of great political and social upheaval, when new technologies and thoughts were introduced, power structures changed quickly, young kings took over from suddenly deceased fathers and young generals quickly rose through the ranks. Naturally, the author took some liberties with actual history for the sake of the story, both as regards history (the Hittite-Egyptian war did not, as far we know, happen; future pharaoh Ramses I was actually a middle-aged man at the time, etc.) and as regards plausibility (the magical act of getting the Japanese heroine there, being able to understand a bunch of foreign languages through being kissed, etc.). These matters apart, it is apparent that the author took quite a care to try and portray Hittite society accurately and to use it as more than just a pretty backdrop. In doing so, though, she also took upon herself the responsibility to be true to known fact wherever it does not interfere of the story. Maddeningly, it is clear that the mangaka has done quite a bit of research and generally almost gets it right. She states, for example, the important Hittite military innovation of manning a chariot with three men, but gives the wrong reason for how they managed this; she tells about the revolution that was the spread of iron working, but again is wrong as to why this was so revolutionary. There are many complete gaps in her knowledge (for a series that puts a lot of attention to military conflict, she seems not to know the first thing about the realms' military organisation), she lacks a good sense of scale, and there are many simple gaffes. Worse, most of the more glaring mistakes could have easily been avoided if she'd just done a bit more research. Illustrative here is the trip from Hattusa to Emesa (a city that was not yet founded at the time), which has the heroine travel through a desert (not to be found anywhere on that route) populated by nomads riding camels (not yet domesticated). While the trip itself is of importance to the story, this is no excuse, as all the mangaka needed to do was to relocate the tale a bit. All this being said, it must be noted that the author is clearly aware of one thing of importance: Morals and values change over time and place. While this seems to slip the mind of the author often enough, she does at least try in places to illustrate how the ancients did not necessarily think on things in the same way the modern Japanese do. This alone alleviates a great many of the minor pains resulting from the stupid mistakes made. At the moment, I find myself a bit torn as to how to vote on it. Do I enjoy reading Red River? Not at all. Do I think it's a generally good series? No. Would I recommend it to anyone who likes shoujo but also wants a bit more depth to it? Immediately. The question is: Is this enough to have it inducted? I'm not sure. |
santetjanOct 6, 2010 1:37 PM
| You do not beg the sun for mercy. |
More topics from this board
Sticky: » The End of Critics and ConnoisseursHiroM_ - Dec 31, 2022 |
31 |
by danz
»»
Nov 10, 2023 1:08 AM |
|
» Challenge You Decide: Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (Anime) (1/1)HiroM_ - Dec 3, 2022 |
44 |
by 25saix
»»
Dec 30, 2022 3:10 PM |
|
» You Decide: Golden Kamuy 2nd Season (Anime) (12/4)HiroM_ - Dec 2, 2022 |
42 |
by 25saix
»»
Dec 30, 2022 3:10 PM |
|
» Resurrected You Decide: Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica (Anime) (12/4)HiroM_ - Dec 2, 2022 |
47 |
by 25saix
»»
Dec 30, 2022 3:09 PM |
|
» Blue N Rescue Mission: Eikoku Koi Monogatari Emma (Anime) (12/4)HiroM_ - Dec 3, 2022 |
24 |
by Dramaddict
»»
Dec 28, 2022 6:02 PM |