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Feb 10, 2023
Real is an extremely underrated manga by Takehiko Inoue, the master in their craft. It began serialization in 1999, together with the author's masterpiece, Vagabond, and currently has 15 volumes (at the date of this review).
The manga presents the story of three young people (Tomomi Nomiya; Kiyoharu Togawa and Hisanobu Takahashi) whose lives are intertwined by basketball, drama and immeasurable tragedy.
Nomiya is a boy who loves basketball but drops out of school after getting involved in a serious accident; Togawa is a wheelchair user who also loves the sport, an extremely competitive person but who still has fears and regrets about his life, and Hisanobu
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is a not-so-nice guy, captain of the basketball team at the same school he attends. Nomiya was part of it, but suddenly his life is completely transformed due to a certain calamity.
In the plot, we will see how the three boys relate to sport – all the love for the game and training – and how they live (seeking to overcome themselves) even under the aegis of despair and the imponderable.
Real is – at first glance – a generic manga like any other, in which we will see characters who love what they practice and who have their lives connected to it, seeking to improve themselves and trying to become the best of all. However, there is something clear and precious because it will not only deal with basketball itself, it will deal with wheelchair basketball and the way society and the players themselves see it. More than that, it will show us how people deal with real heartbreaking problems and try to accept and overcome events and their limitations.
This first volume is an introduction to the story and – although carrying out an analysis of it alone is not very fruitful – it already lays the foundations of a narrative that tends to be touching, sad and even terrifying for some, with the characters involved by the tragedy and the drama emerging at every moment. The plot begins, for example, with Nomiya out of school, after a motorcycle accident that left a girl who was with him paraplegic. With the world at his back, he will try to live with the anguish of what he has done and the traumas arising from it, while at the same time, he will need to find a place in the world.
Although he has the characteristic of being tough and cool, he is not unlike any other person who flirts with misfortune and ends up feeling guilty for what happened to the girl. He is afraid of traffic due to the accident and, in the middle of everything, he still has to work to survive. And it is in this context that his initial lifeline is basketball, or rather the encounter with a great player in the sport, Kiyoharu Togawa, a young man who, sitting in his wheelchair, manages to play much better than Nomiya.
Although he gets into several fights during the volume (one of which, at the end of the first volume is quite intense), basketball and the encounter with Togawa make Tomomi manage to survive, even though the fears and traumas remain, even though his personality stays present.
The introduction that this volume gives us is some of Togawa's history as well. Togawa is a young man who had one of his legs amputated, in the past, due to illness and has been using a wheelchair for a long time, having found salvation in wheelchair basketball.
Not only that, basketball becomes so important that he wants more than just playing, more than just having fun, he wants to win and he wants to be the best. In other words, he is a character who comes ready-made, with all his baggage from the past tragedy, now seeking to go further. In the meantime, he even uses his drama for his benefit (I can't say more because of the spoiler).
His big dilemma is precisely not being with people who also want to win. We soon discover that he left the wheelchair basketball team he was part of because his teammates just wanted to have fun and were happy even after a loss. One of the most striking scenes is exactly this, with Togawa hearing from one of his companions that they shouldn't care so much because nothing would change in their lives since they were wheelchair users. This is an emblematic moment, as it opposes Togawa's thinking, who wanted more and more, despite his physical limitations.
Despite everything, we see in Togawa still traces of the things that happened to him. In particular, he finds it difficult to accept help, thinking that it interferes with the lives of other people with whom he lives.
We couldn't stop talking about the last figure of the plot's triad, Hisanobu Takahashi. And the best definition of him is a person who is hateful, bad, lazy, treating others badly, etc, etc. Typical bad boy. But there is a turn in the story: after stealing a bicycle, he ends up being run over and becomes paraplegic.
If at the beginning of the plot, the great drama is about Nomiya, from the middle to the end, Takahashi is the star of the tragedy that takes over.
We will see him in a regrettable situation, unimaginable until then, having to deal with something and things that greatly affect his psychology.
And Real is basically that, an exacerbated drama that affects the characters at the same time that the basketball game is their soul, the strength necessary for them to fight. Despite his hurts and limitations, Togawa will be there playing for fun (and for money) despite being the cause of an accident, Nomiya will be fighting to get things going and so on.
Although it is a story originally intended for the Japanese public, Real brings a universal image of how we often see people with disabilities, with pity, as incapable and so on. A clear case, in this sense, occurs when Togawa goes to play basketball at certain times and everyone thinks he is poor, taking it easy on him because he is a wheelchair user. The move is right there, as we see the boy in a very athletic way and better than several players without any disabilities.
And perhaps therein lies the great point of the manga.
It makes us think about ourselves, think about how we see paraplegic people and how we would react in a similar situation. By presenting several people who have learned or are learning to deal with a certain condition, the story puts us in an impasse situation, which can make us feel sad about the situations shown and empathize with the characters at the same time that it can make us be scared of that.
Real inserts a little finger in the wound. It makes us reason about things that we try to forget most of the time, that we are not used to seeing in the manga, and that is one of the great qualities of this work.
Finally, remember what I said earlier: this story has a great introduction that smoothes the rough edges of the story. Even so, it is clear right away that Real is a work that speaks deeply – it touches on essential and uncomfortable points – and the whole development of characters seems to show us that the intensity of things tends to increase.
Real is one of those titles that are almost essential for comic book readers those that make us think about life, despair, happiness, fear and most importantly, not judging people just because they are different from us. We need to have empathy and help people because, in their minds, they are fighting a gigantic war to survive.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Nov 10, 2022
The Ghost in the Shell - A Story about the Current Reality
"Technology has become what we are experiencing."
Throughout the history of Japanese animation, we had some examples of works that managed to leave the niche of anime fans, reaching a prominent place in pop cultures, such as Studio Ghibli, Akira or Dragon Ball, marked by vivid animation techniques and realistic narratives.
The Ghost in the Shell, more specifically its 1995 adaptation, is part of these productions graced by the western audience, even inspiring the Wachowski brothers to make "The Matrix". The manga that originated the feature film, even if it wasn't so well known, is
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the subject of reading by fans of its adaptation.
Written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow, the story follows Major Motoko Kusanagi, an android leader of a cyber counter-terrorism group. Set in a typical cyberpunk scenario, dominated by large corporations and inhabited by people who connect to cyberspace through cables inserted into the back of their heads, the work is certainly one of the most striking of this subgenre of science fiction, which was made popular through the books of William Gibson. (mainly Neuromancer) and other authors. Throughout the 352 pages of the manga, we follow this team fighting cases of cyber terrorism, many of which appear to be linked to a figure known as the Puppet Master.
The reason why Shirow's manga never achieved the popularity of its film adaptation is quite evident from the very first pages. The reader is immediately taken by an immense amount of information, with speech bubbles that fill the frames in such a way that this becomes a slower reading. The problem with this is that the plot quickly becomes very confusing to the point that we need to filter what impacts the plot development. The Ghost in the Shell is certainly not an easy read and requires a lot of concentration from the reader. This doesn't mean, however, that we are facing a bad story or anything like that. The mangaka's script explores this fascinating cyberpunk universe in-depth, clearly drawing on concepts from authors such as William Gibson and Philip K. Dick and imprinting his own philosophical and sociological vision on each page. At first, the great villains are the corporations that have infiltrated society in such a way that the government has become such a puppet, something that is made clear by the front pages. Major Kusanagi works as the portrait of freedom, the punk figure of cyberpunk, the element that isn't ruled in this dystopian future and that often acts spontaneously, standing out from everything around it.
The art, also by Shirow, perfectly symbolizes this through the protagonist's facial expressions. Despite being an android, she can be clearly defined by the emotions she clearly shows on her face. From a simple laugh to a punch in the face of a politician, we identify with his most rebellious stance, which, in itself, brings “colour” to the story. Unfortunately, Masamune ends up losing our immersion numerous times by bringing us pages full of visual information, which, together with the concepts introduced in the lines, make the reading even more confusing, to the point that the readers are obligated to reread certain pages to understand what is happening.
Interestingly, some of these confusing pages are beautiful, but usually only when they portray continuous action. At this point, we automatically stop reading just to appreciate the line, which dispenses with the pasteurization we are used to in current comics (whether eastern or western). That said, each character can be easily recognized by their appearance, which is very different from the others. We are talking about a very characteristic art of the 1990s when it comes to manga and there is no way not to see the similarities with other works, such as the classic Evangelion.
The colours, which are generally present at the beginning of each chapter, reinforce the visual identity of this world, often relying on shades of blue and grey, in addition to the use of red to denote violence, appearing in certain frames. Sometimes, the excess of colours also harms our reading, guaranteeing one more element for our eyes to get used to – reading black and white pages is considerably more fluid.
Fortunately, it's not something that gets in the way of reading too much, especially when we've gotten used to the concepts introduced halfway through the manga.
As much as it is not an easy read and it falls short of the 1995 anime adaptation, Masamune Shirow's work certainly deserves to be read by lovers of good old cyberpunk. With its evident value marked by the philosophical and sociological vision of its author, with clear mentions of other works of the genre, The Ghost in the Shell manages to capture the attention of its reader quickly and, even with the constant immersion breaks, provided by the confusing narrative, we managed to feel close to its protagonist, who stands out in this dystopian future, which is not that far from our reality.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Oct 24, 2022
Why is Goodnight Punpun a Depressing Paradox?
Generally, the act of telling stories, especially in Japanese comics (manga) is related to plots with battles and youth target audience, to whom their potential for plurality is underestimated. However, Goodnight Punpun breaks the paradigm by portraying the ability of the ninth art to approach and portray deep and heavy themes of human consciousness, such as depression, suicide or troubled family relationships through the unique language of the drawings.
Before starting the review, there is a caveat of great importance: the work is dense and the author has no intention of sparing the reader from the cruelty of the events
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and the thoughts of the characters. The age rating has a purpose.
This story narrates the story of Punpun Onodera, from childhood to early adulthood, who orbits his life around Aiko after being impacted by love at first sight. Living in a broken family, whose domestic violence is present, and dreaming of being an astronaut to colonize the stars, Punpun progressively moves from the dreamy child full of potential to the young adult with psychological disorders whose love lived in childhood ends up becoming his only one point of refuge and hope.
The manga is full of symbolism, the most notable of which is the visual representation of the main character, a simple design similar to a bird without wings. Would it be the protagonist's view of himself? Or, a stylistic resource so that the reader can project themselves in Punpun? Is the absence of wings related to the dream of colonizing the stars? It is difficult to answer these questions and all the others that follow, but the surprising narrative ability to tie the plot together and leave the information implied encourages the reader to create theories to unravel the “mysteries” while permeating the most varied existential themes. The manga deals with several pertinent themes, such as religion, sexuality, changes in the human being, nihilism, existential anguish, self-mutilation and unresolved family problems.
About Religion
“Dear God, dear God, shine shine in the sky”, this is the prayer Punpun learned from his uncle Yuichi Onodera to invoke the one who would keep him company in lonely moments, God. Here another aspect full of symbols stands out, the mental projection of the divine entity is represented as a black man, whose personality is ironic and mocking.
The Character "God", who appears constantly throughout the story but mainly in the bird's crises, mocks Punpun in all its phases of transformation and initially acts as comic relief. In contrast to the idealization of deities, he is the character most averse to moral rules. Who exactly is this character? Is he God or a representation of the protagonist's subconscious, as Freud theorized? The question is not just for the reader. The discomfort and possible allegorical relationships with this only increase with the unfolding of events, especially in the final two volumes of the manga, in which the representation of "God" works as a destructive subconscious, capable of annihilating the whole world, including himself.
About Sexuality
The theme is treated at all stages of the protagonist's life. During childhood, children are curious about what sex is and, with the right dose of naivety and malice, they try to obtain hidden information about the topic. The narrator, with unique sensitivity and rawness, even exposes the discovery of masturbation by the main character, in addition to abstractly representing orgasm. At this point a clear contrast regarding gender is highlighted, while boys strive to enter the world of sex through pornography, girls tend to view such attitudes with disgust.
In later stages, all sex scenes or those that refer to sexuality are even more guilt-ridden and, at times, linked to religion. In addition, themes such as sexual abuse, adultery and paedophilia are exposed, and the author avoids Manicheism to do so, but in this process, questions arise about the limits of art. Should there be restrictions on the theme? Is representing a crime through art also a crime? The author provokes the reader from an ethical point of view several times. In any case, actions are not free and much less without consequences.
About Changes and Self-Image
Inio Asano analyzes how today's society makes people prone to depression. As the protagonist changes, Inio Asano uses the tools inherent in the manga. The author modifies Punpun's physical appearance according to the character's psychological state. At a given moment, he doesn't even recognize himself anymore, “Is this how my face has always been…?”, such speech opens wide the experienced identity disorders. Punpun's many faces characterize the intensity of depression he feels as he grows older and matures over time.
Pure Nihilism
The story is set in Japan at the beginning of the 21st century, a period marked by the absence of wars and optimism about the future of children. Punpun, like any other child born in this period, has many dreams and during the chronological unfolding of the story, we see his frustration in not achieving them. This relationship between idealization about the future and disenchantment with reality is marked by most of the characters presented. "After all, that's life, you reap what you sow", this speech by Punpun's uncle to guide him during the transition from adolescence to adulthood introduces ethics whose responsibility for actions is attributed only to the individual himself, that is, according to Yuichi, the environment does not determine the being and people have full freedom of choice. This addition contrasts with the author's apparent intention within the story. From there, the anguish experienced by the protagonist and the reader who accompanies him increases even more.
The characters are in constant reflection about their role in the world, analyzing the past and whether life is worth living. Suicide becomes a constant possibility for some characters, and it is questioned whether there is a risk of serving as a trigger for any reader with a depressive history when approaching such a theme. During these moments, the author uses black ink to set the mood for anxious moments, permeates the darkness and uses visual allegories to portray the agony experienced. In some passages, the work exaggerates the reactions to the events, a fact that is sometimes intentional, but other times, it sounds ridiculous.
Story Inconsistencies
Punpun has a line that says: "At that moment, Punpun felt like he understood all the secrets of humanity", but he has no empathy for the people around him who genuinely want his good, as in the case of his uncle, his wife's uncle, father and potential girlfriend, Sashi Nanjou. How can the protagonist understand all the secrets of humanity without being able to empathize with other humans? No one will ever know;
Punpun lacks maturity, responsibility and masculinity throughout the story. It is not today that men around the world "suffer" a lack of masculinity in society, mainly due to some misandric women who exist today and who want to change the "status quo" of the world. Punpun lives in the same real world as us readers, as he suffers "castration" of masculinity, he is a mangina character, who does everything asked of him just because he wants a girl, this Aiko, his crush since childhood. But why does he feel this? Nobody will ever know. During a boy's developmental phase, the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until he reaches 25 years of age and this makes the boy's brain unprepared to digest a relationship with another human being and this is scientifically proven. Why would Punpun want to be in a relationship if he has nothing to offer to the other person? And why exactly Aiko, when he had Sachi and was happy with her? Punpun always wanted to have sex, and he could now; Punpun always wanted to share his life with someone, he learned that from his uncle and shared the same problem with him and now Punpun could do it with Sachi.
Punpun always dreamed of being an astronaut and discovering the Milky Way, at the end of the story he sees the NASA rocket he dreamed of all his life to be able to dislodge.
Goodnight Punpun invites the reader to reflect and experiment with new sensations, to be able to get out of the sameness and evolve as a person and human being but unfortunately, Punpun does not learn anything from the reflections that he makes and that teach him throughout his journey.
You can see the direction that the author Inio Asano took in the last two volumes of the work, he essentially spoiled what could have been the culmination of the work, without needing to be perfect and without needing to adapt to the expectations of the readers. The paradox that I mention in the title of the review is what Punpun feels throughout the work, he is an unhappy, sad child, who fakes certain behaviours to be on the same level as other people and with these false and mundane experiences, he uses a social "mask" to be able to fit in a society, at the same time that it is an apparent opposition to itself (definition of paradox).
The most interesting characters in the work are Shimizu, Seki and Sachi, not only because they are captivating characters but because they are characters who live their own lives without making statements to anyone, they are true, realistic and 100% pure characters, who are exposed to real problems such as violence or rejection but at the same time, they are not reactive characters, on the contrary, curiosity and confidence are something that defines these characters in some way or shape. Here I will give the examples of Seki and Sachi only.
Seki is a significant contrast to Punpun. He's one of those guys who, whatever you say about him, he's very smart but, tragically, lacks ambition. Seki, it's an admitted bag of shit. He didn't finish high school and instead worked to support his family. He jumps through jobs and dates several women. He doesn't treat his friend Shimizu as "damaged". He doesn't joke about the fact that it's not normal for Shimizu to see a poop god. He doesn't make a point of making Shimizu try to stop seeing him either. He just treats Kou like a friend, buying him food, making sure he's finished high school and checking in on him. Shit, Seki is the only one of them all who realizes Shimizu went and joined a cult because he wanted to stop being lonely. That's the definition of a true friend, it's a sub-theme that the author Inio Asano wanted to get across when talking about reflection. Seki is the friend I have when I need something and he is there for me, he is a friend who has real problems in his personal life but doesn't let them show to me, he is a truly rational male who thinks and acts like a true grown man. Seki is a man I want to be, regardless of who I am, what I do for a living, and what kind of relationships I have. Seki knows he's a bag of shit and always will be but that's what makes him human. Humans are not perfect, they have flaws and that's one of Seki's flaws, just like I have and everyone else has, the difference is that this flaw is real, it's palpable, it's the author's intention and most importantly.
Sachi is the foil to Aiko Tanaka, Punpun's main love interest. She is a dedicated, strong and independent woman with preferences towards men. She has her apartment, her friends and her ambitions in life and now she is writing a manga. She shares her insecurities with Punpun, as at one point they were in a relationship until they broke up. My problem with Sachi isn't as serious as the main character, it's just an inconsistency. If Sachi is a strong and independent woman, why does she decide to wait for a tramp like Punpun, who doesn't know if he wants to be with Aiko or her? Punpun was a coward to turn his back on her and it's frustrating to know that characters like Sachi who are quite realistic with the real world, can have inconsistencies as big as waiting for someone who doesn't want you or never really liked you, especially afterwards when Sachi finds out she's pregnant. Once again, Punpun is cowardly trash that proves the character never really evolved and lacks substance, not even in his nihilistic sub-consciousness.
About Art
Inio Asano's art is impeccable, the world is unique and some scenes have an absurd amount of detail, I have nothing more to say.
Overall
If I could sum up the work in one word I would say "frustrating". Inio Asano condemns the right characters, with random reasons for no apparent reason. The ending of some characters is satisfying at best and dissatisfying for the most part. The title of the work lives up to the final lines of the characters, especially Sachi and the team of doctors. The story is only solid up to volume 5 if you are reading the work in the English VIZBIG volumes.
There are more inconsistencies in the story regarding some main characters like Punpun's mother, Punpun's father, Aiko Tanaka or some secondary characters like Heishido Shishido or even the fanatical cult characters but I'll pass on.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Sep 5, 2022
Some productions from past times have become milestones that have marked history and have become classics of their time and segment. Some of them, many even, have an intrinsic technical and artistic quality, which leaves no doubt about their importance. It takes very little to understand why it has reached the status of a “historic landmark”. Others, on the other hand, end up being more mixed, with qualities and defects – sometimes even more defects – but which managed to establish their own unique aesthetic, represent the spirit of an era or simply be in the right place at the right time. Akira, an almost
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mythical name in the midst of comics, is representative not only of a segment but also of an idea. It has its many positive points, but, as a whole, it fits more into the second group.
With more than thirty years since its release, Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira has a lot of history. Launched in 1982, the heyday of punk culture and even before seminal works such as the novel Neuromancer or Blade Runner, the manga appeared during a period of return to the Cold War and a time of intense anti-establishment sentiment. This context ends up being part of the core of the manga, which in its first pages introduces a post-nuclear destruction Neo-Tokyo that is infested with a misguided youth that makes rebellion their greatest weapon against the government and the military. Not only represent the spirit of an era that saw punk culture slowly enter pop culture, but the work also ended up representing the cultural production of Japanese comics.
Akira was brought to the West in 1988 by Marvel Comics.
Otomo's work was one of the first manga to be translated into English and established much of what is thought of as Japanese comic book aesthetics, influencing the Cyberpunk genre. Along with Blade Runner, the manga established a good part of the aesthetic that would be used in works about dystopian futures with pessimistic conspiracies, making possible works like Ghost in the Shell, another great exponent of the genre, and marking tropes and clichés that are used to this day in the segment. In 92, the anime would also come out of the west, and despite having a very summarized history of the original work, it instantly conquered the status of a cult work, marking the imagination of a whole generation of western pioneers when it comes to Japanese works. Despite gradually having his fame diluted, Akira was once – and in some ways still is – a synonym for manga. A legendary work, memorable and full of icons (such as Kaneda's mythical motorcycle).
Even so, despite the legend, the fame and the affection of the fans, the complete work is far from perfect.
Katsuhiro Otomo's care in his work is undeniable. Although Akira is an entertainment-oriented work, it is by no means frivolous and manages to approach timeless themes in its construction. Although never directly exposing the thought, the first edition of the work brings a clear anti-war and anti-militarist sentiment, presenting the social consequences of a third world war and creating an image of a conspiratorial and controlling army, willing to experiment with civilians just for the sake of it. that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Civil obedience is praised. The rebels receive positive exposure, though the delinquent biker gang are the big heroes, despising both the army and society, but not being overpowered by the military's fascist methods.
However, despite making good introductions to these elements within the fiction, the author does not elaborate much on any of these particularities. The group of rebels, of which the character Kei, the only girl in the plot, is part, barely has history, method or motives in this volume, being there almost because it is something that should be natural. The delinquents of Kaneda's gang, in turn, despite being well grounded within their own culture, end up not having a more refined approach. From an almost childish point of view, they use drugs and run away from school, and get into fights and violence because it's all "cool", but at no time is this routine treated in a mature way. It ends up looking like they're just rebels with the cause of being heroes of history.
Still, the author manages to paint an interesting picture of Kaneda and the gang, taking the time to present what the group's school situation is like, how they interact with each other, and some of their other hobbies that don't involve motorcycle racing. Kaneda's relationship with the others is not explored as much, but it is introduced in more than one moment and competently enough that the group's bonds of friendship and loyalty are perceived. It cannot be said, however, that none of these characters is complex or multifaceted. All are almost perfect examples within their environment, showing no negative traits within their own logic, only some characterizing traits. Not only apart and rebellious in relation to society, but they also are almost above humanity itself, not so different from the hedonistic and rowdy vampires of the movie Lost Boys, released in 87.
If Kaneda himself and his sidekicks don't have too many problems with the presentation of his life in the gang, the story's initial antagonist, Tetsuo, ends up being unforgivably harmed. The manga opens with a sequence of nightly motorcycle races by the gang, and soon the event that starts Akira's main plot takes place, causing Tetsuo to be taken to an unknown place and set on the path to antagonism. However, this context loses a lot of strength because at no time does the story effectively show his relationship with the rest of the gang – and especially with Kaneda – when everyone was friends and everything was fine and normal. Later, the manga shows scenes of friendly interactions between Kaneda and Tetsuo, but friction between the two already occurs, and the effect of bonding with Tetsuo's past is not achieved. A very big – and even amateur – flaw in the manga's script.
However, these are not the major flaws of the work. The biggest problem with Akira is that Katsuhiro Otomo isn't very good with the rhythm and his frame passes are, to say the least, clumsy. The story of the first volume is good – although not excellent outside of its own context – and the aesthetics raised and fostered by the work are phenomenal, everything seems to happen in a very artificial rhythm without delimiting the time very well and in several segments, it is even a little tricky to follow the construction that a frameset wants to go through. An imperfect technique, no doubt, but that somehow collaborates with the anarcho-punk poetics that circulates Akira. A trace of humanity and rebellion that – accidentally or not – fits very well into the composition of the whole, echoing interestingly with the poor, dirty and disorganized panoramas of Neo-Tokyo.
No, Akira is not a perfect work, in this first volume, the author oscillates between the very good and the almost amateur. However, the manga is 100% authentic, having an identity that was responsible for helping to establish some segments of pop culture. It is a legendary work that deserves to be read and the treatment given by Kodansha does justice to its importance in the artistic field of comics. Still, it is possible that some younger or less experienced readers will find it difficult to enjoy the material. In that regard, little locusts, be patient. It's taking a deep breath, trying to understand the proposal, the time and the formulation of aesthetics, and trying to enter the world and the context of Akira. For those who have already seen the movie, don't worry, in this volume one alone there's enough worth reading. And anyway, a work as relevant to comics as Katsuhiro Otomo's magnum opus is not merely about reading a story, but having a true aesthetic experience.
To me, AKIRA is only good if you don't read current works of science fiction or if you're stuck in the 80s and 90s at the time of that subculture. The story is worth your time but always with many pre-requirements. The version of the work that I read was the Portuguese version, edited by Meribérica/Lider (the rarest version in the world?) in the 90s and completed in 19 volumes, it is a coloured version with reversed images, just like the first English version printed in the United States in 1988.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Sep 4, 2019
Grashros was that kind of manga that fooled everyone by the book cover of the five volumes.
The story begins with the premise of having happened 30,000 years in the past and follows the story of the character Akuu, the cursed child, born during the night of a blood moon, said to bring calamity upon all, and his attempt to fight destiny.
I ask myself this question before I start reading a new story of manga: - What is the purpose of reading; of the story itself?
In general, the characters work and the reader grows along with them, namely the children. With this, the story grows at
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an incredible rate to a point where it seems that for the manga not to be cancelled, the artist drew in a rush to finish this particular work (in much the same way that happened to Tite Kubo when he needed to finish Bleach at the end of vol.74), so I don't need to say more.
The biggest problem with this five-volume series is that everything Akuu does has happened in other stories, which means there is no originality. I don't understand why non-renowned artists in the industry use a form of writing that doesn't work for them, being independent (where 90% of readers outside Japan don't know them).
The story had a lot of potentials but time was tight to draw 50 chapters of an original story. I repeat, original. The Japanese manga publishing market is not ready to leave the comfort zone and this is one of the thousands of examples where the market is damaged, artists leave with a bad reputation and everything turns into a snowball. When the protagonist's purpose is revenge, then the artists must show that feeling.
Of course, not everything is bad since I became a big fan of the art of artist Akeji Fujimura. I will probably read more of his works.
Story: 7 | Art: 8 | Character: 7 | Enjoyment: 7
Score: 7/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Feb 12, 2018
Ashita no Joe - The First Shonen Anime and the Best!
Ashita no Joe is an anime that I added to my "Plan to Watch" list for some time, maybe two or three years. The story follows the young Joe Yabuki, a troublemaker from the Japanese suburbs. Joe has a natural talent for fighting, but he always gets in confusion, steals, and mind. Things change when Joe meets Danpei Tange, a former boxer who had to end his career after losing sight in one eye. From there, Danpei tries to straighten out Joe's life through boxing training.
Ashita no Joe was released in the early seventies after
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much other shounen anime in the 50's and 60's. But I would say that Ashita no Joe was the first anime that revolutionized the style, introducing all the features of a modern shounen.
The graphics are certainly not the most precise although I like it very much even though this is due to the time the anime was released. In addition, this scarcity of bright colors and good animation technology give the anime an ambiance very conducive to what it represents: post-war Japan.
Like any modern shounen style anime, Ashita no Joe surprises us with the humble roots of the protagonist, a rebel wall with a strong personality that will act-surpasses within the world of the professional boxing. The feeling of competition is incomparable. The comedy and the drama play innocently in this anime that is already mentioned as a classic but unfortunately unknown by many.
Anyone who sees this anime will immediately recognize the origins of a style that gave rise to DragonBall, Saint Seiya, Bleach, Naruto but mostly Hajime no Ippo and Rurouni Kenshin, among others. But there is a warning: the protagonist Joe has a charisma that leaves all the others in the mud.
Story: 9 | Art: 9 | Sound: 8 | Character: 9 | Enjoyment: 8
Score: 9/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 26, 2017
I Am a Hero - A Mangaka Trying to Survive in Chaos.
The invasion of zombies is one of the most repeated themes in recent years. They are in movies like "Dawn of the Dead", in games like Resident Evil, in books like "World War Z" and even comics and series with "The Walking Dead". And it was not just stories with the kind of terror that were created. We have the movie "Shaun of the Dead" which is a very entertaining comedy and even a romance between a zombie and a hot blood girl. (It's ... awesome). And our Japanese friends are not out of
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this. Many may have watched the famous "Highschool of The Dead", but I've never been much of a fan of it because of a large amount of fanservice of the worst quality and many bizarre situations. For example, all your college friends and perhaps your family may have died and yet the girls take showers together and measure the size of their breasts. But it's not just fanservice that Japan lives and this is shown very well with the manga - "I Am A Hero". But being frankly honest, I don't believe there is any comparison between the two works because they are completely different and develop differently, completely opposite.
Hideo Suzuki is a 35-year-old mangaka assistant who dreams of one day being able to have his own series in a publishing house. He demonstrates that has a great mental problem, at times he hallucinates with a boy named Yajima and also features tormenting visions, with faces and hands showing up around him. In the midst of all, he still needs to deal with his dating, which is not going through a good time thanks to the jealousy with an ex-boyfriend by his girl.
While all Hideo problems only seem to increase, something terrible starts across Japan. Sick people are entering into a kind of uncontrollable rage, attacking anyone appearing in front of them and who is attacked also end up getting infected. These patients continue to move furiously toward their prey, even if they are seriously injured. The chaos will start to spread, but Hideo is slow to realize that it is something real and no longer a hallucination of his mind.
"I Am a Hero" is a manga created by Kengo Hanazawa, currently has 10 volumes released and is still in progress since August 2009 in the magazine Big Comics Spirits, Shogakukan magazine. The story goes at a very slow pace at the beginning, which may be far from the unsuspecting readers and would have walked away if I had not known that it was a story with zombies. "I Am a Hero" only really shows his true face at the end of the first volume, on chapter 11. After this it's crazy and you end up getting stuck wondering what happens even though the pace still varies greatly between fast action scenes and still scenes of reflection. And we also have some really heavy and disturbing scenes.
The main character might be my big problem with the manga: I can not really like him at all. The author manages to make Hideo a real person, but he's so weird (sometimes crazy) that it makes me really uncomfortable and doesn't care so much about the life he had. The first few chapters were terrible for me, I just kept going just because I knew that at some point the "shit was about to go down". He sometimes irritated me, either with the song about female genitalia or with the fact that he tries to continue to follow the law even with everything going to hell.
Later we know other secondary characters that end up appearing very little. It's worth mentioning one that I really like that is Hiromi, although it often ends up having some unrealistic reactions that end up upsetting everything we had already seen and going a bit against what we witnessed in the manga as a whole.
Well, I also have to highlight the author's vision for the zombies, perhaps one of the scariest I've ever seen. They are of that type that runs and possesses physical strength above the ordinary, able to even pull half of your face with a bite. They are still able to speak a few sentences and seem to still maintain the habits of when they were still alive.
This raises an interesting question: most of the time, "experts" and "critics" often say that a good zombie story does not "deal with zombies," but rather with "humans." And it really is so in most cases, so much so that zombies mostly have no feelings, just act instinctively like animals, letting the whole plot unfold upon the psychological pressure between the living. But in the case of "I Am a Hero" the thing is different. The human characters in the stories are so strangely or emotionally unbalanced that you have no more notion if the story really focuses on them or the zombies. The author's choice to portray the "beings" with gestures and human actions ends up raising a debate about this, and only those who read (or intend) will be able to say whether this is a truth or just a theory.
Going back to the technical part, the art is amazing, we have an incredibly realistic look and with the passage of time, it becomes disturbing. Kengo Hanazawa's zombies are scary, the appearance with veins appearing on the skin, bulging, squinting eyes, and even larvae coming out of the holes even bothered me at times more than some classic movies. Other than the moments he uses whole pages alike and with slight differences to give an unbelievable sense of movement. The author who had already made a highly praised story for the development of human feelings ("Boys On The Run") seems to put everything into practice in "I Am A Hero", now with a much bigger technique. Some even believe that his manga actually is a criticism of Japanese society, something very common in some works there.
Unlike "Highschool of The Dead" that follows more to a "shounen" side with high levels of fanservice, "I Am a Hero" follows another serious and mature line. This is not to say that there is no action, the story has several moments that you read several pages in minutes and want to know soon what will happen. You will follow the survival of an aspiring mangaka, with no confidence and with a questionable sanity, in the midst of a zombie apocalypse.
It was not an easy manga to read at first for me. The main character could only make me angry for being so loser and even insane, but all my effort to continue reading was rewarded. The story begins to look great after the first volume and is an excellent recommendation for lovers of the zombie genre. With the release of The Walking Dead and others, it is a great opportunity to venture into an alternative reading and quite fun and well-taken advantage of. That's the recommendation. READ IT!
Story: 10 | Art: 9 | Character: 8 | Enjoyment: 9
Score: 9/10
This review was made from the first volume omnibus, brought by Dark Horse.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 5, 2017
Can Hiroya Oku do anything better than "Gantz"?
I have commented in previous posts on social media, but I repeat: I have a routine to know absolutely nothing before reading a title. Synopsis? What's that for? I like to analyze a work without external influences and, from time to time, I rely on notes to see if the time spent was rewarded or not.
With "Inuyashiki" it was no different. In fact, this one, which is part of Hiroya Oku, author of "Gantz", was an even more extreme case: I didn't remember that it was a heavyweight author, because ... I didn't read "Gantz" either (and the
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anime was shit, so) I only understood what it was because in the series there is a character who is a fan of the work (very cool part, including)! And to conclude, it is still seinen, a demography of which I am not assiduous. He had everything he didn't like, did he? But it turned out to be an amazing read, with social criticism and still working with stereotypes in a very interesting way. And, of course, in this review, I comment on everything!
Now the Synopsis. Ichiro Inuyashiki has a family, a wife and two children, none of whom care about him. When he learns that he only has three months to live, he realizes that the only one who will miss him is his dog. Shortly after this realization, he is killed in a landing of aliens. Then he is rebuilt by them as a machine with a human exterior. How will his life change now that he is not human?
Hiroya Oku's work was released in the Seinen Evening magazine by Kodansha in January 2014. The original series won a live-action film adaptation that will debut in 2018, as well as an anime adaptation by the MAPPA studio scheduled for October (airing by the time of this review). The manga will be finished with 10 volumes.
We are accustomed to a kind of stereotype for heroes and villains; we have a vision that for both there is the involvement of special abilities and powers, and how they are so different from ordinary people. In "Inuyashiki", the author approaches the subject in an interesting and critical way. The introductory chapter serves to situate the type of world in which the protagonist lives, a Japan that is full of violence and that there is no shadow of a possible altruism. The weak are oppressed and the strong dominate. But contrary to what might be assumed, the "villains" of this plot are ordinary people, teenagers or even adults, without any mythical power. And the "hero" of the plot? Well, he's just an old man, who has no one to really call him, who is weak and is in his last days of life.
Unlike One Punch-Man (for example; something mainstream in today's standards), who has all a comic content up the bald protagonist who defeats all his enemies with a single punch, in that title sense of humor is something rare. The mood of the manga is tense and in many cases, it becomes annoying, not by visual means, but by the way it approaches the situation. Your hero and his unusual villains serve to shock. Don't expect a happy reading, much of the first volume was either with pity on the protagonist or another similar to it.
Recently I made a kind of "clean" in my collections of manga and I was deciding minutely what would continue and what would drop. Honestly, I had thought of reading "Inuyashiki" to do a review for the site ... until I start reading it.
I understand that the topics covered are different, but here what I am evaluating is the way the authors unroll the plot; this series is more concise while the other types of manga are just average/good, but you would probably need to lean on more chapters to win over the reader. Certainly a great surprise - and I will certainly collect it.
Hiroya Oku's trait is very realistic and detailed. In order to see these characteristics, it is only necessary to observe the protagonist: the author has a whole concern with wrinkles of expression, the design of the whole body, hair, etc. In addition, the details of the "machine character" are incredible, with various props, cannot put defect.
The debut book brought me right away. The introduction is strong, but well done, development is also not to be desired and that finale still arouses curiosity enough to want a continuation. But I must point out one thing: Inuyashiki's theme, focusing on the part involving aliens, is a subject that if not working right can end up being disappointing. I confess that I have high expectations, but it is a theme that from beginning to end needs to be thought, a bad explanation for the paranormal situation would compromise the entire manga, even if it only appeared on the last page of the last chapter; in addition, the author still has to deal with his two protagonists, Ichiro Inuyashiki and Hiro Shishigami - the teenager who also suffered the same "accident" that Ichiro - knowing how to measure the importance of his roles for the plot - something that complicated for a work that will end with ten volumes.
Funny how easy it is for audiences to accept a character with the characteristics of Saitama, but it is difficult to visualize in Ichiro the potential of a hero. It may even be the "fault" of the stories we consume - most of which insist on putting young characters because their target audience is also new, have a question of identification - but there is the view that the elderly are those who should be protected, not those who protect, or worse, those who are pushed aside just because of their age. Hiroya Oku brings a strong social critique here, coming from a country that today has an age structure with a higher percentage for the elderly than for children and pre-adolescents, the same country that in 2013 had a minister who declared that "the elderly should hurry and die".
At first, it may be strange to have a oldish as the main character and of course, it is unusual. But the author creates a favorable scenario for him to be welcomed by those who accompany him; of all the characters that appear, Ichiro appears to be the only one to bother with the injustice around him and what shows to have feelings. The character can be a machine, but it is the most realistic of the plot.
Story: 10 | Art: 9 | Character: 10 | Enjoyment: 9
Score: 9/10
I don't have a personal note for this one because all my main reasons are justified in the context of this review.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Oct 24, 2017
Berserk - An infinite loop in the beginning but the BEST in his dark fantasy genre
Carrying a sword bigger than himself and using a mechanical arm, the mysterious Guts carries with him a shower of blood and leaves a trail of corpses wherever he goes. At his side, the little elf Puck is surprised by the terror that haunts the Black Swordsman. His "stigma" attracts demons and evil spirits and among hordes that persecute him, Guts seeks revenge.
First of all, Guts is a mysterious person. I didn't know Berserk, except for his fame. I hadn't read the manga nor watched any episodes of the anime
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(2017) and it was very pleasant to read that first volume. Not that anyone who already knows the title would not find it, but it is very good to read something that you already know will improve, to see that fame is not for nothing. As I didn't know the details of the plot (I only knew that the story was inspired by Shakespeare's "Macbeth"), this manga is loaded with mystery.
Guts live by defeating demons and with a mark on his neck, he has a stigma that attracts him. This same stigma bleeds when he approaches a creature dressed up as a human but actually feeds on them. We know that he seeks revenge, that he throws himself into this sea of blood for this, but we don't know the reason. He seems to be completely indifferent to the people around him, but we realize that it is something he wishes to establish, he does not bond with anyone and does not suffer from losses. In short, Guts looks like a demon who has taken this path against his will and has suffered greatly to the point where we know him.
The comic relief comes in the form of a little elf named Puck which Guts saved, though he himself denies it happened. The elf goes on to follow Guts and sees the darkness and horror surrounding him, but also sees that deep down, deep down, he is a good person.
The characteristics of Miura Kentarou fit in well with this type of story. Even in action scenes, you can see what is happening, along with the gush of blood. In addition to the various sinister creatures exposed largely in the manga, the good thing to know is that he improves this trait more and more. The only negative point about Berserk comes not from his edition, but from the author himself. Miura writes on average two chapters a year and this puts the manga a risk of never being finalized.
All the mystery present in this first volume of Berserk binds the reader to the pages, besides the trait and, for those who like, blood and violence.
Story: 10 | Art: 9 | Character: 10 | Enjoyment: 10
Score: 10/10
Personal Note: I bought the first volume in Japanese and again, the story told in an oriental tone makes the reading experience somewhat different from the point of view of a Western reader. This is the review of volume one only. I have a crush on the first volumes of manga and in Berserk the key thing is this: for me the first volume sums it all up, summarizes the main idea of the author, the ostentation and what he gave up to do, the second volume presents the reasons why the author chose that idea, basically explains the reason of the protagonist and the third volume (in this particular case) ends the main idea, which is the Black Swordsman Arc.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Oct 13, 2017
Love Rush - I Already See This Happen Somewhere
Love Rush is a manga that ended well before the predicted moment due to typical low rankings. It is the typical manga where the protagonist has a super rare disease and this somehow causes him to approach people of the opposite sex, in the case, women, whether sexually or not. It happened the same in "To Love Ryu", "Monster Musume" and more recently in "Shuumatsu no Harem".
It all begins with the discovery of the disease of the main character, Hakuba Reiji until one day he meets Kokoro Roko Rokoko (which is a pun on the phonetic sound
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of "roko" in Japanese) and everything in the character's life changes from here in the plot. It is a manga that was defined by fantasy scenarios that, in a way, provided the reader's opportunity to explore differences in races and potential realms. It also presented the right amount of echhi for a manga of the genre.
I liked the story but I found it a bit repetitive and although it was good, I think it could have been something from another level, without necessarily touching a genre more and more copied between manga authors. Nevertheless, the manga has its purpose and performs well until the final chapters just because it was canceled before the supposed. Each girl has a role that should represent but there is much favoritism in this type of student atmosphere. If in fact there were additional arcs - to mount a flashback for each - then the manga would have a bit more value, quality, and consistency.
In the end, it was just another work where popularity simply did not help.
It's an extremely short but fun, comic and ideal manga to read for anyone who enjoys romantic shonen manga. For the next, I only ask the authors not to promise so much.
Story: 4 | Art: 5 | Character: 4 | Enjoyment: 5
Score: 5/10
Personal Note: I would probably trade it for "Monster Musume" or any other fiction since I've already given higher ranks.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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