Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Johanna reviews more digests...
On the heels of Chobits, Johanna now has reviews of the GNs Planetes, Kenshin, Iron Wok Jan, and Rumble Girls in her column at comics unlimited. Good stuff, as always.
I am really loving Planetes as of volume two and can't wait to read more. Kenshin took a bit for me to grow on in animated form, but grow it did. I only have the first digest manga as of yet. I'm still a bit undecided on the rest. I think sometimes these action titles can work better animated, but the comic is the only way to get the original version of the story minus some of the filler that was animated and the various arcs that never became anime. I also like the mix of humor and action, though I believe it does get more serious when it does the extended flash-back into Kenshin's past (which the original OVA is based on). I've also heard that many of the villians are loosely based on a certain superhero series (x-men if memory serves). I also appreciate the fact that the story doesn't shy away from the fact that trying to fight serious battles while not killing people is inherantly a contridiction and that Kenshin's vow puts him at more and more of a disadvantage as time goes. It hammers home that having a conviction and sticking with it can be quite difficult, something that a lot of series can take for granted in a pretty unrealistic way.
I still need to check out Iron Wok Jan, but it of course looks great. It is nice to see that another cooking title is coming out soon. Delicious Seasons by the female Chinese creator Rainbow Buddy is being released by Silicon Times.
I haven't actually read anything by Hernandez yet, but Rumble Girls does sound like a pretty interesting concept...
I am really loving Planetes as of volume two and can't wait to read more. Kenshin took a bit for me to grow on in animated form, but grow it did. I only have the first digest manga as of yet. I'm still a bit undecided on the rest. I think sometimes these action titles can work better animated, but the comic is the only way to get the original version of the story minus some of the filler that was animated and the various arcs that never became anime. I also like the mix of humor and action, though I believe it does get more serious when it does the extended flash-back into Kenshin's past (which the original OVA is based on). I've also heard that many of the villians are loosely based on a certain superhero series (x-men if memory serves). I also appreciate the fact that the story doesn't shy away from the fact that trying to fight serious battles while not killing people is inherantly a contridiction and that Kenshin's vow puts him at more and more of a disadvantage as time goes. It hammers home that having a conviction and sticking with it can be quite difficult, something that a lot of series can take for granted in a pretty unrealistic way.
I still need to check out Iron Wok Jan, but it of course looks great. It is nice to see that another cooking title is coming out soon. Delicious Seasons by the female Chinese creator Rainbow Buddy is being released by Silicon Times.
I haven't actually read anything by Hernandez yet, but Rumble Girls does sound like a pretty interesting concept...
