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Baaa!
What I've recently finished since last post:
Slow Step volumes 1-7 by Mitsuru Adachi. This is an odd manga: it's not like Adachi can't successfully write shôjo (witness Hiatari Ryôkô), but this really reads a lot more like a shônen series with a female protagonist (complete with occasional, if less than his usual, male-gaze fanservice) than something that ran in Ciao. Anyway, it does have sports (girls' softball and boxing, mixed together lumpily -- as in far more latter than former) and romances, here complicated by an escalating series of mistaken identities accidentally contrived by the heroine herself. So, yeah, classic Adachi elements. But they do not gel very well. That the ending doesn't infuriate is not exactly a ringing endorsement, especially since it involves two student-teacher relationships (one apparently current and one foreshadowed for after graduation). Not licensed, scans complete.
A large mass of undistinguished, mostly long-form fanfic from AO3, far too much of which I read for too long before giving up, including several tagged as the n/a fandom original work. Two things did, however, stand out:
Madan no Ô to Vanadis volumes 2-5 by Tsukasa Kawaguchi. The political aspects of the opening situation quickly turn to warfare, which I suppose is set up in the premise of the protagonists' fantasy powers. And, yanno, the first book opening and closing with a battle. My suspicion from volume 1 that the incipient harem aspects would eventually wash out what's good in the series hasn't happened yet (in the text, anyway -- the illustrations are another matter), though it would be nice if the hero could meet at least some women without large breasts. Despite that, his relationship with the other titular character remains good (and without descending into tsundere cliches yea) and they both act smarter together than they usually let on around others.
What I'm reading now:
Madan no Ô to Vanadis volume 6, kicking off a new arc with a timeskip -- ooookaythen. I admit to being curious whether this new direction will pick up on anything foreshadowed before or, as I fear, will be entirely new situation. (And speaking of the illustrations, the cover on this one is embarassing.)
R is for Rocket by Ray Bradbury (stories) and Moto Hagio (art) -- it's actually only 8 stories of the original collection, but yes, old-school shôjo manga adaptations of Bradbury by a major figure in science-fiction manga (and one of the founders of modern shôjo manga). The selection includes some of Bradbury's best-known stories, and Hagio is very good at compressing his atmospheric talkiness well into a better at extended visuals rather than verbals. (I'm amused to see the Japanese title is a translation: U is for Uchûsen.) Recommended: not licensed, scanlations complete and readily searchable.
White-Haired Demoness by Liang Yusheng -- still bouncing along here, am about a third of the way in. The opposite sides the heroine and hero have been cast upon are getting more opposed with every chapter, and looming above that the Manchu threat is getting more threatening. Eventually, the title character is going to need a little more fleshing out.
Plus some poetry, I think.
What I might read next:
Eventually I'll get to Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn volume 5 ...
---L.
What I've recently finished since last post:
Slow Step volumes 1-7 by Mitsuru Adachi. This is an odd manga: it's not like Adachi can't successfully write shôjo (witness Hiatari Ryôkô), but this really reads a lot more like a shônen series with a female protagonist (complete with occasional, if less than his usual, male-gaze fanservice) than something that ran in Ciao. Anyway, it does have sports (girls' softball and boxing, mixed together lumpily -- as in far more latter than former) and romances, here complicated by an escalating series of mistaken identities accidentally contrived by the heroine herself. So, yeah, classic Adachi elements. But they do not gel very well. That the ending doesn't infuriate is not exactly a ringing endorsement, especially since it involves two student-teacher relationships (one apparently current and one foreshadowed for after graduation). Not licensed, scans complete.
A large mass of undistinguished, mostly long-form fanfic from AO3, far too much of which I read for too long before giving up, including several tagged as the n/a fandom original work. Two things did, however, stand out:
- The first dozen of Geonn's "Underdogs" series of shorts about a lesbian werewolf PI who uses her shapeshifting to go undercover (if not undercollar) and tries to keep her shifting from messing up her love life. Prose and characters are top-notch, though the earlier stories are thin on palpable tension arising from the conflict. Recommended.
- "Three Sisters, Bound," an original Russian fairy tale. Or maybe it's a crossover between three Russian fairy tales. Excellent stuff, highly recommended.
Madan no Ô to Vanadis volumes 2-5 by Tsukasa Kawaguchi. The political aspects of the opening situation quickly turn to warfare, which I suppose is set up in the premise of the protagonists' fantasy powers. And, yanno, the first book opening and closing with a battle. My suspicion from volume 1 that the incipient harem aspects would eventually wash out what's good in the series hasn't happened yet (in the text, anyway -- the illustrations are another matter), though it would be nice if the hero could meet at least some women without large breasts. Despite that, his relationship with the other titular character remains good (and without descending into tsundere cliches yea) and they both act smarter together than they usually let on around others.
What I'm reading now:
Madan no Ô to Vanadis volume 6, kicking off a new arc with a timeskip -- ooookaythen. I admit to being curious whether this new direction will pick up on anything foreshadowed before or, as I fear, will be entirely new situation. (And speaking of the illustrations, the cover on this one is embarassing.)
R is for Rocket by Ray Bradbury (stories) and Moto Hagio (art) -- it's actually only 8 stories of the original collection, but yes, old-school shôjo manga adaptations of Bradbury by a major figure in science-fiction manga (and one of the founders of modern shôjo manga). The selection includes some of Bradbury's best-known stories, and Hagio is very good at compressing his atmospheric talkiness well into a better at extended visuals rather than verbals. (I'm amused to see the Japanese title is a translation: U is for Uchûsen.) Recommended: not licensed, scanlations complete and readily searchable.
White-Haired Demoness by Liang Yusheng -- still bouncing along here, am about a third of the way in. The opposite sides the heroine and hero have been cast upon are getting more opposed with every chapter, and looming above that the Manchu threat is getting more threatening. Eventually, the title character is going to need a little more fleshing out.
Plus some poetry, I think.
What I might read next:
Eventually I'll get to Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn volume 5 ...
---L.