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larryhammerCurrent favorite recent discovery: Yotsuba&!. A lot of humor manga doesn't translate well for me, but the manglings and misadventures of small children work in any language -- and over and above most five-year-olds Yotsuba is, as her father calls her, a weirdo. (For example, she claims she's from an island that's "to the left," where she apparently had never encountered swings.) I think my favorite chapter is "Yotsuba & Revenge," in which the older people, each in their own way, play along with the water-pistol-toting gangster, occasionally floundering in the shifting currents of flexible game rules -- not to mention the title page is way cute. But there's lot to like here -- heaping four-leafed clovers* of liking. Three volumes are out in English, with two more to come this summer.
Current guilty cracktastic delight: Romeo x Juliet, which is based on the Shakespeare play in the way 10 Things I Hate About You is based on The Taming of the Shrew. Fourteen years ago in the aerial city of Neo-Verona, the ruling house of Capulet was wiped out in a Montague coup -- all except two-year-old Juliet, daughter of the deposed Duke. Now she lives as a boy named Odin in the above-theater apartment of a playwright named William.** Odin sometimes goes about the city as the Red Whirlwind, a cloaked-and-masked swordsman, righting injustices and freeing commoners accused of being Capuletists. At the end of the first episode, on the night before his/her 16th birthday (when her/his secret past is due to be revealed to him/her), Odin goes to the Montague's ball disguised as a girl -- where she meets Romeo, the Duke's son and heir.
Maybe I should put irony quotes around that "based on." But not around cracktastic. At 15, Juliet already has four identities, can kick your butt with a rapier, and makes a darn cute sheep. What's not to love?
Ninja Replacement Scores of Canterbury Tales, latest report:
Clerk's Tale: Griselda? Totally needs to turn ninja on Walter's ass. Early and often. NRS = 1.***
Merchant's Tale: Again, ninjas would not improve it. Though a less high-fallutin' style might. NRS = 0.
Squire's Tale: The Squire is the sort of guy who spends half an hour making a long story short. You'd think a tale of Genghis Khan wouldn't need ninjas, but this isn't the Genghis Khan you think you know -- this is a chivalric romance version of Genghis Khan. A longwinded, tedious chivalric romance version. NRS = 4 (his nibs & three children) + another "Thank you!" to the nice Franklin.
Previous reports: 1, 2, 3, 4
* I should probably explain that Yotsuba's name means "four-leafed," as in clover, and her green hair is worn in four pigtails.
** In episode 1, we see Verdi's Otello and a rehearsal of what looks suspiciously like an As You Like It remix.
*** In the interest of fairness, I should say that aside from the subject matter, this is the easiest tale to read so far. The Clerk did well, obeying the Host's command to avoid a high style.
---L.
Current guilty cracktastic delight: Romeo x Juliet, which is based on the Shakespeare play in the way 10 Things I Hate About You is based on The Taming of the Shrew. Fourteen years ago in the aerial city of Neo-Verona, the ruling house of Capulet was wiped out in a Montague coup -- all except two-year-old Juliet, daughter of the deposed Duke. Now she lives as a boy named Odin in the above-theater apartment of a playwright named William.** Odin sometimes goes about the city as the Red Whirlwind, a cloaked-and-masked swordsman, righting injustices and freeing commoners accused of being Capuletists. At the end of the first episode, on the night before his/her 16th birthday (when her/his secret past is due to be revealed to him/her), Odin goes to the Montague's ball disguised as a girl -- where she meets Romeo, the Duke's son and heir.
Maybe I should put irony quotes around that "based on." But not around cracktastic. At 15, Juliet already has four identities, can kick your butt with a rapier, and makes a darn cute sheep. What's not to love?
Ninja Replacement Scores of Canterbury Tales, latest report:
Clerk's Tale: Griselda? Totally needs to turn ninja on Walter's ass. Early and often. NRS = 1.***
Merchant's Tale: Again, ninjas would not improve it. Though a less high-fallutin' style might. NRS = 0.
Squire's Tale: The Squire is the sort of guy who spends half an hour making a long story short. You'd think a tale of Genghis Khan wouldn't need ninjas, but this isn't the Genghis Khan you think you know -- this is a chivalric romance version of Genghis Khan. A longwinded, tedious chivalric romance version. NRS = 4 (his nibs & three children) + another "Thank you!" to the nice Franklin.
Previous reports: 1, 2, 3, 4
* I should probably explain that Yotsuba's name means "four-leafed," as in clover, and her green hair is worn in four pigtails.
** In episode 1, we see Verdi's Otello and a rehearsal of what looks suspiciously like an As You Like It remix.
*** In the interest of fairness, I should say that aside from the subject matter, this is the easiest tale to read so far. The Clerk did well, obeying the Host's command to avoid a high style.
---L.