What Are You Reading?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I agree. I do feel he lost some of his lust for battle, but he does pretty much still seem like Saito otherwise. He probably just won't be walking up to people's places looking for fights no more. 

Well, yeah, he IS slightly less psychotic than he originally was....only slightly, though.

Rurouni Kenshin, huh? Always fun to discuss. 

I still can't believe this was the only great story Watsuki had up his sleeve. Don't get me wrong, I will praise the guy even if this was the only truly memorable work he ever came out with, but I do feel a bit disappointed that the rest of his body of work could never even come close to living up to Rurouni Kenshin. I suppose he just used up his only good story ideas on this one series, but oh well, he did clearly have some talent to even just manage to come up with this.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Buso Renkin was incredibly undercooked and Frankenstein was incredibly overcooked. He needs to temper his ideas more, BR was just half-thought out and FS was over-thought.

His strength is obviously in historical fare, but generic modern shonen and misreading a classic book don't exactly make for good manga stories.

[Avaitor]

Some artists seem to only have one or two tricks up their sleeves, Look at Aaron Sorkin, for instance.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Some artists seem to only have one or two tricks up their sleeves, Look at Aaron Sorkin, for instance.

The thing about Rurouni Kenshin, though, is that it didn't feel like a trick. It felt like it came from a genuinely talented writer. But the rest of Watsuki's works are pretty mediocre from what I've read of them (and that's being a bit generous). Something like Death Note, a series which I do really love, could pass as something that I could see was a well-done trick from an author, though thankfully that wasn't the case and Bakuman was also great. That said, my point was that there are some series like Death Note which you could see as being a "one-hit-wonder" of sorts (I know that's a music term, but it applies here as well), in that its shallow but incredibly well-crafted and entertaining to such an extreme that it works so well. But, if the author of that series turned out really lame works after that, then you could buy that DN was the only good work he had up his sleeve to begin with. Rurouni Kenshin is one of those rare shonen series with layers to it, though, and you'd think that whoever wrote that really knew what the fuck they were doing with manga. But I suppose Watsuki was more interested in doing whatever was popular at the time in all of his following manga series, and as a result, none of them have been particularly great following the success of Rurouni Kenshin.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Some artists seem to only have one or two tricks up their sleeves, Look at Aaron Sorkin, for instance.

The thing about Rurouni Kenshin, though, is that it didn't feel like a trick. It felt like it came from a genuinely talented writer. But the rest of Watsuki's works are pretty mediocre from what I've read of them (and that's being a bit generous). Something like Death Note, a series which I do really love, could pass as something that I could see was a well-done trick from an author, though thankfully that wasn't the case and Bakuman was also great. That said, my point was that there are some series like Death Note which you could see as being a "one-hit-wonder" of sorts (I know that's a music term, but it applies here as well), in that its shallow but incredibly well-crafted and entertaining to such an extreme that it works so well. But, if the author of that series turned out really lame works after that, then you could buy that DN was the only good work he had up his sleeve to begin with. Rurouni Kenshin is one of those rare shonen series with layers to it, though, and you'd think that whoever wrote that really knew what the fuck they were doing with manga. But I suppose Watsuki was more interested in doing whatever was popular at the time in all of his following manga series, and as a result, none of them have been particularly great following the success of Rurouni Kenshin.

The big trick behind Rurouni Kenshin was a simple plot guided by compelling characters that you wanted to learn more about. I can't even remember a single name of any of his characters from the other stories never mind whatever plot they were supposed to guide. I mean, the guy even studied up on a lot of Japanese history from that era to make sure it held together AND gave each character multiple motivations and a decent amount of history behind them. He put everything into it but made sure it was still simple and straightforward so that anyone could pick it up and enjoy it, which is something that only a few writers have managed in the manga area. His commentary on abominations like Reflections proves even more that he knew he was doing all that, too.

He should be writing something at least on par with Vinland Saga right now. Why he isn't either means he has a bad filter on general concepts or a bad editor that can't help him filter his ideas, possibly both.

Honestly, he probably frustrates me more than Togashi because on the manga level Rurouni Kenshin is better as a whole piece to YYH and HxH and he should be at least doing material on that level.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, I agree, but I think that's because Togashi and Watsuki are 2 very different writers. With Rurouni Kenshin, you get the feeling that its a story that Watsuki REALLY wanted to tell, which is why it turned out so good. With all of his other works, you get the feeling that he's only doing what he thinks is popular at the time just for the sake of trying to be popular, forgetting that RK itself was a popular series based on quality rather than feeding into whatever fads were going on in the shonen genre at the time.

As for Togashi, whether you love or hate his work on the whole, you have to give the guy credit for being one of the few mangaka who clearly writes what he feels like and doesn't give a shit about what's popular or mainstream. In some ways this can be for the worse, but more often than not its for the better and really makes his works stand-out from the rest of the genre in great ways. I mean, can you name one shonen series that is even REMOTELY like HXH? I don't think it can be done, because if nothing else, that series is incredibly unique in its tone, overall feeling, and in its genuinely interesting world and welcoming sense of weirdness (and I feel being a little weird at times can be a good thing in proper doses).

[gunswordfist]

I second Samurai Executioner. EDIT: I like all of the smaller stories Kenshin had at the beginning of the series with the exception of the shitty Rujuta arc. I was actually hoping they would return to that format for a bit after the Kyoto arc but instead they quickly got neck deep into Jinchu

[TheEclecticDude]

Currently reading two series: The Railgun manga and Triage X manga

[Pharass]

Got 100 Bullets vol. 5 and Rex Mundi Omnibus vol. 2 in the mail today. I haven't read them yet, so I'll post my thoughts on them once I've done that.

[Grave]

Naruto - Meh, this has been a rollercoaster, but since the arrival of the hokage in this war I've been pretty bored with what I've been seeing. I guess I'm one of those devious types that wanted

Spoiler

Sasuke to be sided with Obito, just to see the hokage pitted against Naruto and folks, or at the very least, I wanted to see Orochimaru sided with Obito

[close]

, but since I didn't get that it's been almost a snooze-fest, especially now.

Fairy Tail - I'm actually on the verge of dropping this. I just can't get into this anymore.

Hajime no Ippo - Best series I've read since Psyren. I should probably read this from the beginning since I don't think I'll be able to find it in anime form anywhere. The only problem I have with this is that the mangaka takes forever to get anywhere, especially considering that the chapters I've seen are no longer than 15 pages, but I will say that he/she surely knows how to build up and get me anticipated for a fight.

[gunswordfist]

Got 100 Bullets vol. 5 and Rex Mundi Omnibus vol. 2 in the mail today. I haven't read them yet, so I'll post my thoughts on them once I've done that.

It's 100 Bullets, so you'll enjoy it.

ek, have you read Superman Secret Identity or All-Star Superman yet?

[LumRanmaYasha]

Naruto - Meh, this has been a rollercoaster, but since the arrival of the hokage in this war I've been pretty bored with what I've been seeing. I guess I'm one of those devious types that wanted

Spoiler

Sasuke to be sided with Obito, just to see the hokage pitted against Naruto and folks, or at the very least, I wanted to see Orochimaru sided with Obito

[close]

, but since I didn't get that it's been almost a snooze-fest, especially now.

Fairy Tail - I'm actually on the verge of dropping this. I just can't get into this anymore.

Yeah, I already gave up on both a while back...just couldn't stand them anymore. I'd suggest you check out the Toriko manga if you do end up dropping Fairy Tail, since it's pretty enjoyable despite being simple light shonen-action fun, and it's most recent story arc has been absolutely great so far, probably more enjoyable on a chapter per chapter basis than the newer One Piece chapters even.

[Grave]

Naruto - Meh, this has been a rollercoaster, but since the arrival of the hokage in this war I've been pretty bored with what I've been seeing. I guess I'm one of those devious types that wanted

Spoiler

Sasuke to be sided with Obito, just to see the hokage pitted against Naruto and folks, or at the very least, I wanted to see Orochimaru sided with Obito

[close]

, but since I didn't get that it's been almost a snooze-fest, especially now.

Fairy Tail - I'm actually on the verge of dropping this. I just can't get into this anymore.

Yeah, I already gave up on both a while back...just couldn't stand them anymore. I'd suggest you check out the Toriko manga if you do end up dropping Fairy Tail, since it's pretty enjoyable despite being simple light shonen-action fun, and it's most recent story arc has been absolutely great so far, probably more enjoyable on a chapter per chapter basis than the newer One Piece chapters even.

I tried Toriko once, and haven't went back to it since, but I suppose the question I have is what's the main character like? If he's another Goku clone then I'm definitely gonna bypass it. I've had about all I can take with main characters who're geniuses on the battlefield but can't think worth a lick elsewhere.

Although, I must admit I haven't had much of a desire to try anything new either.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Toriko is carefree in attitude much like Goku,  Luffy, and the like but he certainly isn't stupid, and despite his goofiness and over-the-topness when it comes to enjoying good food he acts fairly normally compared to other shonen manga protagonists. I don't think he'd turn you off from the series.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

We need more main characters in shonen series who are like Kenshin Himura. By that, I don't mean that they necessarily have to have some intricate back-story or anything like that, but more that they should have a really good balance between a serious and humorous side. When Kenshin is normal, he can be lighthearted, caring, and even funny, but when he's serious he has that bad-ass persona that let's you know that he's the real deal. All the while he never feels like he's ever invincible, and he clearly has his own character development to go through as the series progresses, besides just what he went through in his past.