What Are You Reading?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

The rematch with To-oh Academy is much better than the first match, though to be fair the first match wasn't supposed to be anything spectacular. It was supposed to be something that just blurred by,being no big deal for To-oh while being a crushing defeat for Seirin to show how outclassed they were. Watching the whole second half of the match in detail would have been rather boring without any hope of winning, so the author spared us the slot through and just skipped ahead to where Seirin were defeated by a huge margin. If you think about it, AnJ did the same thing during Joe's downfall for pretty much the same reason.

As far as Basketball manga goes, though, I am thoroughly enjoying Inoue Takehiko's REAL, which just may be his best manga yet, even more than Slam Dunk or Vagabond. I'm 5 volumes in and this is really more of a character study of cripples than it is a sports manga, but that's perfectly fine since the characters are incredibly likable and interesting. It's by far the best currently running manga that I'm reading, though I'm not caught up with the scans, and the scans are not caught up with the current releases in Japan, as far as I'm aware.

[LumRanmaYasha]

The rematch with To-oh Academy is much better than the first match, though to be fair the first match wasn't supposed to be any thing spectacular. It was supposed to be something that just blurred by,being no big deal for To-oh while being a crushing defeat for Seirin to show how outclassed they were. Watching the whole second half of the match in detail would have been rather boring without any hope of winning, so the author spared us the slot through and just skipped ahead to where Seirin were defeated by a huge margin. If you think about it, AnJ did the same thing during Joe's downfall for pretty much the same reason.

Nah, see, I actually liked that. It was great that they were struggling against them even before Aomine showed up and then it just got worse when Kagami started suffering from fatigue and Kuroko's passes became ineffective. And yeah, there was no point in watching the match past Kagami being benched, and I liked how they just sped through that stuff (and Seirin's succeeding losing matches too). It's just that the match itself just kinda dragged a bit somehow for me, and while there was a lot of interesting things going on, the action on the court wasn't necessarily as tense as I felt it could've been. I expect the re-match will be much better executed.

As far as Basketball manga goes, though, I am thoroughly enjoying Inoue Takehiko's REAL, which just may be his best manga yet, even more than Slam Dunk or Vagabond. I'm 5 volumes in and this is really more of a character study of cripples than it is a sports manga, but that's perfectly fine since the characters are incredibly likable and interesting. It's by far the best currently running manga that I'm reading, though I'm not caught up with the scans, and the scans are not caught up with the current releases in Japan, as far as I'm aware.

Wow, Real sounds really good! It was already on my backlog anyway and there's only ten or so volumes out in the states, so maybe I could make it a binge read one weekend sometime soon.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Wow, REAL sounds REAL-ly good!

Sorry, but I had to fix that for the obvious pun that you missed.

But, yeah, it's a good manga with only 10 volumes out in English, but the 5 volumes that I've read so far are crammed with content, so don't expect it to have a lot of action scenes that makes it go by as a fast read like stuff along the lines of Slam Dunk or Kuroko no Basket.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I purposely avoided calling attention to the pun. That seemed too obvious for me. 

I prefer character focused stories with lots of development and insight on the characters, than fast, action-heavy stuff, so I'll probably love REAL. Based on experience the longest it has taken me to read a volume of manga is Ghost in the Shell, which took me two and a half hours to finish because there was so much dialogue and information to take in. I don't think a volume of REAL will take that long since from what I've seen they aren't any more thick than a normal volume of something like Excel Saga, which takes me 50 minutes to an hour to read on average. With only 10 volumes, if it does take me as long to get through a volume of REAL it'll still only be 10 hours, which is manageable on a day I don't need to do much (not that I have those kinda days anymore, but the summer will probably give a lot more recreational downtime in any case).

[The Shadow Gentleman]

Matoi Family Secret Technique

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[LumRanmaYasha]

Pfft, she stole that technique from Ussop!   

[The Shadow Gentleman]

Pfft, she stole that technique from Ussop!   

It is a great strategy.

[The Shadow Gentleman]

At the moment:

20th Century Boys - I'm about half way through this, and damn is it hard to stop. The plot keeps getting thicker and thicker as new character become the focus and old ones return. It's also done a very good job at making it hard to figure out just what the hell is going on.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders - About a third of the way through this. While this is great and I can see why it's so popular, I can't help but feel like I'm enjoying this slightly less then the first two parts, mainly because I'm not really liking Jotaro as much as Jonathan or Joseph. Still, the fights keep getting better, and I'm getting even more hyped for the anime.

Assorted Superman Stories - I finished rereading For All Seasons, which remains one of my favorite Superman stories ever. I've also been reading various other story arcs. My favorite scene so far was Superman pulling a pretzel out of a pouch in his cape. 

One-Punch Man -

Spoiler

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[LumRanmaYasha]

Ah man, I was marathoning the heck out of 20th Century Boys at the half-way point. Once I started a volume, I just couldn't put it down no matter how hard I tried, and once I finished one, I immediately turned to my pile for the next. I will say that I found the third act of the series wasn't quite as excellent to me as the first two parts (it starts kinda slow to me and doesn't pick up until the return of a certain you-know-who), but it's still pretty damn great.

I haven't read Stardust Crusaders yet, but Vlord has confided to me that he also didn't care for Jotaro as much as he did Joseph, and that he liked Battle Tendency better. Regardless, I know from reviews (especially a certain Mr. Jason Thompson's) that Stardust excels in the sheer badassery of it's fights, and I'm itching to see those animated. As far as the manga goes, I plan to go through all of JoJo's this summer, alongside a fair chunk of my voluminous backlog, so I'll see how I feel about it when I get to it.

And I'm glad to see you're enjoying One-Punch Man! 

[VLordGTZ]

I just finished JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Vento Aureo. I felt that it was weakest part of the series so far, but it still was pretty good.  The fights have continued to be quite entertaining, and I also liked that the story gave some further insight on Stand Arrows since they were important in Part 4.  I'll probably start on Part 6 in a few weeks.  I also want to start reading Ashita no Joe, Excel Saga, Sailor Moon, and a few other manga when I find the time.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I also want to start reading Ashita no Joe, Excel Saga, Sailor Moon, and a few other manga when I find the time.

What's stopping you? You freaking have all of the Excel Saga, Sailor Moon, and Oishinbo volumes to read right down in the basement! Just do it already!   

And read the Vinland Saga, Trigun Maximum, Ranma 1/2, and Dororo volumes while you're at it. Really, when we've got the physical copies, it makes no sense to just let them sit on the shelf unread, y'know? 

[LumRanmaYasha]

I'm almost caught up on Kuroko no Basket. I'll post my thoughts on the series once I am.

I finished Ode to Kirihito on friday. The series was excellent. A gripping medical drama and exploration of racial discrimination, ethics, love, and politics. I can easily see Kirihito as an influence for Dr. Tenma's character in Monster just as much as it is obvious how Yuki Michio in MW inspired Johan Liebert. I loved the series, and it may have surpassed Barbara as my favorite work by Tezuka, though time will tell if that stays true.

Meanwhile, I continue my re-reads of Astro Boy and Black Jack, and am kicking myself for not revisiting them for over 7 years. They are making a far greater impression on me now than when I was a kid, and with Astro Boy, I'm continually surprised with just how thoughtful it is while still managing a balance between action and comedy. And Black Jack is incredible beyond description. Everything, from the varied plots, to Black Jack himself, is perfectly done and it makes for an addicting read. At the rate I'm going, I'll be able to finish them very soon. Which is good, because then I can tackle Phoenix and Buddha, and really every other Tezuka manga I can find in print at the library.

[Grave]

Hajime no Ippo
I see Ippo is still keeping up with #2. I'm actually liking him (forgot #2's name) a lot more.

Bleach
Didn't really care for the last 2-3 chapters. I used to like Kenpachi, but his character bores me these days. Get owned and you'd think he'd be a little more humble, but "shrugs". I liked seeing Renji off Mask de Masculine (kinda name is that?), and seeing Rukia's bankai... I like her bankai, but not her. You'd think Toshiro would be able to do something of that nature... Anyway, I know I'm probably the only one that actually likes Bleach (the manga) so yeah.

Naruto
Lot's of up's and down's, but mainly down's. Naruto nearly killed the latest chapter for me, but I did like seeing what the 6 sage guy was like. And as much as I like Madara (or the Uchiha's) I'm ready for this war to end. The longer this goes on the more tired I become of Madara.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm still stuck in the mid-900's of HnI. The Itagaki vs. Saeki fight is so long and boring and needlessly drawn out for a conclusion that anyone with half a brain can predict: Itagaki will win. I think what pisses me off about this character is how Morikawa has been teasing that he'll have a heel turn eventually, but after hundreds of chapters he has yet to capitalize on this concept (unless it has already happened in the current releases, but I'm less than. Hundred chapters behind, now). That would give the character a much more interesting conflict, whereas right now he just feels like Ippo's annoying comic relief side-kick, with the emphasis on annoying, which is a shame because he could be a much better character if Morikawa wasn't so damn hell-bent on keeping things at status-quo for as long as possible.

[Foggle]

The new Deadpool issue coming out next week contains work from the following writers: Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn, Fabian Nicieza, Mark Waid, Joe Kelly, Christopher Priest, Jimmy Palmiotti, Frank Tieri, Gail Simone, Daniel Way, and Victor Gischler.

And here's the cover art: http://www.comicbookresources.com/imgsrv/preview/0/0/1/Deadpool-27-Cover-64c29.jpg

MY BONER