What Are You Reading?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Joe is a very violent character. I'd be lying if I said I didn't find that kind of appealing with how goodie-goodie every shounen protagonist is these days, but to the manga's credit, his aggressiveness is not portrayed in a positive light, and it comes with its own set of consequences.

[Avaitor]

Very true. The only other lead shonen character I can think of with a violent streak like Joe's is Yusuke, and I can see some clear influence from AnJ with him.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

There's also Onizuka and a few other delinquent characters. For all of Joe's anger issues, though, I think he's got enough redeeming qualities to make him an overall well-balanced character. For instance, getting Wolf to attack him in front of the media and knocking him out proved that he can be incredibly clever when the situation calls for it.

[gunswordfist]

There's also Onizuka and a few other delinquent characters. For all of Joe's anger issues, though, I think he's got enough redeeming qualities to make him an overall well-balanced character. For instance, getting Wolf to attack him in front of the media and knocking him out proved that he can be incredibly clever when the situation calls for it.

Smooth.

[Avaitor]

Wolf has got to be a bigger asshole than Joe. Just look at the way he beat the kids up! But it lead to a hell of a fight. Riikishi's fight right after was awesome, as well.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, the fight between Joe and Wolf is the first time that the conflict ever becomes truly personal (besides Rikiishi, anyways). Unlike Rikiishi, a Joe is downright pissed at Wolf for what he does to the kids for spying on him. The match itself lives up to the build-up, and even for people who weren't a fan of Joe's character before, I think that this is the first time that you can be completely on his side.

This also leads into one of the best story-arcs in the series. Joe and Rikiishi's second clash is not only memorable, but IMO it escalates the series to new heights, and into the status of a true classic.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Finished Volume 8. Whoa.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Spoiler

And now we've reached the "no one is safe" portion of the series (well, no one who actually steps in the ring t get their face punched in, anyways)....in a sports manga. Also keep in mind that Rikiishi was an insanely popular character in the manga at the time of his death. Upon reflection, this is what Chiba Tetsuya had to say about it: http://youtu.be/q3hubP194-c

[close]

The aftermath is what makes it so great, though. I love Joe's character arc from this point to the Carlos Rivera arc.

[Avaitor]

Oh, so I did take up my friends' recommendation on Rat Queens, and I liked it! It's almost like a hybrid between LOTR and Orange is the New Black, which works quite well.

I'll be keeping an eye out for the second volume, although I believe that production has paused on the series currently.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Got through volume 9 this morning while eating breakfast. It felt really elegiac, seeing these characters go through some mourning. In a way, it was like a refresher for the new plot to begin.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Volume 9 is one of my favorites. It pretty much breaks the characters down to their emotional cores, and this is the first time we realky get to explore an entirely new facet of Joe's character. I love how there was absolutely no cop out here. Joe now has to live with the consequences of his actions, even if the outcome was unintentional on his part.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I've started reading Stardust Crsaders. I'm not that far in but Jotaro's ability will make for some pretty interesting and....well, "bizarre" fights down the line.

I also picked up X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga, which I plan to start reading soon.

And as for Vinland Saga, I was going to start that today until I noticed that a new volume of REAL has been uploaded. So, I'll catch up with that first and then start Vinland Saga.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

We started from a story about a 19th Century Englishman learning how to fight his adopted Vampire brother and an army of the undead, and now we've ended up with a Japanese high school student discovering his newfound abilities as is the standard shounen series set-up. Why am I not surprised.

Jotaro also kind of seems like a dick, but the concepts presented in the series so far are interesting, and having Dio return as the main villain of the series should be awesome, so I'm definitely excited to read forward.

Meanwhile I'm about 3 issues into The Dark Phoenix Saga from X-Men, and I'm surprised to see that Scott currently seems more sensible than Professor Xavier. I mean, Xavier gets pissed at Scott for not going back to their headquarters after the rescue mission of the other X-Men, but Scott brings up the completely true point that the HQ has obviously been tapped/bugged since crucial information, only attainable from Cerebro, immediately leaked out to The Hellfire Club. But Xavier just seems pretty bitter towards Scott for no reason though (or possibly there is a reason that I just don't know because I haven't read any X-Men comics before). Other than that Jean/Phoenix development, while predictable, is being handled pretty well as she slowly seems to start behaving more out of control, with her fight with Emma Frost being border-line heel-ish on her part (I'm assuming that Emma Frost isn't actually dead, but if she is then that's a full on heel-turn from Jean).

[LumRanmaYasha]

We started from a story about a 19th Century Englishman learning how to fight his adopted Vampire brother and an army of the undead, and now we've ended up with a Japanese high school student discovering his newfound abilities as is the standard shounen series set-up. Why am I not surprised.

In part 4 it becomes a murder-mystery, in part 5 it becomes an italian mafia crime story, in part 6 it becomes a prison break, and in part 7 it becomes a wild west racing series.

JoJo's adventure is most certainly bizarre. 

Jotaro also kind of seems like a dick, but the concepts presented in the series so far are interesting, and having Dio return as the main villain of the series should be awesome, so I'm definitely excited to read forward.

Well, Dio doesn't appear much until the final two volumes, so you shouldn't expect him to do as much as he did in part 1. 

[Spark Of Spirit]

Meanwhile I'm about 3 issues into The Dark Phoenix Saga from X-Men, and I'm surprised to see that Scott currently seems more sensible than Professor Xavier. I mean, Xavier gets pissed at Scott for not going back to their headquarters after the rescue mission of the other X-Men, but Scott brings up the completely true point that the HQ has obviously been tapped/bugged since crucial information, only attainable from Cerebro, immediately leaked out to The Hellfire Club. But Xavier just seems pretty bitter towards Scott for no reason though (or possibly there is a reason that I just don't know because I haven't read any X-Men comics before). Other than that Jean/Phoenix development, while predictable, is being handled pretty well as she slowly seems to start behaving more out of control, with her fight with Emma Frost being border-line heel-ish on her part (I'm assuming that Emma Frost isn't actually dead, but if she is then that's a full on heel-turn from Jean).

I can't speak for this arc, but sometimes the comic writers really fail at writing Xavier and make him into a jerk. They sometimes do it to Cyclops, too. I just wonder if maybe certain writers have problems with "boy scout" style characters.