Currently Running Manga Discussion

[Spark Of Spirit]

So what weekly (or bi-weekly, or monthly or whatever) currently running manga are you reading?

you may not know this, but I'm reading Bakuman right now and wondering how a manga that's so close to "Enigma" is considered a good idea to run at the same time as Enigma. Shonen audiences aren't stupid, if it looks the same, they won't bite.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm also keeping up with Bakuman, in addition to One Piece.

I'd like to say that I'm keeping up with more series than just that, but unfortunately those are the only 2 shounen series that currently interest me, right now. I do want to start reading Billy Bat, but first I need to finish 20th Century Boys, and I should probably start reading more of Claymore. I might check out Vinland Saga since Desensitized gave it such a high recommendation, but I think that I'll focus on finishing 20th Century Boys before keeping up with any currently running series (aside from the ones which I'm already reading).

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Just finished reading the most recent chapter of One Piece. The end of the chapter in which the Fortune-teller saw a vision and predicted that Luffy would bring about the destruction of Fishmen Island left things off at an interesting cliffhanger. I wonder if through some circumstances in this arc he'll have to do end up doing that, or if he will prove her vision wrong by the end of the arc. Oh well, its a One Piece arc, so it'll probably be a long time before we find that out, anyways.

Anyways, I've enjoyed the down-time in the series for a while in which the crew is just having some fun exploring and all, especially after the seriousness of the last major arc, but I kind of want this arc to get more serious now and shift towards the story of Captain Vander Decken XI and his ship The Flying Dutchman, and I also wouldn't mind seeing the leader of those Fishmen pirates who have it out for Luffy because he defeated Arlong way back around the early parts of the series.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I LOVED this week's chapter of Bakuman. Most of the chapter was actually the story within the story, so we got to see firsthand what the first chapter was like, and it was a really good read. Then at the end Ashirogi gave their commentary on it, including their praises and criticisms for it, and I pretty much agreed with all of what they said. The big reveal at the end of the manga being a work from a fan of their's who used to write to them was a really good twist. It looks like Ashirogi will have even more tough competition down the road.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yeah, this was a great chapter. I liked the total focus on manga in this chapter with only Mashiro and Takagi appearing in it critiquing the manga.

I do agree with them on the ending, though. Not that there's anything wrong with bad endings where the good guy doesn't win, but like Takagi said, it renders everything the main character did pointless in this case. That type of ending won't sit well with Shonen audiences. It was a great and simple idea, but it did have it's faults so I'm glad the were able to cover both of them.

Still, I wonder what kind of psychological battle manga they will think of for their next work. Since, you know, Death Note already exists in this universe.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I did quite enjoy how the the author of the manga actually used a piece of this chapter to give a tad bit of commentary one what some might critique is previous work, Death Note, for. Of course its never scientifically explained how the Death Note kills people. Its meant to be supernatural, and part of the mysterious and unknown. Even if its dark, its still a fantasy shonen series, so I always found it stupid when I did actually encounter people who criticized that aspect of Death Note before, mostly back on TV.com, though (and I have to admit that it was a site full of stupid members, anyways). It was also kind of nice to see One Piece get referenced in this chapter, even if it was just for the hell of it (since the example was kind of unnecessary given that they had already used Death Note as an example).

Yeah, I also don't like endings in which the main character dies in a way that makes each of his previous efforts pointless. But as Takagi pointed out, the author probably sacrificed a more satisfying ending in order to stand out more, which is fairly understandable in terms of just trying to get the Editors to notice his work for what it is compared to the standard shonen out there, as well as the other authors who try to be original but lack writing talent.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Heh, that new kid is one sly, sneaky little smart-ass. Personally I think that while he probably does have an overly-cheerful attitude, he's clearly a calculation-type mangaka and is only playing dumb, when I think that he pretty much must have planned everything out to get there to be such a big fuss over his work. I don't really think that he truly expected to win a Jump prize, but just wanted to use Jump in some way to get his work noticed. The reason I say that is because there were a lot of hints in this chapter towards him being more like that kind of person, and even a few of the editors seem to think so, as well as Ashirogi.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Man, after being disappointed by the latest anime episode, the manga really has no breaks on right now.

This new kid should be a lot of fun. 

[Angus]

I just discovered Kimi no Iru Machi. It's another slice-of-life romance by the person who did Suzuka, so it's promising.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Nanamine is a great character, I have to say. He played the system in order to get himself closer to serialization and while what he did was technically "wrong"... There really isn't an argument against it.

He even realized that Tanto exists because of Miura's meddling, which is what seems to back up his whole viewpoint.

I do think if he had an editor more like Hattori, that his entire outlook on them would probably change. But I'm not sure how that'll happen with the newbie he currently has.

Seriously, this is the best thing in Jump without a doubt.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

You know, I'm really surprised that Shonen Jump is allowing the author to portray a lot of the negative aspects of what "could be" wrong with an editorial staff. To be fair, characters like Hattori and the Editor-in-Chief show readers the positive aspects of editors, whereas characters like Miura show how much they can hold back an author from realizing their true potential and drawing the type of works that they want to draw.

Nanamine is really clever. So far, it seems like they are setting him up as the best example of almost the exact opposite type of character that Nizuma Eiji is. What I mean by that is that Eiji is like the perfect example of a "Genius" mangaka, who has a natural talent for drawing and can create popular works without even thinking about it. Hiramaru is also a really good example of this type of author. On the other hand, Nanamine seems to be the perfect example of the best of the best in the opposite spectrum. He's not a "Genius" like Eiji, but rather is an extremely good "Calculative" type of author, doing what needs to be done to make it to the top in terms of popularity by thinking things through and planning out everything that he does.

I just realized in this chapter that Nanamine feels very much like the type of character that the author would have written for in a series like Death Note, with the way that he thinks and how sharp he is at analyzing what goes on behind the scenes.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Another great chapter of Bakuman. This time we start see a few of the cracks in Nanamine's plan, and I myself was with him up until a certain point.

The creative process is a wonderful thing, and manga is no lesser a form of storytelling than other forms, but it does end up feeling a bit cheap the way he's going about it. Not that asking for opinions on work is wrong (quite the contrary), but to selectively make something manufactured to such a high degree leaves a bit of a blemish on the work itself. As we've seen, the work might be good, but it's missing something as Kosugi pointed out. While the other editors might not have noticed it, I think the Jump audience will which will lead to a turn on Nanamine's predicament.

It also makes me question why Nanamine and his group don't just get a group like Clamp going, or try to get into anime. Lord knows their ideas would be crap tons better than what comes out nowadays over there.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Another great chapter of Bakuman. This time we start see a few of the cracks in Nanamine's plan, and I myself was with him up until a certain point.

I think that there is a half-truth to everything Nanamine says to argue in his favor. Its true that sometimes editors can really hold an author back if they don't understand manga (Miura is the perfect example of this), and that sometimes getting the opinions of people who have a passion for reading manga can be very useful. But then there is the other side where Ashirogi is right. In truth, those people have never drawn manga of their own, and they are just amateurs. The thing is, its not that hard to come up with great ideas and execute them fairly well over the span of a few chapters worth of material. The problem is that Shonen Jump is mostly intended for series of considerable running-times, and I'm really predicting here that Nanamine will soon discover that these so called "experts" that he selected among his "commenters" on his blog will prove to be entirely useless in the future after he gets a series kicked off and serialized and then gets a considerable amount into its run only to discover that while these people can come up with good ideas, they are amateurs at truly being able to keep a series running on good ideas and he will eventually not be able to hook in his readers.

I still think that Nanamine is a very interest character, to say the least.

It also makes me question why Nanamine and his group don't just get a group like Clamp going, or try to get into anime. Lord knows their ideas would be crap tons better than what comes out nowadays over there.

Please remind me why Clamp is even popular? I mean, I can respect Code Geass to some extent as it does have some genuine effort put behind it (I still think it flat out sucks, personally, due to poor execution, but that's just me I suppose), but I have never been able to enjoy anything else they have done. I mean, even older stuff like Chobits doesn't make sense to me in terms of how it appeals to so many other people. I just don't think I have liked a single thing that they have ever done, personally (once again, though, I'm probably the minority on this one).

[Spark Of Spirit]

The thing is, its not that hard to come up with great ideas and execute them fairly well over the span of a few chapters worth of material. The problem is that Shonen Jump is mostly intended for series of considerable running-times, and I'm really predicting here that Nanamine will soon discover that these so called "experts" that he selected among his "commenters" on his blog will prove to be entirely useless in the future after he gets a series kicked off and serialized and then gets a considerable amount into its run only to discover that while these people can come up with good ideas, they are amateurs at truly being able to keep a series running on good ideas and he will eventually not be able to hook in his readers.

That's what I was thinking. Not only that, but with fifty people, at a certain point there are going to be disagreements... and with a weekly schedule... He's going to have serious problems.

There's just too many holes in his plans that he just plain can't see right now... and it's going to bite him hard.

I still think that Nanamine is a very interest character, to say the least.

Oh yeah, he's a smart and crafty guy. It's just that because he hasn't been published yet, he doesn't really know what he's getting himself into.

Please remind me why Clamp is even popular? I mean, I can respect Code Geass to some extent as it does have some genuine effort put behind it (I still think it flat out sucks, personally, due to poor execution, but that's just me I suppose), but I have never been able to enjoy anything else they have done. I mean, even older stuff like Chobits doesn't make sense to me in terms of how it appeals to so many other people. I just don't think I have liked a single thing that they have ever done, personally (once again, though, I'm probably the minority on this one).

I can't explain the Clamp phenomenon at all, but I do think a group of people dedicated to producing material like the Classroom Of Truth would be better than having to sit through the latest moe abortion or Umineko idiocy. But I guess he's more convinced that this is his work alone and less of his "colleagues"... which will probably also boomerang on him later.

EDIT: whoops

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

There is also the possibility that if Nanamine's manga does become successful and popular (at least initially so), those 50 people will find out about that right away and start bringing up a controversy by demanding credit for him using their own ideas. He has great ideas, but unfortunately he wasn't written with the amazing foresight or sensibilities of what you might expect from a Death Note character, after all (which I initially felt was the type of character that he would be). While he brilliantly thought his way into getting onto a great start, he clearly hasn't considered any future consequences for his current actions, which will really take its toll on him, eventually.