Manga Mavericks

[LumRanmaYasha]

Thanks for the comments Spark! We've finished recording the episode and plan to release it on December 29th. It was a great discussion highlighting a lot of great moments in manga this year and I'm very happy with how it turned out. 

[LumRanmaYasha]

Our Best of Manga 2017 podcast is live! We discuss our favorite series, characters, and moments in manga this year alongside a ton of other accolades! It's a long show to make up for our hiatus these past few months, but it's a fun one, and we can't wait to get back into the swing of things in 2018! First on the docket - that long overdue Sket Dance retrospective! Look forward to it!

We've also put up our annual Year-End Survey! We'd really appreciate it if you guys could fill it out and provide some feedback on how to continue improving the show next year! The survey will be up through the end of January, so please fill it out if you're interested!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'll be sure to check out that episode as well as try and fill out that survey sometime this weekend.

I have to admit, I have been way out of the loop in both manga and anime for a while, now. I keep up with plenty of Shonen Jump titles, and I have never stopped reading manga, but this year was pretty slim for me when it came to manga in general. Part of this was due to burnout (more-so anime than manga, though, as I've barely touched any anime series this year aside from the usual fare that I was already following). However, another part of this was also due to wanting to expand my horizons somewhat to read more Western comic books along with actual novels. Even more than that, though, my full-time work schedule has left me very mentally exhausted in the evenings. I used to be able to down several volumes of a manga in just one sitting with ease, and I could do that for several nights in a row, even if I was relatively busy on those days, as I never really slept all that much. But lately my eyes seem to get tired after just reading a few chapters, and these days I tend to go to bed early so that I can get up on time for work and then the cycle repeats in the evening when I try to read but just end up getting tired after a little bit of time.

It's an odd dilemma because it's not a health problem or a time-related problem, but all the same I sort of want to be able to read more than I do. It's just the way that my body is functioning now given my normal daily routine. I do also spend at least an hour each evening getting some exercise and have started trying to actually cook for myself a bit more often as opposed to just eating junky frozen dinners, so all that considered, I do consume more time on those things than on spending it on entertainment.

To not go off on too much of a tangent, though, I don't tend to get too tired when watching movies or playing video games, even after doing all of those things. But when it comes to trying to read, that just seems to be where my body wants to cut out after a certain point, making my progress very limited these days. That said, weekends or long breaks, I seem to be able to return to my old self and read a lot more in one sitting, so I suppose it's just the way that I've got to deal with things for now, at least until I manage to get a new job and move back to New Jersey where most of my family is.

At any rate, I do intend to get back into reading more manga in 2018, besides just shonen series. Aside from series that I read weekly or that I collect as the individual volumes release, I tend to follow two manga at a time. Right now it's Blade of the Immortal and Nausicaa, so after I finish any one of those given series I'll move onto the next. It's better to do it that way than to try and juggle reading several different manga at once and completely lose track of what's going on in almost all of them due to confusion.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I've already got manga material pre-ordered for next year in Dragon Half and Kimetsu no Yaiba and am planning on getting in on 20th Century Boys re-release as well as the Space Battleship Yamato omnibus. There's already a lot on my plate and the year hasn't even started yet.

Also putting in on how several series I'm following are in good places and things are looking up. 2018 is gonna be a good year for manga and it hasn't even started yet.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't know you weren't caught up on Kimetsu no Yaiba!

The original Mazinger Z manga is really, really good. I can't believe it still hasn't been licensed when Cutie Honey and Devil Man were. It's my favorite Go Nagai series and it's one of the most important mecha series and yet no one has picked it up. Here's hoping with the movie out next month Seven Seas might get it. With their push for classic manga, and tons of Go Nagai licenses, I hope that is one of their pick ups. After that I think the only other big Nagai series are the two sequels to Mazinger Z (Great Mazinger and Grendizer) and Getter Robo's original manga.

Here's hoping for more classic manga releases for 2018.

Good show. Glad to have you guys back.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Thanks for the comments! 

I'll be sure to check out that episode as well as try and fill out that survey sometime this weekend.

I have to admit, I have been way out of the loop in both manga and anime for a while, now. I keep up with plenty of Shonen Jump titles, and I have never stopped reading manga, but this year was pretty slim for me when it came to manga in general. Part of this was due to burnout (more-so anime than manga, though, as I've barely touched any anime series this year aside from the usual fare that I was already following). However, another part of this was also due to wanting to expand my horizons somewhat to read more Western comic books along with actual novels. Even more than that, though, my full-time work schedule has left me very mentally exhausted in the evenings. I used to be able to down several volumes of a manga in just one sitting with ease, and I could do that for several nights in a row, even if I was relatively busy on those days, as I never really slept all that much. But lately my eyes seem to get tired after just reading a few chapters, and these days I tend to go to bed early so that I can get up on time for work and then the cycle repeats in the evening when I try to read but just end up getting tired after a little bit of time.

At any rate, I do intend to get back into reading more manga in 2018, besides just shonen series. Aside from series that I read weekly or that I collect as the individual volumes release, I tend to follow two manga at a time. Right now it's Blade of the Immortal and Nausicaa, so after I finish any one of those given series I'll move onto the next. It's better to do it that way than to try and juggle reading several different manga at once and completely lose track of what's going on in almost all of them due to confusion.

I hear that. By virtue of doing the podcast I read a lot of manga, but I still wasn't able to get around to a lot of stuff I planned to, and fell behind on most of the non-Shonen Jump manga that I was keeping up with. Reading stuff is difficult when you're tired and sleepy since reading is a more active effort than simply watching something, especially if a series is really text-dense. Just a consequence of working a full-time job on top of school and having other priorities. I usually try to read just one or two things at a time as well, so it takes me longer to finish series than it used to.

Speaking of Blade of the Immortal, I binge-read the manga last month after seeing the live-action film, and I really loved it. That was definitely one of those series that I consumed as fast as I could because I found it so engrossing - I finished it within two weeks of starting it. It has some really excellent dynamics between its characters and I love the different factions they form during the story, and Anotsu and Kagimura are fantastic villains. It's not that complex, but it's a really good revenge story with a satisfying and poignant ending, to say nothing about how excellent the character development and fights are throughout.

Hope you enjoy Nausicaa! It's definitely a classic, and thematically richer and more complete story than the film version much like the Akira manga is. VLord actually got me the hardcover box set for Christmas and it's an absolutely beautiful release. Definitely want to re-read it when I get the chance.

I've already got manga material pre-ordered for next year in Dragon Half and Kimetsu no Yaiba and am planning on getting in on 20th Century Boys re-release as well as the Space Battleship Yamato omnibus. There's already a lot on my plate and the year hasn't even started yet.

Also putting in on how several series I'm following are in good places and things are looking up. 2018 is gonna be a good year for manga and it hasn't even started yet.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't know you weren't caught up on Kimetsu no Yaiba!

The original Mazinger Z manga is really, really good. I can't believe it still hasn't been licensed when Cutie Honey and Devil Man were. It's my favorite Go Nagai series and it's one of the most important mecha series and yet no one has picked it up. Here's hoping with the movie out next month Seven Seas might get it. With their push for classic manga, and tons of Go Nagai licenses, I hope that is one of their pick ups. After that I think the only other big Nagai series are the two sequels to Mazinger Z (Great Mazinger and Grendizer) and Getter Robo's original manga.

Here's hoping for more classic manga releases for 2018.

Good show. Glad to have you guys back.

No worries, I don't mind spoilers. Especially since I don't know any of the context. 

With Seven Seas' track record I wouldn't doubt they'll license Mazinger Z sooner or later. 2018 really is going to be a fantastic year for manga being released in North America. So many great classics and new series are going to be released next year, and I just worry about being able to keep up with and read them all. 

And thanks! We're glad to be back! We have a lot of plans for the show next year, and I think it's going to be a good year for both manga and our podcast. 

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm about half-way through BOI myself, only because I had to take a break from reading it when I caught up with the physical releases of the omnibi and then finally decided to just read the rest digitally when I got tired of waiting. I'll probably end up finishing the rest over the next few weeks, though. Anotsu Kagehisa is easily one of the most well-written manga villains that I've come across in quite a while. A perfect example of how to portray a morally complex individual, especially given his interactions with Rin. It'd be easy enough to have an evil antagonist, yet Anotsu has clear motivations for what he does and while terrible in many respects, he also has an honor code that makes him far less awful than many other characters which are encountered throughout the series.

It's also a treat to see Samura improve as a writer as the series progresses. The early volumes are a bit all over the place and poorly plotted in retrospect, but he improves immensely by the time that Rin first splits up with Manji. In general I just find it very compelling to see a writer start out with many flaws but steadily work past them as they gain more and more experience, much like some of my favorite mangaka such as Yoshihiro Togashi with Yu Yu Hakusho or Inoue Takehiko throughout his entire career. That's also what I've been experiencing when reading through Frank Miller's Daredevil run as well as Mark Waid's Flash run.

Anyways, as a samurai manga BOI is a great read so far. I wouldn't quite put it up on par with Vagabond or Lone Wolf and Cub, myself, but it's entirely possible that I could by the time that I finish it.

As for Nausicaa, I haven't actually seen the film version yet, believe it or not. I have the Blu-ray for it, but won't be popping it in until after I finish the manga. The manga is excellent from a writing standpoint, but if I had just one criticism so far, it's with Miyazaki's artwork. The backgrounds and character designs themselves are beautiful, but he has a tendency to try and cram too much detail into fairly compact panels, and you can just tell that he's envisioning these more like storyboards for a film as opposed to manga panels that need to flow together. By no means does it hurt my enjoyment of the material, though. It's just something that sort of stuck out to me.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Sorry for the long absence! 

I'm about half-way through BOI myself, only because I had to take a break from reading it when I caught up with the physical releases of the omnibi and then finally decided to just read the rest digitally when I got tired of waiting. I'll probably end up finishing the rest over the next few weeks, though. Anotsu Kagehisa is easily one of the most well-written manga villains that I've come across in quite a while. A perfect example of how to portray a morally complex individual, especially given his interactions with Rin. It'd be easy enough to have an evil antagonist, yet Anotsu has clear motivations for what he does and while terrible in many respects, he also has an honor code that makes him far less awful than many other characters which are encountered throughout the series.

That's what I really love about the major villains in this series. Both the Itto Ryou and the Rokki-dan are both full of complex characters who do despicable things but are still recognizably human. The most purely evil villain is probably Shira, but even towards the end we see some of his vulnerabilities that humanize him, even though he's a monster to the end.

It's also a treat to see Samura improve as a writer as the series progresses. The early volumes are a bit all over the place and poorly plotted in retrospect, but he improves immensely by the time that Rin first splits up with Manji. In general I just find it very compelling to see a writer start out with many flaws but steadily work past them as they gain more and more experience, much like some of my favorite mangaka such as Yoshihiro Togashi with Yu Yu Hakusho or Inoue Takehiko throughout his entire career. That's also what I've been experiencing when reading through Frank Miller's Daredevil run as well as Mark Waid's Flash run.

Definitely. It's always a treat to read a series that gets better and better as it goes on. The final arc might be my favorite because of how it juggles three factions of characters which fluctuate between being protagonists and antagonists depending on the circumstances. You really understand where every character is coming from, making the final battle and inevitable demise of certain characters incredibly bittersweet.

Anyways, as a samurai manga BOI is a great read so far. I wouldn't quite put it up on par with Vagabond or Lone Wolf and Cub, myself, but it's entirely possible that I could by the time that I finish it.

I'd definitely put it up there myself. I think all three rival each other very closely in quality.

As for Nausicaa, I haven't actually seen the film version yet, believe it or not. I have the Blu-ray for it, but won't be popping it in until after I finish the manga. The manga is excellent from a writing standpoint, but if I had just one criticism so far, it's with Miyazaki's artwork. The backgrounds and character designs themselves are beautiful, but he has a tendency to try and cram too much detail into fairly compact panels, and you can just tell that he's envisioning these more like storyboards for a film as opposed to manga panels that need to flow together. By no means does it hurt my enjoyment of the material, though. It's just something that sort of stuck out to me.

Interesting! I'm curious to see your thoughts on the film after you finish the manga, since most people experience them the other way around. I agree that Miyazaki's backgrounds are often too detailed to the point of clutter, and one of the film's strengths is being able to delineate background and foreground and use color to make things read better than they sometimes do in Miyazaki's black-and-white manga. But the art is really beautiful, and his sequential storytelling is top notch as well.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Our Sket Dance retrospective is finally out! We spend over two hours discussing its characters, humor, and just about everything that makes the series so special and one of our all-time favorite manga!

But we're not done discussing Kenta Shinohara's mangagraphy! We'll be following up our Sket Dance discussion up next week with our series review of Astra Lost in Space! If you've listened to our "Best of Manga in 2017" podcast or taken a look at our Twitter feeds, then you know Astra was one of our favorite manga to read last year.

Joining us to talk about the series will be a very special guest – Marlene First, editor of Astra Lost in Space for Viz Media! We're excited to discuss Astra with Marlene and go over everything that makes this series and Kenta Shinohara so astra-ordinary! If you have any questions or topics concerning Astra Lost in Space that you'd like us to discuss on the show, we'd love for you to share them! Marlene also edits several other series, including the Dragon Ball Super manga, Robot x Laserbeam, Haikyu!, Kuroko's Basketball, and the new Jump Start! Bozebeats, so you can definitely ask questions about those series as well! We'll be recording tonight around 9pm EST, so please ask while you can!

[LumRanmaYasha]

We've finished recording our Astra podcast and it was a lot of fun! We ended up talking for over four and a half hours, so we'll be splitting our discussion with Marlene into two parts. The first part will be our interview with her about what its like to be a Shonen Jump editor, and that will come out on January 26th. The second part will be our Astra retrospective and that will come out on February 2nd. Look forward to listening to them!

[LumRanmaYasha]

I've been doing lots with the podcast and All-Comic recently!

We posted two podcasts in February. The first was appropriately enough our interview with Marlene First, the editor for Astra Lost in Space, Haikyuu, Robot x Laserbeam, Dragon Ball Super, Juni Taisen, and a ton of other series for Viz Media. Marlene has had a fascinating career and we had a really insightful interview about what working at Viz is like, what manga editing entails, and some of the challenges balancing being an industry professional and interacting with anime fandom.

Our second podcast was a crossover with both the Just a Gintama Podcast and Life Lessons: The Gintama MangaCast, where we discussed the live-action Gintama movie. The discussion was incredibly fun, but what I really love most about the podcast is the intro I made for it at the beginning. I think those first ten minutes are some of the funniest stuff we've done on the podcast yet. I also wrote a review of the movie for All-Comic where I went into my thoughts on the movie in a bit more detail.

I've actually been writing a lot more reviews for All-Comic lately! My review of Astra Lost in Space Volume 1, in particular, got a lot of attention, earning me a reweet and a follow on Twitter from Viz Media themselves!



Shortly afterward I also received a press pass from Viz to see the Mazinger Z: Infinity movie in theatres, which I also wrote a review for. I enjoyed it a lot despite not having much familiarity with the franchise beforehand, and it definitely made me want to check out the original.

I also enjoyed Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Reflection a whole lot so I wrote a review of that as well. This review didn't get as much attention as the Astra review but it was still noticed by Eleven Arts and they started following me on Twitter afterward as well!

Finally, I had so much to say about how the Dragon Ball Super manga is handling the Tournament of Power that I decided to start writing reviews of new chapters, starting with chapter 33! With how different the manga is from the anime I'm really excited to see how Toyotaro is going to handle this arc and how he might improve upon some of its weaknesses, since he's been developing many subplots and characters better already.

That's it for February! This month we'll finally be releasing our Astra Lost in Space podcast, which we had to do a bit of rerecording for because of some audio issues on my end. We'll also have our Survey results podcast up soon, as well as a huge news recap for everything that's happened since our last news episode. On the @ Movies side, VLord and I will be recording Our Best Movies of 2017 & Oscars podcast tonight, and that should hopefully be ready to be released on Sunday (hopefully a few hours before the Oscars start). I also have a lot of projects in mind for the Youtube channel and hope to start being more active with it after taking an unintended break from it this past month. All in all, things are going strong for the podcast and I'm really excited about the projects we'll be doing this month as well!

[LumRanmaYasha]

Haven't posted updates on the podcast on the forum in a while, so here's a rundown of all the new episodes we've released since March!

Manga Mavericks:

EP. 43: "Astra Lost in Space" - We're joined by Shonen Jump & Astra Lost in Space's editor, Marlene First, to gush and rave about Kenta Shinohara's sci-fi adventure manga.

EP. 44: "Survey Results 2018" - The results of our 2017 survey! We got a lot of good statistics and feedback from it, and had a good time looking back at how well the podcast did last year.

EP. 45: "The Big News Roundup!" - An insanely long and thorough roundup of all the news from early 2018. There was so much news it took us two recording sessions to cover it!

EP. 46: "Takamagahara" - I take a week off to focus on school, so Colton invites Bomber to discuss the news and Maxy to discuss the short-lived Jump series Takamagahara.

EP. 47: "Jujutsu Kaisen, Noah's Notes, & Ziga" - We discuss the recent trio of Spring Jump Starts, in which I totally call that Jujutsu Kaisen would be one with the most chance of success, and lo and behold. 

EP. 48: "World Trigger" - We're joined by World Trigger's letterer Annaliese Christman and Stammer Stream host Wensleydale Cheddar to discuss Daisuke Ashihara's unique sci-fi shonen battle manga (that we desperately hope returns from its hiatus one of these days).

EP. 48.5: "World Trigger Q&A Extravaganza" - Following up on our World Trigger discussion, we answer an hour's worth of Q&As about the series!

EP. 49: "Devilman" - Josh Dunham from Wave Motion Canon joins us to discuss Go Nagai's classic manga and how it fits in context to the rest of his mangagraphy.

EP. 50: "Assassination Classroom" - In honor of the manga's recently completed english release, Kiirobon joins us for an extended discussion of Assassination Classroom, delving deep into its characters and themes!

EP. 51: "Momiji no Kisetsu & Invade You" - Maxy joins us to discuss the two short-lived Summer Jump Starts, the shogi-focused Momiji and the alien ecchi rom-com Invade You!.

EP. 52: "Eden's Zero" - We discuss the first chapter of Hiro Mashima's new series, Eden's Zero.

EP. 53: "Sleepy Princess in the Shonen Sunday" - Bomber, Maxy, and VLord join us to discuss the first Shonen Sunday series Viz has licensed and published in a long time, Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle.

EP. 54: "Summer Con Craziness" - We discuss a bunch of mid-summer news, particularly the news out of Anime Expo and San Diego Comic Con.

EP. 55: "Seiji Tanaka & Alice & Taiyo" - We discuss two more summer Jump Starts, the time-travel comedy Seiji Tanaka and the slice-of-life singing manga Alice & Taiyo! We also discuss Tite Kubo's new one-shot, Burn the Witch, and the One Piece and Food Wars! crossover, Shokugeki no Sanji.

EP. 56: "Hot" - We discuss Akira Amano's latest one-shot, Hot!

EP. 57: "Bakuman" - We're joined by Sam Leach from Anime News Network and the One Piece Podcast and Nick Rowe from All-Comic.com to discuss how well Bakuman holds up 10 years later, if its insights into the industry are still relevant (or ever were), and what lessons we can still takeaway from it.

EP. 58: "Sexism in the Manga Industry, Momoko Sakura, and High Guardian Spice" - We discuss some depressing news stories, including reports of sexual harrassment and discrimination in the manga industry, the death of Chibi Maruko mangaka Momoko Sakura, and the High Guardian Spice "controversy."

EP. 59: "The Now Named Nameless Man" - We discuss The Promised Neverland's latest popularity poll, alongside a few other noteworthy news stories.

EP. 60: "Not Another News Episode!" - In perhaps our shortest episode to date, we discuss the most recent news, including MHA's smashing box-office success and some exciting new licenses!

Manga Mavericks @ Movies:

@ Movies #13: "Oscars 2018 Thoughts" - VLord and I recap this year's Oscars and who we thought deserved to win each category, spending a particularly long time talking about the short film and documentary categories, which tend to be unfairly under-discussed.

@ Movies 14: "Ghost in the Shell (2017) & Power Rangers" - Finally getting around to a backlog of podcasts recorded over a year ago! This episode pairs two controversial adaptions of beloved japanese franchises, with our opinions differing on which was the more successful venture.

@ Movies 15: "Tokyo Ghoul & IT (2017)" - In this episode we take a look at two horror adaptations, the live-action Tokyo Ghoul film and the IT remake!

@ Movies 16: "Blade Runner 2049 & Blade of the Immortal" - We take a look at two films by acclaimed directors living up to the legacy of established franchise that happen to both have "Blade" in their titles.

@ Movies 17: "Baby Driver & Logan Lucky" - We talk about two stylish 2017 films about well-meaning guys driven to a life of crime to help the ones they love.

@ Movies 18: "Dunkirk, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, & Victoria & Abdul" - We discuss a bunch of 2017 movies that all feature british characters, some better than others.

Also, here are a few reviews I've written since March as well:

Dragon Ball Super chapter 34
Dragon Ball Super chapter 35
Dragon Ball Super chapter 36
Dragon Ball Super chapter 37
Dragon Ball Super chapter 38
Sailor Moon R & S: The Movies
Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie

That should about catch us up! Really looking forward to some podcast projects we have coming down the pipe, so keep your eyes and ears open for them!

[LumRanmaYasha]

New episode is out! This week we discuss the two latest Jump Starts, Teenage Renaissance David and I'm From Japan! Both of these gag comedies debuted in the same issue but have distinct senses of humor from one another. Did either of them tickle our funny bones, or was their sense of humor so Japanese they left us as stoic as statues? Listen and find out!

[LumRanmaYasha]

We're recording our next podcast tonight, and it's going to be a retrospective of the YU YU HAKUSHO manga! For the occasion, we've got a bevy of special guests, including Vlord, Josh Dunham from Wave Motion Cannon, and most special of all, Animation Revelation's very own Dr. Ensatsu-ken! I'm excited we'll finally have E-K on to talk Togashi as we promised years ago. 

Leave us some YYH questions, comments, discussion topics, for us to discuss on the show! We'll be recording at 9pm CDT tonight, but probably won't get to questions until around 11 or so, so there's still plenty to time to send them to us! As always, post them in this thread or e-mail them to mangamavericks@gmail.com. I'm really looking forward to our discussion! ^^

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Should be fun. Can't wait to join in.

[LumRanmaYasha]

We're recording our next podcast tonight, and it's going to be a retrospective of the YU YU HAKUSHO manga! For the occasion, we've got a bevy of special guests, including Vlord, Josh Dunham from Wave Motion Cannon, and most special of all, Animation Revelation's very own Dr. Ensatsu-ken! I'm excited we'll finally have E-K on to talk Togashi as we promised years ago. 

Leave us some YYH questions, comments, discussion topics, for us to discuss on the show! We'll be recording at 9pm CDT tonight, but probably won't get to questions until around 11 or so, so there's still plenty to time to send them to us! As always, post them in this thread or e-mail them to mangamavericks@gmail.com. I'm really looking forward to our discussion! ^^

Last-minute update on the podcast! Unfortunately, because of scheduling conflicts, we're recording the podcast next Sunday (10/28) at 7pm instead of tonight. The good news is that means you guys have an extra week to ask us questions for the show, so no excuses!