Manga/Comics/Bandes Dessinée

[Slash]

Kli6- Yep I love the FB manga books!

[Gryphon]

By Clamp, I have three books of Magic Knights Rayearth, and that was *really* boring, so for a while, I wasn't much of a Clamp fan. Then my friends got me Legal Drug. <3 I saw book 2 and 3, but I haven't bought them yet.

In other manga, Saiyuki is still my fav... but I think it's one where you have to get a little deep into the series before you're hooked with it. However, once you're hooked, you're obsessed. I'm also into Fullmetal Alchemist <3 <3 <3. And Fruits Basket, but it only places 3rd or 4th on my list of fav mangas. I've also read book one of Descendents of Darkness... umm,... have no opinion on it. It's kinda good. Ranma 1/2 I love. I bet I've read some other mangas besides those, but... most of my manga I borrow from my friends, so technically, it's theirs, and I'll wait to get sequels from them.

[Kathy Li]

Gryph, all the Rumiko Takahashi I've ever read I borrowed from the library. They had a full run of Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku, Mermaid Dreams and the like. And only a manga-ka would think up mermaid sushi. Yech.

I'm currently reading Iron Wok Jan, simply because the whole cooking-competition thing cracks me up, and that they're all Japanese chefs cooking Chinese food. The mistranslations on what the ingredients actually are is also inadvertently humorous at times.

And I'm still waiting for Tezuka's Buddha to come out in softcover. Yeeps.

On the comics side, Greg Rucka's run on Wonder Woman continues to entertain the heck out of me, but Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men is now my absolute favorite superhero comic. I feel like I'm 13 again, and reading the Claremont/Byrne run all over again, and Kitty Pryde is finally once again the Kitty Pryde I once knew. There was one bit in the last issue where I just doubled over, I laughed so hard (if you read it, you know which moment I'm talking about), because it was completely unexpected, completely perfect, and 100% coming directly from the characters involved. Just great stuff.

[Slash]

Well, I just got the Fruts Basket DVD vol. one!
I love It only a few eposoads are only 20 min. long and some are 40 min. long! My fav. Caritor is
Miss. Honda ^_^ ... And I am hoping to get the new
Avitare DVD...but is that Anima? Well and I have a
Aneasha Wall scroll that my dad needs to hang up...it has been like 5 to 6 weeks seanc I got it.
AARRRGGG!

[tobiast88]

CLAMP are definitely some of the best mangaka out there. Read X and Tokyo Babylon (although Viz butchered X, argh *rantrantrant**stabvizstabviz*) Ahem.
Anyway, X, Tokyo Babylon, and RG Veda are absolutely awesome, and Clamp are the goddesses of manga. However, they seem to be going a bit overboard with their projects: X, Clover, Kobato, Lawful Drug on hold (for years ) and ***HOLiC and Tsubasa running at a weekly pace... Just finish X, we've been waiting 3 years darnit!! Do other stuff later!

But, sometimes Clamp gets too sweet for my taste - I'm a guy after all! So Priest by Min-woo Hyung goes down marvelously, or Negima by Ken Akamtsu... or Akira (a classic) by Katsuhiro Otomo, or Gunnm by Yukito Kishiro (and I refuse to read the trash that Viz put out: "Battle Angel Alita"? What? The french version is way more faithful, even if it is flipped [like viz did with X, *rant*])
So, yes, I am a manga fan, but I also like some american stuff: Neil Gaiman's Sandman is good, and the Crow by Joe O'Barr is... just O_o gorgeous and horrifying.

Will Rumiko Takahashi ever not ruin one of her series by dragging it on for a ridiculously long time? Meh, random blurb here.

I am also loving the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni anime. Sigh, must learn japanese (and get a PC) to play the game and get the full story on the unbelievably creepy killer lolis...

[Gryphon]

The library!? AUGAGHH . My library is majory suckage. They hardly had any manga to begin with, but then they decided to move it all over the library. I did a search for Fruits Basket, and all of them were in the most random places, scattered all over the library. Teen nonfiction. Adult nonfiction. Fiction. Historical nonficion. (????)

[Kathy Li]

Slash: anime is film/tv. manga is books.

tobiast88: I'm a girl, and CLAMP sometimes gets too sweet for me, but overall, the quality level's pretty reliable. It's just that I'm rounding 40, and I'd occasionally like to read something that isn't about being a 15-year-old-girl, going to school, having a crush on a cute boy, and hiding one's superpowers. (and when I was 15, I was getting this stuff from Kitty Pryde being in the X-Men grin.)

Akira was way too head-splody for me. I much preferred Miyazaki's original manga for Nausicaa--I even prefer it to the anime for the story. I also like Masashi Tanaka's Gon because there's no words so you know the translation didn't mess with it. And of course, Koike & Kojima's Lone Wolf and Cub (although that's all head-slicey and R-rated).

I love Sandman and just about everything by Neil Gaiman, but O'Barr's The Crow never did much for me. Gorgeous comic, though. If you like the gothic adventure stuff, have you tried Hellboy? Also, for no reason, I'd recommend Kurt Busiek's Arrowsmith. It's a newish series (one collection), so no reams of continuity to learn. And it's fantasy. An alternate-history WWI where magic exists, so instead of learning to fly a bi-plane, our hero wants to join the air corps and get his own dragon.

Gryph: yes the library. There are a lot of librarians out there actively attempting to include graphic novels in their collections. Sounds, however, like yours are not part of the movement. And I'm with you: Fruits Basket as Historical non-fiction? S'wha? Major Misshelving Mishap.

[tobiast88]

Kli, while it's true that Clamp can be saccharine at times, X is definitely anything but! It's an apocalyptic and tragic story (and gory and long and excellent), and had to be pulled from serialization a few times because it was getting too for taste (especially since the Kobe earthquake, since X uses earthquakes as a big motif. The Sakakibara incident, where a 14 year old decapitated an 11 year old, also caused serialization to stop). So Clamp can definitely change their tack from time to time, and not only do Cardcaptor Sakura -like stuff (which I presume is what you're referring to)

But yes, sometimes the shoujo gets to be too much; which is why - you are perfectly right - Miyazaki's Nausicaa is awesome. The anime couldn't possibly fit all 7 manga in it, which is why it's considered a bit of a let-down. I like manga that make me think (and anime too for that matter), which is why I love Akira, Nausicaa, and Gunnm.
The manga for Neon Genesis Evangelion is a major let-down, though; not surprising, it's one of the best anime there is, but still...

As I said, I'm not a huge fan of non-manga comics, but I'll try Hellboy (if I find it untranslated in France - french translations of english suck ) I've tried Sin City as well, and it's more or less to my liking.

And sorry for talking 'bout anime up there, but Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is just really good (and the manga is coming out in Japan - sigh, something else to buy)

[Kathy Li]

I think that anime dicussion's darn near inevitable when discussing manga.

Speaking of when shoujo gets to be too much... [shudder]. The horror! The horror!

Hmmm.... I'm wondering if you might not enjoy Alan Moore's comics. I'm pretty sure that a lot of them have been translated into French. V for Vendetta or Watchmen would probably be a good place to start.

I'm envious that you can read French. I've always wanted to go exploring through bande dessinee, but so little of it reaches the US or gets translated into English. Tintin and the occasional Moebius book are about it.

[KizzyShima]

Well, stepping into this topic a little late... I have a tidbit.

Originally posted by tobiast88:
Kli, while it's true that Clamp can be saccharine at times, X is definitely anything but!

(Actually, I wanted to quote pretty much all of that paragraph, because I agree.)

I love that CLAMP seems to be able to do whatever type of plotline/genre that they want. One of the things that seems to remain the same though is they have a really, really detailed drawing style. (Just a side note: CLAMP's coming to the U.S. for Anime Expo in Anaheim, California. It's kinda cool.)

[tobiast88]

Ya, kli, it's true that there are some extremely good bandes dessinees (or BD for short) exist here: I'm thinking of two obscure (unfortunately) series called Candelabres (candelabra) and Koblenz. The drawings are marvellous, and the storys are unbelievable. Learning french may be hard, but it's nothing compared to japanese... A good dictionary should get you through fine, if you want to explore the BD world.

But truly, I prefer reading stuff in its original language as much as possible. I'll try to find Alan Moore translated (i believe I've seen V for Vendetta somewhere...) , see if I like it, then hunt down the original. Sigh, there are only two shops in paris with english books, and they both suuuuuuck...

Speaking of when shoujo gets to be too much... [shudder]. The horror! The horror!

Oh - my - god ... *rolls in a ball to weep*

And KizzyShima... a Clamp fan! Yay! And I know they're going to Anaheim, and I'm depressed because I won't be able to go... Although on the Anime Convention page (somewhere) there's a form you can fill out to ask Clamp questions. Bombard them with questions about their on-hold series, they might bring them back.... Will Clover or X ever have an end? (or Lawful Drug for that matter?)

And - I can't resist - if anyone likes deep anime that makes you think, I really have to recommend 3 series: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Serial Experiments Lain, and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. All of them have their ways of bending your mind.

[kaiba4ever]

@ Dreamer Mage, yes, I've read/reading both of those manga. CLAMP is awesome. >_< I LOOOVE their manga, and Holic and Tsubasa are among my favorites. There mangas are my present obsessions. Watanuki and Yuuko are so cool! I was growing rather bored with Tsubasa earlier, except, then, in recept chapters (as in volume 15ish in Japan, if you're going by Del Rey releases, I won't spoil), they go to a new world, and well, it's really cool, with my favorite new characters! (Hint: Kamui is teh uber hawt one, lol). And we find out Syaoran's past! Prepare to be shocked. O_o (At this point we already know Kuro-puu's, but Fye's mysterious past it yet to be discovered....) Blah, I blathering.

I was reading a manga... with a rather whacky name... Hayate the Combat Butler! >_< But now the scanlations of on the web are being halted, because it's been liscensed by VIZ. Watch out for it on the shelves near you if you want a shounen comedy about a combat butler. ^_~ (I have no idea why I'm even recommending this, but whatever...)

I want the new Evangelion manga. >_< Kaworu makes a move on Shinji. I saw the scans. And read the translation. But... I want to read it. (BL/yaoi/slash controls my mind... must... resist...)

*Wanders off to angst over latest installment of Tsubasa Chronicle and wait and moan for next week's release. Wants more Fuuma.*

[Slash]

Does some one here read Chobits, I don't I herd it was ... well you know ... <span class="ev_code_RED">WHY IS IT ALL OF CLAMPS BOOKS ARE LIKE 16 AND UP?</span>
well you know not all are but a good heaping is!
And I was at the new Barns and Nobils and I saw a Chobits book...that girl on the front page has baerly cloes on!

Well, to change the Subject I like to read Fruits Basket! (As you can tell with the I-con)DOES some one here read FB?

[tobiast88]

Clamp is rated 16 and up because they often portray homosexual relationships. Oh shock. Nothing explicit, and the implicit goes the whole range: extreme innuendo, like Lawful Drug, or bare hints, like CCS.

I love Tsubasa, but when they got to THAT world... I worshipped it. We get to see Nataku again!!! *loves nataku*

So the Evangelion manga is back? And Kaworu makes a move on Shinji?? *faints* *imagines extreme yaoi* *does not resist like kaiba4ever*

And really, loopk for Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, coz it's awesome. Creepy and disturbing, but awesome.

[Slash]

look if they have too do with sex then why the heakk
are you reading them?
I mean that is sort of you know...*sneez*pervey*smeez*