I sometimes sample manga, out of curiosity and a sense that a person in my line of work needs to know something about it. Normally I read it in the paperback collections. Last week at a used bookstore in Little Rock I ran across several old issues of the American version of "Shonen Jump." From what I understand, this is the closest you can find to a translated version of the huge, thick periodicals in which most manga are originally serialized. So I spent two dollars and got one to look at. Here's what I found....
Yu-Gi-Oh! The installment begins in the middle of a protracted battle between magically superpowered characters. There's a lot of talk about power levels (something called ba) and the rules of how the magic works. We also see some plot development. The whole thing seems to be taking place in a manga version of ancient Egypt.
Naruto The installment begins in the middle of a protracted battle between magically superpowered characters. There's a lot of talk about power levels (something called chakra) and the rules of how the magic works. We also see some plot development. This time the characters are all ninjas-in-training in a ninja settlement.
One Piece Something to do with a guy who's trying to get together a pirate crew in a world where pirates rule and there are lots of pirate gangs, each one more grotesque than the last. No protracted battles, but I get the definite feeling there are some in the characters' near future. As nearly as I can tell it's all supposed to be funny. This has got to be one of the most bizarre-looking things I have ever seen in my life. I don't know any adequate way to describe it. "1930s Popeye comics on acid" would come as close as anything to doing it justice.
_________________ The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls who, when he found an especially costly one, sold everything he had to buy it.
Shaman King The installment begins in the middle of a protracted battle between magically superpowered characters (Does anyone else sense a theme here?). There is if anything even more stuff on energy levels (This time around they're juiced up with an energy called mana) here. Apparently the characters are shamanic warriors in training, instead of ninja warriors as in "Naruto." The whole thing is only one match in preparation for some kind of huge ultimate fighter shaman tournament in Tokyo. We see lots of really weird-looking characters coming to town to compete.
YuYu Hakusho The installment begins in the middle of a protracted battle etc. It's part of another tournament, this one something called the "Dark Tournament" which is being held for the amusement of some demonic creatures. It's being emceed by some anthropomorphic furry woman with a microphone.
Hikaru No Go The installment begins in the middle of...no, wait a minute, there appears to be something different going on here. It seems that a boy named Hikaru is being haunted by the thousand-year-old ghost of an ancient Japanese noble youth who loves to play Go. Under ghost Sai's influence Hikaru is starting to get into the game. There are several other middle-school lads who are also into Go. Apparently all the characters' lives and interests pretty much revolve around the game. Everywhere they go they're playing it and talking about it. There are funny moments involving Sai the ghost and Hikaru, as they spar in Hikaru's room. The boy's obviously Going places in future installments.
_________________ The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls who, when he found an especially costly one, sold everything he had to buy it.
I recently purchased eight of the first ten issues of Shonen Jump (not counting issue zero). I' m still on issue one, but I love One Piece and Sandland. Yu-Gi-Goh! was alright. I still have to read YuYu Hakusho and Dragonball Z.
Hikaru No Go The installment begins in the middle of...no, wait a minute, there appears to be something different going on here. It seems that a boy named Hikaru is being haunted by the thousand-year-old ghost of an ancient Japanese noble youth who loves to play Go. Under ghost Sai's influence Hikaru is starting to get into the game. There are several other middle-school lads who are also into Go. Apparently all the characters' lives and interests pretty much revolve around the game. Everywhere they go they're playing it and talking about it. There are funny moments involving Sai the ghost and Hikaru, as they spar in Hikaru's room. The boy's obviously Going places in future installments.
Hikaru No Go is one of my favorites, and I discovered it in Shonen Jump. Went out and bought up all the paperbacks to catch up.
There are also recap pages, fan-art pages, several scattered pages to help explain Japanese pronunciation and how one becomes a "professional" (i.e. tournament-league) Go player, and color advertising sections in both front and back for video games, anime, and other tie-ins.
"Hikaru no Go" was easily my favorite--in fact, it was the only one that I found truly interesting. I can appreciate superpowered battles now and then--I did grow up reading superhero comics, after all. But page after page after page of characters standing around posing and announcing their next exotic-sounding attack? Doesn't engage me at all. Obviously little boys like it, because I can recall certain nephhews of mine acting out these sorts of scenes. I'm reasonably sure they got it from the anime versions, though, not the manga.
"Hikaru no Go" is interesting because it's about mostly believable people of another culture, with just a touch of fantasy in the form of Sai the ghost. Actually it's just as much about tournaments and gaming as most of the others are, but in this case it's an actual board game and not some video-game inspired fighting stuff. I've never been a big fan of board games, but I played Go's little American cousin Othello some growing up, and I'm a bit curious about how it works. Evidently it's a big deal for some people, because the process of become a "professional" player sounds very involved and time-consuming, rather like being a competitive chess player.
I read years ago that there was a genre of manga all about people playing board games of various kinds. They sounded like watching paint dry. Still do, really, but after reading this I can see how artists rise to the challenge of adding visual interest to stories like this. It took as much effort to draw this as it did any of the more extroverted stories in the issue, and since it's set in another country I found it had at least as much visual interest as any of the others. If you were into Go this would be quite a readable comic.
At the beginning of this issue's installment there is a section of four pages of color, the only color story pages (apart from a couple in "One Piece") in the whole thing. There's a beautiful two-page spread of Sai in a lovely landscape playing his flute. Sai's cute, soft features make him look so feminine I double-checked to make sure he was referred to in the text as "he". But then he is supposed to be a ghostly Heian-era courtier, so I guess he wouldn't be a hairy he-man.
_________________ The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls who, when he found an especially costly one, sold everything he had to buy it.
Hikaru No Go The installment begins in the middle of...no, wait a minute, there appears to be something different going on here. It seems that a boy named Hikaru is being haunted by the thousand-year-old ghost of an ancient Japanese noble youth who loves to play Go. Under ghost Sai's influence Hikaru is starting to get into the game. There are several other middle-school lads who are also into Go. Apparently all the characters' lives and interests pretty much revolve around the game. Everywhere they go they're playing it and talking about it. There are funny moments involving Sai the ghost and Hikaru, as they spar in Hikaru's room. The boy's obviously Going places in future installments.
Hikaru No Go is one of my favorites, and I discovered it in Shonen Jump. Went out and bought up all the paperbacks to catch up.
Did you read "Shonen Jump" regularly? Did you find any others in there you liked?
Since I'm not exactly the target readership I wasn't surprised that I didn't get that into the stories in the issue. Although it was well worth the investment to see what an issue was like. I was startled at how four of the six features seemed to be telling pretty much the same story.
_________________ The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls who, when he found an especially costly one, sold everything he had to buy it.
I just received the first seven volumes of Bakuman, which is about drawing comics. It is exciting as hell, and all they are doing is drawing pictures.
Seems like I've read somewhere that it's pretty informative on what making manga is really like for aspiring artists. That would make it interesting, at least.
_________________ The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls who, when he found an especially costly one, sold everything he had to buy it.
I've never read the manga, but I've watch the animated version of most of these - on the cartoon network, or for free on Hulu or elsewhere on-line. Hundreds of half hour episodes 922 minutes plus commercials, usually) can be found for viewing.
Naruto One Piece Hikaru No Go Bleach And many others. Good stuff
Hikaru No Go The installment begins in the middle of...no, wait a minute, there appears to be something different going on here. It seems that a boy named Hikaru is being haunted by the thousand-year-old ghost of an ancient Japanese noble youth who loves to play Go. Under ghost Sai's influence Hikaru is starting to get into the game. There are several other middle-school lads who are also into Go. Apparently all the characters' lives and interests pretty much revolve around the game. Everywhere they go they're playing it and talking about it. There are funny moments involving Sai the ghost and Hikaru, as they spar in Hikaru's room. The boy's obviously Going places in future installments.
Hikaru No Go is one of my favorites, and I discovered it in Shonen Jump. Went out and bought up all the paperbacks to catch up.
Did you read "Shonen Jump" regularly? Did you find any others in there you liked?
Since I'm not exactly the target readership I wasn't surprised that I didn't get that into the stories in the issue. Although it was well worth the investment to see what an issue was like. I was startled at how four of the six features seemed to be telling pretty much the same story.
I was reading it regularly in 2005 and 2006. My two favorites (discovered there) were Hikaru No Go and Death Note. I also thought I discovered Bleach there, but when I bought a volume, I didn't like enough.
It kind of passed like a phase -- keeping up with Death Note and Hikaru was enough to satisfy.
Just heard that Shonen Jump is being phased out by March 2012 in favor of a digital version, Shonen Jump Weekly Digital, for $26 / year or $0.99 a month, that will offer translated manga two weeks after the Japanese version hits shelves.
Too bad the print mag is going away, but what a neat idea.
One negative is that the monthly price is a four-week rental, but the yearly price is a purchase.
Just heard that Shonen Jump is being phased out by March 2012 in favor of a digital version, Shonen Jump Weekly Digital, for $26 / year or $0.99 a month, that will offer translated manga two weeks after the Japanese version hits shelves.
Too bad the print mag is going away, but what a neat idea.
One negative is that the monthly price is a four-week rental, but the yearly price is a purchase.
I'd subscribe in a heartbeat. That's like 500+ pages of comics every week for a year for under $30.
Ahh, it won't be the entire Japanese version translated, it will be only six features (Bakuman., Bleach, Naruto, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, One Piece, and Toriko). That'll be about 120 pages for a buck.
Quote:
Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha will be available on VizManga.com and Viz Manga apps for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices. An annual membership will cost US$25.99 for 48 weekly issues. (Weekly Shonen Jump takes a few weeks off during the year in Japan.) Single issues will cost US$0.99 for a four-week rental. Any issue on one device can be read on another device with the same user account via VizManga.com or the Viz Manga app.
Viz will also offer Shonen Jump Digital Warp — an accelerated digital release of select manga titles to bridge the gap between the latest English graphic novels in print and the latest Japanese installments in print. For example, Shonen Jump Digital Warp is starting from Naruto volume 53 now. (Viz published the print version of Naruto volume 52 last month.)
After Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha launches, Viz Media plans to stop publishing the print edition of its Shonen Jump magazine next March with the "farewell April 2012 issue." Viz has been publishing the monthly magazine since 2003.
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