Snow, snow and more snow! A warm and wet end of 2010 has definitely seen a cold and snowy beginning of 2011 here in the Maritimes. With less time travelling around to my favourite manga-buying spots, I didn’t get too much this week but there’s definitely something to be said for the quality over the quantity.
New out from Viz Media this week was the new volume of Pokemon Adventures (Vol. 11). I still haven’t completely made my peace with the new artist when it comes to the human designs but I’m really liking the new (for the time being) main character, Crystal. It’s fun following a ‘capturing expert’ and seeing her bombard Professor Oak with her data unlike previous Pokedex owners. Flipping through, it looks like we’ve got a return of Yellow as well – yay!
My other purchase of the week, and the one I had to read as soon as I was handed my reciept for buying it, was Black Jack (Vol. 13). It’s my favourite of Osamu Tezuka’s works that I’ve read and easily one of my favourite manga series ever. Black Jack’s such a fun character, the kind of person you wouldn’t really want to meet under most circumstances in real life but on the page he’s a well-rounded individual with crazy surgeon skills and the attitude to use them for his own means. There’s quite a bit of Pinoko in this volume and aliens, plus Black Jack’s jerkliness is at an all-time low – yup, low. Volume thirteen really feels like a collection reminding us he’s got a heart of gold when sometimes it’s easy to forget.
In anime-purchasing news, I put in an order at RightStuf which included the boxset for the Twelve Kingdoms anime and the new Tsubasa OVA collection from Funimation. I’m really excited to get both of them and now it’s just a matter of waiting for the post office to deliver. I just finished the third Twelve Kingdoms‘ novel and I’m putting off the fourth because it could be the last we’ll see in English – so depressing! I recommend everyone who enjoys good fantasy fiction pick up this series, it’s amazing and I love how Tokyopop adapted it.
That’s it for me this week – time to perch myself in front of the mail box and get to reading!
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I got the first 11 volumes of I"s by Masakazu Katsura after seeing it praised heavelly on T.V. tropes for the strong charcter devlopment. I have to say so far it's really good and Katsura is the only mangaka other then Oh Great! whose fan service shots I can actually respect in and of themselves for the attention ot detail and charcter design.
Next month Pokemon Adventures Diamond & Pearl/Platinum is coming out! You should check it out when you get the chance! Also, since this was made several years after the GS arc, you can really see how much the second artist improved.
Just wanted to note one here too. Crystal’s mother’s snap-out-of-it-slap got edited into a glare, which looks really out of place with Crys collapsing and her Pokemon wincing. Like with Norman it was probably edited due to child abuse, but unlike Norman I didn’t think it was as bad since it was just a snap-out-of-it kind of thing.
And out of curiousity, now that you’ve seen RS, DPPt, and BW, have you grown to like the new artist? His art was a bit off in GSC due to trying not to stray from Mato’s designs yet his style being entirely different, but from RS-onward I think he really hit his stride. And while Mato’s art was cute I kinda prefer the new guy actually, since I think it fits the seriousness of the manga though and he doesn’t overly rely on chibi’s like I thought Mato did sometimes. (for comedic and cute scenes it wasn’t as bad, but during serious or dramatic moments it really took me out of the story personally)
I really like Satoshi Yamamoto’s artwork for the series now. I agree that the art was a little off early on when they were trying too hard to look like Mato’s. It’s now much looser and consistent – I think they’ve gotten comfortable drawing the series and it really shows. I do miss Mato’s artwork, but I just pop back to older volumes for a dose of it now and then. I think I like them both equally now though.
Yeah, it’s too bad he just didn’t go with his style from the get-go, but I guess that would’ve made the change even more jarring. And it was nice he at least attempted to stay true to her work for the remainder of the last arc she did. But yeah, his RS-onward style is so much better, and I really like the detail he puts into the art too. (maybe not as much as some other mangakas, but for a Pokemon manga a pretty good bit) I’m so glad to see you like it though! I hated the thought of a fan losing interest in the series because of it. And I do the same thing sometimes, heh. Her RGB and Yellow style was really nice, it’s just sad that it started to decline in GSC like it did.
Hey, while we’re talking, I was wondering, what do you think of the GSC arc now that it’s finished, and what’s been released of RS, DPPt and BW? Sadly you don’t seem to do in-depth reviews for the series much anymore, so I was just curious to hear a bit of your thoughts about them at least. :)
Or if you would prefer to only comment about the only arc that’s completely released, GSC is fine. And they don’t have to be in-depth like a typical review or anything either.