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Post by arecomicsevengood on Aug 24, 2022 1:03:02 GMT
I'm not up on contemporary manga. Actually it's more like my investigations online into stuff often leave me with more questions than answers, and it's such a vast world that I'm not throwing my money around pursuing things of interest the way I am with art comics. I know everybody likes Chainsaw Man and I think a lot of people read it on the Shonen Jump app, or else through file-sharing. I had NO IDEA that Rumiko Takahashi was doing a series now that Viz is putting out in English at around the same time it's being put out in Japan. It's called Mao, has anybody read it? I feel like the conversation about Takahashi is sort of dominated by nostalgia for older work.
I pay some attention to what Glacier Bay does. I think it's interesting that while they mostly put out reprints of small press stuff, they also put out that book False Stars and another called Snow White With Red Hair, which are side-stories to a title called Red Riding Hood's Wolf Apprentice, which is a book Kodansha has the license for but only releases digitally. Anyone like that stuff? I thought False Stars was cute enough. This is all stuff I know nothing about but wish I had a better handle on what the general chatter was, if anybody is plugged in enough to have takes I want to hear them.
Oh and it's not really "contemporary" but Vertical is putting out Kyoko Okazaki's River's Edge this December. I have no idea what people's opinions are on the series Vertical publishes, just like a general impression that it all does better for them than putting out Tezuka did.
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Post by awfulquiet on Aug 24, 2022 1:58:27 GMT
I read stuff on the Shonen Jump app regularly. New and old. That subscription is a no brainier to me. Such a good deal.
I've also been a longtime fan of Glacier Bay.
Star Fruit Books is a smaller publisher and Denpa a bigger one both putting out some good stuff. Star Fruit especially has put out some contemporary works, mostly digitally, that are really interesting. Though most recently they seem focused on licensing some older stuff for print, which is great too.
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Post by whitecomics on Aug 24, 2022 11:58:14 GMT
I feel the same way - I have very little sense of what might be interest me in contemporary manga, and even the stuff that people like (Chainsaw Man, Inio Asano, Daisuke Igarashi) I mostly haven't tried. Part of it is the generally imposing length, where I feel like I don't have the time to churn through 200 pages in a day as I once did.
If anything I've considered returning to some of the shonen manga I read growing up, to see what does or doesn't hold up.
I really like Mitsuru Adachi, I saw that a new work of his was licensed so I'll probably pick that up.
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Post by arecomicsevengood on Sept 24, 2022 17:14:27 GMT
I bought that Daisuke Igarishi Witches collection that came out a few months ago. One of the stories I liked a lot but the art is almost TOO beautiful. People compare him to Matsumoto but to me Matsumoto's great strength is how he, like Jose Munoz, is making fucked-up looking drawings that are perfect. There's a degree of gnarliness with very solid construction underneath. Igarishi has a lot of filigree. I also don't find the stories as compelling but I haven't read Children Of The Sea. At least it's just one volume, would recommend seeing if you can check it out from your local library. (I don't have the energy to get long series out from the library. The Philly Library has over a dozen compies of volume 4 of Children Of The Sea in their system but none of the others, I am putting a request in to read that one.)
My fave thing in the new Glaeolia is In The Dougsoup by Junichiro Saito, which is kinda what I want heta-uma stuff to be like, but never is. Sorta gnarly Panter-style drawing as insight/commentary on a kinda loathsome character, losing track of narrative all the time. There's older shorts by him in the book as well but those made less of an impact.
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Post by manoopuesta on Sept 25, 2022 15:33:59 GMT
I read Children of the Sea years ago. I picket it up at the library in the first place because of the art. I don't even remember if I read all of the volumes or just gave up before the ending, the story was not doing much for me.
A recent surprise of a comic I also picked up at random at the library was "Emanon", by Shinji Kajio and Kenji Tsuruta. First volume was OK but from then on it kept getting better, though I haven't read a lot of volumes.
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Post by junkflower on Sept 25, 2022 18:34:26 GMT
Emanon is great. I also recommend Wandering Island by Tsuruta
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Post by mikesheawright on Sept 27, 2022 0:08:35 GMT
Chainsaw Man rules.
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Post by awfulquiet on Sept 27, 2022 12:55:03 GMT
This is the truth. It's even better on a second read, and I love that the original run is less than 100 chapters, making that a relatively easy task. I was awed by the action the first time through, but really appreciated the story more the second time through. |
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Post by arecomicsevengood on Oct 6, 2022 11:19:49 GMT
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Post by grubcubman on Oct 6, 2022 14:07:35 GMT
Really nice review here, Brian -- so much insight into the book's nuances. |
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Post by arecomicsevengood on Oct 6, 2022 21:23:37 GMT
Thank you! I felt bad sitting on this take as a forum contributor, haha.
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Post by arecomicsevengood on Oct 9, 2022 23:56:21 GMT
There's supposed to be a new Hayao Miyazaki book released in a little less than a month from First Second, called Shuna's Journey. I'm a little unclear if it's a new work, done post-retirement from animation, or something else? Seems like a pretty big deal, I'm interested in looking at it, even if I think Nausicaa reads weird in a lot of ways.
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Post by teemcgee on Oct 10, 2022 23:55:40 GMT
There's supposed to be a new Hayao Miyazaki book released in a little less than a month from First Second, called Shuna's Journey. I'm a little unclear if it's a new work, done post-retirement from animation, or something else? Seems like a pretty big deal, I'm interested in looking at it, even if I think Nausicaa reads weird in a lot of ways.
Looks to be pre-Nausicaa, from the 80s, Wikipedia suggests it is often critically regarded as a Nausicaa first draft.
I agree there is some weirdness to Nausicaa but it's greatly underappreciated, at least outside audiences that mainly just consume manga, althought it's certainly stretching the definition of contemporary I'd suggest it to people looking for entry points on this thread. Miyazaki unfettered by the need to make a commercial consumable film is interesting to see, even if quite downbeat.
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Post by disneyweirdness on Oct 11, 2022 0:38:19 GMT
There's supposed to be a new Hayao Miyazaki book released in a little less than a month from First Second, called Shuna's Journey. I'm a little unclear if it's a new work, done post-retirement from animation, or something else? Seems like a pretty big deal, I'm interested in looking at it, even if I think Nausicaa reads weird in a lot of ways.
Looks to be pre-Nausicaa, from the 80s, Wikipedia suggests it is often critically regarded as a Nausicaa first draft.
I agree there is some weirdness to Nausicaa but it's greatly underappreciated, at least outside audiences that mainly just consume manga, althought it's certainly stretching the definition of contemporary I'd suggest it to people looking for entry points on this thread. Miyazaki unfettered by the need to make a commercial consumable film is interesting to see, even if quite downbeat.
I'm really looking forward to this one even though I know very little about it. |
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Post by BubblesZine on Oct 11, 2022 13:24:09 GMT
Blood on the Tracks has been a really fun read. You can read like 10 volumes of it in a day. Fast and fun!!
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