Let's discuss Japanese comics!!
Can't be bothered to buy?(ίDί)
#lurk
http://gotlurk.net + #lurk@irc.irchighway.net
Biggest and most complete English scanlation archive on the intarwebs.
It's worth learning IRC to use this.
MangaUpdates
http://www.mangaupdates.com/releases.html
Latest scanlations releases can usually be found here
MangaJouhou
http://www.manganews.net
It's like MangaUpdates, but shittier.
[Manga Upload] COMIC BOMBER
http://tinyurl.com/34pbgb
Lots of quality stuff here to be read. :*
So apparently Tsuruta Kenji wrote something new. He the guy who made "Spirit of Wonder" and "Forget-me-not". He's a guy that only makes comics once every 10 years, but every time he does, it's pretty good stuff. His latest book, "Memories of Emanon", is an adaption of a novel (that he happen to draw the cover for) and is about a woman with a memory that dates back to the start of life on Earth.
Kotonoha released the first half of the comic. Check it out.
http://kotonoha.monkey-pirate.com/
Shigurui is being scanlated again.
http://www.mangaupdates.com/releases.html?search=2304&stype=series
>>131
Oh dang, that's some fantastic artwork there. And the story isn't half bad either.
Anyone care to recommend some decent Josei? I'd like to try it out but the art usually turns me off, not to mention a lot of it seems pretty dumb.
I would like to revive this thread. We need more good manga discussion and sharing.
>>134
I went through a period of reading josei manga because I thought a lot of it was more truthful about life and emotions and all that crap. Then one day I realized it's not and a lot of it sucks and I can't relate to it properly and went back to my old reading habits. The only thing I can really think of that I like is Honey and Clover and everyone's read that.
I haven't been able to keep on top of new manga or even keep up with ongoing series for a year or so now, I've only read one new release in that time and that was a collection with a couple of stories I'd already read. I have the problem that there's so much stuff I want to read I'm not sure I'll ever get around to starting any of it.
Is josei mostly like the manga equivalent of romance novels or something?
>>138
Not exactly. Josei is a demographic.
Shounen - Early teen boys/All Ages
Shoujo - Early teen girls/All Ages
Seinen - Late teens/20-somethings/Business guys/etc.
Josei - Same general audience as seinen, except female.
Also, more josei recommendations: Usagi Drop and Nodame Cantabile.
I don't know if I could recommend stuff by Ai Yazawa with a straight face. They're guilty pleasures. (LEΦEM)
>>140
I've been bumping this thread anonymously with stuff I've read.
I'm thinking of uploading cool free comics again.
Total number of files: 300
Total size of all files: 6.78 GB
Total downloads: 16,507
Total bandwidth: 636.78 GB
Holy crap.
>I'm thinking of uploading cool free comics again.
I highly recommend this. I find that downloading and tracking down good manga is always a hassle. I would love to help if I could as well. Comics are great.
>>143
I uploaded three collections by Yoshihiro Tatsumi (The Pushman and Other Stories, Abandon the Old in Tokyo and Good-Bye). Stuff's bleak and depressing, but it's very well done. I really need to buy his stuff one of these days.
>>144
I feel the same way, makes me wish I knew Japanese fluently.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28vGi7jPNrY
Lego video for Monster fans.
I AFFIRM MYSELF
http://telophase.livejournal.com/1120897.html
A manga about train bentos? Well now I've seen everything
What manga is everyone reading at the moment?
As for me, it's Steel Ball Run!
Anyone have suggestions for some good comedy manga?
>>157
Sugoiyo Masaru-san: Sexy Commando, Gyagu Manga Biyori, Yakitate! Japan, Short Cuts
>>159
This entire time I thought this had something to do with Boku no Pico. Just took a look, reading immediately.
I'm debating getting an iPad, pretty much just for comics. Any opinions?
>>161
As a satisfied owner of a jailbroken iPhone, on which I have read many e-Books (but no comics), I strongly recommend you don't.
You need both a filesystem you can access and intelligent software that is allowed to access it. The iPad has neither.
Expect tons of non-obvious gotchas and limitations.
Do not buy unless you can get a chance to borrow an unit and verify for yourself that you can read 500 pages of diverse material without swearing a lot about all the things the machine won't allow you to do because it was optimized to display albums with 30 photos.
Slightly related, I use a widescreen display in a vertical position to read scans myself, using Xee (a mac program done by the same guy who did the text board and image board software saovq runs!)
It's not mobile but really convenient.
You could reproduce this sort of setup with a half-as-expensive-as-an-iPad laptop rested on its side, or one with hinges that can open at a 180º angle. Almost every laptop produced in the last 3 years allows you to change the display rotation for the whole system, often right from a system tray icon, so would not be limited to software that supports a default rotation.
If you were getting an iPad or a laptop just for comics could you not just use that money to buy the actual comics...?
>>163
Given the thread we're in, I don't think his interests are limited to stuff available both on paper and in English.
>>166
You could get a kindle dx, or a similar large screen e-ink reader. I bought one for general reading, and didn't think much of putting my comics from glorious Nippon on it in advance. However, when I tried it worked very well. It's not as general, or "fun" a device as the Ipad I suppose, but it does the reading part very good. It also has a much more comfortable screen to read.
The Kindle doesn't have a filesystem directory by default, but since most of the manga I've read have been packaged in rar or zip-files, it hasn't posed big enough a problem for me to try to rectify. Note that 10" really is the minimum screen size for comfortably reading comics, so I'd advice against the smaller devices for this purpose.
>>171
...I just looked at that Cyber Blue description in the first link. Good lord, the translation isn't like that. Don't worry.
mediafire.com/?nvmuhmln00k
Very very interesting manga. I have no idea who it's by but it's pretty refreshing and interesting.
http://www.mediafire.com/zawanons
part 2 of Kaiji is getting translated, though it's kinda old news
Would anyone be interested in having a manga book club? We could all read one manga (something on the shorter side I guess) over the course of two weeks. Once the two weeks are over we can chat about our impressions in this thread. What do you think?
Depends on the manga.
I only like slice of life and shoujo, really.
Can't be bothered to buy? Anyone who knows anything about economics know that if a product isn't being bought they wont produce it. Why bite the hand that feeds when you can work for the food.
Let's read one piece
>>183
I agree with this, anything more than a couple chapters and I'd be way behind, even if you do give us two weeks.
Well, Onani Master is about 31 chapters long and Solanin is 28 chapters long. Pretty short, but they are amazing.
We could also read Absolute Boyfriend, it's 33 chapters long and it's pretty entertaining.
I actually started reading Onani Master a while ago, but never finished it. I'd be fine with choosing that.
I recommend Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. It's 14 volumes, but it's a very light read. We'll burn through it no time.
Come to think of it, I really miss reading new chapters of this every month.
There was another manga by the same person who did Solanin, but the name eludes me...
>>191
There's Nijigahara Holograph, What a Wonderful World, City of Light and Goodnight Punpun.
What a Wonderful World, that's the one I was thinking of.
Thank you, VIPPER!
Well let us get this started. For the next two weeks lets read Solanin!
2 chapters a day, it's perfect.
Make sure you're ready for tomorrow VIPPERs, chapter 5 is a good one!
I've got some catching up to do.
I was worried we would not start this.
How do the other VIPPERs like it so far?
I wish my life was as free as theirs...
Well, I just marathon-read Solanin in one sitting. It was excellent. However, reading it so quickly was probably a mistake, because I could not fully digest the tragedy before moving on to the uplifting parts, leaving me in a terribly depressed mood. I'm graduating soon and wondering, where will my life go? The characters in Solanin at least had friends to help them through life. It's lonely struggling alone.
I read through it two chapters a day and everything but then forgot about posting in this thread. I've actually read it before, and thought it was great, but this time I didn't like it much. I have a feeling I was just drunk the first time.
I started realising I didn't like it because the dialogue was annoying me - a lot of it felt false and over-dramatic. I guess it's intentional to a degree, especially with Taneda, but I don't think it's all due to a deliberate portrayal of the characters acting that way. Then that feeling extended beyond the dialogue. Based on my bad memory and the reviews I'd read I'd pictured a subtle, sensitive, and realistic story, but it felt more like a particularly subdued but still shallow and melodramatic j-drama or soap opera. It also has a lot of Japanese pop culture tropes that I don't like, in particular the obsession with how being young and innocent is good and growing up sucks and somehow corrupts you (since this is what it's based around I suppose I should have realised I wouldn't like it, even if it is about overcoming the supposed problem), and the bittersweet "life goes on" ending.
If the whole thing was meant to be viewed negatively as a criticism of this kind of (particularly Japanese?) story and attitude I would like it but I don't think that's the case, although I suppose I can just call death of the author and read it that way regardless.
>>200
I have. I thought it wasn't executed perfectly and after a couple of readings maybe isn't as complicated or clever as it seems at first, but I like it quite a lot.
I've also read some (2 or 3 volumes?) of Goodnight Punpun, which I mostly liked, and It's a Wonderful World, of which I can only remember a couple of stories but I liked them and have the feeling he's strongest at shorts.
I also like his art and noticed last week that the reason some of his characters look similar is probably because they look a bit like him.
I've been reading Pugyuru lately. Some guy brought it up and I just wanted to check it out, but it turns out that it's pretty VIP.
>>199
I can relate. If you want a more realistic depiction of relationships/human interaction check out Nasu. It's amazing.
>>204
You should mention why we should download this 112.32 MB file, please.
>>205
Sorry.
It's a bizarre scat/gore manga by Shintaro Kago that parodies Japan's former wartime mentality. I found it by chance and wanted to post it here.
Japanese Tengu Party Illustrated was fantastic.
THX COMIC BOMBER d(^_^)
>>207
I just finished Japanese Tengu Party a few days ago myself. I found that his messy art style made it hard to tell what was going on sometimes, especially when it came to telling the differences between the characters. Overall though, it was a wonderful manga. Well-paced, interesting plot, multi-dimensional characters and just the right amount of humor.
I started and got completely caught up with Hourou Musuko just the other day. Highly recommended.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wandering_Son
http://www.mediafire.com/houroumusuko
>I found that his messy art style made it hard to tell what was going on sometimes, especially when it came to telling the differences between the characters.
I'm just happy that he didn't use any screen tone, digital or not. So many bad artists these days relying on that to cover up their bland art.
Reading Eden, I'm wondering when will I see Kenji again.
Hox picked up Ashita no Joe.
This stuff is seriously good. It's one of the best sports comics ever made.
>>213
My analysis is that Ashita no Joe is actually a criticism of modern Japanese society. The character Joe is not at fault, but rather his need to succeed over all circumstances eventually leads to his death rather directly correlates to the average Japanese business man.
Somebody translated a ton of Ushio & Tora, like 19 volumes. It's a great 90s shounen classic from the guy who did Karakuri Circus.
http://www.mediafire.com/?33mgl68wl9v6d
Fist of the North Star is completely translated.
http://www.mediafire.com/?ju33ixuo5fltf
http://www.mediafire.com/?5vbev4pgh3h5v
What do you fellow VIPPERS think of "I am a Hero"?
>>217
I need to start reading it. I wish BOYS ON THE RUN from the same author was translated
>>218
"Boys on the Run" sounds pretty good, but I'm not all that into sports manga, which is why I couldn't get into "Hajime no Ippo".
I did look up more of the author's works though, and "Ressentiment" seems to be pretty interesting.
Also, I recommend "Gintama" because it's (in my opinion) a really good, and funny manga. I mean, sure it's stupid at times, but it's still pretty good.
>>213
Ohhh, exciting. I'm a big Hajime no Ippo fan, it'll be fun to read its biggest influence.
On the subject of Hox, Legend of the Strongest Man Kurosawa was finished a while ago. The ending left me depressed and happy at the same time, it's such a weird but pleasant feeling.
I'll check out Legend of the Strongest Man Kurosawa. Thanks.
>>219
Ressentiment was strangely disappointing for me. The whole "she's this special being" seems sort of canned and chobits-esque.
What manga have you been reading recently, guys?
>>222
At the time I said that it was interesting I was reading the description. I didn't actually read it yet. Although, I do agree that it isn't all that original, it's still a bit decent or something.
>>223
Berserk
Boku to issho
Ibitsu (Seems decent enough)
Sprite (Only three chapters out, but it seems to have some potential)
Helen ESP (I like it...though it can get stupid when they try talking to Helen directly)
Destroy and Revolution (Only three chapters out so I can't give a proper thought on it, but I don't dislike it)
Gintama
I know that I don't have very good tastes in manga so I'll sage my post.