I’d seen this series long ago when it had been aired on television completely cut/hacked and dubbed in English. It was okay… but not worth writing home about.

Now, my friend bought the series in Japanese and suggested we watch it toghether. Talk about re-evaluating my opinions. It’s still not shakespeare, but i’ve discovered that what the American Voice director had done is criminal.

The Japanese voices are clear, and cute. The characters names are so much more suited to their personalities. I mean.. Julian-Yukito and Madison-Tomoyo. It seriously is that bad!. Besides without the name change Kero-chan can actually make jokes about ‘snow rabbit’ yukito… which he never had a chance of in English. Eriol has a great voice, especially when he’s Clow. And Kero-chan’s voice is really well acted… I love him playing video games.

There are some problems with the show like a complete rehash of the exact same scenario in the Cardcaptor and Sakura arc… which takes Sakura just as long to figure out the second time around. I guess yelling at the TV for Sakura to figure it out didn’t help.

I think this is a show worth some attention. But if you’re going to watch the episodes make sure to have the second movie on hand to finish with. Trust me! You’ll be happy you did!

I’m still having a hard time wrapping my brain around this series. It’s a bit of comedy, fantasy, history, surrealism, action, romance… all rolled together.

Even though I was unsure about whether I liked it the whole way through, the direction taken at the end of each episode was brilliant. Talk about cliff-hangers… I couldn’t skip to the next episode fast enough.

The story moved a bit slowly at times… like they were trying to draw the story out to fit an entire season of 26 eps.

Some of the Japanese voice acting is really interesting. I especially like Moe-chan’s (Marin’s best friend’s) little voice; quite precious. Marin Asagi herself has some interesting expresions; especially when she transforms into bats and trains and things… most peculiar.

Then there’s the romance between the 10 year old Marin Asagi from Earth and her blue monomakia friend ‘Melan Blue’ from Brigadoon. It’s just… so… wrong… I realized they loved eachother; but I thought they were more like friends. Ah, well.

It’s intensley bizarre; but for some reason, that seems to work here. All in all I’d say it’s ok. But I think you should just stick to the manga.

The art is not good. Using computers to draw is fine. And bad art can be overcome by a good story line, but when the story is missing the art is more visible. This person doesn’t use backgrounds to their story’s advantage; and barely at all. In mangas, blank backgrounds still have texture and depth and are used to emphasize the mood, the location shots are used to further the story, but here, not at all.

The plot is next to non-existent and ONLY follows the main character. We learn of the other characters by their presence, but they do not have personalities or issues of their own—everything revolves around the main character. It is my personal belief (and I’m right on this) that a good manga has several side stories happening at once to develop the characters character and to develop the plot.

The main character is not believable. Her supposed bad-ass self is given a dialogue that no self-respecting teen would use.

And lastly I find the title of Manga particulary urksome! This is something that ticks me off on the best of days—maybe cuz I’m an art historian and I hate the incorrect classification of artwork. Who wrote the book? Min Kwon and Buzz Dixon (Americans) Who is the book for? Christian American kids What style is it drawn in? Asian inspired. So to summarize this is a cheaply drawn, poorly written, asian inspired comic to preach to Christian kids to act Christian. This does in no means satisfy the definition of manga which is Japanese art written for and by Japanese persons in Japan. hmmm… Nope. Not manga! Please try again!

I look forward to the time when Good and decent Christian Comics can stand up with the stories, art and characters of Manga and not be ashamed of itself (01/02/07)

I guess my consumption for this month will probably be marked by the fact that I am attempting to complete the list of “Publisher Weekly’s Best Comics of 2005”. We have all but one of these graphic novels at my library… I guess I might have to purchase the last one.

I’ve also begun going to a class on Shakespeare’s works. So basically I am attempting to read some of Shakespeare’s less popular works every week. I’ve already missed a week… I’m so bad.

Apart from that it’s just my regular obsessive-compulsive manga/japanese related consumption.

I’m not a big fan of ‘magical girl’ type manga; so this one doesn’t exactly ‘do it’ for me. It does have a cute story and the costumes are very adorable, but, I really don’t understand Princess Tutu’s catch phrase: “I dance to guide your heart”. So, she communicates your feelings to you, by dancing with you… hmm. Nope, I just don’t see how she can be an effective magical girl. She can transform, but her power is umm… limited (to say the least). Why is she so easily able to collect the pieces of her ‘princes’ heart? Where’s the opposition? Where’s the conflict? Ugghhh… Maybe if there were more books, for the story to develop; or maybe if I’ve seen the anime version of it; then I would have a better sense of what’s going on.

One more question: “What’s with the talking cat ballet instructor that keeps proposing to Ahiru?”

Currently trying to work through Ranma 1/2 and Tenchi (Muyo); both series that I can’t stand. I think it is essential to read them however, as they are significant stories in the development of the manga/anime industries in Japan (and in N.America). I just can’t stand them. Uggghhhh…

I’ve also started reading GTO. The anime is fabulous and the manga (so far) is following in its foot-steps. I’m really looking forward to finding out what the differences between the two are.

I’ve been finding myself reading more Manga lately and watching less anime as the Manga is so much more singular (you can read it alone) and you can do it anywhere. Anime is inconvenient at times to take with you; and it’s more fun to watch with friends. Although I do watch anime on my CreativeZen VisionM when I’m in waiting rooms and such. I plan to consume more anime next year.

I’ve only just joined this site; so I haven’t been able to accurately depict my consumption for this month.

You’re going to pick up this novel… look at it and say, “Even I could could publish a comic!...”. Well, you might be right… But don’t let that stop you from reading it. It’s simple, yes, but the commentary is a bit cheaky. I don’t really understand why, but I really had fun reading this.

Maybe because this is exactly the type of thing I used to draw… sitting in boring university lectures…

“Maybe I should publish a comic too…”

I definitely recommend this comic. I think this is the best manga-inspired work I’ve read yet. And yes…It’s Canadian! The comedy is a little off the wall, I mean, is scott playing a video game or is this reality? And the seven evil boyfriends… ahahahaaaa…you can see how much fun the author had writing/drawing this. Brilliant!