05 Feb 2010 21:09:04
Soooo~ January is over, it's time to strike some balance. First - manga, next - figures!^_^
The best thing I've got during this excessively cold January was this:
6 first volumes of Mushishi manga. There are 4 more for me to get^^
BTW I wanted my RAH Ginko pose with this takobons, but a sad accident occurred U_U
GINKO'S HAND BROKE! Ambulance, ambulance!! Gosh, Medicom really used some cheap plastic here >_<
But, ambulance came - with my all-purpose Super-glue. Somehow, I managed to fix it, but I'm not really sure it will stand on its place, because surface in contact is very small. Anyway, I preferred to leave Ginko alone.
Back to the manga. I'm always impressed how manga artists change their style in process of making one long manga. In case of Yuki Urushibara, who made Mushishi - it is IMO a great improvement. Here you can see 2 pages with Ginko from the first volume:
And that two are from the 6th.
See the difference?
This strangely looking kid on the first pic - I hardly recognized my beloved Ginko!>_<
On contrary, in the 6th volume he looks mature and well-drawn. That's my Ginko!^__^
And this was unexpected! Just wandering through one of my fave bookstores (I'm very fond of books, can't stop buying them) I found "Spice and Wolf" Russian edition!
I know that originally Spice and Wolf is a light novel but, apparently, they made it into manga in 2008. And you know what? I like Keito Koume's manga illustrations better then light novel and anime art. Horo is so sweet here^^
What is even more pleasing - translation is really decent! Unfortunately, on Russian small market of licensed manga it is hard to find something decently translated. Russian translations of Naruto, Bleach and Death Note are absolutely lame. Can't even read them without puckering >_<
One more Horo.
Kawaii! BTW, Glory, should I put a hentai alert here?^__^
So, that's all for today! Figure-related goods will follow!
The best thing I've got during this excessively cold January was this:
6 first volumes of Mushishi manga. There are 4 more for me to get^^
BTW I wanted my RAH Ginko pose with this takobons, but a sad accident occurred U_U
GINKO'S HAND BROKE! Ambulance, ambulance!! Gosh, Medicom really used some cheap plastic here >_<
But, ambulance came - with my all-purpose Super-glue. Somehow, I managed to fix it, but I'm not really sure it will stand on its place, because surface in contact is very small. Anyway, I preferred to leave Ginko alone.
Back to the manga. I'm always impressed how manga artists change their style in process of making one long manga. In case of Yuki Urushibara, who made Mushishi - it is IMO a great improvement. Here you can see 2 pages with Ginko from the first volume:
And that two are from the 6th.
See the difference?
This strangely looking kid on the first pic - I hardly recognized my beloved Ginko!>_<
On contrary, in the 6th volume he looks mature and well-drawn. That's my Ginko!^__^
And this was unexpected! Just wandering through one of my fave bookstores (I'm very fond of books, can't stop buying them) I found "Spice and Wolf" Russian edition!
I know that originally Spice and Wolf is a light novel but, apparently, they made it into manga in 2008. And you know what? I like Keito Koume's manga illustrations better then light novel and anime art. Horo is so sweet here^^
What is even more pleasing - translation is really decent! Unfortunately, on Russian small market of licensed manga it is hard to find something decently translated. Russian translations of Naruto, Bleach and Death Note are absolutely lame. Can't even read them without puckering >_<
One more Horo.
Kawaii! BTW, Glory, should I put a hentai alert here?^__^
So, that's all for today! Figure-related goods will follow!
pluvia33 from United States of America wrote:
That is so sad! Hope he'll be okay and the fix stays. I feel your pain.
But anyway, nice manga loot! I have the first 8 volumes of the US release of Mushishi, but I've only read the first two so far. I really need to read more of my manga. I have the US release of the first Spice & Wolf light novel. Also not yet read. XP
The manga art does look pretty nice. I'll look forward to getting that when its US release comes out, too.
Haha! Another example of needing to update the hentai-alert system. XD
usagi_joou from Russia wrote:
BTW I went to ebay and bought a set of Medicom RAH Indiana Jones hands.
They won't fit Ginko because of different skin color and sculpture. But I'm hoping to use this hand's pegs on Ginko.
And Oh, how I wish that Russian manga and Light novel market was so well developed as USA one!^__^
Somehow our publishers prefer to sell us lame TokyoPop manga and tonnes of sweet-sweet and secondary Korean manhwa:(
pluvia33 from United States of America wrote:
Well, the light novel market isn't really all that great in the US. It seems to be a very delicate market here. The built-in market for them is very small: the fraction of anime/manga fans who are also interested in light novels. There was one publisher at a time called Seven Seas who tried to get really deep into the light novel market here with something like ten series they had plans of releasing. I think one of the series got 4 books released while none of the others got more than two put out before they were dropped. One series (the original Zero no Tsukaima books) never even got the first book published before it was scrapped. Apparently they were loosing too much money releasing them. They've had to drop some of their manga series as well. Personally I just think they're just a very poorly managed company without enough financial backing.
Aside from Seven Seas, TokyoPop and Viz also do light novels every now and then but there are very few and sometimes those series also get dropped because of low sales. The Viz release of Shakugan no Shana comes to mind (lasted two books). But there are two publishers who seem to be doing okay-ish with light novels. The first is DEL REY who mostly releases things that are based off of their manga properties like xxxHolic and Genshiken, but they are also releasing a few original works like NISIOISIN's Zaregoto series. I'm hoping they might pick up Bakemonogatari. But they seem to be going about light novels very carefully, which is probably the right idea. The other company is Yen Press who seems like they might be the strongest in the light novel market right now. They are the ones releasing Spice & Wolf novels and manga in the US. They are also releasing the Suzumiya Haruhi series novel, manga, and soon to be Haruhi-chan manga. They might be trying to pick up everything from Haruhi's printed catalog and that'd be fine with me. ^_^
Anyway, we probably have about 10 series total that are being released here, so it's not like it's a huge market in the US. They're still trying to develop it and find out what works. The manga market on the other hand is probably over developed here. In the past few years the market has just been extremely saturated. Our TokyoPop probably isn't much better than yours. Looking through what they're currently releasing there is practically nothing of major interest. A bunch of Korean stuff and manga by artists I've never heard of with practically no anime tie-ins. Fruits Basket was probably their last big name series. Viz, DEL REY, and Yen Press are the only companies really releasing worthwhile manga in my opinion.
usagi_joou from Russia wrote:
But it's damn sad, especially when you like the novel - to realize that it is dropped.
We had this kind of situation with Ranma 1/2 manga here. It had a very decent translation, even better than S&W one (I really appreciated Japanese honorifics they used in it - with a small vocabulary at the last page). It lasted for 14 volumes (almost half of the way!). It is not officially ceased, but there are no new volumes for 1.5 year...(( Sad.
I think all this manhwa and TokyoPop series are made for little girls. They have not much sense in it, only love-love and bisenen charas. So any sentimental girl would buy it.
And MOST of girls of 9-17 are sentimental^__^
Glory from Russia wrote:
Ok, I'll take actions.
I'm sorry to hear about your Ginko, Usagi :(
At least you can place him somewhere save, pose the way you like and enjoy without touching too much.
Ah ya... and I bought 'Spice and Wolf' manga as well. Huh, the selection of manga being released in Russia is so 'large' that everyone seems to have the same things. The graphics is cute! I even tried to read it today but got boring pretty soon. Perhaps, that's because I watched anime. Don't know what to do it with it now. Probably I'll collect all the volumes anyways. For my imaginary distant future kids.
A thousand mile road begins from one step.
usagi_joou from Russia wrote:
At the same time, that slow pace in manga seemed very appropriate for me (cause it's a book). So I read it twice^_^
Velorn from Russia wrote:
And for you & Glory - the publisher announced the release of 2nd volume in february 2010 & the collector's editon of 1st season spring 2010 =))))
We'll look forward to have them
usagi_joou from Russia wrote:
I guess sooner or later I will come to anime.
Anyway, I like the idea of series in whole^___^
Velorn from Russia wrote:
I'll soon take a photo of all my Holo stuff, collected
usagi_joou from Russia wrote:
we'll be waiting!
Velorn from Russia wrote:
Velorn from Russia wrote:
So now i have 2 volumes of Hellsing, 1st volumes of Kuroshitsuji, Lucky star & DOGS, also Today i've got 3rd volume of Warcraft: Legends =)
usagi_joou from Russia wrote:
Kuro and Hellsing I would've bought myself. But decent translation required^^
Velorn from Russia wrote: