Manga Reading Squee

[unforth]

Normally, I really try not to talk about manga on here, cause pretty much no one who reads my LJ gives a damn about manga. This will be an exception.

Tsubasa Vol. 16 rocks my world. Like, one of the most awesome volumes of any series I've ever read. Just wow. If anyone on my friends list actually knows what the hell I'm talking about, I'd love to chat about this (but only if you, like me, haven't read any scanalations or the Japanese of volumes 17 - 21, cause I will murder the bitches who give me spoilers...though May 13th, when vol. 17 comes out, seems so very far away...)

I mean, seriously, omfg squee awesomeness.

Comments

[milbrcrsan.livejournal.com]

I don't know that, but I have been reading Fruits Basket Manga. :p I usually just watch anime so last night was my first time reading it. It's a little hard to figure out what part to read first. :p

[unforth.livejournal.com]

You should read the Bleach manga. ;) I hardly ever watch anime - I don't usually have the time - but I've been a pretty hard core manga addict for about 5 years, after losing interest for a couple of years (I started watching anime and reading manga in 1999). I've read Fruits Basket - I'm a couple volumes behind at this point, but I've been enjoying it a lot, especially as it's gotten more serious (I've heard a lot of people don't like how it goes in later volumes though...I like it when series get serious, in general). I haven't read any in about 6 months, though, so I've forgotten a lot of the details. It's pretty high on my current list of "series to reread and catch up on." :) "Red River" and "Boys Over Flowers" are ahead of it in line, though, along with the series I've already caught up on - One Piece was first, Bleach second, and Tsubasa was third.

You get used to following the panel order with practice (that's what you mean, right, about what to read first? or am I mixed up?) - pretty much you start in the upper right hand corner and work your way left and down over each page (not over each pair of pages).

So what anime do you like? I have very few friends who follow anime or manga, so I tend to babble a lot when I discover there are people who are interested around. ;)

[milbrcrsan.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's fine! I'm used to all my costumer friends not caring much about my writing and visa versa. :p

As for the reading order. Yeah, I meant panel order. :p

All thanks to my boyfriend, I enjoy Bleach (duh :p ), Fruits Basket, Cowboy Bebop(the ending was really sad), Wolf's Rain (once again, kind of sad ending), Love Hina (was cute, but not my favorite), .hack//sign, Inuyasha (even though I haven't seen it in a while), Gunslinger Girl (about halfway done with that show) and Dragonball Z (my boyfriend and his friends that like it say I'm the only girl they know who likes it too. :p )

I might read Bleach one day, but I'd prefer to finish off the show first...and I watch English dubbed. Can't follow along when it's subbed, so on some shows, like Bleach, I have to wait until those come out.

Speaking of Bleach, I actually made my first attempt at a Shinigami outfit. :p http://milbrcrsan.livejournal.com/73855.html It's friend-locked, but seeing as we're mutual friends, it shouldn't be a problem for you. :p

[unforth.livejournal.com]

That's an awesome shinigami outfit, and I like your zanpaku-to, also. ;)

As for watched anime, I've seen parts of Cowboy Bebop (the first 13 eps and the end - I didn't actually like Bebop much, which is generally considered sacrilege by anime fans that I meet ;) ); I saw the first few episodes of Love Hina (which I also didn't like at all); Inu Yasha, which I enjoy a lot - I've read a lot more of the manga than I've seen episodes of the anime; and some DBZ - I'm one of the girls who doesn't like it as much, though I've always wanted to give it another chance by not starting in the middle. :) I saw some of the latest season of Bleach while I was in Japan, but it wasn't subbed (obviously) so I didn't follow it as well as I might have liked.

I've also read the manga of Bleach (22 volumes are out; spoiler free, the "Rescue Rukia" plot line just ended and now the Ulquiorra plot line is just starting); Furuba (I can't even remember what the last thing that happened was, that's not a good sign >< ), Inu Yasha (again, I haven't read any in ages...it's just sooooo long); and I read the first volume of Gunslinger Girl - it was really good, and I've wanted to read more. And Bleach's anime is currently in 3rd on my Netflix queue - almost there. ;)

The problem I run in to with dubs is that if I've heard the Japanese already, I'm used to it, and the dub will sound all wrong even if it's a good dub. (ie, the Cowboy Bebop dub, which is quite good, but I just can't watch it). Of course, sometimes they're just painful (the One Piece dub was tough, and then I heard Sanji and I just couldn't even watch it, his voice was SO bad). Bleach wasn't a bad dub, but because I'd already seen some of the other, I just couldn't switch. I prefer to watch subs anyway, it feels like how the show was "meant" to be - but I'm not one of those anime fans who is rabidly anti-dub, either (I used to be, but I watched a lot of dubbed anime and I got over the being rabid part. :) )

The real problem with manga, meanwhile, is the price. Unless you're gonna read it a whole bunch, it really adds up to buy a long series. Mean, unless you can find them cheap or get discounts, cover price sans tax for the volumes of Bleach currently out is $176! And that's for a "cheap" title. And sure, they come out slowly, but if you read multiple series, before you know it you've got an annoyingly pricey addiction on your hands. :( What ends up happening to me is that when I don't have the money, I hardly buy any at all, and when I get surplus, I use it to catch up on the titles I like the best. But still, it's pricey.

Er...I should probably shut up now. :)

[unforth.livejournal.com]

(oh, and I've seen a lot of anime I didn't list there, obviously, but I figured if that was your list I shouldn't babble on about series you weren't familiar with. My favorite anime series' are Slayers and Escaflowne; X was really good, too.)

[milbrcrsan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it seems like a lot of anime watchers prefer to watch them in subbed, for exactly that reason. But, like you, I'm used to dubbed and if I watched subbed, it's hard for me to read and listen at the same time. haha :p

As for buying the manga, I wouldn't know. :p I found an online site for Fruits Basket...and even if I had wanted to buy some manga, I couldn't. There isn't a real book store for miles from here. Ugh... :p But, wow! That's really expensive for a book! And I thought Dressing A Galaxy book was expensive for fifty! :p

And thanks! I made the blade myself. It = kickass. *smug grin* :p lol

Don't worry about "rambling". I'm fine with it. :D Not many people to talk about it too either. :p It's cool that besides writing, we have a common interest! :D

[milbrcrsan.livejournal.com]

But, like you,

Or, I guess that would be opposite of you. :p