[HEADING=1]Manga Mashup #2: Prepare to be Schooled.[/HEADING]
Oh gods, I should SHOOT MYSELF IN THE FOOT for staying away from writing for this long. In fact, I apologize. I went and made myself a schedule, but various [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.96204] odd [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/362.63498] matters [http://twitter.com/] had distracted me. I also have encountered two things that will mess with my schedule of reviews: my 360 finally succumbed to the dreaded RROD, and it turns out that I WILL have a PS2 to mess with regardless of my location later this year.
But enough rambling for the moment: There will be room for that later. For now: reviews!
[HEADING=2]Love Hin-Wait, I mean Mahou Sensei Negima![/HEADING]
I came into this one feeling very wary, as the man behind Negima is Ken Akumatsu. You might remember him as the same guy who did Love Hina. For those of you who've never read Love Hina, it was a harem manga: a type of manga which contains one central character with several surrounding love interests that the main character has to choose from. In the case of Love Hina, the protagonist was a moronic and perverted college dropout (albeit one with good intentions), and he was surrounded by a variety of manipulative, sadistic, and generally PSYCHOTIC women. The reason I bring Akamatsu's previous work up so much is that at the beginning, Negima feels exactly like LH: with a few small differences.
You see, Negima's main character, Negi Springfield, is all of 10 years old. He's a wizard who's gradated from the Magic Academy (with full honors), and has been sent to Japan to teach a bunch of high school girls English. Normally this would seem to be an innocent, cutesy story about growing up and the teacher-student relationship, right?
Not with Akamatsu at the helm. The manga quickly strides into Love Hina territory: the first girl that Negi meets (Asuna) is the same exact psycho that LH's protagonist met at the start of his adventures. Things don't get much better in the first volume of the manga: it strives to be nothing more than fan service. In the very first chapter, Negi lets out a mighty sneeze, and since he's a amateur wind mage, this sneeze blows off all of Asuna's clothes (except the undergarments). The rest of the first volume more of the same: setting the backstory and making Asuna get naked due to Negi's magical mess-ups, which is a pity, because most readers not looking for Love Hina harem zaniness will likely be driven away fairly quickly by the manga's start.
Thankfully, Negima manages to actually develop some personality of its own in the second volume, and things get far better as time progresses. The whole thing feels much more like an interesting combination of a magic-based battle manga and a good harem manga thrown in a mixer once the latter volumes are reached. Granted, the first two are completely alienating to non-fans of fan service, but if you struggle through that, interesting relationships are formed. One "negative" thing to note is that Negima has a habit of following harem tropes religiously (the fascination with bath scenes is irksome at times). The plot also has some generic elements to it (Negi wants to find his missing dad, BIG SUPRISE), but it still manages to be interesting by revealing neat backstory info as time goes on, mainly through his father's associates.
Something that I must praise is that regardless of the insane number of characters, most of them seem to have unique personalities and quirks. Sure, some of their basics are copies of LH characters, but somehow they've been adapted in such a way that they still fit into Negima's world without too much trouble. Another good thing is character development: the starting crew is a bit shallow at first, but thankfully the entire cast is made a whole lot more interesting after time goes on (especially Asuna, who thankfully manages to break out of the psycho mold that her character was cast from). I didn't give a crap about most of the people early on, and was relatively bored with the by-the-numbers plot that Negima started out with, but once things got more into Battle-Manga mode, and the people in it started acting less like carboard cutouts and more like human beings, I found myself becoming very interested.
All in all, I'd recommend you check Mahou Sensei Negima out a little to see if it suits your tastes. Regardless of the occasional bit of fan service stupidity, the manga forges itself a deep story and a interesting set of inter-character relationships. If nothing else, the manga is really long... so it'll kill a few afternoons worth of time.
[HEADING=2]And now... Kodomo no Jikan. Loli ahoy![/HEADING]
...I'm gonna give this to ya straight: LOLI STUFF CREEPS ME OUT AT TIMES.
For the uneducated, loli refers to a lolita complex, which occurs when two people of drastically different ages form a romantic relationship. How different is drastically different? Well, in this manga it's the difference between a freshly graduated teacher from college, and a 3rd grade girl who seems to know a awful lot about stuff she really shouldn't.
I'm going to explain my dislike of this manga right off the bat: it REVELS in being over the top. This kid (and her two accomplices) do all sorts of insanely sexualized things... for instance, they openly mock the teacher's virginity. Honestly, I had a harder time reading this than I did Aki-Sora: that should give you a general idea of how perverted this manga gets sometimes.
The whole thing is destroyed even further by the fact that while some of the base concepts show some promise, or even actual depth, the way that the author executes them leads this manga to a tragic failure. I was really intruiged in the ideas that Kodomo no Jikan tries vigorously to point towards (sibling love, the relationships between teachers and students, et cetera), but the woman (yes, a woman wrote this) in charge just keeps walking all over his own attempts to be deep or compelling. Instead, the whole thing is devoted almost solely to being perverted, ridiculous revelations (the teacher THINKS that he's actually fallen for one of the girls, and then takes a few comics to realize: Hey! This is how a father feels for his kids!), and writing that makes you feel meh at best, and filthy at its worst.
It just feels so unnecessary when you consider that the point of the manga could also have been made with a more mature cast of characters. 3rd-graders were not really needed for this, and it only serves to be generally disturbing and distracts the reader from the message of the manga.
My verdict? Don't read it. If you don't live in Japan, and prefer to buy manga, this isn't an issue. Why? Well, the author decided that it wouldn't sell to a non-Japanese audience. For once, I actually agree with this sentiment: especially since the author wanted to rename the manga Nymphet for the English release. That just sounds like a train wreck set up and ready to go... someone call Jack Thompson!
[HEADING=3]Editor's Notes![/HEADING]
Once again, sorry that it's taken me so long to get around to this. Also, sorry that this isn't the next Mashup that I claimed that I'd do... I had a severe case of writer's block for the first one on the list
My next review will likely be the first Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, seeing as I FINALLY got around to beating it just before my 360 bricked.
There are also several other things I've been working on besides reviews though: I just haven't posted them as of yet. There is a special project that I basically spent a week on (no details for you yet, hehehe), but I will tell you that I have another project I've been messing with: I want to write a piece about how horror movies have become abyssal in terms of quality lately...
Also interesting is a board game that I was recently exposed to: ZOMBIES! I'll be writing a review on that ASAP, as it's some really good stuff.
I'll likely post a review of Deja Vu (for the NES!) that I made once the current Review Wars is over... till then though, it stays locked in Microsoft Word. I'm compelled to release the things that I type in order, which is another reason why this took so long for me to get around to doing.
And for some reason, the images hate me. Why? You worked before... this has led me to substitute others that aren't as funny. Grrr.
And as a final note, I wrote this all at three in morning, and edited it until now! Whoo for no sleep I suppose...
Oh gods, I should SHOOT MYSELF IN THE FOOT for staying away from writing for this long. In fact, I apologize. I went and made myself a schedule, but various [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.96204] odd [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/362.63498] matters [http://twitter.com/] had distracted me. I also have encountered two things that will mess with my schedule of reviews: my 360 finally succumbed to the dreaded RROD, and it turns out that I WILL have a PS2 to mess with regardless of my location later this year.
But enough rambling for the moment: There will be room for that later. For now: reviews!
[HEADING=2]Love Hin-Wait, I mean Mahou Sensei Negima![/HEADING]
I came into this one feeling very wary, as the man behind Negima is Ken Akumatsu. You might remember him as the same guy who did Love Hina. For those of you who've never read Love Hina, it was a harem manga: a type of manga which contains one central character with several surrounding love interests that the main character has to choose from. In the case of Love Hina, the protagonist was a moronic and perverted college dropout (albeit one with good intentions), and he was surrounded by a variety of manipulative, sadistic, and generally PSYCHOTIC women. The reason I bring Akamatsu's previous work up so much is that at the beginning, Negima feels exactly like LH: with a few small differences.
You see, Negima's main character, Negi Springfield, is all of 10 years old. He's a wizard who's gradated from the Magic Academy (with full honors), and has been sent to Japan to teach a bunch of high school girls English. Normally this would seem to be an innocent, cutesy story about growing up and the teacher-student relationship, right?
Not with Akamatsu at the helm. The manga quickly strides into Love Hina territory: the first girl that Negi meets (Asuna) is the same exact psycho that LH's protagonist met at the start of his adventures. Things don't get much better in the first volume of the manga: it strives to be nothing more than fan service. In the very first chapter, Negi lets out a mighty sneeze, and since he's a amateur wind mage, this sneeze blows off all of Asuna's clothes (except the undergarments). The rest of the first volume more of the same: setting the backstory and making Asuna get naked due to Negi's magical mess-ups, which is a pity, because most readers not looking for Love Hina harem zaniness will likely be driven away fairly quickly by the manga's start.
Thankfully, Negima manages to actually develop some personality of its own in the second volume, and things get far better as time progresses. The whole thing feels much more like an interesting combination of a magic-based battle manga and a good harem manga thrown in a mixer once the latter volumes are reached. Granted, the first two are completely alienating to non-fans of fan service, but if you struggle through that, interesting relationships are formed. One "negative" thing to note is that Negima has a habit of following harem tropes religiously (the fascination with bath scenes is irksome at times). The plot also has some generic elements to it (Negi wants to find his missing dad, BIG SUPRISE), but it still manages to be interesting by revealing neat backstory info as time goes on, mainly through his father's associates.
Something that I must praise is that regardless of the insane number of characters, most of them seem to have unique personalities and quirks. Sure, some of their basics are copies of LH characters, but somehow they've been adapted in such a way that they still fit into Negima's world without too much trouble. Another good thing is character development: the starting crew is a bit shallow at first, but thankfully the entire cast is made a whole lot more interesting after time goes on (especially Asuna, who thankfully manages to break out of the psycho mold that her character was cast from). I didn't give a crap about most of the people early on, and was relatively bored with the by-the-numbers plot that Negima started out with, but once things got more into Battle-Manga mode, and the people in it started acting less like carboard cutouts and more like human beings, I found myself becoming very interested.
All in all, I'd recommend you check Mahou Sensei Negima out a little to see if it suits your tastes. Regardless of the occasional bit of fan service stupidity, the manga forges itself a deep story and a interesting set of inter-character relationships. If nothing else, the manga is really long... so it'll kill a few afternoons worth of time.
[HEADING=2]And now... Kodomo no Jikan. Loli ahoy![/HEADING]
...I'm gonna give this to ya straight: LOLI STUFF CREEPS ME OUT AT TIMES.
For the uneducated, loli refers to a lolita complex, which occurs when two people of drastically different ages form a romantic relationship. How different is drastically different? Well, in this manga it's the difference between a freshly graduated teacher from college, and a 3rd grade girl who seems to know a awful lot about stuff she really shouldn't.
I'm going to explain my dislike of this manga right off the bat: it REVELS in being over the top. This kid (and her two accomplices) do all sorts of insanely sexualized things... for instance, they openly mock the teacher's virginity. Honestly, I had a harder time reading this than I did Aki-Sora: that should give you a general idea of how perverted this manga gets sometimes.
The whole thing is destroyed even further by the fact that while some of the base concepts show some promise, or even actual depth, the way that the author executes them leads this manga to a tragic failure. I was really intruiged in the ideas that Kodomo no Jikan tries vigorously to point towards (sibling love, the relationships between teachers and students, et cetera), but the woman (yes, a woman wrote this) in charge just keeps walking all over his own attempts to be deep or compelling. Instead, the whole thing is devoted almost solely to being perverted, ridiculous revelations (the teacher THINKS that he's actually fallen for one of the girls, and then takes a few comics to realize: Hey! This is how a father feels for his kids!), and writing that makes you feel meh at best, and filthy at its worst.
It just feels so unnecessary when you consider that the point of the manga could also have been made with a more mature cast of characters. 3rd-graders were not really needed for this, and it only serves to be generally disturbing and distracts the reader from the message of the manga.
My verdict? Don't read it. If you don't live in Japan, and prefer to buy manga, this isn't an issue. Why? Well, the author decided that it wouldn't sell to a non-Japanese audience. For once, I actually agree with this sentiment: especially since the author wanted to rename the manga Nymphet for the English release. That just sounds like a train wreck set up and ready to go... someone call Jack Thompson!
[HEADING=3]Editor's Notes![/HEADING]
Once again, sorry that it's taken me so long to get around to this. Also, sorry that this isn't the next Mashup that I claimed that I'd do... I had a severe case of writer's block for the first one on the list
My next review will likely be the first Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, seeing as I FINALLY got around to beating it just before my 360 bricked.
There are also several other things I've been working on besides reviews though: I just haven't posted them as of yet. There is a special project that I basically spent a week on (no details for you yet, hehehe), but I will tell you that I have another project I've been messing with: I want to write a piece about how horror movies have become abyssal in terms of quality lately...
Also interesting is a board game that I was recently exposed to: ZOMBIES! I'll be writing a review on that ASAP, as it's some really good stuff.
I'll likely post a review of Deja Vu (for the NES!) that I made once the current Review Wars is over... till then though, it stays locked in Microsoft Word. I'm compelled to release the things that I type in order, which is another reason why this took so long for me to get around to doing.
And for some reason, the images hate me. Why? You worked before... this has led me to substitute others that aren't as funny. Grrr.
And as a final note, I wrote this all at three in morning, and edited it until now! Whoo for no sleep I suppose...
Manga Mashup #1: Attack of the A's [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.111313]
Braid [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.110777]
Max Payne [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.110027#1897580]
Indigo Prophecy [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.108202#1817369]
WarCraft 3 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.107685]
Fallout 3 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.105151#1683250]
Mirror's Edge [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.102291#1586312]
Braid [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.110777]
Max Payne [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.110027#1897580]
Indigo Prophecy [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.108202#1817369]
WarCraft 3 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.107685]
Fallout 3 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.105151#1683250]
Mirror's Edge [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.102291#1586312]
Hourou Musuko and After School Nightmare
Sekirei and Kanokon
Hellsing and Gantz
Alive-The Final Evolution and Alive!
Biomeat: Nectar and Parasyte
The Breaker and History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi
ID and Reborn!
And after that? Who the hell knows? Tell me, ya jerks!
Sekirei and Kanokon
Hellsing and Gantz
Alive-The Final Evolution and Alive!
Biomeat: Nectar and Parasyte
The Breaker and History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi
ID and Reborn!
And after that? Who the hell knows? Tell me, ya jerks!
