blog好き

Jan 03 2006

Categories: full metal panic, keroro gunso, manga, meido, shakugan no shana
Tagged: full metal panic, hayate the combat butler, keroro gunso, shakugan no shana

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It’s been a long time since I last seriously talked about manga, so let’s go through a few of my recent reads…

Full Metal Panic Overload Volume 2
Basically an over-the-top re-interpretation of the FMP world… only with super deformed characters. While the jokes are more bombastic, I found this series to be less funny than the original. Everything is also too over-the-top (gigolo beam? WTF?) and there’s just too little Tess. Part of the enjoyment of the original is the constant back and forth between Chidori and Sagara, and in Overload, it seems so much more one-sided. The art is also lacking… it’s super deformed, but not cute super deformed like Mini Bell. Just looks odd to me… but since I picked it up cheap at Media Play’s going-out-of-business sale, I guess I can’t complain much. I recommend the original manga (and the new “Sigma”) over this series. My favorite scene? See image below. Rating: Rey Za Burrel (the smaller, less interesting alternative to Raww Le Klueze, and both Overload and these two addicts need drugs to be fully effective).

Keroro Gunso Volume 10
This one is an epic volume of Keroro as it had both a story arc that spans more than one volume (to be continued in 11) and the introduction of Powered Natsumi. Because the Keroro platoon has been so ineffective in capturing Pokopen (Earth), the Keron platoon has been sent in to properly do the job, and with stark efficiency, they systematically wipe out the Keroro platoon and its human allies. The volume ends on a cliffhanger as the last line of defense for humanity, Natsumi, gets taken down by the Keron platoon. The pacing of the story and the comedy is fantastic, and I always have liked Mine Yoshizaki’s art– while simplistic, it adds to the story and can be fairly cute at times. Also, there’s a lot more skin and fanservice in the manga than the anime. The best dialogue of this volume? When Giroro explains that Powered Natsumi resembles a swimsuit because less clothing = more power. Seems about right to me! (See: Woman, Wonder) Rating: Kira Yamato (for how he systematically took over GSD).

Hayate Volume 2
I cannot fathom how Maria is losing the character popularity polls. Okay, catgirl Hayate can be cute (if you don’t know it’s a trap), Nagi seems to be popular as jailbait, and Saki has the megane going for her… but this is Maria! She’s one of the goddesses amongst meido! Maria! Where’s the address for mailing in popularity postcards? Even Nagi knows that Maria is her major competition for Hayate. Other than Maria getting shafted in the popularity poll, volume 2 introduces yet more characters to add to Hayate’s suddenly growing harem and yet more hardships to poor Hayate’s life. This series is definitely seeming to be more of a gag manga along the lines of HIMM, but the similarities end there. While HIMM‘s comedy is driven by Yoshitaka’s pervertedness and Mitsuki’s perchance for games, Hayate‘s gags are driven by constant misunderstandings between the characters a la Three’s Company. My favorite random cameo in this volume? When I saw that Hachi-Roku. That car gets around more than Shizuru at an all female boarding school. Rating: Meyrin (also ranked too low on GSD‘s heroine totem pole).

Shakugan no Shana Volume 1
The manga seems to follow the anime fairly well, and volume 1 covers to up around episode 4, right when Yuji peaks on Shana changing. The manga seems to elaborate some items (i.e. Shana and Yuji’s scandalous relationship seems to be presented earlier) and omits other things (i.e. Hirai only gets a casual mention, and definitely no Advent Children cameo) that were in the anime. Overall, the art isn’t bad, and the story presents enough new bits with enough melon bread consumption to keep me interested. Honestly, Shana looks dead cute when eating anything, let alone melonpan. A decent read and fix for junkies of Shana. My favorite non-anime moment? When Shana and Yuji catch Tanaka, Satou, and Ike spying on the two of them, and the three ask Yuji how’d get he get so pimp with Hirai. Rating: Zaku Mobile Suit (seen it before, but still interesting).

My Mysterious Girlfriend X One Shot
I remember reading this one shot a while ago, and I recently saw someone mention this manga, so I decided to read it again. It’s about a girl who laughs randomly, gets some poor dude addicted to her saliva (and he has weird dreams afterwards), and can create paper cutouts from scissors in her panties. Weird. Spacy. Tripped out. You know there’s only one possible rating: Stellar (SHINN!!!).