manga diary
Categories: belldandy, fanservice, keroro gunso, manga
Tagged: belldandy, keroro gunso, kimikiss, koharu biyori, minami-ke, mirai nikki
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I didn’t really have a lot to say about Koharu Biyori‘s manga besides “delicious meido melonpan,” so I figured I’d write about some others as well…
(Yes, I saw Gundam 00 6. I saw Sumeragi’s outfit. I saw my life passing before my eyes. Look forward to that post!)
Koharu Biyori Volume 1
Koharu Biyori, a.k.a. Indian Summer, only has one volume out, and if volume two ever comes out, I have no clue if it will ever make it to the US. The original distributor, ComicsOne, went belly up, and the new one, DrMaster, which sounds more like a pr0n name than a manga distributor, doesn’t even have it listed on its web site. History aside, I enjoyed this first volume. For a harem fanservice series, the manga actually seems to be more heart warming and touching than the anime.
The setup is simple. Typical doll freak (I’m guessing 10% of Derailed’s readership?) Takaya buys a robotic meido, Yui, just so he can cosplay her. He though he gets into many, uh, situations with her, but he has no interest in her beyond producing cute outfits. Meanwhile, he starts acquiring a harem that would make Yuuichi proud. The thing is, even though Takaya seems on the outside as a major doll pervert, throughout the series, I’m seriously questioning if he’s gay or not. The dude out cleans, out sews, out cooks, out meidos the robotic meido! He looks at the hawt nubile women, real and robotic, around him with disdain, like they’re only mannequins for his sewing. No, he’s not a typical loser coward harem male. He just hasn’t found his Itsuki yet.
(Besides the typical reasons why I would like this series, the art style is very similar to Nagasarete Airantou (manga) where the characters occasionally turn into blobs. I just hope giant penises are not next on the table.)
Kimikiss Various Heroines Volume 1
There are things that make me question my will to live. There are things that prove the darkness that surround us. There are things that I cannot unsee. There are things like Kimikiss Various Heroines. And, for once, I don’t mean that autotext in a bad way! It seems like every volume focuses on a different girl, with the first one for Mao. Manga Mao is even crazier, flirtier, and teasier than Anime Mao. It’s like comparing Rena Ryugu to Nami Hito. Combined with copious amounts of fanservice and symmetrical docking, I want to criticize JC Staff for leaving all of this goodness out of the anime. Unforgivable. You can have your angsty plot. I want symmetrical docking.
This brings up a bigger question. If you had a harem romance slice-of-life giant mecha whatever series, would you want JC Staff working on it? Their last few works have all been subpar, and if I had to pin down a symptom, it would have to be JC Stafff ripping out fanservice elements. For example, JC Staff Zero no Tsukaima would want you to believe that it’s a harem action comedy whereas the novels are really something more befitting of a Fabio cover. Shana, Zero, Kimikiss, even Mahoraba… JC Staff takes the “safe” route and doesn’t deliver the same scalding messes of fanservice that the original material does. Also makes me wonder what Potemayo was really like. Was Guchuko really like fifty more times more awesome, and no one told me? I’m going to have to dig up some of that manga now…
(andohbytheway, these are the tame images. I don’t think I can toss up the images that I originally wanted to put up. Needless to say, the anime is much tamer.)
Keroro Gunso Volume 12, 13
A new haremette for Fuyuki appears! I always enjoy seeing more girls latch onto Fuyuki, only because it increases the chances of a Momoka incident by 1,000%. Volume 12 introduces Alisa Southerncross, who travels searching for excitement with her dad, who happens to double as her nekomimi. Whatever Mine Yoshizaki is having, I’d like some too please. Even though Keroro Gunso is developing Simpson’s Syndrome (where to keep the show fresh, they just keep adding characters), I like the ones that they have added recently. Momoka’s mom is awesome. Alisa is interesting, and it’s just nice to have a real rival for Momoka since it may cause Momoka to pull a Momoiro Sango and rape Fuyuki (I’ve also been debating whether or not to ask Zyl if we want to start a pool as to when this theoretically would happen, chapter-wise… needless to say, people are heading out to google “Momoiro Sango” right now). I mean, Mermaid Girl. Pffft.
There’s also two other stories of note in these two volumes. One concerns Keroro pulling a War of the Worlds prank on Fuyuki and Natsumi, and it’s one of the rare chapters where the Pekopons get the short end of the stick. The other is when Keroro thinks that the world has been conquered by another alien race during his slumber, if only because Keroro’s imagination goes wild and thinks both Aki and Powered Natsumi be defeated that easily. (My original sentence was “because Keroro’s imagination goes wild and thinks both Aki and Powered Natsumi would go down that easy” before reconsidering Derailed’s readership, so I reworded it for clarity.)
(Both Alisa and Momoka’s mom have appeared in the anime, which I just don’t have time to keep up with anymore.)
Aa! Megami-sama Volume 27
I remember first reading the rubber band flinging chapter like five years ago, so it’s weird modern nostalgia when I read it again recently. I’ve always enjoyed the chapters that are just about Bell, Urd, and Skuld goofing off more than the chapters concerning imminent doom to the earth. Let the Gundam Meisters save the world. We just need some good old goddess mischief.
(Yes, I really do miss the days when Belldandy would call Urd a “fat cow.”)
Mirai Nikki Volume 1
Every so often, I read a manga and go, “Whoa, this would be a killer anime if they just did a ‘B’ job.” Mirai Nikki is one of them. The last time I had this premonition, I was reading Umisho. It’s one part Death Note, one part Survivor, one part Higurashi, one part Murder Princess, one part Aa! Megami-sama. The premise is that Kyrios, or aptly named in this series “Deus Ex Machina,” gives about a dozen people special cell phones. These cell phones tell you your immediate future, but not necessarily your fate. Why Deus (or as I originally read “Desu!”… it’s really more fun picturing Suiseiseki as the big boss but I’m off-topic now) would do such a thing? To pick his successor– the last man standing gets to be it. Mirai Nikki then follows typical loser harem male Takao around as he tries to avoid being killed by crazy lunatics (including a killer loli who reminded me too much of the twins in Murder Princess) with the other cell phone. His redeeming power? The psychotic love that the school idol, Yuno, has for him, thus leading her to protect him. They remind me a lot of Bamboo Blade‘s Dan-kun and Miya-Miya. But how can they change the outcome on their cell phones? Simple. With their love. It felt like at times I was reading Aa! Megami-sama or any other gentle harem story with only knife-wielding maniacs on the periphery. I’m a big fan of crazies in my anime/manga. I’m turning into a big fan of Mirai Nikki.
(I really, really hope that there’s more of Yuno’s emo facial distortions.)
18 Responses to “manga diary”
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I’ll admit that Louise 2 was horrible and Shana 2 is heading in the same direction. But when you say J.C.Staff’s recent works are sub-par, I hope that statement doesn’t include Mahoraba and Potemayo.
I have read the first five chapters (up to the Christmas Eve Miracle) of scan-translated Potemayo and the anime has stuck very closely to it so far, even improving on the timing and filler. I have also read the Mahoraba comic up to Shiratori’s confession, and found that the anime retained what made the comic good. And you yourself admitted that Mahoraba was a fairly good conversion that retained the heartful tone of the comic and didn’t take away anything.
With Mahoraba and Potemayo, neither source material relied on fanservice (as far as I’ve seen), so reducing the fanservice wouldn’t hurt. The elements that made those comics work have been faithfully preserved. And if I’m mistaken and the changes from the source material are more drastic than I thought, then consider this: if the changes result in a good (if different) story, then isn’t it still all right? You thought Reduced Fanservice, To-Hearted, Honey-and-Cloverized Kimikiss was fine without any prior impressions.
You are aware that Kimikiss has had two other manga adaptations that were not printed in what is basically the trashy Japanese version of Maxim, right? And that the source game was not the fanservicey drek you seem to think it was either. If anything, it’s far closer to Tokimeki Memorial in general tone and progression.
Mirai Nikki is well worth the wait. you gonna get taken home, where evil things wait in forbidden rooms.
I enjoyed Mahoraba and Potemayo and am glad you are defending them. True that both weren’t exactly dripping in fanservice (have never read Potemayo but Mahoraba does have panty shots), and it probably allowed a better manga-to-anime translation. But now I can’t help but think if someone like Artland or Doumu worked on them instead. I think my rant is more geared to “I just don’t know what happened to JC Staff.” I used to love them when I first started into anime… Utena, Excel Saga, Iketeru Futari, Ai Yori Aoshi… hell, even Ikkitousen, R.O.D., Daphne, and Maburaho. What happened to that company? They tossed in random, “Wait, why is she nakkid?” nudity into R.O.D. for seemingly no purpose. Hell, they did Eiken, which is such an abomination of fanservice, I think AnimeWorks used that for their promos of the show. I think the turning point was Gokujou Seitokai back in 2005. After that, JC Staff seems to have really toned it down. I’m in despair.
With that said, I’m not sure if I want them animating something like Umisho S2 or Mirai Nikki. What studio would I trust with Mirai Nikki? I’d root for Kyoto (since they need to stop working on Key stuff), Artland (just because they preserved Mushishi and Umisho fairly well), Bones (will do a competent job), Studio Deen (will do a horrible but highly watchable job), and Sunrise (because I <3 Sunrise).
Fanservicy drek is good drek! If they’re going to keep changing up the style for every medium, they should have just turned the anime into a horror series or introduced a Gundam just to spice things up.
“It’s like comparing Rena Ryugu to Nami Hito.”
It’s either a testament to my crappy memory, or to the impressive characterization of the series, that I remembered that Nami Hito was on Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, but forgot who she was. I think i remember doing the same thing one time before, only it was that other chick, what’s-her-name, on Pani Poni Dash…
“…needless to say, people are heading out to google “Momoiro Sango†right now).”
Done, and thank you. Always in the mood for ecchi manga. Quigonkenny GET!
i’m not following manga like i used to… just too much work
mostly Gintama, One Piece,
and Cross Game since i’m a diehard adachi fan
also following MxO, To Lovem, Sekirei, Negima
AMG and claymore whenever they out, but monthly are pain in the arse
the only new manga i’m following is Umi no Misaki by Kou Fumizuki (same guy who did Ai Yori Aoshi). it’s going true harem and it’s not subtle about it
I was reading KimiKiss manga volume 1 when the anime version came out…i had to stop watching it coz it was playing hell with my mental picture of the storyline (anime). i’ll re-watch the anime maybe next year…maybe.
been following momoiro sango for the past year and it is a funny-naughty manga and i look forward to each release…
There is absolutely no sense behind Mirai Nikki’s stories. Not that that’s a bad thing.
Tokimeki Memorial was a borefest that I droped after 3 episodes, the only thing good seem to be the uncommon ending if you do not mind a romantic harem series ending up without the male lead being with someone.
From what I read is KimiKiss is a dating sim … it does not surprise me if the manga, game and anime have diferent tones but as it stands the anime is borefest of the same scale of Tokimeki Memorial ~only Boredom~ , adding fanservice would at least give a reason to keep watching.
And yes, I know some people like it … beats me why.
J.C. Staff is not Konami, as we can understand the issues of TM:OL and SkyGirls as inexperience and unwilling to take risks we cannot from J.C. Staff that seem to have “lost it” since ZnT2.
I’m really trying to like KimiKiss due to the cuteness of the girls, but it’s a little insipid. I guess Mao-neechan in a pink two-piece has clouded my mind. The most interesting story so far is Kazuki’s since there seems to be some measure of conflict. Kouichi and Mao’s stories are going way too smoothly.
Oh, yes. There’s tons more of Yuno’s emo facial distortions, no joke. I mean, she has to protect Yuki in EVERY. SINGLE. CHAPTER. It’s a very gory and psycho manga, yet still very enjoyable.
After reading the Kimikiss manga, I can never look at the neutered anime version the same way again. Kouichi got more play with Mao IN THE FIRST CHAPTER ALONE than he ever will in the entire series.
And to think, this is from the same studio that made Eiken…talk about ironic.
*Reads your description of Mirai Nikki*
…
*Goes off to find scanslations of Mirai Nikki, hangs sign that says “will be back in a bit”*
I found the Kimikiss mangas recently and all I can say is whoa! Very different story playing out there, with fanservice seriously cranked up. Mirai Nikki I’ve know about a while, since some raw source was paraded on 4chan. It hasn’t struck me as something I much care about though… now excuse me, I need to go back and fetch the rest of Momoiro Sango. (Along with two latest chapters of Dogs: Bullets and Carnage.)
When you doing harem you have limited choices, the only way to escape doing fanservice is doing drama (comedy in harem ends up having to be situational comedy and so, fanservice) since romance alone does not work very well in harem.
The Rubber Band Fight arc (just two chapters) is a gem. Divine hi-jinks and Fujishima-san’s lovely detailed artwork – pure pleasure. And Tank Captain Skuld 4TW!
Mirai Nikki is great fun. Thank you very much for giving me something interesting to read.
Thank you for getting me into Mirai Nikki (after some persuasion from 4chan’s infrequent threads about it, of course). Yuno is <3. I want her as my waifu.