This week marks the start of the Moyashimon live action TV-series. Beyond the cute bacterias… like every good manga turned into a drama… the drama produced was completely different from the manga. AGAIN.
Can’t these drama folks keep the story as it is, the way the people have loved it in the manga, the way that the manga is popular to begin with? For those who have followed dramas, we have seen how in the likes of Yoshinaga Fumi’s Antique, they had to make Ono straight rather than gay. Now… they kind of jumbled the story line of Moyashimon, turned Kei into a girl and… I… whatever happened to the relaxed pace of my bacterial manga!?! Everything bursted out of this comic like hiochi that the sudden skips from this to that made the story lose its laidback yet interesting turn of events.
Popularity: 32% [?]
Historie by Iwaaki Hitoshi
Serialized in Afternoon
Published by Kodansha
Life has its strange ways of twisting fate. It can take you to the deepest trench of fandom only to fish you out and show you something your heart has always longed for. In this case, it took a simple reminder of Parasyte and its author and how he has that strange new title running in Afternoon, Historie.
It didn’t take me a chapter to be swept away. A young man fleeing the Persian continent, dragging Aristotle with him in his makeshift pedal boat. The historian in me could not help but squee over this romantic tale of a young man following the footsteps of Odysseus. And did I add that you have Alexander the Great in manga?
Oh yes, Historie has one great history to offer.
Popularity: 19% [?]
I can’t get it out of my system. I’m compelled to spazz.
Three weeks ago, Morning announced that they’ll be bringing a set of new titles for magazine, the first of which was a story named Billy Bat written by Naoki Urasawa. The story, as they published in the presses, is a mix of Mickey Mouse, Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Dick Tracy, and slew of other American comic icons combined. Seeing the cover art made me think once or twice about what Urasawa was up to. They even showed a cover spiel at the Morning website. First, it looked like a superflat Batman. Second, honestly, it didn’t feel like it was Urasawa’s line of work. I started to think, was Urasawa undergoing some mangaka mid-life crisis and wanted trying something very new to him? Either way, I patiently waited for my Morning issue the next week. Maybe I’ll get my answers there.
True enough, Billy Bat was on the cover in last week’s issue and the first chapter was printed on a paper that reminded me of old American comics. It was packaged in such a way that there were ads for Billy Bat and on it was a name that shook my senses over lunch: Kevin Yamagata. When I saw that name, I turned to my friend and told her, “I have a feeling that Billy Bat is not Urasawa’s work.” So I speculated to my friend a theory. That Billy Bat was a front and the real story revolves around the author, this Kevin Yamagata. I even imagined how in a chapter, the comic will pan out and it will show Mr. Yamagata working on Billy Bat. This was of course, my speculation. And really, a good part of me that week wanted to wait for the next few chapters before spazzing1 because… it was a very different Urasawa and I found it difficult to see how the hell he will spin Billy Bat‘s world and art in the same way he has spun the lives of Johann, Miyuki, and Kenji. So my theory is, if he managed to shift people’s vision of Atom in Pluto, he can do the same for Billy Bat. And so this week came, and you know what… Urasawa and I mindmelded2.
Popularity: 72% [?]
Kinou Nani Tabeta
きのうなに食べた？Kinou Nani Tabeta? (What did you eat yesterday) by Yoshinaga Fumi
Serialized in Morning
Published by Kodansha.
What did you eat for dinner last night?
Fish and chips? Chinese takeout? Pot Roast? How about a grilled fish, marinated in soy and miso, but not too long to save the sweetness of the fish, matched with a clear vegetable soup and red rice? And probably at the same price as your Chinese takeout. Yoshinaga Fumi returns to us with a very delectable treat, one that we have missed ever since Antique Bakery. We now have 2 guys in their 40s, sharing an apartment, and eating some of the yummiest dinners with ingredients bought in the best of seasons and on a budget. Yes, Fumi’s back in her element with a delightfully yummy manga serving where she asks us “Kinou, nani tabeta?”, what did you yesterday?
Popularity: 27% [?]
So I’ve been professing and doing evangelical work for Saint Oniisan (Saint Young Men). I swear to god, I love this series in the same way that I love espresso brownies! It’s different, pleasing, and truly an enjoyable read (plus a guilty leisure, with all the religious implications involved!). Today I realized I shouldn’t really feel that way, thanks to a really interesting interview of Hikaru Nakamura, author of Saint Oniisan. Manga no Hi’s Manga Interview section, Manga no Chikara) features Nakamura-sensei as she talks about her manga career and how scribble probably has made me (and a couple of other fans) A BELIEVER!
Popularity: 14% [?]
Kreuz on 
