Original.Tough.Adaptable.Keen.Unique

I just finished my first week of school. And that is a big thing considering how it's my first year of High School. All my classes are kind of lame... I have Drama [my elective] first thing in the morning. Next is US History, which is kind of interesting on account of my teacher, who has like ADD or something [not in a bad way...] Then I have Team Sports [it's the equivalent to your P.E.] and lunch after. Not really interesting. I sit with Seniors, they don't really mind, they talk to me sometimes, though I'm usually talking to my friends. Right after I have Algebra, then Japanese I. Japanese class in interesting, since I'm actually learning something I don't know. We even learn how to make origami. Then it's my favorite class, Biology 9. And we end the day with a mellow English Honors. WHOO! Have a great school year. Go class of 2011!

While at a routine outing to Barnes and Noble booksellers, I happened across Alive: The Final Evolution vol. 1. Written by Tadashi Kawashima and published by Del Rey manga, I couldn't really expect anything less than an above average story. Fortunately for me, the story was better than I expected. Much better.


Pt. 1 THE STORY
What makes a good manga? The story. The artwork, the characters, the style, it's all COMPLEMENTARY. What makes a book good, is the story. Most of the manga I read have generic plotlines, but also have something else that distracts you from that. In the case of Welcome to NHK or Genshiken, the plotline was odd, so were the characters, the style, etc. That's why it's such a good manga! Same thing for something like Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge, it's a reverse harem. Keyword: Reverse. It's not normal and generic, it's different and creative. Now take for example something like Maburaho, it's not exactly best manga/anime series out there, but it's pretty good. You could say it's mediocre, which is what it is. It's just a harem story, and that's all it is. That is the reason why I tend to read books that nobody else reads, because they're different and usually don't have a generic plotline. And Alive vol. 1 is no exception. The story is interesting and captivating, the characterts are free of cliche. And, let's not forget, the biggest thing here, the plot is unpredictable, but not in a bad way. Props to Tadashi Kawashima, he made a really good concept for this series. Currently, the series is on it's 12th book in Japan.

Pt. 2: Complementaries
As mentioned in the previous part, complementaries are what make a story good. Love Hina and Mahou Sensei Negima, 2 of the great Akamatsu's works, are not generic, but they wouldn't be half as popular unless they had Akamatsu's touch. It's because of his style that he is an international author. He can relate to anybody, and so can his characters. The characters in Alive are by far, some of the most sophisticated set of characters. There's our main lead male, Taisuke. His best friend, a girl, and his other good friend, a child who gets bullied, are not your usual characters either. His sister is by far the most practical character, maybe because she's an adult. The artwork is kind of plain, but that gives it such a charm especially when contrasted to series like Full Moon or other series with complex art styles.

Pt. 3: Promise
Does this series have promise? Well that depends, we have to weigh the pros and cons. All the pros are listed in the parts above, so we'll just skip those. One bad thing is that the story may have told itself already. In the beginning chapter, there is a small excerpt of two people... er, things talking. They tell about how there's human life on earth. Okay, big deal, now we know what's going to happen. Now we know what's going on and where the virus is coming from. The story has an excellent concept, but how would that be carried out if, in a mere two pages, we were already told what was going to happen? Personally, that ticked me off a bit and brought the main part of this review down. As for the question, I'd say that the series does, if there's 12 books, then why wouldn't there be? It should be a loooong time before we can judge if the series is truly worthwhile or a waste of time.

Pt. 4: Presentation
Presentation is based on how it was presented and how the publisher did. I am a BIG fan of Del Rey manga, with great titles [that are mainly long series], you have to have a good translation. And I think Del Rey did a great job with it. The presentation is top notch, with the glossy cover and minimal number of advertisements in the back, as well as in-depth translation notes [as said on cover :D].

I started doing a bit of Lineart. Reason being, a group in KF started manga coloring and I decided to join them, but it was too.... long of a process. So I just decided to do isolated images, here's my first *complete one. Which I put at the bottom because it's too big for the top....
Sorry if it doesn't fit in the page, hehe.


And here are a few more that I made, smaller in size but probably harder...

Now that I've watched all of theanime and read some of the manga of My-HiME and My-Otome, I've decided to step up my fandom and read My-HiME Destiny. Looks quite interesting, I wonder if they'll make an anime.

The scanlated chapters can be found here, thanks MakiMaki
Mai-HiME Destiny @ MakiMaki

It's been a bit over two weeks since my last post and a lot has happened. For starters, my summer finally started rolling with an impromptu vacation, thanks to my parents' skill at getting things done in an amazingly short time. In truth and actuality, I have been having a hard time coping with the fact that I'd have to miss an episode of my wonderful Kiddy Grade, but it seems I can't do much about it. *sniffle

Anyways, my parents finally got the news that you need a visa to fly into the Dominican Republic, unfortunately, time was not on their side, it was the day before the trip was scheduled. We raced to the embassy and filed a visa. So now we were going. I quickly packed my bags that night and we headed off to our vacation the next morning. At 6 AM. Now that was hell on earth. When we came back, all was well. Our house was left undisturbed, and we had a lot of mail waiting for us. As well as newspapers. In the mail came my registration for my old school, but I skipped a grade, so I don't much need that, do I? Along came the movie 'Otaku Unite' which I won from a giveaway. What a pleasant surprise. Now I have something to watch. Huzzah!

Still on my way to achieving self-actualization and anime fandom, I will watch this movie and learn. What it means to be a true Otaku.

I should write a book. :)

~Kagurazaka