It was nicely put together, I even got the feels up here, but it sadly missed the mark of not developing Vamola. Grandma is a fun character too have around, she did her part good. I'm glad it's probably over, ngl.
Dandadan
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Same. The emotional ties are there and it pulled all the right strings, plus I enjoyed the visuals throughout the flashback. However, it failed to surprise and I can't bring myself to care about Vamola because she did so little in the story until now. I would have prefered if she had been around for a full arc - as part of the group, not just as an opposing force - before diving into alien invasions and flashbacks.
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Vamola was raised by four grannies in the middle of a war, she only got basic education and training. So it's pretty realistic that she's so simple minded. It also opens up opportunities growth after she starts interacting with people and developing interests of her own.
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Her upbringing has no pull in her being charismatic or having a memorable personality, c'mon. It's the author's sandbox in a sci-fi series, he can go wherever he wants. With that being said, I'll give you that her "becoming a fully fledged person" might be a character arc - and it has potential. Unfortunately, it does nothing to salvage her flashback.
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I don't mind the "simple-minded" angle either, but I reckon it should not affect how the story manages or not to make a character interesting.
In Vamola's case, it would have improved the flashback a ton if said character arc had happened before the whole alien invasion. Doesn't have to be much, maybe 10-15 chapters would have been enough. She could have played a part in helping Momo solve the mirror spirit case, which would have helped flesh her out and spark off interest for her past. -
Yeah, I understand why the flashback happened now but it does feel like we needed to have got to know Vamola better in the present for it to really land. Especially given how long it was.
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Did the flashback got transmitted live feed?
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Yes, Momo linked everyone's consciousness with Vamola's. Now that's over, I never felt that the flashback was boring or long.
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It was transmitted to everyone that had a transmitter.
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That ending has me pumped
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I fear that Rokuro injected himself into Vamola and he's going to pop out eventually.
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It could happen given how we've seen Serpoians clone themselves and take over other aliens, but part of me wants him to have been sincerely trying to help this one time. Otherwise it would undermine his apparent sacrifice, which I find a rewarding conclusion to his time on-screen.
In other news, I'm glad to be back to the present. Anger-fueled Momo looks awe-inspiring, can't wait to see how the rest of the crew fares (and have Okarun back in action, dammit!).
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"A Spinning Top can Stand"
https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/viewer/1016549 -
The copypasting of panels and characters is starting to feel distracting. At least he could try different shading, positioning or something so it doesn't jump at you. Anyway, Okarun is here and everyone just got a spiral power boost. Still waiting for Kinta, I hope he doesn't get left out.
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I didn’t think they would all get a spiral power up, cool
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This chapter was sponsored by Gurren Lagann and Jojolion.
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@PatTraverse wait don’t they have spiral powers in Jojo part 7? I never read part 8 do they do it again in that one?
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@PatTraverse wait don’t they have spiral powers in Jojo part 7? I never read part 8 do they do it again in that one?
Yes they do. Japan loves spinning powers.
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Cammy's Spiral Arrow is in good hands, now.
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I think the series needs better villains. I mean, this alien dudes are pretty hateful considering the recent bad story but they also suck and has no personality.
Design is cool but yeah, I do think the series is lacking in the villains department. Especially long term. -
Agreed. Earlier arcs such as turbo granny or whatever spirit posessed Aira or the Evil Eye had some personnal stakes that made the anta/protagonist dynamic interesting, so it did not bother me as much.
This one, I have to admit, is quite different. Vamola's side is supposedly the personnal stakes mingling with the villain's arc, but it kinda fell flat. The flashback had the emotional beats and sad backstory, but at the same time it somehow remained self-contained: anything I may have felt for Vamola and her mum remained on the other side of the portal. Now the aliens are a tough challenge to overcome and they pushed the team with their backs against the wall, there's no denying this. But their entire story can be summed up with "we eat people and destroy civilisations just because". Not the most entertaining... -
I don't think colonialists need emotional backgrounds to feel like real villains. The fact that their motives are flat and stupid (let's take what's valuable, treat, people like crap and amass a bunch of richness, and keep looking for places to raid) means it's a perfect representation of what colonialism is.
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@El-Matematico certified Fanon reader.
We still have Reiko Kashima as a villain, and probably new aliens, and yokais. Maybe even the Serpos again.
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I actually had to google who Fanon was. But yeah, what kind of background could the octupuses even have? They're making suits that resemble gods of other cultures to use against them. And whatever their initial reason for invading other planets might have been (if there ever was one), it's clear that at this point they just get a kick out of making strong suits.
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That's not really fair considering that most of the alien allies we've had do have personalities and are actually developed.
Maybe it is logical because they represent colonization but it is also dull and that is something that can be improved on. They aren't exclusive to each other.
It's almost as if because they don't look human, the instinctual thing is to not write them as characters. Which is sad because there's potential there. -
I am fine with those aliens just being greedy colonialists with inflated egos. I just don't think they should have come into play so early in the story with the cast still learning about their powers. It leads to the main characters being outmatched until they suddenly get a burst of power through a flashback and the power of friendship.
Okarun learning about his powers with Turbo Granny training him is much more organic than seeing Aira and Jiji being completely destroyed until they just pull a finisher out of their ass that leads to a conclusive victory.
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Yeaaahh Go Mantis !
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Momo certified badass.
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The cliffhanger is begging for Okaru's return, but I'd like the author to try something else rn.
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Kinta is still pending. The house was destroyed but it's possible that the remains can still be used for a decent size robot. And Reiko should be lurking somewhere for added chaos.
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I am waiting for some Yokai action to show why the local aliens are afraid of earth. Octopi aliens are already shocked that humans with powers are able to oppose their almighty suits. They were also afraid when they saw the disturbing souls coming out of the Evil Eye's energy. They would run away crying if they had to deal with some disturbing monstrosity.
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they registered a domain for dandadan-anime which we all knew it was inevitable and I think its going to be, or rumored if I cared to pay that much attention, to be Mappa. I don't really think Mappa suits DDD mainly because of the direction they took with Hells Paradise. JJK is fine because the monsters are organic but DDD have way too much design that is based on solidity and have mechas that someone like David Production or Trigger would be better suit.
Just throwing a thought out there.
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These action chapters are too short :-)
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I love endings like that
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It's quite rare, but for once I found the chapter's end cringeworthy. This badass pose of the full crew is so serious it almost feels like it belongs in a different manga, it lacks the self-derision that Dandadan usually sprinkles on top of serious sequences to lighten the mood. Instead someone threw consistency overboard, grabbed the Shonen lever and pushed to Full Throttle... Okarun suddenly comes out of a power line with electrical superpowers and a cool coat when his dying body is still somewhere out there, previously spent Aira and Shrimp are back for more, the Evil Eye is back full force but for some reason this time it's ok to fight with Aliens... Meh.
It's possible that it's just a fluke and not a global shift - I hope so. Throughout this arc the story has been upping the stakes and increasing pressure from the alien invaders, with great visuals as a bonus, but as a result any personal matters are currently lost in the background. Vamola was supposed to be the emotional anchor but it never quite landed for me, while the rest of the cast are too busy fighting aliens, and so the mix of action and drama that worked well so far has lost part of its charm.
I'm crossing fingers for things to get back to a smaller scale on which the author is more comfortable after this part is done.
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The manga has been feeling too much like “just another battle shonen” for a few months to me, to be honest. It’s been a good while since I felt that ridiculousness.
I’ve been wanting to put it on a hold for a while, but since MangaPlus only keeps the last 3 chapters I fear I might end up never catching up again and a temporary break becomes a permanent drop.
At least with Chainsaw (another one I’ve been thinking of taking a break) I know where to find older chapters. -
Momo's bold move paid off.
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Will Kinta arrive when everything's over? Or will he still have something left to do?
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Akira slide.
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Hehehe... I was going to rant about the battle and how Vamola is useless on top of being uninteresting(*), but Kinta's entrance saves the day. There's some irony in seeing that slide executed by the school's fatty nerd no-one ever cares to take seriously.
(*) I mean, come on, unlike the group she has lived her whole life in a warzone and was trained for years by super-tough elite grannies, yet the one time she gets to see some action she doesn't last a minute?
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holy shit the background has to be computer made, right? The scenery behind Evazilla 01 made de go "goddam!" outloud
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@puffing-cinema The reflex on the big tower on the left looks like a photo to drawing process on photoshop, all the rest looks regular drawn.
As far as I'm aware the guy do his stuff analogic. -
I don't know, the amount of details on the rooftops and facades feels really intense if someone were to draw it all by hand -look at all those vents and emergency stairs and railings and stuff. There are more than a few impressive 3d kitbash assets out there these days - sometimes whole city blocks someone already designed and assembled for you - plus render engines that emulate line drawing rather well. Can save the background assistant many hours if they know just enough 3d, especially if the same environment is going to be used several times.
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it's 3d and probably clip studio. I used to do this for a period of time and you can basically take a photo of an image -> covert to black and white -> extract the lines. This can be achieved in Photoshop (its a 5 min tutorial away) but Clip Studio EX does this way better with the ability to add tones. It's not perfect but you can trace over it which will be significantly easier than drawing it from scratch. Additionally, you can buy/make your own 3d models so you really only need to take photos if there isn't anything similar to what you have in mind. I would add that the background is way too detailed to be anything other than the use of 3D assets.
This doesn't mean that the author and his assistants are not great at what they do, when people say that they can't believe this is running weekly it is likely they are referring to the truck load of dynamic action scenes (which anatomy is insanely hard to master) and monster design, along with the crisp and well drawn details of every set piece.
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That was super senpai hardcore.
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omg his designs are so so good.
loled at tokyo's tower bat-time
Good chapter.
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Kinta the chad
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I'm so happy for Kinta. He's been a loser his whole life because he couldn't make good use of his mecha pilot skills.