We all love Stephen. He is, with his One Piece translation, one the pillars of our community. Yet I've never really seen a talk about his other translation projects which he has few dozens. This doesn't strike me completely odd as most of them are pretty much unlike OP is but still, I've been wondering… anybody else following them at all?
Stephen's other projects.
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I followed Gantz…once. I'm not even sure if he still does. I meant to get into the other stuff, though. They're just not quite as easy to access.
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I've taken an interest in Mangascreener's less popular titles lately, but I haven't gotten that far yet, so I wouldn't be able to make much of a list of what I'm following at the moment. So far, though, they've got some real gems, and it's a shame that they're not being read by that many people. I can't wait for them to make another bunch of releases… after I catch up on a handful of these series I'll be able to really appreciate their bulk releases.
I'd just like to throw in that it was all Mushishi's anime release that convinced me to start reading these, so maybe they'll see an increase in fanbase from like-minded people?
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Yeah, I guess it's not as easy to access with Mangascreener's distribution policy and all.
I actually did ended up buying few volumes of Noramimi and Ryuuguden (well, all three volumes of Ryuuguden) which I rarely do, buying authentic manga I mean. So I've kept up with Stephen's updates. I've been there between whether I should go and buy Japan Tengu Party Illustrated too but I've the two volumes of Sexy Voice and Robo already so I think not.
Anyway, I pretty much enjoy all the active projects of Stephen excluding Adachi's works, Angel Densetsu and Natsunokumo which just doesn't click me. I miss Saishu-Heiki Kanojo a lot as since Stephen dropped it I've been stuck to the second volume and ordering the series from overseas is kind of pointless now – it would be just pretty pictures. Oh, well, I should not be complaining, without Stephen (and as well as Summer Soldier) I might not be reading comics at all.
I do doubt that we would ever see an increase in Mangascreener's fanbase though, especially now that's Beck and 20th Century Boys are gone. They're just straying too far from what a generic manga reader likes of.
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There are a few manga scanlation groups out there I have found myself gratefully downloading stuff from, and that's only because I usually end up liking the choices they make so much I buy all of it. I read Japanese fairly well, so I think I'd be being a bit of an asshole not to do so. These manga groups are a great way of sampling titles, really, and Mangascreener is one of the best suppliers.
And stephen's scripts have ended up being a godsend more than once. My Japanese is far from perfect, and they've helped me out of a tight spot more often than I can count.
My only iff is their kind of slow release schedule, though I suppose that's not entirely something I can hold against them. Either way, they've got a nice taste in projects, and without them I probably would've never known about Iou Kuroda, so I guess I have something to thank them for.
To stay on the topic of discussion (Kind of…?), Japan Tengu Party Illustrated is beyond awesome, I love H2 (You heard me, I'm an Adachi junkie) and Mangascreener's one-shot releases are a great barrel of fun.
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I guess I must have missed this thread. It's true, most of my other stuff is pretty removed from what an average manga reader enjoys. However, if you're interested and want to read some…
http://www.mangascreener.com/mirror.htm
Scroll down to the list of torrents. They're all server-seeded, so they should work.
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I downloaded Mangascreener's One-Shot Torrent once (though I'm not sure that's the same one on there), but unfortunately it didn't have every one shot released in it (none of the newer releases, really). I guess that's kind of logical, but I presume I'll have to hit IRC for the ones I don't have?
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Yeah, I haven't updated the one-shot batch in a little while so it's out of date. Though if you check the bot (Mangapenis) in the channel it has a TON of stuff of it and probably everything you'd want. It beats searching fserves with random junk on them…
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This weekend I uploaded some new torrents. I fully recommend them to all!
Ciguatera Vol.1
Coming-of-age type story about a kid who tries to get a girlfriend and ignore the bully who picks on him. There are a lot of really bad manga about this, but trust me this one is fantastic! Very funny too.
Me & the Devil Blues Vol.1
Our "music manga" replacement for Beck. Starring Robert Johnson, the infamous bluesman who sold his soul to the devil at an empty crossroads late one night. Guest starring Clyde from Bonnie & Clyde. Super cinematic.
Witches Vol.1
Total trip-fest, wildly imaginitive stories about women who use magic all over the world. One bazillion times better than Harry Potter or Negima, and the art will blow you away.One Shots Collection (up-to-date now)
Tons of stuff in here, you won't like all of it but you've got to like some of it. -
My school network sucks.
For some sites, torrents work. For others, they don't.
This is one of the sites where my connection doesn't connect to the torrents. -
One Shots Collection (up-to-date now)
Tons of stuff in here, you won't like all of it but you've got to like some of it.Well put! Thanks, now I won't have to hit IRC (You can tell I'm lazy).
And ah, more Witches. I've been looking forward to that. Even though I really can't tell what's going on half of the time it's still an odd joy to read… or just look at.
Guess I'll also check out Ciguatera now, which I've been putting off for some time...
Reading new manga makes me giddy for some reason.
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Oh my. I'm an Adachi junkie and just so coincidentally bought a shitload of other works of his yesterday so your timing is beyond excellent.
Plus, right at the start of spring vacation!
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Pretty great volume, overall. While I'm not a big fan of Hirota's character (well, he is the asshole character), I really like the direction Adachi took him in. A bunch of little things in this volume gave me pretty high hopes for the rest of the series, I can only see it going uphill.
While I'm at it, I've gotta mention that I finally read Me & the Devil Blues the other day. It really surprised the hell out of me in its awesomeness. Chapter one lead me to believe it wouldn't be too offbeat, and it seemed good, but… well, after catching up to MS's releases I can safely say that because of its delightfully bizarre spin on Johnson's story, it's become a new favorite of mine out of your projects.
By the way, was his Chinless Gen manga any good?
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I have to admit I have never read Chinless Gen. All I know about it is that it has wacky covers and is pretty long.
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NEW TORRENT
A Spirit of the Sun Vol.1-2
This is a political thriller from politico-manga institution Kaiji Kawaguchi (Zipang, Silent Service, Eagle, etc.) about Japan being broken in half by crippling natural disasters and having to piece together the nation in the high-stakes political world of today. You may or may not agree with his views but it's hard to deny that Kawaguchi spins some awfully interesting yarns. This series is poised to become a lot bigger thanks to an upcoming anime adaptation. If you saw/enjoyed Zipang, definitely give this one a shot. -
Speaking of SotS, I'm curious… are we ever going to get to see some more interesting characters? I mean, I like some of them at the moment, but none of them seem to have the same charisma as, say, Zipang's Kusaka... but maybe this is just me.
Otherwise, it's good stuff, and I'm sure it'll be getting better before it gets worse. Another fine choice in projects from MS.
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Personally I think ASotS is a really great manga and is really fascinating… but only in the later volumes. The next few (v3-4 or so) set in Taiwan are pretty simplistic and typical of lower echelon Kawaguchi works, in terms of the messages and conflicts taking place. But once the stage shifts back to Japan from v5 onward there are much more interesting events and characters in the mix, IMHO. Kawaguchi has a tendency to get carried away with the idealism of his characters. Oftentimes they are too pure to reflect realism in politics, but I think he creates a complicated and believable enough scenario in ASotS to still make it riveting. So to answer your question, I'd say just give it a bit of time. It's still a great story and I think it's turning out more worthwhile than Zipang, which right now is getting pretty bogged down (although he is on the record for saying that he would continue Zipang "forever" if he could).
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about Japan being broken in half by crippling natural disasters and having to piece together the nation in the high-stakes political world of today.
Hmmm, considering the quakes that will hit Kanto in the next 50 years this may end up being a truth scarier than fiction o_O
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Ah, so that's how it is. I figured that it must improve substantially, otherwise it wouldn't make much sense for you guys to choose it over Zipang which picked up pretty quickly IMO. I wasn't even aware that Zipang was still running… I assumed it must have reached some sort of conclusion since I know the anime ended quite a while ago (yet we're only subbed to 20) but I guess it's the perfect type of story to milk, since he almost could go on forever with how the new timeline unfolds.
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Finished all of what's been done of Ciguatera, am currently downloading A Spirit of the Sun (I read only a teensy bit of Zipang but loved what I saw… And besides, a torrent like that is as good an excuse to start as any.) and finally sat down to read H2 25. Great stuff all around.
Anndd I got started on Pluto, after my Urusawa withdrawal symptoms became too much to bear. I wanted to wait til I got enough dough to afford buying the actual books, but I guess I'll hold on with downloads first. It's kicking ass.
And if my avatar wasn't a good indication, I started on Cross Game. It's not MangaScreener but counts as ''Stephen's other projects'', right?
Well, off to read more. Reading manga is serious business.
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NEW TORRENT
Natsunokumo Vol.1-2
Action/psychology/fantasy romp in an online RPG world. A bit like .hack, except without all the stupid time-wasting garbage. Unlike some other series that have tried to depict online gaming without really understanding how people actually act on the internet, Natsunokumo has a pretty good grasp on human behavior in those settings. This isn't a story about fighting back against rogue viruses unleashed by evil corporations intent on stealing childrens' souls, it's a story about a group of social misfits with psychological problems doing their best to uphold the fragile human connections the internet allows, while under incredible stress and torment. Oh, and the art is great. -
The afterword of volume 2 is 100% right, Natsunokumo needs more of the fishnet chick (and more gramma torture moe).
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Whoa, can't believe I managed to miss all of volume 2 of that one… Ah well, I guess that and three spanking new Pluto HQs are enough motivation to get me hitting IRC for a change.
Just started reading A Spirit of the Sun, and kind of on the fence about it so far, but I'll see where it goes.
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@Mog:
Just started reading A Spirit of the Sun, and kind of on the fence about it so far, but I'll see where it goes.
Watching (or reading) Zipang is a good way to create faith in this one, I think. I probably would have been pretty skeptical of this choice in manga too if I didn't know it was coming from the same guy.
…but dammit, it does suck knowing that we'll be stuck in the Taiwan arc until volume 5... such a long wait. Guess if I really wanted I could start collecting the French releases.
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Super Cruel and Terrible Tales of Mangaka, what a great pick! It's definatly something I would enjoy read more in future. And I'm starting really to dig Vinland Saga too, I was a bit sceptic first but Yukimura Makoto is such a great story teller. He is a master at capturing moments. Though it's still not Planetes. Did I already say I love Minoru Furuya. I'm not sure what the guy is up with Ciguatera but I'm interested how the little, or should say big, fact we learned about Ogi at the end of chapter 15 will effect on the story. If not all. It's said so often but it's true, Furuya is awesome with character studing. There's something about Ciguatera though… I can't really put it into words but it's like something bad is bound to happen. Guess it's just because of the author.
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There's something about Ciguatera though… I can't really put it into words but it's like something bad is bound to happen. Guess it's just because of the author.
Haha, yeah, I know exactly how you feel. I've felt some sort of tension in that department since the beginning. It's very gripping, in a way. On the other hand, though, I try to tell myself enough bad stuff already happened to make it getting even worse unlikely.
Hopefully.
And yeah, Super Cruel and Terrible Tales of Mangaka was a damn nice surprise. The ironic humour seems right up my alley, so I'm anxious to read more. I guess I could say the art is a tad lackluster, but it's a gag manga so I shouldn't really be expecting much. And as far as gag manga go, it's aesthetically as pleasing as it could be, so I'm not complaining.
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I'm glad people are enjoying Super Cruel Tales. I figured that some of our regular readers would dig it but I wasn't sure if the mangaka subtext would be a hit or not. At any rate there are about 30 little chapters so he gets the chance to riff on just about everything a mangaka has to put up with. And don't worry, the art will definitely grow on you.
It's good that you're picking up on these things in Ciguatera. Not because I want to spoil the story for you or anything, but because I think this particular manga of Furuya's, out of all of his works, is the one that is closest to approximating real life. Ciguatera's characters are the most realistic; even during comedic stretches it's a kind of real-people humor, not the bizarre over-the-top style he got famous for. Sometimes really bad stuff happens to them, as it sometimes does in real life, sometimes really good stuff. It manages to be a really interesting story without relying TOO much on standard story structure: Having a fundamental problem and spending the entire length of the story through the climax attempting to overcome it. In real life things don't go this way, they're much more random and you really don't know quite what is going to happen. It doesn't fall together like God (the author) is manipulating things to create maximum drama. I think the anxiety you are feeling about the future of the story is something that Furuya nurtures in the manga (through foreshadowing or those dark "psychological state" panels that throw a pallor over the mood of the moment) as a means of calling up the real anxiety we all feel about the future. This is the biggest reason why I really like Ciguatera above all of Furuya's rest. If there's any serious message in the manga, it's to "live life to the fullest" because you really never know what might happen.
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True words, Stephen.
From the very moment I saw Super Cruel's art, I knew this would be a comic I would be fond of. The brown colour scheme was enough to do so.
Anyway, I'm back catching up with most of the MangaScreener's projects. I have to admit Witches hasn't made such a great impact on me. The art is very beautiful, and it has ethnic feel on it which is rare for a Japanese artist, but stories itself hasn't really worked with me.
The small intro for Bonnie & Clyde on Devil Blues went down as one of my favourite scenes in history of comics though. All in all, I can't say nothing bad about Devil Blues. I think I need to reread Pluto, I've probably accidentally skipped a chapter or two at some point because I really don't understand what's going on.
! Finally, Dr. Tenma! The hair style is killing me. But what really catch me off guard was Urusawa killing off Atom. Was that a part of the original story?
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I'm sorry you're not enjoying Witches all that much. If you haven't checked it out, you might look up Igarashi's Hanashippanashi from Kotonoha. I like to think that if the Witches stories are like short stories or novellas, Hanashippanashi is like poems. Very short and lots of visuals and ideas without having to construct an entire story. It might be more to your liking.
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Well, I think what works for Witches is the atmosphere more than the story, assisted by the gorgeous artwork. That makes it a joy to read for me, personally, though it's really something I want to own most of all. I have to look into buying the books.
And yeah, Devil Blues is all kinds of awesome. When I read about the project when it first started I literally just went ''huh?'', but I fell in love with it from the first couple of pages. Funny how that goes.
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NEW TORRENTS
Since we just had a huge Halloween release…
Ciguatera Vol.1-2
As mentioned previously in this thread, this sounds like a very typical and unexciting teen drama story, but it's actually amazingly heartwarming and gripping. Probably my funniest/best translation ever, too.Japan Tengu Party Illustrated Vol.1-2
If anyone has read Sexy Voice and Robo from Viz, or checked out his earlier manga Nasu, this one is his first, and best series. Very stylized and cinematic art, eccentric characters and thematic storytelling of the highest caliber.Pluto Vol.1
I think a lot of people are familiar with this by now. The author of Monster and 20th Century Boys takes on Osamu Tezuka's classic Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atom) in his own suspenseful style. We do the chapters by the monthly magazine release, and also these very deluxe re-edits from the volumes.Ryuguden Vol.1-3 (Complete Series)
Boys in rabbit costumes, mutant fish, penis trains, electric dragons, time machines, Japanese folk tales, interspecies breeding, sentient turtles, nanomachines, and prostitutes. Completely bizarre and off the wall, though heartwarming in its own way.Stopper Busujima Vol.4
Stopper Busujima Vol.1-3
Professional baseball manga by the author of Beck. Hilarious and exciting and chock full of totally useless notes by me.Vinland Saga Vol.1-2
A story of vikings by the author of the smash hit Planetes. Unsurprisingly this one has rapidly become one of our most popular series and while I wish all of my "babies" could be so popular, it's hard to deny that VS has a very wide-ranging appeal.Witches Vol.1-2 (Complete Series)
Also mentioned earlier in this thread, and now a complete torrent for one and all. A-mazing art, beautiful stories. -
i have been wanting to read some vinland saga. Now i have no excuse.
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And I can finally start on Ryuguden volume 3
plays some air guitar -
Boys in rabbit costumes, mutant fish, penis trains, electric dragons, time machines, Japanese folk tales, interspecies breeding, sentient turtles, nanomachines, and prostitutes. Completely bizarre and off the wall, though heartwarming in its own way.
I lol'd for reals.
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Mothereffin' splurge. Way too much to catch up on but I know I'll enjoy myself.
Thanks for the heads-up. And, you know, the actual releases themselves.
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This is just me talking, but I declare Witches to be two of the most rereadable volumes of manga evar.
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I just read volume one of Pluto, and…. wow. That was really, really good. I can't wait until the next release. Thanks for all these translations, they're super-professional and I find much more fluid than most translations of any kind - less choppy sentences and everything flows together better.
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NEW TORRENTS
Bokurano Ch.1-37
From the author of the infamous Narutaru comes his newest work, in a similar vein. 15 children are signed up to play a "game" piloting an enormous 500m tall robot against other robots, to save the world. The catch? When you win, you die. When you lose, the Earth is destroyed. Lots of chilling depictions of horrible things happening to 13-year-old children. To be made into an anime in early 2007. Read it now before everyone else jumps on the bandwagon!Noramimi Vol.1-2
Please read this, you will enjoy it, and it will put a smile on your face many times.Adventure Boys
One-volume work of short stories from Mitsuru Adachi. Unlike all of his stereotypical "teens+sports" series (some of which I translate!) this series features actual adults who are forced to confront their past for a reason. Adachi can always wow you with his ability of perfect pace and mise en scene, and these are some of his smartest examples. Each one was written and drawn in an entire year, and the care and thought put into them is apparent. If you're an Adachi fan, check it out. If you've always thought Adachi was too one-track, check it out anyway. It's about as good as he gets in distilled form. -
after that last Noramimi chapter, I think me and clicky are about ready to start up a Simple Baron fanclub.
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I'd be down with that. That guy was quite the dapper gentleman.
_"People say, is it the afro that makes the champion, or the champion that makes the afro…?
It is still unexplained by modern science!!"_
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Noramimi Vol.1-2
Please read this, you will enjoy it, and it will put a smile on your face many times.Whole heartly concured. I got a bit tired of my Noramimi avatar though…
My, my. Lots of cool updated, and even backed with http downloads! :wassat:
More Furuya is never bad. Never.
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Adachi did it for me with Adventure Boys. I have never been too keen about his stuff but the art is very easy on eyes and stories of Adventure Boys were just really well put together - Chapter 5 was probably my favourite.
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I just fond about this: http://robotsneversleep.blogspot.com/
Great read.
I haven't yet read Nijigahara Holograph but it seems like a must.
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Thanks, Yoska. I'm glad you enjoy it. Starting the blog was a great idea because it's even started to lead to extra business opportunities for me. Which reminds me, I should get back to writing more regularly.
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Oh that's yours? Thanks then, I found some good reads from that blog.
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Ressentiment is good fun. New Ciguatera's always enough to make me wet myself too.
Also, a new H2 volume. Worth the wait, too. A pretty cliché-laden volume it may have been, but it's good to see stuff finally resolved and the last chapter in it is a fantastic example of what I love about Adachi.
Thus ends my glorified way of bumping this thread.
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Your collection is becoming quite remarkable, Stephen.
Hearing that the Devil Blues has been licensed was such a killjoy. Great for americans I suppose and it deserves it very much but, man, it's just too expensive business to order comics from over seas. Well, if it's from Japan the price will still be inside the range of tolerable… but from the US, no.
Anyway, this wins: "Noramimi officially has an anime adaptation coming! Hooray for Noramimi! Let's see if the anime will be as criminally ignored as the manga (Yes, I'm talking to you, apathetic and boring reader!)."
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yeah i've found that blog, too. for the sole reason that you review tsutomu nihei's work, it deserves all my admiration :-D.
<= is a nihei fanboy.
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yeah i've found that blog, too. for the sole reason that you review tsutomu nihei's work, it deserves all my admiration :-D.
<= is a nihei fanboy.
I like Nihei more than you do
