Arm of Kannon Manga | Readterest.com

Birth (  BIRTH)

• Masakazu Yamaguchi

• Tokyo-pop (2004–ongoing)

• Gentosha (Comic Birz, 2001–2003)

• Science Fiction, Action, Horror

• 18+ (language, graphic violence, explicit nudity, sex)

Mao, a girlish teenager with an unhealthily close relationship to his sister, becomes the unwilling human host of the so-called Arm of the Buddhist Goddess Kannon, an H. R. Giger–esque artifact that fuses with his body and gives him unbelievable, horrible, omnipotent powers. One of the most graphically violent sci-fi horror manga, Arm of Kannon achieves almost Toshio Maeda–esque levels of gore and perversity, with rape and dismemberment on almost every page, often happening to the same person. The plot is little more than an excuse to draw a bunch of monsters and weird bad-ass characters: cyborgs, shady military types, monks, and the polymorphous, godlike Arm, which causes writhing snakes and lions and tentacles to pour out of Mao’s possessed body. As if the story wasn’t confusing enough, volumes 5–7 suddenly switch to what is apparently a parallel-universe story line in which the Arm is the “Angel Fist” and the Holy Grail is involved; then volumes 8–9 go back in time to medieval Japan, where samurai fight over the Arm’s powers. As a story, it’s completely frustrating and arbitrary, although it’s intermittently entertaining for the detailed, Grand Guignol artwork: eye-shadow-wearing bishônen, hideous wrinkled creeps, and slimy blobs covered with hundreds of mouths and eyeballs.

from
http://ift.tt/2eJ1x9q

Apocalypse Zero Manga | Readterest.com

Kakugo no Susume, “Kakugo’s Advice”

• Takayuki Yamaguchi

• Media Blasters (2005–2006)

• Akita Shoten (Weekly Shônen Champion, 1994–1996)

• Shônen, Postapocalyptic, Action

• 18+ (language, extreme graphic violence, nudity, sexual situations)

After disastrous earthquakes, human civilization is seemingly reduced to a single high school in Tokyo, where the students still attend classes despite being plagued by giant cockroaches and bug-eyed mutant cannibal perverts in bondage gear. Only one person can save humanity: Kakugo, a
soldierly teenage martial artist with (1) iron balls painfully embedded in his body and (2) “Zero,” a living armor shell inhabited by the souls of hundreds of dead test subjects from the World War II bioweapons experiment that created it. While it vaguely follows the Fist of the North Star formula, Apocalypse Zero is in fact closer to a Go Nagai balls-to-the-wall gross-out. (One monster attacks with its grossly enlarged genitals, and in another scene, Kakugo performs hara-kiri with his thumb.) Enjoyably disgusting, sick, immature, sappy, and just about every other bad/good thing you can imagine, this self-aware shônen manga pulp benefits from polished artwork (with old-school cartoony character designs) and well-done action scenes.

from
http://ift.tt/2eCsMnM

Apocalypse Meow Manga | Readterest.com

Cat Shit One

• Motofumi Kobayashi

• ADV (2004)

• Softbank/World Photo Press (Combat Magazine, 1991–2002)

• Military, Action

• 16+ (language, graphic violence, sexual situations)

Stories of a three-soldier unit in the Vietnam War, Apocalypse Meow is a close-up look at combat on the ground, told with anthropomorphic bunnies and other animals. Intended perhaps to make the story cuter and thus more digestible to casual readers (a side story with human characters, at the end of volume 1, is fairly dry), the effect is similar to Art Spiegelman’s Maus: Americans are bunnies, Vietnamese are cats, Japanese are monkeys, etc. Beyond that, the story is painstakingly realistic, although the author can’t resist having a Vietnamese street vendor yell, “G.I.! You want fresh carrots?” There are no speedlines, no exaggerated blood and gore, and no unearned melodrama here; Perky, Rats, and Botaski—team name “Cat Shit One”—face death countless times in countless tactical engagements, doing their duty with conscience, courage (most of the time), and occasional military humor. Kobayashi jumps right into battle, with maps and pages of teeny-tiny text helping explain the details (although he assumes a basic high school knowledge of the war); the treatment of the war is remarkably even-handed. The art style comes from an illustrative tradition, with accurate drawings of vehicles, weapons, uniforms, and backgrounds. It’s a slow read and far more Western-influenced than most manga, but vivid and fascinating, and the work of a skilled artist. The series was drawn left to right with an eye toward eventual translation.

from
http://ift.tt/2dAPVta

Angel Sanctuary Manga | Readterest.com

Tenshi Kinryôku, “Angel Sanctuary”

• Kaori Yuki • Viz (2004–2007)

• Hakusensha (Hana to Yume, 1994–2001)

• Shôjo, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Gothic, Adventure

• 16+ (language, graphic violence, sexual situations)

The archetypal 1990s goth manga. Teenage Setsuna Mudo discovers that he is the reincarnation of the female angel Alexiel, who rebelled against the absent God and his hypocritical, fascist angels. But Setsuna’s main concern is not the evil angels or the forthcoming apocalypse; it’s his tormented, incestuous love for his sister, with whom he struggles to reunite on a quest through Gehenna, Hades, hell, and heaven. A sprawling epic, Angel Sanctuary begins in high school but soon leaves reality behind for totally fantastic science fiction settings. Characters constantly reveal dark secrets, die, and reappear in new forms, sometimes behaving in an out-of-character manner for momentary shock value, and delivering overwrought inner monologues (“I’ve even thought that if I could kill you and embrace your body as I died, I’d be a happy man”). This manga has everything: drugs, Bible quotes, miniskirted demons, cybernetic horrors, gun battles in heaven. The screentone-heavy art is elaborate and stylish, but the story is often frustrating to follow because of confusing page layouts, the bewilderingly huge cast of androgynous characters, and the sheer barrage of events and names. However, the plot improves after the first few volumes, and Angel Sanctuary ultimately succeeds as a complicated, inconsistent, but interesting story.

from
http://ift.tt/2earWSS

Angelic Layer Manga | Readterest.com

CLAMP

• Tokyopop (2002–2003)

• Kadokawa Shoten (Monthly Shônen Ace, 1999–2001)

• Shônen, Science Fiction, Action

• All Ages (mild violence)

“Angelic Layer” is a tournament in which mind-controlled robot gladiators battle in futuristic arenas—sounds like pretty typical shônen manga fare so far, right? But this is CLAMP we’re talking about—their first shônen series and they’re already breaking all the rules. For one thing, the main character, Misaki Suzuhara, is a girl. And not a sexy girl or a grim, determined bad-ass girl, but a nice, sweet cares-about-her-neighbors kind of girl. Perhaps even more shocking, the heroine isn’t determined to be the champ or to prove herself to anyone. Nope, she just wants to do her best and have a good time. It’s a sports manga about sportsmanship—a rare beast indeed! While this tournament may not run on testosterone, that doesn’t mean it’s not full of heated competition. The battles are intense and well choreographed, made vivid with art that departs from lead artist Mokona’s previous styles, using coarser inking and fewer tones than usual. Fans of CLAMP’s baroque attention to detail might be disappointed by this, their most cartoony work, but the style fits the material perfectly. (It is also, in many ways, the precursor for their current shônen hit Tsubasa.) The fights and training scenes are punctuated by frequent comic interludes with mad scientist Icchan, Misaki, and her friends, who sometimes transform into super-deformed “squid people.” Angelic Layer won’t win any awards for originality, but it’s got heart to spare and is a brisk, entertaining read for boys and girls of all ages. (MT)

from
http://ift.tt/2ev9sHd

Alichino Manga | Readterest.com

Kouyu Shurei

• Tokyopop (2005)

• Home-sha (Eyes, 1998–2001)

• Shôjo, Gothic, Fantasy

• 13+ (mild language, violence, brief partial nudity)

“Their beauty is an illusion … a mere mask … hiding a most hideous and twisted face.” In a vague fantasy setting, human beings are the prey of Alichino, attractive evil beings who can grant wishes, take the form of animals, and eat human souls. Their only weakness is also the thing they most desire: Tsugiri, a handsome, depressive young man whose soul is so pure that he can kill an Alichino, or provide one with a most delicious meal. Incredibly detailed, realistic artwork makes Alichino worth reading just for the visual polish; Shurei’s art lacks outright monsters but abounds with gorgeous bishônen and Gothic Lolita women with sad, doll-like eyes. The plot is dominated by the angst-ridden relationships between Tsugiri and the Alichino, some of whom want to protect him, while others want to eat him. As of April 2007, the series is on hold in both the United States and Japan, with Shurei supposedly working on the fourth and final volume.

from
http://ift.tt/2eaoo31

Akira Manga | Readterest.com

Katsuhiro Otomo

• Dark Horse (2000–2002)

• Kodansha (Young Magazine, 1982–1990)

• Seinen, Science Fiction, Action

• Unrated/16+ (language, graphic violence, nudity)

In the megalopolis of Neo-Tokyo, thirty-eight years after World War III, the government, military, and revolutionaries struggle for power behind the scenes. But two random factors soon trigger a disaster: a teenage biker gang and a secret psychic research program, whose ultimate success was sealed away forever under the name Akira. One of the most important manga of the 1980s, Akira influnced thousands of science fiction manga and anime with its dark urban future, its detailed renderings of cities and machinery (co-opted by lesser artists into the screentone cutout backgrounds of today), and its ever-escalating cycle of destruction. (The realistic, three-dimensional look of Otomo’s characters was also trendsetting.) Prior to Akira, Otomo’s most significant work was the untranslated collection of New York stories Sayonara Nippon, and perhaps owing to this experience in urban realism, Akira starts out with a realistically dense web of street crime, coups, and conflicting factions. When things finally get crazy, though, they get crazy, culminating in a possibly dragged-out conclusion of endless shocking battles and explosions. The visual similarity to the French artist Moebius, who also did a few stories about futuristic wild-goose chases, is strong, but Moebius never drew any stories of this length. Sadly, Otomo has never again produced another manga work of this scale—but he probably realized that he didn’t need to draw another Akira, since everyone else was going to try to draw it for him. Prior to the Dark Horse edition, the series was released in a colorized edition by Marvel’s Epic line from 1988 to 1995.

from
http://ift.tt/2emRrM6

Ai yori Aoshi Manga | Readterest.com

Ai yori Aoshi, “Bluer than Indigo”

• Kou Fumizuki • Tokyopop (2004–2007)

• Hakusensha (Young Animal, 1998–2005)

• Seinen, Romantic Comedy

• 16+ (mild violence, nudity, sexual situations)

College student Kaoru’s life is turned upside down by the sudden appearance of his childhood fiancée, Aoi, a kimono-wearing, ultratraditional Japanese girl who has lived the last eighteen years wanting only to be with him. Unfortunately, if he wants to marry her, he must reconcile with his abusive, ultrawealthy family. Apart from the weepy abuse story line, Ai Yori Aoshi is a stereotypically sexist wife fantasy stripped down almost to the point of having only two characters and no plot whatsoever. Aoi, who wants only to cook and clean and be a bride and mother, is described as “the epitome of Yamato Nadesico, the model of a Japanese woman.” From volume 2 onward a few competing female characters are introduced, but the attempt at a harem manga is halfhearted at best; the characters quickly fall into subordinate roles of housekeepers and maids in Aoi and Kaoru’s platonic household. The manga reads easily, partly due to the fact that almost nothing happens except for breast shots and the periodic reaffirmation of the female characters’ (and by extension, the male reader’s) neediness. The soft, anime-style, heart-shaped faces resemble the art of Kosuke Fujishima (Oh My Goddess!).

from
http://ift.tt/2eJe95i

Aishiteruze Baby Manga | Readterest.com

Aishiteruze Baby, “I’m in Love with Ya, Baby”

• Yoko Maki • Viz (2006–2007)

• Shueisha (Ribon, 2002–2005)

• Shôjo, Romantic Drama

• 13+ (violence, child abuse)

Kippei is a Casanova in the making, preferring to spend his time on the school roof making out rather than languishing in the classroom. But everything changes when his little cousin Yuzuyu comes to live with his family and he finds himself stuck as her primary caretaker. His exasperation quickly disappears as he learns to take pride in preparing Yuzuyu’s lunch and joy in playing with her in the sandbox, and as he learns how to cherish someone, this new insight brings him closer to Kokoro, the girl he thought was forever out of reach. While Aishiteruze Baby has plenty of heartfelt scenes, it isn’t sappy­—in fact, many of the characters suffer from abuse of some kind, giving the story a dark undertone. The art is adorable without being mawkish.

from
http://ift.tt/2esQFNV

Afterschool Nightmare Manga | Readterest.com

Hôkago Hokenshitsu, “Afterschool Clinic”

• Setona Mizushiro

• Go! Comi (2006–ongoing)

• Akita Shoten (Princess, 2004–ongoing)

• Shôjo, Psychological Horror

• 16+ (mild language, graphic violence, sexual situations)

Living up to its title, Afterschool Nightmare captures feelings of identity loss and cold terror, beginning with a brutal Freudian punch below the belt. Mashiro, a handsome, delicate-featured teenager, has a dark secret: although he considers himself male, he has “the upper body of a man and the lower body of a woman.” After “he” menstruates for the first time, he is recruited for a strange dream experiment together with several of his unseen classmates, in which they fight disturbing versions of one another in a surreal dreamworld. Through the shared experiment, Mashiro becomes closer to some of his classmates, but this only brings more shame and anxiety when a relationship threatens to turn sexual. And his classmates have their own psychological problems as well … A well-drawn, creepy, surprising series.

from
http://ift.tt/2eEiTZN

Tell Adolf Manga | Readterest.com

Adolf ni Tsugu, “Tell Adolf”

• Osamu Tezuka

• Viz/Cadence Books (1995–1996)

• Bungei Shunjû (Shukan Bunshun, 1983–1985)

• Seinen, Historical Drama

• Unrated/18+ (language, violence, nudity, sex)

Adolf was one of Tezuka’s last manga, but the first published in English (apart from the brief Phoenix excerpt in Frederik Schodt’s Manga! Manga!). The opening pages introduce it as “the story of three men named Adolf.” One is Adolf Kamil, a German Jew raised in Japan in the years leading up to World War II. Another is Kamil’s childhood friend Adolf Kaufman, a German-Japanese boy who becomes indoctrinated into the Hitler Youth. The third, Adolf Hitler, is a constant background presence in this bleak and bloody espionage story. Tezuka wrote and drew Adolf as an attempt at more serious, adult-oriented manga. As such, Adolf isn’t entirely successful, tending more toward pulp action and melodrama than naturalistic depictions of life. But as a wartime thriller, it’s both exciting and moving. Japan’s gradual descent into fascism, based partly on Tezuka’s own memories of growing up in Kobe, is particularly believable and chilling. The five English volumes, published by the now-defunct Viz subsidiary Cadence Books, are, confusingly, given subtitles but not numbered. The correct order: A Tale of the Twentieth Century, An Exile in Japan, The Half-Aryan, Days of Infamy, and 1945 and All That Remains.

from
http://ift.tt/2egDLE5

Abandon The Old in Tokyo Manga | Readterest.com

Yoshihiro Tatsumi

• Drawn & Quarterly (2006)

• various magazines (1970)

• Unrated/18+ (language, violence, nudity, sex)

The second in a series of Tatsumi books by Drawn & Quarterly. Like The Push Man and Other Stories, these are gloomy tales of life in the big city, starring mute blue-collar everymen and worn-out failures who walk the dark streets of 1970 Japan. The settings—dingy bathrooms, factories, and sewers—are drawn with rich detail, while the protagonists are drawn in a simple style, but without cartoon exaggeration. In the straightforward title story, a garbageman grows resentful of taking care of his aged mother; in “Beloved Monkey,” a factory worker uses his pet as a refuge from the outside world; in “The Hole,” a man is trapped in a pit by a deformed woman determined to take revenge on the male gender. While this collection is not quite as powerful as The Push Man, Tatsumi is a great storyteller and his pessimism is profound. It’s hard to imagine that there was a time when manga were so gritty that these stories were published in mainstream publications such as Weekly Shônen Magazine (as well as the classic underground magazine Garo).

from
http://ift.tt/2eEhYIX

3×3 Eyes Manga | Readterest.com

3×3 Eyes (Sazan Eyes) (3×3 EYES  )

• Yuzo Takada • Dark Horse (1995–2004)

• Kodansha (Young Magazine Pirate Edition/Young Magazine, 1987–2002)

• Seinen, Occult, Action

• Unrated/16+ (mild language, graphic violence, nudity, sexual situations)

Globetrotting pulp horror/action-adventure manga, a minor 1980s classic, midway between Indiana Jones, Ghostbusters, and H. P. Lovecraft. Teenage Yakumo dies and is reborn as the unkillable zombie servant of Pai, a cute Chinese girl with a split personality, who is actually one of the last survivors of a race of three-eyed beings from Tibet, immortals with awesome magical powers. Pai’s goal is to lose her immortality and become human, but her uniqueness makes her the target of other monsters, not to mention paranormal investigators and half-human cultists, who seek to use her to resurrect the evil god Kaiyan Wang. Working in a light, anime-influenced style (with occasional love comedy), Takada successfully depicts a world where secret cults sacrifice naked virgins in skyscrapers and monster rampages are caught on the evening news by incredulous reporters. The supernatural creatures are original, the cliff-hanger plots are exciting, and the balance of horror and humor is just right, even if Pai’s surface personality is your stereotypical “China girl” ditz. The English edition ends abruptly (some additional material was printed in Super Manga Blast! magazine but never collected), but it isn’t that big a loss; the later Japanese volumes become badly repetitive and succumb to shônen manga power escalation. Prior to the 1995 Dark Horse edition, the first volume was released in monthly comics format by Innovation Comics (with the same translation and retouch by Studio Proteus) in 1991.

from
http://ift.tt/2egzOz8

The Four Manga Demographics

Almost all manga magazines (and the stories inside them) are clearly aimed at either men or women. Age groups are sometimes unclear, but the gender difference is right there on the cover and title. (In magazines aimed at otaku [hard-core fans], it’s harder to tell: that cute girl on the cover of Asuka might be the reader’s stand-in, while that cute girl on the cover of Dengeki Daioh is more likely the reader’s fantasy.)

To Americans, this gender gap may seem old-fashioned. But although few American TV shows would openly label themselves “a boys’ show” or “a girls’ show,” advertisers know the difference, and manga publishers are merely being open about their target audience. (Superhero comics, after all, have unofficially been a boys’ club for decades.) The few manga magazines that intentionally cross the gender line, such as Wings and the short-lived Duo in the 1980s, tend to attract mostly female readers and ultimately become shôjo manga. However, the verdict is still out on recent gender-blurring magazines such as Comic Zero-Sum and Comic Blade, not to mention the androgynous shôjo fantasy magazine Asuka. In any case, the most popular manga, such as Weekly Shônen Jump and Ai Yazawa’s manga Nana (2002), are read by both genders.

 Shônen (Boys’ Manga)

Aimed at boys from early elementary school to their late teens (it varies depending on the magazine), shônen manga spill over with action, sports, and battle scenes. Science fiction and fantasy elements are also common. The stories are sometimes formulaic, but the bestselling magazines, Weekly Shônen Jump and Weekly Shônen Magazine, sell more than two million copies per week.

 Typical Shônen Magazines:

Dengeki Daioh (“Electric Shock Great King”) • Shônen Ace • Shônen Champion • Monthly Shônen Gangan • Shônen Jump • Shônen Sunday

 Shôjo (Girls’ Manga)

The most popular subjects of shôjo manga are romance, comedy, and drama, often all three in the same story. Styles range from lighthearted magazines for elementary school students (Nakayoshi, ChuChu) to racy magazines for teenagers (Shôjo Comic, Cheese, Cookie) to more fantasy-oriented publications (Wings, Asuka). Female readers also consume a number of specialty magazines featuring mystery, horror, and Boys’ Love stories.

 Typical Shôjo Magazines:

Bessatsu Friend • Ciao • Cookie • Hana to Yume (“Flowers and Dreams”) • LaLa • Margaret • Nakayoshi (“Pals”) • Princess • Ribon (“Ribbon”)

 Seinen (Men’s Manga)

Seinen means “young man,” but the term describes all manga aimed at older male readers, from the respectable Big Comic series (read mostly by men from their twenties to middle age) to the trashy, sexy “young” magazines (aimed at older high school boys and college-age men). Business, crime, and the occasional political drama; historical and military adventures; and the occasional genre story give seinen manga great highs and lows.

 Typical Seinen Magazines:

Big Comic Spirits • Business Jump • Manga Action • Ultra Jump • Young Animal • Young Jump • Young King Ours

 Jôsei (Women’s Manga)

For college-age to middle-aged women, jôsei manga deal mostly with work, family, and romance. Outwardly the most sedate and down-to-earth of all manga, they feature some of the most sophisticated writing. The subgenre of “ladies’ comics” (redicomi) features explicit sex stories for women.

 Typical Jôsei Magazines:

Be Love • Chorus • Dessert • Feel Young • Flowers • Kiss • Office You • Silky • Young You

from
http://ift.tt/2dwSLO2

What makes Manga different

So why are manga so popular, anyway? Looking for answers, people have pointed to Japan’s high literacy rate, the relatively late introduction of TV, and in the past the large number of commuters in cities such as Tokyo, who used to read manga magazines on the train. (In recent years, cell phones and handheld video games have eaten up people’s commute time, and now readers are more likely simply to buy their favorite graphic novels at the store.) The true answer is as much about publishing smarts as it is about artistic techniques.

 Two Facts About Manga

 1. Manga are stories. Long stories. With endings.

Outside of the small presses, the American comics market isn’t about stories; it’s about franchises. The classic superhero comics, from Superman to Spider-Man, have beginnings but no endings; they focus on one-shots, collectibles, and novelty items; they are owned by corporations and designed to be reinvented endlessly by “new creative teams.”

By contrast, while not many manga are as tightly plotted as novels, they have at least the dramatic cohesiveness of long-running TV shows. In a typical manga, the first chapter is something like a pilot episode, which establishes the basic premise and the main character. If the story is a flop, it may end hastily, but if it is a hit, the author is invited (or pressured) to keep it going until the intended ending (or until readers grow sick of it). Thus, the most popular, and some of the best, manga tend to be the longest. Popular manga often run for ten or more volumes. Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z (forty-two volumes total) and Ranma ½ (thirty-eight volumes) are among the longest series that have been translated, but they don’t have anything on Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kôen-mae Hashutsujo (“This Is the Police Station in Front of Kameari Park in Katsushika Ward”), an untranslated comedy series that celebrated its 150th volume in 2006. (A pure sitcom rather than a story manga, KochiKame is a bit of an anomaly, but many story manga have run fifty volumes or more.)

Sometimes it’s clear when manga have run past their expiration date, but other manga manage to keep it together for their entire run. How can manga be so long? Don’t readers get tired of it? The typical Japanese reader skims a manga page in three seconds, and given such furious speed, most manga focus on quick, cinematic storytelling, as pioneered by Osamu Tezuka in the 1940s and 1950s. By contrast, the classic American comics of the same period are dense, text-heavy stories rarely more than eight pages in length. At some point, American comics chose fancy production values and detailed draftsmanship, while Japanese comics chose cliff-hanger stories and cheap black-and-white printing. There are exceptions, such as Katsuya Terada and Akihiro Yamada, but they’re not the rule.

 2. The artist is more important than the property.

Most manga artists, except for those doing spin-offs of existing games, novels, and anime, own at least part of the copyright to their work. This stands in stark contrast to American comics, which until the 1990s were almost totally dominated by corporate-owned properties that viewed artists as interchangeable cogs. (Blade, Spider-Man, and X-Men were all created as works for hire.) Manga artists occasionally switch publishers, as when Weekly Shônen Jump artists left to form Comic Bunch (known in America as Raijin Comics), or when numerous Enix artists left the company in 2002, forming new magazines such as Comic Blade. (They took their manga series with them, but for copyright reasons they had to change the names slightly.)

Japanese publishers are besieged by applications from manga artists, but not just anyone will do. To find the best, publishers run new-talent contests, often printing the winning entries in zôkan (special editions) of their magazines. Other artists become famous through dôjinshi (self-published comics) and are later picked up professionally. When an artist is selected, he or she is assigned an editor, who oversees the artist’s work and frequently steers it in a more commercial direction. In the 1980s, editors started taking a heavier hand in manga production, and in the higher-selling magazines, they have major input regarding plots. But it is almost unheard of for a manga artist to be dropped from the series he or she created and replaced with somebody else.

Manga artists work under rigorous schedules. A typical weekly title is twenty pages, or a stunning eighty pages a month. Some artists draw more than one story at a time. In the artist’s notes for YuYu Hakusho, a weekly manga, Yoshihiro Togashi calculates how much free time he has, based on a formula of four hours per page (not counting time spent scripting) and five hours of sleep per night. He comes to the conclusion that he has nineteen free hours per week (“subtract time spent for eating, bathing, biological functions, and other necessities, and I’d only be left with three to four hours”). Some manga artists go days without sleep to meet their deadlines, and burnout horror stories abound. In the 1990s, the magazine Quick Japan ran a series of stories about manga artists who had gone crazy as a result of their work.

To manage their workload, most manga artists employ multiple assistants, who lay down screentone (the black-and-white dot patterns used in manga), gather reference materials, draw backgrounds and crowd scenes, help with the inking and computer effects (if any), and generally do whatever the artist asks them to. Unlike in American comic books (but like many American newspaper comic strips), there is no shame in using assistants; most artists do not credit their assistants, but some do, and some even allow them to show off their own work in the extra pages of their graphic novels. The system serves as a sort of mentorship, allowing aspiring artists to practice the skills they need to go pro. Some artists, such as Takao Saito, have vast studios with dozens of assistants. Others do not; Akira Toriyama lived in his parents’ house while drawing the megahit Dr. Slump, and Mihona Fujii, artist of Gals!, used her mother as her primary assistant.

A few manga artists create “art for art’s sake,” whether in self-published dôjinshi or in underground magazines such as Ax and the now-defunct Garo. But for most creators, manga is both an art and a business: a mass medium that, unlike TV or movies, can be created by one person with the most basic tools. While the art shines through, the business finds new ways to thrive; many publishers are now experimenting with online manga, e-books, and other new media.

from
http://ift.tt/2efbT2h

A Brief History of Manga

 

pre-1960s

In the immediate postwar period, manga are mostly children’s adventure stories and family newspaper strips. The vastly influential and prolific Osamu Tezuka tries his hand at science fiction, shôjo (girls’) manga, and more.

The Wonderful World of Sazae-san (Machiko Hachigawa) (1946) • Lost World (Osamu Tezuka) (1948) • Metropolis (Osamu Tezuka) (1949) • Next World (Osamu Tezuka) (1951) • Astro Boy (Osamu Tezuka) (1952) • Princess Knight (Osamu Tezuka) (1953) • Phoenix (Osamu Tezuka) (1954)

1960s

Anime TV shows are produced for the first time, and manga go wild with speedlines, fast cars, and action heroes. Meanwhile, artists in the gekiga (dramatic pictures) movement attempt to create manga for adults: hard-boiled crime stories such as Golgo 13, and on the less commercial end of the spectrum, existential dramas such as The Push Man.

Cyborg 009 (Shotaro Ishinomori) (1964) • Speed Racer (Tatsuo Yoshida) (1967) • The Genius Bakabon (Fujio Akatsuka) (1967) • Lupin III (Monkey Punch) (1967) • Wild 7 (Mikiya Mochizuki) (1969) • The Push Man (Yoshihiro Tatsumi) (1969) • Golgo 13 (Takao Saito) (1969)

1970s

The golden age of manga. Working within commercial magazines ostensibly for young readers, artists produce epic space operas, horror stories, historical dramas, romances, and even works on politics and religion. The gekiga movement morphs into seinen manga, sometimes trashy, over-the-top comics aimed at young men. Sports manga become more and more popular. Shôjo manga produce classic works of drama and science fiction, with women rather than men creating the majority of the stories for the first time.

Lone Wolf and Cub (Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima) (1970) • Doraemon: Gadget Cat from the Future (Fujiko F. Fujio) (1970) • The Rose of Versailles (Riyoko Ikeda) (1972) • Devilman (Go Nagai) (1972) • The Drifting Classroom (Kazuo Umezu) (1972) • Barefoot Gen (Keiji Nakazawa) (1972) • Buddha (Osamu Tezuka) (1972) • Black Jack (Osamu Tezuka) (1973) • They Were Eleven (Moto Hagio) (1975) • Swan (Kiyoko Ariyoshi) (1976) • From Eroica with Love (Yasuko Aoike) (1976) • To Terra (Keiko Takemiya) (1977) • Lum^*Urusei Yatsura (Rumiko Takahashi) (1978)

1980s

Manga become big business, with publishers and editors relying on readers’ polls to guide the direction of stories, sometimes at a creative cost. Female artists such as Rumiko Takahashi bring a new style to previously super-macho boys’ magazines, while Katsuhiro Otomo and Hayao Miyazaki up the standard of realistic draftsmanship. The otaku fan market develops, along with many of the things stereotypically associated with anime: science fiction and mecha stories, RPG-style fantasy, cute big-eyed girls. Anime exerts a growing influence on manga character designs: eyes get bigger, hair gets wilder, bodies get slimmer. As the manga-reading audience ages, jôsei (women’s) manga become an established market, and seinen manga branch out into comics about businessmen, golf, fishing, and other topics of interest to adult men.

Dr. Slump (Akira Toriyama) (1980) • Maison Ikkoku (Rumiko Takahashi) (1980) • Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo) (1982) • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Hayao Miyazaki) (1982) • Fist of the North Star (Tetsuo Hara) (1983) • Dragon Ball (Akira Toriyama) (1984) • Appleseed (Masamune Shirow) (1985) • City Hunter (Tsukasa Hojo) (1985) • Banana Fish (Akimi Yoshida) (1985) • Knights of the Zodiac (Masami Kurumada) (1986) • Here Is Greenwood (Yukie Nasu) (1986) • Ranma ½ (Rumiko Takahashi) (1987) • JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (Hirohiko Araki) (1987) • Please Save My Earth (Saki Hiwatari) (1987) • Short Program (Mitsuru Adachi) (1988) • Berserk (Kentaro Miura) (1989) • Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga (Kentaro Takekuma & Koji Aihara) (1989)

1990s

After peaking in 1995, manga magazine sales begin to drop. In the same year, the critically acclaimed anime TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion increases mainstream awareness of otaku, giving nerdiness a certain hipster appeal. Although dôjinshi (fan-produced comics) are technically illegal, their audience booms, and major publishers increasingly scout dôjinshi artists for new talent. Boys’ Love (shônen ai) magazines, featuring idealized guy-guy romances, are the latest craze with female readers.

Slam Dunk (Takehiko Inoue) (1990) • The Walking Man (Jiro Taniguchi) (1990) • Boys over Flowers (Yoko Kamio) (1992) • Sailor Moon (Naoko Takeuchi) (1992) • Fushigi Yugi (Yuu Watase) (1992) • Black & White (Taiyo Matsumoto) (1993) • Fake (Sanami Matoh) (1994) • Rurouni Kenshin (Nobuhiro Watsuki) (1994) • Red River (Chie Shinohara) (1995) • Happy Mania (Moyoco Anno) (1995) • Cardcaptor Sakura (CLAMP) (1996) • One Piece (Eiichiro Oda) (1997) • GTO (Tohru Fujisawa) (1997) • Parasyte (Hitoshi Iwaaki) (1997) • Love Hina (Ken Akamatsu) (1998) • Pure Trance (Junko Mizuno) (1998) • Fruits Basket (Natsuki Takaya) (1999) • Naruto (Masashi Kishimoto) (1999)

2000s

The manga market continues to fragment into subcultures, although hit graphic novels still sell in the millions. Classic series such as Fist of the North Star, Kinnikuman, and Knights of the Zodiac are revived as nostalgic spin-offs for aging fans. Gothic fashion provides new visuals and dark themes. The spirit of kashibonya (pay libraries) is reborn in the growing trend of manga cafés, where customers can read all they want for an hourly fee. As the North American manga market grows, large publishers think more and more in global terms, while some think outside of print altogether and begin digitizing their comics to distribute through new media.

Hot Gimmick (Miki Aihara) (2000) • The Wallflower (Tomoko Hayakawa) (2000) • Nodame Cantabile (Tomoko Ninomiya) (2001) • Monokuro Kinderbook (Kan Takahama) (2001) • Cromartie High School (Eiji Nonaka) (2001) • Nana (Ai Yazawa) (2002) • Fullmetal Alchemist (Hiromu Arakawa) (2002) • Death Note (Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata) (2005)

 

The way things used to be: the American comic market of the 1990s, as depicted in Tomoyuki Saito’s Dame Dame Saito Nikki. (Illustration Credit itr.3) For years, Viz and Dark Horse were America’s two largest manga publishers. Several other companies launched small manga lines, including Antarctic Press, Studio Ironcat, and Central Park Media. In the mid-1990s, the American comic market entered a slump, which hit superhero publishers hardest. Manga got a proportionally larger slice of a smaller pie. However, it still played by the rules of the American comics market and was sold mostly in specialty comics stores. Manga were printed left to right, in the thin pamphlet format of American comics, and only later (if at all) collected as graphic novels. Publishers experimented with colorization and even “collectible variant covers” to get attention from a dwindling audience of American comics readers. Since those readers were mostly male, virtually all translations were of shônen (boys’) or seinen (men’s) manga.

Then came Sailor Moon. The anime TV series was not a hit when it came to America in 1995, but it developed a passionate subculture of female fans. In 1997 the original manga was translated, along with several other titles, in the English manga anthology magazine MixxZine. The brainchild of former lawyer and Web designer Stuart Levy, MixxZine attempted to break out to non–comics readers (the first issues referred to manga as “motionless picture entertainment” in order to avoid the stigma associated with “comics”). The magazine lasted only a few years, but the Sailor Moon graphic novels were a hit, demonstrating that shôjo (girls’) manga could succeed in America. Viz and other companies started their own shôjo lines, but Mixx Entertainment dominated the market for years under their new name, Tokyopop.

The manga market grew rapidly, pushed along by the growing popularity of anime and Japanese video games, but soon was standing on its own feet. Using scanners and the Internet, manga fans distributed unlicensed “scanslations,” the same way that anime fans had copied videotapes ten years before. In 2002 two Japanese publishers launched major magazines in the United States: Gutsoon Entertainment with the short-lived weekly anthology Raijin Comics, and Shueisha with the official English version of their boys’ magazine Weekly Shônen Jump. To bring Weekly Shônen Jump to America (as simply Shonen Jump), Shueisha partnered with Viz, which was now connected to two of Japan’s three largest manga publishers. In 2004, the third major publisher, Kodansha, stepped in, partnering with science fiction publisher Del Rey. More American manga publishers sprang up, publishing titles from small and mid-sized Japanese manga companies.

 

Founded by artists and editors who defected from Enix in 2002, Ichijinsha’s Comic Zero-Sum and Mag Garden’s Comic Blade feature a mix of shôjo and shônen styles. (Illustration Credit itr.4)     Today most bookstores have manga sections, and in 2005 the pop culture retailers Web site ICv2 estimated the size of the American manga market at between $155 million and $180 million. Manga dominate the graphic novel bestseller list and frequently appear in the weekly lists of bestselling young-adult fiction. Their success has paved the way for Korean manhwa and Chinese manhua as well as a growing number of manga-influenced American comics. The very alienness that once turned away readers—the stylistic differences, the right-to-left format—is part of the appeal. For years, America has exported its movies, TV, and pop culture to Japanese audiences. Now the tables have turned—America is part of the manga world.

from
http://ift.tt/2efebhP

Manga in America

American comics had their day in the sun. In the 1930s, newspaper comic strips such as Dick Tracy, Little Orphan Annie, and Li’l Abner featured long, melodramatic stories and were read by millions of people of all ages. In 1934, comic books were invented (originally as reprint collections of newspaper strips), and for years they enjoyed incredible popularity, with genres such as crime, Westerns, superheroes, romance, humor, and science fiction. But by 1954, the violent content of horror and crime comics attracted unwelcome attention from a public anxious about juvenile delinquency. The Seduction of the Innocent, a bestselling book by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, claimed that comics exposed children to sex and violence (arguments that would be repeated fifty years later about video games). After a public backlash, the surviving publishers instituted strict self-censorship, limiting comics to superheroes and other “safe” entertainment. Over the next twenty years, comics gradually regained their sophistication, but they never recovered their sales or public image.

Meanwhile, in Japan, manga were booming. As early as the 1970s, a tiny number of outlets imported untranslated manga for American buyers, most of whom were already familiar with Japanese styles from watching early anime such as Astro Boy on American TV. With the first appearance of mass-market VCRs in 1975, American anime fandom began to grow. Frederik Schodt’s 1983 Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics was the first English-language book on the subject. By the early 1980s, manga artists such as Monkey Punch and Osamu Tezuka had appeared to small but enthusiastic groups at American comic book conventions, but almost no manga had been translated, except for a few short stories and English-language vanity projects printed overseas. To the vast majority of Americans, “comics” were full-color superhero stories. Black-and-white, foreign comics were not even on the radar.

Then, in the mid-1980s, American comics stores experienced the “black-and-white boom”—a sudden interest in black-and-white, small-press comics, based on the explosive success of the self-published Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In this more receptive environment, two separate companies produced the first serious translated manga in 1987: First Comics with Lone Wolf and Cub, and Viz/Eclipse with several titles: Area 88, Mai the Psychic Girl, and The Legend of Kamui. Founded by Seiji Horibuchi with Satoru Fujii as editor in chief, Viz was the U.S. branch of the Japanese manga publisher Shogakukan. For its first releases Viz formed a partnership with Eclipse Comics, an American small-press comics publisher, whose employee James Hudnall had previously written to Shogakukan encouraging them to enter the American market. Toren Smith, another early manga fan, helped get Viz off the ground, then went on to found Studio Proteus, a major manga translation and localization company. Viz later parted ways with Eclipse, while Smith’s Studio Proteus (who did work for both companies) went to Dark Horse Comics and built their manga division.

from
http://ift.tt/2dwNQww

Sixty Years of Japanese Comics

Manga (  or  ) is Japanese for “comics.” Coined in the 1800s by the Japanese artist Hokusai to refer to doodles in his sketchbook, the term can be translated as “whimsical sketches” or “lighthearted pictures.” The same term is the root of the Korean word for comics (manhwa) and the Chinese word (manhua). Today, most Japanese people use the English word “comics” (komikku) as well.

Almost as soon as modern printing technology was introduced to Japan in the late 1800s, comics were published: first European-style satirical cartoons, then American-style newspaper strips, and eventually monthly comics magazines aimed at young readers. The oldest manga available in translation, The Four Immigrants Manga, was drawn by Henry (Yoshitaka) Kiyama while he was living in San Francisco in 1931. After World War II, the Japanese manga industry was quick to rise out of the ashes. TV was not common in Japan until the late 1950s, and movies were always expensive, so comics were cheap, accessible entertainment. Some artists developed self-contained comic stories for kashibonya—professional book lenders or “pay libraries”—who loaned hardbound comic books for a small fee. Others drew manga for a new crop of children’s magazines, now printed in black and white instead of color because of postwar economic realities. The most popular magazine series were collected and repackaged as graphic novels (or, in Japanese, tankôbon). In this environment of frantic experimentation, today’s “classic” manga artists established the styles that future generations would mimic.

As the Japanese economy improved, manga adapted. Kashibonya became a thing of the past, but monthly and biweekly manga magazines could be purchased at any newsstand. To compete with the fast pace of TV, the biggest publishers introduced weekly magazines, starting with Weekly Shônen Magazine in 1959. Manga were licensed for anime, toys, and live-action movies. At the same time, the form began to achieve critical respect; Sanpei Shirato’s epic Ninja Bugeichô (“Ninja Military Chronicles,” 1959–1962) was a favorite with student radicals due to its revolutionary themes. Art and stories became more diverse: sports, horror, war stories, science fiction, occupational manga, manga for adult readers. Sales rose throughout the 1970s and 1980s until the bestselling boys’ magazine Weekly Shônen Jump sold more than five million copies a week. As manga became a bigger and bigger business, a flourishing fan community began drawing and trading dôjinshi (self-published comics and zines) based on their favorite characters. Publishers produced sub-culture magazines and direct-to-video animation for the fan market, and the fans, aka otaku, became Japan’s equivalent of hard-core comic book collectors. But for most readers, manga were simply a part of their everyday lives, something they enjoyed casually, like movies or TV.

Osamu Tezuka helped establish the styles that would define modern manga. His Lost World was published in 1948. (Illustration Credit itr.2)         In the mid-1990s, the Japanese economy went into a recession, which affected manga as well. Sales dipped, and publishers were forced to rely more heavily on licensing, as well as finding new niche markets: video game manga, pachinko manga, Boys’ Love manga. As everywhere around the world, the rise of the Internet and other new technologies changed reading and buying habits; newsstand magazine sales slumped. Publishers fretted about a rise in tachiyomi (reading manga in the store without buying it), mawashiyomi (loaning manga to your friends), used-book chains, and all-you-can-read manga cafés. But graphic novel sales remain strong; in 2002, the latest volume of the manga series One Piece broke records with an initial print run of 2.52 million copies. In Tokyo today, subway commuters may carry more cell phones than manga magazines, but comics are still more widely read and respected in Japan than anywhere else in the world.

from
http://ift.tt/2eoblFS

Read Deadman Wonderland Manga | Readterest.com

Deadman Wonderland Manga (Japanese: デッドマンワンダーランド Hepburn: Deddoman Wandārando^?) is a Japanese manga serieswritten by Jinsei Kataoka and illustrated by Kazuma Kondou, who also wrote and illustrated the Eureka Seven manga, and published in Shōnen Ace since 2008. Tokyopop acquired the licensing rights to distribute the manga in English and released the first 5 volumes of the manga before the company shut down its North American Publishing division in 2011.Viz Media announced that it had licensed the series for English language release in North America on July 7, 2013, and released the first volume on February 11, 2014; new volumes were released every two months thereafter.

Plot

A massive anomaly ravaged Japan’s mainland and destroyed most of Tokyo, sinking three-quarters of the city into the ocean.

Ten years later, the story shifts to Ganta Igarashi, a seemingly ordinary student attending Nagano Prefecture’s middle school. As anescapee, a survivor of the great earthquake, Ganta has no memories of the tragedy and has lived a normal life. This all changes when a strange person covered in blood and crimson armor floats through his classroom windows. Grinning madly, the ‘Red Man’ massacres Ganta’s entire class but instead of killing him, embeds a red crystal shard in Ganta’s chest. Within days of the massacre, Ganta is subjected to a kangaroo court as a suspect and is sentenced to death at Deadman Wonderland, a prison that doubles as a theme park.

Arriving at the prison, Ganta is fitted with a special collar which monitors his location and vital signs. A lethal poison is constantly injected into his bloodstream through the collar, but it can be neutralized by consuming a peculiar candy-like medicine every three days, which can be acquired through various activities in the prison, i.e. performing for audiences, working backstage, purchasing with Cast Points (a form of currency among inmates at Deadman Wonderland), etc. To gather Cast Points, an inmate must perform in the facility’s lethal games and survive. Fortunately for Ganta, he is aided by a mysterious girl named Shiro who apparently knows Ganta but whose existence is unknown to the other prisoners.

While trying to survive as an inmate on death row, Ganta intends to find the ‘Red Man’ to clear his name. In a bizarre twist, Ganta begins to develop the ability to manipulate his own blood, to the point of turning it into a weapon. Unknown to Ganta, he has become one of the prison’s “Deadmen,” an isolated group of prisoners possessing the Branches of Sin an ability which makes them capable of controlling their blood. After his ability is discovered, Ganta is forced to participate in brutal gladiatorial death matches known as Carnival Corpse, whose anonymous spectators pay large amounts of money to watch. In his long struggle to survive he manages to befriend some of those he fought off in the arena and with their help, Ganta continues his quest to uncover the identity of the ‘Red Man’, why he turned into a Deadman, and the dark secrets the prison authorities are hiding.

About Deadman Wonderland Manga

Deadman Wonderland is Japan’s only privately operated prison, built after the Great Tokyo Earthquake on ground zero. Deadman Wonderland was founded by Rinichirō Hagire and run by Tsunenaga Tamaki. It gathers prisoners from all over Japan and raises money for the revival of the destroyed metropolis. To the public and the tourists that visit daily, Deadman Wonderland is a massive theme park-like facility run by the prison population. Unbeknownst to the general population, most of the prison’s attractions involve cruel games of survival where many inmates lose their lives or are maimed for the entertainment of an oblivious public. The prison’s guard staff is also granted autonomy over how to punish the prisoners, which often results in bloodshed.

Each prisoner is fitted with a collar that functions as a life monitor, locator and stunner. The prisoners on death row receive poison injections through the collar and must consume a special antidote candy every three days. Their collars contain countdown timers that warn the wearer with blinking and beeping when time is running low. When the timer reaches zero, the collar displays the word “DEAD” and the inmate immediately succumbs to the poison and dies. Afterwards, the collar unlocks allowing it to be removed. The collars can also be removed by key cards used by the prison guards.

While the threat of violence is constant at the prison, most prisoners enjoy a great deal of liberty inside Deadman Wonderland. Utilizing Cast Points, the prison’s unique form of currency, prisoners can purchase a wide variety of items from ordinary lunches, to luxurious furniture for their rooms, and even years off of their sentences (though Cast Points can’t be used to buy the freedom of a “Deadman”). Those on death row also use Cast Points to purchase their life-saving candies.

Despite its identity as a prison and theme park, Deadman Wonderland houses a much darker secret. Hidden away from the eyes of tourists and the general prison population is a massive underground facility known as “G Block”. This is where the prison keeps their Deadmen secluded and where the Carnival Corpse arena is located. G Block also houses numerous laboratories and rooms where experiments on humans are performed and where scientists are attempting to harness the powers of the Deadmen for monetary and political gain.

Eventually, Ganta and his Deadman allies received the assistance of Makina, the chief of the prison guards, to defeat Tsunenaga Tamaki. Rinichirō Hagire and Toto Sakagami assumed control of Deadman Wonderland while Tamaki committed suicide. After Deadman Wonderland was closed, the necklaces were removed from the inmates. Most of the remaining inmates were transferred to different prisons where some of them were allowed a retrial.

Makina later rallies the Deadmen on a mission to infiltrate Deadman Wonderland and activate the Mother Goose Program to completely seal the Wretched Egg (another name for the Red Man), with the resulting battle destroying most of Deadman Wonderland

from
http://ift.tt/2exG2MP

Read Kuroko no Basuke Manga | Readterest.com

Kuroko’s Basketball, known in Japan as Kuroko no Basuke (黒子のバスケ^?), is a Japanese sports manga series written and illustrated by Tadatoshi Fujimaki. The English rendering The Basketball Which Kuroko Plays also appears in the artwork of the Japanese version. It was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 2008 to September 2014, with the individual chapters collected into 30 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. It tells the story of a high school basketball team trying to make it to the national tournament.

The basketball team of Teiko Middle School rose to distinction by demolishing all competition. The regulars of the team became known as the “Generation of Miracles”. After graduating from middle school, these five stars went to different high schools with top basketball teams. However, a fact few know is that there was another player in the “Generation of Miracles”: a phantom sixth man. This mysterious player is now a freshman at Seirin High, a new school with a powerful, if little-known, team. Now, Tetsuya Kuroko – “the sixth member of the “Generation of Miracles”, and Taiga Kagami – a naturally talented player who spent most of middle school in the US, aim to bring Seirin to the top of Japan and begin taking on Kuroko’s former teammates one by one. The series chronicles Seirin’s rise to become Japan’s number one high school team. The rest of the Generation of Miracles include Ryota Kise, Shintaro Midorima, Daiki Aomine, Atsushi Murasakibara and Seijuro Akashi.

Kuroko no Basuke Manga reviews:

Story: Kuroko no Basuke (Kuroko’s Basketball) to sum it up without spoilers is a basketball manga about a boy named Kuroko Tetsuya wanting to show folks, the “Generations of Miracles” (a group of Kuroko’s preceding team mates) in particular his way of basketball, hence the name Kuroko no Basuke. Reading into it you’ll discover how deep the plot gets as you go along introducing new characters and hazards to Kuroko’s basketball team Seirin, the deuteragonist: Kagami Taiga is “the light that illuminates Kuroko” meaning he’s the person who Kuroko practises with and makes plays with. Kagami himself desires to defeat every single player of the “Generations of Miracles”. Up until now Kuroko no Basuke never stops to amaze me with it’s fantastic performance, letting you experience the character’s emotions and feeling also that winning isn’t easy, you’ve to struggle and learn from your defeats. Great storyline that only keeps getting better and better. 9.5/10

Art: Though some panels can be overly exaggerated and unrealistic in some matches you’re still able to understand the current scenario. But for the most part the manga is clear, nicely drawn and at times quite naturalistic, as well as FUCKING EPIC. 8/10.

Character: Now this is were every manga/anime needs to shine, and Kuroko no Basuke is one of those series that has some of the best character development ever, for characters like Kise, Kagami, Kuroko, Teppei and Hyuuga they are the ones who have made me proud the most with their overall aims, approaches and accomplishments. Kagami with his will to not give up and monster-like jumping height, Kise for his approach in matches and rivalry with Aomine, Hyuuga and Teppei with depth towards their back story and Kuroko’s goals and achievements. Now this are only my personal favourites, all in all fantastic characters. 9/10.

Enjoyment: You’ll be craving your weekly dose of Kuroko no Basuke’s awesomeness, even if you are not into sports I am pretty confident you’ll love this, hell I myself am not even into sports and It Is one of my favourites. The enjoyment will just build-up as you go along reading it

from
http://ift.tt/2e26E7R

Eden: It’s An Endless World Manga | Readterest.com

Hiroki Endo

• Dark Horse (2005–ongoing)

• Kodansha (Afternoon, 1997–ongoing)

• Seinen, Science Fiction, Military, Action

• 18+ (language, frequent extreme graphic violence, nudity, sex)

A postapocalyptic hard science fiction manga in which combat is interspersed with discussion of Big Issues, Eden is comparable to Masamune Shirow’s Appleseed. Thirty-five years after a deadly viral epidemic, parts of the Earth have reverted to nature, and the United Nations wars with various factions for control of remote parts of the world. While wandering the wilderness of South America, teenage Elijah is picked up by a UN military unit and becomes involved in their battles against Propater, a cultlike organization. Eden starts out as a postapocalyptic survival story; the landscapes are evocatively drawn, with detailed images of abandoned cities overgrown with grass and trees. Soon, however, the story turns to military action, with ill-defined factions fighting using robots, prepubescent cyborg hackers, bioengineered monsters, and other increasingly fantastic technology. If the point is to show the horror and arbitrariness of war, it succeeds, but the characters and themes are secondary to the combat, ultimately to the detriment of the story. The fact that the characters are named after Gnostic religious terms doesn’t clarify matters for the casual reader, and the discussion of Christianity is likewise disconnected from the action, although the good art makes it an enjoyable read.

from
http://ift.tt/2dJOMNv

Eagle: The making of an Asian-American President Manga

Eagle

• Kaiji Kawaguchi

• Viz (2000–2002)

• Shogakukan (Big Comic, 1997–2001)

• Seinen, Political Drama

• Unrated/16+ (language, violence, brief nudity, sex)

When New York senator Kenneth Yamaoka makes a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, young Japanese reporter Takashi Jo comes to the United States to cover his campaign. Once in America, Takashi discovers a secret: he’s Yamaoka’s illegitimate son. Eagle is a family story (Yamaoka is married into a Kennedy-esque clan), a meditation on America’s role in the world, and a ground-level, state-by-state look at American political primaries. At times, it has the depth of a good novel, whose central question boils down to Takashi’s own mixed feelings about his father: is Yamaoka a “heartless bastard” or a driven idealist whose ends justify the means? But Kawaguchi’s ambition demands that he be held to high standards, and politically savvy readers may be disappointed by Eagle, whose Clinton-era view of politics (a thinly disguised Bill and Hillary are characters) comes across as a liberal, specifically Japanese liberal, fantasy. In predictably unrealistic manga fashion, Yamaoka is portrayed as a politician who can appeal to everybody, a Democrat who can enter Texas cowboy bars and win them over to his side on gun control. The big issues are labor, the economy, and international affairs; religion is never mentioned, and Yamaoka’s race, though addressed, still isn’t addressed enough. The opposing candidates are undeveloped (except for Yamaoka’s chief Democratic rival Al Noah, aka Al Gore), and the story is so focused on the primaries that the Republican candidate barely even appears. In short, Eagle succeeds more on a character level than as a political analysis.

from
http://ift.tt/2e09lE2

Duklyon: Clamp School Defenders Manga | Readterest.com

GAKUEN TOKKEI DUKLYON, “School Defenders Duklyon”

• CLAMP • Tokyopop (2003)

• Kadokawa (Comic Genki, 1991–1993)

• Tokusatsu, Comedy • All Ages

Duklyon: Clamp School Defenders is a gut-busting send-up of the sentai superhero team genre. Kentarou Higashikunimaru and Takeshi Shukaido are high school students at the prestigious Clamp
School, and employees of the Duklyon bakery, but when a patriotic song is piped through the school’s speakers, they transform into the costumed champions of justice: the Clamp School Defenders! Together with their manager, the hotheaded and mallet-wielding Eri, the team battles their archnemesis, the “evil” Imonoyama Shopping District Association, which tries to disrupt school life with its menagerie of monsters (like the Evil Sheep Beast Wooltar, or Giant Elephant Beast Sucophant). Duklyon is a celebration of silliness. The rapid-fire puns and parodies will elicit much rolling of the eyes, but you’ll likely find yourself laughing in spite of yourself. A must-read for comedy fans, but those looking for plot and character development should look elsewhere.

from
http://ift.tt/2duVWDo

DR. SLUMP Manga by Akira Toriyama | Readterest.com

(Dr Slump )

• Akira Toriyama

• Viz (2005–2008)

• Shueisha (Weekly Shônen Jump, 1980–1985)

• Shônen, Science Fiction, Comedy

• 13+ (mild language, crude humor)

A spontaneous megahit when it first appeared in 1980, Dr. Slump established Akira Toriyama as one of Japan’s greatest cartoonists. In the anything-goes town of Penguin Village, Dr. Senbei Norimaki (an incompetent inventor who wants a wife but is just as happy setting up a Rube Goldberg–esque chain of events in order to see a girl’s panties) builds Arale, a superpowered little robot girl. Arale, who is strong enough to split the planet in half by stamping her foot, spends most of her time running around the village, playing with poo and causing chaos. The plots, reminiscent of Mad magazine or children’s books, are dense with imagination and demonstrate a sheer joy of drawing: Toriyama fills the pages with aliens, dinosaurs, talking animals and appliances, giant monsters, planes, and Star Wars references. The characters frequently make fun of the manga itself, and sometimes pick up the sound effects and play with them. The only problem with Dr. Slump is that it’s so good it makes Toriyama’s later series look halfhearted by comparison. Anarchic, fun, beautifully drawn, and incredibly creative.

from
http://ift.tt/2e4vqpu

Reviews of top 10 Best fiction books of all time

This is a list of top 10 best fiction books of all time which include the masterpieces that span multiple centuries to now, the original works are written in various languages, and the story covers a lot of ranges. Wars and fights, coming of age realizations and moral conflicts, family issues and extraretinal encounters, the great big world of fiction never cease to amaze and satisfy us. We have selected a few of the best for your convenience in beginning the journey of a reading life.

1984

Published in 1949, the book is the dystopia of the author which is about 39 years later. As of now, the book still applies so well that it startled us. The depiction of a haunting world that was totally imagined by the author in so convincing from the first to the last word. As time goes by, the admonitions of the book have never ceased, making it the top of the  best fiction books of all time.

 

The Da Vinci Code

A lot of readers know this book for its controversy because it questions the existence of Christian church, of the dark organizations that gets sponsored by the higher ups and the spiritual aspects of science. This very controversy is what makes the book epic: it’s just a fiction! As the story seems so smooth and realistic, we find ourselves get led by the author to a more open-minded approach to the world.

 

Number The Stars

Portraying the Holocaust from a 10-year-old girl view, this is a groundbreaking novel that eases up the edges of the war so that younger readers can have a more realistic feel of what actually happened in the dark eras of the world. The little girl in the story has to deal with psychological conflicts from a really young age: should she sacrifice herself for other people? What is bravery? If the whole world turn left, can she turn right?

 

Life Of Pi

A fantasy adventure novel that came out in 2001, the book has successfully tell the story of a young boy who experiences spiritual and practical events from his young age. The journey begins as he is stuck on a stranded boat in the middle of an ocean, with only a tiger by his side. As the boy chooses to believe in religion, in fact, he embraces three religions, the book open a whole new look for religious books.

 

A game of throne books in order

In a world where summer last for decades and winter goes on for a human lifetime, there is a war for the iron throne. The fantasy authors often claim to do something different, but only this series changed the whole range of fantasy as of this decade. Predictability can be the death sentence for epic fantasy novels,  and you will not find it in this book. Be aware that the series content a lot of adult-rated materials.

 

To Kill A Mocking Bird

The story of the children of the quiet Southern town who gets shook up by conscience makes this book an instant hit with the critics and the readers alike. It was also made into a classic movie, which portrays the compassion, drama and the movements inside a human heart really well. What  does a root of a man have? The book answers us with innocence, kindness, love, humor, only to let life destroy them all with cruelty, hatred, ignorance and other real life experiences. The book makes its ways into every list of  best fiction books of all time.

 

The Lord Of The Rings books in order

The ultimate starter set for those who is new with Tolkien. Join the force now and travel through the magical middle earth. The series feature three books, which are the Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. A genuine masterpiece that needs no debate, this is one of the most widely read and inspiring fantasies epic book of all time. Simply, it is the treasure of a whole generation which last till today.

 

Harry Potter book order 

A young wizard gets taken by a storm, only to find the whole world actually revolves around himself. A fantasy novel with a coming-of-age hero, that is backed up by lovely adults and in fights with other villains. The corruption, the friendship, the heartwarming times and silly moments of teenagers all blend well in this series, making it a must read for kids, teenagers and adults alike. For its sheer popularity, we think it deserves a space in the list of  best fiction books of all time.

 

The Hunger games book

Many people come to this book after the famous movies merchandise, only to find themselves blown away by each and each page. It features the elements for an all time epic book in a modern yet fantasy settings. There is this sharp and intelligent heroine who gives into nothing, who has captured the heart of a sweet yet sensitive guy who gives out his love unconditionally. The settings are built originally and are elaborated with a unique plot lines. Thrillers everywhere, as well as morals, emotions, friendships and darker sides of a modern society.

from
http://ift.tt/2e8ylNQ

[Manga Review] Ten Count Volume 1

Ten Count, by Rihito Takarai and published by SuBLime, is the kind of yaoi manga I like — the kind with a plot beyond “let’s watch two cute guys make out”. In this case, it’s even based on a topic I’m immensely curious about.

Shirotani is the assistant to a company president. He’s germ-phobic, to the extent of wearing gloves in daily life, and a compulsive hand-washer. He meets Kurose by accident. That’s fortuitous, because Kurose is a psychiatric counselor who offers to help Shirotani cope better with his condition.

The title comes from the therapy Kurose suggests. He has Shirotani write a list of ten items he has an aversion to, from easiest to hardest. Kurose is going to help Shirotani do each of them in turn, as a friend, in the hopes that this exposure therapy will lead to an eventual cure. (I’m not sure of the medical specifics of this, since at other times, Shirotani is referred to as having OCD.)

I like these people. I want to know more about them and spend more time with them. Takarai draws the two men with almost the same face, but I could tell them apart based on different hair color. Kurose is very understanding, and I want to find out what brought him to that attitude and profession. I like the idea of a friend who’s so accepting and caring. It’s an appealing fantasy. And it helps Shirotani, who can be distracted from his concerns by wondering about Kurose instead of getting wrapped up in himself.

I’m pleasantly surprised to see so much drama and involvement wrung out of simple events, such as the two men taking a train or eating at a restaurant or shopping at a bookstore. As the series continues, there are hints at the continuing mystery of what made Shirotani this way, since we get flashbacks to him as a child, where he doesn’t have the problem.

Fans of the genre may want to know that there isn’t much contact between the two leads in this volume, but a brief author’s note promises that “the relationship between the two main characters will start to grow and change” in the second volume. (The publisher provided a digital review copy.)

from
http://ift.tt/2d2sCpX

[Manga Review] Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma Volume 14

The work-based stories begun in the previous volume continue here, as Soma takes on another internship, this time in the kitchen of a prestigious French-inspired chef (and former student at the same school). He’s opening a new restaurant in Tokyo, and he’s so demanding that his tastes exceed his budget, requiring his workers to take on all kinds of jobs to make an eventual quality experience for his customers.

Working in an actual restaurant kitchen, with multiple tasks needing to be performed at once and the standards higher than Soma’s ever seen, is a new level of challenge. More importantly, it’s fun to read about. I wish they’d been more specific about the whole, multiple-course menu, though, because I wanted more dishes to drool over. I enjoyed the comparison between French and Japanese cooking techniques, which were discussed during the last recipe contest.

Food Wars volume 14 is a great read for fans of shows like Hell’s Kitchen, although the characters here aren’t quite as mean or foul. There is a jealous second-in-command, but fundamentally, everyone wants to do a good job, everyone has the talent and determination to do it, and the team comes together to focus on the food. Soma’s challenge this volume is to overcome a gap in knowledge quickly and in good humor. The dive into what’s needed to make an exceptional dining experience is eye-opening.

I was impressed by how mature Soma suddenly seemed, paying more attention to improving his skills than worrying about his rank or position. That’s why he wants to take on a challenge that’s uncomfortable for him — his family restaurant, weird combination background isn’t a natural match for gourmet cuisine, but he knows he needs to stretch. And he takes joy in the learning process, which is an inspiration to the reader.

Unfortunately, although the internships last for four weeks, the story shortcuts the structure in the last three chapters to bring the students back together in the school, with new maturity and goals as they prepare to become second-years. I’ll miss the industry-based experiences that have formed the basis of stories in volumes 13 and 14.

It’s a shame there’s still the occasional panel of “I have tasted food so good I have lost my clothes.” This would be a lot easier series to recommend without that fan service. (The publisher provided a review copy.)

from
http://ift.tt/2dIGxzc

Read D.N.Angel Manga | Readterest.com

Yukiru Sugisaki

• Tokyopop (2004–ongoing)

• Kadokawa Shoten (Asuka, 1997–ongoing)

• Shôjo, Fantasy, Phantom Thief, Romantic Comedy

• 13+ (mild language, mild violence, mild sexual situations)

Phantom thieves, romantic comedy, spirits, cute animals, angels and devils, school hijinks … it’s easier to list genres D.N.Angel doesn’t belong to. Fourteen-year-old Daisuke, the heir to a family of thieves, finds himself suddenly possessed by the mysterious alter ego that has been passed through his family for generations: Dark, the phantom thief, who glides over the night on angel wings and morphs Daisuke’s body into that of a suave, handsome young man. Daisuke soon discovers that love triggers his nightly transformations, and when Dark meets the twin sisters Risa and Riku, he finds himself in a love triangle with his own alter ego. As Dark’s supernatural origin is gradually revealed, the story moves away from romantic comedy and into outright fairy-tale fantasy. Yukiru Sugisaki’s slick artwork hits all the anime-style signifiers like a pro—spiky hair, questionable noses, cute chinless faces—and would look gender-neutral if not for the countless floating feathers and glowing nimbuses that mark it as a shôjo manga. For younger readers, it’s a sweet series (and it has almost no sexual content), but for older teenagers and adults who have read more anime, the art barely props up the clichés. The story is meandering; the series has gone on hiatus several times in Japan, and its eventual fate is still in doubt.

from
http://ift.tt/2dQ1CwB

Read Devilman Manga | Readterest.com

• Go Nagai & Dynamic Production

• Kodansha International (2002–2003)

• Kodansha (Weekly Shônen Magazine, 1972–1973)

• Action, Horror

• Unrated/16+ (language, graphic violence, nudity)

Millions of years ago, a race of demons led by the fallen angel Satan ruled planet Earth until the great ice age left them in a state of hibernation. But when an explorer in the Himalayas discovers these sleeping demons, their evil is reborn into the modern era. Back in Japan, teenager Ryo Asuka realizes through his late father’s studies that a great war will soon erupt between humankind and the awakened demons that want their world back. Believing that “the only actual way to fight the demons is to become a demon yourself,” Ryo convinces his mild-mannered friend Akira Fudoh to merge with a demon and become Devilman, a terrifying hybrid being with supernatural powers that he uses to fight the demonic legions. One of Go Nagai’s signature creations, Devilman is an envelope-pushing classic of 1970s-era manga. Developed at the same time as a more simplistic Devilman anime TV series, the manga contains everything from comedy to splatter, superheroics, and even dramatic pathos that rings loud and clear through Nagai’s loose and cartoony style. As Akira faces one ingeniously conceived threat after another, the story escalates from simple horror set pieces to huge-scale panoramas of biblically inspired carnage. Along the way, Nagai ruminates on topics ranging from evolution and morality to humankind’s penchant for self-destruction—heady stuff for a children’s manga back then, perhaps unthinkable now. The only caveat with the terrific Kodansha International edition is the inclusion of material created for a “New Devilman” series that sees Ryo and Akira traveling back in time to meet the likes of Adolf Hitler and General Custer. Like computer graphics shoehorned into a classic film, this later material, drawn in a different style, never really meshes with the 1970s-era original. Still, it’s hard to complain too much, as these five volumes contain the sum total of Nagai’s Devilman manga output. Prior to the Kodansha Bilingual edition, a single volume was self-published in English by Nagai’s Dynamic Productions in 1986, and three monthly comic issues—actually “New Devilman” material—were released by Verotik in the mid-1990s.

from
http://ift.tt/2e0hdZD

Master Keaton Volume 7 – Review | Readterest.com

Each of these chapters are stand-alone stories, and most concentrate more on characterization than archeological trivia, which plays to Naoki Urasawa’s artistic strengths, as he’s a wonder with expressions and emotional pacing.

The first story, “Behind the Mask”, is a standout in this area, exploring the nature of heroism, particularly when it comes to those kids look up to. A former TV Western star is being pursued by investigator Keaton for insurance fraud. When the two men take a plane back to London, they debate righteousness, corruption, and villainy until a crisis requires their cooperation in the face of widespread panic.

Of course, the story does have an element that reveals its age (1989) — a child on the airplane has a realistic-looking toy gun. Not only are such things no longer sold as toys in many locations, it would never be allowed on a plane these days. The chapter involving a Communist father hating his new-capitalist son is also rather period.

Another chapter uses the unique properties of the cheap East German car the Trabant, as well as wildlife facts, to good effect in escaping some assassins. These types of stories are my least favorite, although they’re always well-done in showing the action of the chase.

Since Keaton loves archaeology, it shouldn’t be a surprise that some tales involve history and the effects of memory on the present day. One in particular pits Egyptologists and their sons against each other for vengeance. Another features a soldier’s version of justice against a protected officer. A third combines a search for artifacts with a father’s disapproval over a young couple.

Urasawa is also terrific at drawing animals, which adds an additional level to a piece narrated by a brewery cat about loyalty to those you trust. Another chapter features an officer trying to live up to his father’s legacy when it comes to working with police dogs. That one’s a bit overdramatic, but the dog being smarter than his handler is amusing.

Keaton now has a business, an investigative partnership on London’s Baker Street with Daniel O’Connell. That’s another great story, one that combines a doomed romance for Daniel with a case with a missing heir. It’s fairly obvious early on that Daniel isn’t due for a happy ending, but the portrayal of the sparkle of a new relationship is wonderful if eventually heartbreaking.

Overall, the stunning art overcomes any dated references, and there were more chapters I enjoyed than didn’t in this installment. (The publisher provided a review copy.)

from
http://ift.tt/2cLJAuh

Master Keaton Volume 5-6 – Review | Readterest.com

Volume 5 opens with a particularly intriguing two-chapter tale, one that involves the Bride of Frankenstein movie and a monster mask used for murder. In “Memories of Elsa Lanchester”, an abandoned movie theater is never not creepy, and the opening silent stalking sequence is beautifully staged, of course, by artist Naoki Urasawa.

The message is to never cross, even accidentally, a professor studying the psychology of fear, because he’ll use his knowledge to really creep you out. The grounds aren’t entirely laid fairly for the twist ending, but the story is certainly a page-turner, with double-crosses among the faculty and a mysterious missing woman.

A single-chapter flashback to young Taichi tackles the racial bias and abuse a young mixed-Japanese child faced in England. Even when struggling, there are still natural beauties — in this case, the color of the ocean — to experience and knowledge to share to protect one’s life.

Additional chapters solve an assassination of an East German in the West by investigating scents; bring a thief to justice in spite of his accomplices threatening Keaton; and portray former soldiers hunting each other over drug deals and missing money. That last one has a depressing undertone of how badly war (in this case, in the Falklands) damages people, even the ones who survive.

The longest story (five chapters! almost half the book) sends Keaton to Baghdad to rescue an undercover duke being hunted by the Iraqi Army. The royal unfortunately is lacking important medicine, which forces a time limit on the mission. This adventure is set in the context of Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait (1990), so it’s a bit spooky how that region of the world is still part of the news these days.

Some of these stories show their age, but others could easily be mapped to any time people resent or fear or are jealous of others (so, any time). The real appeal is how skilled Urasawa is in drawing emotion and telling comic stories through layouts and moment breakdowns and panel choices. His work is so smoothly illustrated that the reader can focus on the events and characters without ever hitting a snag in their reading. It’s cinematic, as though we’re watching the cast move before our eyes, with just the right pause to emphasize emotional moments.

Volume 6 is the first where Urasawa is credited with story as well as art. It opens with a digression, as Keaton’s father tries to help reconcile two old friends over a gambling dispute. It’s silly, showing us stubborn codgers, but then we find out it all stems from trying to save each other’s life in a wartime concentration camp. Nothing is ever purely light-hearted in this series; it’s always about laughing in the face of pending disaster.

Keaton returns in a gathering of accounting company partners. One, seeking rapid advancement, has been taking shortcuts, convinced that only the strong deserve to survive. (The firm is named “Malthus”, after the philosopher/cleric who argued the importance of keeping down the population.) Keaton is carrying around a bird in his jacket, oddly, because the cold prevents the finch from flying. It’s a muddled metaphor, but it’s a neat, weird touch that’s well-illustrated.

A Christmas story again explores the breakdown between East and West Germany and the disruption of unification. Keaton gets involved with a mafia family feud when he sees an old school friend killed by a car bomb. A then-and-now piece shows us a childhood friend who’s become “the world’s toughest detective — just like [his] idol Mike Hammer.” A high-powered executive loses everything, including his chance at love.

A more humorous piece has Keaton tailed by three schoolboy detectives. A thriller has Keaton helping an art forger, held prisoner and forced to create more works, escape. Keaton’s daughter listens to an old woman’s fifty-year-old cross-cultural love story when she tries to help recover the woman’s snatched bag.

These stories all give Keaton more of a reason to be involved than just doing a job. That’s the biggest change as this series matured — stories that are about more than surviving, but have deeper themes about how people connect and what motivates them. (The publisher provided review copies.)

from
http://ift.tt/2dopxjJ

Master Keaton Volume 3 – Review | Readterest.com

I was concerned about this in my review of volume 2, but Master Keaton volume 3, aside from a couple of brief nods to archaeology, has turned Taichi Hiraga Keaton into a globe-trotting adventurer, which makes the stories more generic and seemingly more of their time.

Several times while reading through the encounters in this installment, I found myself thinking, “oh, yeah, that was a thing we were concerned about in the 80s, wasn’t it?” In one two-parter, Keaton serves as a hostage negotiator for a Japanese executive kidnapped in Wales. He is a captive during a duel between two former military officers from El Salvador. He has to disarm a bomb planted by the IRA in a particularly Macguyer-ish story. In the most obvious attempt at aiming at the heartstrings, a student from a small town collapses and dies in the big city, and a reporter is determined to find out why so many people passed by without helping him.

A woman archaeologist (or, as an old woman has it, “the lady scholar”) is protecting a set of ruins, due to be destroyed, with a shotgun, because she hopes to find evidence of an earlier matrilineal culture. The new heir wants to make the ancient Roman hill tomb mound into a motorcycle racing course. He’s also a jerk, telling her she’s not too old or ugly to get a man and needs to leave to get back to “women’s work”. If this story were told today, it would still be as believable, but everyone’s sexism would be more subtle.

The chapter length, with most stories taking only one (although a few get a second chapter to conclude), means that I was sometimes left wishing for more. The opening chapter, for example, sends Keaton to a dilapidated monastery in Scotland, where he adopts an injured rabbit, finds a missing child, keeps a drunk, widowed retiree company, and finds out about a departed monk who prophesied a miracle. That’s an awful lot for 26 pages, although it’s all gorgeously illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. I applaud Viz for keeping the first eight pages in color, which does a wonderful job establishing the setting. I did want to find out what happened to the rabbit, though, let alone how the circumstances affected the participants afterwards. I often wonder that while reading this book.

Urasawa is particularly good illustrating animals, which made the chapter about Keaton having to outwit a trained military attack dog all the more attractive, even though the dog is mean and vicious. The next chapter gives us a different kind of canine, as Keaton visits his father, who’s living with Keaton’s daughter. Keaton’s dad is a zoologist, and while the story involving horse racing and memory is ambitious, I’m not sure it holds together. It is comforting, though. As is the final story in the volume, a Christmas tale of competitive businessmen spending the holiday together drinking, and the honesty that comes out as a result.

from
http://ift.tt/2cWNNdi