Soulriders 5.0: Legend of the Unending Games

We don't have a thread for it.

Fairy Tail, yaay.

But today I looked at hunter x hunter again.  It hasn't dug itself out of its shithole.  Man it was a deep shithole.

No new sengoku youku makes me sad ;_;

Kodansha's US branch has started releasing new volumes of a number of manga I was reading until del rey closed its manga branch. Fairy Tail, Rave Master, and a new volume of Negima (drops next week) amongst them.

Um, Naruto has become somewhat readable again. I swear that manga is bipolar. Focus on Naruto = Awesome. Focus on Emobi = snorefest. Focus on zombie apocalypse = how in the hell do you mess up a zombie apocalypse so badly?

Oh, and a new chapter of Negima should appear sometime this week/next week.

I like me some Nodame Cantabile, though I could do without some of the "physical violence within a not-quite-established relationship == COMEDY".

Is it more character development (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SlapSlapKiss) or status quo (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BelligerentSexualTension)?

Unknown; I'm only 10% of the way in. I am informed they get together in the end.

It's really more about their development as musicians, though.

Ippo is currently seeing how many pages it can go before a single punch is thrown in the ring.  It is at 60 (or 100 if you count from when Ippo leaves the dressing room).

No Sengoku Youku.  So sad.

One piece is currently mired in a backflash, with an unknown murderer having shot down the favored queen.

Fairy Tail is mired in "And the bad guys win"?  I'm wondering just what else they can have them pull out from their bag of a thousand allies to face the varieties of 'I Win' spells the bad guys have.

Yeah, the tree thing was a "... really?" moment if ever I saw one.

Umi no Misaki sadly doesn't appear to be going for the harem ending I was hoping for, but at least Soyogi and Karin are in the fight. I like Soyogi best, but Karin isn't bad, either.

Thinking of reading 3x3 Eyes. I doesn't look like Dark horse will ever release the rest of the series so...

Quote from: thepanda on May 26, 2011, 09:13:22 PMUmi no Misaki sadly doesn't appear to be going for the harem ending I was hoping for, but at least Soyogi and Karin are in the fight. I like Soyogi best, but Karin isn't bad, either.

Well, that killed my interest. :|

Quote from: Brian on May 26, 2011, 09:18:49 PM
Well, that killed my interest. :|

Apparently I've become the interest reaper. >_>;

But don't let me stop you from reading it. It is still good and the art hasn't gone down the crapper like the end of Ai Yori Aoshi.

Also also, Naruto is good again. Did I mention that before? I feel it bares repeating.

Quote from: thepanda on May 26, 2011, 09:31:42 PMBut don't let me stop you from reading it. It is still good and the art hasn't gone down the crapper like the end of Ai Yori Aoshi.

Personally, my view (nowadays) goes like this:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AllLoveIsUnrequited = http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BigNo

QuoteAlso also, Naruto is good again. Did I mention that before? I feel it bares repeating.

Meh.  Still on chapter 120 or so.  God DAMN Wave country took too long.  WAY too long.

We can't stop HERE.  This is WAVE country!

Quote from: Brian on May 26, 2011, 09:44:03 PM
We can't stop HERE.  This is WAVE country!

Hoho

QuotePersonally, my view (nowadays) goes like this:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AllLoveIsUnrequited = http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BigNo

Thing is, it doesn't feel unrequited. The author did a honestly good job of setting up the interpersonal relationships. You can tell he likes all three and that they like him (which is why I'm still hoping for a BEST END). The new arc is set up like Into Dreams, minus the angst and monsters (and is more readable). Sortof.

Well, we'll see.  I must admit, I haven't read any of the series, and know of it only through the fact that it's sited as one of the exceedingly rare examples of the polyamory trope.

Which may need to be corrected.

But, that was the source of my interest, as it would give me a nice basis to compare to Kyon: Big Damn Hero.  I don't understand why fictional characters in fantasy universes have to conform to all the same standards we do.  Kind of seems to be very limiting on the factor of 'escapism'.  Meh.  That's just me.  I like to see everyone happy without creating a slew of OCs, and most often in harem series, there's a serious population deficit in terms of likable guys outside the main dude and his gay and/or robot buddy.

In that case definably read it. I think you'll appreciate the internal monologues and it works pretty well as a character study.  I keep up with it here. (http://www.mangareader.net/166/umi-no-misaki.html)

And just as we finally get out of the Fishman Island flasback. . .

SKIP WEEK! joy -_-;

Umi no Misaki updated. Go Karin! You're currently soooooo my favorite!

Rosario + Vampire updated. Boo interference squad! Kurumu is too good for him, I say!


Oh, there's a new Fumizuki Kou series out, now called Itadaki! Solaris is translating it, too. Honestly, whatever the hell happened to the artwork near the end of Ai Yori Aoshi he's certainly managed to bounce back splendidly.

Bleach is currently boring.

Naruto is currently boring.

Hitman Reborn! is currently not boring.

Hoping for some awesome later this week when Negima returns.

Also one piece back soon?

Hajime again avoided having a fight for Ippo.  Instant win.

No real good stuff in a bit.

Fairy tail is having the team stop losing at least.

omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg!!!! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! Male squee!

New Umi no Misaki chapter was pure awesome. This grin on my face will not go away! Can't wait- cannot WAIT!- for the next chapter.

Those words! Those lips! hehehehehe

What's Umi no Misaki?

QuoteFor unspecified reasons, Goto Nagi decides to move to the island of Okitsushima, his deceased mother's birthplace. When he arrives, one of the locals, a girl named Shizuku, offers to show him around and even saves his life when Nagi accidentally falls of a cliff. However, when he meets her again at school, she refuses to have anything to do with him. As he tries to adapt to his new life on the island, Nagi learns that Shizuku, along with his neighbor Karin and his classmate Soyogi, are the local Cape Maidens, representatives of the island's Dragon God, and are essentially worshiped as goddesses by the people of the island.

Nagi also learns that his mother was a Cape Maiden before she left the island and that, because his birthday matches the day that the previous Dragon God died, he is the current mortal incarnation of the Dragon God.

Naturally, the position comes with a harem.

Shizuku, Karin and Soyogi must now fulfill their duties as Cape Maidens by earning Nagi's favor while Nagi himself tries to figure out what the Dragon God is supposed to do, and gradually settles into the role.

Umi no Misaki differentiates itself from stereotypical Harem Series by its character development and its approach to the Harem Genre's standard tropes. Although Shizuku is originally set up as the obvious winner, Nagi spends time with all three of the girls, shows an interest in their daily lives and hobbies, helps them with their work, cooks for them and shows genuine concern for their feelings.

See also Ai Yori Aoshi by the same author.

Taken from the TVtropes page. You can read it online at mangareader.

Bleach, One Piece, Naruto, and Ippo were all good this week. Now to wait for some Fairy tail and Hitman Reborn.

Bleach's villian still seems extra lame.  Like really, what's the damn point?  I get it from a 'well, man wouldn't it be cool if...' but it's retarded from a 'what the heck does this guy get out of it?  So he's befriended to a bunch of powerful people?'

One Piece is hopefully about to lead into awesome.  That was a pretty good set up for the Straw Hats to come into, with pretty much the height of both villians plots exposed, and every other hero incapacitated with them kept off camera for the last couple of chapters.

Still, kind of odd seeing seeing Jinbei tied up with only a few bruises.  I mean really?  I suppose that's expecting that he's going to burst his chains later and start kicking ass because otherwise I can't really see that happening without him being beaten nearly unconscious.

Ippo...was basically a second null fight.  Kind of a disappointing return to the ring in general.

After Ippo's 'fight' they needed something ridiculous to lighten the mood.

Umi no Misaki has updated. This pleases me greatly. Go Karen!

Umi no Misaki has updated. One Piece is getting back into the groove. Fairy Tail has more friendship than MLP. Negima's pacing got shot to hell. I think its because they needed to give people a reason to go see the movie. Still sucks, though. At least with that out of the way Akamatsu can focus on the comic again.

Oh, and Code Name Sailor V is coming out this month, as well as the Sailor Moon re-release.

It is good :)

Yozakura Quartet new chapter up.

Does anyone other than me read this around here?

I haven't...not sure what it is :)

I don't even know how to describe it.

The plot is pretty shonen, but the execution is completely different. I think the majority of the story is just characters talking and hanging out. But the art is great (what got me reading it in the first place), the characterization is awesome (especially considering the size of the cast), and the conversations give a lot of meaning to what would otherwise be an extremely simple and straightforward plot.

If you're curious give the latest chapter (54) a go. It works as a microcosm of the story. Up on mangareader.

Lazy people will click a link that they won't google.

http://www.mangareader.net/1148/yozakura-quartet.html

Lazy Link. :P

Umi no Misaki continues to be good.

Negima has had three laugh out loud chapters in a row.

Hayate the Combat Butler is still pretty good.

One Piece is One Piece.

I haven't read Bleach in a while. Not since [spoiler]Ichigo broke down crying. What. A. Turnoff. He will never live that down.{/spoiler] Never.

Both One Piece and Fairy Tail are in really kind of weird places.  I suppose One Piece is trying to set up Luffy for overcoming an overwhelming disaster but a lot of it just sort of comes off as awkward.

Fairy Tail post timeskip...

Not gonna lie, the latest chapter of Naruto was damned good. All the kages should have been godly, but only Madara seems to have been delt with in such a way that you realize just how big a threat he is. That one ninja's "...we're fucked" moment was just perfect. And I now how a working theory on who masked-Madara is.

I guessing he's the will/clone of dead-Madara shaped by the Rinnegen and given life by the Sharingen.

Eh... it was something.  Sure, it was definitely epic, but it has the problem that countless Kages have shown up already.

Eh, actually, on it's own the chapter was cool.

As a continued escalation level in the Zombie War, well, the zombie war really can't get any more ridiculous so it's kind of like painting a smiley face on it.  The bad guy is pretty much casually summoning without effort folks that are individually equal to an entire city.  The notion of chakra as a limited resource seems to only really apply to the good guys, as the bad guys throw gigantic attacks and summons around effortlessly.   The Kages on the good guys side are shown to be folks that could legitimately take down a dozen or so jonin by themselves.  Comparatively their predecessors are folks that can take on 2-3 of them at the same time with an army behind them.   Hey look, I'm a Kage, I can at least counter a single supermove of Madara... "No, No you can't.  Also my single super move is enough to wipe a village off the map pretty much."  Madara: Now I will show off that I have other awesome leaf moves.

"We were tricked and lured into this war as a group by the name of Madara?"

Really?  cuz either 'fake-Madara' or Snake dude shows enough power to wipe any one great village by themselves in the same way pain did (if not better).  It seems like without everyone joining into the war, it'd be pretty much a no brainer victory for the bad guys.  They could just wipe any of the ninja villages off the map.  Seriously, summoning 3-4 kages seems plenty to wipe a village out of existence.  It isn't even a question of numbers as  they clearly show they can produce sufficient numbers to deal with any mass of ninja.  It looks more like everyone teaming up to literally beat 3 people is the only viable strategy.

Really?  3 people are on the same level as every kage and their entire village, with the most powerful Bijuus thrown in?

Now another single technique shall be used that is equivelent to the 200+ uses of the 4ths best technique?

I gotta admit, more than any other chapter, this has gotten me along to ShaperV's manner of thinking: The villages are peanuts compared to a handful of missing nins that are simply so much better than anyone in a village, it isn't even funny.

While neat for individual scenes, I still prefer S'TarKan or Brian's take on the world, where simply the differences are either more profound at all levels or just generally narrower.  It's not that I mind cool ninjas (exactly the opposite), it's just that the 'limits' have vanished.  It's not just that they can beat the crap out of any ninja of any rank, but that they can beat a near infinite number of ninjas of any rank.

Thing of it is, this isn't new. The fourth was old, sealed inside a barrier, and had to fight a sage that had already killed and replaced a kage alongside TWO immortal kage and only just lost that fight. Sharperv pretty much nailed it. As far as I can figure, the only reason there weren't more Pain instances is because they weren't in open warfare and every important country had a nuke in the form of a tailed beast.
Hell, Pain lost bodies during the invasion; that fact that he could resurrect them doesn't change that. And with the Sand/Sound invasion Leaf was getting pretty damned wrecked there, too.

Badass

Agreed, that's a cool setup.

The part about "oh, these three random guys? They know the fourth hokage's prized technique btw" was lame though.

Genma isn't random! He's been around since the chunin exam arc! <-voiced playfully.

Also finally decided to catch up on Bleach and One Piece. Both benefit a great deal from not reading it weekly. I finally figured out the pace for this arc in one piece, and Bleach tends to be light on content anyway.

Well, okay, Raido isn't a new character either if you want to get picky about that. =p

That actually makes it worse too!

Here are two of the guys that got their asses kicked by sound nins right before the sasuke retrieval arc. Sound nins that got -their- asses kicked by genin. Yes, it was two vs four instead of 1vs1...but still, do something to earn your jounin rank! Seriously, 'elite hokage guards'? >_>

The hokages gathered together in a group shot was also honestly not -that- cool either...mostly because the tsuchikage floating there just not to appear the shortest made the scene feel more ridiculous than cool. Which is still good in its own way, I actually laughed at the page spread.

I kept thinking Naruto was holding him up from behind. >_>

That was my first thought too, actually.

Mmm, I think it is a cool setup for a fight.

But it's silly in a lot of ways.

All of their heavy hitters (pretty much) just gathered all on a single spot.  Really?  So there's nobody around but Naruto in any of their other spots when Masked Madara decides to fight?
Tsunade has already lost once badly to someone of that level.  Now she's getting wounded to rush there and sacrificing her ace?  Really?  They were that far away from the front?
Merc already hit the retarded 'btw, we can do the super jutsu one'.

meh, don't want to ramble on it more.

Do want to go: Man, power levels are whack in naruto.  Jonins are really the worst there.  They're all over the place, and not even consistently more capable than a team of genin.

I've been taking a look through Eden no Ori.  Looks rather entertaining, although the premise is a bit worn and beaten.

It's basically, so far, something of a survival genre.  A high school class going on a field trip gets on a plane, runs into what looks like a black hole from nowhere good at noon, and wind up on an unmarked island populated by creatures that should have been extinct thousands upon thousands of years ago.

Yes, there's a Saber-Tooth Tiger in there.

Edit: lazy link (http://www.mangafox.com/manga/eden_no_ori/)

wahhhh to the recent fairy tail. o_o  Surprising/strange.

http://www.mangafox.com/manga/maoyuu_maou_yuusha/ I missed an update of this!  Not quite as awesome as normal, but romantic tension added!

Quote from: Dracos on November 10, 2011, 02:01:54 AM
http://www.mangafox.com/manga/maoyuu_maou_yuusha/ I missed an update of this!  Not quite as awesome as normal, but romantic tension added!

That was actually really enjoyable, Drac. Reminds me a bit of Shina Dark. (http://www.mangafox.com/manga/shina_dark_king_of_dark_moon_and_blue_moon_s_princess/)

*looks up* Missed your answer before, but yeah, I'm a big fan of maoyuu maou yuusha.  It's awesome.

Been doing a reread of Ippo.  Almost up to the Bryan Hawk fight.  It's definitely more obvious to me these days what merc used to complain on where weight control is all over the place with the art style.  Really, Takamura needs to struggle for weight control when he's only like an inch taller than bryan hawk and they have similar scale?

Kind of a little disappointed with one bit on One Piece's latest couple chapters, namingly that Hoji isn't dead.  "Didn't Luffy punch through his spine and tear a hole right through him?  Why is he alive to suffer miserably at all?"  I dunno, it seems like they're continuing to go with an Luffy's fist never kills people motif.  Other people can murder and kill people but not Luffy.

Seems like they are setting up bad guys to be more brutal.  I'm not sure what they're doing with Blackbeard.  An Ability Hunt?  Can they really take other abilities too?  Even if they can, why?  Putting Akainu as the actual successor instead  of Aokinoji was kind of a twist.  So they've kind of removed all sympathy at the top end of the marines and turned them into a much more brutal army.  I wonder if there will be an off-split marines with the good characters from it, so they can be opposed as a more 'only evil' standpoint.

MAOYUU MAOU YUUSHA (http://www.mangafox.com/manga/maoyuu_maou_yuusha/) has updated. Hero is kinda cool.

That series still manages to pleasantly surprise me.  I thought it was going to start derailing into generic harem antics with all the love interests, but it's kept my attention so far and actually seems to be progressing.

I honestly didn't expect it to go this direction from the first chapter.

Gonna have to start tracking Denpa Kyoushi.

It's like GTO, with more otaku flavoring, fanservice, and a different brand of humor.

http://www.mangafox.com/manga/denpa_kyoushi/

It's alright so far, but nothing really special either. Then again, only six chapters are out, so it's hard to really judge it more.

It's by Azuma Takeshi though, aka Kimigabuchi (guy best known for Re-TAKE), and I've liked a lot of his stuff before, so I'll keep following it for a while at least.

The Negimaru guy!?

...Yes, that too. >_>

Some other doujins he did: Code Eros and Ja Ja Ja Japan.

For manga, he's also written Super Dreadnaught Girl (http://www.mangareader.net/431/super-dreadnought-girl-4946.html) and a oneshot manga that I don't think ever got translated.

There's a lot of recommendations in here I'll have to look at, but that won't stop me from adding to the pile:

Bartender (http://www.mangafox.com/manga/bartender/) (Due warning, the series isn't fully translated and the most prominent translator of it seems to have fallen off the face of the Earth making me sad in the process)

Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku (http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mudazumo_naki_kaikaku/) better known as The Legend of Koizumi, better known as that one manga where all the world leaders play mahjong and it is business most serious. Seems to be on a bit of a hiatus at the moment, but I'm guessing it'll start back up soon.

Huh, I was sure Legend of Koizumu had finished, neat that it hadn't, .

We need to update your custom title, Captain Spoiler.

Ah, fine, but that was like a year ago. 

Grant me my petty amusements. :3

I was just as surprised to see the manga continue, given the circumstances. Since this

I just found out that A-Zone #1-#2 (http://detunescans.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/a-zone-vol1-2/) were translated, and went off to read them. They're some very old Sailor Moon doujinshi by the guy who eventually did Azumanga & Yotsuba. They're also hilarious (so is #4).

It's nice because although A-Zone #4 had been translated for years, nobody seemed interested in translating the rest. To be fair, A-Zone #1/2 and #5 are also SM doujins (rest of A-zone involves different series) and are still untranslated, but oh well.

If you want to read them online (link above only has first two and as zip files), they can be found in g.e-hentai, though as can be guessed from the site name, it's NSFW site (note that A-zone itself is non-H). If you don't care though, then links are in the spoiler below~


On a different note, I found it amusing that Bartender had updated the day after Grahf posted about it being abandoned.

Re: Koizumu Manga
They were really riding the Absurdity as Entertainment level high to finish off the original series.  Psychic Super Saiyajin quantum-dimensional mah jong players dishing it out with nuclear mah jong tiles with the fate of the planet riding on it really don't leave much room for playing to a higher tier of absuridity.

What are they going to do, go into space?  Wait, they already did.

So I suspect nazis won't return and instead of going the route they were (Epic Mahjong rises higher) they'll instead go "the growth of a new generation".

Negima
http://www.mangareader.net/mahou-sensei-negima/351/7

It really is nostalgic, isn't it? They could do a three or four chapter fast forward and end the series here. I'd be sad to see it go, but it wouldn't be a bad ending.

Also props to the panel layout and art on the next few pages. It's just two people having a conversation while the world moves around them, but damn if it isn't well done. It's such a joy to see someone use the panels effectively. Especially considering some of the stuff I've muddled through recently.

Web comics, DC, Marvel; I'm giving you mad side-eye right now.

Oh! And Umi no Misaki updated, if anyone other than me is reading that one.

Negima is a (mostly ;) ) shonen fighting series done right. The characters grow as people, not just stronger/tougher/cooler. These characters are nothing like what they were before the 'Maharu Fetival' arc, and they continued to change through every arc they were involved in. Too many shonen series substitute 'getting stronger' for 'charcter developement and growth'. I'm really going to miss this one when it ends, something I can only say about one other shonen fighting series; and I'm not as fond of that one as I am Negima. Every other series I'll be happy to see finally end.


Speaking of ends, Bleach is entering it's last arc (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-02-01/tite-kubo-bleach-manga-to-enter-final-arc); take note that there is no official estimation of how long it will actually take. Please keep in mind that the Arrancar Arc took almost 5 years, so I expect it to take at least 3 years.

Quote from: thepanda on January 31, 2012, 03:15:41 AM
Negima
http://www.mangareader.net/mahou-sensei-negima/351/7

It really is nostalgic, isn't it? They could do a three or four chapter fast forward and end the series here. I'd be sad to see it go, but it wouldn't be a bad ending.

Also props to the panel layout and art on the next few pages. It's just two people having a conversation while the world moves around them, but damn if it isn't well done. It's such a joy to see someone use the panels effectively. Especially considering some of the stuff I've muddled through recently.

Honestly, if Negima goes on for much, much longer, it will feel to me like Akamatsu missed an opportunity to end it spectacularly.  I know I've heard he felt like Negima was only 3/4 of the way done or so, but call me crazy for thinking everything since the end of the Magic World arc has felt like a prolonged epilogue.

Maybe that's me, though.  This is the first time since I started reading Negima in real time that I've hit a bridging time between arcs, so it may just be weekly impatience.  Akamatsu could have something amazing up his sleeve to follow.  I just can't even imagine what that might be.

QuoteHonestly, if Negima goes on for much, much longer, it will feel to me like Akamatsu missed an opportunity to end it spectacularly.  I know I've heard he felt like Negima was only 3/4 of the way done or so, but call me crazy for thinking everything since the end of the Magic World arc has felt like a prolonged epilogue.

As I understand it, the arc was purposely structured that way because of the movie, which is suppose to act as "the very definite end of the animatedverse" or something like that.

Why are there so many versions of MAOYUU MAOU YUUSHA?!

Isn't there just 2?

The real one?  The farce one?

QuoteHonestly, if Negima goes on for much, much longer, it will feel to me like Akamatsu missed an opportunity to end it spectacularly.  I know I've heard he felt like Negima was only 3/4 of the way done or so, but call me crazy for thinking everything since the end of the Magic World arc has felt like a prolonged epilogue.

And it looks like you were right on the money. Negima to end in three more chapters (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-02-03/negima-magister-negi-magi-manga-to-end-in-3-more-chapters). I wonder what he plans to do after this? Other than take a year or so off and rest, I mean.

And now, color me surprised.  I thought for sure there would be a final arc where Negi actually finds his father--not an illusion, not a specter of a dying mage trying to toy with him or a last memory of something that did happen.  If none of that is resolved (and I don't see how it can be in 3 chapters), I guess we'll know it was the journey, not the finding itself, that was the point all along.  Not a bad message, but still.

I guess it makes that Ranma/Negima crossover I'd been thinking about a lot more viable, at any rate.

Quote from: Dracos on February 03, 2012, 03:58:23 AM
Isn't there just 2?

The real one?  The farce one?

Mangafox has three, four if you count the 4-koma. And I know there is at least one spinoff that follows the mage instead of Hero.

Quote from: thepanda on February 03, 2012, 02:43:37 AM
Why are there so many versions of MAOYUU MAOU YUUSHA?!

They're being published in different magazines and drawn by different artists.  I know of at least three versions, plus the 4-koma and the light novels.  It was originally posted on 2chan and was very well received, so the light novels and various manga adaptations were published after that.

Finally finished reading the last volume of Yakitatte! Japan.

...I think it's time to write a fic.

Itagaki's genius awakens! Saeki has no chance for victory!

...

*hurls*

Goddammit, Ippo.

Boo Itakagi.  Ruining the manga. ;_;

I don't even like Saeki, and it's just mean what's being done to him.  And Itakagi is supposed to be one of the protagonists?  Screw him.

Been reading Magi (http://www.mangafox.com/manga/magi/).

The start is fairly slow and more of a comedy/adventure story while it focuses on Aladdin, as it seemed to look more of a treasure hunting manga.

However, it starts to become more serious and action/battle-driven after only one (or rather, during it) dungeon dive.

Aladdin starts to discover more about his powers and what's going on in the rest of the world, while Ali Baba (Aladdin's ally in that dungeon dive) slowly seems to be morphing into the role of primary protagonist while Aladdin gets shifted to secondary, as the Merlin to Ali Baba's Arthur.

I'm enjoying it, and it's nice to see a story involving magical items that doesn't revolve around tournament arcs and huge casts where -everyone- gets a focus to the point that nobody shines. So far, this story is very clearly about Aladdin and Ali Baba, even with all the other characters getting introduced, they're still developed kind of off to the side of Aladdin/Ali Baba.

I swear to god if those are natzi I'm giving up on Bleach. -_-

It's not nazis, it's evil undead quincy! =p

Yeah, I know they're Quincy, but still. =P

One does not necessarily preclude the other!

I wonder how stupidly powerful the new enemy is going to be this time. Kenpachi doesn't use bankai so he's obviously going to get sidelined somehow. Each new arc makes it feel like he's the only one written as brokenly powerful as a captain is supposed to be. And now there is yet another army of people probably as strong as captains after all the training to fight Aizen. If my eyes rolled any harder at what happened with Sasakibe I'd have to pick them off the floor.

For what it's worth, we have that announcement from last page that this is the last arc! So no more ridiculous powerups after this! =p

You realize how long an arc in this series is, right? Execution is the only one that hasn't taken half past forever to conclude.

It's only going to be 3-6 years! That's not long at all! :p

You could start and finish college in that time.

Bleach. Oh Bleach. It FEELS like you're finally setting up an arc where the humans aren't useless. (Of course, Ken-chan can't bankai and the rest of his troops generally don't on principle so...) Let us see how long it takes for you to throw that out the window.

They have an anti-bankai thing?

Really? :(  Well anyhow, trying to stick to SJA's posting schedule, so that it becomes natural instead of 'behind'.  So I guess I'll see in two weeks.

Negima doesn't end until Wednesday?  Well, the scanlation's out already.



Nevertheless, I was saddened to see it end so quickly, and to me, the ending did all it could, under the circumstances.

It's something many mangaka sorta ignore: Your budget could run out at any time, same with your attention, so if the coolness is '200 chapters away', well...  Sure, epic length stuff is fun, but I think Negima floundered too much in randomness and cast and left itself in a challenging place to come to a reasonable conclusion.   (Really, the villian team is 4 super boys who look the same, a guy called lifemaker who is ancient, responsible for every bad thing in the series, and has his dad possessed?  I wonder if he just had no idea how to take that section either)

Hearing of it, I'm left mostly glad I dropped it a while ago during the magic arc when the girls were starting to look so similar and plentiful that I was having a real hard time telling just who was in frame at any time.   The flounding incoherency was almost a necessary background at times for some of the high points of comedy it delivered, but looking back, it reminds me really of a more advanced one of those mangas that introduce between 4 and 20 hot girls as the beginning of their plot and...also the middle and end of it really (Which, to be fair, it did).

MMm...

It makes me feel like giving some tribute to an author who's pretty good at avoiding that.

The final arc felt like a middle arc. The setup is there. I just don't know why they chose to end it here.

Oh well, at least Fairytail losing is still entertaining.

I guess?

I kinda enjoyed Fairy Tail winning more and the setup is so 'nya, gotcha!' that its hard to feel that anticipatory about them beating down the folks behind it all.  Basically, the front line folks beating them have no motive other than 'make fairy tail look bad', and it's hard to see why if there's been seven years of them failing so far.  The sabretooth folks are so ridiculously above that, sure, it'd be like punching cyclops in the face when they win, but they're hard to get into as rivals (Frankly, the old faces are more interesting there, but there's being almost no sideplay on that).  And then the actual villians behind it all have been off camera the whole time so far, so they're still faceless.

For Dracos:

Yeah, I read.  Fuck him. 

It even had an anti-ippo moment. 



Lame complete.y

So Itagaki beat Ippo's time! And now it looks like he might fight Miyata before Ippo!

When did the mangaka start hating Ippo again?

-_- Yeah, gotta wonder.  Ippo of course acts entirely unaware, but it's like every scene Itakagi's been in has been a love letter to him and a hate letter for Ippo.  Seriously, getting rewarded over and over again?

And itakagi's dad again takes screen time to show off being a petty ass.  "Yeah, I'm not gonna cheer for his gym-mates".  Really?  was that supposed to be funny?  It's just transformed his character in my mind from being a pun driven poor guy desperately hoping his son strikes it rich to just being a petty jackass.

And I suspect he'll have the two senpai lose, which will only further reward Itakagi, instead of at least of at least having Shino come into his own as a trainer.

Seriously, at this point it's hard to like anyone cheering for Itakagi.  He's totally the villian of the last arc, for as much as he's the front and center character.  He's basically a boxer who leaves shattered dreams and regret behind him as he gets more and more sun.  And he doesn't do it by working hard, but by natural talent and jokes.

It kinda makes me want to avoid the manga really :(

http://readonline.egscans.com/Bonnouji/Chapter_001

Cute slice of life.

Found it adorable.

Now ten chapters in.

http://www.mangareader.net/its-not-my-fault-that-im-not-popular

The type of manga that grabbed my attention from the first couple pages. Hehe.

Think a more demented Konata Izumi, and there you have this manga's protagonist.

I remember Other Worlds than These [1] had a plot twist near the end that incidentally explained why Konata managed to have lots of friends and be cute and athletic, in spite of being a complete demented otaku.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5780603/1/Other_Worlds_Than_These

The girl in the manga is like Konata Izumi, only without that plot twist.

Quote from: Ninja Lostar on April 20, 2012, 06:27:09 AM
http://www.mangareader.net/its-not-my-fault-that-im-not-popular

The type of manga that grabbed my attention from the first couple pages. Hehe.

Think a more demented Konata Izumi, and there you have this manga's protagonist.

I remember reading this up to the point where they introduce the friend from middle school.

I found it too depressing to continue after that. >_>

I made it to about Ch. 15. Besides making nerds feel bad about themselves, what is the purpose of this exactly?

Heck if I know. I still never figured out what Kaworu Watashiya (Kodomo no Jikan) wanted to accomplish with her tale. Massive controversy perhaps? Then again, she achieved that ages ago..

Decided to catch up on Naruto.

I see any part of the story with Sasuke in it is still fated to be shit.

Huh.  Following the SJAlpha releases, and we'll hasn't seemed that bad?  Just sort of a silly fight so far.  Also it seems to suggest an asspull that will involve for a non-murderous fiend sasuke.  Meeh.

Snakeman's backstory was lame and ridiculous.  Really?  He's a kid superspy?  And yet he was still qualified as a genin to the village who had him trained as such?

Hum.

Not enough Youkai Mafia.

What's Youkai Mafia?

And yeah, backstory was WTF? The mission they needed done was so important they had to send the best but also decided to send a kid with no training at all just because?

Plus, and this may just be all the fanfiction I've read talking, but are Danzo and Orochimaru really overplayed at this point? I know Orochimaru had to factor into his backstory, but at this point it seems like Konoha only turned out the way it did because three people were dicks.

Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan.

Sengoku Youku updated recently too, which was neat, but didn't really get far.

Quote from: thepanda on April 24, 2012, 06:42:38 PM
What's Youkai Mafia?

And yeah, backstory was WTF? The mission they needed done was so important they had to send the best but also decided to send a kid with no training at all just because?

Plus, and this may just be all the fanfiction I've read talking, but are Danzo and Orochimaru really overplayed at this point? I know Orochimaru had to factor into his backstory, but at this point it seems like Konoha only turned out the way it did because three people were dicks.

That is really how the author seems to play it?  It's really stupid, but that's not new for Naruto.

http://slide.extrascans.net/reader/series/maoyuu_maou_yuusha/ has updated.

It was amazing.  Big Sis Maid was cool.

This is my favorite presently continuing manga now.

Birdy the Mighty is ending. I should catch up again.

Chaptert 285 of Oh! My Goddess. Shocking, but it makes so much sense. o_O

Hajime may be possibly turning itself around?  Lots of bullshit lately, but perhaps it will focus on Comic Relief's rise to the top.

It'll be weird.  This time around they really can't pull that angle.  One or both of them have to make champion or it'll be stupid.  At the same time...4 national champs as the main cast?  And Obnoxious Lad?

On one hand...

Ippo is just finishing its worst series of chapters.  From the woli fight onward it has been atrocious.

On the other hand...

Ippo-Going for upward facing fights finally?
Comedy Duo: Out for revenge in a fashion that pretty much means beating the national champion?
ObnoxiousGenius: Being encouraged from all corners to leave the gym and fight ippo (and die).

I hope it swings around.

and die
and die
and die
and die
and die

???

What's up panda?

I think Panda was just extending the mantra regarding the obnoxious genius, Drac =p

Aren't you tempting fate by saying it that many times?

(and die)

:)  Heh, I missed that.  Thanks for pointing out.

Naruto managed a further Jump the Shark then I thought was doable in a 'Zombie Apocolypse' setting with Orochimaru back alive.

The Great Evil... Incompetent Uchiha.

Is that any worse than 'all the best fights are happening off screen' Bleach?

Quote from: thepanda on August 30, 2012, 07:36:00 PM
Is that any worse than 'all the best fights are happening off screen' Bleach?

Yes.

But Bleach is pretty incredibly bad too!

Quote from: Dracos on August 30, 2012, 06:48:31 PM
Naruto managed a further Jump the Shark then I thought was doable in a 'Zombie Apocolypse' setting with Orochimaru back alive.

The Great Evil... Incompetent Uchiha.

So... if I were to start reading Naruto, what would be a good point at which to stop reading? (I.e. where any payoff is not worth slogging through the escalating tedium?)

I recommend (as I always do), the Improved version of Naruto.

http://soulriders.net/brian/fanfic/motivation/

Sure, it has less pictures, but it also involves a genuinely more consistent ninja cast.

Personally, there's a lot of the Naruto manga I've never bothered to read.  If it wasn't showing up next to my One Piece and Fairy Tail, I still wouldn't be bothering as a lot of the early stuff drags hard.  There are individual arcs that in a self-contained way are possibly worth slogging through, but I think overall, Fanfiction has provided dramatically better takes on those.

Truthfully, just reading the early bits and the Chuunin arc gives context for 90 percent of fanfic out there.  Almost nobody writes about The World Ninja War.

Immediately after the Pain Invasion arc. No Sasuke. Impressive fight. Naruto finally growing into The Hero.

Everything after that is varying degrees of bullshit.

QuoteAlmost nobody writes about The World Ninja War.

A combination of wanting to change things early on and WNW being complete and utter rubbish?

Quote from: Dracos on August 30, 2012, 08:44:07 PM
I recommend (as I always do), the Improved version of Naruto.

http://soulriders.net/brian/fanfic/motivation/

Sure, it has less pictures, but it also involves a genuinely more consistent ninja cast.

Recently got around to enjoying that one; took a long time to get enough context (from reading other fanfiction) to grasp the significant divergence points (such as the whole thing with ). Well worth recommending to anyone with cursory familiarity of the original cast. Lacking even that basic level of familiarity doomed my first read-through, though...

I ask about the original manga because it's something of a shame to be reading all this cool Naruto fanfiction and not make an attempt to tackle... at least a sane proportion of the original work.

Quote from: thepanda on August 30, 2012, 08:45:55 PM
Immediately after the Pain Invasion arc. No Sasuke. Impressive fight. Naruto finally growing into The Hero.

Everything after that is varying degrees of bullshit.

I'd say the lead in for that is one of the better parts. Also after it the best character is gone so definitely a fair quit point.

That's fair but do keep in mind that the original work is a haphazard poorly planned mess.  Many of the common Genin were actually retcon'd in around the chuunin arc as I understand it.  Also it is built around grudges with konoha usually for things done by decrepit old men decades ago.

...I really need to write that, "Yes, but do you hate Konoha?" fanspamfic.

Pretty much every illustrated story I am reading either has the good guys losing/injured/crippled  ... or becoming the bad guys.

Well, I guess One Piece isn't doing that and Hajime and Mafia Youkai just isn't updating, but still.  For american webcomics its almost total :(  If they have a story, good guys are not doing good.

Some of them are even combining it.  Good guy injured, other good  guy turned temporarily evil! @_@

Oh, Bleach. *smdh*

You know what? I can't even be mad at Bleach anymore. At this point it has gotten so bad it looped back around to hilarious.

Ippo's made it to 1000 chapters. Damn long for a manga!

Volg's fight is pretty good considering some of the fights the manga has been having. Still disappointing that it's not Ippo getting a good fight, but I like Volg and hopefully this fight serves as the start of a comeback with Ippo starting to get motivated again (as well as Sendo).

Agreed.  It almost looks like a boxing manga again.  I hope it's the lead in for Ippo challenges the world.  The setup is all there.

Chapter 22 of Maoyuu Maou Yuusha is out.

Hero is a boss, perhaps even the big boss. That is all that needs to be said.

Hero would fit right in with the Gurren Lagann crew.

What is a Hero but someone who does the impossible?

And now for something completely different:

Koe no Katachi (http://www.batoto.net/read/_/158679/koe-no-katachi_by_futari-wa-pretty-anon)

This one has apparently been being talked about a lot lately. It's a one-shot, but it's been slated to be serialized.

Drifters updated recently.  Recent work by the Hellsing artist I believe.

Anyhow, it's kinda neat.  Take generic fantasy world, and various superpowers tossing people from different time-periods into it and seeing how they modified the world.  It's crude, violent and pretty amusing.  On one hand, it's gone very little on the overall plot.

On the other, well, the heroes have rescued two races and are building an army, having had lots of scattered violent encounters.

Quote from: Grahf on March 12, 2013, 04:39:15 AM
Koe no Katachi (http://www.batoto.net/read/_/158679/koe-no-katachi_by_futari-wa-pretty-anon)

It is reasonably well drawn, and it is commendable to choose such a topic for a serious treatment. However, I cannot help feeling that the work is still erring too far on the idealistic side both in the description of the causes and dynamics of the situation, and in largely glossing over the adverse and possibly very damaging consequences.

But, it is always a positive thing if it makes people talk about the issue.

I hadn't read it until you commented on it.  It was very interesting, but I think one of the issues was just the amount of space it had to work with ... so the story does end up feeling in some ways contrived or idealistic because certain motives cannot be adequately explored.

If you look at the story as a pilot, to launch a new series (it is getting serialized, evidently), then I think it's a promising topic.  As it is, we got a character study with some elements of social commentary; I think if it's given more space, it might better address some topics.  I'm a sucker for happy (or at least, happier) endings, so I look forward to seeing the whole work.

Hajime no Ippo has been puttering along for like 200+ chapters, but it may finally start picking up again thanks to the awesome Volg.

Well, it also means Itagaki won't be whining anymore about beating Ippo?

Hopefully?

Either way, Ippo has an opponent, a pile of issues, and two other badasses in front of him paving the way.  If the series fails to turn around positively on this, I think it could honestly be said it's dead.  There's a clear road to a world championship arc going on, and if it veers off it, then they've lost itself.

I don't think Itakagi is ever going to be allowed to lose again unless he jumps ship and fights Ippo.  If he does, I hope he gets retired.  :P

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha (The good one) continues to delight.  It's been an excellent run.  The general positive vibe is a joy to read.

Sengoku Youku wraps up the shogun arc.  Like many characters, he came onto the scene as a badass and stayed as one for his whole arc.  The heroes grew and learned and basically the story returns to chasing down the thousand tailed fox.

Anyone else read Sengoku btw?  I miss having folks to yammer with about it.

I just watched the Tv Tropes Naruto thread implode due to the latest chapter. It was really something. I wish I could tell you what that something was.

A whole new level of stupid, surpassing Kishimoto's previous best since the Izanagi/Izanami thing.

What is worth not spoiling about Naruto?

I was more referring to what happened to the thread, rather than the content of the chapter itself.

Basically, among other things

I actually enjoyed that chapter. Except for the cloak thing, all the others I thought were amusing.

Right, but that hilights the worst part of it, Merc.

I don't quite agree.

That aside:

.  Granted, Sasuke saying, "I'ma be Hokage now!" is also monumentally stupid -- but at least the characters on screen can recognize it.[/spoiler]

Quote from: Brian on May 22, 2013, 10:29:34 PM

Spoiler: ShowHide

(http://25.media.tumblr.com/bf1a3a369e90e86a40f137dd512ac566/tumblr_mn846tfOOy1rgbjvqo1_1280.jpg)

Hah. =)

Don't worry.  She's learned from Tsunade.

She'll use Premature Aging and keep up!

~~~

Anyhow, separately, there's a whole mixed messages thing.  Naruto does come off as a jerk there.  Not because he has to love Hinata, but because all the manga has shown him doing recently was giving positive messages on that front and it dodged having him react and at least say 'sorry, I don't feel that way' at some point.  The whole point of manga is it communicates a lot visually that doesn't have to come in text.  Kishimoto spent a lot of the last few chapters showing Hinata and Naruto constantly standing together holding hands.  Not Naruto and alternating Rookie nine, or collective group stuff, but those two.

It's poor messaging that basically has the art say one thing and the characters say a different thing.  As it's not real life, it doesn't have the excuse of people give mixed messages because the author in theory knows his plan and is intentionally choosing what scenes to show to deliver his idea.

Kishimoto remains superhack.  Just as Kubo remains supertroll.

Sadly, Oda is super sick.  Why do the good ones catch the plague?

At least Sengoku Youkai and Maou are continuing to be both consistently released and awesome.

Tried reading a bit of Sengoku Youko (or is it Youkai?), but I'm not particularly drawn into it.  I got through most of Volume 2 I think.  I think I just don't particularly care about most of the characters - they're not bad characters, don't get me wrong, but I don't particularly empathize with them.

However, after reading a bit of that, I decided it was that time of the year to start catching up on The World God Only Knows.  And I did not regret it at all.  Especially as a lot of my questions about the latest arc have been answered, and now I'm just waiting to see how the arc gets tied up.

I guess we discuss webcomics here too from time to time?  I can't remember?

Dominic Deegan finished last week:

http://www.dominic-deegan.com/

A comic that was not without its moments.  On the other hand, I can't recall it ever becoming supremely awesome, but it did have some fun or otherwise good bits.  Ending wasn't handled so great; a lot of buildup for a rather anticlimactic ending.  Felt a bit rushed.  But not terrible.

The latest Maou might as well have the subtitle Hotsprings and

*reads latest Bleach*

Retcon so weak.

*reads latest Naruto*

Hinata has trouble with a technique that Neji was throwing around as a Genin?  Seriously?

It seems to be just setting up trope scenes for the sake of having them.

*reads One Piece*

I admit, there's a lot going on.  Currently the group is in 5 'teams'.  He's done that a lot before, but it seems a bit messy here.

Quote from: Dracos on June 05, 2013, 06:18:17 PMHinata has trouble with a technique that Neji was throwing around as a Genin?  Seriously?

That's actually consistent with the data books that have been released. Neji was just crazy good, and at the start of the series his taijutsu was rated 3.5 out of 5, while Kakashi is a 4 at that point. In the second and third data books released, Neji and Kakashi are both 4.5 out of 5 in taijutsu. Hinata starts at a 2.5 and progresses up to 3.5, so as a Chunin she's about as good at taijutsu as Neji was as a Genin. Hinata is a little smarter and a little less inept at genjutsu, but otherwise is outclassed by Neji in everything else, and her confidence issues were what was holding her back with that technique.

When she was having her little flashback montage before attempting to finish the technique, she thought about Naruto holding her hand. That was a good sign; at least it looks like Kishimoto isn't pretending it didn't happen, even if Naruto seems to have forgotten about it the instant his dad showed up and asked him about Sakura. *grumble grumble*

Yes, but that's just more of the silliness that permeates the series.  Confidence issues or not, she clearly hasn't been deemed branch, so she's still technically the official heir to the clan who's supposed to be retaining their power and heritage.  Nobody has dragged her aside and made sure she knew this stuff in the last 3 years?

Not even say...Neji, who'd gotten over it enough to DIE FOR HER?

Neji knowing it was something special.  Her not knowing it at this point is something weird.  Especially since the warfront had both the clan head and the clan heir on it.  Basically an opportunity for everyone but her little sister to get wiped out.

Not saying that Neji couldn't be better than her at the techinique or other issues.

But struggling to perform it at all and it being a breakthrough that she can paints her as pathetic.  Where everyone else is dishing out techniques that would be inconceivable for a genin to be pulling off, she's showing that she's basically 2.5 years minimum behind where Neji was in taijutsu, despite being a confirmed ninja for at least the last 3.5 years at this point.

Quote from: Dracos on June 06, 2013, 11:46:23 AMYes, but that's just more of the silliness that permeates the series.  Confidence issues or not, she clearly hasn't been deemed branch, so she's still technically the official heir to the clan who's supposed to be retaining their power and heritage.  Nobody has dragged her aside and made sure she knew this stuff in the last 3 years?

Early on, Hiashi said she wasn't necessary because her younger sister Hanabi was already better despite being five years younger. At least at that point, he had given up on training her because he thought it was a waste of time. It doesn't say that she officially lost her heiress status, but Hiashi didn't care that she could get killed, so it seems likely, since having (and losing) an official heiress who wasn't very good would make a clan look bad. I'm pretty sure that Hanabi is the official heiress, and they did leave her behind for the world war, which lends a little more credence to that theory.

Quote from: Dracos on June 06, 2013, 11:46:23 AMNot even say...Neji, who'd gotten over it enough to DIE FOR HER?

Neji knowing it was something special.  Her not knowing it at this point is something weird.  Especially since the warfront had both the clan head and the clan heir on it.  Basically an opportunity for everyone but her little sister to get wiped out.

Knowing it and being able to do it are different things. She could do the 32-hits version, and her little flashback actually does show Neji telling her how to complete the technique. Everybody who doesn't have a Shenanigan has the same learning process for most techniques: someone tells them how to do it, then they fiddle around with it until they eventually have a breakthrough on their own.

Quote from: Dracos on June 06, 2013, 11:46:23 AMNot saying that Neji couldn't be better than her at the techinique or other issues.

But struggling to perform it at all and it being a breakthrough that she can paints her as pathetic.  Where everyone else is dishing out techniques that would be inconceivable for a genin to be pulling off, she's showing that she's basically 2.5 years minimum behind where Neji was in taijutsu, despite being a confirmed ninja for at least the last 3.5 years at this point.

It was a huge deal when Neji could do it as a genin--reaction shots all around--and Neji was way better than typical chunin when he was a genin right from the start. The latest stat book has Sasuke on par with where Neji was as a genin. Of the Konoha 11, only Rock Lee ever gets better than Neji was as a genin, and that only happened in the latest stat book. Hinata's taijutsu keeps pace with Sasuke's throughout and they both catch up to where Neji was at the start, while everybody else is worse. By the start of the timeskip, Neji was as good as Kakashi, Asuma, Jiraiya, and other big name characters. Only the best taijutsu fighters in the series are ever better than Neji was at 14.

You're right that it doesn't make Hinata look good to learn a technique two and a half years behind Neji, but I think you're underestimating how retarded good Neji was, and he's a year older than Hinata anyway. She's mostly suffering from having a skill set that invites direct comparisons with Neji, rather than having her own gimmick.

I think the point is more that it doesn't help make Hinata look special or particularly competent without significant analysis, which is arguably not the intent of the scene.  (I haven't read the latest chapter, and won't until more hilarious sharinganigans are mentioned.)  But Hinata has had relatively unique moments of awesome, up to and including matching Neji in a two-person defensive technique, and, I dunno, that crazy lion-fist-thing when she died against Pain to try and save Naruto?

That may be a better, "This doesn't look impressive at a glance," comparison point.

That made me ponder that.

http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Hanabi_Hy%C5%ABga

Hanawho? :P

Seriously, that stuff is kind of silly too.  Hinata loses out to a non-character effectively?  I get who she is, but I only just considered how non-existent she is in both manga and anime takes.  I suspect she's not part of the Ninja World War because she's irrelevant and doesn't exist anymore.  No Part 2 take on her has even occurred (Probably easy to knock down as a claim.  Go for it :3).  Hiashi's personality is all over the map on these kinds of things so it's hard to really take reads on him seriously.  It's why it's plausible to paint him as Old School Noble, Villain, Distant Parent, Abandoning Parent, or Abusive Parent without any real effort to discuss why because all of those are plausible reads on his few manga appearances.

Neji at least is a present genius (As genius ridiculous goes for that canon).  All three of them live in an environment where death can come at any time.  That she doesn't have basic full expertise at this point (again 2.5 years older and more training than when Neji was casually showing off mastery of the skill) makes her look dumb and makes Hiashi look more dumb in not being prepared for either of his kids to get killed.

I think the comment at the end of that wiki article is on target for actual canon:
Neither of them are heirs in Kishimoto's take.  They're just wedding stock for later.

Quote from: Brian on June 06, 2013, 04:49:12 PM
I think the point is more that it doesn't help make Hinata look special or particularly competent without significant analysis, which is arguably not the intent of the scene.  (I haven't read the latest chapter, and won't until more hilarious sharinganigans are mentioned.)  But Hinata has had relatively unique moments of awesome, up to and including matching Neji in a two-person defensive technique, and, I dunno, that crazy lion-fist-thing when she died against Pain to try and save Naruto?

That may be a better, "This doesn't look impressive at a glance," comparison point.

Yeah, the presentation is not particularly impressive. My first reaction when I read it was "she couldn't do that before?" So I did some digging and realized I was just using Neji as a benchmark for what Hyuga should be able to do. When Neji did the 64 palms in the Chunin exams, Hiashi's reaction was that he had surpassed the main house. I looked at the stat books, and came to the conclusion that Hinata is decent but not outstanding on the whole, and that Kishimoto is screwing up the way this is presented so that she looks like she's just bad. As a side note, according to the stat books Sakura is about as bad as her performance indicates. She starts as basically the worst ninja ever, and improves substantially to the point where she is merely mediocre.

Regarding the lion fist thing in particular, after Hinata does the 8 trigrams, 64 palms thing successfully, her scene in the latest chapter ends with her firing up the lion fists and saying she's going to do it again with the lion fists going. If she can manage that, it would be a level of badass that we never saw out of Neji, so maybe she'll get a chance to demonstrate how good she could be.

Quote from: Dracos on June 06, 2013, 05:30:53 PMHanawho? :P

Hanabi basically exists because it's really hard for an only child to be the Unfavorite, and the Unfavorite is a standard woobie. Hanabi's characterization literally only goes as far as "Hinata's more capable sibling that her dad likes better." She gets only a couple of lines in the entire series.

Quote from: Dracos on June 06, 2013, 05:30:53 PMSeriously, that stuff is kind of silly too.  Hinata loses out to a non-character effectively?  I get who she is, but I only just considered how non-existent she is in both manga and anime takes.  I suspect she's not part of the Ninja World War because she's irrelevant and doesn't exist anymore.  No Part 2 take on her has even occurred (Probably easy to knock down as a claim.  Go for it :3).  Hiashi's personality is all over the map on these kinds of things so it's hard to really take reads on him seriously.  It's why it's plausible to paint him as Old School Noble, Villain, Distant Parent, Abandoning Parent, or Abusive Parent without any real effort to discuss why because all of those are plausible reads on his few manga appearances.

Agreed. Hinata is kind of a secondary character and Hiashi is even less important, so the relationship between them isn't explained well at all. It's basically just enough to make Hinata a woobie and an underdog.

Quote from: Dracos on June 06, 2013, 05:30:53 PMNeji at least is a present genius (As genius ridiculous goes for that canon).  All three of them live in an environment where death can come at any time.  That she doesn't have basic full expertise at this point (again 2.5 years older and more training than when Neji was casually showing off mastery of the skill) makes her look dumb and makes Hiashi look more dumb in not being prepared for either of his kids to get killed.

I think the comment at the end of that wiki article is on target for actual canon:
Neither of them are heirs in Kishimoto's take.  They're just wedding stock for later.

I'm not sure what "basic full expertise" is. Yes, Neji makes her look dumb, but that's just because Neji is ridiculous and Kishimoto gives us only Neji for comparison. It's Kishimoto's fumble for not giving us a better comparison, so we end up with the expectation that Hinata should have been able to figure out the ultimate technique of the strongest taijutsu style in Konoha before now. It's a breakthrough, but it doesn't look like one because Neji's been doing it forever. If Neji weren't throwing it around like it's nothing, Hinata pulling off the 64 hit combo would be a lot more impressive.

Oh, Sai. *shakes head sadly*

Sakura is being presented as basically being a superior Tsunade at this point.

So stupid.

I never liked Sai. I think it'd be funny if Naruto responded to him like, "Actually, we got Sasuke back, you're off the team."

Sakura is getting the opposite of the treatment that Hinata got. Sakura sucks, but she's getting played up as useful. I'm not buying it.

Ippo seems to actually be focusing all on Ippo leading up toward Ricardo.

I am cool with this.

It also has some scenes of Itagaki being an arrogant lazy ass, which is unfortunate. What are the chances he'll actually lose and Imai will take the belt? (Probably pretty low, sadly)

Itchiwho?

Imai takes the belt! :3

http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/scientia-r9395

Only two chapters of this right now, but it was kind of nice and to read these short sci-fi stories. The summary made me expect a 'bad end', with science going bad and the protagonist of the stories getting fucked by it, but they're actually pretty nice.

Quote from: Merc on July 03, 2013, 11:45:42 PM
http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/scientia-r9395

Only two chapters of this right now, but it was kind of nice and to read these short sci-fi stories. The summary made me expect a 'bad end', with science going bad and the protagonist of the stories getting fucked by it, but they're actually pretty nice.

Normally, when the first two things that happen in a story are an explicit warning against hubris and a creepy experimental surgery, the next step is usually tragedy, not "improve your life by having a positive attitude."

Yep, that's why it was a nice surprise which way the story went.

http://www.batoto.net/read/_/180622/quick-start_v1_ch1_by_tg-scanlations

Forgot who linked it, but this was amusing.

Quote from: Brian on July 06, 2013, 08:02:33 PM
http://www.batoto.net/read/_/180622/quick-start_v1_ch1_by_tg-scanlations

Forgot who linked it, but this was amusing.

I did. It's a pretty new project, apparently the /tg/ guys at 4chan took an interest and are doing the scanlation.

Also, Sachi is a kindred spirit.

I found something quite unique, at least to me.

Regarding Death (http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/regarding-death-r6854)

It's a short series (about 25 in total, and I've only just read two) of comics that deal with people dying and meeting a person on the other side. Is this person God, is he Death? Perhaps it doesn't even ultimately matter.

What makes this series stick out is that there is a piece of background music that accompanies each strip, which lends a certain weight and flow to each individual chapter.

It doesn't look like it's going to be a long read, but if you're curious then check out a strip or two with the BGM enabled.

It's read left to right, by the way, just in case you decide to give it a try.

Reread Chibi-Vampire (or Karin).  Sad-happy is sad-happy.  Poor Karin.

Maou Yuusha updated, now with 100% more demons, including

That's a flag, Grahf!

I've been following Dead Sorceror's City (http://forum.egscans.org/showthread.php/7207-Dead-Sorcerer-s-City-Downloads-and-Discussion) for awhile.  Link goes to forum that has both download and reader links.

Magic has been discovered, and is so prevelant that you can even download spells on your phone.

The story revolves around a red robed vigilante ChaCrimson Robe that doesn't need to use technology to cast spells, and a detective that hates magic.

You might remember when I linked Koe no Katachi a couple months back. At the time it was a one-shot but was being serialized eventually. Well,

Chapter 1 (http://www.batoto.net/read/_/186367/koe-no-katachi_v1_ch1_by_norway-scan)

It looks like it isn't picking up where the one-shot left off, it's going to elaborate on the past a lot more. Nishimiya is only introduced at the end of this chapter, which focuses on Ishida and his personality as an impulsive, headstrong young boy. There's also more on his background, like that he lives with his sister, who's a hair dresser who apparently has an endless string of boyfriends.

I'm not sure how many chapters this elaboration will end up taking, or if it's actually the entire point of the series -- I'd be somewhat disappointed if that was the case and they only got to the same ending after more chapters -- granted this long way around will flesh out more characters and maybe make some of them more sympathetic. The thing about that is the original kind of relied on everyone being unsympathetic to both Nishimiya and Ishida on various levels, so by fleshing everyone out I'm wondering if the impact will be lost.

Seeing where it goes, I suppose.

Quote from: Merc on June 25, 2013, 11:03:05 PM
It also has some scenes of Itagaki being an arrogant lazy ass, which is unfortunate. What are the chances he'll actually lose and Imai will take the belt? (Probably pretty low, sadly)

Imai took the belt!

Itakawho lost~ :P

Now it just needs to follow up with a resounding Ippo fight (and victory) and it'll be like that last year of Itakawho could fade away in the waves of Ippo's rise to victory and beginning of a world champion stage.

Quote from: Dracos on September 12, 2013, 04:51:09 PM

Quote from: Merc on June 25, 2013, 11:03:05 PM
It also has some scenes of Itagaki being an arrogant lazy ass, which is unfortunate. What are the chances he'll actually lose and Imai will take the belt? (Probably pretty low, sadly)

Imai took the belt!

Itakawho lost~ :P

Now it just needs to follow up with a resounding Ippo fight (and victory) and it'll be like that last year of Itakawho could fade away in the waves of Ippo's rise to victory and beginning of a world champion stage.

Woo hoo~!

Current Ippo fight is at least setting up well.

Read some Gate: Where the JDSF fought today.  Continues to be both hentai and hillarious.

Quote from: Dracos on October 24, 2013, 03:31:36 AM
Current Ippo fight is at least setting up well.

Read some Gate: Where the JDSF fought today.  Continues to be both hentai and hillarious.

It's a pretty entertaining series. The hentai aspects are usually pretty minor. Probably less than a half dozen pages out of 20+ chapters.

Tasogare Otome x Amnesia finished. Supernatural romance/mystery series, had a decent anime adaptation with a good soundtrack. You can read it here: http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/tasogare-otome-x-amnesia-r113

A friend linked this to me:

http://mangafox.me/manga/gokicha/v01/c001/1.html

A 4koma about the world's most laudable cockroach.  It's strangely compelling.

Quote from: Brian on October 30, 2013, 01:29:57 PM
A friend linked this to me:

http://mangafox.me/manga/gokicha/v01/c001/1.html

A 4koma about the world's most laudable cockroach.  It's strangely compelling.

I started reading that too. It's cute.

For those still even following the ongoing trainwreck that is Naruto:

I think Bleach is actually more of a trainwreck right now.  Both are pretty ridiculous.

On one, we have the entirety of ninja kind struggling against one person, who is magically only vulnerable to talk-down, despite the fact he was always a halfass ninja.

On the other, we just have non-ending BS from every side.

For some reason the ridiculousness in Bleach wraps all the way back around into enjoyment for me. Granted, I'm aware that I could be in a minority here.

I started reading Plug-In Girl: http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/yuusen-shoujo-plug-in-girl-r8559

It's about cyborgs and powerful feuding clans and a cheerful guy with some unknown tech and a hero complex who suplexes a mecha to test out its balance systems, and the eponymous girl who is apparently some sort of proprietary tech that an opposing clan wants to get their hands on. Only 8 chapters out so far, so I read the whole thing in one sitting, but I like it. The characters are likeable, the worldbuilding is happening at a steady pace and hints at a lot more to come, and the art is passably decent. Recommended.

http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/shinonome-yuuko-wa-tanpen-shousetsu-o-aishite-iru-r9127

This one's short and sweet, complete after only ten chapters. The main characters are each awkward in their own way, and it makes for a slow paced romance, despite the overall short length of the story itself. Only complaint is that Yuuko basically does not emote. She's get this perpetually concerned/surprised look that makes her really hard to read.

Quote from: Empyrean on November 13, 2013, 06:43:07 PM
This one's short and sweet, complete after only ten chapters. The main characters are each awkward in their own way, and it makes for a slow paced romance, despite the overall short length of the story itself.

Enjoyed it. My reaction throughout, though, really matched the description: "What strange, awkward people...."

I read through it, but I didn't really care much for it. There's some sweetness, but yeah, it didn't really do much overall for me.

There is another story where there's a hard-to-read girl author looking for a fake boyfriend for love experience to write stuff (Watashi ni XX Shinasai (http://www.mangahere.com/manga/watashi_ni_xx_shinasai/)) that I thought tended to be a bit more interesting, since the girl clearly has other emotions, and the guy's frustration is more visible, whereas here, both characters were just so very awkward and had nothing really interesting to them.

http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/waratte-sotomura-san-r4333

A cute 4koma series about a girl that has trouble communicating and comes off the wrong way ... so most people think she's actually a delinquent.  I found it amusing.

Edit: Credit to Pax for sharing the link.

It starts developing the story at an admittedly glacial pace later on. Introduces a few more characters and develops a couple of relationships a bit. Still cute.

Another series I've started is Magdala de Nemure. It's by the guy who wrote Spice and Wolf: http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/magdala-de-nemure-r9096

Medieval fantasy setting, heavy on intrigue. Only five chapters out so far and seems to be a monthly release, but I'm already hooked. Big surprise in chapters 4 and 5.

After a good long while another chapter of Maoyuu has finally shown up.

I wonder if they'll release a few chapters in a row to get caught back up?

New chapter of Magdala de Namure (http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/magdala-de-nemure-r9096?st=75#comment_302991). Things got so real I thought I was on a boat.

Also, Omamori Himari (http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/omamori-himari-r648) has concluded. Good story, strong finish. I like it quite a lot.

Caught up on Maou.  Mmm, more okay with where it is at the moment.

Fairy tail has been going to an odd place, and kind of is skipping over things too.  How certain characters got free isn't quite clear.  The demons feel like their ridiculous competence suddenly vanished.  Zeraf continues to sort of show up without really clear motives or sense of presence in the world.

Hajime got some updates, and then gutted out again quietly.  I'm okay with the fight as it's going though.  It seems like it's shaping up for an Ippo win based on built up training over the manga, as opposed to bullshit 'I just that much tougher'.

One Piece is going super slowly as the crew deals with Joker's powerful team.   The sniper is being particularly lame lately, but maybe he'll wise up as Sugar wipes out more of the crowd of allies around him.  And then hopefully ceases to exist because Wipe Everyone's Memories is a really nasty/weird power.

Reading that gourmet manga, which is more of a guilty read.  It's way more acceptable than either Bleach or Naruto these days.

One Punch is continuing to be pretty awesome, if slow.

Been reading Dorohedoro (http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/dorohedoro-r2379).

It's a seinen manga about a crapsack world where humans get experimented by magicians regularly as they try to master their magic. The main character is one such victim (supposedly), a guy named Kaiman who has lost his memory and had his head transformed into that of a lizard. He finds and kills magicians, particularly trying to find the one that cursed him, as killing that magician would release the curse on him.

That's how the manga starts anyway. Then it just veers way off the left field with a lot of insanity and we find out there's much more to Kaiman, his partner, the magicians, the devils, and everything in between.

There's about 125 chapters translated so far.

The World God Only Knows (http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/the-world-god-only-knows-r7) is now finished.

With the release of chapter 30 Extra is no longer doing Maoyuu Maou Yuusha.

Here's hoping whoever they passed it off to keeps up the quality.

Aye :)

Go Yuusha.

Some decent, if cluttered new chapters of One Piece and Toriko this week.  It's hard to tell who is fighting what as they're a bit all over the place in One Piece, but it looks like at least some face smashing will happen soon.

Bleach is a complete garbage pile, as usual, and haven't looked at Naruto.

Quote from: Dracos on May 14, 2014, 06:31:05 PM
Bleach is a complete garbage pile, as usual, and haven't looked at Naruto.

I'll have to ask you sometime what the deal is with Bleach, as I've somehow become curious, but not curious enough to wade through 3212314 chapters only to determine it is, in fact, a garbage pile.

Naruto I have an inkling of the problems. Author and audience disagree on who is most important character, creepy mask guy stuff, and what did Sakura learn/do to get counted as super-nin?

Last I looked at Naruto, they were about to deliver "Teamwork from these three" as the answer to the unstoppable super nin Madara who has long since demonstrated the ability to take on all superpowered opponents simultaneously.  Sakura is even more behind as both the other two have gotten another level of Super Ninja recently, and Naruto is literally Ninja Jesus, able to out-heal Sakura with people who are effectively dead.

Bleach has long since lost any semblance of a foundation to tell its story upon.  It's primarily been focused on the elite fighting force of the afterlife being just sort of incompetent patsies against their increasingly nonsense opposition: Super powered humans from somewhere that seem to have just spun off of super powered human at some point.  They've long past some impression of acting human as we have folks who get cut apart and spray their blood everywhere as their way of killing people, teleporting mouth molds, imaginations based enemies, emotion crippling attacks...

Any sense that their power frameworks arise from some centralized environment is pretty lost in the noise that is basically people just showing up and delivering bullshit, while the good guys repeatedly act as morons (Let's kill off our own strong folks ahead of time, we have this incredibly effective super training but we only are using it on a few people).

One can discuss which arc folks lose interest in, since the series makes massive style changes throughout, but the current one is basically "blah, blah blah, new person who only showed up a few minutes ago handing people their asses, blah blah, soul reaper showing off mystical technique that won't do anything."

Is Ichigo still being the most useless shounen protagonist ever? He's been on a losing spree since the end of the rescue Rukia arc. I stopped reading at the end of that one arc where they never bother to explain why the villains do what they do. Execution, I think?

Edit: Wait, I did read up to that thing in the basement with Kenpachi and Unohana. Has he won a fight since that point?

Ichigo has not had a fight since that point.  Or rather, I don't think he has?  I'm not sure if him losing to the nameless swords (and by proxy also to Renji) came before or after that point, and he's since gotten another silly powerup he hasn't shown off yet.

Kenpachi barely won a fight, and then immediately lost the follow up so he or someone else could then show ridiculous bullshit.

So you could say he's losing by not being on camera at all for like twenty chapters?

I'm gonna yammer more on Yuusha.  It is cute and everyone should read the amazing story of Hero and Demon Queen introducing Republic to the land of demons.  It stars heroes that stand easily above the shoddy crew that Fate/Stay Night offers :P

If folks haven't read any History's Strongest Disciple lately, it's almost worth taking a look at the last 10-12 chapters for an example of maximum stupidity.  The heroes cannot win, they're outnumbered over 2 to 1 everywhere, overpowered, and then...  The villains decide it is dishonorable to kill them in this way and switch sides~.  Giant breast shots constantly.  Whining and shock over the notion of it being dishonorable.  More giant breast shots on sunsets.

I'm not sure whether or not it completely eclipses Bleach and naruto for stupid.  It is absolutely a "We wrote ourselves into a corner with having the guys who end fights by killing have an overwhelming setup against the 'good guys'".

Latest chapter of Naruto was pretty comical. Sakura's like, "I'm gonna be useful now!" and immediately gets shanked while doing precisely zero damage. Not to mention getting outclassed in the one thing she sort of had going for her by Ninja Jesus. Soooo useless. It's like they pull her off of the sidelines just long enough to get owned, and then back she goes. She doesn't even have enough credibility to invoke the Worf effect.

Maoyuu is still my favorite ongoing manga. I can't say enough good things about it. Just read it if you haven't yet.

I came across All You Need is Kill recently. It's a groundhog day plot starting the day before the protagonist is deployed into a crapsack war against alien monsters. Every day he dies. So he decides to make the best of it and grind his way to becoming a superhuman god of war, to see if maybe he can live out the day. It's pretty cool so far. The movie "Edge of Tomorrow" is based on the same light novel.

Well, it's also a misuse of the Worf effect, since they're almost certainly trying it.  The whole concept is to demonstrate threat and competence while doing the minimal amount of screentime and damage.  Blasting Kakashi is a worf effect (and he gets constantly owned for just that effect).  Wiping out konoha or single handedly owning all five Kage is just normal crushing the protagonists.

Sakura can't demonstrate any additional competence for the bad guy, so she's just being fodder.  Albeit, they do the same thing for Tsunade.  Generally, female ninjas do terribly in canon.

And by generally, you mean they pretty much always do terribly! =p

The only time a female ninja has given a good showing was Sakura+Chijo vs Sasori... which most people thought was unrealistic for Sakura to pull off, even in a 2:1 fight and after training with Tsunade for three years. And after that she went right back to incompetent too.

You could make an argument for Temari giving good showings as a kunoichi, except the two times she did, it was against Tenten and Tayuya. Two other kunoichis, both of whose abilities had critical weaknesses to wind attacks. And Tenten didn't even get an on-screen beatdown.

Now, really, he's not that bad.  I mean just as you said Rukia did have that one big win against her past, and I'm pretty sure she killed a mook at some point.  Not all women in his manga are merely over-emotional victims or Support entities, save when beating other women like that Yoruchi versus Sui-Feng fight.

:3

*is terrible*

Ouch.

So who else is enjoying Ippo's return to a fierce fight?

Currently Bleach has been getting serious. Sure it has It's moments, But I think It's on it's final stretch and has finally decided to be enjoyable to read. For instance, Rukia went Bankai an actually won a major fight.
I think the problem most people have with bleach is that they watch it as an anime first. If you try and watch it all at once like that, well... It gets repetitive. Read it in Manga form, and in arcs at a time. Otherwise, it comes off as Shit.

Anyways, I like the Direction Fairy Tail has been headed as well. That has always been my favorite Manga.

Sometimes I click on Bleach or Naruto alongside my One Piece reading.

They've been pretty terrible lately.  Zombie vs Zombie vs Zombie vs Undead God vs... "Really, how many dead things are going to be front and center in a non-horror arc?"

In the same spot I encounter those, they scanslate History's Strongest Disciple.

And that is always a resounding statement lately that it could be much much worse.  Lots of nudity of fairly poorly drawn women.  It's gone from a tits and street fighting story that was at least swallowable as cheesy read to "Wow, hey we don't have to worry about nudity guidelines anymore, so here's naked women every couple frames, and btw, everyone is fighting for stupid things."  If naruto and bleach both have been in a land of wacky all over the placeness lately, HSDK has just been in a ridiculous tailspin.

I've been a little surprised at Naruto lately. It's been going downhill for a long time, and got hilariously bad when they introduced a new real ultimately villain behind the other villains like five times in a row over the course of a couple of chapters. Then they actually had a couple of decent chapters in a row earlier this month. They're just fighting chapters, but they remind me of the earlier stuff (Clones! Subterfuge! Punching!) instead of the more recent fights which are all just spamming high powered jutsu that don't work.

Couple other things I've been reading:

http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/mahou-tsukai-no-yome-r10801

This one has a pretty unique feel to it. I was wary at first; the premise had some serious squick potential (an older man buys a girl at a slave auction, and says she's going to be his wife?) but it's actually turned out really well. There are only 8 chapters out so far, but they're about 40 pages each. It's a monthly release. Pretty mellow pace, not much actual romance for a "romance" manga. So far it's got a lot of build up, hinting at secrets well kept, and encounters with the various denizens of a hidden magical world. Published in a shounen magazine I guess, but it feels like seinen to me.

http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/lasboss-x-hero-r9399

There is a lot of meta weirdness going on in this manga. It's about a mangaka who is trying to salvage his crappy manga from poor ratings. He decides he needs to kill off the heroine of his story to encourage somebody else to have a big showdown with a final boss of some sort, and then somehow end up inside his own story. He can still exercise some degree of control over the story world itself as the author, but things start screwing with his plans for the story and he relies on messing with tropes to keep events rolling as he wants them to. It might be a metaphor for authors getting in fights with their editors; I don't even know. The art kind of sucks (still better than Bleach, in my opinion), but the story gets engrossing as it goes on. Hell of a cliffhanger with the latest chapter.

Oh... don't read the comments section. It's packed full of unmarked spoilers, because people are morons.

It's a short read so far, only 8 chapters released, but I'm enjoying Tate No Yuusha No Nariagari (http://www.mangahere.co/manga/tate_no_yuusha_no_nariagari/) (The rise of the shield hero) so far.

1/2 Prince finished...

I read a bit of tate, but really couldn't bring myself to continue a story that was lining up from the very get-go to have everyone shitting on the protagonist as an important part of the story.  I can enjoy underdogs, but it seemed like it was going toward piling bullshit on top of bullshit.

Quote from: Dracos on September 13, 2014, 12:08:33 PM
I read a bit of tate, but really couldn't bring myself to continue a story that was lining up from the very get-go to have everyone shitting on the protagonist as an important part of the story.  I can enjoy underdogs, but it seemed like it was going toward piling bullshit on top of bullshit.

It's not really like that, although it seems that way at first. More detailed spoilers follow:

Fair enough, still too much, too quickly, with too little sign of positive.

So Naruto ends with a classic fanservice: Here's how everyone hooked up.

Well, let's all pat ourselves on the back for going with the book ends cliche.

Seriously, what do you guys think of the ending?  I'm not feeling it.  By that, I mean I don't feel anything about any particular aspect of it.  Not satisfaction in finishing the story, not triumph in the protagonist's victory, not longing for more.  Maybe a vague sense of "I guess that happened" lightly spiced with "why does full color make the character art look uglier than usual" and "introducing a bunch of kids doesn't make me care about them".

This ending seemed really impersonal, honestly.  If you're going with book ends, and the first chapter was a 50-page narrative showing Naruto and his place in the village, then I think the last chapter should be a similar view of what Naruto's day is like now that he's grown through this story.  Not some twenty pages of flitting between multiple families and a bit of Naruto towards the end.

Well, they basically added a decade onto everyone and the coloring wasn't very good.  Naruto was one of the few that actually was angled at a way to not look terrible on top of that, positioning-wise.  Shannaro.  @_@  It'd be really unlikely for any of them to really come across well.  Some of them explicitly were made uglier as well.

It does largely lampshade the ridiculous culture/tech difference having giant cities around this apparently pointless village that dictates everything important and of course the giant animal creatures are just hanging out, totally comfortable in these cramped towns.

So Sakura is taking care of Karen's kid? Am I reading that right?

I don't even know.  The ending seems like it's trying to have me play a little game of "guess who the parents are" with these kids, and all I can think is I don't know any of you.  Am I supposed to assume Hinata's kid with whiskers means she got together with Naruto?  If you're gonna spend page-count on Naruto/Hinata fanservice, instead of inventing a kid, wouldn't it be better to have some pages of Naruto actually interacting with Hinata romantically?

And what's with Naruto's kid defacing the mountain?  After Naruto did it because he has no family and everybody he knew hated him, having a new kid do it because his dad is too busy to pay much attention just seems really cheap.  Heck, why not just have Naruto himself deface the mountain in the ending to parallel the first chapter?  I'm having trouble imagining an in-character reason Naruto might do so that wouldn't make the ending slightly more interesting, or more nostalgic, or more elegant.

Jump made money off of Naruto for a decade and a half, but they couldn't spring for another ten or twenty color pages for the big finale?

Hah.  That's a really mean way to read that.  Given how shmalzy everything was, I'm pretty sure the black hair was meant to be showing it was Sasuke's kid.  They were really really lazy on making characters come across as genetically matched, such as none of Hinata's kids having the supposedly pretty dominant Hyuuga eyes (Given her whole clan had them).

Quote from: KLSymph on November 06, 2014, 10:49:38 PM
I don't even know.  The ending seems like it's trying to have me play a little game of "guess who the parents are" with these kids, and all I can think is I don't know any of you.  Am I supposed to assume Hinata's kid with whiskers means she got together with Naruto?  If you're gonna spend page-count on Naruto/Hinata fanservice, instead of inventing a kid, wouldn't it be better to have some pages of Naruto actually interacting with Hinata romantically?

And what's with Naruto's kid defacing the mountain?  After Naruto did it because he has no family and everybody he knew hated him, having a new kid do it because his dad is too busy to pay much attention just seems really cheap.  Heck, why not just have Naruto himself deface the mountain in the ending to parallel the first chapter?  I'm having trouble imagining an in-character reason Naruto might do so that wouldn't make the ending slightly more interesting, or more nostalgic, or more elegant.

Jump made money off of Naruto for a decade and a half, but they couldn't spring for another ten or twenty color pages for the big finale?

I honestly think it was more artist laziness on the closeout than Shonen Jump not being willing to give him the space.  Given how timing wise they are getting scanslated, I almost expect that both will ship in the same issue.

Quote from: Dracosquote author=Dracos link=topic=101597.msg1054215#msg1054215 date=1415328721]
Hah.  That's a really mean way to read that.  Given how shmalzy everything was, I'm pretty sure the black hair was meant to be showing it was Sasuke's kid.  They were really really lazy on making characters come across as genetically matched, such as none of Hinata's kids having the supposedly pretty dominant Hyuuga eyes (Given her whole clan had them).

Not gonna lie; when I first read the part where Salada mentions Bolt's daddy issues resemble her own I thought she was talking about their looks (being from the same clan).

I thought the time skip was 15ish years, myself. Kurenai's kid looks about that age.

KLSymph: I think they're leaving NaruHina stuff for The Last Movie, if the trailer is any indication.

(http://www.readysoupcomic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/2014-11-07-Everything-in-Naruto.jpg) (http://www.readysoupcomic.com)

Annoyingly, I keep calling this manga DFR (http://www.mangahere.co/manga/rain/) in my head.

Everytime I go catch up with One Punch Man I leave angry that there isn't more.

There's more now.

We can now be angry there isn't more.

Surprised she's only b-rank.

Been reading Miss Shinozaki, You Might Turn into An Otaku at This Rate! (http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/shinozaki-san-ki-wo-ota-shika-ni-r9177) which is about a girl who used to be popular and claims to hate otaku, but didn't really make a lot of friends at her new school and so she latches onto the first friend she makes. Except the first friend she makes is an otaku. And then she kind of just gets sucked into her new friend's pace.

I'm enjoying it because the girl is so expressive in her attempts at denial and she's literally driving herself insane trying to lead a double life. Her self-made suffering is great.

...and I'm probably a terrible person for getting so much enjoyment out of reading her suffering.

Quote from: thepanda on January 25, 2015, 09:55:47 PM
Surprised she's only b-rank.

I think that's supposed to be more personal driven.  She's had a number of chapters now indicating defeats at larger challenges, getting rescued or shown up by her sister and being focused on putting together her faction.

Gate and Maou Yusha updated.

I really need to ask myself why I continue to read Ippo. Whats been happening with the characters baffles me.

I honestly don't understand how Sendo being slow/unable to catch other boxers is still a thing when a huge plot point of his early fights was him developing his leg muscles for more explosive/instant movement and its such a big part of WHY he should be so intimidating now. Because you know that at any second he will just pounce and destroy you.

In this fight, he just....never moves his feet. They are lead weights and all he is doing is swinging when his opponent closes in. Its like...he got so intimidating that he stopped having to move and his legs got fat and flabby?

Basically from Ippo's loss onward, it's been a wave of 'who are these people' type fights. :(

So read through Spice and Wolf to current.  Thoughts...

Well, translation quality goes pretty strongly downhill later in the scans.  Possibly the official ones, that go through volume 10 instead of 6, would give a better feel but...

As a story, it kind of isn't that good.  It delivers major plot concerns without the requisite foreshadowing.  The big one in Volume 5 and 6 is lawerence getting into trouble on margin trading, which comes out of another deceptive trading guild trying to bribe him to keep quiet about their shady tricks, an event sequence that gives no real hint of him getting into a transaction on greed.

So far there has been 4 significant transaction, of which Horo just turning into a giant wolf and beating everyone up has been the decisive factor in 2.  Horo outsmarting everyone has been the decisive factor in the other 2.  Pax made the comment about it being the story of a wolf and her pet merchant, and that's pretty fair as Lawerance overall doesn't get to shine much on his own merits.  As a direction though, economy and strategy generally aren't big parts of how problems are solved, so much as the setting by which problems are introduced.  I think Maoyuu Yusha does better here in economy and diplomacy actively being tools to solve problems.

Horo's personality can be somewhat all over the place over it.  Certainly, she's lonely and a bit clingy, curious and insightful, but she'll just react erratically at times as well.

Gamma (http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/gamma-r12542/), by Ogino Yun

A slice of life/drama about a superhero counselor, a former/retired heroine who tries to help other heroes with their problems. It seems almost lighthearted....at least until things begin taking a darker turn. It seems to balance the dark stuff with the more light-hearted stuff for the most part, mixed in with a healthy dose of action (as expected for a series about heroes), a bit of comedy, and drama. I like the art style too.

It's generally episodic in nature, with each chapter being its own story almost (outside one two-parter so far), although the dark stuff is clearly brewing up an arc in the background.

I'm definitely enjoying it, though there's only 8 chapters out, and it releases glacially slow.

Translator's said they'll be speeding up a bit as of this chapter, but we'll see how that goes. Chapter 8 -was- released one week after the last, instead of months apart, so there's that.

http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/boku-no-hero-academia-r12714/

Continues to be my favorite new manga.  Part of SJ Alpha as well.  The story of a young man (in superhero world) who wants to be a hero.  Born with: No powers, Excellent Instincts.

Taken under wing by Golden Age Famous Hero...who is dying horribly.

They make quite the pair.

http://mangapark.me/manga/wizards-soul-holy-war-of-love

Another cute work from the Bonnouji artist.  Guy tends to do pretty decent 'these are actually people' takes.

Fairy tail's second timeskip, and the arc's concept of 'there is this nation of mages waaaay stronger than us and they want to hurt us, but they are afraid of all the things we just beat the shit out of....oh no! We beat the shit out of the thing they fear! Now the super mages will beat us!!' bugs the hell out of me. Really? This is the next foe?

Have trouble really finding a reason to continue following it.

http://mangapark.me/manga/re-monster

This has been an interesting read so far. Not sure if I'd call it good, exactly, but interesting.

Quote from: Merc on June 29, 2015, 03:57:23 PM
Fairy tail's second timeskip, and the arc's concept of 'there is this nation of mages waaaay stronger than us and they want to hurt us, but they are afraid of all the things we just beat the shit out of....oh no! We beat the shit out of the thing they fear! Now the super mages will beat us!!' bugs the hell out of me. Really? This is the next foe?

Have trouble really finding a reason to continue following it.

I still like the characters...

But yeah, the arc setup was pretty dumb.  Especially with "Okay, the strooongest mage" (Who has never been on camera) "Has DEFECTED and they have 11 mages, just as strong!"

There's lots of crummy setup there to establish: We're going off to fight another group of 12 mages.  They will be plausible threats, despite our enormous powerups that make most the magic population of the country not even a warm up.

Yeah, I still like characters, but the set-up for the story arc blows.

Man current chapter blows hard.

Lots of really pathetically 'Oh god, these guys are EEEEVIL" followed by a mook taking them out, followed by one of the Tweleve scaring them with magic power.  Really. At THIS point?

They're all post recent training arc.  They've hung out with S-class mages all over town.  There should not be 'oh god, this one person is so magically powerful I'm sweating' anymore.  Taking the angle of numbers was right.  Taking the angle that they have individual powerhouse mages that are just that strong was eeeh.  That was not plausible threat.  That was "2 on 6, we win."

Yeah Fairy Tail has wandered into random space pretty much.

Ippo is updating and...well the fighting is decent and the writing is bad?  dunno if its translation or otherwise, but they really kind of flubbed the communication of Bison's frustration with Takamura taking out his goal, David Eagle.  They also really made the coach look stupid and the relationship weird with Takamura shoving the coach out of the ring and the coach having garbage in the way of advice or a plan for dealing with Bison.

I think it is one of the better actual matches they've had in a bit, but well, just delivered poorly as a whole when they step out of the fighting.

Quote from: thepanda on June 30, 2015, 12:31:46 AM
http://mangapark.me/manga/re-monster

This has been an interesting read so far. Not sure if I'd call it good, exactly, but interesting.

I read this one recently as sort of a "monster protagonist" kick along with Spirit Migration (http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/spirit-migration-r14437) and In Regards to My Reincarnation as a Slime. (http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/tensei-shitara-slime-datta-ken-r15553)

Re: Monster is straight up goblin power fantasy. At times it feels like I'm reading a manga adaptation of Progress Quest, but I ended up binging all the currently released chapters, and I want more. It's not great, but it sort of grabbed me. The power curve is steep and starts really low (goblins get killed by horned rabbits, seriously) so I'm curious to see where it'll end up.

Spirit Migration is about an amnesiac spirit that wakes up in a dungeon full of monsters that is periodically raided by adventurer parties. He finds that he can possess monsters, and he thinks he might have been human, so he decides to make himself useful in the hope that he can figure out who he was. Based on a light novel (series?). Definitely worth a read.

In Regards to My Reincarnation as a Slime is another light novel series adaptation. A dying man wishes for various things, which ends up being his baseline skillset for his next life, in which he is reincarnated as a slime. Like, the little gelatinous blob monsters from old school RPGs. He's pretty ridiculously overpowered for a slime, though, and decides to go out and make his way in the world. Pretty entertaining so far, but it's only about three chapters in.

Another thing I read recently was Tomo-chan wa Onna no ko! (http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/tomo-chan-wa-onna-no-ko-r15722)

Here is the first strip, and it gives you a good idea of what you're in for: http://img.bato.to/comics/2015/06/28/t/read55906057d750c/img000001.png

It's 4-koma series about a tomboy who is trying to get out of the friend zone with her childhood friend. Except it's less "friend" zone and more "best bro forever" zone. Her ultimate goal is to date her friend, but she's romantically clueless, and he's so stuck in the mindset that she is a bro that he thinks it's weird that she wears a skirt. She gets romantic advice from a female friend who is mostly just in it for the trolling.

The series as a whole is cute and funny, and there are around a hundred strips out so far, so you can catch up to current in one sitting. It does seem to be making some plot progress, which kind of surprised me; usually these sorts of series don't mess with the basic setup and just use that to throw gags until it gets stale.

Quote from: Empyrean on July 21, 2015, 12:39:29 PM
Re: Monster is straight up goblin power fantasy. At times it feels like I'm reading a manga adaptation of Progress Quest, but I ended up binging all the currently released chapters, and I want more. It's not great, but it sort of grabbed me. The power curve is steep and starts really low (goblins get killed by horned rabbits, seriously) so I'm curious to see where it'll end up.

If you're okay with reading a translated webnovel rather than the manga, http://japtem.com/projects/remonster-toc/ has up to chapter 7 of 10 translated.  I believe this is beyond the point where the manga is translated.

edit: I should mention - I glanced at where the manga is right now, and the webnovel gets fairly rapey after that point.  It's all text, and it doesn't go into explicit detail, but I still found it to be unpleasantly gratuitous.  So, fair warning, and I'll let you decide whether you want to continue reading.

Quote from: Jason_Miao on July 22, 2015, 09:24:32 AM

Quote from: Empyrean on July 21, 2015, 12:39:29 PM
Re: Monster is straight up goblin power fantasy. At times it feels like I'm reading a manga adaptation of Progress Quest, but I ended up binging all the currently released chapters, and I want more. It's not great, but it sort of grabbed me. The power curve is steep and starts really low (goblins get killed by horned rabbits, seriously) so I'm curious to see where it'll end up.

If you're okay with reading a translated webnovel rather than the manga, http://japtem.com/projects/remonster-toc/ has up to chapter 7 of 10 translated.  I believe this is beyond the point where the manga is translated.

edit: I should mention - I glanced at where the manga is right now, and the webnovel gets fairly rapey after that point.  It's all text, and it doesn't go into explicit detail, but I still found it to be unpleasantly gratuitous.  So, fair warning, and I'll let you decide whether you want to continue reading.

I'll see how bad it gets, I suppose. I picked up the webnovel translation of the encounter with the Dryad, and it was pretty much just a fade to black instead of a sex scene. I've definitely got my limits, and have ditched manga over rape content in the past (the guy who wrote Wolfen Crest needs therapy, good lord; I read later that the rape scene that led to me ditching that story went for something like twenty chapters), but if it's not too sickening I'd probably just read through. Thanks for the heads up.

Fairy Tail spinoffs have ended.  And with them anything really consumable as Zeraf who is Spriggan who is whatever has just flat out become whatever he needs to be to be the next villain.  Power levels and tolerance for wiping out cities has made things kind of ridiculous.

Hajime has been updating.  And while the boxing is kind of neat, what they did with coach was super lame and the amount that Takamura seems prepared is also very lame.

Again, from gathering, Drac asked for manga links:

RPG (http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/rpg-r16070/): Korean series. Guildmaster returns to virtual world game after two years without. Finds out the game stalled because he'd crafted the unique quest item needed to access the expansion before he quit and the developer said they weren't patching around it. Not entirely sure where it's going just yet, but it at least has my interest for now.

4 Cut Hero (http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/4-cut-hero-r15771): Another korean series. Kid defeats the demon lord, finds out that the princess was a 'prince', leaves and goes live the life of a NEET. Prince turns out to be some kind of manipulative dragon and the former demon lord's minions keep crashing onto the hero's life. It's a weird series, but amusing. Nothing that really makes sense is happening though.

Gamma (http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/gamma-r12542/): (Yuri warning) Story is about the formerly strongest superhero, a magical girl who lost her powers (mostly). Outside of the older sister's sister complex, yuri doesn't seem a major thing until the last few chapters. Also, there is NSFW art in this series as a secondary warning. Starts with comedic elements but starts becoming more serious as it goes along. Looks to be a short series and close to ending (assuming it doesn't start some sort of new arc).

Soul Catcher(s) (http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/soul-catchers-r10255): Music shounen. Main character can see into people's hearts and ends up getting drafted as an orchestral conductor. Now he has to fix his school band's hearts so they can win the nationals! Typical shounen fluff, but I like it.

Ballroom e Youkoso (http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/ballroom-e-youkoso-r10271): Ballroom dancing shounen. It's Hajime No Ippo, except replace boxing with ballroom dancing.

And it seems the last chapter of Gamma did just come out, so it's over.

I enjoyed the series, though the NSFW lesbian scenes at the end could have been done without probably. Given that so much anime/manga sells off fanservice, I can sort of understand, but I still prefered the power ratings they were doing before the last volume and the more subtle touches of yuri prior to it instead of the overt in-your-face NSFW scenes. Ah well.

The following is an email conversation (slightly dramatized) between me and a member of Fallen Angels Scans which ended this morning.

QuoteHey KL, you did a good job with the Rakudai Kishi manga translation (http://bato.to/read/_/340572/rakudai-kishi-no-eiyuutan_ch17_by_fallen-angels). Our group wants to continue Madan no Ou to Vanadis (http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/madan-no-ou-to-vanadis-r6985), which hasn't been updated in five months due to Bento Scans's translator being busy, but we don't have a translator ourselves either. Would you be interested?

QuoteI don't know. I like Madan, but given my other commitments I'm not sure if I can fit in a second regular series.

QuoteIt's a monthly manga, so you'd have two weeks to complete each chapter.

Quote...It's hard to decide. Do you have some raws I can take a look at?

QuoteSure! *sends volume 5*

*flips through pages*

Hmm.

*type type type type*

Quote
Here you go. Please have a proofreader go through it because I don't know the editing standards for this series very well.

QuoteDid you just translate a five-chapter 160-page tankoubon in one day!?

QuoteNo, I didn't translate the last two pages since they were author omake and not part of the story.

If you're wondering, yes, I had this entire conversation with a straight face.

http://bato.to/read/_/26708/takemitsu-zamurai_v1_ch1---10-+-omake_by_hox

So Fall linked to some random pages from Hinamatsuri last night:
[23:57] <Fallacy> http://img.2cat.org/~tedc21thc/new/src/1444864774391.png <-- hinamatsuri: she ends up as her dad's interviewer
[23:58] <Fallacy>  http://img.2cat.org/~tedc21thc/new/src/1444864949390.png <-- actually, she owns the company that her dad interviewed for

[00:02] <Fallacy> --> she's a high school student that works multiple jobs and is in with the local yakuza
[00:03] <Fallacy> basically, she started out working as a bartender in a meeting spot used by the yakuza, due to certain misunderstandings
[00:03] <Fallacy> because of more misunderstandings, she adopted a false identity to work as a temp secretary
[00:04] <Fallacy> later on, she somehow ends up attending a navy seal training camp in the united states
[00:04] <Fallacy> that was while she was a 9th grader
[00:06] <Fallacy> she mostly continues with the temp thing because she wanted a "normal" job that wasn't yakuza-involved
[00:06] <Fallacy> she got head hunted by a company and rose through the ranks by sheer ability to handle people
[00:06] <Fallacy> eventually, when the previous owner retired, he sold his portion of the company to her

***

Sounded amusing enough that I looked it up. She's actually just a side character, and I'll note that I think I enjoy the side characters more than the two main characters, Nitta and Hina, but they're all entertaining.

Poor Hitomi (the girl who ends up hiring her dad), she just can't say no to other people asking for help.

Here's a link to it: http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/hinamatsuri-r7950

Yeah, I've read all of it...  little perfect girl is probably the best char, followed by begger supergirl.

Part-Time Job is "Evil Organization?" http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/baito-saki-wa-aku-no-soshiki-r14831

This manga is about the life and times of Part Time Combatant #59603 of evil organization 'Antares.'

Or, as he's known off the job, Aokura Akihisa. He's a high school student, and he needs money to help support his adoptive younger siblings, so he applies for a position as a mook. It pays well (bonus pay if you get in a fight with heroes of justice!), includes room and board (haunted by a female ghost who sucks at her job!), and offers comprehensive insurance for its employees (Antares believes in corporate responsibility!).

He's surprisingly competent for a mook, and quickly draws the attention of management. He's transferred into the experimental weapons division to field test the latest new toys that the Evil Researchers come up with (they might not work!).

So, as can be guessed, it's a comedy manga. There is a fair bit of action, and it splits time about evenly between his job as a mook and his life as a high school student. There are only 8 chapters out so far on batoto, but a new scanlation group picked it up recently and started from the beginning, getting all of those chapters out in about a month and a half. I enjoy it quite a lot so far.

huh, that sounds pretty cool.

Let's see... been reading http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/gate-thus-the-jsdf-fought-there-r5353 - Gate the good version, complete with breaking drow culture of slavery,
http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/maoyuu-maou-yuusha-be-mine-hero-i-refuse-r643 - Hey world being shaped here.
http://www.mangahere.co/manga/kobayashi_san_chi_no_maid_dragon/ - Adorable dragon maid.
www.mangahere.co/manga/the_gamer/ - Sorta trying to introduce a someone screwing with the world through games theme.
www.mangahere.co/manga/wizard_s_soul_koi_no_seisen/ - Romance is in the cards of despair by the bonjounni author (so good)
http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/boku-no-hero-academia-r12714/ - still reading, but it has been slower, same with One Punch (Which has a NOT BAD anime right now)

http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/toaru-ossan-no-vrmmo-katsudouki-r12453 - cute slice of life dude enjoying an MMO
http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/tate-no-yuusha-no-nariagari-r12672 - This starts TERRIBLE...and grew on me later.  Really, could skip the first like 8 chapters as "EVERYBODY SHITS ON THE HERO" and then get to something more interesting where he strikes out a life for himself among a terribly corrupt kingdom that's sitting on self-implosion.


http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/ii-orc-no-hi-r12263 - Elf loves Orc... Orc not really get this cross-racial business.  Orc not gonna rape elf.  Orc just wish elf went home so he could enjoy peace and quiet in Orc-home.

Some recs :)

Quote from: Dracos on November 19, 2015, 01:08:41 AM
huh, that sounds pretty cool.

Let's see... been reading http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/gate-thus-the-jsdf-fought-there-r5353 - Gate the good version, complete with breaking drow culture of slavery,
http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/maoyuu-maou-yuusha-be-mine-hero-i-refuse-r643 - Hey world being shaped here.
http://www.mangahere.co/manga/kobayashi_san_chi_no_maid_dragon/ - Adorable dragon maid.
www.mangahere.co/manga/the_gamer/ - Sorta trying to introduce a someone screwing with the world through games theme.
www.mangahere.co/manga/wizard_s_soul_koi_no_seisen/ - Romance is in the cards of despair by the bonjounni author (so good)
http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/boku-no-hero-academia-r12714/ - still reading, but it has been slower, same with One Punch (Which has a NOT BAD anime right now)

http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/toaru-ossan-no-vrmmo-katsudouki-r12453 - cute slice of life dude enjoying an MMO
http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/tate-no-yuusha-no-nariagari-r12672 - This starts TERRIBLE...and grew on me later.  Really, could skip the first like 8 chapters as "EVERYBODY SHITS ON THE HERO" and then get to something more interesting where he strikes out a life for himself among a terribly corrupt kingdom that's sitting on self-implosion.


http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/ii-orc-no-hi-r12263 - Elf loves Orc... Orc not really get this cross-racial business.  Orc not gonna rape elf.  Orc just wish elf went home so he could enjoy peace and quiet in Orc-home.

Some recs :)

So, I was excited to see a bunch of recommendations, but it turns out that I'm already reading every single one of these. Oh well; maybe next time. They're all good reads, by the way.

Today I just read a new manga (only two chapters out) called Takane no Hana nara Ochitekoi!! (http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/takane-no-hana-nara-ochitekoi-r16443/)

It's a comedy romance 4-koma series. The male lead is very popular, attractive, brilliant, nice, etc. All the girls like him. You know, the standard Mk. 1 Ladykiller (with Bishie Sparkle power!) by Shoujo Manga Heavy Industries.

The female lead is pretty much exactly the same thing: popular, attractive, brilliant, nice... right down to the same Ladykiller mannerisms. Only difference is that on her part it's not deliberate, and she is better at it than the male lead. He takes this as some sort of challenge to his pride and decides that he's going to win her over, while she is actively trying to stop acting like Prince Charming all the time because she doesn't really want a girlfriend.

Most of the comedy revolves around him trying to impress her with his charm and then feeling emasculated when she unconsciously turns it around and shows him how it's done, leaving him swooning like a girl.

Examples:
http://bato.to/reader#b9dbe3d8631ddc06_5
http://bato.to/reader#b9dbe3d8631ddc06_13

Her bishie sparkle is just mightier than his.

Heh, it is a challenge if you're reading a lot :)

My Hero Academia Smash: http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/my-hero-academia-smash-r17085

It's a 4-koma comedy spinoff. Featuring All Might selling vitamin supplements and exercise equipment, Izuku sleeping through his stop on the train and accidentally kicking off the "Wait a Whole Year Until the Next Entrance Exam" arc, the American Dream *eagle screeches*, Izuku's mom being a better One For All candidate than he is, and more. No continuity, just gags based on the original series. It's pretty funny.

In Another World, I'm Called: the Black Healer: http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/in-another-world-im-called-the-black-healer-r16801

Character pulled into another world with RPG mechanics. Seen that a million times, and so has the main character: a 22 year old woman who likes video games and is a big fan of the genre that the story is a part of. As such, she's pretty genre savvy, and occasionally interacts with the narrative boxes, so the fourth wall isn't particularly strong here. The story hasn't really gone anywhere yet, since only two chapters have been translated so far, but what's there isn't bad and the main character is likeable. She knows some healing spells, which is apparently a pretty rare thing in the world she's in. I'm not sure where it was originally published, but it's got a few trappings of shoujo works.

Any idea what the third book is supposed to be on page 10? The one under Re:Monster?

George R. R. Martin's The Winds of Winter

Quote
In Another World, I'm Called: the Black Healer: http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/in-another-world-im-called-the-black-healer-r16801

Glanced at, read existing chapters...but really like nothing has happened yet.  It's all blunt 'there will be a plot here' hooks without any grounding so far.  I like those

Black Healer is now 50% longer: http://abandonedkittenscans.mokkori.fr/reader/series/in_another_world_im_called_the_black_healer/

In which we meet a character who is entirely too upbeat for somebody who's got a broken leg trapped under a rock slide for three days, and the protagonist expresses her hope that elves or catboys exist so she can snuggle one. Girl has priorities.

Read some new http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/tate-no-yuusha-no-nariagari-r12672 which is steadily becoming more readable, but at the same time relies more and more on enormous groups of people that just just act as unthinking strongman pawns.

http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/maoyuu-maou-yuusha-be-mine-hero-i-refuse-r643 has continued to update and seems to be marching quickly toward whatever end game it will have.

Found a new manga called Helck ( http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/helck-r17710/ ). It is the story of Helck and Vamirio. Helck is a human hero. Vamirio is a demoness.

Vamirio is also one of the surviving generals of the old demon king, who was just recently defeated by the human hero. She is running a tournament to decide the new demon king who will hopefully defend them against the humans and possibly retaliate....except one of the tournament contestants is Helck! What the heck? Why does the human hero want to be demon king?

Manga is pretty goofy throughout, while also advancing a serious subplot behind all the goofiness. Not a lot of it so far, but it's updating frequently.

Given that I am always looking for something new to read, I really wish I had thought to swing by here earlier.  Doh!  :-/

A few (not mentioned recently... I think) which I am following right now are:

http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/dungeon-ni-deai-wo-motomeru-no-wa-machigatteiru-darou-ka-r9803 (which also has a decent anime).

http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/overlord-r14048 (which again has a decent anime, I am shocked!).

http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/shina-dark-kuroki-tsuki-no-ou-to-souheiki-no-himegimi-r1062 (lots of good humor on this one).

http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/maou-no-hajimekata-the-comic-r15438 (which they won't ever make an anime of, in my opinion, unless it was a hentai).

Ugh. I remember hating the last one you linked. I couldn't read past the part with the heroine getting brainwashed.

I've not read the third one, I'll have to look at that one at some point.

Good avatar :)

Overlord supposedly is getting a second season.  Looking forward to it.

Quote from: Dracos on December 29, 2015, 06:40:54 PMGood avatar :)

Overlord supposedly is getting a second season.  Looking forward to it.

Oh good, SO much story left to tell with that one.

I read that GATE was also getting a second season, and I heard there is talks about Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls in Dungeons possibly getting one as well.

Quote from: Merc on December 28, 2015, 10:50:12 PM
Found a new manga called Helck ( http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/helck-r17710/ ). It is the story of Helck and Vamirio. Helck is a human hero. Vamirio is a demoness.

Vamirio is also one of the surviving generals of the old demon king, who was just recently defeated by the human hero. She is running a tournament to decide the new demon king who will hopefully defend them against the humans and possibly retaliate....except one of the tournament contestants is Helck! What the heck? Why does the human hero want to be demon king?

Manga is pretty goofy throughout, while also advancing a serious subplot behind all the goofiness. Not a lot of it so far, but it's updating frequently.

Helck continues to be amazing, usually with 1-3 chapter updates a day to boot. The subplot's now the main part of the story, so its a lot more serious than goofy now.

Quote from: tabyk on December 30, 2015, 11:58:13 PM

Quote from: Dracos on December 29, 2015, 06:40:54 PMGood avatar :)

Overlord supposedly is getting a second season.  Looking forward to it.

Oh good, SO much story left to tell with that one.

I read that GATE was also getting a second season, and I heard there is talks about Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls in Dungeons possibly getting one as well.

Hiiiiss :P  Gate manga is soooo much better than that anime though.

Quote from: Merc on December 28, 2015, 10:50:12 PM
Found a new manga called Helck ( http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/helck-r17710/ ). It is the story of Helck and Vamirio. Helck is a human hero. Vamirio is a demoness.

Vamirio is also one of the surviving generals of the old demon king, who was just recently defeated by the human hero. She is running a tournament to decide the new demon king who will hopefully defend them against the humans and possibly retaliate....except one of the tournament contestants is Helck! What the heck? Why does the human hero want to be demon king?

Manga is pretty goofy throughout, while also advancing a serious subplot behind all the goofiness. Not a lot of it so far, but it's updating frequently.

So, it's updated a bunch since that was posted. Currently at chapter 58.

It starts off goofy, but really doesn't stay that way. Helck's backstory is tragic as hell, and casts some of Helck's goofy features (always smiling, occasionally wields a tiny sword) in a much darker light. Helck may be a nigh-invulnerable hyper-competent meatmountain, but he really needs a hug and a friend. All that being said, the dramatic stuff is well done, and probably the weakest chapters of the whole manga are the ones at the start where it's just Vamirio trying to sabotage the tournament without getting personally involved.

This manga is good. Definitely recommending.

Quote from: tabyk on December 28, 2015, 11:09:28 PMhttp://bato.to/comic/_/comics/overlord-r14048 (which again has a decent anime, I am shocked!).

Been following the manga, haven't seen the anime. It's alright so far.

Quote from: tabyk on December 28, 2015, 11:09:28 PMhttp://bato.to/comic/_/comics/shina-dark-kuroki-tsuki-no-ou-to-souheiki-no-himegimi-r1062 (lots of good humor on this one).

Shina Dark bears some explanation. It's been almost ten years since I read it, and it hadn't been picked up by another publisher after the first one went under by that point, so this is incomplete (and possibly wrong):

The Demon Lord rules an island that appears from nowhere every so often, and it's prophesied that he'll wreck everything unless he is appeased by sending him lots of and lots of beautiful young women. So, when the island appears, the Demon King wakes up and finds that his island has a bunch of female refugees on it. He addresses them, more or less, as follows: "It seems that you've all been condemned by your families to become concubines of the devil. I never asked for that and it's not really my thing, but since we're all stuck here we might as well make the best of things. We're implementing representative democracy, elections are next week. I'll be putting up a job board later today, after I hang around in my house for a bit."

He's a nice guy. Very laid back.

Quote from: tabyk on December 28, 2015, 11:09:28 PMhttp://bato.to/comic/_/comics/maou-no-hajimekata-the-comic-r15438 (which they won't ever make an anime of, in my opinion, unless it was a hentai).

I stopped reading this one recently. Brainwashing a woman into his service (sexual and otherwise) was bad enough, but I skipped through and got on with the story. Problem is that it gets worse as it goes. It started out with some promise, what with the empire-building aspects and whatnot, but with the latest chapter consisting of him threatening to kill a prisoner's friends unless she begs him to rape her, it's just way too much. Aside from being utterly contemptible, the villain protagonist is boring. He's a flat character who had a sort of interesting hobby in establishing his own kingdom, but that seems to be taking a back seat to his main focus of raping people. Not recommended.

Part-Time Job is "Evil Organization?" http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/baito-saki-wa-aku-no-soshiki-r14831

This remains one of my favorites. Up to 14 chapters now, updating roughly once a week. One of the company executives is getting a lot more page time lately, as well as development as a love interest. She would also like to make it very clear that she is neither old, nor a lesbian. Dunno where these rumors even start (the R&D department head is to blame), or how they managed to reach the Heroes of Justice, but there you go.

The downside of dating your boss at an evil organization is that she is likely to be both evil, and better at it than you are. On the other hand, she might give you her underwear, if only for the blackmail material.

Been a while.

Helck is still interesting. 


http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/tate-no-yuusha-no-nariagari-r12672 is still sorta running on whiny protagonist (who has 3 harem sidekicks :p and hates the world)

http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/gate-thus-the-jsdf-fought-there-r5353 has been updating more slowly this past year but still is a pleasant read.

http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/zannen-jokanbu-black-general-san-r19657/ is in kind of a similar vein to http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/baito-saki-wa-aku-no-soshiki-r14831, following a comical villain organization facing off against Braveman.

Who really seriously does not want any of this shit.  Especially to be dated by busty villain.

http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/tensei-shitara-slime-datta-ken-r15553 - One of the handful of 'respawned with SUPERPOWERS', I find it rather cute but sadly it got abandoned.  It follows a sort of supporty GREAT SAGE slime character that has tremendous super powers, takes over a small goblin village, and then starts building out from there.  Largely focused on friendship making/trading and recruiting at the moment.  Someone is just barely translating it now, likely with no support.  People are giving whoever that is shit but oh well.

http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/kumo-desu-ga-nani-ka-r17709 - another in that vein.  Gamer geek girl gets reincarnated as low level spider.  Tries to hikkimori it up in the cave.  Starts focusing on survival lots.  More focused on leveling up I think.  She doesn't get a tribe of supports like in most the others, or teachers.  Current monkey rush arc is a bit weird (Really?  For one of them getting killed, they're getting dozens killed?  Kinda seems like a monster group that would get wiped out...but I guess game rules or something.)

Both the slime and spider series are much further along as web/light novel translations, and they're a bit more fleshed out there too, which is probably part of what impacts the translation interest in the manga versions. Admittedly, some people prefer the faster pacing of the manga, but it's still a factor probably.

Normally not a big fan of 4-koma style manga, but Tomo-chan (http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/tomo-chan-wa-onna-no-ko-r15722) pushed me to give the style more chances.

I'm enjoying Mousou Telepathy (http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/mousou-telepathy-r19915/) right now, which is about a girl who happens to have telepathy and is dealing with the fact that apparently the most popular guy in school is crushing on her, even while most people just think she's a weirdo or a loner. And that'd be great and all...except the guy is apparently also imagining himself doing very dirty and perverted things with her.

Iirc the author of the spider one just up and dropped it.

TOARU OSSAN NO VRMMO KATSUDOUKI (https://bato.to/comic/_/comics/toaru-ossan-no-vrmmo-katsudouki-r12453)

Something I just caught up on. I'm not really sure what to classify the genre as. Slice-of-life fantasy mmorpg with a main character who chose supposedly crappy starting skills? That bit kind of goes to the wayside after the fairy queen is introduced. Thematically wanders a bit, but the latest arc looks like its pulling a soft reset.

And I'm making it sound much worse than it is. I do enjoy the story. >_>

Tales of Demons and Gods (http://mangakakalot.com/manga/tales_of_demons_and_gods)

Remember Naruto peggysue fics? This, this is what this is. And not like the good ones, either. Sure, the numbers are filed off, but this is some self-indulgent, reincarnation, power wank. All the hallmarks are here.

(As an aside, are manwha heroes just prone to being arrogant assholes, or have I just had bad luck with my choices lately?)

I think I read one once that was a self-deprecated 'special'.

Some follow-up fantasy world recommendations now that Helck's been finished a while:

Retired Heroes (https://mangadex.org/manga/23851/retired-heroes) is a series that switches points of view between some retired heroes and the daughter of two of them. The retired heroes are acknowledged as having defeated the former demon king, but their actual identities aren't known for the most part, so they're living incognito. It's flip flopping a bit between a slice of life feel and something more serious, so could go either way there.

Skeleton Soldier Couldn't Protect the Dungeon (https://mangadex.org/title/28778/skeleton-soldier-couldn-t-protect-the-dungeon) feels like a gamer type story. No isekai involved though, the gamer ability is gained by a skeleton as he dies and restarts his original life with a gaming system in the background, and resets his life each time he dies, though once he reaches a 'save point' of some sort (which isn't defined yet), he resets from that point. Somewhat interesting so far, and he keeps losing rather than immediately becoming OP, so that's both good and kinda yikes since every time he dies it seems to involve some poor girl dying.

This one has a long title (https://mangadex.org/title/24249/a-story-about-treating-a-female-knight-who-has-never-been-treated-as-a-woman-as-a-woman) and not going to write it out, but it's a romantic comedy about a badass female knight getting wooed. It's just a cute story more than adventure fodder.

Memesis (https://mangadex.org/title/23721/memesis) is a silly story of friendship and betrayal. The hero Leon abandoned his adventuring party to create a new one with a pair of big breasted beautiful girls. This is the story of the abandoned former team mates, and their goal to become so strong they can one day make Leon cry and apologize for abandoning them.

The Suffering of Knight Hans (https://mangadex.org/title/14960/chihoukishi-hans-no-junan) is an isekai story, where the protagonist isn't the isekai character, but rather a local knight in a rural town out in the borders of the kingdom. He's a retired badass, who suddenly finds his town visited by not one, but MULTIPLE isekai characters, all japanese people, each with a different isekai power, and basically getting them used to their new world and treating them as guests. There's a bit of action here, but mostly it's a slice of life type comedy.

My Daughter Grew Up to be S-Rank (https://mangadex.org/title/26504/boukensha-ni-naritai-to-miyako-ni-deteitta-musume-ga-s-rank-ni-natteta) is a story about a retired adventurer wanting to see his grown up daughter and vice versa. Unfortunately, as an S-rank adventurer, she keeps having to cancel her vacation to save the day, and so both papa and daughter keep being unable to meet again.

Sadly, they all lack the tremendous update speed of Helck in its peak. Alas.

I read most of skeleton knight prior and caught up now.  Unsure if it will go anywhere?  Kind of has that vibe.

https://mangadex.org/manga/24244 This also has that vibe following a bear costumed young isekai video game geek.  She gets returned to level 1, but with super bear equipment and other cheat items... so she can basically ignore the rationality of the world...and does so.

https://mangadex.org/manga/16801 - This, following a girl who gets summoned to be raped...but ends up somewhere different, so starts being an overpowered healer/mage with a ridiculous giant dog familiar (so fluffy).  It actually does seem like it is going somewhere...albeit that somewhere might be just ending soon.

https://mangadex.org/title/30308/modern-mogal

A collection of short stories about humanoid monsters co-existing in modern world with humans. Some characters show up more than once too. It's kinda cute and I like the bits of world building that shine through showing the co-existance aspect.

Been watching that as it was done by the artist on dA (Shepard).  It's great stuff =)

I enjoyed reading through Ultimate Rock Paper Scissors (https://mangadex.org/title/36067/ultimate-rock-paper-scissors), a short 20 chapter manga about...well, you can figure it out. It's quick, it's simple, and enjoyable.

On a slightly different theme? Another tournament series I'm enjoying is World's End Valkyrie (https://mangadex.org/title/33537/shuumatsu-no-valkyrie), also known as Record of Ragnarok.

Concept of this one: The gods have decided humanity is despicable, hopeless, and a cancer upon Earth. Before they can vote to wipe them out, a Valkyrie convinces them to give them a small 'chance' by selecting champions from its history to fight against the gods for a chance for survival.

Mind you, it's gods against humans, so humans technically shouldn't have much of a chance at all. Thankfully, that Valkyrie has a plan to MAYBE give them a fighting chance.

This one's ongoing, and only two matches have occured so far: Round 1 = Lu Bu vs Thor, Round 2 = Adam vs Zeus.

The champions from each side are noted in the following list (https://mangadex.org/chapter/530054/28) though the specific fighter of any given round and thus the match-up is left unknown for now.

I haven't taken the chance to catch up on it yet, but I've been noticing that Karakuri Circus (https://mangadex.org/title/1761/karakuri-circus) seems to have gotten picked up again. I really enjoyed this manga back when it was being translated by Null. Then it got dropped for 4 years at around volume 10. Then it was picked up by Funnuraba. Then it got dropped AGAIN for 3 years, at around volume 25. It looks like Nakamachi Scanlation has picked it up again, and they've translated around 2 volumes so far. Both excited about it getting picked up again and maybe a little leery about it getting dropped again. This series is LONG (43 volumes total), so it would kind of suck for it to go the path of Hunter x Hunter again (even if it's more of a scanlation issue with this series rather than mangaka).

https://readms.net/r/neverland/158/6349/1 - fist of the north neverland.

Not sure how the forum feels about mangadex, but I thought https://mangadex.org/title/41728/though-i-may-be-a-villainess-i-ll-show-you-i-can-obtain-happiness
was cute. Five oneshots about the otome game villainess getting her happy ending. I think I liked the second story best.

Quote from: thepanda on November 20, 2019, 12:50:36 AM
Not sure how the forum feels about mangadex, but I thought https://mangadex.org/title/41728/though-i-may-be-a-villainess-i-ll-show-you-i-can-obtain-happiness
was cute. Five oneshots about the otome game villainess getting her happy ending. I think I liked the second story best.

I...maay have already recommended this to Drac.

>_>

Just possibly.

The second story was the one with the sisters, right? I liked that one too.

Mangadex is great?  What's the drama? :3

https://read.ptscans.com/series/wrong-way-use-healing-magic/

Does not fall into the "whiny rambling-moralization hero" cliche of most isekai.  There is a bit of moral lecturing in the last arc, but heck, this isn't a Chinese cultivation novel.

https://mangadex.org/title/51137/a-manga-about-the-kind-of-pe-teacher-who-dies-at-the-start-of-a-school-horror-film

Quote from: thepanda on November 20, 2020, 10:29:45 AM
https://mangadex.org/title/51137/a-manga-about-the-kind-of-pe-teacher-who-dies-at-the-start-of-a-school-horror-film

That was pretty funny, thanks for linking it Panda!

https://dungeon-reset.com/

https://mangadex.org/title/bb24ecc9-155b-448d-aa74-bf31eb25e480/housekeeper

I've been enjoying reading this story about an AI/android maid trying to protect/cure her zombie master, often times more from humans themselves than from other zombies. And of course, there's plenty of evidence that her master happens to be a mutant zombie that could hold the cure for the virus. Thankfully she's no ordinary housekeeping android! She's a superpowered one! Kinda silly in some ways, good action, and the AI/androids that are the main characters are often way more human than the actual human beings who are all pretty much horrible people.