{"id":1699,"date":"2015-02-23T22:36:07","date_gmt":"2015-02-24T03:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/?p=1699"},"modified":"2015-02-23T22:37:07","modified_gmt":"2015-02-24T03:37:07","slug":"this-week-in-anime-big-pile-o-manga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/this-week-in-anime-big-pile-o-manga\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in Anime: Big Pile ‘O Manga"},"content":{"rendered":"

I bought half a dozen volumes of manga from Right Stuf a little while ago. Some were on sale, while others had simply been sitting on my \u201cbuy this eventually\u201d list for far too long. The box arrived over the weekend, and something occurred to me as I stared at the pile of books: my taste in manga is more than a little eclectic. So, for my amusement and yours, here\u2019s a look at this rogue\u2019s gallery of graphic novels.<\/p>\n

\"MangaPile\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Arpeggio of Blue Steel<\/em> vol. 3<\/h3>\n

My inner mecha nerd is steering the ship on this one. I like to think of Arpeggio<\/em> as the indie hipster version of Kantai Collection<\/em>: it had ship girls before ship girls were cool, but you\u2019ve probably never heard of it. I talked about this series a few times back in the Kawaii Overthink<\/a> days, and most of those impressions still stand. Gorgeous naval battles, an interesting group of characters, and some intriguing sci-fi are Arpeggio<\/em>\u2019s biggest selling points. The manga really starts to break away from its anime adaptation\u2019s storyline in the third volume, by which I mean it gets better and more interesting.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Bride\u2019s Story<\/em> vol. 6<\/h3>\n

If I ever find myself on a one-way trip to Mars, I\u2019m bringing A Bride\u2019s Story<\/em>. Not only does it hold up over multiple readings, it makes me want to slow down and linger over each page. While Arpeggio of Blue Steel<\/em> pours loving detail into its battleships, A Bride\u2019s Story<\/em> applies that same level of artistry to absolutely everything. Whether it\u2019s a building, an animal, or a character\u2019s outfit, Kaoru Mori spends what I assume is an incredible amount of time on everything she draws. That\u2019s impressive in any genre, but it makes a huge difference in historical fiction. The world of the series has an immersive quality that you don\u2019t see very often. Simply staggering.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Genshiken Second Season<\/em> vol. 2<\/h3>\n

The latest iteration of Genshiken<\/em> isn\u2019t really written for me. My own brand of otaku-ness is best captured by the original cast of geek guys. The newer chapters reflect a different segment of anime fandom, but it\u2019s a testament to the quality of this long-running series that I still enjoy reading it. The sense of nerdy camaraderie is still alive and well, and it\u2019s fascinating to see how some of the old characters interact with the new ones. I\u2019ll always have a soft spot for veteran otaku Madarame, perhaps because we\u2019re both college grads who still keep in touch with our old clubs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Monster Musume<\/em> vol. 5<\/h3>\n

I make no excuses for this one. MonMusu<\/em> is a raunchy fanservice comedy featuring an ever-expanding harem of centaurs, harpies, and other monster girls, and I freely admit to enjoying it. Maybe it\u2019s the constant barrage of delightfully cheesy puns. Maybe it\u2019s the series\u2019 habit of poking fun at its own absurdity, not to mention its willingness to crack jokes about its fanbase. Maybe it\u2019s the surprisingly articulate theme of embracing diversity, but it\u2019s probably just the shameless sex appeal. Whatever it is, Monster Musume<\/em> is the rare fanservice series that I actually like.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My Love Story!!<\/em> vol. 1<\/h3>\n

And now for something completely different. We go from the self-indulgent boob-fest that is Monster Musume<\/em> to the sweet, charming, and extremely funny shoujo comedy that is My Love Story!!<\/em>. The hook here is that the protagonist is a total guy\u2019s guy: tough, dependable, and built like a tank, but entirely too terrifying to have any luck when it comes to romance. When a girl from another high school starts spending time with him, he assumes she\u2019s got a crush on his pretty-boy best friend. Of course, that\u2019s not the case at all, and plenty of adorably awkward moments ensue. Whether you\u2019re a macho man, a girly girl, or somewhere in between, this one looks like it\u2019s capable of pulling on your heartstrings while making you laugh your posterior off.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No Matter How I Look at It, It\u2019s You Guys\u2019 Fault I\u2019m Not Popular!<\/em> vol. 3<\/h3>\n

After that brief interlude of \u201cPaul\u2019s really a nice guy,\u201d we\u2019re right back to \u201cPaul\u2019s a terrible human being.\u201d The series formerly known as Watamote<\/em> is the reigning king (er, queen) of cringe-inducing, mean-spirited humor at the expense of its painfully antisocial heroine. There are probably folks out there who can\u2019t stand the way Watamote<\/em> revels in dumping steaming piles of misery on poor Tomoko, and they probably have a point. Even so, there\u2019s something about it that captures the essence of that people-hating teenage angst we\u2019ve all felt at some point. Even as we\u2019re encouraged to point and laugh, we\u2019re also pushed to find the part of ourselves that Tomoko embodies. It\u2019s brilliant, evil, and just a little bit sentimental. I love it. Lord only knows what these half-dozen books say about me, but there you have it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This Week in Anime\u00a0is hastily cobbled together by Paul Jensen. You can follow his ramblings about anime and manga on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>. Check back every Monday for new articles.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I bought half a dozen volumes of manga from Right Stuf a little while ago. Some were on sale, while others had simply been sitting on my \u201cbuy this eventually\u201d list for far too long. The box arrived over the weekend, and something occurred to me as I stared at the pile of books: my [Read more…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1699"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1702,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699\/revisions\/1702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}