Animefangirl!

I found a new Cantonese TV livestream – Guangdong TV!

It’s been a while since I last posted about my Cantonese learning adventures. First I took a break from posting about it, then in the past 6 months or so I haven’t learned much at all. The reasons for that are both myriad and nebulous. What matters is that I’m finally back in the saddle and ready to take my studies seriously once more.

Thanks to the unfortunate break I have once again reverted to an intermediate-level learner just when I was on the verge of breaking through to advanced. But I learned all that stuff once and I can learn it again if I just focus my energies in the right direction. And since I do find just reading (or trying to read) about Cantonese boring, not to mention I like the sound rather than the sight of that particular language, it’s time to go back to finding good media to listen to or watch.

The bad news is, the ATV stream I used to watch all those terrible dramas on has apparently gone down for good. Boo, hiss. In fact I wondered for a second whether the company itself was still in business, but apparently they are. The good news is, I found another Cantonese TV station to watch: Guangdong TV! Yay~ I’ll even share the link with you: http://www.wcetv.com/asx/LIB/LIB106170_v5.asx

Since Guangdong is part of Mainland China and has historically been under their rule, I hear their Cantonese is more heavily influenced by Mandarin than Hong Kong/Macau Cantonese is, but a beggar like me hardly has a choice. I’ve only watched a little bit of it, but the commercials at least are in normal Cantonese, and that’s the best part of watching TV, right? ^_^ So I’m in a really good mood right now, yay!

Lost World manga review

Another day, another Osamu Tsuka work. I declined to read MW after seeing the trashy blurb and opted to try the more reader-friendly (I thought) Lost World instead. It was pretty bad. Apparently it’s one of his earliest works, and it shows. He claims he didn’t steal the idea from Arthur Conan Doyle’s work of the same name, but I highly doubt he wasn’t at least influenced by what he’d heard of Doyle’s work. But leaving matters of copying or otherwise aside, what’s Lost World about?

Summary: From the creator of Astro Boy comes Lost World, the first of Osamu Tezuka’s cycle of groundbreaking science-fiction graphic novels – including Metropolis and Future World – published in the late 1940s and early 1950s. When a rogue planet approaches Earth, a team of scientists voyages to the world and discovered a land out of the ancient past – a planet populated by dinosaurs! But a group of crooks has stowed away aboard the spacecraft, and the scientists must fight for their survival against both mobsters and monsters!

First off, all the stuff in the description only happens in the second half of the book. The first half is some Tintin-esque hijinks involving energy stones, a gang of thieves in a secret hideout and a plucky old detective who just won’t quit. That part actually wasn’t too bad, though it did read like something cobbled together by a high-school boy who has read too many newspaper comics (which is exactly what Osamu Tezuka was when he wrote that stuff).

The second half is where he really hits his stride – Tezuka being Tezuka, the scientists nonsensically find their way into space, people good and bad drop like flies all over the pages and then he adds one of his usual downer endings and boom, instant “classic.” Except not really. It most likely got published in the 40s and 50s in Japan because there wasn’t much better out there. And I dare say it only got a western release because of this author, because Lost World is so mediocre no publisher in his right mind would publish such a violent, schizophrenic, poorly-drawn and poorly-written manga if the author wasn’t famous already.

The sole consolation is that 1) it was written by a young man who later went on to write better things (or so we are told, but I have yet to see it) and 2) Tezuka does offer some explanation for the uneven nature of the manga in his afterword. So at least you aren’t left guessing why the mood changes so rapidly from childish humor to unpleasant violence and back again several times within the same chapter, or why the hero has a love interest who is actually an edible plant, etc.

As an aside, this “romantic” relationship is cleared up by having the two character declare that they’re actually like brother and sister. Unfortunately anyone who has read Ayako and has thus seen some of Tezuka’s depictions of a brother-sister relationship will derive very little comfort from this revelation. Especially when the commentary goes on to suggest that the two characters are going to have lots of little plant-man babies in future. Oh, Tezuka.

If you’re a Tezuka fan or maybe you’re interested in very early manga Lost World might be worth a read from a historical point of view. Despite the cute cover it’s not very kid-friendly, so I wouldn’t get it for anyone very young. Readable but not actually good, that’s about it.

Level E manga review

Did you know that once upon a time Yoshihiro Togashi could actually draw? Or maybe I should say “Yoshihiro Togashi would actually draw.” The potential is still there, but you wouldn’t know it to look at current chapters of Hunter x Hunter (a.k.a. Hiatus x Hiatus). You would know it if you read Level E, though, a short but enjoyable 3-volume manga Togashi started in 1995 after finishing Yu Yu Hakusho. The summary goes like:

Tsutsui Yukitaka is a freshman entering high school who hopes to become a good baseball player. However, when he walks into his new apartment, there is a man in the room who claims that he is an alien who lost his memory. He is in fact the first prince of Planet Dogra, known to have the best brain but the worst nature.

But the whole story is really about Ouji the prince of Dogra and the high school freshman is reduced to a rarely-appearing side character pretty quickly. And it’s not just him but the most of the rest of the cast only appear sparingly to be used and discarded and then reappear again when you least expect them. That has the disadvantage of leaving all the characters paper-thin, but on the plus side it keeps every chapter fresh because you just never know who’s going to show up.

There’s no real overarching story besides “Ouji toys with everyone for his amusement” but most chapters deal with some alien or another coming to/being on Earth and some drama occurring. Some stories are outright hilarious, but they also just as likely to be serious and even tragic. The best chapters are the ones that don’t feature Ouji at all or have very little of him, but while he can be an irritating jerk sometimes (all the time), other characters agree with the reader on his hateability and frequently band together to try and defeat him, making it fun to root for their usually futile attempts to get rid of him.

As with most Togashi series the art isn’t 100% consistent and gets worse as the series draws to a close, but like in the nursery rhyme “When it was good, it was very very good, but when it was bad it was horrid!” Thus I wouldn’t recommend trying Level E for the art alone but rather for the art + the characters + the great stories within.

There’s only one story that was boring and difficult to follow – some rubbish about a baseball team that got lost in a dream. It’s ironic because I picked Level E in the first place because it had baseball in the description, but the baseball parts turned to be the worst things about it. In fact nobody ever even plays baseball, they just talk about it. So you can basically ignore that bit… wait, you didn’t care in the first place, did you? Don’t mind me and my baseball manga fetish ^.^;;

Get Level E if: you like sci-fi, especially aliens. You like comedy. You like short-story/anthology formats. You like drama/tragedy that doesn’t get too depressing. Don’t get Level E if: You hate sadistic characters that get away with their bad behavior. You prefer a consistent, well-developed cast. Btw, I hear an anime came out recently, so if you’d rather watch than read, you can give the Level E anime a try instead.

Remember manhua review

Remember how ‘Red Colored Elegy‘ was supposed to be a highly-influential work? When I reviewed it, I noted that I could see how people would be inspired by it, but the keyword was ‘inspired’ – I never expected someone to flat out copy the whole thing. Until I read Remember by Chinese artist Benjamin, that is…

The blurb goes:

What is the fine line that separates love from hate? How can a broken heart heal from a loss so deep? When is letting go of your inhibitions worth risking your life?

International artist Benjamin depicts profoundl moving portrayals of love and loss that get at the core of what it means to throw your heart into life. The artist doesn’t offer any comfort from the despair we all feel in our lives – while we know there is no answer, we are all better off for asking the question… and remembering the struggle.

Actually the real question they should be asking is “What is the fine line that separates inspiration from plagiarism?” I will give Benjamin props for being a pretty good artist (that cover just screams “Buy Me!” doesn’t it?), but when it comes to storytelling he is utterly bereft of ideas. And he is completely aware of it too, if his self-loathing author’s comments are anything to go by.

Remember is made up of two short stories. The title story ‘Remember’ deals with a Struggling artist with a bad attitude, girl who loves him for no reason, he pushes her away until she does go away and then he hates himself even more than ever, the end. I really didn’t need to summarize that, I should have just pointed to the original story, which for all its flaws does a better job at conveying the doomed relationship and almost, not quite, making the characters relateable.

Anyway, this struggling artist submits story after story to a comic publisher only to have them turned down because they’re not enough like Japanese manga. “Chinese readers don’t want originality! They want plagiarized Japanese manga!” the editor straight-up tells him. So it’s ironic – or maybe meaningful – that the story itself is a straight-up copy of Red Colored Elegy, with better art and with the sex cut out or made ambiguous to avoid censorship.

Is this how low Benjamin had to sink to get his work published in China? Maybe. But what is more likely is that he put that scene in just to cover his inability to write a Chinese manhua that would be accepted by editors. “See it’s not me, it’s the editors, they forced me to plagiarize! Left to my own devices I could totally write a great story!” If that’s the case, why is the copy even worse than the original?

Besides, the Remember collection includes a second short story as well, about students in art school being bullied, but it’s crap. I read about a third of it and then just skimmed through it because it was just more self-loathing navel-gazing twaddle. He probably copied that from a Japanese manga as well, I just don’t know enough manga to spot which one.

In any case, by that time the nice art had lost its effect on me and all of Benjamin’s shortcomings as a writer were on display for all to see. Rambling, incoherent ‘I’m so deep and nobody understands me’ characters dot the pages like so many teenagers at an emo concert. They’re all flat one-note characters – ‘quirky girl’, ‘misunderstood artist’, ‘unreasonable editor’ – one defining characteristic carries them through the whole story. Even in a short story you should be able to flesh characters out a little more than that, especially in slice-of-life kind of stories where enjoyment depends on getting under the character’s skins.

Benjamin can draw, there’s no question about that, but unless he can learn to write as well it really doesn’t profit him very much. The fact that the manga goes for less than $2.00 on Amazon despite being out of print should tell you everything you need to know about that. Still I’m not a mean person, and I can see some budding talent there. I’d advise him to work on his writing skills if he really want to make it as a mangaka (manhuajia?). Failing that, there’s nothing wrong with being a dedicated artist and illustrator, since he does have the skills to back that up. Good luck, Mr. Plagiarizer!

Boy meets Girl ~Mound no Shoujo~ manga review

No, I hadn’t forgotten that I was on a baseball manga kick. I’m slowly weaning myself off it and reading other stuff in increasing amounts, but I’ve still got a mountain of baseball manga left to try. Currently on the chopping block: Boy meets Girl ~Mound no Shoujo~(～マウンドの少女～) by Natsuko Heiuchi.

It’s a bittersweet sports romance story about a short little leaguer named Fumitake Morita (Moritake for short) who has a huge crush on his little league team ace, a tall girl named Shiori Kanzaki. Unfortunately Moritake suspects and becomes increasingly certain that Shiori has a crush on the catcher/clean-up of one of their rival teams. What, if anything, is he going to do about these feelings he has for her?

Along the way Shiori herself has to deal with the changing balance of power on the team as the boys reach puberty and begin to grow taller and stronger faster than she can keep up. Moritake especially starts out as a shrimp who can’t even hit a double, much less a triple, but by volume 2 he’s hitting home runs and batting better and running faster than ever before. Shiori meanwhile hits a slump and begins to contemplate quitting baseball altogether. And on top of all that there are rumors her family might be moving away soon. What’s going to happen to this hurdle-fraught relationship? Does Moritake stand a chance with Shiori?

Heh, find out for yourself, I’m not telling. :-p I recommend you read it for yourself, seeing as it’s only 2 volumes long with full furigana. Moritake’s character is well-fleshed out and easy to relate to while Shiori – and the rest of the cast, come to think of it – remains an enigma until the end, but that just makes Moritake’s feelings for her all the more understandable. He’s a kid trying to be an adult and stumbling in all the typical kiddult ways, it’s just too cute.

As a bonus the baseball action is pretty good as well. The ending of the final game was predictable as most baseball manga final games tend to be, but the matches are fun to read, the art is clear and simple and the action is always easy to follow. And there were some moments where I went “What’s gonna happen next?! *doki doki*” but since the focus in Boy meets Girl is on the relationships rather than the game, such moments were few and far between.

If I write any more I know I’ll end up spoiling the ending so I’m going to stop here. I enjoyed it as a short, sweet baseball romance series that made its point and got the feelings across without resorting to the constant arguments and unnecessary melodrama that frequently characterize other baseball romance series (*cough*Adachi*cough*). If you’re not looking for anything deep and just want something you can read, enjoy and forget, give Boy meets Girl a try and see if you like it.