Updates on Flame of Recca

I'm now at chapter 95, and honestly, I have no idea why I'm still reading it. Perhaps because the plot is really simple, and in a certain way, refreshing.

Recca has unlocked 6 of the 8 dragons, but the manga hints that summoning them is not the full extent of the power. Too little time has been spent in developing the dragons or the power-ups already. In what seems like a popular "wild-card" move by mangaka, they always go along the lines of characters having lots of potential to develop further. Not just Recca, all the characters in the main team are made "weak", so they have opportunity to grow. They are so similar in this sense that it becomes sick.

Another gripe I have with this manga is that it's too fast paced, and far too thin. There is next to zero character development, the bare minimums for the plot, and for the abilities. In a rather touch-and-go style, the manga goes through battles within one or two chapters at most.

What makes having such a high pace worse is that there are so many characters, particularly enemy teams, that none of them are memorable. Each team is just an obstacle, and they follow two patterns. First, they are rotten bastards and get killed or meet their ill-fated end somewhere, or second, they are great people so they aren't killed, and they join the ever-increasing fan-base of the protagonist team. Apart from the main characters, who stand out with some character design, and the virtue of having the most screen time, all other characters are relegated to being just part of the scenery.

Furthermore, the lines of the manga are too cliche. Throughout the 95 chapters I've read, I vaguely remember every battle ending in a similar way. Traditional values of fairness and courage is upheld, and the enemy is portrayed as rotten, with socially unacceptable value systems. The standard response after they do something horrible is that the next protagonist team fighter will kill him, or take revenge. Boring as Hell. All flashbacks have no flow, randomly inserted to justify a sudden inspiration during the battles.

The manga is really simplistic and boring. There is an utter lack of development whatsoever, creating just the bare bones of the manga, to drive the plot forward. Still, there may be some reason why such mainstream mangas catch on. Perhaps in the simplicity and familiar developments, people feel a sense of security, that at the end of all the fights, there is hope? Or maybe simply because the setting of the manga is cool, such as the characters' abilities? Naruto's jutsu system, Bleach's Zanpakuto, One Piece's Devil Fruits, these main systems of the most standard mangas seem to be what really makes them stand out. On that note, Fairy Tail has almost no system, and everything is broadly classified as magic. Only the "Dragon Slayers Magic" part of Fairy Tail stands out.

Well, I'm still going to continue and finish up this manga. I guess it fits really well into the shounen mainstream, simple, fast-paced, arguably interesting setting, and is literally a reproduction of all mainstream battle mangas that have been done so far.

Flame of Recca

Picked up this manga when browsing through the library manga section once.

Currently, I'm at chapter 37.

The art's nothing spectacular, doesn't really draw one in, and strikes me as simply another battle manga.

Storywise, it takes really long to develop. It goes on to a slow start, with pointless encounters between Recca and his friends-to-be. Kinda similar to katekyo hitman reborn. The motivation for many of the characters' actions aren't clear too, and are never explained properly. It strikes me as a really simple, mainstream manga, probably what it's intended to be. The familiar trend of enemies-turning-friend, an idea which has be done to death, persists in this manga. It in-fact feels overdone, with every enemy so far(8), except for those who died(1) and the mastermind of the recent arc(1).

The guys aren't particularly striking, nor do the girls have any personality that makes readers feel for them.

The ninja genre still seems interesting, although rather cliche. Generally, the trend of introducing clans, specialised weapons and powers is also observed in this ninja manga, making it a really boring work so far. The naming sense is boring though.

Still, it seems to have potential to build up. Since my friend said it was good, I'm gonna give it at try, at least up till chapter 100.

Suzumiya Haruhi First Impressions

Decided to start on The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi. I think I'm going to like this show.

Not for the lolita face with big breasts girl of course.

At first glance, Haruhi is completely whacko, showing little interest in ordinary humans. She goes completely own tempo, with blatant disregard for social norms and rules. Awesome.

And I immediately find myself enjoying Kyon, that dude's, soliloquy. With an incredulous yet bored tone, commenting on life, and how dumb this shit he's going through is, he brings out the Light Novel medium's flavour.

Let's see how it goes.

Bakuman

Yesterday, I finished watching the Bakuman Anime. This is the series I rank most highly among my favourite mangas, and have read the manga thrice.

The story

Bakuman centres around Mashiro Moritaka and Takagi Akito, writing under the pen name Ashirogi Muto, as they strive to become the most popular manga artist in Shounen Jump Magazine. One of the dreams holding them up, driving them on, is a promise between Mashiro and the heroine, Azuki Miho, an aspirant voice actor. 

To wholeheartedly pursue their dreams, Mashiro and Miho promised not to meet, corresponding only through text messages and the occasional phone call, until Miho voices the heroine in an anime by Mashiro and Takagi. Together, Azuki, Mashiro and Takagi form Ashirogi Muto, meaning Ashirogi's Dream Come true.

While chasing their dreams, this story brings readers on a ride, with exciting scenes, fierce rivalry, determination, scheming plots, and a sweet romance. Enjoy also a critique on the manga world, as Ashirogi Muto try out different styles, and face-off with rival mangakas. 

Anime VS Manga

In most cases, I feel a sense of dissatisfaction whenever I watch anime adaptations of series I've read before, be it manga or light novels. This is largely because the anime adaptations fail to match up to my imagination, and invoke feelings of equal intensity when I read the original. Bakuman manages to do well, both as a manga and as an anime, effectively utilising the different mediums.

A few factors contribute to this. Pace is most definitely one of the greatest factor. With anime, the screentime allocated to various scenes is pre-determined, while I have the ability to decide the pace when I read manga. This become significant especially in sections of the story, such as love scenes, or scenes leading up to a confrontation. 

Bakuman very successfully accomplishes a good pace in both the manga and the anime. In the manga, I felt very intense excitement building up, making me want to read through the story to get to what happens next. This happens even on my second and third reads. In the anime, the excitement becomes less intense, and while some scenes end up creating less impact, other aspects are brought out better, most particularly the romance, and comedy.

Dialogue certainly becomes an important contributor in setting the pace. Stories driven by dialogue end up hard-pressed to capture viewers' interests. Bakuman faces this predicament, being almost entirely driven by dialogue to progress the story. 

The dialogue in the manga come in the form of words, and is able to transmit more information in the same time and space as compared to anime. Bakuman certainly is much wordier than most manga, but it achieves a fine balance with the art and panel distribution. With manga, many scenes pass by within just one page, and the dialogue becomes less heavy, creating a fast pace story. Anime faces the constraint of having to read out the lines, and the time taken becomes much much more. The dialogue in Bakuman is controlled well, setting a different pace, instead of simply trying to reproduce the manga, unlike some other series.

The audio accompaniment is lively, and so is the art.

Thoughts
The series certainly lives up to the standards of manga it touted. Some people may not agree with me, but I just love the light-hearted feel of the manga, and the romance. Aoki and Hiramaru especially was my favourite couple.

Bakuman may be unreal, showing a very idealistic perspective on the manga making world. However, it serves as a critique on the current trends in manga, most weekly publications being almost entirely profit driven. Take bleach for example. I liked bleach, until Aizen died. It should have ended there and then, but somehow, they just added more and more arcs to continue the story, introducing new powers, new relationships, and you-name-it. Suddenly, Ichigo has Quincy heritage. They probably thought to ride on the popularity of the series, Such bullshit.

Bakuman ended when it did, without dragging out the story unnecessarily. By the same author/artist combo, Death Note was also a relatively short series, lasting around 100 chapters. Death Note didn't do so well in my opinion, but Bakuman was highly engaging, and compelled me to follow the story, keeping up it's standards throughout the series.

Well, that's it for this post. Perhaps I praised the series too much. You decide.

Completed Series

I started watching anime since primary 3, around 9 years old. At that time, I never got the opportunity to select what anime to watch, and generally got whatever was showing at that time.

The more memorable ones included:
1. Bleach
2. Gundam Seed
3. Marchen Awakens Romance
4. Law of Ueki
5. Samurai Deeper Kyo

When I got to Secondary school, I got more into anime and manga.  I love manga much more than anime, for a variety of reasons. I started off by re-watching a few of those animes, as well as the more mainstream battle series.

In the first 2 years of Secondary school, I read/watched:
1. Naruto
2. Bleach
3. One Piece (No surprises there right, the BIG 3)
4. Mahou Sensei Negima
5. Gundam Seed Destiny
6. Vampire Knight
7. Fairy Tail
8. Beelzebub
9. Dragonball
10. Hajime no Ippo
11. Toriko
12. Garden of Eden

Gradually, I started seeking out more, above the action genre. I also started on Light Novels.

In no particular order,
1. Kuroko no Basuke
2. Prince of Tennis
3. Ichigo 100%
4. Cross Game
5. Liar's Game
6. Fire Emblem Hasha no Tsurugi
7. Fire Emblem Ankokuryuu to Hikari no Ken
8. Baby Steps
9. Last Inning
10. Battle Royale
11. Black Cat
12. Pokemon Special
13. Yugioh
14. Bakuman
15. Claymore
16. Freezing
17. Accel World
18. Sword Art Online
19. Shakugan no Shana
20. To Aru Majutsu no Index
21. Gundam 00
22. Ore no Imouto Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai
23. Bakemonogatari
24. Akb49 Renai Kinshi Jourei
25. Buyuden
26. Great Teacher Onizuka
27. Shaman King
28. The World God only Knows
29. H2
30. Hell's Kitchen
31. To love-ru
32. Onani Master Kurosawa
33. Yakitate Japan!
.
.
.

And a billion others I won't bother to name. (Including some shoujou mangas)

My favourite series now are spread over a range.
First: Bakuman!!
Second: Shakugan no Shana
Third: Sword Art Online
4th: Gundam Seed (non-remastered) + Destiny (Remastered version)
5th: Good Ending
6th: Oreimo
7th: Great Teacher Onizuka
8th: Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
9th: Hajime no Ippo
10th: Mirai Nikki

First Post

Hi All! 

This is Stupid's Anime Blog. I've long wanted to start an anime blog where I could write my thoughts about the anime and manga I've watched. but I never found the motivation to get started. Before that, I posted my thoughts in notes on facebook, and MyAnimeList.

Well, here I am finally, and I'm looking forward to recording my thoughts. Of course, I'm still in school, so no regular updates.

With that said, let's start!