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 Manga Hunter S: “Second Verse”
Written by Steven G. Saunders
I figure it’s only fair that I finally write another installment to MHS since my last one, oh, how long ago was it? Anyway, sorry about that, I became very busy and time just got away from me. I hope to update this more often…
For now, I will yammer on about something I have discovered Asian comics-wise as of late. This isn’t a big entry this time around, so relax and enjoy.
Some time ago, one of the nice folks at the local comic store suggested I pick up the manga title Those Who Hunt Elves. I was like “Alright”, and so eventually I did and read it. Then I read it again. Not because I enjoyed it, mind, but because I needed to make sure I hared it. Yeah, that’s right, I really hated it. Still do. It’s absolute rubbish. Now, I don’t know if it’s because of the translation exactly… Well, that probably doesn’t matter. The premise is stupid enough: 3 folks from our time (a movie star with a ridiculous story, a military fetishist chick with a tank and a dumb dude whose fists have karate fury) end up in some fantasy world. There they enlist an elf them get back… something goes wrong during the spell-making time and then everything gets f-ed up. What results is a situation where various tattoo-parts of the spell have ended up on the flesh of random elves all over the fantasy world. It’s up to our heroes to find and strip every female elf they see to get home… etc. Right. Hijinx ensue, as you can imagine. Right. Oh, and it’s lame. Did I mention that? Basically the whole first volume is an exercise in how to make me roll my eyes. From the story, to the horrific dialogue (I can actually HEAR the painful voice acting in my head. My poor, poor head), to just every goddamned thing about it. The art’s o-- No, not really. It’s one big steaming pile of a comic and I hated it. Probably the first thing I’ve encountered that was recommended (in Asian comics) that I feel is awful. I suppose it may appeal to fourteen year-old boys who huff too much paint. Maybe. Personally, I found little to nothing redeeming about this title. Has anyone else? Let me know. I promise to be cool. I just want to know what the appeal is. On the bright side, it seems like the creator has a good time with this comic and doesn’t take himself too seriously. Always a bonus, if you ask me. Perhaps there was something lost in translation after all. However, back in the negative zone, I feel that this title lives up to all the bad things I hear about Japanese comics as a whole. I know that is simply not the case with manga overall, but this comic borders on “stereotypical”.
Next time I plan to talk about Fruits Basket and some other things… I just thought I would get something up to let you all know I’m still serious about this Manga Hunter S thing.
Until next time!
Steve Saunders is the writer for SBC’s weekly rumour/news/previews column All The Rage and would like you to know that he is trying very hard to read as much Asian comics literature as possible. If you need to contact him with comments, suggestions, rabid squirrels, or vicious hate mail, please drop Steve a line: steves@silverbulletcomicbooks.com .
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7 May 2008
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