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 What I’m Lookin’ At, PART ONE
Written by Park Cooper
Some things I’ve been sent to review have piled up recently (so much that I’ll run the next part of this feature next week), so let’s take a look at what’s left:
Hunter x Hunter 25 (Viz): I have written the review and will run it very soon. To summarize: I like Hunter x Hunter, and this volume is better in some ways than the last few volumes.
Oishinbo A la Carte (Viz): I have written the review (it might be long enough to be a spotlight feature, actually) and will run it very soon. To summarize: Good if you like learning about food, not so good if you like art or characterization.
Black Jack 3 (Vertical): I WILL review this. But for now, suffice to say, it’s more adventures of the world’s greatest--and most outlaw--doctor. I do notice that Tezuka is getting more existential in this volume, as Black Jack’s suffering starts dovetailing with the suffering of the world, of mankind, and of what kind of god would allow this kind of stuff to take place...
Death Note the movie 1 (Viz): Barbara has reviewed this just finely (http://tinyurl.com/theylikeapples), so I guess I shall back up everything she’s said on the subject. Death Note the live-action movie is enjoyable enough, and even has the bored God of Death Ryuk in it, and they seem to have gone back and added more Misa Misa scenes than I remember from the first time I watched it, but Death Note the live-action movie 2 is way, way better, and not just because it actually brings the whole concept to a satisfying end—although that’s a big part of it.
Real 3 (Viz): I WILL review this. Suffice to say, it’s more soul-searching involving how you go on with your life as stuff you always took for granted, stuff that other people would have told you, yeah, walking, that’s pretty okay to expect that to always be there, is suddenly not there. Nomiya crosses paths with his former basketball-team rival and they attempt to literally shake some sense into one another, with so-far limited results, but the seeds may well have been planted for the next volume... it’s good. Go read it.
Ral Grad 2 (Viz): Ral Grad... has the same artist as Hikaru no Go and Death Note, so the art is very nice, but if manga readers only cared about art, they wouldn’t have started reading manga in the first place. The fantasy story isn’t that well-thought out nor told. It’s hard to decide if the very obvious fan service all over the place drags the title down a notch it didn’t need to lose, or actually drags it up a notch to serve as one bonus reason it’s entertaining. It depends on if you think Najica-Blitz-Tactics-style “how much fan service is it possible to work into this story?” question-answering is entertaining or not.
Naruto 36 and 40 (Viz): Haven’t read yet because although I’m trying to also read it via Shonen Jump, the last actual volume I got was 30, so I’m still way behind, and I haven’t decided what to do about it yet... I plan to review them, of course, but how shall I best catch up on the story? Whatever else goes on, the story is still important enough to me that I’m not comfortable simply skipping ahead...
Okay, Barb has told me to stop this and save the rest for next time, so that's what I'm doing, so please look forward to next time, possibly including some of the reviews I mention above...
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