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A Trip Down Memory Lane: Manga
Today on A Trip Down Memory Lane, I will be talking about the first manga I ever read and owned. That manga was Naruto Vol 4.
I loved comic books and I loved animes. Where do these two worlds meet? In mangas. Mangas might be my favorite form of entertainment and it all started while I was in middle school.
For those of you who might not know exactly where vol 4 is in the story, it takes place when Naruto and Haku fight. I had seen the anime up to this point so I knew what was going on. Though I haven’t read much of manga since than(Yet!), I am caught up entirely on the anime. I must say, this is one of the most important story lines in the entire series. This volume is a tone setter for sure. There is a chapter entitled “The Tools Called Shinobi”. The few chapters leading up to this painted that very picture. Ninjas were just tools the villages used to carry out missions of all sizes. When a ninja could no longer preform their duties, it was to the gallows for them. If a ninja died on duty, a new ninja would take their place and the world would keep on spinning. The relationship between Zabuza and Haku demonstrated this dynamic. Haku is a weapon of war for Zabuza. When Naruto and Kakashi defeat Haku, Zabuza shows no emotion. Haku even blames himself for not being good enough.
This is also a huge scene in showing how Naruto will impact the world. He shows compassion and mercy for his enemies, which is relatively unheard of. He even gets Zabuza to a shed a tear. This whole act may seem small considering how small of a role Haku and Zabazu play after this, but I think it is huge. It’s foreshadowing that the ninja world is tired of violence and heroes will be stepping up to challenge this mentality of shonobi as tools.
The fight scenes are also great. Naruto gets a small version of the nine tails cloak. His fight with Haku is awesome, as Haku is helpless to stop Naruto. The fight between Kakashi and Zabuza in the mist is also great. Kakashi’s Fanged Vengeance Technique is awesome but the lightening blade jutsu is still one of the sickest jutsu.
This manga opened my eyes to a brand new medium, a powerful medium. Mangas can be silly, humorous, sappy, romantic, but most importantly they can be powerful! Mangas are an adventure and you will have a hard time not bonding with all the characters. The characters, the life lessons, the atmosphere, make the pay-off completely worth it.
All in all, it is a very solid manga. If you’ve never read a manga or a Naruto manga before, of course I recommend starting at the beginning, but if you are just trying to jump into some awesome action scenes with characters expressing a moral lesson bigger than themselves, than this is the perfect manga. This was the first ever manga I owned and now, some odd years later, I am still collecting mangas.
MANGA MONDAY! The Seven Deadly Sins Vol 1
The Seven Deadly Sins is written and drawn by Nakaba Suzuki and runs through Kodansha Comics. It started its journey back in 2012.
Spoilers: Slight. This is just Volume 1 after all.
Plot: In a land named Britannia, a pretty little Kingdom gets flipped on its head when the royal military plans to overthrow its King. Elizabeth, daughter of King, flees in search of finding the legendary Seven Deadly Sins. She stumbles into a bar ran by a young boy named Meliodas and his trusty pig, Hawk. After some panels, she realizes this little boy is apart of The Seven Deadly Sins. He explains to her, they use to be a special task force for king but the Holy Knights frame the Sins for a crime and they are banished. Meliodas does not remember much and somewhere down the line gets turned into a kid. Meliodas, Hawk, and Elizabeth set out to find the remaining six. Vol 1 ends with them running into Diane, the sin of envy.
The World: The first three of the five chapters mainly center around Meliodas’s bar. Later on, they do venture to the village of Vanya where their people are being oppressed by the Holy Knights, and to the woods of the sleeping sin infested with prankster goblins. The world has not really been all explored yet but the hunt has just started as well.
Characters: Maybe I just have Dragon Ball on the brain because I have been reading so much of it, but Meliodas and Elizabeth are striking modern day versions of Kid Goku and Bulma. Meliodas is a tad bit more self-aware than Goku was at the time of Dragon ball, but they are both happy-go-lucky, super overpowered kids. They also both protect the female lead. Elizabeth is a slightly more classy version of Bulma. Both start out on a quest to find the legendary seven, enter something cool here, and end up making friends with really strong young boys. Hawk is a slightly funnier Oolong. Hawk’s timing and interactions with Meliodas seem funnier to me than Oolong did with Goku. With all that being said, the three of them do stand out in their own way and are absolutely great. Ill get into the other sins like Diane and the higher up Holy Knights like Kyle when more becomes known about them.
Recap: The plot is very action adventure like and it might not be breaking any boundaries, but it is enough to kick start this awesome journey.
Action– Has not been as much as you’d expect, but it is very solid when there is action
Romance– Very little. Diane is obsessed with Meliodas. If they play out like Kid Goku and Bulma than clearly nothing will happen( I have not read ahead so I do not know what will become of them) but Meliodas and Elizabeth have a better chance of falling in love than Goku and Bulma ever did.
Plot: As mentioned, it is solid enough to get the adventure going.
Characters: So far are wonderful. Hawk is Hilarious
The World: Has been pretty cool so far, has room to fully grow
Humor: The best part without a doubt.. The Seven Deadly Sins is very, very funny.
Verdict: The first Manga I bought that I had no idea about. My girlfriend just picked it up at random, I believe, and I read the back and just went with it. And I do not regret it for a second. It reminds me of modern day DBZ, with less martial arts and more mid-evil fantasy aspects. I basically read it in one sitting.
Score: 9.05 out of 10! Fantastic. At least read Vol 1. I think Barnes and Nobles or Books-a-Million carry it. If you can not find it there, Crunchyroll has the whole series so far I believe.
Get your copy now. Seven Deadly Sins Vol 1!
Manga Monday- Deadman Wonderland Vol1 Review
I went to the book store last week and picked out a few mangas. The first one was Deadman Wonderland Vol 1. This book is written by Jinsei Kataoka and illustrated by Kazuma Kondou. Vol 1 was released in Japan in 2007 and came to the states in 2010.
Plot: Ten years ago an earthquake hit japan and sank about one third of the mainland. There is only one prison left in area and it is know as Deadman Wonderland, a very fitting title. The main story starts with Ganta, the main character, in school with his friends. Ganta looks out to see a figure and then suddenly the figure appears in the room. The figure, named the Red Man, kills everyone except Ganta. He shoots him with a red crystal. When Ganta looks around he smells blood and sees everyone of his classmates dead. He is the sole surviver. He than is sentenced to Deadman Wonderland on Death Row. Which we find, technically everyone there is on death row but I will explain that later. Upon arriving to the prison Ganta slowly learns the twisted rules DW has. He also learns that he must compete in intense life or death challenges to earn CPs, the currency here. He meets too fellow Deadmen, Shiro and Yo. There is a link between Shiro and Ganta. They were friends when they were little, but outside of maybe two brief flashbacks, this substory line has not been developed yet. The red crystal seems to give Ganta powers to launch projectiles when he feels his life is endanger.
Setting: The setting so far has been my favorite part of the series. The prison uses the money it raises to help rebuild Japan. All the prisoners have a lethal poison in them which they must eat a piece of candy to neutralize. The candy has the antidote in it. The candy is sold at high prices throughout the prison. So if they want to live, they must compete in challenges to earn CP. Ganta gets a taste of one of the events, the dog race, which forces the players to try to make it to the end of the race alive. I am really looking forward to learning all the ends and out of the prisons as well as seeing all the challenges it holds.
Characters: I like most of the characters so far. Ganta is pretty cool and is only getting cooler as the series goes on. Shiro is a nice mystery that I cant wait to see explored. Yo is not my favorite character and hasnt done too much, but Vol 1 ends with me believing he will play a much bigger role for later Vols. Some other characters worth mentioning are Makina, a the chief guard of DW, she is pretty legit.
Score: I am giving vol 1 an 8. It did what I want a manga to do, not make me want to put it down. You will really pull for Ganta who is making the best of his situation and you will be dying to learn more about the characters and the prison itself. It definitely has me ready to go buy vol 2. I recommend giving it a try and seeing if you like it too.
Da_Hubbz 