Newsgroups: rec.arts.manga
From: axolotl@socs.uts.edu.au
Subject: Re: R.A.M awards '92
To: rec-arts-manga@darwin.sura.net
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 01:52:35 +1100 
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(long, high-signal articles deserve long, high-signal replies. :-)

Chih-Ping Kuo (kuo@sumax.seattleu.edu) writes:
 >as this is my production (produce, direct, start), I will write down   
 >whatever I think, what?! take a poll? who cares! :)

I thought of taking a poll of male characters, female characters and
favorite manga.  I still might do that.  (And use it in the Guide as
a proper recommendation list.)

 >honorable mention:
 >Ah! My Goddess (a slow down second half cost it the title)

Best of '92?  A bit too uneven for that, IMHO.  I think Fujishima
has just about breached his audience's tolerance for do-nothing
stories.  I'm not really in a position to give the guy advice, of
course. :-)  But I think most people would agree that he could be
doing a lot more with the characters.

 >***The Best New Manga Title for 1992
 >Deep and Beautiful Asia
 >no contest here, most new titles look weak and unsure compare to this one, 
 >no new title can compare with it for artwork quality, the story, while 
 >might be confusing, can be contribute to its 'grandness', beside I 
 >believe this is actually the author's first long length original story.

From what Chen Wen says in that interview you translated, drawing any
epic story is not a problem for him.  Just work out the setting,
design the characters, think about how they'll interact, do the page
layouts and hey presto - instant manga.  Sounds easy, eh. :-)  

I find fantasy manga hard to get into, but his world is so rich, the
characters so exotic, the conflicts so nifty, that I'm sucked in.  And
I don't even understand it! :-)  The masterly artwork is a big attraction,
too.

I hope you (or anyone else) does a guide or synop. for vol.1.

I think this would be a good candidate for English adaptation, even though
an enormous amount would obviously be lost in the translation.  It even
seems to lose something in the Chinese->Japanese translation. :-)
(Actually, I don't know, I'm just guessing from some of the seemingly
unorthodox names and terms.)

 >***The Best 'Alternative' Manga Title for 1992
 >Dr. Kishiwada
 >simply funny, and if I can describe what it is, then it is not 'alternative'.
 >if anyone who read the parts about the Ninja Science Team w/o busting to 
 >laughter then you have some nerves in the wrong places of your body!
 
Heh.  Well, non-otakus might not find it funny, but I don't know how
many of them read r.a.m. :-)

Takezaki is one of my favourite artists, nuff said.  He knows how to
parody things, and he's always adding to his style.  Before, I never
really thought that kind of art was well suited to comedy, but after
discovering Takezaki, I know different..

Some of the bits I liked from vol.1 (I liked it all, but .. ):
  Ch.4, where Shimotori and Ooyamada (Jennifer!) get introduced.
    (If any beginning students of Japanese want to know what Japanese
    feminine speech is like, check out Shimotori.  Hmm, maybe that should
    be "airhead speech". :-)
  Ch.5, Dr. Kishiwada's Science Course.
    Haven't felt quite the same about eating tomatoes since I read this.
    BTW, what's with that ecosystem diagram on p.39?  It turns up in
      Magical Taruruuto-kun (!!) as well.
    Like the Umezu Kazuo parody.
  Kishiwada chasing Yasugawa with his "rocket pencil" sword.  (Break
    tip?  Just push it back in the hilt. :-)
  I feel sorry for Yamamoto's wife, probably the only normal character
    in the whole manga - for a page or two. :-)

  
My best New 'Alternative' Manga for '92 is God Save the Sugekoma-kun.
It started in Aug. '91, to be precise, but it didn't appear in Young
Magazine weekly until '92.  (Digression:  I think this is the same
for Kishiwada... it was on Morning Party Extra in '91.  Even the
GSTS and Kishiwada tankoubon are the same unusual size. :-)

The title page has Sugekoma and Matsuzawa picnicking in a meadow...
with a crying monster just visible in the background (and missiles
streaking towards it).  The whole thing is like that.  Twisted,
"abnormal" [kanji for "ab"=dangerous!].  If all NN's other mangas
are this weird and well-drawn, she gets my award for Best Female
Mangaka Ever. :-)

 >***The Manga that ought to be finished 2 years before 1992 but isn't
 >Akira
 >I don't think Otomo know how to end this better than the movie version, 
 >that is why he keep putting off to write the ending, (please don't
 >give me this 'he had no time with his other project' junk, he has
 >plently of time, he just chose to do other things....)

Yeah, I know.  With this kind of lethargy, I wouldn't be surprised
if Akira #6 is his last manga.  Well, it was a pretty good 10-15 years
for him, I'm sure. (Maybe he'll continue writing Legend of Mother Sarah,
though I don't think anyone cares less.)  IMHO, Akira is a vastly
overrated manga, especially the early stuff.  But to leave it hanging
just when it was getting good, that sucks.  Someone in the US might
like to call Epic to find out what's going on, because there's been
no word from Young Magazine for a long time.

 >***The Lazest Manga author in 1992  
 >Masami Yuki
 >another no contest, Mr. Yuki ought to be ashamed that he produces only 
 >12 pages of Patlabor each week (compare to the normal 18-22, or compare
 >to Kia Asamiya who has three titles running at the same time)

At one point last year, Tetsuya Saruwatari had 4 mangas running
simultaneously.  I wonder who holds the record for most mangas
running simultaneously?  (BTW, I think most artists for Afternoon
only do about 12 pages/week.)

 >Izumi Matsumoto (who knows what he is up to, and who cares?)

Quite. :-)  But his former assistants live on..

 >***The Worst over-hyped manga story in 1992
 >The missing #3 and #5 of Video Girl Ai

Nahaha!  Well, it's no laughing matter.  There really has been a big
crackdown on suspect mangas... 1st-hand reports have it that the super-
depraved stuff, which used to be rather bountiful on bookstore
shelves, has been removed completely.  I guess it's no great loss to
humanity, but it's a great loss to my conversation-piece bookshelf. :-)

 >***Best Americanized Manga Title in 1992
 >Battle Angel Alita (Gunnm)
 >Give credit for Viz for finding this gem among the thousand of titles, 
 >it is a perfect story (cyberpunk) for the western world.

The mangalation makes it seem a lot dumber than it actually is, but
overall I think it's a good choice and an OK job.  (If VIZ is a Shogakkan
subsidiary, I wonder why they're doing a Shuueisha manga.)

 >***Worst Americanized Manga Title in 1992
 >Ranma 1/2
 >
 >classic + colorization + adaptation = trash 

Yes, sadly.  But the punters keep forking out for it, which is even
more sad.  (Though I have a friend who buys SS religiously, and got
the VIZ version.  He was disappointed when they stopped colorizing it!)

Could well go in the "Should have Ended in 1992" category.  Though,
from the latest story, it seems that Takahashi still has plenty of
imagination left, so I hope it continues for quite a while longer
(and it probably will).  (I'm talking about the story with Ranma's
new teacher - she kicked Happousai's butt with Musabetsu Kakutou
Kyuukyoku Ougi, Happou Goensatsu!!)

 
-- 
 Iain Sinclair    axolotl@socs.uts.edu.au