#Reminder to myself to do more Berserk fan art

[kodasea]

Struggler

[dropintomanga]

Manga I Enjoyed in 2024

2024 has been an amazing year for manga. With the debut of the American Manga Awards to go alongside the Harvey Awards and Eisner Awards, we're about to head into some really fun times for manga recognition starting now. I read a lot of manga this year compared to last year, thanks to the libraries in my area.

But these few are the ones that impressed me the most.

Honorable Mention: Kagurabachi by Takeru Hokazono - I remember when I first read this manga, it became a meme. But once the meme died down, you got a title that's going to be another huge Shonen Jump anime hit. Reading Kagurabachi reminds me of the days when I loved BLEACH. The mix of sorcery, swords, and urban society combined with impressive art will leave a great impression on shonen readers. VIZ Media made an excellent decision in licensing the print edition as soon as possible as Volume 1 has sold amazingly well in bookstores across North America.

Favorite Ongoing Weekly Manga: Centuria by Tohru Kuramori - I swear more fans should know about this manga. Centuria is about a young man named Julian, who's been living as a slave for most of his life. On a slave ship, he meets a woman and a monster god - both who would change his life forever. Julian suddenly becomes endowed with supernatural powers and decides to pursue freedom however he can all while raising a child destined to be something more. This is a dark fantasy action series that is pretty much influenced by Berserk. Add the fact that Kuramori worked as an assistant under Tatsuki Fujimoto of Chainsaw Man and you have a highly underrated action series that will scratch any seinen fan's itch.

Without further ado, here's my top 5 manga of the year!

5.) She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat by Sakaomi Yuzaki - While this manga starts off as a nice yuri series about two women whose common interest is food, it goes into some good commentary about what it means to be a woman living in an extremely patriarchal society like Japan (which I'll discuss in a future post). I like how the manga becomes better with each volume as you get to see the cast grow and confront issues bothering them alongside each other. I appreciate that this series is about how eating food with people you care about is always worthwhile when you get a chance to do so.

4.) Home Office Romance by Kinetsu Yamada - This is a charming one-volume manga about two people who find love during a pandemic lockdown. Reading the manga made me relate to Nokoru, the male lead, as I share the same insecurities as he does when it comes to finally finding love and having the courage to push ahead with it. The manga also made me think about the early lockdown days of COVID as I did enjoy those days quite a bit. But nothing will ever beat actually wanting to be with someone in-person. Plus, good things do happen when you take the time to slow down. I knew this manga was a hit on Reddit and I can see why.

3.) Sketchy by Makihirochi - A librarian recommended this to me earlier this year around the summer, but the premise of skateboarding didn't appeal to me at first. I later gave the manga a shot after my library put it on their top 2024 book list. I was left very impressed. While this manga is about women trying to find more to life than love/work/school, I saw myself in the main characters due to finding a hobby (mahjong) that got me out there engaging with a world full of fun people not related to the daily grind. Sketchy is a testament to finding hobbies even as an adult and making friends there as those relationships are extremely important in ensuring that you still matter even if you're not respected by mainstream forces.

2.) The Darwin Incident by Shun Umezawa - This is a very clever, action-packed, political thriller. It's my favorite action manga of the year. There's so much social commentary that will greatly appeal to Western readers. What I love about the manga so much are the cliffhangers. I don't remember the last time I was impressed with cliffhangers in a manga. Every plot twist has been executed properly from what I've read. There's also some great lines from a really great cast of characters. I hope this series blows up when the anime comes out.

1.) The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't Really a Guy at All by Sumiko Arai - A manga that has lived up to the hype it got online and in Japan. I love the design. I love the usage of green throughout the manga. I love Mitsuki and Aya. It may not be the most original love story, but I love this manga for bringing me back to the days of '80s/'90s rock music. My adolescence was defined by rock music and I felt that the manga is a love letter to the era I grew up in. Even though I listen to mostly K-Pop, I still listen to rock from time to time. When I see new rock artists bringing back sounds I grew up with for a newer generation, it makes my heart glad. I remember how much music from any era has the power to change people's lives. Music does give hope and courage to those who desperately need it. This year was a year where I finally dwelled back into music and that's why green yuri is my manga hit of the year.

If you haven't noticed, most of the manga I recommended are about relationships. 2024 was a year where I made some new close friends whose bonds I want to nurture. It makes me hopeful about people and those who I will meet in the future. While I can't make friends with everyone, I know how much the people currently in my life mean to me and I wouldn't be here without them.

Hope you enjoyed my list and I'll see you guys in 2025!

[kentk124]

Ok so i have played the the first berserker khazan (FBK) and i like the art style of the game and everything but i not really a big fan of the stamina gauge and that what makes me most mad about because i understand it is supposed to be a souls like game and that is ok just not what i like but the combat the gear you get and the enemies is what makes it great and remind you i have tried to play the demo i was impressed but i don't like how its isn't just a hack and slash and you can't just attack over and over but i guess it is in a way but you have a limit how many times you attack and a stamina bar depletes i just want to attack without having a limit to my attacks but i haven't really played souls like games so i wasn't very good at it but there are other people out there who are great at these kinda game and plus if you play the demo your progress should be able to transfer over when you buy the game but if your in to these kind of games you should go ahead and try it but it is not my type of game and i'm glad that they had a demo for this game so i could try it but playing it 😤 it was just stressing me out boi and i hate that because i been wanting to play this game every since it got a launch trailer but i it wasn't for me i'm not saying its trash there is nothing wrong with the game just not me all the new games that there making now i got to say there more difficult now then most games in the past and i like a challenge but i can only do so much when it comes to bosses. And higher leveled creature or monsters but i don't want to keep on ranting on about my opinions but i felt like i had to share my thoughts about the game but hey i have games in the future that i can play and have a good time and won't have a difficult time fighting plenty this year but yeah lol it's funny i been talking about this game and i just couldn't drive myself to beat a boss over and over again like i usually do and i would have kept playing it but idk....it irks me since i couldn't beat it but it is just a demo and i have nothing to prove to anyone because i. Have overcome many challenges this is one that i just didn't want to keep pushing myself on since i only wanted to try it out but thats all i got for ya'll today i will hopefully post Friday and i will give ya'll a update on a. Game that i will start playing or I'm about to complete ya'll know the dealio and i post every Sunday on youtube i will be trying to get a setup so i can take it seriously But i just been posting mobile games since i don't have a setup yet but just wait ill have something soon for ya'll and youtube can't wait but i'm out of here and enjoy every game you play this year any game you play this year i'll put my youtube name if ya'll want to check it out be the first get it the first because khazan ya'll are killing me here😮‍💨

@KTkrula

[emperorsegg]

thinking out loud about my thoughts regarding berk post-miura…

tldr - to quote myself at the end

“i think imho the best way to view it is as a detailed set of notes for what miura would’ve wanted for the ending of his story - and then fill in the blanks for how he would’ve embellished it from there.

i see the completion of berserk in comic form as a final tribute on behalf of the people who knew miura best - a way to honor the legacy he left for many future fantasy writers.”

below is more detailed thoughts:

a lot of the discussions surrounding it remind me of a lot of the discussions surrounding the fate series. initially, kinoko nasu was the main guy at the helm - but as fate grew into a multimedia universe, more writers came on board.

and there’s been a lot of mixed responses to their takes on a story that was originally just nasu’s - because they all feel “different” from how nasu approached it, y’know?

this is especially true in fgo, where their writing is placed side by side… and so comparison of their styles and quirks are inevitable. i see some people (including nasu himself) encourage the diversity of styles for fate - and others say that the only good fate is one where nasu is directly involved in the writing.

anyway coming back to berk itself: it’s a bit different since the original creator in question is gone… but i have noticed similar discussions come up, with debates on how mori-san and studio gaga are approaching the future chapters/will approach them in future compared to how miura would’ve done them.

about my own stance - i think they’re the best people to approach the future chapters given their intense involvement in miura’s projects.

as someone who tells stories through art and writing - i can’t imagine how much pressure is on all of them to finish what miura started. i can tell through each new chapter that they’re doing their best to get as close as possible to what miura would’ve done (eg. the sonia expressions in this latest chapter are very close to how miura would do them, imho)

that said - it is still clear that miura is not there, especially on the writing front. the dialogue has been pretty sparse and barebones compared to the embellished thoughts miura would’ve given to his own characters. while it gets across what needs to be said, it does lack that “deep understanding” too, which is what i see a lot of fans miss…

anyways - i think imho the best way to view it is as a detailed set of notes for what miura would’ve wanted for the ending of his story - and then fill in the blanks for how he would’ve embellished it from there.

for myself, i will say that i am enjoying the new updates - the bones are really exciting - i like them a lot, and i’m very interested to see how the story will conclude from here… but i also see the completion of berserk in comic form as a final tribute on behalf of the people who knew miura best - a way to honor the legacy he left for many future fantasy writers.

[recentanimenews]

ESSAY: Berserk's Journey of Acceptance Over 30 Years of Fandom

  My descent into anime fandom began in the '90s, and just as watching Neon Genesis Evangelion caused my first revelation that cartoons could be art, reading Berserk gave me the same realization about comics. The news of Kentaro Miura’s death, who passed on May 6, has been emotionally complicated for me, as it's the first time a celebrity's death has hit truly close to home. In addition to being the lynchpin for several important personal revelations, Berserk is one of the longest-lasting works I’ve followed and that I must suddenly bid farewell to after existing alongside it for two-thirds of my life.

  Berserk is a monolith not only for anime and manga, but also fantasy literature, video games, you name it. It might be one of the single most influential works of the ‘80s — on a level similar to Blade Runner — to a degree where it’s difficult to imagine what the world might look like without it, and the generations of creators the series inspired.

  Although not the first, Guts is the prototypical large sword anime boy: Final Fantasy VII's Cloud Strife, Siegfried/Nightmare from Soulcalibur, and Black Clover's Asta are all links in the same chain, with other series like Dark Souls and Claymore taking clear inspiration from Berserk. But even deeper than that, the three-character dynamic between Guts, Griffith, and Casca, the monster designs, the grotesque violence, Miura’s image of hell — all of them can be spotted in countless pieces of media across the globe.

  Despite this, it just doesn’t seem like people talk about it very much. For over 20 years, Berserk has stood among the critical pantheon for both anime and manga, but it doesn’t spur conversations in the same way as Neon Genesis Evangelion, Akira, or Dragon Ball Z still do today. Its graphic depictions certainly represent a barrier to entry much higher than even the aforementioned company. 

    Seeing the internet exude sympathy and fond reminiscing about Berserk was immensely validating and has been my single most therapeutic experience online. Moreso, it reminded me that the fans have always been there. And even looking into it, Berserk is the single best-selling property in the 35-year history of Dark Horse. My feeling is that Berserk just has something about it that reaches deep into you and gets stuck there.

  I recall introducing one of my housemates to Berserk a few years ago — a person with all the intelligence and personal drive to both work on cancer research at Stanford while pursuing his own MD and maintaining a level of physical fitness that was frankly unreasonable for the hours that he kept. He was NOT in any way analytical about the media he consumed, but watching him sitting on the floor turning all his considerable willpower and intellect toward delivering an off-the-cuff treatise on how Berserk had so deeply touched him was a sight in itself to behold. His thoughts on the series' portrayal of sex as fundamentally violent leading up to Guts and Casca’s first moment of intimacy in the Golden Age movies was one of the most beautiful sentiments I’d ever heard in reaction to a piece of fiction.

  I don’t think I’d ever heard him provide anything but a surface-level take on a piece of media before or since. He was a pretty forthright guy, but the way he just cut into himself and let his feelings pour out onto the floor left me awestruck. The process of reading Berserk can strike emotional chords within you that are tough to untangle. I’ve been writing analysis and experiential pieces related to anime and manga for almost ten years — and interacting with Berserk’s world for almost 30 years — and writing may just be yet another attempt for me to pull my own twisted-up feelings about it apart. 

  Berserk is one of the most deeply personal works I’ve ever read, both for myself and in my perception of Miura's works. The series' transformation in the past 30 years artistically and thematically is so singular it's difficult to find another work that comes close. The author of Hajime no Ippo, who was among the first to see Berserk as Miura presented him with some early drafts working as his assistant, claimed that the design for Guts and Puck had come from a mess of ideas Miura had been working on since his early school days.

  写真は三浦建太郎君が寄稿してくれた鷹村です。 今かなり感傷的になっています。 思い出話をさせて下さい。 僕が初めての週刊連載でスタッフが一人もいなくて困っていたら手伝いにきてくれました。 彼が18で僕が19です。 某大学の芸術学部の���生で講義明けにスケッチブックを片手に来てくれました。 pic.twitter.com/hT1JCWBTKu

— 森川ジョージ (@WANPOWANWAN) May 20, 2021

  Miura claimed two of his big influences were Go Nagai’s Violence Jack and Tetsuo Hara and Buronson’s Fist of the North Star. Miura wears these influences on his sleeve, discovering the early concepts that had percolated in his mind just felt right. The beginning of Berserk, despite its amazing visual power, feels like it sprang from a very juvenile concept: Guts is a hypermasculine lone traveler breaking his body against nightmarish creatures in his single-minded pursuit of revenge, rigidly independent and distrustful of others due to his dark past.

  Uncompromising, rugged, independent, a really big sword ... Guts is a romantic ideal of masculinity on a quest to personally serve justice against the one who wronged him. Almost nefarious in the manner in which his character checked these boxes, especially when it came to his grim stoicism, unblinkingly facing his struggle against literal cosmic forces. Never doubting himself, never trusting others, never weeping for what he had lost.

    Miura said he sketched out most of the backstory when the manga began publication, so I have to assume the larger strokes of the Golden Arc were pretty well figured out from the outset, but I’m less sure if he had fully realized where he wanted to take the story to where we are now. After the introductory mini-arcs of demon-slaying, Berserk encounters Griffith and the story draws us back to a massive flashback arc. We see the same Guts living as a lone mercenary who Griffith persuades to join the Band of the Hawk to help realize his ambitions of rising above the circumstances of his birth to join the nobility.

  We discover the horrific abuses of Guts’ adoptive father and eventually learn that Guts, Griffith, and Casca are all victims of sexual violence. The story develops into a sprawling semi-historical epic featuring politics and war, but the real narrative is in the growing companionship between Guts and the members of the band. Directionless and traumatized by his childhood, Guts slowly finds a purpose helping Griffith realize his dream and the courage to allow others to grow close to him. 

  Miura mentioned that many Band of the Hawk members were based on his early friend groups. Although he was always sparse with details about his personal life, he has spoken about how many of them referred to themselves as aspiring manga authors and how he felt an intense sense of competition, admitting that among them he may have been the only one seriously working toward that goal, desperately keeping ahead in his perceived race against them. It’s intriguing thinking about how much of this angst may have made it to the pages, as it's almost impossible not to imagine Miura put quite a bit of himself in Guts. 

  Perhaps this is why it feels so real and makes The Eclipse — the quintessential anime betrayal at the hands of Griffith — all the more heartbreaking. The raw violence and macabre imagery certainly helped. While Miura owed Hellraiser’s Cenobites much in the designs of the God Hand, his macabre portrayal of the Band of the Hawk’s eradication within the literal bowels of hell, the massive hand, the black sun, the Skull Knight, and even Miura’s page compositions have been endlessly referenced, copied, and outright plagiarized since.

    The events were tragic in any context and I have heard many deeply personal experiences others drew from The Eclipse sympathizing with Guts, Casca, or even Griffith’s spiral driven by his perceived rejection by Guts. Mine were most closely aligned with the tragedy of Guts having overcome such painful circumstances to not only reject his own self enforced solitude, but to fearlessly express his affection for his loved ones. 

  The Golden Age was a methodical destruction of Guts’ self-destructive methods of preservation ruined in a single selfish act by his most trusted friend, leaving him once again alone and afraid of growing close to those around him. It ripped the romance of Guts’ mission and eventually took the story down a course I never expected. Berserk wasn’t a story of revenge but one of recovery.

  Guess that’s enough beating around the bush, as I should talk about how this shift affected me personally. When I was young, when I began reading Berserk I found Guts’ unflagging stoicism to be really cool, not just aesthetically but in how I understood guys were supposed to be. I was slow to make friends during school and my rapidly gentrifying neighborhood had my friends' parents moving away faster than I could find new ones. At some point I think I became too afraid of putting myself out there anymore, risking rejection when even acceptance was so fleeting. It began to feel easier just to resign myself to solitude and pretend my circumstances were beyond my own power to correct.

  Unfortunately, I became the stereotypical kid who ate alone during lunch break. Under the invisible expectations demanding I not display weakness, my loneliness was compounded by shame for feeling loneliness. My only recourse was to reveal none of those feelings and pretend the whole thing didn't bother me at all. Needless to say my attempts to cope probably fooled no one and only made things even worse, but I really didn’t know of any better way to handle my situation. I felt bad, I felt even worse about feeling bad and had been provided with zero tools to cope, much less even admit that I had a problem at all.

  The arcs following the Golden Age completely changed my perspective. Guts had tragically, yet understandably, cut himself off from others to save himself from experiencing that trauma again and, in effect, denied himself any opportunity to allow himself to be happy again. As he began to meet other characters that attached themselves to him, between Rickert and Erica spending months waiting worried for his return, and even the slimmest hope to rescuing Casca began to seed itself into the story, I could only see Guts as a fool pursuing a grim and hopeless task rather than appreciating everything that he had managed to hold onto. 

  The same attributes that made Guts so compelling in the opening chapters were revealed as his true enemy. Griffith had committed an unforgivable act but Guts’ journey for revenge was one of self-inflicted pain and fear. The romanticism was gone.

  Farnese’s inclusion in the Conviction arc was a revelation. Among the many brilliant aspects of her character, I identified with her simply for how she acted as a stand-in for myself as the reader: Plagued by self-doubt and fear, desperate to maintain her own stoic and uncompromising image, and resentful of her place in the world. She sees Guts’ fearlessness in the face of cosmic horror and believes she might be able to learn his confidence.

    But in following Guts, Farnese instead finds a teacher in Casca. In taking care of her, Farnese develops a connection and is able to experience genuine sympathy that develops into a sense of responsibility. Caring for Casca allows Farnese to develop the courage she was lacking not out of reckless self-abandon but compassion.

  I can’t exactly credit Berserk with turning my life around, but I feel that it genuinely helped crystallize within me a sense of growing doubts about my maladjusted high school days. My growing awareness of Guts' undeniable role in his own suffering forced me to admit my own role in mine and created a determination to take action to fix it rather than pretending enough stoicism might actually result in some sort of solution.

  I visited the Berserk subreddit from time to time and always enjoyed the group's penchant for referring to all the members of the board as “fellow strugglers,” owing both to Skull Knight’s label for Guts and their own tongue-in-cheek humor at waiting through extended hiatuses. Only in retrospect did it feel truly fitting to me. Trying to avoid the pitfalls of Guts’ path is a constant struggle. Today I’m blessed with many good friends but still feel primal pangs of fear holding me back nearly every time I meet someone, the idea of telling others how much they mean to me or even sharing my thoughts and feelings about something I care about deeply as if each action will expose me to attack.

  It’s taken time to pull myself away from the behaviors that were so deeply ingrained and it’s a journey where I’m not sure the work will ever be truly done, but witnessing Guts’ own slow progress has been a constant source of reassurance. My sense of admiration for Miura’s epic tale of a man allowing himself to let go after suffering such devastating circumstances brought my own humble problems and their way out into focus.

    Over the years I, and many others, have been forced to come to terms with the fact that Berserk would likely never finish. The pattern of long, unexplained hiatuses and the solemn recognition that any of them could be the last is a familiar one. The double-edged sword of manga largely being works created by a single individual is that there is rarely anyone in a position to pick up the torch when the creator calls it quits. Takehiko Inoue’s Vagabond, Ai Yazawa’s Nana, and likely Yoshihiro Togashi’s Hunter X Hunter all frozen in indefinite hiatus, the publishers respectfully holding the door open should the creators ever decide to return, leaving it in a liminal space with no sense of conclusion for the fans except what we can make for ourselves.

  The reason for Miura’s hiatuses was unclear. Fans liked to joke that he would take long breaks to play The Idolmaster, but Miura was also infamous for taking “breaks” spent minutely illustrating panels to his exacting artistic standard, creating a tumultuous release schedule during the wars featuring thousands of tiny soldiers all dressed in period-appropriate armor. If his health was becoming an issue, it’s uncommon that news would be shared with fans for most authors, much less one as private as Miura.

  Even without delays, the story Miura was building just seemed to be getting too big. The scale continued to grow, his narrative ambition swelling even faster after 20 years of publication, the depth and breadth of his universe constantly expanding. The fan-dubbed “Millennium Falcon Arc” was massive, changing the landscape of Berserk from a low fantasy plagued by roaming demons to a high fantasy where godlike beings of sanity-defying size battled for control of the world. How could Guts even meet Griffith again? What might Casca want to do when her sanity returned? What are the origins of the Skull Knight? And would he do battle with the God Hand? There was too much left to happen and Miura’s art only grew more and more elaborate. It would take decades to resolve all this.

  But it didn’t need to. I imagine we’ll never get a precise picture of the final years of Miura’s life leading up to his tragic passing. In the final chapters he released, it felt as if he had directed the story to some conclusion. The unfinished Fantasia arc finds Guts and his newfound band finding a way to finally restore Casca’s sanity and — although there is still unmistakably a boundary separating them — both seem resolute in finding a way to mend their shared wounds together.

  One of the final chapters features Guts drinking around the campfire with the two other men of his group, Serpico and Roderick, as he entrusts the recovery of Casca to Schierke and Farnese. It's a scene that, in the original Band of the Hawk, would have found Guts brooding as his fellows engage in bluster. The tone of this conversation, however, is completely different. The three commiserate over how much has changed and the strength each has found in the companionship of the others. After everything that has happened, Guts declares that he is grateful. 

  The suicidal dedication to his quest for vengeance and dispassionate pragmatism that defined Guts in the earliest chapters is gone. Although they first appeared to be a source of strength as the Black Swordsman, he has learned that they rose from the fear of losing his friends again, from letting others close enough to harm him, and from having no other purpose without others. Whether or not Guts and Griffith were to ever meet again, Guts has rediscovered the strength to no longer carry his burdens alone. 

  All that has happened is all there will ever be. We too must be grateful.

      Peter Fobian is an Associate Manager of Social Video at Crunchyroll, writer for Anime Academy and Anime in America, and an editor at Anime Feminist. You can follow him on Twitter @PeterFobian.

By: Peter Fobian

[natsspammityspamspamham]

Dino Watches Anime (Nov 28)

Obviously, I’m not going to list the ongoing anime that I’ve still watching as that hasn’t changed much. I will put the ones that I recently completed though!

Recently Completed!

Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e

I was going to put this in chronological order until I realized that I just wanted to get this piece of crap out of the way. Seriously, I regret watching this show. I HATE how it’s the highest rated out of all of them! It’s almost an 8/10! I gave it a 4! Here’s why:

This anime started out okay. I liked the sound of its premise. I liked the idea of teenage psychology being pushed but not as life-or-death but more of status. Because believe it or not, sometimes a person values their image and status more than their life. That plot was... kind of there? I don’t know. It was mostly boobs and ass. Those jiggle physics don’t stop here. They make sure to remind you that every character in this anime has large assets and asses every two seconds. 

The characters are probably the most deplorable part of this show. They were so bad. Seriously, we just took the worst parts of every trope and threw them together! The “I don’t talk to anyone. I don’t have any friends. I’m EDGY and don’t belong here. I’m this close to selling myself to Orochimaru for power”, the “cardboard houseplant that’s so monotone that it hurts”, the “double-sided dipstick that will take out a person’s intestines and use them as a jump rope”, and the “arrogant older brother who is way more accomplished than his sister”. We also have more assorted bastards, but those are the main ones. The characters ruined everything. Their interactions were so coarse, forced, hard to watch, and everything is executed so poorly that it made me wonder whether people rated this for ulterior motives or not. Everyone here is an asshole. 

Let’s look at the first three characters:

“cardboard houseplant that’s so monotone that it hurts” - Shoya Chiba isn’t even a bad voice actor. He does give me Hiroshi Kamiya vibes though (not a bad thing), but his voice acting in this show was hard to listen to because his expression didn’t change and neither did his voice. Seriously, over 12 episodes, he has that same expression. Someone threatened to harm him, and he’s still looking like a dead fish. I can’t describe how much worse it is to have a main character whose facial muscles don’t move. He has no personality.

“I don’t talk to anyone. I don’t have any friends. I’m EDGY and don’t belong here. I’m this close to selling myself to Orochimaru for power” - I like her design, but what else is going for her? How many times does she need to say, “I don’t need friends. I just want to move up in school.” Bitch, I get it. You can calm down. You keep doing things for other people but you say you don’t care? She arguably gets the most growth. Akari Kito voiced her and it was just like how any other person on earth would voice this character. 

“double-sided dipstick that will take out a person’s intestines and use them as a jump rope” - She’s exactly what she sounds like. She’s in that gif. She’s sweet and nice until you catch her being not that. Yurika Kubo did a pretty alright job voicing her. Nothing really to say here besides I hated her with a burning passion.

Music was alright. Animation was... Lerche standard. Nothing special. It looks nice until you are flashed so many times that you can’t tell what this show is even about anymore.

This is one of the worst shows I’ve watched in a while. It wastes a perfectly good premise and voice cast.

Kekkaishi

2006 was a good year for anime, and this probably got swept over because Code Geass took the fall season by storm. But this anime was genuinely good. I wanted a good shonen/comedy with action and this filled that void and more. I even read some of the manga before realizing that I just don’t like reading manga that much.

I genuinely like the cast of characters and find them amusing. I also like how they incorporate a stay-at-home dad who wears an apron and no one judges him because it’s what they see as normal. We have a female character whose not being sexualized every few seconds. Sunrise did cheat a little with other female characters though because the manga made their proportions okay while the anime decided to make them look more like a Barbie rather than a human. The animation was pretty okay too. For 52 episodes, it did some pretty okay stuff but with today’s technology, it’s probably not as “wow” as it was back in the day.

I’m just mad that they developed a character only to kill him a couple of episodes later. That’s sad. 

The soundtrack was pretty standard, but I was impressed by the fact that I liked the voice acting. I originally wasn’t as much of a fan of Hiroyuki Yoshino’s works because I found his voice annoying, but when he finds the right character (like Yoshimori or Eraser Mic), he works really well. It’s unfortunate that a lot of the main cast aren’t as prolific as they once were, but I guess that’s life.

No one was hurt in the making of that gif. 

I rated this a 9/10 because it was for pure enjoyment. I didn’t have this much fun watching an anime in a while. This is the anime that got me binge-watching again.

Nobunaga Concerto

This anime has a blaring problem. It’s not the story, it’s not the writing, it’s not the characters, and it’s not the music. It’s the art. Watch any clip and it will give some Berserk flashbacks.

The writing was pretty good too. The story was genuinely interesting, but in the end, it didn’t feel like it did enough. It didn’t cover enough. The dialogue and the incorporation of modern culture with the historic parts were smart. Saburou was really likeable and oddly adaptive. The characters around him (the historic ones) are pretty cut and dry. The music was pretty good too! The art and lack of adaptation are the only things truly holding this show back.

Mamoru Miyano plays the main character and obviously makes him charming and funny, Yuki Kaji plays Nobunaga Oda, and Nana Mizuki plays Oda’s betrothed. I actually didn’t know anything about Oda’s tale prior to this anime so don’t think that’s required. 

I rated it a 7/10

*Another important note is that they get suddenly racist in the last episode. A black guy appears, and people scream that it’s a monkey like they’ve never seen a darker-skinned human before. It was honestly disappointing.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi

Okay, this anime surprised me because of how much I liked it. It wasn’t even anything special. They took the same JC Staff rom-com tropes and put them into another anime combined with some fairy tale lore. But this anime was so entertaining and charming with its cast that I genuinely didn’t hate any of the characters. There were a few moments that made me go, “okay, that’s a bit too much”, but a girl going around punching people with neko boxing gloves? That’s pretty cool. Ookami was a really funny character who I actually found a bit interesting which is weird for a story that’s supposed to be superficial and comedic. Ryoushi is practically a spitting image of my anxiety and personality but in a charming way? He has some cool moments. He’s almost a little like Zenitsu. Courageous when push comes to shove but he’s actually awake. Ringo was the innocent loli until she wasn’t because if you mess with her friend, she will poison you. Again, they made these references to regular rom-com anime and fairy tales that completely roll together nicely. JC Staff didn’t mess this one up, and as always, there’s a tsundere Rie Kugimiya role in there somewhere. 

Because I enjoyed it so much, I gave it a 9/10.

Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha

I literally finished this one an hour ago, read the last chapter of the manga, and went “what the heck?” Because... I enjoyed this, but I also didn’t? Bitter-sweetness at its best. Houko Kuwashima is a really underrated voice actress because she hasn’t taken that many big roles as of recent, but she has incredible range. The characters of this are incredibly plain, but I don’t mind that because they aren’t painful to watch unlike the first anime I mentioned (seriously, I watched the last three shows on this list to wash that bad anime out of my brain). Everyone in this anime seems to be perfect in one way or another because they don’t really wish ill on anyone. Not gonna lie, characters like that aren’t for everyone because “everyone is a scum at some point in their lives”. I definitely respect for the need of balance. The story is pretty simple and plain and so is the art. The music was nice and pleasant. Basically, it’s a palette-cleanser of an anime after watching some bad anime. It’s about developing middle school romance and this... “teenage” couple on the side. It’s about friendship! And discovering yourself, and yes, one character found out she was gay, and I was rooting for that character so hard only to find out that she didn’t get her conclusive ending. Everyone else gets some bullshit ending one way or another! This is published in the same publication as Bungou Stray Dogs, and I wouldn’t have been able to tell if I didn’t look it up. 

I rated this one an 8/10 because I enjoyed it still despite the ending being a little idealistic, sad, and far-fetched (seriously, someone becomes a god and gets their existence erased). 

[lorddeathofmurdermountain]

Y'all. I post silly shit, overreacting shit, and sometimes I like to think I post something good. I wanna introduce y'all to something that's helping me a lot now. Well, not that I'm any worse off than any other chronically online person, but that's not the point. There's this unassuming Webtoon story... And it's captivated my heart. It has so much personality, character and soul, I don't think I've felt like this since... Like, 2011.

This...

Is Watermelon. It fucking sucks.

No wait, hear me out.

Remember how I said it's unassuming? It's because it has this nice name, nice art at the cover, and it all looks so nice and happy... Yet this series had brought me to the verge of tears so many times, I lost count. This is one of the most raw, unfiltered experiences, I've ever read. I'm gonna drop another bomb on you guys. I wanna compare this to Berserk.

I know, I know, nowhere near the same, both fans and people new to it would agree... But hear me out. Y'know what skele man said about Guts? What he called him? "Struggler". I think... Since the work of the late Kentaro Miura, up til today, I've never read anything that was as raw and oppressing yet oddly inspiring and heart warming as these two works. Heh. What a wombo combo. Berserk... And Watermelon.

I'm not gonna delve into the plot, so no spoilers here, but if I've ever really felt like any other character deserved to be called Struggler, besides Guts, than it was the protagonist of Watermelon. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure many more also deserve the title. But this one just resonated real deep with me. I think it reminded me of a lot of things I forgot, and values I've since dismissed. It brought me back to when I was a kid, it showed me my struggles and then it showed me things a hundred times worse. I know a lot of people will dismiss this, not even look at it, or read the story and think it's nothing special.

But even so. I really wanna bring this to people's attention. I feel like it's worth downloading Webtoon, even if you dislike this style or even the idea of webtoons, just for this story. Hell, I thought I wouldn't like it. I gave it a chance, but figured I'd read five chapters tops.

I've finished the full 144 publicly available episodes in one day. And I plan to reread all of it. I feel like the first time I read Harry Potter, or Lord of the Rings. I feel like, for the first time in ages, like there's so much wonder and beauty in the world, and it makes me want to cherish what I have more, and to never ever forget that. It reminds me of simpler, purer things in life. Like the unconditional love of family. Like the warmth of a big, group hug with all your close ones. I like to wax poetry and sound smart, but I think this is the first time I've really said something when writing all fancy like, even if my verse is as unoriginal as it gets. Fucks sake, I'm tearing up right now. But I feel this warm feeling in me, however fleeting, and just thinking about this makes me smile. I. I don't smile. Not when I'm alone with myself. I may smirk or cackle or even laugh at someone. But I haven't felt this content and just... Happy, in a long while.

The series is equally as disturbing as it is uplifting, and sure it could be seen as angsty and generic, but it's struck a deep chord with me, and it never felt like the author is going overboard, or doing this just because, or whatever. I'm not gonna pretend like I know the author, but Rorita (author-sama, that is) makes me think that author-sama is putting some real emotions and feelings in this work. It doesn't feel empty, it doesn't feel bland. It doesn't feel like one of those generic power fantasies where the hero rises to the challenge and prevails because, DUH, they're the hero! I've been out of touch with my inner literary appreciator for a while, but I can more sense than genuinely point out a message in this whole thing, a message that's surely near and dear to the author's heart.

I wish I've read something like this much, much sooner. It's a really, really beautiful work of art. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. It's extraordinary. I'd go as far as to say that I absolutely, undoubtedly... Honestly, seriously...

Really fucking love this goddamn story. It makes me wanna spam heart emojis till the end of days.

[gccladiesnight]

LNA Creator Spotlight: Monica Ras

Please enjoy our latest Creator Spotlight on Monica Ras!

• Favorite publisher – I don’t have one, honestly.

Social Media Info

• Twitter: gryzmoly

• Instagram: gryzmoly

• Tumblr: gryzmoly

Credits

• Where might we know you from? – I have a comic series I’m working with Lauren Burke & Greg Sorkin called “The World Ends with Us” and have also participated in two of the Ladies Night Anthology books: Death & Prom and Magic. I also occasionally pop up at LNA functions.

• What’s next for you? – “The World Ends with Us” is still in the works. I’m also illustrating some hunky men for the Austen vs Bronte podcast/graphic novel. Aside from that, I’m hoping to start a webcomic within the next year, after I get some of the research elements out of the day.

Background

• How did you become a comics fan? – I grew up reading the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series! I was a huge Sonic fan growing up and I had a massive backpack full of issues, which I sadly lost when my parents’ crawlspace flooded. From there, it branched off into Japanese manga, and that’s where my love for comics really exploded.

• Who are your biggest writing/art influences? – Kentaro Miura (Berserk) is a large inspiration of mine in ever sense of the word. Other artist inspirations of mine are: Rose Besch (Bara-chan), Claire Hummel, & T Zysk (Reapersun). (Among many others but I’m terrible at names.)

• What is your dream job? – To be honest, I’m not particularly sure. I’m pretty good where I’m at: a day job that allows me the freedom to pursue my hobbies and interests. I suppose I’d like to be in a more creative field some day, but I don’t have a particular job in mind.

• List your top 5 comics/movies/books – The Road to El Dorado (Dreamworks), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (comic & movie), Blacksad, (and these aren’t a comic/movie/books but video games have a lot of influence on my work) Dragon Age series, Final Fantasy VII.

• What work are you most proud of? – “The World Ends with Us” for sure. It’s my first stand-alone original comic, and Lauren and Greg are a phenomenal team to work with!

• Who inspires you? – Music and new places. I take one Saturday or Sunday a month during nicer weather to drive to new places just for a change of pace. It’s really refreshing.

• Why do you want to work in comics? – It’s really exhilarating seeing something one draws in print. Giving life to characters and situations is a unique sort of sensation. I have a lot of stories to tell and I really like to share them!

Advice

• What helps you get into a creative headspace? – Listening to music. ’m the sort of person who needs to be put into a particular emotional mindset to really get to work on something, so I need to find music that fits whatever it is I’m trying to draw or write to really get the creativity flowing.

• Best critique you’ve ever had? – “Pay attention to line weight.” Varying line weight helps give depth, weight, and movement to an image.

• Best piece of career advice you’ve ever received? – “Do what you’re passionate about.” Seems really simple and straight-forward but sometimes we all forget what we’re passionate about when other pressing matters come to our attention.

• What advice would you give to creators just starting out? – Do what works for you. For some people, going full tilt at what they want will just result in them getting burned out or hating their passion. For some, going full tilt is exactly what they need! Look at your situation and desires and figure out how you want to do things. Do you want work freelance full time? Would you prefer to have a day job and work on freelance gigs on the side? Or even transition from the day job to working as a freelancer full time? Do what works for you and know that there is really no wrong way to go about it. Also, find people and/or groups that share similar interests and pursuits! It definitely helps having likeminded individuals around to keep your passion burning strong!

• What do you do to take care of yourself (physically/mentally)? – Playing video games, going for long walks/drives, taking a hot bubble bath with the occasional glass of wine.

• Have any time management tips? – There are so many ways to keep track of things these days, but I’ve become pretty dang reliant on Google Calendar. It helps keep everything in line and allows a broad look at what I have on my plate. Depending on the project, I’ll set milestones to remind myself what needs to be done when.

• How do you handle rejection? – Rejection certainly stinks, and I’ll be the first to admit that it does make me a little upset sometimes. I might get a little down in the dumps about it but through the years I’ve come to learn that it isn’t the end of the world, so I’ll get to work on things that make me happy to push myself onward.

• Do you have any specific writing/art tips? – I know it’s been said time and again but definitely draw from life. Go outside and doodle, take a figure drawing class, whatever! Drawing from life will help you understand how things are built and especially how things move.

• How do you relax? – Going for drives/walks with instrumental or dance music playing helps a lot. On the rare occasion I’m actually feeling it, bubble baths help too! Or just putting a pup if I’m visiting family; we have a few dogs in the family and nothing helps quite like petting a happy critter.

Industry

• How long have you been working in comics? – About 3 years.

• How do you find freelance gigs? – I’m often referred to them by family or friends. Networking is a very important aspect of any field, really. On that note, participating in things like anthologies can really help your work get out there, and at times people will reach out to you for a gig!

• Do you have a day job? – I do. It’s not at all related to comics, but it is somewhat creative.

• Have you seen changes in the industry since you joined? – Admittedly, I don’t pay much attention to the industry; I’m aware that it can be fairly hostile. On that note, however, I have noticed an increase in hostility. But, I’ve also noticed an increase in people creating spaces and environments in which they can create and support each other, which is really relieving to see, as well as incredibly inspiring.

• Favorite convention – I’ve only been to a handful of conventions but C2E2 and Dragoncon are tied for top place!

[leighleighpresents-blog]

Kate Ceberano Interview

GQ:  Hi Kate, how are you?  How’s your day been today?

KC:  It’s been really full-on, which is nice, cos, you know, you kind of prepare to do these things when you’re promoting stuff, and actually, when you look at it on paper, and you look at it a week away, it looks like a fucking nightmare.  But then you look at it as you’re doing it, and it’s like “it’s all good”.  And television’s not frightening, they’re not going to put the horror make-up on if you just don’t tell them, or don’t let them, and you don’t have to talk about any other crap that you don’t want to talk about, you just talk about what you want to talk about, and it’s all good!  You just gotta be willing to be a little bit of a diva and mark your position in the sand, and you’re off.

GQ:  It’s the only way to be isn’t it?  Being a diva?

KC:  Well, it is, but you don’t get to do it very often in Australia, cos, unfortunately, divas in Australia are not … we don’t breed proper divas, let’s put it that way.  I mean, divas in America, for example, they have the whole culture, it’s in the whole infrastructure.  But here, it’s different, you sort of struggle to stay … you have to continue to define and continue to explain your definition to people, whereas, in America, you’re defined by what people say about you.  They create it all.

GQ:  True, true.  Well, you’re currently promoting your first Christmas album, Merry Christmas.  How did it feel to record that?

KC:  I’m a big fan of an era of Christmas music which goes back mostly to the 50’s, singers like Ella Fitzgerald, and Eartha Kitt, and another singer I like who you may not know, Julie London.  To me, the sound of Christmas is the sound of those artists, Bing Crosby, and the older singers.  You can do contemporary R’n’B, and you can do a whole lot of sort of choral or gospel type Christmas songs, but to me, it doesn’t seem to feel the same as when I hear those artists doing it, so it’s a little bit of an homage to them.

GQ:  Well, you do a version of White Christmas, which, to me, is one of the all-time classics …

KC:  It’s golden, it’s beautiful.  I hadn’t actually thought of doing a Christmas album to date because I often do charity songs, usually giving up a track for charity, which, for the past couple of years, has been for Myer, and this time, I just went “No, I’m going to make an album for myself, and for my daughter Gypsy” and give her her own mother’s soundtrack.  I mean, what better gift can you give a kid for Christmas?  You might as well give her an album, if that’s what you do for a living.  I mean, if I was a designer, I’d make her a mirror-ball dress, but I can’t (laughs) and I would!

GQ:  Oh, that’s camp as!

KC:  Well, I am the queen of camp!  You don’t know that, but that’s true, haha!

GQ:  So how did Gypsy like the album?

KC:  Oh, she loves it, she absolutely loves it.  I think the parts of it that she loves the most are the most quirky, like Santa Baby, and I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, the things that have a more … like a danceable quality to them.

GQ:  Yeah, true.  You also did a duet with Ronan Keating on there too, that’s pretty cool!

KC:  (quietly)  Ronan Keating is gorgeous.  He is so handsome … He absolutely, in every way, is just everything that a great pop star should be.   He’s cute, he’s a clever musician.  He wrote that song, actually.  Even if you thought he was this … cos he’s quite young, you know, some middle-aged sort of Mumsy thingy, you know, he never made me feel that way.  He made me feel like I was just stunning, and that’s nice.

GQ:  Another thing with this album is that it’s the first time you’ve worked with Chong Lim for a while too ..

KC:  Yeah, since Dancing With The Stars days.  We kind of met up on that show, which, to me, was … you were telling me about your Maori background before, the chap I was dancing with, John-Paul, he’s this big, beautiful Maori guy, and I have to say, the producer who put that show together gave me the greatest thrill of my life, because, not only was I able to dance like … you know, when you do ballroom dancing, the male partners are usually quite petite, not very tall, but if you’re a big buxom girl like me, and you want to get swung around, it doesn’t feel right.  You know what I’m saying?  You want someone you can really hang onto.  And John-Paul was really great, because he was very strapping, covered in tats, and really quite, you know … and yet, still so very feminine and romantic, and gentle, oh, gentle as!

GQ:  That’s what I love about Maoris, they can seem imposing, but they’re really just gentle giants for the most part.

KC:  Oh, definitely.  I just loved my time on the show, I adored it.  I felt like a Pedro Almodóvar character, his portrayals of women are my favourite in any feature films.  In fact, Penélope Cruz is one actress he used to use all the time, and she’s just my living icon, I worship her, she’s absolutely stunning.  So, having that experience, to me, was like having this precious jewel, and, in doing the Christmas album with him just added to the whole fantasy, cos he lets me be really quirky and, you know … actually, recording it, I was thinking “now, what would Penélope Cruz do?”  You know, what would a woman like that do, someone who’s just singing a Christmas traditional thing, you know, but I didn’t want to make it too daggy, I wanted to make it a bit quirky.  

GQ:  Well, it makes it easier listening then anyhow.

KC:  Well, I think so.  Also, it makes it so that people can sing along.  If a child wanted to learn the lyrics, you’ve got to keep it clear.  I mean, even my own daughter, she’s 6, and she’s not able to get all the words, but she’s able to get the simple ones, like “you’d better not cry, you’d better not pout, I’m telling you why”, she’s got all those words, but if the verses go on, and you get a bit tricky with it, she just gets lost.  So yeah, it’s nice for the kids.

GQ:  What’s been your most memorable Christmas so far?

KC:  (thinks about it for a few seconds)  God, I don’t know, but I’d say the ones I remember the most, the ones that mean the most to me are the ones that were spent in our family house in Lime Avenue because of the … I think I’m really nostalgic, cos I didn’t like it when my family all moved out.  I thought we all should have just stayed together, I didn’t understand why we all had to move out.  I mean, you know how most teenagers are busting to move out?  I wasn’t, and I didn’t really want anyone else to move out either.  I wanted us to just stay in this little family pod forever.  And so, to me, the memory of being there, with all of my family as a unit, was the safest, and seemed to be the most important years of my Christmas life.  Now we’ve got it again, cos all the family are back living in Melbourne again, and all my siblings have husbands and wives, and babies, and bits and pieces.  You know, everyone’s kind of in and around, and I dunno, I’m really nostalgic about that sort of thing.

GQ:  That’s a good thing, I think.  Christmas SHOULD be all about family.  What are you doing for Christmas this year?

KC:  I’m going to be here in Melbourne, so I’ve gone with a big Mexican fiesta theme this year, so we’ve got a big Santa Claus piñata, which the kids will go berserk over.  So yeah, just generally be like the hub of the whole scene for the family, they’re all going to come over and drop in and out all day, but I’m basically going to be the big fat mamma who sits there going “come-a, come-a”, haha.  That’s going to be my style.

GQ:  Haha!  Sounds like a great time!  Well, getting back to the music, when I was growing up, of course, I remember hearing your songs like “Bedroom Eyes” …

KC:  Now, you definitely look too young to remember those songs …

GQ:  I’m 28!

KC:  You’re a baby, see?  Who knew those songs?

GQ:  “Bedroom Eyes” was awesome!

KC:  Oh thank you, but you’re such a baby!  How do you know those songs?!?

GQ:  Haha!  And “Pash” …

KC:  Yeah, that was a little later on.  I’m glad you remember them.

GQ:  Well, what I was going to ask was is that a style you’d be returning to?

KC:  I certainly hope, that would be awesome.  I’d want to get some sort of outrageously innovative dance thing going, cos dance is my first love.  My first band, I’m Talking, was one of the first dance bands in Australia, actually.  The early stuff was … it was probably a lot like … Sneaky Sound System reminds me of them in atmosphere.  Not because we were like them, but we were the first ones to introduce disco to Australia.  Anyhow, we were travelling, and that was like my first gig, and we were trying to create chic.  So yeah, that’s something I’d love to get back to.  I want to do something really outrageous, like a full disco band, live, full-on band, like horns and disco strings and lots of thighs and sweaty boobs, big biceps, muscles … hahaha!  That would be a pleasure …  

GQ:  Hahahahaha!  Sounds like Mardi Gras!  Actually, speaking of Mardi Gras …

KC:  Have I done Mardi Gras?  Yeeeeeeeees … no, I haven’t.  Well, I have done it once or twice.

GQ:  Haha.  I was actually thinking of gay audiences, and I’ve asked a few people this question, but I want your opinion.  Do you see a difference between your straight audiences at gigs, compared to your gay audience?

KC:  Well, my gay audience is just the most vocal, the most appreciative … I don’t know why, I guess it’s just their freedom to express their love of art.  I often think our culture doesn’t know how to do that, generally.  So, to me, it’s wonderful that you have your emotions so close to the surface, because that’s what music hits at, and that’s what we rely on as artists, we rely on that instant feel, and it’s irresistible, and, you know, I rely on that.  I’ve got some great friends that I work with who are artists, especially in fashion and hair, and I would trust their opinion more, because they’re so involved in art, they just have a better viewpoint about it.  I mean, I hate to generalise, but that’s the truth.

GQ:  True.  Well, I think we’re just about out of time, but one last question: do you have a message for our readers?

KC:  Just enjoy your Christmas, have a safe Christmas, and look after yourselves … and see you at Mardi Gras next year, haha!  Yeah, I’ll have to get a dance album out before then, haha!

GQ:  Do something like what Sheena Easton did.  She released an album called Fabulous, and it was an album of covers of disco classics, like Never Can Say Goodbye …

KC:  Really?  Oh, Sheena Easton rocks!  Well, the other night, we pulled out I Will Survive, you know, just as a bit of a shit-stir, and, you know, I fucking ripped it up!  I tore it a new one, I’m telling ya!  Oh, I was just … isn’t that an amazing song?  What I need to do is get those sorts of songs, which are the best-written songs and get you in that emotional place, and get you from the first chord to the very end, and they don’t stop, they work you the whole way through.  I need songwriters to write songs like that.  I would love to go to America, and find the author of that song, and be like “Write me another one”, haha!

[comic-watch]

An inside look at the Key Collector Comics mobile app, one of the most innovative tools to be introduced for comic fans, collectors, retailers, and industry professionals, to-date!  Founder, Nick Coglianese,  gives us a peek inside, plus details regarding the recent partnership with Valiant Comics, and the confirmation of  partnership with Coffin Comics and the biggest update yet!

‘The Origin of a Better Comic Book Collecting Experience Starts Here!’

Key Collector Comics hosts over 7,000 key issue comic books extracted from the Golden Age of the 1930’s to today.  The Key Collector Comics Database© is a concise and comprehensive resource that isolates issues of significance from the clutter of uneventful comics.

Additionally, the Key Collector Comics mobile app is equipped with a simplified price guide to help you make informed purchases without being an expert in grading the condition of a comic.

Having the ability to catalog the issues you own and create a wish list of the issues you want makes the Key Collector Comics app the only thing you need to build a legendary collection.

‘The Man Behind Key Collector Comics, LLC, Founder – Nick Coglianese’

This is how the Key Collector Comics app is described on the Key Collector Comics website,  and due to my personal experience with the application, easily locating key issues, such as the first appearances of Moon Knight and Gwenom, for example, I found the Key Collector app extremely useful.

I decided to seek out the man behind the application and found myself speaking with its founder, Nick Coglianese, and after using Key Collector, being totally blown away by its functionality, and ease of use, I knew I had stumbled upon something that added value to my life, my collection, and it is totally free!  I thought it selfish to keep it to myself, thus finding it necessary to share our conversations with comic fans and industry professionals!

I asked Nick to tell me about himself and what led to the mobile app, and what follows is the story behind Key Collector Comics.

Nick:  “I’ve been collecting comics since 1989.  Like all kids, I’d imagine superheroes appealed to me, but it was when Tim Burton’s Batman came out in 1989, when I got really hooked.  It’s probably the same thing happening today to hundreds of thousands of kids which is why Key Collector Comics is so important, to give them a guide through 80+ years of comic book history.  I remember having the novel adaptation of the movie and reading through it two or three times.   Actually, it was before the movie even came out.  The trailer and commercials resonated so deeply with me, I didn’t even need to see the film, although I did, and loved it as much as I thought I would.  From there, I remember getting two graphic novels,  Batman Greatest Stories Ever Told and Joker Greatest Stories Ever Told, and it never abated.  I still have the same hobby as a 39 year old man that I did as an 11 year old boy.” Nick continues, “Unfortunately, I haven’t picked up a comic for the past two years, ever since I began building the database.  Funny thing is, I thought the database would take about 3 months and I’d be finished…here I am two years later and I’m still adding to it.  I don’t mean I worked on it here and there, over a two year period, I mean, not only have I not picked up a comic, but I haven’t turned on a television, or watched a movie!  People think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not.  I’d like to start hunting down books again but in the meantime, it’s really great to connect with people on social media and see what they’ve found with the app.  Honestly, it’s like collecting vicariously.  I truly get a lot of joy from seeing what my app is doing for collectors.”

‘The Conception of Key Collector Comics!’

CW: Nick spent two years completing the initial Key Collector Comics app, but it’s constantly growing, which means it is never really ‘complete’, as you are constantly updating the application with new key issues, but where did this idea come from?

Nick:  “I was always on the hunt for comics:  antique stores, flea markets, garage sales.  One day, I stopped into a used book store in downtown Milwaukee I had never been to before.  I didn’t even know if they sold comics, but the first thing that caught my eye was X-Men #221, 1ST appearance of Mr. Sinister for $1.00!  After returning a few more times and seeing fresh inventory, I asked if he had a decent amount of stock in the backroom.  He did not,  actually he had an entire basement filled with 30,000 comics at an off-site warehouse!”

“So I did what any comic collector would do and begged this stranger to bring me to this off-site warehouse, lead me into the basement, and request that he not kill me at any point during the process.”

“Truthfully it took a lot of time, going into the store, hanging out and establishing trust.  Turns out, we got along really well.  He’s a good and honest person and I find it easy to relate to people like that.  After a few months, we came to an agreement on how to split the profits of key issues I found, post to eBay, and sell.  He didn’t know much about which comics were worth selling, so I became valuable to him.”

“BUT, as much as I thought I knew, there was A LOT I didn’t know:  Sally Forth #4 – $100?!  Scud #1?! I had never heard of those books before, but discovered they were valuable based on a hunch, so I knew there had to be more gems that I couldn’t distinguish from the rocks.  I spent most of my free time, over an entire summer, down in that basement, which got tiresome after awhile, but I had an agreement with the owner and wanted to make sure that the trust this guy, who was now my friend, put into me, had a good result.  I found myself wishing there was a book, some resource that had JUST the key issues, ONLY the valuable stuff, without the clutter of hundreds of entries.  I hated searching each issue individually.  I just wanted to FLIP and SCROLL.  The whole situation got more mundane and I just wasn’t enjoying it anymore.  I figured I couldn’t be the only person who was in the same situation and might be turned off to collecting because of it.  So it just kind of hit me one day to create the database and put it on an app for total convenience.”

In case you are new to comic collecting or just not familiar with the term ‘Key Issue‘, the description per Key Collector Comics is:

What is a Key? First appearances, early appearances, origin stories, iconic cover art, classic stories and many other categories could be considered a “key issue”.  The truth is, it is up to each individual collector to determine what a key comic book is based on their own preferences.  Key Collector Comics mobile app offers a variety of different categories of key issues in order to be an effective sidekick for every collector.

‘The Functionality of the mobile Key Collector Comics App’ 

CW: This sounds like a dream come true, but I had to ask Nick to elaborate on how exactly the Key Collector App works? Nick:  “The app has 3 main search functions:  Search by Title – while you’re flipping through a series of multiple issues and if something on the screen matches something in the box, you found yourself a key issue.  For example, between the Amazing Spider-Man #316 (1st cover appearance of Venom) and #344 (1st cameo of Cletus Kasady who becomes Carnage), there are no issues listed because not much happens that we still see the repercussions of today, therefore the app will not have any issues listed.  Collectors can assume that these are $1 books and consider that in the valuation of a collection.  Some people like to catalog every single book they own but it’s time consuming, so why not just catalog the comics that matter?”

“Search by Character – reveals the history of any of the thousands of characters in the database, from 1st appearance, to where they are today and the milestones that happened in-between, to define who they are.  For example, Wolverine, with Key Collector Comics, you’ll know when his berserker rage was first introduced to the mythos, when he was first called Logan, his first fight with Sabretooth, and the first time the words “I’m the best there is at what I do” appeared on the page.”

“Finally, Browse by Category – is really more for fun than anything, but also for the newest users who want to find a recommended classic story-line or want to see 100 Iconic Superhero Covers.  There are currently 75 or so categories to browse by.  Admittedly, I’ve been so overwhelmed by the response to the app that I haven’t been able to give that browse option the attention it deserves, but I will very soon.  For now, in that section, you can also see what new keys are added on a weekly, sometimes even a daily basis.” “Collectors can also catalog the issues they own and assign a grade to it and also build a wish list for what they want which is hugely important because if you’re like me, anytime I go to a convention or walk into my LCS, I go brain-dead. [This resonates so much with me, as when I come upon a treasure trove of comics, all of the sudden, I can’t think of anything I’m looking for and the Key Collector app has saved me in these situations!] The wish list will provide a reminder for the issues fans will want to seek out specifically before they browse.  The beauty of it all is that its all bundled together in one app.  In the past, you’d open your notes app to look at your wishlist, then you might check eBay pricing, or maybe you’d google a character to find out their 1st appearance,  and then you’d catalog whatever you may have purchased.  That’s 4 apps you have to open, and now, you open Key Collector Comics and everything you need is available to you, in an intuitive interface that requires zero learning curve.”

‘Key Collector Comics Partners With Valiant Entertainment’

  CW: On December 13th, Valiant Comics announced a partnership with Key Collector Comics, how did this happen?

Nick:  “I was able to secure a table at the NYCC last minute.  Someone had dropped out, and I dropped in.  I barely had anything as far as promotional materials go.  A couple computer screens on a loop and some fliers.  Needless to say, getting people’s attention was a struggle, but Dinesh*, being the kind-of-guy he is, inquisitive, passionate about the industry, humble – walked the aisles, shopped for comics and eventually came across my booth.  Again it was bare-bones and I didn’t fault anyone for whizzing by me, but Dinesh asked ‘What do you have here?’  I gave him the extended explanation, just like you’re getting, and he immediately grasped the concept, knew what the intention was, and wanted to see it succeed, because as he perfectly stated, ‘This is really good for the industry!’.  I was thrilled, he said exactly what I was thinking, validating what my intention was for building the app and being at the NYCC.”

“We had a few conversations in the weeks that followed.  I presented the Valiant Key Issue portal that connects fans directly into the dynamic universe of Valiant (which I can honestly say has the most creative stories, the diverse universe and incredibly beautiful art of any books that are on the market) and Dinesh accepted.  They help me with exposure and credibility while I familiarize the growing legion of Key Collector Comics members with the Valiant books in a non-invasive way.”

*Dinesh Shamdasani is the current CEO and Chief Creative Officer of Valiant Entertainment, and one of the most creative, ingenious marketing and creative minds in the comic industry.

According to Valiant Comics Media release,

Valiant Entertainment is proud to announce that it has joined forces with Key Collector Comics – currently available for iOS and Android – for their first official publisher partnership!  The free-to-download mobile app aims to make collecting the most seminal single issues from across the renowned publisher’s 25-year history easier than ever before with a complete list of Valiant’s biggest and most sought-after milestones!

Using the dedicated first-of-its-kind “Valiant Keys” button on the homepage of the mobile app, fans and collectors can access an extensive database full of information and pricing data for more than 100+ significant comic book issues published by Valiant, including first appearances, origin stories, gold issues, iconic cover art, rare variants, and more:

Harbinger #0 (1992) Pink Variant – a highly sought-after mailaway issue revealing the origin of the Renegades!

Eternal Warrior #4 (1994) – featuring the first cameo appearance by Bloodshot!

Quantum & Woody #3 (1997) – featuring the first appearance of Vincent Van Goat (aka “The Goat”)!

X-O Manowar#1 (2017) Brushed Metal Variant – Valiant’s first brushed metal variant cover printed via a special process on an actual brushed aluminum metal sheet!

Eternity #1 (2017) Massafera Variant – a rare 1:40 wraparound variant cover introducing the complete cast of the visionary new series by Matt Kindt and Trevor Hairsine, featuring fully painted cover art by Felipe Massafera!

Plus dozens more!

The Key Collector Comics app is a concise and comprehensive resource that isolates issues of significance from the clutter of uneventful comics.  It features information regarding over 7,000 key issue comic books, as well as a simplified price guide, robust search filters, and a cataloging system to determine the value of your own collection.

  CW: You mentioned a new partnership with Coffin Comics along with a new update to the Key Collector app? How did this come about?

Nick:  “My brother-in-law is in a band called The Rosedales.  They’re like a Rockabilly Monster band like the Monkees meet the Munsters.  The bassist and lead vocalist in the band is friends with Brian* out in Arizona.  That was sort of the connection that allowed me to be heard by a very busy, very savvy individual in the comic book industry.  Brian, like Dinesh, has been very gracious with his time and helped me understand things about the app and about the business that would’ve taken me years to come upon.  Also, both creators see the value in the app and what it means to the future of the comic book industry.  Embracing new collectors and innovation, technologically and new concepts, are the lifeblood of any business that seeks to have a place for itself in the future.  Comics are no different, but the secondary market collectible arena has been static with advancements, which is why the app is garnering the praise and attention it deserves.”

*Brian Pulido, is the former president of Chaos! Comics, announcing in late 2014, upon reaching an agreement with Avatar Press, he would be to taking sole ownership of the character, Lady Death, former publishing home of Pulido’s Lady Death since 2005.  Concurrently, Brian launched a new publishing entity, Coffin Comics, for all future Lady Death titles, as well as a new supernatural universe, in which Lady Death will play a major role going forward in 2015. 

A note to readers,  I was unaware that I had the first appearance of Lady Death, who first appeared in Evil Ernie #1 in December 1991, until I used the Key Collector app!

‘The Key Collector Comics Update’

CW: The Key Collector app update you mentioned, can you tell readers what they can expect?

Nick:  “With the next update, Key Collector Comics’ biggest update since launching October 2017 at the NYCC, I’m giving fans what they asked for!”:

Full expansion of the grading scale!

The ability to designate if your comic is slabbed or not, signed or restored!

Collectors can enter notes and take photos of the comics they own!

They can enter the price they paid for the comic and see what the current net worth is for their full collection and each issue individually!

There will also be an option to collapse the cover images, for quicker scrolling through a title if, let’s say, someone might be trying to flip through a lot of books at once!

Collectors can also enter their own value for the book they are entering into their inventory!

“As always there will be more key issues added to the database as they come out on the market.  The beauty of the app is that you don’t have to update it to download these new issues.  The changes are instantaneously retrieved from the server on the next query from the app.  In other words, I plug the comic into the database and its available to be seen, so that no collector will be in the dark about what’s new and hot.”

‘The Future of Key Collector Comics’

CW: What’s next for Key Collector Comics?   Can you mention any future plans for the app going forward?

Nick:  I have so many ideas that I would love to discuss, but to keep things exciting, I have to reveal them the closer I get.  There will be a Variant Cover portal added shortly that will allow access to a database specific to those books.  Since there are so many variant covers and so few in distribution, I want to maintain the initial concept of the app, which is to help identify keys quickly and efficiently.  Keys that are more likely available to be found.  Yet, I understand the importance and desire of variants to be included.   Also, a Creator search option has been in the plans since day one, so that functionality will be built out shortly.  Beyond that, I can sum it all up like so:  the Key Collector Comics mobile app is built by a collector, for collectors, therefore my intention is to make it the only resource necessary to obtain the comics collectors are passionate about owning.  I will maintain the integrity of the app in the way I would want it to exist as an end user, which means – no invasive ads and no freemium charges to unlock promised or already given features.  My Golden Rule in every decision I make regarding the app is asking myself, “would I be happy with this if I were on the other end?”  If the answer is no, I do what needs to be done to make it “yes”!

I would like to first, tell Nick “thank you” for taking the time out of his busy schedule to discuss the Key Collector Comics app with Comic-Watch, and I would invite him to keep us posted as updates are made to the app going forward!  As an avid comic collector myself, I find the Key Collector Comic app absolutely amazing, and I recommend it to everyone I come across on social media and at my local comic shop!  Please Download the app and share this article with as many as possible, as this gem, the Key Collector Comics app, is just waiting to make your comic collecting experience easier, more enjoyable, and provide you with a resource that meets all your needs, all in one place!

You can download Key Collector Comics mobile app at Key Collector Comics! It’s also available for download at

Google

Itunes

Follow the Key Collector Comics App on Instagram, on Twitter and Like on Facebook!

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                      Have you used Key Collector Comics app? Download and share your experiences! #comicwatch An inside look at the Key Collector Comics mobile app, one of the most innovative tools to be introduced for comic fans, collectors, retailers, and industry professionals, to-date! 

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Virtual Metal Band PENTAKILL Releases New Album 'II: Grasp Of The Undying'

RARE BLACK METAL COLLECTIBLES

Virtual heavy metal band PENTAKILL — featuring infernal lead vocalist Karthus, blazing axe-man Mordekaiser, enchanting keyboardist Sona, rumbling bassist Yorick, berserker drummer Olaf, and new member Kayle, a winged warrior goddess who sings songs presaging the end of the world — is breaking further out of the hundred-million-player League Of Legends gaming universe and onto the playlists of metalheads worldwide. Their second release, "II: Grasp Of The Undying", hits international all major digital streaming platforms today, including Spotify, Apple Music and more. In conjunction with the album's release, League Of Legends and PENTAKILL are streaming "II: Grasp Of The Undying" in full via YouTube and the PENTAKILL music landing page at pentakill.leagueoflegends.com. At the same location, you can also witness the brand new state-of-the-art, cinematic animated music video for the punishing track "Mortal Reminder". Within twenty-four hours of being posted, the "Mortal Reminder" video racked up over 7.3 million views across platforms. Witness PENTAKILL's live musical carnage in Bandle City, recorded in the catacombs of the Shadow Isles! "II: Grasp Of The Undying" features not only the skills of League Of Legends developer Riot Games' most passionate in-house composers, songwriters, and producers (who also happen to be diehard metalheads), but an elite list of metal, rock and electronic music heavyweights. "II: Grasp Of The Undying" showcases the musical talents of renowned rock/metal vocalist Jorn Lande (MASTERPLAN, AVANTASIA), songstress Noora Louhimo of BATTLE BEAST, producer Scott Kirkland of THE CRYSTAL METHOD, producer and vocalist Danny Lohner, formerly of NINE INCH NAILS, world-renowned drummer Tommy Lee of MÖTLEY CRÜE fame, drummer Mike Pitman and vocalist Rich Thomson of XERATH, vocalist Per Johansson of UREAS, and many more. Lande, the voice of Karthus, states: "It's great for a classic heavy rocker like myself to be a part of this modern gaming music world, and I'm excited and grateful for the opportunity to work with such a great team of talented people. This exciting development is not just about creating an original twist to the online gaming industry, but also about pioneering some groundbreaking new metal! My job is to make Karthus the singer he is, and add the classic heavy rock element to his performance. I'm proud that Karthus and his band are back to bring new PENTAKILL metal your way!" Louhimo, the voice of Kayle, adds: "It's been so exciting and an honor to be part of the second PENTAKILL record. This has been my dream come true to work in the gaming world. This is just the beginning and I can't wait to see what the future brings. I hope people love the result as much as I do!" There's something for every heavy music fan on "II: Grasp Of The Undying" — an album that is not only accessible, but will stand up next to any heavy metal artist on your playlist. "II: Grasp Of The Undying" is a full-length, ten-track scorcher of a record — showcasing the multi-faceted talents of the genuine music professionals and avid production team involved, and featuring genre-influences ranging from power metal, NWOBHM, thrash, modern progressive death metal and everything in between - even electronic/industrial! "II: Grasp Of The Undying" track listing: 01. Cull 02. Mortal Reminder 03. Tear of the Goddess 04. Infinity Edge 05. Dead Man's Plate 06. The Hex Core mk-2 07. The Bloodthirster 08. Frozen Heart 09. Rapid Firecannon 10. Blade of the Ruined King PENTAKILL was spawned from massive League Of Legends fan/player engagement, theories and buzz. Wanting first and foremost to give back to a global community of players, Riot Games and their team of in-house composers, songwriters, and producers came up with the idea to write, record and release a real heavy metal album based on a virtual heavy metal band comprised of members embodied by the original skin line they originated from. In their virtual reality, PENTAKILL is billed as the fictional land of Valoran's most famous rock band. In 2014, the Riot Games music label issued the band's first foray out of the video game realm, "Smite And Ignite" — an eight-track collection of appropriately punishing songs that was written completely in-house at Riot, and supported by the talents of studio musicians, including ZP Theart of DRAGONFORCE, Derek Sherinian of DREAM THEATER, Lohner and Lande. Upon its release in 2014 and with absolutely no traditional promotion, "Smite And Ignite" went on to debut Top 40 on Billboard and #1 on the iTunes Metal and Rock charts, plus charted top 30 on the overall iTunes charts, in addition to millions of YouTube and Spotify streams.

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My Week in Manga: February 13-February 19, 2017

My News and Reviews

Hooray! I managed to write and post another in-depth review at Experiments in Manga. Even if I’m not writing as much as I once was, it still feels pretty good to get back into the (slow) swing of things. Anyway, last week I took a look at Jen Lee Quick’s dark fantasy Western Gatesmith, Volume 1. The comic is off to an intriguing start though it can also be a little frustrating. The series is currently on break, but I hope that there will be more soon.

As many people are probably aware, the prolific and versatile mangaka Jiro Taniguchi passed away earlier this month. Despite not being particularly well known in English, a fair number of his manga have been released in translation. Kate Dacey of The Manga Critic has a nice guide to Taniguchi’s work for those interested in what is currently available. At The Comics Journal, Taniguchi was the subject of a recent article by Joe McCulloch and an obituary written by Zack Davisson. Other comic sites like The Beat have recently honored Taniguchi as well. I’ve read most but not quite all of Taniguchi’s work in English, my personal favorites being A Distant Neighborhood and his collaboration with Baku Yumemakura The Summit of the Gods. Way back when there was a Manga Moveable Feast devoted to Taniguchi, too. Some of the links are no longer work, but many of the features can still be tracked down.

In happier news, SuBLime announced three new licenses last week: Akane Abe’s Am I In Love or Just Hungry? (digital-only), Scarlet Beriko’s Jackass!, and Tsuta Suzuki’s A Strange and Mystifying Story. (I’m very curious about Jackass! and I’m very happy about A Strange and Mystifying Story which is actually a license rescue. The first three of seven volumes were originally published in English by Digital Manga; I remember quite liking them.) The Toronto Comic Arts Festival has started announcing its featured guests for the year which will include Gengoroh Tagame among other fantastic creators. The OASG talked to Kodansha Comics about the licensing of Chihayafuru. While still probably unlikely, a print edition of the series isn’t completely off the table. As for Kickstarter campaigns for queer comics that have recently caught my attention, Megan Lavey-Heaton has launched a project to print the third volume of Namesake.

Quick Takes

The Box Man by Imiri Sakabashira. The North American manga industry is primarily focused on publishing more popular, mainstream works, but occasionally an alternative or independent work is released as well. The Box Man was originally serialized in Ax, an alternative manga magazine in Japan which was the basis for the Ax: Alternative Manga English-language anthology. Examples of Sakabashira’s work can be found in that anthology and in the earlier collection Sake Jock, but The Box Man is his first long-form work to be translated. Granted, there’s very little dialogue that actually needs to be translated–for the most part the manga is an entirely visual experience. Even the story is fairly limited in scope. The narrative follows a kappa-like cat accompanying a man on a scooter who is transporting a box which turns out to contain something rather peculiar. The strangeness of The Box Man doesn’t end there, but the point of the manga seems to be less about telling a story and more about creating a visual spectacle. The artwork incorporates popular culture references (some of which I’m sure I completely missed) and at times can be rather bizarre, violent, or erotically-charged.

Blood Blockade Battlefront, Volumes 1-7 by Yasuhiro Nightow. I wasn’t initially planning on reading Blood Blockade Battlefront–I wasn’t a huge fan Nightow’s Trigun–but I kept hearing great things about the anime adaptation and then I came across a “complete” set of the manga on super sale, so I picked it up. The series is actually ten volumes long; supposedly Dark Horse has plans to release the final three at some point. In general the manga tends to be fairly episodic, so even if the rest of the series isn’t translated at least readers aren’t left with an unresolved story. It wasn’t until partway through the second volume of Blood Blockade Battlefront that the series started to click with me, but once it did I found myself really enjoying the manga. Its mix of goofy everyday life and action-heavy sequences actually reminded me a bit of Cowboy Bebop. The manga is essentially about a semi-secret group of monster hunters working in what used to be New York before it was destroyed by the sudden appearance of an interdimensional portal. The character designs of the main cast are sadly simple and plain compared to the series’ fantastic setting and creatures, but their distinctive personalities mostly make up for that.

Giganto Maxia by Kentaro Miura. Though it certainly has its problems, Miura’s Berserk is one of my favorite series. I have been significantly less enamored with the other manga by Miura that have been released in English–specifically his collaborations with Buronson Japan and King of Wolves–but I was still very curious about Giganto Maxia. Whether it’s intentional or not, the dark fantasy manga shares some similarities with Attack on Titan and Terra Formars and also appears to be heavily influenced by professional wrestling. Miura’s artwork in Giganto Maxia is tremendous but the story, while it isn’t awful, struggles to match the caliber of the illustrations. I almost wonder if Giganto Maxia was originally intended to be longer than a single volume since so much about the manga’s world and characters are left unexplained in the end. Giganto Maxia does more or less tell a complete story, but it feels like a single episode taken from the middle of a larger narrative. At one time a slave forced to battle to the death in a gladiatorial arena, Delos is now fighting against the empire itself. Joining forces with Prome, a powerful spirit who takes the form of a young girl (and who is constantly trying to get him to drink her “nectar” ), Delos can transform into the mythic titan Gohra in order to do battle.

Lake Jehovah by Jillian Fleck. Lake Jehovah, Fleck’s debut graphic novel, first came to my attention due to the fact that Jay, the comic’s protagonist, is genderqueer. While themes of identity, gender, and sexuality are integral to the comic’s story they aren’t the primary focus of Lake Jehovah. Instead, the comic is about the end of the world, both literally and figuratively. Human civilization has already succumbed to multiple apocalypses but Jay unexpectedly becomes the prophet for the next impending disaster while dealing with even more personal and existential crises. Jay struggles with intense depression and anxiety which slowly destroys xis relationship with xis fiance. Eventually she leaves, no longer able to cope with Jay’s instability, and Jay is left recover and come to terms with everything alone. Lake Jehovah actually handles the topic of mental illness better than many other comics I’ve read. It’s an emotionally tumultuous work, tempering despair with humor as the characters search for meaning in their lives even while everything is falling apart around them. Some turn to sex or drugs while others find comfort in poetry or art. Lake Jehovah is a somewhat strange but undeniably compelling comic.

By: Ash Brown