#a mangaka does all of these things on a much shorter time limit

[tigirl-and-co]

As somebody who loves anime dearly, this is true to the extreme but it's not just for anime. This happens with manga too.

It's so incredibly distressing knowing that your favourite mangaka are working themselves to death. The two big examples I can think of are Tezuka and Toriyama, both of whom died incredibly young from issues either created by or exacerbated by stress.

Part of the problem is culture. Much like in America, not giving your job your all is seen as disgraceful to you and, for those in the entertainment industry, disrespectful to your fans.

Animators in Japan are often paid by frame, for dollars a frame IF THAT. But the people doing it consider it an honor. And in some ways it is! It's wonderful to touch people's lives and hearts! But it's not worth your personal well-being.

I've heard whispers on the wind that things may be slowly turning around, starting with mangaka having more control over animated adaptations than they used to, and animators getting more attention. But I'm hoping it doesn't stop there. I want the people who make the things I love to live long and prosperous lives, but they cannot do that under the current system.

People talk so much about how cool anime is in comparison to western animation but if you look under the hood a bit you’ll find that it looks so cool and is made in such large volumes because it’s an industry of hundreds of full time animators that are paid so little that they can’t afford to feed themselves

[undeadimpulsereviews]

Livingstone

What is a life? What does it mean to die? Why can’t we truly grasp the mystery behind a persons life? Humans have been on this earth for ages, but has humanity really figured out the ins and outs of life and death? It’s hard to say, humans have come far, but the spiritual and scientific aspects are vast. At the moment it’s pretty much up to interpretation; what does a life, your life, mean to you?

Livingstone, a seinen manga from mangaka Maekawa Tomohiro and Kataoka Jinsei, delves into the idea of life and death. This supernatural story was started back in 2009 and ran for a total of six years. In that span it released up to twenty three chapters, which totals out to four volumes. The illustrations of the manga are from the mangaka of the popular Deadman Wonderland. Since it’s initial publication in Morning Magazine, the manga has be localized for both English and Spanish readers. As for online readers, the manga hasn’t fully been scanned. Only two volumes have been translated in full, and part of the third as well.

I found Livingstone online one day; there was no real rhyme or reason as to how or why I came to read it. Though after a while I couldn’t continue due to the lack of releases from scanners. Thanks to Kodansha however, I was able to read the manga in full. While I don’t dislike the manga, I would have liked a little more from it. The story is interesting, characters are well done, and visuals are unique; however it feels really limited in a sense. To understand what I’m getting at let’s start with the story.

Sakurai is your average Japanese business man, or at least on the outside he may seem that way. In actuality there is something about Sakurai that only a few humans are able to do. Sakurai can peer into the memories of those who have past. Using an item known as psycholith, Sakurai can look into the soul of those who have died. These psycholiths are the collective souls of humans; each human is set on a path and upon their planned death the psycholith leaves their body and then is transferred to the next life. Though, what if a death is unplanned; what if people are diverging from their soul plan? Unplanned accidents and suicides contribute to the decay of the psycholith and begin to push those of the living further off their plan and closer to a unplanned death, and thus a vicious cycle starts. As collectors Sakurai, and his partner Amano, must retrieve the decaying psycholiths and clean areas filled with decay. Though even a planned life hold many mysteries.

Livingstone is definitely an interesting story, but it’s short and has some minor problems. Now these problem are a product of opinion; for you, you might find the manga doesn’t have such issues. For me I just couldn’t fully get into what I was reading. There were moments I liked but, in the grand scheme of things, It was just alright. One of the biggest problems I had was the level of early exposition in the manga. The mangaka thought it was necessary to have an explanation for what a Soul Collector is every chapter until the middle of volume 2. Once, maybe twice, is enough; the first explanation provides every basic thing the reader needs to know. Though instead the same information is given countless times; it’s just altered to seem different.

The biggest problem for me was the overall structure of the manga. A very common thing with short manga is that they don’t have a definitive story line. There doesn’t tend to be an end goal in mind; instead short manga tend to just tell short stories. This is fine, but can it keep a readers interest? For me It was on and off. Some chapters kept me invested, while others felt like needless filler. In my opinion the manga could have been the same regardless of these chapters being present or not. The thing with Livingstone, however, is that there is an end goal. The goal isn’t presented from the start, but it’s somewhat obvious what it revolves around. I think Livingstone should have focused more of it’s time on the goal, instead of taking more time to produce short stories. Regardless of this, the manga does an amazing job at conveying the idea it wishes to sell.

One of the best things about Livingstone is the emotion. The manga provides such a great sense of emotion throughout it’s short span. The manga starts with somewhat of a dark tone; however, as the manga progresses, you get these really deep effective moments. Later in the manga you meet two female characters.

I can’t go to deeply into their story due to spoiler reasons; however, much later into the manga you get a scene between one of the girls and Sakurai. The women he is speaking to seems cold at first, but it’s for good reason. This scene, as well as other scenes, is really strong. The manga takes the ideas of life and death, and uses them in such deep and amazing ways. Some times it’s sad, other times it may be portrayed in a more light-hearted nature. One such story speaks of a graffiti artist who died of unknown means. People idolized this man for the creations he made, and stories of his “heroic” death started to arise. This made him even more of a wonder among individuals. Nothing could change their views, not even the knowledge of how he actually died. It’s not perfect, but the story has it’s moments. It’s not for everyone; it’s clearly for a specific demographic. Though it’s really only the story I have problems with. In fact the characters are what keep the manga interesting in my opinion.

The cast of Livingstone were surprisingly far better than I originally thought they would be. In the beginning I didn’t know if I’d like the cast. It’s a little slow to start, and the first impression doesn’t do to much. Sakurai is shown as this character who’s a little in over his head; his partner Amano is a little less human than the normal individual. That’s to say, he has no soul. Amano is a mystery, he’s a human, but the soul has long died. In it’s place is a replacement Psycholith. This psycholith is enough to make the body move, speak, and think; however, it lacks emotion. From the start this duo doesn’t seem to appealing, but as the manga goes on they start to grow so well. Not only them, many members of the cast see a nice development arc.

The cast is the main reason the story works; Sakurai learns a lot about life and becomes such a strong character. He learns of the importance of a life, and the effect it has on others. Amano takes some time for story reasons; though, just like Sakurai, he grows into a strong character. Amano slowly becomes more human as time goes on. Learning what death means to those who can experience it. The biggest thing with this cast is that they are human in the sense of their imperfections. You aren’t reading a story about people with extraordinary powers; sure Sakurai isn’t your average person, but he’s not running around saving the world.

I find that development of characters can be hard when it comes to shorter manga; Livingstone manages to develop it’s cast to an amazing degree. Character development is not a problem for this manga. Overall the cast is by far the best part, though the visuals are a close second.

Livingstone may have some familiar visuals for some readers. Those who know Deadman Wonderland will memorize the illustrator. Kataoka Jinsei provided the illustrations for Livingstone, and they look great. The visuals are extremely detailed; even the cover art is artistically done.

When it came to who was behind the visuals, I was a little scared. I said before that I’m not to into Deadman Wonderland. So going into Livingstone, just like the characters, I was a little skeptical. Not knowing really what I was getting into, I thought I might see some things I tend to dislike from Seinen manga. Though I was pleasantly surprised; the visuals were a lot more tame than I thought it was going to be.

The visuals convey what they need to; when someone is sad, or an integral moment appears, there is just enough detail implemented to get the point across. The frame above is a beautiful moment; Sakurai is distraught, he feels that all psycholiths hold a grave tale. Though, after seeing one he was never truly meant to see, his mind is more at ease. The scenes Sakurai has seen before are segmented; this is usually due to the fact that Sakurai doesn’t wish to see these dying moments. Though a psycholith is the collection of all memories, and not all memories are bad. The scene at the frame above it presented so vividly, and at this point he knows that this job has it’s perks.

The visuals aren’t the biggest selling point of the manga, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be; there is one scene I wish I could show, but it’s part of the last couple chapters. This scene is one of the strongest scene in the manga and the attention to detail and visuals used to show the scene are amazing (I also can’t show it due to lack of translation as said before). Overall I think the visuals are brilliantly done. They aren’t just eye candy to excite you; they serve a purpose, and contribute a lot to the manga as a whole in my opinion.

This review was hard for me, I’ll be honest. My opinion of the manga wasn’t easy to grasp. For me, and me alone, I’d give this a 6 out of 10. I don’t think it’s bad, but I didn’t care for it that much either. There were good moments, and then alright moments. Though from an unbiased stand point, I think the manga at least deserves a 7. I do believe it does what it sets out to do; does it do it perfectly, no, but it’s pretty well done regardless. For me I’d like the story to be altered to some extent; nothing serious, but I’d like a little more from it.

The next review is Sonic Forces, sorry for the late reviews; I’ve been busy, and quite honestly somewhat lazy at times. I’ll be sure to get that out soon. 

[shiratorizawaheadcanons-blog]

Sen? Study topic! Why is Haikyuu so good in comparison to other sports anime?

Sports anime are big. In 2016, according to thefandometrics,Haikyuu was the most popular anime of the year and earned a respectable 5thplace for most manga sold in 2016 with over 6 million copies sold in Japanalone. Sports anime do not target a niche audience; you do not have to be anexpert at volleyball to enjoy this series. In an interview with Furudate, themangaka stated that he “wanted to bring to life the volleyball that was in myhead in the past.” This is a sport that is cherished by its creator and it iseasy to feel the amount of love and dedication that Furudate has put into thisseries but how exactly has it come so far? In comparison to other series, it isby far one of the most accessible series out there.

Haikyuu’s narrative is based around relatively normalhighschoolers. Although Hinata has a “freak quick”, it’s not anything specialwhen you have 17 year old Paola Egonu who recently broke the fastest serveworld record at 101kph; true a serve and spike are different, but this is onlyused as a small comparison to show that Hinata is not the most special personin the world. In addition to this, it opposes the completely terrifyingabilities that characters of Kuroko no Baske have with players who can shootfrom anywhere on the court. In comparison, all the team’s average heights arealso shorter than that of Japan’s real U19 team; Ushijima sets an imposingfigure against Hinata but he’s only a centimetre taller than Japan’s U19 teamaverage height.  Physically, there’s noimpossibility within Haikyuu… save for that one moment where Tanaka andNishinoya stopped in mid-air for comedic effect. The realism within Haikyuumeans that it is relatively easy for someone to relate to and with enoughpractice, one can eventually even surpass these characters in skill.

This sets it apart from the start of Kuroko no Basuke. Thecharacters of KnB are introduced as the best so in the eyes of the protagonistteam, their opponents become simply obstacles to overcome in comparison toHaikyuu’s characters. Hinata’s loss at the start of the series give reason anddrive from the very beginning which is not only to beat a team but to becomestronger, giving a whole montage where Hinata is shown running and trainingwith other characters. A lot of this first growth is skipped over in KnB whenSeirin first goes to their training and all that’s really focused on is them;there is no team for them to train with and they only have themselves toimprove upon; the part that I remember most from this was just Riko messing upcooking, while in Haikyuu, we see Karasuno fail time and time again against theTokyo Teams. This gives them the drive to fight because each “cog” – as Takedadescribes – is given the time to fit into place, whereas the first season ofKnB rushes over this development. The characters are already the best, withunrealistic abilities of perfect mimicry and an impossibly accurate shot, theseopponents seem flawless so Seirin’s victory seems almost inconceivable. Thegradual progression of a character makes victory seem plausible but without thebreathing time to expand upon development, a sudden victory from just jumpingreally high does not make the story flow well. However, realism should be ignoredto an extent with the presentation of superpower like effects.

Another factor that plays into why Haikyuu is a great seriesis that there is proper explanation behind it. A common thing that artists aretold to do in their work is to “show, not tell”, yet Haikyuu has a balancebetween this that does not seem forced at all. Starting from the bare bones of Yukigaoka,Hinata has to explain to his own teammates what setting and all of this is. It’sunderstandable, since these characters do not know how to deal with it.Learning is important for everyone, even with Shiratorizawa; Ushijima claimsthat he hasn’t even seen a libero set up a toss, and rightfully so, this isn’tseen much in high school volleyball at all. The coach and spectators are notjust informing players and people like Yachi and Saeko, but they inform theaudience following the story as well. In comparison to Yuri on Ice, my personalopinion is that Haikyuu is significantly better in involving the audience withthe sport that it showcases. YOI had very limited time to do things in, withonly twelve episodes to fit in a story over a year, yet Haikyuu’s Season 3 wasallowed the time to explain guess blocking etc. within those ten episodes. Nobodywithout prior ice skating knowledge would have ever known about the GOE andbase value scoring system at all, yet Haikyuu’s main aim is to showcasevolleyball rather than a couple. In this respect, Haikyuu is amazing at showingwhat true volleyball is, while YOI does not do the justice of explaining thecomplexity of ice skating.

A plethora of characters is also important to Haikyuu’sstory. While you have Nekoma as Karasuno’s ultimate rival, Seijou andShiratorizawa stand as more immediate threats. It is Karasuno’s story, not justHinata’s alone. Every single person on the team gets to develop in some way;not all of them have been explored yet but just Ennoshita’s words that he “won’tbe a bench warmer forever” lets you know that every single person on this teamis just as valuable as everyone else. Oikawa was ranked 5th in thelast popularity poll, despite not being part of Karasuno. It’s not just asimple fact of him being a good looking character, but he’s one that is wellfleshed out. The ‘whole’ fandom sees some sort of tragedy in Oikawa andIwaizumi going to different universities and pities the fact that he injuredhimself. These details could have been skipped over, yet he’s given his smalltime in the spotlight. Minor characters like Towada from Ougiminami are given astory, despite essentially being the obstacle in Karasuno’s way, showing theirdrive building up. However, Karasuno sees all of their players as respectable;Hinata cheers up Hyakuzawa and tells him that being tall is the “awesomesttalent” and still thinks that Ushijima is “so friggin’ cool” despite how heimagined that Ushijima said he has no right to live. Haikyuu’s story is soinnocent in comparison to attitudes like Aomine’s “the only person that canbeat me is me”; even Ushijima didn’t think he would lose but is still so calmand accepting of it. Each and every character is so important to the story andHaikyuu makes sure to acknowledge each character respectfully.

The whole atmosphere around Haikyuu is generally veryuplifting; even the court is brighter than that of Kuroko no Basuke’s. KnB’scourt seems dimly lit, with the audience merely a mass of shadows whereasHaikyuu constantly brings the audience into the action, recording the reactionsof the side characters in awe of what’s happening down below. In addition tothis, Haikyuu’s music makes you feel chills and goosebumps from a livelyorchestra in comparison to KnB’s heavy electronic sound that exudes pressurerather than excitement. Yuri on Ice cannot be brought into comparison due tothe fact that the action is choreographed towards the music unlike music thatis added in on top. Each of these series have different aims entirely. Yuri onIce showcases romance. Haikyuu and Kuroko no Basuke want you to be interestedin the sport but through different ways, amazement in comparison to it beingcool. Haikyuu gives you moments to laugh with slapstick and observationalcomedy but there isn’t the time to do this on the court of Kuroko no Basuke,giving it a more serious and heavy tone. As a result, Haikyuu is madeaccessible for more people as it is an anime that makes you feel good watching,rather than being pressured like on the court of KnB.

In conclusion, Haikyuu is well deserving of its title as themost popular sports anime of last year. The narrative is easily relatable to itsaudience and is relatively grounded and realistic. All characters are giventheir own development and the ins and outs of volleyball are explained wellwithout being forceful. In comparison to its other sports anime competitors,Haikyuu is considerably better in terms of characterisation and relativity tothe audience.