Anime/Manga

[One-armed dwarf]

Tbh I don't know when I've ever read any non-fiction really. Moby Dick approaches it as so much of it is like an encylcopedia of whaling.

Yeah, some of the older books are like that. Casino Royale has page after page on the rules of various card games.

It's not a complaint as such. I like digressions. Though the challenge is understanding whaling terms like aft and stern which maybe might make sense to people who are deep into stuff like documentaries on Shackleton and stuff (as my Dad is) but for me it's all new. But again I enjoy stuff which isn't pure 'plotting'. Cause this is where the most interesting ideas are expressed much of the time

The Watchmen comic had this also, a big huge digression that broke up chapters about some bloke lost at sea. Which I believe may or may not be an actual Moby Dick callout but it's been years since I read it so I can't remember. There's also lots of other digressions in it I think.

Anyway Gurren Lagann SPOILERS but who cares about hiding the text. In Gurren Lagann you use the power of spirals to turn massive robots into galaxy sized robots. The spiral power is directly proportional to the amount of testosterone in your body at any one moment. So the size of your robot is direct expression of how big your balls are at that point in time. It is an anime about big boner robots drilling the shit out of other robots and space creatures who are trying to suppress the power of the spiral.

Uzumaki is a whole different thing.

[maf-me-quick]

The Black Freighter stuff I don’t think is Moby Dick but actually supposed to represent what is happening in the main story, I think. I don’t know. First time I read Watchmen I read it cover to cover second time I skipped the Black Freighter bits because it made 0 sense to me. I just assume it’s a story that’s supposed to be a metaphor for the actual story

[One-armed dwarf]

I checked and it's something else entirely, his (Alan Moore's) Moby Dick ambitions are more what he wanted for the impact it would have. Which seemed to work cause Time put it as the only graphic novel in their top 100 books since 1923 list.

[maf-me-quick]

Listen, I respect Watchmen and really like the main thrust of the story and appreciate it’s deconstruction aspects as a novelty.

But I could name like, 14,000 graphic novels I would rank over Watchmen

[One-armed dwarf]

I mean I got no reference points as I'm not well informed on the form. For me I just look at the iceberg tip when it comes to that stuff.

Graphics novels are like manga to me in that I could never get into that collection aspect. Like they take up a lot of space and you can read them quite quick, so you need hella shelf space which as you can see I don't got

Like those Ito books are already dominating the space that's there.

So like I will take your top three recommendations and probably not do anything with them. But what are they anyway

[maf-me-quick]

I mean if we’re talking strictly graphic novels my list is a lot, lot shorter but Dark Knight Returns, American Alien and when it’s finished Mister Miracle would be my picks (You can already tell MM is a stone cold classic)

I want to say Daredevil Born Again as well but honestly not sure if that counts

[maf-me-quick]

We’re not really talking about it but since it was referenced

“I want you to remember this, Clark. In all your years to come. In all your most private and intimate moments. I want you to remember me with my hand on your throat. I want you to remember the one man who beat you”

Fucking. Chills. Dude.

[One-armed dwarf]

Like I never buy manga, so this is a new thing to me. But I'm finding that the binding quality of those Ito books isn't very good but maybe I'm spoiled by all my folio society purchases recently. Also the covering is sort of ... sticky? Like it feels like you could wipe it off

Also never will I ever get used to reading a book right-to-left and back-to-front. It's blasphemous.

[Pious the chosen]

Also never will I ever get used to reading a book right-to-left and back-to-front. It's blasphemous.

It helps to regularly read western books also. Rotating between the two allows for a mental adjustment that becomes second nature eventually.

[sleepery jeem]

Teaser Trailer For The New Zoids Anime; Begins Airing In Japan On July 7


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rxoyqDt1KM

[Pious the chosen]

I pre-ordered this recently.

[One-armed dwarf]

I'm 240~ish pages into 'Tomie'. It's alright, but that whole premise at the start reminded me of 'cement girl', a really horrible story of a girl's murder which I think happened around the time this manga came out. So maybe an influence there.

I'll say I prefer Uzumaki cause the art in that is more fucked up. Unimaginably horribly things happening to people which don't make sense half the time.

[Pious the chosen]

I'm 240~ish pages into 'Tomie'. It's alright, but that whole premise at the start reminded me of 'cement girl', a really horrible story of a girl's murder which I think happened around the time this manga came out. So maybe an influence there.

I'll say I prefer Uzumaki cause the art in that is more fucked up. Unimaginably horribly things happening to people which don't make sense half the time.

The thing to remember with Tomie, that was Ito's first work. Uzumaki was more when he hit his stride. About 2/3 done with Uzumaki and I don't know which town has got it worse, this place or Silent Hill

[One-armed dwarf]

Silent Hill is alright, least most the people who go there come out alive.

In SH2 it's practically benevolent cause it forces people to come to terms with their repressed memories. Or something.

It's like the Black Lodge but it you could escape.

[Pious the chosen]

Uzumaki

Ok, it's official. Kurouzu-cho (the town of the story) got it a lot worse than Silent Hill

With Tomie, we were given the story of a virulent and parasitic Succubus. Uzumaki... Is something else altogether. This is unflinching preternatural horror and it's glorious. Although this time there are technically two protagonists, it ultimately doesn't matter or make a difference in the finale. That said, there is no real antagonist to this one either. It's Silent Hill, as if designed by Lovecraft with the sensibilities of Asian Horror. Read it 10/10