A few days ago a few items Ive ordered from Amazon arrived at my doorstep and I was quite suprised by the size of two of the three.A rant about the German Manga Publishers,A blast to the past and the truth about Yoda await right after the Jump!
You guys (and girls) know me probably as the connoisseur of Ecchi/Comedy/Action Manga and Anime but I like to read/watch some serious thought provoking stuff aswell.A series I totally adore is the Kino no Tabi Light Novel series that has been made into an Anime aswell.Its about the traveller Kino that only stays for 3 days and 2 nights in a country.The series basically revolves around the saying “The world isnt beautiful,therefore it is” and revolves around Kinos experiences while travelling those countries.Every Episode gives another view on life,ideology or simply the perception of yourself.Its highly recommended by me!
I always wanted to pick up the Light Novels of Kino no Tabi but only realized a few weeks ago that they were actually published by TokyoPop in Germany.I placed my order with Amazon a few days ago and was quite suprised by the Size of the Light Novels that are even smaller than my smallest Tanko-bon.German manga shelfs look horrible due to the fact that the German publishers have different opinions about the optimal size of a tanko-bon.I took a picture with a VIZ Manga(Claymore) and a Dengeki manga zasshi for comparison
German Tokyopop (To Love Ru) manages to keep the same size as the US Counterparts and this applies to all TP tanke-bons.EMA (GTO and Rose Hip Rose Zero) manages to make a total mess out of your shelf by using different sizes for all their releases.Just take a look at those two manga and youll know what I mean.Most other Publishers follow the size of the GTO issues for the tanke-bons.This results in a totally random looking Shelf and i couldnt manage to make it look good so far.You probably spotted another Manga called Kirara in the picture aswell.Its my first ever purchased Manga series I bought in 2001 and once again the size of the tanke.bon varies.Its the smallest out of the whole bunch but also the widest. Schizophrenic? Yes!
I always thought that Light Novels are the size of a usual Paperback and was quite pissed when I saw that they are now the smallest books in my possesion.I cant tell if this is a Germany specific size change or if all LN are this size.To all of you that own LightNovels: Are they the same size or bigger?
The saddest part about this is that they cost more than a regular Manga even though they are smaller!
The story itself is excellent but I think that its wasted potential to keep the LN this small.Makes it harder to read and you cant really appreciate the pictures.
From small Light Novels back to the past!
The Kirara Manga I purchased back in 2001 is kinda special in my collection since they are quite a novelty for a Manga nowadays: They have Dust Covers!
The interesting thing is that the 6 Volume Series keeps the dust jackets up to Volume 5 and then disappeared.Its quite a shame since i really liked those.I wonder why they got rid of them in the first place.I cant imagine them to be that expensive.I bet you wonder what kinda Manga the back in `01 still young fella called Blowfish bought.Its a Harem/Ecchi( Suprise,Suprise XD ) Mangas series from 1992 by an author called Toshiki Yui.It seems that he was one of the first Mangaka to use computers for Manga back in the 90s.Its actually quite nostalgic to read this Manga since it has such a different style from todays Moe/Ecchi Mangas/Anime.Its a shame that youngsters nowadays won t even look with their butts at the oldschool stuff because its “ugly”. Come on! Get a grip!
ATTENTION! BOOBIES AHEAD!
This is actually the Adult Version of the Guys Love Interest that died in the Future and returned to the past as some kinda ghost and wants to do all kinda naughty stuff with him.This results in alot “Ecchi no Baka” and red cheeks for the lead because the real girl tends to run into him when hes getting raped touched by her future self.
The only quality of Harem Leads seems to be to attract cute girls and trouble.This didnt change since 1992 ^_^
I ordered another book withe the Kino no Tabi Novels called Das große Anime Lösungsbuch (The big Anime Answer Book) and its a quite good book despite its horrible cover.Its a book that tries to teach you a passive understanding of japanese specifically designed around Anime in mind.It isnt featuring Kanji,Hiranga or Katakana and therefore only useful for understanding spoken japanese.It does feature vocabulary in romanji and grammar in a hilariously writing style though.
The great thing about this book is that it features the vocabulary thats relevant to an Anime/Manga fan and isnt the usual tourist/business japanese that wont bring you too far.It isnt an alternative to visiting a japanese course (wich i plan to visit later this year) but a good start to get a basic grip on the vocabulary and grammar.
The book explains everything detailed enough to get a basic grasp of the grammar and vocabulary and recommends to watch some Anime after every chapter to deepen the learned vocabulary.The funny thing is that this worked exceptionally well so far for me.You actually wonder why you didnt understand this before ^^
Ive got a new insight into the japanese society through the book aswell.All those nuances of politeness (or rudeness ^^) that are offered through the language is amazing!I was amazed at the different ways to say “I” in japanese and what that reveals about the person reffering to himself/herself. A bad ass deliquent reffering to himself with Boku would be quite hilarious ^.^
The author has some interesting stories to tell along the way aswell.In this chapter that deals with with word yo-da what equals something like might, he reveals that George Lucas is a big fan of everything japanese and that he created Yoda as a tribute to it.Ever wondered why Yoda talks this weird? He tried to impersonate the weird intonation that japanese has to the ears of us westeners in Yodas speech pattern.I guess this makes Yoda an Ero-jiji?Okay maybe not ero but definately jiji
Ill try to take some pictures of my Reina figure tommorw!
Ill finish this post with a quote:
“Do, or do not. There is no ‘try.’”
— Jedi Master Yoda
