manga list: Black Joke (seinen)

These days I opted myself to browse some manga's, which I often do and have been doing since my early college days. Spending those precious break time in the library to use the internet even for an hour or so just to read mangas online. I am not a very good supporter much of translation groups because honestly I don't have the guts how, see how unwilling I am to help them complete scanlations. In any case, however, I am truly grateful to them, so to the scanlators of Black Joke kudos to you.

Some days I try to see if I can find a good Seinen manga read, since I've loved those types of mangas. I also like the idea of browsing about ongoing or finished mangas in this genre for personal interests. So far it got me good, I stumbled upon one titled Black Joke by author Koike Rintarou and artist Taguchi Masayuki.

link here to read the manga: BLACK JOKE

The genre is a mix of Seinen, Comedy, Mature (completely mature but still sellable as something to the market that doesn't border itself to porn, I think, because Hentai shows every nook and cranny of a males phallus and a females oyster, here its just all...blurred out...okay so maybe its borderline Hentai in many levels), Action, and Martial Arts (yes those were the tags included in the site I read the manga from). Its about a future where the U.S.A. wasn't content to just leave the world to its peace and prompted to legally own countries that are sellable and profitable on so many levels, so they made Japan their 51st state. Yep, I'm guessing this was an action of sorts prior to the end of World War 2 and instead of Japan never giving up against America, they surrendered and succumbed to their poor striving state. OR they just got bought by one of the most misunderstood, well portrayed douche, hero of the world, country called America.

The whole setting is portrayed in an island not far from the mainlands of Japan named Neon Island (or Nihon, sometimes the groups who scanlates have different versions of how they tranlaste things). This island is an irreconcilable nest for sins, or just simply stating the Sin City of Japan. Here anything can happen, and honestly feels like any kind of good thing doesn't exist here, like churches or good kept households and stuff. Just plain old vent your sin out toilet pig sty, which so happens to not look like a sty but a highly engrossed rich city better than Vegas, baby (sorry it rhymes, can't help but add it in the end).

Prostitution is hell legal, on some respectable level. Gambling and black market trading is one of the main sources of income. The usual stuff you see in Mafia movies and the likes, only highly perverted in so many cases and scenarios. Plus all the guns and some crazy martial arts action you can find.

The flow of the story goes along the lives of a group of people that works for a Hotel owner magnate named Kousuke Todome who is the director of the Onsen Hotel, and some other mentionable characters that are either related to the main characters from the Onsen Hotel or the head triads working in the folds of the island. The whole volume is the exploits and missions they do for the sake of their jobs.

These two are the ones you often chase around, hey they get into the best troubles and jobs.
Talk about having trouble around, good thing they're the perfect combination of brawn's and brains.

Alot of considerable mayhem and upfront high in the sky lives living in he luxury of the churches so called Sins.

What I liked about the flow is my preference for just the most absurd action scenes in a Manga, comparable to the art style of Baki (and some other Seinen titles I've honeslty forgotten), the action scenes are honest and stylistic. All of which as an artist like me is a good reference. The muscle contortion, acrobatics, and even the impossible historical facts of the how or why of their techniques is just catchy for me.

Plus the gritty but trying to be suave perverted parts of the story is fine, its not over the top like the mushy fan service I often see but the type that is too open for the conservative mind. However, I can just say maybe its for a wee bit of adult fan service, eh? Well, it is an open world of sex and drugs, so what can you do about it but be obviously every where.

This manga is a good wait. Majority of the faces are obviously referenced from certain actors and actress which is catchy for me since I can imagine them in the role they are in the manga. Also there are several entertaining and engaging characters, often times exceeding their pre-scripted personalities which is quite a good balance. Down side I guess would be the history of how the place came to be. Its not well explained how or why on a level of historical basis, but thats just my preference.

she actually looks just like Kate Beckinsale!

Also its a generic Action Mafia Comedy themed manga, its got good classy scenes and absurd gritty ones. I'm not saying its lamely bad but its not overly exceptional, however I am basically praising this in art and somewhat in the composition of the characters and some scenarios.

If I were you, its best if you try reading it to enjoy some Action fun.

Convoodle #1

Currently did a conversation+doodle between me and a friend of mine. The conversation took place in Plurk (mine plurk, good material for stalking purposes LOL), that one social media site thats like twitter except its side ways and has cuter features. Anyways I posted it on one of my Tumblrs (plugging this shit) as well, I intended for that one Tumblr as my special art dump. Whether it was good or bad art, plus additional inspiring post that are awesome artworks from awesome artists!

Convoodle: Cat pats 

The convo started as whats shown, and well it ended farther beyond the last part, but that was one of the cutest. My cat never nibbles my hair so its rational that that cat won't either.

comics 101 . KUNG FURY . Pellek

Struggling to finish one damn page isn't a hassle, unless you have the same complex I have. Procrastination. Might as well hold onto it because I like doing it and its fun. Right now, in the comics I'm doing, on the inking process is page 8. Finishing each inking with the style I have is pretty absurd, sometimes I think its just easy-peasy, and majority of the times I'm too fucking annoyed at how long it takes me that in the end I scold myself. Strongly advising to not bitch around.

Fus-Ro-Da (or Hwatchah, which i prefer LOL)

But bitching around, not those tantrums, makes me enjoy the other stuff online. Like, sample, Kung Fury. That awesome 80's parody of famous action movies in that era. Complete with absurd martial arts moves and death defying satire of the movies that became attached to our kidneys that is the era of the 80's. I did not grow up in the 80's, I'm more of a 90's dude. And I swear its a good thing I still got the chance to experience the 80's goodness still lingering in those days.

The movie was good, honestly. Even though there were tons of absurd loop holes that should've been easy to point out, BUT the damn movie was that attention grabbing because of the absurdity that you won't even mind. Awesome production team, I mean, THEY ARE THE BOSS. They did so well that alot of people are giving good reactions and feed backs. Bias though, as I have yet to see a bad reaction towards the movie, still it is worth the 30 minutes. As alot of people say, the fucking short needs its full length feature.

On a side note I had to come back to reality and finish my damn page, so in lieu of my lack of motivation, I intend to fill it with awesome song covers like the ones from Pellek (TO HIS YT).

critique-ing . spoilers . Poltergeist(2015)

So far I've been an avid movie goer (watcher? viewer? fan?) since the dawn of me spending too much time with my mother, yes I haven't moved out of my parents house, and have countless times watched movies good or bad. But it was only when I reached the age of more than 20 and just became aware that almost all movies are remakes from some era, that I became a truly grumpy critique, well, to me its already grumpy. Not that grumpy grumpy though, cause I appreciate what the modern movie production groups and stuff are doing. Hey, it's not bad to see remakes of alot of movies from the era of pioneer, golden, silver, and overly what ever generation. Its a nice opportunity to attract young'uns to get into the cult base, if the movie series or not has one.

(credits for the images: LINK, haven't really read the article but it looks good, sorry for just viewing the images author of the article oTL)

Yet, it cannot escape the horrible truth about the fact of "shallow" content or production. The movie may be "well made" and the modern graphics and stuff technology is considerably used through out. But, it gets me when the movies story flow just goes down a wee bit the drain.

Concerning, my latest example of this would be the movie Poltergeist(2015), which has been recently premiered in our local theatre's (I know it was released earlier in other countries). I've watched the 80's (?, yes wiki says so, such a reliable temporary source that can well be edited in the near future by scumbags that wants to edit the information falsely, maybe) version when it was shown in our local channels back in the 90's. Back then I was still a wee liddle tyke, and watching horror movies contains several covering of my face just so I won't be scared of the possible jump scares.

Eventually I haven't got over with jump scares, OF-COS, but I did have a twisted sense of what makes me laugh and the only difference now is I laugh more at some jump scares than actually be surprised. Back to the movie, we watched it and of course I didn't expect it to try and be the exact copy of its predecessor back in the 80's. So I wasn't THAT disappointed when the tiny woman medium with a tiny voice wasn't in the movie, however I was hoping she was.

Zelda Rubenstein as Tangina Barrons
(source: http://rhinoshorror.com/2012/04/05/a-look-into-the-poltergeist-curse/)
(note: oh gohds, why is her name, when pronounced in the right way is a cuss word in our country LOL)

She was the number one missing essence for me, I mean yes mister Jared Harris' character as that awesome medium that knows all etcetera actually made a nice impression, however I feel like at my age right now I'm becoming tired of encountering the stereotype black coat, black hat wearing, many scars from experience bragging, super mysterious but sometimes light hearted (or not) man that is the needed factor to save your princess from them ugly rotting dragons. I can compare Tangina to the medium from Insidious, but her charm is just different of course, to each their own.

source: http://filmjunkieconfessions.blogspot.com/2015/06/a-screening-of-poltergeist-2015.html

The end result of my reaction, if I compared it to the 80's version:

• The feel of the script, how they entered snippets of modern media "comedy" or "light hearted family humour" doesn't really cut to the 80's version, it just didn't feel natural against the plot.
• Casting was good, rewritten personalities of the characters (if compared to the 80's version) is "lovable" or "adorable" for me. However the seriousness of the plot doesn't seem to fit them to a POINT that when they do take the whole thing seriously there wasn't enough tension to build it.
• The jump scares as usual caught me off guard.
• Elements that were used to scare the children (Elder sister, first child: basement boss where mud glops out of a chip from the cemented floor and the potential bony love interest dragging her to their new home in the alternate dimension. Elder brother, second child: clown toys boss and tree boss. Younger sister, third child: closet boss) were actually cool, just cool. The clown was cute, definitely a keeper. A friend of mine however will not like him / her.
• Ghost science, the normal ghost science enhanced with the modern graphics of today is typical. The ghost history however feels white-washed (was that correct?), there was no intense build up for my opinion. It got lost somewhere. I think.

Over all, in the harshest words I could muster, it was a let down. Giving it a chance, its a good shallow and cheap ride. Don't get me wrong, I haven't read the article of the production groups true true intentions with this movie. However I cannot help but consider this as a remake of the 80's, unless there was an older one maybe I can get newer reaction feels, and comparing the two is inevitable considering the quality of the wasted tension in the story.

I'm surprised actually that I critiqued it, and was let down. Its different when you have feels towards what you knew and suddenly see a remake and hope it was good but was just so-so.

Kaiba . youtubers . comics 101

Currently I've been busy distracting myself with a lot of things while working on another page of the comics project i'm doing and a lot of other stuff. On that note, besides discovering Pewdiepie's (Bro channel) channel and stuff, I've come to be a fan of Markiplier (Mister sexy voice, sorry thats how I really view his existence, and so does some of my friends that follows his channel) and Jackspeticeyes (DUH BAWS!!!!!!), specifically these two I adore since I've actually subscribed to other youtubers but I like those two the most. Specially mentioning Yamimash (The Brit), yep its because of his accent.

link it

Besides personally liking how they commentate on their videos, each unique to their own, I felt like before I used to do stuff like this but through my webcomics. Nowadays I'm just a huge fat slacker trying to live off of making comics, which is a poor drag on most peoples eyes. But it doesn't faze me into quitting something like making a comics half way, not again, not ever. Concerning, I've recently re-watched Kaiba, that anime that broke my heart and gave me diabetes because of how awesome the concept of their world is. It's basically a romance sci-fi story about a guy who lost his memory and within those twelve episodes tried solving the mystery of his lost memories.

Truth be told, I'm not liking the fact that I'm not motivated to search for good animes like Kaiba here. Somehow there are TONS of good animes currently being released and continuously gives good chills down everyones spines, especially in the psychological side. However, I'm just not up much to judging series these days, like if I find a good one its got more than 50+ episodes and it still counting. It discourages me to watch it for some reason. I guess I'm getting infected by the impatience of the generation.

concepts . finished books . EARTHBOUND

You could say that EARTHBOUND (Mother 2, for the original title) is one of the most known nostalgic games out there. Probably by majority of the gamers from the 80-90's, I myself played it under an SNES emulator my brother so generously provided (well he owned the games in the PC for that matter), and browsing over all nostalgias sake for quotes to use for some designs I was supposed to do made me yearn for the game again. Not that its enough that I'm stuck finally playing Breathe of Fire II in a PSP emulator for Android (so much pirated stuff used).

from: http://fantasyanime.com/legacy/earthb_about.htm

I don't quite remember the days when I played the game, or replayed the game, or even finishing it. Still it held such memories for me, that me anticipating a game made by fans (dubbed>> Mother 4) was enough for me to be happy that someones eager to continue something from that nostalgic game play. Even though it wasn't made by the same developers as the original franchise. (see trailer below or visit their>> youtube site)

Speaking of nostalgia, not really, but I was hoping I could get a head start on it. I just finished reading the KREST-OH-MAN-SEE (proper pronunciation for>> Chrestomanci dutifully cleared by the writer her self) series written by Diana Wynne Jones (i seriously don't remember or even know how to pronounce the first two of her name, thank god i remember her other works that i love).

 wait, i haven't read that Mixed Magics one,
but i sure do remember reading those first colourful six
(i think this is an epub icon?)

The book, as always, is dipped in such a way that everything moved in the blink of an eye. From one moment you're bound under a fanciful description of a scenario then towards another, each taking its own pace. Sometimes I get tired of reading the in betweens that ran through, imagining such quantity of happenings being done all at the same time the heros or heroines of the story is being plucked into a grim fate only they were fortunate to be in.

In a way I dub the way she writes her work as something akin to "plot driven by the plot" (i don't quite remember how i got that myself), as if you see the characters could not do anything but do something because of a "fate", unfortunate or not, befall upon them. In contrast to the characters writing the said "fate" with intention or unintentional. (i still do not get how i can explain it clearly, someday I'm gonna have to search for that again and see if I'm quite correct or not by memory)

Over all reading her books are always magical, and exactly what the genre of her books are Fantasy. Their maybe a lot of things strung together and somewhat draggy or hastily woven, still it ends in a way you feel exhilarated.

Game vlog . comics 101

I got to say that somehow I cannot believe how the world wide web is practically the most unexplored thing I want to explore since my childhood. When I was a kid I used to get into surfing alot of things online, but since I've grown I can't think of searching for anything online. Thinking of any significant interest for me these days just feel tiresome.

So now I'm just enjoying myself by watching Game Vlogs made by Pewdiepie, currently I'm watching his South Park: Stick of Truth Game Vlog in Marathon. Entertaining and less hassle on my part, albeit wishing I could find a game I want to play. I mean I like playing games but nowadays I feel really lacking on that patient motivation to just search for that game I want to play.

Pewdiepie and Cutiepie
(yes, it has to be a couple pic because I like Marzia!!!)

In any case I'd rather complete a new page for the comics project we're currently working on and I'm beginning to think that large breasts are annoying as hell to draw when it comes to perspectives. Theres always a moment of patient practice!

Angles and Videos