Many of you (or just the two or three people that read this particular recurring column) may find yourself asking, "what is it about manga that you enjoy so much Tom...why can’t good old fashioned comic books be good enough for you?" I’ve been trying to figure out what it is about this particular style of comic that appeals to me. It's hard to come up with just one reason. I think one thing that is interesting is just the spin that gets put on things coming from the culture of another place. The rich background and deep history that can sometimes show through by being based decidedly outside the USA can give the stories just enough of a change to make them seem fresh.
Everyone loves ninjas of course, and the idea of “death gods” so to speak isn’t necessarily unique to one culture, but there is certainly a lot of mythology in Japanese manga that makes it work well. The slight difference in artwork styles has practically taken over Saturday Morning Cartoons these days and its influences can be seen by high profile cartoons from
Star Wars: Clone Wars (which I’ve seen a few times and enjoyed) to
Teen Titans (with some decidedly manga/anime inspired expressions and designs).
Maybe my lack of a thorough knowledge of the development of various art styles is giving too much credit to solely anime and manga for some of the paths that other media have gone down, and if anyone reading this has the knowledge to set me straight please feel free to comment below and I’ll check it out. I suppose it is hard for me to sum up what it is that has taken its hold over me when it comes to manga, but suffice it to say, it has. Onwards to
Bleach and
Naruto!
BLEACH
Chapter 385 begins with Captain Komamaru using his bankai release to fight the now hollowfied Ex-Captain Tousen. Tousen attacks without hesitation while an ominous black skull appears on his formerly all white outfit. While this fight rages on Aizen and Shinji square off and begin to look like they are ready to fight. Aizen’s zanpaktou has the power to hypnotize and fool the senses, and everyone is pretty scared of that (with good reason). Shinji, however, appears to have a trick up his sleeve as he correctly states that he has never shown what his zanpaktou can do. Shinji makes a rather bold statement that Aizen’s sword isn’t the only one that can control people’s senses, and then releases his shikai form. Aizen doesn’t seem to react and the fight is left there.
In the meantime Tousen has landed a strike on Komamaru’s bankai, which he discovers injures Komamaru in the same way that his sword is injured. At first Tousen seems to have paid quite a price for this discovery as his right arm is mangled horribly, but he almost instantly heals. After some talk about Tousen’s morals and why he chose to be hollowfied, he claims to have yet another form and announces he has a resurrection form. Up until now only hollows that converted into Shinigami have had such an ability, but vizard have never had both.
What exactly has Tousen become? He seems to be greater then either vizard or espada, and in an explosion of darkness the chapter ends. This was actually one of the more interesting Bleach chapters in a while in that at least SOMETHING happened and next time it looks like we’ll see more of Aizen vs. Shinji and Komamaru vs. Tousen. Who knows…maybe someone in this manga will actually die for once.
NARUTO
Chapter 475 of Naruto begins with the Hokage Danzou and Madara facing off. Danzou’s two bodyguards attack Madara and seem to have the upper hand for a while. One of them, Fuu, has a mind-body switch ninjitsu characteristic of the Yamanaka clan, and Torune is from the bug controlling Aburame clan. Madara decides he has had enough fun playing with the bodyguards and after they try an array of cool techniques to no avail, he uses the same technique he used to absorb Sasuke and transports both bodyguards into another dimension using his Sharingan. In the process Torune infects Madara’s right arm with some cell destroying microscopic bugs, so Madara rips his own arm off and throws it at Fuu before absorbing him. Fancy technique.
Naruto continues to speak with Gaara about Sasuke, and then Gaara and the Sand Village ninja are off to prepare to fight both Sasuke and whatever tricks Madara has up his sleeve. They have decided to treat Kakashi as Hokage after Danzou’s move at the meeting, even though no official word has been reached. Naruto says nothing as he considers what to do.
In the meantime Madara visits Sasuke and Karin who have been recovering inside his Sharingan world, and says he has a surprise and wants to bring them back to the real world. Upon entering the ultimate showdown is set up. Three of the four remaining sharingan users face off in what will probably be a RIDICULOUS battle. What’s that? Danzou doesn’t have the Sharingan? Oh…did I not mention that when he unleashed his arm and it is COVERED in the Sharingan of everyone in the clan? Perhaps that is what Itachi and Madara did with the eyes of the rest of the Uchiha clan when they massacred everyone all those years ago on hidden Konoha orders? God only knows what Danzou can actually do with all those very powerful eyes in his arm.
Until next week…
Many of you (or just the two or three people that read this particular recurring column) may find yourself asking, "what is it about manga that you enjoy so much Tom...why can’t good old fashioned comic books be good enough for you?" I’ve been trying to figure out what it is about this particular style of comic that appeals to me. It's hard to come up with just one reason. I think one thing that is interesting is just the spin that gets put on things coming from the culture of another place. The rich background and deep history that can sometimes show through by being based decidedly outside the USA can give the stories just enough of a change to make them seem fresh.
Everyone loves ninjas of course, and the idea of “death gods” so to speak isn’t necessarily unique to one culture, but there is certainly a lot of mythology in Japanese manga that makes it work well. The slight difference in artwork styles has practically taken over Saturday Morning Cartoons these days and its influences can be seen by high profile cartoons from Star Wars: Clone Wars (which I’ve seen a few times and enjoyed) to Teen Titans (with some decidedly manga/anime inspired expressions and designs).
Maybe my lack of a thorough knowledge of the development of various art styles is giving too much credit to solely anime and manga for some of the paths that other media have gone down, and if anyone reading this has the knowledge to set me straight please feel free to comment below and I’ll check it out. I suppose it is hard for me to sum up what it is that has taken its hold over me when it comes to manga, but suffice it to say, it has. Onwards to Bleach and Naruto!
BLEACH
Chapter 385 begins with Captain Komamaru using his bankai release to fight the now hollowfied Ex-Captain Tousen. Tousen attacks without hesitation while an ominous black skull appears on his formerly all white outfit. While this fight rages on Aizen and Shinji square off and begin to look like they are ready to fight. Aizen’s zanpaktou has the power to hypnotize and fool the senses, and everyone is pretty scared of that (with good reason). Shinji, however, appears to have a trick up his sleeve as he correctly states that he has never shown what his zanpaktou can do. Shinji makes a rather bold statement that Aizen’s sword isn’t the only one that can control people’s senses, and then releases his shikai form. Aizen doesn’t seem to react and the fight is left there.
In the meantime Tousen has landed a strike on Komamaru’s bankai, which he discovers injures Komamaru in the same way that his sword is injured. At first Tousen seems to have paid quite a price for this discovery as his right arm is mangled horribly, but he almost instantly heals. After some talk about Tousen’s morals and why he chose to be hollowfied, he claims to have yet another form and announces he has a resurrection form. Up until now only hollows that converted into Shinigami have had such an ability, but vizard have never had both.
What exactly has Tousen become? He seems to be greater then either vizard or espada, and in an explosion of darkness the chapter ends. This was actually one of the more interesting Bleach chapters in a while in that at least SOMETHING happened and next time it looks like we’ll see more of Aizen vs. Shinji and Komamaru vs. Tousen. Who knows…maybe someone in this manga will actually die for once.
NARUTO
Chapter 475 of Naruto begins with the Hokage Danzou and Madara facing off. Danzou’s two bodyguards attack Madara and seem to have the upper hand for a while. One of them, Fuu, has a mind-body switch ninjitsu characteristic of the Yamanaka clan, and Torune is from the bug controlling Aburame clan. Madara decides he has had enough fun playing with the bodyguards and after they try an array of cool techniques to no avail, he uses the same technique he used to absorb Sasuke and transports both bodyguards into another dimension using his Sharingan. In the process Torune infects Madara’s right arm with some cell destroying microscopic bugs, so Madara rips his own arm off and throws it at Fuu before absorbing him. Fancy technique.
Naruto continues to speak with Gaara about Sasuke, and then Gaara and the Sand Village ninja are off to prepare to fight both Sasuke and whatever tricks Madara has up his sleeve. They have decided to treat Kakashi as Hokage after Danzou’s move at the meeting, even though no official word has been reached. Naruto says nothing as he considers what to do.
In the meantime Madara visits Sasuke and Karin who have been recovering inside his Sharingan world, and says he has a surprise and wants to bring them back to the real world. Upon entering the ultimate showdown is set up. Three of the four remaining sharingan users face off in what will probably be a RIDICULOUS battle. What’s that? Danzou doesn’t have the Sharingan? Oh…did I not mention that when he unleashed his arm and it is COVERED in the Sharingan of everyone in the clan? Perhaps that is what Itachi and Madara did with the eyes of the rest of the Uchiha clan when they massacred everyone all those years ago on hidden Konoha orders? God only knows what Danzou can actually do with all those very powerful eyes in his arm.
Until next week…
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