Comments on: Manga Before Flowers — Recommendation Post #5

By: Danielle Leigh

Danielle Leigh — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:03:18 +0000

Hi Milo, I don’t consider “Astro” himself a giant robot (i.e. the like the mobile suit kind) which is what I thought Joe was asking for. Otherwise that would have been on the list.

By: Milo

Milo — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:58:02 +0000

Astro Boy.

Seriously, what the heck? It’s primacy in this category is only outdone by it’s obscurity among American readers.

By: Manga deemed insignificant by The Onion « MangaBlog

Manga deemed insignificant by The Onion « MangaBlog — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:31:02 +0000

[...] Danielle Leigh’s latest recommendation post, she picks three manga based on the keywords “giant robots, adventure, and optimism.” [...]

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:55:11 +0000

Yeah, I was kinda wondering about that myself with the link to giant robot anime and manga. Part of the reason I chose that was to see if there were any good original manga with giant robots. Well, I KNOW there are at least some in Japan (can’t remember any of the names of the books I saw while there) but apparently not any translated into English.

By: Danielle Leigh

Danielle Leigh — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:05:59 +0000

James — Good point. I don’t think it is an accident that all the manga I picked were based off / linked to anime franchises.

By: James Moar

James Moar — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:59:56 +0000

I’d say the problem with finding giant robot manga to recommend is that it’s really a genre that’s at home in anime, not manga. Maybe it’s easier to make the sense of scale work there (or maybe it sells the model robots better…)

By: Michelle Smith

Michelle Smith — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:25:40 +0000

Joe – Jason Thompson mentioned that the Eureka Seven manga simplified things from the anime, particularly in terms of fleshing out the world the characters inhabit, so it seems the original format is the animated one. Well, there’s video games, too, and they perhaps came first. I’m not really sure about that.

By: Danielle Leigh

Danielle Leigh — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:07:50 +0000

Joe — I think it is the “giant” in “giant robot” + “optimism” that makes it hard. If it were just about human-like robots that would have had a larger number of titles to pull from.

Mario — Eureka 7 (2.5 stars), Mobile Police Patlabor (3 stars), Mobile Suit Gundam: Ecole du Ciel (3.5 stars).

By: Danielle Leigh

Danielle Leigh — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:54:39 +0000

Leetard and Okman — I’ve heard a hard time with the Gurren Lagann anime. The first disc gave me a headache and I’ve been a little hesitant to watch more (I know that it is very well received (anime not manga) so I’ll try again, perhaps when I get can my hands on the dub, which will be easier on my head).

By: Okman

Okman — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:32:06 +0000

the manga for Lagann pales to the anime

By: Leeatard

Leeatard — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:25:13 +0000

Surprised Gurren Lagann isn’t in here.

By: Aaron Thall

Aaron Thall — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:51:45 +0000

I love Eureka Seven. I discovered it when the anime was on Adult Swim and only recently managed to get copies of the manga. Awesome stuff.

By: The Dane

The Dane — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:17:58 +0000

You’ll be happy to know, Danielle, that I’m doing my own footwork now and even if it weren’t for Michelle posting, I would have realized that Eureka Seven is a complete series (and one that looks interesting!).

Complete side note: I just read the atrociously titled Town of Evening Wind, Country of Cherry Blossoms and put it in the top four books (not just comics, but books) I’ve read in 2009. I only mention it because it was in your column that i saw the cover art and it was that memory that made me pick it up when I saw it in the library. So thanks!

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:38:50 +0000

I’ve only caught pieces of the Patlabor movie, but I’ve heard great things.
I didn’t know that Eureka Seven was adapted into a manga (or was it the other way around?).
And I’ve yet to see a Gundam series in which I was disappointed with the mech designs, but it’s hard to screw up when the originals they’re based off of are so amazing.

Yeah, I figured “optimism” would give you a hard time. But it’s so easy to be pessimistic that I prefer my literature to at least hint at some optimism. Be happy I replaced “surrealism” with “adventure.” I was almost cruel enough to go that route.

By: Mario

Mario — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:03:22 +0000

Just out of curiosity, how many stars was given to each series?

By: Michelle Smith

Michelle Smith — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:52:40 +0000

Thank you for the thank you! I'm happy to help! And here I go chiming in about Eureka Seven! I've been wondering whether this series is any good, chiefly because the six-volume series has just been or will soon be released in two omnibus editions. That's a pretty substantial savings, especially if you get them at Amazon. I'm always a sucker for the prospect of quickly and easily owning all of something (though, of course, there's a 2-volume prequel called Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys & Lifting Girl, not to mention a few novels) but I've been restraining myself 'cos I wasn't sure I'd like it. Here are the omnibi on Amazon: Volume 1 Manga Collection - released October 28, 2009 Volume 2 Manga Collection - to be released on December 29, 2009 I guess I'm off to see what Jason Thompson says about it!

By: Danielle Leigh

Danielle Leigh — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:43:30 +0000

Mario — sadly, Viz only published the first two volumes of Patlabor but the films are so highly thought of I couldn’t resist.

By: Mario

Mario — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:25:05 +0000

Oh man, Patlabor. That’s a flash from the past. The first movie was FANTASTIC!!
I didn’t know they published some manga in North America. Cool.