Hungry Joker by Tabata Yuuki

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Originally Posted by Mr. Prince

Hungry Joker is getting quite a bit of negative feedback on the Japanese 2ch forums so far. A number of people say it recycles too many old ideas or rather it's a rip-off of other series. (Though some criticism seems just too harsh in my opinion or simply stems from a lack of knowledge, as some users say stuff like, "Oh, they talk about 'Eureka'. Totally Eureka Seven rip-off!" or even better "There's 'Eureka the Forbidden Land' in Final Fantasy III"... yeah, right, who's that Archimedes dude again? Anime and games define our culture. :fail)

But since 2ch has hardly ever been a good indicator to evaluate a series' standing I won't be paying too much attention to that stuff and rather get back to the actual series.

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2ch, like anywhere on the internet, is usually wrong/stupid in how they assess Jump manga, from all I've seen of it, a statement I'm sure'll bite me in the ass sooner or later.

(edit: IT DID! Immediately after I posted this and realised they've had nice things to say about Kiruko, which I adore. God, I can't talk down to anything on the internet without it turning out it's slightly agreeable. Guh)

Liked but didn't love the third chapter. Which is how I've felt about the series for the other two chapters so... I dunno. This feeling of just being like "yeah this was all right" is frustrating. Reminds me of some past series in jump, where I couldn't bring myself to feel bad if it died or to cheer it on if it did well. Hope that changes, but middling opinions are the pits, y'all

Wasn't too hot on the third chapter, mostly because if some dialogue points. I hate that the girl does the whole "human lives are not to be played with thing", like we get it he's a villain, what she says is kind of a given. The villain's line about "human are just toys to me" line is also irritating, am I supposed to feel really intimated by this guy now? It seems like the author tried to hard to set up a sort of macabre villain but in the end ended up falling to cliches. It is a shonen series so I suppose the whole good vs. evil needs to be verbally stated at some point.

I still have interest in this, I've been craving an action series from Jump for a while, but I've hated all the ones they've serialized recently. Not gonna lie, despite all its faults if I lived in Japan I'd probably vote for it for the sake of not seeing it get cancelled.

this manga is (for now) digging a hole for itself with every new chapter that i am very interested to see the first toc rating. the attempt at using science as the basis of eureka may have been interesting but the man is pushing it way too much. most of the dialogues r so cliché i dont even know if it even merited to be written in the first place. overall it is a little better than takamagahara at this stage. i will still w8 for the 5 chapters but this manga isnt giving any good signs. maybe if some1 has schrödinger's cat i might change my opinion :XD

Agreed with some that this manga is not quite good nor bad. Almost nothing stands out.

I feel like the mangaka was too interested in jumping right into the action, and did NO buildup around the main characters or premise of what their world/lives are really like. I actually have trouble following this manga because too much just happens or is discovered without any explanation, and suddenly we've got them on a supernatural journey by chapter 3 with two characters who are supposed to be all about science yet are suddenly ok with all of this. I just don't like how they come to conclusions based on little information or none, and have delved themselves into a world that they seem too comfortable with.

Well, I have to agree the follow-up of the first 2 chapters could have been better than what we have now, but still I consider it better than the recent battle manga in jump and while it's not exceptional I still think it's quite interesting. I think saying nothing stands out in it is a bit exaggerated, it's not excellent but just the strange theme (science, glowing corpses, mysterious apple) and the dark tone for jump should stand out enough just on their own. Sure, many things are cliché, but it was kind of to be expected considering it's in jump and still aimed at a young audience, and for this kind of series it's quite good. I can see it become bad but I can also see it become a good manga so I still think it has potential.

One thing I'm not really sure how to react to in chap. 3, though, is the introduction of this "god" species. Putting apart the fact that it makes the manga go in a good vs. evil direction (like Halcyon mentioned), which I was kind of expecting, I don't know if a manga about science is the right place to have things such as "gods". Well, I understand that they are the sort of explanation for the supernatural powers (that they belong to them), but that explanation seems a bit too simple and I think more thought could have been put into arranging a more elaborate one. But now that it's done it's not like I really mind it a lot, it all depends on how it develops from now on and how these gods are going to be shown, I could come to think it was the right decision.

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Originally Posted by Zeltrax

I thought death note was complicated and too dark for SJ, but see how it went?
Of course, I'm not saying HJ had the same promise as death note atm.

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While I also don't quite agree with the fact that it might be too complicated, I don't really think that is a good argument, because Death Note was complicated but it attracted an older readership, that's why it didn't lose votes from being too complicated (the ones who voted for the series in the first place were not small kids, but readers who could understand complicated things), while HJ's theme is clearly aimed at a younger readership than DN, so the ones interested in it will probably be younger and would be scared away with too complicated things (though I don't think it will be too complicated). Most adults wouldn't really vote for it just because it would have some complicated explanations, because the overall theme is more for kids than adults.

Oh, and about that, the way things have turned out seems to confirm my earlier supposition that it won't get the science side into complicated theory parts, since it seems to indicate that the whole science thing will just go with the simple logic "object related to important discovery = physical power of the thing discovered" and won't need to elaborate more than that. So the science element seems to be kind of settling as a "theme for supernatural powers which are possible because of gods" (the god side acts as explanation to powers and the science one as the theme for those powers, not as an explanation, in which case it would have to become more complicated).

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Originally Posted by obamamania

I feel like the mangaka was too interested in jumping right into the action, and did NO buildup around the main characters or premise of what their world/lives are really like. I actually have trouble following this manga because too much just happens or is discovered without any explanation, and suddenly we've got them on a supernatural journey by chapter 3 with two characters who are supposed to be all about science yet are suddenly ok with all of this. I just don't like how they come to conclusions based on little information or none, and have delved themselves into a world that they seem too comfortable with.

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The reason there is no buildup on the main character is just because there is nothing to build up, he doesn't remember a single thing about his past and his whole life can be resumed into: no memory on the first period, trying to discover his past on the second period, haha. Other than that, he's a genius, so isn't really affected a lot by things and his mind is a bit empty on the emotion side. I understand that it might seem to be rushing, but for me it's ok to start directly with the story. Though about the assistant, I agree with you, if this is as far as her character goes then she has no interest other that being a simple female lead idiot assistant, the "normal" person in the middle of this. While I don't mind the main character, I think she should be improved, and it should happen in the next ten chapters, if not I will consider it a serious problem. I hope as the action advances we get some interesting things on her.

Just read the fourth chapter and must say that I got mixed feelings about it. The chapter serves as a transition towards the next adventure/"arc". Those who wished to get some more background on the characters might appreciate ch.4 but to me some aspects felt kinda forced and a bit cheap...

Only read the text in the tags if you don't mind learning anything that happens in the chapter...

Spoiler: Chapter 4 in a nutshell show

Chitose comes to the conclusion that she can't continue to work for Haiji as the way things developed are just too much for her to handle.
The scene switches to the Toriiooji residence the next morning. When Chitose, while listening to the morning news that cover the incident at the local hospital, comes down to have breakfast Haiji already awaits her.
We learn more about Chitose's family background and this is the crucial part that makes me feel kinda "meh": Her father was a scientist who died in an accident 6 years ago. So that just screams: "connected to Haiji's past"
There's some strange romance undertone in the chapter since Haiji eventually asks Mrs. Toriiooji for Chitose's hand to which the mother agrees. There's also a long speech from Haiji who tells Chitose how she makes him discover things about him he didn't know, how he needs her, how she might be his key to everything and so on.
In the end, Haiji even cares enough for the girl to remember her name. Now isn't that cute.
Final page switches scenes to the Oh'ei Museum in England where the Pythagorean Hammer is exhibited and watched by a mysterious rogue in suits who lights himself a cigarette. (We don't get to see the man's face.)

So yeah... while I still feel it's still way too early to judge the story I'm not too impressed by how this chapter was composed. Like I said, it just felt a bit cheap really. (I mean Tabata *really* took a long time to work the story out from when it was first published. Maybe I was just expecting something a bit more sophisticated, I dunno...)

It's probably just me continuing to be unfair, but really this totally is what I expected. That one-shot was so terrible that for it to be something so average is still a huge step up. Just wish it felt a bit... less cliché.

the only thing i can say about this chapter is towards Mr. Prince for such a great translation since chapter itself except for the last page is useless or maybe forced would seem more diplomatic. this manga blind sided me since i read the one shot before the serialization so i thought it was good. i am cursing my judgement now. i believe i cant continue this manga beyond the 5th chapter. and that is just to see what power hammer has been given from the simple musical tuning device it originaly is.

HUNGRY JOKER 05 RAW

http://raw.senmanga.com/Hungry_Joker/05/

Wow, I don't know how others will see this but I for one finally enjoyed a whole chapter of this series. Just when I thought I might lose interest in it after that horrible Chitose-centered interlude last week, Tabata pulls a good one.

Spoiler: About Chapter 5 show

The one who stands at the center point of this week's chapter is Alan Blackman, the dangerous (faceless) rogue we saw during last week's finale. He slightly resembles Hibari Kyouya from Katekyou Hitman REBORN! in looks and personality. - I liked his quirk with the headphones and how only the cry of goats out in the plains can calm him down. That was random enough to amuse me.

Alan turns out to wield the Pythagorean Hammer and just when he and Haiji get ready to face off they get interrupted by a young girl who jumpkicks Alan in the balls and introduces them as members of an organization called "White Joker", asking Haiji to join them in their quest of saving the world.

I like where this is going. It would be great to have a bigger main cast as I find Chitose to be rather boring, and her interaction with Haiji becomes quite dull over time. Really looking forward to next week's chapter now! (First time.)

Spoiler show

I felt like Blackman had a bit of an Atlus design thing about him. I really think him and the girl could be the crutch that might finally improve the story

I'm also looking forward to the next chapter. I mean it was still kinda... perfectly average, but it's much closer to hitting that sweet spot now

As it was said above, the chapter was average overall, but I found some little details to be pretty cool (like the little "emblems" that showed up in their eyes when they were about to fight, and that were related to the items they were holding), so I kinda liked it.

i am sry but i cant get moved by this story. alan, the chibi girl and the rest of the chapter doesnt have anything that might be considered good. the way i see, this manga is desperatly trying to get out of the hole it dug itself in and failing miserably. Considering the only thing i liked about the chapter was the goat sounds and jewel accident i cant consider anything else.

raw of chapter 06: HERE