Classic Manga and Mangaka

[StrangerAtaru]

One problem I noticed with fanbase these days is their obsession with immediacy and instant demand. With the internet making things available right away, people can catch up to and go along with things as they run in Japan. Thus, they get the chance to see the latest anime episodes and read the latest chapters. However, the problem with immediacy is that it prevents people from realizing there is a back-story or a history that connects to all this. Everything comes from somewhere, and that somewhere, unless it's still going (like JoJo) or is connected to something else that is currently running (sort of like Kinnikuman Nisei) is for the most part going to be forgotten or ignored.

Of course, I got into anime/manga just before then when Urusei Yatsura (well the anime version) on VHS by Animeigo was a thing of wonderment...and that content was from 1981! (and I got that tape in 1996)

[Ustegius]

I love classic manga, the only problem I have with those is the avaibility. It's very hard to find some in english, in internet and for real.

My favorite must be Keiji Nakazawa for Barefoot Gen. I've only read 2½ volumes of this loosely auto-biographic master piece, and I'mquite confinceded that it's the best manga ever. It tells the story of a young boy named Gen, who survives the Hiroshima atom bomb. It offers great drama and big feelings, real human feelings. Also the historical portrayal of WWII Japan is very interesting, from a very pacifistic and critical point of few. Also the way how the nasty nature of human surfaces from time to time before and after the bomb makes on really think. And it's not only the rich and bad upper class, even harmless old grannies discriminate the 'contamined' survivors. And the treatment Gen and his family get before the bomb, because his dad is a realistic pacifist and understands that Japan has already lost. People really are that cruel? I guess so.

Hard to think that that kinda series once ran in Weekly Shonen Jump.

Another one I love is Go Nagai, best known for Mazinger Z, Cutie Honey and Devilman. He is a great pioneer in the history of manga. Just come on, he invented mecha! Could be said he invented "fan-service" too. For the first time in the history of manga he used extreme violence and eroticism in children comic. That has a great meaning to emerging of shonen as it is today.

And Cutey Honey was one of the first "magic girl" series too. When talking about great historical mangaka, he is too often overlooked. And damn, in 1972 he had 5 simultaneosly running series, he even wrote and drew all of them by himself.

[Esc.]

Naturally, Go Nagai and Osamu Tezuka, and all the these great mangaka's were the strongest of the pioneers, inspired many people in many fields. For me, it's a shame that I can't find all of their series. I tried looking into 'The Phoenix' (which I really wanted to get into), but I couldn't find them online. Of course, Viz has them out already, I'm probably too lazy to go out and actually purchase them though.

In any case, thinking more about the oldies got me searching around for a lot of classics I haven't read yet. Stuff like 'Ashita no Joe' and 'Devilman'.

I hope people actually spot this thread and decide to pick up some of the mentioned series.

[Kaiten]

Try searching mediafire or megaupload. At least some of phoenix is online. When the crackdown started they got a little harder to find, sadly.

Thx Kaiten for the answer.

One of my favourites series of all time, too. Its really cool to place the things in such "historic" I would say events, and the characters.. I always hyped back than the characters which were put into this story - when you don't forget such characters, I think it tells that the series was at least good. <Nazza rlz forever btw., I just had to >

And also about anime: its only a "little" of manga stuff here, but generally its a good anime with normal pace 26 episodes <so the quality rather not drops> And the OST is still one of my favourites from anime series. I definitely recommend too, whether before or after the reading

I still haven't watched the anime, I heard it was pretty good though. Fujisaki's take on the Creation of the God was so WTF, while remaining true to the book (or so I've heard). Really makes me wish the original were easier to find in English.

Nube is coming along but sadly it's rather slow. I'm near the end of vol. 10 but the scanslator is only near the end of vol. 3. Probably just due to how many people are tied to all their other projects but not that or the fact that they do need a proofer or cleaner who wants to really do the project. But hey, at least I'm trying to get those scripts out there. (honestly the only shock regarding scanslations of my work as of late is that the guy doing Otokojuku...actually caught up with me and now is keeping an eye on me to get the scripts done)

There are quite a few Jump and Sunday (and maybe even one or two Magazine) series I do want to read though. Houshin Engi was up there due to the anime...which wasn't that bad even if it wasn't what I've heard with the manga. Same goes for Dr. Slump...also sort of want to try some early Adachi if it weren't for the scanslation crackdown. Though personally if I could get my hands on it, I'd love to take a whack at Doberman Detective (an early Buronson series that put him on the match pre-Fist of the North Star...)

I'm waiting till the scanlators get going a bit more. Nube is the classic Jump series I most want to read, not sure I want to wait months for one chapter. I'm used to some wait, not the type who needs a chapter a week, but I have my limits.

Houshin is sensational, give it a try if you haven't yet. Dr. Slump is also great, Toriyama was as good at comedy as he was with action. The humor of One Piece is pure Dr. Slump. I need to read more Adachi, I keep meaning to read Touch but it's buried on my list right now, same with H2. Cross Game was a masterpiece, some of the best storytelling in manga.

Nube is a fun series though I need to catch back up Most older series I'm interested in tend to be from Jump simply because they get more exposure so its easier to find them. Like I'd like to read more than 2 volumes of Rising Impact or read Fuma no Kojiro. Play Ball also looks interesting but is so old I doubt I'll ever get to read it.

In fact, that might be why most people tend to focus on current series instead of caring about older ones. Besides your fantastic job translating older series StrangerAtaru, very little attention is given to older series, Jump or not. Many fans probably know this and don't even try to give older series a chance because they feel its wasted effort.

There's some good, old Sunday being scanlated now. Kenji and Kyou kara Ore wa!! for example. Classics by Adachi and Rumiko Takahashi are widely available too. Sad that drifting classroom isn't fully scnalated.

@Kaiten: Oh, I'm sorry about that! I'll try to list more accessible titles next time.

They're all great series, and it really is a shame that they aren't translated. If the classics don't get exposure overseas, then no one will know about them. Is perhaps the lack of translations due to lack of demand?

Forgive

Promoting untranslated series is a good thing. No other way to get them some attention. I wouldn't have known about them if you didn't say anything.

One problem I noticed with fanbase these days is their obsession with immediacy and instant demand. With the internet making things available right away, people can catch up to and go along with things as they run in Japan. Thus, they get the chance to see the latest anime episodes and read the latest chapters. However, the problem with immediacy is that it prevents people from realizing there is a back-story or a history that connects to all this. Everything comes from somewhere, and that somewhere, unless it's still going (like JoJo) or is connected to something else that is currently running (sort of like Kinnikuman Nisei) is for the most part going to be forgotten or ignored.

Of course, I got into anime/manga just before then when Urusei Yatsura (well the anime version) on VHS by Animeigo was a thing of wonderment...and that content was from 1981! (and I got that tape in 1996)

Older fans and seinen/shojo/josei fans are used to patience. Most of the series I read are from tankobon scans anyway. Expectations are a bit different for fans primarily into the big series; the big 3, Fairy Tail, etc.

I love classic manga, the only problem I have with those is the avaibility. It's very hard to find some in english, in internet and for real.

My favorite must be Keiji Nakazawa for Barefoot Gen. I've only read 2½ volumes of this loosely auto-biographic master piece, and I'mquite confinceded that it's the best manga ever. It tells the story of a young boy named Gen, who survives the Hiroshima atom bomb. It offers great drama and big feelings, real human feelings. Also the historical portrayal of WWII Japan is very interesting, from a very pacifistic and critical point of few. Also the way how the nasty nature of human surfaces from time to time before and after the bomb makes on really think. And it's not only the rich and bad upper class, even harmless old grannies discriminate the 'contamined' survivors. And the treatment Gen and his family get before the bomb, because his dad is a realistic pacifist and understands that Japan has already lost. People really are that cruel? I guess so.

Hard to think that that kinda series once ran in Weekly Shonen Jump.

Another one I love is Go Nagai, best known for Mazinger Z, Cutie Honey and Devilman. He is a great pioneer in the history of manga. Just come on, he invented mecha! Could be said he invented "fan-service" too. For the first time in the history of manga he used extreme violence and eroticism in children comic. That has a great meaning to emerging of shonen as it is today.

And Cutey Honey was one of the first "magic girl" series too. When talking about great historical mangaka, he is too often overlooked. And damn, in 1972 he had 5 simultaneosly running series, he even wrote and drew all of them by himself.

I'd love to read Barefoot Gen. It used to be available from VIZ but hasn't been in stores for a long time. While it used to surprise me that it was in Jump, learning a bit about the era makes it a little less shocking. The late 60's/early 70's was the peak of the Gekiga movement, even mainstream anthologies wanted grittier, more serious series of their own.

[R4n]

GOOD NEWS people!

http://www.mangafox.com/manga/eroica_yori_ai_wo_komete/

scanlation for Eroica yori ai wo komete is available! I would really recommend this classic action comedy. You can skip the entire volume one since it is kinda unrelated to the main storyline.

-----------------------------------------

btw Ashita no Joe is my favourite boxing manga. *___*

[<.Haruka.>]

Yoshihiro Togashi (Yu Yu Hakusho, Level E, Hunter x Hunter), Takeshi Obata (Hikaru no Go, Death Note, Bakuman), and Takehiko Inoue (Slam Dunk, Vagabond, REAL).

Love them, especially Yu Yu Hakusho, Hikaru no Go, Death Note and Slam Dunk.
I was influenced to read these classics because of watching the anime adaptations of the following series.

Also, i like Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma ½ & Inuyasha.

[StrangerAtaru]

I'm waiting till the scanlators get going a bit more. Nube is the classic Jump series I most want to read, not sure I want to wait months for one chapter. I'm used to some wait, not the type who needs a chapter a week, but I have my limits.

Nube is a really fun read, having actually owned the tankos for it since college. (got a major part of it at a used book store near NYC when I went up there back when I got manga that way...actually starting to lean towards doing that again now that the scanslation crackdowns are happening) The good news is it's pretty much one shots until a few longer tales near the end(about the end of vol. 23 to the end), but the shorter tales are what gives all the character and developments to allow for the characters to shine through and all the freaky weird stuff that goes on.

Houshin is sensational, give it a try if you haven't yet. Dr. Slump is also great, Toriyama was as good at comedy as he was with action. The humor of One Piece is pure Dr. Slump. I need to read more Adachi, I keep meaning to read Touch but it's buried on my list right now, same with H2. Cross Game was a masterpiece, some of the best storytelling in manga.

I had Touch on my scanslation list of readings until the crackdown and the closing of OneManga, but it's hard for me to really get the mojo to look into getting the tankos or looking it up again. Dr. Slump...well usually if it's in English I'd get the Viz version, but since I heard some of it was censored I may just need to invest in the Japanese version somehow.

Older fans and seinen/shojo/josei fans are used to patience. Most of the series I read are from tankobon scans anyway. Expectations are a bit different for fans primarily into the big series; the big 3, Fairy Tail, etc.

Honestly I sort of consider myself a fan who came in at the tale end of manga/anime being a cult thing prior to the internet revolutionizing it. I got in around the period of Sailor Moon (the DiC dub) in '95 and even then it was all a matter of whatever was out there and whatever you could do to get it, including sci-fi conventions (where I actually got the final Japanese episodes of Sailor Moon R) or little clubs at comic book stores. I guess that explains why I'm both patient on releases as well as more interested in series that are somewhat older or have little exposure or notice in the mainstream. (honestly, Nube I actually discovered in a "sampler tape" of all the openings of shows they had, as well as St. Seiya, YYH, Kenshin, a couple Gundam series and a whole bunch of other stuff...and honestly while I don'ty think I'll ever read some of these, I'm happy for that tape)

[Kaiten]

Googlez_kin recommended Shuna no Tabi, a Miyazaki manga from the early 80's, which I read yesterday. It really was spectacular, a full color fairy tale about a princes journey to the west in search of mystical grain for his village. It's filled with typical Miyazaki themes about nature, industry, and trying to live in harmony with both. I really enjoyed it, and recommend reading it too.

Anyone dare me to read the entire JoJo's saga? I'm sure it's as great as advertised but that's a lot of reading

[StrangerAtaru]

Googlez_kin recommended Shuna no Tabi, a Miyazaki manga from the early 80's, which I read yesterday. It really was spectacular, a full color fairy tale about a princes journey to the west in search of mystical grain for his village. It's filled with typical Miyazaki themes about nature, industry, and trying to live in harmony with both. I really enjoyed it, and recommend reading it too.

Anyone dare me to read the entire JoJo's saga? I'm sure it's as great as advertised but that's a lot of reading

Honestly I've only read pt. 1 so far and a bit of pt. 2. It's really weird but cool at first...but then I haven't hit the Stands yet.

[Kaiten]

Stands are part 3 right? I've heard that's the big, series changing part. Honestly I've heard it's really good, a friend read the whole thing. I'm a bit intimidated by 101 volumes, the longest series I've read recently was less than 70 chapters. Weird is fine, most people would find my taste weird anyway

[StrangerAtaru]

Stands are part 3 right? I've heard that's the big, series changing part. Honestly I've heard it's really good, a friend read the whole thing. I'm a bit intimidated by 101 volumes, the longest series I've read recently was less than 70 chapters. Weird is fine, most people would find my taste weird anyway

Yeah, the Stands are pt. 3. Essentially that's where everyone seems to say it gets "epic" or "good", but I did like some aspects of pt. 1...and pt. 2 was getting good too by the time I stopped reading it. I guess part of my problem is either laziness or just being bugged about JoJo preventing me from continuing on. (not to mention a friend who is trying to retranslate the series due to terrible Chinese scans used for the current scanslations)

Then again I have enough on my plate in getting back to KochiKame (I still want to but I've just been so busy with life and other manga)

[Asarii]

Two more classics!

The influence of Captain Tsubasa (Takahashi Yoichi) around the world is huge. Manga wasn't as popular or accessible in the '80s, but the series influenced quite a number of well-known football/soccer players. Even Zidane was inspired to play soccer from the series!

For something completely different, there's Golgo 13 (Saito Takao). It first ran in 1969 and it's still going on. It's a classic but at the same time, it's also modern. There are 148 volumes released so far.

[Kizo]

I wholeheartedly recommend JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Kaiten. (Well, I recommend it to anyone.) To me, the series is a brilliant counterpart to Fist of the North Star; while Hokuto is all pure, manly, straightforward action (and is excellent in doing so), JoJo shines by focusing on the clever use of imaginative abilities.

Yes, JJBA is long, but I've found it well worth the read, and all those I know who have read it have felt the same.

[Kaiten]

Two more classics!

The influence of Captain Tsubasa (Takahashi Yoichi) around the world is huge. Manga wasn't as popular or accessible in the '80s, but the series influenced quite a number of well-known football/soccer players. Even Zidane was inspired to play soccer from the series!

For something completely different, there's Golgo 13 (Saito Takao). It first ran in 1969 and it's still going on. It's a classic but at the same time, it's also modern. There are 148 volumes released so far.

I'd like to read Golgo 13, someday. Among the many series I'd like to read. I played the video game when I was a kid, when it was randomly released on NES.

The out of proportion heads of Captain Tsubasa kind of turned me off. I know it's a classic but I can't get over that >.>

I wholeheartedly recommend JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Kaiten. (Well, I recommend it to anyone.) To me, the series is a brilliant counterpart to Fist of the North Star; while Hokuto is all pure, manly, straightforward action (and is excellent in doing so), JoJo shines by focusing on the clever use of imaginative abilities.

Yes, JJBA is long, but I've found it well worth the read, and all those I know who have read it have felt the same.

I love Arakai's art, part of the lure for me. It seems like a throwback to another era of Jump, when more violence and adult content was allowed. I'm intrigued. I'll probably have to take breaks between parts though. Besides, I'd like to be able to say I read the Les Miserables of shonen

Speaking of Hokuto no Ken, the group scanlating it picked up another shonen classic, Violence Jack. I'll read chapter 1 tomorrow.

[Asarii]

I'd like to read Golgo 13, someday. Among the many series I'd like to read. I played the video game when I was a kid, when it was randomly released on NES.

The out of proportion heads of Captain Tsubasa kind of turned me off. I know it's a classic but I can't get over that >.>

I'm a huge nerd so Golgo 13's biblical themes are intriguing but at the same time, its length scares me. XD If it follows a case by case format rather than a linear plot, then it might be better. Was the game good?

I think the characters in Captain Tsubasa look cute! LOL It's the eyes.