The Shonen Jump / Shojo Beat Thread

[philster]

Since Hero Realm has decided to do away with the manga forum, I'm creating this thread for Sarah and I to discuss all things Shonen Jump / Shojo Beat.

Anybody else interested in reading and discussing these magazines can join in, of course.

For those not in the know, Shonen Jump is a magazine being published in America that concentrates on Japanese comics (manga) for boys.

Shojo Beat is its sister magazine for girls.

[philster]

I'll start off with the January 2006 edition of Shonen Jump...

This month featured a special full preview of Gin Tama, a story about outlawed samurai living alongside aliens in a futuristic time.

Samurai aren't allowed to carry swords anymore (ie. Rurouni Kenshin), but there are still some who would defy this law.

OK, I'm not going to pick this one up. The art is usually the biggest selling point of any manga for me, and if it doesn't appeal to my taste, the story would have to be next to outstanding.

And here, the art and story just doesn't do it for me. It's an off-beat comedy series with unimpressive art and uninspiring characters.

Rating: 3/10

Naruto, chapters 76-78. The end of the Kiba-Naruto fight in the preliminaries to the third Chuunin exam, and the beginning of another battle that will be pretty intense.

Since I already know what happens, I'll let others comment on this one first before saying any more.

But I'll say that overall Viz's translations has improved with each chapter, it no longer annoys me anymore, thankfully.

Rating: 8/10

One-Piece, chapters 85-87. One by one by one, Eiichiro Oda takes us through the conclusions of each of Luffy's crewmates' challenges: Zoro against Hachi, Sanji against Kuroobi, and Usopp against Fishy-Lips, whatever his name is.

This was the part about Luffy's "epic battle" with Arlong's crew that I didn't like; the battles seemed too drawn-out in order to show off each of Luffy's crewmates' strengths while at the same time Luffy was drowning all that time.

Even with help from Mr. Genzo and Nami's sister, I don't see how it could have been done realistically. Mr. Genzo had to breathe himself. Sanji's own underwater battle with Kuroobi was stretching it too much, as well.

Rating: 5/10

Shaman King, chapters 73-74. My interest in this series had gone down/up in the last few months. Last month it went up, this month it went down.

I'm just not that interested in the outcome of this one. There wasn't enough character development on either Ren and Jun in previous chapters to make me really cheer either one.

And their father, while impressive as a villain initially two months ago, have proved to be more of a cliche after all.

RATING: 4/10

Hikaru no Go, Chapters 51 & Special Bonus

It was OK this month. The Special Bonus was an interesting change of pace but didn't do much for me. Art was great as always, though, so...

RATING: 6/10

YuYu Hakusho - we had a whole colored chapter this month - I would be more impressed, if I hadn't just seen a Bleach chapter done in color and done so much better.

Overall, the art direction in YYH really stinks and it does more to take away from the story than give it any support. "Evil Kintaro" is a prime example. Okay, so Hiei beat him. Who cares?

RATING: 2/10

Yu-Gi-Oh: Millennium World, Duels 23-24

Here's how interested I was in the story. I skipped probably 5-6 pages just to see if we were getting to a conclusion. Didn't even feel the desire to read back to see what I missed.

RATING: 3/10

Overall, obviously, I was pretty disappointed with this month's SJ. Naruto saved it for me this month.

[SilvaShado]

I haven't gotten my SJ yet! grr... Hopefully it'll come this week.

I do have the latest SB, which I'd love to talk about and hopefully get others interested in. ^_~ But I don't have time right now...

But I would like to point out that Nana vol 1 is out as well as Crimson Hero, I believe. Nana is much better than I had thought and I'm pretty sure you'd like Crimson Hero, Phil. You should check it out sometime.

Hopefully I'll have more time soon to talk about SB and SJ (when I get it!)

[philster]

I actually have a new, really good friend, Nana, who loves that shojo title, Sarah. ^_^

I'll check it out, along with Crimson Hero, sometimes!

[philster]

And... Nana is fantastic. Very, very innovative title.

[SilvaShado]

Glad to hear it! I wasn't sure since I was hestitant about it at first. Anyway, anything specifc you like about Nana? Which Nana do you like better?

I put in an order for a replacement issue since SJ hasn't shown up yet... I hope I get it before the next one comes out!

[janggut]

@ Phil & Sarah -> love the blow-by-blow comments on the stuff in the mags. keep up the great work!

[philster]

I'm lazy right now... I think I'll just copy and paste my conversation with my friend Nana about it.

Philster: Guess what manga I got yesterday, lol
Nana: nana?
Philster: how the hell did you know?
Nana: LMFAO 'cause i'm psychic.
Nana: lack of sleep awakens my powers.
Philster: -_- well, yeah, I picked it up .. and enjoyed it. lol
Nana: it's REALLY good.
Philster: The art and dialogue is really really good.
Philster: I think I liked the story of Nana Osaki better
Nana: i knowwww.
Nana: me too.
Nana: she's my favorite.
Nana: i used to look like her.
Nana: LMFAO
Philster: holy mosey xD
Nana: that was in high school. LMAO
Philster: xD
Nana: i was a loser/punk.
Philster: wow I never knew you would go for the punk look
Nana: LOL
Philster: heh well the scene where she first saw Ren was pretty cool
Nana: i had red streaks in my hair.
Nana: yeah, i know...
Philster: damn lol
Nana: it was so sweet..
Nana: i cried.
Philster: Found it funny she was all ready to think badly of this guy
Philster: and then when she first saw him you could tell she had a different reaction, and for good reason - he did look kinda good. LOL
Nana: LOL i knoww.
Philster: "but the guy up on the stage... nailed me to the floor."
Philster: and she had these pissed eyes, but.. lol
Philster: I think they were more curious haha... it just felt like a real story, I really liked that
Nana: i know..
Nana: the other nana is a little annoying.
Nana: LMAO
Philster 043: lol, she is, isn't she?
Nana: but she gets to be funny later.
Nana:
Philster: but also real too... it gives me some perspective into how some girls might act around guys.. never thought about it that way
Philster: I mean I never even thought girls wouldn't see guys as friends but just men, men, men lol
Philster: she's kinda shallow tho.. but then again she's in a manga so she probably doesn't have to worry about that much -_-
Nana: LOL
Nana: she's cool where i am now though.
Philster: they meet up in a later volume?
Philster: I read that on the back
Nana: yep..
Nana: it's awesome.
Philster: that's so innovative.
Philster: I like it.
Philster: I'll definitely follow this series now. LOL. how many volumes is it?
Nana: i don't know how many volumes.
Nana: i'm reading chapter by chapter in shojo beat.
Philster: oh, gotcha
Philster: I got the first volume
Nana: it's good, right?

There you go - I think that was actually my first impression after reading it.

[SilvaShado]

Cool. Glad you liked it. I hope you get a chance to check out some of the other titles.

So I finally put in for a missing issue, but was told that my subscription had run out and my renewel was processed after they sent out the most recent issue. Which is odd because I thought I sent in my renewal in October. I guess that's not enough time.

So now I have to find a place that still has the issue, but it looks like it'll be hard since there was a special YuGiOh card in it. *sigh* I hope I don't have to order it off the internet...

[philster]

That sucks =/

One of the biggest worries I have about subscriptions is I'll end up not getting a magazine or two ( I've missed two for Sporting News, for example ) and I don't know anything I can do about it.

I'd just prefer to be able to buy the darn thing when I see it.

Well, hopefully you'll get it soon, but truthfully, you aren't missing much. It was a pretty bad month for SJ.

[SilvaShado]

even still, I hate missing anything. I'm hoping to go to a couple of bookstores today, but they don't tend to carry magazines for very long. And there's not many comic stores around that carry it either.

When I missed issues before, it wasn't a problem. Just fill out the missing issue form on the SJ website. But of course it didn't work this time...

[philster]

I'll keep an eye out for it around here and if I find it, I'll let you know. And return the favor to you for what you did for me a couple of years ago.

Though you'd have to let me know what your new address is.

[SilvaShado]

Cool, thanks. If you find it though, use my old address 'cause it won't fit in my apartment mailbox.

I haven't had much time to look around, but I'm pretty sure by now that bookstores won't have it. I'm not gonna give up hope, I just have to be patient.

[philster]

No luck by the way. Perhaps just order it through the store at the Shonen Jump website.

[SilvaShado]

Yeah, I'll have to do that. Have you gotten the newest issue yet? I haven't gotten it in the mail yet. I hope my subscription isn't messed up!

[philster]

Yep, I did. That's really crazy that you're not getting any more. It does sound like your subscription is messed up.

This month's magazine wasn't bad at all, but I'll wait until you've read it before commenting.

[SilvaShado]

gr. when I reported that I hadn't gotten the Feb issue, which is when my subscription was supposed to start, they told me to wait until Feb 2 to report it as missing. I haven't had this much trouble since SJ first started!

*sigh* I may have to let the January issue go as unread and just find those chapters online to read. I'm most interested in Naruto and Go, but also Shaman King and One Piece. I can live without the other two, having seen the YYH anime and not caring about Yu-Gi-Oh.

I can only hope that I get Shojo Beat as normal next week. I need my manga fix!

[SilvaShado]

Well, I finally got SJ January, February and March. I'm reading through January right now.

SB has also gotten straightened out. Thank goodness. What a mess this has been. I still have an issue that I need to send back, but hopefully I can do that today.

I hope to comment on them soon.

Have you been enjoying SJ Phil?

[janggut]

hey our Indie Girl is back!

how are u, Sarah? all great hopefully. haven't read any manga for quite sometime but i don't mind reading shouju manga. in fact i read one (i think) recently, it's called Dance Till Tomorrow. it's quite an adult manga (with nudity & sex scenes here & there but not too much) but the storyline & characters are quite good & realistic. not that all rosy yet not too bad at the same time. can't recall how many volumes but it's quite short, i think. plus, it's written by a female author, so characterisation of people are quite good.

[SilvaShado]

Hey janggut. I'm okay. Just very busy.

Is that manga in english? Sounds kinda interesting. I'm always up for a good story and characters, and I've been wanting to read more mature manga.