Post by admin on Nov 11, 2005 22:47:44 GMT 7
katsu!
cgfx.moved.in/main.php?page=articles&article=manga.15
Adachi's newest manga, still in the process of publishing. Katsuki Satoyama and Katsuki Mizutani goes to the same school and class. Attracted to Mizutani, Satoyama and his best friend Kyotai both join Mizutani's father's boxing club, wanting to have an excuse to get closer to Mizutani. Only to find out that Mizutani's mother divorced her father a year ago, and that she hates boxing. (Even though she's very very good at it) Adachi's second serious boxing manga.
The serie is still in its early stages of story telling, but it's looking very promising. Looks like more of my money will be wasted every
Update
Now that 12 volumes of Katsu! have been published, I guess the manga is no longer in it's "early stages". Needless to say, I own all of them. I would love to have bought the Japanese version ( mine are in Chinese ), but my Japanese isn't good enough for me to have a strong grasp on the story yet.
The manga isn't nearly as serious as the older Adachi works such as H2 or Touch. Well, the general mood seems to be a cross between Itsumo Misora and Touch. Adachi seems to be taking it easy, and is trying to have fun these days with his works. That's great and everything, but it means frustration for readers like me, who are attracted to the more serious and emotional parts of his past works. It's frustrating to see a great opportunity for character development to be replaced by another "it's a manga, wahaha" joke on the next page. Jokes like this were novel before, but now it's too over done. I miss the witty exchanges and delicate emotions in Rough or H2. If Mr.Adachi continues like this, he might lose grip on the younger generation of readers.
Well, it is a boxing story. However, there isn't so much focus on the sport as a whole. Adachi's works are always about skilled protagonists wining trophies, but there were always great character development and interation that makes the matchs more of a side story than anything else. In Katsu! though, because of the lack of good character interaction, the flaws of the sporting part of the story falls through. I'm not saying the story is totally worthless, because I regularly put on gloves and spar with boxing-like techniques, I do appreciate a lot of the small nuiances of the fights. However, for someone who have no real knowlege of the techniques, I don't think it'd be too interesting. Another thing is how unrealistic the progress of Satoyama is. This guy learnt to fight top contenders within half a year? I mean if you have a solid physique, maybe you can land some easy shots, but I doubt the techniques can be so refined. I'd expect him to progress and refine his technques as he go through the tournament, not beating everyone that come his way with perfect uppercuts.
Maybe it's just Adachi's lack of understanding of boxing that causes these problems. According to some sources though, he's apperantly an avid fan. It's just not the same as his older works. I actually learnt to LIKE baseball through H2 and Touch. I do like boxing, but not because of Katsu!.
I've said before, Adachi Mitsuru's mangas are about the sweat, tears and love of Japanese youth. This time around, it's not much sweat, no tears, and very little love. Katsu! is still a fun read, and I'll continue to support Mr.Adachi and buy the manga simply because I'm a fanatic fan, but if you are just want to check out Adachi Mitsuru's work, H2, Touch or Rough would be a better choice.
cgfx.moved.in/main.php?page=articles&article=manga.15
Adachi's newest manga, still in the process of publishing. Katsuki Satoyama and Katsuki Mizutani goes to the same school and class. Attracted to Mizutani, Satoyama and his best friend Kyotai both join Mizutani's father's boxing club, wanting to have an excuse to get closer to Mizutani. Only to find out that Mizutani's mother divorced her father a year ago, and that she hates boxing. (Even though she's very very good at it) Adachi's second serious boxing manga.
The serie is still in its early stages of story telling, but it's looking very promising. Looks like more of my money will be wasted every
Update
Now that 12 volumes of Katsu! have been published, I guess the manga is no longer in it's "early stages". Needless to say, I own all of them. I would love to have bought the Japanese version ( mine are in Chinese ), but my Japanese isn't good enough for me to have a strong grasp on the story yet.
The manga isn't nearly as serious as the older Adachi works such as H2 or Touch. Well, the general mood seems to be a cross between Itsumo Misora and Touch. Adachi seems to be taking it easy, and is trying to have fun these days with his works. That's great and everything, but it means frustration for readers like me, who are attracted to the more serious and emotional parts of his past works. It's frustrating to see a great opportunity for character development to be replaced by another "it's a manga, wahaha" joke on the next page. Jokes like this were novel before, but now it's too over done. I miss the witty exchanges and delicate emotions in Rough or H2. If Mr.Adachi continues like this, he might lose grip on the younger generation of readers.
Well, it is a boxing story. However, there isn't so much focus on the sport as a whole. Adachi's works are always about skilled protagonists wining trophies, but there were always great character development and interation that makes the matchs more of a side story than anything else. In Katsu! though, because of the lack of good character interaction, the flaws of the sporting part of the story falls through. I'm not saying the story is totally worthless, because I regularly put on gloves and spar with boxing-like techniques, I do appreciate a lot of the small nuiances of the fights. However, for someone who have no real knowlege of the techniques, I don't think it'd be too interesting. Another thing is how unrealistic the progress of Satoyama is. This guy learnt to fight top contenders within half a year? I mean if you have a solid physique, maybe you can land some easy shots, but I doubt the techniques can be so refined. I'd expect him to progress and refine his technques as he go through the tournament, not beating everyone that come his way with perfect uppercuts.
Maybe it's just Adachi's lack of understanding of boxing that causes these problems. According to some sources though, he's apperantly an avid fan. It's just not the same as his older works. I actually learnt to LIKE baseball through H2 and Touch. I do like boxing, but not because of Katsu!.
I've said before, Adachi Mitsuru's mangas are about the sweat, tears and love of Japanese youth. This time around, it's not much sweat, no tears, and very little love. Katsu! is still a fun read, and I'll continue to support Mr.Adachi and buy the manga simply because I'm a fanatic fan, but if you are just want to check out Adachi Mitsuru's work, H2, Touch or Rough would be a better choice.
