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I read a lot of manga. In fact I consider myself somewhat of an expert on them. Not that I'm the best or most knowledgeable out there, but I can say a lot about several series. I'm not an official critic, but I will try to stay true to myself. If you want to request something, I'll have a look. There are some things I can't make myself read to save my life, so forgive me if I tell you I won't do it. Do recall I have time constraints too. School is important to me.
For a start I'm going to go over the manga series for the characters I play in the Traverse_Town RP of Scribbld.net:
Eyeshield 21- This is a sports manga about American Football. The story follows a boy by the name of Kobayakawa Sena. He has 'golden legs' which allow him to run a 40 yrd dash in 4.2 seconds (this is NFL speeds). Unfortunately Sena is a timid child who just kind of lets himself get pushed around by the flow of life to avoid pain. Due to some interesting circumstances with bullies, Sena finds himself in the football club's clubhouse and meeting Kurita Ryokan. Kurita is sweet-loving, giant teddy bear of a guy that is also a lineman. Sena decided to join the team intially as a secretary, but later becomes a team player as a runningback. Sena meets several interesting people, Hiruma Youichi (the devil incarnate, comander from hell) the quarterback that chooses to defy the fact he wasn't physically built for football, Monta the wide reciever who was abandoned by baseball but never gave up on the path of catching, and several others. Sena's team grows, loses, ties, wins, and each character matures in a realistic fasion, despite the batshit insane humor that's going on.
The characters in Eyesheild 21 are what really make it different than other sports animes. Not all of the characters are good players and some of them have really crappy reasons to be doing what they are doing. In the end several lessons are learned and everyone experiences their limits. But at the same time, they are all drawn in to their love of the sport and respect of each other as teammates. Also despite having a massive cast, Eyeshield has a good balance with the characters. Romance is kind of on the side and unspoken, not to mention they make Americans out to be overly powerful, arrogant assholes, but I see that as a satire. The US is often seen like that by outside countries. They stay very true to the football rules. The artwork is remarkably pretty and varried.
Bartender- This is a slice-of-life manga about the healing power of a bartending. Sasakura Ryuu is a world-class bartender, he's not the best in story, but he's one of the best. He makes drinks that fit the drinker like a glove, from ingridents to the drink's history itself, Sasakura matches every aspect with care. He sees detials about his costumers that others do not expect. In the manga, there is an ongoing push from Miwa and her grandfather to get Sasakura hired as the bartender for the hotel they are seeking to open up.
Sasakura is a character. He's a nice guy that can't help but to help others. He's very true to his job and very down to earth. The stories of how he helps people are heart-warming and sweet. Everyone walks out of his care with a smile. This series is only available online, and I hope that it will someday be released officially in the US. It doesn't have a lot of action or romance, but it is as humorous as it is tender and serious.
Legend of Zelda- These follow the plot of the games for the most part. They are like summaries of the games with little side stories and alterting of the plot to make it flow. The only advantage of reading these over the games is that you get to see Link's personality first hand. Link has a similiar personality across all of the stories. The artwork of these is based off of the offical game artwork. They are aimed at kids, so some of the games seriousness has been edited down. If you play the games you'd probably enjoy these because they cover some things that weren't covered in the games.
Chibi Vampire- Chibi Vampire is also called 'Karin' after the main character. Maaka Karin is the middle child of a vampire family. She's odd in the sense she can still walk about in sunlight, that she can't use any vampire magic, that she doesn't have nightvision, and she gives blood to her victims! Karin is easily embarrassed and she tries hard to make those around her happy. Karin does, like other vampires, have a blood preference and that is 'unhappiness'. So she gets desires to bite unhappy people and her blood increases faster if she is around unhappy people. By biting someone, they become unburdened and happy. Karin is well loved by her family and they try their best to take care of her, despite her living in the world of the sun when they live in the world of darkness.
Chibi Vampire is a very cute series. It has a good deal of romance, sillyness, and blood. Karin is a sweet girl and her boyfriend is an equally sweet boy (even if he is the victim of circumstance). The artwork is very typical for Shoujo, but as I said before, there is blood and there is action. This is not at all like Twilight where the vampires are sparkly and two-dimensional. All of the characters in Karin are three dimensional for the most part and there isn't a massive amount of angsting in the series.
Asklepios- This is a very short series about medicine and doctors. It follows Buzz Medil, the head of the Medil family and heir to the title 'Asklepios'. He is being hunted as heretic since he cuts people open to operate on them and cure them of diseases. Buzz has to overcome people's ignorance about their illnesses, the church that's always trying to kill him, and his own fear of dying and failure. Buzz is a nervous nelly, but he's excellent at what he does. Aided by the extremely strong Rosary, Buzz journies across the land to save as many people as he can.
The artwork of the surgeries is very realistic, so if you're squimish about human inards, don't read this series. One of the issues with Asklepios was that it is very short and was written with the design of being longer. There are a lot of unsolved things that were brought up in the story and the conclusion is fitting, but not a satisfying as you would hope it to be. The characters are loveable and their problems are realistic for the time frame.
That's it for now. See you next week,
Bar-Ohki
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Rating: This chapter is rated T, for swearing mostly. Story So Far: Hiruma Youichi hadn't been openly married to his wife, that was something Anezaki has come to learn as she re-encounters Hiruma Youichi through his daughter, Emiko.
Warnings: Mentions of shitty father-son relationships and shitty mother-daughter relationships. Notes: Be My Escape is by Relient K, I do not own it. Links: To the youtube playlist To the links post
Songs for Daddy Chapter 7: Be My Escape
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Rating: This chapter is rated T for adult themes and a little bit of swearing. Story So Far: Takekura reminisces about the disappearance of his old friend, Hiruma Youichi.
Warnings: More hints of unpleasant parenting. Notes: Closer to You is by The Wallflowers, I do not own it. Links: To the youtube playlist To the links post
Songs for Daddy Chapter 6: Closer to You
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Rating: This chapter is rated T for swearing mostly. And a lot of talk about spankings. Story So Far: Emiko seems to be at the heart of all the matters. She's the missing man's daughter (who just lost custody of her) and is the one odd ball in Anezaki's kindergarten class. Warnings: Hints of abuse and threat notebooks. Notes: Wonderful is by Everclear, I do not own it. Links: To the youtube playlist To the links post
Songs for Daddy Chapter 5: Wonderful
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Rating: This chapter is rated T for drinking and swearing. Story So Far: Hiruma Youichi, a man who has distanced himself from his close friends for several years, has just lost custody of his daughter, a girl who's starting to enter the big world.
Warnings: A drunk Youichi who is also pissy. Notes: She's the Blade is by Sugarcult, I do not own it. To prevent confusion, I am calling all of the Hirumas by their first names. Links: To the youtube playlist To the links post
Songs for Daddy Chapter 4: She's the Blade
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Rating: This chapter is rated K+, for Emiko being Emiko and children being innocently cruel. Story So Far: Anezaki unknowingly has the missing Hiruma's daughter in her class. And Hiruma has a few issues with his in-laws it seems.... Warnings: A young girl who is not quite right in the head. Notes: Lonely Day is by System of a Down, I do not own it. Links: To the youtube playlist To the links post
Songs for Daddy Chapter 3: Lonely Day
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Rating: This chapter is rated T for arguing between adults and swearing. Story So Far: Takekura had remarked that his old friend had been missing for several years. Anezaki has a new girl join her class that's not normal....
Warnings: Crazy old ladies and football analogies. Notes: Photograph is by Nickleback, I do not own it. Links: To the youtube playlist To the links post Songs for Daddy Chapter 2: Photograph
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Rating: This chapter is rated K+, for Emiko being Emiko Story So Far: Takekura reminisces about the disappearance of his old friend, Hiruma Youichi.
Warnings: A young girl who is not quite right in the head. Notes: The Wrong Child is by REM, I do not own it. Links: To the youtube playlist To the links post
Songs for Daddy Chapter 1: The Wrong Child
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Author: bar_ohki Title: Songs for Daddy Rating: Most chapters will be T for swearing, adult topics, and whatnot. There will be a few M rated scenes for gore and sex in later chapters. Summary: A future fic based off the ending of the manga. Six years prior to the start of the story, Hiruma abandons his job, his football team, and his friends, disappearing into nothing. In the present, Mamori finds a strange girl in her kindergarten class, a girl strange enough to have the only remaining connection to the missing quarterback…. Pairings: Past HirumaOC, present nothing decided, future HiruMamo. Warnings: Angst, depressing things, death, childish innocence, Hiruma’s vocabulary, sex, and parents being evil. Notes: Nightswimming is by REM, I do not own it. Links: To the youtube playlist To the links post Songs for Daddy Prologue: Nightswimming
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Rating: Rated T, for swearing, adult themes, and using guns on inanimate objects.
Synopsis: In an Alternative Ending of the Eyeshield 21 manga, where Team Japan wins the World Cup and Hiruma is declared the MVP, the Devil Bats members have gone their separate ways. Hiruma and Sena are NFL players, living in America, and Mamori is the secretary for a big time CEO in Japan. To her surprise, she stumbles upon a 'vactioning' Hiruma who is up to his usual hidden agendas. He brings plans, tricks, plays, and ultimately, an offer she can't refuse.
Pairings: Hiruma-Mamori, Sena-Suzuna.
Genre: Drama, Romance, and Slice of Life.
Notes: The title of this story, 'Closing Time' was take from a song titled 'Closing Time' by Semisonic. The particular line of the song that drew me in was 'Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end'.
Click here to goto the master link page.
Closing Time
Part 1: A 'Chance' Meeting
Click here to go to part 2.
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| 2009-07-24 14:51 |
| Kumori Con Fic Contest Entries!! |
| Public |
| Evil Layer |
 hopeful |
| None, for now..... |
| contest, es 21, eyeshield 21, fanfics, hiruma, hirumamo, kcon, kumoricon, mamori, story preview |
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Alright folks, I'm going to Kumori Con and entering in the following fanfictions for their contest (Rules here):
These are all Eyeshield 21 stories:
A New Understanding: A series of one shots involving Hiruma Youichi interacting with individuals on the team. Stories range from Hiruma checking out boobs with Juumonji to convincing the team to show up at a track meet for Ishimaru.... This one is completed. Rated T. This would be placed for Best Comedy, Best Cannon.
Songs For Daddy: A HiruMamo story and a future fic. Hiruma goes to college, graduates, then is unable to join the NFL, so he starts working for Musashi and playing for that team. Almost all the old Devil Bats wind up working for Musashi (Sena and Monta do not, they join the NFL). Six years prior to the start of the story, Hiruma basicially disappears completely. No one knows where he went or even why he did. Mamori, who is a kindergarten teacher, has a strange new girl in her class named Emiko. It turns out Emiko is Hiruma's mildly autistic daughter from a loveless arranged marriage he hadn't told anyone about. Shit goes down and Hiruma starts picking up the pieces of his past to save his present. Why? Because he's lost custody of Emiko to his crazy mother-in-law..... This one is on going, chapter 26 in the works right now. This is a song fic, but not a typical one. Each chapter is a song title, and the lyrics and mood of the song reflect what is happening in the chapter. Occasionially I'll bring in the song lyrics and use them in the chapter itself. Rated MA. This would be placed for Best Song Fic, Best Novella - Serious, and Best Novel. With tweeking I could also make it Best Authencity.
Letters Home/Letters To The Feild: Two fics that are, in reality, the same story. Told from the perspectives of Mamori and Hiruma respetively. Hiruma is a Sergent in the military fighting in a World War II esque war. Mamori is the girl back home. Each story follows both characters and the circumstances surrounding the writing of their letters, trying to keep in touch..... This one is on going, currently at chapter 5 of 17 (for both stories). This would be rated M for Letters Home, and T for Letters to the Field. This would be placed for Best Drama, Best Romance, and maybe Best Novella - Serious. With tweaking I could make it WWII and yeah. Lots of tweaking. Ass loads of it.
So yeah, that's where I stand. I will be going through these stories, editing, then posting the polished stuff here this weekend. I need my submissions in by the 1st of August. Wish me luck!
I have won at the Kumori Con contest before. So I'm confident I can do it again.
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accomplished
bouncy