bloody monday = bloody boring

I take back what I said previously about Bloody Monday. It’s BOOORIINGG because the story’s got no substance whatsoever. The perfect example of a plot-driven manga. I groaned practically at every chapter due to the stupid plot. むかつく!!! Ughh.. Skipped to the last three chapters and I’m thankful that I did. Turned out the mangaka made another outrageous twist. Bah. I don’t think it deserves the previous 7.5. I doubt it even deserves 5 out of 10

Vinland Saga

Read it. ‘Nuff said.

Bloody Monday

A fast-paced action with plot twists coming up one after another. Contrary to what most people say about it, I don’t think it’s THAT great. Everything was too much, even the plot twists. Reading it feels like watching a big-budget Hollywood action flick. Great action, no substance, just flash-bang-boom all over (think Transformer). It used the common ingredients and formula to make an action manga a bestseller and I think that it fairly succeeded in accomplishing what it set out to do. But that’s about it. I doubt it’ll leave any impression on me by the time I finish reading it (though I have to give the mangaka props for managing to make it somewhat enjoyable despite the  overused formula). 7,5 out of 10.

agghhhh

Hahhh udah bagus-bagus Vaizard nongol dan get the excitement back to Bleach knapa sepertinya lagi-lagi bakal kembali fokus ke Gotei 13 begooo!!!!! I want Shinji and Kensei and Hachi!! I don’t need stupid Hisagi..

Ughh I’m thinking of putting Bleach back on hold

just another random rant

Hmm Bleach has now been officially put in my “On Hold” list. Yammy’s 10 turning to 0 was the last straw. I’ll wait for 10 chapters before I read it. Unless Byakuya comes out. Ukhukhuu

On a side note, Elex is raising comic price to Rp 15.000 starting on May…!!!! Hahh!!! Sungguh teganya.. teganya.. dirimu.. teganya.. T_T

started out good but then..

I’ve been reading many noteworthy mangas lately so I guess it’s time for another manga review This time, it’s Belmonde Le VisiteuR (ini memang dari sananya r-nya selalu huruf besar, don’t ask me why), a shounen manga published in the Weekly Shounen Jump. First of all, I should remind anyone currently reading the manga that this review contains spoiler.

The manga is set in France during the time of Cardinal Richelieu and the protagonist, Belmonde, is a man who happens to be an illegitimate son of a noble man with a witch. His mother was executed for being a witch and so he was raised by the monks in the basement of a monastery, forbidden to ever set foot outside the basement. Inheriting the witch blood from his mother (FYI, in this manga the word witch applies to both men and women), he could see through anyone with his eye hence he was appointed by Cardinal Richelieu to obtain information from prisoners. One catch though, he can only use his ability on someone who nearly loses consciousness. So Belmonde drives the prisoner to the verge of losing consciousness by “torturing” him with a special witch sword. The “torture” is the main theme from the beginning of the story almost up to the end of volume one and is actually the fun part. It’s not scary at all (to the reader, that is) being funny and very enjoyable instead. The manga was set in a light mood so I honestly can’t see the prisoners as evil cutthroats. They’re just there for the author to show us the creative and ingenious methods Belmonde uses to extract information. Belmonde along with the other characters, the royal guard Roland, the noble girl Celine, and the peasant Chloe are amusing and the interactions among them make this manga very entertaining to read.

(SPOILER ALERT)

Unfortunately the fun doesn’t last and near the end of volume one it seemed that the author decided to start a new plot that regrettably made the manga less enjoyable and even a bit annoying. To me, Georges’ motive is not sufficient enough to make his actions plausible. Add this to the ridiculous event happening to Louis XIII which leads to D’Artagnan being the good-bad-guy, and the author had succeeded in making me want to throw the manga out the window.

Bottom line, the manga was good, up to the point the five assassins came, because that’s where the new plot starts. Unfortunately I cannot tell whether it gets better or worse to the end because scanlation is only up to volume two while the manga itself ends on volume three. Maybe I should look for the third volume in Book-Off (kayak ngerti bahasa Jepang aja.. ).

Inheritance Book 3!!!

I was casually browsing on the amazon, updating my book list and then I saw it…. (drumroll) Inheritance Book 3..!!! YAAAYYY!!! Finally!! after waiting for.. hmm since I can’t remember how long it’s been, it must have been a very very long time (hiperbola mode on ). The book is titled Brisingr and it’s coming out on September 20. Duhh di sini ada gak ya??

Double Arts

Time for another manga review This time, the spotlight’s on Double Arts, a shounen manga. It was begun only recently, still on chapter 13.  But it looks promising. I love the arts. AND the storytelling. AND the setting. It’s set in an RPG-like setting. And the flow would actually remind you of an RPG game. You move between towns. You gather information at each town. While having enemies jumping out every now and then. (Sebetulnya ini hanya perkiraanku. Wong baru dua kota kok. )

Apalagi yaa.. Yah gitulah.. Bagus pokoknya

Summary: give it a try. I think it’s sooo much better than Psyren which has been given many positive reviews

amber spyglass

sebetulnya postingan basi. tapi gak papa lah ya. kan aku dah lama kali gak ngapdet blogku tercinta ini

jadii setelah menunggu bulan baru (berhubung bulan sebelumnya aku bangkrut habis-habisan ) akhirnya aku membeli si amber spyglass, the third installment of his dark materials series. nah, dari halaman pertama, aku dah bingung. emang yang the subtle knife bersambungnya gini ya?? kok kayak gak nyambung?? tapi berhubung aku malas mengecek (padahal the subtle knife-nya cuman berjarak semeter dariku ) ya udahlah. lanjoottt.

naahh semakin lama aku membaca, kok rasanya.. semakin membosankan ya????!!!! jauh berbeda dari buku pertama dan keduanya. dan yang bikin gak nahan tuh ya, sepasang angel homo!!!! astagaa.. ini buku betul-betul heresy nih. gak heran kalangan gereja di amerika mencak-mencak sama ni buku. aku juga kalo yang dihinanya agamaku gak bakal tahan bacanya. and FYI, si amber spyglass ni ya, udahlah sangat ngawur, gak seru pula!! cihh untung aku belinya di periplus, gak di kinokuniya. kalo di kino kan lebih mahal 15 ribu (gak penting ).

pokoknya bukunya sangattt membosankan dan tidak menarik. apalagi bagian yang si doctor roberts. gak penting kali kurasa. ih pokoknya ni buku amit-amit dahh. definitely not recommended. tapi yang bikin aku heran kok malah yang buku ketiga ini yang dapat award ya?? sungguh mengherankan..

edited: ternyata nama si dokter bukan roberts, tapi malone. tu kan nampak kali gak berkesan bukunya..

Plot vs Storytelling

Dulu kalo baca a review of a book I used to not understand what the reviewer meant when he said plot and storytelling. I thought to myself, “aren’t they the same?” and thought that the reviewer was just being snobbish and that he deliberately used literature jargons just to show off (and to confuse the reader. ).

I started to realize the differences between those two things when I read a book of the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. I found the plot fascinating. I was very curious as to what would happen to the characters. Unfortunately I couldn’t stand the storytelling. The storytelling, I must say, simply sucked. It was very soapy. Numerous characters (new characters keep appearing even near the end of the book) with story twists which were not unlike those of soapy tv series. In fact, it was one of those rare books which I could not stand to read that i skipped through parts of minor characters. In fact, I skipped through the part of the battle between Stark and Lannister!! Can you believe that?? I mean, how could a battle be boring?? That shows just how soapy the book was.

At that time, I could not comprehend what the boring part was. When asked about the book, I would always say, “The big story is interesting but the story unfolds in a very boring way”. I still did not realize that it was the storytelling.

And then i read Phillip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” series. and what do you know, it was the exact opposite of “A Song of Ice and Fire”!! I found ‘The Golden Compass” as an exciting, fast-paced and, at times, thrilling. But nearing the end of book 1, I thought to myself, “what a lousy story..”. Nevertheless, I bought the second book, “The Subtle Knife”, because I wanted the excitement I had when I was reading the first book. And I was not disappointed. The second book lived up to my expectation both in storytelling but unfortunately, also of another lousy plot.

The storytelling of “The Subtle Knife” was brilliant. I held my breath, cried, and basically felt involved with the story. But time and again I couldn’t help thinking to myself “the story was getting even worse..!!”.

Jadii mo ngomong apa sih aku nii?? You could stand reading a book with a lousy plot if the storytelling is good. But you would NOT, I repeat, YOU WOULD NOT read a book if the storytelling sucks even though the plot is the most original ever. And I’m going to buy the third installment of “His Dark Materials”.