Manga comparison thread

Started by Bentley83 pages

Oda: He knows where he is going, even when we don't like it. The pacing is clearly voluntary, Oda builds his world piece by piece, inserting hints here and there and involving different characters into non-fighting plots. If he starts doing the manga as others want him to do, he loses, so he rather stick to his guns. Oda believes that action can be a focus in the manga even when his heroes aren't in physical danger, apparently the fans don't agree. The worldbuilding is among the best I've seen.

Kishi: Gravitas, creepiness and scope actually work in his book. He proposes an interesting world with deep powersets and emotional characters. Sadly, he constantly does too much. He gives his characters too many abilities -instead of using just a few powers creatively-, he shifts focuses in a rather drastical fashion and abandons his own characters, he powerscales way too much -as of late- ruining partially the inherent interest of his worlds. When he restrains himself, his book is really fun and his caracterizations are good.

Yasuhisa Hara: The drama man. He can write a scene of just people talking and put so much weight on it that it becomes a "ph_ck yeah" moment. Good work on writting about tactics and general strategy, even when outcomes are more or less predictable you really enjoy the path that leads to them. You see characters from the outside, they don't develop that much, but it works excellently. Sometimes his characters are just too good for their own wellbeing, it makes for some anticlimactic moments.

I won't talk about the art, because they are all rather good. Oda has the more flagrant weak days and sometimes his panels are just weird. In Naruto there is something odd about some action sequences, but those are hard to depict so I won't be too picky. Hara has some weird art with odd proportions, and the one-on-one battle scences tend to be a bit repetitive.

You think they're rather good?

I think Oda, Kishi, and Kubo all kind of suck in the grand scheme of things, to be honest.

I mean, admittedly my standards are a little high due to series that on a chapter to chapter basis simply have more time put into them, like Berserk or Vinland Saga, but even the weekly Negima was better overall than all three, IMO.

Originally posted by NemeBro
You think they're rather good?

Geez man, way to call me out. I felt forced to talk about the art so I clearly spoke the first sh_t that came to mind.

They all suck major ballz ๐Ÿ‘†

Calm down, I wasn't trying to gang up on you and hurt your precious feelings.

Originally posted by NemeBro
Calm down, I wasn't trying to gang up on you and hurt your precious feelings.

I thought it was funny that you actually found out that I was half_ssedly writing that part of my post ๐Ÿ˜›

My feelings aren't hurt (not because of that anyways ๐Ÿ™ ๐Ÿ™ ๐Ÿ™ )

Originally posted by NemeBro
You think they're rather good?

I think Oda, Kishi, and Kubo all kind of suck in the grand scheme of things, to be honest.

I mean, admittedly my standards are a little high due to series that on a chapter to chapter basis simply have more time put into them, like Berserk or Vinland Saga, but even the weekly Negima was better overall than all three, IMO.

Seriously, what they all do is very impressive in my eyes. It takes crazy skills to do what any of 'em do, and most manga in Japan- pro manga, mind you- is not at their level.

And 'even Negima,' is more a testament to Akamatsu than anything else. He took more breaks, and obviously has taken time to improve between manga.

They've got their weaknesses, but the top-shelf manga is full of impressive pros.

Stuff like Berserk and Vinland saga is a lot more detailed (and, as you say, takes a lot more time), but the kind of stuff you see in the big shonen manga is really hard to do.

I could never get into Negima, mostly because I loathed that perfect little prick mary sue Negi.

I think Kishi is good, Kubo is not good and up his own ass and I think Oda is actually pretty great.

Oda I used to rate higher, but I think his bad habits have gotten worse. I suspect his editors are too enamored with his success and not giving enough advice on cuts and such.

Negi does spend a good amount of time getting his butt kicked. And, interestingly, he never becomes the most powerful character around, and it's a really long time before he surpasses a number of people in the class (Mana and Kaede stay above him until well into part 2, and he never, ever surpasses Eva or Rakan).

I remembered a criticism of Kishi, dude WAY overuses flashbacks. And puts them into pretty stupid places too.

Originally posted by Nephthys
I remembered a criticism of Kishi, dude WAY overuses flashbacks. And puts them into pretty stupid places too.

Oh yes, that's a real criticism. Especially in a big battle, he'll take multiple flashback breaks.

The flashbacks are usually *good*, but...

Originally posted by Q99
Oda I used to rate higher, but I think his bad habits have gotten worse. I suspect his editors are too enamored with his success and not giving enough advice on cuts and such.

Negi does spend a good amount of time getting his butt kicked. And, interestingly, he never becomes the most powerful character around, and it's a really long time before he surpasses a number of people in the class (Mana and Kaede stay above him until well into part 2, and he never, ever surpasses Eva or Rakan).

Negi is a mary sue though, and he's the worst kind of mary sue. He's the kind that drags down the rest of the cast into his event horizon of douchebaggery.

Is he the strongest character in the series? No. But he is apparently so important to so many of his student's lives that they actively shape their futures around helping Negi, because they can't envision a future without him in it.

Also, a ten year old boy heading a planetary terraforming project? Lol.

๐Ÿ‘†

He's a complete Sue. Hes a 10 year old teacher with incredible magic powers, every character falls in love with him and he gets to make out with them all. Gag. **** that guy.

Shonen heroes *always* get a lot of people interested in helping them, that's not a Negi thing, that's a genre thing, and I find him better written and more interesting than most.

And... 'shape their lives' around him? Well, Chachamaru (the young robot who didn't have much goals before hand) decided to focus on working with him, but even those who're close to him never lose sight of their own interests and desires, just to help Negi too while they're at it. Asuna doesn't, Nodoka doesn't, Chisame doesn't, Ku Fei doesn't, etc..


Also, a ten year old boy heading a planetary terraforming project? Lol.

Involved in it, due to being familiar with both sides and a celebrity on one, being involved in the giant world-saving battle that made it possible... and closely partnered with a highly intelligent immortal artificial being who handles a lot of the work, Fate.

And he is definitely older than that by the end. Remember, there's lot of time dilation in the series. He spends 9 months at Eva's, a couple months in the magic world (which equal about a week or two in ours the way it worked out), a year or so in ours... I know, just a few years isn't that much, but also this was a project planned to take decades and decades, so there was planning for the long haul in there.

Originally posted by Q99
Shonen heroes *always* get a lot of people interested in helping them, that's not a Negi thing, that's a genre thing, and I find him better written and more interesting than most.

Except Negima started as a harem series. The start of the manga is about how all the girls want to peg him like a hat.

You guys should read Dragons Rioting. ^_^

1. Naruto
2. One Piece
3. Bleach.

Pretty clear cut week all things considered. May be persuaded to swap 2 and 3 but Bleach honestly does leave a bad taste in my mouth from a sheer writing perspective.

One Piece/Naruto
Kingdom

It could've been a clear win for Naruto but I have a very low tolerance for those flashbacks right now.

One Piece had a flashback. ๐Ÿ˜›

One that I honestly see going on for quite a while.

Kenpachi is what turned this chapter from a 6/10 to a 10/10.

Originally posted by AuraAngel
One Piece had a flashback. ๐Ÿ˜›

One that I honestly see going on for quite a while.

Yeah, but as long as it isn't a long_ss flashback like Noland's they still haven't used up my tolerance.

Noland better show up in Joyboy's backstory.

Edit: I think those instances happen on a 400 year interval, but I don't care *shakes his fist*