What (Manga) You Reading?

Finally got the word from Rightstuf that the Sailor Moon Manga Boxset Volume 2 is finally confirmed.  
The wait was worth it.Now I can have my Sailor Mercury fix continue!!!   

And the Sailor Moonmanga boxset two arrived yesterday.  
Being one of those people who sometimes read the last page of a novel to see how it all turns out I of course had to go through vol.12 and see how it ends.  

I'm confused wheter or not those were the actual Sailor Senshi's and
Tuxedo Mask under Galaxia's control that were attacking Usagi or wheter
they were clones or else the entire thing was an illusion that she had to get passed to get to Galaxia for the final conflict.
Any way I still have 9 weeks before I get to that part as I am now only up to vol.3 to date.

Hmm, not to spoil it for you but you got things wrong. *Cheshire Cat grin*

 

Probably since I was simply looking through it and so didn't get the context.Still as I said I am only on volume 3 currently so I have 9 weeks to go before I finish with volume 12.
That all said one of the reasons I think Sailor Moon is so popular is because it is so well crafted.

Read vol.3 of Sailor Moon yesterday.Well,they go from one crisis to another it seems.And now the entrance of Chibi-usa too!
Oh and I found the following poem based on the Endymion myth
by Theocritus in Edith Hamilton's book Mythology page 154,it might sound familiar...  

" Endymion the sheperd,
As his flock he guarded,
She,the moon,Selene,
Saw him,loved him,sought him,
Coming down from heaven
To the glade on Latmus,
Kissed him,lay beside him.
Blessed is his fortune.
Evermore he slumbers,
Tossing not nor turning,
Endymion the sheperd."

I was looking the book up because I was thinking how the Sailor Senshis really were based off of Greek and Roman and not Japanese
mythology.What got me thinking about it was the fact that Jupiter's attacks include Oak Leaf Cluster and Thunder which were associated
of course with Zeus/Jupiter.
Though really Ami should actually be Sailor Athena since she is the
Senshi of Wisdom and Athena/Minerva is the Goddess of Wisdom.Though that would kinda ruin the entire idea of the Sailor Senshis each having her own patron planet because there is no
planet named Athena or Minerva in the solar system.So she got stuck with Mercury named after the messenger of the Gods,though he was
supposed to be also one of the shrewdest of them as well...thus endeth
the lesson of the day to quote Linus.  

So looks like the new anime will be based on the first arch in the manga,at least from the subtitle they've given it.
Now as far as the manga goes,I have made my way pass volume 4 and now am on volume 5 for next Sunday.Still wondering why the Dark Moon didn't take out Venus first,after all being the most expierenced of the Senshis one would think they would target her instead of Mars.
And the first of the Outers arrives with the introduction of Pluto.  

I wonder if there's a relation between Pu-chan and P-chan from Ranma. I know I should know it but never bothered to look up.

The Heroic Legend of Arslan
After about 150(?) years, it finally got its manga version! And it's disappointing from an artistic point of view. Cheap and modern imho. I would have preferred it be done by CLAMP or any of the classic mangaka artists.
Story wise, it looks like abridged but I can't tell more for now.

Going to Spokane on Monday.Hope to pick up something at B & N.Mainly
either SM Short Stories or else volume 3 and 4 of Silent Mobius
or maybe both.Depends.
I also see that volume 3 of the Blood-Cmanga is finally out.  

I think I might order the Sailor Moon Short Stories along with the
Mercury plushie from Rightstuf instead of buying them at B & N.Since it is
in stock and avaible.I will see about getting vol.3 and maybe 4 of
Silent Mobius at B & N or maybe something else mangawise if that
isn't there.

Well I didn't get either the Silent Mobius manga or Sailor Moon short Stories.Though after I had finished with my shopping I found out
I hadn't noticed but they did have the Sailor Moon Short Stories I just hadn't noticed.  

On the other hand I did pick up volume 1 of The Shinji Ikari Detective Diaryand Magic Knight Rayearth 2.   

SM is getting popular again so no worries about it getting rare anytime soon.

ZeroIn
I started reading it when the first volume came out years ago but lost track due to scarceness. Now picking it up again...and what a shocker. A main character getting killed off out of the blue. Even thought the title gave it away it was still so sudden.
Maybe not as shoking as Final Fantasy 7 Aeris' but still.

Clockwork
This "new" manga is about a world made out of clockwork mechanism.
A boy, a clockwork maniacspecialist happens to repair a legendary automaton. she's the most perfect automaton in existence. She vows to be his slave despite talking down on him and all of humans. And that's how the legendary terror organization rose to power!

I think I mentioned this already but sent in my order for Sailor Moon Short Stories this week.  
Near the end of my manga collecting since I literally am near out of space.

How the West Won: The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity
by Rodney Stark
http://www.amazon.com/How-West-Won-Neglected-Modernity/dp/1610170857/
Still waiting for it.
Anyway, from the advertising summary I can agree on half of the theories while I have others of my own...
http://isibooks.org/how-the-west-won.html

Only Westerners invented chimneys, musical scores, telescopes, eyeglasses, pianos, electric lights, aspirin, and soap.

chimneys
Hmm, let's see the oven was not a western invention and setting a "pipe" above it and calling it chimney. I dunno is that a worthy invention? In the past people had wooden homes with straw ceiling/roof. A chimney wasn't as necessary as in a stone home as air/smoke easily got out. So imho it's a necessary evolution rather than a standalone invention out of nothing. As to oven for example forging pure metal for swords only 19th century industrial europe was able to superceded asian(oriental) oven from 800 AD (e.g. metal purity/quality for Ulfberht sword).

musical scores
Hmm, I'm pretty sure asians do have score writing but I dunno how long ago. And frankly, musicians/(art) performers were not well regarded in asia until the 20th century. No doubt that hampered musical development. But strangely poetry was highly regarded.

telescopes
Definitely a western product, although, magnifying glass ... or by other means like magnifying metal mirrors, nope.
Then again it's not really a thought out from scratch invention. Any kid playing around could have discovered it yet not invented it. It's arguable.

eyeglasses
dito as above

pianos
Also a further evolution of many types of string-based music instruments. A mechanical replacement for fingers. Certainly, an advancement of everything before it. Again, not a standalone invention out of nothing.

soap
This is purely based on the biased definition that "true soap" is based on animal fat instead of basing on chemical property or effect. If you define it based on fat than vegetable-fat based soap supercedes animal fat based soap. Hence, asia or the orient would be first.

electric lights, aspirin
Seriously, these are modern inventions and are not comparable with all the other made in a medieval like environment. These are based on serious science in the 19th century.

Well, without reading it yet the author seems to try to force his opinion while conveniently ignore some details or aspects.

I can see why now that the three Outer Senshis:Uranus,Neptune and Pluto were so reluctant of revealing their mission to Usagi and the other Inners.
I'm wondering now when Sailor Pluto was reincarnated as Setsuna,it had to be before the others since she's already in college.

There's not much information about Pu even though she's one of the most popular among the female viewers. AFAIK it's not even revealed when she was awaken.

Really?
I can see why a lot of female fans admire her since she has such an exotic look to her.Plus she so
elegant and graceful looking.  

Seishun Pop vol 1
A guy unexpectedly meets his onee-chan after ten years and she's a coming celebrity.
It's kind of like a combination of Miyuki and KOR but not as good. Still, I'm curious enough to read up some more.

Claymore ch 149! already
Well, I skipped like 50 chapters since last time but now it seems to get interesting again. Clare has reached her limit, and there's no hope of defeating Priscilla. It's hinted that Teresa's going to awaken within her...

Well I got my confirmation from Rightstuf that my latest order that includes both volumes of
Sailor Moon Short Stories will be shipping by Friday if there are no problems.  

As suggested I started reading into the "Arpeggio of Blue Steel".
Yep, the manga is better and detailed. It looks like the creator(s) is creating new detail (that seem to rewrite things a bit) along the way instead of having a good idea of most things from the beginning. Good story. On the scifi and tech side it's closer to fantasy, though.

GTO shonan 14 days
Before I knew it it's already ended with (just) volume 9. And here I was wondering when it would end.
It's a dark bloody evil series this time. The amusing fact is that the original "normal" GTO had only one or two volumes released in the states yet this one will get it all released.

Gate thus the jsdf fought there
The latest chap. 35 has the barbaric JSAF bombing the Imperial Senate with laser guided bombs (bunker busters). Such outrageous deed!

Vol.9 of Sailor Moon.The chapters:Jupiter's Dream,Venus' Dream and New Soldiers' Dreams were all in the Mixx edition of SuperS.The first two in volume 2 and the second in volume 3.
Interesting enough it looks like Mixx extended volume 3 by adding a bit from the chapter following
New Soldiers' Dreams.The Kodansha edition concludes with Usagi coming home from visiting
Mamoru and coughing up the black blood.The Mixx extends it to the Outers coming to the rescue of the
Inners at the Dead Moon Circus and later the whole Mamoru and Usagi getting cursed reversed to little children.
It's also interesting to see how much a difference makes simply flipping the manga back to the original Japanese version,adding explanatory notes,adding the Japanese SFX and honorifics.
One example of the change is that in the Mixx version of Jupiter's Dream Mini-Jupiter calls
Makoto:"Butt Kicking Jupiter" while in the Kodansha version she says:"Monster Strength Jupiter"!

Got the Short Stories yesterday in the mail.   
Volume 2 ends with Parallel Sailor Moon basically it's a story set in the future that features
the girls' daughters.Each of the girls is exactly like her mom(they even have the same names for some odd reason...  )For example Ami's is a bookworm.
They also have Hotaru and Chibi-usa,but the star of the story is Chibi-usa's sister Ko-usa.

Aside from Sailor Moon I've been reading the second Chibi-Vampire novel,I know not
technically a manga still...  

Read vol.10 of Sailor Moon yesterday.Sailor Mercury was the cutest
even when they were 4 year olds on the Moon.  
(Yeah that was my personal prejudice speaking...  )
And Venus was the leader of the Senshis even back then,interesting how when Nehelenia shows up they break into formal old style speech.Was that
even though she was the villianness they still recognized her regal position as leader of the Dead Moon?  
Also,so those mini-mes of the Senshis turned out to be their personal
Power Guardian Senshis.Though it's confusing with Rei since instead of
Mini-Mars in the Mars Dream Act,it was Deimos and Phobos in their
human forms.

And so the final two volumes starting yesterday with volume 11.
I wonder if Stars is set in an alternative time line from the original.
The reason why I wonder if it is is because of the way the 30th century version of Sailor Pluto reacts to the phenomenon that is occuring in that time frame and states it's a warp or crack in reality or something like that.
If that is true than the Stars arc didn't occur in the original time frame and Galaxia caused a new line to originate when she invaded our
solar system.
Unless when Usagi freed the other Senshi's from Galaxia's control it resulted in amnesia of when they were on her control wouldn't their 30th
century adult versions have that memory and so wouldn't Pluto have been
come to the conclusion it was Galaxia?
Or am I overthinking everything?    

Yeh,overthinking too much. I hate it when bad things happen to my favorite fictional females,which in this case would be Ami/Sailor Mercury. I think I could take the whole Stars arc better if she had
not been killed off and then enslaved by Galaxia...hate it when that happens!    
Yeh...still not over the whole Dark Mercury thing yet either.
I'm so stupid when it comes down to it.