Nope

No more energy today I'm afraid. In fact, quite the opposite - I'm proper bloody knackered. Dunno why, I had a pretty good night's sleep. I think I'm just generally worn out.

Let's see, what can I talk about?

I guess I've read a bit more manga.

I finished up to volume 10 of Claymore. Really enjoyed that - volumes 11 on are pending from amazon.

I've also read the first volume of Doujin Work. It's a bit of "hmm" one. I guess part of it is that it isn't quite what I was expecting. The Doujin Work anime was one of the first I discovered after I switched to blanket coverage of fansubs.

Before that I just used to check out stuff I thought I'd be interested in, but discovered I was missing a few hidden gems, so I adopted blanket coverage. Anyway, Doujin work was one of the first that I really had no inkling I would like, but then really did. It was a "shorts" type of anime with eps about 10 minutes long and followed a girl (and her oddball friends) as she tries to become a Doujin artist.

The manga is sort of the same. It's one of those 4-panel gag mangas, which means story flow becomes a bit difficult. Also, it seems to head off in some really diverse tangents. In a way it's actually more like Genshiken and explores otaku culture, where the anime is more squarely about girl makes doujins.

Which isn't to say I don't like the manga, just it wasn't what I expected.

Weirdly, I've been kinda having the same experience with the other two manga I've been reading.

First off is Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei. Another one I'd probably not have known about if not for the blanket coverage and another I really enjoyed. And also another where the manga isn't quite what I expected.

Mainly, unfortunately, because the manga isn't as good as the anime. It's a bit weird in a way - they're very similar, it's just... I dunno, it's difficult to explain. The anime version just works better - the gags are clearer, better developed somehow. It's almost like the anime gags work because of the delivery and you loose that in the manga - you don't know where to pause. Plus the panels are often jam packed with extraneous 'stuff' so you're busy reading/looking at them and you forget what the joke was supposed to be.

It's also very rooted in Japanese culture. Now the anime was too, obviously, but I dunno, it didn't matter so much in the anime for some reason.

I'm really struggling to say why, but essentially I much preferred the anime version, even though they're actually very similar. Odd.

It's a similar story for Yozakura Quartet. I'd never have checked it out if not for the blanket coverage, liked it a lot and am not so keen on the manga. However, here I know why much more clearly.

The anime is quite different to the manga. I mean, the core story is still the same and the characters and their personalities are still the same. What's different, to be frank, is the quality of the storytelling.

The manga is all over the place - it's like the artist really doesn't know what he's doing, veering from one thing to another with only the vaguest hint of an overall plan. Something I read suggests it focuses better in the later volumes, but the introduction of focus to the anime is what really makes it better.

A good example of this is in a story to do with a character, Hime, adopting a stray dog. In the manga it's only one chapter and is kinda half-hearted. It's quite a harsh story and it's like the author stepped back a bit from making it harsh. In the anime the same story is much more sizeably told (not sure, but I think it's two episodes) and also it doesn't shy away from the harshness - it nearly made me cry.

Still, the artwork's nice.

And I managed to do something half resembling a blog entry!