JSM@CDS: Thundering Machine GP7! An Oath of Brothers

Episode 5: Thundering Machine GP7! An Oath of Brothers
MONSTER OF THE WEEK: Machine BEM Chojinju: He can: Do Machine BEM stuff (I think?), go BIG.

The Iron Cross Army has stolen missiles and plans to use them on Japan! When one kid, Ichiro, sees them transporting the missiles to their base, Amazoness orders an EVIL truck to hit him. Takuya saves him, but in order to do so, gives his Planet Spider blood for a transfusion. What effect will it have on the boy? Can Spiderman stop both the missiles and the EVIL truck? Hop in the Spider Machine GP7 to find out!

Remember last week when I mentioned some of the episodes give the Machine BEMs no reason to appear other than to explode at the hands of Leopardon? This is one of them. Chojinchu has no use in the episode other than to die in honor of the laws of tokusatsu. He is completely tacked on and unnecessary, much like the entire episode. Its bland fluff for kids, and Ichiro is a terrible character. No, scratch that, he's not even a character! He is a Mary Sue, through and through, there so kids can imagine that they could get saved by Spiderman and become his best friend forever. And no, it doesn't matter at all that he has a tragic past, that's just how Mary Sues work. And yet, the episode has some saving graces. There are some really fantastic character moments and little jokes early on, such as a bizarre scene with Takuya and Hitomi (you'll know what I mean), and some truly winning shtick with Takuya's sister (Izumi Oyama). Minister indeed! There is also some really cool sh*t with cars. If watching the GP7 jump over a truck and then blow it up, feel free to skip this episode. Otherwise, dang, that's pretty rad.
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List: 5 Manga For People Who Don't Read Manga

I have many friends who don't read manga. Some are put off by the stylized artwork. Others are scared off by 50+ volume gargantuan series like Naruto. Still others are confused by the right to left page orientation. I am always game to evangelize my favorite medium, so here are 5 manga, in no particular order, for the non-fans reading this to go run to a store or library and read right now.

Antique Bakery by Fumi Yoshinaga

This delicious comedy by Fumi Yoshinaga is only 4 volumes long, and features only slightly stylized artwork, making this a fantastic gateway drug. However, it's the characters that make this series worthy of your purchase; I could spend god know how long just reading about their daily lives.


Phoenix by Osamu Tezuka

 My first experience reading manga was the second volume of this beautiful, mind blowing series of interconnected stories by manga god Osamu Tezuka. The stories see-saw from philosophical historical fiction to experimental science fiction, but all stories center on the Phoenix, the mythical bird of fire whose blood grants immortality. Aside from being amazing, the artwork is carefully flipped by translator, and is only 11 volumes long, making this series new reader friendly. The second volume features an article about Tezuka, a short afterword by the manga god himself, and an interview with the translator Fred Schodt, who also happens to be one of the most important scholars in the manga community, and knew Tezuka personally.


Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima

This pulp-tastic yet delicately beautiful saga of a father and son's feud with the Yagyu clan in Edo Japan holds an important place in american comic books- that cover is not by Goseki Kojima, but by Frank Miller (Sin City, 300, The Dark Knight Returns), whose work was heavily influence by Lone Wolf and Cub. Dark Horse's english adaption is very good, the artwork is flipped with care, and the realistic artwork will be appreciated by those with more western sensibilities.


Love Roma by Minoru Toyoda

I have spoken on the greatness of Love Roma on this blog before, but allow me to repeat. It's short. It's unique. It will charm your socks off. There are some cultural in jokes here and there, but the translation notes are of the highest caliber, and overall, this series can be enjoyed by anyone.


Clover by CLAMP

Admittedly, Clover is not a good first book for everyone, but if you happen to enjoy gorgeous artwork and were scared off by the big foreheads of Dragon Ball Z, this is the manga for you. Plot wise, Clover isn't quite revolutionary, but Clover's real strength lies in the lavish artwork, some of CLAMP lead artist Mokona's very best, which is saying something. Also, the new Dark Horse edition is 1 volume long, making this an easy purchase.

Zyword of the Week episode 5:The Manganime Conundrum

Naruto Uzumaki, Naruto
I'm sure you know this guy up there. I'm not recalling his name at the moment, but he's kinda famous. This boy ninja has had an incredible amount of success over the years, with plenty of well deserved fans, and wouldn't you know it, they made an anime! Oh yes, now I remember his name. Ramen. Anyway, the anime is more popular than the manga OK moving along...WHA?

Monkey D. Luffy, One Piece
I have never understood this, and likely never will. Manga adaptions of anime or video games are often overlooked, and video game adaptions of popular series are often hyped heavily, but are soon forgotten. But an ANIME? Stop the presses! This is big and historic! Who give a sh** about the manga now! This is...

Haruhi Suzumiya, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
I don't want to be a prude, but most anime adaptions are boring if you've already read the manga of played the game or read the novel or whatever. The problem is that with some exceptions (Fullmetal Alchemist, Akira, Ghost in the Shell), nearly every adaption follows the original to the letter, except for when they want to cram in ten episodes of boring filler arcs that are easy to skip.

Son Goku, Dragon Ball
The fact of the matter is, these shows are made for TV. It's fun to tune in once a week with your friends to see Goku come to life in gorgeous animation. But the problem is, that is not what happens here. Nothing is shown on TV. Rather, we are given DVD box sets and simulcasts to watch alone. I don't wish this didn't exist, exactly, but it's kinda too bad.

Conan Edogawa, Case Closed
I think the answer to this issue is more anime movies. This seems to be the general path that the anime industry seems to be going in anyway, but the fact remains that nobody ever takes the risk of changing the original to create something new unless it's a movie. Plus, no filler. I'd say that's a pretty good deal.