Suikoden III volume 8
Nov. 4th, 2005 12:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liri
I was all set to bitch about how my Borders of choice NEVER has what I want on the shelf and this is proof they suck, no RK, no new Fruits Basket, WHERE IS MY MANGA, but when I came home and checked the release calendars, the only thing they should have had out that was missing was Genbu Kaiden. Tokyopop and Amazon can't even agree on a release date for Fruits Basket 12, so no wonder it's not at Borders. Barnes & Noble, however, had Suikoden III volume 8 out a week ahead of its official release date, so cue the dissection.
The color spread - Thomas napping with puppy, Cecile without helmet, Sebastian - is lovely. I want a poster of it. It would have redeemed, like, volume 2, if they'd had any reason to put it in there. The first segment, with Thomas dashing all over the castle grounds and in the process giving us a tour of the castle folk moblizing to take in the Grassland refugees, really plays to the manga's strengths, giving some sense of larger scale to the proceedings and covering real world details (fetching water and running out of cloth for tents, women going into labor at inconvenient times and small children getting lost, the need to try to keep track of large numbers of freaked-out people who are looking for other displaced, freaked-out people) that the game has to gloss. Plus I like all the cameos by all the peculiar minor characters.
Lucia's mention of "women and children" is an odd choice of phrase given that of the group of seven tribal leaders she's speaking to, two of them are women... I remember being struck by that watching Naruto, too, though I still don't know if it's translators using the English "women and children first" formulation for a Japanese word or phrase that's gender-neutral, or if it's just that Japanese creators don't think it's odd.
...fuckin' Shimizu. You cannot regain my goodwill just by making the Zexens strike cool poses; I know what you did to them for the first six volumes. Bastard.
The knights all look really odd in the two-page spread where Hugo spots Chris, I guess because it's his POV and she's the only one in focus. And Borus is missing? I thought he was just cut out of the big posing panel, but having him missing from the lineup twice makes it look like he's just not there. Was he left behind? I can't find volume 7 to check.
Man, the Karayans really love to showboat, don't they? Or maybe Hugo just takes after his mom. The "check out MY True Rune" display was kind of nifty (should prove handy if they have any fireworks-related holidays, too!) though I'm not sure I fully get why Chris doesn't get to do some showboating of her own. Fuckin' Shimizu didn't want to come up with another fancy rune display? They just want to keep something in reserve in case the Grasslanders turn on them? Okay, so why didn't she and Salome discuss that earlier? Beh. Yes, I'm crabby because the knights and Grasslanders then get into a big, lame, shout-and-make-dramatic-gestures fight about the Luc-manipulated hostilities.
Caesar's entrance was cute, though.And I liked Lucia's pride that her son's marrying a Silverberg. He's sort of taken over Geddoe's game role as the one who'd realize something fishy was going on. Chris's flashback to the Karaya massacre is the first time we've seen anything of it in the manga - I'm not sure why they held it in reserve, exactly. Because it would have taken away valuable pages needed for weepy!Chris to think about Daddy and how she doesn't like fighting 'cause it's mean? At least it has Chris explicitly ordering the knights not to attack unarmed civilians (AT LAST THIS IS ACKNOWLEDGED OMGWTFBBQ), it reintroduces Borus's role in the massacre from the game, and in an addition I liked, it has Chris experiencing Luc's xenophobic-rage serum. If she'd felt something like that and realized later what it was, it'd help a lot in explaining why she lets Borus off the hook over it in the game... I think this is my non-text answer as to why Borus isn't shown at these negotiations; if he's there, he about has to have some kind of response when Chris swears they didn't kill the civilians. Still not clear where he actually is, though. Also not sure if we're meant to take Borus's word for it about the massacre in this version. It could have been Luc... that'd almost fit with the way fuckin' Shimizu likes to adjust the good/evil contrast in the manga. Oh well. I wouldn't mind seeing a recalibration of the Zexen treatment.
Luc mentions not wanting to live "in the boring world Hikusaak wishes to create." I... guess.... that's a return to the chaos/order thing from the game? Insert standard "I just didn't pay that much attention to specifics with Luc" disclaimer here.
Strategy meeting - I may actually start 'shipping Caesar/Hugo, though at the moment it's still in the realm of childish snickering. I did like the scene where Hugo tries to pretend not to be completely at sea and Caesar gives him the Cliff Notes. Salome's "I see..." aside when Caesar explained the plan to Hugo irked me a tiny bit, though - I mean, he's just manga Salome, not the real deal, but still, he ought to know what's going on, it's just that like all mere mortals he's a step or two behind the Mad Silverberg Skillz. Or perhaps the idea was that he didn't overhear, it just all clicked for him independently at the time Caesar had it not only worked out but could explain it in simple terms to Hugo. On the other hand, it's nice to see the Mad Silverberg Skillz creating actual strategy and not just... traps and handwaving, which is pretty much how said skillz manifest in the games.
...the Chris/Hugo interaction is going to be like 'shipper catnip, isn't it? BLARGH. Futch/Lucia interaction, on the other hand,produces interesting plotbunnies has potential. Still no sign of Borus when the Zexens are around the campfire, and it's bugging me enough I really wish I could find the last volume.
Aaaand back to the Geddoe-gumi, where Queen's off doing something or other that appears to have no relation to anything anyone else is doing. Maybe they'll explain later. Jacques and Geddoe - why those two? Yaoi fanservice? We got Caesar and Hugo for that! - go off to meet with Franz, which means another reiteration of that "second-class citizens NOOOO" thing that bugs Merc, and also a naming of the clan Le Buque used to be. And a version of the scene where Duke and company show up around the time Geddoe loses his rune. Nifty fight scene. So's the one where Ace, Joker, and Sasarai's party get attacked by Yuber, but I think I scoffed out loud when Ace tried to attack Yuber head-on. Nash recaptured some of his Gaiden coolness with the rescue, and I liked that he and Joker recognized each other.
Not much to say about the scuffle at Budehuc - internal strife makes plenty of sense and it's done pretty well, though it would have been nice if it didn't have to once again involve Zexens as bad guys. And I'm not quite sure what to make of Thomas's determination right at the end - obviously he's come to a decision/ come up with a plan, but, um, what exactly?
Timeline at the end was a nice addition, though the information that the Flame Champion was active for eighteen years is going to have me flailing helplessly to work out an age for Sana, not to mention working out what's up with Wyatt. Hm.
...I guess, to be fair, the series as a whole is more like a trainwreck that turned out to be a lot less deadly than it looked like it was going to be at first. This volume is more like a fender-bender.
Non-Suikoden OMGWTF - Viz has the Kenshin Hiden info book on their release schedule for mid-November! There's an FMA artbook coming out too! BACK IN MY DAY WE BOUGHT OUR INFO BOOKS IN LANGUAGES WE COULDN'T READ AND WE WENT SHOELESS TO AFFORD THEM AND WE LIKED IT THAT WAY. ::whaps everyone under twenty or so with cane and hobbles off::
The color spread - Thomas napping with puppy, Cecile without helmet, Sebastian - is lovely. I want a poster of it. It would have redeemed, like, volume 2, if they'd had any reason to put it in there. The first segment, with Thomas dashing all over the castle grounds and in the process giving us a tour of the castle folk moblizing to take in the Grassland refugees, really plays to the manga's strengths, giving some sense of larger scale to the proceedings and covering real world details (fetching water and running out of cloth for tents, women going into labor at inconvenient times and small children getting lost, the need to try to keep track of large numbers of freaked-out people who are looking for other displaced, freaked-out people) that the game has to gloss. Plus I like all the cameos by all the peculiar minor characters.
Lucia's mention of "women and children" is an odd choice of phrase given that of the group of seven tribal leaders she's speaking to, two of them are women... I remember being struck by that watching Naruto, too, though I still don't know if it's translators using the English "women and children first" formulation for a Japanese word or phrase that's gender-neutral, or if it's just that Japanese creators don't think it's odd.
...fuckin' Shimizu. You cannot regain my goodwill just by making the Zexens strike cool poses; I know what you did to them for the first six volumes. Bastard.
The knights all look really odd in the two-page spread where Hugo spots Chris, I guess because it's his POV and she's the only one in focus. And Borus is missing? I thought he was just cut out of the big posing panel, but having him missing from the lineup twice makes it look like he's just not there. Was he left behind? I can't find volume 7 to check.
Man, the Karayans really love to showboat, don't they? Or maybe Hugo just takes after his mom. The "check out MY True Rune" display was kind of nifty (should prove handy if they have any fireworks-related holidays, too!) though I'm not sure I fully get why Chris doesn't get to do some showboating of her own. Fuckin' Shimizu didn't want to come up with another fancy rune display? They just want to keep something in reserve in case the Grasslanders turn on them? Okay, so why didn't she and Salome discuss that earlier? Beh. Yes, I'm crabby because the knights and Grasslanders then get into a big, lame, shout-and-make-dramatic-gestures fight about the Luc-manipulated hostilities.
Caesar's entrance was cute, though.
Luc mentions not wanting to live "in the boring world Hikusaak wishes to create." I... guess.... that's a return to the chaos/order thing from the game? Insert standard "I just didn't pay that much attention to specifics with Luc" disclaimer here.
Strategy meeting - I may actually start 'shipping Caesar/Hugo, though at the moment it's still in the realm of childish snickering. I did like the scene where Hugo tries to pretend not to be completely at sea and Caesar gives him the Cliff Notes. Salome's "I see..." aside when Caesar explained the plan to Hugo irked me a tiny bit, though - I mean, he's just manga Salome, not the real deal, but still, he ought to know what's going on, it's just that like all mere mortals he's a step or two behind the Mad Silverberg Skillz. Or perhaps the idea was that he didn't overhear, it just all clicked for him independently at the time Caesar had it not only worked out but could explain it in simple terms to Hugo. On the other hand, it's nice to see the Mad Silverberg Skillz creating actual strategy and not just... traps and handwaving, which is pretty much how said skillz manifest in the games.
...the Chris/Hugo interaction is going to be like 'shipper catnip, isn't it? BLARGH. Futch/Lucia interaction, on the other hand,
Aaaand back to the Geddoe-gumi, where Queen's off doing something or other that appears to have no relation to anything anyone else is doing. Maybe they'll explain later. Jacques and Geddoe - why those two? Yaoi fanservice? We got Caesar and Hugo for that! - go off to meet with Franz, which means another reiteration of that "second-class citizens NOOOO" thing that bugs Merc, and also a naming of the clan Le Buque used to be. And a version of the scene where Duke and company show up around the time Geddoe loses his rune. Nifty fight scene. So's the one where Ace, Joker, and Sasarai's party get attacked by Yuber, but I think I scoffed out loud when Ace tried to attack Yuber head-on. Nash recaptured some of his Gaiden coolness with the rescue, and I liked that he and Joker recognized each other.
Not much to say about the scuffle at Budehuc - internal strife makes plenty of sense and it's done pretty well, though it would have been nice if it didn't have to once again involve Zexens as bad guys. And I'm not quite sure what to make of Thomas's determination right at the end - obviously he's come to a decision/ come up with a plan, but, um, what exactly?
Timeline at the end was a nice addition, though the information that the Flame Champion was active for eighteen years is going to have me flailing helplessly to work out an age for Sana, not to mention working out what's up with Wyatt. Hm.
...I guess, to be fair, the series as a whole is more like a trainwreck that turned out to be a lot less deadly than it looked like it was going to be at first. This volume is more like a fender-bender.
Non-Suikoden OMGWTF - Viz has the Kenshin Hiden info book on their release schedule for mid-November! There's an FMA artbook coming out too! BACK IN MY DAY WE BOUGHT OUR INFO BOOKS IN LANGUAGES WE COULDN'T READ AND WE WENT SHOELESS TO AFFORD THEM AND WE LIKED IT THAT WAY. ::whaps everyone under twenty or so with cane and hobbles off::
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-04 02:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-04 11:53 pm (UTC)