Sangokushi v39 (last updated Sept. 6)

I originally planned to finish this volume by the end of August, but I guess I'm now starting this volume at the end of August. Oh well. I'll be doing v39-40 before I get the 3rd volume of Chinggis Khan out, so enjoy Shu's Hanzhong campaign.

In the novel, there's only mention of Huang Zhong shooting an arrow as an underhanded way of drawing Xiahou Yuan into attacking. So by having both sides shoot, we do see some Shu-bias.

Flashes of Changban.

It's rather odd to see Xu Huang act so impatiently, since he's always been the cool-headed general until now who had to restrain others like Cao Hong. I suppose he was too eager to make up for his failure at attacking Zhao Zilong's camps in the previous chapter.

The Brewitt-Taylor translation says Kongming used a "bomb" as a signal. Fire arrow's probably the more believable method for communication at night.

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Sangokushi c253:   Sendspace
Sangokushi c254-255:   Sendspace
Sangokushi c256:   Sendspace

Chinggis Khan Volume 2

Happyscans and I bring you the second of five volumes in Yokoyama's Chinggis Khan! If you've read the Secret Histories, then you might find Yokoyama's slight changes to the tale interesting. I won't touch them on it now as I'll save that for the end. In any case, enjoy Temuchin's ongoing tribulations!

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Hox's Mega Manga Folder

Takahashi Yousuke's Maneater (last updated Sept. 13)

It's a rarity when you find artists who can grab your attention in an instant even as you're skimming through different manga. Takahashi Yousuke is definitely that sort of artist for me. Although he's an old-timer who made his debut all the way back in '77, I only found about him relatively recently, after hearing that he's adored by (and influenced) guys like Fujita Kazuhiro and Hirano Kouta. And man, no wonder why. His line-work is really something. There's something so seductive about the curves made out by his pen. Same sort of quality that drew me to Hellsing's art. I'll try to do a more in-depth analysis of his artwork in my next some thoughts post, so I'll stop gushing about him for now.

I'm working off the raws of his oneshot collection titled Tetsunagi Oni, but it's actually a reprint-edition which includes both Maneater ('97) and Tetsunagi Oni ('00), which are both oneshot collections. I'll be splitting it for the release so it'll be less confusing for the people who manage scanlation databases. Some of the stories are regrettably "flat" but I want to try and raise more interest in his art. Plus, I realized I've been doing only historical stuff as of late so I thought it'd be a good project to do while doing more Chinggis (v2 coming shortly) and Sangokushi (resuming this week). Release pace will be 1~2 chapters per week. There's 23 chapters in total for this 380-page 2 volume.

P S. His earlier art is actually more experimental in line-work, but I'm a fan of both his old and new styles.

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Some Thoughts About Webtoons and Panelling

The dominant players in the Korean webtoon market: Naver (left) and Daum (right)

This time for my Some Thoughts series, I'll take a break a from the usual post about a specific work or author and instead talk generally about a medium known as webtoons, or as I like to call them, "mobile comics." For those of you who've never heard of webtoons, they're basically Korean webcomics. The language barrier has kept much of it closed off from Westerners, like how manga used to be back in the 80s, but I've noted they've begun to gain some fans overseas through fan-translations of works like Tower of God, Noblesse, or Annarasumanara. Now, you might be thinking, "Well, that's hardly a distinct medium. It's just the term Koreans use for webcomics, which itself is a sub-medium of comics." And yes, that is true, but there's an aspect in this "sub-medium" that makes them distinct to most Western webcomics, which I've already alluded to in my first sentence.