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snarpOn an eternally dark world infested with giant insects, all mail is delivered by Letter Bees - basically, heavily-armed mailmen. A Letter Bee finds that his most recent "package" consists of a small boy. The Letter Bee's name is Gauche Suede, which is not the stupidest name in the series; this honor goes to the little boy, our hero Lag Seeing. (Though there's also a guy named Ziggy Pepper.)
All letters contain "heart," which can be seen by, uh, shooting it with your magic gun, which is powered by soul amber. By shooting at the mail they deliver, Letter Bees can make visible the true emotions of the sender of the letter, and display them to the recipient in a sort of telepathic blast. I think this may mark the first manga actually based on the results oftelophase's random manga plot generator.
Anyway, I personally would consider this procedure overly invasive, but people on eternally-dark world seem to be cool with it. Lag, however, initially hates Gauche for his habit of alternately treating him like an object and being endearing and innocent, which I think is pretty reasonable of him. But when Gauche saves Lag's life and rides off into the sunset to deliver more mail, Lag does the reasonable shounen manga thing and declares that one day he will become a Letter Bee just like Gauche.
...So, putting the premise aside, this manga kind of skeeves me out.
It has the basic shape of a shounen story, and the art is very standard - it looks like Asada'd been reading a lot of D. Gray-man - but I've really got the feeling that it's being written around a fetish I don't have. Lag, who is a teenager for the main storyline, looks like a little kid, wears clothes too big for him, and bursts into tears constantly. He acquires a love interest, another childlike teenager who also cries all the time, and who wears elaborate ruffly clothes. Other characters whose appearances promise to be less consistent also cry. People look vulnerable and cast their eyes down and talk about their hearts.
Annnd there's a small girl whose clothes are always coming off. It's pretty obvious who she's there for. Jesus, Jump SQ.
Are all of these items just stuff that the lolicon community goes in for? I'm not well-versed in the genre conventions there, but that's the conclusion I'm reaching. I opened chapter 11, found that it involved the small girl jumping really high to reveal frilly underwear, and decided I didn't really want to know any more than that.
* This retroactively renders Gate 7 and some portions of Claymore, which also run in Jump SQ, rather more disturbing. Though I'm not actually sure Jump SQ has an editorial policy at all, much less a pedophilia-oriented one; its current lineup of titles seems completely thematically random.
All letters contain "heart," which can be seen by, uh, shooting it with your magic gun, which is powered by soul amber. By shooting at the mail they deliver, Letter Bees can make visible the true emotions of the sender of the letter, and display them to the recipient in a sort of telepathic blast. I think this may mark the first manga actually based on the results of
telophase's random manga plot generator.Anyway, I personally would consider this procedure overly invasive, but people on eternally-dark world seem to be cool with it. Lag, however, initially hates Gauche for his habit of alternately treating him like an object and being endearing and innocent, which I think is pretty reasonable of him. But when Gauche saves Lag's life and rides off into the sunset to deliver more mail, Lag does the reasonable shounen manga thing and declares that one day he will become a Letter Bee just like Gauche.
...So, putting the premise aside, this manga kind of skeeves me out.
It has the basic shape of a shounen story, and the art is very standard - it looks like Asada'd been reading a lot of D. Gray-man - but I've really got the feeling that it's being written around a fetish I don't have. Lag, who is a teenager for the main storyline, looks like a little kid, wears clothes too big for him, and bursts into tears constantly. He acquires a love interest, another childlike teenager who also cries all the time, and who wears elaborate ruffly clothes. Other characters whose appearances promise to be less consistent also cry. People look vulnerable and cast their eyes down and talk about their hearts.
Annnd there's a small girl whose clothes are always coming off. It's pretty obvious who she's there for. Jesus, Jump SQ.
Are all of these items just stuff that the lolicon community goes in for? I'm not well-versed in the genre conventions there, but that's the conclusion I'm reaching. I opened chapter 11, found that it involved the small girl jumping really high to reveal frilly underwear, and decided I didn't really want to know any more than that.
* This retroactively renders Gate 7 and some portions of Claymore, which also run in Jump SQ, rather more disturbing. Though I'm not actually sure Jump SQ has an editorial policy at all, much less a pedophilia-oriented one; its current lineup of titles seems completely thematically random.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 04:13 am (UTC)This is actually one of my favorite currently-running manga, though. There is lots of secrets and government intrigue and stuff like that, which I love.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-08 04:21 am (UTC)I just can't find anything currently-running I care about since Ouran and Fullmetal Alchemist ended, and Minekura had to go on hiatus. I'm following xxxHolic out of a sense of morbid curiosity, but I haven't found anything new that interests me. I have become bitter and jaded, like a rake from a romance novel, but with less occupational risk of venereal disease.
Bisco Hatori and Hiromu Arakawa need to hurry up and start new series! Possibly in collaboration.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-08 04:40 am (UTC)If you like post-apocalyptic survival/adventure I highly recommend Tamura Yumi's 7 Seeds. (Not available licensed in English, so you have to read the Japanese vols or scanlations.) It is my top favorite currently running manga and one of my favorites ever.