Black Lagoon Summaries Update and Volume 1 (VIZ) Impressions…

I’m not writing the summaries for Black Lagoon volumes six and seven anymore. Now, it’s not because I’m lazy or anything, but I noticed that they have already been scanlated. Whatever, saves me work anyway.

What you all will get instead is a, brief for now, impression of Black Lagoon volume one by VIZ.

I was pretty torn between keeping the book sealed and removing the wrapping. After mulling it over for almost a week, my inner critic won the battle. Okay, let’s get down to business.

The fronter cover is left untouched except for some minor text and positional adjustments. Comparison is below.

The art is completely unedited from what I can tell at this point. All the blood is still there. I’ll being doing a more comprehensive read-through when I have the time so consider the evaluation in this category subject to change.

A quick flip shows the language being pretty damn foul. The word “shit” seems to be a staple to the dialogue, and f-bombs are dropped continuously by characters without hesitation. There are some occasions where the English in the original Japanese publication is put through a font change, although why that happened is anyone’s guess. Again, I’ll be going through the book for a more complete impression, so consider this category also subject to change.

I was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of the volume end extra. Truthfully, I didn’t expect this. A nice touch by VIZ.

At almost $16 a book, perhaps justified by its physically larger size in comparison to the standard size of North American releases, this is a hefty investment for a single volume. But I’m inclined to say it’s totally worth the money.

Okay, that’s it for now. A more completely impression will be posted when I have to time to write it up.

Elemental Gelade Volume 14 Released…

*Not spell-checked so beware of typos*

*SPOILERS BELOW!*

A Minor Update of a Minor Update of a…. You get the Idea…

Today was an unexpectedly hectic day. I’m done with the summary outline for volume fourteen but I’m afraid that’s all I’m going to be able to get done today. The fully fleshed out summary will be finished and posted tomorrow afternoon.

A Minor Update on the Minor Update…

I mentioned that I’ll be writing summaries for Black Lagoon very soon, but looks like I’ll have to put that on hold for a bit. Volume fourteen of Elemental Gelade came out so I’m going to be doing a summary for that first, probably tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll finish it on the same day, as well. If it isn’t post by the end of the day tomorrow, then it’ll be up sometime Monday.

A Minor Update…

I find it fascinating how I’m suppose to be on vacation right now yet I still have tonnes of unwanted shit to do. Complaints aside, though, I’m going to start working on volume summaries for Black Lagoon volumes six and seven pretty soon. I’ve only got about one and a half months left before having to haul my ass back to university for another eight months of studying. At least I’ve managed to secure my preferred courses for the coming semester. Last year was practically hell for me since I had to wade through all those unnecessary and painful courses.

I’ve decided to drop my Del Rey Air Gear adaptation reviews. The number one reason for this is pure laziness, really. I have no excuses. The other reason is because the books look so nice and new in their shrink wraps I just don’t want to “ruin” them by removing their covers and bending their pages. Before anyone suggest buying two copies, let me squash that idea for you. I’m not going to purchase two copies of the same material just for the sake of writing reviews. I’m not that financially capable, and believe it or not manga in North America is, compared to the rest of the world, pretty damn expensive. I will be, however, continuing with the Elemental Gelade reviews when I feel like it. Summaries for EG will unquestionably continue whenever I get my hands on a new volume.

The blog update ends here. My rant begins here. If you’re not interested, stop now.