Takehiko Inoue's Vagabond
Gottsu-Iiyan continues his translation of the conversation between Eiichiro Oda and Takehiko Inoue at The Eastern Edge. Here’s a philosophical moment from Inoue:
To draw a scene in which that many people are cut dead… It really made me no longer believe in simple victory or defeat. It’s a battle, so of course there is a winner and loser. However, I ended up doubting the value in victory. If you doubt what you’re doing, you can’t draw the comics, can you? I thought, is winning truly victory? Is it a good thing? It was tough because I was disturbed by that feeling of contradiction. However, I made of point of drawing a scene in which 70 people are cut down precisely to experience that feeling.
Helen McCarthy continues her research on pioneer manga creator Ippei Okamoto with an annotated list of his works (and some sample art) at her blog.
Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith talk about some recent manga, working from worst to best, in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf.
At The Manga Curmudgeon, David Welsh reaches the letter I in his Seinen Alphabet.
Reviews
Kristin on vol. 9 of Black Lagoon (Comic Attack)
Tangognat on vols. 1, 12, and 13 of Gakuen Alice (Tangognat)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 16 of Hayate the Combat Butler (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 10 of Kitchen Princess (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Erica Friedman on vol. 2 of K-ON! (Okazu)
Connnie on vol. 1 of Love Control (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 6 of Otomen (Slightly Biased Manga)
Lori Henderson on vol. 11 of SA (Comics Village)
Leroy Douresseaux on vols. 13-15 of Suzuka (omnibus edition) (I Reads You)
Ken Haley on vol. 3 of Vampire Hunter D (Sequential Ink)
Lori Henderson on vols. 5 and 6 of You’re So Cool (Manga Xanadu)