So got some new manga for my collection:
Your Lie in April Vol. 1 and 2
After Oda's comments I was curious about this. To my surprise, the series is licensed and officially released, so I took the opportunity to check out this series.
The first volume felt bipolar to me. One moment the characters were having slice of life moments, gags, and etc., then other moments are these very emotionally vibrant scenes meant to be taken seriously. It does both of them well enough, but it gets distracting when literally one page is emo shit, and the next page is comedy w/ chibi characters.
Regardless I did enjoy it, and Vol. 2 sold me on it even more. Once Kosei and Kaori perform together in the beginning of Vol. 2, it's some genuinely fantastic stuff. You wouldn't think you'd get too emotionally invested in a manga primarly about playing music since you can't actually hear the sound itself, but the manga does such a fantastic job with the visuals and showing the actual emotion of the people listening to the music it really is able to convey it very well I feel.
Consider me sold on this series. Already bought Vol. 3 and 4.
B
The Heroic Legend of Arslan Vol. 1 and 2
Another manga I was interested in for quite some time now. I love war manga like Kingdom, and Arslan seemed right up it's ally. For the most part, I really enjoyed the story, but even after two volumes it feels like the story is just beginning.
I was surprised at how brutal it was with Arakawa doing the art. She went full seinen with this series, which is fantastic considering what type of story Arslan is trying to tell. Despite this, Arakawa does suffer that classic manga-ka syndrome of samefacing a lot of her characters, with only a few standouts here and there including our main character himself.
However as I said, it feels like the story for Arslan has just started. I am however interested in seeing it through so we'll see how this prince will end up taking back his kingdom.
B-