Red (KOBAYASHI Hiromi)

just letting ppl know we need some help read more here: http://vatoto.com/forums/topic/7825-step-right-up-jshoujo-scans-is-in-town/

This is horribly cliched. Even worse, it's set in America, so I can get irritated over all sorts of inaccuracies. First off, where are the black people? Between rural Mississippi and Los Angeles, they have to be in there somewhere. Second, I don't know a single person who thinks (natural) red hair is ugly. A girl being made fun of because she's poor I can believe, but not for having red hair. Third- and there's no way anyone but an American would know this- no one in the South says 'soda.' It's coke, seriously. Lastly, I have no idea how the main character ended up so naive. It just doesn't happen.

So, to sum it up...older drawing style, lots of cliches, and lots of plot holes.

I wouldn't say cliches as it is mis/under-representative of reality. But I will answer some of the Qs you have.

 

1) there is an extreme lack of diverse setting in general so that could be one reason for the lack of different ethnic groups or minorities. That said, I believe most of those grocery store cheap romance novels (like the one that this manga is adapted from) have a lack of representation as well.

2) this is simply for the extreme melodramatic-ness of this story. don't take it to heart. However there are people who hate "gingers" aka people with red hair. Today, there still exists a national "Kick a Ginger" day but most people I know don't even know about this day. The people whom I know that know about this day simply joke around about it (no physical or verbal harm is done). I didn't even know about this day until about a year ago or so. 

3) I don't know what soda has to do with this since I'm not from and do not live in the South. No one in my state would know what you are talking about even if from north or south of the state. 

4) I think considering her damaged environment and up bringing, there are one of two things that happen to people in her situation, they grow up callous towards everyone in the world or they grow up naive. Since she is from a rural area, I think it adds more to the lack of intellect. 

 

This is also before the digital/technical age. Who knows, maybe there are more people like that back then than we give credit for. 

there is a difference between comics and manga. the main difference is that in manga the chapter isn´t colored so ofc you would name it manga and not comic.
also why would you name it a comic? just because the "book" was written by an american it doesn´t make it a comic.

I'm late on the discussion but I seem to see only a difference in technicality. When translating the word into another language, it's all the same thing--manga-->comic/cartoon-->manhua-->manhwa. Don't bother with the technical stuff, just call it a graphic novel then. That's as simple as you can get. Why do you think book stores and libraries put them all in the graphic novel section?

 

Also, who hasn't heard of a novel from another country being adapted into a comic/ma nga/manhwa/manhua/graphic novel?

Well here's another chapter of Red, enjoy! 

It's a good read. As mentioned earlier, it has some inconsistencies which makes it a bit unrealistic, but I enjoy reading it.

Though it seems too slow in it's updates..

Fixed, sorry about that.

The pages are all scrambled up "

@Nepenthe: It's a manga based on a book written by American author Erica Spindler, the original story takes place in America so that explains the setting. Now it's based on it, it's not a word for word translation into a manga so liberties will be made.

I'm from the south and I say soda. Strawberry soda is that rich red color. Strawberry coke would be like that Cherry Coke/Pepsi, deep redish brown or whatever that color is. To be honest for as long as I've lived here in the south I've only heard people say coke when they wanted a brown soda such as Pepsi, Coke, RC cola, and the like.

It is cliched on some parts given the personality of the men and the jealous women then the heroine who has yet to do any wrong. If this turns out to be one of those annoying Cinderella stories where she doesn't have to make any personal effort I will be ticked.

Her naivety I can blame on the lack of exposure at her home, but her aversion towards men is understandable.

Yeah the lack of ethnicity is unsettling. I'm almost surprised that we have homosexual characters to speak of. But I wonder if that would be cliched too, the gay men in a hair salon in LA.

But what of the plot holes you speak of?

And what's wrong with the older style? Given that it was published in 99 it seems okay. I rather like it, it keeps it from looking like some teen shoujo where I keep expecting them to don a school uniform.

Overall I find it rather funny. Americans love to take and gore up Asian horror movies, and they in turn they take American novels and Harlequins and turn it into cliched manga.

This is horribly cliched. Even worse, it's set in America, so I can get irritated over all sorts of inaccuracies. First off, where are the black people? Between rural Mississippi and Los Angeles, they have to be in there somewhere. Second, I don't know a single person who thinks (natural) red hair is ugly. A girl being made fun of because she's poor I can believe, but not for having red hair. Third- and there's no way anyone but an American would know this- no one in the South says 'soda.' It's coke, seriously. Lastly, I have no idea how the main character ended up so naive. It just doesn't happen.

So, to sum it up...older drawing style, lots of cliches, and lots of plot holes.

this manga made me tear up...
im waiting for the next chapters.

there is a difference between comics and manga. the main difference is that in manga the chapter isn´t colored so ofc you would name it manga and not comic.
also why would you name it a comic? just because the "book" was written by an american it doesn´t make it a comic.

I believe you're missing my point. It's not so much about it being a comic as it is being of western origin. Manga are not called comic books because comics are considered western while manga is Japanese. So the question remains, does a story that is western in origin be considered manga if its not Japanese? From the previous post, I can take it to mean if x-men or superman had a Japanese artist, it should then be considered manga and that's not right. Or if a Japanese publisher bought them, it would be manga. Again not right.

@Cristopher: first of all its not a western comic, it is a story that had been published without any pictures, you can say it was a book.
in japan they took the book and made from it the manga, so yes you can call it manga.
and yes I know the word book is not right here but I don´t know how you can call that kind of "book".

I've been wondering this for awhile... Can you really call western comics published by Japanese publishers, manga?