2 replies to this topic

[Similar-man]

WAIT. Before condemning me for the title of this topic, hear what I mean.

 

Of course you could argue that all pieces of art are basically this, but this manga in particular looks to me as Hirano just pleasuring himself as much as possible with an alternate reality where all anachronism are possible.  It doesn't matter where or when the figure he takes comes from, he can use it and its historical/philosophical/political components.

 

Now that alone isn't what justifies calling it masturbation( and I'm not calling it that as a way of saying it's bad, I love this manga ). No, the thing here is that as of right now there isn't a big unique/new message to be understood from this work. This is just incredibly fun and interesting and I feel like that's exactly the way Hirano feels about making this manga. I mean, it's so diverse, and you have epic characters doing epic shit with other epic characters  all whom have nothing to do with each other on the surface but we realize that they actually do. It's basically exactly what my idea of a FanFiction 2.0 would be.

 

As I've stated before, there's nothing wrong with that, and art is almost always self gratification in a way, but I just wanted to say that this piece in particular gives me that "I'm doing this for my pleasure, so love it or fuck off" feel. This manga seems like so much fun to make, I'd love to see Hirano working on it.

 

Anyway what are your thoughts on that ?

Edited by Similar-man, 09 September 2014 - 10:55 AM.

[Ralan]

I never really felt much of a large message with the author's previous work (Granted I never bothered to really analyze anything).  One thing I've noticed when reading some fictional works is that sometimes you think you get a feel for the creator when they enjoyed working on it.  Plus I tend to like the idea that "A good story doesn't always have to have a big meaning to the outside world that's relevant".

Edited by Ralan, 13 September 2014 - 04:21 PM.

[Kerimacus]

It is still a valid work, and if the author (who, if i remember correctly, is a war history aficcionado from his earlier works) enjoys doing it it's even better for the fans. At least we won't be getting dozens of single apparition characters and filler stories, just because the author is  squezing anything he can find just so he can keep his contract for another year. 

 

And i think anyone reading this comic is mostly here for gory action Hirano style, but the characters are great and the references simply delicious so even without a big underlying message to the whole story it is still fun. And let's be frank all of Hiranos works can be resumed to the term you choose, pure masturbation of the author.