7 replies to this topic

[Sebastian De Los Angeles]

Man, how come a manga like Bartender doesn't have it's own discussion forum? you can get a lot of topics to discuss about from most chapters. Actually it's one of the few mangas dedicated to topic development instead of character development,and I know that can be somewhat frustrating, (specially when we see Sasakura being happily oblivious to Miwa's or any of the other girls attention) but it gets me to think about the topic and it has a lot of humanity poured into it.

[Comadrin]

You're right, it should have a chapter discussion. For some reason, we've all been posting "latest chapter stuff" on the front page posts (which probably includes too many spoilers for someone who hasn't read the manga as posted so far). You're also right about the topic development part of this manga. I have learned a great deal of interesting things from reading this and from doing more research on the topics presented. Not only did I learn what a windjammer really was (NOT a wooden ship), but your's and PLG's posts about the folk singer arc got me interested in Mercedes Sosa and her music and also got me into reading up on the Chilean military coup of 1973. The real deal was one hell of a lot different than what was reported in the US newspapers back in '73, when I was in high school. As you said in your post, "It gets me to think about a topic," which also makes me start doing some research, usually starting with wikipedia and moving on to other sites and online articles.

By the way, love your "Q" quote.

[Sebastian De Los Angeles]

I'm glad you found it interesting, it's really the mangaka's talent which make's it possible to gather so many topics around a theme, but I think that's the appeal of Bartender, to sit down and enjoy a drink, be it a physical one or a mental one, thinking about what happened in one's day or life.
The folk singer arc was very interesting as South American culture became the focus, and being southamerican myself it felt nice to think that somebody took the hassle of searching about our history to come up with a character that felt very latin-american to me.

[Comadrin]

Well... Interesting...  So is the apprentice the villain for not being totally savvy in the world of boot-licking, back-stabbing power politics, or is the advertising industry underling the villain for having the filthy, fascist inclination to fall in mutual love with girl who doesn't happen to be his sister, mother, daughter or aunt?  There's no way it can be the fault of either the bullying, interrogating, "superior" who gives him the third degree in a public place and screams out these things in in front of God and everybody, or the CEO sitting at the other end of the bar, who acts like a Gestapo Gruppenfuhrer listening to treason against the third reich.  Everyone knows that sociopathic, power seeking executives, especially the bullying kind who embarrass their subordinates in public, are the acme of evolution and rightly stomp so-called hard workers (untermenschen who don't know their place) into deserved homelessness and into being blackballed in the righteous corporate world.  

 

My take on righteousness would be that the untermenschen subordinate actually has a 13th dan in aikido and turns every joint in their bodies 360 degrees and stomps heavily on what Kipling called their "essential guts," so as to render them incapable of promulgating  more humans in their disgusting mold.  I would rather pick the fly specks out of ground black pepper for a nickel a bushel than work under the likes of those two.  If the corporate moral high ground is held by the likes of them, juvenile testing for and incarceration of sociopaths needs to be made mandatory  in human society.  Of course, this will mandate that 99.99% of all political office holders and top corporate management be held ad infinitum.  

Edited by Comadrin, 31 August 2013 - 04:53 AM.

[Purple Library Guy]

I'm glad you found it interesting, it's really the mangaka's talent which make's it possible to gather so many topics around a theme, but I think that's the appeal of Bartender, to sit down and enjoy a drink, be it a physical one or a mental one, thinking about what happened in one's day or life.
The folk singer arc was very interesting as South American culture became the focus, and being southamerican myself it felt nice to think that somebody took the hassle of searching about our history to come up with a character that felt very latin-american to me.

True.  So often the foreign characters in manga come off as . . . I dunno what.  Sometimes stereotypes, sometimes just random weirdos because they don't know enough about wherever it is to even have a stereotype.  Although there's always exceptions--the mangaka of "Ikoku Meiro no Croisee" must have steeped herself in France.

[Comadrin]

In one sense, I can understand why characters who are supposed to be from the US come off as odd in manga.  I spent several years on deployment all over the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean with the military.  I noticed that in foreign ports, from Aqaba, Jordan to Pusan, Korea, many American servicemen (including college educated officers, who should really know better) swagger around and act as though anyone who doesn't speak English like an American (in other words, the person has a "foreign" accent) is mentally deficient.  I was present at a briefing given to a Jordanian Brigadier General and his staff (all of whom probably spoke English more correctly than most of the American officers present) where a US Major spoke to them as though they were all either kindergarten age or feeble minded.  I sat through the briefing wondering if it was really possible to die from embarrassment, and wanted to make a formal apology.  I kind of came to the conclusion what the term "Ugly American" was referring to, and quite understand people in other countries laughing up their sleeves, so to speak.  

[anmire]

Tried an Angel's Kiss the other day, which I would have otherwise never known about.

The layered flavors were delicate and smooth.

While it was missing the flair of the lips in the cream, it was a wonderful experience and each layer was a whole new story.

I will have to try other cocktails from this excellent story, and will likely be sad when it ends.

[bate]

why is there so much death in this manga?!