From: bliss@california.com   
      
   Nick wrote:   
   > On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 04:14:39 GMT, in rec.arts.manga, Travers Naran   
   >  wrote:   
   >   
   >   
   >>  And it looks like a REAL conclusion, not a   
   >> Takahashi conclusion. :-D   
   >>   
   >   
   > The only other works by Takahashi I've read/watched are Maison Ikkoku and   
   > Mermaid Forest.   
   >   
   > The ending of Maison Ikkoku was partly responsible for me becoming a regular   
   > reader of manga.  At the end of the anime series I wound up feeling like who   
   > married who was determined more by what the dogs did in the night than by   
   > any choices made by the characters.  That inspired me to read the manga, to   
   > see how that aspect of the story was handled in the original version.   
   >   
   > On the other hand, the non-ending of the Mermaid Forest anime put the manga   
   > into my 'read when I've nothing better to do' pile. :(   
   >   
   >   
       If you ate of the Mermaid's flesh you would know that this is one   
   story without an end.   
   Climatic scenes as you encounter troubled people but...  That is the manga.   
      
       In short nothing wrong with the Mermaid short stories, just as MI's   
   ending is about   
   as far as anyone would want to travel with the Godai family.   Of course   
   I have seen   
   the unreadably long and complex fan fiction about them as well as others   
   and could   
   have forgone that pleasure.   
      
       Each short story in the Rumic Theatre stories is self-contained but   
   similar   
   characters may appear in different stories.  Might want to check your local   
   libraries if you want to look at these without large investments.   
      
       The only reason I got into manga is that the VCR edition of MI ended in   
   the middle.  I went and bought the Viz graphic novels of the first edition   
   (with the elided scenes )and laughed so much I missed my bus  stop and had   
   to walk back.  I have made a firm rule since then to not read manga on the   
   bus.   Still trying to finish collecting the manga style MI second   
   edition but   
   things like new computer hard drives keep getting in the way along with   
   Tramps Like Us and the second half of AYA which gets dramatic, Yagyu   
   Ninja Scrolls:Revenge of the Hori Women, and a few others.   
      
       Meantime the rental shop has gone strictly retail sales of anime and   
   figures.  I guess I will never finish catching up on the old anime but 5   
   years of weekly and sometimes more often rentals gave me ideas about   
   what I like.   
      
   	later   
   	bliss -- C O C O A  Powered... (at california dot com)   
      
   --   
   bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco   
      
       Ningen banji          Human beings do   
       Samazama no           Every single kind   
       Baka a suru           Of stupid thing   
           --- 117th edition of Haifu Yanagidaru published in 1832   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)