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   rec.arts.manga      All aspects of the Japanese storytelling      7,759 messages   

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   Message 7,746 of 7,759   
   Dave Van Domelen to All   
   Dave's Capsules for October 2025 (3/4)   
   01 Nov 25 04:00:37   
   
   [continued from previous message]   
      
   standards of this series.  The true villain of the series comes to the fore,   
   and it is as usual "rich old guys who will sacrifice whatever it takes to get   
   what they want."  In this case, using Chainsaw Man's ability to delete   
   concepts to reshape the world to their preferences...to the point it looks   
   like multiple seemingly separate factions are really just pawns of the rich   
   old guys.  The literal Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse devils might be the   
   good guys here, and not just because one of them is bonded to the secondary   
   protagonist.  (At one point, War tries to be helpful in a characteristically   
   violent way, but ends up being accidentally helpful in rather a different   
   way, adding sex to violence as reasons for the reader rating.)  One   
   impression I got from this volume is that the series is turning into a sort   
   of ultraviolent Nobilis/Glitch campaign, where the Powers are simply called   
   Devils and Chainsaw Man is an Excrucian who is Dying of Powers (but not of   
   Power, she seems to be dead for good).  If you got any of those references,   
   you might enjoy this comic.  If not, something of a crapshoot even if you're   
   okay with occasional decapitations and limb/finger removal.  $11.99/$15.99Cn/   
   #8.99UK rated Older Teen for a lot of violence and some sexual situations.   
      
        Dinosaur Sanctuary vol 7: Seven Seas Entertainment - The research center   
   cliffhanger from volume 6 is resolved in the first chapter, otherwise there   
   isn't a single thrust for this volume.  While past her initial "try all the   
   jobs" rotation, Suzume is still a rookie and generally works wherever they   
   need an extra hadn rather than having her own specialty yet, which is a good   
   excuse to keep moving her around.  A TV program does a feature on the park,   
   Suzume spends a few chapters learning to help a blind raptor on his own terms   
   rather than trying to treat him as fragile and limited, and there's a   
   pet-the-baby-dinos event.  Despite the lack of a through line, there is a   
   cliffhanger...someone from Corporate is coming to visit, and as the research   
   center arc demonstrated, Corporate is more dangerous to the dinosaurs than   
   any pigeon (yes, they are a problem, as seen in the TV program episode).   
   Some of the science text pieces get a little salty this time, the research   
   consultant apparently has beef with some in the community over certain   
   theories.  Recommended.  $13.99/$17.99Cn rated Teen 13+ (this volume is   
   pretty general readers, but the series does have some violent situations)   
      
        I'm In Love With The Villainess vol 9: Seven Seas Entertainment - Given   
   the success Rae has had altering personal-level stories, it's time to bring   
   the simmering "eve of the Revolution" plot to the forefront again.  Now,   
   instead of it being grist for romantic prospects (as the game seems to treat   
   it), it is the real enemy.  Yes, while she doesn't say so in as many words,   
   Rae has decided she needs to head off the fantasy version of the French   
   Revolution or a lot of people she cares about will die on both sides of a   
   bloody revolt...even if she can protect specific people from their gruesome   
   fates, the only way to protect them all is the divert the great river of   
   history entirely.  If she was in a "real world" that just happened to mirror   
   her computer game this might be impossible, but this IS still a game, even if   
   we rarely see game-etic stuff like drop-down menus and character sheets.   
   Creating a "no bloody revolution" option may be a lot harder than adding   
   Claire's name to a drop-down menu, but it's probably easier than reversing   
   centuries of social trends.  Especially with Rae's introduction of forensic   
   accounting!  Prior to now, the modern day stuff Rae brought to the setting   
   was more about attitudes and spoiler knowledge of the game, but it was only a   
   matter of time before her day job became relevant.  Meanwhile, Cardinal Lilly   
   remains almost too gay to function, and for all that Rae understands the   
   game, she doesn't really understand the WORLD in a lot of ways.  Most of the   
   time her modern attitudes aid her in the "treating the help like human beings   
   can pay off" way that a lot of isekai protagonists benefit from, but despite   
   this world being a dating sim it does not conform to modern views on love and   
   marriage and how the two rarely intersect for nobility, even if they do for   
   commoners (so her attitude isn't seen as incredibly suspicious, just mired in   
   thinking like a commoner).  Rae has come a long way from the early volumes   
   where I said she'd be a very unsympathetic male protagonist if she did the   
   same things.  Not only have much bigger creeps shown up for contrast, but Rae   
   has had a genuine change of heart, as she admits to Lilly...she just doesn't   
   think she'll ever fully atone for being the creep she used to be.   
   Recommended.  $13.99/$17.99Cn rated Teen 13+ for some violence and a lot of   
   romantic elements and some innuendo.   
      
        Expected next month: Shy vol 11, Isekai Samurai vol 2 (both of the   
   preceding technically out in October but did not arrive in the mail in time   
   for this post), Mecha-Ude vol 2, Cat + Crazy vol 2, Octo-Girl vol 3, After   
   God vol 7, Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc vol 10, Go! Go! Loser Ranger! vol   
   15, and maybe Easygoing Territory Defense vol 6 (due Nov 25).   
      
      
   Other Trades:   
      
        Trade paperbacks, collections, graphic novels, whatever. If it's bigger   
   than a "floppy" but not Manga, it goes here.   
      
        The Complete Megaton Man Universe Volume 1: the 1980s: Fantagraphics   
   Underground - WARNING: do not attempt to hold this in one hand like a regular   
   collection, injury may result.  This sucker is 2.5 kilograms.  I remember   
   seeing Megaton Man #1 on the spinner rack at the magazine store where I got   
   comics in high school, but I didn't actually buy any issues until college   
   when I found several in the local record-and-magazine store's quarter bin.  I   
   eventually started getting Megaton Man comics regularly (starting with Return   
   of Megaton Man), but I don't know which issues of the original series I read,   
   since all of my Don Simpson comics were victims of the Great Cull of 2000,   
   when I got rid of about 2/3 of my comics (about 4000 comics) in preparation   
   for moving out of my tiny graduate student dorm apartment.  I know I never   
   read Megaton Man #10 or the Pterano-Man one-shot before, and probably a few   
   others in this collection.  And I definitely didn't read the first story,   
   which was a previously unpublished story where Simpson first created the   
   idea.  This book was crowdfunded, and seems to have been successful enough   
   that future volumes will be forthcoming.  608 pages of 8.5" by 11" paper,   
   making it a bigger tome than most of my textbooks and slightly cheaper with a   
   cover price of $85.  Other than the cover and endpapers, it's all in black   
   and white, because it turned out that the 80s coloring work was not really   
   scannable without looking like ass, and redoing the color from scratch   
   would've made the project take years longer and probably cost twice as much   
   if not more.  Simpson's style seems to work better in B&W anyway, and later   
   books like Bizarre Heroes were done that way (IIRC, my Bizarre Heroes books   
   were part of the Great Cull).  In addition to sixteen full issues, the   
   "pilot" and two backup stories from other comics, there's several original   
   text pages, a bunch of old ads and alternate covers, and a number of "deleted   
   scenes" (pages and panels that got replaced in the published versions, but   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)   

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