About the Mangaka

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About the Manga

02 03 04

Took me a while to get back to this series after reading volume one, got side tracked. The differences between the manga and anime are both huge, and yet not.

As I said in my review of volume one, the pacing of this series is insanely fast, especially if you look at it in comparison to the anime. In fact the anime managed to get a full season out of five volumes of manga. Yet to be honest the missing material isn’t really necessary.

Art wise I was once again impressed by Iwango’s drawing skills. As I went through the volumes I was happy to see all of the characters were getting love and attention. Even support characters were getting treated well. This means that his characters all have good emotions on their faces, as well as in their actions.

His attention to detail is rather interesting as well. Pretty much all of the areas we have in these volumes have been done really well.

However what really made me laugh is the way that he draws the corporal. He made this character a gentle giant, and I love the way he uses him for mild comedy relief, (same as he uses the others as well hehe). The way the corporal can change in the drop of a hat (or rather the flipping of a switch!!) is both creepy and interesting. At times It genuinely looked like another person.

Story wise the developments in these three volumes was brilliant. We’re introduced to the main story, given hints of what’s to come, and finally left with a huge cliff hanger.

The story is far from perfect though, and the speed of it’s progression is the cause of it’s flaws. Due to the stories speed there is no breathing room. It wasn’t apparent in the first volume, but as it’s gone by there’s been no reprieve. It’s literally from one incident to another.

This is especially true for volumes three and four, which is where the story would normally be picking up pace. As I was reading them I found I was getting more swept along rather than going with the flow. There was no chance to breath and catch my breath after the previous incident.

Since we’re now getting into the main story allowing a slight reprieve in the story, to reset the readers, would be essential. Otherwise they end up feeling like they’re being dragged along.

Del Rey seemed to have slipped up a bit on the translations in these volumes, though these were more word choices rather than anything else. For example in one scene Orland refers to Oreldo and Machs as ‘Officers’. I’m not sure what I would have used to be honest, since the words that initially come to mind don’t really fit. But they would have fitted better than that did.

Though I do like the way they left the german intact, and their interpretation of the german unit names. I felt they did a really good translation that keeps the original feeling. The release schedule is insanely slow though, I don’t like having to wait six months plus for a release.

In comparison, the anime is better because it slows the pacing down a lot. We have a lot more humour interjected into the series. We’re also given mild rests and breaks into the plot line, as well as a more in depth look at the Invisible 9, something that has yet to happen in the manga. 

Yet the manga is still worth reading, and I can unreservedly recommend it. However it’s not good enough to get on my Essential Read list.

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