About the Mangaka
Type-Moon (Original Creator) is a prominent Japanese game company, best known for their visual novels, co-founded by author Kinoko Nasu and illustrator Takashi Takeuchi. It is also known under the name Notes Co., Ltd. for its publishing and corporate operations. After creating the popular visual novel Tsukihime as a dojin soft organization, Type-Moon has since incorporated and produced the immensely popular visual novel Fate/stay night. Both of their works have been adapted into anime and manga series that have amassed a global fanbase. (Info snipped from Wikipedia)
Sasaki Shōnen (Mangaka commissioned to do the manga) No info available on him sadly, if you have any drop me a line with the Contact page.
About the Manga
This is why some reviewers really tick me off, and make me waste so much time.
I’ve put off buying this series for years, simply because every review I’ve read has pretty much ripped it to shreds calling it the worst bastardisation of all time. Most of the reviews were saying how the Dr Master release was nothing more than a crappy scanlation. As a result I’ve never bought it.
Recently when I learnt that the anime was going to be remade and released again this year I re-watched the anime, and after talking to some friends, was talked into buying the first volume of manga.
Saying I was nervous about reading the manga is an understatement, after all the reviews I’d seen I was expecting something along the lines of Tokyopop’s Psychic Academy. However what I got was a pretty damn good release, not the best by any means, but highly passable IMO.
Art wise I have no complaints, Sasaki is a pretty damn good artist, his interpretations of the characters was pretty good. My favourite’s have to be Kohaku and Hisui, the two maids. The way they’re drawn always gets to me, they have a whole cute and sexy thing going on at the same time.
Akiha is cute, but there’s something about her design I don’t really like, she’s a bit off putting. But that’s probably deliberately done I think, since it mixes well with the characters personality.
Arcueid Brunestud is another that has interesting contrasts. She’s immensely strong at times, yet at others she’s drawn almost like a child with her naiveté. It’s a refreshing mix, especially in the later volumes when she has to deal with feelings of love and regret.
Dr Master didn’t do to bad a job with this release as far as I’m concerned. One of the complaints often raised in other reviews I’ve read was that they had left a lot of the original japanese text intact, and just put the english next to it. I didn’t have any of that this volume, rather I thought the layout and editing was pretty decent.
I do have to admit I found a few of the choice of words a bit odd, and at times the way characters said something was a bit out of phase. However you get that with pretty much any release, even the best of them.
I really don’t see what all the complaints were about, and regret not buying this series sooner. Granted this was only the first volume, which leaves five more for them to goof up, but if they carry on with this quality I’ll have no issues with adding this to my Essential Read list. I’ll be ordering the other volumes at the end of the month, and I’m looking forward to seeing the remake of the anime.
Where to Buy
- Brits: Amazon.co.uk or Play.com
- Yanks: Amazon.com
- Canadians: Amazon.ca
March 16, 2009 @ 13:31.
I’ve enjoyed the Tsukihime manga from the start. However, the early editions had wretched production values — muddy pages, peeling covers, that sort of thing. DRMaster has made great progress in the production end — my copy of the most recent volume (six) is excellently produced. Waiting may not have been a bad idea on your part.
They may have left Japanese text untranslated — and a few empty balloons, I think — but it never bothered me much, and I think, again, their quality control improved with successive volumes.
The manga gives you a lot more of the story than the anime was able to cover (I also think the anime squandered some of its opportunities, as well), which is extremely nice.