This manga makes me hungry for tofu...I'm going to make me some for dinner, I think. With veggies and soy sauce, stir fry yumm
Now that sounds delicious! (●'◡'●)
hai, hai, oishii !
Some sesame oil and some other oil (no olive) in the wok, (very hot), cut it up in little cubes, and fry it crispy. Then add all the veggies, shredded, the hardest types first (carrots, stems of the cabbage), the soft ones last. Add soy sauce, any spices you like, and stirfrystirfrystirfry!
And then.... itadakimasu!
In order to properly understand this manga, one has to know how deeply rooted the taboo on incest is in Japan, since ages. In Heian and Edo time, there was even a death penalty on it. So much so, it has given this mangaka the idea to make up some sort of an "inheritable curse" of incestual desire (which of course does not exist in reality). The taboo is serious enough to make it go beyond the atavistic worry for unhealthy offspring: the fact that a mother would try to link one of her sons to a gangster and the other one to a very ugly "barbarian" who, on top of that, has a strange religion that nobody in Japan really understands (even today), rather than letting them it do with each other, says enough about that. (Sionce, obviously, two boys can't have children)
The drawings are very good, the story is very well documented, of course it goes far to sloooooooooooow (yawn), but the characters are real.
Only one thing this mangaka really can't do: draw horses! The horses are absolutely horrible! :-D
it's a bit stational, but totally gorgeous. Such perfect drawings, such finesse! One can go on for ever watching it. This is a great artist.
Chigau is right. Nothing cheezy about it. Manga aren't Marvell Comics, in which violence seems to be the only emotion that exists...
To all you guys crying "why?" I've got an answer:
In the Japanese mythology (you DO know they're not as cramped up as westerners about sexuality, you should know; after all the yaoi you've read, right?), thereis a fertility divinity that has shrines everywhere, just like in many other civilisations, but those were all crushed by Christianity. Not so in Japan: since they did away with Christianity instead, they've kept their local religion (Shinto) unspoiled, and the fertility deity has little symbolical statuettes in the shape of a penis and testicles. Just like you can buy little maneki neko's blessed at the Gotokuji-temple near Tokyo, you can buy blessed little penises at the shrines of that fertility god. So, if a mangaka whit a lot of imagination gets the funny idea to turn one of those statuettes alive, nothing is stopping him!
Watching the quality of the art, especially the birds and the animals, my guess it's either Teruo Kakuta sensei, under an other pen name; or somebody who's inspired by his art and naughty sense of humour... The art is just too beautiful for it to be a weird joke.
(btw, to the Anonymous, wondering about a manga about a pussy: that's already been done too, and it's somewhere around on this site, just as innocent, and just as funny!)
So weird, that difference in drawing style! It looks like the mangaka's pen got worn out, or something, or like he suffers from carpal tunnel syndrome. Such awkward, shivvering lines... Still, it's the same artist. Bizarre!
The storyline, I don't mind. I don't make such a big difference between "adult" and child" stories.
There's no problem with a sad story ending, if it's as well done as this. Japanese stories are often sad; there's just as much enjoyment in having a good cry.
These drawings are extremely pure and lovely. Too bad the translation is so awful! And did you guys notice the weird onomatopaea? "Grak" , "dret dret dret" ... where on Earth did the translator find that? Certainly not in the English dictionary!
I find it happens too often in these scanlations. People who are Japanese, and know some English, but far from perfect. We may make do with it, since there's no other choice, but still, it would be more fun if it was well done. There should be a team of two: one who understands the Japanese nuances, and traslates them as good as possible; and then one, who turns the awkward English of the first one into decent English.
This refined work of art really deserved a better translation.
So well drawn! The expressions on her face, so lively and spot-on! This is one great artist. And it's a nice change from all the dish-shaped eyes-cutesy stuff...
Shoujo is so much better when the costumes are historically Japanese, and well-drawn, of course, the kimono and the futon and the hakama and the geta and everything perfectly drawn. Even if it gets sweeter than sugar syrup, I don't mind when the costumes are good :-)
To everybody who's getting worried:
THERE'S NO SUCH DISEASE!
trust me, there isn't X"D "XD X"D
Replying just since I love your handle. Cyrano deBergerac one of my favorite plays.
m8 take a look at this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koro_(medicine)
Well, mine too. One would learn French just to be able to read it in the original language, it's even better. It's all in verse, the whole play, but it never bothers anybody. Totally brilliant. Btw, Cyrano de Bergerac was a real person, who lived in the 17th century, a poet, writer and soldier. He's the real founding father of what's known as "science fiction literature". He was the very first one who wrote about a scientific way to travel in space and visit parallel worlds, in order to make social critics on his own society. And his nose wasn't all that long either, and he never was in love with Roxanne: he was actually gay... But the play is unbelievably beautiful. Among the best plays of all times ever.
Although your nick refers to someone who was no small potatoes either, Euripides!
That's a mental disorder, not a real disease that can be cured by mere things like massages, that's not the same thing. What this article refers to, is some sort of male version of anorexia: those are called dysphoriae. It means you are convinced there's something wrong with you, but there is'nt. It can be anything, but it's usually about a typical "weak point" in your self-image. For girls, it's their figure, and for men, it's the size of their penis. If your insecurity is that bad, you can start imagining things that aren't there, get very upset and do yourself harm.
In this manga they're taking it literally, not as a mental disorder. That's what doesn't exist. And whatever one may convince himself, penises dont shrink, unless you sit down in a bucket of ice water, with no pants or underpants. Then, it shrinks, yeah... but not into oblivion, though.
This is a hilarious and pitiful subject. Isn't it?
Ah is it? My bad. I just remembered people posted this when this first came out so my first instinct was to link it.
Didn't want to sound pedantical though. I just care a lot for youngsters, and knowing how fragile their self-images are, I didn't want kids on this forum taking this thing too serious and start to imagine things about themselves and get scared. Once an insecure kid, beit girl or boy, gets a thing in their heads, it can go real bad.
there are these countries where kids don't get any sexual education at all in school, and if they'e to learn everything they'll ever learn about their body from either porn or comics, they are at the mercy of what the porn makers or the mangaka make...
So, once again to all you boys: penises don't shrink, unless temporarily due to cold temperature (and once you get warm again, it turns back to it's original size), but not from any type of disease, unless you start imagining it and take your fears for reality! Everything else is in your head, and that you must fight with all your strengt and good sense.
Oh, and an other thing: massaging of the prostate is definitely a good thing, but for no other purpose but for pleasure. At least for young boys, that is. For older men, it can actually do help cure things like prostatitis or prostate hypertrophia.
There, I hope I've put all the scared boys at ease. I wish I could do the same for all those girls who weigh 45 kilos and still are convinced they're fat...