VOLUME 1
11/10/24 - 11/11/24
This manga opens with Hunter x Hunter Gon fishing, and even more similarly it's
about getting permission from family to leave the island. HxH is more hopeful
while Rave Master is a little grim, what with the big attack by the Demon Card
guys. Feber looks absurd and is drawn like a retard, and there are some big
issues with proper anatomy and perspectives, but it's still charming to look at
and I have no issue. It also is vaguely One Piece-esque in style but then again
I've barely read that manga past a few dozen chapters.
The plot could be a decent JRPG opener and I'll be taking notes on that, especially the idea of the powerful sword breaking and having to go on a quest to fix it. Cattleya has to be the dumbest name I've ever seen in Japanese fiction. No way it's "Cattle-ya", it has to be a fucked up translation of KA-TO-RYA, which ought to be Catoria or Catria. What do I know though? Maybe I'm just dumb cattle. She is fucking HAWT though, with big boobies. Chapter 3's cover has Cattleya all tan and sexy. I hope we see her again in future volumes, or more hotties. Oh, and Nakajima reminds me of Bobobo Bo Bobobo character design, and I'm planning on reading that when I'm done with Rave Master.
Look at Cattleya's arms...
Cattleya is smokin'!
VOLUME 2
11/15/24
The first thing that I noticed was how the music naming scheme was whimsical
but not exactly compelling considering how common arbitrary, silly names are in
shounen manga (food for example, in Dragon Ball). So while the names make it
unique, the entire concept is a little cliche. It's not a big deal though! I'm
having even more fun with volume 2.
Mashima's art has drastically improved to the point that my untrained eye couldn't see any gnarly anatomy or perspective mistakes. Character designs are still leaning towards that "How To Draw Manga for Dummies" style that you would see kids reading 20 years ago but it's improving on the front as well. The backgrounds are really fun to just stop and stare at all the detail. Turns out Mashima isn't behind them and he has assistants working on that! Still, it's very cool and hat's off to them. I really like Punk Town and the casino's look. Georco was stupid and talked like a retard. I have a hard time believing that he was accurately translated from Japanese but eh, what do I know? The font used by the announcer of the dog races was terrible and difficult to read, so the localization team might be behind a lot of these nitpicks I have.
Elie is cute! And she's cool too! I mean, her personality is dead simple but I'm definitely hooked on her. No need to warm up to her. I assume the young Musica will be a traveling companion. I don't like him much. Lastly, there were two really awesome panels: when Plue came to Haru and Elie's rescue with the dog chariot, and the last page when Lance unleashes some kind of dragon with his sword. I can't wait to see the battle in volume 3!
Georco's speech is ridiculous and I hate it
I want to hold Elie's hand and kiss her
Plue to the rescue with his canine buddies!
