Wednesday, July 22, 2009

IKKI FLOODGATES = OPEN

Whoaaaa, FREE COMICS ONLINE EXPLOSION! Half of the series mentioned in my post yesterday have been added to the VIZ / SIGIKKI site as of this morning. Below are the titles for which the first chapter has been posted.

It wasn't until just now that it hit how serious Viz is about IKKI, and my blood got pumping. Congrats to Leyla, Kit, and Daniel (my buds over at Viz Editorial) on IKKI!

Everyone go read 'em, and then lets talk tomorrow in the comments about what we thought! ENJOY:


SATURN APARTMENTS - Read Chapter 1 Here


DOROHEDORO - Read Chapter 1 Here


I'LL GIVE IT MY ALL... TOMORROW - Read Chapter 1 Here


BOKURANO: OURS - Read Chapter 1 Here


Some tips on checking out these series from abroad can be found at the bottom of this earlier post.

ALSO: A snazzy and sorta loud IKKI promo video from their site:

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

who does the music on that promo???

akanekke said...

the song used for the trailer is done by Fujiko-chan!
http://www.myspace.com/gofujikochan

Ryan S said...

@Akane: Thanks for the info!

the thirtes knght said...

the reader doesnt work for me!!

how can i get it to work, any idea? annoyed am I as i am SO into what viz are promoting! it's about time we got some comics like this!!

Ryan S said...

@30s knight: are you in the US or overseas? If overseas, you can't access without a proxy.

If in the US, what browser are you working? It's loading okay with me in firefox 3 and chrome

jimpac said...

Just managed to read all of these tonight and I'm pretty excited about them.

I used to really enjoy Shadow Star so it's nice to see another Kitoh manga get a proper shot in the west. Not much to go on in this first chapter but, from what I've read, it gets really dark so I'm definitely looking forward to future chapters.

Dorohedoro looks absolutely awesome... Can't wait for the action to properly kick in, it'll be a riot! This is one that I'll definitely have to buy as the Viz viewer doesn't do it justice!

I'll give it my all... tomorrow interests me the most. I enjoyed the first chapter but I think it'll get better as it goes along. I hope this one gets some support behind it, although I imagine this will be the title least likely to get a physical release. :(

Anonymous said...

Though I can access this particular site with a proxy, I don't get why american companies always are so rude to their overseas customers, even though we buy their translated manga or anime from stores in our countries, or import it, we always get blocked from sites like this...

ANN recently had a promotional campaign for Kannagi, and no surprise! overseas people were blocked from viewing the videos (but not from being bombarded with advertisements for them)

Ryan S said...

@anonymous: Yeah, I can imagine it's pretty annoying. I had the same experience when I was in Canada and couldn't get access to Hulu.com.

Just a guess, but I think it has less to do with Viz wanting to screw over overseas readers, and is probably a part of the contract with IKKI in Japan. Like, they paid X amount of dollars for the rights to publish the books in English and show the content online, but they can only show it online in the United States? I don't know, but I'd bet it's the Japanese publisher that is keeping them from making it available worldwide.

But still-- it sucks that the overseas folks who have to pay for expensive imports get screwed! Cool that you found a way to read them.

Ryan S said...

@jimpac: Yeah, definitely. The Signature Viz imprint has always been my go-to set of releases and IKKI is no different in that sense.

Ryan S said...

Okay, so I finally read all of the 4 new series this past weekend. Not that my opinion matters more than anyone else's but here's what I thought after 1 chapter:

SATURN APARTMENTS: Based on just one chapter of each, this was my favorite of the bunch. The art style was sparse but not cutesy in a pandering way. I like how Iwaoka cartoons the settings and characters: simplifying faces and textures. This was a leisurely little chapter, but I really dig the premise and found it great to look at. It's like reverse Battle Angel Alita, staring down at Earth from above :) Okay, it's not REALLY like Battle Angel in any way, haha.

This chapter left me curious to learn more about the folks on different floors of the colony, what's up with the dad, and life(?) on the surface of Earth. Definitely coming back to read more.

DOROHEDORO: Whoa, starting with a man inside a lizard head spouting I CHING mysteries (and wanton decapitation) is a pretty good opening. I'd never read scans (are there any?) or seen this anime, so it's all new to me. On it's own, the chapter was pretty uneven and did a lot of telling and not showing(THE HOLE, MAGICIAN FUNERAL SHOES) but some of it stuck for me and I'm curious for it to get going. I've read some reviews where folks dissed the art style but I like how scratchy and gnarly it is. I can see this getting gross & smart or getting hella Fantasy magic battle muddled. Hoping for the former, will be back next month for more!

I'LL GIVE IT MY ALL... TOMORROW: This is one that I have high hopes for... The visual style and summary seems like a manga I could get into, plus I heard good things about it from Ed at MangaCast/Vertical. I was happily surprised by the lettering and production, which was a bit dorky and chunky and reminded me of some early indie manga (like Comics Underground Japan and certain PULP titles).

As for the first chapter, it was a bit slow (in a good way though) and was full up with cliched "adult loser" elements--- disapproving father, disconnected daughter doing bad stuff, etc. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but the first chapter sorta hit all the marks I had guessed. I dig the visual style and pace, but hope the plot delivers more insights than we got in Chapter 1

BOKURANO: OURS: This one was the least interesting to me out of the bunch. The art was nice, and the characters were decent (in that, I could sorta tell them apart). That said, the setup and plot made me feel detached and not caring about any of it. It seems like it could be going for a mix of general plot points from Gantz and eXistenZ mixed with Battle Royale, except less intense and less regard for like, introducing characters and setting.

So yeah, there wasn't really anything wrong with what was presented. But, I recently read a few YA books (Hunger Games and its sequel Catching Fire) that do the "future dystopia, with teens battling to the death" plot so damn well, with ample room and regard for building a world and characters. We'll see it Bokurano can take us in that direction in future chapters.

SO, which one did you like best?

Anonymous said...

@akane:
double thanks!