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Mochizuki Jun | Boichi |
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First Round Pandora Hearts vs. Sun-Ken Rock
- Thread starter Kiki
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Time to kick this off.
So I have a feeling that Sun-Ken Rock is not as well known as it should be so I shall give you lovely people a short introduction into why I chose Sun-Ken Rock out of all the amazing Manga there are.
Overview
Sun-Ken Rock was a Seinen series that ran for a decade from 2006 to 2016. As such the series is finished and can be judged as a whole. Since it is a Seinen it deals with serious /"adult" topics as well as rather graphic violence and language. The author Boichi who is currently working on the amazing Dr. Stone started out as a Shoujo Mangaka until he had to go underground due to government censorship (South Korea apparently saw a danger in Shoujo and Manwha as a medium and went in pretty hard). Sun-Ken Rock was his big break-out hit in Japan and the historic relationship between Japan and Korea as dark as it sometimes is certainly doesn't get overlooked in the narrative. Speaking of narrative, take a seat and let's talk about the story.
Plot
The story follows our Protagonist Ken Kitano, a young Japanese delinquent who leaves Japan behind to become a policeman in Korea. The reason he would do that is the same reason the world keeps spinning: Love. Following Yuri, the woman he loves, you'd believe there is nothing that stands in his way but he fails miserably and gets rejected becoming a lonely shut-in. Time passes and only embers are left of the flame that once brought him to Korea when he meets Yuri again and has to lie, to keep at least a shred of a chance alive to ever be with her. But what now? When he is at his lowest his kindness to a stranger puts him on a direct warpath with the criminal underworld of Korea. How does a failed police apprentice face such a challenge?
By becoming the BOSS of the biggest criminal organization the world has ever seen!
Reasons to love this Manga
1.Art
What makes for good art in a manga? It has to be aesthetically pleasing and has to convey the story in a way that has emotional resonance with the reader. Of course, a competently written story plays a heavy hand into the emotional connection you feel but art by itself tells a story as well.
Detailed wide shots help you immerse yourself in the world the story takes place in and break the border between the page/screen and yourself. (Also if you dabble in artistic endeavors it just makes you feel awe).
Emotional close-ups help you relate with the characters and mirror the emotion they are currently feeling.
Action is especially difficult to capture in a 2D medium. From being too chaotic for anyone to understand to being too static to convey any motion or power, finding the right balance is what makes a manga that relies as heavily on combat as this elevate itself above its peers. (I'll have to use multiple panels for a proper showcase of this but that shall be another post purely focused on art and also going further into spoiler territory). In this panel I just want to know if you also feel the power behind this.
Last but not least since I will do a pure art related post later. Did I mention that Boichi also used to draw ******? If nothing else convinced you yet, Boichi sure as hell knows how to draw the human body.
First: You'll see a lot of very well built half-naked men in here. I mean, those back muscles!
Second: Since balance is what keeps mind and body healthy Boichi put his talents to good use. (keeping it SFW here)
2. Characters
Art is all nice and well but if you hate the people you see, sooner or later you will get bored of nice backgrounds fanservice. What really carries this story (with those massive back muscles) are its characters.
Ken Kitano
He is the absolute rock star of this manga. This is not an ensemble show and the focus is clearly on him. Which means that everything is lost if you dislike him. As the MC he is the one you have to root for and to be honest: There is no way anyone can dislike this dude. Not because he is a Gary Stu who always does good but because, while he has very apparent flaws, his kindness and most of all his absolutely unbreakable willpower makes you root for this guy. People follow him not because of his position or for their personal gain but because of who he is:
A hard-working, humble man who stands for principles no matter what and deeply cares about his friends.
"Ugh, you just described every Shonen MC ever!" First of all, there is a reason this is an archetype. Second of all, all of that is just the core of his character, throughout the series we see him deal with many impossible situations that would corrupt almost every person out there. This is a seinen and it gets very dark sometimes but Ken keeps on shining and being an inspiration on and off-page. This is a relentless man moving forward no matter which obstacles are in his way.
Companions
Now these are all fulfilling their role and start as their basic stereotypes but being around Ken brings out the best in them and their comradery will move your heart. They get their time to shine and just like any group of friends, it gets absolutely hilarious. We can identify with each of them and they become reader surrogates, our eyes through which we see Ken and start to relate to him.
Yumin (Love Interest)
If most Manga love interests are a one-note wonder and little more than a plot device with boobs, Yumin certainly shows complexity that you would not have expected.
Antagonists
A good antagonist is not just a physical challenge, that which is always easy to overcome. Power scaling is fun and part of the game but what matters is the emotional/philosophical challenge the antagonist poses. Joker is a perfect foil to the Batman because they represent polar opposites of a code. Sun-Ken Rock has no "Joker" but certainly memorable antagonists that grow in complexity and actually teach Ken and the reader valuable lessons all the same.
Impact
This is already a huge wall but I want to add probably the most important paragraph in all this. The reason why I chose Sun-Ken Rock and the impact it had on me. Just like the characters in the story, I was impressed by Ken a hopeless shut-in who overcame everything through sheer tenacity and the connections he made with the people around him. Not only through sheer willpower but also through kindness and authenticity. Not gonna start a self-improvement TED Talk or speech about how this helped me personally but in simple terms:
This is some powerful storytelling
PS: Words to live by
So I have a feeling that Sun-Ken Rock is not as well known as it should be so I shall give you lovely people a short introduction into why I chose Sun-Ken Rock out of all the amazing Manga there are.
Overview
Sun-Ken Rock was a Seinen series that ran for a decade from 2006 to 2016. As such the series is finished and can be judged as a whole. Since it is a Seinen it deals with serious /"adult" topics as well as rather graphic violence and language. The author Boichi who is currently working on the amazing Dr. Stone started out as a Shoujo Mangaka until he had to go underground due to government censorship (South Korea apparently saw a danger in Shoujo and Manwha as a medium and went in pretty hard). Sun-Ken Rock was his big break-out hit in Japan and the historic relationship between Japan and Korea as dark as it sometimes is certainly doesn't get overlooked in the narrative. Speaking of narrative, take a seat and let's talk about the story.
Plot
The story follows our Protagonist Ken Kitano, a young Japanese delinquent who leaves Japan behind to become a policeman in Korea. The reason he would do that is the same reason the world keeps spinning: Love. Following Yuri, the woman he loves, you'd believe there is nothing that stands in his way but he fails miserably and gets rejected becoming a lonely shut-in. Time passes and only embers are left of the flame that once brought him to Korea when he meets Yuri again and has to lie, to keep at least a shred of a chance alive to ever be with her. But what now? When he is at his lowest his kindness to a stranger puts him on a direct warpath with the criminal underworld of Korea. How does a failed police apprentice face such a challenge?
By becoming the BOSS of the biggest criminal organization the world has ever seen!
Reasons to love this Manga
1.Art
What makes for good art in a manga? It has to be aesthetically pleasing and has to convey the story in a way that has emotional resonance with the reader. Of course, a competently written story plays a heavy hand into the emotional connection you feel but art by itself tells a story as well.
Detailed wide shots help you immerse yourself in the world the story takes place in and break the border between the page/screen and yourself. (Also if you dabble in artistic endeavors it just makes you feel awe).
Emotional close-ups help you relate with the characters and mirror the emotion they are currently feeling.
First: You'll see a lot of very well built half-naked men in here. I mean, those back muscles!
2. Characters
Art is all nice and well but if you hate the people you see, sooner or later you will get bored of nice backgrounds fanservice. What really carries this story (with those massive back muscles) are its characters.
Ken Kitano
He is the absolute rock star of this manga. This is not an ensemble show and the focus is clearly on him. Which means that everything is lost if you dislike him. As the MC he is the one you have to root for and to be honest: There is no way anyone can dislike this dude. Not because he is a Gary Stu who always does good but because, while he has very apparent flaws, his kindness and most of all his absolutely unbreakable willpower makes you root for this guy. People follow him not because of his position or for their personal gain but because of who he is:
A hard-working, humble man who stands for principles no matter what and deeply cares about his friends.
"Ugh, you just described every Shonen MC ever!" First of all, there is a reason this is an archetype. Second of all, all of that is just the core of his character, throughout the series we see him deal with many impossible situations that would corrupt almost every person out there. This is a seinen and it gets very dark sometimes but Ken keeps on shining and being an inspiration on and off-page. This is a relentless man moving forward no matter which obstacles are in his way.
Companions
Now these are all fulfilling their role and start as their basic stereotypes but being around Ken brings out the best in them and their comradery will move your heart. They get their time to shine and just like any group of friends, it gets absolutely hilarious. We can identify with each of them and they become reader surrogates, our eyes through which we see Ken and start to relate to him.
If most Manga love interests are a one-note wonder and little more than a plot device with boobs, Yumin certainly shows complexity that you would not have expected.
A good antagonist is not just a physical challenge, that which is always easy to overcome. Power scaling is fun and part of the game but what matters is the emotional/philosophical challenge the antagonist poses. Joker is a perfect foil to the Batman because they represent polar opposites of a code. Sun-Ken Rock has no "Joker" but certainly memorable antagonists that grow in complexity and actually teach Ken and the reader valuable lessons all the same.
Impact
This is already a huge wall but I want to add probably the most important paragraph in all this. The reason why I chose Sun-Ken Rock and the impact it had on me. Just like the characters in the story, I was impressed by Ken a hopeless shut-in who overcame everything through sheer tenacity and the connections he made with the people around him. Not only through sheer willpower but also through kindness and authenticity. Not gonna start a self-improvement TED Talk or speech about how this helped me personally but in simple terms:
This is some powerful storytelling
PS: Words to live by
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Pretty sure pandora hearts will lose this round considering there no campaign but still voted for it considering its one of my favorite mangas ever
I can't not vote for it
I don't really care if it passes considering it's not the manga I'm supporting (plus no campaign, desin deserve to pass, his manga also great) but I still want people to read the manga considering it's really great, plus it ended long ago so you don't need to wait for chapters xD
On an other note to anyone who planning to watch the anime not read the manga, run away form it, it's really bad
I'm only praising the manga
I can't not vote for it
I don't really care if it passes considering it's not the manga I'm supporting (plus no campaign, desin deserve to pass, his manga also great) but I still want people to read the manga considering it's really great, plus it ended long ago so you don't need to wait for chapters xD
On an other note to anyone who planning to watch the anime not read the manga, run away form it, it's really bad
I'm only praising the manga
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