|
|
 |  Monday, September 12, 2005
| |
|
 | "Parasyte no Hibi" by Akira
(2005-09-12) |
"Kiseiju (Parasyte)" is one of my favorite comics of all time. It was published in "Afternoon" from 1990-1995, and currently the author is drawing "Historie" which is also becoming one of my favorite comics. There was a news that "Kiseiju" will be turned into a live-action Hollywood movie. The movie will be directed by Takashi Shimizu who is well known for directing " The JUON". I'm looking forward to seeing this movie, since they say they'll follow the original comic very throughly using a lot of CGs.
Please write your comment to this strip at pOnju forum
| |
| | |
| Tuesday, September 13, 2005
| |
|
| "KIOSK" by Akira
(2005-09-13) |
Kiosks are found everywhere in/near train stations and sell news papers, magazines, comics, snacks, umbrellas, etc. I usually buy "Weekly Shounen Jump" on Monday, "Weekly Shounen Sunday" on Wednesday, or "Weekly Shounen Magazine" on Wednesday from kiosk in the morning. I read these comic magazines while I take trains for commute (one way is about 24 minutes ride). I must say reading comic magazines during commute is my favorite past time. I can overcome "Blue Monday" because every (Monday) morning "Jump" greets me, and overcome "Middle week slow-down" because "Sunday" and "Magazine" encourage me ^^; I have very difficult time motivating myself (to go work) when these magazines take Obon (Summer) and Oshougatsu (Winter) breaks.
| |
| | |
|
Top
First
This is one of stores where I can buy weekly comic magazines in advance (a day or two earlier). Usually "Weekly Shounen Sunday" and "Weekly Shounen Magazine" are sold on Wednesday, but you can get them on Tuesday from liquor stores like these. Since I love reading "Hayate no Gotoku" so much, I buy "Sunday" these days. When Negi was fighting against Takamichi in "Negima", I bought "Magazine". Which comic magazine to buy totally depends on my mood of the day. ^^; I heard a rumor that there are stores which sell comic magazines three to four days in advance. I need to look for those stores when I have time... ^^;
Combinience store is a place where I read (but don't buy) comic magazines like "Spirits", "Morning", "Champion", "Weekly Young Jump", and "Weekly Young Magazine". The act where you "read but don't buy" is called "Tachiyomi (stand-read)". It's very useful technique to get upto date information without spending money. But it's a "loss" to a store because "tachiyomi" damages the books/magazines quite a bit. It's my policy to buy a dollar worth of bread, snack, or drink from the combinience store after reading comic magazines. That's how a gentleman should act ^^; Some combinience stores are so 'rude' that they wrap comic magazines with plastics. I usually don't go to those stores :P
This is a place where I read (and don't buy) monthly comic magazines like "Gangan", "Sunday GX", "Monthly Magazine", etc. I bought a ton of expensive computer text books from this store (at least spent more than 1,000 dollars), so I'm not feeling that guilty about doing "tachiyomi". Every book store has tankoubon (comic book) section. I assume comic section covers 1/4 - 1/6 of the total store area. I used to buy a ton of comic books from these book stores, but these days I mostly buy books from used book stores or from anime/doujin stores where they give small percent discount. Also typical book stores wrap comic books with plastics, and I can't do "tachiyomi (stand-read)" ;_;
This is a place where I buy a ton of used comic books. New comic books cost about 410 yen ($4) these days, but you can buy new used comic books around 200-250 yen ($2 - $2.5). If comic books are quite outdated, you can buy them with just a dollar. comic books are not covered with plastics and many people are doing "tachiyomi (stand-read)" in used book stores (in fact, I'm one of them). I once sold comic books to "Book Off", but they bought them 1/10 of the original price (0.1 to 0.4 dollar). I bet they are making a ton of money ^^;
I usually buy new comic books from anime/doujin stores like "Mellon Book", "Gamers", "Animate", since they have discounts. They give out stamps/points and if you collect them to certain amount, you get $10-$20 worth of free stuffs. Also advantage of anime/doujin stores is that they sell my type of comic books, which is MOE manga ^^; I check for the latest moe comics/games from these stores.
These unfinished comic strips are inked and completed: