Manga: Finishing Up Monster, Othereworld Barbara, and Other Manga Series

Time Codes: 00:00:26 - Introduction 00:02:33 - Setting up the episode 00:04:17 - More listener mail! 00:06:49 - Completing Monster 00:49:03 - Completing Otherworld Barbara 01:14:28 - Completing other manga series 01:26:25 - Wrap up 01:27:47 - Contact us On this episode of the monthly manga series -- the April show, actually, albeit late -- Shea and Derek revisit some of the titles that they had previously discussed. They talk about these series now that they have more volumes under their belts, and in some cases, have completed the entire series. The first of these that they discuss is Naoki Urasawa's Monster(VIZ Media), a title that they first discussed in their July 2015 episode. The last volume of the English-language Perfect Editions was released in summer of 2016, and both Shea and Derek explore their experiences finishing up the series. As they reveal, Urasawa has a penchant for vast, multi-leveled narratives, filled with a wide cast of characters, and the guys discuss this style of storytelling, its thrills as well as its challenges. Next, they turn to the completion of a story they first discussed on the September 2016 manga episode, Moto Hagio's Otherworld Barbara (Fantagraphics). The second volume of this series was published in August of last year, and the guys revisit Hagio's storyworld and its wrap-up. As they mentioned on their earlier episode, this is a complex, even vertiginous, narrative that involves dreamscapes, multiple narrative levels, and time interplay. Both of them appreciate Hagio's conclusion, although at times they wonder about the story's lapses into sentimentalism, and if the various narrative threads may not be a bit unwieldy. Finally, the guys discuss other manga series that they've been keeping up with, even completing, individually. For Shea, that includes ONE and Yusuke Murata's One-Punch Man and Yusei Matsui's Assassination Classroom, both published by VIZ Media. Derek waxes enthusiastically about Inio Asano's Goodnight Punpun(VIZ Media), Kengo Hanazawa's I Am a Hero(Dark Horse Manga), and Akiko Higashimura's Princess Jellyfish(Kodansha Comics).