Grand Comic Reading Project

[edelweis]

quick question: how do you read 乱马１／２? is it luan4ma3yi1ban4?

[deathtrap]

Yeah I'm curious about that too. Is it luan4ma3yi1ban4 or luan4ma3yi1fen1zhi1er4

[skylee]

AFAIK it is simply 亂馬. I might have heard people call it 亂馬二分一 (NOT 一分之二 OR 二分之一).

[feihong]

@edelweiss: I believe both are technically correct. However, skylee's suggestion of 亂馬二分一 makes more sense to me than 亂馬一半. The former suggests "Ranma split into two", whereas the latter suggests "half a Ranma".

[renzhe]

The Japanese version: "Ranma Nibun-no-ichi" also corresponds to 乱马二分一, AFAIK. I've only ever heard 乱马, though.

[feihong]

Here is another comic suggestion:

• Chinese Title: 少女新娘物语
• Japanese Title: 乙嫁語り (Otoyomegatari)
• English Title: The Bride's Stories
• Character Set: Simplified, except for chapters 7 and 8, which are in Traditional
• Genre: Historical Fiction Slice-of-Life
• Country of Origin: Japan
• Year of First Publication: 2008
• Series Info: http://www.mangafox..../otoyomegatari/
• Read Online: http://www.dm5.com/Type.aspx?id=5787
  Jump to first page: http://www.dm5.com/C...d65a_page-1.htm
• Read Online (English): http://www.mangafox..../otoyomegatari/
• Difficulty: Medium. Starts out relatively easy, but gets harder in later chapters. Quite a bit of cloth and sewing vocabulary.
• Legibility: Generally good, but the characters are sometimes vertically spaced too closely together.
  However, chapter 7 is problematic. Not only is it in traditional, they use a thin, stylized font that is not very legible at that resolution.
• Summary: Newlywed couple Amira and Karluk begin their new life together in a bustling town situated along the Silk Road of the 19th century.
• Page Counts: As of August 22, 2010, there are 12 chapters, averaging 33 pages per chapter. This is an ongoing series.

It is harder than Doraemon but maybe on par with Ranma. I think it's pretty easy at the start, but gets harder as you go. This is a fan-translated series, which is why it's in simplified and not traditional. However, for some reason chapters 7 and 8 are in traditional. But I think if you are able to read up that far, you can probably use your knowledge of the story's settings and the images to figure out what's going on.

The author, Mori Kaoru, is known for victorian romances. However the storytelling style does not fit within the shoujo mode.

I have to say, the artwork in this series is stunning. Clothing and environment are rendered with meticulous attention to detail.

Profile wiki page: 少女新娘物语 (Otoyomegatari) (you can edit this page)

Sample Page:

[edelweis]

thanks all, I understand the title better now ;)

[skylee]

Taiwan writer Jimmy 幾米's books are not exactly comics but they are pictures+stories. They are intended for adult readers but you don't need to know a lot of Chinese to understand them. Why don't you guys try one of them?

The famous 向左走向右走 can be a good start.

[Gleaves]

Skylee - Is this the comic you mentioned? Looks pretty interesting/surreal. This could be a cool change of pace. As a bonus, it is not even translated. Gets my vote.

I can't really get a sense of 少女新娘物语. It seems lighthearted from the pics, but does it delve into more serious themes (with the big age differences in guy/gal)?

[feihong]

I can't really get a sense of 少女新娘物语. It seems lighthearted from the pics, but does it delve into more serious themes (with the big age differences in guy/gal)?

I would say it's shounen slice-of-life. There's an obvious romantic element to it, but it's not an idealized romance like you would see in a shoujo series. Part of the author's goal is to teach you about the particular time and place of her chosen setting. So one chapter is devoted to wood carving, another to embroidery. And since it's shounen, expect some action from time to time. But there isn't any extreme violence in the 12 chapters that have been published so far.

[feihong]

I'm thinking of putting up a poll to decide the fourth Comic Reading Project (which would be in simplified). Is this... a worthwhile thing to do?

Keep in mind that I won't be putting this poll up anytime soon, I'm just exploring options for somewhat democratizing the selection process.

[deathtrap]

@daofeishi , I hate to be a nag, but are you still planning on scanning those books and uploading them? Are you still planning on uploading to a free site or do you want to create a torrent?

[feihong]

Another suggestion:

Chinese Title: 井崎的飞机

Japanese Title: カブのイサキ (Kabu no Isaki)

English Title: Isaki of the Cub (literal translation)

Character Set: Simplified

Country of Origin: Japan

Year of First Publication: 2007

Genre: Aerial Adventure Slice of Life

Series Info: http://en.wikipedia....i/Kabu_no_Isaki

Read Online: http://www.dm5.com/Type.aspx?id=6767

Jump to first page: http://www.dm5.com/C...ee56_page-4.htm

Difficulty: Easy. I think it's harder than Doraemon, but maybe on par with Ranma?

Legibility: Excellent. Great choice of font, and all characters are nice and plump.

Summary: Young Isaki borrows his neighbor's plane to go on aerial adventures, in exchange for running errands.

Page Counts:

Volume 1: 164

Volume 2: 163

Sample Page:

I love the leisurely pacing of this series. The chapters are fairly short and episodic. This is from the same mangaka that did Yokohama Shopping Trip (possibly the greatest road trip comic of all time).

[renzhe]

Skylee - Is this the comic you mentioned? Looks pretty interesting/surreal. This could be a cool change of pace. As a bonus, it is not even translated. Gets my vote.

Mine too. It looks awesome.

[skylee]

This is perhaps a better (bigger, clearer) version of 向左走向右走. It is a pps file.

[feihong]

Thanks, skylee! I took a look but didn't see much difference in image quality. However, I noticed that the PowerPoint file contains traditional text, so I may decide to read this version instead of the link you originally posted, which contained simplified characters.

I'm looking forward to reading it!

[creamyhorror]

Taiwan writer Jimmy 幾米's books are not exactly comics but they are pictures+stories. They are intended for adult readers but you don't need to know a lot of Chinese to understand them. Why don't you guys try one of them?

The famous 向左走向右走 can be a good start.

Oh no' date=' I skimmed to the bottom and saw the end (it's a spoiler). Don't make the same mistake as me, folks.

I remember the TV advertising for the movie based on the book, it looked interesting enough (though I find it surprising that it was directed by Johnnie To). IMDB link.

[Gleaves]

That stinks, creamyhorror.

Since 幾米 is from Taiwan, the traditional version seems like the best bet. His books aren't super cheap, but they do seem readily available for order (yesasia, bookseed, dangdang, books.com.tw).

Also FYI, 少女新娘物语 (Otoyomegatari) is published in Taiwan as 姊嫁物語 in case anyone is looking for a hard copy. I don' think 井崎的飞机 (Kabu no Isaki) has been published in Chinese yet, but it does look fun.

[feihong]

I made a profile page for 向左走向右走:

http://grandcomic.wi...com/wiki/向左走向右走

After some thought, I think this should be the next comic reading project, because I don't think it makes sense to follow up a long-running series (Yotsuba) with another long-running series (Ranma). Any objections?

[Gleaves]

Sounds good to me. Would we want to read a few of 幾米's stories or just 向左走向右走? I think just the one story would be fine, but we we probably wouldn't need a whole month, maybe just two weeks. Just a thought.