Sunday, April 19

Kyoukai no Rinne / 境界のRINNE, new manga by Rumiko Takahashi


Most prolific female mangaka and famous for her long epic (ahem) stories, Rumiko Takahashi will be penning new manga called Kyoukai no Rinne and what is different this time is her new manga will be published at simultaneously in USA and Japan. Slated for debut on 22nd April 2009, the US edition will be available at Viz exclusive site of hers, The Rumic World.

This is her latest work after finished the long winded and draggy 56 volumes (holy shit) of Inuyasha. I remembered that after I finished volume 38 of Ranma, I swear that I will never touch her works anymore, LOL. Most of her detractors denounced her as commercialized, shameless drag-on mangaka specialist, her defenders asserted that she often did not have choice of say in her work, her publishers tend to squeeze as much marketability as possible from her work until it is dry. I kinda in between of these 2 main opinions on Rumiko Takahashi. However amongst veteran anime fans especially females (25 years old and above), her work is well liked and have huge following from this particular demography group.

The story of new manga is about a girl who got lost in woods mysteriously then acquire ability to see ghosts and spirits. It is not known if this will be horror story like Mermaid Saga or comedy hi-jinks like Ranma.

This represents new effort by legitimate business entity in manga industry to combat illegal scanlators, mirroring Animax simulcast of Full Metal Alchemist : Brotherhood and Tears of Tiara. I am quite skeptical if this initiative will be successful but it is definitely a backhand compliment on how pervasive scanlators are in bringing latest manga chapters from Japan to international audience.

It will remains to be seen if this effort worth the trouble or not. Or how long this manga series will be (grimaces and wince in pain at the thought).

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18 comments:

John Anthony La Pietra said...

This is great news . . . or at least it will be when they actually start posting. But as I type this, it's past noon EDT (GMT -4) on April 22 -- and the Rumic World site still has the same "Coming April 22, 2009" promo screen up.

So . . . does anyone know *what time* today?

John Anthony La Pietra said...

Well, it finally made it -- about 9:30pm, I believe. And, after some concerted reading and concentrated consideration, I came up with my first thoughts. About four pages' worth. If anyone wants to look at an amateur's attempt to match imaginations with Takahashi-sensei, see:

http://members.triton.net/jalp/Rinne_1st-thoughts.pdf

Unknown said...

Thanks John for erudite and deep discussion about her work. Sadly I just can't get pass the lengthy story that she is so fond of putting up all the time.

Cheers.

John Anthony La Pietra said...

Thanks, Stormy001, for your kind words. Some stories do go on and on -- I suppose that's what puts the ren or the rensai in rensai manga.

Of course, if a story keeps going but doesn't go anywhere new, it can get in a rut. On the other hand, if a story keeps going and goes in new directions, it can lead somewhere. It may even blaze a trail. I'm hoping for something more like that with RIN-NE.

(And one advantage we have with this one is that we get to see it right from the start. We can even offer suggestions mixed in with the encouragement, maybe. . . .)

Unknown said...

I do believe simultaneous publishing of manga in USA and Japan might bring a mint of fresh air into her storytelling. Perhaps it will bring the story into unexplored territory, now with USA fans so near to influence the direction of her work.

Perhaps. Never know.

John Anthony La Pietra said...

Well, even those who want to read the Viz site are out of luck currently.

Looks like we're playing another round of "Manga in Limbo"! . . . the online "you-call-this-a-game?" show which asks the burning question:

How late can they go? . . .(Answer -- 7:45pm EDT, as of this writing.)

John Anthony La Pietra said...

Okay, I'll confess -- yes, I was still up at 2am EDT or slightly after when Viz finally posted chapter 2. But I don't want to have to do that again.

Well, maybe now I won't have to.

Johanna at ComicsWorthReading.com reports that, if you sign up for the RumicWorld newsletter, you'll get an issue of that newsletter that informs you when each new chapter of RIN-NE is posted. I could think of other ways for them to tell us that -- but this way, they get another measure of how big the audience is, so I can see their point.

Anyway, I know I've read here and there that it can be hard to get off a Viz mailing list once you get on. But OTOH, not having to check and re-check their site on "posting day" would be a real time-saver for me, for one. So I went to look at the sign-up page:

http://www.TheRumicWorld.com/newsletter/options.php

The form page (see below) doesn't look too complicated -- or intrusive. The possibility of other notices is an opt-in option. And the same page is where you would go if you decided to unsubscribe to the newsletter.

So I think I'm going to try it. And if I have problems, I'll hope to get word out to you before I virtually drown in a sea of e-mail. . . . :]



jalp


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Unknown said...

Thanks again for impromptu reporting of the scene, John. The manga is alright so far but I wonder how is the effect of Viz latest ploy to combat illegal scanners.

John Anthony La Pietra said...

Well, I did sign up for that newsletter/update . . . so we'll see how patient I can be on Wednesday waiting to see it in my Inbox. . . . :]

John Anthony La Pietra said...

Newsflash! . . . I have newsletter, and we have Chapter 3!

Unknown said...

Alright.

Anonymous said...

by "ILLEGAL SCANLATORS" . If it wasnt for these scanlators these people wudnt have had any faith in doing a simulcast of Naruto, FMA or releasing Manga in english and japanese simultaneously. Thhese effin " Illegal Scanlators" have shown the US market that manga can become a big hit there as well.

Anonymous said...

Some mild spoilers ahead, so if you're violently allergic to them, read with caution.

It's really not that bad--kinda like Bleach in reverse, but without the style (but that's okay--no one does style quite like Kubo). It's got a bit of folkloric flair, the kind of stuff you expect from Takahashi.

The female leads seems to lack a personality at this point, though the small bits that she does display remind me of Haruhi from Ouran--she's mildly exasperated by her powers, and is skeptical of Rinne's hi jinks, but tolerates them anyway. I'm a bit amused by this, because if she turns out as wonderful as Haruhi is, it'll be a pleasant departure from Takahashi's normal tormented female characters.

The male lead is cute--he doesn't seem to have too dark a past (though you can never tell with these shounen archetypes), and is quirky: he makes paper roses, seems to be literally unable to spend money, and exploits his classmates for offerings.

There is some fleeting evidence of a larger plot, but given that this is the third chapter, I'm not looking for that yet.So far, it looks fun and light, even though the whole shinigami thing has been done over and over again. Thus, given the repeated rehashing of the shinigami trope, I'm not sure how Takahashi is going to keep this original--she can't do deliciously grotesque and psychologically chilling like Ohabta and Ohba, nor can she pull off the slick plot maneuvers Kubo did during the Soul Society arc, nor render disgustingly cutesy characters like Tanemura Arina. I guess I'll just keep reminding myself that this is, indeed, the woman that came up with nuttiness that was Ranma i/2, so let's see what happens.

John Anthony La Pietra said...

It's time to take another peek if you want. Or, in other words:

Red (hair) alert! Red (hair) alert! Chapter 5 is posted! . . .

John Anthony La Pietra said...

So of course, as soon as I make the rounds as town manga-crier . . . and then make my own first circuit of the pages in Chapter 5 -- what pops into my inbox? Why, what else but
.
.
.
a 'newsflash' newsletter issue announcing -- both Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. (!)
Well, at least the newsletter seems to be back to work. :]

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