Reflection: Apocalypse Meow volume 1

I have always been interested in military history. My dad was in the army when I was growing up and we used to watch war movies, especially film about Vietnam. As the first manga that I have read which focuses on a real war, I must say apocalypse meow is all round a good read.

The series follows an American recn group known as ‘Cat Shit One’ through their time fighting in the Vietnamese jungle. Oh, and they are depicted as bunnys. All of the characters in the three volume series are depicted as different animals. Americans are bunnys, Vietnamese are cats, Russians bears, Koreans dogs, japanese monkeys and the french are pigs. The volume sees Cat Shit One undertake numerous missions ranging from recons to rescue missions. Near the end of the volume the attempt to hold back an ambush from Vietcon and North Vietnam Army before a rather eventful R&R in Saigon.

After just one volume I really risk saying that this is one of my favorite manga series. Not only is it a good war manga, but it gives very detailed history of the Vietnam War. At a couple points we are taken away from the main story and the author includes a short history lesson to give some background to was happening. I really appreciated these breaks as they show that the mangaka actually knows what they are talking about.

Overall I am excited to read the next two volumes. The storyis really interesting and the artwork is also very good. Admittedly the detail in the explosions are not overly realistic, but in fairness its a manga about bunnys fighting a war against cats.
The reflection for volume two will be available soon, with the series review not long after that.

Let me know what you think of the series in the comment section if you’ve read it or is you are interested in reading Apocalypse Meow.

Talk to you again soon

Turtle

First Impression: Apocalypse Meow

I just finished reading the first two missions in Apocalypse Meow, and I am really enjoying it. The series follows three American soldiers in recon team ‘Cat Shit One’ during the Vietnam War. Oh, and did I mention that they are rabbits. All the human characters in this series have been replaced with animals depending on their nationality. For example, Americans are Rabbits and Vietnamese are cats.

The first chapter really drops the reader in on the story and provides no background, which I kind of like. The dialogue also contains a lot of the slang that the American G.I.’s would have used during the Vietnam campaign. The illustrations are quite sketchy with only a little detail, but I think it really suits the story that goes along with it. The only issue I have so far is that the chapters are very short and end before any sort of suspense is built up.

Looking forward to reading some more, so expect the first reflection to be posted within the next couple of days.

Turtle

Manga Collection – Part 1 (Return of the Turtle)

I’ve fallen away from my blog in recent months, and for those who read it regularly, I’m sorry. I really miss writing them myself so I am going to try my best to keep it going a bit. In one of my previous blogs I mentioned that I will do a collection list of my manga, so I think that will be as good a place as any to get back in the zone. I’m actually looking forward to this because I’ll get to look over what I have.

One Piece – Eiichiro Oda:
Kick things off with the only of the ‘big three’ series’ that I own. To date I own volumes 1-13, which is the entire of the East Blue arc and the start of Baroque Works. I started reading One Piece in about October of last year and been slowly working my way through the series. The second box set (volumes 24-46) is due to be released in November, so I’ll catch up by then and buy that.

Abandon the Old in Tokyo – Yoshihiro Tatsumi:
I’ve written a couple blogs about this collection, and if you’ve read them you will probably know that I wasn’t too impressed with some of the stories. I bought the collection off of Amazon UK when I was just starting to read manga after googling series for an older age group. Abandon the Old in Tokyo was suggested so I bought it. If you’re a sort of poetic person who enjoys looking as the hidden meaning behind stories, you might enjoy the collection. If you enjoy stories about men having sex with dogs, you too will enjoy this collection of one-shots… Moving steadily onwards.

Magi – Shinobu Ohtaka:
I only recently acquired the first volume of Magi while on a recent weekend trip up to Belfast. I’d heard a lot about the series on Facebook and YouTube so thought I would give it a try. I have to say, I really did enjoy this volume and I can’t wait to pick up some more of it. If you haven’t heard of magi yet, it is a retelling of the story of Aladdin, and the artwork is great. I would highly recommend this series to anyone. Volume 9 has just been released in English so It’s not too far into the story that anyone can catch up. In Japan volume 21 is the most recent available, so it will be a worthy read for the foreseeable future.

Maoh: Juvenile Remix – Megumi Osuga:
This is another series which I have posted several reflections on in the past. Last night I finished reading volume 8, and I cannot wait to pick up the last two volumes to finish the series. (A final review will be posted afterwards). As I mentioned in some of the reflections the series does start out very slowly and builds momentum as it goes along. In volume 6 the story really gets rolling and has me gripped. The series deals a lot with morals and questioning the norm of society. It’s a good read for anyone interested in reading stories about social division as well as action seekers, with an endless array of assassins appearing as the story moves forward.

Attack on Titan – Hajime Isayama:
I was a little late on the Attack on Titan band wagon, as I tend to be with most series. I have up to volume four right now, and intend on buying more. The story is fantastic, but I really don’t like the artwork. The artwork seems to be a major issue judging from other posts and videos I’ve seen in regards to the manga. However, I’ve been assured the artwork gets better in the newer volumes, so I’m going to hold out in hopes that it does.

Btooom! – Junya Inoue:
Btooom! is one of very few anime’s that I have actually watched, and it had me gripped from episode one. The same goes for the manga. I have already read all of the available chapters online and only recently started buying the volumes to reread. I’m up to volume four, but know that I will have more soon. The concept is very similar to Battle Royale (another series I need to get my hands on in the near future).

Pokemon Adventures – Hidenori Kusaka and Mato:
It’s Pokemon, do I really need to say anything else. I loved the anime as a kid. I loved the trading cards. I still love playing the games. Once I started reading manga, I had to own Pokemon Adventures. I only have volume one right know because for some reason every shop has volumes 3-7, but you can’t get volume 2 anywhere. It’s in my next order to be delivered in the near future, and I hope to get up to volume 7 then, completing both the Red and Yellow arcs.

FLCL – Hajime Ueda, Story by Gainax:
Everyone has the series that makes them go ‘What the fuck am I reading’. FLCL is usually that. It’s actually the series my friends forced me to watch to convince me to start watching Anime. It kind of worked I guess. I only got the first volume yesterday and read it all in one sitting. The second and final volume will arrive shortly. I think the description really sums up how odd this series is “-from beyond the stars drops an impish defender sent forth to stop alien robots from destroying the Earth. Where do the robots come from? Well, from Naota’s forehead for starters.”

Apocalypse Meow – Motofumi Kobayashi:
I spotted this series in a used book shop yesterday and knew I just had to own it. Partially because it looks awesome, and also because they were selling in for less than a quarter the price it is on Amazon UK. I haven’t had a chance to give them a read yet, but I will soon and I will get back to you about it when I do. Basically the series is about the Vietnam War, but the human characters have been replaced my animals.

That’s the end of my first shelf, so I think I will leave it there for today. I will post about the other shelf in the near future, so look out for that. Let me know if you have read any of the series I’ve mentioned here and let me know what you thought of it. As I said at the start, I am really happy to be back to the blogging community, and look forward to writing more and talking with some of you in the future.

Turtle
(Back to kick some ass)