In Just another attempt to make my wallet commit suicide, I picked up this volume that I had never heard of. Turns out, it is a new release by VIZ, written and illustrated by Aki Irei. This is the major work of mangaka to be translated in English for us western normies who can’t read Japan, and so I did give it a go. And oh boy, do I have some things to say! Yes, her hair is on point!
Ran & the Greyscale Earth is a fantasy manga, which follows Ran, the titular character with shoe fetish. It is a story which includes sorceresses, Animorphisms, and run of the mill douchebags. And if you think this is all the summary I am going to provide you, you are correct. Let me be real and say that this read had something to offer for everyone, but it was not a pleasant experience. At least, not the first volume.
Fetishes man, I tell Ya!
So, lets go on this journey where I shatter your young hearts
by verbally ripping apart your favorite (or potentially favorite) manga.
ZE POZITIBEZ
Ran and the Gray world Vol. 1 was an overly expressive read
with a very small cast. It introduces us to Ran as she is hysterically
searching for her shoes that her brother hid. Turns out she can grow up to a
teenager’s body while retaining the same screeching 10-year old’s personality. This
makes her appearance go from very innocent to very mature. And that, my friends,
is a very good move on the mangaka’s part. Let me tell you why.
Yup...
...Same Person
Mangaka made sure that we knew this girl in tight shorts and
tank top, smiling in your face, is 10 years old. Now, that fact makes a lot
harder for a reader like me to imagine Ran into any kind of explicit situations.
This evolution secures her position as an overgrown child, and I am not cool
with that. Maybe its just me, because I can’t relate to all loli aspect of anime
world, but it made me very curious for what was to come.
Moving on to the character designs, they all have a sense of
warmth the first time you see them. When Ran runs away from home, the older
brother takes responsibility to bring her back home. The paranoia that accompanies
it is felt through his father. The joy of a mother who has a job overseas, coming
home and treating everyone with a cake, was a nice visual experience. However,
subtle actions like walking naked, and being a pompous douche also comes off
easily through Outarou, but I’ll come back to him.
This is what being humble means.
Now, this may seem stupid, but the cover of the book is very
visually pleasing. VIZ did an amazing job in designing the cover a little thicker
than the regular manga covers you find. Complimenting the size of the book, a
little bigger and imposing book feels refreshing when you held it in your hands.
It was really impressive to see these kinds of aesthetics immigrate to manga.
ZE NEGATIBES
Okay… you know the drill. Just like any other volume one,
this one had its shares of problems. Let’s get into them one by one.
The biggest grudge I had against this manga, is that the story
is cluttered. It has way more pointers to check on an imaginary check list,
than being focused. A correct way to describe its genre would be a ‘Fantasy
Slice of Life’. Mind you, I only have Vol 1 at focus here. And that has one major
job to set the guideline for the future. From this volume alone, all I know is
Ran is a potential magical girl in a tank top and frilly hair who has to reach
her overworking mother, while avoiding sexual abuse from a rich pompous ass. I mean,
I did see Outarou coming on Ran from the first moment we set eyes on his bare
bottom, but explicitly showing a full-blown confession out of him that he’d
like to “do stuff” with her is, to tread lightly, a little creepy. In his
defence, he doesn’t know her true age, but she is still a teenager, while he
looks like discount Christian Grey.
How about No, Bruh
Anything which has sexual undertones, involving an underage
individual, rubs me the wrong way, and I would willingly throw it in flames if I
am told to expect more of this in the future. It’s the same grudge I had
against ‘Ne Ne Ne’, and more or less its always a female who is deemed
underage. I mean, is it really hard for this sugar daddy to ask her age, or you
know, indulge in sexual acts with females his own age?
Wrong on a fundamental level, Chief
That was one aspect of storytelling, lets go back to the
family of Houdinis. One of them is major sorceress, who protects a foreign land
where everyone has a boner for her son. The guildmaster, her husband, has no
problems that his wife comes and goes whenever her likes. I mean, this is selflessness
on the Shiro Emiya level! Her son is literally a dog, who wields fur over his shoulders
like he’ll be marching on a GUCCI ramp, and Ran, the quirky child of the house
who has no regards for her family, firmly establishing that throwing her out of
the house would probably result in some good.
Gotta look Fresh to Protecc
This manga starring Female reverse Benjamin Button, Taylor
Lautner, Maleficent & douche Hugh Hefner, is to say the least, pointless. Or!
It has so many story lines that it just doesn’t know where to focus first!
Passing that hurdle, we come back to the characters itself.
Ran in herself, has stereotypical fantasy teenager tropes. I have a problem
when she sheds 40% of that and gains stupidity when she puts on her glass slippers.
I mean, hitchhiking with boys who are thirstier than Instagram commenters,
while she sleeps in the middle of them, is more or less a big question mark on
her family morals. Like, is it encouraged to go on these retarded rampages, or
she is not taught that asking rides from strangers is a bad thing? The same
chapter includes the morphing truth of her brother, Jin. He rocks a coat made
of wolfskin and transforms into a bushy wolf. But to me, that was one of the
laziest aspects of storytelling.
Look, you want to introduce a new character, as well as a
new quirk of an existing character. For this story that moves at a snail’s
pace, you can do it in the same CHAPTER! Introduce Outarou, and make Jin look
for her in his canine form. It would have been more interactive, and I would
not have to nitpick the worthlessness of one of your chapters. Jin doesn’t even
shoot lazers out of his eyes, he is just a standard human being who can turn
into a fox, don’t waste your effort and ink on that!
U bad mami, In a really BAD way
Lastly, I have a bone to pick with ‘She left for a pack of
smokes but never came back’ mother. She has literally abandoned her family. She
popped two children out of her and left them with her husband. Like, WHAT? I will
be surprised if she isn’t paying child support. She is yet another strong
female character with a dwindling moral high ground, or she has something more
to preserve than her family. If you want to do this trope right, just look at
Black Lagoon and get inspired. Prediction: She is not going to be a subversion
of herself, and therefore will remain an unlikeable character with nice dress.
Because forgetting address to your own home, WHICH YOU VISITED COUPLE OF DAYS
AGO, doesn’t make me laugh. It makes me concerned.
Is this Comedy?!
FINALLY: FANTASY GENRE IS A VERY INTERESTING PICK, AND I
TRULY BELIEVE THAT THIS MANGA WILL THRIVE. BUT YOU HAVE TO IMPROVE ON IT DAWG. FANTASY
MANGA HAS TO BIRTH A CURIOUSITY IN YOU, SO THAT READER REMAINS INDULGED. BUT THIS,
THIS MADE ME TIRED. IT TRIED TO BE SO UNIQUE, THAT IT REFUSED TO FOLLOW A
SINGLE NARRATIVE, DIMINISHING MY INTEREST GREATLY IN ANY FOLLOW-UP IT RECIEVES.
IT FAILS ON WORLD BUILDING, BECAUSE THE EXISTENCE OF MAGIC IS ESTABLISHED FROM
THE GET GO. BUT WHAT NOW?! GIVE IT A FIRM DIRECTION TO GO IT! ATLEAST GIVE US A
MISSION STATEMENT. IT FEELS LIKE AN EXPREIMENT, AND IN NO WAY SATISFIES MY
HUNGER FOR A GOOD FANTASY. IN SHORT, IT’S A VISUALLY STUNNING, AESTHETICALLY
PLEASING DUD!
I hope to see you do better. Love your hair tho...
SUGGESTIONS: DON’T BUY [AT LEAST, NOT ON ITS OWN. BUY
COUPLE OF VOLUMES TO MAINTAIN FOLLOW-UP AND COHESIVE STORYTELLING.] ART: 8/10 STORY: 5/10 INTEREST: 50-50 WAIFU: FATHER URUMA BEST GRILL.
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