GetBackers

i wanted to talk about nana-chan today, since i had not talked about her recently. almost talked about a little incident related to that too, but i thought nobody would be interested to know about my life, so i will not talk about that. as for nana-chan, hmm i will make a post on it after her single is released. well the date is drawing near... haha. did not expect her to come out with a single so soon after the release of ultimate diamond though.

Follow up:

ok let's start.

story introduction: the team of 2 people will get back anything you have lost with a near 100% accuracy.

the story starts with that concept and goes on to help people get back what they had lost. at first when i came across this manga, i thought, 'what a lame idea. must not be anything nice.' in fact, when i introduced this piece of work to my friends, they had the same reaction as me.

well, that time i had nothing better to do and decided to download the anime. the anime, to my disappointment, had a mismatch in visual and audio in many critical places (i don't think it is the producer's fault), as well as a bad storyline towards the ending (this one is). well but the front part was really nice and that prompted me to get the whole set of manga.

lucky for me, this piece of seemingly bad concept of a story is actually a very wonderful piece of work. don't confuse it with naruto's fillers of doing missions to get something back. this is much better.

the things they got back, ranged from simple items to relationships, from taking back hope all the way to time. the last arc 'take back the lost time' is a really good title. one look at the title lets the reader wonder what kind of story would that be, because we all know that time, once lost, cannot be taken back.

story development: all the major characters were introduced very early into the 39 book series, and they appear frequently throughout the major arcs of the story. the story in itself is split into many small arcs or missions to get back something. in each of the arc one or more new character was introduced, and more mystery surrouding the major characters kept piling up, like why midou ban killed eris or kudou yamato, why kazuki's family was massacred, why akabane's bloodlust was so great etc. and perhaps one of the things that kept the readers from reading on (other than the fantastic storyline and the illustrations) is the fact that the answers to almost all these mysteries was actually revealed only at the 'get back the lost time' arc. it was at the last arc that all the significant characters shown at each of the 'small' arcs along the story gathered together to fight for what they treasured and what they wanted to get back. it was like the gathering of the most powerful characters throughout the story at one single place. i would like to say more, but i figured out that saying anything more will spoil the story.

character design: the usual, first few books don't really look too good due to the lack of experience and help in drawing. but trust me, as the story progresses on, the character design is really good. i admit that hevn is really sexy, and kirara is really attractive. well akabane was cool right from the start, and i really like the cover page of one of the later books where der kaiser was the 'cover man'. haha. one thing obvious was that ayamine rando (the illustrator) loves to draw sexy females who always got exposed. lols. but of course, there is no porn. i must admit though, they are really well drawn. haix, if only i can draw like him.

characters: there are a ton of characters in this story. they are all varied, with no hints that one character's design (whether in appearance or personality) was copied from another. among them, chibi ginji was one of the most popular. but my personal favorite for male characters is akabane and kirara for females. but i want to add in 2 more, toufuuin saizou and der kaiser, both guys are what i called a real hero, and i think the author protrayed the concept of a hero in a very different manner compared to the other stories which i read. a hero is not just someone who died protecting the things or people important to them. they are people who sacrificed themselves protecting those things or people they loved, even when the very ones they wanted to protect misunderstood them, turned against them and tried to kill them. well kyoshirou in samurai deeper kyo is another one though. hahax. (abit of preaching: the Lord Jesus Christ in christianity also did the same thing. in case you don't know, i am a christian.)

fights: well one big part of this shounen manga is the fight. what is a shounen manga without a fight, right? if there were no fights it might as well be a seinen, shoujou or even josei category manga. and what are the 2 most important factors in fights? the rationale and the style. rationales for fight aren't those lame reasons given in some of the manga (well i won't say names but you should have a rough idea of a few). like samurai deeper kyo, the reasons to fight were all quite compelling, and the all time favorite rationale to fight was that both sides had to protect something so important to them that they would rather die than to lose. of course, this concept was not so heavily used in getbackers compared to samurai deeper kyo. that manga, thoroughly used that concept to the fullest, employing it to nearly every fight. that's why, it is so famous and enjoyable, and perhaps a little emotionally charged, until now. ok back to track, fights in getbackers are fantastic. the second factor. style. each of the characters uses a different style, well that alone anybody can do. i think it is also the way rando presented the fights in the visual form, and all the 'coolness' factors being added into the pictures, that made the style so great. pictures here and there to display the 'coolness' of the individuals, such as the big picture where kirara displayed her spear, or the way shimon or others acted during battles. of course, one big credit is that rando is a very talented artist. fights are very hard to draw out, yet he could do it excellently. illustrations are pretty well drawn and clear. rationales are compelling, and conclusions to the fights are satisfying. my favorite conclusion was the battle between paul wan and shimon. the concluding line that paul said was original, memorable, and most of all, fit the result of the battle perfectly, i would say. want to know what he said? go read on your own. oh yea, before i forget, one big flaw i discovered was that, midou ban's trick for nearly the most part of the story is nearly the same. his fights were much less varied compared to akabane, kazuki or even himiko.

overall, this manga ranks one of the top few, or perhaps the top 3 in my list. first being sdk, number 2 perhaps being flame of recca or this, i don't know. but this is definitely a good read. well if you want to read, do find some good translations online, if you are reading online. i heard from my friend when he went online was that the online translations he found were not up to his expectations. buy the book, if you can. if you can't read japanese, do read in chinese, since it is the language closest to japanese. if you can't read both language, i do hope you find a good translation.

well, if you have the time, read it and i hope you enjoy this story as much as i do.