Comments on: Nijigahara Holograph: go read it. Repeatedly

By: Solanin « Anime Blog

Solanin « Anime Blog — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 05:07:10 +0000

[...] Sasa’s comment pointed out you can only empathise with the characters of …Holograph so far because [...]

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:47:33 +0000

@blissmo: you’d be surprised. Maybe I’m trying to read between the lines and missing a more obvious meaning to the story? There’s plenty of pyschology and violence here (all in context though) so I’m sure you’d enjoy it.

@Peter S: my main problem with Viz is that they don’t seem to have a UK distributor to high street stores, which means I have to buy them online. Still, it’s good to see Solanin appears to be popular…

@Sasa: …which leads me to your point. As much as I enjoyed Holograph, the premise of Solanin is something that sounds to be closer to my own experiences (graduate, looking for a career change, etc). Owen recommended it to me as ‘Beck meets Murakami’ so I’ll be very surprised if I don’t love it even more than this one!

By: Sasa

Sasa — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:39:42 +0000

Hm hm. What should I say, on the one hand, I am really glad that you have read (and come to like) a manga by Inio Asano; on the other hand, I don’t agree with most people on “Nijigahara Holograph”. Of course the storytelling is absolutely brilliant - as expected from the mangaka - and the atmosphere and the visuals are stunning (not to mention that I have a weakness for beautiful butterflies), but is that enough for me? The characters of “Nijigahara Holograph” weren’t more interesting than in his other works; but the storyline was much more understandable and straight-forward than your usual pointless ‘mindfuck’ series - for me, the little confusement there is makes the whole story lack the subtle depth that “What a wonderful world” has, and the emotionality and realism that “Solanin” has. While “Nijigahara Holograph” might be Inio Asano’s best in terms of storytelling and visuals, it’s my personal last after “Solanin”, “What a wonderful world” and “Good Night Punpun”.

Another reason why I disliked “Nijigahara Holograph” is that it’s about children. And, well, when it comes to the struggles of children in society, there is noone who could be comparable to Mohiro Kitoh for me. Ultimately, I guess the impression of pretentiousness in “Nijigahara Holograph” kept me up from liking it as much as the other Asano titles.

Sasas last blog post..To me, Code Geass redeemed itself with its last episode

By: Peter S

Peter S — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:06:37 +0000

@Martin and @Owen S: I am pleased to say that I bought Solanin for my library, undoubtedly based on good online buzz (I frankly don’t remember ordering it). I’d like to read it but, er, someone else has it checked out. This is of course a good thing, because it means there’s an audience for it and so justifies my buying more esoteric stuff along with the usual Naruto, Bleach, Vampire Knight, etc. But why just Viz? I’d like to see what, for instance, Dark Horse could do with it.

By: blissmo

blissmo — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 10:26:31 +0000

This manga sounds really good! If someone as smart as you can’t understand it, I don’t think I will ever be able to understand it either :/

Though I’d like to give this a try since I’m extremely interested in psychology and I love it when a bit of violence is added (in this case, A LOT), but I don’t think they sell this manga where I live, so I’ll find another means … some day. Until then, let me know if you ever fully understand it because if I do happen to finish reading this manga, I’d like to know what it’s all about. But I suppose it’s like one of those book where you’re left wondering how so and so went or what really happened to such and such because the author wants you to use your imagination. Those novels/manga are pretty interesting, I suppose, but sometimes I prefer having a solid answer.

PS. Don’t lose sleep thinking about this manga too much! lol

blissmos last blog post..Doodles: Adopt Your Very Own Pet Today!

By: Martin

Martin — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 23:58:36 +0000

@Owen S: cheers for recommending me this in the first place! It’s a prime example of how you don’t necessarily need to understand everything about a story to appreciate it - the theories I’ve read about may or may not be correct but I’ve had a great time peeling away the layers of meaning. It’s a dark piece but quite mindblowing. We need more people blogging about this, especially since I can think of several people who would appreciate this manga as much as you and I have.

@Peter S: I’m not a fan of scanlated manga either (I’m an old-fashioned sort who prefers to read large quantities of text and pictures in print, although extensive internet usage has helped me get over that a little). I don’t know if this will get an official English language release, but as Owen pointed out here Solanin is out thanks to Viz (only last month too, iirc) so there’s a chance that Holograph will be too.

In regards to Solanin, it looks like the whole story is on sale as one volume and at a pretty decent price. I have some lengthy train journeys ahead of me in the next couple of weeks so watch this space…

By: Owen S

Owen S — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 06:04:09 +0000

Peter S: Mail Viz Media about it. Seriously. They just published Solanin, which happens to be one of Asano Inio's works--I bet they'd license Nijigahara Holograph were there enough demand for it. Owen Ss last blog post..How (not) to enjoy Itazura na Kiss

By: Peter S

Peter S — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 05:08:46 +0000

Argh,this isn’t released in the US? I hate reading manga online. Also, since I choose the manga to order for my library I thought I had made a great new find! I don’t suppose there’s any chance of it getting released over here? Sigh, probably not.

By: Owen S

Owen S — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 01:54:44 +0000

Ah, the long-awaited post. Good job! I have to say that it took me a ridiculous number of readings to make any sense of it (under ten, say), but when you're spamming the Spacebar key and it's an hour to midnight, things more or less fall into place. Making the links certainly were a rewarding experience, though--it's like playing the role one of those conspiracy theorists, only that the conspiracy is true, and the cake is a lie. More people need to read this. Unknown mangaka is unknown. Owen Ss last blog post..How (not) to enjoy Itazura na Kiss