OK I just finished Shamo. I would post in the other thread but it got archieved so whatever. Here are my impressions.
First of all it was flawless until the China arc.
After that it seemed to me that the author was trying too write to fit in too many stories.
First we got the dancer, who apparently lost his holyness against Ryo, and then we didn't see him again.
After that we got some Sugawara rehab. He even showed up somewhere in the last 4 volumes. He was a skinny fuck, he had lost all his glory and he still wanted to fight Ryo. We also didn't see him again.
Meanwhile the China arc was almost never mentioned again, the hax technique Ryo learned there was never used and we forgot about it.
Then we got the Banryukai's Director's very random death by some brats even though he could hold his own against Ryo, and could sniff his fighting spirit from 10 miles away.
The last arc was more comedy than tragedy like the rest of the series. Ryo's opponent had tard strength going for him. That was it. Not even fighting experience, just fucking tard strength.
I had predicted the ending since I had read something similar Holyland. All I had hoped for it was that it wouldn't feel too random, but it did.
/blog
OK I just finished Shamo. I would post in the other thread but it got archieved so whatever. Here are my impressions
the ant
Ryo lost his skills every arc like Samus loses all her weapons at the start of every game.
Most agree it's fantastic until he goes to china. Should have ended there, really.
Here is how it went:
The writer and the artist split because Shamo had a troublesom publication history.
Officially Shamo ends halfway China arc, iirc. From then on, the artist went by himself probably "helped" by editors.
And that's why you see:
1 a return to the past glory with Sugawara, except now whoever writes doesn't get what was the main theme behind the two opponents.
2 retcon over China arc
3 A tentative to close with a redemption with Touma. I don't know why they didn't end it here, probably because Touma was too unbelievable to actually win? Dunno.
4 The two brothers bulshittery, aka I want to quit.
An unlucky manga with a really strong start..
>it was flawless until the China arc
China arc was fine. But after that manga turned into shit.
It was worse than everything that came before, but better than everything that came after.
Can't really agree, I thought the China arc was the series' genuine low-point. and seemed to fly in the spirit of the manga as it'd been established so far.
The ballet-dancer arc was probably the 2nd-best arc of the manga.
>First of all it was flawless until the China arc.
I thought the pre-China arc was the highpoint of the series and thoroughly enjoyed it, but it wasn't flawless. I remember some things bothering me back then, but don't really remember what specifically
>The ballet-dancer arc was probably the 2nd-best arc of the manga.
You must have read a different manga than I read, in your own version of bizarro world.
>you
Shamo was fucking great. It did have some low points, but I liked how it ended and most of it was enjoyable as fuck.
well, it's not like there's much competition
Touma was a bullshit prodigy and the unkillable brother was even more bullshit. How can a butt sniffing retard win against a top tier street fighter who fought a world champion?
It's a shame the author left.
Holyland was good tho, in the end not-Shinji became Terry Bogard.
This on the other hand was suppossed to be mma Crime and Punishment but the author just gave up.
The ending came out of nowhere and left a lot of things unconcluded.
The goat.
There was a lot of conflict between the creators which I think can explain the disjointed story and dropped plotlines.
I know but what was the mangaka thinking?
The judoka vs black gi fight is still one of the best fights in the manga tho, maybe the best one aside from Ryo vs Sugawara. The gentle path vs the path of violence.
>except now whoever writes doesn't get what was the main theme behind the two opponents.
Care to elaborate more on this? It sounds interesting.
If only the judoka wasn't a pussy.
Also the russian guy who got one hit ko'd by the "hunter" was bullshit.
>If only the judoka wasn't a pussy.
He wasn't a pussy. He genuinely believed on what Judo stood for and never gave up to fear, unlike the dancer against Ryo. The black gi was so impressed by his technique and beliefs that he just gave up. He was surpassed in every way.
This
>First of all it was flawless until the China arc.
I read it quite some time ago, so I can't remember it in details, but from what I remember is pretty much this. A real godtier manga up to the China arc.
He shifted into writing an episodic manga, I think ot pay homage to martial arts as viewed through different media (wuxia movies, street fighting/revenge movies, MMA shows etc)
Either he got lost along the way or the editor imposed him to cut his shit short because yeah, the ending was rushed as fuck
>A tentative to close with a redemption with Touma. I don't know why they didn't end it here, probably because Touma was too unbelievable to actually win? Dunno.
Touma was never going to win inh a meaningful way. The big point of Shamo, the only constant throughout the manga is: Ryo manages to turn everything he touches into shit and everyone he meets into wrecks and shadows of themselves.