It’s the end of the month, which means it’s time for another manga giveaway! This month I have a new copy of the first volume of Hideyuki Kurata and Ran Ayanaga’s manga series R.O.D: Read or Dream as published by Viz Media up for grabs. As always, the giveaway is open worldwide!
A few months ago I gave the R.O.D: Read or Die manga a try. Even more recently, I read the entire R.O.D: Read or Dream manga series. Both of the series are written by Hideyuki Kurata and both take place in the same universe and include paper masters, but the similarities between the two more or less end there. Based on my experience reading the Read or Die manga, Read or Dream was not at all what I expected. The two series are vastly different, especially in their overall tone. When I read a manga for the first time, I try to keep an open mind. But to be honest, I can’t help but have some sort of expectation, otherwise I probably wouldn’t be reading it to begin with. Occasionally, as with Read or Dream, a manga takes me by surprise by not being quite what I thought it would be. Sometimes this is a good thing and sometimes it’s bad, but it’s always an interesting experience.
So, you may be wondering, how can you win R.O.D.: Read or Dream, Volume 1?
1) Tell me about a manga that wasn’t what you expected and how it took you by surprise.
2) If you’re on Twitter, you can earn a bonus entry by tweeting about the contest. Make sure to include a link to this post and @PhoenixTerran (that’s me).
And there you have it! Each person can earn up to two entries for this giveaway. As usual, there is one week to submit your entries. If you have trouble leaving comments, or if you would prefer, feel free to e-mail me your entry at phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com. I will then post the comment in your name. The winner will be randomly selected and announced on September 5, 2012. Best of luck to you all!
VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address, link to your website, Twitter username, or whatever. If I can’t figure out how to get a hold of you and you win, I’ll just draw another name.
Contest winner announced—Manga Giveaway: Read or Dream Giveaway Winner
I think one of the first manga series to really surprise me was x/1999. Back in the 90s, my first exposure to CLAMP was their series Magic Knight Rayearth, which was rather Sailor Moon-ish (though it did have giant robots & a twist ending). So when I saw that Animerica was running a comic in it by the same artists, I assumed (stupidly) that it would be similar to Rayearth (since I hadn’t seen or read Tokyo Babylon yet…this was pre-“everyone had the internet” days, so I didn’t know about it yet XD). Well…you can probably imagine my surprise when I first read it, heh. NOTHING like Rayearth, unless you count the art style. But I ended up liking it, anyway.
I retweeted the contest link on Twitter! @bunnycartoon :3
When I first saw my Library’s copy of the first volume of Emma: A Victorian Romance I had a quick look at the blurb on the back and put it back down unimpressed by what I thought sounded like an immensely cliche plot. It wasn’t until years later that I would realize my mistake. Emma is suprising because it shows that even a seemingly cliche plot like a romance between the upper and lower classes can still shine when the execution is so superb.
My twitter account is @teaNrice.
1.) Kokou no Hito, it’s licensed in Italy under the name Climber and in France as Ascension, great stuff. The beginning is very misleading, young introverted protagonist transfers to a new school, classmates bullies by way of which he also introduces him to climbing and it all leads to a competition, by now it’s sort of leading you to believe it’s going to be a shounen sports competition manga, complete with a mystery progeny showing up.
That quickly changes, the rest of the story explores the character, his growth, follows his various mountain expeditions etc. I do recommend reading it and the art is really really good.
2.) Done @ikari_gendo
I completely overlooked Death Note when they ran a preview for it in Shonen Jump because the art didn’t appeal to me. I decided to go back and read it a while later when I had no other manga to read, and I was instantly hooked. After that, I couldn’t wait for the next volume and ended up recommending it to everyone I knew. My older brother had no interest in manga, but once I got him to read it, he couldn’t put it down either. =P
My twitter is @KenshinGirl
I’d say the most recent surprise I got from a manga was reading A Bride’s Story. I got it from my library after hearing about it online, and I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect, since I am somewhat familiar with the culture and time period the book is set in. However, when it turned out to be a warm, touching story of a family coming together to embrace a new member, I was completely charmed, and have since recommended it to all my friends and co-workers.
Since I’m too old-fashioned to keep up with a twitter account, you can reach me at literate.ninja@gmail.com