It’s the end of the month and therefore the start of another manga giveaway here at Experiments in Manga! For July’s giveaway you all have a chance to win the first volume in Mohiro Kito’s manga series Bokurano: Ours as published by Viz Media. As always, the giveaway is open worldwide!
I don’t know what it is about mecha manga and anime. For some bizarre reason, I never think that I’m going to like it, but I almost always end up enjoying what I pick up. Maybe my reluctance comes from the feeling that there’s just so much of it, giving the impression that the genre has been overdone and is lacking in originality. That’s a somewhat unfair train of thought on my part. Most well-established genres have the problem where a great deal of the media just isn’t very good or particularly notable, but they all have their gems.
Anyway. I recently started reading Mohiro Kito’s Bokurano: Ours, Volume 1, which is one of the more unusual mecha stories that I’ve come across. Granted, I haven’t gotten very far into the series yet, but I am liking its dark atmosphere and prominent psychological elements. Plus, it ran in IKKI, a magazine that publishes some manga that I really love. (And which sadly recently announced that it will be suspending publication in September.)
So, you may be wondering, how can you win a copy of Bokurano: Ours, Volume 1?
1) In the comments below, tell me a little about your favorite mecha manga, if you have one. (Never read mecha? Simply mention that.)
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 it is! Each person can earn up to two entries for this giveaway. As usual, everyone has one week to submit comments. If you prefer or have trouble with the comment form, entries may also be submitted via e-mail to phoenixterran(at)gmail(dot)com. (I will then post the entry in your name.) The giveaway winner will be randomly selected and announced on August 6, 2014. Good luck to you all!
VERY IMPORTANT: Include some way that I can contact you. This can be an e-mail address, a 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: Mecha Manga Giveaway Winner
Destiny Of The Shrine Maiden of The Godless Month it has mecha and haveing read the first five volumes of Bokurno just read the first three volumes than quit it gets too “try hard edgy” without giving too much away.
After having looked through my library, it turns out I’ve really never read any mecha manga that’s available in English (We want Simoun!) aside from Knights of Sidonia. So I’m going to go with that before it get’s taken. xD Probably everyone knows about this uber-popular series that takes place about the colony ship Sidonia traveling about outer space, fighting the Gauna to survive another day. I’m reading this series mainly because it has cute non-binary gendered characters. One thing you may not know though is that the author, Nihei Tsutomu also wrote two other manga series popular in English: Blame! and BioMega (neither of which I’ve read but I remember when they both came out). Oh you knew that too… Okay i give up.
I don’t honestly read a lot of mecha manga. Anime on the other hand? Oho yes, it’s one of my favorite genres! There’s Gurren Lagann, RahXephon, Gunbuster, Tetsujin 28, Nadesico, lots of good stuff! I dunno, it somehow feels like it works better as an anime to me most of the time.
Don’t enter me in the contest though, I already have this volume and I don’t think it’d be my friend’s cup of tea either.
I haven’t read much Mecha mangas. I think I Bokurano is the only one, but I did watch a lot of gundam series haha.
Bokurano probably is my favorite manga. I loved every Zearth pilot and their stories were all unique!
I actually watch more mecha anime than I read mecha manga. My favourite of the manga is probably the indie title E-Depth Angel (nostalgia – my first mecha manga. XD). But this season I’m really enjoying the anime Aldnoah.Zero. It’s just a lot more fun to have mecha in anime so you can see them stomp around…
I haven’t really read much manga with Mechas … but have seen a bunch of them in anime-form!
Patlabor: police has mechas, transported by flatbed trucks in time of need. How cool is that!
Escaflowne: a magical-girl-in-another-world kind of show, ‘cept that other world seems to be very sword-and-sorcery … but fight in mechas!! Which are powered by…a dragon’s heart stone ..thing? .. and yes, there were 2 separate manga series by that name, but they were more along the lines of “reimagine … badly”
and of course Magic Knight Rayearth which was as by the numbers shojo RPG series as only CLAMP can make ’em… but there were mechas! In the final power-ups form!
aaaaand, Twitter link – done!
I haven’t read a mecha manga before, but a few of my friends have and they say they’re really good so I was going to try and find a few that look interesting.
My favorite Mecha Manga is probably Code Geass but I also loved Kakumeiki Valvrave probably because it was the first mecha manga I ever read!! xD
I like the Code Geass and Neon Genesis Evangelion manga, but I’ve only just recently started reading mecha manga. I’ve watched a lot of mecha anime, and so I decided to read manga for the genre as well since I enjoyed it a lot. Bokurano was actually my first mecha anime, but I haven’t read the manga for it, yet.
I first became interested in anime (manga followed it) through the mecha anime that got adapted for television over here in the 1980s, and I’ve kept up my interest in that particular genre ever since, quite possibly more forgiving towards its “familiar” elements than some people seem to be these days. As a few people have already said, it seems to concentrate more in animated form, but I’ve read some mecha manga that have interested me. Knights of Sidonia has already been mentioned, but Gundam the Origin is a second title that I wait for each volume from Vertical with anticipation. Yoshiyuki Sadamoto’s Evangelion manga from Viz, drawn by the original anime’s character designer just as Yoshikazu Yasuhiko draws Gundam the Origin, has held my attention even as I wonder how it’ll all turn out with its final volume due later this year.
Two series from now-defunct publishers, although probably long out of print by now, have also managed to stand out to me. The artwork for Mobile Suit Gundam: Ecole du Ciel (although Tokyopop never finished publishing it) was by Haruhiko Mikimoto, more than familiar as a mecha anime character designer. Back when Bandai Entertainment was releasing spinoff manga to go along with its anime releases, Code Geass: Nightmare of Nunally got my attention as an “alternative universe” take on the original anime (even if one of its original characters sometimes threatened to steal the spotlight away from the title character…)
I actually do have the first volume of Bokurano, although I’m afraid to admit I stopped buying it after that when I heard some panels in the second volume were edited from the original.
I never been that much into mecha anime until I took a look at bokurano. I watched the anime first and really enjoyed it. It was really wasn’t what I was expecting. I really like how it took a more realistic look on the genre. I know it not the first deconstruction of mecha but it still my favorite. I was able to read bokurano manga and ripped my heart out but I like the way the last chapter ended I wish that could have been in the anime.
Would you consider Eureka 7 a mecha manga? Regardless, it’s definitely my favorite manga that involves mecha, though it’s not the biggest focus of the series. I may be a bit biased towards it though— the anime adaptation was the first anime series that I ever completed. I own the manga series now, too!
I’ve heard quite a bit about Bokurano, but haven’t gotten a chance to read it, especially since the only bookstore in town that offered manga shut down a few years ago. Really unfortunate. :(
I put my email into the field above, but outside of that I can be contacted through my twitter, @PrinceAshford!
I am a big fan of mecha, having watched most of Gundam and rewatched Evangelion many many times. However, I don’t read much mecha, as I prefer to watch it animated, but Gundam the Origin and Ecole du Ciel were very good to skip. I have been enjoying the premium editions released by Vertical for Origin, and loved Ecole du Ciel, which Tokyopop sadly left incomplete and nobody else picked it up.
Link to tweet here:
https://twitter.com/inter4ever_7/status/495296460121186304
I am not a big fan of Mecha but I just started reading Mobile suit Gundam Origin, I liked it more than I thought…And I LOVE Bokurano…waiting for the next volume!!!
Like, it seems, a lot of folks, I’m more familiar with mecha anime than manga, but I’ve been trying to rectify that lately. I’m currently enjoying Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin.
Hmmm… My favourite mecha manga is Gurren-Lagann. It’s cultic and crazy with some fantastic characters and unique story.
I like Bokurano anime, so i’m interested for the manga
(sorry for my bad english, i learned it from pc games :) )
I just realized i have never read mecha manga (or i am not recollecting reading one) but i have seen my share of mecha anime.And my favourite one will forever be Gundam Wing…and Full metal Panic!
Well,i shall certainly do something about the lack of mecha in my manga collection (actually,i have been thinking about picking up Vertical’s Gundam the Origin for a while).
(tweeted about the contest @busha69 ^^)
1) I would say Evangelion or Magic Knight Rayearth, but do those really count? The mecha isn’t really put front-in-center in those, but they are there in some form or another. What I’ve read of Gundam The Origin so far is pretty great, too.
2. RTed your tweet about he contest! :D
You know I’m not sure I’ve read any Mecha, But I’m always open to new things and ideas! I think it would be a wonderful experience to just sit, relax, and read a new manga. Haven’t picked one up in awhile so I think it would be really refreshing!
I have never read Mecha, but it sounds really interesting. I have just recently been getting into manga and anime so i am really excited to win anything!
I have never read Mecha, but it sounds really interesting. I have just recently been getting into manga and anime so i am really excited to win anything!!