|
Ran to Haiiro no Sekai, or, Ran and the Grey World Around Her - hereafter shortened to RanHai (because who wants to type that whole thing out) - is a gorgeously illustrated fantasy seinen by Irie Aki. It recently finished at 7 volumes, an all-to-short grand total of 48 chapters. You can get the Japanese volumes here for about 5-6 USD a pop. I recently ordered mine, and am looking forward to receiving them. (As of this writing, the final volume is about to be released in Japan, and is unlicensed in the US). At its core, RanHai is about growing up, and throughout its run Irie deftly handles some tough issues through the eyes of a troublesome, naive 10-year-old who always gets in over her head. The manga is funny, sad, hopeful, and an all-around great ride that I must suggest to anyone who enjoys comics. Meet Uruma Ran...  The titular character of the manga, Ran is your normal little girl, if a bit more rambunctious than most. Oh, she's also the daughter of the most powerful Sorceress in the world. As such, she has inherited great power that she still doesn't have a full grasp on yet. There is, however, one thing she can do:  She can transform into a beautiful late-teens version of herself! This is pretty much the driving force of much of the early series, and remains prominent until the very end. Uruma Jin...  Ran's older brother, he can always be counted on to hunt down Ran and pull her out of a tight spot with his animalistic magic. And their parents, Uruma Zen...  Head of the Uruma household, a prominent political figure in the sorcerer's village, and head of the Kurobane (Blackwing) Corps. And Uruma Shizuka.  The most powerful Socreress in the world, Shizuka is tasked with a heavy burden that - obviously - plays into the story. There are many other characters, ones you love, ones you hate, and ones you hate to love. There is also... MR. PUDDING. THE BEST CHARACTER.  Anyway, I sincerely hope you give this manga a chance. I was kind of amazed I couldn't find any reference to RanHai in the 9 pages of threads. It's truly a work of art that deserves perusal. The first half of the first chapter took me a bit of willpower to get through since it seemed uninteresting at the time, but as soon as you finish a chapter or two, I'm sure you'll fall in love with the town of Haimachi just like I did. (And if you like watching someone create amazing art, here's a video series of Irie drawing a beautiful watercolor! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qszuhn4Cvvk&feature=youtu.be
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 02:04
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 5, 2024 23:03 |
|
|
For most of the run, Ran demonstrates that innocence taken to an extreme is no different from plain stupidity. Granted, this is mostly because no one was really willing to teach her about much of anything over this same period of time. Once people actually paid attention to her she seemed to almost instantly get smarter.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 02:20
|
|
|
Maybe it should be "Ran and the Grey World - In Other Words, Raising Children is Hard...
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 02:24
|
|
|
So I clicked the batoto link scanned the discussion forum titles before the chapters and now I don't want to read this anymore
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 22:09
|
|
|
Pastrymancy posted:So I clicked the batoto link scanned the discussion forum titles before the chapters and now I don't want to read this anymore It does get a little weird but it's not really sketchy about it or anything, like it's not perverted. It's also really really good.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2015 23:23
|
|
|
Honestly I think I would have liked this a lot more if they had disposed of the two 'serious' plotlines altogether and just kept it as a magical coming-of-age story. Not that I hated it or anything, it's a really good series and the art is great. I just liked the series best when it was Ran and her friends and family messing around and being all whimsical and poo poo.  That said (major spoilers) Outarou's sendoff was nice.
|
|
#
?
Jun 15, 2015 00:01
|
|
|
A lot of Ran and the Grey World is super good. The art is gorgeous and the characters have really good dialogue. I really love the mystery surrounding the sorcery too. I don't live how Outarou is both weird for hitting on a highschooler (who is actually even younger but in his "defense" he has no way of knowing this) and really emotionally manipulative about it. He pouts like a child when she won't kiss him and it's really hosed up. I get that he's probably supposed to be a sleaze but since we're watching through the eyes of Ran - who likes him - I'm less sure we're actually supposed to dislike that sort of behavior. Fortunately everything else in the manga owns and is good.
|
|
#
?
Jun 15, 2015 00:31
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 5, 2024 23:03 |
|
|
Pierson posted:Honestly I think I would have liked this a lot more if they had disposed of the two 'serious' plotlines altogether and just kept it as a magical coming-of-age story. Not that I hated it or anything, it's a really good series and the art is great. I just liked the series best when it was Ran and her friends and family messing around and being all whimsical and poo poo. Hmmmm, I think I'd like that too. I really love it all as is, but I can see how that would have some appeal. But can we at least keep JinxSango?
|
|
#
?
Jun 15, 2015 04:20
|
|