Masamune Shirow & Koushi Rikudou collaborating on a new manga

[SWamP]

What...

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-09-14/ghost-in-the-shell-shirow-excel-saga-rikudou-launch-manga

[MincyMatsu]

I'm not complaining, in fact, wow, cool :D

[SWamP]

This guy never sleeps. Fact.
I suppose is a ciborg, too  :il_hahaha:

[Foggle]

Cool stuff! Though I do wish we could see something else actually written by Rikudou, and I don't know if I'm too fond of that preview image...

[Lord Il]

I don't know if I'm too fond of that preview image...

Man, do I ever know what you mean! First impressions mean a lot, and I'm seeing nothing that really stands out... ie: A generic (robot?) catgirl type character that's been done to death. But I have to see more of this before I can really form an opinion.

Masamune Shirow and Koushi Rikudou.... what an incredible combo.  :e_shocked: Never imagined I'd see the day!

[Lord Il]

After running in Newtype Ace for several chapters, "Koukaku no Pandora - Ghost Urn" has now been released in Japan as an actual manga volume.

Here's more info found on the title from Crunchyroll:
http://www.crunchyroll.ca/anime-news/2013/03/09/masamune-shirow-and-koshi-rikudos-koukaku-no-pandora-ghost-urn-manga-collected

[MincyMatsu]

The cover is looking good, I hope it's going to do well in japan ..!

[Ragathol]

Man, I should have known that when I was in Japan. Seems to be at a much higher quality artwise than Ageha.
It's even got Furigana, that's highly uncommon for Shirow. But I guess it depends on the magazine.

[MincyMatsu]

Well Foggle and I looked up a fan translated version of it online and actually found one, art looks great, but honestly, it feels rushed story wise and so far I have next to no interest in the characters, I'm honestly kind of disappointed... I guess you CAN blame it on a possibly poor translation, but even then, trying to look past that the pacing and characters still feel off and forced, and not very likable so far...

I kinda hope it does well in later volumes are better, I guess characters in it can get on a bad start, but it honestly seems like this first impression was supposed to grab readers right then and there, and personally it didn't work well at all on me, like I said I think it feels forced, and is probably aimed at a different target group altogether...

But at least it's nice visually, Rikudou's art is only getting better..!

[Ragathol]

Yeah well, Shirow's best-before date ran out a long time ago, sadly... I'm a great fan of his older works, but he's not really interesting any more.