Count_Zero

Lots of really good stuff in here. I particularly liked the short stories “Plotter and Shooters” and “Sideways from Now” by [a:Kage Baker 53193 Kage Baker http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1224057034p2/53193.jpg] and [a:John Meaney 427315 John Meaney http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg], respectively. It's good to know that the science fiction short story is still alive and kicking.

Japan Sinks is sort of the literary equivalent of the big disaster movie, like The Day After Tomorrow, or 2012. The cause of the catastrophe is a force of nature, and the story focuses primarily on how humanity responds to the destruction, in this case the literal sinking of Japan. In particular, the focus is somewhat on how Japan would respond to a catastrophe like this one, and also how the international community would respond, considering Japan's cultural xenophobia and how spectacularly Japan had managed to PO large portions of the international community in the past.

My complaint with the book is due to its length, it never really spends enough time on any of those points - the personal tragedies, the societal response, or the diplomatic response.

This book's main problems, and they're minor ones, are twofold. The book features anime that weren't available in the US as of the date the book was released, and the book features anime which have since gone out of print. The latter problem isn't the author's fault in the slightest - they can't have predicted what would or would not still be in print years down the road.

On the other hand, the shows that aren't available are a bit more of a nuisance, as in order for prospective fans of anime to check out those works, they would have, at the time, needed to rely on fansubs, which is a bit much to ask of new fans. That said, some of the offending works have since been licensed for release via streaming (particularly the Captain Harlock TV series). However, other works aren't as accessible, like Mazinger Z and Cyborg 009.

I still think the book holds up well as a good piece of reference material though. I'd say that it doesn't work as well as a reference material for new fans who are looking for material to find on their own, as much as it works as a gift to a new fan from a long time fan, who wants to give the new fan an idea of what's out there, wants to help the new fan figure out what he might like, and who knows how to get ahold of some of the harder to find works, in case those catch the new fan's attention.

The PlotLuke, Leia, C-3P0 and R2-D2 are en-route to meet up with a conclave of resistance movements in order to try to get them to join the Rebel Alliance. En Route Leia's Y-Wing runs into mechanical problems and is forced to set-down on a believed uninhabited planet, Minban, that turns out to be a covert mining colony run by the Empire. I'm not exactly sure why the Empire would need to run a mining colony “covertly”. In the course of trying to find parts or transport, Leia and Luke encounter a strange old woman named Hettie, who has a shard of a crystal called the “Kaiburr Crystal”, which has the ability to focus the perception of the force in those who can perceive it. Luke touches this shard and his perception is heightened, Leia senses nothing. Luke suspects that this “spike” in his awareness in the force could be perceived by other force sensitive people, at some distance, possibly even by The Emperor.Luke & Leia, when roughhousing playfully (as part of their romantic tension), end up getting the attention of the local garrison and are arrested. Leia has her PTSD (caused by her torture on the Death Star) triggered at the mention of the Imperial Governor, and they're thrown in a cell with two large furry creatures called Yuzzum, which are basically Wookies - who are currently nursing really terrible hangovers. Hettie helps break out Luke & Leia, with Luke and Hettie pooling their force abilities to levitate a food tray to trigger the motion sensors for the door (not very secure), before they escape. The Yuzzum kill some troopers in very gruesome fashions (up to and including beating troopers to death with their own limbs, and the limbs of their comrades).After travelling across country, they end up encountering some local wildlife, and end up with some of the natives who haven't gotten hooked on booze and drugs by the Empire to keep them docile. Luke succeeds in a trial by combat, just in time for some stormtroopers (and Darth Vader - who also triggers Leia's PTSD), show up and attack. They are pushed back, and our Heroes commandeer an Imperial Transport to reach the temple where the crystal is (with the Yuzzum again literally ripping troopers to shreds). Luke & Leia arrive, but as they're investigating the temple, Vader shows up at the transport and kills the Yuzzum. He arrives in the chamber with the crystal, right after Luke's party does. Leia ends up in a lightsaber duel with Vader, which she loses at, but she is not killed. Luke Force Pulls his lightsaber to him, and manages (with some force assistance by Obi-Wan) to knock Vader into a pit. This does not kill Vader, but he won't be getting out for quite some time - enough time for Leia and Hettie to grab the Kaiburr Crystal and our heroes to escape.Character DevelopmentLuke Skywalker: Is force sensitive, and has learned a new ability - Force Pull! Is also romantically interested in Princess LeiaPrincess Leia Organa: Is not force sensitive. Has really bad PTSD from her time on the Death Star, caused by her torture (not by seeing her home world destroyed), and is triggered by mention of Imperial Governors, and by Darth Vader himself.C3-P0 & R2-D2: Darth Vader knows the authentication codes to shut them down automatically.The Emperor: Is Force Sensitive.Darth Vader: Likes to play with his opponents before killing them - which allows him to be defeated by Luke. Is actively sadistic - gloating about spending a longer time torturing Leia this time. This is the first time we see him kill a subordinate who failed him (he was stopped in A New Hope)World Building The Empire has rules about the treatment of indigenous populations - rules that are ignored in the case of Minban, the planet in this book. The Rebel Alliance is recruiting various other Resistance groups, particularly following their loss of manpower in the wake of the destruction of the Death Star. Governors are responsible for whole systems, not just planets. The senate being dissolved circa A New Hope has upped the bureaucratic headache of running a system (and the planets therein). Presumably the Death Star would not have included the ability to cut through red tape, so this still would have been a problem.Other NotesThe book has a foreword by [a:George Lucas 3231 George Lucas https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1458677946p2/3231.jpg]George Lucas saying that he's at that time writing the story for the second film (which will be Empire Strikes Back, and he's planned to do 9 films total in the series. Also, both Luke andVader are using Blue lightsabers. I'm assuming that when this book was written, the re-release of the films, with the “Episode IV” in the opening crawl and the re-rotoscoped lightsaber blades hadn't been released yet.My ThoughtsAs stilted as the dialog is in A New Hope, Splinter of The Mind's Eye is soooo much worse. Several of the characters have straight up Silver Age Comics levels of verbosity. This isn't helped by the fact that this, basically, is the second Star Wars work at the time of publication (with the exception of the Marvel comics), so nobody really has anyone else's voice yet. That said, Vader in particular feels somewhat jarringly out of character. Yes, he has a flair for the dramatic, and he's certainly evil. However, his sense of cruelty here is so much more vicious. You know those characters in anime and manga who demonstrate their cruelty by licking the blood from the blade of their sword or knife? Vader, in this book, would be that, if he didn't need his helmet and you could safely lick a lightsaber.It bears mentioning that this book is also considerably more graphically violent than the films, with considerably more gore. Dismemberments abound, with more than a few people being beaten into unrecognizability as humanoids by the Yuzzum. While Dark Horse did not have to deal with the Comics Code Authority, this still probably would not have flown in much of their books.

I'll have a review of this going on Bureau 42 in July. In short, the manga is a good adaptation of the light novel (and anime), though the manga uses more super-deformed character designs in comedic moments than the show did. Generally, the manga feels like it plays up the comedy a little bit more than the show, though the dramatic beats are there.

This volume of the manga adapts the Operation Yashima plotline, which I'd also describe as the “First Rei Arc.” It gives the reader a baseline for who Rei is currently, so her character can develop and change over future volumes.

The story in this volume is missing some of the light humor that the anime version of this arc has (with Rei being the ultimate straight woman - particularly when Rei comes to give Shinji the briefing on Operation Yashima while he's in the hospital).

Sadamoto's art is excellent, and the problems I had tracking some of the action scenes in manga form in volume 1 are completely absent here.

This volume gets to probably one of my favorite parts of the story, both in the TV show and here in the manga (I haven't read the novel yet) - the confrontation in downtown Ikebukuro. This is really the point in the story where Mikado really comes into his own as a character, and shows his hidden depths that show he isn't your typical non-committal Light Novel protagonist.

This book, basically, covers all of the Star Wars comics up to those published shortly after the release of Episode 3 (thus comics directly relating to the results of Order 66, and comics in the early portions of the Dark Times era are omitted) - not due to deliberate omission, but because of the publication date.

This book is, basically, the most complete collection of all the Star Wars graphic novels published up until Episode 3's release, covering everything up to (in the Star Wars timeline) the Legacy era, and the expanded KotOR era. Basically, if you want to get into the older Star Wars comics, this is really where you want to go - it's the best place to start you collection, or your readings in general. It's not entirely comprehensive, and as in the case with many of these collections, the addition of recently published comics makes it obsolete, but it's still an excellent book to have in your collection.