Some GDA Thoughts.

[kaidog]

Apparently GDA is ending at volume 5. I feel like sending Yoshi a very strongly worded letter, but instead I'll voice my opinion here.

I am extremely disappointed.

This story had so much potential! I was hoping to learn about Akame's other ancestors and see what details the scrolls contain. I really wanted to see more of the Iga clan and how they function. Instead... we got flawless super-dog Hakutaka and almost zero explanation for anything. I'm bummed. I'm bitter. I'm furious.

The art was enjoyable and I adored all of the action but... The writing and character development was some of Yoshihiro Takahashi's worst to date. It killed the series for me.

Despite my negative viewpoint, I do not regret purchasing the series or scanning it for everyone. It was a fun, albeit severely lacking in decent content, read.

What do you guys think? Do you think Yoshi should have stretched out the series a bit and included more detail? Did you enjoy what you saw of GDA?

Kit, Rascal, and myself do indeed plan on finishing translating GDA, but it will almost certainly be the last of Yoshihiro's newer works that we do as a team.

[M-92 Mantis]

I agree with you on this being, once again, another spin-off series that went nowhere.

I'm already not a fan of the Iga/Kouga deal, but I know a lot of people like it, and I can understand why, so it seemed pretty cool that they'd get a story about Akame's past and the deal with Kurojaki, why there's such tension, Akame's own family, maybe and-

...Oh, it's not even about Akame. It's about his ancestor...

Okay, well at least we'll get to know the origins of his clan. The Iga and Kouga are real historic clans, after all. We'll finally learn about the documents, how the Kouga and Iga worked with each other, and what drove them apart-

...Okay, nevermind, the Kouga already seem to be pretty happy being evil and betraying the Iga, except for one dude. Well at least they'll explain on the documents and why they were so import-

Documents never really come up and are never addressed as important to the story. But hey, there's a white puppy who looks like every other spin-off white puppy we've seen for forty years. Oh and he's born to do great things and carry on the white color the Iga use for their dogs despite us being told it makes the whole "being hidden in the dark" thing not work. Nevermind, it does now with Hakutaka and his ancestors, don't worry about it.

Look at all these characters! Ouzaru's the usual OP-main, but he does have actual emotion over his face if people he's supposed to care about are hurt or dying, which is, by Ginga father standards, 'new.' Ryoujun also is a really likable character, holding the burden of his father's clan on his shoulders and being surrounded by enemies constantly, having to fight off a pack of Kouga ganin on his own until Ouzaru comes to help, then believing his entire family was burned alive (that moment with the war lord held him close as he cried was honestly touching). I'm not going to fangasm over a woman doing something like KILLING ALL THE EVIL MEN GURL POWER, but I am glad Kotobuki and Kaede were actually doing stuff to help the plot move, and kept separate POVs interesting when Kaede took the remaining ganin, the puppies, and Taichi into hiding. I really wanted to see where that went but they never did much after that once Ouzaru and then Hakutaka handled every problem ever.

Hakutaka has brothers, too! With different coloring, something that is so sad to have to point out to make a character interesting. Will we see them grow up with Hakutaka, each having their own specialty, their own tests to become adults in this harsh new war? Surely that's why they were made and born and have been living this long.

But there's a pattern here - either these characters die without any sort of arcs or maybe even three lines of dialogue, or they become obscure to the plot.

I couldn't get into the story to care about any of the conflict, and I am saying this honestly: I really did try. I actually grew to like the cast as first impressions and my favorite had to be Ryoujun. I would have loved to see these characters interact with the world more instead of just playing into the plot to make it quick and easy.

This series in a nutshell is this: this whole series was named Ginga Densetsu Akame, with Akame on the first promotional covers, to trick people into thinking they got a spin-off series from a character they know and like - it was all a marketing ploy that Yoshi either quit because he was tired of it, like all his shorter series, or it was cancelled, like how GDWO is teetering with its own sales.

I barely know anyone who has bought a single volume of this series - far more people have bought GDWO - that's enough to say what lack of impression this story has left on the minority fanbase of English speakers, let alone the actual audience.

[Ace]

Mar 21, 2015 14:21:05 GMT -7 M-92 Mantis said:

I couldn't get into the story to care about any of the conflict, and I am saying this honestly: I really did try. I actually grew to like the cast as first impressions and my favorite had to be Ryoujun. I would have loved to see these characters interact with the world more instead of just playing into the plot to make it quick and easy. 

I can definitely relate to your statement, because guess what! So do I feel. I grew up with the GNG anime and the entire 'document'-plot was definitely left hanging in the air... Maybe I thought it would be explained in the anime or manga, but alas no. Instead of answering questions, Yoshi rushes ahead in a story with too many names and too much stuff going on for me to really attach myself to any of these characters. I read some of the chapters, and I had to peddle back to double check who the hell this character was. Very sloppy job indeed and as Rascal points out, kinda false marketing...

[The Kirbeard™]

I like how it's not even about Akame... I haven't read the whole thing yet, as you guys haven't finished translating it, but I can tell it's not even about him...

[M-92 Mantis]

I have purchased volumes 4 and 5 so I can finish scanning this series and we can be done with it and never have to speak about it again.

I will let everyone know how exactly this series ended or if there's anything 'interesting' to point out as little sneak peeks.

I haven't found anything worth mentioning in volumes 2 and 3, at the moment.

[Ryan]

May 13, 2015 20:06:58 GMT -7 M-92 Mantis said:

I have purchased volumes 4 and 5 so I can finish scanning this series and we can be done with it and never have to speak about it again.

i love that you said that  

[Ace]

I won't lie and say I can't wait for the GDA to finish.... I'm on Team BnF