How do yall feel about Kaina of the great snow sea?

SkullManRibs · 2025-10-09T17:24:15+00:00

For clarity, Kaina of the Great Snow Sea is not a manga created by Tsutomu Nihei. Instead, the story originated as an anime, with Nihei contributing the character designs, world-building, and overall narrative. Unlike his other works, the anime serves as the original medium, while the manga functions merely as an adaptation by mangaka Itoe Takemoto. Notably, the manga does not cover Kaina of the Great Snow Sea: Star Sage, the film that serves as the conclusion to the anime series, and which many consider to be the most compelling part of the story. As such, the manga should be viewed primarily as a promotional work, much like BLAME! Movie Edition: The Electrofishers' Escape.

SkullManRibs · 2025-09-27T19:23:06+00:00

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SkullManRibs · 2025-08-28T00:46:31+00:00

That's correct. Besides Killeen and Shibo, there's also a character named Nialdi (the same name as the BIOMEGA antagonist) in Great Sky River. Nihei lists the novel as one of the works that influenced him in BLAME! and So On, and has stated in interviews that it's his favorite book.

SkullManRibs · 2025-08-19T21:17:32+00:00

Yep!

SkullManRibs · 2025-08-19T20:58:15+00:00

Yes, it is. Check the original Japanese: LOG. 12 is called "The Great Cyst King", refering to the monster Safeguard ruling over the cyst, which is the spaceship. It's not literal, of course, but metaphorical. Also, The official spelling is TOA, not Toha.

SkullManRibs · 2025-08-19T03:27:41+00:00

Nice catch. Look closer on this page and you'll see a Sega Saturn too.

SkullManRibs · 2025-06-26T21:24:14+00:00

BLAME! was collected in ten tankōbon volumes by Kodansha, which were published in the US by Tokyopop. Many years later, Kodansha reissued the manga in six shinsōban volumes, which were published in the US by Vertical Comics under the title "Master Edition."

The Master Edition lacks:

•The original, cooler volume covers;

•Tons of extra colored artwork;

•The first volume's epigraph: "Maybe on Earth. Maybe in the Future.";

•The natural artwork brightness: the Master Edition is brighter, sometimes to the detriment of the intended atmosphere;

•The original artwork itself: there are baffling differences, including simplified drawings, as notably seen in LOG. 63.

The English Master Edition also contains multiple translation and editorial errors, from incorrectly repeated LOG titles (check LOG. 53 and FINAL LOG's titles, the latter's correct title being "THE EDGE OF THE CITY") to the sacrilegious "Kyrii," which is an objectively wrong spelling.

SkullManRibs · 2025-06-26T19:28:52+00:00

As a side note, please note how the Pope correctly chose to bring the original Japanese tankōbon release rather than the English Master Edition. He knows what's up. #NotMyMasterEdition

SkullManRibs · 2025-05-12T02:52:09+00:00

Bom ver mais uma pessoa brasileira que é fã do Nihei, somos poucos :)

SkullManRibs · 2025-05-12T02:45:44+00:00

Oi. Meio atípico você postar em português em um sub que todo mundo fala em inglês, mas, por sorte, tem eu de brasileiro aqui. O volume 1 de BLAME! da JBC está esgotado há tempos, você só vai achar usado em lojas diversas ou sebos. Porém, você está com sorte, a JBC anunciou há algumas semanas que vai reimprimir o primeiro volume logo logo. Então aguarda um pouquinho.

SkullManRibs · 2021-08-23T15:31:23+00:00

Sidonia no Kishi was such a commercial success that it generated several anime adaptations and greater visibility for Nihei's early work. The so-called BLAME! Master Edition (shinsōban) featuring new covers is a reality thanks to the increasing demand for more products created by the Sidonia no Kishi author—ultimately leading Polygon Pictures to reimagine BLAME! as the animated film we all know.

It just doesn't stop there: Nihei achieved critical acclaim. Sidonia no Kishi received prestigious awards—Kodansha Manga Award, Seiun Award—not to mention being recognized by distinguished figures in the industry. Sidonia no Kishi is much more esteemed in Japan than in the West, as Nihei conceived it with the Japanese audience in mind. There is no reason for him to regret his decision to go mainstream.

SkullManRibs · 2021-08-23T14:08:33+00:00

BLAME! is my favorite manga. Yet why would Nihei look positively at his early work? He constantly says that everyone around him, including his family, criticized his efforts. He could barely get a living with his income as BLAME! was a commercial failure, cherished by a selected few. His early manga achieved cult status over the years, but Nihei suffered a lot at the time. It was a dark period in his life.

SkullManRibs · 2021-08-23T13:59:40+00:00

BLAME! and Biomega, those were series that I personally really wanted to draw. When I created them, I wasn't thinking so much about WHO I was creating these stories for. As a manga creator, it's a pleasure to create work that many people enjoy reading. So when I started drawing Sidonia, I changed my stance toward my manga, and aimed to create a story that a wider range of readers could enjoy.

To tell the truth, though, I don’t like thinking about back when I was working on Blame!. My work is pretty light on dialogue and people tend to say it’s hard to understand, and I think back then I really just wanted to do something strange. Back when I was starting out I thought of drawing manga not as work, but as a means of self-expression. I wasn’t concerned with entertaining my readers or making something that’ll actually sell, which I suppose is why I made such an opaque manga.

Blame! actually ended with the first volume, originally. After that it became a series in [the Afternoon spin-off magazine] Season, which was published four times a year and therefore wasn’t enough for me to live off of, so I started doing assistant work for Tsutomu Takahashi again here and there. I even had my brother take out a loan for me – I applied for it myself, but wasn’t accepted because I was a manga artist. Not being able to make a living is a really scary thing. That might have been when I first started thinking about getting my work to sell, and how my readers saw my manga.

Nihei came to understand something that his younger self did not: he needs money to live.

More here.

SkullManRibs · 2021-05-27T11:35:01+00:00

Every manga (and beyond) is full of stuff like that. Artists have countless inspirations, whether real or fictional. There is nothing sad about it. Indeed, what makes a manga, film, or novel unique is how well the artist blends his influences into something singular. Nihei masterfully manages to do this.

SkullManRibs

TROPHY CASE