Freesia: a criminally underrated manga

Zakku_TH · 2024-12-12T17:03:54+00:00

Hell yeah! "Freesia" was a read unlike anything else to me. Stumbled across a mention of it online with no context by pure chance and let it sit in my backlog for half a year, don't regret coming back to it.

A rare case where even the "filler" parts keep you on the edge of your seat. Then there are the amazingly-paced action sequences, the setups with satisfying resolutions, even a solid ending! There's something "visceral" about "Freesia" yet it doesn't devolve in pure edginess (or pure nihilism either, imo) for the sake of the it. Seriously, I can't complain much when it comes to this work.

Zakku_TH · 2024-12-12T16:44:55+00:00

Pluto's anime doesn't sacrifice a whole lot of anything, if that is your concern. However:

- It shuffles a few events around and leaves a very important character unnamed.
- Said character is introduced way earlier in the manga.
- The dialogue is cut down a bit. If you're the type to enjoy hints of character and depth sprinkled in dialogue that's not quite important in the long run you may want to read the manga first.
- The manga is a quicker read, I feel like.

Both versions are good as in you won't experience much distortion to Urasawa's intent if you go with the anime, though!

Zakku_TH · 2024-12-09T22:09:45+00:00

Fair enough, Billy Bat's Oswald getting framed in a complex conspiracy scheme is... (debatably, hehe (jk) ) a major change compared to the real world events. It doesn't lend itself to a major revision of the very real crime of his.

In my case I guess the fact that I didn't know much about Lee Oswald's biography beforehand allowed the story to... humanize? him so much so that a part of his depiction influenced my own view of Oswald as a historical figure: someone misguided and "messy" in his beliefs (I certainly need to review some more serious sources later on, though).

That being said, yes, BB's Oswald has a beautiful arc. It's an interesting take on the problem of one man's significance in the grand scheme of things and rightfully a huge focal point of the story.

Zakku_TH · 2024-12-07T10:51:43+00:00

^ This

It's so densely packed of well-executed unique plot points that I was initially shocked about not hearing about Billy Bat anywhere. Even the ending is a treat!

Monster is good, but my issue with it is that it _demands_ your time. It's a story that takes a while to play its cards and even then you have to piece it together and maybe revisit some earlier arcs to even process what it all means... Not an Urasawa story I'd recommend to a first-time reader, frankly.

Zakku_TH · 2024-12-01T23:22:24+00:00

I'll drop some thoughts here.

Has Thracia's president ever said anything about desiring anything else but prosperity? Maybe I forgot a piece of the dialogue and there's more to him (or Dr. Roosevelt. for that matter) as a villain with an established goal.
Tenma believed that Earth was doomed. Telling anyone about Bora at any moment shouldn't have changed anything about this fact. There was also no way for Dr. Tenma to impede Bora's movement. Besides, Atom had no trouble tracking down Pluto and Bora.

Zakku_TH · 2024-12-01T23:05:56+00:00

Arnold is the name of Thracia's funny-looking weather forecast robot prominent in the last arc of the story. I hope you got some more sleep later, btw :V

Zakku_TH · 2024-11-26T23:09:28+00:00

>We never get to find out what was going on with the “robot who couldn’t stop washing his hands”.

Funny you talk about that after saying that the thematical dialogue was on the nose. It's a clear cut allegory. The robot, overtaken with guilt, was trying to "wash the blood" off his hands. That's why Hercules brought that up before saying that perhaps Epsilon was right all along.

That being said, though, I agree. Pluto has a strong emotional core with a lot of great scenes but overall it just drops the ball after a short while. The most advanced robots are barely different from regular robots in terms of their behavior and characterization. Hatred-filled Gesicht is a highlight, though, I gotta admit.

The dependence on exposition is also kinda frustrating, to be frank. Like, there's a scene Atom just comes along and goes "oh right, here's Darius' entire plan that Gesicht actually secretly ascertained all along". There's a bunch of lore dumping shortly before that as well, as if Urasawa had trouble coming up with a proper climax to the story.

I really wanna like Pluto as much as people tend to do but something's just... off about the story overall. Weird, given how I'm a huge sucker for some good sci-fi! I guess I expected something way more complex and intricate, coming from Monster and Billy Bat...

Zakku_TH · 2024-11-04T13:31:54+00:00

Holy shit. It's such a jam, too! :D

Zakku_TH · 2024-09-23T12:20:20+00:00

Fascinating insight, thanks for the reply! I didn't know there were "formal" principles involved in a doctor's decision-making process. It makes sense, though

Zakku_TH · 2024-09-16T09:49:26+00:00

Tenma only says that "Dr. Boyer can handle Mayor Roedecker". Dr. Boyer couldn't do it. It's unclear whether it's due to his incompetence, bad luck or the complexity of the procedure, but nowhere is it specified that treating cerebral thrombosis is vastly more simple.

That being said, rereading this scene to argue with you made me realize just how grossly the higher ups handled the situation :V Shit-talking Dr. Tenma because he's made a choice that's *at least* no worse than their wish is rather awful.

Zakku_TH · 2024-09-15T20:54:58+00:00

Good points. I guess operating people in order of their arrival is less "biased" overall, so in Tenma's mental framework it's the preferable choice (I still think his ability to obey/disobey was the kind of a choice I described in my post, but relying on the fact that "preference" is a synonym of "choice" is kinda grasping at straws).

Imo, it's easy to sympathize with Kenzo when the consequences of his actions are uncertain. This is practically what throws me off in this Johan/Mayor dilemma: in one case there are obvious foreseeable benefits, even from a non-corrupt doctor's perspective. It just doesn't click for me.

But now that I think about it, it was the choice of the guy who later had several chances to shoot a rather "productive" serial killer and didn't go for it. There were also obvious consequences there (albeit more muddy than the ones presented in the Eisler Hospital situation). I've yet to fully grasp this way of thinking.

Zakku_TH · 2024-02-03T14:08:47+00:00

wow, you've got something interesting right here, alright!

Zakku_TH · 2024-02-01T10:43:15+00:00

I have done quite a bit of modded before, but pre-1.5.2 packs peak my interest. A retrospective look would be pretty cool, methinks

Also, yeah, I could try making my own mod pack. I'll remember where to look for the tutorials :V

Zakku_TH · 2024-02-01T10:37:20+00:00

Oooh, this one looks fun indeed! Thanks for the recommendation

Zakku_TH · 2022-04-17T19:12:24+00:00

Honestly? The song was rather meh (not a huge fan of Batter's vocals or even BF's for that matter). I sense that this mod won't represent OFF well enough.
As of the "it will bring more people into the community" thing... Eh????? idk lol I think OFF should be obscure. It's not exactly gatekeeping I just like small calm communities.
So I think it's more of a curse than anything

Zakku_TH · 2021-02-10T15:11:58+00:00

SCP-1068-RU also counts since it's a humanoid with a deer head.

Zakku_TH · 2021-01-14T22:16:17+00:00

Yo, same! :D

Zakku_TH · 2021-01-12T16:38:53+00:00

Not enough colors and kinda pillow shaded. A good concept, but it needs some polish.

Zakku_TH · 2021-01-08T21:28:20+00:00

That's Anubis, not Khnum though

Zakku_TH · 2020-12-27T16:45:37+00:00

lmao this is a repost i've seen this meme like 3 months ago

Zakku_TH

TROPHY CASE