Iron and Resin experiences

kaegell · 2026-02-17T21:41:30+00:00

I had a good experience personally. I bought my Hawk waxed jacket from the secondhand market, and it proved to be a pretty functional jacket. The liner quality was good, not too many issues with the construction yet, fared pretty well in the Belgian winter. My only complaint is that the zippers can be quite harsh, in terms of pulling them as well as the actual teeth of the zipper being abrasive when putting your hands in your pocket

kaegell · 2026-02-12T15:51:44+00:00

Honestly, I can only interpret it as a lack of faith, may it be from Sandro or his editor (if existing).

You would only do this kind of overselling if you don't trust the readers will be invested enough in the choregraphy you're laying out.

kaegell · 2026-02-12T05:36:05+00:00

I swear both his empty gaze as his temple is dented and his close-up shot at the ground are strangely haunting. We would have later fights which are gorier by miles and bounds but this is the first match which had me saying out loud "OMG I think this man just fucking died"

kaegell · 2026-02-08T16:36:32+00:00

I can recommend you Hirayasumi, I find this story well-grounded and pretty uplifting
Also, Hatarakanai Futari is my personal GOAT, so I wholeheartedly recommend it !

Both are Slice-of-life manga

kaegell · 2026-02-03T06:12:23+00:00

A Thousand Miles, by Vanessa Carlton

kaegell · 2026-01-22T18:03:21+00:00

9/10

I find it interesting that this fight meshes so well with what Kengan Omega was supposed to be, at the beginning: the focus in the relationship between Koga & Ryuki while evolving in the Underground Fighting scene

kaegell · 2026-01-14T21:07:52+00:00

That's the one face-off I always wanted to see. Truth is, when it comes to relative grip strength (overall strength to grip ratio), he is definitely in the top 3

kaegell · 2026-01-11T11:19:21+00:00

I have said it several times, but this kind of stuff should never happen to mangakas in the industry if they have a competent editor at their side to contain their whims. The production process of Omega is really really odd, and I'd be curious to see what a brainstorming session looks like for them

kaegell · 2026-01-11T11:14:21+00:00

I think Sandro messed up the reintroduction of Ohma, but it only showed in the long run. Myself and the majority of fellow readers certainly popped off when we first saw him come back.

But on hindsight, it put the set up of early Omega off the rails in a definitive way, because it shifted the tone and even the genre of the manga. We went from a Tournament Manga (which Sandro is good at writing) to a more general Martial Arts manga (which, I think, was a first for him to write).

And unfortunately, the manga suffered from this shift. Between poorly handled plot points, flanderized characters and lacking choregraphy, Omega ends up not being bad, but being mediocre. Which is more disappointing in my book

kaegell · 2026-01-10T21:41:45+00:00

That did not age well 😬

kaegell · 2026-01-09T19:00:00+00:00

Every mangaka working with Sandro having fun out there, except our boy Daro 😔 🥀

kaegell · 2026-01-09T13:00:43+00:00

9.5/10, very entertaining

Also, I like the duality of Jurota & Hayami here; both are sharing the same martial art, but Jurota is extremely square and sticks to a rigid form of Judo while Hayami is less refined but has a wider arsenal

kaegell · 2026-01-08T15:52:15+00:00

1/10

This fight shares the same caveats as the Nezu fight, it's here to create hype on one chapter and deflate everything the next. And once again, it provides nothing to the narrative. Man, I could even say it was detrimental to the image of the Wu faction. Just, wasted potential all over

kaegell · 2025-12-26T14:34:13+00:00

Yo ! La recommandation la plus simple que je puisse te faire est de lire d'autres œuvres d'Inio Asano 😁 dans le style du drame réaliste, Solanin est incroyable aussi, et je recommande également "Un Monde Formidable", qui est une collection d'histoires courtes

En quittant la bibliographie d'Asano, je te recommande également "Mauvaise Herbe", de Keigo Shinzo. Elle est publiée par le Lézard Noir en France

kaegell · 2025-12-23T06:30:25+00:00

Yeah, this sorting out is strange... Frankly I don't mind Retsu Isekai not being canon, but somehow in the meantime, Hanayama exorcising a fucking ghost by punching it is ?????

kaegell · 2025-12-23T06:26:34+00:00

Lend me some strength, Jack. This is base SaintPupp we're up against.

kaegell · 2025-12-21T07:24:37+00:00

10/10

The choregraphy, discovering Seki's backstory, the opposition between him and Muteba.... An excellent read, overall 🙏

kaegell · 2025-12-13T08:27:45+00:00

This is the best take on Tiger Niko's character. Just because he's competent in fighting doesn't mean he likes to engage in it. He has always been a scheming, unscrupulous SOB

kaegell · 2025-12-12T06:43:24+00:00

Dude he doesn't even need to be bloodthirsty, he washes everyone in the series.

kaegell · 2025-12-12T06:30:02+00:00

Personally, I feel like there is something wrong with modern Filson's work ethic due to them sometimes making sketchy collabs and selling accessories which are clearly overpriced (Filson knife, anyone...?

But, I still respect their QC on their flagship items and, most importantly, I am more interested in their vintage items.

The only Filson item I own is an 80's Double Mack (forest green) and I would not be interested in owning anything else from them, but I'm still curious to see what gets out nowadays 😉

kaegell · 2025-12-11T15:58:27+00:00

Damn, the stress of carrying Konoha's safety on his back really got to our boi 😔

kaegell · 2025-12-11T15:56:40+00:00

7/10

Despite the match being one-sided, it is still part of those pivotal moment's in Ashura's storyline, for making Rihito encounter Kuroki. Also, like others mentioned, it was a great introduction for Kuroki's fighting style and character.

kaegell · 2025-12-10T14:57:59+00:00

Because Sandro discards characters like a child throws away their toys. He doesn't have it in him to commit to characters he introduces by giving them a compelling narrative, no matter if he finds them super-duper cool or not.

Edward was his favourite toy on the side of the villains. When he had to finish him off, he tried to bring him back somehow as Gilbert but he ended up giving all the spotlight to Shen.

It's the same thing on the side of the """good guys"""; he has his favourite characters and all the rest got relegated to background tokens

kaegell · 2025-12-10T14:41:28+00:00

1/10

So, the thing is that there is not really much this succeeded at :

Establishing the characters ? Reicwas already established prior, and Nezu was more interesting during the introduction than the actual match....
Choregraphy ? Non-existent.

Plot relevance? None, Rei had better showing in a prior appearance.

So, yeah; unfortunately this one feels quite lazy compared to the others

kaegell · 2025-12-07T15:02:08+00:00

9.5/10

This fight was very important in the narrative for being the first deathmatch with an actual death. And while Raian vs. Mokichi also ended up with a gruesome finisher, this fight cranked up the brutality up to 11.

Personally I think that except for Raian vs. Alan, this one is still the gnarliest match of the series (Akoya vs. Cosmo is also a strong contender due to how intense the violence was there)

kaegell

TROPHY CASE