LEVEL E T.03 by YOSHIHIRO TOGASHI

レベルE [Level E] #3

by Yoshihiro Togashi

Certains agents du FBI doivent se faire une raison : la vérité n'est pas ailleurs..... mais bel et bien près de chez vous ! Dernièrement, c'est le peuple Makubaku, dévoreuses d'espèces à travers l'espace, qui s'est invité sur Terre. Leur meneuse, en bonne Reine des aliens, fera tout pour se reproduire, quitte à sacrifier la race humaine. Et comme si ce dossier n'était pas déjà assez chaud pour Kraft, un plus grand danger se pointe : le Prince qu'il sert. Après les échecs de Yukitaka et des Color Rangers, seule la famille royale de Dogra pourra encore espérer stopper cet être doté d'une intelligence et d'une connerie qui défièrent les lois de la science-fiction... The End ?

Genres: Manga, Comics, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Shonen, Humor

Paperback

First published May 1, 1997

About the author

Yoshihiro Togashi (see also 冨樫 義博) is a manga artist. Credited in Chinese translations as Fu Jian Yi Bo.

He began drawing manga at an early age; while he attended college, the publisher Shueisha recognized his talent. Togashi has authored numerous manga series in different genres during the past three decades. He is perhaps best known for writing and illustrating the YuYu Hakusho and Hunter × Hunter series, both of which have been published in the popular Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine. Togashi is married to Naoko Takeuchi, the author of Sailor Moon.

Reviews

[新新 Xin-Xin · Rating 4 out of 5]

電子版萬歲！
富堅應該畫得很開心吧，有點意外野球哏

[Phạm Tân · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cả ba volume đều cho cảm giác nửa vời, có lẽ Togashi chỉ sáng tác ra những mẩu truyện ngắn trong Level e chỉ để thỏa chí sáng tạo, vì dù truyện không đi được tới đâu trong miền ý tưởng của mình, truyện vẫn rất giải trí.

Truyện cũng chứa nhiều tiền đề và chất liệu đáng quý cho cái tác phẩm đồ sộ theo sau nó, và tôi không chỉ nhắc đến nhân vật nhìn y hệt Gon.

Truyện của Togashi lúc nào cũng có tính Queer, từ những nhân vật gender bender đến mối quan hệ giữa các nhân vật đồng giới rồi cả cách viết phản diện nữa. Đương nhiên, cái ông chồng của tác giả Sailor Moon (How?) này không khi nào đào quá sâu vào vấn đề giới tính cả, thể hiện rõ nhất ở phần truyện nữ chúa ngoài hành tinh đến trái đất tìm chồng nhưng lại trúng tiết sét ái tình với một cô con gái, nghe rất thú vị đấy, nhưng ổng khai thác chưa tới tiềm năng của nó và rồi cẩu thả kết thúc truyện mà không đi đến cái hướng quan trọng nhất là mối quan hệ giữa giới tính và chính trị (tuy tôi cũng có thể đổ lỗi cho thời lượng phần truyện quá ít, do Togashi chỉ sáng tác cho vui chứ không có ý định đi sâu vào từ ban đầu). Dù khiếm khuyết, nhưng hoàng tử Dogra (cái tên trên trang cover đó), Kurama hay the icon of icon Kurapika là những nhân vật mà sự tồn tại của họ vẫn rất quan trọng đối với những đứa nhóc không thể đồng cảm với những người rặc nam hay rặc nữ quanh nó, lại thêm mối quan hệ giữa Gon và Killua, dù chỉ là bạn nhưng họ không hề xa cách như đại đa số những cặp bạn bè shounen khác, họ tự tin thể hiện sự yếu đuối của bản thân cho nhau ở mọi lúc,... Tôi rất trân trọng những sự lựa chọn này của Togashi, nên dù cái tính Queer chỉ là bức bình phong ở phần lớn thời gian, ổng vẫn ép sát nó vào mặt bạn, khiến bạn phải nhìn nhận nó và yêu thích nó, đúng là tôi chưa nghe ai nói về việc họ tự tin sống với giới tính thật của mình nhưng tôi biết cả nam lẫn nữ đều mê mệt Kurapika.

(add cả ba cuốn vào cuốn này)

[Matthew]

I tried to read a lesser known manga by a well-respected author. It did not go well.

This manga doesn't know how to pick a genre. It alternates between science fiction, horror, psychological thriller, slice of life, comedy, and sports manga, never really finding like it has its own identity.

The art is uninspired, and there are so many pages of textual info dumps that don't end up meaning much. There are only 16 chapters and 3 volumes, but this dragged on for so long.

I tried to find a hidden gem, and just found the rough. Stick with Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter x Hunter for Togashi's work.

1.5 out of 5 stars

[Bismah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was fine and the characters were well-designed, but it's definitely not on the same level as Yu Yu Hakusho or Hunter x Hunter. I felt this series wasn't as endearing or compelling as the other two and just didn't draw me into its world. There's something missing from this series but I can't put my finger on what that "something" is. Regardless I'm glad this was a relatively short series or else I don't think I would have stuck around for the entirety of it.

[Peter Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wrap up to the Level E series, maintaining all of the pizzazz that made the original book interesting!

[Marcos · Rating 2 out of 5]

O mais fraco de todos

[Eressea · Rating 4 out of 5]

冨樫大名當然是如雷貫耳了
但我其實不管動畫還是漫畫是一部都沒看過
最近FB常常推送這一部作品
號曰冨樫真正想畫的作品
於是乎找來看看

嗯...好笑歸好笑
但只能說電波對不上
看不出分鏡厲害之處
有空還是來看看幽遊白書或獵人吧

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's this weird thing Togashi does with character design, where the more "bland" (this isn't really the word I want) his female characters are, the more attractive they seem. For example, Keiko in Yu Yu Hakusho doesn't count as "bland" enough, her sailor suit uniform sticking out too much for its typical/generic design, which sounds paradoxical, and maybe it is, but the point is there's a clear(?) drive to make Keiko seem "cute" through her uniform, which makes her not as cute as she could be. Maybe. Botan from the same series has the blue hair and kimono is too distinctly "anime" that she loops around to being perhaps not so cute, or not as cute as can be. The Dark Tournament announcer girls with their monster features are also a bit over the top. BUT there's a girl way at the end, among the contestants for the aborted final tournament who looks almost utterly plain in comparison somehow looks cute as fuck. Same with the chick from the Shinyork arc in HxH who's on Hisoka's dick.

I guess, really, Togashi focuses on drawing this big black eyes and gives fluffy haircuts intended to be light in color (so as to appear white in print), and it just appeals to me very strongly. I don't know.

Anyway, the alien queen looks like a prototype for the Chimera Ant queen from HxH, so that's cool. The design of the Chimera Ant queen alone was enough to inform me that I'd love that arc, just for how bizarre she looks for a "battle shounen" villain (more so than my boi Imperfect Cell), so in a strange way this alien queen's design likewise makes me enjoy Level E just a wee bit more.

Yukitaka returns, from the first volume, only now he has a really deep tan, as do most of his fellow baseball teammates, and it's quite difficult to distinguish some from others. Hell, Yukitaka himself looks almost the same as this other guy he keeps talking to, which is far more confusing than it should be. Bit of a misstep for Togashi-sensei. That said, the new arc in which Yukitaka returns is pretty good overall, quite similar to Umezu's The Drifting Classroom, and Togashi really flexes his artistic/creative muscles(?) with the monster design for the 1920s Britain flashback sequence.

Mad props to "The Depths of Kraft's Psyche."

****

Major highlight here, as rude as it is to say, but it seems Togashi started suffering his back problems around the time of the last chapter, because he does that sketch-like art-style I love about middle HxH. It's amazing he can clearly draw well (as in, the composition of images) when the superficial appearances of his figures take a bit of a hit. His creative genius flourishes in spite of his medical condition. Something like how Ping-Pong The Animation is animated like a slide-show but still looks fantastic because of Yuasa's direction (I don't think Yuasa was ill though), Togashi can compose brilliant illustrations despite the content of the illustrations looking a bit wonky.

[lunaria. · Rating 4 out of 5]

› Rating:
— 4.75 Stars.