On the pod this week Tony is joined by comics historian Richard Sheaf to discuss the merits and history of the landmark Manga series ‘Crying Freeman‘. The first episode in a month of the aptly titled ‘Old Blokes Read Manga‘ series. The pair dive into the the works of the two mangaka legends Kazuo Koike and Ryoichi Ikegami. The podcast is also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and at the Podbean site. Why not subscribe and leave a comment if you enjoyed this one.
This is an adults only series with a focus on the old sex and violence. It was also one of the big spearheads in a push in English translations of Manga into the UK and US. The hosts discuss the impact it had on theirs and others comic buying habits in the late eighties and early nineties. Read along as art, writing, and history are discussed and picked apart. Does this still stand out as a good example of the medium or can it’s pulpy approach be viewed as old fashioned in light of more recent releases. Listen along and see if you agree with the answers.
The accompanying Crying Freeman Anime of the original series is notably very close to the Manga in the first episode and recommended as well. You can find the 18 certificate video here. WARNINGS – includes knife and gun porn as well as actual porn!
Thanks to Rich for coming on and you can find the work he is doing on rare British comics here at his Boys Adventure Comics blog. You can also follow him on Twitter right here.
Many thanks for listening and let us know what you think or if you have a book it would be fun to cover on an upcoming episode.
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