slam dunk da funk...

if you've been reading my fb status updates, you'd probably have guessed that i'm going nutty over slam dunk again (yeah, that old manga/anime...). and digging them out from behind my long row of kenshin mangas, i've started reading them again.

yes, it's the chinese version. stop staring at me like that. i know, i know. it's pretty unbelievable that greg is reading chinese stuff. yeah, yeah whatever. no i'm not just looking at the pictures and guessing what's happening (though i'll admit that i do skim through some bits 'cause it's just an overload of chinese words when takehiko starts explaining technical basketball terms since i know them already...).

it's hard to imagine how'd anyone beyond a sports enthusiast would read a manga based on a sport. i suppose, like bleach, it'd be better to watch the anime since there's so much movement involved (well, i am awaitng my torrent to finish so i can get to watching and hearing proper voices in japanese with english subs as opposed to translating chinese to english and making exceptions for names...).

but if an artist is skilled enough to convey movement and detail, with enough imagination, the reader can get absorbed into the world, playing and replaying each move with fluidity with the aid of a healthy dose of brain activity.

it also helps that there's a tonne of comedy in between as sakuragi (the red-headed and not-so-bright main protagonist) gets himself into all sortsa silly situations whilst learning the ropes of the sport he adopted to impress a girl. oh yeah, he doesn't know squat about it at first, but has an impressive repertoire of physical attributes and learns mighty quick.

ah, slam dunk. i missed you guys...



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on a side note, i've come to the conclusion that i'm a sucker for good characters. characters with solid back story and/or grow tremendously over the course of the story.

it's probably why i think revenge of the fallen is one helluva show with some really good characters (jetfire, simmons) and action despite the obvious drawback of a rather dour plot. on the flip side, i thought g.i. joe (which has a slightly better plot and just about the same level of action) wasn't as outstanding due to a lack of captivating characters (i liked rip cord, but channing tatum's duke kinda fell short in the character stakes...).

maybe that's just a limited analysis from a limited set of examples.

but i think i'm going to try and pay attention to stories a little more when i watch a movie and compare them to what i hear from my friends and critics...