GB: end of an era

[xparrot]

For those of us who still attend the First Church of BanGin - all good things must come to an end...and the GetBackers manga just did yesterday.

And I am thrilled to report that despite my fears about A&A-sensei, they came through. Super-super-happy ending, for the WIN.

I've only been haphazardly following the series, flipping through the weekly Shounen Mag chapters without trying to read them (trying to translate GB hurts my brain, yo. And my eyes, all those little kanji...) and sporadically checking the translations folks have been posting on getbackers. So I don't actually know what's going on - Ginji became 'god', went to an alternate (the real) universe and met his mom and discovered he'd died a long time before, Ban was going to vanish from existence from having used the Jagan more than thrice a day...yeah. Hurts my brain. So I don't know exactly how they got to this ending.

But sometimes pictures speak louder than words. So, yes. Happi endo!!



Kazuki's threesome:



My only regret is that Shido & Madoka didn't actually tie the knot. But hey! MakubeX is out and about! And has become a GitS fanboy!



Hevn is going to spend her ever after with Masaki (much to Ban's immense dismay.)


Masaki is saying "Mine!" in response to Ban's attempt to glom onto his sweetie's bosum last panel.

Team Transporter go!



And because I know you all are dying to know, does The Superhappy Ending mean that Emishi & Amon open a maid cafe together?
The answer is Yes. Yes, it does.




But the last pages really say it all:






"Let's go, Ginji!"
"Yeah, Ban-chan!!"

(the overlay text reads: "A shop of friends -- a tumult of ways -- the two sprinting...this town will never change!!")

^______^

Comments

[sholio]

Hee!

I admit that I kinda had a falling-out with Getbackers ... there are some things that I'll stop being fannish about, yet retain that soft spot for and occasionally fall for again, but GB seems not to be one of those. I was buying the English-language manga for awhile, but at some point it just ended up being too frenetic, too disjointed, too OMG THIS ISN'T GOING ANYWHERE for me. Sounds like I missed some stuff, though! Yikes! But it looks like everybody I care about survived, and this is one series where I have a bit of a canon OTP (Shido and Madoka), so it's nice to see them apparently grocery shopping together in that one panel there.

Okay, so maybe I do still have the odd warm-fuzzy left over for that series after all.

[nekokoban]

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

I, I'm kind of sad -- I won't see this till the volume itself comes out, but it's OVER now. My number-one reliable source of dorklove has ended.

... on the other hand, AMON, EMISHI, WHAT THE HELL MAID CAFE. XD

I can't wait to get to read the whole thing myself. :3

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I knooooooow...I'm sad that it's over. On the other hand I'm a little relieved, because I honestly was slightly afraid A&A-sensei were going to give into their obviously mad instincts and kill somebody or something. Now I can read the series in comfort, knowing it'll all work out. Happy!! <333

Really, what other choice did they have besides a Maid Cafe? XDDDDDD

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Ahh, did you ever see the anime? Most fans I know (myself included) were introduced to it via the anime, which is cuter and marginally more sensical. (also, I don't know about the later translations, but the first couple English volumes of GB were horrible, very inferior translations. TP is very hit-or-miss and early GB was a profound miss. I've heard that improved later, but...) And once you fall in love with Ban & Ginji you're willing to wade through quite a lot of nonsense to get to the smarm. Two guys who will do anything for each other, who fall apart without one another and can cheerfully accomplish anything together - yeah. Much love.

And Shido & Madoka are cutest couple ever, yo! I really must read the bug arc sometime (it's Shido's main story, crazy complicated antics with the beast tribe and the bug tribe, which kidnaps Madoka, and the entire extended gang teams up to retrieve her) I still wanted it to end with their wedding :P

[innueneko.livejournal.com]

This is a much better ending to what you wrote. THAT FIC STILL MAKES ME CRY. XD XD

[sholio]

Yep, I was introduced to the series through the anime, and then I started reading the manga and it was sort of like, WTF? And yeah, the translation never was very good, which probably helped to kill my interest in it. I'll put up with a LOT in scanslations, but if I'm paying money for it, I kinda want it to sound good ...

It also happened to be a period where I was getting sort of disillusioned with manga anyway. This was a couple of years ago, and I was spending a LOT of money on manga and starting to feel a little overwhelmed by the 40-volume series that seem to wander around without much of a point to them. (Curse me and my shonen-fighting-manga addiction, anyway!) I think I kinda needed a break from it. Of course, now that I'm interested again, all the series I was buying back then are some 15 volumes farther along ...

I think right now, YGO and Saiyuki Reload are the only ones I'm buying regularly. Everything else, either I've lost interest in, or there are so many volumes to catch up on that I look at the GN section in Barnes & Noble and my checking account starts to cry ...

Oh, and I did finally finish reading your Saiyuki fic!

[kanoe81.livejournal.com]

OMG, gonna cry.

Thanks so much for posting this! As you can see on the GB LJ, I'm *trying* to post translations but I'm now 2 chapters behind. Can't believe it's over... but glad it's a happi endo, as you say.

[yezhanquan85.livejournal.com]

Like i said that GB's LJ community, al's well that ends well.

Although a little sad that there's no death (gives it a feel of plot armour ala Gundam Seed and Destiny), still... the whole gang intact which means...

We'll see you next time! (?)

[halcyonjazz.livejournal.com]

AAAAAH MY HEART

IT'S LIKE I CAN BELIEVE IN LOVE AGAIN

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Eheheheh...it wasn't my fault! My friend made me write it! I don't do deathfic as a rule!! ...even though I do take sick pleasure in making people cry. *runs away*

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

NOW & FOREVER, <333333333!!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

You're welcome - and thank you much for those translations, btw, I know how hard work they are, and they're the only way I had any idea what was going on! XD

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee. Some stories are better served for the drama of death, but as a comedy above all, I don't think GB would have been. The status quo riding-off-into-the-sunset is perfect, as far as I'm concerned.
But then, I'm a sucker for happy endings and true love anyway ^^

[torsui.livejournal.com]

who in this series stays dead? seriously. XD

oh dear god. amon and emishi slay me. ded.

[immicolia.livejournal.com]

D'awwwwww! It is all so cute! Now I just have to wait out TokyoPop's glacial (and sometimes hillariously terrible) translation because: only at volume 16! The fuck!? why do I get the feeling I'm going to be dead before they finish this... I'm already going to be pushing 30 by the time Viz manages to finish off YGO *flails around in rage*

[yezhanquan85.livejournal.com]

Well, if you know Chinese, You can try the Chinese translations...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

umm...Lucifer? I think? ^^; No, I wasn't too worried, but...A&A-sensei clearly have a screw or two loose. So I couldn't help but worry ^^;

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Only v.16? good grief! I think the series is 40 volumes...close to, anyway...(geeze, TP, how can it take you this long?? from what I saw of the first volume they could just hire a monkey with a good grasp of PhotoShop...)

Still. I'm just happy it ends with everyone happy and gay!

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD

OH MY GOD

OH MY GOD

;lakdjf;laksdjf;laskdjf;laskjdf

MAID CAFE.


and Masaki and Hevn?!



...OH MY GOD.


(lost all other vocabulary sry)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I can understand that. I'm not really in a manga-phase myself at the moment (which is a shame, considering where I am and how cheap it is here! But then it might be partly self-preservation that I've gotten into Western shows of late, which can't drain my bank account from this distance...) Animanga series definitely scratch different itches than Western series, and the fandoms are so different...I can't say I like one more than the other; they both have their strengths and weaknesses. But sometimes I'm only in the mood for one or the other.

--though GB, Saiyuki, OP, a few others, are eternal favorites that I never fall out of, whatever else I get into. ^^

And I got your review for R2B - meant to email you about that! Thank you so much for the review (and glad I achieved the optimal h/c balance!)

I was really interested in your comments on "slash" writing style, because I've observed that difference myself. I tend to think of it as a masculine vs feminine style myself - not the sex of the author, but whether the focus is on plot, descriptions furthering the action (masculine); or on character, descriptions furthering the emotions (feminine), an emphasis that leads to the rich sensuality of much slashfic. As in all things, a happy medium between the two is ideal, I believe, but I'm partial to the feminine style.

The odd thing is that I think my writing was leaning more towards the feminine before I was into slash, though there was a definite shift in my style around the time I got into it. But then I was alway really a smarm fan above all, and smarm-fic is more feminine (which is why it can raise such a tumult: the sensuality leads people to expect slash that is never realized, since the story is technically gen...) H/C can be done successfully in either style (relationships are important whether the focus is on plot or char) but I always went for the lush, over-the-top angst and emotional expression, so...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

LOLOLOL ^___^

(Masaki & Hevn's long-lost love affair was revealed a couple volumes back, so that wasn't completely out of the blue. still awful funny to see him laying the beat-down on poor Ban-chan XD)

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

I've just been waiting for like, the past year to catch up on all what the hell is happening, considering it was starting to get so crazy and OMGANGSTBUNNIES. Like you, I was somewhat terrified A&A were really going to do something truly awful.

NOW I AM HAPPY. MY SPIRIT IS BUOYED UP ON CLOUDS. FLUFFY FLUFFY CLOUDS.

But Masaki and Hevn. That is so weird.

(I can't stop ♥ing at the Emishi and Amon maids o god.)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yessss exactly - I've been following it vaguely, but had decided to hold off trying to read the series (nothing will improve my Japanese like plowing through this monster, I swear) until I could be sure I wasn't setting myself up for tragedy of the OMFG century (this is A&A-sensei. I'm still not convinced that they don't sekkritly desire Death by Fangirl Apocalypse XD)

But this! <3

*floasts with you. my cloud's fluffier than your cloud! :P*

[innueneko.livejournal.com]

At least you can do happily ever after GB fic now. ^__^

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

I can't read more than a sprinkling of words and phrases of Japanese here and there so I'm reduced to following the summaries people give on the comms and whatnot. ;o; Though I could completely believe death by Fangirl Apocalypse was on A&A-sensei's list of top 10 kinky fantasies.

(Fluffier than mine? O, but could you teach me?)