Ninja High School - too derivative?

[The Xenos]

Ben Dunn.

Does he even realize the irony of his own name and trying to promote his art as original?

How is this not a rip off of Bleach and Deathnote? Ugh. Just.. ugh. The total lack of originality and weeabooness of Antartic Press gets to me sometimes. Yeah yeah. It's a 'parody'. Still seems kinda.. lame. Why even waste time on these derivative parodies? I know this is nothing new for the series (which is almost 20 years old), but I was just looking at Previews and noticed it.

This is from the solicit to issue 152.

http://www.tfaw.com/Series/Profile/Ninja-High-School-152___270825

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/4439/may073165esmyk0.jpg

"Rhonda was an ordinary student until she discovered the Departure Memo, a notebook dropped by the Grim Reaper which sadly lacks anything useful within it. The memo granted Rhonda an oversized sword and forced her to use its inane powers to fight injustice. Now she must battle spirits no one else can see, worry about a persistent detective who is certain she is a criminal, and deal with an invisible, perverted demon that follows her everywhere, even in the shower! ""

Oh and don't get me started on their How to Draw Manga series that preys on so many bad manga sterotypes.

[Darth Joker]

Ben Dunn.

Does he even realize the irony of his own name and trying to promote his art as original?

How is this not a rip off of Bleach and Deathnote? Ugh. Just.. ugh. The total lack of originality and weeabooness of Antartic Press gets to me sometimes. Yeah yeah. It's a 'parody'. Still seems kinda.. lame. Why even waste time on these derivative parodies? I know this is nothing new for the series (which is almost 20 years old), but I was just looking at Previews and noticed it.

This is from the solicit to issue 152.

http://www.tfaw.com/Series/Profile/Ninja-High-School-152___270825

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/4439/may073165esmyk0.jpg

"Rhonda was an ordinary student until she discovered the Departure Memo, a notebook dropped by the Grim Reaper which sadly lacks anything useful within it. The memo granted Rhonda an oversized sword and forced her to use its inane powers to fight injustice. Now she must battle spirits no one else can see, worry about a persistent detective who is certain she is a criminal, and deal with an invisible, perverted demon that follows her everywhere, even in the shower! ""

Oh and don't get me started on their How to Draw Manga series that preys on so many bad manga sterotypes.

I actually like the idea of taking Death Note concepts and integrating them into a more action-oriented anime/manga. If done right, you can get the best of both worlds.

My only disappointment is that this is parody - so, it'll be played for laughs instead of serious drama.

[SAMAS]

Wait. You're mad at the parody because... it's similar to what it's parodying?

*smacks you both with a dictionary*

[Froggy]

:confused: How can you be mad at a parodY?

[The Xenos]

I'm not so much angry at the parody, just the lameness of it. A parody isn't automatically good. Hell, just look at Epic Movie or most of the other Scary Movie films. They're no Spaceballs or Airplane. Surely you can see that. And don't call me Shirley. (See, I can do make refereces to better things too. Doesn't make it funny or good.)

I think you can be mad at a parody when it's lame and that's all they ever do is lame parody. Hell, Mad's been doing it for decades. Seems like NHS is the weeaboo Japanophile version of it. Though at least Mad seems know it's a lame parody, which is part of the humor. This one just seems to think it's a bit too cool for its own good.

[Inkthinker]

You guys do realise that NHS has been around for decades, and has ALWAYS been a parody manga, right? Like... that's what it is, that's what it does, and so far as I know that's what it's always going to be. The fact that they're satirizing current content like Death Note and Bleach is pretty par for the course... back in the day they parodied Macross and Yamato.

I mean, the quality or effectiveness of the satire may vary from here to there, but 152 issues speaks for itself. And busting on a satirical comic for bad satire seems extremely ironic at best.

[Ghost]

*looks at the link Xenos provided*

You know, this stuff actually sounds pretty awesome. The covers alone make me want to read them, and then I came across this:

Bakuretsu Ball is a gleeful fusion of ninjitsu kung fu classic sports and armadillos. On the field young ninjas dish out rivalries revenge romance and rambunctious fighting. Ricky Feeple is coerced into a game and he assembles a team of awesome ninjas.

I mean, seriously. Armadillos!?

[adamthered]

Sheesh, man. Ninja High School has been doing this stuff for 20+ years, way before all the little manga/anime trendsters around today could waltz into the local B. Dalton and buy their books. If you've read anything about Ben Dunn you'll know he's a huge manga fan has always been a supporter of getting this stuff out to a wider audience. So let it slide, they're having fun with the genre, poking fun at it with a wink and a nod, because they are fans but at the same time understand that sometimes the stuff going on in manga/anime can be just a little silly.

Lighten up a bit :p

[Niro]

I read the first TPB of ninja high school years ago and i thought it was real good, too bad it was printed in a magazine

actually this reminds me of it, i might go and get the TPBs if they're at a good price :)

[Pinball]

I heartily recommend the Hawaii arc

And am i the only one who found "How NOT To Draw Manga" gutbustingly funny?

[Froggy]

I heartily recommend the Hawaii arc

And am i the only one who found "How NOT To Draw Manga" gutbustingly funny?
*Raises hand*

[The Xenos]

I just checked the newest Previews. Seems Ben Dunn lives up to his name again.

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/1971/ninjahighschoolyearbookvj9.jpg

Between this and Pirates vs Ninjas, Antartic Press is one of the most original publishers out there. And if anyone can tell me what the f--- "Hawaii Pocket Manga" means, please enlighten me to this newspeak.

Also, I read a review for "How NOT To Draw Manga" in Comics Buyers Guide. They said it was good, but the Japanese book "Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga" was even better. Personally, I'd be tempted to get either if I saw them.

[Donald M.]

I just checked the newest Previews. Seems Ben Dunn lives up to his name again.


I'm not sure why this guy and his little comic book poking fun at anime and manga bother you so much, but I suspect you're the sort of fan this guy created the book to piss off. Lighten up.


And if anyone can tell me what the f--- "Hawaii Pocket Manga" means, please enlighten me to this newspeak.


A pocket sized trade paperback collecting the Hawaii arc of Ninja High School . . . and I got that just from the information in this thread.

[The Xenos]

And would it kill them to call it a pocket tradde paperback? Damn weeaboos. Kids these days. Yeah yeah. I know Dunnis older than I am. Still doesn't mean I can't be a crotchety old man at my age.