Someone Should Fucking Pick This Up, But That Someone Isn't Me, Part 3: Saiteihei no Otoko: Scumbag Loser

WTF Is This: I used to think that horror and manga just doesn't mix well. Most horror manga just rely on shock factor or gore, which wears off quickly. Then I read this.

Saiteihen no Otoko is Mikoto Yamaguchi's new manga; you may know him as the author of Shinigami-sama ni Saigo no Onegai o. The main character of this manga is a fat loser who starts going out a childhood friend (well, not really), so he won't be the "lowest scum" of his class. However, the problem is that he saw her get killed years ago. The main character becomes a "truffle pig" for her, sniffing out the lowest scumbags of society for her to...well, you can find out yourself.

While this manga is violent, the gore isn't the scariest part. The other images, such as the grotesque smiles, and the narrative details, like the descriptions of scent in chapter 1 and the truffle pig metaphor in chapter 2, make this series disgusting, dreadful and actually scary, if only in a disturbing way. In retrospect, Shinigami-sama could've been this creepy too, though it didn't help that every other character was a girl.

Why I Didn't Pick It Up: Editing costs.

Why You Should Pick This Up: If you like disturbing stuff, look into this.

Where You Can Get Raws: Nowhere, but volume 1 should be announced soon. You can also read the Chinese scans.

Someone Should Fucking Pick This Up, But That Someone Isn't Me, Part 2: Hina Matsuri

I didn't think this "blog series" thing through, so I didn't have enough material until I had to time to organize my wish lists until last week.

Part 2: Hina Matsuri
WTF Is This: Let's start with Usagi Drop. Replace Daikichi with a member of the yakuza, Rin with a middle-school esper who's completely unrelated to the main character (oh wait), and the heartwarming drama with incredibly funny hijinks, and you get Hina Matsuri.

The story starts with Hina teleporting into Nitta's apartment and forcing him to let her stay (or else she'll smash his expensive pots). The combination works a lot better than one would expect; it mixes things up between Nitta's duties as a yakuza commander and Hina's school life. Each chapter starts from a fairly reasonably point, such as Hina going to school, and strays farther and farther with each gag, eventually resulting in a "WTF Am I Reading" ending.

Why I Didn't Pick It Up: It just didn't make the cut for my current, top-tier wish list. That doesn't mean that it's bad by any means. I know that I have a bias towards plot-driven stuff, so those who prefer slice of life might have a different opinion on this.

Why You Should Pick This Up: The gags are really great. The bizarre combination of the yakuza father and the telekinetic daughter makes for fresh comedy. Personally, I think that the delinquent/yakuza category of manga is too stagnant, so this manga is a really fun breath of fresh air.

Where You Can Get Raws: Google.

Getenrou HQ raw

First, I'd like to make one thing clear. There are at least two groups who have contacted me about this (Kotonoha and Suimasen). I will be a neutral raw provider to any group.

Notes about the raws:

1. The cover has been rotated, cropped, and merged, but not cleaned. Cover and inside cover dpi is 600.
   
2. Page 001a is actually a combination of a translucent overlay page with the Groucho classes and the page underneath.
3. All of the other pages are straight from my scanner with no modifications. The dpi is 400. The file names are aligned with the actual page numbers.
   

Finally, this is just my opinion, but I recommend all groups to skim over the analysis from various Japanese blog posts, like this one. In particular, take note of the sound effect on page 216.

Getenrou HQ raw part 1 (MF)
Getenrou HQ raw part 1 (MU)

Getenrou HQ raw part 2 (MF)
Getenrou HQ raw part 2 (MU)

If you have any requests like a request for a rescan of a page, just send me a message.

Someone Should Fucking Pick This Up, But That Someone Isn't Me, Part 1: Getenrou

So I was thinking about how decide what manga to pick up, and came to the conclusion that it's mostly random. I mean, I do like the series I scanlate, but when it comes between two equally matched series, the deciding factor can be quite strange. For example, back in February, I was thinking about picking up Aku no Hana (before the good part ended around chapter 17 or so), but someone else picked it up, so I decided that it was probably time for me to catch up on Nanika. Then, back in May, I was deciding between Arpeggio of Blue Steel and Kiba no Tabishounin. Arpeggio eventually won out due to its lower editing cost and slower publishing speed. I eventually recommended it to some guys on /a/, who I believe were the guys who picked it up.

The point is, sometimes I pick up or don't pick up stuff due to reasons completely irrelevant to the quality of the manga itself. I kinda feel bad for them, so I want to lay them to rest or give them a new life elsewhere with a new blog series: "Someone Should Fucking Pick This Up, But That Someone Isn't Me." We start with a manga that's so unknown to the English community that its MU entry doesn't even link to the author.

Part 1: Getenrou

WTF Is This: It's a one-volume mystery manga by the author of Soredemo Machi ga Mawatteiru. It starts off with episodic mysteries that don't seem connected at all, but it weaves all of together in impressively coherent manner in the end. The mysteries themselves are pretty clever for their length.

Though not apparent in some of the earlier mysteries, the overarching story is about androids. In fact, it's very similar to the UN-GO arc about RAIs. The cast of the story is colorful and quite likable. After watching Soredemo and reading this, I think this is one of the author's strong points.

Why I Didn't Pick It Up: The ending. There's nothing objectively bad about it, but it did something that I personally deem unacceptable: killing off my favorite character. Of course, this is completely subjective.

Why You Should Pick This Up: It's a fairly solid volume that kept me reading; not a single chapter was dull. If you like good mystery, you'll like this.

Also, it has quite possibly the best Amazon reviews ever.

Where You Can Get Raws: Just Google. I can scan if you want better quality.