When I can effectively cover my tracks with a proxy server or two, I plan to put up the following at www.bizenghast.com's guestbook:
"I didn't care about Bizenghast because of its content. It's fine if you want to market Tim Burton ripoffs to kids who have never been exposed to anything else by the mass marketing machinations of a capitalist society on its eventual decline. I have accepted this as a matter of course living out my life. This is how the industry beats. This is how critics can tell filth from gems. This is how Saikano keeps getting out, so thank you for being the bottom of the barrel.
However, I cannot abide your practice of engaging in such things as making demands of cosplayers and the otaku community of your own greatness. I heard of your self-promoting "About the Author" section from ANN, and when I read the notes, I made it a point to steal every copy of Bizenghast from that Borders store, and then burn them. I take great pride in cheating you out of the money you do not deserve and have encouraged others to engage in the same practice. Your self-importance and greed are as laughable as your imperfect, flawed aesthetic and its roots in failure to accurately draw character perspective and action scenes, as well as your boring and unoriginal sense of style. Furthermore, you have absolutely no right to dictate how people may choose to portray your characters; the First Amendment right to parody and interpretation does not cover desires. Just because your ego is too huge to accept critiques does not mean you have the right to dictate parody.
It is my intention, and I attempt to communicate and encourage participation in such intention, to deliberately make poor cosplays of your characters. I encourage people to hold up signs saying "VINCENT FROM BIZENGHAST" and "DINAH FROM BIZENGHAST" at conventions. I hope that they will present themselves at any time you are present to signify how horrible your OEL manga is.
I have no qualms with OEL manga, just with you and your style. I make no demands, but so long as you continue in proclaiming your superiority without issuing any public apology for your conceited egoism, I will continue to commit acts of theft, fraud, material destruction, detraction, satire, parody, and legal libel against you and your works. I wish ill of your creative endeavours and hope that you experience a failing of creativity, forcing you out of the manga market. I do indeed despise your work and anticipate its hopeful lack of critical and commercial success."
For reference, check out the inside back cover of a Bizenghast book. I refuse to believe Tokyopop's retraction and will believe it when LeGrow admits to it herself and places her own retraction.
I urge everyone, after reading that author's intro, to insult the author as much as possible. Show her that /b/ spirit.
post the "about the author" section, you silly, silly man.
You're raging about something that was retracted back in October, was apparently not written or approved by the author, and notice of which was on the front page of the website you linked to? ooookaaaay...
http://www.tokyopop.com/dbpage.php?propertycode=BIZ&categorycode=BMG
>Dear Bizenghast readers, I would like to apologize to for the inadvertent inclusion of an unauthorized biographical sketch printed on the inside cover of volume one.
>This piece was written by a former member of our editorial staff back in the early stages of the book's development. Though loosely based on information obtained in an interview, the statements made were not the actual words or opinions of Ms. LeGrow. For official biographical information, please visit the Creator Profile section for Bizenghast on our main TOKYOPOP site or on Takuhai Online. You may also visit LeGrow's official Bizenghast site for more information. Thank you for your understanding.
But... she did, retract it didn't she? On the August 3 entry of the front page of the website you yourself linked to? http://www.bizenghast.com
If this is a trolling attempt it's not very well thought out.
Since this is not a trolling attempt, I hereforth apologize for having jumped to conclusions, and I retract my earlier statement. I can only now dislike Bizenghast because of its style and aesthetic, and I have no right to prohibit or discredit others from buying Bizenghast based upon those.
Thank you for pointing that out, >>5.
I've never read this manga (No plans to, especially now) but fuck, that's some ugly art.
by the way the blurb on the inside cover ended up being this "oh my god you better not cosplay my characters badly" fan-whine.
>>10 is shit. replying to a 3 months old thread with a reply no one cares about
...and no one posted what was originally said, yet.
I think Bizenhast has beautiful art.
http://www.tokyopop.com/162.html
> Meet Bizenghast creator M. Alice LeGrow, and please, call her Marty. And while you're at it, call your best friend and tell her that if she's going to cosplay any of Marty's characters with you, both of you better do your research, or Marty's going to be pissed. Because that's Marty. She doesn't like sloppiness, especially when it comes to anime and cosplay. She especially won't tolerate it if you're dressing up like Dinah from Bizenghast, because Dinah is her first big-market character. Not only that, Dinah is fabulous. Do Dinah right. Or don't Dinah at all. Understand?
(Note again, that this was NEVER said by LeGrow, and was written by a TokyoPop marketing whore without her permission, and it is NOT her opinion, and she says so on her website.)
>>14
lol, drama. It doesn't sound like it was written by her, and you can tell whoever wrote it was joking.
People are so uptight these days.
Despite the about info, it is a shit manga. I have to tell you that for sure.
HOW DARE YOU INSULT BIZENGHAST! It is an amazingly drawn manga with many complicated and impressive pictures in it, the costumes and lovely, the detail is amazing, and it is a 100% botanically correct manga!
Now only is it such a deatiled books but the sotryline is that of an interesting one too. It is not Tim Burton, even if some of the style reflects upon his, what's wrong with that?! It's a horrow, fantasy, comedy, with a tinge of romance, and the fans love it. So, just because you don't you encourage everyone else to burn them?
Well, for your big fat information, I have copies 1 and 2 of her books in my collection and I hold them in high esteem as the tops books of my collection.
I will NEVER burn them.
>>17
It is indeed a horrow, a horrow of plotless shtick.
>100% botanically correct
ok this has to be a joke post
if u steal from a store, the store IS OBLIGED to pay for said merchandise. normally, a store marks up an item to pay off what it paid to get it (less than what we pay), the cost of selling it (tax, etc.), and to make profit$$$ (=what we pay). so u just assured whoever made biz. got paid. u should've just left them, they would've been returned to the publishers (...in the face).
bizenghast is a bit of a meh for me cuz it's alright but it's quite mediocre and probably could have been done by any vaguely artistically talented otaku who had the time, resources and opportunity... seriously, there's quite a lot of online manga better than this, just it's not published. yes, bizenghast has lots of nice detail and it is impressive, but it's not that original really.
steal from borders? wtf its just a fucking anime/manga dude get a life. separate ur real life from ur fantasy