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by Joel Chua Culture Crash is entertaining to say the least. And yes, while the art style may be anime, the language is definitely Filipino. Call it a marketing strategy, ‘trying-hard’, or nationalism – it boils down to the fact that Jescie & the CC crew have the guts (and the bucks) to step first into the local manga anthology market using the Tagalog language, much to the delight or envy of others. 75 pesos for a copy is still a little steep, but in the future we can expect the CC Crew to make the anthology worth more than every single devaluated peso. Culture Crash is wonderful splash of color on quality pages that are surprising at first touch. But quality pages or not, artist Elmer Damaso steals the show with his work in “One Day Isang Diwa” and “Cat’s Trail”. Artist Beltran & Taga-Ilog still have to grasp the size limitations of Culture Crash against the Tagalog language and highly detailed drawings. On storylines and concepts it’s a little early to say clearly whether the CC crew can write as well as they draw. Solstice Butterfly suffers from having the spectacular action cut short by page limitations. While it’s understandable that Solstice Butterfly doesn’t need to close as a stand-alone episode in each CC issue, making up for it by the long text preceding each of its “scenes” chokes readers and best read as later reference to the illustrated story. If you like mechs and politically driven plots Solstice Butterfly could be for you, but as for me I’ll wait for the anime. Pasig has a lot of thinking and talking going on. So far, what little action is used primarily to introduce characters. With an abundance of thought and talk, a lot of space goes white or flat dark in order to accommodate it – much to the demise of the layout. For his work in CC, Taga-Ilog mixes realistic and stylized artwork better than anyone else in the CC crew, it’s just that the crash of cultures isn’t working wonders for Pasig’s layout. One Day Isang Diwa is very promising. Who the hoot was the red-haired friend of Jun in the first episode of ODID? Where’d that fairy come from? Why is it that Tammy is so freakin’ big? A lot of questions Jescie to answer and a lot to keep fans buying CC. But what hooks the reader is the quick and comprehensive setup of characters in just two episodes. Forget character & global histories for now, the story is a “here-and-now” story – very Filipino. The stage is ready for a whole lot of crazy stuff to go down given the stereotypes set by the characters’ actions, expressions, and speech. If the guys at GMA 7 would like to make a movie out of one of the CC stories – this should be it! Artist-writer Damaso shows he can tell a story as well as he can draw one. Cat’s Trail has a balance of gags, action, and serious defining moments that make it a hit with anyone who has watched anime on local TV. Having cute characters is a real plus with the girls, while the story can hold guys just as much. Memer makes it all appear so easy to put anime into the manga medium. This is CC’s best export material. So still interested in the other sections of Culture Crash? Hardly, unless you’ve got no time to surf the Internet. The other articles on console games, movies, music, gimiks, and tech stuff, put more “culture” in Culture Crash than just Japanese anime. But while they do so, they risk their information being 3 months old. But I’d rather go for that than having 7 pages of ads in CC. Culture Crash remains a respectable way to connect with the rest of the anime scene going on in the Philippines now. Get yourself a copy. Unless Memer Damaso finds greener pastures in other upcoming manga anthologies (hint hint), and if all goes well with CC story and art development, you won’t be sorry for spending a dollar and a half for a copy of the colorful Culture Crash.
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