There's one thing I've always loved about Rave Master: the cover art for each of the chapters. It's the sort of thing I would draw if I had any artistic ability. Every time I see one of them I think that Mashima must have had a grand time working on them. They don't have anything to do with the story, they're just fun. The one for chapter nine, though, was my favorite as a kid and is my favorite as an adult.
I just love that! Where's that manga? I would absolutely read Rave Master as a medieval fantasy. Of course, I'm reading it now anyway, so....
Anyway, Haru, Elie and Plue make their way to Punk Street. Like the rest of the manga so far, I'm having the most fun looking at the settings that Mashima's put in. There's a lot to see, and often jokes or small stories going on behind the main one. It's an enjoyable Easter egg hunt.
The trio decides to split up, Haru and Plue to get food, and Elie to go gambling. I don't know exactly what money Elie has to go gambling with, as she spent everything she had on the dog race earlier. I'm pretty sure she didn't get any of her cash back after blowing up the stadium. They both agree to look for Musica and meet back later.
Anyway, I had to stop reading for a minute when I came to this panel:
FINALLY.
It always bewildered me that people would see Plue and think, "it's a dog". Or, worse, "it's a bug". People are actually freaking out about the weird thing eating lollipops.
I remember watching the anime Gankutsuou when I was in high school, and one of the characters in it had blue skin. One, out of the entire cast. No one every said, "hey, he has blue skin, that's weird." It bugged the hell out of me. So, everyone's bewilderment over what the hell Plue is - even if only for one panel - is awesome, and so much better than the crowd accepting him the minute the see him.
Anyway, Haru runs into a crazy drunk guy at the restaurant who claims to know where to find Musica. Haru tries to get the drunk guy home, who engages in some dancing and some crying, antics that were hilarious to me as a kid, but not so much anymore.
More hilarity does (not) ensue when Plue gets drunk as well. Haru, frustrated by all this, throws a conveniently placed bucket of water at the drunk. As soon as the water hit him, he begins to melt--
--No, wait, that would make more sense than what actually happens next.
As soon as he gets doused, he sobers up.
This is another trope I can't stand. Please allow Morbo to explain:
Listen up, anime. We need to have a little talk about alcohol:
Anyway, the magically sober man finally reveals that he is Musica, the legendary blacksmith, surprising absolutely no one. He agrees to fix the Ten Powers sword with the caveat that Haru stays away from the shop during that time.
One weird thing I remember about Rave Master is that the name of Haru's sword changes between the first and second volumes. The sword itself has ten different forms, and Haru can switch between its forms if he has the right Rave stone. In the first book, it was called the Ten Commandments. Maybe because I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school for most of my life, I thought this was a completely badass name for a sword. In the second book, it's known as the Ten Powers. I have to wonder if Mashima changed the name of the sword, if there was some kind of translation error, or if keeping the name "Ten Commandments" was too potentially offensive for Western audiences.
Tokyopop - at least when I was reading manga all the freaking time - wasn't known for being consistent with names, especially with fantasy series when there's lots of made-up names. I thought that the sword's name might change from volume to volume, but it remained the "Ten Powers" sword ever since.
Translated manga is weird.
If you ask me, Haru probably shouldn't have left his sword with a drunk guy that he met not ten minutes ago. Especially because the minute he leaves the smithy, you find out Musica agreed to give Haru's Rave stone to Demon Card.
So...Demon Card doesn't know Haru's in town, didn't know Haru would be going to Musica, and trusted an alcoholic with that is incredibly important.
Oh, wait, maybe they trusted Musica with it because he can magically sober up.
No, Rave Master, I'm not forgiving you for that one.
At the same time, Elie is gleefully leaving a casino and runs into another guy...who also happens to be named Musica. Now, as a thirteen-year-old girl reading this, I was always on the lookout for bishis. That is, the pretty anime boys worthy of squealing over. The moment I saw Musica #2, I knew he was the bishi I had been waiting for.
Yep, I immediately declared him the hot guy and ran to show my sister his picture. She saw him and informed me that he was "butt ugly". And if my older sister didn't like he was cute, then he probably wasn't. After all, she knew more about that kind of thing than I did.
And so chapter 9 ends, with me wondering if Musica #2 was cute or not.
Anyway, Haru, Elie and Plue make their way to Punk Street. Like the rest of the manga so far, I'm having the most fun looking at the settings that Mashima's put in. There's a lot to see, and often jokes or small stories going on behind the main one. It's an enjoyable Easter egg hunt.
The trio decides to split up, Haru and Plue to get food, and Elie to go gambling. I don't know exactly what money Elie has to go gambling with, as she spent everything she had on the dog race earlier. I'm pretty sure she didn't get any of her cash back after blowing up the stadium. They both agree to look for Musica and meet back later.
Anyway, I had to stop reading for a minute when I came to this panel:
FINALLY.
It always bewildered me that people would see Plue and think, "it's a dog". Or, worse, "it's a bug". People are actually freaking out about the weird thing eating lollipops.
I remember watching the anime Gankutsuou when I was in high school, and one of the characters in it had blue skin. One, out of the entire cast. No one every said, "hey, he has blue skin, that's weird." It bugged the hell out of me. So, everyone's bewilderment over what the hell Plue is - even if only for one panel - is awesome, and so much better than the crowd accepting him the minute the see him.
 |
| Alcohol dependency! Hilarious! |
More hilarity does (not) ensue when Plue gets drunk as well. Haru, frustrated by all this, throws a conveniently placed bucket of water at the drunk. As soon as the water hit him, he begins to melt--
--No, wait, that would make more sense than what actually happens next.
As soon as he gets doused, he sobers up.
This is another trope I can't stand. Please allow Morbo to explain:
- If you are drunk and have a bucket of water thrown on you, you don't become sober. You become drunk and wet.
- If you've been off your face for days and suddenly hear that the man who murdered your father is in town, your oath of vengeance will not sober you up. You will be drunk and pissed off.
- If you've drank too much sake at the cherry blossom festival and an alien attacks, you will not become sober just long enough to save the day. You're more likely to trip over your katana that your master handed down to you than anything.
- If you wait long enough and rehydrate yourself, you will become sober, often followed by a hangover.
Anyway, the magically sober man finally reveals that he is Musica, the legendary blacksmith, surprising absolutely no one. He agrees to fix the Ten Powers sword with the caveat that Haru stays away from the shop during that time.
One weird thing I remember about Rave Master is that the name of Haru's sword changes between the first and second volumes. The sword itself has ten different forms, and Haru can switch between its forms if he has the right Rave stone. In the first book, it was called the Ten Commandments. Maybe because I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school for most of my life, I thought this was a completely badass name for a sword. In the second book, it's known as the Ten Powers. I have to wonder if Mashima changed the name of the sword, if there was some kind of translation error, or if keeping the name "Ten Commandments" was too potentially offensive for Western audiences.
Tokyopop - at least when I was reading manga all the freaking time - wasn't known for being consistent with names, especially with fantasy series when there's lots of made-up names. I thought that the sword's name might change from volume to volume, but it remained the "Ten Powers" sword ever since.
Translated manga is weird.
If you ask me, Haru probably shouldn't have left his sword with a drunk guy that he met not ten minutes ago. Especially because the minute he leaves the smithy, you find out Musica agreed to give Haru's Rave stone to Demon Card.
So...Demon Card doesn't know Haru's in town, didn't know Haru would be going to Musica, and trusted an alcoholic with that is incredibly important.
Oh, wait, maybe they trusted Musica with it because he can magically sober up.
No, Rave Master, I'm not forgiving you for that one.
 |
| C'mon, he's a total bad boy! |
Yep, I immediately declared him the hot guy and ran to show my sister his picture. She saw him and informed me that he was "butt ugly". And if my older sister didn't like he was cute, then he probably wasn't. After all, she knew more about that kind of thing than I did.
And so chapter 9 ends, with me wondering if Musica #2 was cute or not.
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