To mourn their passing, I'm taking a trip down memory lane to celebrate all the good times CMX brought me. I made some lists. Shut up; it's soothing. Connie over at Slightly Biased Manga did the same thing in an angry, funny, well-written post that includes more than bare bones summaries of some of her favorites.
What do my lists tell you? (Aside from the fact that I am an indiscriminate, omnivorous reader, which you may already know, and the fact that I was too saddened [actually, just in too much pain] to do all the links, though I may try to fill some in later.)
- CMX has made me very happy over the last six years. I was slowly (as my budget allowed) collecting a LOT of their series, and I am heartbroken to see them summarily ungently kicked into that good night.
- You should buy any of these titles that interest you before they're gone.
- Astral Project: Trippy.
- Battle of Genryu: I really wanted to know what was going to happen next.
- Canon: A little shojo horror from a master of it. A lot of reversals in such a short series.
- Chikyu Misaki: Cute and sometimes creepy. The baby loch ness monster thing was just irresistable, and you had to love the guest starring role featuring WOlverine.
- Cipher: THe 80s will never die! Just a treat the whole way through, even when it was pretty dark. If you liked Fame back in the day . . .
- Deka Kyoshi: I really did like this one for its ability to go to very dark places that kids sometimes have to face unprepared because no one will talk to them about certain situations.
- Devil Does Exist: Snotty, bratty, and fun romantic comedy with very stylish artwork.
- Dokkoida?!: Dumbest superhero costume ever; silly and stupid and fun series.
- Emma: Beautiful in every way.
- Empty Empire: I still wanted to know what happened next.
- Flat Earth Exchange: In the end, I really did enjoy it.
- Gals!: SuperGALS! forever! Like the anti-afterschool special.
- Jihai: Short, sweet sci-fi trilogy about what we do to make the most of the time we have. And stuff.
- Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne: Tanemura. 'Nough said.
- Key to the Kingdom: Really underappreciated gem of old-school, straight-fantasy. Great stuff.
- Kiichi and the Magic Books: Quirky, sad, wonderful.
- King of Cards: Yeah, why did they license this? It wasn't because Tateno was famous here (that came later), but I thought this series was a hoot because of the versatility it showed.
- Land of the Blindfolded: Sweet, sometimes sad romance with some supernatural touches.
- Lapis Lazuli Crown: Fun, quick shojo goodness.
- Lizard Prince: Yeah, kind of adorable and quirky and relaxing.
- March on Earth: Yes, there was some melodrama, but there were these transcendent moments that made it worthwhile.
- Monster Collection: Trashy, violent, fanservice in its quirky fantasy version.
- Moon Child: Out of this world. Literally. And that ending. Like a roller coaster in a dark building.
- Name of the Flower: Sad, quirky, tender story about how we can't save each other sometimes.
- Omukae Desu: Weird and wonderful.
- Oyayubihime Infinity: Fate, destiny, tattoos. Really fun.
- Palette of 12 Secret Colors: Breezy, lovely, quirky, wonderful, like most of this author's stuff.
- Penguin Revolution: Cheerful and genki and adorable.
- Pieces of a Spiral: Wanted to know what happened.
- Recipe for Gertrude: Adored this quirky, category-defying work of weirdness with its somewhat detached heroine and its odd moments of tenderness and humor.
- Seimaden: Dark love story fantasy. Cough You Higuri Cough.
- Sword of the Dark Ones: Violence, swords, angst, shorter than Berserk.
- Tears of a Lamb: Kind of a psychological vaguely relational school drama.
- Tenryu: The Dragon Cycle: I like the artist. Her characters are delightfully cranky on a regular basis.
- Tower of the Future: Fan of the artist, but I did like this story's quirkiness.
- VS (Versus): Bring on the music melodrama!
- Young Magician: Dark, dark fantasy where very bad things happen.
Incomplete Series I've enjoyed at least part of
- Apothecarius Argentum: This one hurts. Sort of classy and classic and restrained and just great.
- Ballad of a Shinigami: Quirky short stories about a little Shinigami and the people she meets.
- Broken Blade ?: Shonen mech fantasy magic world political drama love story war thing. Very nice.
- Crayon Shinchan: So very, very wrong. I had to babysit a kid like this once, so I know they exist.
- Fire Investigator Nanase: I was curious to find out how it all turned out.
- From Eroica With Love: Ridiculous, hilarious, highly inappropriate.
- Gon: Astounding and brilliant. No text, just things that would make the Nature Chanel seem benign and boring.
- I Hate You More Than Anyone: Funny, twisted romantic comedy.
- Musashi Number Nine: I am a sucker for teenage spies.
- Swan: Oh, dear. I loved this one.
- Two Flowers for the Dragon: I wrote about this delightful title once.
- Venus Capriccio: Cute and breezy romantic story with a slight twist.
- Venus in Love: I kind of adored this melodrama-free slice-of-romantic-life college story.
Series I never had a chance to enjoy even part of (but wanted to)
Classical Medley, Diamond Girl, Go Go Heaven!!, Go West!, Kikaider Code 02, King of Debris, My Darling! Miss Bancho, Oh! My Brother, Steel Fist Riku, Stolen Hearts, Suihelibe!, Tale of an Unknown Country, Teru Teru x Shonen, Time Guardian, World I Create, Any of the new ones with one volume out.
Here are some other announcements and reactions. Excuse me while I go cry.
Do you have any CMX series you're going to really miss?
Posts
5 comments:
No more Swan?? Heartbreak!
Love the post here, you make me want to go back and revisit a ton of CMX stuff. There's just so much that sounds so good, and I loved going back for older series as I collected new ones. I tried to make it a habit to be collecting two or so series I'd passed over the first time while collecting current books, and I think I still would never have picked up everything that sounded good. I'm scrambling now to get as much as possible, and I still can't get over the fact that they're really going to be gone.
Also, I'm sorry I didn't see this until today! For some reason, my spam filter ate your comment. I almost never check it too, but I'm glad I did since I would have completely missed this.
Karin: I seriously cried.
simside:
My mission was accomplished if I made you want to try something you hadn't looked at. :) Anyway, since I was only able to post tidbit reviews here, if you want to know more of my thoughts about specific titles, let me know. We take requests.
Thanks for the commiseration. I was casting a broad net and collecting one volume of a series at every TRSI sale, and it was making me crazy. It's stunning how much good stuff they were putting out, even after the FLEX deal. I just wish I'd had enough disposable income to pick up everything I liked (now and when it might have been able to make a difference). Alas.
I'm glad you rescued the comment from spamfilterville, too, and glad you took the time to comment. :) I really respect your work and am flattered you took the time to visit. Thanks!
Thanks for the heads up on the series that you liked. I think I'll have to give some of these a try. I guess I'll have to give From Eroica with Love a chance. It seems that this series that shows up on don't miss lists. I guess being a yaoi superfan I'll have to check it out!
Eroica doesn't have much in the way of yaoi, honestly (though it has at least five times more innuendo than anything else out there). For me, it's the banter, the silliness and the odd couple irritation/harassment that make for an enjoyable read. And the hair. And the posing. And the fully-embraced cheesiness. It's just wacky and weird and fun. I hope you do get the chance to enjoy it. :)
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