Sensei No Bulge (Bulge of the Battle Star/Barrage)

[GJardim]

Chapter 4 is out.
http://manga.redhawkscans.com/reader.../en/0/4/page/1

[Juvar]

Astro's crying face is priceless!

[KageKageKing]

Bultro, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Nekketsu]

I'm liking where this is going.

[pyromonki]

this manga is just bulging with emotion and style. It's just popping out the pages.

Spoiler:

boner

Edit: Also... what happened to training?

[Gliblord]

Yeesh this planet is fucked up. Just from that alone there's a lot of tension. How can Astro save this rotten planet?

[maxterdexter]

Wow, that dartboard...

[kouch_lee]

I'm about to give this a chance. The author seems to have a distinct and personal style, and I miss this in shounen manga. So few authors willing to take some risks. . .

[Pookiez]

Wow, that dartboard...

I had somehow totally missed that, lmao that is great.

[Gliblord]

Of course you give this a chance, it's Horikoshi bitches

[Kizuchan]

Wow, that dartboard...

Wow, lol. I didn't notice this either.

Good chapter. I find it interesting that the org only activates when Astro considers someone an enemy, I also like that Tiamat pointed out that Astro was being selfless is really dangerous.

[Cruithne]

Haha. That dartboard.

Good chapter once again. Back to chapter 2 quality. I'm glad the world setup here has a lot of possibilities, and that he's not jumping right to the big fish like he did with Oumaga.

[Gliblord]

He only jumped to the big finish because he had to.

[Juvar]

How did everyone (me included) miss that dartboard?! That's awesome.

[Kizuchan]

How did everyone (me included) miss that dartboard?! That's awesome.

It's like the wierd alien in chapter two with a platter-like thing for a head. Man, some of these designs are just wierd as hell, but that's not a bad thing, I think.

[Deviant_Mugen]

A raider party that's composed completely of women who need help? Tiamat is in for one rough rescue...

And I confused that dartboard for a beat up door. I'll inspect the panels a lot closer from now on, that's for sure...

[Cruithne]

He only jumped to the big finish because he had to.

I meant the aquarium. Something that big that early on has to be pretty hard to top.

Unless that's what you meant. I don't know if Oumaga did bad its entire run.

[KageKageKing]

Edit: Also... what happened to training?

The journey itself is the training.

[kouch_lee]

Just finished the 25 Oumaga translated chapters and the current 4 translated chapters of Bulge/Barrage/Wathever.

Overall, I'd say the author has great ideas, imagination and the potential to do something great. He has a kind of energy that's really invigorating, his characters are overall likable and, above anything else, his character designs (not ALL of them, but MOST of them) are really good, with some of them being just incredible (both the Bunny and the Orca from Oumaga were mindblowing).

He's not without his flaws: he's still "bound" to the simple themes of shounen, and sticking too much with them. The backgrounds are not on par with the character designs, not by a long shot, and in Bulge/Barrage/yeahwathever, it is more painful. The setting is ASKING to have some awesome visuals, yet most of the time we have either a-white background, or b-generic wasteland. This must get better with time.

For Oumaga: I'd say it was pretty damn good. The Aquarium arc was fascinating; some stuff I didn't like (some of the fights were lame, and snake woman being captured because "sexy woman in a tentacle hentai joke situation lol" was creepy to say the least. . .), but the villain was freaking terrifying. The way he went in and out of the water, how he partially and completely used his transformation powers, his human form. . .fascinating. The Orca was of course another highlight: I can say that his/her character design was incredibly intimidating, and when he/she went "psycho" with those eyes, man, that was incredible. I'm both scared to death and fascinated by sea animals, like Orcas and Sharks, so maybe I was already sold with that arc, but it was really good nontheless. And surprisingly, the main character, being an hyperactive, egomaniac simple minded crazy boy, that could've gotten old really fast, was surprisingly likable.

Overall, great manga, had the potential to go places, but well, we know what happened.

As for Bulge/Barrage/fuckitalready, I'd say it isn't looking half bad, BUT I feel Oumaga had way, waaaaay more personality. . .of course, this is only 4 chapters in and it isn't bad at all; main characters are likable, there's some decent action and the setting is interesting. But as people said before me, the one shot looked a gazillion times more epic and interesting (and closer to Oumaga's level of "crazyness") than this much more "generic" approach so far Bulge's been taking.

It has potential to grow if the Jump readers let it grow. It must be much, MUCH more what we've seen so far. Bigger, crazier, more colorful, more original, and more risky. Yes, I know, I know: One Piece truly skyrocketed during the Arlong Park arc and that was like, what, 70 chapters in? But I don't think current SJ series have the luxury to wait until chapter 70 to get really good, show their true scope and get everyone hooked. Oumaga was already pretty damn epic by chapter 10/11, and it got shafted.

Needless to say, I'll give it a chance: it's perfectly enjoyable, so I'll go with it.

[Gliblord]

The Bulge in the one-shot was very like Shiina (the bunny) personality-wise, I think Horikoshi wanted to try a more thoughtful protagonist

Oh and Sakamata (the orca) was bar none the greatest character design I've ever seen