Thread: FRHS Weekly Group Review: Chapter 3

So, our adventure resumes! It's been real fun so far, and I'm finally starting to see how much of a hidden treasure FRHS is, which makes it an even bigger shame that it—like the Outlaw Star manga—has been right under our noses this whole time! I've really got to hand it to You're Welcome Scans for their work on Future-Retro Hero Story, and any other unrecognised/forgotten series they're worked on. Without further ado, let's enter the Fixed Star universe again!


I know, right?

As said before, remember there will be spoilers below. (No spoiler tag needed.) Please read the original thread for some general information about this group review.

Chapter 3

Originally Posted by Mantis

Without further ado, let's enter the Fixed Star universe again!

I kind of wish I hadn't this time

This was by a wide margin my least favorite chapter thus far, and one of the weakest chapters of a mange I've read to date. It was extremely difficult to follow, no story progress was made, and none of the jokes landed. I can't call this anything but bad filler, and it's a real shame after how well the first two chapters built up (they had their issues, but it was a decent split between goofiness and progression). I really can't analyze this chapter much because there was little to no substance whatsoever. This chapter gets a big wet fart noise/10 score from me. Here's hoping that the filler ended there and chapter 4 gets back to something story-related!



Even the characters in the chapter know what's up...

You didn't actually expect this to turn into an extensive space epic, did you? Right from the get-go FRHS has been something completely different to Outlaw Star. The latter consists of a couple of large arcs, whereas from what I've seen Future-Retro Hero Story seems to be a load of short stories that collectively form a larger narrative. In some ways it reminds me of Ranma ½, which isn't too surprising as FRHS came one year after. I believe this blend of action/drama/comedy/SOL was fairly common in the '80s.

Manga like Ranma ½ (or its anime adaptation) can progress strangely. Though I enjoyed Ranma, while it had a lot of highs, it also had plenty of lows too. So given FRHS's non-serious tone I don't read chapters with high expectations as I know it could change from space epic to pure silliness at any point. It almost feels like this chapter is a parody of other '80s manga. I don't know if you're familiar with shows/manga from that time, and if you're not I can understand why this kind of format could be a turn-off.

Did I enjoy this chapter myself? It was okay. I'll agree that it wasn't nearly as good as the first two chapters but I did see this happening, so it didn't disappoint me as much as it did you.

I'm quite familiar with anime/manga from the time, and I'm aware that many of them use what's known as the "monster of the week" approach, where chapters are more or less relegated to their own little bubble such as this chapter. I can't stand that, it adds nothing to the story. I know FRHS was approached differently than OLS was, but I didn't expect it to get this goofy this quickly I suppose? At this point it's only 1 Chapter out of 3 that has been this way, so I can accept it. This is the same reason why I can't watch all the way through Cowboy Bebop (yes i know, off-limits here but i'm complaining so it's okay). The "hijinks" episodes turn me off so damn bad, despite them adding up to something larger. My time is limited and I don't care to watch characters with an established goal goofing around chasing dogs or what have you.

OLS is something of an oddity for me, and perhaps it's because I watched it when I was so young but I do NOT get that same feeling when watching OLS' filler episodes. Somehow they pulled it off in a way that is genuinely funny to me (even as an adult) and doesn't feel like a filler/time-waster, if that makes sense? I don't get a Majora's Mask kind of countdown in my head telling me that I'm wasting my time like i do with Bebop or like I did with this chapter.

Onwards and upwards (hopefully) to chapter 4!

I may actually be getting a lunch break at work today during which I could reach Ch 4...is a Ch 4 thread going up? And could it perhaps go up early (early meaning before Friday, despite it being several Fridays back, to avoid confusion for people reading this in the year 3019) if you see this in the next few hours?