Splatoon, Vol. 1: Volume 1

Product Information

I think that this is a great juvenile series for anyone to read. It's fast paced, plenty of action, and there is morals that I think are pretty important. All the characters are unique to themselves and interact well within their team and outside of the turf. There is the turf wars, which is the action takes place, and the whole series revolves around them. The Blue Team teaches that having fun with your friends and trying your best, it doesn't matter if you win or lose. It's all about the fun. They also teach and show other teams this, and have a good influence on them to be better. You do get thrown into the mix right away, but I don't think it's that big of a deal cause there is plenty of other stories like that. Finishing the first volume, you know what is going on and go along with the story, even if you never seen/heard of the game before.

As it stands, simply adding new maps and weapons and a new campaign feels like Nintendo are playing it safe..First impression; A Nintendo based book? Yes please! How was it? Well.. Over all I think the book is at best OK but really I think it's better than a two star review compared to other books I've read. This was pretty cringey to read. There are parts that I enjoyed and laughed at, but the story for this first volume follows a similar pattern. Goggles shows up without clothes, blue team almost loses, blue team does good, INKZOOKA!, then, blue team wins. End of Chapter. That's it. That's the entire story. Splatoon, before reading this manga, was simply a game to me. One that my child loves and plays enthusiastically. I requested the book on his recommendation and thought it was very energetic and wild.

I'll continue on to the second volume, but if it doesn't improve, I'll probably just give these two volumes for my sister to read. She'll probably enjoy it much more. I do hope there's going to be more to Bobble Hat and Headphone than just their outfit personalities and smiling. Another possible outlandish idea would be to have maps based on other Nintendo franchises, so you could have elements from the Mario universe, LoZ, Animal Crossing etc.I should also say I've never play Splatoon but I do have a decent understanding about the functions of the game. Let's not split hairs"! Haaaa! Okay... Anyway, we love what we're seeing so far, and it looks like you'll also be able to customise the Inkling's eyebrows judging by these images, which is pretty cool. My sister is a big Nintendo Fan. In fact, I love Nintendo too. Splatoon 2 was one of the many Switch games I've played and I have enjoyed it a lot. So when I found out there was a Splatoon manga, I got excited. A Nintendo property as a manga!? HELL YES! I can't go any farther without asking. When did nudity become funny? I don't mean just once. This running joke is in the book seven times! By the end of the series I can't tell if he's going to learn to keep clothes on or become a nudist. Also what is the deal with Nintendo stripping their characters in books? Happened to Mario in Super Mario Adventures comic collection.

With that weird part out of the way let I still think the characters are really charming. Rider is probably the most interesting and deepest character in the book. The fight strategy between Specs and Goggles is probably the highlight of the book and feels almost the most realistic. The characters are charming, if not a little one-dimensional in this first volume. Goggles, the main character, holds the competition his team participates in in high regard. However, despite this, he never comes off as overly competitive. Rather, he is in the game for the fun and friendship of it, which is a good message to send to readers. The next most prominent character in the cast is probably Specs, a fellow member of Team Blue. He often acts as the straight-man to Goggles’ various hijinks and antics, providing a level-headed (but conventional) way of looking at things. Goggles, on the other hand, views the world with an optimistic and non-traditional pair of eyes. The two work well together to establish the importance of both perspectives. The two other members of Team Blue, Headphones and Bobble Hat, are not deeply characterized in this volume, but still provide entertaining commentary and facial expressions. The book starts in the middle of things. A turf war is about to begin between Team Blue and Team Yellow-Green. The introduction to characters was good, but they seemed rather settled, one dimensional if you will. Once the first chapter was over, things got a bit better as the characters finally got to interact on a more normal level, but that didn't last long before more Turf Wars began among them and teams that were supposedly increasingly difficult compared to them.

I guess i'm a hypocrite to complain about the game considering i'll be getting this day one (mainly to fill a void and because I haven't played Splatoon 2 for a long while now), but still hoping this game has enough new features for it to feel like a true sequel instead of an expansion of the previous 2 games which to me is what this game currently feels like... You would think that a Splatoon manga would appeal to everyone, including the hardcore Japanese fanbase for this game that are not all kids but adults as well. A Splatoon manga should appeal to everyone and not just young kids. I was struggling a bit with the humor and storytelling with this book. However, there are some good moments in it, but the turf wars are basically the same. The parts I enjoyed the most were when they were out of the turf wars and in Inkopolis. Those moments of world building were really good. There's something deeply fascinating about tracing the movement of rebellion across video game generations. If you have played Splatoon/seen it, you'll know what is going on and can follow along. If you don't know about it or seen/played before, then it's a toss up. A new game mode or two (probably a bad idea, but maybe a 'free for all' battle royale style mode featuring more than 8 players on a large map, where each character has a life bar and the aim is to be the last Inkling standing), split screen MP (although to be honest, that might be too busy on a single TV screen), new mechanics (being able to have two different weapons and change them on the fly maybe?) could all possibly work...

Although to counter my own idea, I guess that could take away from some of Splatoon's own personal identity and lore that it has built up to this point in the franchise - maybe having customisation items from Nintendo franchises could give it a crossover appeal that would potentially draw in new players whilst still retaining Splatoon's own style. His teammates (Specs, Bobble Hat, and Headphones) didn't really standout as much as (annoying as he is) Goggles did. If they hadn't been identified by their signature look, it would've been difficult to tell them apart based on their personalities. The fact that their whole identities are wrapped up in these accessories was another tic mark on the Con list. While shopping, Goggles wears a helmet and Headphones says "you're not even Goggles anymore!"Twenty years later Splatoon drops, and rebellion is not even a nuisance. Radical individualism, the great outside of Jet Set Radio's Tokyo-to, has been completely absorbed by the fashionistas of Splatoon's Inkopolis. From cradle to grave, Inklings are encouraged to rebel through hats, shirts, shoes, and corporate-sponsored firearms. Unlike the turf wars of Jet Set Radio, which were an excess the state couldn't control, the turf wars of Splatoon are a televised spectacle waged between Inklings and Octarians, capable of sustaining the fashionista military industrial complex through the constitution of competitive, consumptive, and nationalistic subjects. Set far in the future, in the wake of anthropogenic climate change and the extinction of the human species, Splatoon can only imagine more of the same, of capitalism as a homologous development in the genomes of our cephalopod kin. It's telling that there are no cops in Splatoon—its citizens have learnt to police themselves. For those that have not played the game I would suggest reading chapter #0:Yellow toward the end of the book which explains the basics of the game in manga form since the main manga jumps in feet first following the unique styles of Team Blue as they compete against other teams in the Corocoro Cup. If you are looking for a complicated story or a memorable book don't even glance in this book's direction but if you are looking for a nice simple manga with fun and goofy characters (often named after the gear they wear) then you might want to glance over here and give Splatoon a try.