#kelsey liveblogs manga

[daisyachain]

Blame vol 1-6:

Fractal levels of detail in the setting. Each panel has nuts and bolts showing within metal panels within concrete structures. Can’t imagine the time it would have taken to render each page like that consistency, without the simplification that comic artists tend to incorporate over time

The disconnect between the realistic backgrounds and the B-grade depiction of humans in a lot of the early chapters isn’t even a drawback. The spindly, long-limbed creatures look unnatural. They’re nonnative to the environment where the silicon creatures fit in better.

No matter how mad good the quality of the illustrations are in terms of worldbuilding implied, the action is consistently hard to follow. By devoting the same attention to every rung of every utility ladder along with the major structures, the art doesn’t draw the eye to any particular spot on the page. You’re left to make something of the rebar vistas presented rather than being given a clear depiction of the events happening. Can be fun, mostly just makes me wish I had more time to spend on appreciating the art rather than trying to figure out which tiny black-clad frame is plummeting across the panel this time

Kind of a chore to read before Cibo shows up. Killy’s a fun guy, but it’s hard to get a sense of direction for the plot without any dialogue and with the aforementioned parsing problems

Speaking of Cibo, there are surprisingly solid character dynamics that I wouldn’t expect from this kind of a high concept manga.

Cibo fits the hero role better than the well-intentioned but silent Killy. Remains to be seen whether she keeps it, but it’s been a real treat watching her play the plucky adventurer, the last-minute rescue, the chief negotiator, having an actual impact on the plot. Can’t believe women are humans too. I keep thinking we’re about to have a moment where her fragile female emotions cause her to make a misstep and get bailed out by Killy and it hasn’t happened even once. So far.

Mensab and Seu’s thing is a lot more cliche of a lady-knight dynamic and it still worked. Because it’s a good manga. You do feel for Mensab’s loss when her only companion gets wiped constantly. You do feel for Seu’s helplessness when he can understand she’s bummed and knows it’s beyond him to understand why.

Electrofishers are fun! I like that some of them survive (:

The Toha Heavy Industries feels like the first point where an exercise turns into an actual narrative. Now that it’s over, I’m excited to see where we go……..

[daisyachain]

What 15 years of Gintama does to a mf. I do not know how Furuya N.-sensei managed her level of romance wizardry thru that medium but maybe she’s on to something. I think my updated ranking has to be Number Call = Long Period > Gunjou no Subete > KimiNatsu 2 = S to N > Futari no Lion > KimiNatsu 1 > Hoshi Dake ga Shitteru = KimiNatsu 3

[daisyachain]

I’ve come around actually, it’s a good and fitting ending. Itsuki tries for literal years to manipulate the poor guy into telling him what he wants to hear and after taking L after L he ends up being forced to take every first move. You failed. Good job. Maybe you got what you wanted but you had to go and prostrate yourself first

[daisyachain]

Long Period finale surprisingly mid considering the highs of every other chapter but still. God. Well. We’re done aren’t we

[daisyachain]

Last word on Asahina—he is the lone sane man, he is not the lone good man, he’s eaten of the tree which means he’s choosing his path knowing full well what that means

[daisyachain]

Greatest mystery in the world. Why are manga people so sick. A) through regular virus B) through catching the Victorian ‘cold’ long since disproven as a conflation of viruses with hypothermia/TB and a false interpretation of the relationship between viruses and cold weather. Why are these poor poor people falling down every month with a dire illness. Option 1: rule of drama, sickness is just a manga trope in a way that it isn’t in western comics/tv shows in the same way forgetting your umbrella is a trope. Option 2: North America has a relatively spread-out population, even though there is contagion it just can’t spread further than a city or neighbourhood due to a lack of density. North Americans just don’t catch viruses that often once they get out of school. Option 3: viruses take hold more easily in a weakened or exhausted body, North American students and white collar workers on average have shorter work weeks and less strenuous environments compared to cross-Pacific counterparts and so there are many colds that simply pass us by

[daisyachain]

Having caught up to the translated chapters I could find on The Three Manga Websites. Why does everyone talk about Yuri Espoir as if it’s a romance anthology and not a thriller /horror

[daisyachain]

list of things that hikaru ga shinda natsu is about that i agree with

supernatural metaphor for when the first person in your friend group hits puberty

fable about wishing for your crush to like you back and realizing that the person who would treat you like you fantasize is an entirely different person from the one you loved in the first place

comment on the widespread idea that gay people spawn randomly in urban environments

clever little deconstruction that asks what truths folk tales ignore in their simplicity

rural high school au of tokyo ghoul

supernatural metaphor for how [miscellaneous] people have no future that they can see for themselves

exploration of how the strict external pressures of school create an environment where kids paradoxically have an amnesty to do whatever they want within those walls, and how integrating with society towards the end of high school/uni can be a cold, cold shock

[daisyachain]

How do characters in everyday manga live. Is the rate of illness in these stories reflective of the rate of illness in quotidian life. Not even when I was in elementary school when everyone smeared snot all over the shared pencils did I catch as many colds as your average slice of life character

[daisyachain]

It’s interesting how stylization and cultural divides combine, clash and intersect to create different paradigms of interpretations. Namely the tall light-haired young man with combed longish hair and a flat affect is considered to be the pinnacle of desire in manga, but when read through a north american lens the only archetypal character who corresponds to those looks is a complete dweeb

[daisyachain]

[head in hands] [drinking]

[daisyachain]

Hayakawa Nojiko draws such whimsical manga that delicately trace the dullest interactions between paper cutouts that strike up as many sparks as wet cardboard would. Furuya Nagisa hammers out workmanlike slabs of sequential art that sizzle with the savour of real people and natural dialogue.

[daisyachain]

Unforgivable for the b-options in a romance to be way more interesting than the main duo

[daisyachain]

Don’t ask what I was doing but for me I don’t like crossdressing in my romances not because I’m a killjoy, but because the point of a romance should be that it’s a rake in the grass. Centuries of heterosexism and misogyny have ingrained in people that for a girl, any boy is a potential mate, and vice versa. Even when you’re five you’ve got that knowledge in the back of your head. It’s a preprogrammed wet blanket over any kind of friendship or relationship that develops between two people—if you’re interested in somebody of the designated gender, it’s not because you like them, it’s because you’ve got no framework to interpret them outside of attraction.

So, the thing that’s appealing about a romance is where the expectation is not there. Where the relationship has to stand on its own; where the connection is so strong it forces people to unpick their own assumptions, overturn their worldviews, risk their own identity or safety to be with another person. Where even realizing what’s happening is a struggle and an accomplishment. The crossdressing trope doesn’t work with that because it cheats that. The romantic interest is forced top-down per the above rule. The one character doesn’t actually like the other, they just react instinctively to presentation and it’s booooring

[daisyachain]

I think another reason why Fumino Yuki/Furuya Nagisa’s romances work is that they pay special attention to the supporting cast. The friendgroups are a well-developed part of the story with a good amount of screentime. By seeing how the main character interacts with them, you see what they’ve got and what they lack in terms of a social life. Not that other series don’t have fun friend characters, but in HgK especially they’re equally important to the story

[daisyachain]

paper…copy…