Forum - View topicREVIEW: The Wallflower GN 9
|
Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Julia-the-Great
 Posts: 328 |
|
||
|
While I do find this series amusing, I just can't get past the artwork. I don't understand why Sunako has to spend a majority of the series as a chibi. Every time I see her as a chibi, I think to myself "It's NOT FUNNY anymore..." It's so overused in this series to be almost painful.
|
|||
|
|||
kyokun703
 Posts: 2505 Location: Orgrimmar |
|
||
|
Yeah, I stopped reading this series around v. 5. I just got tired of waiting for Sunako to get pretty. It's too bad, because it is kinda funny, and the drawings, when the artist goes all out, are really beautiful, but unfortunately, I just got bored.
|
|||
|
|||
jgreen
 Posts: 1325 Location: St. Louis, MO |
|
||
|
Yeah, I was intrigued by this book after one of my writers wrote a couple ofreviews of the book. He seemed to take a shining to the book with Vol. 10, so when Vol. 11 showed up in the mail I took a look at it and, YIKES. All that chibi-ness got really irritating to me, especially considering how gorgeous Sunako is when she is fully drawn (as Carl pointed out in this review). My friend referred to her as "a piece of amorphous goth candy," which sound about right by my estimation.
 The premise sounds intriguing, but the way it's been executed has driven me away, unfortunately. What a shame...
|
|||
|
|||
Torhu_San
 Posts: 133 Location: Upstate Ny |
|
||
|
I love this series. I love that the characters are chibi all the time. I think it shows that their personalities are playful. I think that the world would not see Sunako as ugly if she carried herself differently, but since she herself finds herself ugly, she has no confidence and will not put in any effort. Therefore her being chibi all the time makes perfect sense to me. I like that there are no backgrounds most of the time (or simple ones at that) because there is nothing to draw you away from the characters and the plot. I also enjoy the snails pace because it makes the characters feel more real to me.
|
|||
|
|||
Pinkwings
 Posts: 234 |
|
||
|
A nice nonserious funny series. Its good for some laughs. I just wish she drew Sunako more prettier and not in chibi form. And get rid of the annoying fangirls. I want to freaking kill them and just grind their bones into pieces. The boys arent even hot. >_> Those random fangirls make me so mad. I honestly get angry. REAL ANGRY.
They also need more sweet Kyouhei and Sunako moments. <3 They are lacking. I got volume 10 and she still doesnt become pretty yet. =/ This is starting to drag on. |
|||
|
|||
|
Torhu_San
Posts: 133 Location: Upstate Ny |
|
||
|
But I think the dragging along is good in a way. That author (IMO) is showing that Sunako is going to need more than the love of a super hot guy to make her pretty. who knows if she will ever become pretty. It seems to me that the story is taking the path of spoiler[ the pairing of the ultimate light with the ultimate dark....the ultimate beauty with the ultimate ugly...etc]. If this is the case, then we may never see her become the swan we all know she is. That would be fine with me. It would be different than the other unsure girls that get the guy in the end stories I have read. Right now, the two (Kyohei and Sunako) don't even know if they do want each other. Or at least fighting their real feelings. There are 18 volumes out in Japan right now, so I guess I will have to wait and see where the author takes them...and me since I am in it for the long haul.
The fangirls are annoying, but I think they serve a purpose. I think that they are used to set Sunako apart from the rest of the girls in the story. Even Noi and (I think it's) Yumi have that fangirl quality to them. I dunno about Yuki's girl since she is barely seen to this point. |
|||
|
|||
|
Julia-the-Great
Posts: 328 |
|
||
I don't think that Sunako needs to be chibi all the time to get the point across, though. You get the same idea if she's normal sized, but slouched over and you can't see her face. The author could get away with the same chibi face where you can only see her mouth, but if it was on a normal sized person it probably wouldn't but me nearly as much. |
|||
|
|||
|
jgreen
Posts: 1325 Location: St. Louis, MO |
|
||
I don't know, this strikes me more as the kind of "she was beautiful all along" story than that. I mean, honestly, Sunako (when not chibified) is empirically gorgeous. While I get that the chibification is used to imply that she doesn't present herself as pretty (that was an interesting observation I had never thought of, Torhu-san), it's clear from the way she's drawn that she IS supposed to be an attractive person who doesn't necessarily present herself that way. I think if it turned out the way you outline here, the series would seem to be presenting a moral that isn't exactly beneficial for the teen girl readers that the book is aimed at, which seems unlikely. But that's just me. |
|||
|
|||
|
Torhu_San
Posts: 133 Location: Upstate Ny |
|
||
|
I don't know about that either. Let's say that she never becomes pretty. Let's also say that Kyohei falls for her anyway, and they somehow become a couple. Eventhough the entire world thinks she's ugly, there is one person who loves her anyway. Actually, there are others who accept her too if you count the other boys, Noi, the snow girl, etc. That gives the message that no matter how you look, even if there are many people who don't think you're attractive, there are people out there who think differently. A beauty in the eye of the beholder message. That coupled with Sunako going against teenaged norms of dieting and hateing how you look, yet being fine with herself after embracing her dark side (going on the assumption that she truly is confident like this) makes a rather positive statement. One of accept who you are and embrace it. Others will accept you for who you are.
Arguments can really be made for both sides. In a few of the side blurbs, the author has mentioned that after doing standard Shojo, she wanted to make one her way with her interests. I think her sticking to her guns on how she wants this story to go comes out in Sunako and how she sticks to her (yes sometimes twisted) beliefs. I think that Sunako is going to turn out to be a goth goddess. It is just taking a while. I think that is showing how much one person can scar someone's image at the age of junior high. Although once she goes gorgeous, I hope she still has some chibi moments, because some of her more funny, laid back expressions have come in that mode, and I will miss them if they disappear. |
|||
|
|||
KrisEllieOphi
 Posts: 111 Location: Texas |
|
||
|
I think that once she gives into her feelings for Kyouhei she'll become pretty. If she keeps pushing him away, and keeps believing she's ugly, she'll stay that way. But if she can accept him, and accept his feelings (as well as her own) then that will give her back her confidence.
I completely agree. It's extremely annoying in the anime. It was funny for a few episodes, but now she spends 98% of every show in that chibi form. It's fine when she's by herself, but it becomes a bit of a nuisance when she's with Noi and the boys. It seems kind of silly (and not in a funny way) to have her be so tiny and undrawn around the taller and more animated characters. It almost feels like lazy animation (like they just don't want to draw her out) than a story element. |
|||
|
|||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group