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Forum - View topicREVIEW: A Girl on the Shore GN
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Parsifal24
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the unresolved nature of the story the confusing ending the mutually exploitative nature of the relationship the only series that bothered me more than this is Hot Gimmick.
And that was more because it tried to make an abusive relationship "romantic" while the element of depression is there the explicit sexual content just feels unneeded. As if the author felt that putting sex in it for its own sake makes it mature. The too far few moments of emotional honesty in the series felt incongruent with the sex in it. After I finished reading it I described it to a friend of mine as reading a copy of Barely Legal while listing to The Smiths and The Cure mixtape. Or haveing a first-year Philosophy student who thinks he has it all figured out tell you how it really is when really he has no idea and he's simply being pedantic and pretentious. Last edited by Parsifal24 on Wed Mar 30, 2016 6:24 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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TheAAA
Posts: 59 |
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I completely disagree. To me it seems more like a story about two people who think that sex for its own sake makes them mature, who think they have it all figured out and know how it really is, when really they have no idea and they're simply being pedantic and pretentious. It's Asano Inio acknowledging that most people go through a phase like that, and sympathizing with them, but also saying that it's probably for the best if you move past it, and showing how these two people did. That said, keep in mind this was serialized in basically a porn mag. Obviously some of the porking is there for the sake of titillation. As for the scat stuff, I think it was definitely there partly to cover all the fetish bases, but I don't think it was all that out of character for Isobe to want it, or for Sato to go along with it. |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 2679 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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I agree with you, but I thought that was the point - that these were two kids who had no idea what they were doing but thought that the fact that they were having sex made them "adult." The way I read it, the author was trying to be pretentious about it and making a point about empty, abusive relationships being passed off as "deep." That's why I thought he left Sato so unresolved in the end and didn't show us what Isobe was doing after spoiler[he left for boarding school - for all we know, like Sato he's falling into the same old patterns.] That's my soaked-in-literary-criticism take, at least. I can certainly see your reading as valid. Personally I still think Hot Gimmick is creepier because this one didn't read as "romantic" to me - just sick and sad. |
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relyat08
 Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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This was quite an interesting read. I didn't actually know anything about Inio Asano before reading this and only got it knowing that it was by this up-and-coming author and my friend seemed to be a fan. I was floored by it, to be honest. His ability to write characters this real was impressive.
Also, great review. I completely agree with all of it. |
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TheAAA
Posts: 59 |
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Read Solanin, you'll shit a brick. |
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13246 |
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I'm surprised this was even allowed to be published over here without being flagged as child porn. |
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jdnation
Posts: 2161 |
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There a very interesting story here.
Too bad it was buried under downright pornographic sex scenes of underaged kids. There are many ways of covering such topics, and in my opinion this went too far and was a detriment to the story. And mind you, the sex scenes get really nasty. I get it... we're dealing with one pretty screwed up kid... He's trying to connect to something, same as the girl, and neither of them really knows what or how. They're kites dancing in a hurricane of repressed emotions. All this could've been done far more tastefully. Sometimes 'show don't tell' isn't a rule to always be followed. |
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TheAAA
Posts: 59 |
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The guidelines most often used in the US for determining if something is obscene are (a) whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and (c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. I think A Girl on The Shore easily avoids (c), and because of the way Asano frames the sex scenes (his "camera"-work, disorienting close-ups, etc.) and the mostly passionless context of said scenes, an argument could easily be made that it's not intended to be arousing despite it's original serialization in an erotic magazine, and thus dodge (a). (b) is a harder sell because it definitely depicts sexual acts. It's whether they're patently offensive that's up for debate. On top of all that, it's fiction and has no actual photographs. No children were harmed in the making of A Girl on the Shore. Despite the Handley case there's still not really a legal precedent for comics being child porn. If I remember correctly Handley had actual exploitative photographs of children, and loli stuff. All of it was seized but they don't really go into detail about what seized material was considered criminal in the end. EDIT: for the record I'm not a lawyer so don't take my word as law, and please correct me if I'm interpreting any of these laws wrong. |
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Vaisaga
Posts: 13246 |
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Sure, might be okay in a legal sense, but people typically raise a stink about these types of things regardless. Remember the whole Kodomo no Jikan fiasco? And that manga didn't have people shitting on each other.
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2281 |
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Fetishistic content aside, wasn't the main issue in Kodomo no Jikan the obvious adult x child stuff? These two are both middle schoolers; they aren't in positions of power or authority over each other, making them societal equals. |
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Ali07
 Posts: 3333 Location: Victoria, Australia |
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Oh, wow, enjoyed this review. Unsure if it is something I'll be reading myself, as I don't usually like sexually explicit material in my manga. Or scat.
After reading the Asano interview on ANN recently, my interest in checking out his works was renewed. But, I don't think A Girl on the Shore will be the first one I have a look at...currently contemplating if I should get Solanin or What A Wonderful World. |
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ConnormonCat
Posts: 57 |
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Don't forget Goodnight Punpun. Definitely my favourite of his work. |
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JD76
Posts: 4 |
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With the descriptions of the sex scenes mentioned so far, I'm not really sure if it's going to be safe to ship this to my country. I might have to pass on this one.
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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No, he had none at all. Christjan Bee was prosecuted under the same law that relies on obscenity rather than child porn, like Handley, involving incest comics, again, only comics a few years later. In fact, people are charged with obscenity more often than what makes the news. But since it's purely subjective, and not a black and white case, some prosecutors or local law enforcement are more proactive depending on their ideological background, while others don't bother. |
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relyat08
Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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I actually just read it last week... and it's one of my favorite manga right now. Hit insanely close to home in almost every way. |
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