Spotlight Manga: Regarding Death MAL Manga Information Page: Regarding Death Score: 8.19 (scored by 104 users) Ranked: #542 Popularity: #10218 For the next two weeks I would like to have a discussion about the manga that focuses on the key elements that we here on MAL use to critically rate a manga: Art, Characters, Story, and Enjoyment. I would like everyone to approach this thread as if you were going to write a review and structure your initial post like this: Art - insert rating Characters - insert rating Story - insert rating Enjoyment - insert rating Art - discuss any pros and cons of the art styling used in the series, try to include some specifics. Character - describe any of the things you liked or didn't care for in regards to specific characters in the series etc... If you are having trouble writing up a review or coming up with specific pros and cons, please don't worry. Just do the best you can with it and if you can only write two or three sentences about any of the 4 elements then that's OK. Not everyone here is currently at a level which will allow them to articulate their thoughts and opinions. After your initial post is made you can feel free to civilly discuss issues of contention. I am sure there will be many opinions expressed here that some of us will disagree upon and criticise and it is for that reason that this entire club exists. So I hope everyone has fun and I am really looking forward to seeing how this discussion will develop. RESULTS OF THE YOU DECIDE POLL (03/10/2015) Regarding Death was NOT inducted into the club Manga list: 60% - Yes: 6 - No: 4 - I haven't read this manga: 48 ~ Abstained: 0 |
LindleNov 7, 2015 12:50 PM
| Conceptually, it's a really interesting work. The art isn't especially attractive or unique, but shines when it depicts the characters. Because of the brevity of the stories, there isn't much time to provide depth to a character, but the artist uses body language and facial expression effectively enough that the characters always seem fully present. The aesthetic of the art is also interesting, a contrast between often heavily detailed urban environments and the stylized emptiness of the afterlife. The characters themselves vary in compellingness from story to story. Again, given the brevity of the stories, some lack of depth is to be expected, but the stories here live and die on the backs of their characters, so any story where the characterization is subpar comes off as a huge dud - and this happens more frequently than I was comfortable with. Often it felt as though characters were just supposed to trigger various emotional reactions in the reader because (gasp!) they died! and things happened to them before they died! and dying taught them a valuable lesson! but it's too late to appreciate it now! To my mind, too many of the stories fell into this pattern without offering anything really interesting. I'll discuss this further in the story section, but it relates to characters because for a manhwa with such a focus on its characters, most of them don't really get a chance to shine, and this isn't only because of the brevity of the stories. Story - Well. As you might expect if you were a particularly cynical person, the stories generally revolve around ideas like "you need to appreciate what you have while you're still alive because you could die at any time!" I say generally because there are a lot of good stories in here, or at least interesting stories. That being said, there are also a lot of uninteresting ones that revolve around the same kind of platitudes people say about death anyways. It seems at its face to be character based, but many of the stories use the characters solely so "God" can provide some kind of valuable lesson to the characters without any actual character building involved. One example of something that bothered me would be the fact occasionally God brings people back to life and occasionally he does not. Whether or not he does seems to be based entirely on whether he wants to give a speech about appreciating what you have while you have it or a speech about how death can come at any time and you can't escape it. The stories that show the characters coming to terms with their own deaths are generally good, but too often they're coopted to make some point about death that too often rings hollow. 6/10 or 7/10 from me. |
Mayuka said: did you call holier than thou bitch right here last.fm |
truisms said: One example of something that bothered me would be the fact occasionally God brings people back to life and occasionally he does not. Whether or not he does seems to be based entirely on whether he wants to give a speech about appreciating what you have while you have it or a speech about how death can come at any time and you can't escape it. The stories that show the characters coming to terms with their own deaths are generally good, but too often they're coopted to make some point about death that too often rings hollow. God never interfered with people's lives, he said it himself plenty of times. When you wrote it you probably was thinking about the father in coma and the suicide attempt with a rope, right? On those occasions it wasn't God's interference, it's just that he knew when the father would wake up from the coma and that the rope was going to tear. He even says at some point that "you might be saved because of a rotten rope" or something along these lines. |
felipekorbes said: truisms said: One example of something that bothered me would be the fact occasionally God brings people back to life and occasionally he does not. Whether or not he does seems to be based entirely on whether he wants to give a speech about appreciating what you have while you have it or a speech about how death can come at any time and you can't escape it. The stories that show the characters coming to terms with their own deaths are generally good, but too often they're coopted to make some point about death that too often rings hollow. God never interfered with people's lives, he said it himself plenty of times. When you wrote it you probably was thinking about the father in coma and the suicide attempt with a rope, right? On those occasions it wasn't God's interference, it's just that he knew when the father would wake up from the coma and that the rope was going to tear. He even says at some point that "you might be saved because of a rotten rope" or something along these lines. Well, sure, let's redefine God as "the author" then. |
Mayuka said: did you call holier than thou bitch right here last.fm |
truisms said: Well, sure, let's redefine God as "the author" then. We are talking about a omniscient and omnipotent being, what do you expect? |
| All in all it's just a bunch of pretty simple stories about people reflecting on their life after dying in various ways. Very simple and straightforward, nothing unique or praiseworthy. I want to give it credit for approaching the theme from many different perspectives however, even if some of them were little more than cheap tear jerking or preaching. I was reading through it with suggested music playing in the background for first 20 minutes or so cause pretty generic sad piano music got annoying somewhat fast. Intentionally atrocious paneling didn't help either and all colored panels looked like century old gif images with low bit depth which was really jarring. Outside of that art simple and unremarkable, though facial expressions were decent. Characters are the same way. Even God isn't really fleshed out but people will still likely have some kind of feelings while reading this cause most situations don't require you to care about characters, just have a little empathy. Fear of dying, no matter the circumstances or losing someone important should be common enough to be relatable. Maybe I missed something or approached it with a wrong mindset but I can't say anything but no for this one. |
GundroogSep 19, 2015 12:12 PM
 |
| The art was simple, but shined where it needed to. Overall, I didn't like the look of it at first, but it grew on me the further I got into it. The stories all revolved around the same basic formula, which made the whole thing start to get kind of boring after a few chapters. Still, there's a few chapters that change things up a bit more and give a bit more variety. The themes of the story end up coming off as a bit preachy and heavy-handed. Not that I really disagree with most of what the author was saying, I just feel he could have been a bit more subtle about it. Then again, I also felt like the themes were the main focus for the story, which I would consider a fault. However, with more subtle themes, the story would feel even more empty than it already does. The characters were probably the weakest part of the whole thing, with very little depth to them, with only the most basic of personalities. This includes the main character, God. I didn't bother listening to the music while reading it, because I started one track and it didn't sound very good. Overall, it had it's moments, but it was really just kind of middling for me. 5/10 |
::End of Transmission:: What have I been watching? Click here and find out on my viewing blog, "Vigorous Viewing" |
Drumrug said: Characters are the same way. Even God isn't really fleshed out but people will still likely have some kind of feelings while reading this cause most situations don't require you to care about characters, just have a little empathy. Fear of dying, no matter the circumstances or losing someone important should be common enough to be relatable. Maybe I missed something or approached it with a wrong mindset but I can't say anything but no for this one. Dunno, I had the same problem. You would expect a story like this to focus on characters, but they exist only to justify the themes which are shoved in your face every chapter. Some takes here are better than others but most come off like this imo. |
Mayuka said: did you call holier than thou bitch right here last.fm |
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