Spotlight Manga: Homunculus MAL Manga Information Page: Homunculus Score: 8.35 (scored by 6,459 users) Ranked: #263 Popularity: #243 Original Spotlight Thread - Homunculus 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. THE RESULTS OF THE YOU DECIDE POLL: Homunculus was NOT inducted into the club manga relation list - 75% (04/03/2018) - Yes: 12 - No: 4 - I haven't read this manga: 27 ~ Abstained: 2 ~ Ineligible: 1 Homunculus (Manga) (20/1/19) - Yes: 12 - No: 7 - Haven't Read: 39 ~ Abstained: 1 - 63% |
TruePeinApr 21, 2019 1:00 PM
Current FAL Ranking + Previous best::  [ |
| overall: 6-7/10. former businessman now living out of his car accepts large sum of money from young punk to undergo an operation to open his third eye. post-op he begins seeing the repressed selves of individuals when he closes one of his eyes. bulk of manga takes place in various confrontations with individuals in which he has to do a sort of therapeutic battle, trying to untie the psychic knots other people have placed over their subconscious. art is for the most part great - very realistic while still capturing the more fantastical elements of the manga well. homunculus uses visual symbolism heavily which involves the frequent presence of more abstract and surreal art and the realistic art style suits this, rendering the more bizarre and grotesque moments in precise detail. many of the confrontations with other people can be read and understood intuitively just by following the art. the detailed depictions of grim subject matter give the series a mature feeling and some of the ways the art creates mood are interesting. at the same time, the visual symbolism of the series is very heavy handed and obvious - this wouldn't necessarily be a problem if the general series spanned more time and material, but when the series is paced so slowly the bluntness of the designs means that the actual plot drags behind the art and the art itself feels limited by the pacing. the character designs are good but the characters themselves are not particularly interesting for the most part. most of the exposition is told through backstory that explains current situations of characters, which is fine but often leads to the feeling of flat characters. the two main characters, the businessman and the operator, aren't bad as characters even if they do sometimes tend towards cliche (the salaryman who gave everything up, the snobby ubertalented rich kid bored with life). it's the minor characters whose confrontations make up the bulk of the manga that are boring. when you approach these characters primarily through the lens of a psychological conflict it's inevitable they're going to feel more like demonstrations of some psychological fault than actual people. the psychic tensions characterizing these people are depicted beautifully but aren't really very interesting when addressed at length - and most of the character arcs are quite long. ultimately they end up feeling like plot devices to justify the symbolism. story is okay. again, the pacing is really really bad. ending might bother some people. my biggest problems with the series are the obviousness of the symbolism and the weakness of most of the character designs. again, the art is gorgeous and evocative and would work well in an art book, but feels silly illustrating the heavyhanded metaphors that fill the work (i.e - a man who felt weak when he was a child has built a robot around his heart, a girl who changes her personality is represented by sand). the lack of subtlety wouldn't matter as much if these encounters didn't typically last 10-15 chapters, but they are that long and as such the fact every little step has to be dragged out and explicitly mentioned both visually and verbally is tiring. the fascination the manga has with characters that are frequently stereotypes comes across as either laziness or cynicism. does it think the readers are stupid? |
Mayuka said: did you call holier than thou bitch right here last.fm |
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