Spotlight Manga: River's Edge MAL Manga Information Page: River's Edge MAL Score - 7.68 (by 91 users) Ranked - #2054 Popularity - #5201 For the next week 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 River's Edge was NOT inducted into the club Manga list: 2 Yes - 12.5% 14 No - 87.5% 45 Don't know this manga - 73.7% of the total number polled 0 Abstained - 0.0% of the total number polled |
santetjanJan 14, 2011 8:22 AM
| You do not beg the sun for mercy. |
| Let's see if I can put how I feel about this manga into few words: Ugly art, interesting concept, overdone style to the point of ruining the feelings the mangaka starts to create nicely. This manga sure is interesting in concept and I can see that the style of storytelling chosen for this manga fits the bill perfectly. However the style is overdone in most parts. The monologues end up becoming too abstract and at times too poetic (for the lack of a better word) for the simple teenagers who say it. It ends up feeling pretentious (not always but often enough). And to make sure that the style is abused to the extreme, the mangaka adds the last two pages of text. That really killed the manga for me. Not to forget the very ugly art and bad angles for most of the panels and horrible choice of facial design ending up killing all the emotions that were supposed to be conveyed through facial expressions. I liked the idea of the story and the world that the mangaka tries to create. But when any writer decides to show any world in a simplistic way (that does not mean that the world lacks complexity but rather the way this complexity is shown is simplistic) they need to be careful since the simpler the world gets, the easier it can show flaws in the creation. And in case of River's Edge, flaws are too visible to be ignored in my opinion. So all in all, I can say: "yeah I can see the effort but don't like the results." |
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| Can't say I was impressed really. I thought the story itself was very bland and banal. Gave the impression of one of those pseudo-mature stories aimed at kids so they can be like omg it was so mature. Just a very average and uninteresting piece and then the horrible art took it down a notch from there. Pretty easy no for me. |
| ^ |
| At first glance the River's Edge is less than appealing. It's art work is basic and it stories seems to highlight the aberrant behaviors of violence and sexuality. However, where the art is lacking the story is not. Unlike Kokuro, the poetic elements of this story were what made me enjoy this manga even more. It's continual narration wasn't pretentious in my view. I genuinely enjoyed reading this authors work and almost forgot about the art after the first few chapters. It starts off slow like every other average school drama, but quickly takes a turn with the introduction of the corpse in the vacant lot. I thought this author was effective in portraying some of the trials that teens must go through on their way to become adults. His approach to addressing homosexuality seemed very real to life and fit seamlessly into the story. I will say though, while reading this manga I continually thought to myself that manga might not be in the right media format, film would probably work better for this story, perhaps even a short novel. I agree that the afterwords seemed out of place along with the last few panels after the conclusion. But once again I put those together as if they were meant to occur after the credits rolled in a film along with the afterwords. At it's core though the characters in this story were believable, but somewhat underdeveloped perhaps intentional. The poetic nature of the narration was one of the more enjoyable aspects for me. I like the use of the short monologue in the beginning at the end, it was an effective device and gave this story something so many other stories seem lack, a feeling of conclusiveness. I think there are probably a lot of other imagery and metaphors that could be addressed here with further scrutiny but they are fairly obvious yet effective. I think I'll continue to be the yes man. |
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