Alabaster no Kisetsu
Season of Alabaster

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7.1/10


A rather slow-paced and introspective manga about nude drawing — despite how weird the subject is, there’s nothing blown out of proportion with cliches and the unwanted antics that accompany it. However, this is also a small doubled-edged sword, since without the tedious, weird tensions created by the usual cliches, there’s not much happening while the drama or conflict becomes rather forced, creating a non-immersive and boring plotline.

To make up for the usual laughs and giggles that have been removed, the manga attempts to create rational/human-like characters that have room to develop and grow for the readers to find interest in. However, although there ... are some nifty characters here and there, the characters are boring and don’t have much the depth or rationality behind their actions, doing the opposite of creating the desired immersion.

There are some twists and turns inside of the plot, however, most of the time the author backtracks on his developments and premise while also not maintaining a continuous flow of conflict; in other words, he doesn’t have a clear idea of the resolution of the story, which is quite disappointing.

A somewhat beautiful manga that gets ruins by the lack of minuscule details that make up a great story; call it inexperience, but there’s certainly a longing for more that this manga does not fulfill.


Reading Rankings (Portnoy inspired + A Huang-Teizan Original)
10 - God’s penmanship
9 - Must-read. Drop everything else.
8 - Instant bookmark
7 - Entertaining
6 - Good to pass time
5 - Why are you reading this?
4 - Bad.
3 - Typical garbage.
2 - My head hurts.
1 - Retirement is a thought.
0 - “Did they even give you a story?!”

Season of Alabaster is one of those art about art kind of manga. Much has been said about these kinds of stories, but I will say it is always interesting and refreshing to reach about stories that the mangaka themselves have a genuine connection to. This one in particular I thought was well paced and well written enough to stand by giants of the genre like Blue Period. I liked the characters, I liked the pace and tone, and I liked the slight twist on the usual premise - a focus on nude art and youthful love.

I also felt it had a great grasp ... on drama and human dynamics. There's a particular scene where the protagonist 'grades' the work of his club members and he gets berated by the teacher for rendering other's creative work as numbers and scores, not encouraging the creative process. It's a good scene.

Season of Alabaster also stood out for its willingness to confront topics that are not as well discussed in mainstream mangas like prostitution and the complications of a teacher-student 'romance'. I was intrigued by the way it opened into these topics. It had an artful panache about it, with stylistic use of lighting and dark inks. I was always curious how it would confront or resolve these very serious issues but that is where Season of Alabaster dips in quality. It really sidesteps the social severity and psychological consequences of these very real problems and doesn't address them well at all.

Not to mention, the manga has a really rushed ending, and a very contrived reason to have the teacher and protagonist thrown into a romance. I always felt the manga had a more mature tonal quality that would look into the complications of relationships more... something like Natsu no Zenjitsu. I don't know if it got cancelled, but this one kind of dropped the ball.