Sasameki Koto
Whispered Words

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Before delving into a review a primer on certain theories in film and comics is needed.

The two main components of cinema is montage and mise-en-scene. The former is about how the placement of shots are edited together while the latter is about how the shot is composed in the first place (atmosphere, props, gesture of characters etc...). Certain film theorists have stances as to whether a montage heavy approach (e.g. the fast moving shots of Fight Club and Trainspotting) or an atmospheric approach (e.g. the deep focus shots of Citizen Kane or The Trial) is better. French New Wave theorist Bazin sides with the ... mise-en-scene as he perceives that montage is a form of illusion meant to fool the audience into believing what is not there.

Scott McCloud is a comic book theorist who came up with the book Understanding Comics; it's a really edifying book on the components that make up comic books and how to analyse the methods used in creating them. He first establishes how comics are less a representative medium like art but actually a pictoral language, having more symbolic value than representative value. Two things he talks about are negative space, the area between one panel and another panel, as well as the types of panel placements that exists. As an explanation for what the types of Panel Transitions are I will just link this: http://www.mangatutorials.com/tut/paneltrans.php .

Looking up information of the net, there isn't much on Takashi Ikeda. He's a doujinshi artist who expanded his own one shot into a 50+ chapter long Shoujo-ai drama piece. The amount of things you can find out about him as an individual is sparse without Japanese channels. All that you can derive about his nature is incidental, only seen through the language of his art. He is a formalist, an artist who immensely enjoys his own craft, who loves to play around with structure; his work has the sense of the young artist eagerly seeking new techniques and experimenting with different forms and methods of conveying his story. This aspect breathes new life in the pretty cliche girls love genre.

If we analyse Sasameki Koto from a film theory perspective it uses more montage methods than atmospheric methods (though I'm not saying the work is devoid of atmosphere but rather the atmosphere is more conveyed through panel placement than the drawings themselves). Inio Asano is a creator who relies more on mise-en-scene techniques; she makes use of really beautiful realistic art and a fantastical expressionist tinge to give her work power.

The first thing to take note is the 'clutter effect' and how its used as a method to convey dramatic momentum. In scenes of comedy Ikeda will clutter his pages with jokes, deformed characters and dialogue, sometimes filling in the negative space between the panels with miniature figures. On the flipside his dramatic scenes are spaced in the conventional comic form and also makes use of aspect-aspect placements to create atmosphere. In extremely dramatic moments he builds up the panels to deliver a single page climatic shot (this isn't really a new technique [Oyasumi Punpun has its own double page climatic shots] but what makes Ikeda's explosive shots powerful is his ability to build them up). This manipulation between cluttered comical pages with sparse dramatic pages perfectly illustrates the main theme about the distance between the two characters; the comedic pages distracting the audience from the horror vacui of Sumika's unspoken words and feelings.

Ikeda also manipulates panel transitions with adequate artistic dexterity (though not as brilliantly as the true formalistic masters like Chris Ware of course). A prominent example to take note (that stuck in my head even after I completed the manga) was when Scene-Scene transition was manipulated interspersing two different simultaneously occurring scenes; one of a calm setting; the other of a violent occurrence fading in; both combining to build up to a shot of catharsis and emotional turmoil.

Sasameki Koto is a simple work of technical ingenuity. Though not having the playful formalist romps of Shintaro Kago, the stylistic manipulations and tight plotting of Tezuka or the romantic metaphorical symbolic details of Craig Thompson; Ikeda's entertaining and dramatic labour of love manages to surpass the standard romance works out there.

Well, that was a mistake.

In exploring all genres of anime/manga, I had decided to explore the various yuri/shoujo-ai titles available to read and watch. Apart from watching the anime version of Sakura Trick, this would be my first encounter with the genre. If anything, I should have built up to this. I should have watched all the cheap, fan-service-laden trash that accounts for most yuri titles. But no, I had to right to the top of the mountain.

It's not perfect. The art varies, swaying between blank-faced background characters and... the Big Emotional Scenes, which are so well done, I can only guess how many times ... Takashi Ikeda drew them, erased them and and re-drew them.

Onto the characters. The secondary characters, as with the art quality, vary in terms of depth and development. But the main characters... here we go.

The two leads of the series are so well constructed, I'd not be exaggerating in saying they're almost like family to me. The story involving them quite honestly has me re-evaluating pretty much every romance anime/manga i've ever come across, and none of them come close to this one. The ending of this series makes tears come to my eyes just by looking at its last few pages.

As I said at the start, I could have watched or read other genre titles before this, like Valkyrie Drive... actually, I didnt make a mistake after all.

Story was pretty good, if not a bit cliché. You get the same cookie cutter drama as with "most" love stories (dead relatives, inability to communicate, transfer student, bla bla). There's a few chapters where things get very real, and you feel the characters' frustration. I was impressed with how easy it was to empathize with pretty much everyone. What drags it down is the last few chapters that were quite confusing, without spoiling anything. It was still worth reading, though.

Art is very good, not much else to say.

I absolutely loved the characters. I enjoyed how the protagonist was so boring without being boring ... at all. She's a very fleshed out character with a lot going on. The love interest was honestly a little bland, with little conflict going on. She just spent the entire story being either frustrated or waiting patiently for stuff to happen. The supporting characters were fantastic, especially Mayu.

In the end, I enjoyed the story a lot. It was carried by the strong protagonist and the interesting supporting characters.

I started reading Sasameki Koto (AKA: Whispered Words) after I had watched the anime, and I'm happy that I did. The manga includes so much more information than the anime. I'd say it's a short manga with 55 chapters spread across nine volumes. It's an easy and fast read. The story is easy to understand as it follows a group of friends in high school and their day-to-day lives. I loved reading this manga; it's fun, and the characters are lovable and relatable. Also, the story is pretty fun to follow along as it has emotional aspects that are ... both heartwarming and sometimes comedic. I would highly recommend reading this manga if you enjoyed the anime!

!english is not my first language
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So... Love in teenage years itself is such a rollercoaster, but it's way more complicated when you fell in love with someone of the same gender as you.

Sasameki Koto has a personal appeal for me, because I see myself in Sumika. I discovered this work when I was discovering myself as a person who likes another person without caring about gender, and at the same time I was in love with some girl that I knew she would never look at me the same way. So, even with the rushed ending, Sasameki Koto means a lot to me. It ... helped me understand myself as I am: A tall sapphic with an angry face, but with a butter heart. Just like Sumika!

Anyway, I liked the comments about prejudice against queer people (even if it was way too superficial, it's not common to see in a manga). Was just good to read, I know it has its problems, but I can't ignore my personal feelings while I'm writing about this. Sasameki Koto just means a lot to me, Murasame Sumika helped me a lot to accept myself as I am. I'll carry this manga forever in my heart.