Maybe that's all you want, but personally I like a little cheese on my crackers.
Having the characters swap at an early age and then committing to it as they continue to age up through High School, with all the angst that comes with, is an interesting direction to take, and there's plenty of room to mine for drama or comedy, but it feels like it only skims the surface more often than not. The drama's never too deep and the comedy's never uproarious, so it often treads this middle ground of being just funny or compelling enough to keep you reading, but not enough to leave any lasting impression or have more than a handful of effective moments.
How many times can two characters stand face to face, cry, hug, and completely wall up before we've gone through every variation?
The pace is blistering fast, and that might keep SBC from taking the time to mine the premise for all its worth, but the bigger issue is likely the characters. The two leads are great. They're cliches, yeah, but they an earnest sort of chemistry and bounce off each other well. The problem is more with the rest of the cast, and by that I mean there isn't one. Most everyone else here is entirely flat, one-note, and forgettable. If you're on this site, you know these character types by heart. Don't expect surprises.
Also, the whole world knows your taste is shit and sniggers behind your back.
The biggest hindrance point is the art. I'd call it bog standard but I think bogs have more detail and variety. Backgrounds and foregrounds are sparse and bare, utterly devoid of character, the paneling is flat and rarely changes, and there's so much filler that it makes you wonder how long each chapter would be if you just cut every panel of white space and by the numbers establishing shots.
They photoshop the plaid patterns on the pants. Come on, it's 2016, people. Have you not noticed the year in which we are living, which is the current one?
It gets the job done, it rides the threshold of competence, but it's so lackluster and phoned in that it's almost superfluous. Why bother if you're not going to bother at all? We got books now.
For all the shit-picking and nit-flinging this is still enjoyable. Like I said, there are some nice moments; it's never quite touching, but it's close enough that you can give it credit and round up. SBC's amusing enough, but what could've been a real neat sort of story just ends up being alright. It okay.
If SBC happens to tumble onto your screen and that red x button at the top of your browser is too hard to scroll through, give it a read.
