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Manga News/Discussion |OTS| Yeah I couldn't come up with a thread title ¯\_()_/¯

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I've been thinking for a while that panel layout is one of the most overlooked aspects of manga. I almost never see it mentioned in here, which makes some sense because it's one of those things that doesn't demand your attention. Art is a topic of discussion, in a vague sort of way (usually it isn't much more than "this series has really good/bad art)". When I think back about my favorite series, I realize that a large part of why I enjoyed them was their layouts.Maybe people aren't very interested in the subject, but I believe that nothing is more important to the reading experience than smart decisions in paneling and talking about comics without mentioning panels is like talking about movies as isolated pictures. For this reason, I decided to write a long post talking specifically about paneling.

I dunno, for someone who's not so great at paneling I'd pick Eiichiro Oda over Murata. A lot of One Piece recently has been sloppily composed.
 
Liar Game end

So it was a secret fight against the government in the quest for truth and... the truth remains hidden! The end!

...................THE FUCK KIND OF ENDING IS THAT?
 
I dunno, for someone who's not so great at paneling I'd pick Eiichiro Oda over Murata. A lot of One Piece recently has been sloppily composed.

Oh definitely. But Murata is a lot more skilled as an artist, so the bleh paneling stands out more to me.

Actually I don't know if I even feel like Murata is bad about it. Just...unexciting.
 

Lain

Member
I've been thinking for a while that panel layout is one of the most overlooked aspects of manga. I almost never see it mentioned in here, which makes some sense because it's one of those things that doesn't demand your attention.

I've always thought that it was such an obvious important aspect in what makes a manga good to read that it didn't need mentioning. Good paneling affects the flow of everything going on. It affects where you are taking your attention, it affects the way the speech bubbles are distributed also. The best art in the world couldn't save a manga that feels like a chore to read, and if a manga feels like a chore to read, most of the time it's because paneling sucks.

I guess good panel layout is the unsung hero of the manga world, though I'd hope most people realized the importance it holds.
 
I've always thought that it was such an obvious important aspect in what makes a manga good to read that it didn't need mentioning. Good paneling affects the flow of everything going on. It affects where you are taking your attention, it affects the way the speech bubbles are distributed also. The best art in the world couldn't save a manga that feels like a chore to read, and if a manga feels like a chore to read, most of the time it's because paneling sucks.

I guess good panel layout is the unsung hero of the manga world, though I'd hope most people realized the importance it holds.

I agree but it still seems weird not to talk about. It's like talking about a film without mentioning the editing (although I guess a lot of people don't pay attention to that either).
 

wonzo

Banned
I've been thinking for a while that panel layout is one of the most overlooked aspects of manga. I almost never see it mentioned in here, which makes some sense because it's one of those things that doesn't demand your attention.
Taiyo Matsumoto's Ping Pong has the best use of panelling I've ever seen in a comic. It's really hard to use examples without posting entire chapters as the ebb and flow he deftly demonstrates really doesn't show as well as it does when read in its entirety (especially in its original 2page format!)

Hell, he changes the very lines separating each panel for added emphasis and impact. Compare the nice and clean use of lines even in really hectic scenes to the really rough and hard ones used in this single page during the climactic match up.

pingpong44.png
pingpong53.png

As for Murata, his inability to really use paneling effectively is the biggest reason why his adaptation of OPM can be such a bore at times. I have to wonder if he's trying really hard to emulate the bland webtoon style of paneling rife in ONE's original.

I'd recommend reading the thing Hox wrote up about paneling (which I cannot link for obvious reasons :( ) as it covers much of the same ground in a way that my feeble mind simply cannot elucidate.
 

Foolworm

Member
Centaur's Worries

Archery training to challenging entire armies to wearing clothes with tails. This series has serious mood whiplash. I bet going to the toilet is troublesome though.

Knights of Sidonia

Kunato redeeming himself. Of course he would have as many hours as Tanikaze on Tsugumori, what with his idolization of Saitou and everything.

Fuuka

I'm going to treat this as the real beginning of the manga. The previous Fuuka never existed except as a name - only way to preserve my sanity going forward.

One Piece

Senor Pink is a true man's man. Those tears are entirely justified given his backstory.

Bleach

This chapter did nothing except to fuel my suspicions about the Monk.

UQ Holder

Time to play truant - maybe a training arc with Mana is in order.
 
Taiyo Matsumoto's Ping Pong has the best use of panelling I've ever seen in a comic. It's really hard to use examples without posting entire chapters as the ebb and flow he deftly demonstrates really doesn't show as well as it does when read in its entirety (especially in its original 2page format!)

Hell, he changes the very lines separating each panel for added emphasis and impact. Compare the nice and clean use of lines even in really hectic scenes to the really rough and hard ones used in this single page during the climactic match up.



As for Murata, his inability to really use paneling effectively is the biggest reason why his adaptation of OPM can be such a bore at times. I have to wonder if he's trying really hard to emulate the bland webtoon style of paneling rife in ONE's original.

I'd recommend reading the thing Hox wrote up about paneling (which I cannot link for obvious reasons :( ) as it covers much of the same ground in a way that my feeble mind simply cannot elucidate.

Yeah those Ping Pong examples are better than the ones I found. I'll check out the Hox thing
 

Turok_TTZ

Member
Every character in Gintama is a joke character until serious arcs.

Zura will be baller. It is known.
that is true.

im hoping for something with zura but he hasnt been serious since...
.....
...when was the last time he was in a serious arc?
Z dont count. nor should hjs time with the late shogun...
 

wonzo

Banned
Sensei Lock-On! 0-6

Almost dropped it when it started in grade school but fortunately there was a time skip a few pages in. Decent age gap romcom by 4koma standards.

Centaur's Worries 56-57

It was hard to top the alien and holocaust chapter but this was gettin' pretty damn close. also tails

Hi Score Girl 21

ouch :(
 

Nordicus

Member
Jitsu wa Watashi wa 63

There you have it. My opinion of Akari completely changed from "OH GOD AUTHOR, JUST GIVE HER A DATE ALREADY!" to "Yousa crazy immature bitch"

Jitsu wa Watashi wa 64

I kinda want Shiho's little story to be true. It makes a surprising amount of sense

Voynich Hotel 66

Only the best girlfriend for ex-yakuza
 
Tsugihagi na Kanojo 1-3 (END)
i can't breathe

the laughter won't stop

i'm dying

MC: 5 days to live, unless he gets a matching organ donation from someone who's recently died. Odds of this are basically nil.
Heroine: 1 month to live, pretty much fucked regardless. Also a registered organ donor and a match for the MC.

The plot is about whether the MC will kill the heroine to get her organs.

Why are the best goddamn stories only 3 chapters long?
welp. This may actually be the best ending ever. It's going to take surgery to stitch my sides back together. I'd love a full series based around the premise, though knowing the twist would likely lessen the impact a lot.
 

Zweizer

Banned
The Voynich Hotel ch66

Holy shit. That was pretty brutal.

Hi Score Girl ch21


Yup.

Ii Orc no Hi ch4

Finally a new chapter~!

The princess sure is a handful~

Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san ch6


Club of the forever.

Tokyo DTED ch10

New manager seems interesting. As for the rest, heh.
 

Usobuko

Banned
I've been thinking for a while that panel layout is one of the most overlooked aspects of manga. I almost never see it mentioned in here, which makes some sense because it's one of those things that doesn't demand your attention. Art is a topic of discussion, in a vague sort of way (usually it isn't much more than "this series has really good/bad art)". When I think back about my favorite series, I realize that a large part of why I enjoyed them was their layouts.Maybe people aren't very interested in the subject, but I believe that nothing is more important to the reading experience than smart decisions in paneling and talking about comics without mentioning panels is like talking about movies as isolated pictures.

Great post and good examples there. One of the advantages of books is pacing, the reader is in control of it instead of leaving to in the hands of the director. Therefore, panel layouts as well as the content the writer puts in it should be designed for ease of reading.

On an unrelated note, perhaps you will be interested in this youtube channel which analyse about film's form. Thanks to you, I just realize he put up a new video 5 hours ago. Typically, his output rate is once per month.

*rubs hands* Maybe I should look around for translations.

I have the same reaction but I also have no faith the author will deliver what I want.
 

dani_dc

Member
The Voynich Hotel 66

Nothing to say that wasn't already said. Brutal chapter from every perspective.

Tokyo DTED 10

I'm starting to think this manga was created to promote the pink industry.
 

Usobuko

Banned
Liar Game Chapter 139 to 169 - Bidding Poker Arc

Almost half a decade since the infamous long break after Ch.138.

The game is actually pretty good although riddled with many just as planned moments. If only there was a manga that mix in the variety and systematic structure in Alice in Borderland as well as its more colourful and impressionable humane characters, together with the depth of Liar Game's game designs. Sometimes, you don't need complex rules to set up an interesting game but the recent one in Alice in Borderland, which should rightfully has a final boss-esque set up, fall short of the expectations instead.
 

hipbabboom

Huh? What did I say? Did I screw up again? :(
Ore ga Doutei o Sutetara Shinu Ken ni Tsuite

That was a pretty delightfully different take on time travel and romance in a short light read though it kind of wrapped up a little too quick. They could have tightened up the theory behind altering the timeline and offered a little more explanation about
that one blip back into the future when he nearly died in the past
but that's not what the story is about and the pacing would have suffered because of it.
 
Mangabox special was interesting. Enjoyed seeing one of the creators of one of the manga I read be interviewed (Ogino does Beyond Evil). Kind of wish they chose something other than Greenworldz and Peephole to discuss but I think both of those have been there from the start of the app. Glad its doing well overall and is helping new creators get started.
B8sR9tFCcAAxt_m.png
 
My Hero Academia 28

Guess Todoroki has some beef with his daddy. Dark Chobobo Stand is pretty OP.

Next chapter should be good. As well on Monday from now on.
 
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