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A review by cjordahl
Gangsta., Vol. 4 by Kohske
4.0
I love the style and craft of the art, and the characters and story hold my interest, enough to warrant 4 stars for me. But I must say, I found this book, and the entire series actually, to be very frustrating because I'm often confused by the art and the plot.
What bugs me about the art...
* Very tight closeups, so close that it's not clear who or what is being depicted
* Disorienting perspective changes panel-to-panel, even crossing the 180-degree line
* Panels where everything is only partially in the frame, as if the artist were a photographer whose finger twitched at the wrong time
* Action panels that are so chaotic that you can't tell what's happening
* Dialog bubbles aren't always clear about who's talking
* Characters being drawn in a very different cartoonish style during heightened emotional situations (although I suspect this is a manga trope that I just don't 'get')
Artists will use these techniques intentionally. But for me Kohske overdoes it, both in frequency and intensity.
What bugs me about the plot...
* Character motivations are confusing (not in a good way)
* Character reactions are odd or exaggerated (but this could just be a Manga style thing)
* Too abrupt scene transitions
It's a long list of gripes... and yet I still like the book quite a lot. Go figure.
What bugs me about the art...
* Very tight closeups, so close that it's not clear who or what is being depicted
* Disorienting perspective changes panel-to-panel, even crossing the 180-degree line
* Panels where everything is only partially in the frame, as if the artist were a photographer whose finger twitched at the wrong time
* Action panels that are so chaotic that you can't tell what's happening
* Dialog bubbles aren't always clear about who's talking
* Characters being drawn in a very different cartoonish style during heightened emotional situations (although I suspect this is a manga trope that I just don't 'get')
Artists will use these techniques intentionally. But for me Kohske overdoes it, both in frequency and intensity.
What bugs me about the plot...
* Character motivations are confusing (not in a good way)
* Character reactions are odd or exaggerated (but this could just be a Manga style thing)
* Too abrupt scene transitions
It's a long list of gripes... and yet I still like the book quite a lot. Go figure.