Crash Collision
During our X2 screening, I sat beside James Palabay of Culture Crash. As the two manga guys in the group that night, we naturally gravitated towards talking about our favorite topic; our works and how we can improve them. I have been reading Culture Crash from the first issue and have every single copy; I consider myself pretty expert in the series, it's characters and also, it's drawbacks and shortcomings. James asked me my opinions on his best-selling mangazine and told me to be brutally frank. So I was. Heh. To be fair (to myself) I really didn't have to be; I just told it as I saw it, and I hope that James found stuff that he can use to further push the envelope in Culture Crash in terms of story development.
Basically, my one all-important suggestion to James was this; focus on characters and invest in good, solid character development. That's the one thing that I find lacking in most of CC's series; it is rich and abundant with comedy, SD expressions and sight gags, but light on stuff that makes readers feel kinship or closeness for the characters. In general, characters lack depth.
I personally didn't find Airee Collette, the cat-girl protagonist of comedy-fantasy title Cat's Trail , very engaging or sympathetic since you never actually ever got into her head. After 10 issues, I have no idea what kind of person she is, or if she even really cares about her compatriots Polaris and Butler. Why should I care about her when she seems outwardly to be a self-serving, larcenous pickpocket? I think it would benefit all the stories in CC if they show sides to each character which make them more human, rather than anime caricatures.
On the plus side, the latest issue of CC does indeed seem to be finally heading for more plot, with particularly status-quo shaking events happening in One Day, Isang Diwa. CC already has the production and art down pat; if they up the ante with likeable, deep characters and a compelling plot... that would be something to look forward to.
Now I have to keep upping the ante and pushing the envelope in Angel Ace as well. Heh.
During our X2 screening, I sat beside James Palabay of Culture Crash. As the two manga guys in the group that night, we naturally gravitated towards talking about our favorite topic; our works and how we can improve them. I have been reading Culture Crash from the first issue and have every single copy; I consider myself pretty expert in the series, it's characters and also, it's drawbacks and shortcomings. James asked me my opinions on his best-selling mangazine and told me to be brutally frank. So I was. Heh. To be fair (to myself) I really didn't have to be; I just told it as I saw it, and I hope that James found stuff that he can use to further push the envelope in Culture Crash in terms of story development.
Basically, my one all-important suggestion to James was this; focus on characters and invest in good, solid character development. That's the one thing that I find lacking in most of CC's series; it is rich and abundant with comedy, SD expressions and sight gags, but light on stuff that makes readers feel kinship or closeness for the characters. In general, characters lack depth.
I personally didn't find Airee Collette, the cat-girl protagonist of comedy-fantasy title Cat's Trail , very engaging or sympathetic since you never actually ever got into her head. After 10 issues, I have no idea what kind of person she is, or if she even really cares about her compatriots Polaris and Butler. Why should I care about her when she seems outwardly to be a self-serving, larcenous pickpocket? I think it would benefit all the stories in CC if they show sides to each character which make them more human, rather than anime caricatures.
On the plus side, the latest issue of CC does indeed seem to be finally heading for more plot, with particularly status-quo shaking events happening in One Day, Isang Diwa. CC already has the production and art down pat; if they up the ante with likeable, deep characters and a compelling plot... that would be something to look forward to.
Now I have to keep upping the ante and pushing the envelope in Angel Ace as well. Heh.
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