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Week Ten: Manga


Barefoot Gen was a really heavy way to begin this class. The perspective was both tragic and very humbling. It hurt to watch, but I’m glad that I was exposed to it. Even though the medium of animation doesn’t typically handle heavier topics like that, I think that the story accomplished what it set off to achieve, and was probably able to convey the story in a more palatable way than a live action version would be able to. I’ve always appreciated Manga, (my gateway to the world of manga being through FLCL) but I think its safe to say that my appreciation has been greatly increased, at times forcibly so, since my time studying at Ringling. Building on what Scott McCloud wrote in understanding comics, I think its ability to be so expressive through various levels of magnification and representation makes it an extremely powerful style, and one that is extremely adaptable, handling both serious and entertaining topics alike.

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