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snkpolls · 5 years

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SnK S3E15 Poll Results (Manga Reader Version)

The poll closed with 321 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results of the manga reader poll. Anime only watchers are suggested not to read if you do not wish to be spoiled about certain events! Anime only viewers, click here to view your poll results!

RATE THE EPISODE 308 Responses

Overall the fandom enjoyed the episode, with the vast majority of votes being at either a 4 or 5.

Best ep of the season thus far, Bert's monologue/transformation was amazing. Some fantastic VA work by Tomohisa and Inoue as well. CG CT also looked far better than I thought he would. These next few episodes are going to kill me. I can't wait.

Fantastic episode. Bertholdt's monologue was the best part.

Great episode, very dramatic, awesome OST. I am not looking forward to the next few eps, except for Floch's villain origin story!

Can’t wait for the next episode, this one was so good!

Editing was a bit choppy, voice lines cut half a second too quick a few times.

First ep of S3P2 to get a 10/10 from me <3

The animation was pretty lacking in this episode. R&B’s running animation on the wall felt pretty lazy, there was that reused shot of the beast Titan’s throw from season 2, Bertholdt’s character design felt inconsistent as well as Zeke’s. They really need to get the old team back on the animation cause the current team clearly doesn’t know how to handle aot. It’s getting on my nerves.

The episode was absolutely awesome.

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 308 Responses

The Bertl Bomb™ was the scene that respondents were most excited about. Following behind that was Mikasa’s brief skirmish with Bertolt, and closely behind that was Armin and Bertolt’s shouting match on the rooftops.

BERUTORUTO=GOD

I’m mikasasexual

As a huge Bertholdt fan, it was so great to see Bert as the centre of attention for once. It makes me really sad knowing what comes next.

Bert bomb made my bomb go off

I love Bertholdt's resolve. This scene made him one of my favorite characters.

Bertholdt vs. Mikasa was so fire 🔥

One of the best episodes without a doubt. Bertholdt's monologue before transforming was even more impactful than in the manga.

Explosion aftermath was disappointing. I expected a sea of fire. The one they gave us doesn't feel like something big just happened

That "Levi's 5 seconds of screen time" was good, too!

Why isn't "Mikasa comforting and protecting Armin" an option for favorite moment in this episode? Because those were definitely my favorite moments in the episode

The partner gesture between Reiner and Bertl is the death of me

Am I the only one who get's goosebumps in the scene before he transformed himself into the colossalus titan and said: 'I feel like, no matter how this all plays out, I can accept whatever happens. That's right, nobody's in the wrong. There's nothing we could do. Because this world....is just...that cruel.' This scene was impressive back in the manga and I'm proud how good Tomohisa Hashizume nailed it. He's an amazing voice actor, especially for Bertholdt.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE APETITAN AND YOUSEEBIGGIRL REARRANGES? 296 Responses

Overall the fandom was excited about the new versions of familiar songs with 71% of respondents feeling that they were “totally epic!” 18% agree that the rearranges were good, but that they can’t surpass the original versions.

The soundtrack was lit.

Music was awesome!

Ngl I've watched the episode many times bc the OST during some scenes is just SO GOOD!!

WHO WON THE SHOUTING MATCH? 308 Responses

Over ¾ of the fandom agree that Bertolt dominated the shouting match on the rooftop.

I feel Armin won the "debate" because Bertolt, in his zeal to convince himself that he wanted to kill people he used to see as friends, wasn't making any sense

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT BERTOLT’S DEVELOPMENT AT THIS POINT? 308 Responses

46% of respondents were happy to see how far Bertolt had come as a character at this point in the story, while 34% were just happy to get more dialogue and thoughts from him. A small percentage had been curious where his character would go from here.

Godtolt on the way

He ditched the alter ego built up out of guilt, and it's cool to see him truly one of the strongest characters fighting off Mikasa while in human form

I wish we had more Bertl development! He could’ve been really complex, but just isn’t due to a lack of screentime. Compared to someone like Reiner or Annie, this was his one moment of pure raw character development

He reveals his true warrior colors

I loved it, one of my favourite chapters because of his resolve and how he himself was surprised about it.

He's only moving forward as a character and does what needs to be done. Bertholdt, your doing amazing sweetie!

With all this development just to kill him off was heart breaking.

Honestly, I’m so proud of him. He was amazing and it’s so nice to see a confident Bert. I don’t think it’s a development worth praising in terms of moral standards but it suited and made sense for his character

I feel like this is where his character peaked. It was pretty flat before season 2

I just don’t like bertolt in generalI really like his development but it's a shame that he severely lacked screen time before this episode

I'm not really a fan of Bertolt so I'm neutral on this

I still hate his traitorous guts and can't wait for THAT scene to be animated

Fucking loved it. It's one of my favorite chapters (and now episodes) just because he's talking so much and he's badass af. My boy is finally shining!

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT ARMIN BLUFFING ABOUT ANNIE A SECOND TIME? 306 Responses

Just over half of respondents feel that Armin should have tried a different tactic with Bertolt, while 46% felt that it was worth another shot to try and manipulate Bertolt’s feelings for Annie again.

Has Armin ever convinced anyone of anything they didn't already believe?

He was so used to Bertholdt’s behavior and there was nothing that would’ve made Armin think Bertholdt would have the reaction that he did

Lame. He didn't use much of intelligence here.

It's low, I'm happy it didn't work again

He learned some pretty vital things - how far the Warriors are willing to go, what their priorities are, what Bert's state of mind is, and where his loyalties truly lie. I don't imagine Armin went down that track solely because he thought it would have the exact same effect, but rather to 'check something' - exactly the same as Bertolt.

I think it not only was a good attempt to take (it worked before, why not try it again), but I also think it is incredibly important to show Armin's flaws. Yes, he's an amazing strategist. He's also still sixteen and not always entirely confident. Having Armin make mistakes like relying on old ploys that worked keeps his character more grounded and realistic

Smart people tend to use the same tactics over and over again as long as they're successful and for good reason. After all, why wouldn't you use the same tactic if you know it brings success? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's only when said strategy or tactic doesn't work where the individual would entertain the prospect of changing it or never using it again.

That’s Very Unfortunate!

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT CGI COLOSSAL TITAN? 306 Responses

36% of respondents aren’t very impressed with the CGI colossal titan, while 29% actually found the effect to be pretty awesome! 13% feel it’s disturbing and a small 7% just find it cringeworthy.

Alright

CGI doesn't bother me. What bothers me is how animators overly rely on it. Several decades ago animators made great masterpieces without cgi, all by hand. I understand using it because it makes things easier, but exceeding quality should still be top priority. If you can't make it better with CGI, then go old school and do it right.

Decent but could be better

U can still notice it is CGI but I think their CGI has gotten better compared to some of their earlier uses of it

Doesn't fit with the art style, which is as bad as unfair splitting potatoes

Not too bad but could definitely have been better. Understandable since there has only been one full body shot of it before and that was a sharp backwards, down looking angle.

Don’t really care much for cgi complaints, animating that would be a lot of work, their efforts are better elsewhere

It was necessary and didn't look appallingly bad.

I don't get why people hate it so much? I think it's fine

I hated it in season 2 and I hate it more now

Bad

Don't like CGI anything in any anime so take from that what you will

Most angles he looks fine! The only part that he looked off was when we got the face shot of him panning out to the rest of his body

Thought it looked solid. There were some really great shots of him this ep imo. Hopefully the action bits will look as good, and they mix in some 2D shots as well.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE 104TH RIDING ON TITAN EREN? 306 Responses

Over half of the fandom agree that this detail is something that’s very adorable, while 22% feel it’s just pretty neat. A combined 21% of respondents either feel it’s not that big of a deal or simply don’t care about it.

>AMJCS who cares?

Good boy protecting his friends? Hell Yeah!

I want to ride pieck - Not an innuendo, i just want a go in one of her turrets

It's gay

Lads you would never get me off that thing, I'd be saddling him up to go grocery shopping

Save me a seat guys!!

HOW WELL DID THE EPISODE ADAPT THE CORRESPONDING CHAPTERS? 306 Responses

Manga readers are overall happy with the adaptation of chapters 77 and 78, with over 90% saying that it was close to being perfectly done.

DID MARCO’S DEATH AFFECT YOU AS MUCH AS IT DID IN THE MANGA? 305 Responses

41% of respondents felt more heartbroken to see Marco’s death play out in the anime, while 31% say they felt more sympathetic toward Marco. 14% weren’t affected when this scene played out in either story-telling medium.

About the same level, still utterly heartbreaking, though

DEATH TO THE TITAN TRIO!

Didn't feel as much. Not because it was a bad adaptation, but just because I've already read it and knew what went down.

I felt more sorry for RBA than Marco in this version

I still had lot of emotions with the adaptation, but there's no compare to experiencing it for the first time

I was absolutely sobbing when I read it in the manga. Anime-wise I was more prepared to handle the scene

Watching Marco die again reminds me of why, even in current manga, I still completely and utterly LOATHE/DESPISE/HATE RBA. No, I don't care about their "tragic backstory", they don't deserve empathy of any kind.

It had the same impact when I first watched the trailer for the Lost Girls OVA, which spoiled me his death

It was tough to watch, but it was necessary to deepen Reiner, Bertolt, Annie (and Marco)'s characters. It was very well done, dramatically

Oh fuck it was WAY WORSE animated. Actually hearing his cries and screams is something that can never be duplicated in written form

I did not anticipate being as affected as I was by the Marco flashback. That doesn’t give me hope for how I’m going to handle the rest of the RtS arc. The emotions of the characters are being portrayed very well this season.

NOW THAT WE’VE HAD A CHANCE TO LISTEN TO ZEKE HAVE MORE DIALOGUE, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF HIS VOICE? 305 Responses

The majority of the fandom believe that Zeke’s seiyuu is a good fit for his character, although over half of the fandom had expected his voice to sound a bit different. 10% feel it wasn’t the best choice, while a small sliver of respondents don’t care for the voice at all.

I can't unhear DIO. Thanks Zeke, thanks Koyasu.

Zeke's VA also voices a lovely, kind character in Violet Evergarden, so his lines are making me really, really uncomfortable

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT PIECK’S TITAN VOICE? 307 Responses

30% of respondents are excited about Pieck’s titan voice, while 28% feel it’s not what they expected to hear. 18% find the voice “acceptable” while 17% want to wait and hear more before making a final verdict.

Pieck's voice was unexpected in that it was terrifying, much like Ymir's Titan voice

Holy shit. I'm gonna hear it in my nightmares

I rabu Piku.

REGARDING CURRENT MANGA EVENTS, DO YOU THINK REINER STILL WANTS TO STAY TRUE TO HIS PROMISE TO YMIR? 308 Responses

Nearly half of the fandom believe that Reiner would still like to honor his promise to Ymir, but feel that he will never actually get to pull through. 15% believe that he’s still determined to save Historia no matter what, and 18% believe that he’s actually stopped caring about his promise (or perhaps just Historia in general) altogether.

Good question. I really want to have a scene with him facing Historia, his reaction to her pregnancy should be interesting

He doesn't want to save HISTORIA because he doesn't know her. The one he wanted to save was KRISTA. But she is already "dead"

I think Reiner has done what he needed to

I'm not sure, I think his main concerns are the kids and stopping Eren

It has to be real low on his priority list right about now given the circumstances

Of course not, Reiner only cares about his own manpain

He still calls her Krista and she probably has already chosen a side most likely Yeagerist

ARMIN HAD WISHED FOR A CHANCE TO NEGOTIATE AT THIS POINT, SIMILAR TO CURRENT MANGA EVENTS. IS THIS PROOF THAT HE HASN’T BEEN CHANGED BY BERTOLT’S MEMORIES? 308 Responses

44% don’t want to say either way whether Armin’s pre-titan behavior is indicative of the influence that Bertolt may or may not have over the Armin we know in the current manga. 39% believe that this is proof Eren’s words to Armin were total B.S., and 12% think this isn’t really proof of anything.

Armin Has always been the diplomat, while Eren is a man of force. Mikasa is in between. It has always been that way.

Past and future are influenced the same when paths are concerned so there's no way to tell.

I don’t think it’s enough to prove or disprove but this is an interesting idea

I don't get this 'changed' shit. Of course having access to someone else's memories has its own influence on a person, but that's true of anyone on the planet who's read a memoir as well. Everything has its effect. The titan shifter thing is obviously a bit more invasive than that, but it doesn't mean he's now suddenly possessed by Beartoto's fucking undead spirit.

I'd like to think it is but with everything Isayama's been throwing at us from out of left field who knows

he's always wished for negotiation, but he seems to have changed in his methods for negotiation. armin used to be more abrupt and upfront, whereas now he seems more tentative

No, he wasn't chanced that much. He understands RBA better and has more sympathy for Annie (maybe even has a crush on her) but it has nothing to do with being a slave.

SIMILARLY, MIKASA POINTS OUT HOW BERTOLT FEELS LIKE A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSON. ARE THE MEMORIES OF HIS PREDECESSOR AFFECTING HIM IN THIS ARC? 306 Responses

Over half of the fandom feel that Bertolt’s current behavior at this point in the series is of his own will, and not influenced by any prior holders of the Colossal Titan. 38% think it’s possible he’s being influenced by memories of his predecessor(s) at this time, while a small percentage feel that he is definitely being influenced by someone else’s memories.

He was badass but I think he was affected by memories of the previous CT owner.

I think that Mikasa thinks he’s acting like a different person because he is. I think this is what Bertholdt is really like but with the 104th he was playing a role so he didn’t get too attached to them.

Still wondering if the "he seemed like a different person" comment was a note about development or supposed to foreshadow something about the Titans influencing their hosts.

I think it’s original Ymir controlling him through the paths

Probably. It seems like a bit of a drastic change to go from quiet, self-deprecating and remorseful to cold, outspoken, and trying to morally justify his actions. It's just too drastic a change.

Confidence boost is completely irrelevant to paths.

We don’t even know Bert’s previous predecessors!

Nope, that's have something to do with "character development", people change sometimes after time and grown more indepented and strong of their own shadow.

I always thought of it more as Bertie finally coming down on a side and the pair picking up on that. He was always so meek and indecisive, but now he's been forced to make a choice and to do it he has to shed his old skin and become more ruthless.

Not at all he ditched his guilt that made up the act they knew him for.

WHAT SCENE ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO IN THE PREVIEW? 307 Responses

The overwhelming majority of respondents are looking forward to the Survey Corps’ suicide charge against the Beast Titan and his flying boulders. Nearly 30% are looking forward to the moment that Levi gives Erwin his promise to kill the Beast Titan. A small percentage are most looking forward to Armin and Jean decide who’s going to lead the 104th to victory.

I am not ready for the next two episodes

I’m gonna get my ASS FUCKED SO HARD I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO. THERES GONNA BE SHIT EVERYWHERE. ERWINS GONNA FUCKING DIE. LEVIS GONNA BE SAD.

fuck next week's shit is good, hype

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

The "predecessor's memory affecting current shifter" is, as far as I'm aware, just a theory that I don't buy into. I've only seen a person "changed" because of the Founding Titan's vow. Otherwise, the shifter's personality remains the same. Armin has always been an advocate for talking and negotiation. We see this in the Trost arc when the Garrison nearly kill Eren with that cannonball. So no, I don't think anyone's memories are "affecting" anyone, including current Eren.

Loved pretty much everything in this episode except for the CGI CT. Didn't expect to see uncensored Reiner, which was weird because Mikasa cutting off Bert's ear was more censored. And I'm a bit disappointed we didn't see more shots of Bert with his V fringe off his forehead. He looked so cool in the manga!

This episode gave me anxiety 'cause I know what we'll going to deal in the next three ones. The soundtrack gave intensity in every scene that its put on it, plus the fantastic job of the VA, perfect work. And just thinking about how the next episodes will be.... *goosebumps*

Wit studio handled the cgi very well imo. It's very difficult to animate this action heavy arca with rubble, smoke, odm scenes etc. and I think they are adapting the manga very well with the right pacing per episode which is also a challenge to fit within 20 minutes.

Bertolt is best boi and this episode was the best of all 3. He deserved to survive and mature up. Hashizume nailed him JUST RIGHT and his interactions with Reiner this episode were on point. The scene where he outsmarted Armin and countered Mikasa was worthy of applause.

i wish it wasn’t too rushed some moments aren’t as emotional as they should be

mikasa looked so good this episode and i'm so happy with how wit isn't screwing her over

After seeing this episode and Marco's death, it makes me sad that Reiner lost his pal Bertolt. They should be suffer bois together. Even still, some of the animation this episode was reallyy not great, so I rated the episode a 4.

Bertolt has proved on this episode that he's one of the best character of the series

I miss berthold so much and seeing him at his best was awesome but it’s really hard knowing what’s going to happen next

This is shaping up to be the best season of Attack On Titan. Cheers for more!

zeke’s beard is the tenth titan shifter

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 295 Responses

Thank you to everyone who participated! We’ll see you again in a few days!

#snk spoilers #snk s3 #snk poll #snk polls #poll results

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murasaki-murasame · 7 years

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Thoughts on Dreamin’ Sun v1

Now that I’ve finally read this [after having dealt with the nightmare of originally getting an incredibly damaged copy and needing to wait an extra two weeks for a replacement copy to arrive], I may as well write down my thoughts. This isn’t really going to be a review, at least not “officially”, though I’ll obviously talk about my opinion on different parts of it. It’ll be more ramble-y and over the place than a proper review. Like with Rakugo, I might just wait until the series is done before doing a proper review of the entire thing, to save on time.

This got really, really long, but it’s mostly because since this is the first volume there’s just a lot to talk about right off the bat to get my initial feelings out. And also because there’s stuff like my whole lengthy point about comparing the art in this version to the original release of the series, which I won’t need to bring up as much later on. Even if I have less to say overall about the later volumes, I’ll still probably try and make posts like this about them even if they’re way shorter.

TL;DR: Basically I REALLY enjoyed this, more than I thought I would. It reminds me a LOT of Fruits Basket, in a good way. But it definitely seems to be going for a different vibe from that series. I like both, though. This might not be anything mind-blowing, especially if you’ve read a lot of shoujo rom-coms, but it seems like it’s probably a good title for people like me who are a bit less ‘experienced’ with the genre.

I’m really excited to see what happens in v2 now. I guess one good aspect of how it took like a month since v1′s release date for it to arrive is that it means there’s now only about a month or so until the next one’s out.

Detailed thoughts under the cut

For a bit of background info, the biggest reason I even checked this out is because I really adored the anime adaptation of Orange when it aired a year or two ago. I plan on getting the English release of the manga eventually, since I liked it so much as an anime. I’d been curious about this series for a while, but then Seven Seas announced their license of it, and I decided to wait for it and hold off on reading the scans online. I’m so glad I chose to just wait for this release, which I’ll explain in a bit. Over the last 6+ months or so I’ve been checking out the covers of the new Japanese re-releases of the series as they got revealed. Which certainly got me hyped for this. Let it be known that I am a complete sucker for beautiful covers, and man are these covers wonderful. They fit all of my aesthetic tastes so perfectly. Even if the series somehow falls apart later on I’m gonna still collect it just because the volume covers are so beautiful. OK, I just needed to lay that out there because these covers deserve to be raved about.

I guess it’s not really related to this series, but I’d also been reading Fruits Basket over the last six or so months via Yen Press’ new omnibus versions. Mostly because I’ve been wanting to read some cute, fluffy shoujo rom-coms for a while, and FB is like the most universally praised manga within that genre. I might still make a separate review of that series later. I’m bringing it up here because, honestly, it’s really hard not to note the surface-level similarities. I keep finding myself comparing the two. But even then, the comparison just makes me like Dreamin’ Sun, thus far, even more. I won’t call one better than the other, but this series definitely has it’s strengths.

To get more into detail about the similarities, both FB and Dreamin’ Sun involve a teenage girl being either voluntarily or involuntarily forced out of her home because of drama and life circumstances stemming from the relatively recent deaths of their mothers. Both protagonists wind up living in an isolated house with two teenage boys who complete the central love triangle, and their kimono-wearing house-owner/landlord who’s in his 20′s. It feels a bit weird to even list this out, since I don’t mean anything negative by it. I’m not saying that Dreamin’ Sun is a rip-off or anything. It certainly didn’t impact my enjoyment of it. It just highlights how even strangely similar premises can be handled in different ways. And obviously those elements aren’t the entirety of the story of either manga. I mean, you can’t really ignore the way that FB is also about supernatural curses and people that turn into animals, and Dreamin’ Sun is very much not about those things at all :V

[Lengthy ramble about comparing the current style to the ‘original stye’ starts here. Scroll down a bit if you want to skip past this]

Before I talk about the actual premise/story, which will take a while, I want to talk about what I said before about being happy that I chose not to read the scanlated version. I didn’t realize it until the author states it at the end of the volume, but for the recent re-releases of the series [that the English version is based on], she actually re-did a fair bit of the art. I spent a while comparing chapter one page by page across the ‘original version’ and the version we got in English. To put it simply, judging from just this one chapter, it seems that about half of the art is redone to some degree or another. It’s a bit complicated. It’s not a complete re-draw, or anything like that. It’s mostly focused on changes to how the characters themselves are drawn, but I noticed a few instances of slightly refined backgrounds and added/edited visual effects, though I wasn’t paying as much attention to that stuff. I can tell that the artist was focusing on fixing inconsistent or anatomically incorrect art, while in general making the art-style feel more consistent. I could tell that a lot of the panels that were left alone were the ones most similar in style to her current art.

It didn’t bug me or anything, but I could tell that there were notable differences between the style of certain panels, especially when it comes to how eyes, and specifically irises, are drawn. Takano’s art style clearly hasn’t changed that much over the years [it’s just gotten more refined and consistent], but she’s obviously developed a specific way of drawing eyes/irises, as you can see from the cover of this volume, which is very consistent across how she draws all of her characters now. It definitely clashes a bit with how she used to draw irises in particular in a more . . . inconsistent way. This is especially notable with Shimana, who used to often be drawn with largely unshaded/uncoloured eyes, and with more shaky lines. But, just to be clear, the difference is so relatively minor that I genuinely thought it was just a matter of her putting more effort into certain panels compared to other ones, and was genuinely surprised to see that there was, what, a 9+ year gap between when these were drawn? Wow. So yeah, she’s notably improved, and there’s still a fair amount of untouched art in this, but it’s not very noticeable at all. It’s actually most noticeable, I feel, with the colour pages [I assume they were originally in colour. This release has absolutely zero colour pages, which is very disappointing since I thought that the official blurb for it said that we’d get at least one per volume]. Something about the way they’re done feels more immediately different to her current style.

But even though the difference isn’t too noticeable just in the context of this version we have now, after seeing the original version and all of it’s art, I’m VERY happy she re-did the parts she did. A lot of panels in the original felt very similar to what she does now, but a LOT of them were noticeably worse, and definitely needed to be updated to make things consistent. She pretty much just took the worst of her old art and re-did it, and left the best parts, which seems like a good way to prioritize this sort of partial re-draw if she didn’t have the time to re-do the entire thing. Her older style definitely has it’s own charm and personality, and is arguably more experimental and expressive than her current style, which could be called overly consistent and ‘safe’ if you wanted to be negative about it. I imagine that there’s probably lots of people who prefer the original art completely, even beyond just basic nostalgia, and that’s fine. But after having been exposed to this new version first, I’m very glad it exists. It might get ironed out quickly [I only read the first chapter in it’s original form], but from that chapter alone it definitely felt like Takano sometimes struggled with keeping facial structures and hair-styles perfectly consistent between panels. Her handling of it’s better than a lot of other artists, but there were obvious examples of faces seeming a bit too flat at the side, or eyes being oddly sized/spaced, or foreheads being too large. The characters also have more realistic and consistent hair-styles, which is nice. It was especially noticeable with how Zen’s hair felt more wild and fire-y originally [and his hairline seemed too high a lot of the time], but is more specific and rigid now while retaining the spiky look [I really don’t know how to phrase this], and how Taiga’s hair felt more messy originally, with lots of strands/tufts on the top part sticking out more wildly. His hair’s a bit more tidy and flat now, but not entirely so.

[Art comparison ramble ends here]

Also the fan translation used for the scanlation I found was TERRIBLE, holy shit, but that’s not a point against the story itself obviously.

In general I love the art-style of this manga. I’ve been a huge fan of Takano’s way of drawing her characters ever since I watched Orange. I’m never good at praising visual types of art, since I never know how to put my thoughts into words about it, but her style is just really nice. It all feels very soft and consistent. She has a way of drawing hair and eyes in a way that captures a nice middle-ground between looking ‘realistic’ and looking ‘manga-y’, if that makes sense. They have a nice sense of depth and visual complexity to them. She’s also really good at drawing outfits, but really I’m just envious of anyone who knows how to do fabric folds at all. It might annoy some people that her modern style is more soft and subdued and clean than how her art used to be, but it never bothered me.

I guess there’s not too much to say in terms of the “story” of this, if we ignore the romantic elements. But I do want to say that I actually think I prefer this variation of the “girl leaves her original home and moves in with a group of guys” set-up to how it was handled in Fruits Basket. It’s a bit of a meaningless comparison though because I love them both for different reasons. FB was taking a way more comedic and silly angle for a lot of it, while Dreamin’ Sun handled it in a relatively more serious and reasonable way than I expected. Aside from the vague contrivance of Taiga immediately guessing that Shimana is looking for a new home, I really liked how everything else about it was handled. For one thing, Taiga’s an actual landlord who’s already renting out parts of his house to other teenagers, so it makes everything feel way less sudden and unprepared. It also explains why Taiga so readily presented her with the option. Which helped make it all feel way less creepy than it could have been. He also gave her every chance to back out of the choice if she wanted, while also being rather responsible in telling her what to do if she actually wants to commit to it. I greatly appreciated how he wanted to make sure that Shimana cleared things up with her parents and got permission from them, and it was nice seeing him go with her to more or less negotiate with them. It was cool seeing him back Shimana up and make a reasonable case about how she deserves to have some freedom of choice while she still can. And I really love that she didn’t cut herself off from her family entirely, or anything, and is going to stay in regular contact with them. They even gave her some money to help her get settled in. In general what I mean is that the story put WAY more effort into making the entire moving process more reasonable than it necessarily needed to be. I could have dealt with it being hand-waved more easily, with nobody caring that much about the gravity of the situation. So it’s nice that it went out of it’s way to do all that. [I just realized that the way Taiga stood up for Shimana and made a case for her choosing to stay at his house is probably reflective of his family’s connection to law. Huh. I never quite put two and two together on that]. It’s also worth noting that the updated art-style also made Taiga seem notably less creepy in chapter one. It actually surprised me how outright sinister and unnerving he looked at times in the original, whereas in this version he’s mostly just sorta snarky and deadpan. It’s especially notable how sinister he looked originally while commenting on Shimana’s bag at the end of the park scene, whereas in this version he just looked mildly curious about it. It’s stuff like this that also went a long way to making him and his living situation proposition feel more reasonable.

On the topic of things being reasonable and different to what I expected, this may just be because I don’t read much shoujo, and/or because I just recently finished FB in particular, but holy shit did I appreciate the openness Shimana displayed with her emotions. She actually talked about her feelings with people instead of just bottling them up! Obviously she hasn’t really confessed her feelings to Asahi yet, but honestly who can blame her. And even then, she still outright asked him during the test of courage if he has someone he likes, and then when she saw him with that other girl, she plainly asked him if she was his girlfriend. A fucking plus for characters talking to each other about stuff and not just making assumptions and sitting on them for chapters upon chapters that lead to misunderstandings and drama. And it’s just kinda refreshing to get a protagonist like Shimana who is relatively open in talking about romance-related topics, while still not being super confident and forward, and still having relatable insecurities. I also have to respect Asahi for being similarly open about things. I love that he was completely open about saying that even if they’re not dating, he has a crush on that girl. I would have been fine with him hiding it since that’s realistic, but it’s so refreshing to see him be clear and unambiguous about it. This should help minimize any future drama. It was also cute seeing him ask if Shimana wanted to eat lunch with the two of them. Even though I also get why she tried to back off due to not wanting to be some sort of third wheel. Also, I can’t QUITE remember since it’s been a day since I read this, but I remember there being a scene where she talks to Taiga and Zen about her crush on Asahi, and about her wanting to learn more about his preferences and so on. It’s just so nice seeing characters like this who can talk about such things without anyone getting weirdly shamed for their feelings. I also really hope that the story is going where I think it’s going, with the emerging topic of the value of appearance vs personality. Please let this send a message about how being a nice, loving person is more important and valuable than just being pretty. That’d be wonderful. Also, just to fit it in here, I really love Zen’s brand of tsundere, where it mostly comes across as him and Shimana just being close friends who can rib each other back and forth about stuff. He even apologized for one of the more shitty things he said to her as soon as he saw how much she’s going through. I prefer this brand of tsundere to the more rough and violent and edgy kind.The characters in general probably aren’t super unique or memorable for the genre or anything, but they really appeal to my tastes. I love that they’re all just really nice, reasonable people who know how to get along and have fun, while also having some wonderfully snarky back and forths. And obviously I like it when characters lean more toward talking to each other about stuff instead of being moody and quiet and holding onto misinformed assumptions and grudges and so on. I already kinda love Shimana as a protagonist. I get why some people might not like her, but she hits all the right notes for me. Especially since the awkwardness between her and her family, and her angst over all that, has basically been cleared up. I love that she has her own fun, vibrant personality, and can be as much of an active part of conversations as the guys. I like how her torn-up feelings over her mother’s death are portrayed, even though I expect it to never be explored quite as deeply as in something like Fruits Basket. And I already just love her dynamics with all the guys, which I guess I’ll get into when I talk about each one.I’m not even gonna lie, I ADORE Asahi already and I really hope that he’s the one that ends up with Shimana. I mean both ‘options’ are totally fine and I love them both, but I certainly have my preferences. To be blunt, my tastes in romances like this are SUPER vanilla. I know that a lot of people often dislike characters like Asahi who are near-perfect, kind, mellow, smart, etc, and the one that the protagonist already likes from the start with no ‘build-up’, but I’m a sucker for this. I just really like love interests like him. It’s kinda hard to deny that part of it’s because he’s genuinely my type and so I can totally get why Shimana likes him so much. I vividly remember seeing that one panel of him with glasses when the black hair goes away and my reaction was basically just “be still, my beating gay heart”. I will defend this precious boy with my life. But I do also like that we might start seeing a more frustrated, cold side of him as he interacts more with that other girl. There’s some nice contrast going on there. I also really like that he’s studying to be a lawyer, if only because it’s an interest/academic field that I’ve basically never seen a character like him have before, and I’m interested to see if it becomes more important later. [Also I really like his fashion sense. I have a *weakness* for guys wearing ties]Even though I love Asahi a lot already, Zen is just the most adorable thing in the universe. My sweet panda-loving child. I love him. I immediately fell in love with his character design as soon as I saw the cover of volume three. I love that he has a lot of traditionally masculine traits, like his punk aesthetic, his interest in martial arts, etc, but he has absolutely no shame about carrying a plush panda around even in school. The guy has a goddamn full-body panda bear pajama suit. It’s amazing. His plush panda itself is also wonderful in it’s own right. I love how in the new version of the art, there’s a few examples of Takano giving it cute little facial expressions to match Zen. It’s so fucking cute I wanna die. I can totally see why it’s sort of the mascot of the series. Anyway, as said above, I really click with his brand of tsundere. He knows how to treat Shimana like a good friend. I like that his ribbing isn’t just a one-sided thing that she meekly and silently endures, and that she can also poke him right back if she wants. I love that be immediately, profusely apologized for calling her useless once he learned about her family issues. I love that he didn’t even really poke much fun at her for her crush on Asahi. And obviously I love that he never does anything worse than verbal teasing, and I can’t see him doing anything much worse. In terms of his position as the secondary love interest, I’m down with it. He clearly has no chance of being the one she ends up dating, though, so I’m probably just gonna spend this whole thing feeling bad for him. Thankfully it won’t be quite as harsh as Suwa’s entire situation in Orange and how much that poor guy sacrificed for the sake of his friends. I hope that, if he can’t end up with Shimana, he at least finds someone else he can find happiness with.Most of my feelings on Taiga can be summed up with what I said above, about being really refreshed and surprised by how reasonable and non-creepy he is. He’s pretty wonderful thus far. There’s not a whole lot to say thus far, but I’m curious to see how things go as we explore his family situation and his history with Miku. It feels like there’s a lot left to discover with him. Just to get it out from the start, I REALLY hope the story never frames him as a love interest. It hasn’t thus far, at least. And obviously it could be totally fine if it’s executed well. But the power imbalance of their current situation, not to mention their age gap, bothers me a bit too much. Hopefully things just stay the way they are now. We’ll see. Maybe I’m just being paranoid.I don’t have much to say about Miku thus far since she only showed up near the end of the volume, but I can already tell that she’s going to be great. Hopefully she remains a part of the main cast, even if she doesn’t live in the same house [I’m pretty sure that she doesn’t, and that she was just visiting, but I forget]. It’d at least be nice to have a prominent female character for Shimana to befriend. I guess this is also on the note of characters, but it was . . . surprising, to say the least, when I got to the end of the volume where there’s an omake that literally introduces some of the other cast members who have yet to appear. It even specifies which volume they’ll first appear in. Which is really goddamn weird. I don’t dislike it, but it’s weird, and I could see it bothering some people. It’s at least fine by me since I’ve already seen these characters on the later volume covers. But in general I don’t care much about whether or not a character’s general existence is ‘spoiled’ for me. Though seeing Zen’s brother was a surprise since he doesn’t actually seem to appear on any of the covers. So that was new. There’s not really much to say about them all since it was such a short little bonus thing, but I feel like I might dislike Shuu, and I could see myself really enjoying Miura so long as he isn’t a complete asshole. [Also I might just feel silly about saying this if I get ‘proven wrong’ when he appears, but his comment about Taiga’s dad being a stud is making me REALLY hope, in the depths of my gay heart, that he might be bi. I’ve been burned before, though, so we’ll just wait and see].I don’t really have any predictions or anything for where I think things will go. There’s kinda not a lot to go on, which is how these things tend to be. There’s less of an over-arching story/mystery than there was in Fruits Basket, that’s for sure. We’ll just see what happens when it happens. All in all, I pretty much loved this from start to finish. It was pretty damn wonderful. It’s at least nice to read something light and fluffy. I’ve been really needing something like this lately.I’m certainly a bit afraid that, even with my almost entirely positive feelings toward this first volume, there might still be a chance of things crashing and burning later. I’ve definitely heard mixed/ambivalent things regarding this manga, but I’m hoping it’s just a matter of this being a typical shoujo rom-com that lacks the narrative hook and emotional depth of something like Orange, or Fruits Basket, or whatever. Because I’m totally down for ‘typical shoujo rom-com’. That’s what I’m here for. [[I also wouldn’t be surprised if the original art played a part in people preferring Orange. So that shouldn’t be an issue now]]Just to end this off, on the topic of my comparison between this and Fruits Basket, I feel like the best way to describe it is that I feel like Dreamin’ Sun is going to be more ‘consistently level’ than FB. It’s not going to have all of the really good parts of FB that made it such a core staple of the genre that stands the test of time, but it also definitely looks like it won’t have the same issues that I had with FB. So it might not have the same high peaks, but it should avoid some of the pitfalls that caused be to kinda sour on FB a bit by the end.P.S: This is a really subjective and personal point of mine, but at the very least, if there’s any one thing I want, it’s for this manga to avoid actively negative portrayals of queer themes/characters. I really don’t mind if nobody in this is queer, or even if the very concept is never discussed or shown at all, so long as it’s not negative about any of it if it DOES come up. Nothing negative along these lines has happened yet, at least. I’ll say so if anything bad happens later, though. I’d be fine with a base level of silent neutrality, or whatever, but I’d certainly appreciate something a bit more than that, and as I kinda said above, there’s at least one faint glimmer of potential representation, but I’m certainly not going to hold my breath, and if it doesn’t happen, then that’s fine.

#murasaki rambles #dreamin' sun #this is the exact sort of fluffy shoujo rom-com I've been needing in my life #at least since I finished Fruits Basket

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