73 replies to this topic

[svines85]

Yeah, there can't be a lot left to the story after this, its really been quite good. The author really does know how to mix up story elements and keep things going without becoming too engrossed in any one element. 

[Comadrin]

"Without becoming too engrossed in any one element."  A statement that should be engraved on large brass plaques in English, Kanji, and every other alphabet writers use, and hung in their homes or workplaces to keep it first and foremost in their minds.  Damned few writers can write in a single genre (without comedy or pastoral-historical sneaking into tragedy, so to speak) and make it readable and a good plot.  The greatest writers "mix 'em up" and write a spanking good story.  Dickens, Shakespeare, Kipling, Tolkien, Kobayshi Jin, and Adachi Mitsuru can throw all the genres of fiction together and make a story that fires our emotions, catches our interest, makes us think (imagine that), and keeps us coming back for more.  So can Hara Hidenori.  If it's written by any of the afore-mentioned authors/mangaka, not to mention Ashinano Hitoshi, Kouchi Kaede, and Kodama Yuki, I am damned well going to read it.... and I am probably (about 99.9998%) going to laugh loudly, really feel for the characters, think about it a lot, and wait impatiently for the next installment (like American crowds standing on the Atlantic piers waiting for the next installment of Dicken's "Curiousity Shop).  Bottom Line:  I really love this manga and this mangaka.  Keep it coming.

[svines85]

Well, those were a pair of really upbeat chapters, very good. Looks like we're getting closer to the end, according to Village Idiot Scans this makes it only five chapters left to be finished.

[Purple Library Guy]

Yeah, heading for some resolution.  Ah, that older guy who dropped out with the back injury put in an appearance . . . I like him as a character, kind of wish he could come back and coach them or something, but with 5 chapters left I don't see that happening.

[Comadrin]

Yeah,  I really liked him too.  I'm sorry he didn't make it to the olympics.  He seems to have become an Osawa fan, though, although he and Taki rowed together before.  I'm really enjoying this manga (as I have anything written by Hara Hidenori), and I'm looking forward to the next chapters.  Thanks, Village Idiot, for a great ride!  Your scanlations and Hara Sensei's manga are an unbeatable combination.

[svines85]

Wow, even this late in the game the author looooves his cliff hangers  

[Comadrin]

Wow, even this late in the game the author looooves his cliff hangers  

 

Sure does.  I noticed with both Hoshi no Furu Machi and Fuyu Hanabi that the denouement came very swiftly at the end of the manga.  I guess this will be similar in that respect.  

[svines85]

Sure does.  I noticed with both Hoshi no Furu Machi and Fuyu Hanabi that the denouement came very swiftly at the end of the manga.  I guess this will be similar in that respect.  

 

You're probably right, it does seem to be drawing together pretty rapidly.........funny how some of them do that sometimes  

[Purple Library Guy]

Well, there's a school of thought about writing that says, keep that rising action and conflict going the whole way.  Anything after the big climax doesn't have tension and so should be minimized or it'll be boring.

I don't really agree; I feel like if the characters were built well, if the audience is invested in them, cares about them, then it's satisfying to just give them a bit of reward, show that the game was worth the candle*.

 

On the gripping hand, I'm just at the end of first draft on a novel, and now that I think about it my denouement seems very short; I don't know what to write now that there's no action.

 

*(odd expression now that I think of it--the meaning we use it for seems like almost the reverse, the candle worth playing the game for.  Anyway you know what I mean)

[svines85]

Wow, I'm wondering if this final trial is going to take us up to the end of the story. I guess it wouldn't surprise me, looking at some of his other works I can see how this might get wrapped up. But who knows  

[Comadrin]

So far from what I've read, Hara Hidenori wraps up his stories pretty well, but I definitely don't expect a totally predictable ending from him.  A formula writer, he definitely ain't!

[svines85]

So far from what I've read, Hara Hidenori wraps up his stories pretty well, but I definitely don't expect a totally predictable ending from him.  A formula writer, he definitely ain't!

 

Yeah, that's true, I'm trying not to get any kind of "preconceived" ideas in my head  

[svines85]

Wow, the rare, no last-minute surprises happy ending. You don't see those very often  

[Comadrin]

True, but I liked it!  Very like the mangaka, but I'm glad it wasn't drawn out like HnFM.  Enjoyed it quite a lot.  I have to admit that I loved the part where Taka was going off on everyone at the new olympic training camp three years after winning.

Edited by Comadrin, 20 August 2014 - 04:21 AM.