Another potentially miserable week awaits me once more, but at least I get to start it on a good note with yet another comic read. This time, I'll be checking out a manga! BACKGROUND:
Yet another one of my blind reads. Feels exciting to constantly find shit that I've never even heard of. THE WRITING: Nine-year-old Lucy Snow is off to spend her first day in school, but a detour gone wrong takes her to Hollow Fields, which is also a school, but not the one she was looking for. Instead of the usual math and English, Hollow Fields is a training ground for aspiring mad scientists, with subjects ranging from cross-species transplantation and engineering of killer robots. Not only that, but the rules on academic standings are unforgiving; the student with the lowest grade at the end of the week is sent to detention. What's worse, no student who's been sent to detention has ever returned. Right off the bat, I was super intrigued by the setting. A secret academy teaching kids to become evil masterminds? Faculty and staff that look like unholy fusions of steampunk machines and stitched-together monstrosities? An immediate mystery involving disappearing students? There were a lot of interesting elements to the story that made me want to read more beyond this first volume. We see Hollow Fields through the eyes of Lucy, who is understandably frightened by all the strange goings-on at the school. Unfortunately, escape is not an option, as the staff are incredibly ruthless when it comes to keeping the kids in line. Lucy is understandably baffled by all this weirdness, and we get to see her slowly figure things out and try to fit into (and survive in) the school. Lucy herself is a happy-go-lucky kid, and though her circumstances usually put her in a scared state, she generally tries to be positive when interacting with other people. Though a shady-ass mad scientist school sounds awesome to me personally, I can sympathize with Lucy's fear of the whole place, and am charmed by her earnest demeanor despite the fact. Since the focus of the story is primarily on Lucy, the other characters don't really get a lot of time in the limelight. That said, many of them have distinct personalities off the bat, making them immediately stand out. For example, Summer is your classic "overachiever girl", Miss Weaver is the terrifying principal, and Claude has a hidden motive behind his abrasive exterior. It's enough character stuff to keep me curious as to how they move forward in the next volumes. The first volume focuses more on Lucy getting her bearings and establishing Hollow Fields as a setting, but there are already mysteries and plotlines being set up early into the story. There's the aforementioned detention situation (which involved a windmill), Lucy finding an unexpected ally, and reports of a group of students sneaking out at night for unknown reasons. That's not taking into account the overall mystique around Hollow Fields itself: who built this weird place, who are all these teachers, and where did they come from? THE ART: If you're going purely by my text-based description of the story, I'd understand you thinking that this manga boasts a gothic, creepy art style (something like Hellboy, perhaps). Surprisingly, you're incorrect; the style is actually not creepy at all! The characters (even the supposedly scary ones) have a very cute anime look to them, with big eyes, simple faces, and lively expressions. If you were looking mostly at the designs of Lucy and the other kid characters, you'd probably mistake them to be part of some children's cartoon. Overall, the art uses a good amount of bright colors, varied shading, and strong outlines, but it's not afraid to get a little spooky (or even macabre) at certain points. Stuff like the grotesque animal hybrids look fairly disturbing (but not disgustingly so), and the Hollow Fields castle itself feels like Castlevania Dracula's castle with its eerie architecture and penchant for gears and clockwork. The book as a whole doesn't stray too far from the cartoony look, but it doesn't hesitate to use toned down colors and such when the situation calls for it. VERDICT: I didn't really have any expectations going into Hollow Fields, but I have to say that I'm blown away. The mystery surrounding the setting and world was intruiging almost immediately, and its frightening vibe is contrasted quite well by the cutesy art and protagonist's sprightly personality. If I had to compare it to anything, it reminds me a bit of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events: it's aimed at and can be enjoyed by kids, but its story and setting has some darker elements to it that could unsettle said kids. I enjoyed reading this a lot, and I'm interested in reading the later volumes. Read Hollow Fields Vol. 1 on Comixology: https://m.comixology.com/Hollow-Fields-color-Vol-1/digital-comic/485686?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L21vYmlsZS9zbGlkZXJMaXN0L2l0ZW1TbGlkZXI - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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