For this
week, I decided on reading “Death Note,” written by Osamu Tezuka, and
illustrated by Takeshi Obata. A chilling murderous mystery based around Japanese
folk lore and dark magic, specifically about the Shinigami Ryuk, a dark spirit/god that drops magic
into the human world out of boredom. Following the ensuing chaos that results
from a young man and woman trying to use the murderous artifact known as the “Death
Note,” the story has been very highly respected for decades, being translated
into numerous other languages, has acquired world-wide publication, and even
been reimagined as several live action films, an anime television series, and
even a musical. While trying to rid the world of it’s villains, our main
character, “Light” ends up being corrupted by his newfound power and even
declares himself a “God of this New World,” prior to being betrayed, (once
again, out of boredom) by the same Shinigami, Ryuk. Showing very dark results
of good intentions creates an interesting situation where as our protagonist is
not really the hero of this story, despite the fact that most of the story is
told from his point of view. I found this story to be very interesting,
especially with its role reversal our protagonist as our main villain of sorts
and our antagonist, L, a detective, as our hero of sorts, that is rarely seen
anymore. The story is perhaps most relatable to the European story of Macbeth,
another story heavily involving murder, magic, and the power it promises.
Jarod Frank Analysis of Shaun Tan’s, “The Arrival.” Shaun Tan's, “The Arrival,” is a fantastic example of conveying narrative themes and complex character interactions without the use of dialogue. Through the emphasis on gestures, body positioning, and facial expressions, we are able to “fill in” to a great degree what we imagine the characters are conveying; regardless of anything literally being said. One such fantastic example of this is when the main immigrant man is trying to find an apartment, beginning by asking another man where it could be. We see the quizzical look he local man as he looks over the immigrant, who pulls out a drawing pad and draws a bed, pointing to it. Such a natural progression of actions, reactions and continued actions are the basics of human communication, not necessarily needing words to convey an experience we all are familiar with: questioning. While the situation is mundane, the comic being able to convey this series of emotions here and n...
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