Kazemachi no Futari - Vol. 1 Ch. 4

[MangaDex]

 

[donpom]

i always think it's so superb when a scene in a comic is intercut with images that are distinct from and unrelated to the scene at hand. like when they go ice skating but there's an inset of a fossil. you get the sense that the old man is thinking of those fossils as he sees the skating pond -- but more than that, when two images are juxtaposed, a relationship forms between them. it's a visual cue that there's a direct, thematic relationship between the fossils of the museum and the crowded pond: something from the past; something that's gone and can't come back; information that's impossible to know; a blank that has to be filled in -- just what could these have to do with a fun-filled skating pond?

and can it go both ways? can the things found at the skating pond -- a lively and crowded atmosphere; the last chance before winter ends; inexperience with a new activity; and she's left behind by her peers -- be applied to fossils? or does the one-way march of time mean that the relationship between the two ideas is also one way?

it feels like there are direct parallels (and stark contrasts) between the modern day skating pond scene and the flashback skating pond scene. could there also be parallels and contrasts between the flashback skating pond scene and the fossils?

re: the flashback skating pond. i love how the flashbacks in thisnseries have a sketchbook feel, with rough pencil lines instead of a clean pen. super fitting for an artist main character. in that flachback, the "it's always like this with you" seems like such a sharp jab... declining to go exploring feels like an unremarkable choice, so this scene must be one of many episodes in an ongoing conflict.

thanks again for the chapter ☺️

 

[themasterroberts]

analysis

Matsumoto Taiyo uses this technique quite often. I've always had a certain fondness for it myself.