I'm going to sound like such a dick head but I felt like this wasn't well written. It's like the artist can't emotionally connect with the tale. The art can't convey the struggle and the grimness of the war sufficiently which I was fairly surprised because as Japanese I thought they would understand the devastation of post-war better than American illustrators. Maybe, handling it to a women illustrator or someone with familiarity with grim tale would be more fitting. Of course, this is only the first chapter, but what a disappointment it was.
I can sort of see what you mean, the art feels a bit ''bare'' and clean for the lack of a better word for the emotions and scene trying to be conveyed. Like the scene where she was confronting the commander of the neighboring units and the awards, those should feel a lot heavier. The final scene transition from the sewing factory also felt lacking.
@duylinh I agree, the part where their finger nails fall off felt so uneventful, like a passing thought.
The faces and the hands were drawn like they just got some frost bite.
@degriech you're the only one that sounds like a dickhead here
But, I think it would be good to acquire a proofreader or something. Some sentences do not make sense. The translation itself is great, but I think the grammar can be improved. This is just my opinion though.
Your criticisms of the comic are fair, but uh, maybe walk back that part about them being Japanese and understanding the war better.
Composition for story telling is, believe it or not, actually a totally different skill from drawing. An acquired skill. The artist I'm guessing is probably inexperienced or maybe just even plain mediocre, but calling in their personal background and attributing their skills or lack of based on their ethnicity or gender is kind of uncalled for.
That's just not really how art works.
"We cry no longer for no tears can quench our burning hate, and hate is our only cost for the guarantee of life, the cure for grief, the one uniting, warming, guiding for."
Translation is questionable in places. Did you just took text from the book and stuffed it straight into the manga?
All in all, happy to see this manga translated nevertheless!