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Fun in the sun? That depends.
By Benor | March 27, 2008
Caribbean Blue is a comic best taken in small doses. This isn’t because it’s hard to swallow, or particularly shocking. Rather, it’s enjoyable in individual comics, but taken as a whole, there are serious problems with the characters and the story.
The art of Caribbean Blue has definitely matured from the beginning. There’s a sketchy quality to it, even though it’s colored, but the shape of the character’s bodies have improved with time-in the beginning, they all looked squashed and stumpy. Now they’re closer to real humanoid forms, though occasionally they’re superdeformed for a joke or two. That occasional switch, along with the huge eyes and barely existent noses, are clear signs of the comic’s manga style. For the most part, I didn’t have an issue with this-Caribbean Blue is not the worst in terms of aping Japanese comics, and it has improved with time. The one area of the art that bothered me consistently were the townspeople-or to be more precise, the vast majority of the townspeople/tourists. While I can understand wanting to save time by doing less work on the character who will only be around for a few pages, depicting all of them as lumpy white things, with a round head and a face, irritated me all the time. Even if it’s not supposed to be their literal appearance, it still smacked of laziness, and I think it’s a habit that should be dropped by the creators. Especially since I enjoy the backgrounds for the comic, and I think I’d enjoy them more if the crowd scenes weren’t seas of white.
It should also be noted that Caribbean Blue doesn’t always have the same artist, but all of the ‘guest’ artists have a manga-influenced style, even if their specifics differ. The only significant change that I saw was the dropping of color, and I didn’t mind that. It’s a nice extra, but not a necessity.
The story of Caribbean Blue is something that should really have its own section on the website. What we see in the comic are two catgirls (or as they are called in the comic, ‘nekocat’) who have come with their friend, a full on cat, to a caribbean island. This leads to them learning that nekocats are the subject of a local legend, and meeting the only one who lives on the island. The story is probably the weakest part of Caribbean Blue, and not just because it has many familiar elements. This is a story we’re walking into the middle of, and the references to the past only make this more aggravating. The regular cat of the trio of main characters used to be human, but he was transformed by…something. We aren’t told how he came to meet his two friends, or what they’re on vacation for. To continue the connection to Japanese manga, it’s much like coming in at the 5th volume of a manga series. It’s possible to pick up the broad strokes of the plot, but a lot of details are lost from the first four volumes.
Most of the characters are done in broad strokes as well. Nekonny wants to become human again, and he keeps trying to take dirty pictures of his female friends. Yuki is the more responsible of the two catgirls, but sometimes will be mean. Tina is kind of an airhead, but usually well meaning, even if she does have a mischievous streak. And Maya is sensitive about her place on the island, and not that happy about no longer being unique. The supporting characters are just as broad-Paco Taco is a jerk (and apparently incompetent to boot), Rose is pleasant but stern, and Alice is helpful. The rest of the islanders and tourists are literally whitewashed into one mass, which I touched on earlier. It’s possible that the three main characters would have more depth if we were able to follow them from the beginning of the story, but I doubt it. I can’t say I was irritated by the characters being so simple, but it does make the comic suffer when it’s read in long stretches.
Probably the saving grace of Caribbean Blue is the writing. This isn’t to say that it’s amazing or a revelation. But it is amusing, and rarely takes itself too seriously. I wouldn’t say that Caribbean Blue’s writing would make it enjoyable for all-it employs a lot of manga and anime cliches. But it handles them well enough, and that makes some of the more questionable things (such as the shallow characters) easier to swallow without complaint. However, the writing doesn’t address every issue, and it has serious problems with pacing-it’s been all of 3 days in the comic, as far as I can tell, and that’s after 100 comics. There are also some typo issues-nothing huge, but a spell check might have been in order.
In the end, I have to recommend reading Caribbean Blue only a page at a time. That’s an unusual recommendation, but after reading through the whole archive, taking large doses of the comic is much like trying to fill every moment of a vacation with activities-it’s not as satisfying as you might expect, and in the end you’re less rested than when you arrived. But reading a page a day, it’s generally a more pleasant and relaxed experience. I give Caribbean Blue a 6 out of 10, with the caveat on how it should be read-if you read in large chunks, it’s more of a 5.
Topics: Review | 1 Comment »
May 20th, 2008 at 10:57 am
That was the a very fair and balanced review, I honestly have to thank you for your insight into the flaws and strengths of my work.
It’s very hard to get honest feedback like this, and the constructive criticism you have provided is of immeasurable value to me. Rather than explain the reasons behind the flaws, I’ll do my best to improve upon the points you have made.
Thanks again, and I hope that you will consider another review a few months from now (I’m in the process of making some corrections/improvements to the story/art so far).
Ron