Grid Structure Essay
Sometimes I feel the need to pick things apart--and they've made us study this kind of thing in evil, evil school.
So, another essay, and I still feel crazy for writing these.
Minekura's grid structure in the Saiyuki manga
This layout will not hold true to every single page in the manga--and there's very few pages which will actually have all these sections at the same time. The sections can also change in size, sometimes drastically. But there is enough of an underlying structure that you can almost sorta pin it down in general terms.
a. lead-in from previous page: Basically, its job is to... lead in from the previous page! It'll usually continue the thought the previous page just ended with, though on occasion it will start a new thought. It's usually high-impact, and worth paying attention to. Many times, this part is made up of words, but sometimes it's an image--most likely someone's expression.
On rare occasions, "important" scenes will end in this space, usually with "final words" set against a neutral background. When this happens, it's a cue for us to pay close attention to what's being said there, because it'll either be a major clue or a connection to a theme.
b. starting development: Not really anything shocking, all it does is carry on logically from part a through to part c. Pretty boring, most of the time!
c. main development: Just like it sounds! This is the meat of the page. Good solid stuff happens in here.
d. final development: Getting more exciting again--this part will mostly resolve what was going on in the page, and start building a little bit toward the last parts.
e. the page's emotional focus: Actually my favorite part. The emotional focus shows the "reaction" to what happened on the page. It's also usually an image instead of text, unlike the other sections--the other sections develop the plot, but the job of this section is to show the emotional side of things that the regular old words may not. The image there is meant to either give you a window to the character's emotions, establish the mood of the scene, or tug on your heartstrings. It can sometimes be words, and those too are usually emotional instead of connecting to the plot. Sometimes, when she doesn't need to establish anything, she just puts a visual focal point there.
It's always really interesting to see what Minekura puts here--it shows a little what she's intending us to focus on, I think. She can use this really effectively--there's one page where Nii is deliberately leaning out of the emotional impact space to leave it mostly blank, and the effect is incredibly creepy. Beware too of characters who have their backs turned or faces hidden/obscured while they're here: depending on the person, it can mean either sneaky motives, the character's own shock & detachment, or Minekura purposefully distancing us from the character. It's also very rare to find Hakkai here, unless his facade is cracking majorly--in this case, he will be prominently and noticeably placed here. (Or unless the scene just calls for someone to make a wry or detached observation.) If more than one character needs to occupy the emotional space, sometimes it will take up the entire bottom of the page and do away with sections d & f.
My grid is kind of misleading since the focus point isn't always at the exact bottom center of the page... a lot of times, it's shifted to the left or right. It's just usually "somewhere near" the bottom center of the page.
f. lead-out to next page: Often the most shocking part, since its job is to make you turn the page! Mangas are excellent for being designed to make you eager to turn to the next page, and Saiyuki is no different. This is very likely to get shoved up to the very left side of the page. Often words, but sometimes can be an image.
Okay, I think that's about all I can think of, really!
(These are only my opinions of course, I've most likely gotten things wrong somewhere. ^^;;) Once again, Minekura just rocks the house, man.
So, another essay, and I still feel crazy for writing these.
Minekura's grid structure in the Saiyuki manga
This layout will not hold true to every single page in the manga--and there's very few pages which will actually have all these sections at the same time. The sections can also change in size, sometimes drastically. But there is enough of an underlying structure that you can almost sorta pin it down in general terms.
a. lead-in from previous page: Basically, its job is to... lead in from the previous page! It'll usually continue the thought the previous page just ended with, though on occasion it will start a new thought. It's usually high-impact, and worth paying attention to. Many times, this part is made up of words, but sometimes it's an image--most likely someone's expression.
On rare occasions, "important" scenes will end in this space, usually with "final words" set against a neutral background. When this happens, it's a cue for us to pay close attention to what's being said there, because it'll either be a major clue or a connection to a theme.
b. starting development: Not really anything shocking, all it does is carry on logically from part a through to part c. Pretty boring, most of the time!
c. main development: Just like it sounds! This is the meat of the page. Good solid stuff happens in here.
d. final development: Getting more exciting again--this part will mostly resolve what was going on in the page, and start building a little bit toward the last parts.
e. the page's emotional focus: Actually my favorite part. The emotional focus shows the "reaction" to what happened on the page. It's also usually an image instead of text, unlike the other sections--the other sections develop the plot, but the job of this section is to show the emotional side of things that the regular old words may not. The image there is meant to either give you a window to the character's emotions, establish the mood of the scene, or tug on your heartstrings. It can sometimes be words, and those too are usually emotional instead of connecting to the plot. Sometimes, when she doesn't need to establish anything, she just puts a visual focal point there.
It's always really interesting to see what Minekura puts here--it shows a little what she's intending us to focus on, I think. She can use this really effectively--there's one page where Nii is deliberately leaning out of the emotional impact space to leave it mostly blank, and the effect is incredibly creepy. Beware too of characters who have their backs turned or faces hidden/obscured while they're here: depending on the person, it can mean either sneaky motives, the character's own shock & detachment, or Minekura purposefully distancing us from the character. It's also very rare to find Hakkai here, unless his facade is cracking majorly--in this case, he will be prominently and noticeably placed here. (Or unless the scene just calls for someone to make a wry or detached observation.) If more than one character needs to occupy the emotional space, sometimes it will take up the entire bottom of the page and do away with sections d & f.
My grid is kind of misleading since the focus point isn't always at the exact bottom center of the page... a lot of times, it's shifted to the left or right. It's just usually "somewhere near" the bottom center of the page.
f. lead-out to next page: Often the most shocking part, since its job is to make you turn the page! Mangas are excellent for being designed to make you eager to turn to the next page, and Saiyuki is no different. This is very likely to get shoved up to the very left side of the page. Often words, but sometimes can be an image.
Okay, I think that's about all I can think of, really!
(These are only my opinions of course, I've most likely gotten things wrong somewhere. ^^;;) Once again, Minekura just rocks the house, man.