Fence #1 thoughts
I’m not going to be talking about many specific details to plot and character but if you want to go in completely blind spoilers. So I actually really liked the first issue the main character seems likeable enough and both he and the creators seem passionate about the sport. They clearly did their research about fencing before starting this comic. It has alot of tropes from the genre like the underdog and the rival who is leagues better. The other characters doing running commentary so people who don’t know much about the sport have context. The main character having a chip on his shoulder and so on. However its done in a way where it doesn’t really feel boring and draws you in.
My only problem with the comic is how they depict the fencing itself. Now the artist is great and clearly very skilled but the fencing itself is sort of underwhelming because of how its framed. Sports are dynamic and manga is static images so like in fighting manga sports manga use angles and framing to get across the feeling of movement and intensity.
Take for example these images of Haikyuu
You got to play with the angles to make it look dramatic and really feel the the action. If you zoom out too much even if something impressive is happening it doesn’t really convey that.
But in Fence this was supposed to be a impressive moment
Had you changed to angle to say instead having the fencer in red shoes facing away from you and lunging forward, and zoomed in so both fencers take up more of the frame and see the Blue shoes fencer look surprised as he blocks the hit it, would have felt more intense and impressive. Or something along those lines.
Of course this was the first match and a short one at that and I know shit about comics so I could be way off base but those were my feelings. But honestly Im nit picking because I really enjoyed this first issue alot and now am over analyzing things because a month is so far away and I really want that second issue. If you like sports manga you should check it out.
