Friday, April 16, 2010

Orange by Benjamin YP FIC BENJAMIN

Orange feels alone and empty, surrounded by people with small, selfish dreams. Then she meets Dashu, a young drunk with seemingly no dreams at all. She is drawn to another person for the first time and both of them drawn closer to the edge in this stunning manga about despair, hope, and the love that gets lost in between.

This might just be one of the prettiest manga I have ever read (since it is from China it is really called Manghua). It is from Tokyopop’s new full color line and it is absolutely gorgeous. Orange is fittingly filled with bright colors, but also has beautiful muted and faded colors to highlight Orange’s loneliness and isolation. The art is super detailed and Benjamin’s painting is gorgeous, but even better is how the art moves the story forward and is used to better understand character. This is definitely a very sad story. Orange is a troubled girl and there are no easy answers for her feelings of isolation in modern China. It is a deep and wonderful character portrait and should be read by anyone interested in illustration.

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