It's been a while since I've done a review like this, but I figured I may as well review one of my favourite titles. Pretear is written by Junichi Satou and Illustrated by Kaori Naruse. The series spanned 4 Volumes and 4 DVDs. I decided against scanning my own cover since it's a little ratty from years of gentle use (and a spilled can of Mango juice!), and I don't have the Japanese version counterpart needed for this particular review. Why? You'll soon see!
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| Image taken from http://www.jigoku.it |
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| Image taken from Wikipedia.org |
Legibility:
The fonts seen here are very decorative, so it might take a 2nd glance to really pick up the title. I'm not certain as to how clear it would be to a person who reads Japanese more fluently than I can.
Spelling and Punctuation:
The title reflects the author's creative license, so I couldn't say anything about spelling or punctuation unless it was one of those titles that was so complex that it'd be difficult to figure out how to pronounce without some form of hint. The accent above the first 'e' suggests that the word is to be pronounced a certain way, although this reminds me more of the French (I'd only be able to speak from a Canadian's perspective as I have little to know knowledge of Parisian French) or Spanish languages.
Grammar:
My only thought was that the language was shifted from Japanese to English, however the apostrophe is a characteristic used in languages such as French or even Spanish. What was interesting was that France itself has a History with Japan, particularly noticeable in artwork and cooking. One example was Intastella 5555, a feature-length animated music video featuring Daft Punk, a house band of French origin.
If I were to elaborate further, there are also a variety of themed restaurants in Japan that are actually quite popular. Examples might be Vie de France (a french bakery chain and cafe), or Ma Maison (mentioned in How to Draw Manga: Colourful Costumes by Tadashi Ozawa). In the Pretear storyline, the wealthier characters live in a house with decor that appears to be influenced by scenes in Europe (I could easily fly off into a rant about this aspect in particular). It's not an uncommon thing for such living spaces to show up in Manga.
Context:
The structure of both titles/logos is very rounded, and possesses a distinct visual flow, much like cursive writing. Both titles retain the underline that connects to the first and last letters/characters, almost as if it were a skipping rope. This suggests a fantasy title, which fits the magical girl theme of the manga.
Colors:
The fonts seen here are very decorative, so it might take a 2nd glance to really pick up the title. I'm not certain as to how clear it would be to a person who reads Japanese more fluently than I can.
Spelling and Punctuation:
The title reflects the author's creative license, so I couldn't say anything about spelling or punctuation unless it was one of those titles that was so complex that it'd be difficult to figure out how to pronounce without some form of hint. The accent above the first 'e' suggests that the word is to be pronounced a certain way, although this reminds me more of the French (I'd only be able to speak from a Canadian's perspective as I have little to know knowledge of Parisian French) or Spanish languages.
Grammar:
My only thought was that the language was shifted from Japanese to English, however the apostrophe is a characteristic used in languages such as French or even Spanish. What was interesting was that France itself has a History with Japan, particularly noticeable in artwork and cooking. One example was Intastella 5555, a feature-length animated music video featuring Daft Punk, a house band of French origin.
If I were to elaborate further, there are also a variety of themed restaurants in Japan that are actually quite popular. Examples might be Vie de France (a french bakery chain and cafe), or Ma Maison (mentioned in How to Draw Manga: Colourful Costumes by Tadashi Ozawa). In the Pretear storyline, the wealthier characters live in a house with decor that appears to be influenced by scenes in Europe (I could easily fly off into a rant about this aspect in particular). It's not an uncommon thing for such living spaces to show up in Manga.
Context:
The structure of both titles/logos is very rounded, and possesses a distinct visual flow, much like cursive writing. Both titles retain the underline that connects to the first and last letters/characters, almost as if it were a skipping rope. This suggests a fantasy title, which fits the magical girl theme of the manga.
Colors:
Pinks and Blues (Purples) dominate the design. Other colour accents like green and orange are resent, but not overly noticeable until you really look for them.
- Contrast:
Both versions of the logo use cool colours to contrast with the overly dominant pink and red hues seen in the character illustration. However, more purples are added to the English adaptation.
- Colors:
There is a decorative border in both images (a consistent theme throughout the series, with subtle colour variation to make it easier to distinguish each volume) and a coloured star for the volume number placement. This one is orange but other volumes use colours like blue, while the last volume has a bright, almost neon pink.
- Saturation:
Some colours are vivid, while others are a pale hue so as not to overpower the viewer.
- Frequency of Use:
The blues are only used for the logo, to contrast the character.
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