Reviews Webcomic / Unsounded

Out of interest, was it the current arc of the story that made you finally decide this?

It started to creep to my mind as early as second chapter, so it's by no means a recent development.

Ah okay, I thought the recent arc was incredibly dark even in comparison to everything else and it had made me pause a little and I was wondering if you'd felt the same thing.

When I first read your review, I thought it was the surprise of the darkness, set up by the art, that was your main concern. For example when you talked about 'the true magnitude of the story comes completely unanticipated.' But rereading it a bit closer and with what you've just said, it sounds like you were talking less about the surprise, because you picked up on the darkness early on and had to soldier through it, and more about the mismatch of emotions the art style and the story create. Have I understood you a little better this time? I can read things a bit too quickly and not take enough in sometimes

Pretty much. The surprise is one thing, but it's something that fades away after time and thus can't really be that crucial of a matter in the long run. But the contrast between the art and story persists, and indeed gets even worse the longer it goes, and makes it a permanent concern that I can't quite get over.

I can read stories as bad as Unsounded or even worse, such as Berserk, but pretty much all of those stories have an art style that compliments the story and is moody enough to go along with it. In Unsounded's case, it's kind of like trying to have ice cream along with some spicy hot indian chili or whatever, on the same course: two pretty great foods that you can enjoy separately, but when you put them together, you just get a huge uninviting mess.

Well it's fresh perspective to me and I can't say I disagree. There are pages which seem a bit darker in tone, but I'd agree that the overall tone is lighter than the many parts of the comic are dark. It hasn't spoiled my enjoyment but I could see how it does for other people, and it might even explain why there's always a small part of me that feels it's not quite so great as my mind tells me it is.

Huh, really? I never saw the art style as terribly lighthearted or cartoonish, more...ordinary or realistic, honestly. The art style does tend to shift when things get darker, as well — to me, I thought the darker bits in the second chapter looked noticeably grittier and more detailed than the art for Sette's misadventures.

You seriously compare the art to "Happy Tree Friends?" Unsounded has a very ordinary style in the vein of The Meek or Avatar The Last Airbender or a dozen other fantasy comics and cartoons out right now. Mostly you sound mad that the story caught you off-guard, which is exactly what a good story is supposed to do. It's also possible that the story is simply too mature and dark for you but that's a problem with YOU, not with Unsounded.

I'm not comparing it to Happy Tree Friends because they have similar art styles: they look quite different. What I meant was that the style contrasts with the actual content just as bad: it makes you expect a more lighthearted and happy story, then throws you a gigantic curveball. As for the story being "too mature and dark", I have said that I do like that kind of stories: I'd mostly just like it if they were up-front about it, and giving them such a coating as this one is just off-putting to me and as a result I can't enjoy the comic.

I also said that perhaps to some people, this kind of stuff in the comic is nothing but a good thing: you must be one of those people, and that's really good for you. Just don't call me mad: if anything, you're the one that sounds mad because someone didn't like your favourite webcomic.

Unsounded is not my favorite webcomic. In fact I'm about two chapters behind in it. Your "review" just makes no sense.

Everything you have said is just completely nonsensical and silly. Dear christ. If a story explores dark subjects it does not need to be all gritty and drawn in seven different tones of brown and black. The world is supposed to be dark but colorful, full of horrible fates, morally decrepit people like Starfish and Murkoph, but also hope and true happiness. The artstyle fits the story and world. You must be one of the same kind of people who complained about Diablo 3 being too cartoony.

@Reotts I think that would lesson comics as a medium if it were completely true. The art should have something to say and it should be saying it in cooperation with the story. That doesn't have to mean dark story/dark art, but the dissonance between the two should have been done deliberately for a specific effect.

And it's not necessarily bright colours = light, dark colours = dark. But there's lines and edges and every other artistic decision, where you can make bright colours seem grim and serious. But however it's achieved, their should be synergy between the art and story tone

I think Fools Edit Account's direction would be a better method of criticism towards the review.

I actually think the art style adds a great deal to the comic specifically because its so dissonant to the the story. When you really look at the world in Unsounded it's one of the most majestic, mystical and awe inspiring settings you can find in a fantasy series. The art reflects this specifically.

All the gloom comes from the people in that world. They are the ones that drive the story, but they obviously have no effect on what the world looks like thus you get that weird dissonance between the world being magical/cartoony and the people living in it having all this seriousness.

Unsounded is what happens when you take something like Narnia and then throw actual people in it instead of talking animals and idealists. It has all the making of a truly wonderful place which is what the art style reflects, but at the end of the day humans will always be human flaws and all.

Either that or I'm over analyzing again. I do that a lot.