Webcomic Part 2 Breaks the "Suicidal Gays" Stereotype (except it doesn't)
I wanted to like Part 2, I really did. Conscience's story was very well written. Other parts too. The whole thing was just really poorly planned.
Intending the twist from the very beginning means nothing. She pulled it off far too poorly. What she intended to do; give us a character that we love and root for as much as the main character, then take her away. (With proper explanation.) When Megan Rose Gedris tells the story about the real thing, I had hope because that sounded like an awesome coming-of-age twist, learning about growing up and being yourself. Basically, something the dream sequences at the very beginning of the comic had already done, but on a grander scale.
Problems; Gedris got carried away, and can only write one character at a time. Part 1 became a fully fleshed out universe. There were a few loose ends like Sarah and Sadako that weren’t clamoring for our immediate attention. Lia's a bit of a flat character, serving solely as motivation for Fiona, but oh well, it's High School. I was amazed to find someone who could actually write that universe in a way I could stand.
When Part 2 comes in, and you're filled in- things just go downhill so fast. None of the characters you loved are "real". Except Lia maybe. Know how they were flat before? Yeah, they're still flat, no personality, but now they have DRAMATIC BACK STORIES. (The least flat, guy, Jake, btw? Totally an asshole, you'll never see him again.) Remember when people tried to accuse Fiona of being a Mary Sue? Now her only flaw is not being conscientious even though her conscience is literally a separate entity. Before anything is revealed, Gedris pointedly struggles with NOT making the comic version of Adventure Time.
I held on the end to see if all that character development would pay off, hoping Fiona would get the strength to actually live in the real world- Especially after the horror that happened to Lia.. IRL, Gedris had move on with her life and deal with who she was.
Nope. Fiona gives up on life, and will "live" until she finds someone to kill her.
WebComic Not everyone's cup of tea, but pretty damn good tea.
YU+ME Dream, a webcomic by Megan Rose Gedris, starts out telling the story of a young misfit named Fiona, who doesn't have friends and whose only escape from her real life is when she dreams. She meets a girl named Lia and a boy named Jake, and finally discovers what it's like to have people care about her wellbeing— but also gets herself into all sorts of social entanglements and finds out something new about herself.
If you've heard of YU+ME before, you probably know that it does not continue to tell this same story. Gedris took a huge storytelling risk, and without spoiling the plot, nobody is exactly the same as one would believe. This works well sometimes— a character whose mannerisms turn out to be very different than one first assumes forces the reader to question their prejudices— but always is at least interesting. Even innocent Fiona isn't exactly as you know her. If a reader's open to different kinds of stories and is a fan of multiple genres (or simply does not judge a work by genre), then YU+ME Dream will be a pleasant surprise.
On the other hand, there are many readers of YU+ME that enjoyed the high school story, but were completely turned off by the story that Gedris really wanted to tell. If you prefer realism to fantasy, you might still want to give it a shot, but if you're very strongly attached to realism and can't identify with characters in a fantasy setting, or if you just hate fantasy in general, you're probably not going to like the way YU+ME goes. There's obvously a twist, but the nature of that twist isn't obvious, so some readers may feel cheated. The story goes on, and continues to have emotional significance for the characters involved, but if a reader doesn't like the new fantasy elements, they may not be able to remain attached.
The comic does have many good things going for it, regardless of genre. Gedris' art starts out lovely and continues to improve and evolve, morphing from a shojo manga inspired style to something entirely Gedris' own. The writing is also excellent, and I for one can't wait to see what happens next.
In short, YU+ME is like a delicious cup of tea. If you only like coffee, you're not going to like it, especially if you're going in on the assumption it's coffee. But if you don't mind tea, it's definitely worth a try.
WebComic Post Plot-Twist Praise
Most readers of this story will likely agree on one truth of this comic above all else- the twist at the end of Part 1 was a complete and total shock. For some, it was a Wall Banger, and the abrupt, seemingly out of nowhere Genre Shift that accompanies it were just too much, and they stopped reading. But... really, was it all that bad?
First of all, it was intended from the very beginning. There's a lot of stuff that actually makes much more sense, like Lia's reasons to not be with Fiona and Conscience's (Or shall I say, Mary's)... entire existence.
And that's before you even get into the amazing Character Development that happens post-twist. We learn that there's more to each and every character than meets the eye. It adds depth by simply showing who they really are underneath the surface they (willingly) hid under for all of the first part. Enemies become friends, friends become... not friends, and we still don't know the fate of a certain character that we're all on the edges of our chairs for.
Sure, there's still a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense quite yet. But that's because it's a story, and one that still isn't finished at that. It'll inch along at it's own pace, allowing us to take it all in slowly as the characters grow and develop, one Monday/Wednesday/Friday at a time.
And isn't that what all webcomics, regardless of plot or lack thereof, are all about?
So please, read it. It hasn't gotten any worse, in fact, I'd say it's an improvement. If you still dont' like it anyway, that's cool. You certainly are under no obligation to. I'm just saying, it's likely worth it.
Webcomic Excellent
There's something enjoyable about every part of this comic, the Wham Episode creates an oddly suitable direction for part 2 to take, the various and fast changing art styles all work surprisingly well, and the ending is a surprising and well-done subversion of what was shaping up to be a dissappointing idiot plot, highly recommended