''Taiki''
[Trope Page] is a humorous slice-of-life webcomic done in black and white which deals with a high-school student coming to grips with her sexuality and generally interacting with her friends and fellow classmates.
And it is a damn good webcomic. I absolutely love it. It. Is. Amazing. Why? The characters. The characters are so well written that they drive the story perfectly. And they work together so well that it just... works. I’m struggling to find words to express how much I like these characters. They’re believable, relatable, enjoyable and so very human. They have strengths and weaknesses, they have flaws and their personalities and attitudes just... click together into an amazing comic. I’m gushing, I know. I can’t help it, I like it that much.
I’ve been trying for the past couple of days to think of a few adjectives that really communicate what I think of the characters and the comic as a whole, and I’ve come up short. The only ones I can think of are ‘cute’, ‘heart warming’, ‘emotional’, 'sweet' and ‘believable’, but none of those really gets my point across. All of them are true, but none of them really encapsulates my opinion as a whole. I like to have one or two concise words to sum up my opinion but I just can’t find any to express how complexly simple and refreshing I find this webcomic. It does slice-of-life right.
The characters are unique, believable, relatable and... meaningful isn’t quite the right word but it’s close enough. They’re written and communicated so well that when I read Taiki, I don’t see characters reacting to a plot, I see people reacting naturally. That is what slice-of-life should be. It should seem like you’re watching someone’s life, not watching a story play out according to a script. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is that makes them works so damn well but it does. I suspect that it’s mainly the writing behind them but at the same time it’s so much more than that. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts and all that.
It’s just such an enjoyable read. I don’t actually laugh out loud a lot at comics, but the entire time I was reading through Taiki I had this dumb grin on my face. I absolutely loathe that dumb look but I couldn’t help it. It’s like a perpetual “daww” moment, and as a fairly stoic guy, making me go “daww” is an achievement to be admired.
I'm gushing like crazy right now, and I really don’t like it when I gush, so I’m going to stop now before I start sounding like a squeeing fangirl and try to get myself back under control before I keep writing.
Thanks for reading. Now go read Taiki!
