Blood on the Tracks - Memorable for both shock and beauty
*spoiler free
First things first, as a heads up, this "review" is kind of less of a review, and rather just me rambling about my own experience with this story. So, mostly random thoughts, and the lesser being an actual analytical review (I'm gonna try to do a bit of that too though)
Also, I am absolutely NOT a good writer, so I apologize in advance if I don't make sense. Another also, I won't be putting any images : I want this to be barebones.
PS : It's gonna be pretty short too ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
After a few years of putting off Blood on the Tracks after I caught up with it at like chapter 105 (i don't like reading stuff weekly/monthly), I continued it today : 8th of June 2024 (cause it has been finished for some time now).
What I can say is, it was just as gripping as when I first started reading it....and that was a LONG time ago, when I was still a teen. But I still remember going through the chapters and just being shocked and intrigued and wanting to see more. I'm so glad that I finally finished this manga.
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This story honestly just put me in a chokehold and I've thought about it from time to time, without even trying. Just memories of certain moments from it, going through my head.
And the greatest thing is that, even with all the horrible feelings from it, the actions of the characters, the implications and the themes (+ the sprinkles of shock that I've mentioned), that popped into my head, those are paired up with the beauty of the art and the craft of the story. I couldn't help but to think of the positives aswell during those time. I couldn't help appreciating how good it was, and missing it.Of course, I did mention how I stopped reading because of catching up to the releases of the chapters, and I really hate waiting for them. But I also stopped because, combined with said schedule, it felt like the story was dragging. (I did read a few chapters as they were releasing, and then I halted my reading after a few)
But now, I got back into it, and it really helped to have the entire story available at once. It flows really well and I had a very buttery smooth experience. I was able to digest it properly and I really liked that.
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Now, going a tiny bit into the story, this is, in my opinion, a very unique one. It is genuinely the first story that I have seen handling its subject matter the way that this one did. That being :
How a child's development is affected by their parent/s.
Hold your horses though, I am NOT saying that it's the first series to center on this, not even close, but the way it is tackled + the specifics of it make it different, and I have not seen any other piece of media doing this exactly.
The relationship between Seiichi and his mom is one of a kind in the media that I have consumed or heard about so far. The layers formed of love, need of acceptance, depression, anger, trauma, manipulation. Everything just makes the whole deal between the two so complex and different. (and I by no means meant to be insensitive with the mentions of said elements, but they do play big roles in both characters)
All around, very dark, very personal, tragic, icky and, title reference : beautiful at some points....while being quickly contrasted again by mind boggling dialogue or actions (in a good writing way :D)
And the ending was more than solid honestly.Lastly, the art : pretty simple at first glance, but very effective and well done. Also, very pretty..... and I apologize but Seiko is honestly one of the prettiest women I have ever seen drawn. My man nails it when it comes to designing femme fatales. I really like Shuuzou Oshimi's artstyle :3.
Either way, how I said, "spoiler free", so I won't give details, but I especially loved how at certain moments the art got very experimental. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
All around I loved how dark and gritty it was, both in writing and occasionally presentation, when it was best for that to happen.
This series is one of a kind, with fantastic writing, a unique subject, an engaging storyline, detailed characters AND character development. I might not be good at putting into words exactly how I feel and what I have experienced, but I can for sure say that I greatly enjoyed it (even though it broke me at some points),
and I will forever remember this manga.
