Bittersweet Candy Bowl

Ok, I been compelled to do this after I finished reading the comic (As far as it has gone) and doing some research that feel that I am ready and should share a piece of my mind.

Disclaimer: This has not been made for the intension of flaming, just a guy sharing his opinion which in fact it’s not offensive … Well maybe for the first few paragraphs.

WARNING WALL OF TEXT INCOMING, WILL CRIT YOU OVER 9000!!!

First of all how I came upon this comic. I was simply checking the DC comics catalog on its web page (Too know what I was going to download this week, I live in Peru, South America, soooo no comic book stores around) and there’s this add about a cat apparently. Anyway, I accidentally clicked the add and saw it was a web comic. So I was thinking to myself “Meh, let’s kill time” and started reading the comic.

Ok I would like to address the fact i do not enjoy anime (I am subjected to it by him 13 and I have my reasons for not liking them) and also not a guy that is into “Pairing”.

Now let’s dive in my journey into “BitterSweet Candy Bowl”. From the start I made myself the idea i was not getting myself into nothing serious, seemed more comedy oriented and I did found some things quite funny, but not enough to make me chuckle. Character seemed fairly bland, in fact they were perfectly fitted stereotypes of “Pseudo-Tomboyish Girl”, “Nice Guy”“, “Shy Nice Girl”, “Guy Who Sexually Arouses Everyone” and “Comedic Relief”. Ye I have seem this cast before soooo many times I am bored of it.

So I just keep killing time, At this point the comic has no plot what so ever but is basically harm-less (Except maybe some panels), so I don’t mind going on, making fun of some cliches the comic has one time or another BUT here where the fun begins.

I found it VERY odd when at some point I can see that they cutted out all the bullshit comedy which was basically all they had gave me until that point and the comic kind of wanted to get started (For real) and finally settle for a plot, this change seemed to start with all the “Old Flame” arc (as “The Confrontation” was retuned so can’t really count it in) and it finishes the transition from a “Quote Un-quote Comedy” series to a “Drama” when the characters reach what is called “Fresh Man” status.

So at this point is that the comic is “Reborn” as is the only way of putting it. The art has improved by far (And it will keep improving), NOW it has a plot, REJOICE and last but certainly not least we not got this god forsaken thing that is … CHARACTER DEVELOMENT AND DEPTH, what a shocker.

By this point I start to question myself if I become insane as now I kinda like the comic, never the less I keep going on and I am quite satisfied that besides the main cast we also got a supportive cast that has their own issues and back story, plus they help the plot get moving.

The point where I just embrace my insanity and say to myself “Ok this shit has improved and its different from what I had in mind” is at the whole “Awakening” arc where surprisingly I START GIVING A SHIT ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS TO THE CHARACTERS, that’s called “Attachment” and it’s a great thing to have in either your Book/comic/ TV-Show because it gets the Viewer/ Reader involved with the story.

Then we move to the next big arc which will focus on our Female protagonist “Lucy”. Ok I will start the show by saying that she is easily the best character in the comic as the reader basically knows most of the aspects of her personality and motivations. You are supposed to sympathize with her even with all her defects, and it works. They also gave her this back story explaining her attitude due to her child hood trauma, which is again well developed and the reader can buy this being the reason for all her issues.

So what next, we spend the WHOLE comic building the “Lucy” persona and what we will do now? Simple we will just break her into little pieces and let her becoming a walking mess. Surprisingly this has so much build up and a good resolution that it actually does not piss the reader off and it comes up as something amusing. And yes, we are still going through that now.

I suppose those are my 2 cents on the case, just my humble point of view. I don’t expect no one to read my wall of text, but what the heck, I would accept any other comments happily, because as we know.

DISCUSION IS AWESOME !!!

^ Before you release a print version I would expect it to be redrawn.

That’s not happening Rick. This has already been stated.

Besides. Pretty much all webcomics are released in print form as they were online. It show’s the artist’s progress through the series.

And hey. Sure. Tae could redraw everything. And we’d get no more comics for several months while her workload is effectively quadrupled. So it’s kind of an unfair expectation to have.

I think that Silenciado’s observations are fair and mostly warrented… Though I don’t know… The series always felt like it held a certain charm from the start. As for stating that confrontation doesn’t count as the start of the drama, go into the graveyard and read the origional. Same stuff happens. Tae just wanted to re-draw it since it’s such an important point in the plot.

Stop saying those things, Chaz

But yes, Silenciado, what you say is fair. Although I do agree with Maverik, I think the series had its charm from the beginning on.

Huh, seems to me that BCB is getting a lot of new readers.

And it’s funny how exactly two weeks ago I was unaware of this entire comic series.

But I digress. Silenciado, that was a pretty good review of the comic, in terms of the process of development and your personal opinion. I felt the same way initially in the comic (happy happy), but maybe a little deviation here and there.

You see, I came to BCB after clicking on the dating-sim ad on tvtropes (VG Cats page), because I was bored and it was a week away from the start of school. To be honest, the beginning did indeed feel like a bunch of random scenes here and there. But I’ve scoured through web comics for sometime now, and it’s really not that bad off compared to some of the ones I’ve read. It’s got just the right kind of humor for killing off boredom: nothing serious, little to no interpretation needed, etc.

But everything after drama starts, I basically felt the same way as you.

Have you guys read through RubyQuest? Yeah, BCB is like that. Though there was a more dramatic transition in RubyQuest, BCB also deconstructed its initial ‘humor’ classification into a deeper, more dramatic ‘humor’ classification.

Not everyone does transitions like this well, let alone also come up with character development for characters who initially had little or no development at all. I see Taeshi not only as a skilled artist, but also a skilled writer.

This was a nice read!

It’s exactly how I felt when I first discovered this comic. I thought of it as a nice, light-hearted comic I’d come back and read because of its humor (kinda like Oglaf and probably Badly Drawn Kitties), but once the Confrontation chapter came in, I became more attached to the characters. Everything just changed that it just grasps you in to take it seriously, and yet, you don’t feel you’re forced to, you just WANT to.

Huh, seems i got respones after all.

Ok so from what i can gather i am not alone on this matter. Any way i would like to start by saying to the author, Taeshi, that i did not told her point and at ANY point i asked the comic to be redraw, i mean seriously just keep going, you can do that later on when the series is over, besides that would royally piss some people off (Me included).

I did fail at gramar at here …”(I am subjected to it by him 13 and I have my reasons for not liking them)”. It should say i am subject by them BY y 13 year old cousin. I am just a weird guy that wants to take over Denmark and make it instead a new country populated by pirates. Sadly until then i am a badly paid 20 YEAR OLD TEACHER whos still in university and lives alone in a six room flat with his cat.

Well i can kind of get why people like the 1 doodles, but hey i have my point of view as well and so do we all on this earth. As i said they are harmles for the most part so no big deal in them. They could still be polished later on so its no big fuzz lads.

Also yes as i said, at last i saw the comic evolve as it goes on, which is nice but i would not mind the 1 parts re-made (Later on of course) a they are the most propense to scare people away.

Ok i hope i made some thing clear and i might pop up from now and then.