SPECIAL REVIEW: Gashapon Shop

 

Most of the time on here I stick to traditional Anime and Manga, but sometimes I go a little off the reservation, todays review is one of those times. Step on past the cut for my review of a small web comic that can be best described as a breath of fresh air.

Anyone who has been reading this blog for any length of time know that I am a bit of a web comicjunkie, having previously reviewed MegaTokyo and Star Crossed Destiny, I also was a huge fan of Applegeeks before it sadly just seemed to vanish into thin air, so it should come as no surprise then that when I was searching Gashapon one day and accidentally found a web comic called Gashapon Shop and decided to give it a go.

Since the first question I usually get is about the art let me be clear, its pretty basic, but honestly that isn't much of an issue, all the characters are easilly recognizable and convey a wonderful range of emotion and personality. Otherwise the art takes a back seat, there are points where the artist feels the need to use backgrounds for a certain mood or effect, but for the most part he lets the characters do the storytelling and not their surroundings.

Speaking of storytelling, thats where the comic shines above all else, Gashapon shop tells the story of Renee, Alex, Trevor and Elite, during what turns out to be the most important year of their lives. I won't go into a lot of details here, but I can read these 245 strips over and over and not get tired of them, it has to do with the wonderful humor, if you are a gamer, Anime/Manga fan, or just remember what it was like to be a teenager I guarantee  you will have fun with this story.

However the one issue with the series is the ending, if it can be called that, I am still trying to reach the creator to find out what happened, but it ends on a heck of a cliffhanger, and a big one at that. I am not sure if that was the intention or not, or if he plans to revisit the characters again one day, if I hear anything back I will let you know, but just be warned in advance that there are a lot of loose ends at the end that need to be tied up that aren't.

That all being said, its still a wonderful read, I have embedded the digital version at the top of the review, give it a read and if you like it as much as I do make sure that you grab a copy for your own library.

NOTE: Digital version isn't working currently with embedding, will be checking that later and will update this again when its back
You can buy the print version from http://www.wanderingpandacomics.com/