Plastic

I'm sorry if I come off a bit snobby... like I'm so professional. I want to focus mainly on any negatives so Skullbie can make Plastic even better. :)

The Art - 6/10
(Old art - 5/10
Newest art 7/10)

While the art is good (and boy, she draws gorgeous eyes), the anatomy is in many cases too distorted: the hands are often very tiny, the characters lack shape, and other things like this. The art has gotten a lot better now, but the postures of the characters can still carry that awkward anatomy as well. And while the art is very pretty it is very common in manga-styled comics, which may not grip the reader--though, by no means is the artstyle wrong for the type of manga this is.

The story - 5/10

I am not a fan of yuri and I'm not a fan of highschool drama stories, but it's more than that--the story lacks originality, and while it is handled a lot better than many dd comics with the same type of setting and plot, it is still a bit of a let-down for me. Hopefully, the author will have some interesting things to increase the 'I must read more' level besides what many yuri/yaoi authors do (which is rely on the fact that it's yuri/yaoi).

The characters - 6/10

I know that gradingonly 50 pages isn't proper, but it's all that's finished, so forgive the 6/10. The problem is that in highschool comics, the characters are normally very stereotypical, and you can see it here. The bully that is actually nice deep down inside (probably had a sad life to make her as such), the main protagonist that fits a 'Hilary Duff' sort of mold, the ditzy guy friend to bring more comedic relief, and the snobby lover of the protagonist that can probably be sort of sweet.

They are common characters, I can't help but say. However, they do have a spark about them that makes them close to being interesting and different. If the author follows that spark, then this score will be silly on my part.

Overall - 6/10

Has a lot of potential, but so far is a typical yuri highschool comic. Cute teens running around knee-deep in mischief is something that is an okay read, but I wouldn't expect a whole lot going on here.

Review over Plastic

Overview: Plastic is a manga styled comic about a lesbian teen and a bully bossing her around.

Art Style: I like the art style. And I'm just going to be talking about the main art style and not talk about the forgettable beginning art style. Well it is not anything totally original. The author does have some art problems. This is mainly with the body of the characters. While this might sound like a huge thing, it isn't as major as it could be. This is mainly because most of the comic is dialogue, so the faces are what are primarily shown. The author does draw very good faces, with very well drawn and detailed eyes. The few page also show how well the author could color the comic if they choose to. While most comics I prefer color, I could go either way with this one. The Grey scale is used very very well.

7.5/10

Storyline: While I don't read a lot of mangas this is kinda a generic high school story line. But then again I like it. The storyline is about Shanna secretly dating Amy. And all this peace and quite about them dating with Layla (the bully) threatens to tell everyone about their secret. So now Shanna does every thing Layla says. I really do not have any major complaints about about it, but it doesn't do anything stellar it impress. I think the story will improve though over time when more pages are added.

6.75/10

Dialogue: The dialogue is kinda typical high school stuff. The dialogue flows pretty well. It's good mix of mild humor and mild drama. While the mild humor is fine, the drama does seem to be lacking. I know that high school can or can not be a dramatic time, this comic looks to aim for drama. The comic does pull it off fairly well, it could do better. Then again it only has 50 pages, and only about a day as progressed in it. That complaint is only kinda picky thing, just to add a bit more to the review.

7/10

Other: The web page is simplistic, and effective. The basic design is not anything original, I've seen plenty of comics with it. The striped background is nice compliment with the light green theme of the Notes and Comments sections. One of the links though just says Links and it takes you right to the comic you're already on... so why does it need to be there? All the others work fine though.

Summary: Plastic was a ok and short read. Check it out if your into high school drama and manga comics.

7/10

It looks cute but I'm going to be a little hard on it because I know it can improve.

Art:
The first thing that's improved, obviously. When it started it had that dreaded inconsistency! Brr! The designs were all over the place and it seemed like the artist was just getting used to the drawing programs for making the comic. Now it's a lot clearer. It's a very typical generic anime style but that works for the type of comic it is.

Writing:
The dialog is kinda cheesy but again it fits with the style of the comic. I guess this is how high school kids would talk. I will say that the disturbing chemistry between the poor lesbian girl and the bully is actually... cute. Cutesy, maybe. Too cutesy? I don't know.

It's not a terribly original story, but at 50+ pages it could take an interesting turn at any moment. The bully scoffs at the main character's predictability and I have to agree with her. Maybe it's in her nature to be a pushover, but the author could find a way to make her a bit more complex. Saying that she just doesn't want to be found out isn't enough for me.

Overall:
I want to like this comic because I like these kind of stories. I do like these kind of comics, but it's rare to find one that's really, truly original. I just think they're cute. Maybe I'm thinking too hard about this. Maybe it's not supposed to be deeper than what's on the surface. Keep going is all I say.

7 out of 11.

Well I must admit, this comic has managed to impress me. I went in expecting another by-the-numbers Yuri comic that I was going to dismiss as being a waste of time. It's not. It's much better than that, although with plenty of rough spots.

The story has Shanna, our main protagonist, butting heads with the local bully Layla after other girl learns Shanna's secret. Shanna's dating Amy, and though she doesn't think of it as a big deal, Amy does, and demands absolute secrecy. So, upon learning this little fact, Layla proceeds to make Shanna's life a living hell just to keep her mouth shut.

It's generic lesbian teen drama all the way, but some decent characters are buried under the cliches. There's some discord between Layla and her sister that makes for some good fodder, and even plenty of questions about Layla's motives. Is she doing this because she's a bitch? Or is she actually more than a bit gay herself, despite her protests to the contrary?

The side-characters really want to be good as well, with their personalities trying to break out, but so far they've had very little comic time. This means most are regulated to unimportant, almost throw-away status, such as Shanna's male friend, Tyson.

Also, though the story isn't bad, if a tad cliched, and the dialog is good, it is troublesome to read at times, with misspellings (the most common being "your" when it should be "you're" and vice versa) running rampant and frequent use of non-words (such as lol and omg) in main speech; though that last one isn't so much a problem as a professional style difference. Many Yuri, Yaoi, and other frequent online Manga style comics are beginning to use them, much to my displeasure. But moving on....

The art is a mixed bag as well. When it's detailed, it looks great, but some of the backgrounds are sloppy and nonexistent, and the early pages are quite rough by later standards. However, I must complement the way the pages flow. I never once had trouble finding where panels were meant to lead, even though they sometimes went in...well unexpected directions for someone like me.

So what do we have? A familiar plot, some solid character art, and the desperate need for a proofreader, but a decent comic overall. It's still early in the comic yet, and there's still a lot more story to tell, so it's hard to judge it as a final product, but with a little fine-tuning, this could easily be a great comic instead of merely a good one.

Plastic: 3.8/5.0

Cool thanks for the reviews guys :)

I've started updating again and also worked with the site layout- any better?

Art: I definitely won't be the first to talk about how much the art has gotten better. Everything from the figures to the use of tones and word bubbles have improved dramatically. (I especially love the way you do hair and eyes. <3) One big issue as far as the art goes is that there are still some proportion issues, even with the new art. Take the fourth panel on page 55 ; I've noticed a lot of figures are drawn with their legs much too short or skinny compared to the rest of the body. (Same thing with arms, although I don't think it happens as often as with the legs.)

Story: Plastic doesn't really bring anything new to the table as far as high school-based manga go, but that's alright. It's still a fun read with enjoyable characters. While I can't say I've ever been a big fan of GL or BL stories, I do like this manga. To be perfectly honest, though, the story reminds me a lot of the manga Hot Gimmick. (With the whole "teenage girl is forced to become someone else's slave in order for a secret to be kept" plot.)

Panels: Yeah, I know; most people don't judge a comic based on their panels, but I just think Skullbie does such a great job with page layouts that it deserves a tip of my hat. (Especially since it's something that I especially struggle with on my own comic.) A good example of this is page 47 . It's always refreshing to see a comic where the objects overlap multiple panels. The motorcycle cutting across the next panel just accentuates the sense of movement.

Other: I have to say I really like the website layout. I'm much to lazy to do anything creative with mine, so it's nice to see someone take the time to make their site this nice looking. :) I've seen plenty of DD comics (I won't mention names) with too many flashy graphics and such that it's really quite hard to look at after a while. I like how the layout isn't overly complicated. Plus, it actually has a good color scheme that goes quite nicely with the comic itself! That's another thing I've noticed with other site layouts. (And for what it's worth, I love the brown+pink combination.<3)


Overall: 4/5

I'm not usually one for Yuri - not that I'm a prude or anything :P I just find it increasingly difficult to find an original story that can keep my interest without being all in-your-face with the Yuri/Yaoi-ness. Anyway, for the sake of DD, Skullbie, and for PIE...I shall prevail!

FIRSTLY - Where'd Page 3 go? It just goes from Page 2 to Page 4...is this just a typo, or is the third page really lost in cyberspace?

Art: I hate to sound like a parrot, but at the start the art in crazily inconsistant. It's like 'Awesome art for the cover and first two pages - wait, what? Why is page three seemingly hand-drawn? Have we swapped artists?' It gets a bit confusing, trying to tell what style to expect to be sticked with throughout the story. And it's not just the art, but the fonts you use to write the dialogue - trying to keep it consistant when they're talking normally, but I also know it's customary to change the font when a character turns chibi-evil or whatever. As the comic reaches the late-twenties, early-thirties, consistency starts to get more solid, which can only be a good sign.

3/5

Dialogue: The dialogue seems very awkward at the start of this story, almost as if the writer doesn't know how far to go before they GO too far. Other times, it just sounds flat and statement-like rather than conversation. It slowly gets better as the story goes on, and they get comfortable in the writing-style.

3/5

Narrative: From just the first five pages, I'm beginning to see the usual highschool cliches - which aren't necessarily bad, as every story needs familiar staples, right? Otherwise it feels totally alienated and the reader can't relate to it, in a way... still, the secretive lovers, the girl-obssessed boy with lesbians for friends, the bitchy cheerleader captain. But then the way the third girl found out their secret was an odd and curious twist, which came none too soon (and Page 14 made me ROFL)! As the odd relationship between the girl and the bully continues to grow in weird directions, I can honestly say I have good hopes for this in the second chapter!

3/5

Overall: It's okay for what it is, but I'm a kinda guy who prefers to read an eyecatching, original manga or stick to what he knows. Had I browsed this otherwise, I probably wouldn't have read the entire chapter for these reasons. But for a high-school, Yuri drama it's okay - fans of the genres would definitely find somethint they like.

3/5

I, like many others am not a big fan of the lesbian drama manga, so honestly this took a while to read. It was alright, but I'll explain that down further.

Art
It is nice to watch an artist become steadily more competent, but once in a while, when you think man this stuff is starting to look good, the character models go to hell. Yes the eyes look amazing, but everyone looks pretty similar. If not for everyone saying each others name constantly I may not have known who was who. I guess it all fit the style, but there wasn't really enough difference to get a connection to the characters where you say "holy crap, she's gonna get caught!" instead of "who is that again?"

Writing
The story is interesting, though the pacing is off. I love a good love triangle as much as anyone else, but the bully just wasn't all that menacing to me, just some sex starved girl pushing people around. I have to admit though, I like where chapter 2 is going.

Overall
There is a bit of insanity to the style and movement of this piece, a lot of action to the art. But when it comes down to it, teen drama has been done better and the "love" element is not really there, just suggested. I give it a C+ cause I think chapter 2 has some promise.

This story was actually not nearly as well recieved as I had thought it would be. I personally really enjoyed it, as I'll get to


ART: With art I'll also include layout of the comic. This is in my opinion one of the better drawn web comics(when the art improves) that I've seen so far. The artist nails the shoujo style, while giving it a nice unique look. The first few pages were actually my favorite 'style' (the re-drawn first few page) so I was disappointed that when I got to the end the style was very different from what the first two pages were. I do like that the girls have weight to them though in the latest drawings, in the start they're all twigs, but in the latest drawings they look like *gasp* actual women. A nice change to what you normally see in manga. I'm really excited to see the artists further improvement, and hopefully the artist can present a more consistent style

STORY: I believe somebody else pointed it out, but the story does rely a lot on stereotypes. The main character is ditsy, and she gets dragged around by the 'tough/cold/cool' character. In my opinion it does sort of go past those stereotypes with introducing interesting relationships with other characters (such as Layla and her sister). One thing, obviously I could be wrong, but it's pretty obvious the story is going towards the two main characters getting together...which is just how these things work, but yeah it's kinda less interesting when you can easily predict where the story goes. The main characters girlfriend Amy takes a really long time to get any 'screen time', and I'd really like to know more about her. If it is really going in the direction of Layla and Shanna getting together, I feel like I'm not supposed to like Amy as much...but I do really like her, so I just feel bad for her as the story goes on, and it kinda makes me dislike not only Layla, but Shanna the main character herself. It seemed weird to me when Layla points out to Shanna that Amy bosses her around, and Shanna didn't point out "well all you're doing is bossing me around". (we also haven't really seen Amy boss Shanna around, so that seemed weird.

OVERALL: So I ended up writing more specifics on the story than I had intended to. I guess it's cause I do really enjoy the story that things stood out to me more. It did keep me hooked throughout, cause secretly I'm a sap who loves the romance mangas.

This is easily one of the more pretty webcomics on this site. Everytime i looks at it im charmed to death by the artwork. Id advise away from letting the colors "render" hair, as that trick gets old fast, and The characters all seem to have the same body type. Of course thats nitpicking but to have a real comic, everyones not going to all be the same body type in real life. theres a definite improvement from the beginning but its not too drastic. the only part i dont like is the black and white pages. I despise tones :( but otherwise the art on this little strip is fantastic, 8 out of 10

the story leaves alot to be desired, part 1 has been explained enough, so ill just focus on part 2. And unless you are doing a lol humor comic, id advise using the phrase "oh noes!" in a comic. it broke the illusion for me reading that. looking forward to seeing where this is going, but right now its up in the air for me, 4 out of 10.

overall it get a 6 out of 10! Keep it up!

Overall: 5/10
I was expecting more, for some reason.

With its start into Chapter 2, Plastic recently became a higher caliber of comic in its execution. It certainly comes a very long way from its beginnings; an extreme and interesting suggestion would be to retell the story from the start of chapter 2, as it would be much, much more interesting than a large percentage of the first chapter, and the art since the beginning has improved.

Artwork and Style: it's mangaish, something I'm used to. It's unique enough to be recognized as its own thing, and the color pages are some of the best I've seen among comics. Unfortunately, the characters are essentially same-faced, and I find myself favoring color pages because they also offer quicker differentiation between characters. Their personalities help to difference themselves, yet they could easily have uniquely-tuned faces, or even made to stand apart with accessories. It would help sometimes.
Older pages have very inconsistent styles, wonky anatomy and proportions that are hard to ignore, as well as very off perspectives. Yet they have a messy quality to them that I kind of like, if only they were less "smeared" looking.

Writing and Story: Writing doesn't particularly stand out to me until more recent pages, where characters become ever-slightly relatable (there's almost nothing to relate to in the first chapter, especially if you are neither lesbian nor a shoplifter). It was probably a good move (and a good offer) to attain the assistance of another person to write dialogue, because at times it, coupled with formerly messy pages, made actions and situations that should have been simple a bit harder to follow.

The story doesn't particularly stand out, and on its own isn't enough to keep me reading. Characters, either by being ridiculous or somehow endearing, usually keep me reading and loving a story from the get-go. (I'd stick with it for the new art if anything, as I see a new direction on the horizon for this comic. :D) It seems the characters, especially Layla, could stand to be pushed a little more towards their dominating personality traits. As "the character in the middle of it all," Shanna still comes off somewhat neutral, or some other word I can't think of right now. I have the feeling some of that may be intended.

The dialogue doesn't stand out either, thus making this the kind of comic I'd have to read the last few pages of between updates to remember what happened last. It's something I don't tend to like doing.

Typography: I'm not picky about it. Yay~ In fact, it's the one thing I've liked most consistently in this comic. I am a nerd.


High school types who went to a kind of normal high school, got bullied, and were in strange relationship(s) will latch to this. Otherwise you'll read it and challenge what entertainment value it offers you in exchange for your time.