So upon reading the comic by Scott McCloud it got me to appreciate one of my favourite manga writers that I follow. Ishida Sui, who is most famous for writing highly acclaimed series Tokyo Ghoul. A quick synopsis of Tokyo Ghoul: an ordinary quiet boy Kaneki Ken, gets turned into a Ghoul (someone who can only survive by eating humans) against his will. So he has to learn to adapt to survive in this world where Ghouls are hunted and oppressed, only to be met with tragedy.
Anyway, Ishida is a master at creating a story and this McCloud’s comic got me more appreciative on why. Ishida is very much into a ‘show don’t tell’ kind of approach and it keeps the audience guessing. McCloud describes Western comics or manga as a kind of ‘in the moment’ with each panel and Ishida exercises this practice beautifully. He is ever so subtle with each panel with reveals and foreshadowing scattered throughout every chapter. This conveys his story in a subtle way and always leaves the audience guessing what’s going to happen. Not in the way that someone says ‘I wonder what’s gonna happen next’ more like ‘I need to know what happens next’. This is why Ishida is one my favourite manga writers and Tokyo Ghoul is one of my favourite manga series.
