Sign In
Register
Help
Please take some time to check out the random webcomic of the current page load! PLEASE BE AWARE OF HEAVY CONSTRUCTION!
Welcome to Tsubomi Blue Dreams. TBD is a manga about merpeople and magic and romance gone all wrong. First and foremost, I must express that I found it remarkably purposeless that the characters were merfolk. After they sat down and had tea and sandwiches, had messy rooms, and otherwise acted like ordinary humans, I considered this: the story would've been practically the same had they been from Japan, in outer space, or anthromorphic talking cartoon trees. There is really no purpose to the mer-ness of this story, beyond the shiny blue underwaterness, because the characters for all rights and purposes act like any other character in any other slightly magically twisted romance manga. In fact, at times, the mermaids strike me as being a bit cheap, as they do act like perfectly normal people, sitting down and having tea and sandwiches underwater.
Though some people would probably find this makes the characters more endearing and familiar, I would have liked to see less... earthling behavior. They're mer-folk. Well, most of them. Though there are elements of the story necessary for the underwater setting, there's certainly not enough of it, and I hope to see that develop more in the future.
This brings me through to the writing. Blue Dreams is victim to a common flaw in manga. Wall. Of. Text. It's not nearly as bad as some, but due to the fairly small pages posted up, it can get a bit difficult to read all the narration. Though I've read published manga with more text, I found myself skimming the paragraphs of narration. If it was broken up more, it would be easier to follow. Or larger. It would be wonderful if the pages were posted at 800 pixels wide. They're, alas, not.
But trouble following it? It's laid out standard for any old manga, and the story's not really that confusing yet. Maybe a bit cheesy, but from panel to panel, it does make sense as to what's going on. If you read published manga, Blue Dreams isn't going to be a problem for you to follow.
It is, however, inconsistant. I noted, in my readthrough, author's notes that some pages were done years ago. It showed. The recent art is usually spot on, with vivid colors that jump off the page and bring the characters to life with seperate, individual personalities and colors. But every now and again, there's a page that's just... off. Flat, not colors, rampant with errors. Compared to the good art peppered throughout Blue Dreams, it's a bit jarring to occasionally run into a very different page and it does effect the readthrough a bit. The art has clearly improved with time and it'll continue to get better. I've read published manga with worse art though, and the brilliant colors definately make it easier to follow from panel to panel.
The story might be a prequel but it doesn't really strike me as requiring another story to follow. It makes sense on its own.
One final point: the website. It seems rather incomplete. There's three pages labled 'links' in the top bar, and NONE of them go to a page with link banners or links to other comics! It's really a bit of a mess. The archive page is nice and complete, though, and bonus points for the easy to find 'first' and 'latest' buttons, seeing as the latest comic is NOT on the front page.
This is really the only webcomic I've ever seen about merfolk so far, though... and it really does deserve some bonus points for that originality. If you like under the sea settings, give it a twirl. Plus, there is shirtless guy in abundance. (Oh, so THAT'S why it's about merfolk... okay, beyond the general magicky thing in the plot.)
In short.
Story: 3/5. It's a bit cheesy and there's really no point to the mermaids/men yet, except for the magic part of the plot. So far! I'd like to see the characters act a bit more like they're underwater.
Art: 4/5. It's shiny. The colors are awesome and the later pages, bar the slightly overwhelming amount of text, are quite professional looking. I could see picking it up in the story. It's not perfect by any means, but it's definately not a shabby manga either. I'd like to see larger pages. Pretty details. It's getting a lot better as it goes along and the characters have very individual looks to them. Plus, shirtless guy.
Site: 2/5. Not bad on first glance-over, a bit cluttered. But when you start clicking around, it's very incomplete.
Bonus points: Merpeople!
Is it worth reading? Sure, but only under these stipulations:
-You already like reading manga. (It's laid out in a very definately manga way)
-You like cheesy romance/chick flick stuff.
If you hate manga, or hate romance/girly stories, you'll probably hate this. If you hate purposeless mermaids, you'll definately hate it. If you find underwater settings cool (I do), you might want to give it a readthrough and see how it goes. I can definately see the story developing to become more complex in the near future, but right now, it's a fairly straight forward cute story about a girl who fell in love.
Do you like that kind of thing? Then give Tsubomi Blue Dreams a read! Overall, I thought it was a cute story with colorful art... that will get better as time goes along. It already has, and it'll keep getting better.
User: spellbound55
The story is a little hard to follow as the panels are sometimes a little difficult to decipher. Though I'll bet the art will improve with time, it's the one major setback of Blue Dreams. It's the first comic I've read yet thats about mer people however.. and you gotta dig that.
Tsubomi Blue Dreams - http://bluedreams.smackjeeves.com/
DescriptionKyra's plan to become a mermaid and be together forever with her merman beau Aiden backfires when she catches her man kissing another woman on the beach.And to top it all off, he's already been turned into a human! Stuck in a world she doesn't understand will she ever be able to find her way home and face Aiden.<br> Tagsmermaid ocean love romance koi manga merman manga comic webcomic tropical Related Webcomics |
Reviews
User: TianaWelcome to Tsubomi Blue Dreams. TBD is a manga about merpeople and magic and romance gone all wrong. First and foremost, I must express that I found it remarkably purposeless that the characters were merfolk. After they sat down and had tea and sandwiches, had messy rooms, and otherwise acted like ordinary humans, I considered this: the story would've been practically the same had they been from Japan, in outer space, or anthromorphic talking cartoon trees. There is really no purpose to the mer-ness of this story, beyond the shiny blue underwaterness, because the characters for all rights and purposes act like any other character in any other slightly magically twisted romance manga. In fact, at times, the mermaids strike me as being a bit cheap, as they do act like perfectly normal people, sitting down and having tea and sandwiches underwater.
Though some people would probably find this makes the characters more endearing and familiar, I would have liked to see less... earthling behavior. They're mer-folk. Well, most of them. Though there are elements of the story necessary for the underwater setting, there's certainly not enough of it, and I hope to see that develop more in the future.
This brings me through to the writing. Blue Dreams is victim to a common flaw in manga. Wall. Of. Text. It's not nearly as bad as some, but due to the fairly small pages posted up, it can get a bit difficult to read all the narration. Though I've read published manga with more text, I found myself skimming the paragraphs of narration. If it was broken up more, it would be easier to follow. Or larger. It would be wonderful if the pages were posted at 800 pixels wide. They're, alas, not.
But trouble following it? It's laid out standard for any old manga, and the story's not really that confusing yet. Maybe a bit cheesy, but from panel to panel, it does make sense as to what's going on. If you read published manga, Blue Dreams isn't going to be a problem for you to follow.
It is, however, inconsistant. I noted, in my readthrough, author's notes that some pages were done years ago. It showed. The recent art is usually spot on, with vivid colors that jump off the page and bring the characters to life with seperate, individual personalities and colors. But every now and again, there's a page that's just... off. Flat, not colors, rampant with errors. Compared to the good art peppered throughout Blue Dreams, it's a bit jarring to occasionally run into a very different page and it does effect the readthrough a bit. The art has clearly improved with time and it'll continue to get better. I've read published manga with worse art though, and the brilliant colors definately make it easier to follow from panel to panel.
The story might be a prequel but it doesn't really strike me as requiring another story to follow. It makes sense on its own.
One final point: the website. It seems rather incomplete. There's three pages labled 'links' in the top bar, and NONE of them go to a page with link banners or links to other comics! It's really a bit of a mess. The archive page is nice and complete, though, and bonus points for the easy to find 'first' and 'latest' buttons, seeing as the latest comic is NOT on the front page.
This is really the only webcomic I've ever seen about merfolk so far, though... and it really does deserve some bonus points for that originality. If you like under the sea settings, give it a twirl. Plus, there is shirtless guy in abundance. (Oh, so THAT'S why it's about merfolk... okay, beyond the general magicky thing in the plot.)
In short.
Story: 3/5. It's a bit cheesy and there's really no point to the mermaids/men yet, except for the magic part of the plot. So far! I'd like to see the characters act a bit more like they're underwater.
Art: 4/5. It's shiny. The colors are awesome and the later pages, bar the slightly overwhelming amount of text, are quite professional looking. I could see picking it up in the story. It's not perfect by any means, but it's definately not a shabby manga either. I'd like to see larger pages. Pretty details. It's getting a lot better as it goes along and the characters have very individual looks to them. Plus, shirtless guy.
Site: 2/5. Not bad on first glance-over, a bit cluttered. But when you start clicking around, it's very incomplete.
Bonus points: Merpeople!
Is it worth reading? Sure, but only under these stipulations:
-You already like reading manga. (It's laid out in a very definately manga way)
-You like cheesy romance/chick flick stuff.
If you hate manga, or hate romance/girly stories, you'll probably hate this. If you hate purposeless mermaids, you'll definately hate it. If you find underwater settings cool (I do), you might want to give it a readthrough and see how it goes. I can definately see the story developing to become more complex in the near future, but right now, it's a fairly straight forward cute story about a girl who fell in love.
Do you like that kind of thing? Then give Tsubomi Blue Dreams a read! Overall, I thought it was a cute story with colorful art... that will get better as time goes along. It already has, and it'll keep getting better.
User: spellbound55
The story is a little hard to follow as the panels are sometimes a little difficult to decipher. Though I'll bet the art will improve with time, it's the one major setback of Blue Dreams. It's the first comic I've read yet thats about mer people however.. and you gotta dig that.