Tag Archives: Blood on the Tracks

Turning Up the Creepy to Eleven in Blood on the Tracks Volume Three

May 17, 2023 Jack Scheibelein Leave a comment

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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Apologies for taking Mother’s Day off, adjusting to my new work schedule has left me a little more tired than usual, so I did not have much energy to write. That being said, today’s volume certainly restored a lot of my blood flow, because my heart was pounding for the majority of it.

While still processing what has happened, Seiichi finishes his summer vacation and returns to school. However, it seems as though his attempts to figure out why his mother would attempt murder have left him quite literally speechless. Eventually, he cannot take it anymore, and, well…now is the time to leave for those who have yet to read it and want to avoid spoilers.

The Confrontation

The last two chapters are thus far some of the most emotionally charged manga I have ever read. Horror is historically something that anime as a medium has failed to do a ton of justice. However, with manga, it is a different story. Because there is no set pace, reading manga comes with a degree of control: how fast eyes scan up and down, whether or not fingers decide to pick up the next page. Oshimi draws on this principally brilliantly when writing the scene between Seiichi and Seiko.

The way the darkness of the house builds the atmosphere in otherwise less tense moments before the two start arguing is brilliant. Not a single panel is wasted when it comes to mixing the cocktail of emotions the two of them feel. The character shading also really helps, with some panels even showing the two as almost dark outlines, but still drawn with enough complexity to see what they are going through with little to no visible face.

Shigeru’s Return

Another element of this volume that was particularly effective at building the atmosphere was seeing Shigeru again. It is not often that vising someone in a hospital can be as frightening, but again, Oshimi does it well. Seiichi’s cousin is not only immobilized but visibly deformed from the fall. His bloodshot and yet somehow still dead eyes and lack of speech contrast dramatically with his character in the opening chapters.

From volume one onwards, it had yet to be the case Shigeru appeared at all. This helps to build a lot of nervous distraught in Seiichi, who, after seeing him in his horrific state, finally gets the courage to confront his mom.

Minamalism and Atmosphere

Though some of the mangaka’s backgrounds can feel a bit underdone, this is not to say that a lack of linework is necessarily always bad. In fact, there are many points where it arguably adds to the atmosphere. The previously mentioned scene near the end with Seiichi and Seiko is a good example.

Many of the characters in the panels of these chapters can be extremely detailed. However, Oshimi also plays with some elements of minimalism, with the two of them at points looking like rough sketches. This rougher sketch work seems to represent points where the world around them has changed completely. For Seiichi, he is experiencing a whole new person that he does not recognize as his mom. In Seiko’s case, it likely feels like her son has betrayed her for going to see Shigeru in the hospital.

Conclusions/Predictions

As the world is crashing down around him, it seems likely that Seiichi will be forced to make a choice about how he wants to proceed. My best guess is that more than likely, he will try and get his dad to help him with his mother, and that there will also probably be more attempted murder.

Have you all read Blood on the Tracks? Let me know down in the comments.

If you are interested in reading more from me, check under blog to read my most recent stuff, or look below for some related posts. Also, if you would like to support Animated Observations, consider donating on Ko-fi or through paypal, or pledging on Patreon. You can even support by just liking and sharing this post.

As always, special thanks to Jenn for supporting the blog on Patreon.

If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!

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Blog Updates

Finally Employed (and Figuring Stuff Out)

May 7, 2023 Jack Scheibelein 4 Comments

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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It has been a minute since my last update (about five months or so), and as such, it seemed like a good a time as any to organize what has been going on with me in an easily digestible format.

My New (Old) Job

It never really occurred just how depressing unemployed life can be. Most days are spent desperately combing through job listings of any place that looks like it will actually hire. minutes, hours, spent checking my email inbox and looking down at my phone waiting for responses back. Even the ones that do answer back are positions only applied for because it felt like something to do and not one that would actually be good. Needless to say, finding a job has not been easy.

At least, that is what I had typed out originally when writing this post. However, after a week or so of consideration, I decided to go back to my old job after texting with my former manager. While it may not be exactly where I expected to be at this point, it will at least give me time to re-evaluate what it is I should do going forward.

I’m Finally Happy?

Finally is a bit dramatic, perhaps, but the sentiment is still applicable. As much as I enjoyed my time in higher education, and for as much as being unemployed for months on end was not particularly fun, there is also a bit of hesitance on my end to go back. At least for the last couple of years, college felt more like a way to escape entering the real world as much as a did a vehicle for self-improvement. As much as these should feel contradictory, I also cannot help but feel like both are true.

This contradiction leaves me unsure of what to do next. On the one hand, Academic spaces have always felt pretty comfortable, and spending days holed up in a library doing research does not sound that bad. At the same time, I worry about getting bored and my motivation fizzling out. I’ve also been grappling with the idea that progress is not linear, and that personal journeys are not always going to move in a straight line, so I guess we will have to see.

Topics Coming Up

Been finding a lot of fun manga recently. On top of that, there is also some older stuff that I am just about done with and will be doing a formal post on when through.

Blood on the Tracks (Continued)
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (possibly)
Last Gender – When We Are Nameless
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Oshi no Ko
Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s (if I’m feeling silly)

As usually, I reserve the right to ignore some of this or cover something else that peaks my interest if it happens to come up.

What have you all been up to recently? Let me know down in the comments.

As always, special thanks to Jenn for supporting the blog on Patreon

If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!

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Anime/Manga

Things are Getting Weirder: Blood on the Tracks Volume Two

April 16, 2023 Jack Scheibelein Leave a comment

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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If the premise of a mom killing one attempting murder on one of her nephews while simultaneously traumatizing her only son wasn’t enough, oh golly gee does this next part have a nice little surprise.

Volume 2 largely focuses on the aftermath of the first’s climax, resolving the dramatic moment only to then simultaneously build on another dramatic moment. This collection of chapters also delves somewhat into the developing, or rather complications with, Seiichi’s relationship with his crush. Despite seeing her true colors, our main character is still inclined to trust his mom, with all the problems that may bring.

Ok, But Why Though?

Definitely a question better suited for someone with a degree in childcare or developmental psychology. However, in the context of the story at hand, there does seem to be a more obvious answer.

In seeing the heinous act committed by his mom, he has now developed two distinct images of his mom. These two images, one a loving mother and the other a horrible murderer, are strictly at odds with each other. In other words, Seiichi simply cannot process what has happened despite witnessing it with his own eyes, in no uncertain terms.

Oshimi utilizes this clash of ideas in our protagonist’s mind to its utmost power, often showing him paralyzed in fear under the watchful eye of this new motherly persona.

Great Facial Expressions

The author also continues to employ a frankly scary range of facial expressions in his characters. In fact, this volume arguably does more to display this insane talent than the first.

This makes sense however, since the aforementioned first volume climax left Seiichi with a lot of emotions to express. Confusion, anger, regret, doubt: all of it is there in full force. All of it, however, with a sense of things being still worse yet to come.

Of course, Seiko contributes to this as well, though it often is not the expressions themselves that hint at her inner workings. Rather, her lack of a clear facial expression, hidden through clever paneling cutoffs and shadowing in the dark halls of the hospital, makes her all the more terrifying.

Love is in the Air?

In more ways than one, it would seem.

Normally, getting a love letter from your crush should be a dream come true. However, while Seiichi is still processing the emotions from the previous days, he is not really in a state too accept or deny Fukiishi’s feelings.

After refusing to visit Shigeru in the hospital again, Fukiishi visits Seiichi while his parents are out. Clearly this is not the right time. However, after forgetting something at the house, Seiko walks in her giving a note to her crush. Fukiishi then leaves hurriedly, leaving mom and son alone.

What comes next is maybe the strangest scene in the series thus far, where Seiko takes the letter and forces the two to not only read it together, but then tells Seiichi he is not allowed to love her, and tears it up with him while the two lay down on the bed. The preceding images of his face torn up into pieces of paper symbolizes his investment in the note and his continued confusion surrounding his feelings towards Seiko.

Conclusion/Predictions

There is a lot I could unpack when it comes to that ending, but I think I will save that for a bigger post at the eventual conclusion of the series. For now, it will be interesting to see where the story goes. Personally, it seems as though much of focus will be on this continuing clash of his mom’s personalities in Seiichi’s mind.

How do you feel about Blood on the Tracks? Let me know in the comments. Also, for those who missed the introductory post for this series do check that out.

As always, special thanks to jenn for supporting the blog on Patreon.

If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!

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Anime/Manga

Blood on the Tracks Vol. 1

April 5, 2023 Jack Scheibelein 1 Comment

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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(SPOILERS AHEAD)

There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to an author like Shuzo Oshimi, much of which has already been discussed in various posts here on this blog. From his strange story beats to the way his characters exude emotion and insight out of every expression and panel. Given these strengths in his previous works (The Flowers of Evil, Inside Mari, etc.) it makes sense he would also attempt to leverage those skills into something even more sinister in subject matter: 2017’s Blood on the Tracks.

The first volume starts off normally enough, introducing Seiichi and his mom Seiko waking him up for school. His life is about as normal as any other middle schooler: a group of nerdy friends, a painfully obvious crush in Fukiishi, and his extended family which he is relatively close with. However, it becomes obvious through Oshimi’s illustrations that something about this famiily, more specifically Seiko, is not quite right.

Incredible Pacing

Honestly, forget the rest of the series at this point, because this first volume has some of the most amazing build-up and payoff of any volume one out there. No, seriously. I had the idea a while back of making a video about how to write a good first episode of anime, my example of which was going to be The Promised Neverland. I were to attempt a similar video about manga, this would almost certainly be my primary example.

For starters, Oshimi does a great job at setting the scene for what would otherwise be a pretty normal middle school boy and his family. Seiichi gets up in the morning to his mom making breakfast and his dad going to work, he darts off to school and wants to hang out with his friends, he comes home to find his mom working on dinner. The extended family comes over for a dinner and Seiichi gets to see his cousin, Shigeru. Normal, everyday stuff.

However, it is in those tiny, seemingly unimportant moments where Oshimi arguably does the most important storytelling. Whereas Seiichi largely sees an overprotective mom who wants to love her kid, there is something else their, lingering behind Seiko’s eyes, which is payed off beautiful in the third act. The impact of her pushing Shigeru off the cliff was maybe a tad diminished because of prior knowledge , but it was still an incredibly powerful scene, to be sure.

Beautiful Character Writing

The aforementioned scene with Seiko and Shigeru is indeed a stand out moment of the first volume. However, nothing about that moment would succeed without Oshimi’s great character writing. I already briefly mentioned the interplay between Seiichi and his mother, but there are a lot of other great elements in that regard.

Seiichi’s extended family also feels fairly fleshed out even in the first volume. His aunt, while not outwardly rude, does seem the loud and obnoxious type, who takes small jabs but never wants to argue about it. Shigeru follow’s in his mom’s footsteps by being generally somewhat obnoxious. Even Seiichi’s own dad feels fairly conflict avertin and much more in like with his other family.

All of this sets scene for a mom that is clearly not mentally or emotionally stable. Nothing about her condition is necessarily confirmed to be caused by the behavior of everyone else, but Oshimi knows how to make people understand through his use of great facial expressions and writing. The subtlety of it all is what makes it all is what makes it that much more terrifying, because things family members slowly going crazy are not always so obvious.

Hit or Miss Art

While Oshimi’s character work is usually spot on, his backgrounds can be a bit more…inconsistent. Not to say that expansive world-building and setting are usually the most important part of his work, because they definitely are not. However, it does become a bit more noticeable in certain spots in contrast to the panels where his characters are being particularly expressive.

The sports where said contrast is most evident is in the scenes on the mountain, where some parts look beautifully and painstakingly drawn and shaded and others…kinda look like some squiggles that were supposed to be stand ins he would replace later, or are just missing entirely. It is not the biggest deal and honestly does not show up as much as I am probably leading on, but it is definitely something I hope does not rear its head too much going forward.

Conclusions/Predictions

The Flowers of Evil was a thriller in a much lower stakes sense, where Kasuga is mentally hamstrung by his one decision up until the very end. Blood on the Tracks takes a bit of a different approach, throwing Seiichi into a decision which is definitely not his own and is likely to come with more severe consequences. Hard to say exactly where it will go, but there’s definitely feels like there is going to be some severe psychological damage.

How do you all feel about Blood on the Tracks? Let me know down in the comments. Also, feel free to read along with me if the series seems interesting to you. My plan is too put out one post on the series every one and a half to two weeks, so about every three to four posts I put out.