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Ladies and gentlemen, presenting to you… A piece of good art. I haven’t seen such a splendid cover in ages.

The manga doesn’t start with a backstory. It just throws you into the thick of things. Well actually it shows you the daily life of these two lovers, without revealing how they came to know each other. How very cryptic.

And then there’s the fact that she’s a vampire. He’s a human. With somewhat special eyes? Argh. It’s too mysterious for it’s own good. Oh, and he can kick ass too. I like the fact that it follows the Gothic tradition. Paedophilia [yes, the girl’s actually an adolescent. Well, one who’s lived longer than an adult], insanity, sexual role reversals, macabre killings… It’s all in there. All the Gothic stuff I learnt in school, and maybe some of those I’ve forgotten as well.

But I digress. Gaze upon the jaw dropping cover.

In a nutshell:
A sweet high school romance between an average guy and a beautiful girl has just gotten underway. But tragedy ensues when the girl falls ill with leukemia. A bittersweet tale of young love, enduring devotion, and heartbreaking loss, Socrates in Love is a story to cherish.
Opinion:
The cover looks good, but don’t let that fool you. The art is crap. The characters look like those from the Pink Comics you instinctively know are meant for girls. Sure, there are no disproportionate breasts and legs, but the faces just look amateur compared to the current fare out in the market.

If you can get past that, then you might come to enjoy this simple story. The artist has actually interpreted some of the metaphors very well. The tale didn’t exactly made me tear or anything, but I would say it’s fairly moving. Surprisingly, it’s a subplot concerning the protagonist’s grandfather that’s the most heartrending.

[SPOILER ALERT]

His grandfather couldn’t marry the woman he was in love with. The lady was from a well-to-do family, but she had tuberculosis. He went around earning money recklessly for her treatment so that he could marry her. But she recovered, and her parents wouldn’t allow her to marry a rough guy like him. So now he plans to dig up her ashes and asks the protagonist to scatter his ashes with hers when he dies.

What a romantic old chum.

I was thinking maybe the novel will be more detailed as the manga seems to just breeze through the plot. Sure, the emotion is there, but I think the artist just doesn’t do the source material enough justice. If you’re thinking to shed a few tears, go get the novel.

These two recent photos sum up my current portfolio: photos that pretend to be an advertisement and photos of really small insects. Hehe. You can find these all over the internet. Sigh. No style!

Joyce was telling me that my photos lack a personal touch. They’re like those anyone with a good camera can take. Looking back through my work, I realise it’s true. Only the macro shots are half decent. Some are pretentious. Sigh. I guess I really have a long way to go….

The only one I could find that was somewhat different is this one. I should really stop thinking of photography as a way to capture images but as a way to create art.