I’m Aaron, and I’m back again to bring you your next favorite digital read (hopefully)! Please, if you have any feedback, leave it here in the comments or contact me on Twitter (@Sully_Writes). And as always, if you have or know of a webcomic that you’d like to see reviewed, reach out and let me know!
Creator: Neil Lalonde
Webcomic: Anime Tentacle Monsters
Summary: Anime Tentacle Monsters (CTHYOLO Vol. 1) is the story of Annie, a young adult struggling with anxiety of numerous varieties, unaided by the fact that this anxiety manifests itself in the form of the… titular beasts. That’s… That’s pretty much it. It’s a very simple premise, so let’s just dig right on in there.
Story:Â I know that, more than likely, the first thought many of you will have is “this sounds like an excuse to draw a lot of porn.” Readers will be worried that this is just exploitative nonsense aimed at generating gratuitous fanservice. I cannot assure you enough that this is not the case. The art is never erotic or racy. If anything, it leans far more heavily toward humor. This story is, through and through, about anxiety. The slimy critters that violate Annie’s personal space aren’t meant to get you excited, they’re meant to illustrate the uneasy, crawling sensation that anxiety generates throughout your body.
I get it. If you had told me last year that one of the best comics about struggling with mental illness that I had ever read would also be about slugs crawling out of a girl’s cleavage then I would have laughed in your face. But, here we are. Welcome to 2018. Writers are always looking for creative foils and metaphors to illustrate abstract feelings or stories. Anime Tentacle Monsters found exactly what worked.
Annie’s (incredibly relate-able) story also hits a home run on another aspect of mental illness that is often overlooked in comics, or at least, not handled as accurately as Neil manages to. Most people do not understand, or care to understand, what you are going through. Well meaning friends, family, and professionals talk over Annie, refusing to listen to her subtle cries for help.
Art:Â The art in Anime Tentacle Monsters is lovely and carries a very distinct style. The bright, colorful, painterly look is fitting for the story and the expressiveness of the characters is fantastic. I’ve shown a lot of the art already, so I’m not going to dig into the style too much, but there is definitely a softness to it that I admire, that is present in nearly every detail, and that really helps pull every page together cohesively. If I do have any complaints about the art, it’s that the female characters seem to have a more consistent style than the male characters, who come off looking a bit wonky occasionally. But that’s it.
Conclusion: Anime Tentacle Monsters (which I will never abbreviate as ATM because of other horrific connotations) is a great read. It’s got levity and weight. It’s relate-able. And it’s important to someone like me who can finally see their anxiety illustrated so wonderfully. The first volume of this comic book is now on sale (you can find the link on the website), and it would be great if people could show this comic some of the support that it deserves.
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
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