Pinocchio vs. Naruto

Text and Dialogue:






Pinocchio The language is not extravagant with the vocabulary being standard. 
The dialogue was easy to follow. The bubbles were not long, which also helped with the easy read. The sentences were no longer than a couple sentences, which was nice. The font was appropriate and did not take away from the graphics. Interesting it was all in caps, which I associate all caps with screaming. With the bubbles and blocks you could tell the difference between a thought and narration. Words that were italicized, I am assuming those were exaggeration. Sound effects were block letters and a different font. Usually they were the main focus of the page. The narration at times was funny, with the sarcastic nature of the Blue Fairy.


Naruto There was more text on the pages, which got confusing at times. Some of the boxeshad several bubbles in them. In some boxes, the words were in the bubbles (102-103). I  couldn’t tell if they were thoughts or narration. Sometimes you could see the sound effects in the background and they were bold compared to the other font. However, in other instances, the captions on 51 and 54-55, were very powerful and took up a majority of the page. Some of the narration used Japanese words, but most of it was in English. The letter seemed to be the same as in Pinocchio and was all caps as well.

Visual Features:

Pinocchio The characters were not like the Disney folktale Pinocchio. It was interesting how sweet Gepeto’s character played out in the end as evil. The drawings made the characters seem they were always in the shadow.  character looks more like a man than a boy. He seems to intimidating to be a boy. The fairy’s drawing makes her look funny, and she was my favorite with her sly remarks. The town seemed to be old and medieval--especially with the rocky road. The action was external between Pinocchio and the vampires and trying to convince the townspeople of the danger. It is interesting to point out, the characters who were dead (i.e.. the cricket, rabbits, vampires, etc.) were all dressed or colored in black.

Naruto Even though the drawings were black and white they were easier to look at. If they were in color, it would have taken away from all the details provided by black and white. There were more characters to keep track of and whom were presented on the pages. I was a bit taken back by the naked girl (covered partially by clouds). It was interesting that Pinocchio and Naruto had “boy” characters, yet Naruto was much more immature. He was playing pranks and causing ruckus. The scenery was of a Japanese town. The graphics were all based around the Japanese culture. There were even Japanese characters. The action was external-Naruto versus everyone. At the beginning his character is hated by everyone.

General Layout and Design:

Pinocchio Some pages had full animation without any boxes. Then there were some larger boxes that had graphics. Some of the pages had multiple boxes with graphics. Gutters and borders were white and even. Panels varied in size. Some open panels, but a majority were closed. The drawings were in black and white, which added to the mysteriousness of the story. I did not like the “shading” as dots. It was not appealing to look at and to me ruined the picture. It made the pictures seem blurry. They pictures, at times, seemed to blend with one another. I think I would have liked more color because the black was taking away the realism. 

Naruto The borders are black, which surround each box. A majority of the pages havegutters, however, some of the boxes go to the edge of the page. The panels are in no particular pattern because the boxes vary in size. Some of the drawings take up the whole page; therefore, no boxes are on those pages. It took me a little bit to get used to reading left to right. When I moved to the right side of the book I got confused at where to start. Luckily on the top of each page it directed you when a “Read This Way” sign.

Angles and Frames:

Pinocchio I noticed bleeding with the vampires/action and the bubbles; however, it did not take away from the page. There were many close-ups, especially of Pinocchio when his nose grew. I noticed the close-ups were head-shots. Two in particular shots were when Gepetto had a hold of Pinocchio and you got a close-up of him with his teeth. The other one is below it and it is of Pinocchio crying. I was glad they showed close-ups because it really emphasized how Gepetto’s character changed. There are more head-shoulder shots. A couple of full-figure shots. One in particular is of Pinocchio and Master Cherry after they terrorized the “wolf” and “cat.” There were not too many long-shots only to give full-body shots.

Naruto There were bleeds from other characters, captions, and bubbles. There were several close-ups, which seemed to be head-shots. One examples is p. 50 of Naruto. However, there are more head-shoulder shots. Usually, those were the focus of an individual box. The action shots were the full-figured; however, they were shown miniaturized. There were not many long-shots just to show after effects.

Rhetorical:

Pinocchio There was exaggeration when Pinocchio was talking. I laughed at some of his cheesy sayings. There was also exaggeration when he was killing the vampires, which was from the graphics. I felt empathy towards Pinocchio at the end when it shows Master Cherry and Gepetto’s graves. The mood is mysterious and dark. The dots cast shadows and gloom over everything. All the vampires wear very dark cloaks, which adds to their mysteriousness. The only part I was confused about was were the vampires and wolf and cat fighting for the same person? The only irony is when Pinocchio told lies to get his nose to grow. There was no realism because this could never happen. Maybe the author is trying to state that lies kill evil. Disorder was the town being taken over, but no one believed Pinocchio. The main conflict was Pinocchio versus the vampires. However, he was dealing with the internal conflict of Gepetto’s death. He blames himself for not listening to his warning. He is trying to justify Gepetto’s death by killing the vampires. The narrator seems like third-person because we get no internal monologue, it is all told as a story. 

Naruto The captions and pictures gave exaggeration to the scene. I could not identify with any of the characters. However, for those who love reading graphic novels, they might find identification with a character. For the most part, the mood was serious because of the conflict and everyone hated Naruto. Naruto joked around, which lighted the mood. The story-line was simplistic. However, there was a lot going on on the pages that made the reading complex. The point of view was from Naruto, readers followed him throughout the story and got his thoughts. There was a relationship with Haruno Sakura, but she didn't like him in the beginning.  

Overall: I liked Pinocchio, besides the dot shading, the pictures were good. In addition, I think the plot was more enjoyable. It was an interesting twist to the Disney Pinocchio.