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Sketchy 3
Ako's get-together with friends from high school comes to an uncomfortable end when Asuka, a former member of their group, announces on television that she was bullied in school. Looking back on one of her last conversations with Asuka, Ako wonders if her life truly means anything…
208 pages, Paperback
Published August 13, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 21, 2024
Lots and lots of things happen and the story shifts and morphs into something it didn’t quite seem like at the start, but for once it’s not meant in a bad way.
Normally I offer up a cheeky little blurb about the volume, but this volume of Sketchy is pretty, well, sketchy. The plotting suddenly goes all over the place and the narrative is surprisingly jumpy for something that had previously been ‘Ako learns to skateboard and she’s older’.
The sudden revelation about the bullying of Ako’s former schoolmate turns out to be a whole other backstory, her friend from work might be falling in love, Ako might be following in love herself in a plot that could end up being very ill-advised, there’s a swimsuit shoot, and somebody passes out for some reason.
It is, as I am fond of saying, a LOT. And what was once simple becomes overly complicated and the plotting and conversation is suddenly far less straightforward. The blurb at the end indicates that this has become the story of six lives intertwined, but it sure didn’t start that way.
Which might seem like a bad thing, but these stories are almost all interesting and if it gets a little soap opera, well, it’s not in the most melodramatic way, there just happens to be tons of stuff happening to all these people.
I mean, some of these segments land better than others. I really like some of the sentiment behind the story of one girl who’s training to be a pro but who is falling behind everybody else and losing her love of skating. The way she rediscovers her passion is a lot of fun and I cannot tell if she’s a new addition, but she’s great.
The swimsuit episode does make some points about femininity and objectification, plus seems to come from a place of a character not quite understanding the assignment. That’s appreciated, but it also goes through with it, which is definitely a ‘have your cake and eat it’ proposition.
But, at the end of the day, this is good stuff. It’s the rare case where it overcomes some real quirks of narrative, whether deliberately introduced or not, and still manages to make a mostly-coherent and interesting story out of a cross-section of people.
It’s different than what we’ve seen, and not without its minuses, but still pretty compelling. It still gets a little ponderous with its infodumps, many manga about a subject often do, but it at least has the decency to be well-written outside of that. There have been worse pivots, but there have been better ones too.
4 stars - messy, but still very satisfying, and I can’t say I’m unhappy seeing this expand its focus in this way, although it doesn’t quite manage the smoothest transition.
Normally I offer up a cheeky little blurb about the volume, but this volume of Sketchy is pretty, well, sketchy. The plotting suddenly goes all over the place and the narrative is surprisingly jumpy for something that had previously been ‘Ako learns to skateboard and she’s older’.
The sudden revelation about the bullying of Ako’s former schoolmate turns out to be a whole other backstory, her friend from work might be falling in love, Ako might be following in love herself in a plot that could end up being very ill-advised, there’s a swimsuit shoot, and somebody passes out for some reason.
It is, as I am fond of saying, a LOT. And what was once simple becomes overly complicated and the plotting and conversation is suddenly far less straightforward. The blurb at the end indicates that this has become the story of six lives intertwined, but it sure didn’t start that way.
Which might seem like a bad thing, but these stories are almost all interesting and if it gets a little soap opera, well, it’s not in the most melodramatic way, there just happens to be tons of stuff happening to all these people.
I mean, some of these segments land better than others. I really like some of the sentiment behind the story of one girl who’s training to be a pro but who is falling behind everybody else and losing her love of skating. The way she rediscovers her passion is a lot of fun and I cannot tell if she’s a new addition, but she’s great.
The swimsuit episode does make some points about femininity and objectification, plus seems to come from a place of a character not quite understanding the assignment. That’s appreciated, but it also goes through with it, which is definitely a ‘have your cake and eat it’ proposition.
But, at the end of the day, this is good stuff. It’s the rare case where it overcomes some real quirks of narrative, whether deliberately introduced or not, and still manages to make a mostly-coherent and interesting story out of a cross-section of people.
It’s different than what we’ve seen, and not without its minuses, but still pretty compelling. It still gets a little ponderous with its infodumps, many manga about a subject often do, but it at least has the decency to be well-written outside of that. There have been worse pivots, but there have been better ones too.
4 stars - messy, but still very satisfying, and I can’t say I’m unhappy seeing this expand its focus in this way, although it doesn’t quite manage the smoothest transition.
August 28, 2024
Emotional, self-reflective, funny and awesome. Also I just want to hug everyone of the main characters.
August 22, 2024
Sketchy 3 did not hit quite the same as the first two volumes. That is not to say that it is bad. The art is still wonderful. The skateboarding is authentic. It was cool to see things branch out to other characters and their stories. I really enjoy these people and the subject matter. It was fun to see mention of an X-Games that I was actually at. It adds an extra level of cool when you can be like "I was there!!" I think I just got a little lost in the cast of characters and the timeline. I feel like that is probably more a problem with me than with the material. Some of the gender related stuff had me feeling less inclined to forgive it as well. I just came away from the volume a little less enthusiastic than previous ones. It was still excellent, and I certainly look forward to the rest of the series.
May 1, 2025
Vol. 1 ★★★★☆
Vol. 2 ★★★☆☆
I'm disappointed by this volume. The mangaka is scrambling to introduce the rest of the cast but struggles to balance all these storylines. Previously introduced characters are left in limbo in favor of fresh faces that we barely know anything about. Since the series is only six volumes long, I wish she would stick to a smaller roster and flesh out their arcs instead.
Vol. 2 ★★★☆☆
I'm disappointed by this volume. The mangaka is scrambling to introduce the rest of the cast but struggles to balance all these storylines. Previously introduced characters are left in limbo in favor of fresh faces that we barely know anything about. Since the series is only six volumes long, I wish she would stick to a smaller roster and flesh out their arcs instead.
August 14, 2025
3.5*
I'm still having fun with this series. There are a lot of plot lines to follow in a short book and at points that can make it confusing, or make it feel like certain plot lines are not getting the time they need to really be effective, but I'm still enjoying the read.
I'm still having fun with this series. There are a lot of plot lines to follow in a short book and at points that can make it confusing, or make it feel like certain plot lines are not getting the time they need to really be effective, but I'm still enjoying the read.
August 25, 2024
Man, I’m really digging this series. Seems like the mangaka is going a different direction than originally planned, but I’m excited about it because it should mean more volumes🫶🏻
August 13, 2025
This is a little all over the place, but does feature several outstanding moments.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews