Themes and Structure
Much of Off Beat's tone is derived from its relation to urban culture. The fictional version of New York that Quick has constructed is incredibly rich in detail, with attention to minuscule factors such as street addresses and subway/bus commute schedules. Often, the establishing shots of a scene will concentrate on landscape to capture in essence how a given area affects or portrays characters within that scene. Examples include shots of busy traffic and corner stores, Tory's messy room, and a dilapidated park. References are made to such problems as gang warfare, counterfeiting, illegal immigration, arms dealing, and terrorism in the form of bomb threats. Conspiracy theory and hacker subculture are also subjects that are explored. Editor Lillian Diaz-Przybyl has commented:
"It features a spot-on, great depiction of New York. Everything Fake does wrong with setting, this does right. The location sets a brilliant backdrop for a really great story with a smart Walter Mitty twist, and cute guys to boot! It's truly manga with an American sensibility. The character designs are unique and appealing, the romance is sweet and understated, and it actually looks like Queens, which makes me really happy."
The realism of the manga is counterbalanced by the presence of fantasy-style elements, owing to the author's desire to experiment in the drawing style and expand herself as an artist in hopes of one day publishing something exclusive to the genre. Cutaways and dream sequences are usually employed for this purpose, differentiated from regular panels by a black background (as opposed to white), and range from representations of the Sengoku period of Japan and Western shootouts, to lab experimentation in science fiction.
Off Beat is divided into chapters. Each volume is made up of six cumulative chapters (i.e. Chapter 6 carries over from Volume 1 into Chapter 7 at the beginning of Volume 2). Preceding the very first chapter of the series is a short prelude which establishes Tory's overanalytic attitude and motivation, with Chapter 1 leaping a time span of 347 days. Several chapter headings and pages not directly linked to the storyline make use of monochromatic versions of Off Beat illustrations that Quick has produced independent of her work on the manga.
Read more about this topic: Off Beat (comics)
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