The Webcomics Weekly is back in your life and so is the newest season of “Under the Oak Tree” from Manta Comics. Mike last reviewed the comic back in February and he’s got some thoughts on its return. They’re post-SDCC thoughts too! Speaking of Eisners, did I call it or did I call it?
Under the Oak Tree
Episodes 65-67
Schedule: Saturdays
Adapted and Storyboarded by Seomal
Illustrated by P
Translated by Jellyfish
Original Story by Kim Suji
Reviewed by Michael Mazzacane
“Under the Oak Tree” has returned for its third season. This review is based on the opening three episodes of the season (65-67) provided by the publisher, Manta. Manta is a webtoon site that does require a subscription to read some of its comics. Currently, as part of the season 3 launch, “Under the Oak Tree” episodes 1-50 are free to read until July 27.
After the season finale to “Under the Oak Tree” it’s interesting to see how Seomal undercuts some of the internal melodrama of Maximillian in those final episodes as Princess Agnes Drachina Reuben arrives to court. Maxi is filled with dread over this royalty who knows her husband in more intimate ways than she does, due to their experience in the dragon wars. P draws the princess as pretty your ideal fantasy princess, she even wears pants! A play with gender that gives her character the tomboyish girl next door of your dream energy. Everything is setup for them to become romantic rivals in some strained plot that is all built around Maxi’s internal self-loathing and Riftan being more respectful, but as loquacious as Jotaro Kujo in “Stardust Crusaders” (at least the Matt Mercer du). Seomal zags in this regard, Princess Agnes in these opening episodes isn’t here to force Maxi to the sidelines and back to her abusive parents. She … seems more interested in being her friend!
There is some hint that she might be there to effect some political stratagem on the economic potential of Antol. As much as I would love to get into what Riftan’s tax policy is and how he’s going to deal with the monsters in the hills, it seems doubtful Seomal or the original material will get ino this aspect of the series that much. Still, it provides the necessary bit of courtly political intrigue that highlights the relationship between Agnes and Max. This series isn’t the kind to get into the taxes of it all but it is totally the kind to use that to explore the limits of friendship.
Overall, the art team remains consistent with the previous 60+ episodes, minus the chibi mini ones. P does a fantastic job of drawing Agnes in that idealized way where the light catches the character just right, and her blonder hair glows in the sunlight. It’s idealized but not objectifying, she becomes the platonic ideal in these moments. And it is in these moments that you find the tension between Agnes as a friend to the good lady Maxi or a rival. The overall webtoon panel structure isn’t anything groundbreaking in this section, but it’s functional and never gets in the way. The art team maybe goes a little overboard on textural flourishes in spots with speed lines and other stamp effects. It feels wrong to complain about this, as these techniques are often used to defeat my most hated enemy: overly large gutter space. But functionally in these episodes, it’s unnecessary gilding in spots that become distracting. The same goes for the emotional lettering around certain reactions, the moments where it says “sad” and such. When used sparingly these moments work, but it can get a little thick with it at times.
The art and the lettering (I assume that’s by Jellyfish, but could be wrong) come together nicely for these little chibi reaction sort of responses. There will be these cartooned micro faces under word balloons, often in panels where who is speaking isn’t clear due to it being an environmental transition. Other times though these cartooned faces come to add a little bit of spice on the ends of sentences that help to give this series a great deal of life. On one hand, it’s very much leaning into that lush Western fantasy romance, but it’s also having fun and reducing the imagery down to its cartoon basics in order to reveal something purer.
“Under the Oak Tree” continues to be a solid character study and romance between two flawed people.
