Nowadays D-frag is one of my favorite comedy manga, but when I tried reading it for the first time it didn’t feel that funny or good, in fact I dropped it yhree times before reading it up to catching up, since theen I have re read this many times.
I think it is because of this “retort based comedy” that at the time of my first reading was kind of unfamiliar to me. A protagonist playing straightman and highlighting all the time how weird the antics of the side characters where wasn’t that appealing.
Fast forward a few years later and I now find it hilarious l don’t know it it’s an acquired taste from reading more manga or just growing up.
So I’m curious for those that have read it or those that have tried, whate are your opinions on D-Frag?
‘Retort based comedy’ is certainly the correct description for this style, and it seems to be a staple of Japanese humor. The whole boke+tsukkomi schtick, right? It seems that for a lot of people, the retort is effectively the punch-line, but to me it feels more like a laugh track. Not necessarily a bad thing as long as the jokes or the antics are good, but you can get the same problem that, say, The Big Bang Theory has: tricking people into laughing at unfunny jokes.
I haven’t seen/read enough D-Frag to tell if this is the case for it as well, but I do remember checking out the show and being uninterested in watching the second episode.
The funniest manga to me are still Grand Blue, Kaguya Wants to be Confessed To, Nichijou, Hinamatsuri, Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro, Jitsu Wa Watashi Wa (that one is very retort-based actually) and I’m probably forgetting some more. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun was pretty funny because of the outrageous misunderstandings that kept piling on top of each other. Komi-san used to be great but kinda fell off a little bit. So make of that what you will.
I had never thought about tsukkomi as laugh tracks but damn does that analogy fit them perfectly. I used to hate it as it felt cheap but some point along the way D-frag just got to me and I find it so funny nowadays.
I definitely agree with your assessment of good comedies, I love Grand Blue, especially the art style I feel is one of the best in the medium. Especially the over exaggeration to land a punchline, its kind of the inverse of when they dumb down characters into moe that they used to do so much in the 2010s and Im son into it. Also, Hinamatsuri is peak comedy, really loved the ridiculousness of Mishima side stories.
Had never heard of Chio-chan, added it to my read list, lowkey the plot sounds like Murphy’s Law.
Also as a side note, oh boy do I have so much to recommend if you like misunderstanding based comedy in manga, its probably one of my favorite genres!