Looking into elements that come up with fables, you’ll find characters who talk in textbook manners and gentle lessons drawn from their dialogues. I wonder if you know the fable, The Fox and the Grapes. The fox is struggling to eat grapes in an orchard. When he can’t eventually eat them, he leaves, saying that the grapes must be sour. The fox mentioned earlier that grapes looked so delicious and he was motivated to get them. But when he can’t accomplish what he desired, he disparages them which appear in his dialogues. The fox’s comment, “Those grapes must be sour.” contains such lesson. The purpose is to tell readers a certain topic through the situation and the context of the conversation.

 

But in this case, the fable would have told readers directly. Why doesn’t the fable just verbally express, ‘Although you don’t accomplish your goal, you shouldn’t disparage it.”? It’s because the purpose of fables is empathy for the topic. Not conveying by writing but telling a story by putting it into others, the fable allows readers to be able to empathize and understand more easily.

 

All That We Hope to Be can be also considered as a fable. It would have been so depressing if it were a story of people just like us. The cartoonist eases depression through animal characters. In addition, there is an intention to look cute or sudden comedy that would cut a context off if it’s a conversation amongst people. But since the cartoon has an unrealistic element such as animal characters, those are accepted without the smallest strain.

 

Also, the cartoon actively makes use of a rude talk that doesn’t match cute characters. In the timing when characters might take care of each other and lick scars of each other, they indisputably show reality before us and destroys a touching moment. These make the cartoon appear comfortable although it speaks about gloomy black-and-white artworks and gloomy reality. Considering that the melancholy of reality is reflected in the cartoon’s impression, I think this tempo control is an excellent choice.

 

The rude talk also makes a great contribution to saving the characteristics of the characters. Because the dialogue is unstoppable, the sharp charms of rough characters stand out as they are. As compared to them. tones of naïve characters stand out. As the cartoonist’s dialogue composition skills and directions are added to these, the charms of characters increase exponentially.

 

The cartoon faces reality, but we can read this cartoon a little comfortably because we look at the lives of animals. All That We Hope to Be doesn’t comfort young people but makes them brood about self-depression. After all, the cartoon is about a grumble that doesn’t have an answer and a story that characters want to settle down in reality. It doesn’t speak about realistic improvement or suggest a direction of the future to readers. However, it’s hard to regard all these as shortcomings since the characters are attractive and the sensibility of the cartoon is great. We don’t need to worry about these things. You may say characters are whining, but I don’t dislike them behaving like spoiled children. Whatever it is, isn’t it nice? I’m with an attractive cartoon in the lonely winter. After this year is gone, we will share a greeting on the New Year’s Day tomorrow morning. We will have our resolutions, and we’ll forget about them not long after. The cartoon resembles us being like this, so I don’t dislike it.