The Dreaming Manga Volume 1, 1 [With Paper Dolls]

4 1/2* stars The ookie spooky vibe was perfect with this manga! Everything from the angles the panels were drawn at, the setting of a creepy school in no-mans-land bushland New Zealand, right down to the art itself. Right off the bat mysteries start coming out of the ancient boarding school wood work and kept me glue to the story till I got to the end making me wish I had gotten more volumes than just the one. It would have been 5 stars (rounded up the rating) except at times I got confused because some of the dialog was in narration boxes instead of speech bubbles. At times as a character spoke to another it starts out in bubbles then went to boxes like it was internal monolog or narration, making things a little jarring and causing the need to reread to make sure I understood who was talking and what was going on. I very much look forward to collecting and reading the following volumes. I'm a sucker for the spooky.

The Dreaming is based on an Australian horror. It is said that at night, girls who go into the bush alone mysteriously disappear. Could this actually be true? Why hasn't the missing girls returned? Does this mean it's true? Amber and her twin sister must find out the secrets before any more girls disappear. The principle is pretty creepy too. Could she be behind this? Or is this really true? What or who is killing these girls? And why? Amber is filled with questions that nobody knows the answer too. If the girls know about this, they should think and not go into the bush at night! There is only one way to find out. We must go into the bush at night and see what is really happening. Let's just hope that we come out. Alive.

I read a segment of this in a magazine a while back, and while it intrigued me a bit I wasn't really all that impressed. But after seeing it and barnes and noble and buying it on a whim, I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. I'm a sucker for a creepy story, and this has all the nesicary ingredients. The setting, plot, and pacing are excellent. I got goosebumps as I read it, and the fact that it's set out in the bush is perfect, because it's a place that fascinates me. And I think it would fascinate anyone who read this. Add into this well developed characters and intriguing mystery, and you've got an exceptional first book. But I've failed to mention the most excellent piece to this story, and that would have to be the artwork. Especially the clothing for the dream sequences, it's magnificently elaborate. And the backgrounds are pure eyecandy, all in all it's a well thought out and well worth a read manga.

In The Dreaming,by Queenie Chan you follow an australian school girl on a fantastical, scientific, and historical adventure. While there is a unexplainable and mystifying aspect, the center ideas of her dreams show evidence of occuring events and foreshadowing that relates to our own dreaming. This also shows fascinating legends and victorian reference. All genres that will apeal to the tasteful reader.

The Dreaming is definitely one of the best mangas I've ever read. I was absorbed from beginning to end, completely immersed in the spooky atmosphere of each page. It's a very imaginative work, with a beautiful Victorian/ gothic setting in Australia. The artwork is clean and flowing, and the storyline has a tight, fast-paced, and well-developed plot (which is a pretty rare find!). It could easily be made into a plot for a movie. It was full of rising suspense as well, and the images are very haunting. (I found the picture of the two Victorian ghost ladies standing in the dorm room at the end of chapter two to be particularly creepy while reading it late at night in my own dorm room!) I highly recommend this manga not just to manga lovers, but anyone who enjoys a good suspense or ghost story!

This title has been something I've been rather intrigued to buy for quite some time now. Queenie-chan has been on the web-manga scene for quite some time now, and I was interested in seeing her debut as a professional comic artist. I would have to say that the outcome has been splendid. The Dreaming is a story set deep in the bush of Australia, at a very old, Victorian feeling boarding school for girls. Jeannie and Amber are new students at this school and are in store for quite the creepy ride. Apparently, the vice principal has a prejudice against identical twins. The two girls, being such, have been snuck into the school by their aunt. Soon after starting classes, Amber and Jeannie begin to have the same odd dreams. From there, the gothic mystery unravels and captures your interest just as the volume finishes, leaving you yearning for more. Overall, the art is VERY solid. Queenie Chan has an identifiable, consistent style. At times, however, the paneling can be a bit too complex, leaving the reader to wonder which frame to move on to next. However, in each panel, Queenie has finely crafted some of the best rendered images that OELManga have to offer. Each page oozes of the foreboding feeling of the school. The backgrounds are well drawn, and the characters fit right into place. My only true qualm about the book is the lettering -- the bubbles are all digitally made, and seem somewhat out of place when you see how organic Queenie's characters look. At that, they're also a bit too big, and the font that is used in them is just the same. Queenie has publicly admitted that using the font has been a mistake, so I can't condemn her for it. Either way, The Dreaming is a well thought out and rather successful attempt at horror manga. The last chapter leaves you yearning for more, on the edge of your seat in suspense, as any good horror manga should. I look forward to the next volume of The Dreaming, and would recommend it to anyone who's interested in the OEL phenomenon. An open mind is required. You can't simply compare these comics to their Japanese counterparts, but when looked at for what they are -- comics -- they're splendid, and The Dreaming is no exception.