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This is hard to put in words so let me illustrate (these are excerpts from two separate mangas):

first example second example

What do these cuts accomplish? Usually in comics each panel shows a different scene.

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  • For me it looks like an ellipsis in picture...
    – Ooker
    May 28, 2021 at 5:54

2 Answers 2

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The primary reason for doing this was to draw the reader's eye up towards the sky, towards the billboard. A side-effect is that it also looks more visually interesting than a single unbroken scene would have. The blank space between the panels gives your brain something to do, as it mentally fills in the gap.

So, we can assume this is done in order to make the manga more visually appealing and interesting to look at. Other times, this could be a random or artistic choice.

In other cases, this can be done to show things that are in a close/similar area. Otherwise, they are split as an artistic choice, although they might be connected, such as the tree in your second image.

(source)

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  • Very nice, I didn't expect a full article dedicated just to this technique. I'll wait a little to see if there are any other answers, but so far this looks like a winner to me!
    – kuchitsu
    May 30, 2021 at 12:42
  • @kuchitsu Thanks, but I'll have to edit my answer because I neglected to look at the second image. hopefully that'll make it more clear May 30, 2021 at 18:37
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After a quick search, I actually found this, though it does not not answer the question directly, it kinda has a nice direction.

Manga is known for its cinematic feel. Every panel is like an action movie, where the camera cuts from a close-up of eyes, to a two-shot profile of a conversation, to a bird’s-eye view of the characters, then a low-to-high angle as a stiletto heel clicks onto the floor. Really make an effort to showcase different camera angles and zooms in your story.

Source

When I think about it this is kind of like ᴅᴀɴɪᴇʟッ's answer, but the "cinematic" word touch gives it more "meat" - Those cuts are supposed to make your imagine the camera as it's closing in, moving from side to side, exactly like in anime or movies, kind of like you see drawn screenplay.

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