Kamidu

Poking Around Pt 91

Added 2020-05-15 16:38:06 +0000 UTC

And the next part… which veered somewhat the original scenario (whoops). That’s to say, Bo’s own flashback was to be a lot shorter but I wanted to keep the text-to-image ratio consistent. After all, comics are a visual medium.

And I liked the challenge of trying to draw a maturing Bo and Tori – notice how they lost the cutesy aesthetic over time? Granted, I had to do a bit of a Kenny with Bo since… well, this is what I had to work with. And I couldn’t fit in the moment they evolved though – maybe that’ll come down the line.

Won’t lie, one panel was inspired by something; I’ll leave you to work what that is. And yeah, that’s it. I threw in a lot of subtext this time– especially with Bo’s inner conflict right at the end there. Also, now you know how Bo participates despite the wings (tied to his shoulder and mawashi).

Thank you again to everyone for supporting these comics. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do making them.

TL Notes:

“Fortunately/unfortunately”: A methodology game used in primary school creative writing lessons. It was a way of encouraging explorative storytelling.
“Hisses me off, these foregone conclusions”: A convoluted reference to 必至 hisshi, a term used in shogi (Japanese chess) when a checkmate is obviously coming and there’s nothing you can do about it.
“Chiyonofuji-san”: Referring to Chiyonofuji (Mitsugu Akimoto), a famous yokozuna (sumo grand champion) who won 31 tournaments, had a 53-match winning streak and was active for 21 years. Interestingly, Chiyonofuji was one of the lightest yokozuna (under 300lbs/ 21 stones/ 136 kgs), but he popularised barbell-training within sumo giving him a far more muscular appearance than most wrestlers at the time. If you want to know more, someone translated a short commemorative documentary.
“♪It’s all flipped, turned UPSIDE DOWN”: Reference to an anime ending song I really liked at the time.
摺足 suriashi: is a shuffling exercise in which the feet don’t leave the ground; it helps strengthen sumo wrestlers’ legs, sense of balance and foot grip.
“NeoPet”: Referring to a virtual pet website that was popular in the early 2000s. Amazingly, it still exists today (at the time of posting this, 15th May 2020). My apologies, the fire cat has that sort of look about it to me.
キーンコーンカーンコーン: what’s on the bowl reads as kinkon-kankon, onomatopoeia for Big Ben chiming. That’s what those Japanese school bells are mimicking. Because Big Ben, big bowl…
ちゃんこ鍋 chankonabe: A very thick protein-rich hotpot or stew sumo wrestlers consume to put on weight.
脱境 dakkyō: overcoming mental barriers.
勝負: reads as shōbu (game).
Omphaloskepsis: Literal Greek for navel-gazing (omphalos means navel, skepsis means ‘to look at’). And it’s a cheap pun referring to this beastie.