 When is manga not manga? When it's written & published by an American. Megatokyo
is perhaps the best known of the online 'manga' & certainly my
favourite - and it's now available in print. Worth buying, or should
you stick to the online edition?
Chapter 1 - Do You Want to Save Before You Quit?
Piro & Largo have been left homeless after Tsubasa headed off in
search of his lost love, leaving Ping-chan (his EDS robo-girl) in
Piro's hands. Piro manages to arrange for them to live in a storeroom
above Megagamers, Largo somehow manages to get a job as an English
teacher (ph34r Great Teacher Largo!!), Ping goes on a rejection-fuelled
rampage before enrolling in Largo's class, and 3v1l appears in the form
of the darkly cute Tohya. Meanwhile, artbook 'thief' Yuki works up the
courage to return the artbook to Piro, Nanasawa gets the wrong idea
about Piro's teenage 'fan club', Kimiko realises Piro is the person who
gave her the railcard, and Largo has arranged for reinforcements for
his fight against the Darkness. Such a lot happening for such a short
chapter...!
Chapter 2 - Things Change Little by Little
Yuki's still obsessed over Piro & his art skills, and eventually
decides to ask him for art lessons - giving her friends and Erika even
more excuses to doubt their motivations. Kimiko goes to her audition
for a role in Sight
- while her interpretation of the character is some way off what the
writers had intended, it does leave an impression, but when she's told
it'll be a few days before she hears she assumes she hasn't gotten the
part. Ping develops an attachment to Tohya, who seems to have some
ulterior motives in developing a friendship with the EDS unit, while
Largo gets caught up in his own little dreamworld after Dom & Ed
arrive on the scene.
Shirt Guy Dom Section
Not much to say, except that it's your typical SGD stuff - you'll
either love it or hate it. Recognising this, it's been collected in
it's own special 'pull out & throw away' section. :)
One-Shot Episodes
Naze Nani Megatokyo, one-off comedy strips & seasonal
specials are all gathered here, along with anything else that doesn't
play a part in the story proper. Some good stuff in here - usually the
Largo gaming strips.
DPD Strips
Compilation of the single-image items that Piro often puts up when he
can't be bothered / can't get around to doing a full strip. Some of the
piece pieces of artwork can be found in here.
Megatokyo Gameworlds
The smallest section at only 4 pages, this covers images of Piro & Largo in their in-game forms
Endgames: Presence
Proving that Piro can't just draw, this is a short story, from the
point of view of in-game Pirogoeth & Largo, dealing with their time
in the game Endgames. Apparently this plays a part in the Megatokyo
story - and if you look at some of the strips in Chapter 2 (hint: a
number of strips between pages 69-96) you may just get an idea of how.
That's my interpretation, anyway.
The main story of Megatokyo has always had its ups and downs,
often depending on Fred Gallagher's mood at the time - but taken over
the whole of the run so far it's been a damn good story. As such,
there's not much here that isn't likeable - Piro manages to capture the
feel of a genuine manga story in a way that most 'Amerimanga' authors
can't, and it has a shoujo feel to it that's strangely addictive. Throw
in the gaming references and Largo's antics, and it's a mix that's
almost irresistable.
The surpise in this book is also the part that isn't available online - Endgames - Presence
is a damn good short story in its own right, and makes me wish for a
full-length version at some stage. It also proves that there's more to
Piro than a comic author - writing in prose is a somewhat different
skill to writing dialog for a comic, and Presence shows he has talent in that area too.
The only criticism is that the story moves very slowly on occasions
- even in print form where you're reading several months' worth of
comics in one go. It's still an improvement over the online version,
though, where the pace can be positively glacial & it's not unusual
for me to have to go back over the previous strips to remind myself
what's happened. On the plus side, you get to skip past the SGD comics,
which have never really appealed to me ^^;
Overall, though, well worth the money & highly recommended. |
