[1338] - "my First Thought", "what kind of sick twisted universe..."

The main MT site seems to be really hosed and i can't seem to get it working - i'll have to see what i can do tomorrow. Until then, i'm just gonna have to be a child of the cloud and post it in the fogbank, so here is your copy for your viewing pleasure:



(yes, the eb1l of imgur, but hey, it will do for now)

(here's a few more places: here is a link, and if that doesn't work so well, i'll be posting it to twitter, pinterest, facebook, deviantart, etc... links to follow)

fredrin

yay! l337 + won, and a hack around

This post has been edited by elc2012 on Jul 18 2012, 09:56 PM

Back to square one it seems .

... Fun begins.

So has Junpei been in Sendai for a while? I wonder how quickly a real ninja could get there.

If Largo is a viable option, how about a super-strong, gynoid, video game accessory? Or is Ping already to close to Miho?

I almost wish Miho's last line had been "You asked for it.".

Server's sick? Uguu~

AWESOME!

Piro has begun a little cross over to other side ever so slightly? Has he taken his first step? The look on Piro's face in panels 3 & 5 is hilarious and that last panel is even more HILARIOUS! YES!




< prays for main site to heal >

Calling Largo is safer than calling an ambulance?

Okay, now I'm scared.

nice! glad I checked the forums =D

DeviantArt version has a high-res download link too

I'm only going to say I like Miho's look here very much. I mean she was okay with no clothes on but . . no, there was no but - it was a good sequence but there's only so much exposition a strip can take.

Miho , while less exposed , is still attempting to exposit .

Yay comic. I really like the expressions in this one.

Interesting what happened here. Piro didn't call for ambulance. Even though he doesn't "suddenly believe [her]", he does trust her. Good for Piro. I'll still see this as the way forward. Piro doesn't have to believe in her "sick and twisted universe"; he just has to believe in her.

The forum discussion we had about calling Largo seems good as well. Piro did think about it, but didn't do it because Largo's too far away. The surprise is that Miho agrees with us that Largo might have done some good. That's awesome.

Of course none of this gets us much closer to helping poor Yutaka. But at least they've stopped fighting and are back to thinking. Maybe next comic an idea will strike.

Edit: Actually, the Largo option might still be open. Yuki's Delivery Service could bring him from Sendai in a jiffy. On the other hand, Largo's phone isn't getting reception so Piro couldn't reach him even if he did call. Hmmm.

This post has been edited by paarfi on Jul 19 2012, 07:42 AM

Fred? I could kiss you.

Thank you for posting the comic on the forum.

So now... the question is, did 1337 happen? Or was that a figment of Piro's imagination?

What happened between Largo and Erika was real.

Miho doesn't realize the some of her perceived enemies may be allies. For starters, she could call a certain soldier of love, justice and enjo kosai along with her robotic co-conspirator to come to her aid.

Of course it's real. But is it only real in Piro's head?

Nice comic! Thanks for the emergency post in the forum, Fred.

Very interesting exchange twixt PxM. Piro's perception of Miho's (MT) world may actually be expanding a bit. We can hope.

I liked Yuki's response to the overheard conversation in panel 5. She could use her other mentor right about now.

And how fast could a ninja get there?

Keep 'em comin' Fred!

You know it'd be disturbing if in fact 1337 was all in Piro's head and Junpei was actually in Sendai identifying corpses...

It would forever change the feel of the comic. Thus it would never happen. But man would that be the most bizarre plot twist yet in MT! ^^;;

Oh hey, a comic. Thanks for the heads-up, Tangent.

Heh. Largo's not so much "outside the story" as he's ANTI-story. He's safe(er) to bring in for help because no conceivable visual novel story could EVER involve him.

Or maybe calling in local friends won't result in a story being created? I don't know... Still, calling in Yuki or Kobayashi's mothers would probably solve the problem.

So Piro thinks Largo to be too far away to assist with Yutaka, and Miho agrees with Piro. She certainly goes quickly along with the idea of Largo as help too. We'd imagine probably in being assistance that won't trigger bad things. Also, Yuki is paying enough attention to repeat the idea out loud.

Piro didn't take the dare, Yuki hasn't zapped out, Miho is still behaving the same, and we're still left with no help and no resolution. Cool.

He might even believe her too. After all, he's apparently admitting he's in another realm and that she brought him here. Yes, that could be a figure of speech though. Trust, that makes sense too. Yet, hasn't he really been trusting her anyway. For quite at while, to lead and control things. He's certainly outwardly not been calling the shots, at least not since she freaked out about being put together. Trusting her since her being freaked out (circa Kimiko's phone call) if not trusting her since last night in front of the computer and sketches, or since at the ASF looking for her, or since the very start of the chapter in the cell and interrogation.

Totally.

It seems rather surprising, but maybe it's not so much so. Largo and Miho seem to have made their peace (somewhat if not more) at Ikebukuro, which is likely one of the reasons Largo helped get her out of the CoE, which we seem to have seen on the subway after the CoE as well.
Although, the way Miho puts it here certainly is a sort of slam on Largo ('the one time he could actually be useful go figure') which damning with faint praise (or worse) is pretty much how she's been referring to most everyone today; Piro, Yuki, Meimi, Dom; even to herself. It's like the only people she hasn't recently been doing that to have been Yutaka and Seraphim.

Have you considered the dilemma is a false one simply existing to show Piro what's up with her? Not that I'm saying she has all the answers, but what if she does have them or doesn't need any of them. That the situation will suffice to work the magic.

Ah. Not just Yuki or Junpei, but what about the gaps? They are there, it as been said, for those that need them.

Then again seeing where Largo and Erika are in 1337 and then discussing such things in 1338. That could be like what it did for us seeing Largo and Erika on the train, Ping and Junko at the Ibara house, Yuki and Yutaka on the phone, Meimi and Masamichi involved in various aspects of the CoE aftermath at home, and Kimiko on the way to and at Lockart with the NPC. It could suggest heavily that none are going to just show up and throw everything off.

We've been told so by the powers that be, even. The top-of-train ride happened, arriving, changing clothes and losing connectivity, then getting to the people Largo is talking to. Erika's comments during the voiceover is her talking to him while he's relaying the building of things to the crowd. That building process is the part that's more how he saw things it appears, stylized and entertaining. Which fits very nicely.

Does she really actually think of anyone as an enemy? Resource, cast member. Fulfilling some role in things, pivotal or not.
As an analogue who's the real thing though, she might have nothing to realize in the first place. Just a bunch of different stories to keep track of, including the one she herself is more directly a part of accidental or on purpose or otherwise.

Indeed. Too bad we've really no idea where those two have gotten to or what they're up to. We never were shown them getting to school. Plus, there are shotguns involved.

More and more people seem to be diffusing into this sick and twisted universe. Which appears the same one that's been here the entire time....

The eternal question. Perhaps he's simply getting glimpses into (or morphing into) the non real reality of unreal realness. Becoming one of them externally rather than just internally. Letting himself go, to open up to the fantastic that really isn't all that much, depending on how one perceives it.

No longer does it necessarily hold sway when Piro says he's not Largo and he doesn't care to purchase anything. Progress! Maybe.

As a paranoid delusional psychotic who believes everything, trusts nothing, makes up all his own exceedingly melodramatic over-complex explanatory rules, and gets things done? The wildcard sacrifice that is immune to emotional manipulation (statistically speaking.)

Erika, Endgames, explaining Endgames to Erika, the way he's progressed with how he thinks about and interacts and assists with Ping, the way Piro thinks about him.

We know Yuki can carry (somehow) a 'zilla. Snagging a Largo-san and Junpei should be a piece of cake.

Nice to see, that while we do appreciate the insane backgrounds in past strips, Fred can still put an awesome comic together WITHOUT them.

And they could arrive ready for an ambulance trip themselves

It'd be an even more bizarre plot twist if Meimi went to collect her fee for "neutralizing" Largo and a bonus for securing "unsecure weapon"

This post has been edited by Invisigoth on Jul 19 2012, 02:41 PM

"Wait. You mean you caused a [censored] earthquake to kill a man whose neck you could snap with your little finger? You killed how many people and caused how much destruction?!?"

"Yes. I should increase my fee, shouldn't I."

Oh, Meimi would never kill anyone, and that's why we all love her.

But yes, on that other thing, who'd purposely trust Yuki to bring them along anywhere, much less expecting an easy pain-free trip anywhere. Her track record is terrible. No, it's the gaps or nothing.

Hey, how about this though. Ping's lost her always active link to Largo, hasn't she. Is is something automatically noticeable, or is it something that has to be activated first. Last time she had to go a'searchin' for it.

Sounds like merriment is in the works, I tell you what!

It's fall, the girls just put on their winter school uniforms. Last years tsunami disaster was in March. No one is talking about the recent earthquake. I believe tsunami disaster now happened well before the events in MT chapter one page one. It's basically been officially retconned. And 1337 was just what Piro imagined Largo to be off doing in Sendai. Imagination => time can be variable, but we know Piro knows about the disaster and that it happened long enough ago to not directly affect the action in MT. Kind of like when Ping woke up from her dream at the beginning of the last chapter and the Omake that proceeded the chapter being re-cast into Ping's dream. It doesn't affect the story, but perhaps does illustrate characters.

Oh, and Piro's expression in Frame one perfectly mimics the expression of MT fans reading comic 1337. Miho's question of whether Piro is reconsidering that she is telling the truth only makes sense if Piro has paused in reaching for her phone for more than moment or two between the last frame of 1336 and the first frame of 1338. Just perfect for 1337 to be his quick picturing of the kind of help Largo would offer in a disaster.

I think you caught this pretty well Tangent. I'm guessing if true, that 1337 becomes mostly the same as an Omake. A little fourth wall tweak. An entertaining aside, with an entertaining segway back into the ongoing story as a bit of fantasy by one of the characters. Probably to be never referenced again.

If we assume comic 1337 was Piro Fantasy/Omake then we don't know where the real Largo is at this moment, only that a couple of hours ago he was on a train in Sendai when he called Piro. Some time has passed and given the speed of the bullet trains, Largo could be in Tokyo again, ready to burst into the back room of the bathhouse having traced Miho's phone there. But I tend to think this comic is just a bring us back into the canon comic wind down of the 1337 comic. Future action will come either after Piro calls the ambulance, or when Yuki does some miraculous magical girl stuff. She desperately wants to help and has been sitting still for way too long for a fifteen year old with super powers and an injured friend.

So anyway, as long as we're on the subject of fantasy...

/cue wavy lines, cut to Sailor's imagination.
Comic 1339 - Frame One: a fast train is passing a rural rail crossing while pedestrians wait.

Frame two: The train is gone and the pedestrians are looking around confused (it disappeared)

Frame three: Largo and Erika on top of the train (in an embrase) looking around because they are unexpectedly already stopped at the station in Tokyo. Largo with big stupid smile is saying "Wow, I thought we wouldn't be back for three more hours, that's a new record." Erika just looks annoyed that there fun little trip has ended too early.

Frame four: Closeup of Largo and Erika. Erika is wiping the obvious lipstick stains from Largo's face. Erika says, "Ok, I'll buy it, but why has this long distance bullet train stopped at our local commuter rail station two blocks from the store?"

Frame five: Yuki is stepping out from around the back of the train brushing the dust from and straightening her clothes, well out of sight of Largo and Erika.

Frame six: Yuki leaps in to the air away from the train.

Frame seven: Yuki is back at the back room in the bathhouse. She is holding Miho's wrist and has pulled it toward Piro's face. Miho's phone is still in that hand. Yuki says to Piro, "Call your friend Piro-san. He is closer than you think."

/wavy lines, segway back to forums.

Heh, maybe not.

DS