darrin wrote: ↑Thu Jun 15, 2017 6:08 pm
{has not broken character} I'm not sure I buy that. They are under a blanket in a car, now would be the perfect opportunity for her to "be herself" for Piro even if only for a short time. It might be the last opportunity for a while, depending on what happens in upcoming strips (fanboys catch their scent again, TPCD ratchets up the mayhem). And for all that her behavior doesn't seem like "typical Kimiko" to some people, it doesn't really seem like "typical Miho" to me either.
It still seems (based upon previous actions etc) too aggressive for Kimiko (at least to Piro and in the now) even if it were in private calm circumstances. Sure, it's possible this is all
her, a reaction to the situation, clarifying the message, testing the waters, pushing the issue. I agree it's not something we've seen Miho physically do. Even though such has been hinted at and mentioned in the past (such as whatever Yuki was hiding from Yutaka on the laptop, what Miho said about her adventures with Meimi, the alleged way she got Piro his outfit at the school), we've not seen Miho put the moves on. Those were different stories though. So 'being in character' is more conditional;
if this is what the character would do,
if it goes where it might end up, and so on. I suppose also the case could be made that if this is Kimiko's character taking advantage of the situation to push an issue, that is something we have seen Miho do. And there's also that no matter how emotive and natural and good at embodying the essence of whatever role this is, Kimiko isn't experienced with and practiced at it.
What would either Kimiko or whoever she is playing right now do during a slight lull in a tense ongoing escape whilst hidden? That might help determine a lot. What are the internal thoughts and short- and long-term goals though, we really don't (and pretty much can't) know for sure on any objective level. Some of this might rely upon Piro; Kimiko knows he wants things to be right and that he has been going slowly (to say the least), we see he seems to think this is a strange thing to do right now right here. But is he supposed to be acting in his own role, and if so will he catch on and continue to take the correct actions. So maybe the bigger questions aren't what she might do next or why, but how will he react, and what is going to happen in the escape itself.
(
EDIT: Let alone "floppy corpse" Miho, which is what she should be doing if she were really "staying in character"
)
That's a good point, if this is supposed to still be sad dead grrl, she wouldn't be doing anything. However, it's not really that, is it. They are still being followed by groups that are still around, the stories aren't done. This character (depending on the viewpoint) is more the life-breathing bringing something special upcoming voice actress and freshly minted Idol, playing dead to help save the Analogue from her preordained fate. To die for Miho in order to diffuse a critical social situation. Which illusion includes being carried by the emotively compelling artist who is also linked to the players and the roles past and present, and whom the VA has professed her love for, apparently. What would those characters do. Which characters? Miho didn't gap to the ASF, she had a pacemaker put in and Kimiko is pretending to be her and be dead. If this is some gambit by Kimiko to accelerate the relationship with Piro, that might just be part of another story, which again seems pretty Miho-like. Unless this is more akin to the story Miho made up about Kotone, or is about VA/Artist, waitress/gamer, two shy people developing a relationship, how the world ends, or how a normal can become an Analogue. So it rather all hinges on determining first what character would be the one potentially being stayed in.
{ratcheting things up} Well... so far she's only kissed his shirt.
Suggestive certainly, but technically nothing steamy has happened yet. I'm still seeing her look in 1479 as "concerned /worried" rather than "aroused", and whatever she's talking herself into / working herself up to I don't think she's quite there yet. Could she get to such a state in a very few strips, assuming that's what she's going for? Definitely, but at this precise moment it's still arguably ambiguous.
Yes, for now, of course. If it does what it might, that would be the ratchet. It doesn't have to happen though, no. It could also just turn out to be a mater of pushing the oddly acting person away (as well as somebody on the lam in a moving vehicle laying on broken safety glass can push somebody away) for the time being. A bump or stop tosses everyone around and ends a potential Miri & Zack moment or whatever up to that it might could have been. Some other interruption externally. Junpei pops in. Yuki arrives. Meimi stops by. Masamichi standing in the road forces Megumi to slam on the brakes. So while it could be that whatever this is continues, we could also get Piro refusing to play along any more and shaking her or yelling at her, or she stops right after this because it was something merely symbolic. Perhaps it even turns out to be the last thing that happens before we get a vehicle/mech version of Bambi versus Godzilla. So it's also more a matter of where it might end up later as to if it's actually going to be exceedingly affectionate to the nth.
What it looks like so far and extrapolating, well, some are fond of suggesting the simplest answer is likely the correct one. Yet there are so many potential answers in the big picture that depend on what's being looked at, and what happens next -- little is simple in an almost infinite sea of choice.
Before they happened, who would have fully expected such as Erika becoming a teacher and calling out Miho and Piro for note passing at the school. Komugiko being the one helping to extract everyone from the bath house, Erika and Largo becoming a couple, Piro actually knowing Miho, Yuki and Yutaka tracking Miho and Piro through the gaps, The Horde tearing down the school, Miho jumping out of the diner with Kimiko the instant before Ed blew it up, Junpei stopping Megumi from getting her head demolished and in a much more spectacular way than when Miho stopped Ed from doing the same to Ping, Piro looking at a very interesting drawing just before showing us he knew exactly where Miho had been the whole time she'd been gone, or even her retreating to the ASF after ending her direct interactions with Ed and everyone starting to forget about her.
Things aren't always as they seem, but until something happens along a path there's not much that can be done but expect it will continue as to what it looks like. However it turns out to be like that or not.
Yana wrote: ↑Thu Jun 15, 2017 10:56 pm
..... but I can't help but think that the next words out of Piro's mouth are going to something along the lines of "WTF?!"
It's the obvious solution and I'm stickin' to it.
The wide eyes, the "uh...", the continuing wide eyes. Exactly so currently, indeed.