Megatokyo

Update with a bit of analysis and a bit of punching.

Interesting. I'm still confused about a lot of what's going on, but this seems consistent with the general hypothesis that Miho is some sort of personified story archetype. Also, Google Translate says her line in the fifth panel is Irish and says "I am stupid and I hate myself." Since when is Miho Irish?

Strip 1402 and the few following strips appear to be the best summary we'll get in the near future. Her existence as a sort of pathological "story" with a life of its own is pretty much 100% confirmed, and it also gives a possible context for the "you fight like a drunken sailor" comment and the Irish. It's never really been specified where she came from originally.

I like Junpei's sister (wait, just realized she wasn't actually confirmed as his sister ... eh, it's the family compound, she's probably related somehow). She's funny, and has an impressively low tolerance for Miho's shenanigans.

That backstory would also be pretty odd for a Japanese girl of the time period, but perfectly within reach for an Irish one. Japan was still pretty isolationist back then.

Now you've got me wondering what time period it actually was. I'm seeing a ring-shaped life preserver and metal bulkhead doors in page 1403, peaked caps in page 1404, and a metal-hulled ship and steamship smokestacks mixed with sail-masts in page 1405. After a little searching, those all seem to fairly consistently date to some time after 1800-1850, so perhaps the author was actually paying attention (if things were too anachronistic we might assume that this sort of dating would be unreliable).

It's worth noting that Miho spoke Gaelic in strip 1353

In an entirely unrelated Internet thread, this came up, and I thought it was relevant: "There's a peculiar Celtic tendency to dwell on the melancholy and negative. Grudges are carried through generations, lost loves are commemorated in songs that last centuries, past battles, won and lost, are remembered in special days or in whispered conversations in corners with old women. Then we'll have a pint." Looks like Miho's depressing love story would fit right in; this is becoming more plausible by the moment.

The question is, given that Miho isn't Asian (as said by Junpei's sister), when and how did she wind up in Japan? It seems like she's been there for a while at this point.

Update. Ping has changed again.

Man, it's been a while since we last saw those two - over 70 strips (although admittedly not all of those were story strips). That hair tho. Magnificently fluffy.

Is it just me, or have updates gotten more reliable lately?

The updates have gotten a lot more regular lately. He's been putting out 4 comics per month since February, primarily thanks to the support for his new Patreon site. I'd post a link to it, but I'm new here so the forum won't let me.

edited 29th Jul '17 5:09:12 AM by paarfi

Here you go. I wasn't able to find a link on his site, which was weird. Had to search on Patreon itself.

Missed a few updates. Here is Ping finding out how much she changed, here is Meimi trying to fix Zom-Zom, here is Yuki contemplating her recent actions, and here is Mugi taking her daughter to see her great-grandmother. Also confirms that they are kitsune, though Mugi doesn't have any power.

Update. On the nature of monsters.

Main story comic is back. Yuki Fails a Spot Check.

Update

Reverse pantsing?

Update. Yuki wants to help the injured TPCD cops, but they all have magical girl detectors.

edited 7th Oct '17 7:44:51 AM by Discar

I think Yuki mostly wanted to help Mrs. Kobayashi, and the others were just in the vicinity.

Other comments: Mrs. Kobayashi's combination of attitude and cutesy language continues to be hilarious, and it still amuses me how "uncontrolled Magical Girl" is considered a much worse threat than anything else the Cataclysm Department deals with. Given what we've seen Yuki or Miho do, they may have a point.

With all the custom ringtones, I thought it was merely phones until I read your post.

Update. Mrs Kobayashi used to be a Magical Girl, and finally figures out Yuki is one. And is the reason her son keeps getting injured.

Yuki's expression here is absolutely priceless.

Update. Guys, that is your boss's daughter. Are they all really that stupid, or is there something about m-girls that causes this behavior? In their defense, Yuki did say "magical girls supposed to be cute" when Largo first gave her this ensemble.

Also interesting that Yuki is much stronger than her mother. Wonder if that's going to become a plot point or if it's just a background detail.

Meimi not actually triggering any magical girl alarms makes sense, especially when you remember who she's based on — Saint Tail, who's more stage magician and phantom thief than magical.

Yeah, Yuuki doesn't look like a magical at all, given how much she spends in civvies. And yeah, she doesn't seem to be, well, powerful, either. Which makes you wonder doesn't it... If a middling magical girl like Yuuki triggers the alarms like crazy...

Remember when Yuki was first detected back when they were trying to subdue giant Zom-Zom, they mentioned three m-girls of "potentially catastrophic grade." Miho wasn't on that list. Meaning that even a middling magical girl is fully capable of threatening cities.

I'm reminded of the last time Yuki looked that upset. This should be good. Or at least entertaining to watch.