On installment topics:
I toyed with the idea of abandoning my impromptu “comic per post” policy today and dedicating this instalment to explaining why “gag-a-days ''really'' aren’t my style”
, but the most likely alternative was writing about Taiki. So yeah, one curbstomp battle in my conscientiousness later and you get to hear all about my favourite characters from what has become my favourite webcomic. I’ve kind of just decided that I’ve calmed down enough to avoid gushing, I don’t think I actually have though since my plans for calming down didn’t take into account the fact that the webcomic updates regularly and every new strip rouses that fangirlish glee within me that I’ve come to associate with this webcomic. Still have no idea why I like it so much, not for lack of trying mind you, but there you go. Enjoy.
If you still don’t know what Taiki [Trope Page] is, then you can read me gushing about it here. Before you ask I know that I’ve already talked (at length) about the webcomic but today I’m departing from my usual style (Do I have a usual style? We’re only 5 posts in. Oh well) to talk about the characters within a webcomic.
Character development is one of the reason I love character-driven storylines so much. There is something about watching a character grow and change over time, seeing them interact with the world in different ways that is just satisfying when it's done right. Having said that, my favourite characters from Taiki do not undergo character development. Rather, their personalities are established and then simply expanded upon. There’s probably a term for that (beyond static character, obviously) but if there is, I can’t remember it.
When I say “favourite characters” I am referring to two specifically. These two are rarely mentioned individually (besides in these three strips) and if you’ve read the comic you can probably guess who they are by now. They are of course, Lil and Raine. Why do I like them so much? Chapter 3, page 18 through to page 24. Go ahead, read those pages. Now. Okay, now say it with me: Daaaaaawwww...
This is usually the point I would call them “bloody cute” or “goddamn adorable” but the words “cute” and “adorable”, no matter how many intensifiers I use, fail to convey the magnitude of the “daww” that that sequence drags out of me. To help you get the picture though, I’ve rewritten this paragraph so many times I’ve actually added the word “daww” to MS Word’s dictionary so that my text isn’t covered in squiggly red lines. And that doesn’t embarrass me at all.
It’s probably my inner romantic coming out (a rare and wonderous thing which never happens on purpose), but I just love the dynamic between these two characters and especially how they manage to avoid being completely serious even when they’re being completely serious (Okay, I just realised what a contradiction that is, but the only thing I don’t like about Taiki is how my vocabulary seems to go straight out the window whenever I talk about it. I’m honestly struggling to get my meaning across here. My old English teacher would have me shot). They always come across as either humorous, supportive or “daww” (translation: cute and adorable). Please note that none of those are mutually exclusive. It’s not that they can’t be serious, they just never seem serious.
Take the arc between pages 50 and 63. Raine, always the more... noticeable of the two, is being entirely serious, making jokes and being a supportive friend all at the same time. As characters, both of them seem so... simple, and yet I can’t help but view them as both nicely rounded and damned enjoyable to read.
This is the longest instalment I’ve written to date so I’m going to end with this:
fucking ADORABLE!I’m going to end this little gushing session here, more because trawling the archive for those strips has made me really want to read through the lot of them again than because I’ve run out of things to say. Don’t worry, you won’t have to endure me gushing about Taiki for much longer, I’ve only got one good rant left in me and I’ll save that for another time.
Thanks for reading everyone!
