Sleepless Domain

The Melties look like they're at least 15-16... there's a joke in one alt-text about the "fan theory that all the girls die when they turn eighteen," and in another that "adults must be accompanied by a minor at all times" so maybe their eighteenth birthday?

There was also an Alt Text joke that, while not strictly indicative of their age, said they still lived with their parents.

Zoe mentions her sister going to college after she stopped being a magical girl. Since magical girls can go to school while active, it stands to reason that she lost her powers around the time she finished high school.

I had a thought recently. One of those things that I've seen but until now didn't make much of.

For all that she's admired by the student body, and popular with the people as a whole, Heartful Punch has a bet definite anti-authoritarian streak in her.

She frequently goes places she shouldn't ("They say it's off-limits but, y'know, whatever") smarts off to her RA and draws that picture of the nurse, huffs that her agent answers to her, not the other way around, and even at least one Alt Text gag has the "You're not my mom" line.

Wonder how much of that is from growing up as something the people in charge would rather not acknowledge.

https://twitter.com/cubewatermelon/status/1021272880829681664?s=19

I suddenly had the urge to draw Zoe in a kigurumi whatchagonnado

https://t.co/ZuYC8PhOPC

(Kigurumi are animal PJs for anyone who didn't already know)

Edited by sgamer82 on Jul 23rd 2018 at 6:39:40 AM

Oh. Well. So that's a thing that can happen.

It occurs to me that Undine's and Kokoro's unusual eyes actually do come from the same source in a way, from receiving the power of another magical girl in one fashion or another.

Also, would a baby Kokoro be Ko-Kokoro, in the vein that kittens and puppies are koneko and koinu), or Kokoro-ko? (In that 'ko' can mean child)

Edited by sgamer82 on Jul 25th 2018 at 8:55:30 AM

baby kokoro is adorable

'kay that's all i really have to say for this strip, seems like all the questions will get answered as she explains the buildup to her origin story

Kokoro more like Woke-oro

It seems you were on to something about that anti-authoritarian streak.

Yeah. She's the first non-Conspiracy Theorist to remark on how Magical Girls are viewed.

Presumably the rest of her mother's story will explain why exactly she feels that way. If her situation was something they didn't want people to know in order to not mess with how people see Magical Girls, there was probably a bit of interference during Kokoro's early life from the people higher up.

Plus, if her mother lost her powers in birth, then she most likely didn't die in battle, so how did she?

My most immediate guess was that Mama kokoro was investigating something that led to Goops offing her

The last few panels reminded me of Aoi Yūki's tweets about her concerns on dating so part of me wonders if magical girls also have the same kind of creepy purity culture that can't stand seeing idolized girls dating men.

Edited by Nouct on Jul 27th 2018 at 5:59:59 AM

From what Kokoro is saying, I think it's not a purity thing as much as a way to try and stop people from humanizing Magical Girls. I mean, it's a system entirely dependent on teenage girls being sent into battle, where, apparently, a good number of them die on a regular basis. If they're seen as normal people by the general public, that could cause major outrage, at least from their parents. However, if they're seen as protectors, as something created to keep others safe instead of actual teenage girls, that makes things a lot simpler. "Oh, my daughter is actually born to be a guardian who risks her life for ours on a nightly basis, what an honor." instead of "Oh, my daughter has been drafted to risk her young, innocent life for the sake of everything else and has no choice but to do so on a nightly basis." We've even seen Magical Girls shaming Zoe for not doing exactly that.

Given what Kokoro is saying about the discontent over her birth, and that the only person in-story to voice actual concerns like these was Mark, who's homeless and seemingly hiding from something, there might be a major dehumanization effort on the part of the higher-ups to make people more comfortable with the idea of Magical Girls, for what may or may not be a good reason.

There doesn't necessarily have to be a conspiracy, does there? Just this cultural idea of the magical girls as superhuman avatars, and people afraid to question it for various reasons.

There absolutely does not. In fact, it would make huge amounts of sense to try and distance yourself from throwing huge moral quandaries over the system that's keeping you alive. The important matter here is whether or not the protagonists decide it's a bad thing, and, more to the point, what the writer plans to do with that.

I, for one, would like to see a story where this kind of thing is in place and the protagonists just go with it, because they agree it might just be a good idea.

Kokoro seems to be "just going with it." Yeah she has an anti-authoritarian streak and sounds a little bitter here, but she's still doing her best to fight and isn't shouting conspiracy theories from the rooftops like that other girl.

However, even Rue goes out and fights monsters at night.

Going by Undine's comments to Mark, one reason they all fight is simply because there's no one else who can, and of it's not them, it'll be some other poor sap who may not realize what she's getting into.

Undine: We're not kids, we're Magical Girls.

If they get a chance to change things, it will likely not be in the direction of leaving everyone defenseless against the monsters.

https://twitter.com/cubewatermelon/status/1024081947742666755?s=19

Pics from Cube's Patreon drawing stream, including Fantasy Undine and HP Swimwear Edition

http://www.sleeplessdomain.com/comic/chapter-10-page-22

"Hey hey get out of here Dadkoro, we're supposed to be talking about Momkoro!!"

I get the feeling Mark isn't Kokoro's father. That guy looks nothing like him.

Yeah, I even went back and checked and he didn't have the lines below the eyes.

On the flip side, it's actually kind of nice knowing Kokoro's dad raised her/was in her life. Assuming he and Momkoro were the same age, or close to, that's not a small thing IMO.

Auto correct and early morning posting are a bad combo

Edited by sgamer82 on Aug 1st 2018 at 10:21:29 AM

...likes?

Very interesting character design

A face made up of thumbs ups at various angles.

Someone on the SD Discord, Farsee, made what may be a very interesting observation about HP's behavior. Quoted, with their permission:

Edited by sgamer82 on Aug 1st 2018 at 12:52:49 PM