Megatokyo, Volume 1

Piro, an anime Otaku, and his friend Largo, a l33t hardcore gamer, try to get into E3 and are expelled because they don't work in the industry. Instead, Piro convinces his friend to fly to Japan, instead. However, he maxes out his card buying anime stuff, and Largo does as well, leaving them stranded in Japan without a way to get home.

Piro calls on one of his friends in Japan, Tsubasa, asking if they can crash with him for a while. He lets them, but six months later, they are still living with him. This volume of the series focusses on their struggles to try and get home, trying to raise the cash for the plane tickets, and then trying to get a job, from their wildly diverging perspectives. Also introduced are a number of female characters, from Piro's conscience to a girl trying to make it as an anime voice artist, and her roommate, who works at a gaming store. Their significance will become apparent as the comic continues....

The comic starts out as four-panel strips, and eventually goes to a manga-esque format. As it does so, the story becomes richer, deeper and something more than just a "Funny ha-ha" strip. At first, the viewpoints of Piro and Largo are used for laughs, but later, they are used for laughs *and* to advance the story.

This is an enjoyable manga, sort of Seinfeldian. "About nothing, really" and about living in and adjusting to a foreign culture while retaining your own insanity.