Friday, April 18, 2008

Megatokyo, Volume 2 by Fred Gallagher

Piro is obsessing about the sketchbook he lost when he left his messenger bag behind at the bookstore. Yuki picked up his bag and has started looking through it after she was scared to look at it, and is now commenting on the Pictures Piro drew in it. Piro has a job, but no apartment, since their friend Tsubasa took off to find his first love. Since he left her behind, his experimental Nintendo robot girl, Ping, is left to share space with Piro and Largo.

Largo finds a job inadvertantly, when he is mistaken for a new English teacher at a nearby school. Calling himself "Great Teacher Largo", he is instantly beloved by his students, and starts teaching them L33t sp34k and how to build computers. Piro is allowed by his boss to move into the small apartment located above the store where he works.

Largo meets a cute Goth chick and is sure she is the Queen of Vampires, due to her evil aura. He starts following her, which is how he gets the high school teacher job. When the real teacher arrives, he gets kicked out, but when the students protest en masse, Largo is reinstated, despite his complete lack of teaching degrees or certificates.

Piro finally gets his bookbag back, and finds Yuki's annotations on the pages. he's shocked and amazed, but Largo points out to him, that as a girl, her suggestions on the clothes his models are wearing at least have some validity... Largo gets his own conscience, Boo, a small squirrel with fake wings. His inability to speak English makes him completely unable to hold Largo back from what Largo really wants to do... and even if he spoke English, I suspect that would still be the case.

Largo and Piro strike up a close acquaintance with Hayasaka Erika, Piro's co-worker, and Nanasawa Kimiko, her voice-acting roommate. Kimiko is attracted to Piro, but believes she would never be the kind of girl to attract him. Piro is interested, but doesn't know how to talk to a real girl.

Two operatives, Dom and Ed, are sent to retrieve Ping, but they fail to realize she is living with Piro and Largo. They do manage to fight off an invasion of extra-dimensional zombies with the help of Largo, who, thanks to his years of playing FPS (First-Person Shooter) games, is just as good with a real gun as with a controller.

More insanity from Megatokyo. A fun comic, still somewhat more set up around comedy than actual storylines, while poking fun at more Japanese culture and manga than you can shake a stick at! Lots of fun and well worth a read.

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