2002-12-23: A Helpful Reputation

[The Comment Golem]

Discussion thread for A Helpful Reputation

[The Comment Golem]

Discussion thread for [CT] A Helpful Reputation

[requiem18th]

I dunno why some artists are so hard on themselves for writing a lot of text. Didn't you know some artists can't write for shit? Be thankful you have so much to write that it doesn't fit in a page! I don't remember there ever being facts that disproved this dialog and I though this was how she was. Not that I care for such things. And yes, this is EN humor, some of it never went away, I think at this point it was alright, you can't start all dramatic from the begining and we have just met Meji.

[Imp-Chan]

This page took me EIGHT HOURS to letter, because I was trying to fit all of that text in. The heartbreaking thing about lettering Poe's work is that it's all generally good dialogue, so I hate to cut any of it. That's why the print collection, if we do any significant editing, will have a few extra pages... if I can't cut dialogue, I can at least space it out so it's more enjoyable to read it.

^-^'

[Rakshasa Taisab]

And to think, all that death and misery could have been avoided if only the professor hadn't gone all gay on taking her oral virginity.

[Alberich]

Hm? I think Ian could've managed his adventure without Meji at all -- at least as far as the part where he gets the power of Anilis. He wouldn't've found the elf city the same way without Meji being there, but he'd still go looking and wipe out Emerylon, and probably meet the Ensigerum the same or a similar way. It's hard to believe he wouldn't've found the elves somehow, and done as much as he did or even more, if Meji hadn't left Tsuiraku.

[BloodHenge]

I got the impression that there was at least some truth to that graffiti judging by Meji's attempts to get into Ian's pants. Specifically the bath scene at the river-- she seems too comfortable being naked with a man for it to be her first time.

[Sareth]

Well, do note that Poe never said she was actually a virgin. Only that she was not, in fact, the class bicycle. Of course, she could still be a virgin. Sexual experience and comfort with one's nude form are not necessarily linked. Culture can have a lot to do with it as well. It's been said that Tsuiraku was modeled to be a sort of ersatz Japan. Up until recently, public mixed sex bathing was fairly commonplace in Japan. People were comfortable with one another in just such a setting as Meji and Ian's bath.

[Graybeard]

Poe has always tried to be coy on the did-she-or-didn't-she question, but this commentary from Ellis, whose role in the peanut gallery always seemed fairly reliable if snarky, seems to leave little doubt that she, in fact, did.

[BloodHenge]

Well, do note that Poe never said she was actually a virgin. Only that she was not, in fact, the class bicycle. Of course, she could still be a virgin. Sexual experience and comfort with one's nude form are not necessarily linked. Culture can have a lot to do with it as well. It's been said that Tsuiraku was modeled to be a sort of ersatz Japan. Up until recently, public mixed sex bathing was fairly commonplace in Japan. People were comfortable with one another in just such a setting as Meji and Ian's bath.

Except Tsuiraku doesn't customarily have mixed bathing, as far as Meji knows. She might still be comfortable naked around unfamiliar men who are also naked for a reason unrelated to both bathing and promiscuity... but it seems kind of unlikely.